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Chapter 23: Meeting
🕑 Added 2025-04-14 14:30:51 +0000 UTCThe current battle situation is very delicate. From the surface, Camelot is obviously not in an advantageous position. However, due to the death of the King of the Hundred Knights, it is difficult for the rebels to organize an effective offensive in a short period of time. This also buys Camelot a short respite.
“We must make good use of this opportunity.”
After Kay finished his summary speech, the knights present nodded in agreement with his idea.
In the hall of the back city, King Arthur was discussing important matters with his guard knights. Menachel, who was dressed in red and white heavy armor, was also standing beside Kay. He was not qualified to attend this meeting because of his notoriety as a defector and a newcomer, but Artoria still insisted on it.
This was a sense of trust that Menachel had never felt from King Gwyn.
“Then I will cut off the enemy’s food supply.”
Lanmarok stood up, and the white-armored knight knelt on one knee in front of Artoria: “Based on the current situation, no knight present is more suitable than me.”
Lanmarok did not exaggerate. From the lance he often used, it can be seen that Lanmarok was a knight accustomed to riding battles, but in a city defense battle, cavalry like him was actually not very useful. It is better to give full play to the excellent mobility of cavalry than to leave them idle.
Although Menachel, who had never even touched a horse’s back, wanted to go, he was also very sensible and did not ask. He was not sure whether the warhorse could support the heavy armor on him.
“Lord Lanmarok, then I’ll leave it to you.” Artoria’s solemn face was calm, and she continued to assign tasks in an orderly manner: “The rest of the knights will guard the rear city with me to prevent the enemy from counterattacking—”
But before Artoria finished speaking, Menachel could not help but speak. Perhaps it was due to the unknown vanity of a man, but Menachel felt inexplicably resistant to kneeling before Artoria. He just walked to about five meters in front of Artoria, and faced several dissatisfied eyes. Menachel stood up and said:
“… King, I think we should abandon the rear city.”
The two armies had been in a stalemate for nearly a month, and the rebel alliance only relied on a surprise attack to capture a small city before being stopped by the second strong city, which was far from achieving the purpose of luring the enemy deep into the city.
“Giving up the rear city means giving up the entire Camelot.” A sneer came out at an inappropriate time, and Menachel looked at the place where the voice came from with an expressionless face.
It was a knight wearing a simple blue-gray light armor, and he was standing on the left side of the queue.
Kay had mentioned to him that those standing on the right were Artoria’s direct subordinates, and their personalities might be a little impatient—for example, Lanmarok, who had just volunteered to fight, this white-armored knight was also one of Artoria’s confidants. But the knights standing on the right were definitely trustworthy comrades.
On the left side of the team were knights who had their backs on the nobles of Camelot. They said they were coming to help, but they often pretended to obey Artoria, and their real purpose was self-evident. However, Artoria, who still needed to rely on the funds of the nobles, could not settle accounts with these guys.
Menachel lowered his eyelids and remained silent, but a faint chill enveloped his body. But the grey-armored knight who spoke did not care at all, and continued to work hard to increase his own death probability.
“What do you think, Lord Tylu?”
As if afraid that Menachel did not know Tylu, Artoria specifically pointed out the name of the grey-armored knight.
The knight named Tylu walked to Menachel and knelt on one knee without hesitation, and heard him say in a deep voice: “Giving up the rear city will increase the difficulty of Lord Lanmarok’s food supply, and it will also encourage the arrogance of the rebels.”
Lanmarok, who was being used by Tylu, glared at him with some resentment, but did not speak out of courtesy.
However, Lanmarok’s move only encouraged Tylu’s arrogance. He raised his tone slightly: “If the rear city is breached, the enemy will go straight to the center. By then, no matter how strong the walls of Camelot are, they will be powerless to save the situation."
“I don’t think so.” Menachel turned his head and looked down at Tylu beside him. Menachel said: “It is understood that there are still sufficient supplies and troops in Camelot. If the rear city is abandoned and the rebels are lured to attack Camelot, then Camelot will surely work together to meet the enemy. Moreover, the enemy is too deep in the army. If the operation is proper, perhaps all the problems can be solved.”
Listening to Menachel’s words, Artoria’s eyes moved slightly, as if she was thinking about something, as if she was really considering the feasibility of Menachel’s plan.
“You…”
Tylu’s face was livid with anger. He looked at Menachel, who was almost writing “I just want to narrow the resources of the nobles” on his face, and was furious in his heart—he was a knight who was attached to the nobles. In other words, the more resources the nobles had, the more he would suffer. Obviously, the knight Tylu, who knew that suffering a loss was a blessing, was unwilling to enjoy it. So he immediately knelt down and reported to Artoria: “King, this man just defected, and he has no respect for the king. He must want to act as an insider to destroy Camelot.”
Tylu bowed his head and said nothing. When Menachel said to lure the enemy soldiers to attack Camelot, Tylu knew that he and the knight in front of him were destined to be different people. Therefore, even though he knew that his advice would be useless, he still wanted to ruin Menachel's reputation.
Menachel narrowed his eyes and said nothing, and one hand had quietly reached behind him, but unexpectedly touched nothing. At this time, Menachel remembered that his greatsword had been placed in advance.
Unfortunately, now Tylu’s neck is perfectly exposed to him, and Menachel is confident that he can kill him with one sword.
The fierce murderous aura was directed at Tylu beside him, making this loyal gray-armored knight shudder, but Tylu still did not stand up, with an attitude of “I kneel while he stands, King, you should know who is a loyal minister.”
Just as Menachel was considering the feasibility of killing with a knife and the possible trouble that might follow, Artoria’s light cough broke the stalemate.
“We will discuss this matter later.”
The cold aura around Menachel was swept away, and it was obvious that Artoria was also afraid that he would really take action.
Not long after Menachel stopped, Artoria announced the end of the meeting, but Artoria left Menachel alone.
Menachel was not surprised by this. When everyone had almost left, Menachel took off his head armor, shook his head and complained, “It’s so annoying.”
Artoria curled her lips slightly, “He’s still okay. Those nobles in Camelot are more difficult to deal with.”
After that, Artoria’s expression became serious, “In that case, let’s withdraw now. Knights like Tylu will probably send a message back to Camelot tonight.”
There was helplessness in Artoria’s tone, but Menachel raised her eyebrows, “Are you really going to withdraw?”
Artoria looked at Menachel with surprise.
The meaning in the girl’s eyes was very clear. Wasn’t it you who came up with this plan?
“Although Tylu has selfish motives, it is indeed too risky to withdraw to Camelot.” Menachel said while tidying up her hair that had been suppressed for too long, “So I deliberately showed a tough attitude. It would be great if he sent a message tonight.”
