The First Knight

Days has gone by after the incident that took place in the tower of Goharith. After Helena and the crown prince discussion about the certain events that will happen in the future, the crown prince quietly leaves the place giving Helena a sense of relief since he started to doubt her less about the death of the crown princess

As she looked into the mirror, the day has finally come when a messenger arrived from the imperial palace.

"Miss, a messenger from the palace has arrived."

She nodded.

She quickly gets up and heads to the front door. There, the messenger stood quietly before bowing in respect when he saw a glimpse of Helena. He coughs and opened a scroll, reading its contents in front of her as Helana bowed in return.

"Helena of the Goharith tower, your presence is requested in the imperial palace. In honor for serving your country well, the emperor has thus decided to bestow upon a gift." he says.

Helena was surprised when numerous servants from the palace placed the gifts. For she didn't expect the emperor to be generous to not only summon her but to also bestow her luxurious gifts. Nevertheless, she receives the gift and the scroll from the messenger.

As the messenger leaves, Helena's two brothers barges in. "Woah! so many gifts!" Arthur's eyes sparkled.

"Well since she saved a royal prince, of course, the emperor would be this generous." Charles says and pats her head. "Good job."

Helena smiled.

"Hey sis, since you have to go to the palace today, what about your attendance in the Magical academy? you really can't neglect first day since it's a very strict rule for any student." Arthur asks in curiosity.

Helena's eyes widened when she realized that it was also the today that she starts the academy, the path which she took that got her parents killed.

"I don't need to go to school." She replied to Arthur. "The school will need me anyway."

As she left her brothers shocked about her reply, she leaves to prepare herself in front of the emperor.

Saving the 3rd prince was really a great honor for a small family like the house of Enilde, more so being requested with the emperor's presence. It was something that she hadn't plan for the long-term but definitely considered it as a good opportunity to protect her family.

"Should i add more brooch?" her mother seriously says.

"No mother, i would like to be neatly dressed."

"But you're gonna be in the presence of the emperor!" Exclaims.

Helena laughs. "It'll be fine mother."

Her mother sighs. "You have your academy today but we really can't deny the request of the emperor. But don't worry i'll get your father to help you get another admission."

Helena shooks her head. "I don't need it, i have my plans for it."

Helena's mother only looked at her with doubt but nevertheless she just went along with her daughter's resolve.

After dressing up Helena enough, she escorts Helena towards the carriage but not before she steps in. "Helena, whatever you do, don't request anything reckless alright?" she says worriedly.

'She must've thought i will request something like a tub of gold or something' Helena laughs at her own thoughts. Either way, she agrees to her mom and bid her farewell.

The journey to the palace would take about three days since the tower of Goharith and the Abuneian Empire is across each other, Helena thought of just teleporting but doing so would raise suspicion towards her since she decided to conceal her mana.

Helena jolt up awake after a few hours of nap when the carriage stopped suddenly.

She sensed a monster nearby.

The coachman opened her doors. "Miss! we need to change routes! a village is under attack by monsters!"

"What village? how long has it been under attack?"

"I've heard about it back from the people at the inns, i never thought the stories were true!"

"What? it's been happening for a while now but no mage nor knights?" Helena says in frustration. "Just stay here, i'll be checking it for a bit. we have no time to spare if we change routes."

But the coachman suddenly stops her, worried about her safety. "Miss! the archmage especially reminded me of your safety!"

"Father wouldn't be standing idly if he was here."

"Your father knew about it, he couldn't send anyone since it was a direct order from the emperor." The coachman says in a panic.

Helena's eyes widened as her anger rose. The empire was letting all those people die just for some unknown reason? Helena was over ranged at the thought of it. "Why would the emperor order that?"

"The willow village has denied paying tax to the empire for about months now."

She somehow understood why the emperor would order it. Since she was of high position back then, she has also punished people who didn't obey her just like in this situation. Being in such a high position blinds people about their true responsibilities as a ruler of a state.

"Willow village?!" she said in a frantic state. She realized that it was the famous village that was completely annihilated from a monster attack and only one man survived the attack.

The First Knight, William de Beaujeu.

She quickly gets off the carriage and ordered the coachman to wait for about three hours, if she doesn't come back. He goes back to the their house of Enilde to report about what happened. As she went further into the woods, she sensed a lot of hostility aura infront of her.

The smell of ashes, and the screams of the villagers flooded her senses.

She remembered that the attack went on for about two days in the willow village. Then it must mean then it was the second day since the attack started. She quickly teleports into the village and saw how horrifying the state of the village was.

The villagers were running everywhere, as the monsters rampaged the village.

Helena didn't want to expose her identity, so she changed her initial appearance to an adult and wore a red robe and mask that covers about her whole identity. She was about to step in, if it weren't for the first knight, william came into view.

He was just a teen. He stood steadily even when people were running from his surroundings.

As Helena senses heightened, she noticed a weird cursed magic surrounding William. her eyes widened as she realised that the cursed magic resembled the beasts that run amok the village.

She quickly steps infront.

"i never thought that the tale about the willow village would be this twisted, who would have thought that the famous first knight of the Abuneian Empire, used his own summoned beasts to annihilate the village?" Helena said, expecting that the first knight would have memories from the future.

But what she expected took a turn.

William just laughed at her choice of words. " First knight you say? i don't know who you are, but you piss me off."

Helena was shocked that the first knight doesn't have memories from the future since she clearly saw how the four knight were enveloped by the magic circle back then. What was more shocking was the fact that the first knight was the one who murdered the whole village.

All of a sudden, all of the cursed beast's attention headed towards Helena's. She swiftly uses magic to counterattack the force of the beasts. As a great Archmage, Helena didn't even break a sweat trying to tame the cursed beasts back into the William.

"pest." William seethes in anger. "the tower is really a nuisance!"

As they fought, Helena couldn't guess why William was so much in rage. So she took the time to talk to him. "Why did you do it?"

William didn't reply to her but only added more cursed beasts to kill her, unfortunately Helena ran impatient and headed straight to his spot in a second, also killing the beasts in a swift movement. She quickly locks William movements by binding him with pure magic to surpass the cursed element running amok in his body.

"Let go!"

"No." Helena firmly says. "you have to tell me your purpose."

"I SAID LET GO OF ME YOU PEST! I-I MUST KILL THEM i must-kill those who killed my family!" William's face broke into tears, struggling desperately as he looked at the villagers with venom.

The surrounding became quiet all of a sudden as Helena were able to get rid of the beasts, the villagers already left the village while Helena and the first knight fought. Only the cries of William, echoed around the village.

"Release your anger child." Helena says. Releasing her bind from William, he fells into the floor sobbing, trying hard to contain his cries.

Helena couldn't say anything since she was also a victim that saw her family get killed, she couldn't deny the feeling that she also wanted revenge for the people who killed her loved ones. Looking at William, she saw herself grieving.

"Why.. why did you come?" william starts.

"I just passed by."

Helena anticipated his moves when he suddenly grabs her collar with hatred. "If you'd passed by sooner they wouldn't be dead! m-my family wouldn't have died! it's our fault. if i just got home sooner-"

Helena hugged the first knight, making him speechless in an instant.

At that time, William was actually 6 years older than her, but seeing that he doesn't remember anything being a knight, she thought of him as a child.

"Calm down." She sighs. "I could feel that you didn't mean to hurt the villagers, your cursed magic influences your mind and body so you have to always contain your emotions."

After a while, William sobs became more quiet. Then he fell asleep in the Helena's embrace.

"Looks like someone got here earlier than i did." a voice from behind says.