Emrys had never really understood how the inhabitants of Ulster could make certain decisions so easily.
When he had left the region a few days earlier, his main objective had been to continue searching for people still living in isolated villages or communities threatened by the conflicts between the various factions.
The situation outside remained chaotic.
Even though Ulster had become a relatively peaceful refuge, that did not mean the rest of Britannia had become peaceful as well.
Villages continued to suffer the consequences of the conflicts. Some had been abandoned after being attacked. Others were barely surviving, their inhabitants preferring to remain hidden rather than risk encountering hostile groups.
So Emrys had continued his work.
Finding survivors.
Protecting them.
Then offering them the opportunity to join Ulster.
Those who wished to remain in their villages were free to do so. Those who preferred to join Ulster were welcomed.
It had become a habit.
Emrys appeared.
He dealt with the problem.
Then he left.
Sometimes, he did not even need to fight.
His Observation Haki allowed him to detect hostile individuals long before they could become a threat. Whenever a group of bandits or soldiers attempted to approach a community he had just encountered, Emrys only had to appear before them, clad in his armor and mask, and his reputation alone was enough to make them flee.
He did not need to massacre anyone.
And when his reputation and intimidation were not enough...
Well, his enemies eventually understood that they had chosen the wrong target.
This work took time.
A lot of time.
And while Emrys traveled through the lands outside, Ulster continued to live without him.
That was precisely what had given rise to a problem he had absolutely not been informed about.
Well...
Not exactly.
Emrys was perfectly aware of it. After all, there was nothing inside Unlimited Blade Works that he could not know about.
He had simply decided not to intervene.
---
In a place that could be called the inside of Emrys, men were carrying enormous blocks of stone.
Dozens of others were digging the ground.
Some had already begun laying the foundations.
Others were transporting wood.
Carts were constantly coming and going, leaving and entering Unlimited Blade Works without interruption.
The sound of tools echoed throughout the area.
And in the middle of all this activity, a middle-aged man watched the construction with a satisfied expression.
"A little further to the right."
The men moved the block.
"No, not that much. Move it back slightly."
The block was moved again.
The man crossed his arms.
"That's it. Perfect."
The man wiped his forehead before going back to fetch another stone.
Beside him were Rou and several other inhabitants, who were also watching the construction.
"Do you really think he'll like it?"
Rou turned his head.
"Of course."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
The inhabitants looked at him.
Rou shrugged.
"But it's not like that's going to stop us."
Silence.
Then several people nodded.
That was indeed how they thought.
Emrys had saved their people.
He had built a community that, over time, had become large enough to be called a kingdom.
And yet, he still lived in a surprisingly simple manner.
He had not asked for a palace.
He had not asked for a throne.
He had not even asked for an official residence.
He simply continued to live as he always had.
For the inhabitants of Ulster, that was not enough.
So they had made a decision.
Since Emrys refused to build something for himself...
They would do it for him.
And they had begun by choosing a location.
In front of the Hill of Swords.
The area was large enough to accommodate an imposing structure while remaining close to the center of Ulster.
More importantly, it offered a magnificent view of the surrounding lands.
It was exactly what they wanted.
A castle worthy of their kingdom.
And above all...
A castle worthy of the man they considered their king.
---
Meanwhile, Emrys continued his journey.
He traveled through the wilderness, sometimes accompanied by a few inhabitants he had just met.
Whenever he found a village, he spoke with its representatives.
He explained the situation.
He told them about Ulster.
He guaranteed their safety if they decided to come.
And gradually, the number of people joining his kingdom continued to increase.
It should have been an exhausting task.
Yet Emrys did not complain.
He had understood long ago that he could not save everyone.
But he could at least offer an opportunity to those who crossed his path.
And while he continued his journey...
He sensed something.
A change within the environment of his Unlimited Blade Works.
Emrys slowed down.
He was standing in the middle of a plain.
The wind gently moved his clothes.
He remained still for a few seconds.
Then he concentrated.
Unlimited Blade Works was not simply a storage space for weapons.
For Emrys, it was an area intimately connected to his existence.
