KFN A1C7 - This is a real castle!
Count Ector"s castle is a splendid European edifice. It stood on a rocky mountain plateau, surrounded by green hills. The scenery only serves to adorn the castle"s majestic structure. In the crystal clear moat, a swan can be seen gracefully enjoying her swim. Although Lin Ling is used to seeing European medieval castles in movies, seeing a real castle in person is much more shocking and awe-inspiring. It feels her with a sense of adventurous excitement.
This place is a genuine castle...
As she crossed the moat with Arthur and Merlin, the sight of the vast garden made her gasp in surprise. The olde castle stood proud, embraced by the morning rays gave it a wondrous presence. It is a picturesque scene fitting for a fairy-tale like world.
TL: Phew. Basically, nice castle.
爱克伦伯爵的城堡坐落在群山环抱之中，矗立在石山高原上，鸟瞰四周缓缓起伏的树林，幽静的自然景色与城堡雄伟的外貌相互辉映。清澈见底的护城河中，游弋着姿态优雅的白天鹅。虽然在电影里看到过欧洲中世纪的城堡，但那种平面的效果，自然没有亲眼所见来的震撼。林零望着眼前那座雄伟的城堡，心里忽然涌起了一种莫名的激动。
是城堡诶，货真价实的中世纪城堡……
当林零随着默林和亚瑟经过护城河时，所看见的一切令她暗暗惊叹，在一望无边的花园中，整座古堡被笼罩在淡淡的晨雾里，典雅又不失自然风采，恍若处在一种如梦似幻的仙境中。
"Merlin. Is Arthur with you?"
A brown-haired man in his 40s rushed out to greet the party. With his side, a child similar to Arthur"s age accompanied him. The boy wears a stubborn expression on his face.
TL: I struggled here. Look. A nice, simple sentence. Yet I struggled. Because in Chinese, the author expressed it as this: the literal text is the boy"s eyebrows shows his stubbornness. ... um, what?
"Count Ector, you do not need to worry any longer."
Merlin smile gently, and Arthur appeared from Merlin"s shadow.
Count Ector sighed with relief, and turned to face the stubborn-looking boy.
"Kay, apologise to Arthur now! If it"s not for you picking a fight, Arthur wouldn"t have either!"
Kay? Lin Ling felt a sense of familiarity with this name. Ah, he is Count Ector"s son.
Kay took a step forward, kept quiet for some time before muttering a soft apology.
"I"m sorry!"
Arthur simply turned his head and refused to look at Kay.
Annoyed by his silence, Kay snapped at him in anger.
"I said apologised to you already! What else do you want?! Are my words wrong then? If His Majesty loved you, he would not have abandoned you here!"
Arthur lifted his head to glare at Kay. His eyes reveal that of a dangerous, sharp glint that can easily petrify the other party.
"Kay! Shut your mouth right now!"
Count Ector shouted at Kay at his outburst. He rubbed his temples too soothe his headache at these two children. Only when he looked elsewhere, that he noticed Lin Ling standing sheepishly with Merlin.
"This young lady is...?"
"Ah, it is thanks to this girl"s help that I am able to save Arthur. I have already decided to accept her as my disciple. Count Ector, if it is alright, please allow this girl to stay in this castle."
Merlin gestured towards his new disciple.
"Of, of course! But this young lady... seems to be of a different race?" TL: He said it like she"s an alien in Chinese LMAO
"Correct. But, she will bring us good luck." Merlin smiled at his words.
From doubt to a more trusting expression, Count Ector broke into a smile hearing the wizard"s words.
"If Merlin said so, then there is no problem. You must be hungry. Come in and have breakfast with us!"
Lin Ling kept quiet as the two adults talked. Is it me, or did the Count seem to be afraid of Merlin?
Hm? Wait, wait, wait! Did the Count say breakfast? Hurray! Then there must be eggs!
As her eyes sweep through the grand breakfast laid on the table, she fought back a strong impulse to hit someone.
Laid on the cherry wood, long table are a jug of milk, oatmeals, bread, meat... and no eggs.
Why... What is this?!
Although she is depressed at this outcome, she dared not speak out loud to arouse Merlin"s suspicion. If she does, then it"ll be harder to return to her former world. Lin Ling swallowed her words and ate her breakfast instead.
As soon as she does, she noticed something very strange.
Other than a plate and a knife, there seems to be no other cutlery on the table.
Huh? Where"s the fork? She peeked around the table. Lin Ling saw the rest of the occupants are cutting the meat with the given knife while using the water-filled tray to wash their hands. They then eat the meat with their hands.
She shivered at her thought. Could it be... That fork has yet to be invented?
As she come in terms to this revelation, Lin Ling noticed that Count Ector is watching both Arthur and Kay"s cutting posture.
"Kay, you should cut up your meat more evenly. Look at how Arthur does it."
Kay nodded at his father"s comment, and carefully attempt to cut the meat again.
"Cutting meat is also a knight"s skill."
Merlin whispered into her ear.
