At night, the room was dark, Merlin did not return to the hotel to meet the maiden after sunset, as he said, and Artoria lay on the humble bed, she looked at the old wooden ceiling, listened to the noisy but joyful sounds outside, and remembered all the things that had happened at the celebration today and the people she had met.

She didn't expect that in just one afternoon, she would meet so many people who interested her, whether it was two mysterious knights, or Gawain, who was very strong in battle, or the Bedwell who was as refreshing as a breeze.

Sure enough, as Merlin said, the outside world is infinitely exciting, there are all kinds of people, as long as you walk out of the manor, you will find that life is much more complicated than you imagined, and sooner or later you will have to leave Merlin's shelter to contact this world, the girl is thinking about the lack of Merlin's teaching and guidance in the future, will she be very unaccustomed?

With a self-deprecating smile, Artoria realizes that she is so naïve, can't she survive without Merlin? I'm so dependent on Merlin!

"I don't know if the teacher's work has been completed, has the new king been born? What kind of person would draw the holy sword? What does the prophesied king really look like? Artoria looked out the window, a myriad of questions coming to her mind.

The outside world was still lively, even though it was already evening, but the joyful atmosphere did not decrease, but became more and more enthusiastic, after all, today is not only the king election ceremony, but also Christmas, the crowd burst into the room bursts of cheers and laughter, the girl suddenly felt a little upset.

The outside world is beautiful, but for some reason Artoria feels that the world outside the window is not for her, maybe it is because she has cleaned up all the excitement today, which leads her to have such thoughts, right?

At this time, Artoria thought that in a few hours she would be sixteen years old, and by that time she would be an adult, and when a knight candidate became a knight, these things would leave her, right?

Then again, don't knights have to rest and live as usual? Why do young girls struggle with such questions?

A knight must have a rest and a normal life, but Artoria thinks differently from others, she is a daughter, and the possibility of becoming a knight is many times lower than that of a normal male surname, even if she is strong in martial arts and knowledgeable, it still can't change the fact that she is a woman.

In this patriarchal era, she wants to fulfill her wishes, and she has to pay too much, at least several times or dozens of times that of others! Only then can she become a knight who will go down in history as a woman!

She worked hard to learn and cultivate, and she worked hard to accumulate knowledge, in order to realize her wish to become the first knight of Britain as a female surname, which is her wish that has never changed since she was a child, and she has given everything for this!

A vague picture appeared in the mind of "......", Artoria, who was originally in a daze, sat up and frowned, what did she see in the moment just now? Well, it's vague, it should be a person, a man in armor bound by countless chains, kneeling on the ground and sleeping!

The sudden appearance of the picture made the girl a little concerned, she didn't think it was an illusion or something else, because at that moment she suddenly had a feeling that something was forgotten by herself, and it was something very important to herself, but she couldn't say what it was, but the depressed feeling made her very uncomfortable.

Shaking her head, Artoria shook the unhappy feeling out of her mind, then lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, and soon she fell asleep, but her expression changed from relaxed to complicated, and no one knew what she was dreaming about.

…… Merlin looked at the sky, and then at the two knights who were dueling immediately, and finally a bored look appeared on his slightly chubby face, and he said with a sigh: "Igrein, are you satisfied with today's show?" Anyway, I'm very cool to watch. Eventually, he said to Igrein beside him.

But the beautiful woman rolled her eyes when she heard his words, and thought to herself, 'Doesn't the fat man lie and don't make drafts?' When did you see them in the afternoon? Haven't you been watching Toria all the time? I'm embarrassed to ask me, look at your boring expression, if you didn't have to preside over the ceremony here, you would have run away a long time ago..."

Although Igrein wanted to say this, she finally chose to remain silent and chose to ignore the dead fat man around her.

Merlin doesn't care about women's attitude, he feels that everything should be over, especially this farce that he directed but is boring, and if he continues to play with them, Merlin will really do something bad to adjust his mood because he feels bored.

