I, Guinevere, am going to crush you, you curry stick, today!

"In short, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Lane brothers' next target should be this territory and Cornwall. Compared to Furtigin, he is the formidable enemy we currently face, and the good news is, we are not entirely unprepared—"

Seeing Merlin's upturned lips, Lily suddenly had a bad feeling. And every time she had this feeling, it meant that what he was about to say next was bound to be something shocking.

"In North Wales, three 'King Arthurs' are struggling against the Lynes brothers. You will travel to North Wales to recruit them, escape from the Lynes' army, and return here. That's what you'll be doing, Lily. How about that? Pretty interesting test, right?"

P.S.: I'd been thinking about this part for a long time, but when I got to writing it, I suddenly found myself stuck. After much thought, I decided to try a different angle, and finally managed to cobble together a chapter... Waaah, waaah, hand over your recommendation votes—

Chapter 155 The Princess Fighting for Justice

"So, you're going to North Wales next to meet King Arthur... Artoria?"

"That's it."

Slightly shifting the perspective, Lily briefly recounted to Guinevere what Merlin had said a few hours earlier.

They originally came to the Fisherman King's territory to open the Tower of Radiance and obtain a divine weapon that was comparable to, or even more powerful than, the Sword of the Chosen King. Now that their goal has been achieved, parting seems imminent.

The cool moonlight shone down, and the shadows of the leaves swayed gently. After Nemia left, the two remaining people looked at each other in silence. After a moment, Guinevere suddenly smiled.

"Like This."

She took two steps in the shadows of the trees, the wind lifting the hem of her dress before it fell back down.

Royal, Kai, Lucan, Bedivere… Among them were warriors who would later join the Round Table, and others whose strength, though unheard of, far surpassed that of others. After hearing Lily's words, Guinevere, as a transmigrator who knew a part of history, felt a surge of heroic exhilaration, as if witnessing the sun rising high, sweeping away evil and darkness. But then she glanced at the girl in the white dress beside her.

"When are you ready to leave?"

“According to Professor Merlin, the situation there seems to be quite bad, and I hope I can get there as soon as possible. Probably…” Lily hesitated for a moment, “Tomorrow morning then.”

"Have you finished breakfast?"

"After breakfast."

“I knew it.” Perhaps because of her slightly teasing tone, Guinevere received another “fierce” glare from Lily. She shook her head and smiled. “No wonder I felt you had something to say. But, the King of North Wales… he seems to be friends with King Lothar—Gawain’s father. I’ve never met him, but because of this relationship, I’ve heard a bit about King Lyons. He’s a very troublesome enemy. Many people, including my father, believe that King Lyons is currently the only one on the island of Britain who can threaten King Vortigern. Of course, I also know Artoria’s abilities; with the Holy Lance, she shouldn’t be defeated…”

Various thoughts flashed through her mind. She wanted to tell the other person everything she knew that might be helpful, and wanted to do her best to assist. But in the end, she just let out a soft breath.

"Can I go with you?"

After asking the question, Lily shook her head unsurprisingly: "Fenna, you've helped a lot so far, you should rest for a while... More importantly, you also need some time to adapt to your new power."

Her gaze fell on the longsword at Guinevere's waist.

"Sir Kay will be coming with me to North Wales, where his eloquence should be quite useful. Meanwhile, Ms. Merlin will stay here, and if you, Fina, don't want to go back to Scotland yet, you can consult her during this time."

"Okay. Then... take care on your journey."

"Ah."

After a brief conversation, silence fell again. The faint chirping of insects in the wind made the grove even quieter, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lily awkwardly fiddled with her long ponytail, her gaze shifting to a split leaf beside her before returning to Guinevere's face and looking at the trees on the other side.

After repeating this several times, as if he had finally made up his mind, he asked, "Fina, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?" Guinevere paused, then added, "You can ask me anything."

“Um… I heard about it from Teacher Merlin.” Guinevere was slightly taken aback by this vague explanation, and suddenly seemed to have guessed what Lily wanted to ask.

as predicted.

"You haven't known King Arthur for very long. But why... would you risk your life to help him like this?"

