I Became The King Of Crusaders [EN]: Chapter 122

Excalibur (2)

* * *

Glastonbury was a peaceful town.

Houses clustered around a wooden fortress.

About two thousand residents lived there.

Only fifteen knights in total resided in the area.

The citizens watched us, who came from London, with curious eyes.

The King and Prince Baldwin were among us.

Along with hundreds of attendants.

Upon arriving in Glastonbury, we immediately began the excavation.

“Are you sure this is the right place, Your Highness? It’s been a week already, and nothing has turned up,” Eigre said, wiping the rain off his face.

His clothes were soaked with mud.

“The weather in Jerusalem was like heaven compared to this. I don’t know how many times it’s rained and stopped already.”

Eigre sighed.

“It’s all muddy, so I can’t even walk properly. It’s amazing people live in a place like this.”

“The weather in England isn’t generally good. But this is definitely the place,” I said with a shrug.

Glastonbury.

The place where the event for discovering King Arthur’s remains takes place.

That’s why I always excavated here first when starting in England.

Completing the King Arthur event granted a large legitimacy buff [a boost to perceived right to rule].

The problem was finding these remains.

‘Usually, it was an event that ended within a few days of starting.’

It had already been a week with no results.

We couldn’t stay for months until we found the remains.

The knights and laborers, who were initially enthusiastic, gradually lost their fervor.

‘I need to find it before the comet falls.’

That way, I could connect the comet and King Arthur.

And then there’s the earthquake that will happen soon.

To help young Henry and Richard, I needed to combine all of this.

“By the way, I don’t know why young King Henry brought so many people,” Eigre said, looking outside the tent.

Young Henry and the Queen were present.

Servants and maids attending to them, noble ladies.

Knights and soldiers.

Messengers and couriers.

A baker who bakes bread and a cook who only prepares meat.

Blacksmiths, painters, hunters, masters of ceremonies, heralds [official announcers], fortune-tellers, clowns, barbers, scholars, and even mime actors and royal cat caretakers.

It was more like a carnival circus than an entourage.

I said with a laugh, “If we don’t find it soon, the food nearby will run out first. I didn’t know it would take this long to find a single corpse.”

“We’ve found plenty of nameless corpses. We found two more this morning,” Eigre shrugged.

“But none of them looked like King Arthur. There were no shields or swords buried with them either. They probably were pilgrims who died passing by.”

“Pilgrims….”

I scratched my chin.

Could my memory be wrong?

‘King Arthur’s remains discovery event.’

It was definitely here in Glastonbury.

In the original history, Henry II found King Arthur’s tomb here.

And he even personally held the funeral.

Then it must be here….

I stared blankly outside.

Muddy puddles everywhere.

Every time soldiers walked, muddy water splashed around.

The Holy Cross in the center of the camp was covered with a tent to protect it from the rain.

The moment I saw it, I realized.

“That’s it!”

“Yes?” Eigre asked, startled.

I looked at Eigre and smiled. “How could I have missed something so simple? The event description clearly stated it.”

‘Remains presumed to be King Arthur’s discovered!’

Presumed.

It was only remains [presumed] to be King Arthur’s.

In the first place, King Arthur himself is almost a legend.

A result of later poets and historians piecing things together.

Even if King Arthur actually existed, he would have been very different from the legend.

Then how did Henry II discover King Arthur’s remains?

The answer was simple.

He created it himself.

‘This is King Arthur’s remains!’

Who would dare to argue when the king said so?

“There were many pieces of the Holy Cross in Constantinople [modern-day Istanbul]. And there are pieces of the Holy Cross all over Europe.”

I raised my hand and pointed to the Holy Cross inside the tent. “Then how does the Holy Cross there maintain its perfect form?”

“Well.”

Eigre replied with a bewildered expression. “Isn’t that why it’s a holy relic? There are many who make fake holy relics.”

“But people say they smell a sacred fragrance even when they see fake holy relics,” I said.

It wasn’t that the holy relic was real that caused the fragrance and miracles.

