"What this?" Luna asked as she appeared next to a shop with the words "Blacksmith" on top of its entrance.
After Sirus caught up with her, he had to take a moment to breathe. Running around for 30 minutes while trying to keep up with the insanely fast catkin was an impossible task.
"It's a blacksmith. They make weapons" Sirus explained. Interested, Luna peeked her head through the door and found a room filled to the brim with weapons, each one having a nametag and price tag next to it.
"Weapons?" She asked, confused. She had her own weapons, a.k.a her claws, so she had never before needed external objects to fight with. Except maybe stones to throw and distract.
Sirus rolled his eyes, although Luna couldn't see it. He was hidden inside of a large black cloak that covered his body from head to toe, and he even wore a black mask to hide his face.
"They're things you use to kill things" Sirus explained in words Luna could understand. Luna made a small 'o' and looked inside the shop again.
"We go see please?" She asked and pulled on his robe. Sighing in annoyance, Sirus entered, quickly followed by the catkin who looked around in amazement at all the strange weapons.
"Welcome," A giant, middle-aged man grunted from behind a counter. His feet were on top of the table, his chair leaning backward while reading a newspaper. He barely glanced at his customers before returning to his newspaper.
Luna walked around the shop for a good twenty minutes, constantly asking what each weapon was and how it worked. When Sirus tried to buy her one in exchange for a promise to not cause trouble for the day, she scoffed and said, quote, "Weapon weak. Trouble fun. Weapon not worth, but good food is." Her radiant smile when she said it impressed even Sirus, who had long since grown used to her antics.
Hearing her, the blacksmith actually glanced up and stared at the petite catkin before laughing out loud. Both Sirus and Luna turned to look at him.
Seeing their looks, he stopped laughing, but a smile was still on his face. "Boy, although I don't know much about beastkins, I'm pretty sure any weapon I make is far stronger than any weapon they could ever have, natural or not."
He turned to look at the catkin and smirked at her. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, confused at his words. She looked at a random sword and poked it before saying innocently, "Weak!"
The blacksmith scoffed and stood up before walking over to her position and looking at the sword she poked. He pulled it out and examined it before saying, "What are you on about, kid? It's not an excellent sword by any means, but it's still a pretty decent quality sword."
Hearing the blacksmith start to get annoyed, Sirus quickly said, "Sir, please don't mind her. She's lived in... seclusion, for her whole life."
Looking at the masked boy, the blacksmith snorted before mumbling something about people not knowing what they're talking about.
Seeing the retreating blacksmith, Luna suddenly had an idea pop into her mind. Smirking, she called out. "Look!"
Turning around, the blacksmith saw Luna tracing her finger around the sword. He looked in a mixture of annoyance and just plain confusion at what she was doing.
When she finished tracing her finger, she shook the sword a bit, and the sword neatly split in half. Sirus snatched the sword from her hands and immediately apologized to the blacksmith, who was looking at his sword with saucer-wide eyes.
"Hot damn, lady. I know catkins have some strong claws, but damn." He said, impressed. Interested, he then carried her around the shop, having her try to do the same things to a bunch of swords, axes and other weapons.
As the small catkin and towering blacksmith walked around, Sirus could only stand at the entrance, awkwardly looking at the two of them. Every single weapon Luna touched would split apart without fail, and at the end of it, the blacksmith felt like he had just gained a whole new view on the world.
As he and Luna returned to Sirus, he slapped the young master on the shoulder while saying, "Kid, I don't know where you found this girlfriend of yours, but she sure has some scary weapons in her hands. If I were you, I'd be careful with what she touches."
Sirus choked on his saliva as he desperately said, "She's not my girlfriend! We're friends! Just friends! And what do you mean with that!?"
The blacksmith laughed as he returned to behind his counter, not giving an explanation. Seeing Sirus depressed, Luna grasped his hand and smiled at him. Usually, that would get rid of his bad mood, but this time, it only made it worse for some reason.
Ignoring the moodiness of the man that had taken care of her for the past months, she pulled him over at several other shops after Sirus, with much insistence on his part, paid a couple dozen gold coins for the ruined weapons.
It had only been a day since they reached the continent, but to Sirus, it felt like years. Luna had basically dragged him all over the city, marveling at all the new things she had never seen before.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Even the simplest of things looked like the most amazing things to her. Sirus had also seen her eat more than any person should arguably be able to, even when he had never before seen her eat.
As he idly wondered where all the food went, Luna dragged him through the slums, which made him cringe severely. He hated the slums and what they stood for.
He had tried to help several times in the past, but the gang presence in the slums and the general poverty was just too strong. Besides, even if they destroyed these slums, more would just pop up. It was truly a headache.
Furthermore, the slums were extremely dangerous. Granted, Sirus was incredibly strong, so it was very much unlikely he would ever be harmed by any common thug, but for most people, they weren't as lucky as him.
As they ran through the empty streets, trash littering every corner, Luna's ears suddenly perked up a bit and she turned towards another smaller street. Sirus looked at her, confused.
"People... Slapping? Crying? Are killing they doing?" She asked. He frowned, trying to decipher his words before quickly understanding what was happening.
"Motherfucking unholy bastards, let's go, Luna. Make sure you don't let any escape." Sirus said, his face contorting in rage. Luna looked at him, a little confused, before nodding and vanishing.
