Fae woke up with a gasp as she immediately got up to sit down

"Whoah there, easy sweetheart" She looked at the voice and found it to be Avalynn, though the sharp headache she felt barely could let her speak with her friend as she held her head and grunted

"What happened?" Fae muttered as she gave her devil friend a side look

"I don't know much" Avalynn shrugged

"Me and Yulia came here to find you knocked out, the core destroyed into pieces and that big chunk of metal sitting dead" She pointed at the giant knight that still didn't move from where once he was

Fae looked at it with saddened eyes before the rest of their group came on to check on her, it seemed that Avalynn and Yulia only arrived here a couple of minutes before Fae woke up, and so she was the one to tell them what happened in their battle with the giant knight

"And that's when Claude gave me enough time to cut the link between the core and the thing behind me" Fae gestured with her thumb over her shoulder to point at the giant knight that was now resting in peace behind her

"Please, don't give me too much credit, friend" Claude said as she scratched her scarred cheek nervously, Fae gave her a tiny smile as she crossed her arms

"Yeah, look at you" She told her

"Being talkative and all, ain't this a nice change" Fae said with a tiny smirk while Avalynn elbowed Claude in a sly way

"Like I said, I'm really sorry, Fae, I can explain it to you later on if you want to" She spoke to Fae

"I think you at least deserve that" With her tone being so sincere, how could Fae deny that

"Sure sure, as for now, I think we should be happy with our victory" Fae continued while both Claude and Yuna nodded with much content, a smile on each of their face

"Yay..." Yulia on the other hand, had quite the monotonous tone, bringing Avalynn to look at her with up-to-no-good eyes alongside a sly smirk

"What? I thought you enjoyed our little talk" She told the ex guild-master who didn't even bother to look at her as she kept murmuring something to herself, something that seemed to agitate Avalynn

"Hey are you reciting a prayer?!" She exclaimed at her with quite an angry and out-of-character expression, prompting Claude to chuckle and Yuna to merely smile

Fae smiled just as warmly as her blood-sister

Though something felt strange, Fae didn't know how to describe it, like a ball was being knitted, knitted out of pure energy

And something much more physical happened as Fae could feel the ground slightly shake, and all her friends in front of her stopped what they were doing as they looked behind Fae in shock and disbelief, their eyes then were raised as the ground shook further on

Fae with an arched eyebrow turned around, turning to find something standing tall in front of her, way too tall

"Oh you gotta be fucking with me" Fae exclaimed as she looked right at the much lively green eyes made out of energy that beamed out of the vision port of the once defeated cursed knight

But, the strangest out of all of that, was that the same knight got to one knee and looked at the ground

"Is it...?" Claude was seemingly speechless, in a not-so-in-character manner

"Bowing down to you?" Yuna spoke what all of them thought

Fae on the other hand didn't know what to do, as the thing that was trying to end her life mere moments ago was now bowing down to her

"Uh" She then cleared her throat

"Can you speak?" She asked of the knight, but he wouldn't say a word nor move a metal

Fae looked to her friends but none of them really knew what to do or what to say, and so she looked back at the thing she fought to the death with

"Do you... want to come with us?" And that single question, made the knight raise his head as he looked at Fae right with his uncanny, emerald eyes, that seemed burning with magical energy

And then, he nodded to her

A nod that made Fae chuckle as she crossed her arms

"Fae, you can't be serious" Yuna interjected, and as she showed her face, the knight looked at her, he looked at her deep into her glowing blue eyes, he couldn't stop staring at her ever so familiar face

"Yeah? don't forget that you also wanted to kill me on our first meeting" Those words made Yuna stutter and stop her speech, bringing Fae to laugh louder

"I'm joking with you, don't worry about it" She said as she slapped Yuna's shoulder

"I didn't know red vegetables held grudges so badly" Yuna whispered under her breath as she crossed her arms to look away

"I heard that!" Fae exclaimed

"And I told you it's a fruit! not a vegetable!" She carried on while Avalynn, Claude and Yulia asked each other what the hell they were on about, sadly none of them knew

"Anyway" Fae looked back at the knight that only now diverted his gaze from Yuna to Fae

