"Didn't I tell you?"
Noticing the surprised look on Arthur Pendragon's face, Morgan le Fay added casually:
"Lily is also one of the trainees this time."
The news had been delivered casually, but for Arthur it was a genuine surprise.
"Let's help each other for the next two months," said Artoria Pendragon, extending her hand with a calm and sincere expression.
Arthur shook her hand in greeting. After that, he cast a slightly strange glance at the girl. Then he slowly turned to Morgan, looking at her with a clearly questioning expression.
"You're wondering how I managed to bring Lily, aren't you?" Morgan Lefebvre immediately guessed what Arthur was thinking just by observing the expression in his eyes.
With a faint smile, she continued:
"As long as King Uther Pendragon agrees, it doesn't matter how much others oppose it, right?"
She let out a small dramatic sigh.
"I really worked hard to make this happen," Morgan le Fay sighed. "I had to prove that I had no ill intentions toward Lily, and I also had to list all the benefits of this training to King Uther. And even that wasn't enough."
Morgan slightly raised her shoulders, as if recalling how troublesome the whole matter had been.
"In the end, I even had to make a promise."
"A Geis…?" Arthur repeated, slightly surprised by the word.
"Yes," Morgan Lefebvre replied calmly. "I made a vow that I would do nothing to harm Lily."
The way she said it was so casual that it almost sounded trivial.
But Arthur knew that a Geis was not something one made lightly.
"All right, all right, let's stop talking about this. Get ready—we're leaving soon," Morgan said immediately afterward.
Without leaving room for more questions, she simply walked out of the hall, apparently to prepare something.
Thus, Arthur and Artoria were left behind.
Sitting across from each other.
For a few moments, the two simply exchanged glances.
Fortunately, their relationship was already quite good, so there was no awkward atmosphere between them.
After a few minutes of casual conversation, they finally mounted their horses and left through the city gates, following the instructions Morgan had left.
In truth, Arthur was not very accustomed to riding a horse.
In the past, his physical condition had been extremely poor. His body simply couldn't endure for long the irregular movements and constant swaying of horseback riding, which was why he rarely rode.
Because of that, it didn't take long for him to start falling behind.
Morgan and Artoria moved forward easily.
Arthur, on the other hand…
Moved slowly.
Very slowly.
A few minutes later, the two of them rode back to where Arthur was still slowly making his way along the road.
Artoria observed the situation for a moment before asking, clearly surprised:
"You don't know how to ride a horse?"
Despite Arthur possessing excellent skills in martial arts and Runic magic, seeing him struggle with something so basic was quite unexpected.
"It's not that I don't know how to ride…" Arthur explained quickly. "It's just that I ride a little slowly."
"Not just a little slowly," Artoria replied bluntly. "If you keep traveling at that pace, we probably won't reach our destination even in an entire day."
Arthur tried to defend himself:
"It's just that this horse is a bit slow…"
Artoria shook her head. "No. You simply can't ride."
She said this with absolute conviction.
"The horses we brought all came from the same place and are perfectly healthy. So the problem is clearly you."
"All right, all right, let's stop here," Morgan interrupted, lightly tapping Artoria on the head. "Don't say it like that."
"That's right—" Arthur began, relieved.
But Morgan finished the sentence before he could:
"What you said is true, but you can't say it so directly. It will hurt his male pride."
Arthur froze for a second.
Then he replied with an extremely wounded expression:
"Morgan… what you just said was far more painful than what Lily said."
"But it's the truth," Morgan replied, giving him a calm look. "There's nothing we can do about that."
She then pointed to Arthur's horse.
"Let's leave that horse aside for now. You can ride on my horse."
Hearing that, Arthur didn't react immediately.
Instead, he hesitated.
Although it was clearly the most efficient solution, the idea of Morgan carrying him on the back of a horse still felt a little strange to him.
Before he could respond, Morgan tilted her head slightly.
"Or are you saying you wouldn't mind riding with Lily?"
She looked at Artoria.
"Lily wouldn't mind, right?"
"As long as we reach the destination quickly, it's fine," Artoria replied with a small nod.
