It has been more than half an hour since we departed with this man named ‘Axel’. Ever since he entered the carriage, he has been quiet except after thanking me for offering my good will.

At the moment, he has been sitting very still with his eyes closed. Although still, he looks more like stiff.

“Is he sleeping?” I asked Elma who is sitting beside me.

“It must be some kind of meditation? I don’t know. Holy Knights have weird habits I suppose?” she replied unsurely.

He has been doing this kind of “meditation” for a while now. Although it’s good that he’s not causing trouble, but it’s very unnerving for him not to speak. I know from the back of my mind that he’s doing something. I just can’t figure it out!

Minutes have passed again, yet he is not showing any signs of engaging into conversations or look like he’s open to one. To be honest, I’m starting to get annoyed by this.

“Mister… Axel, was it? Are you awake?” Elma suddenly asked.

Although it was kind of out of the blue, it was a perfect chance to break the awkward silence.

As he opens his eyes slowly, he says “yes” with lazy eyes.

“If I may ask, where are you from? You seemed to have walked pretty far half an hour ago.”

“I had some business on the nearby town. I was waiting for someone, but they never arrived so I decided to leave.”

After answering, he closes his eyes again like nothing noteworthy happened. He doesn’t look like he cares about our presence at all!

However, Elma seems to hate the silence and pressed on with another question.

“Was the person you were waiting a woman?”

Because of her question, Axel suddenly moved and crosses his arms while looking like he’s thinking about it.

“Well, the letter said that it was a woman.”

“Huh? You were supposed to be out on a date?!”

Where did that come from, Elma!? That’s just rude of you as my maid!

Because of what she said, I had to pinch her side strong enough to make her twist her body in pain.

“I’m sorry for my maid’s rudeness, Sir Axel.”

“What is a ‘date’?” he asked curiously.

Because of his question, Elma and I froze into silence in surprise—shock. I mean, it’s a common knowledge among people! Why does he not know of such!?

“Did I say something weird?”

Before I answered, I tried to calm my breathing and my smile from breaking from the surprise. “T-that’s actually a common knowledge.”

“I see. You must be a local here then since you know of it.”

“No, no, no, no. It’s a common knowledge everywhere.”

Although there’s none, his cluelessness makes me imagine that there are question marks floating above his head. He looks genuinely unknown to such a simple thing.

When I said it was “common knowledge”, he holds his chin while looking genuinely thinking about it very deeply. It’s nothing serious, but he seems to be thinking differently.

“Is this ‘date’ thing important?”

Looking at how oblivious he is, I can see why the woman abandoned him. I admit that he doesn’t look bad—above average I suppose. But his lack of facial expression would make any girl turn away from him.

“Well, if the other party is romantically interested, this is a major problem for you.”

“Romantically interested, like marriage?” he clarified.

Because of what he said, I can’t help but feel embarrassed and look away. “W-well, they end up there quite often.”

Although he’s speaking of quite sensitive topics, he doesn’t seem fazed by it at all. As a matter of fact, he seems oblivious that it’s embarrassing!

“So what you’re saying is that, I have to go back to this ‘date’ you’re speaking of because it might ruin someone’s marriage?”

“No! I meant yours!”

When I corrected him, he becomes confused with his eyebrows furrowed. How dense is this guy?

“Do you have any idea what romance is?” I asked him out of irritation.

“Unfortunately, no, I was not taught anything related to it.”

UNBELIEVABLE! Just who is this man? How it is possible for a person to not know the concept of romance is?

Just when I was about to speak, he quickly turns his head and suddenly kicked the door breaking it into pieces. But before Elma and I could react, a bright colourful circle of light shines in front of us from his open palms and in the next moment, an explosion occurs from the other side of the circle wall.

The explosion was so strong that it shook the air and riled up the horses. Thankfully, the coachman was skilful in handling the horses and controlled their running.

“What was that!?” Elma panicked.