Looks like the road to be a knight is not an easy one. Lin Ling recovered from her culture shock and thought, if that is what it takes to get an egg, I"ll bear with it. When in Britain, do as the British does!
She then tried to cut the meat like how it is supposed to be done. Alas, she rarely used a knife in this fashion. She tried and tried, but the meat on her plate refused to be cut.
After N times, the meat is still whole. (TL: It says N times, not me!)
The golden-haired occupant who sat in front of her showed a mocking smile.
She huffed, and raised her strength up a notch. The meat she desperately tries to cut then flew from her plate with a BIU sound effect, and impressively, landed on Arthur"s left eye with a slap. TL: Haha, you know how when rockets fly, they have this sound effect of biuuuu~
The winter wind seem to blow at the table. It was eerily cold. Everyone kept silent and continued their breakfast. Arthur"s forehead vein popped (?) while Kay tried his hardest to not laugh.
After a stiffling moment, Arthur calmly picked up his natural eye mask and put it on the table. He continued eating as if nothing has happened.
"I"m... I"m sorry..." She only said these three words before Arthur did his killing glare.
She quickly turned her head to avoid those eyes and saw Kay"s instead. He winked at her and revealed his dazzling smile at her.
Lin Ling smiled in return as well. Arthur sighed softly, and Lin Ling reflexively turned back to look at him. His lips wordlessly formed the word "pig". Seeing how mad she is at this, Arthur smiled mockingly.
Once he has finished his meal, Merlin put down his knife and asked,
"Speaking of which, where is the Countess? I did not see her today?"
"Ah, she went to Marquess David"s territory to visit her cousin. She will be back in a few days."
As he spoke of this, Count wiped his lips gently with a white napkin. To an aristocrat, it is manners to wipe one"s lips gently and not roughly.
Lin Ling took the chance when they weren"t looking, and wiped her lips quickly with her napkin. If she were to wipe gently like them, she don"t think her lips will ever be clean!
After they concluded the first meal of the day, Merlin brought Lin Ling to tour the castle. The place is actually a really large complex. It has a master bedroom, the maid"s chamber, wine brewing area, kitchen, bakery, wine cellar, warehouse, stable, barn and even fish ponds. TL: 这座城堡其实是一个大片的建筑群，包括城堡主人的居室、妇女工作室、厨房、面包房、榨酒房、仓库、牲口棚、磨房、酒窖，甚至还有鱼塘。
As soon as they reached the stable, Merlin stopped. The horses kept in the stable are of good quality. Each horse"s coat are well-cared for.
"You will stay here for now. Until Arthur becomes king, this will be your home."
"What? But he"s still 7 years old? Does that mean I need to stay in this game world for many years?!"
"This is a fantasy world, Lin Ling." He smiled.
"You should be happy that you are in one. Which lucky girl can live in two worlds other than you? Moreover, both worlds" time flow differently. The time here is faster than your former world. Once you have completed your missions here, the time in your world will not have changed much."
"Lucky? I"m think I"m the world"s most unluckiest girl..." Lin Ling whispered softly.
"I will now tell you the basics of this world." While he told Lin Ling his intentions, Merlin petted a nearby pony"s mane, which the pony responded by licking his hand intimately.
"In this world, the aristocrats send their sons to be a knight once they have reached a certain age. The father would entrust them to another aristocrat family, where their sons will endure harsh training to be a true knight. Learning social etiquette befitting of a n.o.ble are part of the training. The Countess is usually entrusted with this whereas the art of war is entrusted to the Count.
Horsemanship and weapons training... The Count has entrusted these two trainings to me instead."
"What does this got to do with me?"
Lin Ling could not help but interrupt Merlin"s speech.
"Of course it has everything to do with you. Starting tomorrow, you"ll be joining the training."
"WHAT?!" She yelled out in surprise. Oh please, I am just a high school student! Why do I need to train to be a knight?!
Merlin has already antic.i.p.ated her reaction.
"Remember, this is a game world. You have to train to level up to make it easier to help King Arthur in his quest for the Holy Grail. If you do not do anything, then why do you even play this game?"
"Aaaaaa~" She can feel her mood flew out of the coop, and she sat down at a wooden bench. She wants an egg really bad now.
"You should understand your situation now."
Merlin turned to walk away, only to turn back and say,
"By the way, you are sitting on bird p.o.o.p."
"AAAH!" Lin Ling jumped up in shock and touched her bottom. Her hand is dripping with a sticky, warm goo.
TL: Okay, it sounds weird. I mean, the Chinese text didn"t say what she touched. Don"t think of anything else at this sentence! She just touched the bird poo she sat on!!
"Hahaha~..." His laugh disappear along with his figure, echoing in the air.
Why am I so unlucky... Lin Lin decided to walk back to the castle and suddenly, thought of the barn she pa.s.sed by during the tour with Merlin. Her eyes light up as she banked on the chance there may be chickens in there. If there"s chickens, then there should be eggs as well.
Happy with this thought of hers, she rushed towards the barn without changing her dirty clothes.