“What is going on out here?!” asked the cloaked person in a shrill voice.
“W-who are you?!” Simon asked back, just as the bearded knight who barged inside the carriage door, stabbed another knight who came in from the door opposite!
“Woah!” the cloaked person pulled their hood back. “Is this a mutiny?!”
Simon stared, his jaw dropping.
“L-lady June?!” he asked the young lass in front of him. “What are you doing underneath the seat?!”
“There’s no time for that!” Lady June answered. “Is there really a mutiny going on?” She sounded excited.
“I-I’m not really sure...” replied Simon.
He looked at the bearded knight, then at the other whose skull was currently pierced with a sword.
Blood splattered at him as the bearded knight pulled his sword back.
Simon felt a chill crawl down his spine as images of the behemoth slaughtering his brothers in arms filled his head.
“What are you staring at?”
Lady June’s authoritative voice snapped him out of his reverie.
“Boy, grab that blade, quick!” the bearded knight told him, pointing at the dead knight’s fallen weapon.
Simon’s eyes widen as he recognized the voice.
“S-sir Will?”
“Grab that blade and protect yourself, you idiot!” the bearded knight repeated.
Hands shaking, he took the knight’s sword, just in time as another knight appeared from the right.
From the floor, Simon raised his newly acquired weapon, stabbing upward with all his might.
Blood dripped past the sword’s pommel and down his shaking hands once it pierced through the tough leather covering the knight’s neck.
“Now hurry up!”
Simon scrambled to his feet and followed Sir Will out of the carriage.
“Three from behind the carriage!” he yelled at the young prince before running towards the incoming traitors.
---
“What’s happening now?” Juno asked his attendant, Rode.
“I can’t see clearly, your highness,” the butler replied. “I just saw Prince Simon jump out of his wagon after killing two of the knights. He’s running towards the others at the back with another knight trailing behind him... I can’t view the rest of the fight, though, since their carriage is blocking the way...”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Eli, Trix, go look at the situation,” Juno told the two knights outside his carriage. “Go see if the ‘hero’ is as heroic as he claims to be.
---
“Parry down low!” yelled Sir Will.
Simon was just in time to block a knight’s blade that was meant to knock him off his feet.
“Now up!”
Simon raised his blade up to stop a sword rushing down on his right shoulder.
“Left! Now right!”
Simon parried left and right.
He couldn’t believe he was actually fighting with knights from the kingdom!
Back when he was still in training, his brothers would laugh at him as he dragged his bastard sword around.
They would push him and trip him and kick him on the ground for being such a weakling that could hardly raise his weapon of choice.
“Now, forward!”
Simon thrust his blade forward.
He felt a slight resistance as his sword went through metal and stabbed into flesh once more.
The knight in front of him fell on his knees.
Gasping, Simon dropped his blade as the body before him fell on the ground.
“Good.” He heard Will commend him from afar. “Now rest.”
“Simon!”
Simon heard another voice.
He turned his body around, his eyes open wide, his face pale as death.
“Are you alright, little brother!?”
It was his brother, Prince Juno.
He ran towards Simon, his arms wide open, and enveloped the younger prince in a tight embrace.
“What happened here? Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Simon stared as his brother.
Scenes of blood and carnage from the Dark Forest were again, passing right before his eyes, but here, now, was his beloved eldest brother, ready to save him.
“B-brother Juno!”
Simon suddenly burst out crying, dropping the blood stained sword he held on the ground.
“Brother... these men... they just suddenly attacked us!”
“But aren’t these our loyal knights?” Juno asked in feigned disbelief.
“Your highness, they seem to be different men,” said one of Juno’s personal knights.
“Is that so, Eli?” Juno’s forehead creased. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, your highness,” replied the other. “Perhaps they are impostors dressed up as knights of the Twin Kingdoms to betray us!”
“Trix, Eli, check the rest of the knights!” Juno ordered the two. “Make sure there are no other traitors left alive!”
“At once, your highness!” replied the two.
Juno looked at the young man trembling in his arms in disgust.
‘I can’t believe this bastard actually killed five of my best men!’ he thought to himself. ‘I have been secretly training those knights for years! It should have been impossible for this worm to even defeat one of them! So how...’
Juno bolted upright as he felt a cold stare full of malice from behind him.
He quickly turned his head and looked around, but there was nobody there, only Eli, Trix, and one of his special knights who seem to have survived after Simon went berserk.
That’s right, berserk was the best way to describe it.
How else could a flimsy worm be able to win against his men?
It was a good thing that one of them remained, though.
He did instruct his secret knights to turn coats as soon as they confirmed that Simon really does have some sort of power.
It seems that this bearded one was quite perceptive, compared to the rest of his company.
It also seems that this power his brother holds is of supernatural origin indeed.
He could still remember the look on Simon’s face when he turned around to meet him earlier.
It was a death mask.
A face without fear of death or killing.
A face devoid of any life.
Even the body he is currently embracing is as cold as ice.
‘It seems that I can’t just simply get rid of this bastard now,’ he thought to himself. ‘I guess Largos was right. Perhaps a god really is watching over him...’ he considered. ‘And I wouldn’t be surprised if that god is the god of death himself.’
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Go to Part 46
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