Hearing the noble’s name, “Sir John”, Roy took a deep breath and stared with cold eyes at Marth.
“Why, what happened with him?”
The captain had a look of horror on his face as he recounted the events that transpired. “When the monsters first appeared, we were stationed in front of the village hall. We kept fighting those beasts and they kept coming as if there is no end to them. Naturally, as the hours passed, some of us were able to kill ten and awaken. Once we did, our power increased by leaps and bounds. Each awakened knight could do the job of ten normal men.”
As the story progressed, Marth gritted his teeth. “When sir John saw how powerful those who killed ten goblins had become, he also wanted to awaken. But, rather than fighting the monsters, he wanted to take the easy and safe road.”
“Did he start killing people?” Roy’s cold stare morphed into one of contempt and disgust.
“He started executing villagers and guards for the most trivial of reasons. There was this one guy who looked at him the wrong way and he killed him. There was this little girl that couldn’t clap for long enough after his speech, and he had his guys execute her and her family. Soon, he and his lackeys had all awakened.”
As Marth talked and reminisced about the little girl, he pursed his lips together and looked down. He paused for a second before taking a deep breath and looked at Roy. “The most damned thing of all was that their awakening was not normal. It’s as if the heavens were rewarding them for the blood they spilled. When sir John killed the three men, a red and ghastly aura covered him. It was so dense and suffocating that we could barely breathe.”
Listening to Marth’s description, Roy's mind flashed back to the red aura of the giant monster. If John’s power were the same, then he would be a terrifying opponent to fight against—especially if his subordinates also had the same aura.
As Marth finished recounting all of the events that happened, Roy scratched his chin. “I would have liked to say that I am surprised by this turn of events, but sadly I cannot. What can be expected from someone who would scheme and betray people he had personally invited.”
Marth looked down in shame at Roy’s words, while the latter clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Thinking about the noble John, earl of the Kasperian estate, reminded him of how they were invited to be personally pardoned thanks to their good deeds in protecting and serving the village. Instead, they were captured and framed for crimes they did not commit.
As the silence endured between the two, Marth took a deep breath and asked Roy, "I know I shouldn't be asking you this, but can we work together? You guys are strong, and we're no chumps either, we can protect so many more lives if we fight together."
Roy wryly smiled at Marth's proposition. "You know, I really like you, but your people already fucked us over. They fucked us over so hard. I-" Roy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before continuing after a few seconds of silence. "You know what, sure. Just promise me that you'll listen to what we say and we should have no problem."
Marth chuckled, "As long as it's not stupid or insane, we have no problem with that."
"Don't worry, my name is not John." Roy shook his head. "And if it's a stupid order, I would hope that you tell me that to my face."
"That's a given," Marth smiled.
Just as the knight captain was about to go back to the villagers, Roy gestured to him, "Tell them that we're going to Roger's house. It's pretty big."
"Okay," Marth nodded. "Thank you for that."
With their discussion finished, Marth joined up with his group of knight before going back to the villagers. Roy, on the other hand, walked toward his crew.
“So, did you let them come with us?” Jack asked.
Roy thought back to Marth’s face when the storm started and smiled. “Yeah, they didn’t seem like the worst bunch. At least they had the decency to risk their lives and protect the villagers; that says something.”
“I guess so,” Jack replied with gritted teeth. “I will be watching them closely though. Can’t ever trust a dog of the empire again, especially one that serves those fucking nobles.”
Roy nodded his head at Jack’s words. “Yeah, please do. You can never be too cautious.”
With the guidance of Roy’s group, the knight and villager marched across the village. Due to their large size, they could not move stealthily to avoid the packs of goblins. However, thanks to the added military power of the knights, and Roy’s group’s upgraded stats, they were able to easily annihilate the monsters without any casualties from their side.
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As they approached Roger's house, Roy walked up to Marth. "Hey, there is something I wanted to ask you."
"Hmm? What's that?" Marth turned toward Roy.
"You guys are really strong, you showed that. But why are your stats not that high? Did you just awaken today?" Roy asked curiously.
Marth scratched his head at the unexpected question. "Well no, we got those ten kills yesterday." He then gestured with his head toward the group of villagers. "But running away with thirty people isn't easy, we had to take them out of the hall one by one. That took us the whole night."
