"Are you sure this plan of yours is going to work?"
"Shut up. You're lucky I haven't chopped your head off already. Now play your part properly."
In the spacious castle hall, Kay, wearing a cloak, shoved the tightly bound Merlin forward. He glanced at the numerous guards surrounding them and spoke in a low voice.
Beside him, Artoria, similarly cloaked to hide her appearance, silently observed their surroundings without a word.
"Alright, alright, I get it..."
Feeling the edge of a sword pressed against his back, Merlin nodded helplessly.
Just then, the crisp sound of footsteps echoed from a distance, drawing nearer.
Before long, a golden-haired girl, holding the hem of her skirt with both hands, hurried into the hall. From her rushed breathing and the slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, it was clear she was anxious.
However, upon entering the hall, she deliberately slowed her pace, straightened her appearance, and walked up to Merlin with elegant steps, her face stern.
"Hmph. You still have the nerve to come back and see me?"
"Haha, what are you saying, Eunice? I love you so much, how could I bear to leave you?"
Faced with the girl's resentful gaze, Merlin reflexively put on a gentle, sincere smile and whispered sweet nothings.
"Th-Then why did you just disappear this morning without leaving a single message for me?"
"That's because, to commemorate our night together, I was so eager to prepare a gift for you that I didn't have time to tell you. I just never thought you would misunderstand me..."
Merlin put on a heartbroken expression, causing the girl, who had been full of resentment, to hesitate.
"R-Really? You're not lying to me?"
"Of course not. If you don't believe me, you can have this knight untie me so I can take out the gift."
Staring at Merlin's face, which showed no trace of falsehood, the girl froze for a moment. Then, without further hesitation, she snapped at Kay.
"Hey, what are you standing there for? Untie him for me!"
"Tsk."
Kay turned his face away and clicked his tongue, reluctantly cutting the ropes on Merlin with his sword. Once freed, Merlin took out a wildflower from his robes—one that seemed to have been casually picked from the roadside just a few minutes ago—and presented it to the girl.
"See, this is the gift I so carefully prepared for you. Do you like it, Eunice?"
"So what you said was true? I'm sorry, I misunderstood you..."
"It's alright, as long as you're happy."
"Ooh... Thank you, 'Kay'."
Glancing at the escalating love comedy beside him, and at the real Kay, whose face was so dark with rage he looked like he was about to start swinging, Artoria discreetly backed away into a corner of the hall, as if everyone had forgotten her existence.
After subtly shooting a few glances at Kay, who was practically shaking with anger, Artoria tiptoed out of the hall.
The reason no one noticed her was that Merlin had placed an illusion on her before they arrived, one that weakened her presence. Of course, just in case, her and Kay's appearances had also been slightly altered.
—Where on earth are they keeping En...?
Worry and anxiety flashed through her heart as Artoria dodged patrols, searching the castle aimlessly for the boy.
Just as she was passing a corner, the sound of patrols came from the front, back, and left simultaneously. Her expression changed, and she instinctively ducked into the area on her right.
Only after entering did Artoria realize she was in a small bathhouse, clearly a place for the castle's master and their family.
"Who's there?"
A young and familiar voice came through the steam. Artoria froze, subconsciously looking in the direction of the sound and exclaiming.
"En?!"
"Is that you, Sister? Why are you here?"
Aozaki Rin lowered the broken sword in his hand and sighed in relief. He had thought it was that group of maids again, who kept insisting on helping him bathe, which had made him quite tense.
Thankfully, it was someone he knew.
However, Artoria did not immediately answer the boy's question.
She looked at the boy before her, who was hastily dressed in only an inner shirt and trousers. The loose-fitting clothes, not yet fully buttoned, had slipped slightly, revealing a patch of fair skin on his shoulder and a delicate collarbone. His black hair was damp with moisture.
And he was tilting his head, facing her with a pair of blank, unfocused eyes.
Artoria blinked as if stunned, only coming back to her senses after several seconds. She quickly averted her gaze and said.
"...Sir Kay and I came here specifically to rescue you. Anyway, get dressed first. We're leaving right now."
"I understand. I'll get ready right away."
Hearing her words, Aozaki Rin immediately deduced that his brother and Merlin must be distracting the guards elsewhere in the castle while his sister had come to find him.
So he wasted no time, quickly changing into a set of clothes and, with the broken sword at his waist, came to stand beside Artoria, who seemed to have her back turned to him.
"Alright, let's go, Sister. But will it be okay to just walk out?"
"Ahem, don't worry. Merlin put an illusion on me. As long as you hide under my cloak and we try not to draw attention, we should be able to slip past everyone's sight."
Seeing that the boy was finally fully and properly dressed, Artoria breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason, a subtle sense of regret flashed through her, a strange feeling she couldn't quite place.
She didn't dwell on it. Given the tense situation, she hid the boy under her cloak, peeked out to make sure no one was outside the bathhouse, and then carefully moved with the boy toward the castle exit.
