[Hey, Host! Are you really just leaving like that?]
[Did you not see the way that little girl looked at you, as if you were a scumbag who just abandoned her?]
[That's the Child of the Red Dragon, the young Lily version of the Saber King you Type-Moon fans always obsess over!]
"Yeah, right. If you're so great, why don't you try poaching her right under Merlin's nose?"
Souya shot back at the Trash System irritably.
He wasn't made of wood. He could obviously tell that the way Lily looked at him was undeniably strange. She most likely recognized him from his voice and fighting style.
But so what if she recognized him?
Souya absolutely refused to believe that Lily could recognize him but Merlin couldn't. After all, that was 'Clairvoyance (EX)'—a bugged ability that alone qualified one to be a Grand Caster.
As long as Merlin knew that Souya was once a fairy but had now incarnated, combining that with the current situation in Britain, he could easily deduce that Souya must be connected to Morgan.
And in Merlin's eyes, Morgan was undoubtedly an enemy standing in opposition to Artoria. How could he possibly let someone reeking of Morgan's aura get close to his little Red Dragon?
Now, surely someone is going to ask:
Oh, Streamer, didn't your Master Morgan tell you to kill Saber before you left? Then why didn't you just kill both her and Merlin just now?
Sigh, why do you care so much about that order?
It alienates the meaning of a person's efforts, you understand?
Furthermore, given Merlin's cunning Magecraft and personality, Souya was almost one hundred percent certain that if Merlin wanted to run, Souya couldn't kill them even if he threw his life away trying.
And to be honest, although Souya was extremely confident in his loyalty to Morgan, and the knight Lamorak would only ever serve Morgan in this lifetime...
If you really asked him to strictly follow Morgan's order and kill Artoria, he genuinely wouldn't want to do it.
After all, before he was Lamorak, he was first and foremost Souya Kotomine.
You could call him indecisive, or say he lacked loyalty, but he simply couldn't treat all these characters like NPCs.
For everyone he cared about in this Britain, Souya invested his true feelings. He wouldn't become cold-blooded and ruthless just to forge a powerful Heroic Spirit simply because this was a so-called "simulation."
In his view, this version of him existing in Britain—the Knight of Britain, Lamorak—was a living, breathing person, and what he was experiencing right now was equally a real life.
Oh, you ask what about those 2,000 people and those nobles and bandits he killed earlier?
Sigh, I'm asking you, why do you care so much about these insignificant characters... it alienates a person's efforts...
Ahem, back to the main topic.
Anyway, Souya's current plan was still to travel around completing quests and grinding reputation. Once he had accumulated enough fame, he would bring that massive momentum and declare his submission to Morgan.
Thus, after bidding farewell to the Red Dragon Trio, Souya continued his journey with the Trash System.
[For some subjective reasons, you chose not to interact too much with Artoria, Merlin, and the others, but instead chose to leave them and continue your long journey.]
[You knew you would meet again, as the 'Karmic Bond' still existed on you.]
[It's just that whether you would be friends or foes by then was hard to predict.]
[After spending some time walking out of the forest, you soon found a town.]
[You originally thought you would encounter those bullying noble landlords who oppressed the commoners again, but to your surprise, the lord of this town was a rare good person.]
[This surprised you slightly, considering the current Britain could be described as the end of the road for the good and a carnival for the wicked.]
[Your arrival was welcomed by the townspeople. Upon learning that you were the legendary 'Noble Lamorak'—the knight of high moral character who brought fortune to the common people—the people's enthusiasm reached an unprecedented high.]
[Soon, you received an invitation from the local lord to attend a banquet at his castle.]
[At the banquet, you slightly displayed your strength at the lord's request, effortlessly defeating over a dozen of his knights with a single hand. This made the lord admire you greatly.]
[He even proposed taking you in as his son-in-law.]
[And after seeing your strength and handsome appearance, the beautiful daughter of the lord naturally secretly gave her heart to you as well.]
[Of course, in the end, you politely declined the lord's recruitment and his daughter's hints. After all, your ambitions lay far away (pointing to Morgan).]
[However, your good reputation ultimately earned you the lord's help. He gifted you a newly forged set of knight's armor, some money, rations, and a strong white horse.]
[After thanking the lord, you continued on your journey to write your own knight's tale.]
[Shortly after you left, Artoria and her group also exited the forest and arrived here.]
