Ch. 125 Neither seemed to have realized why the other would do such a thing

“Knightly etiquette is only useful when facing those who understand etiquette!” Kay shook off Artoria’s hand.

This behavior, which seemed completely unreasonable to him, naturally caused some anger to rise in his heart.

Kay did not hide his disgust for the Raider at all.

“This kind of ill-mannered barbarian, you should treat him as a dog, a wolf, a harmful beast or an insect…”

“But they are indeed human! Even if they speak different languages and believe in different gods, they are still human!”

Artoria clenched her fists tightly and shouted at Kay.

Her eyes were filled with accusation toward her foster brother.

“Humility, honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor.” Like reciting an irrefutable dogma, the white Knight Princess recited the tenets a knight should follow.

The Seven Virtues that stand in opposition to humanity’s Seven Sins.

“Shouldn’t compassion be shown to those who cannot resist?”

“Don’t be so naive!” Kay retorted, not backing down.

The Anglo-Saxon sat up, letting out a mocking laugh at the argument between the girl and the young man.

His toothless mouth was mockingly muttering in the Anglo-Saxon language.

“Crystal!”

Mia’s staff thudded on the ground, making a light sound condensed from magic; this sound was both the referee stopping the argument and the verdict handed down by the judge.

A brilliant crystal flew rapidly between Kay and Artoria, instantly piercing the Anglo-Saxon’s chest.

Chainmail appeared vulnerable before the magical creation; a transparent bloody hole appeared in his chest. The Raider’s eyes widened, his mouth still open, but he could not utter a word as he fell straight back.

Dead.

“!” The two who were arguing looked in unison at the still twitching corpse in shock; blood gushed like a fountain from the destroyed heart.

Having done all this, ending a life and stopping the argument, Mia walked toward the two.

“Kay is right, Artoria. At this moment, you really hold extremely naive ideas.”

Artoria opened her mouth silently, still immersed in the sudden change of the situation.

Just as she saw, the Anglo-Saxon who had caused the disagreement between her and Kay…

Had been killed by the seemingly unrelated Mia.

“You pity such a bandit, but what about the people he killed? Who will pity the Britons he murdered? You pity your enemy, but who will pity your compatriots? Who will pity your citizens?”

“When the Anglo-Saxons massacre village after village, burn wheat fields, and kill livestock, who will pity those poor victims?”

Mia spoke to Artoria, who still held a girl’s innocence, with clear logic and a calm posture.

“If you pity your enemy, who will bring justice to the poor victims? You see yourself as following the virtue of compassion, but you have lost the virtue of justice!”

“You will also lose the virtues of humility and honor.”

Mia looked directly into Artoria’s eyes.

“The reason you lose humility is that you do not respect your enemy enough. That Anglo-Saxon, when facing our swords, did not beg for mercy but resisted tenaciously. Even when bound, he insisted on having his say. This means that when he raised his sword against you, prepared to take your life, he was prepared to have his life taken.”

“By not respecting his will and giving him death, you lose the virtue of humility.”

“And when you lose justice and humility, you have already lost honor!”

Artoria lowered her head, tightly clutching the scabbard of the sword in the stone, staring silently at the pool of blood spreading beneath the dead Anglo-Saxon.

Mia felt she might have said enough, and she hesitated.

Looking down, she saw Artoria’s hand, still trembling as it gripped the scabbard.

Mia took a breath and finally chose to speak again.

“Can someone like you be worthy of the name of a knight and the sword of selecting kings in your hand?”

These words were like a needle piercing Artoria’s heart; the young Knight Princess’s hand gripping the scabbard recoiled like an electric shock.

Like a child protecting their precious treasure.

“I will definitely become the King of Britain!” She looked up at Mia stubbornly.

Mia suddenly shouted: “Then do you understand what I said?”

“I understand!”

The way she answered without thinking.

Also softened Mia’s attitude.

It seemed she had indeed taken it to heart.

“However…” she whispered.

“Hmm?”

“I still think there should be compassion…”

Combined with the context, it wasn’t hard to understand that the compassion here was no longer the same compassion Artoria had insisted on at the beginning.

“What do you mean?”

“At least give them a quick end, like Brother Kay’s…” The knight girl lowered her head again; having realized she was in the wrong, she lost the confidence she had when shouting earlier.

“Sigh,” Kay sighed: “That’s acceptable. Well, I was also impulsive just now.”

“No,” Artoria quickly shook her head: “If anyone was impulsive, it was me.”

The siblings glanced at each other, then turned their faces away at the same time, their cheeks burning.

“Well, well,” at that moment, Merlin approached from the side with a smile, a leaf still stuck on his head: “It seems Artoria is going through a rebellious phase. But, this is what growth is all about.”

‘This is what growth is, I suppose…’

Mia also chewed on these words.

The Anglo-Saxon’s corpse still lay on the ground, the blood having already flowed out into a small puddle.

Killing for the first time—she didn’t expect it to be on such an occasion.

She only thought about making Artoria wake up quickly and doing something sufficiently deterrent; she didn’t think too much before finishing him off.

But, it was good to finish him off.

Before this Anglo-Saxon died, he was saying things very unfriendly to women, especially while Artoria was still pleading for him.

“By the way, didn’t he say his companions were nearby?” Kay suddenly said: “In that case, how about we go and wipe out those guys’ camp?”

“I agree.” Mia nodded.

Precisely because she had just killed someone.

Now she should go a step further and quickly desensitize herself.

And even more so because those Anglo-Saxons deserved to die.

Then, Mia looked at Artoria.

“I…” Artoria pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and then fixed her gaze: “I’ll go too.”

Wilden and Melina naturally went without saying.

“I, as for me…” Merlin scratched the back of his head: “I, I am not good at fighting.”

“Then suit yourself.” Kay rolled his eyes.

“No, no, no, this is the best time for Artoria’s training! As her teacher, how can I steal her thunder? I’ll stay here and guard the camp; after all, there are so many things here.”

Merlin made excuses.

“Heh.”

After the plan was finalized, Mia summoned the Spirit Wolf.

Red sniffed the corpse on the ground, remembered his scent, and quickly ran toward the river.

Everyone followed closely, lowering their bodies in the lush vegetation and moving cautiously.

Led by Red, after walking less than three hundred meters, they saw the firelight of the camp through the vegetation.

The boisterous laughter indicated that the Anglo-Saxons were making merry.

Red did not issue a warning about the presence of sentries.

“I didn’t expect it to be so close…”

“I’ll go take a look,” Mia suggested.

Kay said with some concern: “Be sure to be careful.”

The girl’s staff quietly swept over her head, and suddenly a burst of blue-black, fluorescent mist enveloped her.

Under the gaze of the others, after the mist dissipated, the place where Mia had been standing was empty.

‘Become Invisible’

Artoria and Kay looked in surprise at the now empty spot.

Mia’s voice came from the void: “A little spell. Are you not worried about me now?”

Kay shook his head like a rattle.

Only the sound of fallen leaves being stepped on could be heard as Mia moved away from the group.

Artoria couldn’t help but exclaim: “…Miss Mia seems to be much more powerful than Merlin.”

Kay nodded in agreement: “After all, that guy is just a third-rate mage who would bite his tongue even when chanting spells, except for his ability to enter other people’s dreams.”