The boy with brown hair

Despite appearing surprised, the wizard had noticed the attack in time to dodge. The saber's blade passed close to his body as he threw himself backward, cutting only a part of his red cape. Lince didn't want to harm him; he just wanted to keep him away from the princess. But now, he feared retaliation, and his relief quickly turned into apprehension.

However, the wizard only stared at him and expressed some irritation:

"You... you interrupted me..."

"What are you doing?" Naige asked.

Lince looked back. The princess seemed more surprised than the wizard.

"I don't know... But I couldn't just stand by and watch this happen," he replied, being as honest as possible.

His only intention was to distance the wizard from the princess. In a way, he had already fulfilled his initial objective. But that alone wouldn't be enough, Lince pondered. He also couldn't waste time with unnecessary thoughts. He needed to act quickly while the wizard hesitated. So, he ran to the girl and cut the branch around her neck. Then, he freed her arms and legs.

"There! You're free now," he said loudly, smiling.

Not even he believed he had succeeded. He had thought it would be more challenging to break free from the magic, but it was surprisingly easy to cut the branches with such a sharp weapon. He only needed to return the weapon to the princess's hands, but before he could:

"Behind you!"

Several new branches snaked in his direction. They were even faster up close, and even if he ran as fast as he could, he wouldn't have time to escape them all. He needed to hit them with the weapon in his hands. Thinking this, Lince turned his body and struck with force. The branches changed direction, then attacked from the sides. He tried to dodge, but lost his balance and fell face-first to the ground.

"What is he doing?" The coachman wondered aloud.

Next to the old man, Ran simply watched that scene without knowing how to express himself.

For a while, no one believed what the boy had done. Even the wizard was surprised. Perhaps he was more dangerous to himself with a weapon in hand than a mad enemy, Naige thought. Therefore, she approached and reached out to him.

"Quick! Give me the saber!" she said urgently.

Lince got up from the ground. This time, he acted quickly to avoid the magic, already moving towards the princess. However, a root emerged from the ground and grabbed her by the leg, throwing her up and then away from him.

"Tch!" The wizard clicked his tongue, and then muttered shortly after, "You won't get rid of me that easily, princess." He faced Lince next. "But first, I'll get rid of you, meddling brat."

Naige hit the road with her back, and her body twisted violently. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly, trying to ignore all the pain and get up.

"Are you okay?" Lince asked.

"Pay attention to the enemy," she warned.

Lince looked back. The wizard advanced toward him and attacked with the dagger. He acted on pure reflex and managed to block the black blade just in time. But he didn't know what to do next.

In some instances, Lince had helped Rude practice fencing when they were children. That didn't mean he knew how to fight; they were just kids playing with wooden swords. It was also during that time that he severely injured his friend's arm. Since then, Lince had never touched a weapon again. And he didn't want to use one, fearing he would hurt people again.

The wizard retreated, appearing uneasy.

"Damn! You've disrupted me, boy," he said angrily. "How am I supposed to calm down now? I was close to getting my justice..."

Lince interrupted him:

"I don't know what your motive is, but... you can't attack innocent people and call it justice."

Lince looked the wizard in the eyes and spoke his mind at that moment. These people had saved his life; they couldn't be bad. However, he was surprised when the wizard looked back at him and let out a strange laugh.

"Innocent?" he said after finally stopping laughing. "You still don't understand how this world works, boy. Let me tell you something: there's no such thing as innocence in those who have power over others' lives. As long as people like her exist, someone like me will exist too."

Lince wanted to know what the wizard meant. Perhaps something in his past had traumatized him to the point of reaching this state, he pondered.

The wizard continued:

"If you're on her side, I don't care. You're just one more obstacle I need to remove from my path!"

Lince was distracted by his thoughts when he noticed the wizard's attack. The dagger's tip was at the height of his eyes. He had little time to react, just raised the saber and managed to block the black blade again.

"I don't know if that was luck twice, or if he's good at defending himself," the coachman muttered.

But Ran had a different thought. Even with the advantage of having a longer weapon on his side, the brown-haired boy was afraid of hurting himself or his opponent, so he only defended against the wizard's attacks as best as he could. He was an easy prey.

After blocking a few blows, Lince took a step back and stepped into a hole in the road caused by the previous magic. The wizard struck forcefully, and the saber slipped from his hands. He fell seated. He looked back; the saber was too far for him to retrieve.

Then, Lince felt something warm dripping over his shoulder. The dagger had grazed him, passing only a short distance from his neck. He swallowed hard. That would certainly be a fatal blow.

The blood continued to flow over his shoulder, while a throbbing pain appeared at the wound site. But what filled his mind with despair was the sight of the wizard coming to attack him again.

"Do you want to die? Get out of there!" Naige shouted.

Lince heard the princess's voice. And thanks to her words, he even regained his concentration. But it was a bit too late; the wizard was already close enough to kill him. He froze with fear. His legs didn't move from the spot at all. He just closed his eyes because he didn't want to see his own death...

Some time passed, and he didn't feel anything happen. There was only the pain in his shoulder and his panicked thoughts. Suddenly, Lince heard the princess's voice:

"Thank you."