Chapter 48: Noah and Guinevere
"My King, it's rare to see you walking outside the castle."
Dressed in the same attire he wore when he was still a knight, Noah strolled through the streets of Camelot. As the king traveling incognito, his personal guard Artoria naturally accompanied him, and it was she who spoke these words.
In Artoria's memory, Noah indeed seldom went out.
His daily routine was exceptionally regular—either training, handling official duties, or researching Alchemy in his laboratory.
Ever since Artoria met Noah, his life had consistently followed this pattern, almost without change.
So when Noah asked his personal guard Artoria to accompany him for a walk early this morning, she was somewhat taken aback.
Even now, she still felt a sense of wonder.
Although she had known Noah for less than a month, he gave her the feeling that they had been acquainted for a long time. Even disruptions to their usual daily habits made her somewhat uncomfortable.
"There's no helping it. After all, I've only recently become king, and there are still many matters to attend to—but a king who only sits on the throne, regardless of whether he is wise or not, is at least not someone with a clear perspective."
"Many matters concerning the people are like this. Although you can gauge the general situation from reports and data, there are many things you will never understand in detail unless you see them with your own eyes and experience them personally."
Noah recently planned to reform Britain's salt industry.
He had even prepared the refined salt needed to deal with King Leodegrance and King Rience... The actual implementation would likely have to wait until after repelling the Picts, but many preparations needed to start now.
If Noah were playing a game, he might simply enact the reforms when the time came.
But to do this in reality, before causing a major impact on a certain industry, Noah had to go out and see for himself, then carefully consider what kind of situation his actions would bring to the people.
After all, rigidly copying certain methods would absolutely not work in governing a country.
Many governance ideas were enacted according to the era they were in. So, if one rigidly implemented certain ideas without fully understanding the details of an era, even if they were generally correct, major problems could arise due to differences in specifics.
This was Noah's first reason for coming out today.
As for the second...
It was something he had seen in his simulated memories—as the six southern kings entered Camelot, King Leodegrance's daughter would secretly follow along...
Although Noah didn't know how King Leodegrance's daughter managed to sneak into the visiting delegation, he knew that if left completely unattended, Guinevere would slip away and be captured.
This incident had once caused extremely significant impacts on the negotiations with the Southern Six Territories in one of Noah's simulations.
By the time King Leodegrance discovered what happened, because of his daughter's situation, he had forced Noah in that simulation to adopt the same approach as the original King Arthur—except this time, Noah didn't help King Leodegrance but instead sided with King Rience.
With his help, King Rience and King Leodegrance clashed, and King Leodegrance died in one of the battles.
Only after Morgan installed her puppet in King Leodegrance's former position did the issues in the Southern Six Territories finally settle down.
These memories would not appear in the simulated text.
One must obtain the memories to learn of them.
In a way, this aligns with what Noah and Artoria had said.
If you only look at data and records, many problems seem manageable once resolved—even negligible enough to skim over.
But when you truly delve into all the details, you realize everything is quite different from what you imagined.
So, Noah's outing this time was both to observe the market details of Camelot in this period and to resolve the matter concerning Guinevere.
After all, while Noah doesn't rigidly insist on solving everything peacefully, it would be utterly foolish to let disputes arise over such matters.
Moreover...
Thinking of this, Noah recalled the aftermath of that simulated memory.
Although it was an early simulation that ended in a total defeat at Vortigern's position, Noah remembered that after Guinevere went missing, he had once mobilized Britain's forces to search for her, even asking Merlin to use his Clairvoyance.
But all efforts failed.
Guinevere was discovered missing about ten days later, and from that point on, she became completely untraceable—not even Merlin's Clairvoyance could locate her.
Noah had initially thought Guinevere might have some unique trait.
But today, before heading out, he asked Mary to use her Clairvoyance to find Guinevere, and she located her instantly. Mary's gaze remains fixed on Guinevere even now, and she continuously communicates with Noah through their mental link, updating him on Guinevere's situation.
"I don't know why you're looking for this woman, but I have a feeling that if you get too involved with her, your kingdom will eventually be destroyed by her one day."
Mary said the words Merlin had spoken to King Arthur in the Arthurian legends.
But just as King Arthur didn't listen, Noah didn't change his mind about seeking her out.
"Don't worry, my interest in her isn't driven by lust. It's just that after all this time, even with your Clairvoyance, we haven't been able to find Manaka Sajyou. I'm almost certain she's hiding in a place that blocks your Clairvoyance."
"And Guinevere is related to this..."
There are many places in this era that can block the Clairvoyance of Merlin and Mary.
For example, the Land of Shadows, Camelot Castle, the secret realm of the Lady of the Lake. Morgan even has spells specifically targeting Merlin, and Vortigern possesses similar abilities.
But most of these are located in Britain, Pictavia, and Hibernia.
Because this region is still at the end of the Age of Gods, such powers exist here.
As for other places outside this area... although the fact that even Altera isn't dead makes Noah somewhat uncertain about other regions, powers that can block Merlin's Clairvoyance are unlikely to be abundant elsewhere where the Age of Gods has ended.
In the simulated memories, even after Noah had become king and mobilized immense resources, he still couldn't locate Guinevere in Britain.
Through the simulations, he had grown nearly convinced that Guinevere had been taken elsewhere—perhaps to Rome, or somewhere even farther, possibly even among the barbarian tribes.
Yet there were very few places capable of blocking Merlin's Clairvoyance.
If Manaka Sajyou were in Britain, he wouldn't have failed to find her even years after defeating Vortigern in his final simulation.
Therefore, it was highly likely that Manaka Sajyou was not only outside Britain but also in a location that could shield her from Clairvoyance.
Thus, regardless of whether he saved King Leodegrance or not, Noah was determined to uncover the identity of those who had captured Guinevere!
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