"Hurry up and choose one of the two options," Morgan insisted, watching Arthur with a seemingly casual gaze.
Arthur looked around for a moment.
After weighing his options…
He finally turned to Morgan.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Morgan."
However, the moment he said that, Artoria frowned slightly.
"I feel like you're questioning my riding ability."
"No… that's not it, it's just that—"
"He simply likes me more than he likes Lily, right?" Morgan Lefebvre interrupted with an amused smile.
"Is that so?" Artoria immediately turned to look at Arthur.
The two of them trained together almost every day and were already quite used to each other's presence.
Even so, after hearing Morgan's words, Artoria couldn't help feeling a slight sense of disappointment.
"That kind of 'like' is different from that kind of 'like'…" Arthur said with a sigh.
That small rebellious lock of hair on top of Artoria's head seemed completely incapable of understanding the feelings between men and women.
For her, "liking" probably just meant liking a friend.
"Ah, how troublesome! Fine… I'll have to bother you for the rest of the trip, Lily!" Arthur finally said, scratching his head while looking at the seemingly calm and serene Morgan.
Was this also part of her calculations?
Arthur couldn't help thinking about it.
I really hate this feeling that everything has already been calculated…
And so, under Morgan's clearly amused gaze, Arthur mounted the horse behind Artoria.
She slightly turned her head and said:
"Hold on tight. Otherwise you'll fall."
"Yes, milady," Arthur mocked.
The animal dashed forward and quickly caught up with Morgan, who was already galloping several meters ahead.
Mounted on the moving horse, Arthur almost lost his balance.
Startled, he quickly grabbed Artoria's waist so he wouldn't fall.
As he did so, a strange thought appeared in his mind.
Logically speaking…
He should be the one riding in front.
And the girl should be holding his waist from behind.
But why…
Was everything completely reversed?
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it.
In the past, his physical condition had truly been terrible.
And his skills as a rider were definitely not very good.
"You won't feel uncomfortable?" Artoria asked, glancing back at the boy behind her.
"It's fine…" Arthur replied distractedly.
Clearly, he was thinking about something else.
There was no avoiding it.
Now that he was sitting on the horse, his body was pressed against the girl's back.
And his hands were firmly around her waist.
It was impossible not to feel a little shaken in a situation like this.
But wouldn't any man be affected by something like that?
So the problem isn't me!
The problem is this strange position!
Arthur mentally shouted inside his own head.
During the turbulent journey, time passed without them noticing.
When they finally realized it, it was already dark.
"It seems we'll have to spend the night here," Morgan said, observing the dark forest ahead.
"We'll continue our journey tomorrow. Many monsters are active at night, so it would be very dangerous."
Arthur cast a strange look at Morgan.
Her saying something like "very dangerous"…
Sounded a little strange.
Especially coming from her.
Where exactly are we going?
He thought about it but decided not to ask out loud.
Instead, he sat down to rest under a large tree.
After a while, he raised his eyes and finally asked a question that had been bothering him for some time.
"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Morgan Lefebvre replied, looking at Arthur.
"You will have to survive in this monster-infested forest for two months."
Arthur fell silent for a moment.
Morgan continued:
"Of course, I will not help you in any way during that time."
She crossed her arms.
"Remember—even if you encounter mortal danger, I will not help."
Her voice was firm.
"If you can't even do this… then don't even think about reclaiming all the lands occupied by the Saxons in the future."
Hearing those words, Artoria slightly tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.
It seemed something important had just been remembered.
"Well then… have a wonderful night. Goodbye~" Morgan said casually.
Right after saying that, she turned around.
Her body began to transform.
Within moments, she had turned into a black crow.
The bird flapped its wings and flew away into the forest.
Thus, Morgan disappeared into the darkness.
Only Arthur and Artoria remained under the large tree, looking at each other.
After a few seconds of silence…
Arthur finally spoke:
"Um… how about we get something to eat?"
Artoria nodded slightly.
"Let's go into the forest and hunt some prey. We still need to recover our energy."
After saying that, her normally calm and serene eyes glimmered faintly.
As if, in some way, she was looking forward to what would come next.
(End of Chapter)