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

"His minions... Ugh!"

A simple sentence suddenly triggered the seemingly endless battles and terror in his dream. He clenched his teeth, and his burning blood seemed to freeze.

“I remember now, those monsters… Our men were attacked by monsters. The army was scattered, Sir Balan chose to cover the rear, and the king led us in a breakout… I was pulled off my horse by those arms, I… I…”

With a tremor and a sudden realization, Peden strained to look down: "I..."

His gaze fell on his left leg—where it should have been, now broken off at the knee, leaving only an empty trouser leg.

"my leg……"

A hoarse chuckle escaped his throat, and suddenly all his strength left him, his body collapsing back onto the bed with the effort he had managed to maintain. It was only then that Peden finally noticed the children beside him.

They varied in age; the oldest girl was about thirteen or fourteen, with long, flowing pink hair, and her appearance looked vaguely familiar. The youngest seemed to have just learned to walk; she was lying on the bed, sucking her finger, and gazing at him expectantly.

On the shoulder of the pink-haired, brown-eyed girl lay a squirrel radiating a rainbow of colors, its two dark, unfathomably deep eyes staring unblinkingly at him.

"what--"

"Yeah!"

"Ah ah ah."

Apart from the eldest girl, the other children spoke one after another, but they weren't actually speaking; they were just making a bunch of random noises. Since being appointed as the king's guard, Peden hadn't interacted with children for a long time, let alone such "rude" and "disrespectful" behavior. He couldn't help but feel a little displeased.

“Please don’t misunderstand.” The gentle voice seemed to see through his thoughts—although Peden still didn’t know who was speaking—explained, “They mean you no harm; they just want to communicate with you in their own way.”

"them?"

"Pickets".

"Varied--"

Upon hearing this hateful word, Peden's eyes widened, filled with shock and anger. But before he could even question it, the voice smiled faintly: "We know you have many questions, but that's not important. The most important thing now is for you to recover from your injuries. As for your questions, they will be answered in time."

“Wait… answer me first, what’s with the Picts? You mean…” He struggled to get up, thinking to himself, “Are you saying the Picts saved me? How could that be… that’s absurd!”

"How about we ask another distinguished guest to answer this question later? You'll be pleasantly surprised to see her."

The squirrel perched on the girl's shoulder turned its head, its dark eyes gazing out of the room, as if piercing through the misty clouds, landing on a door that appeared out of nowhere in the distance and was slowly opening.

"Look."

"She's arrived—"

……

Manual P.S.: It's still a bit laggy, but I think everything should be done step by step, so I'll try my best to maintain daily updates for now! A new month begins, let's see if I can go thirty days without updating. If I succeed, please give Qingbai Leiming a round of applause!

Then comes the long-awaited chapter recommendation: "The Legendary Actress Kato Megumi".

The ultimate naive and sweet girl, the purest Mary Sue! — A character shrouded in a silly aura! She's always under the spotlight at her concerts! She always has a blank expression while acting, yet the industry praises her acting skills as divine! She never actively creates entertainment value on variety shows, yet unexpected moments keep happening! She and Shinobu Mashiro Eriri spend their days together petting cats and playing mahjong, constantly surrounded by rumors!

She is none other than the once-in-three-hundred-million-years genius beauty, Kato Megumi!

Anyone who dares not to be a fan of my wife will have their head smashed!

Chapter 184 The Survivors (Part 2)

The portal slowly opened, and instantly the world was filled with a rainbow of colors, as if one were in a rainbow, an indescribable beauty and magnificence.

Guinevere gazed at the surrounding forest, now ablaze with vibrant colors, her eyes wide with wonder. Musashi, standing beside her, also exclaimed "Wow!" and instinctively reached out as if to grasp the dazzling light, but then, realizing his mistake, lowered his hand.

The two Pickets seemed completely unfazed. Even the blue-haired child, who had been making a fuss the whole way, didn't show the same surprise as the two women. Instead, he looked over smugly, his little expression as if he were showing off.

"ah!"

