Irony

"As long as Britain becomes Franks and the Celts become Germanic peoples, then we'll definitely win, right?"

Artorius concluded with a smile, then looked at Vivian cheerfully. "What do you think, Big Sis Vivian? Aren't I clever?"

"Well... umm... yes, you're indeed clever..." Vivian reluctantly replied, forcing a smile, trying not to dampen Artorius's enthusiasm. Meanwhile, she was contemplating hard in her mind.

'In theory, it might work, but can it really be done? Could it deceive the Counter Force?'

'But... the Counter Force, in the end, is just a Counter Force. It doesn't possess human-like emotions of being 'fooled.' So as long as Britain's Celtic civilization perishes, it won't get angry... probably.'

'In that case, this plan, it's really... No, wait. Everything now is discussed under the premise of 'successful usurpation of fate.'

'The question is... can fate truly be usurped?'

Vivian couldn't help but ponder, and quickly arrived at a conclusion similar to Morgan's. After all, both of them were basically Lady of the Lake with similar abilities, albeit in different areas. Morgan excelled in creating homunculus and potions, while Vivian's talents focused on fooling children and creating magical tools.

'Alright!'

After understanding all this and seeing the expectant expression on Artorius's face, Vivian's heart swelled with determination.

'Let's give it a try!' she thought. 'Even if it's just for this child!'

"Okay! I promise you!" Vivian said to him. "I'll help you usurp the fate of Franks, Anglo-Saxons—and even all the Germanic peoples!"

"Ooh!" Artorius cheered happily and looked at her with adoring eyes. "Big Sis Vivian is amazing! As expected of you, you're incredible! I really, really like Big Sis Vivian the most!"

After saying these words that pumped him up, Artorius continued rubbing and snuggling in Vivian's embrace, generously offering his body. This made Mordred, who wanted her daily Artonium the next day, furious.

===

So, on that day, Mordred remained in a state of strangeness and doubt, filled with confusion.

Clearly, Mordred had always been with her big brother.

They hadn't been separated, and there was no sign of any strange pests or anything of the sort around her big brother.

Why, then, did her big brother occasionally struggle and look exhausted?

He couldn't even scrape together the usual portion for his little sister, yet had the audacity to say something like a dragon never bows its head... Seriously...

At the same time, Artorius felt a bit embarrassed himself.

One could say it was all thanks to the Lady of the Lake, after all.

She had directly milked him dry and she said, "This is to show you that your big sister has the ability to usurp fate."

What was the correlation between them? Could it be compared? One was usurping fate, while the other was usurping life! She devoured him like no tomorrow!

Are you sure you're a fairy and not a succubus?

Luckily, dragons not only have great endurance but also strong stamina. In just a few minutes, Artorius had recovered and generously offered Mordred her share, free of charge. It made Mordred realize that a dragon never bows its head wasn't a scam.

Artorius successfully guarded his little sister's happiness, and as they continued on their way to Camelot, Mordred remained happy, cheerful, and radiant.

"By the way, it's actually like this."

Adhering to the resolve of 'I will never deceive Little Mo', Artorius told her about his experiences in his dreams.

"It's the Land of Shadows and Scathach. Have you heard of them?"

"Yeah, I've heard of them. Weren't we going to Ireland to find that person? But we couldn't find the place."

Riding on a horse, Mordred responded casually as they headed toward Camelot.

By the way, the road conditions in Britain were really terrible.

These roads that connected various territories, cities, and castles in Britain mainly were built during the Roman era. Since Britain entered an era of warfare, these roads were not maintained or repaired.

Many roads had already collapsed and were impassable.

The reason for this was Britain's divided situation and internal chaos.

Starting from Artorius's grandfather, King Uther's time, the entire Britain was fragmented.

The so-called kings of those small kingdoms lacked the capability and sufficient resources to carry out infrastructure development.

In their eyes, roads were extremely dangerous.

They weren't just transportation routes or passages for commercial and material exchanges; they were potentially deadly routes enemies could exploit to attack them.

In such circumstances, forget about maintaining and repairing roads, some individuals would even intentionally destroy roads to hinder enemy advances, making their territories more 'formidable'.

As the 'King' of Britain, both King Uther and King Arthur only 'unified Britain in name.'

King Uther fared slightly better. He relied on marriage alliances and the Roman legacy to maintain some authority. There was still some weight to it.

But King Arthur was different.

In the beginning, King Arthur was just a tool for salvation. Not to mention the various kingdoms in Britain, even within Camelot itself, there were countless lords, nobles, and knights who didn't accept King Arthur's rule.

After all, everyone had their own interests and land to protect. Why should they listen to someone who drew a sword from a stone out of nowhere and declared 'himself' a King?

Because in childhood, King Arthur was not acknowledged as the heir by 'his' father, Uther. Since Arthur was in truth born a female known as Artoria, while Uther wanted a male as his successor. That's why she was given into Merlin's care and later on entrusted to an ordinary knight named Ector as his own child and raised as a male.

Because of that reason, King Arthur's initial identity was completely unknown since it was kept secret, and so she ascended to the throne without the support of the people. That's why, her attempts to build certain infrastructure received no response whatsoever.

And once she achieved a resounding victory over the Saxons, she poured almost all of her resources into the futile pursuit of the Holy Grail. There was no money left to repair the roads. What irony.

'This can't go on.'

Artorius couldn't help but think, 'When I become the King of Britain, I'll have to repair all these roads. And, if possible, build new highways.'

At the same time, Mordred beside him said, "By the way, Father sent almost all the Knights of the Round Table to search for the Holy Grail, right?"

"Yeah..." Artorius replied.

"The Holy Grail... Can it really grant people's wishes?"

"Who knows..." Artorius shook his head. "Rather than placing one's wishes on something intangible, I still believe in my own power."

"Oh."

If it had been Mordred from before, when Artorius uttered such a blatant denial of King Arthur's actions, she would have been upset, even if she didn't make a scene on the spot, she will hold a grudge silently.

But now was different.

The way she responded with a simple "Oh." indicated that she already understood and didn't really bother about King Arthur's matters anymore.

The reason for this change was that she now liked... no, loved and worshiped her big brother Artorius more than anyone else.