Vol 1 Chapter 2 (1/2)

The Village of Runaways

“Who could hear us? Also, when I went from tavern to tavern and explained how the sword looked, did I mention that the blade was black? I can’t seem to recall

The other guy interjected, la

If you did, youthat we lost the sword of Arantia”

The er build than the other one as well as having shorter hair

‘I would look like a child next to him’

Surprisingly, the woman did not seem smaller between them, but more poised

“Hmph, ould believe us?”

“Did you forget someone is after us?”

“Like hell they are! You wandered off all night like a fool, didn’t you? Did you sleep? Wow, look at your soft skin!”

“It shows that I’m capable and fit, unlike you who’s worn out after just one night”

They grabbed each other by their collars The curly haired man interjected

“Both of you, caluys both well know that it isn’t just a se lost If Roil lost it, heso It will come back to us when it is time

“Oh, you speak like a wizard”

The woman was sarcastic, but the man merely smiled

“That ”

She sighed, and led the way

“Should I just go back to Arantia? Right after we cross the border we get attacked by assassins, our guide died, we lost the sword, ran out of money… ”

Although the darkness of the night covered the e, Cassel could see that it wasn’t a big village Even though the full hts on However, s were taverns

The four Black Lion knights, having escorted Cassel to the village, hesitated at the entrance The laughter froious and filled them with the desire to drink

“One drink won’t hurt, will it?”

One of them hesitantly asked

“Will it?”

The other one questioned

“But…”

The knight was probably worried about the possibility of being discovered He knew that it would get ugly if that happened However, he sed his words After a short debate, the knights headed for the large tavern that was located at the entrance to the village

A large man stood in front of the tavern, his arms crossed He wore a sleeveless shi+rt, which showed off his bare chest The hts and asked,

“Will you stay the night, Sir Knights?”

“No, just for a drink”

“No fighting indoors, even if you see an enemy”

“We are familiar with the rules here”

“Then you may enter”

The large ht their horses to the stable

The knights took their helmet off and walked inside

‘If I’m unlucky, I could meet a familiar face here There should be some mercenaries who survived the battle’

Cassel paused and spoke,

“Thank you for your grace, Sir Knights, however I think now is a good time for me to leave”

“What are you saying? We haven't dropped your charges yet”

The knight laughed loudly, erabbed Cassel’s shoulder and forcefully made him sit

“Beer for us You?”

He asked Cassel as the waiter came to take the order

“I have no money

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”

“Consider this a pays Five beers In pint”

Cassel aardly smiled

‘I survived and got a free beer? So’

The knight laughed loudly, erabbed Cassel’s shoulder and forcefully made him sit

Even though it was late at night, the tavern was filled with customer It was so loud that one could barely hear what the person next to the There were people in the a wooden pieces as chips, and a weird bunch of people covered in black robes,

None of the customers seemed to care about the identity of the others, and no one seehts

Except one: theacross from Cassel’s table, whose skin was decorated with ed cloth That lasses for a toast, left his table

‘My God There’s someone here who knows me’

His name was ‘Coneflower’ The nickname was created by the other mercenaries in order to tease him

He was in the sauy got all of the mockery meant for Cassel

Cassel kept his head dohile pretending to drink, avoiding Coneflower’s gaze Fortunately, all of Coneflower’s attention was devoted towards the knights He hurriedly pulled out his sword

“What’s that guy doing?”

The knights, uninterested, did not draords or put down the beer jugs, but simply asked

“A runaway from the Red Rose army?”

Shaking, Coneflower opened his mouth

“I- I- I…”

He aihts just turned their backs against Coneflower

“Just finish your drink Be glad we didn’t face you outside”

Coneflower foolishly stood there But, soon after, he hastily rushed outside, spurred on by the onlookers’ jeers

‘Thank God I don’t think he saw me’

The knights continued as if nothing happened They drank their beers and laughed, looking pleased with themselves

“If we didn’t have this drink ould’ve regretted it tomorrow”

One of the knight’s wordshad been finished, and they ordered another They seeotten their previous desire to only have one drink

Cassel rehts’ conversation, influenced by the alcohol, became more uninhibited

“So this Falcon Do we have to capture him or not?”