"So you can't die, and you wanna follow us" She added on

"I guess it'd be safer for everybody to have you close with us" She continued on

"Not like a giant hunk of metal wouldn't be useful in battle" Avalynn interjected, and although Fae thought that her point wasn't very kindly articulated, it still was a good point

"You can come with us, as long as you're fine with listening to what I tell you to do" Fae crossed her arms at him and he couldn't have been more okay with it, showing it by nodding once and putting his hand on his chest

"Though I have no idea how to explain a giant knight coming out of a dungeon with me to Lucia" She shrugged

And for that moment, Fae felt like she woke up to something, as she felt a connection to the giant knight just the same as she did towards Yuna, and everybody could see it as a link slowly started appearing between the knight and Fae, illuminating all of their faces as they could see the knight slowly decrease in size until he was barely taller than the tallest of the group, Claude, and all that energy that came out of him was seemingly absorbed by the confused and surprised Fae who could see that even the knight's giant mace also reduced in size

"Uh, well..." Fae snickered

"That certainly makes it easier, thank you...?" She then came to a question in her mind

"Though how would we call you" She gave away a question that the knight stayed both motionless and speechless to, he didn't seem to have one, and if he did, he wasn't sharing it

"I vote for big knight" Avalynn butted in with about as good of an answer as Fae expected from her, depicting it with a weary sigh

"Honestly, I'm calling you knight from now on, I'm sure you're cool with that" Fae exclaimed, crossing her arms as she looked at the eyes of the knight

"Alright mister knight, welcome to our humble group" Fae said as she gestured with a welcome with her arms wide open

"Hah, our little group is growing to be quite diverse" Avalynn spoke out loud

"I'm fine with it as long as he's up to no harm, safety is in numbers after all" Yuna interjected

"Right, I wouldn't mind voting to remove a certain person though" Yulia whispered under her breath while Avalynn crossed her arms and looked at her with a not-so-quite amused face, Claude merely chuckled though this time, Fae could not only hear it, but also see it

Claude crouched down to pick up her helmet, pursing her lips as she looked at it she realized that it wasn't much of a helmet anymore as it was squashed entirely flat, she assumed that the giant knight either walked on it or smashed it with his hammer, she sighed and threw it away

"Already looking for something to hide your face with?" She heard to her left, turning her head to see Fae looking down at her with somewhat of a smirk as it made her chuckle and get back up

"Please don't tease me like that" Claude told the now crossed-arm Fae

"Yeah? well you've got a lot to explain then" She replied to her not-so-mysterious-anymore friend that herself gave Fae a warm smile

"Of course" She told her

"So girls" Avalynn joined them followed closely by a very unamused Yulia

"Are we leaving?" She asked of the two, Fae shrugged

"I guess so yeah" She then looked at Yulia with an arched eyebrow as the latter butted in

"I gathered the broken shards of that core, maybe we can sell them if I find somebody interested in gems and the like" She explained to the group as Fae gave her a small smile

"Good idea, that can maybe give us some coin" Her eyes then darted at the knight who stared at the group from some distance away, she gave him a tiny smile and gestured with her head for him to join, and that he did

"Aren't you big and menacing" Avalynn muttered with a sly smirk at the knight, who took the number one spot on the height scoreboard away from Claude, both the height and mystery scoreboards

Even though the knight had decreased his giant size, the armor he possessed looked terrifying with its spikes coming out of it and the horns in his helmet alongside the shining emerald that beamed inside the abyssal black interior of that same helmet

"Good, he'll probably scare any bad folk away from us" Fae spoke with a gesture of her hand

"And if they're that stupid to not be scared, then well" She chuckled and looked at the knight who as he made eye contact with the woman using his shining eyes, put a hand on his metal chest and gave her a sharp nod

"But apart from that" She then turned to look at the rest of her companions

"Let's get going, the capital can't be that far away now" She continued, Claude gave her a nod

"A couple of hours and we will be there" She proved Fae's assumption as the latter gave her friend a small smile

"Alrighty then, let's go people"

