“That’s a big sword for a boy…”

“You sure you can handle a sword that big, boy?”

The knights circled around Rei, taunting him with their swords held steadily out in front of them, their blades pointed at Rei.

Rei glanced around at the knights. They were trying to encircle him, providing him no route to escape. Behind the circle of knights, Charlys was watching from the side, his steel blue eyes monitoring the situation carefully.

“Rei, sheath your sword at once!” Charlys called, “You have committed a grave offence in drawing a blade against knights of the Revlon kingdom, but if you sheath your sword now, I promise I will see to it that you receive a fair trial!”

“Yeah right,” Rei muttered, “Why should I be the one in trouble for trying to bring a father back home to their daughter…”

To that, Charlys remained silent.

“I hope you’re ready to die for your foolish act!” One of the knights yelled, and stepped forward from the circle, throwing their blade down at Rei.

To everyone’s astonishment, Rei parried the attack with ease, swerving his humongous sword across at the knight’s incoming blade and sending the knight flying backwards, crashing into two other knights behind him. They crumbled down to the ground like a stack of cups.

Even Rei was a little surprised, glancing down at his sword.

He had been simply trying to block the knight’s attack, but the knight was so weak that when Rei’s sword had collided with his, the latter flew back from the impact.

“What…” The other knights stared at their fallen comrades in shock.

A few of the knights that had remained unphased, charged at Rei with yells, hurling their swords out for Rei’s head.

Rei glanced at the incoming knights, surprised at how slow they were moving in his eyes.

‘Are they being serious?’ Rei thought, watching the knights. ‘Compared to Zilver, they’re moving tenfolds, no, probably even more, slower than her, and Zilver doesn’t even try during our sparring matches.’

Rei took a side-step, avoiding the first knight, then another side-step to avoid the second. With the third knight, he ducked under their blade before coming up with his own sword, slamming the flat part of the sword into the knight’s plated chest, throwing him backwards and rolling down on the ground with a groan.

The rest of the knights glanced at Rei cautiously, maintaining their positions, “B, be careful! He’s no ordinary boy…!”

In a circle formation around Rei, the knights edged forward slowly in unison, taking away more and more of Rei’s space until one of the knights yelled “Now!” and they charged him all together, having blocked all paths of escape around Rei.

However, Rei leaped upwards and the knights froze for a second, staring up at his figure in shock.

He came down slashing from the air, slamming the blunt side of his sword against three of the knights’ helmets and they fell instantly to his attack.

Then when he landed, he swerved his blade around him, knocking out three more to the floor with a wild swing.

Rei was deliberate in his attacks to not cause any severe injuries to the knights, only seeking to render them incapable of fighting further.

It only took a few more attacks from Rei before the knights were retreating backwards, dragging their fallen comrades on the ground.

“H, he’s too strong…!”

“How could it be! He’s just a boy…!”

Glancing at the retreating knights, Rei couldn’t help but to smirk to himself. It was the first time that he had been able to beat anyone in a fight, having lost countless times sparring with Zilver without so much as being able to land a single hit on her.

“Oi, you guys,” Rei called out to them, carrying his sword over his shoulder, “Is that really all you got?”

“…”

The knights glanced at each other with defeated looks.

The unarmed men from the town hurriedly ran over to Rei, sheltering behind him with grateful looks.

“T, thank you so much, boy…!”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Rei said. “There’s still one of them left.”

Rei’s eyes were watching Charlys closely whom had remained on the sidelines the entire time.

“You’re the last one, right?” Rei said to Charlys, pointing his sword out at him.

Charlys stared at Rei silently with his steel blue eyes, standing upright with no motion signifying an intent to draw his sword that was at his waist.

One of the knights on the ground glanced at Charlys, then at Rei, “Hehe… if Sir Charlys gets involved, you are dead, boy!” The knight chuckled, “Sir Charlys is not mere enforcers of the kingdom like us, but is actually a frontline lieutenant for the Revlon army, having won many awards and medals for his skills on the battlefield. He is one of the youngest soldiers to have ever received the lieutenant rank at such a young age.”