“We don’t have to, but it’s a nuisance to have him around”

“I say we leave him be They’ve never attacked us directly”

“That’s not true Nowadays they make bold assaults From what I heard, their tactics far surpass that of ordinary bandits”

“Greydog fell in the hand of Rose knights They got a good reputation for it”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to take Falcon out Falcon’s on a different level than Greydog They’re on et in a tough fight just for reputation”

Cassel wanted to leave However their conversation didn’t see any time soon Since he didn’t have a way to cut the conversation short, he just listened

“I heard ru nearby Today’s battle was just bait for that”

“A big battle hts are supposed to be assembled”

“Isn’t it just going to be like last ti mercenaries They’re of no concern”

“That’s not true these days In fact, two o two hundred of our infantry iped out by a hts”

“Isn’t that just a rumor? Even if there is a difference between a cavalry and an infantry…”

“It is real Don’t you remember? That time when…”

“Oi! We aren’t the only ones here”

One of the knights interrupted the speaker It was still loud enough that none of the surrounding people could possibly hear them They orried about Cassel

Feeling their gaze upon him, Cassel explained himself

“I don’t write songs about what I don’t see for erous battlefields? I’d just listen to rus”

The knights were drunk and ht that the conversation held no i if they should order a third one, Cassel was pondering on how to escape”

‘All I have to do is walk out that door Can’t run, of course I’d get caught instantly I gotta’ find a way to do it naturally’

He stared at the door while planning Suddenly, the door flew open and a woman rushed in

Her thick brown hair was braided down her back, and she had a cloak that covered her entire body She was easily noticeable as she was taller than the average man She quickly drew everyone’s attention, as she had azes didn’t leave

Even though it was dark and one couldn’t see her face properly, it was easy to tell that she was beautiful She was slender, had fiery eyes, and when she s it showed off her white calves However, she showed no interest in all of the azes fixed upon her

“Have you seen a knife? I think I’ve left it here”

She approached the owner of the tavern and asked Due to the sudden silence,

He slowly answered

“We don’t have a lost and found here”

“It’s not to that degree You’ll knohen you see it… Err, well, so that is”

She was either poor ords or reluctant to go into details

Frustrated, the tavern owner asked

“Well, what does it look like?”

She hesitated, wondering what to say, before spreading her arms out, wider than her shoulder

“It’s this big, with a blue stone in the handle It shi+mmers even in the dark”

“A ic sword, huh?”

He shook his head and replied, sounding sarcastic

“Give up Who would return a jeweled sword to its owner?”

Infuriated, the woman started to search the tavern herself

“Make way”

She started with the table where Cassel was at The knights, amused, made hile Cassel helped to look for it under the table

“Thank you”

“N-no problem I don’t think it is here”

Cassel replied

Just as the owner had said, if so in the dark the first thing they’d do would be to run outside of the village The woman moved to another table However, the s

“Do you mind?”

She asked

“I don’t You can crawl under there comfortably”

Themoustache

“Oh, really?”

She smirked seductively and fluttered her cloak once Suddenly thethe chair over He had fainted

‘Did she just push him!?’

Many otherout their sword

“What is theof this?”

“I told him to make way, didn’t I? Move it!”

She acted as if an obstacle was re for it on the floor

“Dammit”

She gru

“What, you wanna’ to fight?”

“I don’t fight with a woman!”

He sheathed the sword gallantly It was painfully obvious that underneath his bravado, he was scared

“Can everyone please look for this sword under their table? You heard erous sith a curse!”

No one listened

Cassel looked under the table again Unfortunately, he could only see a few pieces of dirty eous rat, as sticking his head out from the hole in the floor

She looked in the corner for so

The quiet tavern soon returned to its normal state Some of people resu about the woman’s sudden appearance

Cassel looked around the Black Lion knights He had soood plans in hts’ faces turned serious, so he could not speak

One of the knights spoke first

“Did you see her swordplay?”

A sword? Cassel, dumbfounded, looked at the door she just exited

‘Did she pull out a sword?’

The collapsed man didn’t seeet up But, a sudden scream pierced the air The man frantically touched his moustache, apparently in shock

“Ack!”

His long beard was gone

The Black Lion knights were surprised to see this as well One of them spoke

“If I hadn’t heard the sound of a sword unsheathing I would’ve thought that she had just moved her hands in and out from her cloak”

“Seems suspicious”

While the knights were giving their opinions, some customers stood up The man, whose beard was cut off, left with his co recalled an errand, left despite his friend asking hie, black robedtheir meal

One of the gamblers hit the other in the face He believed that, by taking advantage of the corabbed each other by their collars

The onlookers, rather than stopping the fight, goaded theht, either The knights soon came back to their topic

“That woo see her”

“All of us should go It could be dangerous”

“Against one woman?”

“Woman like that won’t travel alone”

They gathered their weapons and started to get up

‘This is my chance!’

Cassel got up as well, and spoke

“I should get going as well You guys obviously have a secret duty to carry out, and I shouldn’t hold you back Thank you for protecting me”

He half sincerely thanked the knights The knights forced a s their farewells They looked as if they had forgotten about him already

“Sos, yes?”

“Even when I get fas everywhere, I wouldn’t earn anything ot today”

“Delightful”

The knights were pleased by this polite goodbye Cassel left the tavern with the knights, oodbye official

After sht air, a new concern rose for him

‘Where should I stay the night?’

