Ch. 130 Mia and Wilden walked toward the three of them

“Benefactors, if you ask me, you indeed still lack experience. You’ll slowly get used to it later.”

“I don’t want to get used to such things!” Artoria pursed her lips, staring intently at the distant fire.

“That’s also unavoidable,” Isdis smiled bitterly. “The King’s army is vulnerable before the Anglo-Saxons. One ship and a dozen men can slaughter an entire village, and no one can stop them. Sometimes, there are even raiding parties of hundreds of ships and thousands of men burning and looting along the coastline. Even castles that can be captured are destroyed, let alone our villages.”

Isdis made a Catholic sign of the cross on his chest.

“I heard that the Sword in the Stone has already been pulled out, and Britain will welcome another great king to lead the Britons in driving the Anglo-Saxons out of this land… Not just us commoners, but even lords and petty kings are looking forward to that person’s appearance.”

Isdis sighed.

Artoria became somewhat excited: “When I… when I become a true knight, I will absolutely not let them commit such crimes again!”

“Oh, that’s a very grand ideal,” Isdis smiled bitterly.

The corner of Kay’s mouth also pulled into a not-so-pleasant bitter smile.

Mia and Wilden walked toward the three of them.

Having finished organizing the spoils, among a pile of messy items, they had gathered six wearable chainmail shirts, twelve intact helmets, five spears, nineteen javelins, twenty axes, eleven swords, and thirteen daggers.

Mia collected all these things into her storage space.

Don’t look down on them just because they’re loot from dead people; once cleaned, this equipment is the guarantee for travel expenses.

As for whether dead people’s things are unlucky? Are you kidding? Does the Fourth Calamity care about that?

Although she has the heaven-defying ability of the Creation Gem, that’s like a cheat code; Mia occasionally wants to earn money the conventional way.

“Benefactor! Benefactor!” Isdis saw Mia and immediately waved his hand.

“Are you alright?” Mia walked over, holding her staff.

Having grown accustomed to it, she could no longer let it leave her hand at any time.

“I’m fine,” Isdis nodded immediately.

Then, he repeated the proposal to repay them.

“Well… Artoria, what do you think?”

“I don’t think the reward is that important, but if it’s for training, we should visit more unfamiliar places.”

“That’s true,” Mia nodded. “However, I must correct you.”

“Eh?”

“Doing a good deed but refusing a reward is not a good habit.”

“But…” Artoria said, “Knights don’t take rewards, do they?”

Kay made a small joke: “Because a beautiful lady is the best reward.”

Artoria looked back at him in confusion, and after a few breaths, she realized what he meant.

Her face suddenly turned a bit red.

She quickly looked away from Kay: “What did Miss Mia mean?”

“If you help others without receiving a return, and such behavior is praised, it becomes a noble model. After that, if someone helps others and takes a reward, it will be disparaged as ignoble. Over time, fewer people will be willing to help others.”

“…But isn’t that what knightly morality requires?” Artoria was still somewhat puzzled.

Mia shook her head: “You can’t assume everyone who helps others is a knight, right? Not everyone is like you, with a wealthy family background and the goal of promoting virtue. Most of the time, those who lend a hand are ordinary people around them. If helping others without reward harms one’s own interests, and helping for a reward is considered ignoble, then no one will be willing to help those around them in the future.”

Mia spoke very bluntly.

After hearing this, Artoria nodded: “I understand.”

“Come here,” Mia then beckoned to her.

Although she was a bit confused—why specifically ask her to come over when they were already so close?

But Artoria still walked over obediently.

It wasn’t until she was close that Mia continued.

“You don’t understand the human heart enough, Artoria. I want to tell you something important that you must remember.”

Artoria nodded, watching Mia’s face seriously.

That gaze told Mia that no matter what she was about to say, she would remember it.

Mia also looked at Artoria, her gaze seemingly piercing through the silver eye mask on her head. She spoke softly but clearly:

“Remember, Artoria, if you do not understand the human heart, you cannot become the King of Humans.”

“If you do not understand the human heart, you cannot become the King of Humans…” Artoria lowered her head slightly, mulling over the words.

This was why Mia wanted her to come close before saying it.

The journey to become a King had to be kept hidden from others.

“This is completely different from what Master Merlin said.”

“Oh?” Mia raised an eyebrow. “What did that guy say?”

Artoria imitated Merlin’s mock-serious tone: “He said, ‘Once you take up that sword, you will no longer be human until the very end’—something like that.”

“Whenever the occasion is serious, you can’t believe a single word that guy says,” Mia said with a laugh.

“Ugh…”

“I ask you, are you to rule humans, or non-humans?”

“Humans, without a doubt,” Artoria nodded firmly.

“See, you can understand it, right? This is the law of nature: a wolf king rules the pack, a stag rules the herd, even the crows in the sky have their leader. But humans are different; humans are the primates of all things, and they certainly won’t accept being ruled by a non-human existence.”

Mia spoke, curling her lip: “If you ask me, Merlin is just a swindler. What the hell does he know about being a king?”

“Pfft…”

It seemed Kay had also heard Mia’s complaint and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let’s not talk about that.”

Mia reached out and brushed the dust off Artoria’s shoulder, looking up at the sky.

The twinkling stars were showing a unique pattern.

“It will probably rain in the latter half of the night; we’d better head back to camp quickly.”

This farmstead held too many bad memories.

It was better to return to camp and set up the tents to avoid the rain.

“Okay.”

Artoria nodded.

“Ismis!”

“It’s Isdis, benefactor.” The merchant immediately scrambled up, bowing and scraping as he followed.

Mia looked at the stable in front of her: “Is that your horse?”

“Yes, it’s my horse, benefactor.”

His carriage was still usable; although the things inside were a mess, the loss wasn’t great.

After all, even though the Anglo-Saxons robbed him, they didn’t escape, so everything stolen could be recovered.

“It looks usable… You don’t plan on continuing to Fairleg?”

Mia naturally didn’t know where Felleg was, but that didn’t stop her from using the known term.

“Even if I wanted to… I have no guards left.” Isdis scratched his hair in distress. “Or rather, if the benefactor is willing…”

“Forget it, forget it.” Kay waved his hand. “Let’s keep the momentum; I have no intention of going back.”

“Yes, yes, then please come with me to Anglesey, benefactor. I’ll get the carriage ready.”

Isdis responded enthusiastically, opened the stable, and led out his horse.

As he struggled to lift the harness, he suddenly felt the weight lighten.

He poked his head out to see Artoria and Kay taking the initiative to help.

In a few moments, the sturdy draft horse was pulling the carriage, driven by Isdis, following Mia’s lead toward the camp.