Ilirielth's past 2

There was nowhere safe in the world of Loriana. Even Springhold, said to be one of the most peaceful countries far from Mordox's border was not completely clean of cursed creatures.

Some said they were summoned by the infamous cults, and some said those were once powerful monsters that were pathetically weakened after passing the goddess's barrier, famous scholars, and soccerers had studied for centuries and made up thousand of theories but none of them prove anything. Nobody knew how those creatures managed to enter the green land and their number kept increasing year to year. There was a theory that many knew but no one dared to speak of it unless they wanted to be burnt alive by the church.

A peaceful remote village located somewhere in Nothern Springhold, became noisy as the villagers curiously watched a group of knights in shiny armor travel on the dirt road. Leading them were two figures a man and a woman.

The man has pale skin, and though his figure seemed slim and weak, the badge he was carrying indicated he was one of the 4 strongest knights in the whole kingdom.

The woman or perhaps a young girl at her teen, wearing full armor, half of her face hidden in the helmet, her emerald eyes swept through the rowdy villagers as she let out a sigh.

" What's wrong, princess? Is there anything bothering you?" - The man smiled

" Bothering? I'm exhausted! How could I feel comfortable when your eyes are on me even when I'm peeing? Sir Tristan?"

The man named Tristan coughed as sweat flowed from his head. He could feel the disgusted eyes of his subordinates looking at him.

" Please don't joke like that princess Ilirielth, I know I'm still single but I'm not that desperate."

" Then just leave me alone."

" I can't. I'm here to protect you."

" I'm strong enough to protect myself!"

" I know but this is the king's order unless you want your teacher's head to fall off his neck."

Ilirielth let out another sigh, when she got older her father became more and more strict with her. He used to let her play outside the castle, hanging around with a bunch of adventures (who were actually knights ordered by the king), but at the moment wherever she went, there would be a big group following.

What's next? She bet there would soon be a day he finally decided to lock her in the castle but there was no way she was gonna let that happen.

She already had a great escape plan to her grandfather's country, all that was left was to drag her cute friend with her.

' I will be gone for 2 years until that old big bear crying for his mistake.'

The group stopped in front of a house. It had a beautiful garden with blooming daisies. The owner seemed to be a florist. The national festival would come in a few days so the owner must have prepared a large number of flowers.

Ilirielth ordered the knights to wait outside as she came down her horse knocking on the old wooden door.

A moment later, a woman in her thirties came out with deep dark bags under her eyes. Upon seeing Ilirielth's platinum armor, the woman's face became pale as if Ilirielth was a monster, she tried to close the door but couldn't as Ilirielth's foot blocked her.

" Hey, you are Anie, right? Your husband's Han, a B rank adventurer. I need to ask him a few questions regarding to his last mission."

" Y-You, madam— A-Are you a knight?"

Veins popped on Ilirielth's forehead. Did she look that old to be called madam? She hated it whenever those fat pig aristocrats called people 'uneducated low birth'. But she couldn't help agreeing with those bastards sometimes.

" I'm not a knight, just an adventurer."

" N-No, you're a knight, don't try to fool me!"

This woman's behavior was so strange. What's with her being a knight? Is she committing some kind of crime or something? Could it be…

Her husband Han was reported to be wounded after a mission. There was no record of him receiving any health check-ups or treatment, that was so strange. According to the law, check-ups came from the guilds supposed to be free for wounded adventures.

There was no reason to not get checked, especially for Han who was lucky to survive a life and death situation.

Ilirielth immediately pushed the woman aside and entered the house. Anie tried to scream but her mouth was blocked by Ilirielth.

" Be quiet if you don't want to die."

Inside the house, there were two kids who were trembling like rabbits after seeing a stranger burst into their house.

Ilirielth smiled at them and then came to the bed where the husband, Han laying. Where his figure entered her vision, Ilirielth frowned.

The man's skin was turning black, sharp claw grew on his fingers. He was tied to the bed by a rusty chain. His mind didn't seem completely lost as he still got held by those chains despite of his stats.

Ilirielth hand reached for her sword.

" N-No, please madam knight! Please! I beg you, I- we can't live without him!"

Anie pled while crying as the kids were also onto her feet.

" I-I heard that there are those who got turned but manage kept their sense. He hasn't done anything to us for 3 days. Maybe [Sobs] Maybe there's a way!"

Young Ilirielth hesitated. She had heard about it too, about those who kept their mind after being cursed. But what about the curse? Even if the cursed one managed to keep their mind they still spread the curse to the others.

Looking at the poor children and their mother she couldn't do what she intended to do. But what now? If she left it like this there would be a chance that he turned and killed his family. She couldn't bring him outside either cause sir Tristan would probably slay him on spot.

Thinking quickly, Ilirielth took the goddess medal on her neck and place it on the man. It was a special medal that her elder brother gave her. He said it had the divine power of the goddess and could ward off even B-tier cursed creatures. Theoretically, it should be able to restrain the dark energy inside Han for some time.

