My Mother King Arthur

"That's all I'll say for now."

"That child is about to wake up too."

"Have you thought about how you'll comfort her?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur heard a shout of "Ah!" from the next room. Arthur could recognize that voice even if he were deaf. It was his beloved sister, Mordred.

The exclamation was partly due to the surprise of being defeated by Scathach and then waking up. The other part was likely the fear she felt upon realizing her beloved Elder Brother wasn't by her side when she awoke.

Next came the sound of rapid footsteps and the creak of a door opening. Mordred burst in at top speed. Scathach, who had been blocking the doorway moments before, naturally stepped aside. This allowed Mordred to throw herself into Arthur's arms without any obstruction.

"Brother! Brother, Brother, Brother."

"It's alright, good girl, it's alright."

Arthur gently stroked Mordred's hair, comforting her like this. Unlike him, who was certain Scathach wouldn't kill her, Mordred didn't know Scathach well. This was their first encounter. Therefore, Mordred had a lot of negative emotions when she was defeated.

She couldn't help but feel scared, terrified.

She was afraid of death, just like any normal person.

Even more so, she feared Arthur's death.

So, Mordred was currently experiencing a stress response to psychological trauma.

Scathach didn't stop her or offer any commentary because she was experienced and understood the situation.

What Little Mo needed most right now was the warm, broad embrace of Artorius Pendragon, whom she trusted, loved, and saw as the pillar of her life.

Just as they had expected, after being comforted by Arthur for a while, Little Mo finally calmed down.

"What's the situation now?"

She had returned to her state of being "Arthur's number one loyal dog," incredibly well-behaved. The kind of well-behaved where if Brother says go east, she goes east; if Brother says go west, she goes west. If Brother wants her to backstab him, she'll backstab him; if Brother wants to catch a chicken, she'll catch a chicken. She asked Arthur what exactly the current situation was.

After Arthur told her the information he had received from Scathach, Little Mo nodded seriously. "Understood." She then fell silent, still looking to her brother for all guidance.

"That's how it is," Arthur then turned to Scathach. "For the next seven days, I'll be entrusting her to you, Teacher Scathach."

"Mhm, of course," Scathach nodded. She then looked at Mordred, then at Arthur:

"Be good to that child, you."

"Of course."

Arthur ruffled Little Mo's hair. "She's my sister, who else would I be good to?"

"..."

Scathach had wanted to say more. But seeing Arthur's cheerful smile, she couldn't say anything.

After a moment's thought, Scathach decided to let it go. After all, she wouldn't be the one to suffer from a kitchen knife incident in the end. It would just be a lesson for her self-satisfied disciple.

And so, Arthur and Mordred's training journey began.

They left the black castle, which looked like a reflection of the Tower of White Chalk, and came to an open space in front of it.

There were various training equipment. Arthur understood some of them, while others were beyond his comprehension. They must have belonged to the heroes' training camp during the Shadow Country's prime. This was also the training ground from back then. However, as the Age of Gods faded, the Shadow Country became a difficult-to-enter secret realm, and the training camp declined.

"Training in a dream won't reflect on the physical body."

Changing into the same tight, hollowed-out silk leather armor that resembled a female warrior's outfit, Arthur marveled inwardly as Scathach used her spear like a pointer, gesturing towards Arthur and Mordred.

"Fortunately, your physical condition is good. Remember to train yourselves from now on."

"Then what exactly are you going to teach me?"

Little Mo always showed a bit of rebelliousness when dealing with anyone other than Arthur.

Hearing Scathach say this, she grumbled discontentedly.

"It's about moves, techniques, and experience. Besides that, of course... Magic."

As she said this, Scathach looked at Arthur.

As one of the top Magicians of this era, Scathach could naturally tell that Arthur specialized in "amplification" Magic. This was similar to Scathach herself – Scathach had used Rune to enhance herself earlier.

A teacher naturally likes intelligent students.

But compared to intelligent students, a teacher naturally prefers students who are like their own children.

Artorius Pendragon met both criteria, so it was foreseeable that Teacher Scathach would be particularly strict when teaching him.

Speaking of which, Scathach threw two Gae Bolgs, one for Arthur and one for Mordred.

"Teacher, aren't you a dual-wielder?" Little Mo continued to ask. "Why are you only teaching us with one?"

"Because it's the foundation," Scathach replied. "You usually fight with swords, right?"

"I use spears too," Little Mo answered.

Yes, as knights, how could they not learn spear techniques? It was just that Arthur possessed the Magic Sword Clarent, and Mordred was her brother's biggest fan. That's why they used swords.

"It's different – the style of a lance and the style of a spear are not the same. The former focuses more on coordination with a warhorse and thrusting. The latter focuses more on intricate changes. In short, with me, you must start from scratch!"

"..."

Little Mo mumbled a few words, seemingly not too happy. However, she still obediently complied.

After all, Little Mo knows when to pick her battles.

"Besides, with this knight's talent, I could learn all her spear techniques in a very short time, right?

Then I can get my revenge, hmph hmph hmph... Just you wait, old woman, I'll settle all our scores today!"

Sensing something strange about Little Mo's state, Arthur tilted his head and glanced at her. Seeing that Little Mo was lost in thought, he gave Scathach a look, indirectly asking her to go easy on Little Mo.

Teacher Scathach smiled gently and nodded, seemingly agreeing with Artorius. In the subsequent training, she became even stricter with Mordred.