It must be that belief allows them to feel the fragrance and miracles.

“The remains you found this morning. Where exactly were they located?”

“Near the riverbank downstream. There was only one stone placed on top,” Eigre said.

I slowly opened my mouth. “That’s King Arthur’s remains. The other one is King Arthur’s queen, Guinevere.”

“Yes? Are you serious that those are King Arthur’s remains?”

“It’s both true and false,” I said with a shrug.

I’ve become a medieval person now.

‘What’s needed is evidence to show that it’s Arthur.’

I said, “But no one will believe it with just corpses. Let’s add something more definitive.”

I looked at Eigre. “Call the blacksmiths from the Knights. I need to personally choose those who are tight-lipped.”

“What exactly are you planning to do?”

“You’ll find out soon,” I said with a smile.

Just claiming it won’t be enough.

Something more dramatic was needed.

A dramatic story that would be on the lips of the English people.

“First, tomorrow morning….”

* * *

Glastonbury.

The commotion occurred a week after the excavation began.

Early in the morning, as dawn broke, Prince Baldwin’s scream echoed.

“Aaaagh!”

Baldwin, who was walking down the riverbank, shouted at the people around him. “Ca, can’t you see the person standing on the riverbank over there?!”

“There’s no one on the riverbank. We don’t see anyone, Your Highness.”

“Th, there’s King Arthur standing there…! Are you really saying no one can see him?!”

It took a few minutes for the Prince to calm down.

Young Henry, having heard the news, rushed over.

“Yo, Your Highness! Has something happened?”

Baldwin replied with a voice still filled with excitement. “King Arthur appeared before me. He was standing right there on the riverbank. Queen Guinevere was standing beside him.”

“Ki, King Arthur. Is that true?”

“He spoke to me directly. He said he had been waiting for me and His Majesty to come here.”

Soldiers, attendants, and city residents who heard the news all flocked to the riverbank.

“And he was furious. He said why didn’t we recognize them even though we found them.”

“Ah, not recognize them,” Young Henry muttered.

“Then the two corpses we found yesterday….”

“Search the riverbank again carefully. He said you will find proof that I am King Arthur.”

Having said that, Baldwin pointed to one side of the riverbank.

Soldiers with shovels rushed to dig there.

“What are you doing! Hurry up and dig there!”

Even those who had been grumbling for the past few days closed their mouths and picked up shovels.

Before long, a soldier shouted, “I, I found something!”

What came out of the pile of mud was a lead cross.

“Bring it here quickly!”

Young Henry read the inscription on the cross.

“He who drew the sacred sword Caliburnus [another name for Excalibur], the great king of Britain, Arthur, rests here on the Isle of Avalon.”

Young Henry’s voice trembled slightly at the mention of Arthur.

William Marshal knelt beside him.

“King Arthur has been waiting for His Majesty to come.”

The surrounding soldiers all knelt down.

The residents did the same.

Children holding their mothers’ hands awkwardly knelt or bowed their heads.

Only Baldwin and young Henry were standing.

“Long live King Henry! Long live the eternal King! Long live England!”

“Long live the Holy City of Jerusalem!”

Women brought their children and kissed the cross.

The men did the same.

Soldiers and citizens alike approached the cross and knelt.

“Quickly, let this news…,” Young Henry said, turning his head.

His face was flushed red.

“Quickly, let this news be known in London.”

* * *

‘King Arthur’s remains have been discovered!’

This news spread throughout England.

Rochester, Canterbury, Dover, Devizes, Marlborough, Reading, Malmesbury, Salisbury, and as far as Richmond and Carlisle.

The messengers sent by young Henry announced what had happened in Glastonbury wherever they went.

“His Majesty Young Henry has discovered King Arthur’s tomb! King Arthur appeared to Prince Baldwin of Jerusalem….”

It wasn’t just the messengers who spread the news.

Merchants who had been staying in Glastonbury also traveled to other cities and told what they had seen.

“King Arthur has returned to protect England and the Holy City of Jerusalem!”

