Special Chapter III - Lyona (part 1)

These knights are certainly wearing some heavy armour.

Some of them got shot on the chest with an arrow, and only the tip went inside their chest, all thanks to their thick armour.

And thanks to that, they are still healable. I healed them pretty quickly and they were able to walk seconds after that.

But, there is one that I was unable to save.

"Jarem..."

The knights are mourning over a lost comrade. One of the knights, Jarem was his name, got stabbed by a dagger on the chest. Unfortunately, that wound was too deep and reached his heart. He died long before I even came.

Some of the knights were mad that I couldn't save him, but it was also their fault for being unable to do better. At the end of the day, it's just an unfortunate situation all around.

"Thank you, masked man. You saved us."

The knight captain said to me after I healed everyone. I lifted my palm at him, telling him to not mind.

"No problem. It was my fault for turning away."

Not really... I just wanted to pee.

For someone to die while I'm trying my best to pee in the wild, it's really a whole different level of guilt.

Fuck, man… this world is messed up.

The nobles from the Amila family stepped out of their carriage and walked towards me. I realized that their clothes are way too extravagant, but I also noticed their bodily language and expression is just nothing like what I expected from nobles like them.

It could be because I've seen plenty of nobles before. I've seen the lowest of nobles like Hod, and the highest of nobles like the queen.

These two, the pair that is dressed up as nobles, are not actual nobles.

Still, I kept silent after realizing. The pair bowed to me and said their regards.

"Thank you, masked person... For saving my knights. I wonder if there's any way for us to repay you."

The actor asked me, but I only shook my head to them. I know for a fact that these two aren't exactly real, but I also felt guilty for being unable to save that one knight from dying. Asking for a reward here is just bad omen from me.

"No problem, it's all fine. I just want to reach Veldon."

Afterwards, things just went by normally.

The knights decided to bury their fallen comrade right there on the spot. The tomb is located right next to the pond, quite hidden so that no tourists or random visitors can damage it or do something to it.

The bandits are all captured and will be brought back to the kingdom. At first, they decided to split the knights in half and took three carriages to transport the bandits back to the kingdom. But since there are too many bandits, they decided not to do that right away.

Instead, five guard knights will stay behind, and a smaller group of only two knights went back to the kingdom to find assistance, along with extra carriages to transport the bandits back to the kingdom. 

They decided that with me being here, the knights won't be much of a use since I'll be the one fighting for them. However, there should at least be some knights around, just in case another bad situation happens. 

"Like, another ambush?" 

I asked one of the knights who was talking to me for a bit, but he shook his head.

"Like... you betraying us."

The knight answered quite truthfully, and I realized my identity isn't exactly proven yet. I may have saved them, but that doesn't mean I'm easily clear off their suspicion.

Still... I saved them. How can they still be so shameless?

First of all, if I ever wanted to betray them, they wouldn't even be alive right now. And if I, for whatever reason, wanted them alive now, they won't even be able to defeat me or any time later on. 

And again, I just saved them! How can they even think of me betraying them!?

Seriously. I felt attacked. Sorry for being emotional.

After planning for a bit, our group finally continued our journey with six less knights on the carriages.

The male knight from before, who was in the same carriage as me, was included among the knights who stayed behind. As a result, only the female knight stood by her master, the hooded lady. 

The noble lady seemed to be staring at me non stop ever since we departed from that pond. I've been noticing it ever since we started moving again, and I kept myself calm while ignoring her. Of course, this got really annoying after a while, because she is very blatant with her stare.

Ok... Why is she staring at me so sharply?

It's not like a death glare from one of those monsters in the dungeon after I killed their comrades, but it felt just as intense. It's more like she is studying me, very-very closely. Everything, down to my tiniest movement.

After five minutes on the road, I turned to her quite annoyed. Even with me turning to her, she still dared to stare at me.

She is purposely doing this...

"Ok. What is it?"

I turned my gaze away from the scene behind the carriage towards the hooded lady, who was shamelessly staring at me.

"What is what?"

She asked so shamelessly. And again, quite shameless of her.

"Why are you staring at me so intensely? It's freaking me out."

"I'm just confused. That's all."

"Well, can you just say something instead of staring at me? It's kind of bothering me."

"How is it bothering you?"

She is so socially stupid, that's why it's bothering me. Everyone else on the carriage was only listening in silently, realizing that the tension in the carriage had risen. The knight next to her seemed to be shaking her head at me, but I didn't want to stop.

 I let out a sigh and waved my hand at her.

"What are you so confused about?"

"You are a woman. Why are you acting like a man?"

... what?

Immediately, I turned my gaze back at her. My eyes were wide open behind the mask, and she definitely noticed my shock.

Not just me, everyone else inside the carriage seemed to be surprised. The old couples right next to me distanced themselves when they heard the sudden revelation, even the female knight next to her was also taken aback.