Everything that happened within it could be perceived.
Movements.
Changes.
Presences.
And ever since he had begun transporting entire populations inside it, this perception had become even more natural.
He did not need to actively search.
He knew.
And right now...
He knew that something was being built.
Something enormous.
Emrys remained silent.
"..."
At first, he had thought it was an attack.
But no.
There was no hostile intent.
No particular agitation.
The inhabitants were simply...
Building something.
He mentally observed the scene for a few moments.
Foundations.
Walls.
Towers.
Stone.
A lot of stone.
Far too much stone.
Emrys opened his eyes.
"What the hell are those idiots doing now?"
He had no answer.
But he was not particularly worried.
So he continued on his way.
He could have immediately returned to Ulster, but he saw no reason to.
If they had decided to build something, they probably had a reason.
And as long as it didn't put anyone in danger...
They could do whatever they wanted.
---
Days passed.
Then weeks.
And the castle gradually began to take shape. Thanks to the giant, the construction was progressing immensely faster than normal.
The foundations gradually gave way to enormous stone walls.
Towers rose.
Staircases were built.
Rooms were furnished.
The inhabitants worked together.
The strongest carried the heaviest materials.
The craftsmen handled the parts requiring greater precision.
Even those who did not know how to do anything in particular contributed in one way or another.
Some prepared meals while others brought water, and still others took care of transporting the tools.
There was no single true master builder.
The construction had become a collective project.
---
When Emrys finally returned to Ulster, only a few weeks had passed.
He did not even need to reach the center of the kingdom to understand that something had changed.
He stopped on a hill.
Ulster stretched out before him.
The number of houses had increased.
The roads were now better maintained.
Fields had been established.
More shops continued to appear.
The population had continued to grow.
Nothing had changed too drastically from what he had left behind.
Except for one thing...
The enormous construction now dominated the landscape.
Emrys stared at the building.
Silence.
He already knew what it was.
But seeing the result with his own eyes was different.
An enormous castle stood in front of the Hill of Swords.
Its walls were so high that the hill itself could no longer be seen.
Its towers rose far above the surrounding buildings.
Wide staircases led to the main entrance.
Banners bearing the symbol of Ulster fluttered from the tops of the towers.
Emrys remained motionless.
"..."
Rou arrived a few moments later.
He stopped beside him.
"Welcome, Your Majesty."
Emrys did not answer.
Rou looked at the castle.
Then at Emrys.
Then at the castle again.
"It's not bad, huh?"
"..."
"We had a few problems during construction."
"I imagine."
"But in the end, everything went well."
Emrys continued staring at the castle.
"What is that?"
Rou blinked.
"A castle."
"I can see that it's a castle."
"Then why did you ask?"
Emrys slowly turned his head toward him.
Rou smiled.
"The inhabitants decided to build you one."
"I figured."
"They wanted something that matched your status."
"When are they going to understand that I'm not a king?"
"But of course. Keep believing that. Maybe one day it'll actually come true."
"Brat."
Emrys looked at the construction again.
"...Fine."
Rou smiled in satisfaction.
"That's all?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"I don't know. You could be impressed."
"I am."
"It doesn't look like it."
"I'm not going to jump around because someone built me a house."
Rou burst out laughing.
"A house?"
"A big house."
"It's a castle."
"Whatever."
Emrys began walking.
Rou followed him.
"You're not even going to visit it?"
"I already did."
"What do you mean?"
"I used Structural Grasp on it."
Rou shook his head.
"That doesn't count as visiting."
Emrys did not answer.
He simply continued walking toward the center of Ulster.
He had learned long ago that trying to understand every decision the inhabitants made was pointless.
They sometimes did absurd things.
But those absurd things usually had good intentions behind them.
So he simply went along with it.
---
When Emrys finally reached the castle, a crowd was waiting for him.
There were inhabitants from every region of Ulster.
Old residents.
New arrivals.
Craftsmen.
Children.
Representatives from different communities.
Everyone was gathered in front of the entrance.
Emrys stopped.
