102 Empress Candidates (II)

Regarding the Ostrogothic alliance and Artorius's marriage, everyone discussed it back and forth, but in the end, they couldn't come up with a clear conclusion, so they dispersed with laughter.

In any case, they were in an advantageous position now.

Wherever the great army went, Roman cities surrendered without a fight.

After the collapse of the last two legions of Sirius, there was no longer any legion belonging to the Western Empire in all of Gaul.

Artorius's great army received news of city after city, tribe after tribe, and village after village surrendering every day. Not to mention entire legions, even a scout team consisting of just a dozen people could 'conquer' a city.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the British-Roman forces could conquer all of Gaul.

In contrast, the Ostrogothic Kingdom held Pannonia. Although the land was decent, it was still relatively small, with limited resources. The Ostrogoths had not yet entered Italy and hadn't gained much advantage in their wars against the Western Roman Empire.

Comparatively, Artorius's British-Roman forces were much stronger than the Ostrogoths. When the Knights of the Round Table discussed matters concerning the Ostrogoths, they did so with a relaxed attitude.

Especially Artorius himself, his stance was ambiguous and undecided. He wasn't a puppet like other emperors who got pushed around by the Senate, nor was he a poor creature overshadowed by the Praetorian Guard.

Artorius had built his empire with his own hands from zero. He was an emperor elected by the people, and as long as he didn't wish it, no one could control him.

So, in the end, the Ostrogoth's envoy came with enthusiasm but left in disappointment. He did manage to secure an alliance agreement with Artorius but failed to reach a marriage proposal, and he couldn't even meet Artorius again before leaving.

Instead, he was dismissed by a middle-aged man with a gloomy complexion and a significantly receding hairline, whom Artorius supposedly trusted as his most valued official. The man said with an air of dominance that was hard not to roll one's eyes at his words—"The Emperor doesn't want to get married; they can wait."

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After the envoy returned to the Ostrogoths, a somewhat disappointed Theodoric made a comment, "That guy is probably the second most powerful figure in the Empire, right after the Emperor."

"That's right, they say he'll become the Empire's Chancellor in the future, second only to the Emperor himself." The envoy added fuel to the fire to cover up his own failures, making Agravain sound like a balding version of Charles from the Merovingian Dynasty.

Of course, that wasn't entirely true, since many British and Romans also despised Agravain openly.

One of those who despised him was a woman currently straddling Artorius and shaking her hips fiercely.

"Damn him! One day, I'll kill his whole family!"

"Hey, doesn't that mean you want to kill yourself?"

Artorius reminded Morgan and gave her plump behind a playful pat, earning a seductive eye-roll from Morgan in return.

"Mhhmm~ There's something else..."

Morgan fell silent for a moment, putting in some extra effort to squeeze his majestic 'spear' which made the bed creak and squeak. So this time, Artorius took over the conversation.

"Even if Agravain doesn't object for you to become the Empress, the other Knights of the Round Table won't support it. Your reputation is just that bad."

"Hahh..."

"Mmmhhh..."

"Ahhh~!!!"

It took Morgan twenty minutes to respond to Artorius's words. Her voice now sounded languid, as if she could fall asleep at any moment.

"Huft~ If they don't support it, then it doesn't matter, ahh~ As long as you do, it's fine, mmhhh~ After all, you're the Emperor..."

"I may be the Emperor, but I also have to consider public opinion..." Artorius replied casually, caressing her smooth back and enjoying the warm squeeze on his 'spear' which was inside the beautiful woman's 'cave' in his arms.

"You jerk! Can't you side with me just once?! Curse the public opinion! All of them should just burn— ahhh, cumming!" Morgan said with frustration but was interrupted by a moment of ecstasy. "Hahh... hahh... you... jerk..."

Although she appeared to resent Artorius during their conversation, her body betrayed her true feelings as she couldn't help but move her hips as fast as she could to squeeze his 'cream' as much as possible.

"Hahh... hahh... before, you said you would give Britain to me and make me a queen, but you didn't. After that, you said you'd compensate me, and now this... You're just using me, like a tool..."

Upon saying this, Morgan could no longer hold on and fell into a deep sleep.

Despite her apparent resentment towards Artorius during their conversation, Morgan, now lying in his embrace, displayed a relieved expression.

"How could you say that?"

Although Morgan could no longer hear him, Artorius responded to her nonetheless.

"This empire is just the beginning. It's only one step towards achieving our ultimate goal. The title of Empress is just a temporary, a mere fancy title. In the future, we'll be together for a long time, a thousand years, ten thousand years, a hundred thousand, or maybe a million. So long that you might even get tired of it. Why should we argue over short-term gains and losses? It's meaningless."

"Because the thousand, ten thousand... those are all in the future." Suddenly, not far from Artorius, a leisurely voice responded to his words. It was Scathach, dressed regally like a queen and beautiful as always.

In the next second, Artorius left Morgan's embrace and teleported a short distance in front of Scathach. His once naked, flawless body now adorned a beautiful robe.

"Can't sleep, Teacher?"

She didn't answer Artorius's question but instead replied, "I heard things are getting a bit messy with this empress thingy?"

"Just some minor issues..." Artorius casually remarked, "Just family matters, nothing worth mentioning."

"Really?" She snorted lightly, "That's not what Mordred said."

"She went to find you?"

"Not at all." Scathach shifted slightly, her alluring figure accentuated by the tight leather armor. "She was muttering to herself during training—'I am my brother's bride, I should have been first, I'm the woman he loves the most.' You know, those kinds of things. Even if I wanted to pretend not to hear, I couldn't."

"That kid..."

Artorius couldn't help but sigh and facepalm.

"So, what do you really mean?" Scathach continued to inquire. "Whom do you want to choose? Representing the Knights of the Round Table, there's Mordred, and representing the right of succession and alliance, there's the Ostrogothic Princess... you won't tell me it's Morgan le Fay, right?"

"..." Artorius fell silent.

"Teacher, you seem quite invested in this matter?" He said, trying to find any flaws in Scathach's behavior.

But Scathach was, after all, Scathach. She snorted lightly, effortlessly providing an explanation without revealing any weaknesses.

"Just feeling regretful, that's all... after all, I've contributed to this country as well. If it were to collapse over such trivial matters, my efforts would be in vain."

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Author's Note:

Regarding Artoria and Artorius, they're more like siblings than mother and son. Artorius shares the same Dragon Factor and Dragon Heart as Artoria and was born a few years later but was raised by Artoria as her son to hide his true origin.