Into The Forest III

Re ran back into the cave and quickly woke Do up. Re did not know what to do after seeing Laura on the floor unconscious. Do sleepily rubbed his eyes and was half asleep while Re had quickly pulled him towards Laura.

"What do we do?"

"Huh? What happened? What's she doing on the floor?"

"Do! Wake up. She's our savior, and she's in danger! What should we do?"

"I don't know."

Do and Re were both panicking when they realized how bad the situation was and how clueless they were. Suddenly, from afar Re heard footsteps coming nearer and nearer towards them and out of fear, they both quickly hid in a bush.

All they could see was a shadow coming closer and closer, and suddenly seeing a man's foot almost made them jump in fright.

Re looked up to see the man and saw that he had silver hair. The man kneeled onto one knee and softly touched Laura's cold face. He picked her up bridal style and Re followed him.

But before Re could follow them, Do quickly pulled Re back, telling him not to follow because it was dangerous, but Re insisted and eventually Do gave in.

The unknown man carried Laura all the way back to the pergola. He placed her on the chair and lent her his coat. Re hid behind the pole when he noticed the man looking at him.

The man laughed softly and placed a finger on his lips, signaling Re to keep it a secret. The man who had helped Laura was Erwin. He then decided that he was going back into the forest, so he held a lamp out and slowly walked back.

Re and Do climbed up the chair and went up to Erwin's coat pocket quietly so that Laura wouldn't wake up. Re thanked the man and slowly both of them drifted to dreamland. In the dark forest, from afar, a small light could be seen.

Erwin Ferguson walked deeper into the forest, trying to find the shadow he had seen. He knew that the shadow he had seen earlier was from the organization group and wanted to capture him as soon as possible.

All of a sudden, Erwin stopped walking as he felt the shadow's presence. He blew out the candle and out of nowhere felt the blade of a knife on his neck. He stayed calm and raised his hands up on the air.

"So? Why did you even hesitate to kill her?"

The shadow did not answer and stayed quiet. Indeed, the shadow had failed to kill Laura, and he knew that Tine would be mad at him. But somehow he couldn't bring himself to kill the innocent girl.

"You're not going to answer?" Once more the man stayed silent, still pointing his knife to Erwin's neck. He had thought one kill, and all is well.

"You can try killing me, but just know that you can't run away." Erwin put on a smirk, scaring the shadow, who had not seen such powerful mana before.

He brings his knife back to himself and retreated back slowly, but was stopped as he realized that he surrounded by soldiers.

"You have nowhere to run. Surrender yourself." Erwin turned and looked at the shadow who dropped his knife and raised his hands up.

The shadow knew he had nowhere to run, and so he decided to reveal his face. The man behind the shadow revealed his face, showing a big scar. Blaine then removed his hood and ran to Erwin, checking how he is, and scolded Erwin for being too reckless.

"Blaine, are you my mom?"

"No, I'm not, but how can you put yourself in danger? You're a duke, for God's sake."

Blaine sighed out of frustration, handing an extra coat to Erwin, who seemed cold. Erwin then thanked Blaine and wore it, then looked at the man who had been caught and walked towards him. He had a sudden interest in the guy and wanted to take him in.

But Blaine did not agree with him because he is dangerous and he might not know when the man can betray him.

"It won't hurt to try, right?"

"Yes, it will."

"I'll buy you anything. I'll especially reserve a table from the famous restaurant that you wanted to go to."

"I'm not taking it."

"Then it would be such a waste to cancel the reservation."

"Okay! I'm going. Fine, keep him, but it's not my problem if he does something bad to you."

"There's no way you're going to ignore that."

"I hate you."

"But I love you." Blaine gave Erwin a disgusted look and shoved him away. Erwin walked towards the man and asked the two soldiers to release him.

Erwin then sat on the ground and crossed his legs. The man looked at Erwin strangely and wondered what he wanted from him. Erwin looked at the man and placed a hand on his face. With one word coming from Erwin's mouth, the man's scar was gone.

"What's your name?"

"I don't have one."

"Then you don't mind if I give you one."

The man went silent, not caring what Erwin's intentions were. But he wondered why he didn't kill him and leave him be.

"Just kill me."

"I don't want to."

The man confusingly looked at Erwin and looked away from him. He was thinking about why Erwin was keeping him alive when he was threatening to kill him just seconds ago.

Erwin on the other side had a plan in mind. He wanted to save the man because he knew that this man could be useful.

Erwin needed some information about Silence because these days they have been moving suspiciously. And the only way to obtain more information was to get someone from their side.

"Is it because you have become useless? Or is it you don't treasure your own life?"

"I don't have any answers to that."

"I'm in your care from now on, Angelo." Angelo raised his head and looked at Erwin, not understanding what he was saying.

Angelo for the first time couldn't read what a person was thinking. And at the same, he thought that it was not that bad to serve him.

Angelo was raised as an orphan since his parents had abandoned him when he was five years old. He was taken in by an old man who created the organization, Silence. He was taught how to fight at a young age and eventually grew up to work for Silence.

But once in a while, he thought of wanting to have a change in life which gave him the thought that it isn't going to be that bad to serve Erwin.

"Blaine let's go back home. We still need to welcome a new member."

Erwin stood up, dusting the dirt out of his clothes. He offered a hand at Angelo who hesitantly accepted his hand. From then on Erwin had won Angelo's trust and Angelo had decided to leave the organization and announced as dead.

Not only that, but Erwin also kept his promise and made Angelo his personal guard.

=====

Laura felt the sun hitting her face, and as she opened her eyes she was shocked. She felt something warm covering her and realized that there was an unknown coat covering her and slowly went to remove it. She then got startled when the pockets of the blazer moved.

Re climbed out of the pocket and rubbed his eyes to see that Laura has woken up. He jumped on her shoulder and out of joy, giving her a hug. Laura patted Re's head and helped Do out of the pocket.

"Good morning."

"Morning...erm...what's your name?"

"Laura. My name is Laura."

"Laura! You have no idea how much you had shocked me earlier."

"I'm sorry and what happened to me?"

"I found your hands and legs tied together. But good something someone nice had helped you."

"Who?"

"I couldn't remember him clearly but he had silver hair and light blue eyes."

"Erwin…"

Laura recalled her memory and remembered that she almost died, and the person who saved her was Erwin. She questioned herself, how can he be so near to their territory at such a late setting. Not exactly theirs, but quite close to their territory.

"Who's that? Your lover?"

"No, Re. There's no way I'll become his lover."

"You wouldn't know." Laura shook her head and found it silly. Her? Become the lover of a duke? Plus, she thinks that the duke has no interest in her.

"Miss Laura?!"

Laura turned her head and saw Mary running towards her while crying. She looked at the two elves and signaled them to go back to their home before they get seen. Re and Do both of quickly waved Laura goodbye and left.

But before Do entered the forest, he had cast Laura magic protection and hoped to see her again.

"Where have you been?"

Laura patted Mary's back and ensured that she was alright. She laughed softly and stroked Mary's hair. Laura looks at the entrance of the forest and wishes for Re and Do's safety. She also hoped to see them again.