[When the three of them met the lord here in the capacity of the Child of Prophecy, they received excellent hospitality.]
[However, what confused Merlin and Kay was that although the lord's daughter's eyes lit up upon seeing their appearances, she didn't throw herself at them like previous maidens had. Instead, she was merely polite, harboring no extra thoughts at all.]
[This dealt a slight blow to Merlin and Kay, but also piqued their curiosity.]
[Thus, upon learning from the maids that the reason for all this was the Knight Lamorak who had arrived before them, the two couldn't help but sigh.]
[Probably sighing over how this guy wasn't a real man—to think he wouldn't accept such a beautiful lady throwing herself at him.]
[Meanwhile, upon learning of the 'Noble Lamorak's' deeds from the lord, Artoria's admiration for you grew even stronger, and her affection rating increased significantly.]
[Especially after hearing from Merlin and the others that you didn't accept the lord's daughter's advances but chose to continue your journey, this affection reached a new high.]
[Artoria began to believe that a true knight should be exactly like you: strong, noble, and maintaining self-respect.]
[But at this moment, you were naturally completely unaware of all this.]
[Because right now, you had already left that region and arrived in an area where Celtic forces were battling Vortigern.]
[Soon, you encountered a unit of Vortigern's army.]
At the time, Souya was still drinking fruit wine in a town tavern, asking for news about the appearances of Phantasmal Species, tyrannical bandits, or Vortigern's army. He never expected that halfway through his drink, someone would run into the tavern in a panic and shout:
"Disaster! The Vile King's army is attacking! They're almost at the city gates!"
Hearing this, the initially rowdy tavern instantly fell silent, then erupted with a boom.
"Damn it! My hands were just getting itchy, and these Anglo-Saxons deliver themselves right to me! Brothers, grab your weapons and follow me!"
"Those damn Anglo-Saxons! Daring to invade our Celtic territory! Trying to act tough, I'll send you flying!"
"Heh, knowing that I, Don Quixote, the Knight of the Windmill, am here, you still charge instead of running away? Interesting."
"Hey upstairs, what the hell is a Knight of the Windmill? How come I've never heard of you?"
"How presumptuous of you!"
Watching the people in the tavern grab their weapons and rush toward the city gates, Souya smiled. He casually tossed a few British coins onto the bar counter and followed them out.
"Let's go, System. We're also going to see this Vile King's army blessed by the Age of Gods."
[Stepping outside the city walls, you saw an army composed mostly of Anglo-Saxons, with a small number of Celts serving as generals.]
[What surprised you was that both the Celtic generals and the foreign Anglo-Saxon pirates were enveloped in an aura of the Age of Gods. Relying on this blessing, the Vile King's forces rapidly suppressed and harvested the lives of the Celtic soldiers.]
[Although not as powerful as you, it truly belonged to the Age of Gods.]
[You realized these protections from the Age of Gods were bestowed by Vortigern. After all, why would the Age of Gods of the British Isle protect foreign invaders?]
[After a moment's thought, you hesitated no longer and leaped into battle.]
[Regardless, these Celts were Morgan's future subjects. You couldn't just stand by and do nothing, both morally and logically.]
[Magical energy flowed, your body moved with the spear. Amidst surging spear glints, you killed many Anglo-Saxon soldiers fighting at the front.]
[With your addition, the pressure on the Celtic soldiers eased considerably. They began to use you as the tip of the blade, forming formations to slay the Anglo-Saxon soldiers.]
[It was at this moment that the Vile King's general, who was previously standing at the rear overseeing the battlefield, noticed your presence.]
"Gah!"
Accompanying an Anglo-Saxon's scream, Souya pulled back his thrusting spear. Without even looking, he performed a sweeping strike, sending all the encroaching Anglo-Saxons flying.
With a flick of his spear, he pierced the heart of an Anglo-Saxon who couldn't escape in time.
Just then, Souya felt a chill striking his back.
He instinctively rolled on the ground to dodge the attack, only to see the Celtic general of the Vile King's army wielding a large knight's greatsword, chopping down exactly where he had just been.
"Hmm? You actually sensed it?"
The general raised an eyebrow, speaking with some surprise.
Souya didn't answer. He reached around to his back and touched it. A freezing sensation transmitted from his fingertips. Grabbing and looking at it, he was startled to find a layer of ice.
Instantly, Souya's eyes narrowed, his expression becoming grave.
This guy actually has 'Mana Burst'.