Roy tapped his forehead, "Oh yeah, that's true. I didn't think about that." He then bit his thumb as he fell into his thoughts. "Does that mean those knights that you left back in the hall are stronger than us?"
Marth tilted his head left and right, "Maybe, maybe not, I honestly don't know. With their red aura, they're for sure stronger than us." He pointed at his own chest before pointing toward Roy and Robb. "As for you two, I don't think so. Your stats are just so high, I don't understand how you did it."
Robb, who was standing behind Roy, looked up proudly, "Well, a couple of adventures did that, I guess."
Soon, they reached their destination and found Roger standing in front of the door.
“Wow, this is quite the impressive number of people you have managed to save.”
Roy scratched his head in embarrassment at Roger’s words before apologizing, “I’m sorry mister Roger. I don’t think you will be able to enjoy your moments of silence in your house for a while.”
The middle-aged man laughed heartily at Roy’s words. “What are you saying? We built the house this big so that we can invite many over. It’s a shame we couldn’t party that much before, but now the gods have given us an opportunity and we shall make the best use of it.”
Roy couldn’t help but grin while hearing Roger’s words. He had seen people who look at the glass half-full, but this was taking it to another level.
“Well, we’ll have to empty the kitchen and bring down the carpets from upstairs. I did not expect this many people, so they’ll have to excuse for a little while as we get everything ready.”
After Roger said his piece, he was about to enter back home when he remembered something. “Oh, and have your boys and whoever you need come upstairs to the bedroom if you need space to talk privately.”
Roger winked at the young man before walking toward the group of villagers and talking to them. He had many acquaintances in the group.
Roy looked away from Roger and headed to the captain of the knights. “Marth, once we enter, have your guys keep order amongst the villagers and follow me upstairs. We will be holding a meeting to discuss our plans for what to do next.”
“Sure, that's a good plan.” Marth’s response was quick. He immediately went back to his group and communicated Roy’s words to them.
On the other hand, while the young man waited for the Roger and Jacob families to finish setting up the house, he scanned with his eyes the villagers they had saved. They were about thirty in total, and they spanned all ages and genders. There were women with their toddlers, elderlies, and young and middle-aged men. After a quick count, he found that there were around a dozen of able-bodied men who could fight.
As Roy made calculations and plans in his head, Roger finally opened the door with a smile.
“Come on in, everybody. I’m sure everyone is tired, so come take a rest.”
His words were like that of an angel showing them the road to paradise. The villagers who looked somber and desperate changed their expressions to ones full of hope and relief. Even the knights couldn’t help but smile.
As Roy entered the house, he found that all the furniture, tables, and chairs that were decorating the living room were taken out. The only thing that covered the wooden floor were wool carpets stacked next to each other, with some cushions placed at random places.
Roy made his way upstairs toward Roger’s master bedroom along with the rest of his friends. Once Marth had joined them, the meeting officially started.
“Let’s start by explaining what we have learned about these new powers first.”
With these words from Roy, the group detailed all of the findings to Marth. They explained the process of awakening, its healing properties, and the growth of stats even after the initial gain of power. They then told him about the existence of a new quest and its rewards.
“To think there would be such a terrible beast in the forest." Marth had a serious expression on his face. "Could we get it with a bear trap?"
"It's too large for that, I think," Alfonse replied. "Plus, with all of this magic and stats and weird things that have been happening, I'm sure it's skin must be real tough."
"Yeah, probably," Roy added. "The way I see it, we need to hunt a lot to grow our strength. And we also need a lot more people to awaken, that would help us a lot."
Marth nodded at Roy's assessment, "Yeah, we definitely need to do those two things." He then thought for a second before continuing, "But I don't think we should give up on trapping that bear just yet. Why not use some big tough spikes, made of iron. We can put them in a booby trap and lure the beast in there, it would make it a lot easier to kill if the bear is stuck."
Roy's expression turned somber at the mention of iron spikes.
"We will need to go to Karthus's smithy then," he muttered with a barely audible voice.
Remembering the death of the blacksmith and how he was framed for it left a complicated feeling in his chest. “I will need to ask his son to make those spikes. We can also use the spears and lances he has in stock, they would be so much better than the weapons we get from those goblins."
Marth nodded at Roy’s words. “Using spears is a wise choice. Even though they will not master it, I can teach anyone the basics with a few drills.”
As everyone nodded at the idea, Roy concluded the meeting. “Good. Now that the plan is settled, we just need to execute it.”