Felt stopped. The wind that kept rushing past her face as she ran, screaming for someone to help her stilled as he looked back towards the loothouse. Above the building, in the air, a miniature sun had risen, casting a bright light over the capital.
Felt's heart tightened and she wiped the tears off her face. For a moment, she feared the worst. What if old man Rom had died alongside the two people that had come to save them? What if the assassin had escaped after killing them all? What if that sun like object in the sky was a last attempt at finishing the assassin, or worse off, an attempt to call for help. Help that she could not find by herself?
Had her inability to find help doomed old man Rom?
"No..." She felt another batch of tears rising up, but she squashed them down. In it's place was a deep sense of rage. And then, an arc was cast over the sun, large and beautiful and the light began to dim.
Something overtook her senses and rational thought and she began to rush to the loothouse, her legs carrying her at speeds that would leave any normal man reeling in amazement. The wind parted before her and carried her ahead. Her small frame, nimble and graceful in the wind easily reached speeds of upto 100 meters per second!
The wind rushed past, and in just a few moments, she reached the destination.
The loothouse was in a sorry state. The roof was blown off, the wall had a gigantic hole inside it and the interior looked ruined. In front of the structure stood a man wearing a long coat, right alongside a woman with beautiful silver hair. And in front of them, laying in dried blood was the body of the same woman that had attacked them.
"Big Bro!" Felt yelled as she ran towards the man. Coming to a stop before him, she asked the question plaguing her mind. "How's old man Rom?! He's fine right?!" Her lip quivered as she waited for the reply. Her heart almost leapt out of her chest when she saw the man not reply, but turn towards the silver haired lady.
Emilia smiled softly and nodded. "He's alright. Just sleeping. He lost a lot of blood so he might be weak for some time." With that, she looked towards the deeper recesses of the loothouse. Felt took the hint and instantly bolted inside.
Hedin smiled at the little girl and spoke, "I thank you, Emilia." He said.
Emilia looked surprised, "For what?"
"What else? Saving a life. It is a mountainous task to have a life depend on you." He replied.
"I... see." Emilia seemed a bit unsure at first, but looking at Hedin's encouraging smile, she chuckled and nodded.
Hedin turned again towards the corpse of the bowel hunter, the cadaver split from the waist down, the lifeless eyes that stared still at his own and the blood dried over her soft and white skin.
"Now what?" He asked.
"Um..."
"She was a widely known criminal right? So, is there a bounty on her head?"
Emilia looked as if she did not know. An apologetic expression graced her face, "um... probabl-"
Just then, Hedin turned towards the right. His eyes narrowed and he felt his body tighten in alarm. An oppressive air hung at his shoulders, weighing down at him like a raging river crashing incessantly across his frame, or a gigantic mountain pushing down on him. The pressure was immense, so much so that the light of glory began to unconsciously seep out from his body.
Just then, a melodious voice, undoubtedly male in nature rang out in the air.
"There is indeed a bounty for the bowel hunter."
Emilia also turned her head. There, along the dirt road littered with debris and trash walked a knight. His head was a tuft of hair red as the finest of wines and his eyes a sapphire blue. His figure was adorned by a white coat that hung close to the ground, just above his boots and a glorious long sword, that seemed a bit too broad to function as a viable weapon rested at his hip.
The world seemed to twist around him. The air welcomed him, the strange substance Hedin had felt in the air whirled around him and clung to his skin like a curious child asking attention from it's mother. The way he moved and the way he held himself was as graceful as it was powerful.
Hedin felt sweat pool at his forehead. His years of experience with near-death battles gave him excellent instincts. And so, he knew when he was outmatched. So thoroughly outmatched that he was not sure if he could even make the man draw his sword.
"Who?" His shock lasted only a moment. His frozen figure broke away and again, he composed himself.
The man drew closer, and holding a hand to his chest, he bowed. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Reinhard Van Astrea, the current Sword Saint of the Kingdom of Lugunica." His sapphire eyes met Hedin's and went over Emilia's.
"Greetings, lady Emilia. May I ask who you might be?" His tone was polite, too polite for someone of his strength.
Sword Saint? A saint of the sword? A peculiar title. He mentioned the 'current' sword saint, so there's probably one such individual active at a certain time. Hedin analysed his words and gave a polite smile.
"Hedin Haverill. A traveller." He chuckled.
"Reinhard! Why are you here?" Emilia asked, her amethyst eyes scanning the Sword Saint.