This question had been on her mind for a long time.

Because of her keen intuition, she is also very sensitive to other people's feelings and preferences. Whether it is someone who is overtly friendly but actually harbors malicious intentions, or someone who is venomous in words but kind at heart, she can generally see through all of these things.

Guinevere, however, was different from them.

From the moment the other person turned around during the king selection ceremony and their eyes met, she began to feel something was off.

As they traveled together, this strange feeling grew stronger—there was no doubt that Guinevere harbored any ill intentions towards her. Although Merlin had mentioned that Scotland, from the king to his subjects, generally held an attitude of not wanting to be enemies with the King of Scotland, and a group led by the eldest son Pat constantly advocated for an alliance with the King, at least in Guinevere, she saw no trace of rejection towards "King Arthur".

On the contrary, the inexplicable trust and closeness left Lily completely baffled. The two hadn't known each other for very long, and if the trust had been built up through shared experiences, that would be one thing. The problem was that from their very first meeting, the girl in front of her seemed to have shown complete goodwill, without any of the usual wariness or suspicion one would expect from a stranger.

This is an extremely unreasonable thing.

The question had been weighing on her mind for a long time, but perhaps only at this moment, when she was not one of the parties involved, but rather standing from the perspective of an observer, could she so openly ask the other party involved.

"You're asking why..."

Lily looked at the girl before her, trying to discern her true thoughts from her subtle movements. Even though she felt it was unlikely that Guinevere would harm her, that didn't stop her from wanting to know the answer to this question.

There is no such thing as kindness or hatred without reason in the world.

What she was curious about was the reason behind Guinevere's seemingly unreasonable closeness.

But the girl simply twirled her hair with her fingertips—Lily knew this was a habitual action she took when thinking or nervous—her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly, and after a moment, she smiled with a troubled expression.

"Even if you ask why... in short, there are roughly two reasons: interests and personal motives... going into detail might be a bit long, do you mind?"

Lily nodded.

Guinevere sighed: "Let's talk about interests first—in my opinion, Britain has now reached a crucial turning point. The Saxons, plus the ever-watchful Empire that could cross the sea at any moment... God knows why it hasn't just quietly perished."

Thinking of the Western Roman Empire, which, unlike her previous life, still showed no signs of collapse, the girl couldn't help but grumble. She then said, "If no one steps in to clean up the mess and continues this current state of fragmented governance, it won't be long before Britain is completely destroyed by foreign enemies. And if we're talking about potential candidates to unify Britain, King Vortigern is undoubtedly one of them. But he was the one who personally lured the Saxons into a massive invasion, and in the past ten years, he's done virtually nothing of substance… it's really impossible to expect anything from him."

"As for the others, Scotland and the surrounding kingdoms are doing their best to defend against the Picts in the far north. King Lanes, who has unified most of the forces in North Wales, is the most powerful candidate besides the King of the Low Kingdom... But more than anyone else, I have more faith in King Arthur, who was prophesied to save Britain."

"why?"

“As I mentioned earlier, in this place…” Guinevere pointed to her head and smiled slightly, “I have memories of my past life. And these memories assure me that no matter what happens in between, no matter how unfortunate or desperate the situation, the one who will ultimately prevail will not be the King of Britain and his ilk. The only one who can unify present-day Britain is King Arthur.”

"Is that... similar to Merlin's clairvoyance, capable of predicting the future or the present?"

"Well... that's roughly how it works. So, as long as I help King Arthur sooner, I can naturally receive a generous reward after his victory. That's the financial aspect; as for my personal motives..."

As if struck by a sudden thought, Guinevere chuckled. "You know, I used to have a dream: to become a hero who fought for justice, risking his life. And in my memories of my past life, there was a saying—"

At this point, even Lily, who was listening, couldn't help but silently swallow.

Then, the girl spoke each word clearly and firmly: "Cuteness is justice!"

"……what?"

“You might not find another child as adorable as Artoria in the whole world! From the first moment I saw her, I understood what justice truly is, and what I have been living for all this time! Compared to those other burly old men or big guys who look like brown bears, the future is clearly brighter with the lovely Artoria becoming the Queen of Britain! Lily, don’t you think so?”

