It was now night time, and Rose had been escorted to a room in the Inn by Dahlia. They were both sitting on the bed—and each with something in their hand.

Dahlia was reading the letter given to her while Rose focused on the paper she had found in her hair band. They both sat there silently, without talking to each other.

Rose was puzzled by the strange and cryptic message on the paper. She had several questions floating around in her head. What is a Romance Fundamental? How did someone manage to sneak it into her hair band without her noticing? Was this some sort of prank?

But there was one more question she had. Rose wondered why she felt such a strange sense of comfort just from holding it in her hand.

Suddenly, a noise snapped her and Dahlia out of their zone.

Near the window, was a third guest that had joined them. They had just moved their chair causing it to scrape on the floor as they continued to sit and look out the window.

It was the masked person.

“Sorry about this. Every other room is in use,” Dahlia said.

The masked person didn’t respond and continued to look out the window.

Dahlia looked over to Rose. “So, what’s with that paper you’re holding?”

Rose quickly folded it. “Oh. It’s just something I found.”

“Hmm. Okay,” Dahlia replied, seeming to not be too interested in asking further.

There was a brief silence.

Rose leaned in closer to Dahlia and began to whisper. “Who is that?”

Dahlia looked over at the masked person by the window.

“Them? I couldn’t really tell you,” she replied. “A few months ago, they randomly showed up and have been seen travelling all over the kingdom. They worked with the bandits for a time—but as you saw—they seem to have had a falling out.”

Dahlia looked back at Rose. “They are pretty good at fighting, so now they often travel around and help fight off bandits causing trouble. Of course, they usually expect payment for doing that. So they are often treated as a ‘companion’ for hire. It’s a rather strange story.”

Rose sat back and stared at the masked person. She began to wonder why they were atop that tree in the flower field. It was all very mysterious to her.

“I heard about what happened on your way here,” Dahlia suddenly said. “I’m glad you and Sir Romance got away safely.”

“Oh, thank you,” Rose replied. “I’ve never been in that kind of situation before. I…I was really scared, but Sir Romance took care of me. He always seemed to know what to do when we were in trouble.”

Dahlia smiled. “That sounds like him. It’s good to see he still has that side of him.”

There was a brief silence.

Rose looked down. “But. Sometimes. When I’d look at him, he would always seem sad somehow. It felt like there was something always bothering him.”

Dahlia also lowered her eyes. “Well, after everything that has happened…”

As Rose looked at her in intrigue, Dahlia shook her head.

“Never mind, I was thinking out loud. I shouldn’t bother you with our problems, seeing how you just got here.”

Rose then noticed Dahlia kept rubbing her cheek, and saw that it was now bruised from the earlier fight.

“Sorry about earlier,” Rose said. “It’s my fault you got hurt.”

“It’s okay,” Dahlia replied. “Their group has been on edge in recent days, so they would of found a way to cause trouble anyway.”

Dahlia looked at the masked person. “Recently, it seem’s someone else has been a problem for the bandits. Some sort of ‘Wondering Knight’ they’ve been calling it. But it’s weird. All these new appearances seemed to have happened at around the same time—”

Her eye’s suddenly widened.

She looked at the letter in her hand. “It couldn’t be…”

Dahlia then faced Rose. “That coat you had on. I didn’t notice at first, but it belongs to Baron. He was the leader of the group you ran into.”

There was a sudden tension in the air as she stared at Rose.

“What exactly happened? Why do you have his coat?” Dahlia asked.

Suddenly, an alarm bell began to ring outside.

“Bandits! Bandits are coming!” someone outside shouted. “Guards! Where are the guards!?”

Rose and Dahlia looked up at the window, but saw something unexpected. The masked person was standing halfway through it with their bag on, then immediately dropped out.

As a commotion began to ensure, Dahlia got off the bed with Rose trailing behind.

“Already!?” Dahlia said, as she walked to the window.

“I didn’t expect for them to come back so quickly,” Dahlia said as she looked out. “That does not sound like a small group either. The masked person seemed to have escaped, but I doubt the bandits would bring this many just for them.”

She then looked at Rose who had also walked to the window. “I’m still not sure what happened, but I wonder if this has anything to do with you and Sir Romance’s travels…”

Rose began to shake with fear. She was not expecting things to escalate as much as it had.

“W-What do I do?” Rose said.

Dahlia smiled. “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, don’t leave this room. You’re a guest here, so we will keep you safe.”

Rose couldn’t help but once again feel useless. She was now being protected once more.

Suddenly, light began to emit from down the street, and was accompanied by the sound of horses galloping.

