Fragments of hope in the darkness of despair. (2)

Magnus was sprinting towards Stygian's office. Although he was always afraid of Stygian due to certain....reasons, the situation right now is an emergency. Instead of knocking he simply barged in through the door.

"MILORD!" he shouted, his tone filled with urgency.

But the lord of the mansion was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were two others. One of them was a man with blonde hair. He was sitting on a couch with his hands held together, facing the other gentleman. There were two cups of tea on the table but Lucius's cup seemed untouched. He turned towards Magnus with a frown. It was Lucius Brightsun.

"Magnus? If you're looking for Lord Nightmoon then you'll be disappointed. He was called to the capital this morning for urgent business."

"What?! But it's an emergency!" Magnus shouted again, visibly panicking.

"It may be presumptuous of a guest to ask, but is there some sort of problem?" the other gentleman clad in full-body white armor and a blue cape asked with a curious expression. He had a handsome appearance. Despite it being clear he was in his mid-thirties, his body was muscular and well-maintained. He had brown hair and a beard.

"Ah! The honored guest! I'm sorry! I had forgotten about your arri- Wait! That's right! Mr. Brightsun it's an emergency! We need to go right now!" Magnus started shouting with urgency again.

"Calm down, Magnus. Tell me what's wrong." Lucius stood up from his seat and walked to Magnus before putting his hands on the butler's shoulder and gently shaking him. Hoping to calm him down.

Magnus took a bit of time before explaining the situation to Lucius. The armored guest couldn't help but listen in on it as well since he was so near them.

"They went to Darkmoon Grove?! I warned that girl so many times of its danger!" Lucius was stunned after being informed of the situation.

"Mr. Brightsun...If I may interject..." the armored guest stood up with a concerned expression.

"Ah! Sir Paul! I apologize but we really do have an emergency here so I must leave you to your lonesome." Lucius started reaching out for the door.

"Wait, Mr. Brightsun! Allow me to accompany you. If two children are indeed in danger, then as a Knight Captain it's a must for me to come to their rescue!" the knight Paul stopped Lucius and voiced his desire to help out.

"Sir Paul.....I understand. I am extremely grateful for your aid."

"I'll come too!" Magnus was about to join them.

"No, Magnus. Stay here, I know you're worried about the Young master but you'll slow us down." Lucius said while exuding his vast mana reserves.

Both Magnus and Paul were shocked as they didn't know the merchant was capable of such a feat.

"I...understand. I'll leave young master to you, Mr. Brightsun! I'll inform Lord Nightmoon of the situation with a spatial letter!"

Lucius nodded before heading with the armored Paul by his side.

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'Dusk...Dusk! You came!' Dawn exclaimed in her mind with relief. She feared she would never be able to see him again. But here he was, standing right in front of her with his usual frown.

"Oh? Who are you, kid? The little girl's boyfriend?" the scar-faced man asked Dusk. He was holding his stomach in pain for a short while but now he stood up straight as if he wasn't injured to begin with.

"Isn't it basic decency to introduce yourself before asking about someone else?" Dusk no longer had a frown on his face, instead, his expression became cold and unreadable.

As evident by his expression, the man didn't expect this sort of response. But his surprise soon turned to laughter.

"Hahaha! You're right, you're right! I apologize for my poor manners. My name is Ralph and I'm a mercenary. Who are you, kid?"

"Just your average 8-year-old child." Dusk kept his reply short and didn't give any relevant information about himself besides his age.

"Oh? And how does an average 8-year-old kick an adult mercenary hard enough for him to be pushed back a few meters?" The man asked with an amused expression.

"I don't know. Maybe the adult mercenary's so weak that even a child can blow him away..." Dusk mocked Ralph. Yet, contrary to his words his expression remained cold as ice. It was as if he was stating factual information and had no intention of mocking the man.

"Is that so?! You sure are putting on a tough act for your girlfriend! But you should run, kid. You don't want to mess with scary adults like us. You'll regret it." Ralph's expression turned serious. Implying he meant his words.

"Unfortunately, I can't just let you hurt my girlfriend, can I? She's precious to me, after all." He said as he looked at Dawn.

"Eh?! Dusk, what are you say-" Dawn was confused as to why he would say something so strange but then she saw his eyes. It seemed like he wanted to convey some sort of message. Dawn had a vague feeling that he wanted her to be silent. And so she stopped herself and went quiet.

