One With Nature 2

Festival of The White Walls: 1

It's been quite a while -for humans, that is- since the mission.

Percival has been doing pretty good for himself and taking on several jobs despite not being asked to. He's building quite reputation amongst both nobility and commoners.

Tristan has been talking about how his married life is looking more stale as time goes on. I could save him any problems and give him some warnings, but frankly his love-life isn't my problem.

Plus, an Elemental is the worst possible choice to give love advice.

Gawain has been anxious lately but won't say why. Agravain seemed to have an idea, but didn't explain anything and just said 'it's a family matter'. Considering Gawain started acting like that only recently, I doubt it has to do with King Lot.

Lancelot has thrown himself into training new recruits. He earned himself quite the reputation and fame for that. He was also starting to talk about a trainee that caught his attention. One that 'focuses too much on using the shield', in Lancelot's words.

Kay, Bedivere, and Merlin were busy with work from Artoria. There was something big going on at the city and she wanted them to ensure its done. I didn't ask because, frankly, it wasn't my problem.

Plus, I was busy with my own things.

Within my real body, I groaned as I sat down cross legged at the edge of Nature's Law. "Man, I just can't catch a break, huh, Yang?" Of course, I didn't get an answer from the grave in front of me.

At the start of every lunar year, I would come to visit Yang's grave. I would always use my real body because it just felt more personal than the puppet body, which was resting back in Camelot.

Thankfully, I already gave Artoria a heads up on me being away for a while, so there won't be a second misunderstanding.

Anyway, I just come here to sit and relax. Sometimes, I find Yu here whenever I visit but today wasn't one of them. Can't really blame her. She's not exactly as fast as I am.

Spending time here helps me relax. Maybe it's Yang's influence, or maybe nostalgia. Either, I still know better than to stay too long, so after a while, I got up and went back to the Empty Bridge.

While those visits cause Gaia and Alaya irritation, which I can feel, I don't stay long enough for them to throw a fit.

Making sure my real body is in the Empty Bridge, I moved to my puppet body and got off the bed. Leaving it alone for what I believe is a couple of days always leaves it stiff, so I had to stretch around a bit.

After walking out of room, it wasn't long before running into Bedivere. "Ah, Sir Zachary. It's a pleasure to see you again," he greeted.

"Still calling me that, huh?" I sighed before shaking my head. "Whatever. How have you been Bedivere in these past few...?" I trailed off, hoping for him to answer.

"Two days," Bedivere replied, which confirms my earlier statement. "And I've been well, thank you for asking," he smiled. "I've actually been on my way to check on you. His majesty wishes to speak to you."

"Is she in her throne room?" I asked and Bedivere confirmed with a nod. "Alright, thanks," I said as I began walking.

I have the castle memorised now so it didn't take long to reach the throne room. Once inside, I saw Artoria on her throne with Kay and Merlin nearby.

"Hey, Artoria, you called for me?" I asked as soon as I was close enough.

Artoria tried to smile, and it was showing that she improved by how she didn't look as awkward as she did when she stopped pretending to be an emotionless, higher entity.

"Zack, good to see you're awake," she greeted before her face turned serious. "I need your advice on something. The walls of Camelot will finally be completed in a month. I was hoping to do something for the people during that time to... communicate better with them."

She still sounded hesitate, but the awkward kind when trying something she's not used to, not the uncertain kind where she doubts what she's doing is good.

"How about you throw a festival to celebrate the completion of the walls?" I asked.

Artoria blinked before placing a hand on her chin. "A festival... yes, that sounds good. A festival to celebrate the complete of Camelot's walls... a festival..."

"You have never thrown a festival, or as much as a party, in your entire life, have you?" I asked, her reason for nervousness becoming plain as day.

Artoria twitched and there was a touch of pink on her cheeks. "I'll have you know that I did in fact take part in preparing for festivals before."

I didn't reply, instead I slowly turned to Kay and wait for his comment, which came after he sighed. "Your majesty, handing father the tools as he prepared for parties at bars does not count."

Artoria's cheeks went from pink to red.

"Alright, I guess I can help you. I have experience here," I stated as I crossed my arms. When Gilgamesh went on his quest, me and Enkidu had to take charge for preparing for any festival or holiday, so I picked up a few things. "First, you will need to actually inform the people. Have a public statement or have your knights spread the word. Either is fine. Then you'll have to give a speech or be present during the actual celebration. You'll also need to provide vendors to sell food or wares specifically made for the occasion. There's a lot of merchants across Camelot so that part shouldn't be a problem if you can get their cooperation. There's also way more preparations but we have a month so we can tackle them one by one. It would be preferable if you can have your knights put on a public show to finish everything off. What kind of shows have you put on before?"

Artoria tilted her head in confusion. "Public... shows...?"

Suddenly, I'm not so sure that a month is enough.