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Chapter 6: Goodbye
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 03:59:51 +0000 UTCIt was a moonless night, and Menachel originally planned to leave without saying goodbye.
In fact, there is no moon in the utopia, but for some reason Menachel felt that tonight was particularly dim.
- Boy, you are in love.
Menachel patted the back of his head and threw out of his mind the irrelevant things Merlin said, but his eyes turned to the camp very honestly.
In the flickering firelight, the golden hair tips of Artoria exuded a soft warm light, and the emerald green eyes reflecting the orange firelight seemed to be filled with a faint mist.
What beautiful eyes.
Menachel couldn’t help but admire secretly, but he soon reacted. But at this time, Artoria had sat up, staring straight at Menachel.
Menachel: “…”
Oh no, I was caught on the spot for peeking at a girl.
I remember the last time I was so embarrassed was when I failed to steal bread.
“Hey! Artoria, you haven’t slept yet.”
Menechel forced his mouth to show Artoria a simple and awkward smile.
“Yeah, I can’t sleep.”
Artoria seemed to be nodding in her peripheral vision, but Menachel didn’t see it too clearly.
He was afraid that he would be caught by Artoria again if he turned his head.
“Menachel, we are leaving tomorrow.”
Menachel’s heartbeat accelerated inexplicably. He had a bad premonition, but he still kept a calm face and nodded to the girl who was looking up at the deep night sky beside him and said, “Yes, after all, we have been here for a long time.”
“How long have you been here?”
Faced with the sudden question, Menachel stammered and was speechless for a while. He didn’t calculate how long the three of them had been in a group.
“About five or six years.” Artoria asked herself and answered herself. She held her chin with both hands and looked at the night sky without blinking: “I haven’t seen stars for five or six years. What’s the world like outside?”
The bad premonition intensified. In Menachel’s cognition, Artoria was not a girl who liked to discuss stars, but her abnormal behavior tonight made Menachel confused for a while.
Was he facing Artoria herself or an illusion created by Merlin?
“Menachel, fight with me.”
Suddenly, the girl’s brisk voice came to his ears. Without any preparation, she directly invited Menachel to fight.
Menachel turned his head in surprise, and sure enough, he looked at Artoria. Facing the girl’s burning gaze, Menachel only persisted for a moment and then shifted his sight guiltily.
Looking at the heartless Knight Kai who was still sleeping, Menachel had basically determined the truth of the matter.
“Teacher Merlin told you?”
Menachel picked up a burning stick and stuck it into the soil.
“Do you dare to fight?”
Artoria’s eyes rarely showed a sharp edge, and the momentum was as sharp as a sword out of its sheath. The girl’s face was slightly provocative. She repeated again: “Do you dare to fight?”
Although there was no direct answer, Artoria already knew the answer to the question. He picked up the wooden sword that had been prepared long ago, and pointed the sword at Artoria in the dim light of the fire.
He was not afraid of waking up Kai who was still sleeping. Since it was Teacher Merlin’s intention, Merlin would definitely set up a soundproof barrier-and the result was that only Kai was excluded from the truth.
Artoria turned the wooden sword lightly and made a standard knight’s salute to Menachel, but Menachel, who obviously only learned a little from Merlin, did not return the salute. He rushed straight to Artoria, and the wooden sword in his hand slashed horizontally, pointing directly at the girl’s wrist.
The wooden swords collided with each other, making a tooth-grinding friction sound. Menechel’s slash hit the hilt of Artoria’s sword.
After failing to hit him, Menechel did not retreat but advanced again, using the force to thrust forward, and took Artoria back a few steps while she was not able to stand firmly.
But before Menechel could organize another effective attack, Artoria’s counterattack had already arrived.
It looked like just an ordinary slash, but Menachel was forced to hold the sword with both hands to barely block Artoria’s oblique slash.
The difference in strength was still so desperate.
The stalemate collapsed with the force of Artoria’s second hand. The lack of frontal strength forced Menachel to retreat.
But once retreating, Artoria, who had a wider offensive space, immediately showed her good basic skills.
The sword blade fell on Menachel’s blade like a rainstorm, and the wooden sword made a whimpering sound under the heavy burden. Even holding the sword with both hands could not defend well. Even the wooden sword without a blunt surface continued to attack, and the marks of Menachel being beaten became more and more obvious.
Faced with such a fierce attack, Menachel subconsciously loosened one hand, and his wooden sword suddenly slipped out of his hand as if out of control.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse. Artoria slashed vertically and subconsciously withdrew her strength, preparing to hang the wooden sword in front of Menachel to end the battle, but the girl suddenly found that Menachel had retreated out of the attack range and turned into the back.
The knights' fight ended here, and the next step was a chaotic fight without rules.
The opponent did not speak, but Artoria clearly saw this meaning from the opponent’s eyes at that moment. The girl pursed her lips as if she was helpless, and she lowered the wooden sword.
“That’s it, let’s call it a draw.”
Menachel, who was just ready to fight a protracted war, came out again. He was still a little blushing because of his previous actions, but he still said stubbornly: “You said it was a draw.”
“Yes, yes, a draw.” Using a tone of comforting a child, Artoria approached Menachel.
The opponent’s actions made Menachel a little ashamed, but soon a feeling of upheaval made this trace of shame disappear.
Suddenly…
Menachel was once again pressed on the grass by Artoria in a back-locked position.
Familiar place, familiar lack of martial ethics, familiar sneak attack! But the only thing that changed was that Menachel became the one being attacked.
“Do you want to give up?”
“It doesn’t hurt, it hurts, it hurts!”
He had only said half of his tough words when his arm was further bent by Artoria. But even so, Menachel still gritted his teeth and held on for 0.3 seconds before letting go.
“I give up, I give up.”
Artoria let go of her hand with satisfaction, but she did not let go of Menachel. The girl sat on Menachel’s back very naturally.
Then the girl’s body fragrance surrounded Menachel.
Menachel suddenly stopped resisting. He suddenly felt that being pressed down did not seem to be something unacceptable.
Artoria, who finally calmed down, slowly opened her mouth to continue the topic that had just been interrupted by the duel: “I know, you will not leave with us tomorrow.”
Menachel pretended to be a mute.
Artoria continued, “I just want you to say goodbye to me in person. I’m not asking for anything in return, but just saying goodbye as a friend.”
“I’m not good at saying goodbye.”
Menachel said hesitantly.
Artoria’s eyes were sharp, and the hand that was holding Menachel’s arm once again exerted force. She ignored Menachel’s cry of pain: “So you’re going to leave without saying goodbye?”
“I was wrong.”
The reply from the other side was also very straightforward.
“Besides that.” Artoria’s voice suddenly became smaller, and the momentum just now disappeared: “About that, what love…”
Menachel was refreshed, and he didn’t feel any pain instantly.