“Oh really?” Rei said. “Let’s see it then.”

But Charlys simply stared at Rei silently for a moment, before shaking his head.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Let’s go, men.” Charlys called out to his knights, turning his back.

“W, wha…?!” The knights around stared at Charlys, stunned and so did Rei. “But Sir Charlys…”

“We have already suffered too many injuries amongst our rank.” Charlys said, “My first priority is the safety of our men. We will head back to Vasque and recoup there.”

“What about the conscripts, Sir Charlys…?” Another knight asked.

“That can wait.” Charlys said as he walked over to his horse, climbing atop the saddle, “But for now, we retreat.”

Glancing at Rei now, Charlys gave him a firm stare, “Rei… was it?” He asked.

Rei nodded.

“I will remember that name.” Charlys said, then he turned to his knights, “Let’s go!”

Charlys left with the group of knights, and the men from the town cheered triumphantly, crowding around Rei.

“You are amazing, boy…!”

“Where did you learn sword skills like that…?!”

Rei didn’t know how to feel about the crowd hurdling around him.

~x~

Having stayed quiet to most of the questions and praises Rei was bombarded with, Rei eventually stood outside the herb shop with Priscilla’s father, a sturdy man with greying hair and glasses, the light from day gradually disappearing with the setting sun in the horizon.

“Thank you so much again, Rei…” Priscilla’s father said to Rei, “If there’s anything I could do…”

“It’s fine.” Rei said. “I had only came into town to buy some herbs when I met Priscilla and she told me about you. There is no need to thank me.”

“Ah, then you have not received the herbs yet, correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Then, please, follow me. I will gather the herbs that you came to buy.”

Priscilla’s father opened the door to the herb shop, walking in with Rei following behind him.

Almost immediately, Priscilla’s voice rang from inside the shop, having been waiting at the counter the entire time.

“D, dad…!”

“Priscilla…”

Priscilla ran up to his father, crashing into him with a hug, and Rei smiled warmly, seeing the father and daughter reunite. It reminded him of his own parents.

“Rei, I can’t believe it…” Priscilla looked at Rei with teary eyes, “You actually brought dad back…!”

“Well, that was what I promised after all.” Rei replied, rubbing the back of his head.

He wasn’t too comfortable with dealing with gratitude. It was as though he was still in the process of relearning all these emotions after spending such a long time living with Zilver whom exhibited very little if at all any of these emotions.

“Oh, that’s right!” Priscilla said, and walked hurriedly to the counter, “I’ve reserved the Iguano that you wanted to buy here, Rei.” She turned to her father who was walking up to the counter. “Dad, Rei had mentioned before that he came to buy some Iguano.”

“Is that right,” Priscilla’s father said, stopping at the counter to inspect the herbs that Priscilla had placed on the counter. “Iguano, hm.”

Rei walked up to the counter, joining Priscilla and her father. “Is there a problem?” Rei asked.

“No,” Priscilla’s father shook his head, pulling a bag out from underneath the counter and storing the herbs inside the bag, “It’s not a very commonly purchased herb. There are not many people out there that understand how to properly handle and use Iguano.”

He handed the bag of herbs to Rei, “There's only one other person that comes here to buy this herb, always once a week for the past few years and always dressed from head to toe in a cloak."

"Is that so..."

Rei reached for his bag to get his pouch, and Priscilla’s father rose her hand, “Please, Rei,” He said, “Consider that my gratitude to you for you returning me to my daughter.”

“That’s…” Rei started, but Priscilla also chimed in.

“Let us give you those herbs free of charge, Rei,” Priscilla said, “It’s the least that dad and I can do to thank you.”

Rei glanced at the insistent look on Priscilla’s father, and nodded, “Fine.”

Then, Priscilla turned to her father with a worried look, “Dad… Rei may have saved you today, but what if those knights come back for you…?” she asked.

Hearing this, Rei entered into the conversation, “Then, I’ll be there to stop them. As many times as it takes.”

