Chapter 1488: Brave New World (6)

"Who?!" heard footsteps outside the cave, and Arthur couldn't help but be vigilant. (As soon as he opened his mouth to call, he immediately regretted it!)

That person could never be Merlin, because Merlin was manipulating the shadow of a crow, and it was just a phantom, unable to do any physical interference with the world, let alone the sound of footsteps.

And in the middle of the night, some people actually groped into this kind of cave in the barren mountains and mountains, and it is estimated that most of them are not good. Arthur couldn't help but clench the sword in his hand, ready to fight at any moment.

Of course, his sword remained unsheathed, and he was confident that it would take less than half a second to get it unsheathed until he cut off his opponent's head. He could easily take his opponent's life with his sword, but he still had to keep a low profile - what if the opponent had no ill will?

The scabbard was obtained by Arthur after killing the British soldiers, and he was a poorly made leather scabbard with a faint fishy smell on it. However, it is best that such a scabbard can properly conceal the magnificence of the sword hidden in it, for the silver sword will emit a faint excess light in the darkness, and those who know the goods will instantly realize that it is a great treasure, and they will be upset.

The footsteps were heavy, sounding almost like a knight in full armor. Arthur couldn't help but be even more nervous, and when the real fight started, I wondered if his sword would be able to split the opponent's heavy armor?

"Hahaha, don't worry, kid, I don't mean anything. An old man with a hunchback approached the cave with a donkey.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the footsteps were not the footsteps of the heavily armored knight, but the sound of the iron hooves of the donkey as he walked.

By the light of the fire, Arthur looked at the old man. The old man looked weather-beaten, and his clothes were tattered and patched. And the old donkey led by the old man carried all kinds of messy luggage, so much that people couldn't help but worry about this donkey, afraid that it would be crushed by the luggage before it took a few steps. However, although the old donkey looked decadent, he was still very reliable, and walked with his mountain-high luggage on his back, and did not show any signs of difficulty.

Carrying so much luggage on his back, the old man was either on a long journey or a merchant.

"Are you—?" asked Arthur, trying to speak in the most authentic French he could use. In order to avoid suspicion that he had done a lot of hard work, he couldn't help but regret why he didn't think much about it just now, and if he had omitted this call, he might have been able to pretend to be dumb all the time.

"Just a traveling merchant, kid. The old man replied, and the answer was almost exactly what Arthur had guessed: "May I come in and rest? I don't want to spend the night in the middle of the night." ＂

You'd better find a place to make a fire yourself. Arthur wondered. But he didn't want to be too rude, so he replied with a fake smile, "Okay, old man, come in and rest." ＂

"Thank you. The old man approached the fire unceremoniously and asked, "Well, your accent is a little strange, where are you from?"

"Calais. Finally he was asked the question, but Arthur was ready, so he casually made up, "My mother is British, so I can't help but speak with a British accent once in a while." ＂

He chose the most remote and closest area to England to answer, so that he could mask the problem of his accent as much as possible.

"Heh, Calais. Isn't that already there?" the old man glanced at Arthur, "You are a refugee from there, but you don't look like a refugee in your clothes—"

"I wasn't there when Calais was attacked. Seeing that his lie was almost exposed, Arthur couldn't help but make it up again, and as vague as possible: "Anyway, the situation is complicated, please don't ask too much, okay?"

"Okay. The old man saw that Arthur was only a weak young man, and he did not be too wary of the young man, so he found a random stone and sat down on the side, and warmed himself around the campfire: "What a bad world, I heard that Orleans has also begun to be attacked recently, and it is estimated that it will fall soon." In this way, half of France will fall into the hands of the British and Bryandians. I also went to Calais when I was a merchant, and the situation there can be described as miserable, the British were no different from bandits, they robbed everything they could, they burned everything they could, and the stench of burnt corpses was everywhere. ＂

Arthur's eyes rolled, and his mind was racing in thought. Although he was still wary of this strange old man, he wanted to learn more about this world from the old man's mouth. He knew nothing about the world, and the greatest disadvantage of this should be compensated for by active intelligence gathering, and it was best to ask such a traveling merchant who was on the move. In the worst-case scenario, if Arthur had lost his words, he could have drawn his sword and killed the old man. Although he may be a little sorry for this person, it is not dangerous to kill people at will in this wilderness, as long as the corpse is disposed of, it will have no effect on Arthur at all.

