Fate/Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated with a Servant's body (Mordred)

Chatting with Sauros on the way, Mordred and Hector were brought into the dining room of the mansion.

In the meantime Philip stopped and pulled away his daughter who was heading straight to the dining room as well, his eyes narrowed. "Eris, come here for a moment."

"Father?..."

Philip looked down at her seriously. "Eris, you must absolutely not be disrespectful to that Prince! Contrary to what he said, he isn't just an ordinary prince. He's a Blessed Child and even has an Emperor ranked bodyguard. He surely has a high status in the Kingdragon Kingdom. If you offend him, you will really be making trouble for Father."

Eris frowned. So what if he was some Blessed Child or a Prince? Did this mean she had to grovel before him or something?

Philip's expression hardened. "Eris, do you understand?"

"I understand…"

"I hope you do. Don't do anything excessive during the banquet and behave yourself. That's all I'm asking. But first, go see your mother and change. We can't have you join in this outfit and hair full of hay."

The Kingdragon Kingdom and the Asura Kingdom were very far from each other, so there were no conflicts between them, but it couldn't be said that they were close allies.

They were neutral. But in truth, the Kingdragon Kingdom had always eyed the Asura Kingdom like a hawk for any sign of weakness, looking to claim some of its bountiful land.

It was only the distance between them and the Red Dragon Mountain Range that prevented the Kingdragons from launching an invasion all these years.

But could that stop this Miko Prince from raining down destruction over Asura and from retreating at will in the future?

Since he could fly, apparently not.

Even Philip, who didn't know much about Magic, could imagine this scenario.

If such a thing were to happen, he at least didn't want to antagonize this Prince.

And in fact, for his own political career, meeting Mordred was a great opportunity to overturn his Fate that he had to desperately grasp! The future of the kingdom be damned.

…

In the dining room, first tea and other drinks were quickly served while only Mordred, Hector and Sauros sat down while Ghislaine remained standing at the side behind Sauros to fulfill her bodyguard duties.

Sauros mostly talked with Mordred, with Hector also acting as a silent bodyguard.

Next some appetizers were served.

Around the same time Philip joined their table, smoothly sitting down opposite to Mordred, his smile gentle like before. "Hello again."

"Mr. Philip."

Philip replied to Mordred's greeting with his usual smile.

"Hn." Sauros said, "Boy, you said before that you wanted to meet our Ghislaine. Why?"

"I just wanted to meet a Sword King trained by the Sword God. I also wanted to have a spar with her."

"Haha, you wanted to spar with a Sword King? You've got guts!" Sauros found the idea amusing and punched Mordred's shoulder..

"Actually, I'm a Sword Saint, so our levels are not that far apart."

"Hm. You say you're a Sword Saint, just how old are you?" Sauros looked at him sternly as if he wanted him to admit he's lying.

"I'm eight. Apparently I'm the youngest Sword Saint ever. It's again thanks to me being a Miko."

Upon hearing this, Sauros, Philip and Ghislaine all took a breath of cold air, their expressions serious.

What Mordred said was an achievement that was too difficult to believe… But if it was a result of him being a Miko, then it was no longer an impossibility.

In the Boreas family, strength with the sword was more valued than Magic. To them, an eight year old Sword Saint was a miracle!

"Hmm, you're serious about it!" said Sauros.

"If it's true, then it's an extraordinary feat," Philip dryly chipped in.

"Right… The truth is that I came to Asura to train in the headquarters of the Water God Style and the Sword God Style. On the way, I found out that the only Sword King is in Roa and I decided to make a stop here first."

Not revealing his identity was the original plan when visiting the capital first, but the order of things have now changed, so it didn't matter. The Sword Sanctum, with the Sword God who is politically uninvolved with any nation, was chosen as their next main destination instead.

"So it's like that! But you said before that you're a Magic Power Miko. How is that related to using a sword?"

Mordred faintly smiled and explained, "Battle Aura is a kind of Magic Power, so the two are related. Somehow, me being born as a Miko made me good at both."

"Then you were truly born blessed with talent, boy! You must not waste it!"

"Yes."

Sauros looked at Mordred dotingly, before his expression suddenly turned stern. He said, "By the way, there is a girl in this mansion that's the same age as you. You've already seen her. I hope you're not going to seduce my granddaughter while you're here, boy!"

"Haha…" Mordred laughed dryly, pretending it was a joke.

Philip chuckled and said, "It is my daughter, Eris. She also has interest and talent for the sword, but nothing like Your Highness."