Looking at Guinevere, who was giving a passionate and impassioned speech as if she were giving a formal address, it took Lily a long time to finally pull herself out of her daze.

In other words, Guinevere was willing to risk her life and the possibility of falling out with her family to stand on his side.

Is it because I'm...very cute?

What a joke!

But Guinevere's expression was extremely serious, not at all like she was joking. The two stared at each other for a moment, a leaf was blown past their eyes by the wind, and then she heard a soft laugh.

"I've always been a pretty spontaneous person. If I think something is good, I'll do it, even if it might cause some negative consequences. I usually only start to worry about it after I've done it. So... this is just a hypothetical scenario. But if King Arthur wasn't the Artoria I know, but a prince charming like Gawain... I might seriously consider becoming the King of Scotland and then personally unifying Britain."

It was unclear how much of what she said was serious and how much was a joke. Lily watched as the other woman smiled and walked over. She paused slightly, and before she could react, Guinevere opened her arms and gently hugged her.

Will we ever see each other again?

He whispered in her ear.

"This……"

"Shhh."

The two, who were of similar height, embraced each other. Under the moonlight, the ground was covered with silver frost. Lily stopped speaking, hesitated for a moment, and then silently hugged Guinevere's back.

A soft body gently pressed against her skin in the cool night breeze. This wasn't the first time they'd had this kind of contact. Recently, to help Guinevere reduce the dragon's curse, their daily "ritual" had become much more intimate. But at this moment, feeling the warmth of the girl's body as she embraced him, and smelling the unique, sweet scent of honey, Lily suddenly felt an indescribable emotion.

It was an emotion I had never felt before, and I couldn't find a suitable word to describe it.

"Oh, right." As if remembering something, he caught a sly smile on Guinevere's face out of the corner of his eye.

"It seems the ceremony hasn't started yet?"

"Ritual? But you've already mastered it..." He stopped mid-sentence, then suddenly moved his face away slightly, then came closer again, gently, as if it were just a soft breeze brushing past his lips without leaving a trace.

Lily's eyes widened in surprise.

Guinevere, a smile still playing on her lips, released the embrace, then hopped away like a rabbit, one step at a time, watching her with a smile: "A good beginning and a good end, that way there will be no regrets. By the way, Lily—"

She paused.

"You look so cute when you blush."

P.S.: Recommendation votes—donations—come on—!

Chapter 156 The waters of the Yangtze River, so clear and gentle

As the moon set and the sun rose, Lily ate a simple breakfast, said goodbye to a few familiar faces, and then left the camp with Kay, carrying the Holy Lance towards North Wales.

Although it is said to be portable, the Holy Lance Rungomminiad is a form that projects the planetary anchor into reality. It has no physical substance. No matter where the contractor is, it can be summoned as long as he has a thought. Regardless of its own power, it is much more convenient than Guinevere's Sword of Light in terms of portability and concealment.

Upon learning this, Guinevere jokingly mentioned her envy, but this displeased the Sword of Light itself. For the next three hours, the Sword of Light kept nagging at her, seriously trying to "correct" this "untrue and absurd" view until the girl sincerely apologized.

Knowing that she would likely have to spend a long time with this divine sword, whose pride was inexplicably high and which was particularly good at brainwashing with magical sounds—and most importantly, she couldn't stop it—Guinevere felt a darkness before her eyes. But thanks to the noise of the past three hours, she didn't have the energy to recall what had happened last night.

From someone else's perspective, this wasn't really anything to worry about. The two had done similar things many times before, but back then there was the reason of sharing the dragon's curse, and it was always Lily who initiated it, looking so upright that she clearly didn't see any other meaning in their actions, so Guinevere didn't dare to overthink it. But last night, even though it was a momentary impulse, she still went up and kissed her.

"What have I done... I actually laid a hand on a minor, she's only fifteen! I'm such a beast... Wait, I think I'm fifteen too... What does the law say in this situation? How many years in jail... Waaaaaah, I'm such a beast..."

