The knight standing nearby for escort flinched. He reflexively brushed his hand over the sword at his waist. He glanced at Morgana suspiciously, as if wondering whether she was talking about his scabbard.
Merlin, who had chosen silence for a moment, smiled faintly and replied calmly.
“…Scabbard? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Morgana idly ran her hand down the back of her neck and looked into her teacup.
Merlin, sitting across from her, responded indifferently without even looking.
“We’re not here to exchange pleasantries, are we? We both know why I came. Hand over the scabbard.”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. What scabbard do you mean?”
He was flatly denying it, as if he had made up his mind. He even fluttered his lashes with a hand covering his mouth in feigned regret, enough to appear innocent to anyone watching.
Morgana sighed and replied, “The scabbard of Excalibur. Why are you pretending not to know?”
Now even the nearby priests widened their eyes.
“Excalibur has a scabbard?”
“This is the first I’m hearing of it. Was there such a thing?”
It made sense that they didn’t know.
From the beginning, when Merlin transcribed the holy texts, he had intentionally left out the parts about the Holy Grail.
Naturally, the scabbard—which was one of the most important items in the quest for the Grail—had been excluded as well.
Even the divine beasts were omitted, which confirmed it.
‘So that’s how you want to play it?’
Then there’s no helping it.
Morgana pulled out an ancient document she had carefully stored in a magical container. She didn’t bother unrolling the parchment.
What mattered wasn’t the contents, but the fact that she had the ancient document in her possession.
With a light tap, she placed the parchment on the table and ordered Merlin:
“Then I’ll search the temple under my authority. That’s all right, isn’t it?”
“…Yes, go ahead.”
Surprisingly, Merlin readily agreed.
Did he have something up his sleeve?
In the end, it was only the priests and holy knights who truly knew nothing that were left in shock, forced to begin searching for the scabbard without even knowing why.
“Lady Morgana, is the scabbard you’re looking for among these?”
Reception room table.
Every scabbard that could be found in the temple had been dragged out and laid across the sofa in a row.
It seemed even the apprentice knights’ childish little scabbards had been taken, as a few small and tattered ones were mixed in.
Morgana stared at them intently, almost as if glaring.
“Excal, what do you think?”
The high-ranking priests standing nearby clasped their hands politely and swallowed hard.
Even Mangeum and Excalibur grew tense in response.
—I have no idea?
Ugh, looks like it’s a miss again.
When Morgana shook her head, sighs erupted from all directions.
Since every scabbard in the temple was being dragged out without warning, it was clear they were just as frustrated.
The eldest high priest cleared his throat and stepped forward to ask on behalf of the others.
“Lady Morgana, if we could know what the scabbard looks like, it would help us greatly in finding it.”
“It’s just a scabbard. One that would fit the holy sword.”
She felt sorry for the priests exchanging troubled glances, clearly at a loss.
Honestly, she wished she could tell them more.
‘I don’t even know what the scabbard looks like.’
She had only heard of its existence, but had no idea about its appearance.
Even Excalibur didn’t know.
Now even it was muttering in confusion.
—What if… I was actually born without a scabbard from the beginning? Considering how special I am, it’s totally possible.
To be honest, if not for Pelles and Galahad, Morgana might have believed that herself. But starting with ancient documents and even the family guarding the Grail, all sources confirmed the existence of the scabbard.
‘Merlin must have hidden it somewhere…’
Judging by how readily he gave permission, he must have hidden it well somewhere.
Soon after, more scabbards were brought into the reception room, carried in the hands of the priests.
The high priest, staring at the scabbards as if he had scraped together every last ounce of his soul, pulled one of the priests aside.
“The main hall. Did you say Lady Nimue was the one who searched it?”
“Yes. But the main hall only contains old documents and the High Priest’s personal quarters…”
“Right, there’s no reason a scabbard would be in a place like that.”
“That too, but as you know, the Saint is extremely frail… I’m not sure if she was able to conduct a proper search.”
“Still, she’s someone who’s always dutiful with her tasks. We… we should trust her…”
A collective sigh escaped them, loud enough for Morgana to hear.
Since other priests couldn’t access the main hall, it seemed Nimue had been the one assigned to it.
Finally, Priest Rhiannon, who had entered carrying an armful of scabbards, carefully displayed them on the table and gave a quiet report.
“Lady Morgana. We’ve searched every accessible part of the temple. This is all we found.”
“Are you sure you’ve searched everywhere?”
“Not everywhere. We excluded the prayer room where the sacred relics are kept. That space is off-limits to anyone except the High Priest and the Saint.”
If there were places they couldn’t enter, then there was still more to the temple.
Morgana tilted her head, curious.
“You said the main hall was searched, right?”
“Yes, but… both spaces have been unused for a long time. Even since Lord Merlin became the High Priest, he’s never once gone in.”
“And the Saint?”
“Sometimes. Maybe once or twice a year…?”
Nimue’s behavior was starting to feel oddly passive.
Morgana recalled his decaying, decadent figure.
‘I thought he’d be the first to throw himself into the search when told to find the scabbard. How unexpected.’
He had once quietly hinted at things from behind the scenes. He had even given a subtle signal allowing her access to the ancient documents.
At the end, he had secretly provided a clue about a priest who had died.
Now, however, his attitude was lukewarm.
‘He seemed like someone who knew something about the Grail…’
At the very least, the sword and scabbard must have been separated from the moment Excalibur was embedded in the stone.
That would mean a minimum of 100 years had passed.
While Excalibur tried to sharpen its senses as it examined the next scabbard,
Morgana casually asked the priests waiting behind her,
“Do any of you know when Merlin first entered the temple?”
A high priest spoke up, as if struggling to recall a vague memory.
“I remember my mentor saying something about that. That two saints were born in the same era, and it would bring peace to the continent.”
“What were they doing before they entered the temple?”
Since Morgana didn’t have a clear grasp of the relationship between the two, she began her own line of inquiry.
The priests frowned slightly as they tried to remember.
“Hmm… I think Merlin was almost sold to a slave trader, but then received a divine calling. That’s a well-known story…”
“Yes, Priest Rhiannon is correct. In the beginning, there was a lot of controversy over his manners and behavior—”
As the high priest next to him gave a subtle look, the priest quickly cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Ahem, well, he had a difficult time adjusting.”
“What about Lady Nimue?”
Merlin was famous enough that even among the poor, there had been a wave of people aspiring to become priests because of him.
Even Morgana’s own birth mother, who lived in Britain, had subtly suggested the path of priesthood to her.
‘Morgana back then was completely wild. It was lucky she gave up quickly.’
The priests who had answered smoothly before now tilted their heads at the mention of Nimue.
“Well… we’re not really sure.”
“You don’t know who her parents were, or where she came from?”
“No. The High Priest brought her here himself just a few days after receiving his divine calling. So we’ve never had any real information.”
To the priests, what mattered most was whether or not someone had divine power.
And Nimue possessed the strongest divine power in the entire temple. Her exceptional healing abilities—clearly divine in nature—left no room for doubt.
There was a nagging feeling that something was off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
As Mangeum bounced across the scabbards like piano keys, making soft popping sounds, Morgana narrowed her eyes.
“How long has the Saint been here?”
“About… a hundred years, I think? From around the time the Holy Sword appeared embedded in the stone.”
Priests with strong divine power live longer than ordinary people.
Especially those with healing abilities—it was even more true for them.
Considering the previous Saints and High Priests had lived more than twice as long as others, it wasn’t strange for Nimue to be quite old.
And yet, there was still a strange discomfort lingering in her mind.
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