A bigger concern followed

‘How do I get back home?’

It was his biggest concern, until he encountered six other knights Red Rose knights, to be exact They were just about to enter the tavern

“Well look e have here”

A Black Lion knight saw thehts quickly went into a battle for so the Black Lion knights, the Red Rose knights stopped in their tracks

For a brief hts spoke first

“Enjoyed your drink? What happened to your strict code?”

A Black Lion knight taunted back

“What about you? Aren’t you here to do the same?”

“No, we’re here to capture you”

Cassel discovered that Conefloith them It was no mere coincidence that they were here

Coneflower told the Rose knights

“It’s thelorious army of the Red Rose Earl”

“Silence! You stay out of this”

The fierce words hts simultaneously pulled out their swords

“We could wait until you are sober What say you?”

A Rose knight mocked

“We could wait until you’ve gotten a drink You should at least have a last drink before you die”

A Black Lion knight answered

The large man in front of the tavern shouted

“If you want a fight, go fight on the ht in front of our tavern”

The man seehts like these

The knights decided to move to a new place They didn’t ht in a brighter setting A few drunks followed, aiht

Cassel, as standing behind the knights, started inching backwards When the first knight slashed doith his sword, Cassel turned and fled into the darkness The four black knights continued to fight against the six other knights, an extension of the earlier battle

Cassel had no desire to see the outcome of the battle

He hid between the few houses that had their lights off Cassel couldn’t hear the sound of swords clattering nor the cries of the knights, however he could hear people chatting despite the time

He soon lost strength in his legs and collapsed, leaning on the wall It had been a hard day He had the urge to sleep for three days in a comfortable bed

‘I should leave and go far away I can’t expect luck to always stay on my side’

Cassel couldn’t think of a place to go He knew that he couldn’t stay in the village forever, but leaving was far erous

“What do I do? What do I do?”

He tried to recall his father’s advice but failed He was too tired Even though he was on a cold floor holding his knees, he couldn’t fight off his sleepiness

‘Miserable How can you fall asleep in a situation like this?’

A drunk’s laugh was heard fro hiet up

Shortly after he fell asleep, soed his body He felt it, but couldn’t resist It would be erous to let the looter knoake Besides,his body felt too heavy to move

‘Take whatever you want, there’s nothing there’

Fortunately, after the looter went away, gruh his posture was unco cold he still ed to sleep Inwardly, he thanked his his military life

He lay down and soon fell into a deep sleep, as if he was lying on the most comfortable bed in the world

He was half-awake and his stoer

Someone’s small voice could be heard It didn’t seem to be a man or woman It didn’t even seem to be hu

‘kumu du mo…’

Its voice was soft, al hiht him back to reality

‘Ifutu,,, Zodu mo…’

A white flash stopped right in front of Cassel’s nose just before he opened his eyes

That white flash appeared to be a huge beast with shi+ning fur

Surprised, Cassel opened his eyes Nothing seeed, it was still the saht The only difference was that, instead of the ht, the sun illu dew

“Hm?”

It seemed like it had only been a minute since he had closed his eyes, however it was already ht his arms closer to his body

‘What was that noise?’

His body was heavy alh someone hadhit hi of reading a book under candlelight all night long The noise froone

A ho a sword He couldn’t remember if the man had been there before he slept or after

‘Filthy But I should be no better’

Cassel looked up to the sky, his eyes half-closed

‘Well, I survived the night What happened to the knights yesterday? Should I go look?’

He shook his head

‘It doesn’t concernthe day If I’m lucky, I won’t run into any bandits Think positively At least I’m not headed towards a warzone It’s over’

“It’s over!”

He was surprised as he thought his inner thoughts had come out

But the voice belonged to the wo by the alleyway

“If we don’t die by fatigue, our et about it”

Cassel slowly raised his body up and crawled to the entrance of the alleyway He saw the woed into the tavern yesterday She had two men with her Both of the men were tall with broad shoulders

She continued to be hysterical

“Ugh, what is this Roil guy doing when I a like this?”

A man with black curly hair to his shoulders said in a calm voice

“Roil is having a hard ti the sword”

“Guilty? Hey, Shedy, do you think he knows the word guilt?”

“Hey now, calm down It isn’t that serious”

“It isn’t serious!? Oh, you ht This is about a country’s honor!”

She said forcefully

“Will you keep it down, everyone will hear you”

and I o home

“Me too”

The short haired ree with each other, even though it hadn’t been a ht

Their voices faded away, and the last part of the conversation was hard to make out

“Arantia’s White Wolves lost a sword People wouldn’t believe this even if they saw it”

They walked past the alley Cassel recalled their words