"Your riches or your lives," A bandit called. Aaron opened the carriage and closed the door behind him, "You, you coming to give us what we asked for?"
"No."
"What? Do you want to die?"
"No," He drew his blade, "But I don't mind killing you."
"Bloody bastard, Joe, get him," One of the two other bandits drew a basic blade and walked towards Aaron, "A noble with a blade, ha, he'll end up dying," The bandit named Joe lifted his blade and expected Aaron to back down but instead, his blade bounced back violently as Aaron parried it before slashing at Joe's stomach, opening a deep wound with blood gushing out of the wound. Joe dropped his blade and then stumbled back. Aaron picked up the second blade and held it in his left hand, "What the hell? You aren't a noble, you must be a knight."
"And? If you fight me you will die," He said as Joe fell to his knees and his head hit the floor hard, "See?" The two other bandits looked at each other before drawing both of their blades, "I will remind you that the two other passengers are also knights, one more skilled than I am," He blocked both of the bandit's strikes with his blade and the dead bandit's blade before shoving one aside with a kick and driving both the blades into the first bandit's chest, cracking his bones and piercing through his back. He pulled both blades out but the bandit's blade broke, so he left it in the dead bandit's body. He turned back to the other bandit that had pulled a knife from it's hidden sheath. He held both blades, the half-blade and his blade, out as they circled around each other. Aaron lunged forwards and faked a swing before turning and slashing upwards, with his blade meeting a little resistance and then simply swinging through. He let the two halves of the bandit fall, "Mind clearing the path?" He asked the two men that drove the carriage. They nodded and then got off of the carriage and then cleared the path as Aaron walked back into the carriage and began cleaning his blade as Rebecca and Selene still slept. He pulled out a mirror and wiped the blood from his face, "Might have overdone it," As he said that he noticed Selene wake up, "Sleep well, Selene?"
"We there? Why did we stop?"
"Bandits."
"Wait, and we are doing nothing about it?" She seemed panicked and reached for her blade, "Really?"
"Shh, calm down," She noticed the blood soaked rag in his hand, "I dealt with them," He smiled at her as he finished cleaning his blade, "Good as new."
"You dealt with them? How?"
"Open stomach, stabbed through the chest, cut in half."
"Oh, by our father, you are brutal."
"They wanted to harm you," He smiled, "It is only natural for me to be as violent as I want to protect you, no?"
"I guess so," She said as the carriage started again, "I think we should be at my home soon, maybe by early morning."
"It is fine with me, I have really been staying up late, so I don't really need to sleep all that," She tapped her thighs, "What?"
"Use my legs as a pillow."
"What?" She pulled him down and pushed his head down onto her legs, "Selene?"
"Shh, your hair is really soft."
"Thank you? But why do I have to be like this?"
"I want you too."
"Sure, why not then," He said, looking up at her, "This is only slightly creepy, seeing you looking down on my with that smile."
"What is wrong with my smile?"
"You are smiling more than usual."
They arrived as the sun began dawning. They stopped in front of a massive manor, that was at the top of a small hill that made it higher than all the other houses in the village. Aaron helped Rebecca and Selene from the carriage and then looked around. The summer sun made the lands glow with a beautiful gold and the forests in the distance seemed to come alive as the sunlight began flooding over them. The smell of nature filled his nose and he smiled as he looked out over the town, "Beautiful."
"Talking about me?" Rebecca asked.
"No, I am talking about the scenery."
"Oh, how sad."
"You are too, but that is because you remind me of your sister, Selene is gorgeous," He said without looking behind him and noticing Selene near him, "At least for me, no matter what she thinks I think she is beautiful."
"Romantic much," Her sister laughed before seeing her parents, "Mother! Father!" She skipped towards them, with her skirt bouncing slightly too high, revealing a little too much, unlike Selene's that revealed exactly the right amount for him to not be a total creep. He walked towards their well-dressed parents and held his hand out to his father and then kissed her mother's hand, "This is Selene's friend."
"Just a friend?" Her mother looked at Selene, "I doubt that, at her age, just a friend, to invite him over for the entire summer?"
"Boyfriend," Selene said shyly as she took his arm, "He is one of the better knights of our academy."
"No, don't exaggerate, I got far, but I probably started from the bottom of the hill."
"What results did you get this year, my daughters?"
"I got 100."
"95."
"And you, I believe it was Aaron, correct?"
"Yes, I got 89."
"Not bad, all three of you."
"Father, do you know what grade Aaron had last year?"
"Okay, Rebecca, that isn't necessary at this moment," Selene said trying to hide Aaron's bad grades, "Last year isn't important."
"He got a 41."
"A 41? How can someone."
"Be so terrible?" Aaron finished her sentence, "Being the worst knight and trying to imitate the best while also using a different style, yeah, I passed because of theory classes."
"I was going to say, how can someone improve so much in one year?"
"I got help from my guardian, Herald Grim, he trained me every evening and then with Selene's help, I got past most of the exams without too much pain."
"Good to hear, now, come inside, there is a meal ready for you three."
"Thank you, Sir Grand," Aaron said, following them into the large home, "This is a gorgeous town."
"It really is," Selene's mother said, agreeing with him, "It has changed since the bandits were cleared out of the forests, people are more willing to spend their time outside and in there jobs and in their free time."