A2. Mild Annoyance

I stood still for a moment.

That name…

Goat Demon…

Where did people get that from?

I shrugged all other thoughts aside and promptly exited the tavern to find the silver knights from before giving various instructions to the many farmers who stood next to carts with supplies.

The smell of fruits and other foods made me curl forwards as the pain from before intensified.

I stumbled northward, catching the eye of some of the knights.

They seemingly ignored me as I walked, but the pain eventually forced me onto my knees.

I crawled into an alleyway and pressed my hands on my stomach as a low growl filled the air.

Streams of black smoke then began pouring out from my every pore.

It gathered in a pool next to me and within that pool was a set of pure white lights.

[We need to eat and sleep. We won't make it much further at this rate.]

A small, rather weak voice said, but I simply scoffed in response.

"We don't have any money and you wouldn't want us to steal, would you? Or maybe I should eat the people we kill?" I asked with a pained grin.

Sweat began pouring from all over my body as the pain intensified even further.

My head ached to the point where I couldn't even hear my thoughts.

"Hey."

I needed to eat, but a certain someone wouldn't let me do as I pleased.

"Hey!"

Someone yelled.

I sat up with a grunt and turned to find a female knight looking at me with glowing golden eyes.

Golden…

Her hair was completely white, even though she didn't look much older than twenty. Her skin was pale and although we were in the middle of an extremely hot month, not a single drop of sweat appeared on her forehead.

I eyed her silver armor.

A set of plates embellished with many intricate designs of knights slaying dragons and at its center was the image of a moon.

"Can you hear me?" The knight asked.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Hey, I just want to help. Here." The knight said before offering me an apple.

I raised a curious eyebrow before glancing to my left to find that the cloud of darkness was gone.

I sighed deeply before taking the apple from the knight, who leaned closer to me as I sat in the darkness of the alley.

Just as she narrowed her eyes to get a closer look at me, a voice called from behind her.

I looked to find a tall silver knight wielding a large golden Lance.

"Hey, come on. Let's go." The male knight said.

"O- OK!" The female knight before rushing to the other knight's side.

I scoffed before eating the apple in two bites.

I then nodded to myself before standing up and leaving the small town.

A week.

I'd have to walk north for about a week or more to reach Medelona.

Meh.

I didn't mind.

I simply walked as the damned sun rose.

That cursed object.

The place where they say his temple supposedly resided-

I stopped my thoughts as plumes of smoke rose from my body in the clear of day.

I didn't bother dusting the smoke away and just let it fly off with the wind.

The minutes ticked by and I eventually heard the sounds of horses.

I stepped away from the path and watched as a group of silver knights rode past me with several villagers in tow. Only the villagers rode atop sickly mules that pulled various carts behind them.

I kept my head low as they rode by but one of the horses came up to me and I saw a familiar knight atop it.

"Hey. Where are you headin'? " The female knight from before asked, but I remained silent.

The knight smiled as she rode alongside me and even as her group left her, she stayed by my side.

"My name is Neela, by the way," Neela said, but I walked a little faster in an attempt to get away from her.

The knight giggled, much to my annoyance.

"We're on our way north. You're fairly big and it looks like you found yourself a Golden Knight's sword. If you go to the knights academy, hand the sword over and offer yourself to the Moon King, I'm sure they'd make you a knight in no time!"

Crap!

I had forgotten that I was dragging around this slab of gold.

I wanted to ditch it in some hole somewhere, but… I couldn't.

"Say… what's your name?" Neela asked.

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" I asked.

"Maybe," Neela said playfully.

"My name is… Sonek."

"Mmm… your pale skin, dark eyes… if you were digging around in the mud, I'd have assumed you were a Rendaro." Neela said and it seemed as though she was taking notes and reading them out to herself.

I bit my teeth as we made our way across the grassy plane.

I wanted to walk ahead of Neela and her group, but that would simply lead to unnecessary energy loss.

I needed to keep a calm and level head.

"So… where are you going?"

"Why do you care?" I asked.

"It's not that I care. I'm a knight. For your sake, I'm supposed to know. Think of me as your guardian." Neela said.

I could tell she was grinning.

Stupid bitch.

.

..

We walked for several hours before the lance wielding knight from before ordered the group to stop.

He spouted something about the group setting up camp.

I ignored them all and continued walking up the path only to realize that Neela was still following me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Something's off about you. All dark and mysterious. I feel like… you're a wanderer of some kind, going on an adventure- Oh! I think it has something to do with that sword. Did you know the knight who once wielded it?"

I stopped.

"Jackpot! Who was he? Did he die after saving your village from monsters or something? Are you walking the path of vengeance?" Neela asked as I squeezed the hilt of the sword ever tighter.

"Here's a fact that you definitely don't know: all Golden Swords double as lances."

I turned around and faced the wide-eyed Neela.

The sun had begun to set and the world was slowly becoming engulfed in darkness.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You seem like a troubled individual. I'd like to offer you what help I can. Why don't you join us since we're all going north?" Neela asked.

"Mmm…" I droned.

Food.

They had food.

"Fine."