Kayal, of course, didn't know who Atoris was.
In fact, even he didn't know his own identity. Living with a farming family, raised by an ordinary woman, yet highly valued by Leyton, who often came to teach him—all of this was no mere luck. His identity was known only to three people: King Uther, Merlin, and Grand Duke Andrei.
In fact, by this point, Atoris's identity was already clear.
Morgan was the daughter of King Uther's wife. Perhaps she could be a pawn for a marriage alliance, but everyone knew her origins; without royal blood, she could absolutely not inherit the throne.
However, King Uther still had no heir, which caused many to harbor ulterior motives. King Uther was already over fifty! Don't look at his youth; the natural cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death cannot be broken. King Uther would die someday, so after his death, if he had no heir, whose would the throne be?
It certainly wouldn't be Morgan, who had no royal blood.
So the lords were all waiting, waiting under the banner of King Uther for the day that banner would collapse.
But no one knew that King Uther already had a daughter, an illegitimate daughter with royal blood!
King Uther knew how dirty the court was, so after sowing the seed, he himself never even saw his own daughter, only letting Merlin carry out this plan.
The content of the plan was to let the girl grow up peacefully, unaware of her identity. After all, she was destined to become a queen-like figure. As long as she grew up peacefully, one day she would be elevated to the throne by the lords loyal to King Uther. All that mattered was that she was safe.
Unexpectedly, the child was incredibly ambitious. Although she was just a girl, she hid her identity and managed to pass the examination to become a Knight Squire. Merlin had no choice but to inform Grand Duke Andrei of the girl's true identity. Fortunately, Andrei was completely loyal to King Uther, otherwise King Uther would have found an excuse to eliminate her.
It was precisely for this reason that King Uther had a mischievous idea: there was nothing wrong with his daughter learning a few things from that little monster! Perhaps the two would marry, and Kayal would even become a Prince in the future.
King Uther chuckled mischievously as he told Merlin, and Merlin immediately chuckled back. Then, when they told Grand Duke Andrei, Andrei also laughed. These three individuals secretly chuckled, wanting to see how Kayal would handle women.
The only problem was: none of the three told Kayal that this child, disguised as Atoris, was a girl. And Atoris was assigned to Kayal as the First Knight Squire. Everyone in the world had the "bad habit" of looking down on women, and combined with the girl's deliberate concealment of her identity, Kayal never even considered the possibility of her being female!
It must be said that this was a mistake by Merlin and King Uther, as well as Grand Duke Andrei. Thus, a beautiful misunderstanding was born... But when the little girl Atoris calmly challenged Kayal, Kayal just smiled and shook his head, then walked towards the weapon rack... two swords!
Although both were unsharpened, Kayal, holding two swords, looked majestic and powerful. However, an expert would immediately recognize that his sword-wielding technique was amateurish.
So Atoris made the same mistake as Gawain: underestimating the enemy!
Kayal's light sword strike clearly made Atoris think Kayal was physically weak, and the light-footed Atoris immediately suffered a hidden loss. The seemingly light sword strike contained a considerable amount of power!
With a muffled grunt, one hand couldn't hold it, so he gripped the hilt with both hands to block the downward strike. By the time he remembered Kayal had another sword, Kayal's other sword was already resting on Atoris's shoulder.
"You lose," Kayal said with a smile, which Atoris found utterly detestable.
"This battle completely goes against the spirit of chivalry!" Atoris cried out, her small face flushed with anger.
"But I'm not a Knight," Kayal said with a smile. In this century, no one could compare to Kayal when it came to wordplay. Kayal's smile was so detestable and annoying: "I am a Sage, and my battles are on a completely different level than yours."
Kayal clearly meant that he was the one who wielded the pieces, not a piece himself, but in Atoris's ears, it naturally sounded like an obnoxious boast about his incredibly high combat power.
"Again!" For the first time in so many years, she threw a rare tantrum, making Merlin, who was secretly peeking, secretly delighted—these two kids... both of them are so interesting!
"As you wish." Kayal, with gentlemanly grace, moved the sword from Atoris's neck.
The two took their stances again. This time, every one of Kayal's attacks was blocked. Because Kayal used two swords, his attack frequency was very fast, but Atoris blocked every single one meticulously, occasionally even finding openings to counterattack. However, because Kayal used two-handed swords, it was as if he had an extra sword compared to others, and his attack speed and frequency were even faster, which was a great advantage.
"Ha!" He suddenly exhaled deeply, and the residual force of his power pushed aside Kayal's defense, sending his other sword directly towards Kayal's neck.
"Hey! Atoris!" Gawain cried out in alarm. This was absolutely insubordination. If anything went wrong, Atoris's life would be ruined.
"Ah!" By then, it was too late to realize. He couldn't stop. The force in his hand, combined with inertia and gravity, swung towards Kayal's neck. A blow of that magnitude would likely cut through!
"Beautiful." A slight, confident, and composed smile appeared on Kayal's lips. His body suddenly emitted a white light, completely blocking the attack.
"What is this!" Gawain and Atoris both exclaimed in surprise, watching their Knight's sword clang against the white defensive shield.
"Just what you call magic," Kayal said with a narrowed-eyed smile. "What you call magic is just this sort of thing." Kayal smiled, shaking his head. The milky-white shield suddenly transformed into white orbs of light, circling around Kayal like light spirits.
"When did this guy become able to use Light magic to such an extent?!" Merlin, hidden in the shadows, watched in surprise as more and more orbs of light, like living things, circled around him, and she felt her hair stand on end: He's only 9 years old!
"This is truly cheating!" Gawain exclaimed, while Atoris looked utterly unconvinced.
"This is my true method of defense," Kayal sighed, directly concluding the match.