Without any change in his expression, he stands by the broken door while holding on what’s left of it. “I forgot that there will be a change of Warders today.” He said while looking out the door.

“What do you mean?"

“It means that demons can slip into this territory for a short time.”

Just when he said that, a large object—creature appeared in front of him—beside our carriage. It was a giant mouth with countless teeth. No eyes, no ears, no nose, just a giant mouth.

It was an incarnation of fear. Elma and I could only hug each other while cowering in fear. We saw our lives flash before our eyes as the Demon’s countless teeth gets closer and closer to us.

However, Sir Axel remains unfazed.

“Blessed Steel of the Divine,”

I didn’t quiet hear his voice, but it sounded like he offered some sort of prayer while standing in front of the demon. After that, he jumps into the demon’s mouth without any sort of weapon—or so I thought.

As he was about to land on the countless teeth, he pulls back his right arm and clasped something on the air.

It was only for an instant, but I was able to see that he held something really tight that veins became visible on his hand.

Immediately, he thrusts the same arm into the mouth of the demon without any change of facial expression.

“<>”

In an instant, the Demon disappears like getting purified into the air like it didn’t existed.

Elma and I were so shocked that we couldn’t react on time. Thankfully because the coachman stopped the carriage, we realized that we have left Sir Axel on the road after he killed the demon.

We immediately run out of the carriage and towards Sir Axel while looking around if the demon was still there.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Did you kill it?” I asked while feeling shaken.

“Yes. It was a Spirit Demon of Fire and Earth. It leaves no trace when purified.” He said while caressing the land below him.

“I thought we were going to die!” Elma cried in relief while dropping on her knees.

“It was the weakest of the weakest of demons.” Sir Axel offered her a hand.

Then, for some reason, he looks at me and approaches me. After that, he touches my forehead and raised my bangs while making a slightly concerned expression.

“You’re cut.” He said.

“It must be from a splinter from the door!” I panicked.

Now that he pointed it out, it suddenly stings and itches. I tried to pull out a handkerchief to cover it. However, he grabs my hand that was about to pull out the cloth.

“I was told that a lady’s skin must be clean and clear of cuts. I’ll heal it with magic.” He insisted.

Before I could react, all of a sudden, I could feel my forehead getting healed. The healing magic feels like getting caressed by a high quality silk, smooth and relaxing.

“Thank you.”

I touch my forehead to see if there was any blood. But as expected, there was none and it felt very clean.

While I was still basking in awe of what just transpired, I didn’t notice that there was a person that appeared out of nowhere.

“There was a Spirit Demon that slipped into our temporary defensive line.” The unknown person informed Axel.

“It was here, but I killed it.” He answered while giving the person a fist full of dirt. “It was an earth spirit.” He added.

I thought it was some kind of joke, but the unknown person accepted it and put it under his shirt. Immediately after that, he suddenly disappears like air.

“It seems that I have to escort you to a safe place.” He said while looking around us.

After what he said, we were made to hurry into the carriage and let the coachman drive the carriage at top speed into the trees ahead of us.

It didn’t take more than half an hour before we could see the end of the tunnel of trees. During our passage through the trees, we encountered a few demon spirits that came out of nowhere. Thankfully, Sir Axel was there to kill them.

I was surprised by the fact that he never stopped running and kept running around our carriage to protect us. Are all Holy Knights like him?

“Are we almost out of the forest?” I asked the coachman.

“Yes, just please hold on tight.”

As Elma and I hold unto things to keep us from jumping off our chairs, more and more demons come out from the darkness like an endless swarming. All we could do was to wait and pray for our safety.

Though scary, I looked outside the door where I could see Sir Axel running beside our carriage while jumping at the demons trying to attack us. After a few moments, he jumps into the carriage and flicked his arm like forcibly whipping out the stress of his arm.

“Everything’s under control. We are also near the institute so you can rest easy now.” He said while massaging his right arm from shoulder to hand.

