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That rough and muddy voice came out of Merlin\'s mouth.

[You can\'t take that sword!]

[Now, hold on, Lord Merlin!]

Ignoring Nimue\'s dissuasion, Merlin ran at me. It was a furious face.

I got up rolling to the side and held Excalibur.

As if losing his mind, Merlin raised all the nearby branches and shot them at me. It was a different dimension from before, and it was fierce.

I faced Merlin, who was approaching with a ferocious momentum,

"I won\'t take it."

I released the constraint of Excalibur.

Kwadeudeudeuk!

Merlin\'s branches pierced through me and dug into the ground. Selena\'s eyes next to me grew bigger.

[Oh my...]

Merlin was unusually flustered. He didn\'t intend to kill me.

However, I didn\'t die as he thought. I didn\'t have any wounds.

"It won\'t work."

I don\'t get hurt by Merlin\'s branches.

It\'s because, in my eyes, Merlin\'s \'dream\' is clearly visible as an illusion.

[How, this...]

"I can see it. What I create is also an illusion. The tree you created, the beasts, and."

I looked at Nimue with a warning look in my eyes.

"Even Excalibur."

[...!]

Nimue\'s eyes widened at my words.

[What do you mean by that?]

Merlin asked. His voice was much lower.

"...Lord Merlin."

I shut my mouth for a moment. The moment I tried to tell this story, a complicated feeling filled me.

"Who are you guarding the lake for, Lord Merlin?"

[What do you mean?]

"The sword that lies dormant in the lake, who are you guarding it for and waiting to pass it on to?"

Merlin blinked his wrinkled eyes at me.

With a face as if I had asked something obvious, he said to me.

[Well, it\'s for King Arthur. I am waiting for him to come.]

“What?”

The one who made a sound was Selena. Merlin\'s answer probably didn\'t make sense to her.

I opened my eyes after closing them.

"Sir Merlin."

And then I said.

"King Arthur is dead."

* * *

Merlin, the great magician, sage, and prophet.

He received a prophecy.

That a time would come when King Arthur would need \'the second sword\'.

When that time comes, he must wait, to be able to hand over the sword.

However, Merlin doesn\'t actually know how long he can live. If Arthur were to come looking and he was already dead. If there was no one to guard the lake by then.

Therefore, Merlin engraved his \'dream\' into the lake.

Even if he were to die, to fulfill the promise.

To become the last sword supporting the king, to guard the lake.

"The entity created from that dream is you," I told Merlin.

The Merlin before me is a single personality installed in the \'dream\' by Merlin, the great magician of the past.

...In other words, an illusion. He just believes himself to be Merlin.

[...Ha.]

Merlin let out a hollow laugh.

[I thought I was controlling the dream, but it turns out I am an illusion myself.]

[Merlin. Don\'t believe it. It\'s a trick to confuse you. That\'s nonsense, isn’t it? Sir Merlin, have you forgotten your promise with King Arthur?]

Nimue quickly said.

I approached Merlin. Throughout this time, Nimue was earnestly babbling on.

"Would you like to test it? Try touching me."

At this moment, I could fully perceive Merlin as nothing but an illusion.

Anyone else might have been able to touch Merlin without issue, but not me.

[…….]

Merlin moved his hand silently.

He swiped down from above to touch the hand I had extended towards him.

Swoosh-

Merlin\'s hand just passed through mine.

Just like a ghost.

“…….”

Everyone who witnessed this scene was at a loss for words. Even Nimue, who had been chattering away at my side, closed her mouth.

I looked at Nimue.

"Miss Nimue. About the sword stuck at the bottom of the lake."

Uh, Nimue looked at me and swallowed.

"You said it yourself. \'The sword cannot be drawn. By no one.\'"

[But, of course, that excludes King Arthur─]

"In an era without King Arthur, then whom are you waiting for?"

At my counter, Nimue bit her lip. She hesitated with her trembling lips, trying to say something but then stopped. The cycle repeated.

Selena, who had been watching, spoke up.

"Then, does that mean the sword stuck in the lake is, in the end...?"

"A fake. Two legends got mixed up."

The lake does exist.

In other words, the only thing that truly exists here is the lake.

The sword that King Arthur pulled from the stone, and the sword given by the Lady of the Lake, are clearly different.

Even though both are called \'Excalibur,\' that\'s just the name they are known by.

[……Everyone.]

At that moment, Merlin\'s tightly shut lips opened.

[You. Do you know everything?]

"Well, roughly."

[Then tell us. The truth.]