"Hahaha! I like you even more now! I was just teasing you about the girl but to think you actually do have a girlfriend at your age! You're just like how I was as a kid! It's a shame I'm going to have to put you out of your misery." Ralph started approaching Dusk while cracking his knuckles.

"Wait. Before we fight, How about letting me speak with her for a minute? In case things go south on my side, I'd like to talk to her one last time."

Dusk looked Ralph straight in the eye while making his request.

"Ralph! Just beat the kid up and get the girl over here! We're on a tight schedule!" Suddenly the woman who was resting her back on the cart interrupted their conversation.

Ralph rubbed his chin and pondered for a few seconds before declaring something favorable to Dusk.

"All right, kid! Since I'm a man who values my women too, I'll give you a minute. But no more than that!" He said with a smirk.

"Ralph what the hell do you thi-" Sally started yelling but Ralph cut her off.

"This is an honorable agreement between two men! Stay out of it, Sally!" Ralph growled clearly showing his firm stance on the matter.

The woman clicked her tongue in annoyance but didn't press the matter any further. The ugly man beside her looked like he wanted to protest too but after seeing Sally get shot down like that he didn't have the courage.

"For someone who strips little girls, you sure do seem honorable." Dusk turned to Dawn and started walking towards her.

"Huh?! Wait, no! That was cuz of that fat bastard! I don't have an interest in little girls! Voluptuous women are the be-" Ralph started explaining himself but at that point, Dusk stopped listening to him and turned to walk towards Dawn.

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Dawn may have felt joy and relief at being able to see Dusk at first, but now she started feeling troubled. The joy she feels at being able to see him obviously remains but what of the dangers that come with getting involved in such a dangerous situation? Before, it was just her. But now both of them are in grave peril. Dawn didn't want Dusk to put himself at risk for her.

"Dusk, just leave me here and run! You'll be in trouble too if you stay here!" She voiced her concerns to the approaching boy despite her own dire circumstances.

The silver-haired boy didn't say anything in response. He merely came close to her and kneeled so they would be facing each other eye to eye.

Then he did something that surprised Dawn. He took her hand gently and signaled her to loosen her grip on whatever she was holding on to all this time.

Needless to say, it was the Nixantus fruit. But it was crushed under the weight of her grip at one point when she was panicking before. Her hands were soaked with its juices.

"So you came all the way here to get this fruit for me...." he sighed audibly. Dawn flinched at his accurate deduction.

"This fruit definitely would have been helpful to me, Dawn. But you need to understand that your kindness may very well become your downfall one day. Coming to a forest as dangerous as this one, what were you thinking?" Dusk scolded Dawn in a solemn tone.

"I....I...thought....that..." Dawn couldn't form a meaningful sentence. She started crying again. She had cried so much in these past few minutes that her eyes had already become puffy.

"From now on, try to stop helping others this much. At least take better care of yourself before you go out of your way to show such kindness." Dusk squeezed her hand while giving her a concerned look that seemed as genuine as it could be.

Dawn was extremely surprised to see this. The Dusk she knew would always be annoyed at her, avoiding her as much as possible, and ignoring her requests to play with her.

And yet, here he was, scolding her for her own good, just like her father would at times.

'Maybe he does care about me after all...' She thought and started sobbing again.

She rarely ever cried in her life until now. But today was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for her. She had experienced paralyzing fear, soaring doubts, and consuming despair all in one day. And yet, the relief and sheer happiness she felt when someone she knew finally arrived was enough to make her think that if she ignored all else, at the very least this short moment of respite would become precious to her regardless of what awaited here in the future.

Dusk stayed by her side while she bawled her eyes out for some time before the booming voice of a man interrupted them.

"Sorry, kid! But time's up!"

Dusk nodded in reply and got up. He glanced at Dawn one last time with a smile before heading towards Ralph.

"Dus-" Dawn was about to stop him but he cut her off.

"Stay there and rest. I'll be done soon. Then I'll take you back to your father." Dusk said calmly.

Dawn knew it wouldn't make sense for an 8-year-old boy to be able to beat adult mercenaries by himself. The odds seemed impossible and yet, his confident tone made her think otherwise. She used her skill [Emotional interpreter] to check if Dusk was bluffing but....all she felt from him was unshakable confidence. It's as if he was thinking there was no chance of him losing at all.