Canngarra (the Dragon) stared wide-eyed at Kay. He couldn't believe that the guy once known as the "Knight of Virtue" could be so completely unreasonable.
It was true, Kay had once held that title. But the story behind it, well, let's just say it was pure spin. In this era, a knight's reputation was everything. A famous knight would be welcomed by all social classes, no matter where they traveled.
But Kay didn't create that reputation himself. In his past life, he was an infantry soldier, and even his promotion to Deputy Captain in the police force was based purely on merit and years of service. He wasn't into flashy public relations and actually found the whole thing a little annoying. However, King Uther was determined to give his adopted son the best shot at life.
As King Uther's adopted son, once Arthur was born, the matter of succession was obviously off the table for Kay. So, to create a great future for his adopted son, Uther started a major PR campaign early on, building Kay up as the symbol of knightly virtue. Only by doing this could King Uther bestow a knighthood on a young man who had just turned eighteen. Otherwise, Uther would have faced too much opposition.
Kay himself wasn't crazy about the title and didn't really care about the theatrics. He was a classic pragmatist. As the famous saying goes, "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice." Whether he was a soldier or a cop, he was constantly fighting ruthless criminals. When dealing with these cunning individuals, if you stick rigidly to the rules, you won't get anything done. Kay was willing to use whatever means necessary.
Canngarra realized that Kay wasn't joking—he seriously intended to kill him!
The two fell into a heavy silence.
After a moment, Kay was the one who broke it.
"Well? Have you made up your mind? Are you going to keep waiting here for some vague destiny to arrive, or should I just finish you off right now and set you free?" He pushed the holy spear, Rhongomiant, forward again. The light on the spear intensified, looking like it would pierce Canngarra at any second.
Kay's threat worked. Canngarra had no choice. He firmly believed that destiny would eventually arrive, so he had to survive until the Day of Destiny, no matter how humiliating the means.
...
About an hour later, Canngarra stopped breathing his dragon fire. Once the flames dissipated, an incredibly gorgeous diamond ring, glimmering faintly, floated in the air.
"This magic ring will suppress and hide Morgan's gift. I also masked the magical fluctuations on the ring as you requested. No one will be able to detect the magic unless they actually hold the ring."
Canngarra sounded defeated, perhaps from Kay's coercion, or maybe just from exhaustion.
"Alright, you've got what you wanted, now get lost! I don't want to see you again!" Canngarra watched Kay carefully pocket the ring, and his anger flared up. He had once thought Kay might be his only human friend. Even though their only interaction had been fighting, that hadn't stopped them from having a mutual respect for each other.
They didn't have any personal vendetta. When the great war of magic happened twenty years ago, Kay was just a little kid. How could he possibly have had a deep hatred for Canngarra?
But now, Canngarra felt a subtle sense of betrayal.
Kay was quick and efficient; he grabbed what he wanted and turned to leave. He wasn't worried about Canngarra trying to trick him, because if he did, the dragon knew he would face certain death. Of course, Kay wasn't going to leave without giving something in return.
As Kay reached the entrance of the tunnel, he paused and, with his back to Canngarra, said, "As a trade-off, I can tell you something. You've always thought that dragons were extinct in this world, right? I can tell you for a fact, you're wrong. In more distant worlds, there are still quite a few dragons living. Your race hasn't died out."
With that, Kay stepped into the darkness, leaving Canngarra standing there stunned.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Kay; on the contrary, he felt Kay was telling the truth. Kay had no reason to lie to him. If Kay were afraid of him, he could have just killed him right then and there. Why bother with a deception? It's not like King Uther would punish Kay for killing a dragon, right?
"There are... there are other kin out there... that's wonderful... it's really wonderful. I'm not alone anymore... I'm not..."
Holding the magic ring crafted by the dragon, Kay walked happily toward Morgan's room. Seriously, the Princess had been having a rough time lately. She had just recovered from a wizard's curse that put her in a coma for two days, and now she was being tormented by nightmares. Because of this, Morgan hadn't really left her room much. Fortunately, everyone knew she was recovering from a serious illness and needed rest, so nobody suspected anything strange.
Since Morgan had been confined to her room, Kay had been eating most of his lunch and dinner there too. Right now, Kay was heading over to Morgan's to grab dinner and maybe snuggle up with the Princess for the night. (A more common American phrase for 'sleep/cuddle up' than a rough colloquialism.)
But when he walked into the room, he realized it was a full house. Since Kay and Morgan were essentially living together now, during the day it was fine, but at night, very few people were insensitive enough to stop by, and that included Arthur and King Uther. Even Morgan's personal maid, Gwen, usually stayed away.
But today, not only was Gwen still there, but Arthur and Merlin had also shown up.
Seeing Merlin, Kay had a pretty good guess about why they were all there.
Kay ignored the trio, who looked like they were trying to say something, and went straight to Morgan.
"Honey, how are you feeling today? Are your spirits up?" Kay affectionately went to Morgan's side, took her hand, and asked gently. This scene was a massive serving of PDA (Public Display of Affection) for the three single people standing there.
That's what they got for being clueless—interrupting a couple's private evening time. The fact that they hadn't been kicked out was a testament to Kay's good temper.
Morgan had actually suffered another nightmare during her nap that afternoon, but to keep Kay from worrying, and because she wanted to help the poor Lancelot (an implied context), she hid the truth. She smiled and said, "Gaius's medicine is working. I feel much better."
"Really? That's great news." What did Kay do for a living? As a cop who worked seven years of criminal investigation, Morgan's little lie could fool a naive kid like Arthur, but it certainly couldn't get past Kay. However, he decided not to call her out on it.
With a flick of his hand, Kay produced a ring and presented it to Morgan. It was a diamond ring. This kind of gemstone didn't exist in the Celtic kingdoms. Kay had acquired a few as spoils of war while helping the Sumerians defend against the Fayumite invasion in the area of Asia Minor.
Kay accidentally discovered these diamonds and later had a skilled artisan craft a batch of jewelry. This ring was one of them.
"It's gorgeous! What kind of gem is this?" Women, like dragons, can't resist the allure of gems, and the stone on the ring Kay presented was not only large but incredibly clear and sparkled more than any jewel Morgan had ever seen.
"It's called a Diamond! It's a rare gem, and the hardest one in the world. It symbolizes protection and commitment. I got it from a people called the Fayumites. In their culture, this stone is believed to bless people so they can avoid harm, and it also represents indestructible love." (The Fayumites are an ancient precursor to the Egyptians.)
In his past life, Kay had read that diamonds weren't originally valuable—they were mostly used for industrial purposes—until a cunning marketer linked them to marriage and called them a symbol of eternal love, which immediately made them hugely expensive.
Women just fall for that kind of story, and clearly, women even in the B.C. era were no different. Morgan wasn't interested in the diamond's ability to ward off harm, but she was very intrigued by the fact that it represented indestructible love, as it meant Kay was declaring his deep affection for her.
Kay had changed a bit since he crossed over to this world. At least the three words, "I love you," which he always struggled to say in his past life, now rolled off his tongue easily. After all, people here didn't see it as embarrassing; they saw it as a perfectly normal expression of feeling.
Kay had adapted to local customs. He often told Morgan those three words. But hey, what woman ever complained about her man showing her too much affection?