"Who are you?" Asked Artemis to the two men.
"INSOLENT!" Said Leonardo.
"I won't ask a second time" Said Artemis.
"Y-YOU!"
"Stop, Leonardo" Said Felio while the getting off the horse.
"My name is Felio Gremio, King of Tulip Town, who are you? And why are you attacking us?" Said Felio in a calm way.
"I-"
"Don't worry Artemis, I will answer"
Suddenly, A voice came from behind Felio, when he looked down, he saw a some kind of cane aiming to his throat!
"YOUR MAJESTY!"
Leonardo rapidly took off his sword
"Lower.Your.Weapon" Said Alfonso while pressing the cane.
However, despite being in this situation, Felio didn't even blink, he was as calm as before.
"I suggest lowering your weapon too, my friend" Said Felio while looking down.
When Alfonso follow his gaze, he saw that the tip of a sword was poking his hip.
"When!?" Though Alfonso.
"ALFONSO!"
Artemis shouted while preparing her bow.
"Stop Artemis, lower your weapon"
"BUT!"
"DO IT"
Finally, Artemis lower her bow.
"You too, Leonardo"
"...."
"NOW!"
"YES , YOUR MAJESTY"
Leonardo put down his sword.
However, Alfonso keep his cane in the throat of Felio while Felio did the same with his sword on the hip of Alfonso.
"You are fast" Said Alfonso.
"And you a little rat, to actually came so close without my notice." Said Felio.
Alfonso and Felio stared for sometime, before long, Felio made a small smirk and let go of his sword, Alfonso did the same with his cane.
Alfonso took a few steps back, just two steps in front of Artemis he stopped.
"Welcome to Wasteland Valley, its own nation with its own rules"
"And you are?"
"My name is Alfonso Lockheart, Sovereign of Wasteland Valley."
........................
[Somewhere near Arcadia]
"We are almost in Arcadia, remember, we only came here to buy steel, we buy it, and we get out , you understand?" Said a girl with a black cloth and black hair.
"No, this is what we are going to do, we are going to stay on Arcadia for sometime"
Below her a small puppy talked in highly-mighty manner.
"Cerberus, his majesty was very specific, if we are late, then master will be furious and if she is furious then I am screw, not you, me" Said Cat one.
"Come on , don't be a pussy, I have this feeling that something interesting is going to happen here, in fact, I can tell you this, we may Alfonso if we get some useful info" Said Cerberus.
"Are going to get paid extra for this?"
"No…"
"Then forget it"
"You... greedy bastard…..Hmmmmm?? wait, wait, wait , let's go back a little bit…. Did you say your master was a…. "she"?" Asked Cerberus.
"Hmm? Yeah, what about it?"
"Are you blind or something? Is clearly that Artemis is a he not a she"
"? What are you talking about, didn't you see those beautiful wings on her hip, those were surely impressive"
"? Ha? What wings? Tell me , are you… you know….. eating some strange mushrooms o something? You sure a strange one Cat one."
"…ha…. I won't say anything else….. anyway….. we have a mission so lets go" Said Cat one
"This little girl surely is a weird one." Though Cerberus
"Oh yeah, one more thing"
"What is it?"
"When we are in Arcadia, don't talk"
"Hmm? Why?"
"Because you don't see a talking puppy every day, you will attract unnecessary attention" Said Cat one.
".....Fine….." Surprisingly, Cerberus compromise.
"And, if you must talk, don't call me Cat one"
"Then how should I call you, your majesty?"
"....Io will be fine"
........................
It was morning on Wasteland Valley and it was colder than other days, usually, the farmers and the commoners will get up early to do their activities, however, Alfonso gave them a day off and promise to give each family a huge piece of deer to eat, this was a sore of compensation for yesterday's battle, of course, everyone was happy about it, the soldiers received a piece of land and 10 pieces of gold each. In Wasteland Valley the land wasn't worth that much, however, the soldiers still happily accepted, of course, they value much more the 10 pieces of gold, how could they knew that in the near future they will the luckiest men in all Wasteland Valley to receive a piece of land that cost at least, one hundred times more than now.
However, that was a story for another day
While everyone was still sleeping, Alfonso, was having an important meeting.
"So, Mr.Gremio , are you telling me that you came here because you were worried of the tread that were the beast, its that correct? " Asked Alfonso.
"That is correct, we were in a predicament, like I mention, we sent a team to scout this terrain, but they didn't come back, since we didn't get the info, we assume the worst, so we decide to strike first, who would have tough that you will actually be able to survive and not only that, you even get the beast to cooperate with you… I must say that the rumors about your majesty were complete wrong" Said Felio.
"Well, thank you"
"However, this and that are to different things" Said Felio.
He crossed his eyes and looked directly to Alfonso.
"I cant overlook the fact that you attack us. I loss 120 men yesterday, they had families, they were important, you cant possible tell me that I forget about that, right?" Said Felio.
"I will admit it, that I am part responsible for this, I should have sent an ambassador to know exactly what were your intentions in coming here" Said Alfonso in a calm matter.
"Then-"
"However" Interrupted Alfonso before Felio could continue.
"However, you must understand something, Every town, every city, every valley in Leitol give us their back when we need them the most, that makes us...aware of strangers…..of course, if they come with good intentions we will be open to listen, however, someone who comes with an army of 1000 something men, they simply don't come to have a nice tea chat, do you understand?" Said Alfonso.
"YOU ARE TALKING NONSENSE! , JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LOSE A SINGLE MAN , YOU DON'T HOW WE FEEL, WHO HAD TO SEE HOW OUR BROTHERS FALL ONE AFTER ONE, ARE YOU TELLING ME TO FORGET IT YOU BECAUSE OF A MISUNDERSTENING? FUCK YOU!" Shout Leonardo who was behind Felio.
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT HIS MAJESTY, I WILL KILL YOU!"
Deferio, who was behind Alfonso took out his spear.
"Stop" Said Alfonso.
"We are here to talk not to fight…. Your name was Leonardo, right?"
"YES!"
"Two things, first, you are wrong I do know how it feels to lose a man, you are looking it yourself" Said Alfonso while looking at his side, Leonardo follow his gaze.
On the floor, Demeter was attending a wolf who was badly injured, this wolf was the one that Artemis barely safe, although it didn't die, it loss one eye, and he could barely walk.
"He will survive, however, he won't be able to fight anymore…. I am sorry" Said Demeter while hugging the head of the wolf.
"Aoo~"
The wolf looked at Alfonso.
Alfonso stood up and bowed to the wolf.
"Thanks for your service to Wasteland Valley, I, Alfonso Lockheart, will be eternally grateful" Said Alfonso.
The wolf looked happy and then fall sleep.
"I will take it to another room" Said Demeter while grabbing the wolf.
"…what are you being so melodramatic about… its just a wolf" Murmured Leonardo
However, it didn't escape Alfonso's ear.
"Just a wolf?" Said Alfonso in a cold way while looking straight to Leonardo.