Chapter 30: I Armor Him Over

Stepping on the last lingering glow of the setting sun,

Su Ya, Mei Li, and Lu Kan disguised as "Ecto", along with ninety‑eight cavalry, sped in a Mercedes across the plains of the Bern domain.

After three hours of marching,

the party finally crossed the plain that bordered the Macedonian army and entered a region of vast abandoned farmlands.

After passing through the neglected fields, they at last reached their destination—

Sir Ecto's manor.

Indeed, "Ecto" and Mei Li were on the same page.

On the east side where the Conquest King's forces kept advancing, the ports and the road north along the Golden Iron Curtain were sealed off; wherever one went, waves of Macedonian troops were encountered.

According to several well‑informed cavalrymen in the squad, the Conquest King's army was stationed beyond Plymouth; they did not seem eager to press forward and breach the Golden Iron Curtain, but instead camped behind the second fortress, continuously crushing King Yuse's retreating forces that had not yet withdrawn to the Golden Iron Curtain within the third defensive line.

"So, the Golden Iron Curtain—what exactly is it?"

Upon arriving at the manor, after several scouting cavalry reported the information to Su Ya,

in a room of a ruined Norman castle, barely fit for garrison, Su Ya whispered to the slightly weary‑looking Mei Li,

"Golden Iron Curtain?" Mei Li stared at Su Ya in surprise, thinking to herself how could this illiterate not know it; even if he weren't the real Arthur, as a stand‑in he shouldn't be treated as a fool by King Yuse.

But after recalling the bizarre royal rumors, she nodded to herself, conceding it was possible—

Arthur was the son of Duchess Yigrin, seized by Yuse; he resembled his mother greatly, so Su Ya, raised as a stand‑in, might have been intended for—cough, cough, cough.

Mei Li's gaze at Su Ya grew stranger, yet she carefully explained to him:

"The Golden Iron Curtain is the Old Court Tower Tagel, the final bastion of the capital Wencheston."

"Fourteen years ago, after the lands of Macedonia bordered Britannia, the newly appointed Grand Duke of Cornwall proposed one of three iron walls to be built on the kingdom's western side to guard against western threats."

"But you also saw it—it's as flimsy as paper."

Su Ya grew even more bewildered,

I get what you mean by "as flimsy as paper"—the territory is at Britannia's far west, the Grand Duke of Cornwall felt threatened and built a Great Wall; it's easy to understand that the wall was half‑finished, riddled with kickbacks and turned into a shoddy project.

But,

Su Ya's eyes widened sharply: "Fourteen years ago, Macedonia and Britannia shared a border? What? How could the continents abut in reverse? Those two nations aren't even in the same region!"

As Su Ya knows, the Macedonian Empire stretched from western Greece and Egypt eastward to India, but regardless, Macedonia lies to the east and Britannia to the west.

How, according to the information he knows, is Britannia now in the east while Macedonia is in the west?

"Is that so strange?" Mei Li asked, puzzled, looking at Su Ya,

"Why are you reacting like the frantic scholars who first learned of the territorial shift over a decade ago? This world has magic, understand? Magic isn't illusion, so anything is possible."

"Fifteen years ago, in the 283rd year of the Magic Calendar, seven rulers from different eras and their kingdoms were summoned by King Solomon of the throne of the deity Gordon. The seven continents guarded the Holy City Jerusalem. In return, when the Divine Tower of Jerusalem was completed, King Solomon would reveal the source of magic, and in the present world where the divine age wanes, he would lead the seven rulers onto the divine throne, making them King of Kings and granting them endless life."

"Divine Tower?" Su Ya was even more baffled, "What is that?"

"The Divine Tower is essentially a magical workshop; I don't know its exact purpose, but since King Solomon needed the aid of seven kingdoms to build it, it must be an incredibly valuable thing," Mei Li explained.

At that point, Mei Li let out a giggle, snapped her fingers with a "pop", and a small flame leapt from her delicate white fingertips, showing off to Su Ya:

"Thanks to King Solomon's feat, Britannia, which had entered the mysterious final era, was able to continue; that's good news for us magicians—we can at least occasionally wield some crude magic."

