“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. All of this is because you want to ask me something, no? No need to beat around the bush.” Arthur silently placed his cup on the table. “When you wanted to have a difficult talk, you always tried to butter me up with tea first. You haven’t changed at all since you were a kid.”
“I don’t want to hear that from someone who needs five spoonfuls of sugar in his tea... Oh well, fine.” Lance poured Arthur another cup, then continued. “To cut straight to the chase, I want to know where our father’s will is.”
“Why? The emperor is still alive.”
“I doubt that... You can’t fool me, you know. You’re a terrible liar.” Lance raised three fingers. “First, there’s the fact that Father isn’t stopping us from fighting. Even if he were sick in bed, there’s no way he would stay quiet about it.”
Lance lowered one of his fingers as Arthur listened quietly.
“Secondly, the way you’re acting. You’ve always been pretty arrogant and conceited, but there’s no way you’d speak like this if Father were still alive.”
Arthur was still silent as his brother lowered another finger.
“Lastly, Millicia—”
“That’s enough,” Arthur interrupted Lance and snorted. “As you’ve guessed, our father is indeed dead. I’ve decided to keep that hidden until we’ve settled who the next emperor will be, so only a few people know.”
“I see... Then back to my question—where is his will?”
“Why do you care so much about that?” Arthur probed his brother with a glare, but Lance did not waver, staring at him without any fear in his eyes. He was perfectly calm.
“I can guess its contents, but I want to ascertain it with my own eyes. Or rather, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I don’t want to believe my guess is correct. I want to be proven wrong.”
“Hmph... Ridiculous.” Arthur picked up the teacup before him, but instead of drinking from it, he poured the tea on the ground. “He may be our father, but I have no interest in the words of a dead man. You’re right, I do have his will. But I don’t intend to reveal its contents to the public.”
“No matter what?”
“If you really want it, then take it—after defeating me.”
“Well, if you say so... I won’t hold back, then.” Lance snapped his fingers. The next instant, the tent flap behind him fell away to reveal soldiers from the eastern army standing about twenty meters away. They were not holding swords, spears, or bows—no, they were holding strange black weapons made of metal.
“Firearms!” Arthur quickly realized.
“Exactly. Well then, I hope you’ll enjoy the dessert.” Lance raised his right arm, and the soldiers fired, showering him and Arthur with lead bullets.
“Your Highness!” Gawain and Merlin did react, but it was too late.
There were three reasons for this. First, the distance between them and Arthur—he had ordered them to stand at the entrance of the tent, which meant the Twin Wings were too far away from him to protect him.
Second, the fact that the enemy soldiers were firing from quite far away. If they had been closer, Gawain and Merlin would have sensed their presence.
And lastly, the most crucial reason—the soldiers were aiming their weapons from directly behind Lance. It was impossible to shoot Arthur from this position without also hitting their own commander. That had confused Gawain and Merlin, making them freeze for an instant. They had only hesitated for a second, but that was long enough for soldiers to hit their targets.
Thus, the volley from the dozen soldiers riddled both Arthur and Lance with bullets.
“Ugh!”
“Ow! This hurts more than I thought...”
Arthur and Lance fell from their chairs. Lance collapsed on the ground, but Arthur managed to stay on one knee.
“So that’s your trump card, Lance?!” Arthur yelled at his younger brother, his face red with fury. However, the source of his rage wasn’t the fact that he had been tricked. “Did you truly think so little of me that you expected mere lead bullets would kill me?!”
The real cause of Arthur’s wrath was that Lance’s trap had been underwhelming. True, Lance had risked his life and managed to take Arthur by surprise, but Arthur’s wounds weren’t fatal. He had been struck by several bullets, but the wounds were shallow. He was hardly even bleeding.
This was why firearms weren’t very popular—it was difficult to reinforce bullets with mana because they were small and had to be propelled using an explosion of gunpowder, but people could easily use mana to strengthen their bodies in defense. So while firearms could be used by anyone, it was mainly useful for defending oneself against beasts.
That was exactly why Arthur was so angry. It was humiliating that his brother had even entertained the thought that toys like these could kill him.
“You’ll pay for this, Lance! I’m going to tear you a— Ugh?!” Arthur tried to stand and grab Lance’s collar, only to fall once again. And this time, he didn’t manage to fall on one knee—no, he fell on both knees, his hands on the ground. “What...is...?”
“Your Highness! What did you do?!” Gawain glared at the gunners behind Lance, standing before his liege to protect him.
Merlin crouched next to Arthur and touched his shoulder, examining him. “He was poisoned... And not just by a single toxin.”
“I’ve been...poisoned...?” Arthur repeated.
“Exactly, Arthur... I had Millicia’s boyfriend produce the toxins,” Lance said, grinning like a child who had pulled off a successful prank. “All the bullets were smeared with poison. While Dame Merlin might be able to neutralize one toxin, I knew that even she wouldn’t be able to heal you easily if we used multiple.”
“Are you planning to die as well, Lance?” Arthur asked. Lance, too, had been hit by multiple bullets, which must have also poisoned him. He could die at any moment.
“I knew that I couldn’t win against you without risking my life. Now, whether we will survive all comes down to luck.”
Arthur laughed cheerfully. His fury had vanished, replaced by pure joy. “I take back what I said earlier—this was a splendid trap, Lance!”
“Well, thank you... But I’m not done.”
“Oh? You’re going to entertain me even more? What are you going to—” Arthur was interrupted by Merlin, who suddenly raised her hands above him.
“Shield of Aegis!” A magic shield appeared above them just before the ceiling of the tent tore open and someone attacked them.
“Hmph!”
The magic shield shuddered under the impact, making a creaking sound, but it eventually stopped.