How... does she... I'm wearing a mask, so my face shouldn't be seen. My chest is fully pushed down by my adventure clothing and covered by the robe. My womanly side shouldn't be that visible.

"What do you mean? I'm a man."

"No, you are not. I can tell."

"Then, you're just seeing things. It's best if you don't talk randomly about things you're only imagining."

I said quite easily as if mocking her, and the lady only tilted her head quite confused. 

However, the female knight next to her seemed to be triggered quite a bit. She suddenly unsheathed her knife and pointed it at me. I stared at the knife, while she stared at me sharply.

"Take back your words..."

The female knight said to me with her knife pointed to my neck, but I only stayed perfectly calm.

The hooded lady seemed to be taken by surprise when the female knight next to her suddenly took her knife out.

"Eva, stop!"

"Take back what you said."

The female knight, Eva, is really not having this easy. I should continue pissing her off, just for fun.

"And why would a knight be so mad that I pissed off some random lady on a hood?"

The knight known as Eva bit her lips, trying to hold back. She knew that if she attacks me, it means that she is attacking her saviour as well as damaging the lady's reputation. But, she also realized that she had accidentally revealed her lady's situation.

I grinned behind the mask, and I placed my head above my arm on the window. My actions are very calm, but I'm more than inclined to keep poking sensitive spots.

"Tell me, 'Eva'. She is not some random robed lady, is she?"

"Speak one more word..."

"She is the lady from Amila, am I wrong?"

The female knight reached her limit. With a slice, she swung the knife to where my chest is at. But before her knife touched me, her hand was stopped by the hooded lady.

"Eva! Stop!"

"M-My lady..."

The female knight, Eva, lowered her knife and glared at me with deathly sharp eyes.

"It was my fault. I was testing you, but I never thought that you would use my guard as a weapon against me."

The hooded lady said to me, and I just waved my hand at her. I suppose that was fun, so I simply let it off.

"Well, I was just confused, that's all."

The hooded lady, supposedly known to be an Amila, turned her gaze at the two scared old couples and apologized at them. After that, she turned back at me.

"Let's talk privately the next time we stop. Which… should be any time now."

Ah yes, sure, let's talk.

The rest of the trip was silent. Like, crazy silent. Not even the old couples even conversing words. I was fine with this silence, since I can look out the window behind the carriage. But for her and the female knight, this might be very awkward.

After an hour, the group finally left the forest and arrived at a small village. The village was known to be a station for tourists travelling between Mazino and Veldonia, so the village was quite rich in income.

The group stopped by to feed the horses. The hooded lady pulled me and the female knight away from the crowd, into a small dark alley not far from the carriages.

Once we were sure that we were alone, she removed the hood from her head and introduced herself.

"Let me introduce myself. I am the first daughter of the Amila family, the real one."

"Those two nobles that greeted me a while ago, I'm guessing they weren't your-"

"They are only disguises sent by my parents to keep me safe. So, if we were to get attacked by bandits, which just happened, they would be the one to be taken away and not me."

"That is really evil. But then again, good planning."

"Thanks."

So far, she has been telling the truth. I knew from seeing them that those two nobles weren't really nobles. After all, they don't talk like nobles at all.

Nobles usually had this prideful tone from the way they talked. Even those close to me had such a way of talking, and I got pretty used to it.

"And… how did you know that I am a woman..."

"Ah, so I was right!"

Technically you are wrong, but sure. Still, it is a mystery to me how she realized.

"I had the ability to sense people's true forms. I can see their true nature."

"That is… an annoyingly disgusting and unusual ability. So, what did you see in me?"

"Unclear. I can tell that you are a female, but as to what your stance is, I'm not sure."

She scratched the top of her head while she said that. Seems like she had tried her best to read me, but she failed.

"It's like there is a barrier blocking me from reading you… Why is that?"

"How am I supposed to know? I never had a seer look into me before."

"I'm not a seer… but I understand. I'm very sorry. You saved us, and I'm barging your privacy by staring at your soul. That is quite rude of me."

Oh. So, she's not stupid.

"Oh...? So, you do realize what you were doing was very rude--"

"But, I only did it because I wanted to know who you truly were. And I want to apologize, because now I can see that you're not someone sent to hunt me down."

Hunt her down...?

I see... I was the stupid one. I didn't realize the ambush that happened earlier wasn't just a simple ambush by bandits. It was very coordinated, very well prepared, and certainly not something a group of bandits should be doing if they're simply aiming to obtain riches.

A normal group of bandits would've aimed for a much smaller group of travellers. A single carriage travelling, like how Urek would usually travel around. Not a group of carriages that we are on, especially not when there's a ton of knights on board.

The attack just now... it was definitely meant to capture this young lady.