Running... Another set of running.

Isaiah ran like he had never before this night alone, and it seemed that the marathon hadn't ended yet,

'I must've lost like 100 pounds today.' He thought to himself as he looked around desperately.

Nicole and Isaiah had sprinted as quickly as they could, gone were the notion of heading east as they zigzagged their way around the trees in an effort to lose their pursuers. Nevertheless, the hair-raising shrills of the dogs constantly filled their thoughts with dread.

'My foot is dying!' Isaiah gritted his teeth as he endured the pain in his feet, it had swelled considerably after not being able to rest. Though he was able to gain some energy from the adrenaline rush he once more experienced, it was taking its toll on his body which was now demanding to sleep.

He was unable to think straight as all he could think of was the painful sensation on his foot and his rapidly sapping energy. It would be a miracle if he could still wake up tomorrow. Yet still, Isaiah ran as quickly as he could, trying to catch up to Nicole who was gaining distance over him. Whilst fighting against the urge to suddenly collapse, Isaiah's foot slipped onto uneven soil and he fell towards something wet.

Curious, Nicole looked back and here he found Isaiah falling towards a shallow swamp, frogs and all kinds of insects flying away from the commotion he made. She ran back to help him get up but then both noticed the tree in the middle of the swamp. The tree was tall and big, and underneath, its roots had sprouted out of the ground making a small space underneath the tree. It was dark enough that whoever was inside wouldn't be seen immediately.

"Should we?" He asked,

"Yeah... The smell here is strong... It should mask ours."

Isaiah then stepped into muddy waters. Though it felt horrible, stepping on the slimy-darkish ground on a burning foot, the prospect of being ripped to shreds by dogs spurred him on. Nicole followed behind, holding his shoulder for balance and support as the two navigated through the shallow swamp. Isaiah was tense as they crossed, he could feel something wriggling through his toes but was afraid to figure out what it was, however, after a few more seconds they were able to ford the swamp and land on a bed of dry ground.

Looking down, it was a miracle that both their legs were free from leeches and the like, though it was dirty. They quickly entered the space underneath, with its horrible smell and fly-infested location, and waited. Dogs soon passed through their eyes, followed by their masters carrying torches. They completely missed them and soon enough they were all gone, they didn't even bother checking the swamp, only moving away. Silence once more filled the place broken only by the sounds of frogs croaking.

"Thank God." Isaiah gasped as he collapsed to the ground. The place looked like it belonged to somebody but was now abandoned, however, the flies and the uneven terrain were very uncomfortable.

Nicole fell to her butt and leaned against the wall, catching her breath.

Silence then befell the place as Nicole tried to rest her head momentarily, though they wished to leave their bodies weren't that willing.

"Herr Peter." She turned around but to her surprise found Isaiah asleep, "Ohh."

She continued to stare at his face, unable to pull herself out of this strange trance. The face of her savior was rather plain and normal, it was different to the charming golden-haired prince charming with blue eyes in the many books she had read. But she would never mistake the fact that this man had gone ahead and helped her out even when he had no reason to do so.

'What a kind man.' She thought to herself.

The world had been unkind to her from the day she was born. She considered her life cursed due to the many misfortunes that she found herself in.

The Bismarcks are well known to always produce sons amongst their seed, rarely was there a daughter born, and thus when Nicole was born, she had already garnered the attention of many men who were wishing for a guaranteed son or an alliance with one of the most influential families in all of the Germanic Region, or perhaps to undermine the Bismarcks themselves with an assasination or two. This made her the target of many desperate and unsavory personalities and the many attempts for her had become more than one could count that she voluntarily imprisoned herself at her father's mansion, hoping to avoid any more trouble. And thus for ten years, not once did she step foot outside out of fear for her own safety.

But those ten years she spent inside made her yearn more and more to be able to see the world and its wonders. Through her private tutors and her friends who came to visit, she had heard of glowing reports about the places they had been and of the things they had seen. All this, Nicole wanted to see for herself, hence why when she heard that her brother was to be sent on an errand she had insisted to join him. She had hoped that perhaps the world had forgotten of her, that maybe everyone was much nicer, and that the past was just the past. But as she was soon to find out, misfortune reared its ugly head. The very reason why her father allowed her to leave in the first place, became the very reason as to why she found herself regretting ever stepping foot outside the mansion.

Eric the Titan had turned his sword against her knights and though they tried to resist, against an adventurer boasting the highest rank they stood not one chance. She understood all too well the difference between her and him, hence why she offered not one bit of resistance as she was being carried away and presented to Lord Caleb. His powerful glare robbed her of all her will.

But just as she had lost all hope suddenly, the tiny candle in her heart flared up as she saw a small band of slaves bust their way through, meeting their party. Was it perhaps by chance or not she knew, however amongst those rabble stood one man who fought against the giant and won. As she watched his eyes and strange magic she felt that maybe, just maybe,

'The world had grown kinder.'

