The soldier stared at the determined group before him.

This was the worst-case scenario for his fighting style.

Here in the throne room, there weren’t many things to use to his advantage.

Of course, not even taking in to account that there were nine people now, one of which could alone take on a squad.

He placed his own sword on his right hip from his left and started to loosen his cloak.

They were watching his every move and calculating the best option.

“COME ON!!!” The proud imperial shouted at his opponents.

The rebels started running towards him and the one on the far left was faster than the others.

Smiling, the soldier stepped forward and threw his cloak at the center of them.

He used this distraction to slash the rebel on the far left with the black blade.

Their swords clashed together and the soldier then pulled his other sword with his other hand.

“GAAHHH” The rebel screamed as his hand was cut off and blood started flowing.

But the soldier wasn’t done yet, in the same attack he switched directions and brought another cross slash on the man with

his other sword.

The soldier then turned his attention quickly to the next rebel who came at him.

Once again, he deflected the attack but this time he used his sword to slash the man’s stomach.

“Uggghh”

The rebel then saw a black blade plunge in to his stomach and dropped his sword.

The man was then kicked towards the rest of his companions.

The soldier ran behind one of the pillars that filled the room.

They were each about twice his width and he used them to hide.  

“My lady leave him to us, go after the Emperor”

“Are you sure? I can take him out without anymore of you dying”

“He’s just buying time; the real target must be eliminated”

“Yes, we are ready to give our lives for the cause”

She hesitated for a moment but then ran to the stairs behind the throne.

‘Shit, I have to end this quick’ The soldier thought as he tried to catch his breath.

The remaining rebels slowly surrounded the pillar in order to stop him for good.

He took a deep breath and then threw his sword towards the right end of the pillar and rushed left.

With the black blade, he did an upwards slash towards the rebel in front of him.

“Not bad for a dog”

The rebel narrowly avoided the soldier’s strike but the black blade nicked his cheek.

He threw a counter slash to force the soldier backwards in to a pincer.

‘Shit’

The soldier barely blocked the attack to his back and managed to fall back in to the center of the room again.

The six rebels walked towards the soldier while brandishing their weapons.

To reduce their casualties, they decided to attack in a coordinated formation.

Four of the rebels started rushing forward to hold the soldier down while the last two would finish him off.

The soldier’s breathing was getting heavy and his heart was hammering but he knew what to do.

The black blade was lighter than he thought and so he was able to maneuver it a great deal faster than his regular sword.

He blocked the first strike towards him and kicked his opponent’s’ knee in.

Next, he sent his blade through the throat of the next rebel and kicked him towards the others.

As the blade drew blood, the soldier could feel it almost howl and he started to feel a burning sensation go through his arm.

‘Looks like it’s time to end this’ He thought as he saw his chance.

The soldier rushed towards the standing four and aimed for their limbs.

“AHHHH!!!”

The man screamed as his sword hand came off.

But no sooner as he screamed as the soldier grabbed him and turned him around.

He was stabbed from behind and his throat slit before he was tossed to the ground.

The three were shaken and didn’t know what to do next.

One man dropped his weapon and started running towards the entrance of the room.

Another man ran forward as a final charge but he was too slow.

The soldier struck his blade his blade through his throat and threw the man’s sword at the running

man.

“AAAGGGHHH”

The man yelled as his knee was sliced by the thrown sword and he crashed to the floor.

The soldier approached the last man who fell to the floor shaking.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

He raised the black blade and brought it down in to the man’s heart.

Next, he walked to the man whose knee he had kicked and pierced his heart.

The man with one foot was crawling now to get away.

“Cowards get to die last”

“Hahhahhaha, you .. you think .. you’ve won? No we have you where we want you. . . you won’t----

gaaahhhhh. . . .”

The soldier stabbed his sword through the man’s back to his heart and went on his way.

He picked up his old sword and cloak and started to run after the saint on the stairs.

----------------------------------------

The next morning, Ander woke Mila up and the two headed in to town.

Ander wrapped a cloth around Mila to keep her on his back.

When they got to town, he bought them some breakfast and sat with her on a bench.

