Ch. 162 Therefore, one cannot judge a book by its cover

Love you all, good night.

Although the evening together had been very harmonious.

No one had forgotten the original agreement with King Braidin.

Early the next morning, the group packed their belongings and headed to the King’s training grounds.

On the streets, they saw more refugees.

These were not the refugees from the arena, those of Knight Egde.

They were villagers from other villages and other knights.

In just half an afternoon and one night, at least three waves of villagers had fled to this city.

This meant that after Egde, three more villages had been threatened by the Anglo-Saxons.

The Anglo-Saxons were not marching as a single, orderly whole along the roads; they were a coalition formed by the leaders of various tribes.

It was only necessary for their supreme leader to set the assembly point and the destination.

Braidin only knew that the Anglo-Saxons had assembled 1,500 Soldiers.

But where would the enemy walk from the assembly point to the destination? What would they pass through?

That was all decided by the tribal leaders themselves.

For the Raiders, this was a very convenient way to march.

As long as they could arrive at the designated location at the designated time, no one cared which road the tribal leaders led their troops along or how many villages they burned.

In the King’s barracks, it seemed the Soldiers were already geared up and ready to go.

The King intended to send 800 people to the castle to join the 200 garrison troops already there to intercept Vortigern’s army.

Braidin had originally only wanted to send 400 people, but no one dared to gamble that 1,500 was their final strength.

After all, the Anglo-Saxon troops were very scattered and had a high degree of freedom.

No one knew whether those 1,500 were the total number.

And as for the others—the refugees and Soldiers fleeing from the villages threatened by the Anglo-Saxon Raiders,

As the saying goes, if you have ten times the number, surround them; if five times, attack; if double, fight.

If the intelligence was true, then a force of 1,500 would not have much chance of winning against the 1,000 defenders holed up in the castle.

Braidin’s military commander was a tall man, a palm taller than Kay, but still somewhat lacking compared to Wilden.

“My name is Anthony Britannius, and I am King Braidin’s military commander.”

That brown-haired knight introduced himself as such.

Regarding these ‘new recruits’ who had come to report, only Wilden could make the knight nod in acknowledgment.

By the way, Merlin did not come along.

He had disappeared early in the morning, and no one knew what he had gone to do.

Although he always gave the impression of being unreliable and thick-skinned.

But as for being seriously scolded by someone.

Yesterday was the first time.

Perhaps he felt guilty and had gone somewhere to clear his head.

Never mind, forget him.

“Hello.” Artoria responded politely to Anthony.

Braidin had not told Anthony about Artoria’s identity.

Precisely because of this, when faced with Artoria’s polite greeting, the knight said somewhat contemptuously.

“War is not a stage play, little girl.”

He sized up the armor on Artoria, making no effort to hide his disdain for the young girl.

She looked like nothing more than a little girl who didn’t even reach his chest.

Such disdain made Artoria somewhat displeased.

She was not the type to become indifferent the more she experienced the same thing.

On the contrary, the more she experienced such disdain, the more seriously she took it in her heart.

If it were only the first or second time, it could be seen as an individual’s problem and not a mainstream view, but if most of the people she met thought this way.

Then it was time for the other party to reflect properly.

“Would you like to spar with the ‘little girl’ you speak of!” she said, neither servile nor overbearing.

Anthony looked at her with interest.

“Are you sure? A lady wants to challenge a knight?”

By logic, they should respect women.

When seeing a girl in distress in the wild, one should offer a helping hand, and in daily life, one should demonstrate chivalry, granting ladies some small privileges, such as ladies first.

“Although I am only a squire, please do not insult me in this way.” Artoria said seriously.

She was certainly a young girl, but at the same time, she was a knight.

Anthony’s words undoubtedly ignored the fact that Artoria was a knight.

“Very well.” Anthony replied unceremoniously.

Artoria’s actions already seemed a bit unreasonable to him.

Respecting women does not mean that every little fairy must be respected; the prerequisite is that only women who have sufficient etiquette, are sensible, and also respect knights are worthy of a knight’s respect.

And an army is an army. This is the King’s professional army, not those chaotic conscripts, but a professional military that makes its living by war, enjoys the best supplies and the best equipment, and exists for the sake of war.

It is not a song and dance troupe that a little girl can just walk into.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t provoke her.” Kay laughed, as if gloating.

Anthony frowned and glanced sideways at Kay.

Just as mentioned before, he had no affection for such ignorant young people.

Anthony and Artoria did not conduct the spar in public.

Instead, they chose an indoor practice arena.

Anthony sized up the young girl in front of him.

To be honest, he felt a sense of guilt about this matter.

After all, fighting against such a young girl seemed like such an un-knightly act!

Artoria raised her wooden sword.

‘The stance is standard enough,’ Anthony thought.

He was also thinking about how to dampen Artoria’s arrogance without hurting this young lady who looked pampered at first glance.

Artoria’s fair skin, smooth blonde hair, and slender figure—was she not a pampered young lady?

Although very beautiful, she was definitely not the type that should appear on the battlefield.

However, she was a girl after all, so he should show some tenderness.

The chauvinistic medieval knight thought to himself.

Unfortunately, he preferred muscular and burly women.

“Come on.” The knight said, raising his sword.

Artoria, who had already been quite furious, immediately charged forward—

And then.

Bam, bam, whack!

King Braidin’s military commander, Anthony Britannius, was defeated.

——

Even as the orderly army marched toward the south, Knight Anthony, riding on horseback, still wore an expression of questioning his own existence.

It had only taken a single instant; he hadn’t even seen it clearly.

Anthony, having underestimated his opponent, was subdued by Artoria in a single move.

He felt very unwilling to accept it.

“If only I could try again…” At first, he clenched his fists, but then he realized.

His goal had clearly been to make this young lady retreat in the face of difficulty.

He hadn’t expected her to possess such strength.

The addition of such a combatant should be something to be glad about, after all.

Fortunately, the sight of Anthony being defeated by a young girl had not been seen by his soldiers.

That was lucky enough.

Anthony straightened the family crest on his chest.

The orderly ranks were marching rapidly toward the castle.

Wilden was riding a tall draft horse; that heavy draft horse, weighing over a ton and standing over two meters at the shoulder, was capable of pulling five tons of heavy cargo.

For an average Soldier, the back of a heavy draft horse is too wide and too high, forcing them to ride in an awkward posture.

Furthermore, its running speed is too slow, making it unsuitable for knights who need to charge.

But for infantry who can only travel on foot, the speed of a heavy draft horse is fast enough, fully capable of leaving the marching infantry behind.

That Wilden knew how to ride a horse was self-evident.

Although it was his first time meeting his new mount, the draft horse’s gentle temperament meant it didn’t do anything untoward. Wilden was able to control his new mount very smoothly.

The soldiers carried their packs, the military wagons carried the armor, and they traveled light and fast, arriving at Knight Adlan’s castle just after noon.