The old farmer drew his last breath. The other farmers that had gathered around scattered away.

“We’ve only got about a couple minutes before Crowell brings guards around,” Frankie began. “Let’s make sure our business is taken care of before his arrival.”

Scarlett pulled out a dagger similar to Frankie’s in length but was shaped completely different.

The dagger Frankie used had multiple sharp points while Scarlett’s dagger had two sharp points at the end of the dagger.

“Betty, you step back. Tal and the girl, back me up,” Scarlett instructed.

Mun and I nodded.

I was actually surprised Mun didn’t say anything about being called ‘the girl’. She usually liked to complain about a lot of things.

“I am sure you will be victorious,” Betty said as she took multiple steps back. “But do be careful.”

Scarlett smiled as she charged forward.

“Look at you, so eager to shed blood!” Frankie said as he stepped forward.

Although his face was that of a madman, his movements were slow and calm. When Scarlett was within arm’s length from him, he immediately parried her attack with his dagger and then grabbed Scarlett’s dagger with his other hand.

His hand bled as he pulled Scarlett’s dagger with all his force. It was to no use though as the pain got to him and he had no choice, but to let go.

“Fuck, that stings!” He cried out.

I had followed right behind Scarlett and managed to get past her as Frankie released her dagger.

I swung my sword with a full swing, but he moved his hips back to avoid it. Before I knew it, he hit me with the back of his fist as I was recovering from the force of swinging the sword.

My sword dropped to the road as I fell backwards.

“Don’t get in our fight, shithead!” I heard Frankie call out.

He was swinging his leg to kick me while I was down, but I felt someone pull me away, barely managing to dodge the kick. It was Scarlett that had dragged me back.

“Leave this one to me. You and the girl handle the ones behind him.”

There was one problem though, I had dropped my sword in front of Frankie. I couldn’t possibly just head over there and grab it.

“Argh—!”

Frankie suddenly screamed in pain. I looked up from the sword and noticed that there were two throwing daggers stuck on both of his shoulders. They were quite deep in there.

That must’ve been Mun! I used that chance to go get my sword, but the moment I grabbed it, Frankie kicked my face.

I should’ve been watching out for him. Even though he was in pain, he could still move his body as if the pain was only a little annoyance to him.

Even though I got hit pretty hard, I still managed to get my sword back. I was hurt, but I felt confident still.

I wiped the dirt off my face with the back of my left hand before readying a stance. The way Frankie fought was unlike anything I’d faced against before; no knight would fight that hard after getting injured like that.

“You sneaky bitch, I’m coming for you!” Frankie screamed as he pulled out both daggers from his shoulders.

Mun drew two more throwing daggers from under her cloak, but Scarlett stepped in between her and Frankie.

Frankie was breathing frantically, but he still had a smile on his face.

“You’re going to be first, then,” he said as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He was bleeding from his shoulders, but he still charged at Scarlett at full speed.

To my surprise, Scarlet managed to not only dodge the strike, but she was also able to grab Frankie’s arm and then land a knee kick on his stomach.

Frankie let out a gasp of air before falling down on the ground.

“Captain!” His men cried out.

But as they stepped forward, I charged towards them. I managed to hit the men closest on his hand. He lost grip of his sword and then I thrust my sword forward.

It pierced directly into his chest, but this left me in a dangerous position. My sword was deep in the man’s chest and I had no way of removing the sword quickly enough before the other two collapsed on me.

Luckily for me, Mun understood what kind of situation I was in and threw her daggers towards the other men to keep a distance between me and them.

With the time I had gained from that, I managed to cleanly pull out my sword while kicking the guy away from me.

The man screamed out in pain. Even with a hit like that, he was still alive and squirming around on the dirt road, screaming at the top of his lung.

“We’ll get you for this!” One of the other men cried out.

Before we knew it, a strange orb rolled on the ground near us. I looked down at it. It was very familiar…

Then in an instant, the ball broke and released a flash of light. I was blinded.

That was Tal’s light bomb!

I could hear the voices of everyone confused at suddenly losing their sights. Was this Tal’s doing?

I then felt a presence in front of me. She whispered, “Don’t struggle, we’re getting you back to the camp.”

The voice sounded like someone from Scarlett’s crewmates, but I couldn’t remember who.

I let myself get carried away.

The loud cries of Frankie and his men were getting quieter and quieter until we couldn’t hear them anymore. I could hear leaves cracking as the ones that were carrying us were running and the wind brushing through the tree leaves.

We were definitely inside the forest now.

“We’re here. Get them on the bed for now!” One of them instructed. This one sounded like Ralphie.

I felt myself being put on one of the beds. My sight was still gone. Even if I opened my eyes as wide as I could, I couldn’t see a thing.

I could see why Uncle Paro was mad at me for when Tal used this to help me escape.

That felt like so long to me now that reminiscing the memory suddenly made me smile.

“What are you smiling about?” It was the same voice as the one that carried me.

I removed my smile.

“S-sorry. That light bomb just made me remember something. That was Tal’s bomb, right?”

“Oh yeah. He had quite a few of them in his bag. We honestly thought they were smoke bombs, but the result ended up being exactly what we were looking for.”

“Did any of my friends wake up?” I asked.

“They all did, actually. Sorry to say they’re still tied up though. The lady and the kid aside, that man looks dangerous. Just in case they’re still under Crowell’s control, we can’t be letting them walk around on their own.”

“I understand. Um, who am I talking to?”

“Oh is your eyesight not back yet? It’s Tilly.”

“Thank you, Tilly.”

“Don’t mention it. Now that you’ve helped us, it’s time for us to return the favor and we can’t really do that if you’re left for dead back there,” she said with a chuckle.

I tried opening my eyes again, but still nothing but white. Just how strong did Tal make his light bombs? To be fair, I guess I did look straight at it during its explosion.

Tilly covered my eyes, “Just get some rest. We’re planning on moving out as soon as Reginald and Agnes get back. Give your eyes time to rest for now. We sent Ralphie out to patrol the forest so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about for now.”