Chapter 6: Eight Years of Training(2)

Chapter 6: Eight Years of Training(2)

Around a month after Ryan started his journey and became a Junior Knight, he found himself surrounded by a group of bandits, with Victor nowhere in sight.

Ryan's life had never been in more danger at that moment since there were more than seven people in the bandit group, and three were crossbow users who could shoot him before he even attacked.

Ryan was a Junior Knight, but in front of a crossbow, he was as vulnerable as others.

Fortunately for Ryan, the bandits didn't seem to have the motive to kill him.

"Drop your sword and come forward," One of the bandits yelled.

Ryan didn't immediately follow the order, but when one of the bandits aimed his crossbow at him, with his fingers on the trigger. Ryan had no choice but to follow the order, and he dropped his sword.

Any Knight couldn't give up on his weapon as it was demeaning to the profession, but Ryan didn't care about it, as he believed before coming here. What he cared for was the power to avenge, and the torturous training by Voctor further pushed him toward it.

Even the bandits were shocked by the cooperative Ryan, as they were ready to attack in case Ryan became offended by the bandit's order and decided to fight to his last breath.

One of the bandits then went ahead and picked up the sword from the ground, but his face had turned red from the weight. He couldn't help but look at Ryan as if he were a monster for carrying such a heavy sword with such ease.

At that moment, a bad feeling rose in the man's heart. But before he could act on that, the man felt a tight grip on his hand. When he looked ahead, he saw it was none other than Ryan.

Ryan crushed the man's hand and grabbed the sword. Before the man could even scream, Ryan's sword thrust through the man's chest.

Ryan was shocked by his decisiveness to kill since it was the first human he killed. It all happened quickly, but it was slow.

One of the bandits in the back, who was on top of the tree, pulled the trigger, sending out three arrows at once.

The arrows flew toward Ryan, tearing through the air. Ryan could only fight back as the arrows were vertical and in such a range that Ryan would be shot if he either moved to his left or right.

Ryan froze in his steps, and his mind turned blank at that moment, noticing the quickly approaching arrows with a whistling sound.

"You have gotten the guts to attack a prince of the Vechnos Kingdom!"

A roar rang as Victor suddenly appeared in front of Ryan and grabbed the three arrows by his hands in a single swoop. He was a Great Knight, so his strength was on another level.

Even though the crossbow used by the bandit was sophisticated and capable enough to shoot three stable arrows at once, its flying speed still meant nothing to a Great Knight.

Victor always carried several knives tied around his waist, so he took one out and threw it at the shooter.

Victor didn't even wait for the strike; he charged at the nearby bandit.

After killing everyone, Victor returned back to Ryan and patted him.

Victor frowned when he saw the bandit's corpse at Ryan's feet. He suddenly sensed a quick approach toward him, so he kicked the corpse away and left with Ryan.

***

"What is Victor from the Vechnos Kingdom doing here?" A hooded man mumbled as he looked at the intricately engraved knife in his hands. The blade was wet with blood.

What made the man recognize Victor was the golden lion and V engraved on the handle of the knife. Victor was famous around the mountain due to his brute strength and talent in combat.

The hooded man frowned, and then he threw the knife back and left the scene as it was before his arrival.

***

"Are you alright?" Victor asked as Ryan finally came around. Despite fighting to the death with creatures over the past years, Ryan had been safe since Victor was always near. But that day, the situation was different.

After the day Ryan killed a human for the first time, he became cautious and more cruel with his training.

Unlike the previous situation, Victor was the one who wanted Ryan to rest. Victor understood that Ryan wasn't in the proper mental condition, so he decided to rush his journey to the Turing Empire.

According to Victor's plans, they would reach the Empire in their fifth year of the journey, but due to the sudden situation, it was cut short by more than a year.

Ryan's mental situation had begun to affect his body. He had started to thin despite eating more to match his physique. His training had also stalled, as in the three months, he didn't even cover one-tenth of what someone of his talent could achieve during that timespan.

For the next three months, Ryan and Victor traveled during the day while Ryan slept through the night. Victor knocked Ryan unconscious every night, so he would sleep for six hours every day. It was forced, but it was still better than him training all night.

Ryan's condition still worsened, forcing Victor to be even quicker. Whenever Victor remembered that day, he would curse himself for forcing a boy of Ryan's age to go on a solo hunt.

At the same time, Victor was also worried about the consequences if anything severe happened to Ryan. Henry was his elder brother, and there was love between the two brothers, but if anything happened to Ryan, Victor was confident that the result would be dire for him and his family. At that moment, Henry's love for his son would trump all his rationality, forcing him to take a decision that was neither good for him nor the Kingdom.

Considering these factors, Victor wanted nothing more than for Ryan to recover.

***

A/N: Please vote PS, and GT, and don't forget to comment after every chapter. It motivates me to write further.