And with those words said out of Fae, the ever-growing party left the knight's former tomb and the core of the now dormant dungeon as they walked back on the path that they used to descend into the utmost depth of the dungeon

The little talk that happened between the group was Yulia arguing with Avalynn, the latter didn't really see it as an argument, far from it she had quite the enjoyment from pestering the ex-guild master

Although they didn't have to walk up much until Yuna came out of Fae's body like she was her very own soul, prompting the rest to show their curiosity quite clearly written on their faces

"I hear fighting" She said, facing the path that would lead them to the exit of the dungeon

"That can't be good" Fae added as she then looked at the rest of her friends that were by her side

"She's right, I'm smelling blood" Avalynn confirmed what Fae feared

"I guess we have to hurry back and see what's wrong" The latter spoke, and with that, the pace of the group quickened towards the exit, Yuna and Knight leading the way

It didn't take much for them to start hearing the aforementioned sound of battle echoing deeper into the cave as it alone made all the group faster

Right at the exit, they could see a monster the like of a goblin, but as tall as a human and possessing even more raw strength, this monster was laid down on the ground with his chest cut open, multiple of his kind were all dead on the ground and yet the group could still hear the sound and screeches of monsters outside

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As they peeked outside, they could see a scene that wasn't what they hoped to see

A line of orcs was formed in front of them, facing the line of knights that was put in place to contain the orcs inside the encampments, the monsters now were between Flora's Knights and Fae's group, and with how much they screeched and cried war they weren't aware of Fae and the others just yet, no more fighting occurred for now as the monsters and humans just faced each other with spears and shields raised in the knight's side, and no tactics but brute strength and monstrous cruelty in the other

"They don't see us just yet" Fae said while crouched down just like the rest

"What should we do?" Yulia asked

"I'm not sure" She replied to her, looking away in thought for a split second

"Wait" Claude got closer to the exit as she looked at Fae

"Do you remember the potions Lucia gave us?" She asked of the now curious Fae that tilted her head to the side

"Yeah, why?" She answered

"They're highly flammable, maybe we can set a distraction with it" She explained her thinking to the rest

"I can turn invisible and do my best to spray it on the ground around them and then set it ablaze" Avalynn suggested

"But if they sense the liquid, then..." Fae rubbed her chin as she thought very hard of a way to weaponize the flammable liquid at hand, until she realized of just a nice little gift from her world to give to the people of the one she was in

Both lines, human and monster just stood in a standoff against each other, the knight's job as of now was to hold their line until reinforcements would come, and arrive they did, although not quite the people they expected

Avalynn appeared all of a sudden between both lines, facing the orcs with a giant smirk on her face

"Hey there uglies!"

The knights behind her were caught in sheer surprise at her sudden appearance, and filled with ever-growing curiosity at her holding a potion in each hand, their caps off and replaced with a piece of cloth that was set alight, what a bizarre thing to do, most of them thought

"Smile will you?" She then threw the two potions as hard as she could, breaking right at the impact on their faces as it then set the ones the liquid caught right in an embrace by strong flames

The monsters seemed to quite loathe that fire as their panic was ever more increased by Yulia and Fae throwing the other two potions at their backline, their screams in anguish only increased while the cursed knight smashed into them

That scene alone brought the other Knights to change from their defensive position to go on an all-out at the orcs that were in utter disarray, caught in a pincer attack from both the knights of Flora and the others from behind them

As Fae and the others moved behind their giant friend charging into the monsters, she could see him raise his two-handed mace in the air to then smash it down, sending tremors and shaking the earth itself, orcs tried to climb into the knight but there was nothing they could do to him, no harm would befall unto him for as long as Fae stood

While Fae and Yuna cleaved their way into the left side, Claude and Avalynn took care of the right flank, leaving the knight to be the most exposed while Yulia climbed unto his back to be able to fire a rain of magick arrows down unto their enemy

And soon enough, it didn't take long until their opposition was completely extinguished, leaving the losses at a couple of injured Florian squires and a couple of burnt supplies and tents that the burning orcs stumbled and smashed onto

