A light, like a descending sun, instantly illuminated the entire street.
And when this light receded, transforming into an illusory greatsword, and visibility was restored,
Suya saw,
A female knight, 1.9 meters tall, clad in exaggerated heavy armor, with long, wavy golden hair flowing behind her, exuding both ferocity and elegance!
(PS: Image for reference only, not the fairy Gawain in the text. Please delete if infringing.)
Her face was cold, and she raised her palm, clenching an ethereal greatsword made purely of flame in mid-air. She gnashed her teeth, pointing the sword at Merlin, who was huddled, trembling, in the corner of the carriage.
"Surrender! I surrender!"
Under that gaze, like a fierce black dog's, Merlin immediately threw up her hands in despair, offered a French salute to the fierce yet elegant female knight, and shrieked.
It was as if if she delayed surrendering for even a second longer, this flaming greatsword would mercilessly chop Merlin into mincemeat from head to toe.
"Hmph!"
"I have no intention of criticizing past events, Merlin, but no matter what, now, you must hand over the [Enigmatic Blade of the Bible] and the [Witch's Armaments] that you took from the Fairy Country!"
"And, your one hundred thousand gold pounds debt to the casino!"
Hearing this, Merlin's expression stiffened, then she forced a smile uglier than a cry, whispering like a mosquito:
"Lost it all, lost it all..."
"What?!"
The female knight's graceful brows furrowed, a vein throbbed on her forehead, and the surrounding atmospheric pressure suddenly dropped by a third.
She stared at Merlin's innocent expression, gritting out words between her teeth:
"What have you been doing?!"
"Princess... Your Highness!"
Hearing this, Suya accidentally glanced at Merlin, who was curled up into a large white ball of yarn, burying her head with her knees hugged to her chest.
Couldn't tell, you bird-person are a princess?
Then, Suya looked up at the fierce yet elegant female knight before him.
Fairy, princess, Sword of Revolving Victory, debt collector knight, and this person's appearance...
For a moment, too many elements made his brain burn furiously, but he quickly tentatively asked the female knight before him:
"You are... Fairy Knight Gawain?"
Fairy Knight Gawain,
Is a fairy knight from the Fairy Country Lostbelt who was bestowed the spiritual foundation name of the Pan-Human History Round Table Knight, Gawain. Her appearance somewhat matched the person before him, but unlike that fairy, this one lacked the burning horn and eyes characteristic of that fairy.
Hearing Suya's clear, bard-like voice, Gawain's eyes showed a slight change. The non-human emotions faded from her gaze, and her bright blue pupils stared unblinkingly. She spoke frankly:
"I am Gawain, a debt collector knight barely eking out a living in the royal capital of Winchester."
"I am not a fairy; I am human."
She frowned slightly, glancing out of the corner of her eye at Suya, who seemed to be the leader of Merlin's small group, and asked:
"You adopted this fairy?"
Suya's mouth twitched slightly. "Well... I suppose so."
"Then I'll trouble you to repay her debt."
"She owes the casino one hundred thousand gold pounds. Excluding the principal, and calculating only 60% annual interest, compound interest, handling fees, service fees, and management fees,"
"The minimum interest owed now is 5,233 gold pounds, 16 silver shillings, and 25 copper pennies."
Gawain held her sword pointed at Merlin to prevent her escape, while extending her other hand, opening her gauntlet, and raising four fingers towards Suya.
Meaning, pay up.
Hearing such an exaggerated number, Suya decisively kicked the 'white yarn ball' beside him with his toe.
"Hey, get up and pay your debt!"
Merlin buried her head, letting out a desperate wail: "Even if I raided Sir Hector's treasury, I'd still have less than 5,000 gold pounds..."
"If I pay now, she'll definitely count it as overdue, and then I'll have to pay an extra 200 gold pounds."
Hearing this, Suya could already imagine this bird-person's desperate future life.
And this was just paying the interest, with not a single cent of the principal repaid.
"You're hopeless, gambling addict."
Suya sighed helplessly, but recalling this buff-giving character's indispensable role, he looked at Gawain and asked, "Can you defer it for a few days? We'll repay both the principal and interest in a few days."
"Everyone who owes money says that."
Gawain firmly shook her head, then looked at Suya and said seriously:
"Debts must be paid, it's only right!"
"If she can't pay, I'll cut off one of her fingers now. If you think you can stop me, you can try."
She subtly rotated her sword hilt, pointing the illusory flaming longsword at Suya.
However, at this moment,
Upon clearly seeing Suya's unparalleled handsome face,
"Eh!?"
She suddenly widened her blue pupils slightly, swallowed, and a hesitant blush rose to her pretty face.
"However... if you, you are willing to train with me for one night, then perhaps it wouldn't be impossible to defer it for ten days to half a month..."
"Gwa?!"
Beside them, Merlin, who had been burying her head, suddenly looked up alertly upon hearing this.
"Train, train with swords?"
Hearing such suggestive words, Suya couldn't help but feel a tremor through his body and swallowed.
Gawain, her face slightly flushed, spoke earnestly yet nonsensically:
"Please don't misunderstand, I am merely curious about your swordsmanship, and if I could discuss it with you, I'm sure my martial arts would improve."
Suya looked at the sudden blatant offer, feeling a little dizzy.
"Is... is that so?"
At this moment, Gawain seemed to suddenly recall something important, and her face hardened again. She said in a deep voice:
"We'll discuss this matter in detail with you later."
She turned and looked sternly at Merlin, reprimanding her sharply:
"Merlin, regarding the debt, I can temporarily defer it for you out of consideration for this knight's... face, but—"
"You must hand over the [Enigmatic Blade of the Bible] now!"
"This blade must never fall into the hands of the Church!"
Hearing this term again, Lucan beside them suddenly shuddered, looking at Merlin with a mix of astonishment and surprise.
"Miss Merlin, you have this? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Suya couldn't help but frown slightly and asked, "Wait, what is that?"
Lucan explained, "Many prophecies appeared in the Old Testament, symbolizing God's perspective on the past, present, and future. Among them, the description of a 'knife' is typically used to cut through surface appearances and reveal deeper spiritual realities."
"And the [Enigmatic Blade of the Bible] is the materialization of this concept of 'knife' in the Bible, a hidden treasure and ceremonial garment from the Age of Gods."
Suya scratched his head, looking at Merlin.
"I don't understand, translate it."
Merlin made a bitter face and explained:
"The Book of Hebrews says it is sharper than any double-edged sword, even penetrating to the division of soul and spirit."
"Simply put, it might possess the conceptual effect of directly cutting 'divine authority.'"
"Which means that dagger of mine is what Morgan Le Fay has always wanted to win from me."
Suya remembered that Merlin indeed had a ruby dagger. He then looked down at Merlin and asked:
"Where's the knife?"
"I gave it to Morgan Le Fay, asking Agravain to use it to save you."
Suya was instantly shocked.
Agravain being on their side should be correct, and Morgan Le Fay, if no surprise, was the mastermind who instructed his original body to kill Arthur.
He was captured by Agravain, so nothing serious could have happened to him.
But now, Merlin, unaware of this, had given the [Enigmatic Blade of the Bible], which might directly remove the 'divine right of kings' property from the Sword in the Stone, to Morgan Le Fay in order to save him.
Suya felt as if he could already see the coronation ceremony of the Queen of Britannia.