"I saw the bright light in the sky and assumed a fight was happening. I rushed here as fast as I could." His eyes drifted to the corpse of the bowel hunter on the ground. "I see that I was not needed."
"Ahem." Hedin coughed, "Am I going to be in trouble?" He asked.
It was the logical line of thought. After all, he was an unknown man, who, on the first day in the capital lit up the twilight sky and killed the bowel hunter. Although the assassin was a well known criminal, an unknown variable like him was equally dangerous.
Reinhard smiled softly, "Considering that you've taken care of one of the leading headaches of the knight order of Lugunica... and the fact that I'm technically off duty today, I suppose not."
Emilia chuckled at the side.
"You're a bad knight, Sir Reinhard."
"I try my best, my lady."
Surprisingly approachable for someone with such monstrous strength... he might even be stronger than the third hunter or the Master of Arms. Hedin thought in his heart.
Just then, there was moment inside the loothouse. Everyone turned their heads, and it was not long after, that Felt walked out, a complicated smile on her face but one that was relieved.
Without saying anything she rushed straight at Emilia and hugged her by the waist.
"Thank you..." She managed to squeeze out, rubbing her face on her dress.
Emilia's face flushed as she looked at Hedin.
Hedin flashed her a smile and nodded.
"Told you. You saved a life. It's worth a lot." He said.
Slowly, a smile blossomed on Emilia's face.
"...I see."
Just then, before they had any more time to laze around, Hedin's hackles stood on edge.
His vision tightened and muscles stood taut. By instinct, he grabbed his sword and turned around. At the corner of his vision, he saw Reinhard turn around at the same speed.
And what he saw took his breath away.
Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter who had previously lied on the ground, split from the waist down now stood at the eye level, a smile stretched eerily across her face. The inclining light fell on the right side of her face and produced lengthening shadows on the ground. The blood that was on her figure could not be more obvious. Surely, the previous skirmish had not just been a dream or hallucination.
"How.." Hedin muttered in momentary shock.
But alas, he did not have the time to act on it.
Elsa's figure flew, her powerful legs carrying her beyond the speed of sound and away from the place.
Reinhard bent down instantly and rushed up like a spring.
The sound barrier broke like a twig stepped on by a bear. A giant sound boomed into their ears and the ground below Reinhard splintered. Two blurs shot out from the slums, going towards horizons unseen.
Hedin, Emilia and Felt remained standing, unsure about the situation.
"Um. That was..." Hedin felt a bit speechless. "She was dead, wasn't she?"
He asked Emilia. Truth be told, he wasn't feeling so sure of himself anymore. He had checked with his senses. Her heartbeat, her breath and even the sound of blood in her veins had stopped. How could she just stand up straight after that? In the first place, how did her legs magically connect back to her body?
Without blasphemy of glory, Hedin wasn't sure how such a thing could be possible.
It must be this... He again turned his attention to the amorphous substance around him. The same that twisted and turned when Emilia used icicles or the one that churned when he summoned his light of glory.
"I think so." Emilia said, her tone filled with doubt.
With Reinhard and Elsa gone, there was nothing they could do anymore.
"Um." Felt spoke, drawing Emilia's attention.
Then, she bowed.
"Thank you again. For helping us. Even though I stole from you. I didn't know things were going to develop like this." She smiled awkwardly.
Emilia shook her head. "Don't worry about it. But can you return what you stole? It's very important to me."
Felt nodded her head and began to search through the small bag at her hip.
Just then, Hedin turned around, seeing Reinhard heading back to them with large leaps.
When he reached them, he bowed apologetically. "I lost her when she tried to throw daggers at the civilians. It is my blunder."
"Some sword saint you are." Felt clicked her tongue as he held out her hand, a small object resting atop her palm, silvery white in appearance and adorned with a ruby in the centre; glowing with a soft crimson light.
"Here you go, sis." She smiled.
Just then, Reinhard's jaw tightened. Instantly, he grabbed Felt's hand before Emilia could grab the insignia and bore his eyes into hers.
"You! What's your name?"
Felt was disconcerted, "My name? Um. Felt."
"What's your last name? Why are you living in the slums?" Reinhard questioned with increasing intensity.
"Stop that! You're hurting me! I don't have anything as fancy as a last name!" Felt struggled against the grip but could not break free.
"Reinhard, what is this about?" Hedin was quick to question the Sword Saint.
"Um. If this is about the insignia, Reinhard, I pray that you do not hold her accountable." Emilia also came to the rescue.