Just like he said, the demons have stopped attacking us and aren’t appearing anymore.

I have no idea what is happening, but it seems like it’s a common occurrence just by looking at his face. He seems used to it.

“Are you alright?” I offered him my handkerchief.

He looked at the towel like it was something he saw for the first time. But after a second, he takes it, but wipes my cheek instead. It was so sudden that I couldn’t react immediately!

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“I thought you wanted me to wipe the sweat off your face.”

His cluelessness was genuine. He didn’t know what I meant when I offered him my handkerchief. Still, he continues to wipe off the sweat from my face that I didn’t notice before.

“BEHIND YOU, SIR!” screamed Elma.

But before I could see the demon behind sir Axel, he clenches is fist and in one rotation, he punches the demon out of the carriage. The punch was so strong that the demon got smashed and disappeared without a trace.

“Thank you.” He said to Elma.

Although being fully aware that she’s still in her twenties, she’s making a face of a maiden falling for a man. Geez, Elma. We don’t know how old he is.

Then all of a sudden, light enters the carriage.

It appears that we finally have come out of the trees. At the same time, I could see Sir Axel’s shoulders relax and he seems to have lowered his guard.

“We’ve arrived.” He said while standing still on the carriage door.

I peek out from the window on the other side of the carriage. And there, I finally saw it, the place where Holy Knights are raised and trained; Clantara Holy Knights Institute.

Tall walls of cobblestone bricks, an open training ground with archer targets and dummy warriors, and even a temple could be seen from the at the mountain side not too far from the main building.

While we continue forward to such amazing place, I notice that there are young men and women coming out of the same forest looking tired and exhausted. Some are even injured with light cuts and bruises.

It seems that the battle against the demons wasn’t just around us. That’s weird. This place is supposed to be the safest part of this territory. Why are there so many demons that came out?

While I was thinking of such, I noticed that there’s a woman riding a horse and is coming towards us.

She wears full armour but without the helmet. She doesn’t seem to carry weapons either so I guess she’s here to welcome us.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?”

My expectation of being welcomed got thrown out the window by her loud and angry voice. Although her face is one of the beautiful I’ve seen in my life, her angry face sent chills down my spine.

However, her anger seems to be not directed to me, but to Sir Axel?

Without waiting for the carriage to stop, Sir Axel jumps out and approaches the woman on a horse.

“I was sent out as a substitute escort, ma’am.” He said respectfully.

The woman unmounts the horse and walks towards Sir Axel. And all of a sudden, she slaps him across the face so hard with her armoured hand; his cheeks got cuts and bled. Because of what she did, I couldn’t help but jump out of the carriage as well and ran towards him.

“Wait! What are you doing?!” I stand in front between him and her. However, because of my rash actions, I made a terrible decision of standing in front of her.

Just with her eyes alone, I could feel heavy weighs dropping on my shoulders and felt like cold water got poured down my back. She gives off a bloodlust of a true warrior that has been to countless battlefields.

“You. Who are you?” she asked in an authoritative tone.

“M-m-my name is, C-Claire E-Elroy, 3rd daughter of Baron Victor Elroy.”

I couldn’t help but let my tone shake, but I managed to fix it half-way. She is just too scary for me! B-but, I can’t cower here!

“Enough about me! Why did you slap Sir Axel? He didn’t do anything wrong!” I yelled at her.

Before talking, she crosses her arms and her eyebrow rose in annoyance. “He didn’t do anything wrong?” she parroted.

“Yes! He didn’t do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, he saved me and my companions!”

Maybe it was because of what I said, Sir Axel suddenly got sent flying to the air while he spat out blood from the sheer force of the woman’s kick that suddenly disappeared in front of me. It happened all too fast that I couldn’t comprehend how it happened!

“So he saved you, huh.”

Her tone was cold, but carried so much anger that I couldn’t help but hold my breath from the fear that suddenly chocked me.

