"I hope you understand that your little stunt almost killed some guards last night. That bright light caused one of the guards to fall from the guard tower. If it hadn't been for the thick snow underneath, he would've surely lost his life."
Din looked down on the floor with nothing to say.
The plan had failed yesterday.
The commotion created by Tal and Mun caused many of the guards to head in that direction, but after the second bright light, many of them fled towards the south of the village, running into Din and capturing him.
Paro, Din, and Karlyn were currently eating breakfast. Tal and Mun had left after they had done their part in yesterday's plan. They were heading to Newron to report back to their guild leader.
After finishing his meal, Paro stood up and then took his plates towards the kitchen.
Aside from Paro lecturing Din here and there, it was mostly silent. Karlyn didn't seem to want to interrupt them and Din felt too guilty to say anything back.
In a moment, Din and Karlyn had finished eating as well. Karlyn went to the kitchen to wash the dishes while Paro would talk with Din.
"I understand why you wouldn't want to be in this village, Din. I really do, but after what you told me, there's no way I can let you out of my reach."
Din rebutted.
"But I'll be safe, Uncle Paro! I might not be a high-ranking knight, but I'm still a knight nonetheless! I even went head to head against one of the Ace knights. I can protect myself out there."
"Don't joke around. You were only in the academy, not even a ranked knight. And from what you told me, you knew this Ace knight personally, right? He was most likely holding back during the fight. There's a reason they're Ace knights and why only a few in our country have the right to that title."
Din couldn't say anything to that. Even he must've realized that what Paro had said was the truth.
"Are you afraid the Ace knights will be after me? Since I'm a Spirit now?"
With a sigh, Paro shook his head.
"Don't go claiming you're a Spirit that easily. Like you said, your eyes only changed for a few while before they returned back to normal. That's not something that normally happens, you hear me? I haven't heard of any cases where a Spirit could revert their eyes like that. Certainly, it could be your Wish, but then again, we can't know for sure."
Karlyn brought over two cups of hot tea. She set them down and then left for her room upstairs.
"Thank you, dear." Paro took a sip from the cup before continuing, "Here's the reason why I want to keep you in this village."
Din leaned in onto the table.
"There is this group called the Executioners. That name is known and feared by all the Spirits. They—"
Suddenly, the front door swung wide open. A guard was standing outside, he was out of breath and held his chest as he spoke.
"Doc, Sir Lenstone is at the entrance."
Shock filled Paro's face, but he was able to collect himself rather quickly. He held Din's shoulders.
"You're allowed to come and listen, but don't reveal yourself, understand? Hide behind the crowd or a house, but don't let them see you."
With a nod from Din, Paro eventually released his grip and then headed for the door.
—The air was cold outside. It was snowing, but many of the villagers were walking around just like any other day. There was a group of people waiting near the entrance to the village.
In front of the crowd were ten armed knights on their war horses. They all wore black armor with golden markings and had similar black helmets although each one was slightly different from another. Amongst the group, there was a man with no armor.
He was a man with light blonde hair and red eyes. He wore a black uniform with golden pads on his shoulders and a satchel over his chest. On the satchel were small badges, there were about five of them, all of them with different symbols. He wore a long thin sword by his waist, which he had a hand hovering above as he waited.
As the two reached the front, Din hid behind the crowd while Paro walked in front of them.
The man got off his horse and then greeted Paro with a smile, "It's a pleasure, old friend."
The two shook hands.
"What brings you here, Gore?"
"I wish I could say I was here just to visit an old friend, but that would be just a lie."
Suddenly, the playful tone on his voice disappeared. Although he still spoke the same way, I couldn't help but to feel afraid as I listened.
"I'm here 'cus of the new awakening. You know something, don't you?"
Gore was inspecting Paro's reaction, but Paro kept the same smile he had started with.
"You should know that I've been in this village this entire time, right? How could I've done anything if I was here running the village?"
With a chuckle, Gore nodded, "Right, right. That would be quite the case now. I don't doubt you, old friend, but you must know of the cause of the awakening now. There's no way a wise man such as yourself wouldn't know of the reason behind it, correct?"
"Aside from what I've already told you in the past, I don't have any more information for you. I'm bound by your contract so you must know that I'm telling the truth."
Gore only stood there with a smile. He placed his hands on his chin and looked around at the crowd. Then suddenly, all traces of his smile were gone and a rather sinister look took its place.
"I can't understand why you'd want to live this way, old friend. Anyways, if there's no new info, I'd best be on my way then."
He turned around and then got on his horse. The other knights turned to leave as well. Right before leaving, Gore faced Paro.
"Remember, if you find out anything new. Just send someone to summon me. I'll be in Ravenwalt for the time being."
Paro nodded.
The group of knights left uniformly, riding their horses in the snow.
The crowd slowly left, getting back to what they had been doing before.
I asked Din, "Did you know who those knights were?"
Din shook his head, "I don't even know what their armor was. Usually the design on your armor indicates your rank, but I hadn't seen a design like that before. And that man, their leader. There's just something about him that's bugging me, but I just don't know what."
As Din was talking, Paro walked towards us.
"That man is Gore Lenstone. As I was saying earlier, there is a group called the Executioners. And that man there is one of their generals."
Din asked, "I thought the Executioners were a dangerous group? Why are you working with them?"
Paro look at the ground and almost seemed hesitant on answering.
"Gore and I knew each other a long time ago. It just so ended up that he joined the Executioners while I stayed in this village. We formed a contract so he would keep me safe while I gave him any information I could about Spirits."
Regaining his composure, Paro continued, "Don't misunderstand me though. The only one I'm safe from is Gore, if any other Executioner generals found out about me, I'd be soon dead. They're trained specifically to kill Spirits. I don't know how, but they've already created weapons that can temporarily disable Wishes. Their targets aren't just Spirits though, they'll attack anyone that has any association with them so of course, they'll be targeting you, Din. You not only resisted arrest from the Ace knights, but you've also been seen assisting Spirits. There is no greater sin than that from this country's point of view."