Eric felt pretty down after getting destroyed by both the rabbit and Cess yesterday. Which Orph noticed.

“I take it that your hunt yesterday didn’t go well?”, he asked.

“No... It went really well.”, answered Eric.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I just watched...”

Orph sighed and spoke, “At least you succeeded even if you leeched off of someone.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better. Have you ever talked to Cess before?”

“No. I’m not here to make friends.

Eric looked up at Orph and saw him getting serious again. The determined look returned to his eyes. Eric looked in front of him, where his and Cess’s eyes met again, she also smiled again. Eric jolted back and thought he didn’t want to talk to her again either.

The rest of the journey was relatively easy, Eric hunted with Orph. Orph did most of the work and let Eric chase after the rabbits without complaining. It was a win-win for both sides, Eric thought he was doing something and Orph didn’t get disturbed by Eric in his successful hunt. At least that’s what Cess thought.

She wasn’t fond of Eric; she had clarified it to him. Clearly, a leech who came this far just because of his partner, Orph. Whenever she tried to look at Orph and try to study him, Eric always came in front of her.

“Grandmother always told me to smile whenever I’m angry.”, she said very softly.

It’s fine. She thought to herself. Even if she couldn’t observe Orph, she could always take this opportunity to get close to Knight Dave. She looked up at the sky and spoke softly again,” I do miss them though.”

“You sure talk to yourself a lot, Cess.”, spoke Dave smiling.

Cess didn’t expect it but she somehow managed to reply, “Ahh, yes sir!”

“You don’t have to call me sir.”

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“What else should I call you, sir?”

“Oh, I do not know. Please continue to call me sir then.”, replied Dave still smiling away.

Cess looked up at Dave and asked, “Can I ask you something, sir?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Is it true that the rumors about you having super strong are true?”

Before Dave could answer her question, he saw something or rather, someone standing in front of them. No one else seems to have noticed them. They had white hair and didn’t look like they belonged to the kingdom. They also wore a cape and had two daggers in their hand. On closer inspection, they also wore a slave collar.

Dave gestured for the others to stop. He walked toward her and asked, “Hello, who are you?”

“Sir, you have to save me, sir. The slave traders... my owners are very cruel men. I somehow managed to escape them. Would you please help me?”, the person pleaded.

Dave got close enough to see that it was a girl, a teenage girl maybe. He couldn’t imagine what horrific incidents she must’ve gone through.

“It’s going to be alright miss.”, he replied.

Cess thought to herself that this was clearly a trap, but she had full confidence in Knight Dave that he already knew about it.

Dave went near her, holding out his hands trying to comfort her. The woman took out her daggers and wounded Dave. Dave managed to dodge them enough to not get serious injuries but he was hit. He fell to the ground.

“Stay away from him!”, screamed Cess running towards them with her sword in her hand. The others soon followed suit.

“This was a warning, stay away from these lands. Your kind is not welcome here.”, answered the girl.

Cess ran towards her and tried her best to hit her but to no avail, the girl dodged all her attacks easily.

“You’re slow.”, said the girl and started to run away without missing a single second.

Cess began to chase after her before being stopped by Dave.

“Stop! It’s too dangerous.”, said Dave.

“We must make camp here.”, he continued.

Both Orph and Eric saw the state in what the strongest knight of the kingdom was in.

This is clearly way more dangerous than they thought it was going to be. But the determination on Orph's eyes only grew.