At the time, she felt the atmosphere was good, and an idea popped into her mind. She put it into practice without thinking that there was anything wrong with it. She even had the leisure to tease Lily, who was blushing. But after finishing breakfast and watching Lily leave with Gawain, Fisher and others, once she calmed down, the memory of that moment kept replaying in her mind. The feeling did not fade with time, but became clearer and clearer.

For a whole day, Guinevere seemed to have a fever, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Although her appearance remained the same, those who were even slightly close to her noticed that something was wrong with her.

"Fina, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No……"

But your appearance—

"I want to eat jelly..."

"jelly?"

"Overcooked taro is fine too."

During the pointless conversation, she walked past Gawain, who looked completely bewildered. A moment later, someone else spotted her squatting outside the tent, clutching her head and making strange "ah-woo-woo-woo" noises.

After witnessing Guinevere's strange words and actions, all sorts of speculations quickly spread. Aside from another person involved who wasn't present, probably only Merlin knew the truth, yet she enthusiastically participated, witnessing the entire process of the rumors' birth and transmission. Later, when the girl calmed down and learned the truth from others, she grabbed her divine sword and chased the female magician for an entire day—but that's a story for another time.

In short, probably no one in this world would bring charges against her for "molesting" a minor. Although she still felt incredibly conflicted every time she thought about it, wishing she could dig a hole and crawl into it, Guinevere temporarily put aside her slight unease and locked away that little bit of secret joy, throwing it into the innermost corner.

Act as if nothing happened.

Besides these little secrets she couldn't share with others, Guinevere also had a lot of serious things to do.

For example, he consulted Merlin on the techniques of using the Wind Mark and the power of the dragon, dealt with the nobles who came because of the Scottish princess's status, assisted the guards in maintaining order, drove away wild beasts, helped settle the people of Plymouth and other places who had lost their homes, cared for the sick, distributed food, and so on. He was busy every day like a spinning top.

Fortunately, after the first few days, perhaps due to her attitude, the nobles lost interest, and the number of people requesting an audience decreased significantly, giving her more time to do other things—things that were more important to Guinevere.

By the time the initial resettlement of the people was completed and things calmed down a bit, almost half a month had quietly passed. Unexpectedly, Gawain, who should have returned long ago, stayed behind, running around and helping out with his superhuman strength. In his spare time, he either sparred with other knights or helped Guinevere familiarize herself with the unique sword intent she had learned from Nuada.

Although Guinevere only grasped a small part of the essence in that battle, it was enough to give her swordsmanship a leap forward. During this time, she would sometimes spar with Merlin, sometimes with Gawain, and sometimes with Fisher who wielded the Scepter of Poseidon, trying to integrate that ever-changing feeling into her own swordsmanship.

The girl herself couldn't fully comprehend this growth, but for Gawain, who had known her for many years and watched her progress from not even being able to hold a sword properly to where she was today, Guinevere's speed of progress was truly astonishing.

Even his two younger siblings, and all the young people he had ever met who were praised as exceptionally talented, even once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-century, were inferior to this girl.

Even Gawain himself felt an indescribable sense of crisis when facing the sword that grew stronger day by day. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, Guinevere's swordsmanship might surpass his own—for a moment, Gawain seemed to witness this possibility.

If the blade, which is not yet fully polished, already possesses such brilliance, what dazzling light will it radiate when it is completed?

Just thinking about it for a moment made his blood boil.

I really hope that day will come soon.

He longed to face this honed sword sooner rather than later—stripping away all the friendships he had built up so far, and simply being a warrior, a swordsman. Gawain eagerly anticipated this battle that would one day come.

It is unknown whether his thoughts were also conveyed to Guinevere.

“Brother Gao Wen, have you been looking at me a little strange lately... Well, just in case, I'll say it now, you're a good person.”

I'm so happy to have received a "good person" card.

……

"Seriously, that scared me to death... I thought I was finally going to encounter one of those outdated, clichéd scenarios. Speaking of which, my appearance probably doesn't suit your taste, does it?"

"really."

"Wow, not even a moment's hesitation... I can accept that, but when talking about this kind of topic with other girls, remember to be more tactful."