Just when Sir Axel landed hard to the ground, the woman picks him up by the throat and then kneed him in the gut.

“This is your mistake!” after yelling that, she slams him to the ground so hard he left a mark.

I have no idea what’s happening right now, but she looks like she’s about to kill him! I couldn’t help but cry at how brutal she’s treating him.

“W-wait, what did he do wrong!?” I cried out.

With her foot stepping and grinding his cheek, she looks at me with really mad eyes.

“If he didn’t leave his post, we wouldn’t have to battle so many demons that come out at this time of the day! If he didn’t go out, your life wouldn’t be in danger! Everything that happened today is his entire fault!” she exclaimed in pure rage.

Then after that, she clenches her fist and pulls back her left arm. For some reason, I could see the glove suddenly starting to glow with white light. I don’t know what that is, but it feels very dangerous.

“Wait!”

“Force Arte, <>!”

As I run towards her, she drops her fist down towards Sir Axel who isn’t at the least resisting. He just stayed there lying on the ground like a living corpse.

But just when her fist could land on his face, all of a sudden, the woman got blown away from Axel like the wind itself exploded in front of her.

While mid-air, the woman makes an acrobatic action and fixes her posture and then lands perfectly on the ground with a battle ready stance.

“Lorene, calm down.”

Looking at where the voice came from, I could see a woman walking towards us. She wore a pure white dress and held a silver staff with crystal ornaments on one hand and magical circles were on her right. Her chest was bountiful, and her lips were red like fresh blood. Her legs long legs peeked out from the slit of her dress and it felt very intimidating. Just by walking, she was radiating with an aura of unparalleled beauty and intelligence.

She stood next to Sir Axel and then crouched to touch his cheek.

“I am so sorry.” She said with a tone filled with sadness.

“Why are you apologizing to him, Arsine? He’s the one at fault here!” the woman complained.

The woman looks at me with an expression looking for help. When I realized that she did, I ran towards her and picked up Sir Axel who has lost consciousness. Elma also came and helped me too.

“It was my idea to let him leave his post.” She announced.

Because of what she said, the woman got surprised and made a face of disbelief.

“You’re lying! You of all people wouldn’t try to hurt the new knights.”

“I made him leave his post because I want him to expand the world he knows. And also, I wanted to train the new knights and healers we have by letting them fight weak demons.”

“Endangering them is out of the question! They’ll run away if you scare them like that.”

“Endangering? So are you not confident on your own training regime?”

With just words, the woman in armor got pushed back and received mental blows. However, it seems the woman in dress wasn’t done yet.

“May I remind you, Lorene. We are training knights, not raising kids. They may be sons and daughters from prestigious noble houses, but here, they are soldiers. They are meant to do battle.”

The woman in armor received such a strong blow that she made an expression like she’s chewing a bitter bug. She turns around in silence and mounted her horse. After that, she gallops away towards the wounded knights with her damaged pride.

On the other hand, the woman in dress seemed a little regretful of what she did.

She then rushes towards us and helps us put Axel into the carriage. Her face was fully of worry while looking at his wounded face. “You poor thing.” She murmured.

For some reason, she enters the carriage with us too. Elma and I didn’t know how to react to her casual action, especially not after how she fended off that barbaric woman.

While looking at us, she makes a smile like she was genuinely amused.

“May I know what your name is?” she politely asked.

Because it was all too sudden, I couldn’t react immediately and panicked. “I-I’m Claire Elroy, 3rd daughter of Baron Victor Elroy.”

“Hmm, I see. So, is it true that he protected you?” she probed.

“Yes. Along the way, a demon appeared out of nowhere and he protected us.”

“Did you ask to be helped?”

“No, he did it at his own volition. But we didn’t know there was a demon until it attacked.”

After I gave her a full answer, she makes a warm smile while caressing Sir Axel’s hair. Her smile looked like a mother’s smile.

“You did well, Axel.”

-End of Chapter 2-