Reinhard shook his head, his eyes laced with a grim undertone. "I'm afraid this goes beyond just theft, lady Emilia. If I ignored this, I would be making the greatest blunder of all." His tone contained finality.
Reinhard grabbed the insignia from her hand and passed it over. Then, as he tried to pull Felt along, a hand grabbed his forearm.
"I'm afraid that's not happening." Hedin's voice rang clear in the slums. The light around them intensified, as if answering his words and validating them to all that were present. A metaphysical nod offered by the world to the Glory of Humanity carried by a man. "Either you tell us what you're going to do to her, or you're not taking her. End of story."
"Yeah! You tell him big bro!" Felt exclaimed, still struggling incessantly to get out of the man's grip.
"I'm afraid that is confidential information." Reinhard closed his eyes and turned his head downwards. "It is a matter than concerns the highest authorities of the Kingdom of Lugunica. A matter pertaining to the dragon tablet and the council of the Wise Men." He made himself clear. Being a political secret, he was not, could not, give the answer to that question.
Framing the entire thing as a political secret? Hedin narrowed his eyes.
"Well well. Don't we have ourselves in a predicament." His tone went low. He had dealt with a lot of filth taking the forms of humans. He was not ashamed to admit that a lot of them contained nobles and people in power that had varying sexual preferences, mainly in the age category of adolescent or pre-pubescent children.
He was not sure if the Sword Saint was the same. He did not seem to be, as per the emotions he could feel off of him, but power was amoral in nature. Those in power were bound to be corrupted; oftentimes, that corruption took strange forms. And although in any other scenario, he would have believed his senses and the miracle telling him that Reinhard was not such a man, he was not so sure anymore. After all, as per his senses, Elsa was also supposed to be dead.
"Hedin, I don't think you should be like this. Reinhard is trustworthy." Emilia chided from the side.
Reinhard, seemingly realizing the situation met his gaze and spoke.
"I may not be able to reveal the state secrets, but there is another thing I can do." He held his free hand to his chest and said, "I swear on my name, the to-be head of the Astrea Lineage, on the title of the Sword Saint and every person that has held this title before, no harm will come to Lady Felt. She will be treated with the utmost respect as far as my own power and authority can offer."
Hedin held his gaze for some time before he nodded and let go of his arm.
He would trust that. For now. He prayed that he did not come to regret that and that the miracle could still be trusted in the same manner as before. Though he could not help but linger on the wording he had used.
Lady Felt?
Reinhard also let go of her arm and bowed softly to her.
"My Lady, I pray that you will come with me." He said.
Felt looked at Hedin and back again. "Do I have a choice?"
"As much as I'd like to offer one, I'm afraid not."
"Then bring Old man Rom with us." Felt declared and Reinhard nodded.
With all that said and done, it was time for the moment of truth.
"Well, at least you got your thing back." Hedin smiled bitterly as he looked around at the destruction they caused. A lot more controlled than fighting beasts of blasphemy. If it were a particularly strong one, I'm sure a large chunk of the slums would be destroyed. I did not even need to use my gun. But now that I think about it, it might have been better to blow her brains out than to fight using blades... Are there a lot of such powerful individuals here? Could I enhance my powers if I learn to harness this strange substance?
Hedin had many questions, but he was not sure how to find the answers. He could ask Emilia, sure, but he was hard pressed on that.
"Hedin, I have an idea." Emilia said, smiling. "Why don't you come back to the Roswaal Estate? I can offer you the money you needed and may be able to provide the necessary lodgings for the time."
"Hmm. A tempting offer."
"You can also come with me." Said Reinhard as he walked out of the ruined loothouse, the unconscious body of the old giant hung over his shoulder. Looking at them, it looked quite comical. "I'd be glad to host you in my manse."
Hedin thought it over, and then, decided it would be better to go with Emilia.
He had already discussed the matters of payment with her and with how Reinhard treated the entire situation after seeing the insignia, it was no small matter for it to be stolen. Another thing was that he was almost sure that the reason Reinhard was inviting him was both to be a good host and keep an eye on him. A strong man like him, without an identity dispatching the Bowel Hunter? Anyone with a brain could tell such a man was dangerous.
Hedin did not wish to involve himself with such matters anymore.
He looked overhead. The raven was flying still, blending into the rapidly darkening sky.
Then, politely, he rejected Reinhard's offer and took Emilia's.
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Throw some stones plz.
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(Image Here)
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