Anime: Blue-Eyes Baby Dragon, picked up by the Knight King

The breakfast was nutritious, with a reasonable combination of meat and vegetables, and the portion was definitely large enough - it was obvious that this was a "feast" specially prepared for the king.

But at this moment, Artoria's attention was not on the food at all.

"Then, what is that?"

She pointed at Merlin's dress—a beautiful white one with a majestic, snarling blue dragon cub painted on it.

"Ah? This was given to me by a girl."

"You know, I'm very popular in town."

Merlin said proudly.

In a sense, he and Kai are actually the type of people who "birds of a feather flock together" - the only difference is that one is chasing after women, and the other is being chased by women.

But now, Artoria no longer cares about whether she is a woman or not.

"I mean, why are you wearing something like that? With that baby dragon painted on it?"

Altria asked in disbelief.

At the same time, she probably already knew why she had such a bad premonition in her heart.

"Ah, you don't know?"

"Your brother brought that prince to the town—they are now household names, huge stars, and everyone is adoring them!"

"Girls would paint the image of His Majesty on clothes and give them to their loved ones."

Merlin said this while pointing to the pattern on his clothes, as if showing off something.

And Artoria, the sister who knew her adopted brother very well, widened her eyes, an expression almost regretful appearing on her face:

"Boohoo!"

"My little dragon!!!"

Chapter 21: The Road of No Return

Artoria no longer hesitated.

"Excuse me, sir, but I must go to town immediately."

She was so anxious that she didn't even ask for Hector's consent. She just informed him and immediately jumped on her horse and galloped towards the town.

"Oh, that's unusual. She didn't even say goodbye to us."

Sir Ector grumbled under his breath—but he was not angry.

He simply stood outside the door, watching the girl walk away. He then turned his head and looked at the magician who seemed to be smiling.

He knew that after this trip, the girl named [Altria] would never come back.

The only one who could come back was Arthur Pendragon, the destined King of Britain.

"Are you so anxious?"

He complained somewhat dissatisfiedly. Although he had made sufficient mental preparations, when the day really came, the old knight still felt it was a bit hasty.

He had many little tricks to save his life on the battlefield, but he didn't have time to pass them on to this girl!

"Actually, there's no need to rush. Logically, there should still be two or three months left."

"But how should I put it... I can only say it was such a coincidence, so coincidental that even a lazy person like me feels, 'It would be a shame not to take advantage of this opportunity to do something.'"

The Flower Magician also looked at the girl's departing figure, but his face showed an expression completely different from that of the old knight.

It was an expression of anticipation, approval, and waiting for a good show.

……

The girl galloped on her horse along the road leading to the town.

At this moment, she couldn't think of anything else, her mind was full of the lively and agile young dragon.

——Of course, she was not actually worried about the safety of the young dragon.

She was very clear about the power of the young dragon, and she also knew how capable her sworn brother was... It was no exaggeration to say that those two people could even move freely among thousands of troops, and the army formed by ordinary humans could not hurt them at all.

This is "extraordinary". No matter which country you are in, you will be a guest of honor.

However, even such a powerful existence has a "dilemma" that they are destined to be unable to escape.

"Tavern!"

Even with the ahoge on her head, Artoria knew where her eccentric brother would take her adorable little dragon.

Taverns, dancers, wine and women... Oh my God, is there anything more terrifying in this world than this?

"He'll be led astray, right? He'll definitely be led astray, right?"

In the girl's opinion, Kai must bear the main responsibility for this matter - but the young dragon is also responsible. At least it should never listen to the instigation of an unknown person and take the initiative to go to such a "dangerous" and "evil" place.

"When we get back, we must teach them a lesson... We absolutely must teach them a lesson!"

The girl gritted her teeth and swore in her heart that she must "correct" the personalities of this man and the dragon.

However, when the angry Altria came to the outside of the village and wanted to rush directly into the town and head towards the tavern.

"Wait a moment--"

Surprisingly.

The town, which usually had no one guarding it, had two more guards today.

Well, two old guards who are responsible for collecting the "city entry tax".

"Are you here to look for that young dragon as well?"

"Okay, hand over a gold coin and then go line up over there!"

"Charlie, are you senile? He is little Arthur, Sir Kay's younger brother!"