A few moments later, dozens of bandits had gathered on the open streets below. Many had torches as they rode on top of their horses. But it seemed they were following one horse in particular, one that was being ridden by a woman.

She eventually stopped her horse—forcing the others behind her to regroup and stop around her.

Gathering from different parts of the town, armed guards began to group in front of them. However, it seemed they were somewhat outnumbered as more bandits began to pour in.

“The rest of you drunk again?” the woman on the horse said to the guards.

“O-Of course not,” the head guard at the front said. “T-They will all be here soon, so you better have a good reason for being here!”

One of the guards then hiccuped. Everyone looked at him, while one close to him slapped him on the head.

“Idiot,” said the person who slapped him.

The woman looked at the head guard. “We all have found our own way to cope with what happened. But sober or not, I would rather we avoid making a scene today.”

He looked at the bandits around her. “You don’t say…”

She then looked around, scanning the area. “I am sure everyone here is aware of a certain rumour that has been going around. The rumour of the so called ‘Wondering Knight’, who has been a tremendous problem for travellers of the Kingdom.”

“From what I’ve heard, they’ve only been a problem for you bandits. I don’t see that as much of a ‘problem,” one guard said.

The woman glared at the man, causing him to tighten his lips.

“It has become clear that their motive seem’s to be a retaliation of a certain event of the past. We initially had a key suspect that could be connected with such a person, but eventually ruled them out as we thought they never left their place of residence.”

She looked at the head guard. “I am of course talking about Sir Romance.”

The woman rode her horse forward then stopped.

“It has come to my attention that the people of Aoser have been rather dishonest with us. It was a surprise to find out that Baron and his men came into contact with Sir Romance travelling outside his castle. The report I received said he was riding an Aoser horse, showing he had come through this town.”

Her tone became more serious. “But the main problem here, is that only one of my men returned from that encounter. He has claimed that not only did he see Sir Romance there, but a larger figure that seem’s to match the usual description of The Wondering Knight.”

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There was a silence, as the guards passed one another short stares.

“So with that news—alongside some other recent developments in this town, I have come today with three requests,” she said.

“Demands you mean!” a guard shouted.

“Call it whatever you wish,” she answered. “Firstly, we know you currently have a girl that was seen with Baron’s coat. I ask you hand her over to us for questioning.”

“And why would we do that?” the head guard said.

“Because we do what we must to keep the order. And because I asked kindly,” she replied. “Secondly, a wanted person seemed to have had a confrontation with some of my men in this town. I ask for the townsfolk to simply not intervene while we search for them.”

She then took a deep breath in, then out. “And third.”

The woman reached her hand out to her side. One of the bandits on a horse then approached and handed her a rolled up piece of paper with something wrapped around it. She then unwrapped and unrolled it.

“With a new connection established between Sir Romance and The Wondering Knight, this order is now in effect. Under the order of King Cupid IV, all princesses of the kingdom have been summoned for an emergency meeting. With their safety now at risk, they must be protected until investigations into the matter are finished.”

She then rolled it up and handed it back to the bandit.

“This summon is effective immediately. Tonight, we will begin escorting the princess of this town to the meeting place.”

Whispering began to echo through the streets and houses by nearby civilians. Such an announcement seemed to come as a shock.

“Perhaps this ‘Knight’ is doing us all a favour, seeing as you bandits cause the most trouble!” one person shouted from a nearby house.

“The Bandit King is scheming again!” another shouted.

“That’s just ridiculous!” the head guard said.

“I have my orders,” she said. “All you need to know is that the princess will be safer travelling with us now rather than later.”

“This is a joke!” a townsfolk said a few distance away.

“Enough!” one of the bandits suddenly shouted. “The Chief here has made the situation clear! Do not make this into a situation that you’ll later regret.”

The woman gave the bandit a stern look, causing him to retreat a few steps back on his horse.

“My intention here is not to threaten the people of this town. But you must understand that this situation is more severe than you realise. So I intend to leave this town tonight with my duty complete.”

The head guard stood his ground. “Well my duty as the head guard is to ensure the safety of our townsfolk—including our princess. I cannot do so if she is not here, can I?”

He then cleared his throat. “I HOPE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR. IT IS MY DUTY TO PROTECT THE TOWNSFOLK OF AOSER, SO I HOPE NO ONE INTERFERES WITH MY SERVICE.”

Dahlia—who was about to leave the room—stopped. “B-But I can’t just stay here….stupid.”

“That’s it!”

One of the bandits suddenly got off their horse and walked toward the Inn. The woman simply watched as he did so.

“Their in here aren’t they!?”

