Ban and Dit went inside their own camp.

“Is Doug still surveying them?”, asked Ban as soon as she sat down on her chair.

“Yes. He is.”, replied Dit who stood next to Ban.

“Good. Let’s see where this goes.”

“How many people does he see?”, she continued.

“Knight Dave and some knight cadets... Along with ten royal guards.”, replied Dit.

Ban started to laugh uncontrollably. She stopped and looked at Dit and smiled before talking again, “Good. This is what I expect from that Kind.”

Back at Knight Dave’s camp everyone was panicking. Their best combatant was injured, some royal guards tried to help Dave, and the others were lost and were panicking.

Orph looked around and spoke, “I thought the Royal guards were supposed to be calm and composed.”

Eric looked at him but didn’t reply, he was scared too. He had heard legends of Knight Dave. If there’s someone out there who could injure him so easily then could he even survive this?

Cess had enough of the chaos.

“If we panic in a moment like this, we’re all doomed.”, she spoke in a firm voice.

“I know that Knight Dave got injured but it is due to him being blind thanks to his kindness. Kindness that a Knight should have. He fell to a surprise attack and didn’t get injured much.”, she added.

All the eyes in the camp were on her. She went near Knight Dave and spoke again, “If that girl appears again, we’d know better. Let this be a reminder to not underestimate our enemies!”

She looked at Knight Dave with hope in her eyes. Dave looked back at her, still shocked at what had just happened. He stood up after getting over it. Some royal guards came near him in order to help him out but he gestured to them with his hand that he was okay.

“Knight cadet Cess is right. It was my mistake that our morale is down, but do not worry. We will get them.”, said Dave.

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These words were enough for the people in the camp to have their motivation back. At least enough motivation to not panic anymore.

This speech also touched Eric, even though Cess made him question his dreams. Maybe they were childish but he still wanted to fulfill them.

Orph went near Cess after all the commotion was over and spoke, “You’re good.”

He smiled at her. “Did I finally do something to impress you?”, she replied.

“Maybe.”, said Orph while laughing.

The royal guards did their best to heal Knight Dave the best they could, and it worked.

“You heal fast, sir.”, spoke one of them.

“Yes, it’s one of my many talents.”, replied Dave while laughing.

They decided to stay in this camp for a little longer and started moving again the next day.

With their newfound optimism, which was nothing compared to the optimism that died when Dave got injured. They moved forward.

Eric, as he usually does, wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was in his own world while looking at the bushes near where they were marching. He saw something move, which kind of startled him. He gestured Orph to look at it, which he did. Orph broke away from the march and went near the bushed. He saw eyes looking at him, ready to plunge. He put his hands on his sword but it was too late, he was attacked by a dog.

“What? A dog!”, screamed Orph. Too stunned to speak any more words but it was enough to garner enough attention from the others. They all came to him, thinking about what could make their best knight cadet fall down in defeat. They were pleasantly surprised to see that it was just a dog.

Knight Dave helped Orph get back on his feet and went near the dog.

“This does look like a dog.”, said Dave.

“Dogs this far in the wild?”

“Maybe he got lost?”

“A dog that got lost this far in the wild?”

Cess went near the dog as well and started to pat him. She murmured, “Who’s a good boy?” but stopped as soon as Orph got near enough to hear her.

“What are you doing?”, asked Orph.

“N-nothing.”

They were confused as to what they should do with it, they obviously couldn’t leave it behind. Maybe it was lost from some village nearby.

“Let’s just take it with us.”, said Knight Dave.

“I agree.”, replied Cess without missing a beat.

“I mean... It’s the right thing to do.”, she added.

Knight Dave smiled and agreed with it. Orph and the others didn’t have any problems with it because the dog did indeed look like a good boy. At least for now.

But Eric felt that there were eyes watching them, he didn’t know where but there were.