"This is the end of today's duel, because no new king has been elected, so let's continue tomorrow, everyone enjoy tonight's celebration, everyone is Merry Christmas." Merlin stood up and said aloud, and after a brief summary, he ended the ceremony for the day, after which he ordered a group of people to carry the sword in stone to the church in London, and finally the ceremony was temporarily over, which was almost equivalent to farce.

"Well, it's time for me to go back and prepare, the prophesied king is now dreaming in bed, dear queen, will you stay here for the next celebration, or will you return to the castle?" Merlin turned to Igrein and said that the work had been almost done, and the next thing was to go back to Artoria and lead her into the church to finish everything.

"I... I want to stay here, you go. Igrein looked at Merlin and said, no one knew what this woman, whom all the nobles called 'sluts' were thinking, and she looked at everything in front of her, her eyes full of nostalgia.

"Wait until midnight and you'll be done, and it's up to you to decide what to do next, although I've seen the results, goodbye Igrein, and I hope you have fun tonight." Merlin left the place after saying that, and Igrein looked at his back, a sneering smile appeared on his beautiful face, and no one knew who this smile was mocking, maybe Merlin, maybe Artoria, maybe herself.

"That's right, it's finally coming to an end...", looking at the people laughing around the campfire, Igrein muttered to herself, she had been waiting for this moment for a long time, and she was finally free......... In the glorious palace of flames, two figures intertwined, and the weapons in their hands made a crisp sound when they collided, like musical instruments played, full of rhythm, and if anyone saw the two of them fighting, they would definitely feel that they were not desperate, but dancing in the flames.

The heat wave completely distorted the figures of the two into a blur, and it was impossible to see who they really were and what they looked like, the only thing that was certain was that one of the two men was wearing silver armor, and the other was wearing black armor.

Artoria wanted to approach them, but she seemed to be restrained by some force, unable to move, or even make a sound, she could only stand there and watch the fierce battle between the two until the end.

They seemed to be talking, but she couldn't hear anything other than the sound of the weapons clashing, as if everything was blocked out by some force. The palace collapsed in flames, and eventually the two men collided together, and their weapons pierced each other's bodies at the same time, but the two of them looked like lovers in a hug, without the slightest murderous intent.

"I'm sorry..."

"Thank you..."

Both of them were buried in the burning palace at the same time, and there were only five words at the end, but these five words were clearly heard by Artoria, but she still couldn't tell who said it, so her vision went into darkness......... Opening her eyes, Artoria looked at the ceiling in a daze, and then sat up suddenly, her mind was in a mess, what did she see just now? Well, the flames, only the crimson flames, as for the rest, there is no impression at all.

The girl struggled to remember that she felt that the dream was portending something, because Merlin had told her that so-called dreams sometimes lead a person in the right direction, so don't ignore the dreams that make you care.

At this time, Artoria really cared about the vague dream just now, but she didn't know why, no matter how she recalled, all she remembered was a sea of fire, and the cry of 'thank you...'

Just when Artoria was dazed, there was a sudden knock on the door, and Merlin's familiar voice came: "Tolia, are you awake?" ”

The girl was awakened by Merlin's voice, and she immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the door to take two deep breaths, suppressing all the confusion in her heart, and at this moment she did not know why she did not want to tell Merlin about this dream, and as for the reason, even she could not figure out the reason.

Opening the door, Artoria saw Merlin's familiar chubby face with a gentle smile, and for some reason she suddenly relaxed after seeing the other party: "Teacher, is your work over?" "Forget it, it's just a dream, there's no need to tell the teacher, well, it's just a dream... Merlin looked at the girl, an inexplicable smile appeared on his fat face, he touched the girl's head and said, "Happy Toria, well, I have prepared a gift for you and hope you can like it, but before that, you should go take a shower, change into the clothes I prepared for you, and then we will set off?" ”

"Gifts?" Artoria was stunned for a moment, and then a little excited, this should be Merlin's first birthday gift to herself, right?

"That's right, this is a new dress for you, I've asked the shopkeeper to prepare hot water for you, we'll leave after you take a shower, this time my gift for you is full of surprises, you'll love it!"

(To be continued)