The troops had suffered a lot of casualties in the fight with Sin Archbishops. Church estimated that there were at least 20 Knights and 30 Mercenaries that fell in the battle with Lye Batenkaitos.
The spirit of the troops had hit the lowest, but it was reignited when the Magician, Melin appeared out of nowhere and Reinhard chased the Archbishops away.
She then ordered the troops to rest and it was now nighttime.
The troops made a tent and lit a bonfire to keep them warm.
There were two big tents, one of them was for Crusch while the other was for Arturia who had yet regained her consciousness.
Inside Arturia’s tent, she was sleeping in her dress on the flower bed that Merlin made for her. She still held Excalibur and Avalon close to her chest while the destroyed Caliburn was stabbed on the ground beside her, resting in peace waiting for its previous owner to wake up.
Merlin and Reinhard sat on tree trunks that were made by Merlin near Arturia.
“If I may ask, why did her sword break? That sword, Caliburn, is a good sword that almost rivaled my own sword. But why did it break easily?”
Reinhard asked Merlin as he looked at the broken Caliburn.
“Hmm, that was a good question. That sword is a sword to choose a King. It was more like a ceremonial sword rather than a sword to fight. Even so, that’s a good sword on its own.”
Merlin explained as he raised his index finger and closed his eyes.
“But that didn’t explain why the sword break when she fight the Archbishop.”
Merlin opened his eyes and had a serious look on his face.
“There are two instances that makes Caliburn break.”
Merlin extended his left hand that was raised to Reinhard.
“First, if Caliburn is employed in battle as a weapon, and its True Name released, it will be able to make an attack that’s greater than anything. It can destroy a city in one attack. But, the blade will not be able to handle Arturia’s magical energy and will break after one attack.”
Reinhard nodded his head. He saw the power that his lady unleashed in the fight against Hakugei, and he saw the aftermath of her fight with the Archbishop.
The grounds were gouged here and there, and it was a mess. Compared to the fight against Hakugei, the scale of the destruction in the area after the fight with the Archbishops was greater. So, he guessed that his lady had released an attack stronger than what she used against Hakugei.
“Second, in this instance, it related to Arturia more than the sword. If the rules of chivalry were broken by Arturia, then Caliburn will break. I told her that she will no longer be human when she was about to pull that sword out of the stone, she knew about it but she choose to keep her chivalry as a Knight because she was stubborn.”
Merlin smiled as he remembered the time when Arturia pulled Caliburn in front of him.
“Now that I give her Excalibur, be prepared for a little bit of a change, oh the first Knight.”
“Change?”
Reinhard was confused by what the magician in front of him said.
“Indeed, it always happens. When Caliburn was broken, my King will have a change in her view. Albeit a little, she will understand how the world work.”
It was natural. People change, so Reinhard had also expected a change in Arturia’s view, but not this fast. He thought that Arturia maybe need some time.
When he thought that, a groan came from Arturia who sleep on the flower bed.
“Ugh…”
Reinhard spend no time and stood up instantly. He looked at Arturia and saw her moving, trying to get up as she held her head.
“Where…” Asked Arturia as she sat and looked around. She saw Reinhard first because he stood right in front of her, and he didn’t see Merlin who sat on the left because Reinhard’s body obstructed her sight.
“Milady, you have woken up.” Said Reinhard with a smile on his face.
“Sir Reinhard?”
Arturia finally sobered up and was able to think clearly again. Her expression immediately paled and was about to jump down the bed.
She didn’t jump though, as she realized that she held something in her right hand. With narrowed eyes, Arturia looked at the thing that she held in her hand, and then she remembered.
“This is? Right, Merlin!”
“Yes, Merlin is here, my King.”
Merlin said in a joking tone as he waved his left hand.
Arturia turned to Merlin immediately and widened her eyes.
“Merlin?” Asked Arturia. She was unsure if the Merlin in front of her is the same Merlin that she knew. She was still holding her head with her left hand because it was still throbbing in pain.
The pain was not from injuries, but it came from her brain. For some reason, unknown memories had popped up in Arturia’s mind for a while now.
The first time she met with the man with white hair in front of her. The time she pulled a sword in a stone while wearing a white shirt and blue pants. That man was standing behind her wearing a white hood as his long hair swayed by the wind.
“Yes, my King. This is Merlin, the one who witnessed Caliburn pulled from the stone.”