“Look Mila, your mother and I are going through some things right now. But that doesn’t mean that

we don’t care about you”

“. . . Why is mommy so different now?”

“. . Uh we . . . a long time ago we were different people. But now we remember who we are. Your

mother is trying to decide who she is”

“So, you’re not mommy and daddy anymore?”

“No that’s not what I’m saying. It’s like . . . we are more than just your parents now you see?”

“. . . not really”

“Don’t worry we’ll get through this Mila, but today you have to stay with Kona”

“But I want to stay with you” Mila looked at Ander with a sad look on her face.

Ander smiled and rubbed her head.

“Look you have to strong now, WE have to be strong. Your mom will come back. But you have to

believe ok?”

“. . .ok” With a quiet voice, Mila agreed with her father.

“I’ll be back later” Ander said as he dropped Mila off at the bakery.

As he walked towards the forest he saw a familiar face.

“Reimi”

“I heard Emilia still hasn’t come back?”

“Yea, she has . . . things to deal with”

“Need help?”

“Haha if it’s not too much trouble”

“Don’t worry, my uncle said that they can cover for me for a while”

Ander nodded and Reimi followed behind him with her bow.

While the town hunters tracked their prey down, Ander liked to wait for them in the trees.

With Reimi, he could potentially get more animals.

“Well this is my spot” Ander said as they got to the meadow.

“Wow its REALLY out of the way” Reimi said with amazement.

“But it’s really beautiful here” She added.

“Can you tell if anything’s been through here recently?”

“Hmm” Reimi started looking around and Ander just walked behind her.

“Wait here, look at these tracks”

They followed the tracks for a few minutes before they came across a doe grazing in a small

clearing.

Ander started to nock his arrow but

“Wait Ander what if she has kids” Reimi said blocking his hand.

“My kid has to eat too”

Reimi placed her bow down and laid both her hands-on Ander’s to lower his bow.

She stared in to his eyes and said

“Please”

“Tch, fine but if we find another one I’m shooting it”

“Don’t worry, I’m a pretty good tracker if you remember. Not to mention I taught you how to use the

bow too”

“Yea yea just keep praising yourself more”

Ander said jokingly to his teacher.

“So how do you usually hunt them?”

“Well why don’t I show you”

They decided to walk back to the meadow and Ander helped Reimi up in to a tree.

He didn’t go back to his usual height in fear that he didn’t recover yet.

They sat there in silence, with their bodies touching.

The sun moved across the sky yet nothing seemed to come.

“Ander want to have lunch now?”

“Yea, I guess so. Nothings coming”

They climbed down and Reimi pulled out a lunch she prepared.

“Here I made this extra one for you”

“Oh thanks. It looks better than having meat buns again”

It was a lunchbox packed with rice, curry and some beef stew.

Ander took several bites before hungrily finishing the whole thing.

“How was it?”

Reimi asked with an expectant look on her face.

“Delicious” Ander replied with an approving look.

Reimi sweetly smiled and said

“I’m glad”

The two finished up lunch and decided to take a new approach.

This time they wandered the opposite direction from the meadow.

“Usually I can catch a deer or two here and just spend the rest of the time skinning them. But it

looks like today our luck is bad”

“If worse comes to worse, I can make you dinner”

“I’m grateful but I don’t want to depend on you too much Reimi”

“I’d be happy if you depend on me more” She said in a hushed voice.

“What was that?”

“Oh nothing”

Reimi said as she walked off ahead.

They walked through more bushes and came to a river.

“Reimi look!!”

Ander pointed to a doe with two fawns behind her.

“Wait Ander over there”

Reimi said just as Ander reached for an arrow.

A male deer started to come by the river as well.

The two looked at each other and nodded.

They both nocked their arrows and took aim.

Ander’s arrow missed as the buck noticed at the last second.

His arrow hit the buck’s back left thigh as Reimi’s hit his belly.

‘Shit’

Ander thought as he was quickly struggling to get another arrow up.

But fortunately, Reimi was faster at nocking and managed to fire another one in to the buck’s heart.

“THANK YOU”

Ander shouted as he hugged Reimi out of joy.

