Looking at the knight kneeling below and Kayal, 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. Clearly, this guy was mocking her!
But she had just drawn the sword to become King; was she to act like a little girl and let the knights laugh at her?
She glared at him indignantly, 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, you think you can become King just with this? Still too green!"
"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, allowing you to pull it out easily!"
A nobleman staggered forward, his hysterical roar like a gambler who had lost his last penny.
His outburst immediately caused many nobles below the platform to clamor in agreement. Whether they couldn't accept a woman as King or had their own ambitions, they all cried out.
"This... then I'll just..." Artoria hadn't finished speaking when Kayal suddenly leaped up, instantly drawing his sword and slashing it across the nobleman's neck.
A large head, gushing blood, shot into the sky.
Holding the head in one hand and the dripping sword in the other, Kayal 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?!"
Kayal was, of course, not an ignorant country bumpkin like Artoria. He instantly realized what a threat it would pose to Artoria's prestige if she were to respond to those who questioned her.
Without further hesitation, Kayal drew his sword and struck, strangle the myth of "King Arthur inserted the sword into the stone, and after repeated attempts, no one could pull it out" in its cradle.
Facing Kayal's sudden outburst, nobles, knights, and even Merlin all fell silent. As the saying goes, if a tiger doesn't roar, people think it's a sick cat. When everyone thought Kayal was a gentle, harmless, non-aggressive, scholarly type of clerk, his sudden act of drawing his sword and killing someone shocked them deeply, a feeling only they truly understood.
"I do!" A clear voice, like a resounding slap across Kayal's face, made Kayal throw down the head, ready to defend his and Artoria's dignity, but this was a knight.
A knight in full crimson armor, with a horned helmet, walked forward. Facing someone in a red Lich King-like outfit, even Kayal couldn't help but wonder who this person was.
"Nice to meet you... Father and Mother." Her single sentence made everyone gasp.
She removed her horned helmet, taking off the mask with it, revealing a spirited head of golden hair and a composed smile... A perfect woman, inheriting the best qualities of both, appeared before them.
Clearly, this couldn't be their child! Their intimate moment was a very recent event; even by calculating the time, it would be impossible to have such a grown person. Looking at the smile identical to his own and the face identical to Artoria's, Kayal suddenly understood something and turned to roar at Merlin: "Merlin! You actually used forbidden magic to create a life!"
This was the sin of desecrating life! It was also the thing Kayal, as a Light Magic user, a Healer, and a Life Magic user, detested the most.
His decades-long friendship with Merlin crumbled on this day.
"Who told Princess Morgan to keep pestering me... I've known her much longer than you have, my dearest disciple, so I had no choice but to use this method... And she's not really a forbidden life, you know... She can be considered the child of all three of you..."
Her words seemed to enlighten Kayal. He 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 uterus... If Merlin's words were true, then this person truly was the child of all three of them!
Understanding it, however, still made it hard to accept.
Artoria's hands trembled with rage. She never expected Merlin to make trouble in this way at this moment.
"I am, after all, a member with royal blood, so I also want to become King..." She hadn't finished speaking when Kayal's "Silence" spell shattered her composure. Giving Merlin another "Silence" spell, Kayal no longer hesitated, grabbed Artoria's large hand, and loudly proclaimed: "From today forward, we shall pledge allegiance to King Arthur and reclaim our lost lands!"
"After joint deliberation by King Arthur and the four Grand Dukes, a new decree is hereby announced!"
Kayal's voice traveled far and wide; at least in the houses, on the rooftops, in the square, and in all directions, most of the one hundred thousand knights could hear him.
"The Eighteenth Peerage Law: From Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron, peerages are further divided into eighteen ranks: Duke, Pillar, Marquis, Earl, Scholar, Left, Right, Square, Lord, Viscount, Power, Baron, Guard, Hero, Esteemed, Quasi, Commoner, and Minor."
It was quite a feat for Kayal to rattle off so many peerages 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 pre-European continent, establishing a vast empire. This empire was called Qin.
The peerless empire later known as 'Tyrannical Qin'.
"The Contribution System will be implemented throughout Camelot! All nobles will only have the right to own servants! They will not have the right to command knights!"
"Those who achieve one hundred contribution points can directly advance to Minor Lord!"
"Peerages are hereditary! However, each time a peerage is inherited, it will decrease by one rank!"
"Sealed Knights will directly become Lords! They will enjoy the treatment of a Lord! Official Knights will directly advance to Hero! They will enjoy the treatment of a Hero!"
This overt method of seizing power might cause a mutiny, but Kayal suppressed it all with just one sentence. Kayal's words were undeniably deafening, leaving the fat, big-headed nobles speechless...