Tap. Tap.
"Tsk!"
Hearing the footsteps, Morgan said irritably, "Arthur! I've told you so many times already—don't concern yourself so much with these things. As long as your strength is great enough, you can conquer everything. You're far too softhearted!"
"Hahaha."
Standing beside his elder sister, Arthur didn't answer her directly. Instead, he chuckled and asked, "Big Sister, when did you start referring to yourself like that?"
Morgan replied, "What? Isn't it good? I think this form of address suits me just fine."
Arthur smiled and nodded. "People do change. But Britannia is facing an opportunity. If we succeed, the gains will be enormous. Besides, even if I leave Britannia, with you and Second Sister here, nothing will go wrong."
When it came to his two elder sisters—
his eldest and second sister—
Arthur had absolute confidence.
To be honest, the Pendragon family was full of monsters. Every single one of them was terrifying in their own way. Arthur had no doubt whatsoever that there would be no problems.
"Hmph!"
Morgan snorted proudly. "Isn't that obvious? As long as I'm here in Britannia, how could anything happen?"
Then, after glancing at Arthur, she added unhappily, "Still, you'd better be careful. Don't go and get yourself killed. That would be troublesome. The people of Britannia are loyal only to you."
Arthur smiled. "Big Sister, don't worry. Even if I died, there are others who could inherit the throne. In any case, it definitely wouldn't be your turn."
The moment she heard that, Morgan immediately flared up.
"What's that supposed to mean? Am I not suitable for it?"
Arthur looked at her and said nothing.
Honestly—whether she was suitable or not, he knew perfectly well. In this regard, Morgan le Fay was simply hopeless. Aside from fighting, she'd just sprawl somewhere and do nothing. That was the truth of the matter.
Shaking his head silently, Arthur chose to answer with nothing more than a smile.
"Bastard!"
"Arthur!"
Morgan roared in fury, her golden hair practically flying with rage. "Arthur! Get out of here!"
"Alright, alright."
Still smiling, Arthur turned to leave, but he spoke seriously as he did so:
"Big Sister, I'm leaving Britannia in your hands. This time will be the most dangerous period. But as long as we succeed this time, Britannia will enter a golden age."
"And my ambitions… will be realized step by step."
Clenching one fist, Arthur's eyes shone with greed and madness. He was nothing like that perfect, holy figure from legend. Arthur was far more like a real person—deeply caring toward his people, but utterly ruthless toward outsiders.
"Hmph."
Morgan merely snorted and said nothing more.
Even without a direct answer, Arthur already knew what that meant. Smiling, he left. With his elder sister guarding Britannia, there would be no problem.
"That brat…"
After Arthur left, Morgan's lips curled into a smile. She murmured softly, "That kind of brat is a real human being. Arthur… everything really has changed."
That smile of hers was warm and satisfied. So much had changed. Everything had been overturned.
...
Tap. Tap.
Under the cover of night, Arthur walked into a forest surrounding a quiet lake and slowly came to a stop, staring at its tranquil waters.
Lamorak leaned against a large tree at the edge of the forest, looking dazed as usual. It made him seem oddly adorable.
Splash…
As the lake water rippled, a figure gradually emerged from it. She blinked and smiled warmly.
"Arthur, you came."
Arthur sat down by the lakeside and said gently, "Second Sister, I'm preparing to leave Britannia to deal with something. While I'm gone, I'll have to leave Britannia in your hands and Big Sister's."
The woman stepped out of the lake, her face full of warmth and softness.
"If it's something important, then go handle it. Leave Britannia to me."
Arthur blinked, then asked, "Second Sister, why have you changed the way you refer to yourself too?"
"Hehehe~"
The woman laughed softly. "I think it suits me. Arthur, don't you agree?"
Arthur thought about it for a moment. Big Sister's pride and Second Sister's gentleness—yes, that way of speaking did suit them both.
Thinking that, he nodded. "It suits both of you."
Truthfully, Arthur figured it was best to flatter both of them a bit. After all, his eldest sister was absolutely the type to secretly spy on things from somewhere nearby, and praising her was the safest option.
Otherwise, who knew what that woman might do?
Arthur knew his two sisters very, very well.
"Haha."
Shaking her head lightly, his second sister said warmly, "Arthur, you've become more real. And that's a good thing. A person should be more real."
Arthur nodded. "Yes… I do feel more real. But… am I still myself?"
By the end, his voice had grown very soft, almost like a whisper.
Was he really still himself?
That was a source of deep confusion and uncertainty for Arthur. He had his suspicions, but those suspicions were too strange to easily accept.
He did not know whether what he felt was real. It certainly seemed real… yet his memories would not lie to him either.
All in all, Arthur was caught in a kind of haze.
