As the carriage procession started moving forward, the conversation within the covered wagon was soon interrupted. A soldier at the capital city gate pulled aside the canvas curtain of the wagon, looked inside, scanned around, and finally fixed his gaze on Suya, who appeared quite distinguished. He spoke, "Sir, according to Article 13 of the Kingdom's Security Passage Warrant, there is a toll to enter the capital. Please pay it."
"A total of 4 silver le."
Hearing this, Suya instinctively reached for his phone to scan a QR code, but quickly remembered—he had neither a phone nor any money. He immediately turned to Lucan, who had just proposed an astonishing plan, his eyes signaling, "Lord Lucan, can you handle this?"
Upon receiving the signal, Lucan's expression instantly froze. He turned to Dagonet, who was sitting at the front of the wagon. Dagonet's beard twitched, and he quickly responded with a helpless look, spreading his hands.
Although the plan they had just discussed sounded groundbreaking, the reality was that the three of them couldn't even scrounge up 4 silver le at that moment.
Left with no choice, Lucan could only look at Merlin, who was currently feigning death, even deliberately shrinking back towards the rear of the carriage to reduce her presence. This woman had already extorted Lucan's wallet empty even before entering the capital. Though she seemed to be the most heavily indebted among them, she was paradoxically also the wealthiest.
At this point, being poor and short on resolve, Lucan's voice dropped three octaves: "Miss Merlin..."
Merlin's reaction was quite dramatic; she instantly clutched her wallet. "No, are you even asking me for 4 silver le now? Renting this carriage already cost me 3 silver le!"
Merlin clutched the wallet at her waist tightly, shaking her head vigorously. "Impossible. I still have loan payments. If I give you this money, I won't even be able to make the minimum installment. Lucan, you know what terrible things happen when you can't pay your debts!"
Lucan sighed deeply, helplessly saying, "I know, I know. I'll pay you back once I get money in the city! I'll pay you back double."
After much persuasion and negotiation, they finally managed to scrape together the entry fee. After paying this fee and passing through the capital's gate, they finally truly entered the capital.
Unlike the Holy City of the Sixth Singularity, Wincheston, as a city also built upon the Holy Lance, did not face the Human Order Incineration crisis, nor did it need to compress space by turning people into specimens. It was undoubtedly much larger.
Suya pulled back the curtain of the wagon and immediately heard the bustling sounds of the crowd surrounding them from all directions. Laughter, hawking, conversations, haggling, and the rumbling of carriage wheels on the ground echoed ceaselessly.
Looking around, a wide road, spacious enough for over a dozen carriages to travel side-by-side, paved entirely with tawny stone bricks, stretched from the west gate of the capital to the visible horizon, faintly revealing tall silver castles that resembled mountains. The buildings on either side of the road were not the Norman-style architecture of this era that Suya had seen before, but rather a succession of Gothic houses: red tiles, pointed roofs, and continuous pointed arches and flying buttresses, like the Shiganshina District beneath Wall Maria in Attack on Titan. Looking at the continuous red-tiled rooftops and flying arches, Suya couldn't help but think how awesome it would be if this place had Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear for movement.
At this moment, Lucan cleared his throat, suppressing his earlier embarrassment. He had Dagonet continue driving the horses to their designated location and proceeded to inform Suya and Merlin about the team's upcoming itinerary and plan:
"Before coming, I had already considered it. The plan is audacious, but it is actually feasible."
"There are three difficulties:"
"First, how do we fake a deception that covers the entire capital?"
"Second, choose the appropriate timing and method to guide and converge [Faith] at the moment we desire—that is, the demonstration."
"Third, cleanup. The capital is not lacking in demi-heroes, heroes, or even legends. We need to at least gain the support of some people to stabilize the situation, allowing us to guide that instantaneous burst, that torrent of faith directed at His Majesty, to forcibly anchor the connection between the Sword in the Stone and him."
"Finally, deceive the rules of the world, making it an 'established fact'!"
Just listening to this short segment, Suya could already imagine what a massive and complex undertaking this plan was. Moreover, the plan sounded incredibly vague. Ignoring the second and third points which required connections and manpower, just the first point—how to deceive three million people—left Suya completely clueless.
Merlin, on the other hand, simply rolled her eyes and said, exasperatedly, "Do you know how much money your plan will cost?"
"Just creating a magical performance that three million people can witness simultaneously would cost at least seven figures in gold pounds."
"Do you have that money, Mr. Swindler, who just borrowed 8 silver le from me?"
Lucan nodded, his eyes half-closed in a smile. "Of course, I don't have that much. However, there's an opportunity right now that we can leverage—"
"Forty days from now, the coming-of-age ceremony of Prince Chellos."
"He plans to use this ceremony to gather faith, and after the ceremony concludes, he will attempt to go to St. Stephen's Church to pull out the Sword in the Stone."
Upon hearing this, Suya couldn't help but feel strange. Although the legend of King Arthur was fictional, mainstream texts and original sources indicated that King Uther had only one son, Arthur. But who was this Chellos?
He couldn't help but look at Lucan and asked, "Who is this?"
"He's rumored to be King Uther's illegitimate son, publicly announced by Duke Edward II of Cornwall after King Uther left for war. He claimed that eighteen years ago, King Uther took a liking to his wife, Gwendoline, and met with her secretly while he was away. His wife dared not speak out, so she used the excuse of resting at a manor to give birth to this child."
Lucan spread his hands, smiling wryly. "It was also because of this news that King Uther fell ill with anger while leading his army to war. However, before King Uther could refute the rumor, he was chopped in half and hung on the Conqueror King's royal banner."
"With no living witnesses, and Edward II's close ties to the Church, the matter became officially settled."
Merlin frowned at this point and asked, "So, you want to plagiarize this 'Great Prince's' coming-of-age ceremony? Are you crazy?"
Lucan shook his head.
"It's just the embryonic form of an idea for now. If the Duke of Cornwall can fake a royal heir, of course, we can too."
"But," Lucan then looked deeply at Suya, speaking in a low voice, "Ultimately, this matter still depends on what you think."
"Are you prepared to become king?"