"Lily, don't you think the way you're carrying me is a little strange?"
Arthur felt like he was about to vomit all the boar meat he had just eaten. Artoria Pendragon had said she would carry him on her back, but in reality she was simply holding him over her shoulder. His stomach was pressed directly against her shoulder, and the bumpy ride was leaving Arthur completely dizzy.
He was even starting to suspect that the young ahoge might be doing it on purpose—after all, the boar leg he had eaten that day was bigger than hers.
Why can't she run a little slower?! Even if she's worried about other monsters attacking at night, she doesn't need to jump through the trees!
Are you trying to learn Naruto's running technique or something?
"The situation is urgent, so please be patient."
After saying that, Artoria simply ignored Arthur and activated the power of the runes again. Carrying him over her shoulder, she leaped from branch to branch with agile movements until she finally spotted a medium-sized cave beside a rocky cliff.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked, looking at Arthur, who was now clutching his stomach while lying face down at the entrance of the cave.
Arthur barely managed to raise his head to look at the girl, who seemed completely unaware of what she had done.
"Next time I'll carry you like this, and then you'll know exactly how I feel right now… Ugh!"
---
The next morning, Morgan le Fay appeared before the two of them.
The woman hummed a soft melody as she observed the pair in front of her, apparently in a very good mood.
"Big sister."
"Morgan," Arthur said.
"It seems you had a battle last night. It happened a little earlier than I expected." Morgan smiled gently before looking more closely at Arthur. "But why do you look a little pale?"
She tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Does Lily snore at night?" she asked after thinking for a moment.
"Sister!" Artoria's tone immediately became firmer, clearly showing her dissatisfaction.
"She doesn't snore, but last night—" Arthur paused briefly. "Never mind. Let's not talk about that."
I was carried by a girl most of the way, and then I started vomiting violently as soon as we reached the cave… I'm not mentioning something that embarrassing.
"Last night? My goodness! Things progressed so quickly?" Morgan looked as though she were about to cry as she raised her misty eyes toward Arthur. "Men really do change their minds easily. Now you're already getting involved with my own little sister."
Then why is someone your age still trying to act like a cute little girl?
"That's not what I meant!" Arthur thought, but his face only showed a completely helpless expression.
What exactly does this woman think about all day?
"I'm joking." Morgan shrugged, walked into the cave, and sat down calmly, apparently not caring at all about dirtying her elegant clothes.
"Let me introduce this place again," Morgan said as she looked at the two of them. "This is a forest in the south, inhabited by many ferocious monsters. It is also territory occupied by other races. And you two have only one task to accomplish—"
"Survive here for the next two months."
"What kind of survival challenge is this…?" Arthur couldn't help complaining.
"Hmm… that's not wrong," Morgan said. "Anyway, you will spend the next two months in this environment. I'll come back to pick you up when that time is over."
Is this really a survival challenge?
"Well then, I hope you can endure until the end of those two months," Morgan said as her body began transforming into a crow. "I'll come visit you again in a few days, and I sincerely hope you're still alive by then."
---
Two more days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Morgan reappeared in the forest, she found Arthur calmly gnawing on a rabbit leg while Artoria sat beside him, quietly eating another roasted rabbit leg.
"You two seem to be enjoying yourselves quite a lot," Morgan said, looking at them with a surprised expression.
"This was supposed to be training, but it looks more like a picnic."
Arthur looked up at Morgan and replied:
"That's because you didn't see the dangers Lily and I faced over the past two days."
Even inside the cave it wasn't truly safe. Sometimes various kinds of monsters passed by. Because of that, they couldn't sleep at the same time during the night.
One of them would rest while the other kept watch, and then they would switch places.
Artoria adapted to this much faster than Arthur.
She was already accustomed to this kind of harsh training, after all, she was used to training with almost no rest. The only difference now was that the training had turned into real combat.
And besides…
When she lived with her adoptive father, she definitely didn't get to eat wild animals every day.
"You're really in danger?" Morgan blinked a few times and asked hesitantly.
"Of course. This forest is very dangerous," Arthur replied.
There were far too many monsters in that forest, including several giant undead similar to the one they had fought on the first night.
In addition, during those two days they had fought several times and had also found human corpses scattered in various places.
"Is it really dangerous…?" Morgan pondered for a moment, apparently thinking deeply about something.
Looks like we're finally going to change the training location?
Arthur secretly felt excited and nodded quickly.
"Yes, it's extremely dangerous."
"That's wonderful."
Morgan immediately broke into a wide smile.
"That's exactly what I wanted to achieve."
Arthur: "…"
"In fact, this is also training for brides, Arthur." Seeing Arthur's completely speechless expression, Morgan patted his shoulder and continued smiling. "If you want to become my queen, how could you do that without possessing a certain level of strength? If you manage to survive these two months, I'll give you a reward."
"What kind of reward?"
"Hmm…" Morgan thought for a moment before smiling again. "We'll see when the time comes."
That statement sounded extremely vague—almost like someone trying to brush off a beggar.
Artoria remained silent during the entire conversation, calmly chewing her rabbit leg, apparently indifferent to everything being said.
For her, the most important thing at that moment was conserving her energy and recovering her strength to deal with whatever monsters might appear later.
"Ah, right, here's this week's amount," Morgan said, handing the White Dragon Blood to Arthur before waving her hand. "Work hard. I'll be going now. See you in a week~"
After saying that, she completely disappeared from Arthur's sight.
Arthur let out a long sigh.
"When will this end?"
But this girl beside me… I really underestimated her resilience.
I didn't expect her to persist for so long without showing any signs of exhaustion.
I have to admit… she really deserves to be the future king.
Arthur couldn't help turning to look at the girl beside him.
But then he noticed that Artoria was holding a roasted rabbit leg skewered on a branch. When she noticed Arthur's gaze, she thought for a moment and then tore off a small piece of the meat.
"It's all I can give you."
Arthur: "…"
Well… this girl really is treating the training like a picnic.
(End of Chapter)