"I'm a countryman and I don't know anything about the international situation. Arthur then continued: "How bad is the situation, and why did England go to war with France?"

"Because of Henry VI. The old man replied with a bruised answer: "A little imp who may be the heir to the throne of England and France at the same time." ＂

"Henry VI?"

"Why, you don't even know this?" the old merchant man glanced at Arthur again: "Henry VI is the only son of King Henry V and Queen Catherine of England, and Catherine's father is none other than King Charles VI of France. That little ghost is a person with two royal bloods, both English and French. But when both kings died at the same time, Henry VI was only a few months old and was under the protection of Charles VII, the crown prince of France.

Charles VII, of course, did not want Henry VI to be the king of France, but the British side unilaterally declared Henry VI to be the king of France, and the Duke of Bedford, who is currently in power, asked Charles VII to hand over the infant king Henry VI. So they fought. ＂

"Hmph" Arthur listened quietly, without commenting.

"In your opinion, how should this matter be solved?" the old man suddenly smiled mysteriously and asked, "In my opinion, neither of these two groups is absolutely righteous. Some will say that it was a British invasion of France, but others would think that it was just a war waged by the British to reclaim their own king. In any case, as long as we look at it from a different position, each side of Britain and France can be just and both can be unjust. ＂

"Well, I don't know very much," Arthur said tentatively, "Uncle, why do you ask me such a question? I'm just a villager from the countryside, and I don't know anything about the big things in this world."

"It has nothing to do with the level of culture, kid. But the old man said, "I ask you this question because I think you and I are the same people, the same kind, the same kind of people, reasonable people." You are different from the British who kill the red-eyed for the sake of profit, and you are also different from the Frenchmen who kill the red-eyed for the sake of revenge, you stand on the outside, see more truthfully, understand things better, and make a more objective evaluation of the matter. ＂

"Definitely. Arthur frowned, completely unaware of the purpose of the old man's sudden question. However, Arthur was not afraid to answer this question, as he had thought before, even if he didn't answer well, he could just kill the old man to kill him, and he didn't lose anything anyway: "Okay, I'll try to evaluate it." ＂

"Actually, there is no such thing as absolute justice or absolute evil in war. War will never change, but it is just the fight of one group of people against another group of people in pursuit of some kind of profit. Arthur calmly analyzed: "So the British and the French involved in this war are equally bad, and in the end, both sides deserve to die." ＂

"Is that your answer?" the old man smiled mysteriously.

"Wait, I'm not done yet. Arthur continued, "But there is one thing I am not used to. British soldiers were killing people indiscriminately. Killing innocent people. Like locusts, they looted and set fire to each village and slaughtered indiscriminately. This kind of behavior is not chivalrous, and the practice is no different from that of banditry. They became too greedy and fought not just to reclaim their king, but to take wealth from the commoners of France. ＂

Saying this, the young man couldn't help but clench his fists: "This kind of guy deserves to die." If I had the strength, I would see such greedy British bandits, and I would have seen them kill one by one. ＂

"Huhuhu, that's exactly what it is. The old man smiled: "My thoughts are exactly the same as yours. Good boy, I really didn't look for the wrong person. ＂

"What?" Arthur couldn't help but be confused. And this and the old man is looking for him?

"The sword on your back, can I borrow it from the old man?" the old man changed his words and picked up the sword on Arthur's back.

Hearing the other party say this, Arthur couldn't help but get nervous, and his eyes widened.

The sword he was carrying was heavily protected by a rough leather scabbard, and even in ordinary lighting conditions, it should be impossible for the average person to immediately understand the true value of the sword.

But this old man, a traveling merchant of unknown origin, could instantly see through the sword on Arthur's back in such a dim cave under the flickering bonfire! This could not help but make Arthur wonder that the old man might have come to fight his sword!

"Don't be afraid, kid. When the old man saw Arthur's nervousness, he smiled and added, "I won't snatch your sword."

Hey, I gave you the sword. If I've entrusted it to you, why would I want to take it back at this time?"