With a flick of his hand, the soldiers were defeated and Titan himself fell to the ground. The tiny candle of hope within her heart burned ever so brightly that she instinctively leaped towards the man, hoping to catch his attention. Throughout her life, it was because of her instincts that she survived this far. Her instincts alerted her of an attack, or perhaps a poisoned dish, or even on her normal day-to-day life it was because of her uncanny ability to notice certain things that she made it out this far, and thus she trusted her own self.

'And now I am free...'

And as Isaiah fought against the guards, prevailed against Titan, and even defeated the assassin Nightstalker, she finally realized just how true her instincts proved itself once again. She realized that maybe, he could fulfill the one wish she had in her deepest of hearts.

The wish to see the world. To feel its beauty and wonders not through the overtly exaggerated words of a poet, but by her own two eyes. He had the strength to face her fears, and the kindness to help her without hesitation. As long as she follows behind him, she will be able to step out of the mansion and see the world. Hence why, as she stared at his calm face she couldn't help herself but slowly make her way closer to him. Though he stank of sweat from the swamp mixed with the cleaning agents from the mansion, he felt very secure near him. She wiped his face and found herself smiling without thought, then as if on a whim she kissed his forehead.

She quickly moved away and stared at his eyes with burning cheeks. But finding him deep asleep, she felt her embarrassment slowly flow away.

"Mmmm." She felt annoyed for some reason and wiped his forehead clean.

Then she slept at his side, her mind having completely forgotten their surroundings. Missing the pair of red goat-like eyes watching them from afar.

***

Isaiah was awoken by the heat irritating his foot. Just as he had predicted, he was unable to move much of his body. Yesterday's activities had now bared its full force on him as he painfully moved his hips around,

"God that hurts... Ohh."

Had it been pain he could've just endured it, but that tingling feeling made it more difficult to resist. He completely gave up and lay back down, with a heavy sigh he tasted his lips then turned and saw another woman sleeping beside him, he panicked momentarily before remembering what happened last night,

"Right... I didn't kidnap a girl, I just... Yeah..." He calmly looked at her sleeping face only to see her foot very sore, "That looks painful, but nothing I can do yet, she should be able to heal herself later... What now?"

He looked around and heard his stomach growl. All the running and fighting he went through last night was more exercise than he ever did in his whole life, and having eaten nothing but a single sip of that weird white gruel and some cockroach a while ago, his body was severely lacking in nutrients.

He turned to Nicole, hoping for her to wake up and get something to eat, being unable to move himself, but as he kept staring she kept snoring. Unable to wait any longer he embraced the tingling pain as he got up.

Together with his magic, he was able to leave the swamp.

...

He carefully placed all six fishes on a slab of stone he found outside. Thankfully, there was a river not too far from where they slept and he managed to catch fish by using his magic. Placing a bunch of sticks he found underneath, he then pointed his fingers at the sticks and lit it up with a tiny bolt. Not wanting to destroy everything, he tried multiple times using only very minimal mana, and soon enough, the sticks caught fire and the stone began to heat up.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

'Magic is easy.' He told himself whilst controlling the fire, wrapping it around the stone and the fishes. 'All I have to do is think of it and it just works.'

He was bothered by how incredibly easy his magic was to activate. All he needed to do was think of whatever he wanted to happen and then 'release' his mana. It was so easy that he was able to catch the fish by the river just by flicking his hands up whilst thinking of said fish. His lightning skill was easy to understand, but his manipulation proved to be his long-awaited cheat skill. This skill allowed him to control just about everything, from the statues and the ceiling to even fishes itself. Although it required some focus, the skill was without a doubt, a very powerful cheat.

This cheat of his did have a caveat, and that was that he would have headaches when used. At first, he thought that it would create headaches whenever he used the skill, but later on, he found out that it wasn't the case. He managed to activate manipulation on certain things and his head was clear of any pain. He tried to piece together what exactly was different from all those objects that would activate this weakness, but his thoughts were disturbed by the rumbling of his stomach.

'Sorry, sorry...' He patted himself as turned his eyes over to the fishes, grilling at the makeshift pan. With his fingers, he lifted one of the fish remotely, checking it from underneath, and found it to have been fried rather nicely, that said he started to go nervous. He rarely ate fish back on Earth and would even have difficulty identifying a tuna from a sardine if he ever saw one, but now, he was staring at six such creatures all with different colors and sizes.

The only reason that made him sure they were fishes was that their shapes looked identical to a fish, but knowing that some can be eaten whilst others cannot he found himself unable to dig in and eat the meal. Thus, he decided to wait for Nicole to wake up and give her thoughts on the matter as she may be able to tell the differences.