The father and daughter glanced at Rei surprised, before Priscilla smiled gently, bowing her head, “Thank you so much, Rei. If you ever need herbs any time, please come to us and we will do everything we can to help you.”

Rei turned to leave for the door, having gotten what he needed.

~x~

Snow fell and Rei raised his hand, feeling the icy crystals sit atop his palm, cold seeping into his naked skin. A numb stingness followed but Rei enjoyed the feeling. It took his mind off the burns across his body that were still healing even after two years.

He was standing inside the hut, leaning his body against the window ledge as he gazed outside boredly at the snow covered forest, waiting.

Three days had passed since he had first gone out to the town and returned. The Iguano herbs that Zilver had told him to get sat at the bedside table, still within the brown bag that the herb shop owner had placed the herbs in. Without Zilver, the herbs might as well be rocks.

"Not today, huh..." Rei sighed to himself, shutting the window.

Having set up a fire and now sitting down in front of it for warmth, suddenly Rei heard the door creaking and he glanced up to see a grey cloaked figure entering the hut, patting down snow off their cloak.

Just from the subtle elegance in tiny movements made by the figure, Rei could instantly recognise who the figure was.

"Zilver...!" Rei uttered, rising from the ground.

"Yes?" Zilver said, stopping to glance at Rei with blinking eyes.

"Um, nothing, I was just saying you're back..." Rei replied.

"Is that so." Zilver turned back away, pulling the cloak off from her to hang it near the door. Underneath she was dressed in the white flowing outfit she always wore.

She sauntered over to her bed on the other side of the room, unbuckling the belt on her waist to drop down with a thud her twin blades next to the head of her bed. Always sleep with your weapon within arms' reach. That was one of the many teachings taught to Rei by Zilver.

"You came back quite early this time." Rei said. "How was everything?"

"As usual." Zilver replied.

Rei's eyes followed Zilver as she walked over to where he was sitting near the fire at the centre of the hut.

"Let me see you." Zilver leaned down, inspecting the faint burn scars on Rei's body. "Did you get the Iguano herbs I asked for?"

Rei's face crimsoned slightly, seeing how close Zilver's face was to his own face, "Yeah, they're over by the bed."

Hearing that, Zilver got up and strolled over to Rei's bed to grab the herbs before walking back to Rei. She stopped when she saw the look on Rei's face. "What's wrong?"

"Teach me how to apply the herbs, Zilver..." Rei said, glancing to his side uncomfortably. "I can do it myself..."

Zilver paused for a second, then she sat down next to Rei. "Did something happen when you went to town?"

"That's not it..." Rei said, then he thought about the fight with the knights. "Although..."

"Rei, look at me."

Rei turned his head to stare into Zilver's scarlet eyes, feeling her firm gaze piercing into him. Despite how beautiful her moonlit face was, she could hold a strict expression when she wanted to be terse.

When Rei was younger, that expression of hers scared him, especially since she had threatened to kill him if he disobeyed her on the first day that he met Zilver. However, no matter what Rei did, Zilver had never once struck him in all these years except for when they were sparring.

"You remember that I told you before I left not to do anything unnecessary?" Zilver asked.

"Yes..."

Seeing the guilty look in Rei's eyes, Zilver sighed. "Rei... The reason why I tell you to do things is for your own good."

"I know that..."

"Anyways, we will talk about it another time." Zilver said. "Take off your shirt. I'll get the herbs ready and help you apply them."

She made a move to get up to grab some items she needed to prepare the herbs.

"Z-Zilver..." Rei called out, then glanced her in the eyes hesitantly. "I'm 14-years-old now, you know that, right? I'm not a kid anymore..."

"..."

"Teach me how to apply the herbs."

"Fine." Zilver said, walking over to a shelf in the side of the room. "Also, I have something to tell you, Rei."

"What is it?" Rei raised his eyebrows.

"That last job I just did." Zilver said, shuffling through the shelf. "That's my last job as an assassin."