But the head guard intercepted him before he could enter. The bandit then pulled out a sword and attacked, but after a short confrontation was defeated.

“Anyone else?” the head guard said.

Another bandit on their horse rode up to the woman. “Chief?”

She sighed and nodded her head once.

The bandit then signalled a few others to join him and then also pulled out their weapons. But after a few minutes, they too were defeated.

“Should we just all attack?” one of the bandits said.

“No,” their chief said. “We don’t have time to mess around. I’ll solve this quickly.”

She got off her horse and began to walk toward the guards. She then unequipped a whip from her waist and unfolded it—revealing a sharp dagger like blade at the end.

“Please move aside,” she said to the head guard.

But the guards all lifted their weapons in response, and gathered round the head guard at the front of the Inn.

The woman sighed, as she then held the base of the whip and let the bladed end drop to the ground.

“Very well.”

She then began to twirl it around using a unique fluid but fast technique. Then, as the head guard took a step forward with his sword, she swung her whip in a horizontal arc, causing the bladed end to knock his weapon clean out of his hand.

It was too fast for him to react, and took a second for him to realise his weapon was gone.

As the other guards came forward in response, she began to repeat her twirl, then disarmed them one by one. Suddenly, one of the guards ran toward her as the tip of her whip was now far away from her.

He picked up one of the fallen weapons as he ran, but as he was about to reach her—she did an incredibly fast spin that pulled her whip right back to her. As he was now only a few inches away, the tip of the whip spun around her and almost cut him across the stomach. However, she stopped it right before it did, and stared him in the eyes.

With such a close encounter to a fatal move, the guard simply fainted.

Still in the Inn, Dahlia looked visibly irritated by the ongoing battle.

“That’s it!” Dahlia said. “If I don’t go down there, she’s going to end up going to far with this.”

She then walked to the door, but turned to Rose before leaving.

“Remember, stay in here.”

“B-But, they hurt you last time,” Rose said. “I..I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be okay,” Dahlia replied. “She won’t hurt me.”

Dahlia then left, leaving Rose alone in the room.

“Not again,” Rose whispered to herself. “Even when I try not to do anything, I still cause trouble for others. I…I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

She hesitated to look out the window again, knowing things were probably just going to get worse. Even if Dahlia and the guards could protect her, how far were the bandits willing to go?

Unable to think straight, Rose looked from the door—back out the window.

“Final chance to stop this before someone get’s hurt,” the bandit chief said.

“N-Never!” shouted the head guard.

The woman then walked over the fainted man, and was now preparing another attack. She did another twirl—but this time instead of a horizontal slash, she shot the whip straight forward. It was too fast for the head guard to react, causing him to only be able to watch the tip of the blade approach him.

Suddenly, someone came up from behind him.

“Iris, stop this!”

It was Dahlia, and she had emerged from inside the Inn. But unknown to her, as she grabbed the head guards arm and rushed in front of him—the bladed tip of the whip was coming straight toward her.

And behind it—was the bandit chief Dahlia called ‘Iris’—who seemed shocked to see her, but was unable to react fast enough to stop her own attack.

Dahlia closed her eye’s in reflex, but even with the blade right in front of her face—it didn’t hit her. When she opened her eye’s, there was a hand gripped around the whip end of the bladed tip. She then looked down—seeing a small person holding firmly onto it.

It was the masked person.

Iris’s look of shock lessened. “You…”

She then sharply pulled back her whip, causing them to let go as it came back toward her.

“Almost had an accident there,” Iris said. “Looks like putting your life in danger is still a habit of yours, Dahlia.”

“Iris,” Dahlia said, as she then looked at the hoard of bandits behind her. “Did you really have to bring so many of your goons out this late at night?”

“Well, this is an important matter,” Iris replied. “I’m sure you heard my announcement earlier.”

“The one of Sir Romance and the Wondering Knight? There’s only one person in the Kingdom who could come up with that,” Dahlia replied. “And all I heard was you blindly following that person’s orders. I can’t believe you are going through with whatever that man tells you Iris.”

Dahlia then frowned. “And King Cupid IV? Really? Wasn’t being called the Bandit King enough for him!?”

“We both know he is the rightful ruler,” Iris replied. “And we’re no longer just ‘bandits’. He and I hoped that everyone would eventually stop referring to us as that, seeing now what we’ve done for the kingdom.”

She once again took a deep breath in and out. “But I am not here to discuss that. It’s time for you to come with us Dahlia. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

“No. I need to know why you still trust someone like him,” Dahlia said. “Have you already forgotten what Sir Romance has done for us—”

“It is not about trust!” Iris yelled, but soon calmed herself. “After what happened….we needed someone. Anyone. And the princ…..King Cupid is all we have now.”