'Ohh...' Just as Isaiah was thinking of her, she finally yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She blankly looked around like a rabbit and found her foot wrapped in leaves and cleaned.

"Good morning." Isaiah greeted first,

Nicole replied late, "Guten Morgen." She then launched a fury of German words that Isaiah couldn't understand. Nicole looked at Isaiah and waited for his reply and the two were drowned in silence for a while,

"Sorry, but what do you mean?"

"Aah, forgive me... I, I thought you were a native."

"Is okay." Isaiah waved his hand once, 'And here I thought I actually had a translation skill... Why oh why does life not give me convenience.' He shook his head and saw Nicole examining her foot,

"Did you do this?"

"Yes... I saw a wounded deer rubbing itself on this, so I thought it might help."

"I see..." She then rubbed her thumb on the leaf and smelled it, "An Amora... It's good you got the Romada variant and not the poisonous Gilead, they don't exactly heal wounds but they do ease the pain... Thank you," She nodded before her eyes landed on the fish, "Is that breakfast?"

"Yes... I was waiting for you to wake up actually I don't know which of them is edible or not..."

Nicole crawled towards the fire and began to scan the fish, "I... Forgive me but I too am not sure,"

"Aah..."

"But..." She picked one out that looked more edible than others, "I don't think river fishes are dangerous to eat, as long as they are not the long ones they are relatively good, it's all about taste..." She rubbed her fingers on the fish and found them unscalled, she however didn't complain and instead took a piece of its meat and removed the skin presenting it to Isaiah before continuing her reply "About how many bones are there and the size of their meat," She then ate the whitish meat she picked up and her face showed that it was alright.

Isaiah nodded silently as he picked out a fish that looked edible and ate it as she did, removing the skin and eating only the white meat inside. But the silence which ensued was too demeaning for him to handle and thus, trying to engage in small talk, he asked, "By the way, what did you tell me just a while ago?"

"Ah... That?" She lowered her head, "I was just saying, about my foot, and... And," She turned her head slightly to Isaiah, "Forgive me, but I was asking if you touched me at night or not?"

"What... No... No, I didn't..."

"I know." She replied, "I was... Nevermind."

"..." Isaiah remained silent, he didn't know just how to reply to her words and decided to remain silent throughout the meal.

Having rested awhile, both Nicole and Isaiah then scanned their surroundings, having left the swamp and taken shelter near one of the trees.

"I don't see anything at all... Maybe we are safe?"

"That might be, but where do we go?" Nicole asked.

"Well... East as you said? We can meet up with this associate of yours,"

"Father's." She corrected before continuing, "That said, I doubt we might be able to, the guards had left towards east, I believe they would be waiting in ambush for us."

"I can fight them,"

"No... You've done enough. It's best if we rest, you don't look so good... There. We can walk towards the forest in that direction until we see a road, then we can rush towards lord Steiner's lands and seek refuge in the cities or villages... Maybe we can even meet my brother on the way..."

"Why didn't we head there in the first place?"

"The main road. I believe it's safer now, the guards would be more occupied with looking at places the slaves might try to escape that they would leave places they won't, unguarded. Hiding in plain sight." She grinned, "Now then, shall we go?"

Isaiah stared at her,

"Yes?" Nicole found herself blushing lightly from his looks,

"You... You are different from last night?"

"Ah... Well, you don't know where to go, and like, I do, so... So I decided to take the lead."

"Aah, right... Well, I wasn't talking about that... You know what, lets just go."

Their trip north was uneventful and they soon found themselves out of the forest and into a long clearing where a packed-clay road was laid. They followed after the road but when the sun above became unbearably hot, they returned to the trees, sheltering themselves from the heat whilst keeping sight of the highway as they moved. Both remained silent as they had no water supply. Even though he no longer had to run, the taxing march still took its toll on his body and they had to rest every now and then.

"I feel bad." Isaiah gasped as he closed his eyes,

"Why?"

"I... I am too weak for long distances. Sorry for slowing us down."

"It's alright," Nicole replied, she too was equally tired but not as tired as Isaiah was, "You just lack exercise is all."

Isaiah wasn't too sure if that was an attack or just something she said without care as her face remained aloof.

Once again, they resumed their march and just as the sky was getting colder, Nicole stopped and pointed onwards, "Horses, men riding them..."

Isaiah tried to squint his eyes but all he saw was the vast emptiness of the highway ahead, "Let's get a closer look then?" Isaiah asked and she readily agreed. As they walked a few more kilometers, Isaiah soon noticed a small unit of horsemen, one of whom was carrying a banner whose symbol he could not distinguish.

"I can't exactly tell..."

"That... The family crest!"

"Which family?"

"Ours, I mean, mine... That's Ervin."

"Ervin?"

