Chapter 36: No One Can Surpass Its Love For Britain
"You're telling me to accept any nobles who come to pledge allegiance if the opportunity arises?"
In the land of extreme cold, the colossal White Dragon bowed its head before the young king, paying no heed to the fact that this youth had once been its chosen successor and was now its nominal greatest enemy.
Because whether as King Arthur or the Star Performer, those identities held no meaning now.
In Vortigern's view, the Noah before him possessed only one identity.
That of the Island, that of Britain itself!
Not like Uther or Morgan, who were but thieves making use of the Island's power, but the true will of this land!
He was the King of Britain—that went without saying.
For he was Britain itself!
Facing Vortigern's fervent gaze, Noah had grown somewhat accustomed to it, so he directly answered the dragon's question.
"Correct. Later, transform into human form and follow me in full plate armor, while leaving an incarnation here—if any nobles from the Southern Six Territories come to pledge allegiance to you, accept them and keep them."
Noah himself wasn't particularly skilled in political schemes.
But he had already witnessed the entire course of events through simulations.
These matters weren't originally handled by him, but by Morgan. The method he was employing now was an enhanced version of what Morgan had once used to deal with the nobles of the Southern Six Territories.
After all, even though Morgan was clever, connected to the Lady of the Lake, and possessed the Island's power... she still couldn't make Vortigern cooperate with her plans.
But Noah was different.
Noah adopted the general approach of Morgan's plan for dealing with the Southern Six Territories' nobles, then made some arrangements with Vortigern. Without needing particular skill in political maneuvering or clever strategies, the outcome was already evident.
It was like playing cards against the Southern Six Territories.
Not only were his opponents forced to show their hands, the dealer was on his side, he had another deck nearby to draw whatever cards he needed, and outside the game his people were pointing guns at his opponents' heads while surrounding the entire card table.
If he could still lose under such circumstances, it wouldn't be a matter of lacking political skill—it would simply be idiocy.
"Understood, I know what to do."
Vortigern expressed no doubt whatsoever about Noah's command.
But it did have some concerns about its own capabilities.
"That... what you said makes perfect sense, but I don't possess the ability to create duplicates, so..."
Vortigern trailed off at this point.
It understood clearly that since the Island had made such arrangements, the Island must have its own plans.
It only needed to appropriately voice the problem—as for the Island not having considered this?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
If anything actually went wrong, it must have misunderstood the Island's intentions. The Island could never be wrong!
Noah didn't know that Vortigern had already prepared excuses for any potential failures in its mind, but in this matter, he truly had alternative arrangements.
"Don't worry, I've considered that problem. First, go to sleep. I need to enter your dreams to find someone. You indeed lack the ability to create incarnations, but she possesses it."
"I understand."
Vortigern wasn't surprised that Noah had already made arrangements—in fact, it found this entirely expected.
Vortigern showed no resistance or hesitation whatsoever about Noah's request to sleep in his presence, completely unafraid that Noah might kill him while he slept... Or rather, from the moment Vortigern confirmed Noah was the Island, even if Noah ordered him to commit suicide, he would carry it out without the slightest hesitation!
Such was Vortigern's loyalty and devotion to the Island!
Under Noah's command, Vortigern quickly lay down and fell asleep.
Noah's eyes gleamed faintly as he watched Vortigern like this.
Before obtaining the "Will of Britain" designation, Noah lacked the ability to enter others' dreams. But after gaining this title, the range of things he could accomplish expanded dramatically.
With Vortigern offering no resistance, Noah directly entered his dreams.
Vortigern's dream was simple—just Britain Island, an immensely ancient, mysterious, and vast Britain Island.
Previously, Noah had been somewhat curious about how his simulated self had managed to find Mary.
After all, while he could now enter Vortigern's dreams, locating Mary who was hiding within them wouldn't be easy.
But now he understood.
Because Vortigern's dream contained only one Britain Island.
And since Noah was recognized by Vortigern as the Island's will, even within Vortigern's dream, he remained the Will of Britain.
Under these circumstances, finding Mary on Britain Island became—effortless.
With just a slight focus of his mind, Noah vanished from his spot.
When he reappeared, he stood by a stream in the forest. Beside the water, a small white creature seemed somewhat afraid of him. Upon realizing it had been discovered, it hid behind a rock, peering at him with pitiful eyes.
Had he not known this was Mary, Noah would have been completely fooled.
But knowing made all the difference.
He walked directly to Mary, seized her by the scruff of her neck—the very pivot of her fate—and lifted her up.
"Merlin... Never mind, I still can't connect you to that old trickster. I'll just call you Mary—Mary, drop the act. I need your help, and you need mine too, don't you?"
Hearing this, the little creature glanced around rather helplessly.
Only when she met Noah's eyes—seeing no hesitation or doubt, only absolute certainty as if he saw through everything—did she finally drop her disguise.
Then, in a radiance that seemed both pure white and iridescent, the small creature Noah held transformed into Mary's form.
Though Mary was larger than the little creature, her human form remained petite. Even after transforming back, Noah still held her by the scruff of her neck, exactly as before.
Though the distortion had granted her some affection for King Arthur from Manaka Sajyou, making this form not entirely unpleasant, being held by the scruff of her neck remained rather hard for her to accept.
After wriggling a few times and confirming she couldn't break free, she simply stared expressionlessly at Noah and spoke directly.
"...Though I don't know how you became aware of my existence, could you put me down so we can talk?"
"Of course."
Noah smiled as he set Mary down on the ground.
After all, he needed to properly explain the current situation to Mary.
He just hoped it wouldn't frighten her too much~
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