After informing Ritsuka and the others that he was heading to Kutha, Naoki and Merlin set off.
Considering the distance between Uruk and Kutha, walking might take a full day. Moreover, since Naoki and Merlin departed in the late afternoon, they would likely arrive around midday the next day.
Thus, when night fell, the two decided to find a large tree by the roadside, set up a simple camp and tent beneath it to spend the night, and continue their journey to Kutha at dawn.
According to Uruk's records, Kutha was a place connected to the Underworld. If they went there at night, they might accidentally stray into the Underworld, and returning would be troublesome.
*CRACKLE…!*
The campfire burned quietly, letting out soft crackling sounds one by one in the silent night.
Naoki and Merlin sat on opposite sides of the fire.
After scooping a bowl of creamy mushroom soup from the pot hanging over the campfire and taking a sip, Merlin let out a satisfied hum: "Mmm~~~ Your cooking is delicious, Natsukawa. My decision to camp with you was absolutely right."
"Glad you like it. By the way, don't Incubi not need to eat? You and Merry feed on human dreams and emotions."
"True, that's generally the case, but I won't refuse tasty food either, since it makes me happy too." Merlin laughed. "Delicious food can make people smile, right?"
Naoki agreed with that.
After taking a sip of his own soup, Naoki asked: "Alright, it's time for you to talk. This afternoon, you kept dodging the topic. What exactly did you want to say about Merry and Lia?"
Since Merlin had said he wanted to discuss something slowly on the road, Naoki had agreed to walk to Kutha with him. But during the afternoon journey, Merlin only talked about irrelevant things.
Merlin gave a faint smile: "Well… Fair enough, let me think. First, let's talk about Lia—this is more important."
"Straight to the point—when are you planning to marry my Lia?"
"POOF—!"
Naoki spat his soup right onto Merlin's head.
What else could he do? The words Merlin suddenly blurted out were just too shocking.
Wiping the soup from the corner of his mouth, Naoki frowned and asked: "Why are you suddenly asking this? Who said I was going to marry Lia?"
"Because you said you liked Lia." Merlin said, wiping the soup off his face. "When you confessed your love to that samurai in the Tokyo Singularity, you also said you had feelings for Lia. We in Avalon were actually watching the live broadcast."
(Oh, that was during the fight with Souji.)
Understanding the context, Naoki calmed down: "You really love spying."
"It's called enjoying a good story. After all, my only hobby is Observing the Present." Merlin laughed. "So, when exactly? I could go to the trouble of playing Lia's father, you know."
(If you did that, Lia would definitely kill you first.)
Naoki sighed softly: "Now's not the time to talk about this… And honestly, even though I love Lia just as much as I love Merry, there's really nothing between me and Lia. We've been good friends for ten years. Suddenly jumping to marriage talk is just inappropriate."
"Besides, I don't know what Lia's intentions are. Your meddling in other people's love affairs is pretty bad behavior."
(Hmm… So that's how Natsukawa is. Even if he likes someone, he won't push if the other party isn't willing. He's the type who prefers to be approached first.)
Except with Merry, Naoki was passive in other situations, pure as wood in matters of romance—outwardly passive but inwardly aggressive.
"Speaking of which, why did you suddenly bring this up?"
"Because it's pretty interesting." Merlin laughed. "I'm an Incubus; fundamentally, I don't have human emotions like you do. Though I keep trying to understand them, I ultimately can't—Lia is the one exception."
Artoria was someone Merlin watched grow up from childhood. He considered himself half a father to her. Initially, his attitude toward Artoria was nothing special; he just saw her as a tool for his amusement.
But when Artoria died, he genuinely felt regret from the bottom of his heart.
"I feel deep guilt toward Lia, that's the truth. And driven by that feeling… I hope she can have a better ending. Honestly, it's like a parent hoping their child lives a better life."
Artoria had been in the real world for ten years.
During those ten years, Naoki had continuously cared for her, providing her shelter, satisfying her enormous appetite, teaching her how to survive in the modern world… and freeing her from her desire to save Great Britain.
Honestly, seeing the Knight King let go of all her burdens and live carefree in the modern world deepened Merlin's sense of guilt. The old him could only watch her head toward destruction without doing anything… He really deserved a hard slap.
"So, can I ask you to take care of Lia, Natsukawa? Also, it seems she likes you too. She was so shy her face turned red when she heard you liked her, and she asked me how she should respond to you~~~"
"Of course, that's no problem." Naoki smiled and nodded. "I've been taking care of her for ten years; there's no harm in continuing to do so. Besides, she's still my Servant for now. It's only right that I take care of her."
"As for the marriage you mentioned… Let's talk about it after the Human Order Incineration is resolved. I still have a lot of unresolved issues in that regard. I plan to settle them all at once later."
(Ah, it must be those women…)
Merlin gave a sly smile: "As someone more experienced, I must warn you, Natsukawa—getting too close to multiple women makes it easy to get chopped up, or at the very least, jailed for women's calculations, like me."
"You think I'm like you? I'm not like you, fooling around everywhere."
Naoki, who considered himself a loyal, good man, declared that he was absolutely not on the same wavelength as the lecherous Merlin.
"Alright, Lia's matter is settled. Now what about Merry? What's going on with her?"
"Ah~~~ Yeah, it might just be my speculation."
Merlin pointed at himself: "As you know, I left her before Lia reached her end. My other self seems to have done the same, leaving her before Arthur Pendragon reached his end. I think my reasons and his were similar."
"Even though you and she are now practically a married couple, maybe one day, she'll suddenly leave you, just like she and I did before."
Perhaps before Naoki faces a certain powerful enemy, or before his potential runs out—if Merry feels she can no longer find amusement in Naoki, she'll definitely make the decision to leave.
She's absolutely capable of that.
Merlin didn't like seeing bad, tragic endings. If possible, he still hoped to see Naoki reach a happy and successful conclusion, especially since he was the one who freed Artoria. Merlin didn't want his life to end shrouded in darkness.
"The possibility of Merry leaving? It's not impossible. But even if she leaves, I'll catch her again."
Naoki laughed: "No matter where she escapes to, even if she flees across countless parallel worlds, even if she runs to the edge of the universe, I'll catch her back to warm my bed."
"No, more accurately—if she dares to run, I'll break her legs."
"Is that so… Good."
Merlin gave a wry smile, opening his palm where a flower bloomed.
"For these past ten years, I've been watching your journey. I'll keep watching you in the future. I truly hope the ending you reach will be beautiful, Natsukawa."