See, isn't that amazing? Guinevere suddenly felt like she could understand what the other person's cries meant.

But as she gazed at the colossal, shimmering gate before her, a chill ran down her spine. According to the Sword of Light, this teleportation spell was created by Macha in the past and widely used during the golden age of the Danu gods. Now, with the age of gods nearing its end and the Danu race long since in decline, could it be that the Picts had somehow inherited their legacy…?

From the perspective of Scotland and even the whole of Britain, the Picketts were formidable enemies. They were able to fight against the allied forces led by King Uther for a long time with their own strength. Even after they were defeated and retreated into the northernmost forest, Leodogran never let go of his fear of them.

For so many years, Scotland has maintained a neutral stance precisely because, led by Chief Knight Balan, 70% of his elite troops are stationed in the north to prevent the Picts from making a comeback. However, since their defeat, they have remained silent and almost inactive, yet they remain a heavy burden on the hearts of the British people.

If they had now mastered this teleportation spell that allowed them to travel between two places in an instant… Guinevere felt a chill run down her spine.

But when she looked at the blue-haired child who was giving her a bright smile, she suddenly felt that what she was thinking was rather embarrassing.

The two Picts I've encountered so far are enough to prove that although this race is full of mysteries, they are not emotionless, incommunicable monsters. Since they can extend goodwill, how can I, as a former modern person, be so narrow-minded? Different stances may lead to war, but at this time, such thinking seems rather petty.

Thinking about it this way, my mood suddenly brightened, and the anxiety that had been lurking in my heart because I didn't know what Nieman was going to do also lessened considerably. Upon closer reflection, there was nothing to be afraid of; it was simply a matter of dealing with whatever came my way.

With this divine gear I'm currently wielding, what problem can't I solve...?

"What are you thinking about?"

Musashi patted her on the shoulder, and Guinevere snapped out of her reverie. She then realized that the Pickett man and the child had already gone inside, leaving only the two of them. She shook her head, saying, "I just feel... I was a little... too... cramped..."

"Getting stuck on a minor detail?"

"Correct."

She nodded.

Musashi wasn't sure if he understood her meaning, but he laughed along and said, "Let's go then."

She adjusted the several swords at her waist, walked towards the door, and her figure disappeared into the colorful glow of the sunset.

Guinevere stepped inside, expecting to be transported to a completely different place in the blink of an eye, just like last time. But as soon as she stepped in, she heard a faint sound of a door closing behind her, and the surroundings instantly turned pitch black, as if even the sense of space had vanished.

Before her eyes, the world had no front or back, no left or right, as if it had become a thin sheet of paper, stretching out endlessly—and in the next instant, specks of light emerged from the darkness.

Points and lines, lines and planes—she looked out from a wondrous, almost bird's-eye view, and in an instant, an endless, vast starry sky unfolded before her. But within it, there was light and darkness; the vast majority of the points of light were dim, with only a few dozen lit.

Even in this era, Guinevere rarely saw so many stars. For a moment, she stared intently at the dazzling spectacle, feeling as if she were being sucked in.

But after a while, nothing happened, which made people a little strange.

The portal is broken?

The thought of this possibility made her chuckle. But the likelihood was slim. The girl considered it for a moment and decided to try it herself. She focused her attention and "looked" at the surrounding starlight—that's what she'd done in all the novels she'd read in her past life; maybe it would work…

But as soon as she calmed her mind, her vision suddenly brightened, and the starlight transformed into a lush, verdant forest, the rustling of leaves in the wind sounding so real. This scene, however, was fleeting, and in the next moment she returned to the vast starry sky.

Just now... Guinevere noticed that the star was dim, and a guess suddenly came to her mind, but before she could continue to try, suddenly, an incomparably powerful suction force came from in front, and the starlight in the sky suddenly disappeared.

The girl felt a lightness in her body, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw the three people who had just entered standing in front of her. Apart from the masked man, Musashi and the child were looking at her with worried expressions.

"Are you okay?"

"ah?"

