At night, when the moon hung in the branches.
A shadow silently crossed the fence, bypassed the knights' defenses, then lightly stepped on the garden soil and gently opened the wooden window.
Then, he slipped inside in a flash.
"Has he arrived?" The roaring fire filled the living room with the color of dusk. Kayal sat on the rug in front of the fireplace, smiling and clasping his hands as he asked.
Even while Artoria was asleep, the one who came to find Kayal was none other than the wolf-girl from the morning, the young girl wrapped in a white wolf-skin coat.
As if he had known she would come, Kayal held a cup of black tea and chuckled as he looked at her.
"Do your words from today still count?" the girl asked. For some reason, after realizing Kayal had the scent of her kin, she seemed to dislike him less.
"Of course." Kayal smiled and shrugged, "I came for peace, not to see a full-scale war between humans and magical beasts." In fact, throughout that day, humans had already used their intelligence to capture at least ten magical beasts and kill at least twenty… Kayal did not want to accept such a senseless battle, nor did he want these untamed magical beasts to cause losses to his troops. Even if they won against the magical beasts, there would be no benefit, unlike Scotland where he could earn a fortune. Kayal did not want to fight a meaningless war.
It would be best if it could end peacefully.
Kayal thought to himself.
"You will absolutely not be able to negotiate with Lord Mountain God," the little girl's mouth was unyielding. In fact, she didn't think highly of Kayal, but the game of gambling simply piqued her interest. Kayal shrugged and smiled, shaking his head.
The next morning.
All the knights were fully equipped and had packed up their camp. Tents were rolled up and placed behind their saddles, knightly swords hung by the saddles, and the horses had been brushed, their strong muscles exuding a beauty of power.
Fifty knights, all fully equipped, held their reins and looked towards Artoria and Kayal.
The little girl beside Kayal had never seen such a display, and her eyes were wide with wonder.
Kayal gathered the last of Artoria's guard forces. While it's always wise to be on guard against others, to prevent the "Mountain God" from suddenly striking, he also had the intention of drawing swords if negotiations went sour.
The so-called decapitation tactic was very popular among both the beasts and the humans.
Patting the little girl's head, Kayal loved the feeling of patting someone's head in a senior's posture.
She glared at Kayal in annoyance, then led the way into the forest.
In fact, even dense undergrowth couldn't cause pain to warhorses with horseshoes and iron guards around their hooves, but the people riding them were as tall as the trees, and branches constantly poked through the gaps in their armor. Although they couldn't pierce the chainmail underneath, the itching was uncomfortable. As warriors, it was expected for the knights to endure such things, but the sensation was truly annoying.
Kayal's robe was also covered in black marks from the thorns.
Kayal frowned slightly; this was truly troublesome.
"Keane, Ryder. Draw your swords and clear the path ahead." Clearing the path naturally meant cutting a way through. The two men's expended energy could be replenished through rotation, but if they continued like this, all the knights' stamina would be completely exhausted within ten miles.
Kayal naturally understood the priorities.
"Yes." The two knights softly responded, then spurred their horses forward, drawing their sharp knightly swords and sweeping them like spinning wheels. They blazed a trail, overcoming all obstacles without falling behind, and in the blink of an eye, widened the path to more than two horse-widths.
Kayal's eyes widened slightly; it was the first time he had truly looked at martial arts in this way.
Throughout his wars, martial arts had never been the most important thing. Artoria's charge, while intended to break the enemy's formation, also served to establish her powerful reputation. But ultimately, Kayal had never truly understood how formidable martial arts could be.
Now, with the two displaying their martial prowess directly before him, Kayal shook his head slightly. It seemed he had always forgotten that these invincible knights also held a title.
The battlefield was too far from him, and he had almost forgotten the invincibility of the so-called titled knights (after all, it was when he was six or seven years old; unless he deliberately tried to remember, Kayal, no matter how intelligent, didn't have the instantaneous memory of Index). Now, thinking about it carefully, it seemed that the reason the Grand Duke of the North could use tens of thousands of knights to fend off the enemy's hundreds of thousands of knights was, in the end, due to having many titled knights under his command.
Kayal stroked his chin, wondering if he had underestimated them too much?
Lost in thought, Kayal didn't notice the little girl's angry glare as they chopped down trees.
They traveled for an entire morning, and by a clear spring, they washed away the fatigue and grime of the morning. Kayal's eyes glowed as he looked at the mountain peak, seemingly shrouded in heavy snow and swirling mist, and he had already roughly determined that the "Mountain God" she spoke of indeed lived there.
However, excessively high peaks would lead to an alpine climate. Would these knights truly be able to perform at their usual level? Kayal was already considering what would happen after the fighting started, even before negotiations had begun. It must be said that magical beasts lacked intelligence, or rather, there were truly very few who would sit down and negotiate.
Throughout the afternoon, the knights climbed the mountain. Kayal stopped those who wanted to eat snow directly, knowing that while snow (another theory suggests Arctic ice, personally I feel ice and snow are one and the same) is the world's largest source of fresh water, eating it directly would damage one's kidneys. It had to be melted in a canteen before it could be drunk.
Thanks to bamboo, which only needs slight processing to replace plastic water bottles and doesn't require felling, planing, and carving like other wood to finally get an exquisite water bottle… Bamboo only needs two sections, slightly processed or with a hole drilled, and it's perfectly fine.
The knights, having been advised by Kayal, finally recognized their thirst and waited for the bamboo tubes in their arms to warm for a moment before opening them to drink.
Between this toil and movement, it was almost dusk when they reached the mountaintop.
"What the f*** is this thing…" Kayal swore for the first time since he was born. In fact, everyone stared dumbfounded at the monster, which was the size of four houses, lying there like a small hill, their jaws dropping.
"What thing? No, I am not a thing, I am a dragon, Red Dragon Igneel." The giant dragon lowered his head and looked at Kayal with a disdainful gaze: "But you humans, what business do you have in my territory?"