But they hadn't gotten far before several patrols spotted them almost simultaneously. They swarmed forward, surrounding them.
"Wait! Why were we discovered? Could it be... has the illusion worn off?!"
Looking at the surrounding guards, Artoria said in disbelief. As if realizing something, her expression changed.
The moment they were surrounded, Aozaki Rin had already drawn the broken sword from his waist.
Meanwhile, back in the castle hall.
"So you're still planning to abandon me, 'Kay'?"
"How could I? Didn't I say I have to take care of some things with my companions? When it's over, I'll definitely come back for you, Eunice."
"Heh, is that so? Do you think I'm that easy to fool? I gave you a chance, 'Kay'. Since you chose this, don't blame me for being impolite."
The golden-haired girl, Eunice, glared at Merlin as if suppressing her anger. Then, as if noticing something, she looked at the real Kay standing beside Merlin, and her brow furrowed immediately.
"Wait a minute, aren't you the guy I saw at the inn this morning...?"
"Aha! So you really are a group! And you ganged up to lie to me! Men, seize these two bastards! I'm going to have them castrated!"
Startled by the girl's words, Merlin instinctively covered a certain part of his body. Kay, on the other hand, froze for a second before grabbing Merlin by the collar and demanding angrily.
"What's going on!? What about your illusion!?"
"Er, it seems I misspoken the incantation earlier and accidentally made it a timed spell... Ehe!"
"Ehe your head! You idiot!"
Kay kicked Merlin squarely in the rear, sending him flying. But even as angry as he was, he had to force himself to calm down. The guards in the hall had already closed in, and from their hostile glares, it was clear they fully intended to carry out the girl's order.
"This is going to be a bit of a headache..."
Kay's face darkened as he drew his sword, his eyes scanning the surrounding guards warily.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle this many people, but escaping unscathed would be difficult for him, having only recently become a full-fledged knight. What's more, he had a hate-magnet, white-haired burden with him.
I hope Artoria and En have already made it out safely...
Just as he was thinking this, at the very moment the guards were about to charge, the great doors of the castle hall, which had been closed, were suddenly blown open as if struck by a massive force.
With a deafening "BOOM!", the doors were blasted inward, shattering into pieces.
Rubble and dust flew through the air.
In the sight of everyone in the hall, dozens of soldiers, holding shattered spears, stumbled backward in terror. Yet, bound by their duty, they dared not break the encirclement, retreating into the hall in a strange formation. When the dust finally settled, everyone could see the figure at the center of the circle of soldiers: a pure-white knight-princess in skirted armor.
"Lily?!"
Not calling out his sister's real name but her travel alias, Kay stared in astonishment at the girl holding the sheathed Sword in the Stone. He could hardly believe his sister possessed such power to make these soldiers so terrified.
But his assessment was quickly overturned.
While the soldiers were indeed afraid of the knightly girl who had shattered the stone doors with a single blow, they were clearly more afraid of someone else.
—Tap.
The crisp sound of a footstep came from behind Artoria.
From within the settling dust, Aozaki Rin walked forward, step by step, holding his broken sword.
And with every step he took, the soldiers who had been surrounding him took a step back in unison, as if what was approaching them was not a boy, but something else entirely.
"Hey! What are you all doing? Seize them at once!"
Snapping out of her stupor, the noble girl Eunice immediately ordered her guards to act.
However, the soldiers who had been surrounding Aozaki Rin and Artoria seemed to be afraid of something and hesitated to advance.
As for the guards inside the hall, after hearing the girl's repeated command, they hesitated for a moment before finally choosing to charge, thrusting their spears toward the boy, intending to pin him down!
But what happened next was unbelievable.
Aozaki Rin did not dodge the spears coming at him. He took a step forward and raised his broken blade.
In the next instant, a dazzling line of white light flashed through the air!
Clink, clink, clink...
The sound of neatly severed metal spearheads falling to the ground echoed in unison, instantly silencing the entire hall.
"I don't wish to harm anyone. If it's alright, could you let us leave?"
Raising the broken sword in his hand and pointing it at the golden-haired girl, the boy lifted his unfocused eyes. A mysterious pattern seemed to glow within his golden pupils.
—One swing, severing steel.
"My lady..."
Clearly recognizing how dangerous the boy was, an older captain of the guards stood beside Eunice and advised her softly.
The girl stared at the boy for a moment, then at Merlin, who was just now getting up from the ground where he'd been playing dead. She gritted her teeth and said resentfully.
"Fine! I'll let you go! But you remember this, I hope you don't fall into my hands in the future, Kay!"
The girl's hateful words made Kay's face instantly darken, and a sudden urge to kill someone surged within him.
Learning that they were being let go, Aozaki Rin also breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his broken sword and offered a sincere thanks.
"Thank you."
Only then did he walk over to Artoria's side and, following his sister's lead, leave the castle with the other two.
And so, the party of four finally brought the curtain down on this farce.