"My brother... He... He is here, there, over there the one with silver hair that's him!" She pointed to a certain rider who unlike others did not wear any headgear, the man was busy speaking to another soldier. Nicole soon ran away, so excited she must have been that she forgot about Isaiah who stood back at the forest.

'I see...' He told himself and continued to look, only when he had confirmed her safety would he turn back.

There was a reason he gave his second name instead to Nicole, and that was because Isaiah was aiming for her hand. However, she was a noble. And nobles really care about one's background so much, meanwhile, Isaiah has a very dubious background. If he ever wanted to have a remote chance of getting to marry her, then he would need to build up his credentials first.

First, he would need to remove his slave status. Then he would have to build up a reputation.

He already had the power to achieve his goals, now he only needed the means. And there was only one place in a fantasy world where those two could be easily achieved.

'Adventuring guild.' He told himself, 'I have good magic, I just need to go there first and then make myself some stacks.'

He may even meet other women he would grow to like, who knows? But first things first, he has to get stronger and richer, then once he finally has the standings that a noble would go green in envy for, he will find her back,

'Alto von Bismarck,' He commited her father's name to memory, 'I shall return!'

***

Attua looked over the sky with his slanted eyes, though the sun's rays were hot and bright he showed not one bit of concern as he watched the hawk which flew above him in a circle. To his side, Ervin von Bismarck, heir apparent of Duke Alto and Nicole's brother, sat on his horse with his eyes turned to his right closely examining the caravan that was slowly making its way to the highway.

"Attua? Any news." Ervin asked as he noticed him look down,

"It seems so," The man replied as he pointed his hand north-west, "Stahl seems to have found something over at that direction,"

"Are you sure?" Mammon, a large man came over with his arms crossed, the massive sword on his back was nearly as long as he was as tall, "We've been scaring the poor merchants and travelers around here as we come to them all armed..."

"I told you to leave the others behind..." Hansel, a young blonde knight looked over at the band of 50 knights as their escort, "That doesn't look friendly to those people you know."

"Nothing we can do about it, lord Ervin here is the heir to the family, and we are, after all, in lord Azerback's territory. Though the war had ended 20 years ago, there are small skirmishes happening here and there." Mammon removed his helmet and rubbed his forehead, "That said Prince Ervin, are we going to have to fight against Titan? Your father is generous, sure, but I cannot spend all my salary if I just die."

"Whereabouts your loyalty now?" Hansel crossed his arm,

"Loyalty is good and all but dying for someone else is a different matter."

"Don't call me prince," Ervin quickly replied, "Secondly, as long as I get my sister back there is no need to fight against him. I appreciate the concern Hansel but it is indeed true, I'd rather have you all alive than dead."

"As God wills it." Gama came over with both his hands folded as if in prayer. His white and green priestly garment was adorned with a rosary while a simple scepter hung on his back, "I have already offered my life to the Almighty, if I have to fight and die, then I fight and die."

The priest's words made them all silent as they looked at him with weird eyes, though he was subjected to such looks he nevertheless maintained his calm smile and instead pointed to his left, "As the Lord says, lady Nicole will arrive from the left,"

"Aah..." Hansel raised his hands in a shrug, "You and your god, again... How many times do I have to tell you,"

"Hold on..." Attua stopped the young knight as he looked up, "Stahl..."

They all looked up and saw the hawk suddenly fly over to their left, it was there they saw someone running towards them out of the forest,

"Nicole..." Attua gasped as they all squinted their eyes to look, he happened to possess the keenest senses of them all. Hansel turned to Gama with a shocked face,

"As the Lord wills it," Gama spoketo the baffled Hansel, "But it seems that we might have to fight against the large Knight now do we?"

"Right..." Mammon took out his sword as they prepared for battle, "Let's go get the lady and scamper off..."

***

"My lady, it is so good to see you all safe," Mammon quickly unfurled his cape and handed it over to Nicole who covered herself, Hansel and Gama took up the spot in front of them with their weapons poised and ready.

"Herr Mammon, my brother where is he?"

"Here..." Ervin replied with a flat voice, though his eyes were full of concern his face showed not one bit of his emotions, "That said, is Titan after you?"

"Brother? No... He, he is defeated by... Huh? Nicole looked back and couldn't see Isaiah, she began to frantically look everywhere but found no trace of him "Where... Where is he?"

"He, my lady?" Mammon asked,

"Yes... Herr Peter, he was here with me..."

"This Peter, was he who helped you escape?"

"Yes. He even killed an assassin chasing after us and managed to best Titan in battle!"

"What!" Hansel yelped, "Sur-surely you jest."

"Oh no... He really did,"

"Then if he did..." Hansel gritted his teeth, "Should we go look for him then?"

"No need..." Ervin replied, "There are a lot of Peters in this region, a man who beat Titan and calls himself Peter, its clear he doesn't want to be known."