"Why are you all here?"
No one answered immediately.
Then a man stepped forward.
"We wanted to welcome you back."
"I just returned."
"Exactly. Do you know many kingdoms that don't do much when their king returns from a journey?"
The man smiled.
"And we have something to ask you."
Emrys sighed inwardly.
That sentence never announced anything simple.
"What now?"
Another representative stepped forward.
"We built this castle for you."
"I know."
"We thought you should therefore give it a name."
Emrys looked at the castle.
Then at the crowd.
Then at the castle again.
He thought for a few seconds.
A name immediately came to mind.
A name he thought suited the kingdom's name quite well.
"Dun Scaith."
The crowd fell silent.
Then someone asked:
"Dun... Scaith?"
"Yes."
"That's it?"
Emrys nodded.
"Yeah."
He turned away.
"By the way, how many people came seeking asylum while I was away? You housed them all in the auxiliary camps, right?"
The crowd remained motionless for a few seconds.
Then several people began answering him at the same time.
Emrys looked at them.
"One person at a time."
Rou, standing behind him, smiled.
---
The years passed.
At first, no one really noticed the change.
Ulster continued to grow.
Villages became towns.
The roads were improved.
The fields expanded.
New buildings appeared.
Craftsmen from different regions began working together.
Families settled down.
Children were born.
There were even goddesses who had joined Ulster. There were a few skirmishes with the demons, but over time, they eventually came to at least tolerate one another.
Some of those who had joined Ulster at the very beginning eventually became elders themselves.
And Dun Scaith gradually became the clearest symbol of this evolution.
The castle that had once been built almost as a surprise for Emrys became the administrative heart of the kingdom.
Yet Emrys did not really change.
He continued to leave whenever he wanted.
He continued his search.
He returned regularly.
He observed.
He helped.
And whenever he was asked to make an important decision, he did so.
But he still refused to consider himself a king.
The inhabitants, however, had not changed their minds.
For them, it had never been a question of titles.
Emrys was the one who had created Ulster.
The one who had allowed their families to survive.
The one who had opened its doors to those who no longer had a home.
No matter how many times he repeated that he was not their king...
They would continue to call him one.
And over time, Emrys simply stopped correcting people every single time.
He had better things to do.
---
Twenty years passed.
The world changed.
So did Ulster.
And one evening, a silhouette stood at the top of Dun Scaith.
Emrys looked out over the kingdom.
The wind gently moved his clothes.
From here, he could see a large portion of Ulster.
Lights were beginning to appear in the streets.
The settlements stretched far beyond what he had known before.
Roads now connected the different regions.
Cultivated lands formed vast, orderly expanses.
Farther away, the buildings of the cities began lighting up one after another.
Ulster was no longer the small refuge he had created years ago.
It had become a true kingdom.
A living kingdom.
Emrys remained silent.
He stared for a long time.
He still remembered the first day.
His first arrival in Fondval and everything that had happened afterward.
He remembered the first arrival of a non-human clan inside Unlimited Blade Works and how difficult it had been to maintain cohesion.
He remembered how the villagers had started calling him king even though he denied it every time.
He remembered the time he had given the name Ulster.
And even the construction of Dun Scaith.
At the time, he had found it completely absurd.
Now...
He had to admit something.
He liked this place.
Perhaps more than he wanted to admit.
Emrys placed his hands on the cold stone of the battlement.
His gaze drifted into the distance.
Twenty years.
It had been more than twenty years since he had begun building this place.
Twenty years during which Ulster had grown.
Twenty years during which its inhabitants had built their own future.
Twenty years during which Emrys had unfortunately had to put his search on hold.
The search for his mother.
He had never given up.
But taking care of Ulster had made searching for her difficult.
Yet his perspective had changed.
He no longer looked at Ulster as simply a place where he had allowed people to live.
He now looked at something he had truly built.
Something that could continue to exist without him.
And that was precisely why he could finally consider leaving.
Emrys remained silent for a few more seconds.
He sighed.
A long sigh.
Then he murmured:
"...Maybe it's time to leave now."