Sirus ran towards the street Luna was just looking at and entered. Soon enough, he heard the cries of a woman and dirty laughter of men.
His speed only picked up as he found 4 men, all of them naked, raping a woman. It was a scene that happened every day, in multiple parts of the slum. Nonetheless, seeing this made Sirus' eyes bloodshot.
Seeing him, the men quickly threw the woman off and pulled up their pants before facing the intruder. "Oh look, a hero has come. Whatever will we do?" One of them, likely the leader, said. "Oh, I know! Kill him, boys!"
Looking at the naked, trembling woman who was bleeding all over, Sirus simply ignored the men and walked forward. He dodged them and quickly reached the woman.
Applying the only healing spell he knew on her, his hands occupied, he turned towards the men who were staring at him with fury in their eyes.
"I don't have time to deal with scum like you," Sirus said, his voice sharp. The leader laughed and roared, "Scum like us? You're the scum here, retard. KILL HIM!" The men roared and charged at Sirus.
Sirus merely closed his eyes and whispered, his voice just loud enough for them to hear him. "Luna. Kill them."
The next instant, blood splattered everywhere as the men suddenly found their limbs detached from their bodies. Then, those limbs were shredded as if they had been thrown into a meat grinder, and then their bodies followed. Blood and entrails, as well as pieces of bone flew everywhere, but none landed on Sirus or the woman, who was still trembling and in a state of shock.
The following minutes, screams began to ring out from everywhere on the slums, as well as the sound of blood splattering everywhere. Sirus' expression didn't change at all during this time, his face strangely calm.
After the spell finished, he picked up the woman in a princess carry and ran off.
Sirus knew he wasn't a hero. He'd be a hypocrite if he claimed he was, for no noble could claim to be one. The very definition of a hero was wrong to him, for saving one person often meant the demise of another.
Everyone had their own reasons to do things. Desperation, revenge, anger, sadness, greed, pride... In his mind, he knew he had harmed a lot of people during his life, directly or indirectly.
However, even then, he was still weak. It was just as his family said, his heart wasn't meant for a noble in this world. He was nothing more than an adventurer, wishing to explore the unknown.
And yet, still, when he found Luna and saw how lonely she was, he had instantly taken her under his wing. He brought her back to his home, he followed her around everywhere, and he adhered to most of her wishes.
While Luna could be counted as a special case, it showed Sirus' attitude towards strangers. If he could help even a little, he would.
Running through the streets, he left the slums and reached the nearby branch of the Healer's guild.
He left the woman there, after paying several gold coins for her treatment and lodging. Only then did his heart relax.
He walked through the streets for a while, waiting for Luna to return. He knew that she could find him anywhere, her senses were simply too good for her to miss him.
And indeed, after half an hour, a blood-soaked Luna appeared in front of him while he sat at a dock, staring out into the ocean.
It was obvious the blood wasn't hers. She had tried to clean herself slightly, but had given up and returned to Sirus, her face though to decipher.
"Welcome back, Luna..." Sirus said, not looking at her as he stared out into the ocean. His eyes were downcast, and his whole body somehow portrayed his deep sadness.
"I... kill them. I kill them all." Luna said, fidgeting in place. Sirus didn't move as he whispered, "I know..."
"I kill them. I kill family, I kill friends. I kill everything..." Luna said, her voice turning venomous. Sirus didn't say anything as he kept staring at god knows what.
"I kill them... For you. Please... No sad..." Luna said, finally breaking. She hugged Sirus' back as, for the first time in her life, tears came out of her eyes and she sobbed slightly.
Sirus shivered slightly at the feeling as he turned around and looked at Luna's face that was buried in his back. He sighed and brought her over to his lap, where he hugged her too.
"You... not mad?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Sirus shook his head and looked out into the wide ocean. "I'm not mad. I'm just... sad. It's not your fault..." He sighed.
Luna looked at him, his handsome face that looked out at the sunset made for a beautiful picture that gave Luna a strange feeling. It was like she wished she could somehow have this moment forever in her memory.
She didn't know what to say to him. She grasped his hands and leaned back into his chest, her head running at light speed to figure out what to do.
Eventually, a couple of minutes later, she finally found an idea. She had seen the Ravens do so before, and they had then seemed quite happy.
"... Sirus?" Luna asked. "Mm?" Sirus grunted softly. Reaching up with her head and facing him, she put her forehead on his.
"What... are you doing?" He asked, looking into her deep blue eyes. Before he could say anything, she reached forward and gave him a quick kiss.
He was stunned while Luna looked quite smug. Smiling, she put her head back on his chest and ignored his dumbfounded expression.
After a couple dozen seconds, Sirus' face turned redder than a tomato. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words.
Eventually, he gave up and wrapped his arms around the catkin that was resting on his chest. He had to make quite the effort to ignore the fact she was completely ruining his robe with all the blood on her, but seeing her sleepy expression, his heart could only soften.
They stayed like that for a long while. When the moon was already in the sky, Sirus carried Luna back to his father's mansion and deposited her on his bed while he went to shower.
Unknown to him, Luna had just caused a huge uproar in the slums. Although, even if he knew, he wouldn't care.