Fae and her party were profusely thanked for their assistance in the matter after the brutal skirmish, although all but the party members were very much so afraid of the giant knight, even after his soul possessing the evil metal ran right into the fright, charging between the orc's burning line and taking the brunt of the fight, it seems that there were still a couple that sensed something dangerous in his armor

Feeling exhausted over the edge, Fae decided to rest for the remaining of the day in the encampment before setting off to Rose, the capital of the Kingdom of Flora

It was little after sunset, Claude approached a tent and lifted its curtains as she got inside with a smile

"Hello to you two" She muttered as Fae was inside seated on her bed holding her shirt up while Yuna was on her knees in front of Fae as she seemingly was replacing the bandages that were around her stomach

"Hey Clau-" Fae wanted to speak but the liquid that Yuna wetted Fae's wound with made the latter grit her teeth in pain

"Apologies, I should've told you this burns" Yuna muttered while Fae kept her shirt lifted with her teeth biting hard on it, she could swear her friend surprised her on purpose with the slight smirk she had, but she didn't question it

"How are things outside?" Fae asked Claude through gritted teeth, who sat down next to her with a soft snicker

"Ser Knight is helping the other Florian knights move the bodies since he can just double his size whenever he wants, while Yulia was talking with Lucia" Claude told her

"Avalynn was chasing a fox outside last time I saw her" She added on as those words prompted Fae to roll her eyes

"She said that a lady shouldn't be around dead bodies" Fae then laughed as she then grabbed her shirt with her hand again to let her mouth free

"Of course, she will be anything as long as it benefits her" She then saw Yuna pull down Fae's shirt

"Done, your bandages are anew, this time remember to change them" Yuna told her with crossed arms and narrowed eyes that prompted a chuckle from Fae

"Will do" She responded, leaving Yuna to give a warm smile

"Right, I will remind you if you forget" Fae nodded with a grateful smile to her

"That aside, I will be gone for now, if you ever need me, call my name" Resting her hand on her chest as she spoke those words, Yuna soon vanished away just like she does many atime

"She's a good person" Fae looked at Claude who was the one to speak such words

"Obviously" Fae said with a shrug, locking eyes with her knight friend

"I travel only with the best of people" She then gave Claude a sly wink as she got up while the knight herself chuckled

"I'm flattered" Claude replied before Fae handed her a hand to get her up on her feet

"Wanna go on a walk with me? I still want you to explain what you promised" She told Claude who for a split second, had surprised eyes

"Oh, surely" She then lifted the tent's curtains for Fae as the latter smiled politely before leaving the tent alongside the knight

Passing by their giant knight friend, Fae was surprised to see the knights that previously feared him laughing together while he stood in the middle of them, although he was speechless and without a face to show expression, Fae sensed that he felt comfortable around those soldiers

Fae and Claude together left the encampment to walk in the forest next to it

"I actually come from a noble family, the Valeguard family" Claude spoke as she walked by Fae's side

"Valeguard huh, sounds like a family of knights alright" Fae responded as she held a lit cigarette with her index and middle finger

As Claude chuckled, Fae put her cigarette between her lips to take a long inhale, pushing the smoke into her lungs to then gently let it out

"One of my ancestors, Galliano, rose to nobility in his brave efforts on the defense of the Vale, hence the name" Claude explained while Fae hummed in attention

"And so to keep the title of nobility, each of his descendants needs to send their young to be knights and fight for the kingdom" She continued, the gentle breeze passing by the duo

"Only one young person is obliged to join the knight per family, that's why my big sister was a knight" Fae slightly widened her eyes

"Oh really? so then did you join because you wanted to?" She asked the smiling Claude

"Well, no, not quite" She said as she looked at Fae

"My big sister died when I was just a tiny girl" She told her friend, Fae had her lips parted in surprise while her eyebrows gently furrowed

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" Claude nodded to her gently

"Appreciated, but unneeded" She replied to Fae, crossing her arms and looking at her friend right in her eyes

"As I know her, putting her life to protect the innocent and those who can't fend for themselves against evil was her calling" She described her sister with a soft tone and a gentle look

"How did it happen? if you don't mind me asking" Fae inquired

"No problems" Claude replied with a polite smile

"She came visiting us one day when she had time off her duties, she eventually had to go back to her team though" Claude narrated, gesturing with an empty, open hand