There was no one among the English and Normans who didn’t know the legend of King Arthur.

King Arthur and Percival were legendary figures.

The mysterious magician Merlin, who left behind many prophecies.

Even the forbidden love story of Guinevere and Lancelot.

King Arthur was a symbol representing chivalry and monarchs.

Children in the streets ran around reciting songs and poems.

‘Rejoice, beautiful Britain!

Celebrate, noble kings!

For the sacred sword that was stuck in the stone has returned to the king’s hand!’

Citizens also exchanged stories of King Arthur with excited expressions.

“You all know this prophecy. The eagle of broken oaths will find joy in the third nest.”

“Doesn’t the third son, Duke Richard, reside in England now? Merlin’s prophecy is really coming true. The Queen will soon regain her freedom.”

People regarded the evil King of the North Wind as Henry II and the captured eagle as Queen Eleanor.

But not all Englishmen participated in this fervor.

“Why would King Arthur reveal himself to a Jerusalem royal family who isn’t even English?”

“That’s because Prince Baldwin has English blood flowing through him. Isn’t he a descendant of Count Fulk of Anjou?”

“In the first place, that side has nothing to do with England… Ah, never mind.”

Most of the negative reactions came from the London Palace.

Henry II remained silent about this incident, and some nobles openly doubted the authenticity of the cross.

“If it were truly King Arthur’s tomb, His Majesty Henry II would have discovered it, not anyone else! Why would he reveal himself to his son instead of his father?”

“…”

Everyone who heard these words remained silent.

The fact that young Henry, not Henry II, found King Arthur’s tomb.

What that meant was only one thing.

‘The rightful King of England is young Henry, not Henry II!’

No one was foolish enough to say these words openly in front of the old king.

But rumors are unstoppable.

Before long, the entire palace was filled with uncomfortable silence and whispers.

It was at this time that Baldwin’s next ‘revelation’ was announced.

“King Arthur has conveyed these words to me. Tell them to those who doubt the truth!”

“Before the sun sets twenty times, a fireball will fall from the sky. What was once one will become two, and the two will fall from the sky and disappear.”

The English people were thrilled to hear this news.

No royal family had ever made such a prophecy.

“No, no matter how sacred he is, how could he know such a thing.”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see it with my own eyes.”

Ten days later.

The people of England all looked up at the sky.

“Th, look over there!”

A bright red fireball streaked across the black sky.

Like a burning arrow.

The arrow that cut through the air soon split into two and disappeared.

The heat of the comet was transmitted directly to the ground.

For those few minutes, the English people all stared at the sky with their mouths shut.

Soon, someone who came to their senses shouted.

“Th, the time of judgment has come!”

* * *

Additional explanation: ‘From the 12th century, places related to King Arthur, such as the River Usk in Wales or Glastonbury in Somerset, were crowded with people, and the King and Queen also visited these places in person. There was even speculation that King Arthur would one day return to the kingdom. Feeling uneasy after hearing this, Henry II ordered a search for King Arthur’s tomb in Glastonbury. And in 1190, remains presumed to be the bones of Arthur and Guinevere were found, and a lead cross with the inscription ‘The great King Arthur rests here on the Isle of Avalon’ was also excavated. With this discovery, the Isle of Avalon has been known as Glastonbury to this day. The remains were buried in the church after a grand ceremony.’ – Eleanor of Aquitaine (Alison Weir)

+

‘On the other hand, as exemplified by the excavation of King Arthur’s remains in 1191, relics were newly created when necessary. The legend of King Arthur created by Glastonbury Abbey made Glastonbury the most important mythical place in England, and it continues to this day as a kind of heritage, not only in the Middle Ages. However, like all myths and legends, the story of King Arthur in Glastonbury seems to have adapted and evolved over time to meet temporal and cultural demands and beliefs.’ – King Arthur of Glastonbury: Between Truth and Fiction, Past and Present (Yoon Joo-ok, The Korean Society for Western Medieval History)