Sauros glared at him. "Why are you talking down our Eris? She's a genius too! And she's a beautiful young girl like none other! Don't make it sound like she's not a good match for Prince Mordred!!!"

Mordred remained silent and chuckled inwardly. Just 10 seconds ago Sauros directly threatened him to not seduce Eris, but now he spoke as if they were a good match; he just took it as random rambling.

Meanwhile, Philip maintained a placid smile. He did not even have such wild hopes as trying to match the two of them because… just what boy in this world could handle his daughter and her crude and violent behavior? Surely not a prince raised in a royal palace, at least.

Their conversation continued.

At one point, two people entered the dining room who were not the servants. It was Eris along with a beautiful mature woman with bound-up red hair just like hers.

Differently from before, Eris was now all dressed up. She wore a more meticulous outfit, her lush red hair looked fresh and clean, and she might even have some make-up on.

Philip stood up from his seat. "It's my wife, Hilda. And also our daughter, Eris."

Hilda took hold of her dress and silently bowed down in a greeting.

Next to her, Eris imitated the pose with a forced smile on her face, saying, "Eris… Boreas… Greyrat. Nice to meet you."

Mordred forced a wry smile. What greeted him was a twisted smile of humiliation as if Eris hated every moment of having to act like this.

Sauros immediately reacted. "Oh, my! How cute, Eris!!! What did I say earlier! Eris is absolutely adorable! Don't you think, Mordred?"

He asked Mordred while continuously patting his back again, awaiting his reply.

Mordred smiled wryly again, muttering, "You're asking me that… I guess… yes…"

What else was he supposed to say?

"Haha! Of course she is!" Sauros laughed.

Meanwhile, Eris's smile was getting more ugly and twisted by the second.

A while later, Mordred stood up and finally made his own greeting. "Mordred Kingdragon, the 16th Prince of Kingdragon."

With this final introduction, the Boreas family banquet had officially begun.

During the banquet, Mordred sat next to the seat of honor, which belonged to Sauros.

Hector sat next to him, while on the other side of the table was Philip's family of three.

As the food was brought in, Mordred's head began to be filled with thoughts: 'Huungry… Huuungry… Huuuuuungry!…'

However, these thoughts did not belong to him, but came from Albion.

Mordred chuckled. 'Okay, I get it, you're hungry!'

His sudden chuckle confused the other people at the table.

Mordred looked at them and explained, "I just heard from my familiar that he liked what he smelled."

"A familiar?" Sauros asked.

Meanwhile, Eris became visibly interested.

Mordred smiled. He pulled his chair a bit further from the table, looked down and quietly said, "Albion, you can come out. Don't be shy."

[Don't say it as if I'm shy...] Albion grumbled as he slowly came out of the magic pouch.

'But you are shy.'

[But you don't need to say that out loud!…]

Albion slowly rose up, revealing his head from behind the table to the others.

"Woah!" Eris was amazed.

"Hn." Sauros was expressionless.

"Isn't this a young dragon?" Philip asked with a shocked face.

Mordred plainly smiled. "Yes, Albion is a dragon. He's from an extinct species of dragons and was summoned by me from a labyrinth."

"Oh, that's fascinating…"

Sauros said, "It sure is. So do you plan to bring a beast to eat at my table?"

Mordred saw that Sauros was quite unhappy; perhaps he only liked the cute kind of animals and not so much reptiles. He said, "Albion is very smart. He won't make a mess."

[I'm smart, stupid human!] Albion glared at Sauros.

Sauros was taken aback. "This little dragon… It's glaring at me! Ahahahaha!"

The banquet continued.

Albion sat on Mordred's lap. As Mordred put some food on his plate for himself, he also had another plate to feed Albion.

Funnily enough, after eating a single Magic Crystal for the first time, Albion lost interest in them because they made him feel 'dizzy' and had no taste, falling in love with raw dragon meat instead.

"Prince Mordred, you've got to try our Fittoan bread from Asuran wheat! I assure you, you won't find better bread anywhere else in Asura!" Sauros pitched, speaking with absolute confidence.

"Mm, okay."

Mordred cut a large bun in half with a knife and buttered it, then tried it as is.

"How was it?" Sauros asked.

Mordred thought for a moment and gave his appraisal with a light smile, "It's good… I like it. It has a unique taste. It feels filling and nutritious." 

"Haha, does it? I doubt you'll find much Asuran wheat in the Kingdragon Kingdom!"

"Yes. Our bread is whiter and sweeter… We also eat a lot of sweet potatoes. Rice imported from Sanakia is also quite popular as commoners' food."

"What's rice?" asked Eris.