"Witnesses of that village said that she appeared out of nowhere during the raid that happened in the middle of the night, helping them and rallying the guards to better fight against those bandits" Claude explained, Fae slightly widened her eyes

"How selfless of her" Fae spoke with a borderline whisper, prompting Claude to smile warmly

"Even though they were outnumbered, she still fought, some of the guards who survived said that they could see her fight 4 or 5 bandits by her lonesome at once and still come out victorious" While Claude narrated, Fae took a big puff of her cigarette while her ears were fully attentive to her friend walking by her side

"That's pretty heroic" She said after blowing the smoke away from Claude, who gave Fae a gentle smile

"I'm sure it must have looked like that, she and the guards fought until the bandits retreated like the cowards they are" Claude added, though now looking down at the dirt that she walked on

"But the injuries she sustained took her life soon after the battle ended" She spoke with much sorrow drenching her voice, Fae pursed her lips and looked at her friend with empathetic eyes

"However..." Claude looked at Fae

"I'm sure she peacefully passed away" She told her

"Knowing that she routed those animals and saved so many innocent lives must have made her content with the way she died" Claude spoke in a seemingly bitter way, as even though she knew her sister would want this kind of heroic death, it still pained her heart

"But the thing that bothers me" Claude suddenly changed the way she spoke

"Is if this is really the life my sister wanted" She said, looking at Fae right in her brown weary eyes

"She was forced into the life of the sword, and she died with a sword in her hand, but is this really the path she wanted to take?" Claude asked

"I never knew what her dreams or ambitions were, I asked her but each time she would never answer me" She added then bitterly looked away

"We were very close, but I guess we weren't close enough" She said with an aching smile

"Maybe it's the opposite, don't you think so?" Fae replied, Claude curiously looked at her with an arched eyebrow

"Maybe it's because you were so close to her, that she never wanted to burden you with those kinds of thoughts, you know?" Fae suggested a suggestion that put Claude in deep thought

"Hm" She hummed to her friend

"I guess I would have done the same too if I was in her shoes" She then smiled to Fae, warmly this time

"Perhaps you're right Fae, your perspective is ever so gentler"

Fae was more than happy to be of help to her in-need friend, giving her a gladdened nod together with a smile

"What about you though, why did you join the knights?" She asked Claude

"I was forced to pick up the sword, just like my sister once did" She shrugged, Fae furrowed her eyebrows in a slight confused anger

"Why? Wasn't your sister's life enough to please the royalty?" She exclaimed, Claude appreciated Fae's disapproval for the shackles that Claude was restrained by, depicting it with a soft and wide smile

"Death doesn't matter for them, friend" She spoke bitterly

"For as long as there is an able-bodied child in the family under the age of thirty, each noble family that acquired their status through virtue displayed in battle has to give that child for the knights" Claude explained

"As long as there is one child serving for the king or queen, it is enough" She added on

"That's fucked up" Fae answered while her friend shrugged at the anger clearly written all over her face

"And what if you refuse to give your child? what then?" She inquired further

"You will be stripped of your nobility titles and have your possessions taken away" She responded to Fae who let out a very long and exhausted sigh

"Christ almighty" She whispered under her breath, Claude didn't quite understand what Fae meant but she didn't need to as she knew that she wasn't very pleased by the structure of military nobility

"I was forced to start the teachings of fighting and such as soon as news of her death came to us, when I was just little" Claude spoke while her emerald eyes were locked with the dirt

"I could not even grief her in peace" She added while Fae looked at her with a gaze drenched in empathy

"One day I'm raised to be a lady, and the other I'm taught how to kill" The female knight sighed as she crossed her arms for a split second, and then she snickered

"Hell, you might think this scar I have on my cheek is the result of a righteous battle against evil" She spoke as she looked at Fae with narrowed eyes

"Which couldn't be further from the truth, when I was a teenager my father scarred me with his sword as we were sparring" She said in a non chalant way, but to Fae what her father did left her speechless

"What the fuck kind of father is he?" She questioned in shock while Claude couldn't but chuckle