"Whoa~! That's cool!"

Su Ya, seeing the feat, thought he'd never worry about a lighter being stolen by his brother again, felt a flutter, and promptly sat up straight, pointing at Mei Li's fingertip flame and asking earnestly:

"Can I learn this, Teacher Mei Li!"

"Well, normally you can't learn it; after all I'm not a master magician right now, and I have no apprentice magician slot for you."

"But—"

Hearing that "but", Su Ya perked up, sensing an opening, shifted his seat and leaned in closer,

"But what?"

Mei Li chuckled, opened her palm: "A favor, 50 gold pounds."

"Please give me the money."

Su Ya blinked, lowered his head, and looked at the tattered refugee garb he wore,

Forget about money; he just wanted a pocket that even a fashion‑forward guy couldn't manage, and his trousers, after several rounds of combat, were so ripped you could almost see his butt!

The only thing on his body that seemed somewhat valuable—

Su Ya glanced at his waist; Mei Li followed his gaze to the sword at his belt, a devilish grin curling her lips,

then she heard Su Ya ask, somewhat hesitantly:

"Can I pay with flesh?"

"That sword of yours, I reckon, could still be worth 50 something!?"

Mei Li's off‑the‑cuff appraisal abruptly stopped, her face shocked as her cheeks began to redden visibly,

"What did you say?"

"The Pendragon family's seed is rare, I'll sell it to you for 1,000 gold pounds. No worries, I won't hold you responsible; just remember to pay me 950 gold pounds later."

Su Ya was slapped three meters away by a sudden burst of magical force.

Mei Li, her face darkened, walked slowly forward, her hand already reaching for the broom leaning against the side wall, as if she might strike Su Ya ninety‑nine times.

"We both know each other well, yet you try to freeload!? And you expect me to chase you for money!"

"What, you really think of yourself as—"

And then,

Creak!

The cottage's wooden door was suddenly pushed open,

Mei Li's voice halted, and she turned back with a vigilant expression toward the doorway; Su Ya, who had avoided the slap, also let out a sigh of relief, looking there,

and saw,

A stern face peered in, scanning around.

Lu Kan wore a stern expression as he scanned the interior; upon seeing Su Ya curled up in the corner and Mei Li approaching with a broom, he couldn't help but blink, then he gave a hard cough,

"Well, you young people, you still need to exercise some restraint."

Mei Li heard this, couldn't help but lower her head to glance at the stick in her hand, feeling slightly embarrassed, she quietly hid the broom behind her back, then turned to look at the entering 'Aike Tuo', and asked with a smile:

"Sir, what's the matter?"

"It's like this, I think you might have some misunderstandings about me, and I might also have some misunderstandings about you——"

After saying this,

On the stern middle-aged Knight's face appeared a twisted smile that was utterly out of place with that face.

Just then, on such an utterly ordinary late night,

Outside the window, cicadas chirped intermittently, and the wind blowing into this Norman-style Castle brought a somewhat dry heat.

The three of them gazed at each other—you looking at me, I looking at you—in the moment of temporarily cooperating to step toward an unknown tomorrow,

Su Ya looked at the expression on the other's face,

For some reason, he felt that the expression on this man's face was exactly the same as that of Reiner and Bertolt in Attack on Titan when they found Eren on the wall and then pointed at themselves saying 'I Kai ta chao'.

The next moment,

"Then let's speak openly——"

Lu Kan, in the two people's completely unprepared gaze, tore off the mask on his face that belonged to 'Aike Tuo', revealing a warm, highly trustworthy face, and spoke with a squinting smile:

"Just as I am not Aike Tuo, you, Miss Mei Li, seem to be merely a gardener of this manor, not a royal steward or the great mage beside the king; in the capital, you still seem to owe a huge debt from gambling—oh? What's that expression? Are you remembering where you saw me before?"

"And you——Su Ya·Pandelagong,"

Lu Kan looked at Su Ya, as if he had seen something interesting, and also as if he were looking at a very promising junior, and exclaimed:

"Ah ya ya, really strange, why do I smell the same kind of scent on you~!"

(End of chapter)