Turns out, this duel was all about Gwen. The whole thing was pretty simple and, honestly, kind of a soap opera. With all the knights pouring into Camelot for the triennial tournament, Gwen's dad's blacksmith shop was doing great business. Every aspect of Camelot benefits from this big event, and the blacksmiths are no exception. Knights need professional care for their longswords, and their armor needs repairs—it all adds up to a lot of cash.
Since Morgana wasn't too busy lately, she gave Gwen some time off to help the family earn some extra money.
But on her very first day, trouble started. While Gwen was helping out at the smithy, she was harassed by a noble.
When Kay heard this, he was absolutely stunned. What kind of vision did this noble have? Had he never seen a woman before? He's hitting on Gwen? Seriously? He's a noble, so is his taste really that… eccentric?
Gwen was focused on telling the story and didn't notice Kay's shocked expression. If she had, she probably would've been crushed.
Kay quickly realized his reaction was incredibly rude. So what if someone wasn't a total knockout? If someone liked them, what was the big deal? Was it against the law?
Although Kay smoothed out his strange expression, he was still muttering to himself: With Gwen's looks, wouldn't it be a good thing if a noble was interested? In my opinion, the smartest thing Gwen could do is just go with the noble.
Someone's into you—why hesitate?
While Kay was still inwardly venting, Gwen continued with the story.
In her description, a young lady of her "natural beauty" couldn't possibly tolerate being harassed, but since the guy was a noble, she couldn't react too aggressively. So, she tearfully tried to dodge him.
Right at that moment, a righteous knight stepped up and championed her cause. The noble was beaten up by the valiant knight, and then the rest was easy: the noble, not wanting to look like a punk, challenged the knight to a duel.
"So... you want me to arrest that knight?" Kay was still stuck in his own internal monologue, thinking Gwen must be mad at the knight for ruining her chance with the noble, so the question just tumbled out.
"What?" The question was so loaded that Gwen thought she misheard him for a second.
Kay immediately realized he'd accidentally blurted out his true feelings. He quickly tried to salvage the situation: "Ahem. I mean, what exactly do you want me to do?"
Gwen had definitely heard the first sentence, but she wasn't certain what Kay had actually said. Either way, she didn't have time to obsess over it. She pleaded with him: "I was hoping you could help me stop this duel! I don't want that man to get hurt because of me!"
"..."
Huh. That statement was a little... Kay felt like something was off, but he couldn't say anything; it would be too rude.
"You said he's a knight?" Kay pushed aside the ridiculous thoughts in his head and asked seriously.
"He said he was... I don't remember exactly, but he showed his family crest, so he must be a knight," Gwen thought back. In that situation, her mind was a mess, and she hadn't really registered what the knight said. But she remembered him presenting his family crest, so it must be true.
"Then I can't help you."
Even though Kay constantly thought the whole chivalry thing in this era was totally ridiculous, he lived in this society and couldn't change rules that had been around for hundreds of years.
"Since he is a knight, once he accepts a duel, he must go through with it. That's the code of chivalry."
That's just how things were. Kay really was powerless. Plus, they were in the middle of a major knightly tournament. If Kay forcefully stopped the duel, he'd earn the opposition of the entire knightly class. Duels were considered sacred. (Though Kay didn't see what was so sacred about two guys fighting to the death over some trivial nonsense, that's just the rule. You might not like it, but you can't break it.)
"Is there really... no other way?" Gwen immediately started crying, tears flowing like rain. She was clearly distressed and guilty about causing the duel. Well, I guess beauty really is a curse.
Looking at Gwen's face—which was similar to the old security guard at the station back in his past life—Kay couldn't muster any feelings of sympathy or affection; he actually felt like running away. Can you picture an old security guard acting like a tragic heroine? Because Kay was seeing it now.
Seriously, what was that idiot noble thinking when he decided to hit on her? Did he get his head caught in a door?
Kay forced a smile and said, "It can't be changed. All you can do now is pray for him."
Without waiting for Gwen's reaction, he walked into the arena. He was afraid he might lose his composure.
Both parties in the duel were impatient and already waiting in the ring, just for Kay to arrive so they could start.
Following the Code of Chivalry, Kay asked for both men's names.
The noble was just a supporting character; there was no need to worry about him. Besides, he wasn't one of the two main duelists. In this era, nobles and lords rarely fought themselves. A lord is a ruler, and if a ruler dies in a duel, that's a huge problem, so nobles usually have their knights fight for them. That's what they knighted them for—knights are basically hired muscle. If the lord had to do everything himself, why even bother with knights?
The knight fighting on behalf of the noble stepped forward and gave his name.
"Tristan."
The other knight, the one who bravely stood up for Gwen, stated his name: "Gawain!"
Honestly, when Kay saw Gawain, he started to seriously doubt his own sense of aesthetics. He wondered if his Eastern background somehow prevented him from appreciating Western standards of beauty.
Because when he looked at Gawain, only one word came to mind:
Handsome!
He had flowing long hair, incredibly good looks, and his eyes were particularly striking. Brown eyes aren't rare, but his sparkled, and looking at him just made you feel good. Add in his perpetually mischievous smile, and all the women, ladies, and girls watching were completely star-struck, squealing with delight.
Even though he looked totally chiseled and maybe a little like a heartthrob, he wasn't weak at all. On the contrary, he was tall and powerfully built, especially with his massively developed chest—his masculine aura was off the charts.
Kay just couldn't understand how someone this handsome could be blowing kisses at Gwen.
Yeah, that guy, seeing Gwen cheering him on, kept winking and blowing air kisses at her. If they weren't about to duel, he probably would have been even more over-the-top. Gwen was clearly flustered by this guy's flirting; her heart was racing, and her face had turned red... right?
It was hard to tell since her face was kind of muddy, but based on her expression, she seemed embarrassed.
Watching the interaction between the two, Kay fell into a deep state of self-doubt. Was the problem really him?
Kay even took a quick, close look at Gwen, but still didn't see anything appealing. In the end, he gave up. To each their own. Kay might not agree with it, but he wasn't going to interfere.
If this guy really was into Gwen, well, that was her good fortune. Since they were familiar with each other, Kay was genuinely happy for her. It's hard to find a boyfriend that handsome these days.
After putting those distracting thoughts aside, Kay declared the duel had begun!