Chapter 51: The blond Knight’s Doubts.

While I was in a dilemma concerning my safety in the dungeon, back in the Cloud Medow town, the situation reached its boiling point. Many people of unknown origins poured into it every hour. Town’s officials were working overtime to keep the security in check. Even still, the inhabitants of the town were advised by the officials to stay indoors for the time being.

Sitting on the balcony of their rented apartment, Cathie and Leah munched on some snacks while watching the hub-hub of the town beneath them.

“Outside is so dangerous.” Leah mumbled while munching on a potato snack, “These people are mercenaries. I can tell just by their looks.”

“Something must have happened for all these mercenaries to gather in this small town.” Cathie frowned as she assessed the situation on the streets. Suddenly her attention shifted to a small fight happening not far from their apartment. A middle-aged man dressed in metal armors was beating a bunch of youths in outlandish hairdos. Moreover, he was quite ruthless in his beating, not sparing even their faces and their heads.

“Wow, those blokes are getting thrashed quite harshly by that man!” Leah commented before frowning, “Hmm, those guys, why do they look like Jaffery’s cronies to me?” Though the incident was happening quite far from their place, she was still able to identify a few of those youths who were getting beaten over there. More specifically, she was able to discern the outlandish hairstyles they had. It had left a deep impression on her the last time she saw them.

“They are his cronies.” Cathie nodded while munching on a potato chip, “And the man who’s beating them, if my guess isn’t wrong, he should be a level 2 warrior. I wonder what these chaps did to infuriate him.”

“What? Only level 2! Man, he is so weak.” Leah threw a disdain-filled look at the middle-aged man before huffing out proudly. “You always say I am dumb, and yet I have reached level 3.” Leah looked very complacent at her achievement and even puffed her chest out when she spoke these.

“That’s not something you should feel proud about, though.” Giving her a white-eye, Cathie frowned while looking at the busy neighborhood, “even so, I wonder why so many mercenaries gathered in this town. Leah, how about we go and find out?”

“Nah! We shouldn’t be busybody, you know. If it’s something important, the guild would have already notified me. Probably it has something to do with the bandits on the mountain. I heard the third prince is coming personally to handle the situation.” Leah commented with a shake of her head. She felt it was too much work and disinclined to leave the coziness of her home. It was late November, and the climate had already cooled down a lot. She didn’t want to leave the comfortable and warm chair on the balcony and do something as boring as enquiring about things that didn’t concern her.

“You lazy girl.” Cathie sighed exasperatedly before shaking her head. She gave up on the idea of inquiring further and quietly enjoyed her afternoon with her friend. Nonetheless, she was also not willing to move around in this cold weather.

…

“Sire, how did your talk with the third prince went?” Inside a luxurious suite, Hendry asked the blond-haired man who just entered. The man held a paper in his hand and smiled after hearing his subordinate’s question.

“It can be said that we succeeded halfway.” Then his smile vanished and replaced by a sneer, “however, that prince is really daring. He even asked for our princess’s hand in marriage. Moreover, he wants to make her his mistress, instead of a legal wife!”

“What!? What courage!” Farman raged but calmed down soon as he recalled the background of the prince. With a frown, he inquired further, “How did you answer it, sir?”

“Sigh!” The blond knight frowned and then showed a bitter smile, “our princess had already predicted this outcome. Do you know what was inside that pouch? It was a wedding with an arcane symbol drawn on it. Before we left for this mission, her ladyship, the fifth princess asked me to give him that ring should he demand her hand.”

“She already predicted it?” Farman was surprised and couldn’t hide the amazement he felt towards the little princess he has chosen to follow.

“Predicted it! You are giving this lecherous bastard way too much credit, Farman. His nature is well known to everyone around the Valier kingdom. Even if you use your ass to think, you can tell what he would demand in exchange for his support.” The blond man sighed as he porched on a chair next to the bed. Though his mission was over, he didn’t feel happy. Not only he lost two of his companions with whom he had gone through many think and thins, but he was also going to work for that fat leecher in the future.

As a knight, he felt there was no greater humiliation than this.

“Sir, I have something to say.” Suddenly Hendry came forward with a long face. The young blond knight nodded at him, urging him to continue what he was saying. Hendry sighed and clenched his fist as he exhaled a breath of air, “I want to join in the fun tomorrow. I want to hunt and kill those damn orcs who killed our two comrades.”

“Rejected.” The blond knight didn’t even take a second to think about the proposal. He looked at him in the face seriously for a second before looking down. His fist clenched hard enough for his nails to dig into his skin, “You think I didn’t want to take revenge? More than anything, I want to march in the front lines and slay them left and right.”

“Then, why?” Hendry asked in a flurry. He couldn’t understand why his captain was not allowing their revenge.

“We are under surveillance right now. Probably it's some assassins sent by another prince, but I am pretty sure someone is following us. If we go to a chaotic place like dungeon tomorrow, we will die for sure.” The blond knight revealed.

“What? How can that be? Since when?” Farman was surprised and couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t know from when we were being followed, but I felt one of their presence just now while I was returning from the prince’s chambers.” The blond knight was also spooked by it. He thought no one could hide from his extraordinary perception, but today he was proven wrong by that mysterious follower. After thinking for a while, he made another decision, “Let’s leave this place first thing in the morning.”

Farman and Hendry could only nod in a daze.

…

The day passed by, and soon the night followed. However, the nagging feeling I felt didn’t recede in the slightest. Instead, it increased several folds. It was to the point that I couldn’t even concentrate on the magic studies. No matter what I did, this voice in the back of my head repeatedly warned me to be careful of something.

Initially, I thought, maybe it was the stance of the orc tribe’s new chief that made me feel restless. However, after talking with Sepi, I found that he had no negative opinions about me. Moreover, he also respects me a lot.

Even still, the nagging feeling didn’t go away.

Then, suddenly my eyes landed on the two humans as a realization dawned upon me. I had previously dismissed this possibility, but I considered it again at this time. The humans, how can I forget that they also had partners? I guessed that those partners of them might have been gathering some people to take revenge. And If so, then no wonder I am feeling restless.

Hastily, I ran outside and towards the new orc chief’s tent. “Logier, I…” I stopped midway as I suddenly remembered that he was no longer the chief. The new chif, Sepi was sitting on an animal-skin mat while munching on some flesh. After seeing me entering hastily, he put down the chunk of meat and came towards me.

“What’s the matter, lord?”

“Sepi, I need a few orcs tomorrow,” I asked. Since Logier was no longer the chief, I thought of not pushing my luck with them for the time being. I repeatedly warned myself to not take their respect towards me for granted.

“I will arrange them personally, lord.” Seeing Sepi agreeing with me in a heartbeat, I felt relief. At that moment, so many doubts vanished from my heart.

For some reason, this Sepi left a better impression on me that Logier.