" Ok Anie, I won't kill your husband but promise me this. Don't go anywhere, your kid too. Stay in the from this house until I come back, keep a distance from your husband as far as possible. After completing the mission, I will get you a good priest that I know. Hopefully, he could cleanse the curse before it's too late."

A smile bloomed on Anie's face as she constantly say ' thank you' to Ilirielth. Ilirielth mouth became bitter, she had no idea if this could work, high chance was it wouldn't. If it was this easy then someone should have already done it a long time ago. Still, she hoped for a miracle for the poor family.

Leaving the house, Ilirielth asked 3 knights to guard the house and provide food for Anie.

" What are you planning to do princess?"

Tristan asked, he seemed to notice her missing medal. Her teacher was not a fool, he might have guessed something.

" It seemed that the target was a cursed creature. Send people to notice the adventure guild and secure the area around the village and the forest. And sir Tristan, I need your help."

" Didn't you want to do this alone?"

Tristan teased. Even if Ilirielth didn't ask him, there was no way he would let her run alone and fight an unknown cursed creature.

" Not anymore, at the moment. Help me if you think I can't handle it."

Tristan nodded, and let out a bright smile. How could he not be happy to see his favorite student grow up?

Both of them entered the forest, followed by a group of knights, and immediately the smell of dead animals entered their noses. They spotted a huge shadow jumping from tree to tree looking at them.

' Not attacking right away huh? This one seems to have a bit of intelligence. And that speed should be at least an A-class monster. This is a little too much for her.'

Tristan intended to tell Ilirielth that he would take care of the creature but he sensed a huge amount of mana coming from beside and Ilirielth's figure disappeared, the fight broke out less than a minute, and the creature dropped dead, cut into pieces.

' What a terrifying talent.' - Tristan thought

In just a year since he saw her, she already became this strong, moreover, with the elven bloodline, her life-span should be at least 300 years. He believe she would soon surpass him and make her name in history.

" If only she was born in a different time. Or a different family."

As one of the highest, Tristan was the few people who knew the jeopardy that this peaceful kingdom had to eventually face in the future. When that happened, what path would the princess choose? And more important what would he have to choose at that time…

" Sir Tristan?"

" Hah… that's a flawless execution."

" Right? I've improved a lot! In just a few more months. I'm confident that even you'll no longer be my match!"

" Well, I hope it'll not end up like a hundred times you said before princess. Alright, let's get back on track. There might be still more."

They searched night and day but there was no sign of another curse creature.

When they returned to the village, it was already dawn. The peaceful atmosphere and everything were completely normal except for some kids shouting and pointing at three men in heavy armor guarding the florist's house through the night. The knights knelt when they saw Ilirielth.

" Did anything strange happened last night?"

" Nothing princess. If there's anything strange that's no one came out of the house since you left."

" W-Well don't mind it. There was something I need to do, wait here."

She entered the house.

" Madam knight! Thank you very much! My husband! It stopped!"

Taking a look at Han, he looked much better than yesterday the curse looked like it was cleansed a bit. But Ilirielth knew it was just a temporary effect, when the curse covered the whole body it could not be cleansed anymore. Still, that was a good sight. When she was about to let out a sigh of relief. The status of the 2 little children entered her eyes.

" …"

" W-What's wrong? Madam knight?"

" Cover your children's eyes."

" N-No! What are you doing?"

Ilirielth slowly walked toward Han raising her sword. She could see her image reflected in his eyes, he looked painfully and scared. Not waiting for Anie to register her mind, Ilirielth sword swung down and severed the man's head.

" Aghhh!!"

Ilirielth left the house, escaping from the piercing scream of the mindless mother and the agony cry of her children. She felt intensely nauseous.

" Are you alright princess?"

Tristan signaled the knights to turn their eyes away.

" I am — Ugh Uuueghh!"

Ilirielth continued to puke while shaking. She couldn't understand it. She had slain hundreds of monsters and even bandits. So why did she still feel like this?

Tristan gave her a warm look. His hand intended to reach for her head but after thinking for a moment, he retracted it.

" You did the right thing. I'm proud of you."

" I-I killed an innocent man."

" No princess, you didn't kill him, you saved his children. You know that."

" I…I don't know."

" It seemed that I overestimated you. Your father was right, you're just a little girl that needs to be protected."

" No… I'm not…"

" Yes, you are. Look who's crying. LITTLE GIRL~"

" N-No! I'm not!"

Tristan smiled, he helped Ilirielth whose leg was still shaking stood up. Under the genius mask with a mountain of achievement, she was still the pure little girl he knew.

" Princess, you will have to make much hard and harder decisions in the future. If you let your emotion get in the way not only won't help solve a single thing, it'll likely lead to a catastrophe. Remember this princess, live with your heart but always use your head to make decisions."

The words of her respectful teacher at that moment were etched into her brain. It became her way of living since then. But little did she know that one day it became the thing that caused her to fall into the abyss.