"What?" Guinevere was taken aback and didn't react for a moment. Musashi pointed behind her and said, "We waited for a while and didn't see you come out. We thought something had happened."

The girl turned around and saw the doorway shrouded in light behind her gradually disappearing, revealing an uneven rock wall. "It's nothing..." She opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but her mediocre Japanese was simply not enough to complete such a difficult task, and in the end she could only sigh softly.

Musashi didn't seem to mind, waving her hand and saying, "It's alright, it's good that you're all okay. So, do you know where this place is?" She asked the three of them, but Guinevere was probably the only one who could truly understand her, so she translated it again for them.

The child babbled and gestured with his fingers and toes, seemingly trying to express something unintelligible. The man remained silent, simply turning around and walking to the left, the three of them following behind.

The place we arrived at after passing through the portal appeared to be halfway up a mountain.

Below the cliff, clouds and mist swirled, creating a white expanse. It was impossible to tell how far it was from the ground, and there were no railings or anything around it. The rocks were covered with a thin layer of moisture, making it even more terrifying.

The scenery in the distance was also hazy, with only a few towering peaks visible in the distance. The dark rocks seemed to have stepped out of an ink painting, and the misty clouds gave it a dreamlike charm.

The four of them continued on their way. The mountain path beneath their feet seemed to be naturally formed, narrow and rugged, with no signs of human intervention. They frequently encountered gaps of varying sizes that could only be crossed by jumping. Guinevere originally wanted to take the child across—although she appeared confident, she was really worried about letting such a small child do such a dangerous thing—but the man beat her to it and carried the child on his back ever since.

"You think you're so great just because you're strong..." She shrugged, not minding the man's wariness. After walking for a while, a blurry outline seemed to emerge amidst the white clouds ahead.

The man, carrying the child on his back, stopped and suddenly looked up, letting out a long howl. The sound carried far, and soon after, another howl came from ahead.

"ah--"

Compared to the man's deep roar, the subsequent cry was sharper, seemingly a woman's voice. The two voices echoed through the mountains, one after the other, lingering for a long time. After a moment, a slender figure gradually emerged from the clouds.

That was also a Pictish man wearing a tight-fitting suit, a mask with six holes punched in his head, and several yellow stripes across his clothes. Judging by his physique, apart from being about half a head shorter than the man here, there was no difference between him and the Pictish man. Incidentally, Guinevere had secretly "checked" several of the man's vital parts before he woke up.

However, neither male nor female characteristics are present.

Therefore, the other person's gender is still a big question mark. It was only because of that deep voice that the girl assumed he was male. Ultimately, the Picts are shrouded in mystery; whether they even have a gender is still undetermined, let alone a distinction between male and female. Upon seeing the second Pict, she immediately glanced at a certain unspeakable part of his body.

There's still nothing there... even though that child seems no different from anyone else.

The others were unaware of her little question. The Pictish man, whose voice sounded like a woman but whose appearance was androgynous, walked over. He had a belt around his waist with several hand axes stuck diagonally in it, and blue light shimmered under his mask. He first pinched the child's cheek before turning to them.

"what--"

"Ah ah ah ah."

It was still a communication method that left Guinevere completely bewildered. After a while, it seemed that a result had been reached. The newly appeared Pict people stepped aside, the man nodded, and led them forward.

They never encountered any other Picts after that, and soon the blurry outline became clear.

That was also a door.

A colossal door, over ten meters high and equally astonishingly wide, was embedded in the stone wall. It was only slightly ajar, yet large enough for the four people to easily pass through. Two Picts, wielding spears, stood on either side of the door. Seeing them approach, they didn't speak, but simply stepped aside. The man walked through the door and vanished.

Musashi had been looking around curiously the whole way, as if he were on a leisurely trip. Now, he smiled happily and was the second to go in.

Guinevere was left alone. Looking at the two silent Pickett guards, she felt as if many cold eyes were watching her from all directions. She didn't know if it was her imagination or if it was real. Feeling uneasy, she couldn't help but shrink her neck and took three steps forward at a time, squeezing into the giant door.

