Check It (2)

Even though he wasn't sure what to make of Calian's laugh, Yan spoke.

"You can have a look around in this area then have a meal afterwards. There's still two, three hours until we get to Latran, but if we go any further we won't have any chance to stop and rest until we actually reach the city."

There was no particular reason to say no to him, as Yan was someone who's been in this place multiple times, and Calian wasn't. Therefore Calian agreed without any argument, and the group moved into the forest a bit to the side of the royal road, settling into a place where the land is a bit flatter.

As Raven focused on munching grass, Calian sat on the ground and leaned onto its leg while receiving a sandwich that was packed back at the city. Soon, Hina approached and gave glasses of water to Calian and Yan.

"Thanks."

Hina smiled and nodded, then left to go sit next to Kyrie. Looking at her sitting next to Kyrie, he spoke.

"It seems Kyrie is taking care of Hina quite a lot."

"Because she's his sister."

Hearing Calian, Yan laughed replied.

"You're right. Well, if my sister was like that, I would want to take care of her more as well."

It was the first time Yan openly spoke about his family without being questioned about it.

The more they were further from the palace, the more Yan turned back to his original self rather than acting as a servant to Calian. Even now, Yan was sitting next to Calian and eating with him even though Calian didn't order him to.

As Calian looked at Yan with a curious face since he was talking about his own family, Yan shook his head and spoke.

"There is a girl who was so angry that she didn't receive a birthday present from her older brother, that she stabbed a sword on him while he was sleeping. Soon, you will be meeting her as well, your highness. Please be careful."

Calian stopped in the middle of putting the last of the sandwich in his mouth and laughed. It was because he could clearly imagine how it went in his mind. Yan must have cried tears from fear at that moment.

Not long after, they finished their meal. Calian got up and was about to get back onto the back of Raven.

But then at that moment, a strange sound was heard.

–Woosh!

A small sound, approaching towards him while pushing away shrubs.

Along with the sound, Calian saw the lush forest bush shake left and right. At the same time Calian saw that motion, Kyrie appeared quickly and got in front of him in a defensive position.

The knights also formed a defensive formation with Yan and Calian in the middle.

"No, wait..."

Calian was about to say that there was no need to be so cautious like this, but before he could say that, a human figure even much smaller than Hina poked its head out of the shrubs. The figure then saw the knights and mages aiming towards itself and stared back with wide surprised eyes, then started yelling while putting both of its hands in the air.

"Oh, yeah! Save me!"

What on earth is it saying?

The knights frowned their faces not able to understand what it said. Calian however made a stern expression for a bit different reason. Although the Siegfried knights would probably be more familiar with their appearance, to Calian it wasn't.

The small figure was a young boy with short green hair, but besides his face were ears that are a little longer and sharper than a human's.

Kyrie, who never really talked, saw the child and couldn't stop himself from speaking.

"Elf?"

As if responding to Kyrie's words, the young elf boy slowly lifted his body up.

And so the great cascading number of events that would befall onto the peaceful journey of Calian's group started with just this young elf boy's sudden appearance. Before Calian could admire the intact elf ears of the boy, the boy spoke.

"Me, Sia."

Now, everyone was making the same kind of expression. They weren't able to understand a single thing this elf was speaking from beginning.

The captain of the knights Yuran Lauchell's gaze turned to Calian.

"What would you like to do?"

Whether to put away the swords that were aimed towards this strange boy or to keep being in a defensive position.

Elves do not attack humans. They are not good at lying either.

Therefore, Calian thought it would be fine to let down the guards slowly. Calian gave a gesture to put away the swords and stepped once towards the elf. He and the knights all put away their swords together.

Only

While lowering his head down a bit and studying the elf's face, he asked the boy.

"Sia? That's your name?"

"Yeah. Hungry."

"You came here to ask for food?"

"Hiding."

Although it felt like there was some kind of conversation forming, he still couldn't understand perfectly.

Calian made a face like it was saying I have no idea what this child is saying, and scratched his cheek. After wondering for a while, Calian turned his head towards Kyrie. He wanted to ask if all elves were like this to him, but Kyrie was making the same expression to him as well. Hina, standing beside them, ended up making the same face.

