Knights vs Rogue

My name is Kiv, Adi Kiv, and I am a knight.

I was born in the great city of Hestanar, a city of life, freedom, and hope. A place where every citizen could enjoy their mundane lives to the fullest, without restrictions, without shackles.

Well, that was at least, what my grandfather once told me. In my eyes, Hestanar is just the city I was born in. Nothing more, nothing less.

But this all changed when he acted.

It was only the early days, but I could already feel a qualitative change. His ambitions and foresight, so far that I could not see clearly. His desire to improve the lives of us lowly peasants was genuine. I never knew there was a lord like him.

I was so convinced milord was only acting. But being his escort today, my previous conception of him completely shattered.

I knew I would be tasked to protect Lord Kent as he traverse through the city, but the Southern Region? I never knew he could tolerate a foul place like this. Even I avoided coming here.

But he didn't bat an eye as he entered the heart of the southern zone, investigating various taverns and inns. At first, I couldn't understand, why would our lord be interested in these run-down businesses.

But he constantly muttered words of "classrooms", "study" and "unclean."

I don't know about the fellow knights that were also tasked to escort milord, but even I, a layman, could understand what he was trying to accomplish. What else would he be doing other than trying to open a school?

It was the only logical answer.

Lord Kent is wholeheartedly trying to help us.

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I steadied my arms as I observed the mysterious figure in front of me, hands held firm upon my longsword that I have long gotten familiar with my years of training.

With a gesture to my 2-remaining comrades, we simultaneous charged at the perpetrator. Not allowing him any time to think or to dodge. This was a tactic that commander Deryk taught us, surround and attack. Simple, yet effective.

"Die you vile beast!" I screamed

With my sword I swung hard at the figure's legs, attempting to reduce his mobility, but he merely jumped to avoid my swing. Is my swordsmanship that poor? My sword couldn't even scratch his body hair!

My worthy companions attacked the figure along with me, but they fare no better. All attacks were outclassed by the skilled assassin.

Pinched by three knights, the figure realised he was in a disadvantageous position, thus he jumped out of the encirclement, doing a backflip mid-air, adding insult to injury.

I stared in shock as he outmaneuvered our encirclement with such grace. My mouth dropped open as I witness his skillfulness. Observing the figure, I have realised how lacking my swordsmanship truly was, compared to the master in front of me.

The figure's hood covered his face, concealing his identity, but I could only imagine the ridicule as he enjoyed our childlike attempts to behead him.

"Stop running and face us like a man! You Chicken!" The knight beside me yelled, trying to intimidate him to face us head-on.

We all knew in our heads the assassin's agility far surpassed us. The only way to hit him was as if he directly charged at us, leaving us with no need to close the distance.

But clearly, the plan failed as the assailant not only didn't attack us. Instead, the assailant spun around and ran away… he's escaping?

"Why did he run away?" A knight whispered

"Did he give up?" Another knight said to no one in particular.

"But that's impossible…. Wait no, he's chasing down Lord Kent!" I smacked my head in realization.

What worthy treasures do us mere knights have that would intrigue the assailant. Only our lord Kent would the figure be interested in.

"Hurry men, we must chase him down!" I shouted to my companions.

We all realised the grave mistake we made. Hurriedly, we chased the shadows of the mysterious figure, wishing our lord wouldn't be made minced meat by the time we catch up.

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Kent panted as he tried to catch his breath. He ran away from the fight, leaving the knights alone. He knew very well it was a cowardly thing to run away, but he had no choice.

Staying there would only make Kent an easy target. At least he ran away to keep his life, it was the least he could do to make sure his knights didn't die in vain.

The young lord puffed for air to fill his lungs. He wanted to stop but he knew the assailant might be coming after him.

In fear, Kent made his dash to the nearest watchtower, he knew there would be routine guards stationed there on duty and patrol. Once he gets there, he would be safe in the protection of knights.

Out of uneasiness, Kent occasionally looked back to make sure the hooded figure wasn't behind him. – There was no one behind Kent.

'Are the knights holding him back?'

But he didn't think further when he escaped the rows of dense housing. He finally arrived at the edge of the high wall that separated the city from the wildlife

"Guards! GUARDS!" Kent shouted, searching for any nearby knights.

All the people that were nearby looked at who shouted at them. Even the mundane peasants drew their focus from their tasks to look at the origin of the shouting.

Looking at the well-dressed men and the iconic Alfhard family crest on the man's left breast pocket, they all realised the man's identity.

The knights that heard his lord's call all rushed to his sides, hands-on their sword sheath as they knew all too well there must be a danger.

"Milord, we hear you call." A knight called out as he postured himself in front of Kent. Behind him, a dozen more knights were also ready to receive their command.

"Protect me. An assassin is trying to murder me!" Kent shouted in bewilderment.

The knights, upon hearing this, all unsheathed their swords, readying themselves for combat. They grew wary, but they were also in rage. 'How dare someone tries to murder our lord!': the knights all thought in their heads.

Just at that moment, a hooded figure came rushing out of the rows of dense housing. But instead of finding Kent, what faced the hooded figure were a dozen knights prepared for combat, all staring at him. The figure grew wary as he knew he didn't stand a chance against that many knights.

The figure knew he had gotten careless, running straight into a trap. The figure was about to retreat into the shadows , but what came his way were the three original knights that he left behind earlier.

With a dozen of knights at his back and more knights blocking his escape route.

The hooded figure finally realised he was in trouble.