This time, the teleportation process was exceptionally fast; it seemed as if she had left that starry sky in just a few blinks of an eye.

"This is……"

The scene that appeared in her field of vision this time felt somewhat familiar to Guinevere.

She looked up at the square stones, which floated in the air at a certain distance, like a staircase leading to the heavens, stretching all the way up.

In a daze, I saw two figures: a beautiful woman with long pink hair and a snow-white coat, and an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a bearskin and holding a bent oak cane. They slowly climbed the steps and walked towards the magnificent palace at the end of the stairs.

But in the blink of an eye, the two figures became illusory again. Guinevere came to her senses and realized there was no woman or old man; the only ones walking in front were Pickett (?) carrying a child and Musashi. Seemingly noticing that she hadn't caught up, the three turned around.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Musashi asked with concern. The girl shook her head, about to answer, when suddenly, she heard a childish voice ask, "Sister, what's wrong?" She looked up sharply and saw the child clinging to the man's back, his face full of worry: "Black-clad sister?"

"She's definitely plotting something wicked again. I've told you before, there's not a single good Scotsman. Especially since she is..."

“But Brother Jia, didn’t you say that only the black-clad sister is Scottish, and the pink-clad sister isn’t?”

"Hmph, so what? Those guys outside are all bad people..."

"And besides, the fact that the black-clad sister came here with us proves that she's a good person, doesn't it?" The child blinked, his tone innocent and naive.

"...I don't want to talk to you anymore." The man snorted again, and seeing that Guinevere and Musashi both had dumbfounded expressions, he said impatiently, "What is it now?"

"You...you guys can talk after all!"

Listening to the argument between the two, the older and the younger girl was utterly astonished. If they could clearly communicate, then what had they been yelling and shouting about all along? What about all the brain cells she had lost trying to figure out what they were trying to say...?

"Hmph, as expected of an outsider. They don't even know about the Holy Land, how...foolish." Despite the mask covering her face, Guinevere could still hear the strong disdain and contempt in the man's voice, and she couldn't help but take a deep breath.

This person is really good at attracting hatred!

But she still patiently asked, "You mean, because of this... holy site? That's why we can understand what you're saying?"

"Nonsense," the man said coldly. "Haven't you heard of Babel and the Tower of Babel?"

Babel?

The girl was taken aback. She had naturally heard of this name. In Christian mythology, it was because God destroyed the Tower of Babel and the city of Babel that the people on earth, who originally spoke the same language, were scattered to different places and could no longer understand each other.

Musashi had obviously heard this story before, and blurted out, "This is Babel!?"

"certainly--"

Just as the man was about to nod, suddenly, a curved oak cane appeared from behind and struck him hard on the back of the head—the child had already cleverly dodged to the side—the heavy thud made Guinevere gasp.

"Of course, my foot!"

The cane was put away, and at the same time, a mature female voice was heard cursing fiercely: "How many times have we taught you! How many times! Babel was a good thing done by Christ and his people, it has nothing to do with us! If you make this mistake again, we'll twist your head off and use it as a football for Thirteen!"

Although the two feelings were completely different, the girl could tell that the imposing rebuke was from the same person as the gentle voice that had been like a spring breeze in her heart before.

The man cursed loudly while repeatedly pounding the man's head with his cane. The man dared not resist, obediently standing still and taking the beating. He even adjusted the angle of the cane to make it easier for the man to hit him.

As for the blue-haired child, he had already jumped off his back on the second kick, covering his mouth and watching with his eyes darting around.

"Get out of here—"

With that angry shout, the figure holding the wooden staff kicked out, sending the man flying. Guinevere watched in disbelief as his body soared into the clouds and disappeared into the vast expanse of smoke. She was completely stunned.

On the contrary, the person who did it remained as if nothing had happened. He tapped his cane twice on the stone steps beside him, his anger subsiding into a faint smile, as if waiting for others to speak. The child stood beside him, silent and trembling.