"Who are you...?"

Though Stella could barely see the finer details of this superhero, she could see his shape perfectly due to the moonlight. At first glance, it looked Human, though she was already familiar with the Human-looking Ogres, that didn't mean much.

The figure's loud laughter reverberated through the mushroom forest.

"What a wonderful question!" The superhero said in his cheesy voice.

Then he started... making a pose? His right arm was stretched to the side, his left hand was clenched, his knees were slightly bent, and his feet shifted to the left.

What the hell was going on?

To top it all off, the hero began giving a speech. "I spend days and nights protecting this queendom!"

The hero changed his pose in a split second. His right fist was gloriously raised in the sky! "Defending these oppressed people from the shadows of history!"

Then he put his left hand on his hip and pointed at Stella. "Tasked to find people like you!"

The girl didn't like the implications of this last sentence. Though she preferred to remain in blind optimism.

The hero steadied his feet, and his two hands rested on his hip. "I am!"

Just as fast as last time, he made an overly complicated pose like it was the easiest thing in the world. One foot on the ground, and the other extended behind his body. It looked like a ballet move.

"The shining sun that keeps everyone safe!"

Another pose. Still with one leg, but the other was recoiled this time. The hero's right hand was clutched on his chest, and his left arm was extended upwards, like some weird Spanish dance move.

"The moonlight that pierces through the darkness!"

Then he started making dance routines with jumps, twirls and flips. Most of it was outside Stella's field of view, making the girl wonder what the point of this show was.

The mushroom's stem bent left and right with the hero's movements. Stella was concerned that the fungus would eventually break and fall on her.

Finally, the hero stopped at the edge of the mushroom, standing still and resolute. The fungus was dangerously bent in the girl's direction, similar to when someone climbs a palm tree too high.

His cape graciously flowed in the cold breeze, and his voice cut through the nocturnal silence. "I! AM!"

The hero was about to finish his speech when the mushroom suddenly obeyed the laws of physics, moved back in place, and threw him out of balance.

Stella's eyes widened when she noticed the heroic comet coming at her! He desperately flailed his arms and screamed as he was closer to the ground by the second!

The girl jumped back, just in time to not be crushed. The hero crashed on the ground, creating a violent tremor and a thin cloud of dust, which made the Human cover her eyes.

When the dust settled, her eyes immediately went to where the hero fell, only to start chuckling. A comically humanoid-shaped hole appeared on the site of impact.

Stella tried to hold her chuckle, feeling a little shitty for finding amusement in the pain of others, but man... That was funny as hell.

Her expression went 180° when she heard a loud sigh from the hole. Followed by the hero flipping the hell outta there! He jumped from the crater to a few meters behind Stella, making her jaw drop.

Goofy accident aside, the girl found the unaffected hero, standing high and proud with his golden cape, pretty cool.

After five seconds of silence, the superhero cleared his throat and twirled his body until he faced the Human girl.

Now Stella could see the hero's outfit in detail. He wore silver armor plates on his chest, arms, shoulders, and legs. His abs and his crotch was covered in a dark blue spandex. Silver gloves and boots protected his hands and feet, and he had a golden belt with a silver buckle of a dragon head. The belt contained a bunch of tiny pockets on it, like how Batman handles his gadgets.

The most calling detail was on his helmet. It was silver with a golden emblem similar to the belt buckle on his forehead and some golden lines around the black visor.

Speaking of, a couple of blue dots came from the visor. They looked like eyes for the girl, and maybe that was the intention behind the design.

But there was no time to focus on that because the hero resumed the ending of his speech. "I AM!"

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His left leg was raised, and his right leg supported his weight. His left hand was stretched diagonally, while his right was stretched in Stella's direction. His index finger was pointing directly at her.

Now that Stella thought about it, it was closer to the crane stance she saw in a movie about a karate kid.

"THE SILVER KNIGHT!" He shouted proudly.

Stella was... unresponsive. How would she even react to this? It was so out of left field! She was until now fighting some fairytale creatures, then hours later, she found a fucking Power Ranger!

Apparently, this knight was waiting for a reaction from her. When it dawned on him that that wouldn't happen, he awkwardly reverted to a regular posture.

His "eyes" widened. A drawing of a drop of sweat appeared beside each of them. "O-Oh! Did my sheer heroic aura intimidate you that much, Human?!" Then they closed, with furrowed eyebrows above them. "Not a surprise, of course!"

These "emoticons" seemed to change according to the hero's feelings. Stella kept paying attention to them, wondering if this was magic or technology.

The Silver Knight's fake eyes widened again with raised pseudo eyebrows. "But don't be afraid!" He puffed his chest, raised his left index finger, and put his right hand on his hip. "For I, The Silver Knight, am here for the safety of everyone who resides in the queendom of Sayama!" He pointed at Stella. "Including you!"

But then his visor produced a more serious expression, with narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows again. "Unless you're here for evil purposes! Then we're gonna have a problem!" However, his goofy voice completely botched any attempt at intimidation.

