Looking at the knight kneeling below and Kailar, who was half-kneeling but held his head high with a smile on his face, Artoria couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. It was clear this guy was mocking her!
But she had only just drawn the sword and become King. Was she to act like a little girl and let the knights laugh at her?!
She glared at him angrily, then put down the sword in the stone and looked at Merlin, waiting for the crown in her hand.
Merlin's lips curved into a beautiful arc: "What, little girl, do you think you can become King with just this? You're still too naive!"
"Wait!" A hysterical voice rang out: "How can a little girl become King! How is this possible! It must be that the tens of thousands of people before her had already loosened King Uther's power, which is why you were able to draw it so easily!!!"
A nobleman stumbled forward, roaring hysterically like a gambler who had lost his last penny.
His outburst immediately caused many nobles below the platform to clamor in agreement. Those who could not accept a woman as King, as well as those with their own ambitions, all cried out.
"This... then I'll just..." Artoria hadn't finished speaking when Kailar suddenly jumped up, instantly drawing his sword and slashing it across the nobleman's neck.
A large head, gushing blood, shot up into the sky.
Holding the head in one hand and the dripping sword in the other, Kailar roared: "This man dared to question King Uther, King Arthur, and attempted assassination and treason! He has been beheaded by me! Does anyone else here question the sword in the stone?!"
Kailar was, of course, not an ignorant country bumpkin like Artoria. He instantly realized what a threat it would be to Artoria's prestige if she responded to those who questioned her.
Without hesitation, Kailar drew his sword and struck, strangleing the myth of "King Arthur inserting the sword into the stone, testing it repeatedly, and no one else being able to pull it out" in its cradle.
Facing Kailar's sudden outburst, whether it was the nobles, knights, or Merlin, they all fell silent. As the saying goes, if a tiger doesn't show its might, people will think it's a sick cat. When everyone thought Kailar was a gentle, harmless, non-aggressive, scholarly scribe, the sudden sword-wielding killer Kailar gave them a shock that only they themselves truly understood.
"I do!!" A clear voice, like a resounding slap across Kailar's face, made Kailar throw away the head and prepare to defend his and Artoria's dignity, but this was a knight.
A knight in a large red knight's armor and a horned helmet walked forward. Facing someone with a red Lich King-like appearance, even Kailar couldn't help but wonder about their background.
"Nice to meet you... Father and Mother." Her single sentence made everyone speechless.
Taking off her horned helmet, she also removed her mask, revealing a dashing head of golden hair and a composed smile... a perfect woman who inherited the best qualities of both appeared before them.
It was clear this couldn't be their child! Their intimacy was a very recent event; even if one calculated the time, it would be impossible to have such a grown person. Looking at the smile identical to his own and a face identical to Artoria's, Kailar suddenly understood something and turned to Merlin, roaring: "Merlin! You actually used forbidden magic to create a life!!!"
This was the sin of blaspheming life! This was also the thing Kailar, as a Light Mage, Healing Mage, and Life Mage, most abhorred.
His decades-long friendship with Merlin collapsed on this day.
"Princess Morgan kept pestering me... I've known her much longer than you, my dearest disciple, so I had no choice but to use this method... And she isn't exactly a forbidden life either... She can be considered the child of all three of you..." Her words seemed to enlighten Kailar. Kailar suddenly understood. This method was very famous in later generations: surrogacy!
The life essence of a man and a woman who cannot have children is extracted and then injected into another woman's womb. If Merlin's words were true, then this person was indeed the child of all three of them!
Understanding it, however, still made it very difficult to accept.
Artoria's hands trembled with rage. She never expected Merlin to make trouble in this way at this time.
"I am, after all, a member with royal blood, so I also want to become King..." She hadn't finished speaking when Kailar's "Silence" spell broke her composure. Giving Merlin another "Silence," Kailar no longer hesitated. He grabbed Artoria's large hand and loudly declared: "From today forward, we shall serve King Arthur as our King and reclaim our lost territories!"
"After the joint deliberation of King Arthur and the four Grand Dukes, a new bill is hereby announced!!" Kailar's voice carried far and wide, at least to the hundred thousand knights in the houses, on the rooftops, in the square, and in all directions, most of whom could hear it.
"The Eighteen Peerage Law, from Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, is further divided into eighteen ranks: Duke, Pillar Lord, Marquis, Earl, Knight Lord, Left Lord, Right Lord, Square Lord, Baronet, Viscount, Power Lord, Baron, Guard Lord, Hero Lord, Venerable Lord, Quasi-Lord, Commoner Lord, and Minor Lord." It was difficult for Kailar to rattle off so many titles in one breath. This peerage system was very famous. Five hundred years ago, a country across the ocean, relying on the original version of this peerage system: the Twenty Ranks of Merit system and agricultural laws, swept across a territory twice the size of the European continent and established a great empire. This empire was called Qin.
An unparalleled empire later known as the 'Tyrannical Qin'.
"The contribution system will be implemented throughout Camelot! All nobles only have the right to own servants! They do not have the right to command knights!"
"Those with a contribution value of one hundred can be directly promoted to Minor Lord!"
"Peerages are hereditary! However, each time a peerage is inherited, it will decrease by one rank!"
"Sealed Knights will directly become Baronets! And enjoy the treatment of a Baronet! Official Knights will directly be promoted to Hero Lords! And enjoy the treatment of a Hero Lord!" This overt power grab might have caused an uproar, but Kailar suppressed it all with a single sentence. Kailar's words were, to say the least, deafening, directly stunning the fat-headed, big-eared nobles into utter silence...
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