I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 143 - 97: Knight King or Druid King? _2

Chapter 143: Chapter 97: Knight King or Druid King? _2

Gu Shanhai quietly sent a message to Kurus, urging him to come quickly. After all, Kurus was the apprentice chosen by Gu Shanhai himself, and it was improper for him not to show up.

"You are being ridiculous," Merlin countered. "Do you know his true lineage? If you did, you wouldn’t be saying these things."

"Merlin Wizard, you are arrogant. I have never seen anyone as arrogant as you," Gu Shanhai sighed. "I indeed do not know Ava’s lineage. I am ignorant, but I am humble, while you, knowing it, refuse to reveal it."

"Grandpa Merlin, what exactly are you hiding..." Ava was also somewhat perplexed.

Mafas had also attempted a Prophetic Divination, which led to no results. He then said, "Merlin Wizard has cast a secret curse on you to protect your lineage from being known. If it were revealed, the protective spell would fail."

"Let me think, a King’s extraordinary lineage, so you are the illegitimate son of the Camelot King."

The Camelot King, the previous King of the Camelot Kingdom, had no heirs when he died, leading to an uncertain succession in the Camelot Kingdom.

"No, he is not an illegitimate son, but a legitimate heir. His mother is Eglin, the Lady of Duke Dintajier, who is now the Queen and conceived Ava the day after Duke Dintajier fell in battle," Merlin finally conceded, verifying the identity.

"..." Mafas was completely baffled by his words. Had Gu Shanhai gone out and kidnapped the future King?

Now everything was clear.

"So, this battle of honor and the Sword in the Stone, the Golden, were prepared for Ava?" Gu Shanhai narrowed his eyes.

Merlin looked at Gu Shanhai and then nodded. "Fate prepared these gifts for Ava to become King, not I."

Mafas, realizing the gravity of the situation, also... quietly passed the information to the Imprint Druid Sect. If they hadn’t known this earlier, they and Kurus alone could have handled the situation, but now it was different; they needed more people to come back.

Not to mention, Gu Shanhai with his Druid King tactics really could succeed; the Imprint Druid Sect was particularly responsive to that approach.

Speaking of having a wide network and numerous connections, it certainly was the Imprint Druid Sect. They had always been striving to bring the Druids back to the political center. Gu Shanhai had delivered a King to the Druids, and they would definitely hold on to him tightly, especially since this King was snatched from Merlin himself.

"So, when I return, I will become a King?" Ava was somewhat bewildered. He had not expected his origins to be so twisted and hidden.

"Yes, come back with me; everything has been prepared for you," Merlin said in resignation. Without revealing the truth, the other party simply wouldn’t follow him.

"And then?" Gu Shanhai asked unexpectedly.

Ava looked puzzled; what else was there to follow?

"I will assist him to become a wise King and lead the Kingdom to greater strength!" Merlin promised, indirectly indicating that he would not use him as a puppet.

"The decision is in your hands, Ava," Gu Shanhai did not make the decision for him; after all, he could not, as forced fruit is never sweet.

Ava’s hesitation deepened. If he had known nothing before, he would have chosen to be a Druid, since he was just a commoner.

But now, royal blood, not commoner’s, ran through his veins, and thus his choices naturally broadened.

Seeing this, Gu Shanhai felt a sense of resignation: a change in thought brought about the awakening of the instinctive rights inherent in his lineage.

His own patience was nearly exhausted, and the situation increasingly spiraled out of control.

At that moment, Ava recalled when Gu Shanhai had once asked him if he believed in God, and he turned to Merlin, asking, "Grandpa Merlin, do you believe in God?"

Merlin was somewhat puzzled but replied, "I, of course, adhere to the faith of the Lord."

"I remember that the coronation of a king requires an oath to the Lord, doesn’t it?" Ava’s tone was a bit strange.

The atmosphere inevitably stagnated, and Gu Shanhai was increasingly taken aback as Ava seemed to grasp the issue of divine and royal authority.

Before this, divine authority was above royal authority.

"Indeed, we are all bathed in the Lord’s glory." Merlin, like Gu Shanhai, understood the crux of the issue.

This issue had always been quite acute.

"Thus, even if I do not need the Sword in the Stone of Gold, I could still become king, could I not?" Ava seemed to be asking Merlin, but in reality, she was questioning herself.

From Merlin’s words, he knew one thing: following him back to aspire to kingship, lineage was one aspect, and another was extracting the church’s Sword in the Stone of Gold as evidence. More importantly, he had scant support, and the nobility was no trifling threat.

"Yes, but it depends on what kind of king you want to be."

"Druid King or Knight King, whereas our main duty as Druids is to perform sacrifices. We can conduct our own coronation ceremonies without the need for the Lord’s protection," chimed in Mafas, who looked as old as Merlin, rendering an inherent credibility to his words.

"Grandpa Merlin, I would like to stay here and become a Druid; being a Knight... doesn’t suit me," Ava made her decision. Rather than return to be a puppet, she preferred to take control into her own hands.

Merlin’s expression subtly changed, "I respect your choice, but I don’t agree with it. You’ve chosen to become a Dragon Vein Druid but have never considered that to be a king does not require great strength but rather a wise mind and prudent capabilities."

This translated to: without me, there is no place for you in Camelot Kingdom.

To Gu Shanhai, it felt like a son-in-law of the Dragon King being kicked out of his home.

"The returnees will provide him support. Without strong power, wisdom alone is merely puppetry. We, proclaiming a Druid King, will naturally lend him all our support," Mafas rebutted.

At this point, Mafas naturally stepped forward to bear the pressure. Now, Gu Shanhai could step back as he had wholly bound himself to the Imprint Druid, and it might even be that the entire Druid community was indirectly tied to this chariot of war.

His actions were also an attempt to see if he could uplift the Imprint Sect. Unaware of how the Imprint Sect met its demise in his former life, but allowing the Druid to return to the political center, and as a Minister of Dragon from the Imprint Sect, would surely alter the predetermined fate of extinction.

From obscurity to world-renowned was naturally significant, and since he had taken on the inheritance of the Marked Druid, he needed to lend a helping hand.

Next, he planned to consolidate all Druid Sects through Ava, rather than allow them to remain so divided.

Even more assertively, he wanted to transform the Druid factions and more; essentially, to make sweeping changes.

With this, Ava would have sufficient supporters, and the Druids would break free from the mires of the old age, while Gu Shanhai would gain substantial benefits. As long as they formed a community of common interests, with an ancient inheritance and boundless foundations, even the mainstream Knights would be challenged.

This was a bold gamble, and now the biggest chips were on the side of Gu Shanhai and the Druid.

Merlin fell silent for a long while before finally stating, "If that is the case, the old man will wait for you in the Royal Capital to return and don the crown, Atilis Sitra."

Ava, no, at this moment, he had become Atilis Sitra, from this moment forward, no longer Sir Ekter’s adopted son but the son of the King of Camelot, the heir to the kingdom.