The sight of Merlin with his usual jokester smile had calmed Arturia down. She then looked at the thing, the sword on her hand again, and muttered.
“Could this be?”
“Excalibur, as you’ve known.” Added Merlin.
Arturia was surprised and looked at Merlin. He was closing his eyes and faced Arturia with a kind smile on his face.
She then realized that Merlin had known everything. But even then, he came to this place and helped her.
“Thank you, Merlin.”
Arturia smiled and then slowly get off the flower bed. Reinhard helped her silently.
The Excalibur that was on her hand was now strapped on her waist. She then noticed the broken Caliburn on the ground and crouched.
“I’m sorry.” Said Arturia as she extended her hand and touched Caliburn’s handle.
As soon as she touched it, the sword shattered into pieces of light and fly away as it disappeared into thin air.
She then turned her gaze into Merlin and looked at him seriously.
“What’s your plan from now on, Merlin?”
“Hmm…” Merlin hugged his wand and touched his chin.
He then smiled and stood up from his seat and approached Arturia.
“I guess I will help to make a Princess Knight into a King.”
“So that mean!” Arturia exclaimed happily at Merlin’s answer.
“Yes, I guess I will stick around you for now. This world is more turbulent than I thought.”
“I see, it’s nice to have you at my side, Merlin!”
Reinhard smiled happily at Arturia’s side as he watched his lady manage to get a reliable ally.
The future was still uncertain, for now, he could only do his best for his lady.
Patreon
“I see, it’s nice to have you at my side, Merlin!”
I just thought about it but this merlin isn't trapped in avalon, meaning he is basically at full power so he can f*ck the entirety of the Re:zero world alone if he wants to.
But he won't.
At least, Merlin that I know won't do that
@ShuviLily Of course he wouldn't, that would be no fun for him after all.
@Fulanoide Your pfp makes you seem like a cool smart guy that knows everything and is kinda like a phsyco.
@Peekon I wouldn't call myself smart but I do know a lot of things, I can be cool when I want but it's generally more fun to be an idiot and I guess you could classify me as a psycho but I don't completely enter the category because I have empathy, add to that a general permanent suffering both mental and physical, constant exhaustion both mental and physical and an apparently incurable depression (mostly because I never found out why I started getting depressed in the first place an it's now 9 years since then) together with a really shitty sense of humor and you basically have me.
Now, I got distracted in the middle of writting this and can't remember why I started writing it.
@Fulanoide We are actually kinda similar then, I like alot of stuff. I know about dinosaurs, sharks, ancient fish, guns, tanks, history, fusion reactors, cars, movies, programming, art (styles, anatomy), books, anime, different cultures, languages (german, english, my native language and a little bit of japanese), food, health, vaccines, economy, wars, space, spaceships, and so on. I kinda also have incurable permanent depression since, I wasn't born as I wanted to be. My memory is also bad and short like a fishes memory of 8 seconds. I dont know what is bad humor or not but I pretty much can laugh at stuff like normal funny cat videos to really dark stuff. (so dark humor I guess?)
Oh and I heard phsycos can make themselves laugh by (i dont remember what it was), like just using my fingers and lightly touching the places where they are sensitive and thanks to them i start to laugh. Running away from home and thinking of suicide, my uncle hung himself when I was like 8, he was a really good uncle. I have also started to try to empathise with other people, I can easily feel shame when other people do shameful things and such. I can get angry and sad at characters that are only fiction. I can dream of being someone else and so on. I have dreamt several times of basically a still image of something, I will encounter in the future, for example: a specific chapter, spot, activity or drawing. I have also been doing alot of self motivation stuff. I would recommend relieving stress by just opening a document or txt.file and just typing away your problems. Also deep and motivational quotes are my fav stuff. Like I found this in a manga "You may be dragging your feet, but you are moving.". I know motivational quotes are for the so called 'weak minded' but there is nothing wrong in making yourself better. I've been trying new stuff like drawing alot more and so on. Also I forgot that I've gotten over my depression 2 times now. First time was a mental breakdown and the second one was just watching youtubers. Music is also a really good way to relieve stress. I have somewhere of 670 songs downloaded. They really change your mood.
I still feel envy and jealous of basically every other human. Seeing them being themselves and somehow not being depressed and being okay really shows how shitty the world is.