"It's… brown kernels that are cooked like groats," Mordred explained, looking at her with a small smile. In this world, there is no commercialized white rice that's sweet and delicious like on Earth, and it's instead used as commoner food or animal feed. If there is sweet white rice, it is not widely manufactured.

"Ah…" Eris looked disappointed with the answer.

Mordred didn't care. That was reality.

Sauros said, "You also cultivate lots of grapes like the Notos. I've tried Kingdragon Wine before. I say, it's for women!"

Mordred replied, "Haha, it's sweet. So maybe."

"Have you tried it before?"

"No, not personally. But my Master praised it during my 5th birthday party… My Master is a woman. She's the Kingdragon Kingdom's Court Magician."

'Hooo…' Philip's expression was more and more dignified the more he learned about Mordred. This young prince was not only extremely talented and accomplished in various fields, but he also had perfect mannerism and good social skills, even managing to make his father like him; if only Eris was more like that…

Meanwhile, Sauros maintained a more reserved expression. "Court Magician is your Master?"

"Yes, of course, it's because I'm originally a Magician and a Miko with high Magic Power."

As time passed, Sauros gave a small sausage to Albion and seemed to have warmed up to him, even saying that he's cute.

"Haha, does he like wine?" he asked.

"Mr. Sauros, he's a child," said Mordred.

"But it's a dragon child!"

"That… Actually, I never tried. But I don't want to teach him bad habits."

[Wine? Is it good?]

'No, it's disgusting,' Mordred immediately replied.

[You're lying!]

'I'm not... It's only that there are some sweet wines that might taste good, but they're not good for you.' Secretly, he actually liked sweet wines, just not liking the habit of drinking.

As expected… Just like a child, after hearing that something was bad for him and he shouldn't try it, Albion said, [I wanna try it!]

'No, alcohol is for adults. You never see me drinking any, right?'

[...]

Seeing that, he managed to calm down Albion. Mordred felt satisfied. As one would expect, when handling a child one should first give an example with their own actions.

[Don't treat me like I'm a child.]

'But you are.'

[You're also… Ah. I forgot that Boss is not a child... You're a human adult who died and was reborn by God… And you even know the future of this world from a story…]

Mordred was silent. Because Albion could read his thoughts, he could naturally not conceal the secret of his reincarnation from him. But this didn't change their relationship and only made the dragon respect him more.

In the real world, Mordred saw that Sauros was asking him something and glaring at him, but he was too preoccupied with Albion to hear properly. He asked, "Excuse me, could you repeat that?"

Sauros slightly frowned. "Why are you dazing off, boy? I asked if you want to drink a glass with me!"

Drink a glass?

Mordred realized that Sauros was talking about alcohol.

With what he just said to Albion… he could naturally not accept. He didn't want to raise an alcoholic dragon!

He said, "Ah, no. Thank you…"

"You don't want to drink with me?!" Sauros glared at him.

"Haha…" Mordred laughed dryly.

"Father… Prince Mordred is just eight. Shouldn't he wait at least until his 10th birthday with trying alcohol?" said Philip.

Sauros waved his hand dismissively. "My father gave me my first drink when I was five! And he didn't raise a drunk! You're not a drunk either, right? Pressure builds until it bursts. In moderation, everything is for humans!"

After speaking, he took a drink from his wine glass, took a sip with dignity and then let out a satisfied breath.

'Pressure builds until it bursts? That might be true. But I have no interest in alcohol anyway.' Mordred didn't want to end up like his father, so he rarely ever touched alcohol in his first life.

"Can I touch it?..." Eris asked at one point while Mordred was petting Albion who had fallen asleep on his lap.

"Sure."

Eris walked around the table and soon reached Mordred's seat.

She then delicately placed her hand at the back of Albion's white head and slid it down his back.

"Eh, it's smooth… And hard," said Eris and formed a look of disappointment.

Mordred faintly smiled and didn't say anything. It seemed that like any child Eris liked pets too, but a dragon was surprisingly not her type, unlike for literally any boy her age.

The banquet continued.

It was mostly Sauros chatting with Mordred while Philip occasionally pitched in.

After eating his fill, and seeing the evening descending, Mordred excused himself with the excuse of being exhausted after having to use Gravity Magic for a long time.

"I feel like I want to sleep for 15 hours straight…"

"Haha, is that so? Then go ahead and rest, boy!"

Being guided to his room by a servant, Mordred carried Albion with him in a daze, then dropped onto his bed and passed out.

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AN: If we reach 1,000 Power Stones this week, I'll upload an extra chapter on Monday.