Seeing them make that face, Calian gave a dejected laugher.

"I see. Both of you can't understand him either."

Calian scratched his cheek again and then opened his mouth.

"What are you doing here?"

"Right. Sorry."

Hm.

Calian wondered whether to just put away the conversation, feed the boy and send him on his way, or to have a little more patience with this conversation.

But then, suddenly Calian's light in his eye changed.

Slowly raising his head, Calian laughed.

"…If you had someone that was chasing you, then you should have said that first."

He heard sounds of horses galloping. If that was the only thing, it wouldn't have been a huge problem. But, there was the fact that it was heading directly towards Calian's group, as well as the fact that it's holding a sword in their hand. And most of all, the problem was that he had feelings of vigor flowing out of him that he wasn't able to hide away.

The knights all rested their hands on the hilt of the swords again.

"Thanks."

Said the elf boy named Sia, and held tightly onto the ends of Calian's clothes with a tearful expression. Although he wasn't able to understand what he's been saying, he knew what his actions meant. It meant to ask for help.

As Calian thought that it would better to communicate this way rather than speaking in jumbled words, he made a small laugh to himself. Seeing the boy's hand gesture asking Calian to save him, Calian replied in a low voice.

"Let's see it first."

Calian first took the robe that was hung on the saddle of Raven and put it on Sia's head. He then sent Sia towards the back and spoke towards Kyrie.

"Keep him safe."

Kyrie nodded and took Sia in to make him stand next to him.

In the meantime, the knights that stood in position in front of Calian got into a position ready to draw their sword at any time, and Arsen prepared to deploy a shield whenever.

And Calian checked for a moment the knife in his pocket. Though, he wondered whether he would need to pull it out for this case or not. It was only one horse that was coming towards them after all.

– Gallop, gallop.

Soon, the person came close to the group and stopped.

As the person who didn't care or know who the group of knights surrounding a black-haired boy was kept galloping towards the group, Calian turned his head towards them.

He was a man with long hair. Although Calian wasn't able to tell which ranks he belonged to, he was wearing a soldier's uniform. The man stepped forward and looked over the group.

Seeing as how the man didn't make any strong reaction even after seeing Calian, it seemed that he wasn't able to tell who Calian was just by his appearance. Calian, therefore, thought that this was a little strange.

'He must belong to some merchants or a noble at least. And if he is, then there's no way he wouldn't have known that my planned route was this path.'

At that moment, the captain Yuran stepped forward towards him. Thankfully he was smart enough to not do a stupid thing like telling the man who Calian was, especially when the man looked very suspicious already.

"Who are you."

Hearing that, the man spoke with a stern expression.

"A thief stole something, so I was on my way chasing after them. Have you perhaps saw any peculiar child anywhere?"

What he said wasn't an answer to the question. Yuran frowned one of his brows and spoke.

"You don't look like someone that's chasing after a thief."

"Is there a face you need to put on to chase after one?"

Yuran didn't want to waste any more breath and answered with a stern voice.

Only

"The child you speak of is not here, so leave."

The man looked over the group once more. He then saw a child with a robe over his body standing in a corner. As anyone who saw the child would see them as suspicious, the man smiled wide.

"It looks like he is. I will just look over a bit then take my leave. I am not here to pick a fight with you knights, so please stand aside."

The man got off the horse and took a step closer.

It made everyone nervous, seeing the man walk into the group without any hesitation when there are twenty knights around him. As he was a soldier that couldn't even hide away his feelings of vigor, Calian was sure that he had some backup to rely on and started to look around. He then got a certain feeling in a particular direction.

Looking like he also felt the same thing as Calian did, Yuran made an expression that looked even more stern and defensive. He then lifted his sword, stopped the man, and spoke again.

"Stop."

The corner where the man is relying on. Meaning, the corner of the bush on the opposite side of the group which Calian realized hid several bows aiming towards their direction. Calian looked at Yuran for a moment then stepped forward.