Iris glanced at the guards around Dahlia. She then looked down at the fainted guard behind her and then back at Dahlia.

“It’s good to see they still care for you,” she said. “I’ve always liked Aoser. Here, the old tradition still lingers, unlike Quatim. Even so, I must leave here tonight with the order given to me complete.”

There was a silence.

Iris then took a step forward, but wasn’t the only one to do so.

The masked person who was still standing next to Dahlia, also took a step forward. On his back was the bag he’d been carrying throughout the day, and it seemed he intended to fight with it on.

“Surprised you’re still here. And I see you still haven’t managed to open that bag,” Iris said. “Well my offer from our previous encounter still stands. If you come along without a fuss, I’m more than willing to help you with that.”

A few seconds went by without any sort of response. But instead—at the end of the silence—the masked person took another step forward.

Iris shook her head. “So mysterious aren’t you?….Fine. It seem’s you’ve forgotten how our last bout went. Let’s begin the performance then.”

She then lifted her finger upright and twirled it. The bandits behind her began to create a circle around the area between them and the Inn. Soon, they had surrounded everyone, but left an open spot in the middle for Iris and the masked person to meet.

“Maybe capturing you will persuade Dahlia over there to listen for once in her life.”

Iris gripped at her whip and began to spin it in a small vertical arc to her side. She then walked toward the masked person, with them also doing the same.

The masked person suddenly ran forward, attempting to quickly close the gap. However, before they could get within arm’s length—Iris used long swings to stop their charge. They had now retreated back, but attempted to close the gap once again. But Iris continued to twist and turn her whip, forcing the masked person to focus more on not getting hit by the bladed tip.

Eventually, instead of simply evading the whip, they grabbed it as it once again swung past them. But Iris seemed to be prepared for this, as she pulled onto the whip till it was solid—then pivoted and stomped down on it with her feet—causing it to fly out their hand.

After a few seconds, the masked person once again ran toward her. But they did not do so in a straight line, and instead ran at her at an arc. They then ran toward one of the guards sword currently on the floor, and picked it up.

Iris attempted to attack them with the whip from a distance, however this time they blocked it with the sword and continued to run toward her.

It was then, she began to prepare the move that she used on the now fainted guard. She did an incredibly fast spin that pulled her whip right back to her. Iris then spun the bladed whip around her—but unlike with the guard from earlier—she did not stop her attack.

The masked person unable to evade the attack, decided to block it instead. However—it was only a feint—as she quickly pulled back the whip before it made contact, and instead moved in and kicked the sword out of the masked person’s hand as they were distracted.

With the bladed tip of the whip now in her hand, she went from a kick to a twirl, aiming for their shoulder area with a slash attack. All the masked person could do was slowly block with their arms—due to how fast she had alternated to this final attack.

They had now been cut, leaving both arm’s with a slash wound. As the masked person jumped back and staggered to their knees, Iris began spinning her whip once again as she approached them.

“Stop!”

Dahlia took a step forward. “Fine. I’ll go. Just leave them alone.”

“You can’t!” the head guard yelled.

“I have to do this,” Dahlia replied, as she looked back at him.

But even so, Iris did not stop. She continued to swing her whip vertically as she walked forward.

“I-I said I’ll go!” Dahlia cried out.

Still, Iris did not stop and had almost reached the masked person. But, instead of stopping in front of them, she simply walked past and straight to Dahlia. She then stopped spinning her whip when she got in front of her.

“Good,” Iris said. “However, there’s still that girl we wish to talk to. We can leave once she comes out.”

“She has nothing to do with anything,” Dahlia said. “You won’t learn of anything new.”

“How about I decide that for myself,” Iris responded.

There was a brief pause.

“Fine,” Dahlia said.

She then began to walk past Iris, and toward where the bandit horses were. However, Dahlia suddenly grabbed her arm from behind and held down her whip.

“W-What are you doing!?” Iris shouted. “Let go of me!”

“No!” Dahlia yelled.

Suddenly, the bandits that had surrounded them prepared to intervene as they all took a step forward. The head guard then rushed toward Iris, reaching out to hold her. But before he could do so, Iris punched Dahlia in the gut with her free hand.

As Dahlia spat out onto the floor due to the punch, Iris held the bladed tip of her whip at her. The head guard immediately stopped when he saw this.

“It’s time to stop,” Iris said. “Do not, take this, any, further.”

With tensions as high as ever, the Inn doors suddenly opened.

Everyone watched as someone walked out and stood at the doorway.

It was Rose.