"Hehe~"
The woman gently embraced him and whispered softly, "Arthur, don't be too lost. I understand your confusion. So just keep walking forward step by step. As your bloodline awakens, as they return, as you continue to grow, you'll gradually understand that everything has long since been engraved upon you. You've simply been waiting to discover it yourself."
"…."
Hearing her words, Arthur fell briefly into silence.
But—
Arthur had risen from nothing and walked all the way to where he stood now. Though the system had helped awaken his Red Dragon bloodline, he was still a strong-willed man in his own right.
A moment later, he had already recovered his calm.
"Second Sister, don't worry. I'm not that fragile."
"Then…"
"I'll leave Britannia to you and Big Sister."
The woman replied gently, "Arthur, Britannia is our shared home. There's no need to speak of trouble."
"Mm."
Arthur stood, then turned and left.
As he departed, the woman murmured softly, "Arthur is gradually recovering."
"Yes."
Morgan appeared from behind a giant tree and said flatly, "That's a good thing. Arthur is finally beginning to recover. The memories of his three lives are starting to merge. Well… it's finally about to succeed."
"Yes."
The woman smiled and nodded.
The two women exchanged a knowing smile. Their faces looked remarkably alike, and soon the place returned to silence.
Moonlight once again blanketed everything, and all was calm.
Arthur departed with Lamorak.
Once?
Now?
Past?
None of it mattered.
Arthur no longer cared.
He was Arthur Pendragon.
Many people might think that as a transmigrator, one ought to care deeply about one's previous life.
But the truth was—
when a person lives through enough, the past gradually grows blurry.
Arthur had been an orphan in his previous life. And in this life, everything he had experienced had gradually blurred those old memories even further.
His eyes were sharp.
Everything else was already set in motion. So there was no meaning in dwelling on it.
He would keep growing.
He would keep changing.
And in the future, everything would be placed beneath his feet.
---
Gurgle, gurgle…
A vessel was steadily making its way toward Fish-Man Island.
A closer look revealed it to be a small submarine, marked with Britannia's emblem—the roaring dragon that represented Britannia's authority.
With a master shipwright like Tom among them, building submarines was hardly a problem.
Of course, building massive submarines capable of carrying over a hundred people was another matter entirely. That level of vessel was highly specialized.
After all, a submarine of that scale would make travel between the New World and the Grand Line vastly easier.
Precisely because of that, no such advanced submarine had yet been successfully developed.
Arthur did not know all the details, but according to Tom, it required a special kind of steel and an equally special power source to drive it.
In short—
this was extraordinarily difficult.
Even a genius like Vegapunk alone wouldn't be enough. It would likely require the combined talents of both Vegapunk and Tom to produce something on that level.
In any case—
this smaller submarine was now heading straight for Fish-Man Island.
Gurgle, gurgle…
"Hahaha!"
A young woman clad in knight's armor, with long grayish-white hair, wore a bright and beautiful smile as she said with delight, "How wonderful. Fish-Man Island… I wonder just how beautiful it really is."
"Lady Bors!"
Standing beside her was a Fish-Man, who earnestly explained, "Fish-Man Island is truly beautiful. And the mermaids there are incredibly lovely too."
"But…"
His voice turned reverent.
"It is because of His Majesty's prestige, and Sir Gawain's guardianship, that Fish-Man Island enjoys such peace."
"Hahaha!"
Bors laughed brightly. "I know, I know! His Majesty and Sir Gawain are both absolutely wonderful!"
"Hehehe~"
She seemed easygoing and ordinary, almost like a normal person.
The Three Grail Knights—
Galahad, Bors, and Percival.
The three of them had once sought the Holy Grail together. In the end, Galahad attained the Grail and returned it to Heaven, while Percival inherited Galahad's achievement and became king.
As for Bors?
From beginning to end, he had always seemed like an ordinary person.
Yes—
in Bors's own eyes, he was just a common person.
He accompanied the others in the search for the Holy Grail, witnessed it all, and then told that story.
That was Bors's role.
And because of that—
Bors was known as the Mundane Knight.
Compared to the grand and glittering titles of the others, Bors's title sounded almost plain.
But often, the simpler a title is, the more special it truly is.
Bors was exactly that kind of person.
As Lancelot's nephew, he seemed not to have inherited any of Lancelot's perfection. He seemed, instead, like nothing more than an ordinary person.
But—
could an ordinary person become one of the Round Table Knights?
Could an ordinary person restore the Holy Sword of Flame after it had been broken?
Of course not.
Bors merely regarded himself as ordinary. In truth, anyone who could become a seated member of the Round Table was never ordinary.
But Bors did not care about lofty status.
To him, it was enough to remain an ordinary person—
to witness so many things, to protect the king, as an ordinary person.
That was enough.
That was Bors.
Knight of the Round Table: Secular Knight — Bors!
------------------------------------
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