Valley Of Trials

“Ugh… where is this?”

Arthur had nearly lost consciousness after being swallowed by the quicksand, but his healing ability had instantly brought him back; when he looked around, he noticed a dim cave spreading out around him like a mine.

When he tried to push himself up for the moment, he was struck by a strange sensation under his hand.

“What is this soft feeling…?”

“I’m just glad you’re safe… but I would appreciate it if you could move your hand away from there.”

“Whaaa!?”

“Oh… to land yourself in a lucky pervert situation on reflex… not bad,” Lancelot said. “However, touching any chest other than your wife’s is not allowed.”

Hearing Miranda’s voice from beneath him, Arthur reflexively jumped to his feet; apparently she had thrown herself under him at the last moment to break his fall.

He decided to ignore the nonsense Lancelot was spouting.

“Even if I get hurt, I heal right away. You didn’t have to shield me, you know.”

“But you were dragged into this because of our situation. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.”

As she gave him an apologetic smile, the scrapes and cuts on her legs stood out; her injuries were not fatal, but walking would probably be painful.

Thinking that, Arthur held his hand over her wounds.

“Lord Arthur!? I’ve heard your healing power is rare and extremely expensive. We don’t have the money to pay for it right now…”

“As if I’d charge you. You got hurt trying to protect me. Of course I’m going to heal you.”

“But… if word spreads that you used it on someone of the Desert People like me, I don’t know what the other nobles will say.”

When he looked up at Miranda’s words, he noticed Lancelot staring intently at him, and a cold sweat ran down his back.

It really was dangerous… Morgan had told him not to go around healing people so casually. If this guy tattled to Morgan, he could already hear the endless nagging coming later.

“Lancelot, you know the term noblesse oblige, don’t you? You understand what I’m getting at, right? Especially when someone has saved me, leaving them injured would call my dignity as royalty into question, so this is only natural.”

Of course, Arthur himself did not really understand what he was saying. Noblesse oblige was originally one of Morgan’s favorite phrases, and to him it only meant something like, “I’m just paying back a debt as a prince; it’s nothing special.”

Lancelot, on the other hand…

“Heh… but of course. I understand completely.”

Arthur had no idea what he supposedly understood, but Lancelot smiled happily for some reason. Was he really planning to report this to Morgan to raise his favorability or something?

“By the way, there seem to be monsters around as well, but where exactly are we? This doesn’t appear to be the Desert People’s village…”

“I believe this is probably the Valley of Trials… It seems we were carried here by the quicksand.”

“I see… so this is the Valley of Trials, where the Fruit of Plenty is said to grow, on a tree that blossoms anywhere…”

Seeing Lancelot nodding deeply, Miranda regarded him with wary eyes and asked:

“Why do you know that the Fruit of Plenty grows here?”

“Ah… I see, you didn’t know. I was a friend of Lyra’s.”

“W-what… you were Lyra’s friend…?”

“??”

It all sounded rather complicated, but Arthur did not understand any of it; he only blinked in confusion as he peered deeper into the cave, wondering why he could feel a strange heat coming from within.

Well, he did not really get it, but if they simply brought back the Fruit of Plenty as it was, wouldn’t that solve everything?

“In that case, we just have to go and pick this Fruit of Plenty ourselves, right? With my genius healing ability, a knight of Britannia, and the chieftain’s daughter here, something like this should be no problem at all.”

“Lord Arthur… you’re doing this for us…”

“Heh, splendid. Please allow me, Lancelot, to accompany you. I shall be your sword.”

With expressions overflowing with emotion, the two of them quickly followed after Arthur as he strode ahead. However, it was not as if Arthur had suddenly awakened to a sense of noble duty.

He was simply afraid of being stuck in a cramped space together with Lancelot. Yes… he was chicken-hearted, and he still had not forgotten his grudges from his previous life.

Yet to anyone else watching, that figure must have looked just like a hero.

Miranda had first felt relief, after falling into the quicksand, that Arthur was safe. He was a prince; if anything happened to him, reconciliation between the Desert People and the people of Britannia would likely become impossible.

“Lord Arthur!? I’ve heard your healing power is rare and extremely expensive. We don’t have the money to pay for it right now…”

“As if I’d charge you. You got hurt trying to protect me. Of course I’m going to heal you.”

That should have been impossible. Healing magic in Britannia was said to be granted only to a chosen few… It was a sacred power, and if you sought it, you would be forced to pay a sum so great you could never repay it in a lifetime. That was why the Desert People hated the people of Britannia, and especially the people of Glastonbury.

“But… if you use it on someone of the Desert People like me, I don’t know what the other nobles will say.”

Yes, the other problem was one of race. The Desert People and the people of Britannia were enemies. If he healed her, it would likely give the other nobles an opening to attack him… or so she thought, but…

“Lancelot, you know the term noblesse oblige, don’t you? You understand what I’m getting at, right? Especially when someone has saved me, leaving them hurt would call my dignity as royalty into question, so this is only natural.”

Arthur’s words made Miranda catch her breath. Noblesse oblige meant the duty of those who were noble.

Donating to orphanages or doing volunteer work fell under that, but in a crisis like this—healing an injured person in a cave—it was certainly necessary as well. That was why he told Lancelot it was nothing to be ashamed of.

From the faintly pleased expression on Lancelot’s face, she could tell that he thought well of Arthur.

Even though they had only spent a short time together in the wagon, the relationship between Arthur and Lancelot had not seemed particularly good to her. Yet in this emergency, Arthur had indirectly declared, “I’ll heal you too,” to give Lancelot freedom to act—and she found that reliability reassuring.

“I see… so this is the Valley of Trials, where the Fruit of Plenty is said to grow, on a tree that blossoms anywhere…”

When she told them this place was the Valley of Trials, Lancelot nodded in a strangely moved way, and cold sweat ran down Miranda’s back.

After all, the location of the Fruit of Plenty was not generally known—only the chieftain’s family among the Desert People should have known of it…

“Why do you know that the Fruit of Plenty grows here?”

“Ah… I see, you didn’t know. I was a friend of Lyra’s.”

“W-what… you were Lyra’s friend…?”

That name made Miranda’s chest ache. Lyra had wished for coexistence between the Desert People and Britannia, yet had become the spark that ignited war. And yet, even knowing that history, Lancelot still told her he had been Lyra’s friend, and that made him seem trustworthy to her.

Then, just as the two of them seemed to have grown a little closer, Arthur raised his voice as if all that had nothing to do with him.

“In that case, we just have to go and pick this Fruit of Plenty ourselves, right? With my genius healing ability, a knight of Britannia, and the chieftain’s daughter here, something like this should be no problem at all.”

He had just said he would undergo the trial. Knowing the customs of the Desert People, he should have understood that the trial of the Valley of Trials was not something that could be cleared so easily… Only the descendants of their ancestors and guardian spirits had ever managed to reach the depths and harvest the Fruit of Plenty.

And yet, the way he advanced without hesitation made him look just like a savior.