Wanted

After a few hours of walking, the sun was getting closer to the horizon and the entrance of a city was in our sight. It took a long time, but we have found a city to gain money and buy a map...

The city seemed to be giant, the wall extended to beyond most walls I saw in my life, but the Coventry's. Through the open gate, we could see the crowd of people walking around, filling the streets and pockets of the salespeople.

"We have come here... Let's stay together alright? It might be dangerous to walk around by ourselves in this city... Big cities attract criminals, after all...", I said to the fox and it nodded, wrapping its tail around my upper arm.

We stared at the gate for a few more minutes... No one was coming in or out, it was a bit strange, but with nothing to fear, we entered the large city. Entering together, just the two of us, sure brought the attention to us... People were glaring as if they were suspecting something.

Hunters, fishers, salespeople, farmers... All these kinds of people should happen to cross this gate every once in a while, so I was sure the glares they directed at us were going to disappear soon enough. But the opposite happened, the more we walked, the more silence appeared and more people were glaring at us.

Trying to ignore them, I started looking for somewhere I could work to gain some money... But no places seemed to be friendly with female workers on them... It seemed like my only option was to work with them.

With a long sigh, I started to walk towards the shop of a craftsman only for then to realize something so stupid that I have forgotten. Those people didn't have any problems, it was just natural they would think it's strange for a woman to be walking wearing the armor of the Coventry Kingdom... I had blown my cover, even if I didn't mean to.

"Isn't that Dagger Everblade?"

"Did she come back from the dead?!"

"A rapist has a second chance to live while we innocent people are doomed to live once, is that right?"

"Funny of her to appear when the rumors about the princess are getting stronger..."

Those were the whispers I could hear. I had to take a long deep breath to be able to control my anger against their words, and desperation about being discovered. Trying to ignore them once more, I walked to the door of the shop.

The moment my fingers brushed against the handle of the door, however, I heard a shouting that stood out in the middle of the whispers, the noise of the crowd and the shouts of the salespeople around the area...

"Hey, you!".

I stopped for a moment and turned around to see if this person who shouted was talking with me.

"Yes, you with the female armor suit!", he shouted again...

His voice somehow silenced the crowd who looked at me and the man... The crowd between us walked away, letting him pass, and approach me and the fox.

"You... How did you get this armor? This is not something a weak person like you should have...".

"Well... It's my armor, but you wouldn't believe me, would you? So it's not even worth arguing... Now, if you excuse me", I answered him and moved again to open the door.

"Wait... This armor can't be yours! You could only have stolen it, the owner is dead!"

"Reject what you're told it's the first step to see if it's the truth or not... Did you know that?", I said to him.

I was probably the dumbest person in this world... I should have just said to him that I wasn't Dagger Everblade... It would cause me fewer problems, but now it was too late... I already got myself in a big mess...

"You're not saying... That... You're... You... You're..."

"Dagger Everblade... First and the only knightess so far and the so-called 'rapist' of the princess", I said to him after a long sigh of disappointment.

He was staring at me blankly, I could tell that he wasn't believing what I just told him.

"If you doubt, I propose a challenge... A duel. If you win, you get my head. If I am Dagger as I claim to be, you can get a big bounty of my head from the Coventry kingdom... If you lose, you give me all the money you have with you right now", I said to him...

He was smiling, probably already foreseeing riches from the bounty... Too bad that what he foresaw was just a mere illusion.

"Alright, I will slice your neck and bring your head intact to the Coventry king!", he said with confidence and charged towards me with a medium sword. Although he seemed so optimistic with his victory, I just stepped to the side, making him hit against the door. A little dizzy, he couldn't look straight at me and attempted a strike, failing miserably. Sighing, I just pushed him away, making him fall flat on the floor.

"I think you need to train more to fight with me", I said to him and then extended a hand out to help him stand up again. He misunderstood my act, however, and handed me the sack of money he had with him. He might not be the best person in the world, but he at least honored the deal that he accepted.

With the expression of someone who has just been himiliated, he then stood up on his own and walked away... People were still staring at me after I did that, but I couldn't care less... I had my money now, I just needed to get a map. However, things could only get worse...

"People, listen to me!", a knight wearing a Coventry armor suit shouted from the middle of the crowd. "Coventry wants her head... It will pay enough for all of you to be rich even if it's shared bounty". I could feel all the eyes of the people, full of desire, all directed at me.

I was in great danger now. I had no other option, I just opened the door of the shop without hesitation and closed it quickly behind me. Upon seeing me inside, the craftsman inside tried to grab a chair as fast he could to throw it at me.

That was a little bit improvised, he could have used that nails or hammer as a weapon instead. But anyway, I managed to dodge, causing the chair to break against the wall...

I didn't lose a second more, I rushed towards the back door of that shop, before the craftsman could come attacking with something else, and just at the moment the frontal door was taken down. I wonder, how smart are they? They could have cornered me if they had blocked both doors...

"Are you alright there?", I asked the fox as I ran through the alleys of the city.

The fox nodded to my relief... But there was no time to lose, I needed to be smarter, stop to think carefully about this. I was in a deserted alley once I saw they must have lost me after I run so fast.

I could think about an escape plan more calmly now... The gates should be closed by now to make sure I would not escape the city... How they would open again? Only if they believed I had already escaped... With that little piece of information, I was able to architect my plan, little by little as the pieces fell in place in my mind.

"Alright... Think you can climb the wall? I want you to make the people think that I have climbed the wall and escaped the city", I told it and it nodded at me. Immediately after, it climbed down my body and started to run away towards one of the walls of the city.

I waited a minute or two after he went away to take a look at the more full alleys of the city... I still needed to be careful to not be spotted. Then I caught a blanket or something similar that I saw hanging around and wrapped myself into it, hiding my armor and almost my face as well.

Slowly, I then walked to the gates... No one noticed that I was Dagger Everblde or doubted that I wasn't an old woman with a blanket. I reached the gates peacefully thanks to that... There was a convulsion in that area, however...

"I told you, the fox was on top of the wall! Dagger could only have escaped already!"

"Impossible! This wall is too big to-"

"Shut up already! Open the gates!", one of them shouted, interrupting everyone else. The gates started to open slowly. They had fallen in my little trick... It was time to take the chance and escape.