Chapter 62: Ominous Signs

Just as Kay began interrogating the assassin, our Arthur was acting up again.

Arthur had been locked in the dungeons for nearly half a month. Over this fortnight, as the war progressed, the significance of keeping Arthur imprisoned steadily diminished. With the war having reached this point, how to deal with Arthur had paradoxically become a minor issue.

The matter had evolved from Arthur simply committing a murder into a full-scale national war between two kingdoms! Did King Uther really think that keeping Arthur locked up indefinitely would make King Odin feel any better and call off the fight?

That being the case, King Uther could no longer be bothered to keep up appearances. A father naturally loves his son, and Uther believed Arthur had learned his lesson. Coupled with the nobles beginning to plead for Arthur's release, King Uther simply went with the flow and set him free. However, his freedom was strictly limited to the boundaries of Camelot. Loving his son was one thing, but Uther was also terrified that this ill-fated boy of his would stir up more trouble.

Yet, was Arthur the kind of person to follow the rules?

Naturally not. Didn't Uther forbid him from going to the front lines? Surely going hunting in the forest couldn't cause any problems, right? So, dragging along Merlin—whose injuries were mostly healed—he dashed off into the forest for a hunt.

Uther originally had no intention of letting Arthur run wild, but realizing Arthur had been cooped up in the dungeons for half a month and was undoubtedly bursting with cabin fever, a little relaxation didn't seem harmful. Moreover, Uther himself was swamped with work and truly lacked the time to keep an eye on him, so he simply assigned a few seasoned and steadfast knights to accompany him, with the sole instruction to keep him out of trouble.

Unfortunately, Arthur seemed to possess a natural-born trait for attracting trouble. His hunting trip genuinely stirred up trouble.

For reasons unknown, Arthur startled a monstrous beast while hunting.

The creature awoke from the mist and launched a frantic attack the moment it spotted Arthur and his party. This monstrous beast possessed the head of a serpent, the belly of a leopard, and the hindquarters of a lion, along with paws resembling those of a deer and a hare. As it sprinted at high speed, its abdominal cavity emitted the howling sounds of more than forty hounds.

Despite its massive size, it was far from clumsy; on the contrary, its speed was terrifyingly fast.

Arthur's group of over a dozen men consisted of highly skilled warriors, yet only six made it back to Camelot alive. This was only because the beast ceased its pursuit after killing a sufficient number of people; otherwise, even Arthur could not be certain he would have returned alive.

For Camelot, this news was undoubtedly adding frost to snow. As the war raged on, Camelot's resources and manpower were already stretched to the absolute limit. Now, with a monster rampaging and killing people, it was undeniably a time of grave misfortune.

Upon hearing the news, King Uther seemed to age visibly all at once.

"Based on your description, it is most likely the Questing Beast!" Facing such a critical situation, King Uther naturally needed to gather ideas from all sides. Thus, despite the late hour, he summoned his court officials and Gaius to deliberate. Upon hearing Arthur's description, Gaius immediately deduced the origin of the monster.

"But that's just a legend," Arthur said, somewhat surprised. The legend of the Questing Beast was hardly rare among the Celtic nations, passed down in many regions. According to lore, the Questing Beast was a monster inhabiting marshes, possessing immense strength and size, extraordinary running speed, and a preference for aquatic environments. It could cause floods or spread plagues, and anyone wounded by it would be beyond medical help, destined to die without exception.

"According to ancient scrolls, the appearance of the Questing Beast invariably heralds ominous events." Gaius ignored Arthur. He had long been dissatisfied with Arthur's previous reckless behavior; had it not been for Arthur's impulsiveness, Camelot's situation would not have deteriorated to such a dire state. Therefore, he simply stated everything he knew.

Unfortunately, Gaius's mention of "ominous events" struck a raw nerve in King Uther. His mind was currently consumed by only two concerns: the ongoing war and Kay's safety. He could not accept misfortune befalling either of them, so he subconsciously rejected Gaius's assertion.

"Gaius! That is merely superstitious talk."

Such was Uther's state of mind at the moment. Belief or not, had Gaius claimed the monster was an auspicious omen, Uther would have dared to have someone enshrine it. He simply could not bear to hear bad news right now.

Arthur also disagreed with the notion. Having seen the monster with his own eyes, he felt it was merely a bit terrifying, lacking any special abilities—certainly not as mystical as Gaius made it out to be.

"Regardless of what it is, panic is spreading among the people, and everyone is afraid it will break into the city."

"Then we must kill it!" King Uther declared decisively. With the situation reaching this juncture, he had to make the most forceful response possible, or it would genuinely incite social unrest, and the soldiers on the front lines would be the ones to suffer the consequences.

"Arthur, assemble the guards! We set out at dawn."

Arthur naturally had no objections; in fact, he was dying of boredom and desperately wanted to do something to redeem himself for the mess he had caused earlier. He immediately accepted the order and withdrew. At Uther's gesture, the rest of the room's occupants also departed, leaving only Gaius behind.

Once everyone had left, Gaius spoke up, "I beg of you, Your Majesty. Do not underestimate it; this monster is an ill omen! I have seen it before! It was on the very night Queen Igraine passed away!"

These words directly struck Uther's deepest emotional wound. Flying into a rage, he retorted, "I told you never to speak of that night again! I have conquered ancient magic, and its warnings are entirely useless to me!"

Pausing for a moment to let his emotions settle slightly, Uther continued, "Arthur will slay the monster, and we shall suffer no further harm from it."

With that, he turned his back on Gaius and strode away, ignoring him entirely.

Meanwhile, Kay's interrogation of the assassin had yielded results.

When Kay received the report, he was genuinely startled. Wow! They had actually caught a big fish—Merry, the King of Assassins. That title alone was enough to scare people to death. What was even more chilling was that this assassination had been orchestrated by King Odin himself!

Yet, upon receiving this confession, far from panicking, Kay felt an unexpected surge of elation and surprise!

It was as if someone was handing him a pillow just as he grew drowsy!

There was now genuine hope of putting an end to the war!

Why?

Because King Odin had violated the rules—the unwritten code strictly forbidding underhanded assassinations of opposing royalty across the Celtic nations! Although it was an unwritten rule, its binding force was immense. No kingdom could tolerate such despicable methods. Of course, whether the methods were despicable or not was secondary; the crux of the matter was that if everyone resorted to such tactics, royal families everywhere could no longer play the game safely. Therefore, every nation was extremely wary of crossing this line.

Now that King Odin had brazenly taken the lead in employing such despicable tactics, he had handed Kay a silver bullet. Kay could now march straight up to King Odin and negotiate from a position of absolute strength: either withdraw the troops and maintain peace, or throw caution to the wind and inflict mutual destruction!

Was it not just hiring assassins? Who was afraid of whom? Did King Odin think he was wealthier than Camelot? If Odin dared to spend money to assassinate him, Kay dared to spend double to ruin Odin. When that happened, nobody could accuse Kay of lacking sportsmanship, since Odin was the one who broke the rules first!

At this thought, Kay sprang to his feet and issued an immediate command!

"Assemble all the knights! We are going to demand an explanation from King Odin!"