"That's why he charges one gold coin. Everyone else charges one copper coin—that's what Sir Kay specifically instructed."

"!!!"

Difficulty!

There is no doubt that this is deliberately making things difficult!

The clever knight seemed to have anticipated that his sister would come and "call for justice." So he found two elderly men in advance and blocked Artoria outside the village.

But under normal circumstances, facing these two old men, Artoria would really be helpless.

She, who strictly adheres to the "Chivalry", would never attack an unarmed person, let alone these two elderly people - she would never do such an act that goes against the ethics of chivalry.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, even if she knew she would suffer a loss, Altria would obediently turn her horse around, run back home to borrow a gold coin from her adoptive father, and then run back to pay the tax.

——It took most of the day to go back and forth.

"No, we can't delay any longer."

"The longer you delay, the more likely it is to go wrong!"

Altria looked anxiously into the distance, listening to the noise coming from the town.

She looked at the two old men who were standing in front of her and refusing to let her pass.

"Click——"

It was as if a string had snapped.

This "Arthur", who is usually calm and steady, and always polite and humble to everyone, suddenly seemed like a different person.

She didn't even say anything, she just frowned and glared.

The two old men who were blocking the road were like being struck by a spell. They were instantly stunned and stood still, unable to move at all.

"Sorry."

Before the girl finished her words, her body had already turned into a shadow.

"But this time, I was really anxious."

……

The girl successfully broke through the guards and continued running towards the town center.

But after walking for a while, she couldn't run anymore.

Altria was somewhat horrified to discover that this village, which was not actually prosperous, had suddenly poured in so many people... five times, no, ten times! Ten times more people than usual were crammed into the not-so-wide streets, leaving no room to squeeze in.

"Where do all these people come from?!"

Artoria looked at these excited and even a little crazy people - some of them were waving flags in their hands, and Artoria recognized that they were nobles from other kingdoms.

"Why are other kingdoms involved?"

Artoria didn't understand. It was just a baby dragon. Was it necessary to be so crazy?

Well, that’s really the case.

If you think about it carefully, it's possible that those so-called warriors would travel thousands of miles to this unknown village just to witness the heroic appearance of a real dragon.

——However, this is definitely not the reason why these people are so fanatical, even to the point of losing their minds.

There must be some other factors hidden in this... No, it's the smell of a trap. It seems that someone has set up a trap specifically for these people, using this young dragon as bait to attract these warriors from various countries.

The identity and purpose of this person who set up the game is——

"Hey, little Arthur, are you here to draw your sword too?"

Sword? What sword?

"A legendary magician once said that only the destined King of Britain could pull out the holy sword embedded in the stone. And only the bearer of that holy sword could gain the young dragon's recognition, become its true partner, and save Britain together."

"..."

Damn Merlin!

Chapter 22 Cheers to the birth of the king!

Altria suddenly wasn't so anxious anymore.

"A farce."

This was the conclusion she came to after gaining a general understanding of the whole situation.

If she still couldn't see the trick at this point, then all her years of "kingly education" would have been in vain, and she would have been the "destined king of Britain" in vain.

"Brother Kai's finding Xiaolong might have been an accident, and bringing Xiaolong to this town could be considered his nature...but the things that happened after that were all the work of that magician."

"Tsk, a living dragon, what a prestigious title."

Altria curled her lips.

She understood Merlin's intention - if she could pull out the so-called "Sword of the King" in front of so many knights and bring the little dragon home naturally, then her status in the hearts of all the British would definitely rise to a very high level.

This will definitely be good for her future.

To put it bluntly, being King Uther's illegitimate child was not a glorious thing, and it wasn't a plus for her at all—but if she could truly "tame" a dragon, even a young one, the other knights would vindicate her, saying she was "worthy of being a royal with red dragon blood flowing through her veins," a "true Red Dragon King"!

In this way, she almost unimpededly gained the reputation of "righteousness" and became the spiritual leader of all Britons in the fight against the humble King Vortigern.

This is almost the flattest and smoothest road.

Even Artoria herself admitted that the plot was so perfectly designed—she didn't even need to do anything. She only needed to pull out the holy sword that only she could pull out, and then send the little dragon, who seemed to have grown tired of playing, home, and she would easily get everything.

But, but——

"Why go to that extent?"