Chapter 40: Blood Knight

Leon looked up, his sharp blue eyes contained a glint of suprise.

"Dad..."

"Leon..." The big man called out in a somber responsive voice.

Leon's father was tall, his height alone, easily towering over Cliff by a head or two. He had a chiseled build with well balanced bulging muscles and toned biceps. He had short ash-grey hair, different from Leon's golden blonde hair, and dull silver eyes; his chiseled face adorning a scruffy grey beard.

Leon's father was dressed in pieces of steel armour; a single chest piece, gauntlets on either hands and steel shin guards, and wore a brown claok. Behind his back was a massive great sword which suited his massive build quite nicely.

His whole build and presence gave off a dignified, yet intimidating confidence. Those who stood before him were usually forced to subconsciously straighten their backs and suppress the strange urge to salute on the spot.

That mostly applied to those who didn't really know the man Ridge Crossfield.

His dull grey colored eyes possessed a detached light of melancholy as he silently gazed down at his son.

"I'm glad your alive and safe." After a short while, he finally said, running his large hand through Leon's hair. 

Leon lowered his gaze and smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah..." He muttered.

Ridge hadn't failed to notice the resigned look on his son's face, but before he could move to address that, his gaze shifted to the other kids behind him.

"Is everyone okay?" Another voice belonging to a different man said.

He had smooth dull green hair, the color of moss, a fair complexion and an average looking face, by this world's standard of course, and went by the name, Roan.

Roan was dressed in light pieces of steel armour scattered all over his body, like Ridge. The only difference being he wielded a single long sword, hanging from a side of his waist.

Roan had a much more lax and easy going demeanor around him, compared to the stern and disciplined atmosphere making Ridge. This allowed him to be perceived as easier to approach by others.

But despite his appearance, Roan was just as much the man that Ridge was. His easygoing demeanor, as amiable as it was, excluded a refined sharpness. It was the aura of a veteran warrior.

Roan gazed over the kids, checking for any major physical injuries they might have sustained.

"My gods!" He exclaimed as soon as he met Don. His expression stiffened up at the state of the little boy.

At the same time, Don was being held up, just barely, by Kyle. Unable to hold on much longer, Kyle thought it best to lay the wounded Don down.

"What happened to him?" At the same time Roan asked, Ridge walked passed Leon and approached from behind. His armor, as light as they were, didn't make any noticable sounds as he moved.

Ridge cast his gaze at the faces of the kids. There were Don, Lia, Trise, and Kyle, along with three other unrecognizable kids who looked to be barely standing up on their own. The more his gazes shifted from one kid to the other, the more grim his expression became.

"What happened?" Ridge asked in a low voice. The kids misreading the power in the voice, shuddered a little and hesitated before they spoke.

"Ridge," Roan called out to the big man, "I think we should give them some time." He asked, considerately.

Then Roan looked around.

'Hm? Where is he?'

Almost at the same time, an urgent voice resounded as a different man hurried through the forest bushes.

"S-sir? Sir! It's... it's an emergency!" A young man with scruffy brown hair and a bandana tied around his forehead apprehensively called out.

"What's wrong, Skyla?" Roan cast a calm glance at the panicked young man.

Skyla huffed, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. While he did, Ridge turned around and noticed.

"Where is he?" Ridged asked the young man in a bandanna. And at the same time, Roan's lips slightly parted in a small sound of realization.

'I see,' he sighed in resignation.

"Th... that's the thing, Sir!" Skylar raised his head and said, his hands fluttering in the air.

"He was right behind me, right there! It was just a quick second... just a quick one! And then...and then the next thing I knew, he was gone! Like poof! All of a sudden, sir!" He ranted in a fluster.

Ridge had a resigned expression and let out a deep sigh as he listened to the young man. He reached his fingers and held the bridge of his nose, right between his eyes.

"That guy..." He muttered.

At the same time, Roan let out a small laugh while scratching the back of his head.

Skylar looked between his two senior officers, baffled by their unexpected reaction to the urgency of the situation. A man...an average civilian got lost through the midnight forest under their watch! And all they did was laugh?!

"Sir, this is serious! It's at times like this the most dangerous monsters and beasts are active. We need to find him quickly!" Skylar took a step forward and pushed forth the urgency of this matter.

First, he couldn't even begin to wonder just why they would bring along an average villager on night patrol with them. Skylar was only a new transfer here and hadn't been in this village for up to a month. He still hadn't entirely understood just how differently the guards at the village worked.

But isn't bringing along a common blacksmith out for patrol a bad choice?

"Relax, Skylar. There's no need to panic too much." Roan turned around and said in an attempt to soothe the young man, his lips curled in a sheepish smile.

Skylar blinked, obviously very baffled at this nonchalant reaction.

"B...but! But!" His jaw gaped open.

"He's right, young man," Ridge spoke up and added. " That guy has always been like that. Inconsiderate, selfish, arrogant, and does his own thing. Now, honestly, he's a handful." He paused with another deep sigh.

"However," he continued. The light in Ridge's dull grey eyes burned with certainty at his next words.

"This person's character stems , more or less, from a considerable talent and skill to back it up."

'What?' Skylar thought as he listened to the words of Ridge, filled with a strange confidence.

"Now, Ridge, don't you think you're belittling him a little?" Roan's sheepish smile turned to a wry one. " 'Considerable talent or skill' wouldn't be the right choice of words used to truly describe him."

Roan turned around to sit on a nearby rock. Directing his smile at the baffled young man, Roan looked him in the eye and added:

"Terrifying... would be the word for his capabilities." Ridge reluctantly nodded to this claim.

'Wha!?' Skylar's eye twitched.

'What the hell are these guy's talking about? How can they be so relaxed and chill?'

Another baffling element was the braggadocios familiarity they both discussed the person in question with.

The children, of course, looked between the three adults, seemingly lost and unable to intervene.

"Hm?" Roan perked his head up as he realized something.

"Skylar... could it be you've never heard of the Blood Knight?"