Upon hearing about the kingdom's current condition from Arthur, Emery could already guess why King Uther Pendragon was still so fixated on the prospect of making Gwen a suitor.
Gwen might have lost her kingdom, but for the most part, she still had support from both her people and the nobles.
If Arthur married her, this time, Logress and Lioness wouldn't be separated kingdoms anymore and the name "Lioness" itself would become obsolete. The kingdom that remained would simply be an upgraded version of Logress, now with expanded territories and more citizens to use as manpower.
With the situation they were currently facing, it did seem like a quick and convenient solution.
A few seconds of silence hung in the air after Arthur finished his summary of the kingdom's circumstances. He then quickly added,
"Well, I guess marriage is no longer an option."
"Obviously," Gwen snapped.
"Nevertheless, I hope you two would still be willing to help."
Afterwards, Arthur began to explain how the nobles were holding up in such precarious conditions.
The Cantiaci might have defeated the Lioness kingdom, but their attempts to control the Lioness land were met with a lot of difficulties. The main reason behind this was simple: the person who held the rights to most of that land and had the ability to connect them, Lord Fantumar, had been killed in the battle.
Hence the reason why the new nobles had no real leader who they could really trust within the Cantiaci royalty.
These issues were further exacerbated with the newfound discrimination from the victorious Cantiaci citizens and the previous Lioness citizens. This prejudice was most apparent in the fields of trade and security.
At first, it was only the lower ranking nobles who rejected the invaders, but now, after a few more months, the high rank nobles joined the fray as well.
"Actually, much of this issue was further inflamed by one family," Arthur stated.
Gwen furrowed her brows. "Which one?"
"The Fantumars. The young noble Abe Fantumar took his father's mantle and gathered the high rank nobles that worked with his father in the past, but this time to convince them to oppose the Cantiaci government."
Hearing Abe's name was certainly a surprise for Emery. Although he never liked him, he did warn Emery about the princess' life being in danger. He felt grateful for that, at the very least.
Arthur's gaze then shifted in Gwen's direction. "Ultimately, the young Fantumar was one of the most vocal about you coming on board with this plan, of course, there are some other nobles who still remain very loyal to your family."
List off their noble's names start being poured by Arthur, and Emery could see how much this moved Gwen. The more names Arthur mentioned, the more Gwen's eyes shone.
"So here is what I thought," Arthur then said, beginning to carve out his plan. "As marriage is not an option, I wish you would come and help me convince them to support Logress. What do you think? I really believe we could help a lot of people by doing this."
Arthur then requested Gwen's presence in a meeting with these very nobles, reminding her that setting this up could take a few weeks.
"I really believe this way you could really help both Logress and your people" He looked expectantly at the two of them. "What do you think?"
Emery had been quiet, hands clasped together, as he analyzed the situation that was being explained to him. It appeared Gwen was emotionally moved and her body language indicated she was willing to help, but before she was about to say her thoughts, she stopped abruptly and turned towards Emery.
"Emery, what do you think?"
Honestly, he thought this was a bad idea.
He had thought about situations similar to this before, specifically during his lessons in the Magus Academy. A powerful magus could decide the fate of the kingdoms. With Emery's strength at the moment alone, he probably had the ability to dictate the actions of the kingdom's most influential leaders. It had been proven by now, since it appeared the Cantiaci no longer dared to bother Gwen because of him.
From that lesson and examples of magus' in the other worlds, he decided he didn't want to involve himself with the kingdom's politics.
Whether it was Cantiaci or Lioness, Logress or Norgalez, as long as the people he cared about were unhurt, he couldn't care less who the king was.
This was what Emery honestly felt. He raised his arm, about to touch her shoulder and advise her not to follow along.
But before he could reach her and state his opinion, Gwen said, "I… I really wish that nothing bad would come to them. Some of these nobles, they are like my family... If I can help prevent it... I think I should."
Emery could see from her eyes a certain kind of determination. He sighed, giving in.
"You should do what you think is right, Gwen."
The girl turned towards him and smiled brightly.
"Emery, this way we can help more people, in a way that's more impactful than just rescuing them from bandits. I shall introduce these people to you Emery, they are good people."
Upon hearing this, Emery suddenly said, "Gwen, I actually can't come."
Emery could pretend to like and supported the cause, but not at the expense of his own problems. These requests would take weeks of his time that he simply couldn't spare.
At the moment, Emery was only weeks away from reaching his maximum spirit force in darkness cultivation. There was also his concern with Morgana and the Fey girls. He couldn't just leave now to do something else.
This rejection evidently affected her. It made her hesitate to accept Arthur's request.
"Emery, if you are not comfortable with this, I probably shouldn't go."
Emery could clearly see how much she wished to go that he can't seem able to stop her.
"I'll tell you what," he started. "I will come to find you and check you out when I finish with my training. Maybe in two or three weeks"
Arthur perked up at this sentence and smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, Merlin, I will definitely make sure she is safe."
Emery shook his head silently. Actually, Gwen being trained 6 months by Emery, was probably stronger than Arthur was at the moment, so he didn't need to worry much about that.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by NovelFull,
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