"Your Majesty, the King has sent a letter saying you've gone too far..."
"But he didn't demand I stop immediately, did he?"
In the end, driven to rebellion by natural disasters and Kay's extortion, several reckless vassal kings of England rose up in revolt.
Their revolt resulted in their deaths and the exile of their surviving kin to Camelot City, where they lived as idle guests of the court.
Their territories were brought under the direct rule of Camelot.
At the southern tip of Great Britain, within a small, unrebellious vassal kingdom, Guinevere rode her horse, catching the falling goose-feather snowflakes with her gauntleted hand.
Christmas was fast approaching, but the bitterly harsh weather had dampened the festive spirit across Great Britain.
Since setting out on her campaign a month ago, Guinevere had journeyed through the southern vassal kingdoms. She had seen mostly frozen cattle and sheep, and people of all classes gathered in churches, imploring God for forgiveness.
The unusually harsh weather had convinced many—nobles and commoners alike—that this was divine punishment, provoked by their vassal kings angering the heavens. This belief had made Guinevere's conquest relatively easy.
But if Camelot takes control and next year is the same...
"Kay, we've both written to Lia about the situation in the southern kingdoms," Guinevere said. "She knows they suffer even more under their vassal kings than the northern barbarians. Her dissatisfaction is merely for the sake of appearances—to placate those unrebellious vassal kings."
As she spoke, Guinevere couldn't help but shake her head. For this campaign, she had only brought Kay, Ector, about thirty ordinary knights, and over three thousand newly conscripted common soldiers.
Because Kay and Ector were the ones she was speaking to, Guinevere didn't need to use formal terms like "Arthur" or "him."
"Come to think of it, Lia must have gathered nearly half a million old, weak, and infirm people in the north by now, right? She's probably supporting all those destitute souls up there."
"Your Majesty, are you still worried about the coming spring?" Kay asked, his breath steaming in the cold air as he spoke.
In full armor, with a heavy cloak and his breath fogging the air, Kay understood Guinevere's concerns.
The Barbarian King of the North, realizing the King of Knights would support the abandoned elderly, weak, and infirm, had abandoned fighting altogether. Instead, he began driving the remaining vulnerable people toward the border daily, a cunning ploy to stall the King of Knights' advance and bankrupt the Kingdom of Camelot through sheer attrition.
As it turned out, the King of Knights had indeed halted her advance, and Camelot's resources were being stretched thin by supporting over half a million additional people.
"Kay, the Barbarians are, after all, Barbarians. We've been at war with them since King Uther's time and even earlier. How could decades of accumulated hatred simply vanish?
If things go smoothly next spring, those who are currently holed up in the Vassal City, constantly praising Lia as the destined ruler of Great Britain, will likely retreat deep into the northern grasslands and choose to become our enemies once again."
"But at the Round Table meeting over a month ago, didn't you say that while the Barbarians might be ungrateful, you also saw the foundation for integrating the north into our Kingdom? With the strategy you proposed, I believe we can make it happen."
Whether the Barbarian elders and weaklings whom the King of Knights had taken in would choose obedience next spring remained uncertain. Guinevere couldn't help but worry about the outcome.
In truth, her own instinct was to rescue them, but with far fewer provisions. Only those Barbarians who pledged loyalty would receive food.
However, the King of Knights couldn't bear to see the elderly and vulnerable starve. Thus, Guinevere's role remained one of patching things up and persuading the King of Knights' opponents to support her.
At the Round Table meeting, she proposed a strategy based on simple truths: send emissaries among the Barbarians to extol the virtues of the King of Knights and expose the vices of the Barbarian King.
Her aim was to ensure every Barbarian who benefited from the King of Knights' generosity understood who provided them with sustenance, and who had driven them away like stray dogs when famine struck.
Guinevere suggested Agravain lead the operation. Over the past month, in the dozen or so temporary Vassal Cities established in the north for Barbarian resettlement, the truth was already being openly discussed by the Barbarians themselves.
The Barbarian King was employing a transparent strategy, aiming to bankrupt Camelot and believing his abandoned people would return next year.
In response, Guinevere relied on the King of Knights' compassion, Camelot's accumulated reserves, and the grain Lancelot had risked everything to purchase from Gaul and transport back...
Using these resources, she launched a psychological offensive against the Barbarian populace, further undermining the Barbarian King's authority and striving to realize the pie-in-the-sky promises she had made at the Round Table meeting.
"Kay, if you keep praising me like this, I'll have to hide my face."
This is just a countermeasure any ordinary person from later generations could devise...
Guinevere kept the second half of her thought to herself. Returning her focus to the present, she couldn't help but conjure magic to warm her body.
If even she felt the cold this keenly, one could only imagine the discomfort of the three thousand common soldiers she had specifically recruited for this expedition, trailing behind them.
This expedition served a dual purpose: to subdue rebellious territories and provide essential aid to the suffering populations of vassal kingdoms.
For the three thousand common soldiers, Guinevere selected only the strongest and most physically robust, a significant portion of whom were Knight Academy rejects. She promised them a fresh start.
"Kay, urge them to quicken their pace. We'll make camp and rest once we reach Ford Town ahead."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Kay headed to the rear of the column. It was fortunate that the knights' steeds possessed Magical Beast bloodlines; otherwise, even they would have been forced to dismount and continue on foot in this weather.
The draft horses pulling the supply wagons were of lesser quality, yet their stamina and resilience far surpassed those of ordinary horses in later eras. How else could they traverse snow-covered terrain, the drifts already knee-deep across the wilderness, in such a blizzard?
"Huff."
Exhaling a plume of white breath, Guinevere glanced back at the soldiers' arduous struggle. She could only force herself to remain optimistic, hoping that Gaia, the planet's will, wouldn't maintain such relentless severity beyond the spring thaw.
Bastard, she cursed inwardly, deliberately avoiding naming the target. Though she understood that Gaia lacked consciousness, the sentiment remained.
After several more hours, as darkness nearly enveloped them, Guinevere's party finally spotted the snow-covered town where they intended to halt for the night.
There were no rules against entering the town or camping outside, for in this weather, anyone without a sturdy roof would inevitably be buried under snow by morning.
Even if such a decree were issued, it would inevitably spark widespread outrage, even with Guinevere's authority. This army lacked the discipline to enforce such an order.
"Kay, after we settle the supply train at the church, you and I will take turns leading the night watch. Let the ordinary soldiers find lodging with the townsfolk themselves, but remind them to pay. The Kingdom will reimburse them."
Guinevere had allocated generous compensation to the ordinary soldiers for this campaign. After personally executing several Rebel Kings and confiscating most of their wealth, she had no shortage of funds.
The grain carried by the supply train was largely obtained by "borrowing" from regional lords during the autumn harvest. They were unwilling to help the common people, so Guinevere stepped in to assist them.
Agravain had calculated the grain reserves of each vassal kingdom based on Camelot's own stores. In the first year of the disaster, these lords undoubtedly possessed vast quantities of grain.
Throughout this winter, Guinevere also intended to lay the groundwork for Camelot's future unification of England's vassal kingdoms by winning the hearts and minds of the people.