Author's Notes:

Second update today, please vote with recommendation tickets.

We'll be going premium next week.

Chapter 61: Peaches are the Foundation of Spear Techniques (Part 3)

"The very foundation of spear techniques—first is the thrust—the position, angle, and force of the thrust—pay close attention to my movements, how I generate power, and my techniques—"

Scathach said this while demonstrating with Gae Bolg. She first displayed it in front of them. Facing a target dummy, she executed a move with extremely standard posture and action.

Her spear seemed like an extension of her arm, incredibly precise. She quickly raised and lowered it, thrusting rapidly, and in a flurry of jabs, pierced a peach-shaped hole in the target dummy.

"Did you see clearly?"

"That's easy. I could do it too." Mordred said casually, adhering to her "I recognize no one but Brother" attitude and happily courting disaster.

"Is that so?"

Scathach said this while snapping her fingers, and the peach-shaped hole in the target dummy vanished, restoring it to normal. She then took a step back, giving Little Mo space to perform.

"Alright, then watch me!"

Little Mo was quite confident. Without hesitation, she stepped forward—

Of course, confidence and blind confidence are two different things.

Before actually making a move, she stretched her body, swung her spear, feeling its weight and length, and adapting to it. After performing a couple of practice moves in place, she confidently stepped forward. Then, dada-da-da-da—instantly, a peach-shaped hole, similar to the previous one, appeared on the target dummy that had just been restored.

"How was it, Teacher Scathach?"

Mordred looked over with a grin, a hint of provocation in her eyes.

"Passable."

Scathach commented.

"Just 'passable'?"

Hearing Teacher Scathach's words, Mordred couldn't help but frown. "They're the same peach-shaped holes, aren't they?"

"Artorius."

This time, Scathach didn't answer directly but called out to Arthur. "Explain it to Mordred."

"It's like this, Little Mo."

Arthur walked forward with a smile. With a snap of his fingers, the peach-shaped hole that Scathach had "restored" reappeared next to Little Mo's peach-shaped hole.

"Take a closer look, Little Mo."

"Oh... Oh!"

Mordred wasn't stupid; on the contrary, she was very intelligent. She just hadn't had a real object for comparison, and being too close to the situation, she hadn't realized it.

Now that Arthur had pointed it out, she understood immediately.

Scathach's peach-shaped hole and Mordred's peach-shaped hole looked almost identical at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the differences became apparent.

The "holes" in Scathach's peach-shaped target were all of the same size. The edges of the perforations were smooth.

The holes in Little Mo's peach-shaped target varied in size, and some of the perforated edges had wooden fragments attached, with jagged edges inside.

"It's the technique of applying force, the angle of the thrust, and..."

Mordred frowned, carefully contemplating the gap between herself and Scathach.

"And it's also about willpower and spirit, Little Mo."

If he were still in his previous life, Arthur wouldn't have brought this up. He would have been a cold, emotionless master of geometric martial arts, perfectly integrating European and non-Euclidean geometry into his spear and sword techniques for efficient combat—

But unfortunately, the Type-Moon world is a world driven by belief. Spirit and willpower truly have an impact.

This was one of the reasons Arthur felt he couldn't reach the pinnacle of martial arts. He didn't consider his own spirit and willpower to be "idealistic" enough. Being adaptable, liking intricate mechanisms, and being cunning, it was hard for him to imagine sacrificing himself for anything other than his Father King or Little Mo.

Artorius was extremely materialistic; his soul was not noble. He couldn't reach the point of sacrificing everything for certain things.

Arthur was self-aware; he always knew he was an ambitious schemer, not a hero.

"Even if you say that, I..."

Hearing Arthur's words, Little Mo didn't have an epiphany but frowned. Willpower and spirit were indeed too difficult for her.

"Then watch carefully."

This time, it was Teacher Scathach's turn to teach—but she didn't use words or text. Instead, she chose a more direct method:

"Mordred, stay put and watch my technique—"

She said this as she swung her spear, aiming it at Mordred—

Mordred: "!"

She instinctively tried to dodge or block, but her body wouldn't move—Scathach's magic had bound Mordred's body.

"Is this it?"

Just as Mordred couldn't help but think this, Scathach's spear retracted.

She had already felt the sensation of her skin touching the cold spear tip. Yet, not a single bit of skin was broken. Scathach's control over her strength had reached a point where she could wield it at will. She wondered how far away she was from what was called "perfected technique."

"Don't space out, watch carefully!"

As Little Mo was surprised, thinking, "Huh? I'm not dead?" Scathach loudly told her again, snapping Mordred back to attention. She then began to watch seriously.

From a third-person side view, the feeling was different from a first-person perspective. More importantly, under intense danger, and when desperately striving with earnest concentration, the angle and mindset for observing a problem were also different.

"I see, I see, so that's how it is. This guy is amazing, no wonder I couldn't win!"

Watching Scathach's offensive, Mordred entered the zone, forgetting even her fear, focusing solely on Scathach's moves and memorizing everything. Only then did Scathach withdraw her spear and release Mordred from her immobilization spell.

Then, Mordred "thumped" and collapsed onto the ground.

Her body wasn't tired, but her mind was.

"You learned it, right?"

"Yes, Teacher."

This time, Mordred called her Teacher willingly.

Unlike the Mordred from a certain timeline who, not having received Father King's approval, developed a tsundere and awkward personality. This Mordred was still cheerful and sunny.

"Mm."