"I assume the kind of father to prioritize the nobility of his family over the family itself" She responded

"What about your mother?" Fae inquired further, Claude shrugged

"Different person, same philosophy"

Fae really had no words to reply with

"Jesus..." She held her head with her left hand, hearing Claude laughing softly by her side

"Hey Claude do you uh..." Claude looked curiously at Fae who came to a stop to spread her arms

"Do you want a hug?" Fae said with eyebrows furrowed by the sheer sorrow she felt for her friend who looked at her in silence for a fraction of a second before grinning with tightly shut eyes

"Sure!" And hug they did, a really tight hug under the moonlight that sneaked through the leaves of trees surrounding the duo

"Thank you, Fae" Claude muttered softly as she held Fae tighter, the latter didn't say any other word until they parted from that embrace

"Hope that made you feel better" She spoke to Claude who now faced her

"It did, thank you again" She replied to Fae with a warm smile that the latter returned

"By the way what was your sister's name?" Fae finally asked, Claude, on the other hand, tilted her head to the side with a soft smile

"It was Claude" Fae needed a silent second to process the reply

"What do you mean, your parents can't have named you both the same name" Fae exclaimed

"They didn't" Claude widened her smile

"I am just living under the identity of my sister" She added on, leaving Fae with no words to reply with

"That was my only request when I became a knight, to further spread her exploits around the world" She told Fae

"Me helping with Freesia's defense, slaying the chimera, and helping in the clearing of this dungeon" Claude rested a hand on her chest

"All of these and so much more, I want all of the people who sing of these events to remember the valiant knight Claude, my dear sister, not me" Fae's lips were parted away in surprise at the words she heard

"But that's not right, your sister obviously wouldn't want you to do this" Fae explained, bringing Claude to chuckle

"Obviously" She replied with a shrug

"But I want to do this either way, life was so cruel to her, and she yet didn't give up, she was kind to our servants and even kinder to her companions, she was a good woman at heart and gave her life to let strangers she has never met live on" Claude smiled, warmly, putting her hand on her chest as she faced Fae

"A person like that deserves what I'm doing, whether they like it or not" She then said

Fae didn't really know what to say at that point

"Then, what's your name?" She asked of Claude, who merely smiled, quietly smiling

"You won't tell me huh?" Fae carried on with a hand on her waist and narrowed eyes

"All I can say is thank you" Claude replied, prompting Fae to arch an eyebrow

"For agreeing on Lady Yuri's request and making the whole of Flora a little bit safer" She explained

"Oh that, well" Fae crossed her arms

"Better than being executed I guess" Fae shrugged while Claude chuckled

"Indeed, it would be quite the waste of life, more so that you weren't at wrong in the littlest" Her knight friend answered her, Fae could only give a soft smile and a slow nod

"Actually, who's Yuri anyway? she sounds like somebody very important" Fae asked as she could see Claude nod sharply

"That she is Fae, I suggest you to not be on her bad side, sincerely" Claude said, but Fae wasn't quite convinced

"Is that it? can't you tell me anything more?" She said with a raised eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head, more so that Claude chuckled nervously

"I'm afraid I can't" Fae shook her head disapprovingly while Claude chuckled

"Never mind that, I also wanted to thank you now that I can speak with you normally" Claude had curiosity written all over her face at the words Fae spoke

"About using that one elixir or potion or something on my arm after the battle in Freesia" Fae explained

"Oh, that" Claude seemed very nonchalant about something you can be given only once

"Do not worry friend, I would use something like that on you rather than me any day of the week" She said with much sincerity in her tone while Fae put a hand on her waist and looked at Claude with a small smile while her head shook slowly

"And since we're talking about thanks, I have to thank you for taking care of me when I was unconscious back when we met for the first time" She said honestly

Fae chuckled nervously as she looked aside, a look of guilt written all over her face

"What's the matter Fae?" Claude spoke with a slightly worried tone

"About that..." Fae scratched her cheek to before she told the curious Claude of the real truth of that day, about how she knocked her unconscious with a rock to the back of the head

And that night was the first time Fae saw Claude laugh so heartwarmingly loud