His subsequent sentence made clear that this threat wasn't serious whatsoever. "But this is not your case, right?"

Stella was still processing all of this. After a few seconds, she's finally able to answer. "N-Nah, man. I'm here in peace." She held out her hands in a placating gesture.

The knight crossed his arms. "That's great! I assume your mind is filled with questions about our quaint little queendom, right?"

Stella scratched the back of her head. "That is an understatement." Then her eyes widened when she remembered the reason she was even here. "Wait! You are from the Dragon's Guard, right?!"

The hero puffed his chest even more. "That's right! You already heard of our greatness, I presume?"

The girl was getting fed up with this guy's shtick. "Look, dude. My friend needs rescuing. She's a Wolf, and her name is-"

The guard interrupted her when he heard the W word. "Lien?! That's her name?!"

Stella was at a lack of words. How the hell did that guy know that?

The hero seemed to pick up on the Human's confusion. "You see, I have rescued that girl many times!" He went to grab something on his utility belt. "So many times that she made me invent the 'Special Silver Rescuee Card'!" He picked a silver piece of paper.

He scribbled something on the card with a pen he picked from another pocket. Then he approached the girl and gave the card to her. "You can have it! One more rescue from me, and you will get a pego ice cream!"

The card had a cute sketch of the Knight with a cutesy emoticon on his visor, giving a thumbs up. It also had about ten spots to be filled with a checkmark. One already was marked.

When she flipped it, it had a list of the rewards you would get with a specific number of checkmarks. With two, the girl would get a pego ice cream.

Stella didn't know what the hell a "pego" was.

The hero elaborated more. "I am her mother's coworker!" His tone of voice became a tad less intense. "Well, kind of." Then it was back to normal. "Regardless! I have her mother on speed dial! So it really facilitates things."

He rested his hands on his hips. "Actually, I was here in search of Lien." Then he gestured at Stella with outstretched hands. "But then I found you! Fate has clearly favored you, Human!"

If this guy knew what she was up to these last few hours, he would immediately retract that statement. The girl couldn't catch a break! Ogres, giants, that annoying fox snake, whatever she was. It was a mess.

"I guess..." She spoke with a sigh. "But you should get going, though. Who knows what that fu- I mean, that giant is doing to her?" Stella felt she should hold back her insults in front of an adult. Though that guy could be a toddler for all she knew.

The hero stopped for a few seconds to absorb what the girl said. "Giant, huh? Did you come from the Ganvi Woods?"

The Human raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, man. Is this place where there's a bunch of old men that are not old men, and their skyscraper of a dad?"

The guard nodded. "Indeed, it seems like you and Lien caught the attention of a troublesome group." He laughed. "Nothing that would pose a problem for me, of course!"

This man's bravado was something else.

However, something was still in Stella's mind. It felt like a dumb question, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?

"So..." The girl shuffled her feet anxiously. "Is Lien fine? I mean, does she have any risk of..." She couldn't bring herself to say the D word. "Getting hurt?"

He shook his head dismissively. "No worries! The Jólasveinarnir may command the Ganvi Woods, but they're still bound by the law. Killing a young Monoke, especially the daughter of a guard, would bring them more trouble than it's worth."

Well, that was a fucking relief. A huge weight lifted off Stella's shoulders.

However... something didn't feel quite right for the Human. But why? Everything was going to be dandy! This Silver Knight would rescue Lien, and then she would be safe.

But something still bothered her...

Her line of thought was severed by the knight's words. "There's a problem, though. My primary mission is to find any Human that enters the forest and escort them to the queen's castle."

Oh no... He wasn't saying what Stella was thinking he was saying, was he?

Now try to quickly say that three times fast.

Damn it! I forgot I can't hear you!

Oh well...

The hero continued. "Unless... I go rescue Lien, and YOU follow me in this endeavor!" He pointed his thumb at himself.

His left "eye" winked. "Think of that as a loophole."

Then, something finally clicked in Stella's mind. What bothered her so much was that she wasn't the one to do the saving! After everything Lien had done for the Human, she would be saved by another person... That didn't feel right.

Stella had to do something to return the favor, and the perfect opportunity was in her grasp!

The Human clutched her right fist and put on a confident smile. "Say no more, dude! I'm in!"

The hero looked at her with wide circles for eyes, then he made a hearty laugh. "I see! You have the courage and a strong sense of loyalty to be admired! The qualities of a defender of justice!

The hero put a hand on his hip and pointed at the Ganvi woods in the distance. "We shall return to the Ogres' territory! Lien must be taken hostage in their lair by now!"

He took a few steps, taking the lead in their upcoming journey. He turned his head at Stella. "Are you ready?"

The Human felt great at that moment. She will not only find a new companion on her journey through Sayama, but she also will make up to the friend she wronged.

Her determination flared up, ignoring her previous fatigue. She bumped her right fist into her chest. "Lead the way, hero!"