When he let go, Reimi looked down.

“. .Uh. . .uh . .um yea no problem”

The doe and the fawns had already sped away as the arrows came flying.

As a result, Reimi was glad that they didn’t have to let two fawns potentially die in the wilderness.

Ander on the other hand, was glad that they caught something that day.

They took out their knives and started to strip down the body for resources.

By the time, they were done and walked in to town, the sun was starting to set.

“Are you going to sell this?”

“Not the meat, but I’ll bring the antlers to Kei”

“Oh, him”

Kei had moved near the town for retirement and had set up shop for fun.

Some of his prices competed with the town’s stores.

So, he agreed to move out of town in order to continue his business.

But that didn’t stop people from disliking him for driving prices down.

“Hey he’s not so bad, he only trusts money. I mean at least coin is more reliable than people”

Reimi stopped in front of Ander and clasped her hands-on Ander’s right hand.

“Ander . . .no matter what, I’m there for you. Even if no one else, . . .just let me stand with you”

Ander pulled his hand from hers and with his back turned said

“I’m not alone. I have Emilia remember”

Though he knew Reimi was loyal to him, Ander didn’t want her to strain her relationship with the

town for him.

“Come on, I have to pay that bum Guy”

They found him pasted out in the alley of the tavern.

“Well let’s see here, water or should I kick him?”

Ander asked Reimi jokingly.

“He’ll catch a cold if you douse him”

“Kick it is then”

Ander walked up to Guy’s unconscious body and kicked his shoe really hard.

“HUP!!?? HUH?!!?”

Guy jolted awake in surprise.

“Here old man”

Ander threw a package to Guy.

“This isn’t money”

Guy said, puzzled at the meat inside.

“It’s called meat, you cook it and eat it.

This way, you won’t blow your money on alcohol again”

Guy turned from Ander and looked at Reimi.

“Well if it isn’t the young miss, your wife’s away and you’ve already turned your sights elsewhere”

Guy said with a grin on his face.

“You’ll get the rest in coin when the next delivery is done. I want it by tonight”

“WHAT!!??”

Guy exclaimed as he saw the sun’s position.

“Here’s a list and the coins for Kei”

Ander said as he tossed the money wrapped in the list to Guy.

“Oh, and give him this too”

Ander then tossed the antlers to Guy.

Ander walked away with Reimi briskly after this.

“The people you interact with now are terrible”

“Hey, they’re better than HIM. Speaking of which I haven’t seen that shithead you call a brother”

“. . .Yea it’s strange he hasn’t confronted you yet”

They walked in to the bakery and were greeted by Mila running up to them.

“DADDY, I missed you” Mila said as she buried her head in to his legs.

“Haha I missed you too”

Reimi watched this scene with a small tugging feeling in her heart.

“We have some time, so Reimi how about that cake now?”

“Sure” Reimi smiled happily.

Kona brought out her special cake for the three and they enjoyed a quick meal.

They laughed and talked about their day.

Finally, Ander got up with Mila and prepared to leave.

Reimi walked with them to the gate and exchanged some last words with Ander.

“Thanks once again Reimi”

“No problem”

“Goodbye Remi” Mila waved from Ander’s back.

“Can you carry all that?”

Reimi asked as she motioned to Ander’s deer meat, bow, quiver and Mila.

“Yea it was a struggle getting here with Mila and the bow. Here why don’t you hold on to it for me?”

Ander handed his bow and quiver to Reimi.

He wrapped Mila tight on his back and held the venison in both hands.

“I’ll keep them safe until you come back”

“I know you will” Ander said smiling as he left.

The sun had set by the time they got home.

Ander prepared the bath for them and was starting on food when Mila came running.

“DDDDAADDDYY, there’s someone out there”

Ander dropped what he doing and pulled out the sword he hid in the kitchen.

“Just stand behind me Mila”

He said in a low voice.

The figure Mila mentioned was slowly approaching their front door.

They stopped when the light from the house revealed their face.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Ander shouted calmly with a scared Mila behind him.

The man approached further to reveal his attire.

“Don’t you remember a Hawk when you see one?”