Chapter 60: My King, You Didn't Arrest Enough Of Them!
After picking up Morgan, Noah led his men back to Camelot. He then ordered the suppression of those nobles and returned to Camelot Castle together with Artoria and Morgan.
The Six Southern Kings naturally couldn't follow them back to Camelot Castle at this time, so they all returned to their respective residences in Camelot.
Among them, King Leodegrance held no particular opinion about this matter. After all, he was essentially an outsider to the South—those southern nobles weren't originally aligned with him anyway. Therefore, he had no stance whatsoever regarding Noah's actions against the southern nobles, maintaining a completely spectator-like attitude.
As for King Rience, many of his subordinates came directly to see him, including even a lord, all wanting him to inquire with Noah about what exactly was happening.
Seeing his subordinates in such a state, King Rience maintained the same expression he had when watching those nobles being taken into Camelot. He nodded to them and then walked toward Camelot Castle like a hero marching to certain death.
Witnessing King Rience's demeanor, his subordinates felt confirmed in their initial decision to follow him—look how their lord truly steps up when needed, unlike King Leodegrance next door who would play dead when faced with such situations!
While they swelled with pride, Noah, after discussing the recent events with Morgan, received a servant's report that King Rience was requesting an audience.
Hearing that King Rience had come seeking an audience, Morgan leaned against the table with crossed arms and snorted, "Most southern nobles are under King Rience's banner. If my repeated investigations hadn't confirmed that his crimes don't warrant death and that he's not particularly wealthy, I would have uprooted his entire family this time!"
As Morgan spoke these words, Noah crossed his hands, rested his chin on them, and chuckled softly while shaking his head. "We can eliminate his entire family anytime. Before that, let's hear what he came for."
While speaking, Noah gave the servant a look, who then went to escort King Rience upstairs. Seeing this, Morgan stopped speaking and abandoned her previously casual posture. She stepped away from the table and stood behind Noah, clearly assuming the role of an aide.
During Morgan and Noah's discussion, Artoria had been standing guard at the door in her capacity as a personal guard. As Artoria opened the door, King Rience entered.
Upon entering and seeing both Noah and Morgan watching him in silence, he waited until the servant had left and the door closed before taking two steps forward. Then, lowering his voice, he spoke to Noah.
"Your Majesty, regarding your arrest of those southern nobles... this time you might have truly made a mistake!"
Hearing this, Morgan snorted coldly, while Noah looked at him with interest and smiled in agreement. "Then where do you think I went wrong?"
Morgan didn't understand why Noah was wasting words with King Rience—in her view, King Rience was undoubtedly trying to find ways to plead for those nobles.
But actually...
"Your Majesty, you and Morgan... my lord, you didn't arrest enough!"
King Rience had initially intended to habitually address her as "Her Highness Morgan" or "Princess Morgan"...
However, the moment he remembered it was no longer King Uther but King Arthur now, he hastily corrected himself.
Here he did hesitate briefly, but afterward he showed no hesitation at all!
Hearing King Rience speak this way, Morgan looked as if she were meeting him for the first time, clearly somewhat surprised, while Noah seemed to have known all along, smiling as he smoothly continued King Rience's train of thought.
"If a dozen or so captures are too few, then how many would you consider sufficient, King Rience?"
Had Noah asked about any other matter, King Rience would surely have weighed his words carefully, hesitating once or twice before daring to speak. But on this topic, the moment Noah's question left his lips, his answer followed immediately.
"No number would be too many!"
"But if I had to give a minimum, it should be at least several hundred households! I'm not exaggerating, Your Majesty—with these southern nobles, if you went door to door and executed everyone aged fourteen and above, sparing only the children, you wouldn't find a single innocent soul even if you wiped out their entire clans!"
Once the topic turned to the southern nobles, King Rience, who was usually not very talkative, simply couldn't stop himself.
"I don't know about the several hundred noble households in the north or the hundred or so in Camelot, but not a single one of the thousand noble households in the south is any good!"
"If they weren't all in cahoots, and if I had the ability to sweep them all away, I would have done it long ago!"
"To say nothing of the rest, take the Saxon Barbarians' invasion of the south. Though I have no proof, I've suspected at least twice that those nobles intentionally let them in!"
"And the Saxon Barbarians are often seen with British weapons and armor in large quantities. If it weren't the nobles selling to them, I wouldn't believe it—yet those nobles insist the Saxons looted them from the knights of our Six Southern Kings!"
"Moreover, every one of these nobles is exceedingly greedy. I reported these issues to the late king many times while he was still alive, but due to the pressure from the Saxon Barbarians and Vortigern, we were never able to resolve the problem completely."
"After all, those nobles are all in league with each other. Without ruthless determination, it's extremely difficult to clean them out in one sweep."
"Originally, the late king planned to deal harshly with the nobles after defeating Vortigern... But alas, the late king failed in his campaign against Vortigern... and later, he passed away during Britain's recovery period."
King Rience's stance was unequivocal.
Seeing him like this, Morgan finally understood why, despite her persistent investigations, she could only find evidence of King Rience allowing the nobles to profit but never any proof of him colluding with them.
So this was what Father... ahem, what Uther and King Rience had been planning!
No wonder, then.
She had finally grasped the situation.
Noticing that Morgan no longer seemed to react, Noah grew somewhat anxious and directly informed King Rience of Morgan's achievements this time.
"If that's the case, then you need not worry."
"There were originally one thousand one hundred and five noble households in the south. One thousand were executed, over a dozen typical cases were arrested, dozens fled, and now—excluding you six kings—fewer than fifty southern noble houses remain."
Noah's smile remained unchanged, his tone still as gentle as before, yet King Rience felt as if the scent of blood had suddenly permeated the room.
Ignoring his reaction, Noah continued speaking.
"So let's not dwell on whether too few were arrested. If we must discuss my mistakes... well, I only hope you won't blame me when you return to your territory and have to deal with this mess."