"Why are you staring at me?" Willem asked making the man named Sebas flinch and look away, his hands darting to his sword, trembling.
The knight this little child came with was probably the worst candidate for the job of escorting her through something as dangerous as this Forrest
"don't worry mister hero, Sebas is just Really scared of elves and other demi-humans" the child named Liliana responded firmly latched onto Willem's arm. for some reason, the child was quick to trust him and was a ball of energy asking questions and saying the most random things
Why he had decided it was a good idea to help these two were one of the mysteries not even Willem could answer.
Oh wait, the answer was actually pretty simple.
They'll die if Willem left them to fend for themselves.
To get to their destination they had to cross a portion of the forest.
A portion Willem knew all too well.
It was the location he'd tried avoiding the most. cause for all the salt in him, he did not want to fight that huge beast even if he had a small chance of success
He shuddered at the memory.
A scaly head the size of a house.
A body made of interlocking plates of scales that could flatten cities.
Red Wings that can cover the entire forest and block the sun.
Teeth the size of swords and claws the size of spears.
A mythical beast Willem only thought belonged in stories of fantasy.
A dragon.
Willem did not want to fight such a beast seeing as he would literally be gobbled up in mere seconds after engaging the beast
so here he was now leading the two people down a simpler route he came across
His charges, was apparently some princess of a foreign country traveling with her bodyguard Sebas in secret so she wouldn't be used as a political pawn against her father
Willem had to admit. This king had a bit of his respect for that decision.
Still, it raised some questions of why was there a war?
Why was she only traveling with one guard? and a coward too
"Why do you look so afraid of me?" Willem asked pointedly at said guard, who immediately shrank in fear only proving his point further
The guard twiddled his fingers childishly mumbling incoherently to himself.
"spit it out!" Willem barked causing him to jump and stand straight, arms behind his back, head bowed showing his me his bare neck in a sign of submission
"its cause you're a dark elf sir!!!" he shouted closing his eyes probably expecting Willem to strike him or something
'This guy is hopeless' Willem thought
Dark elf?
Was that what he was?
In times like these, Willem liked to pretend to know more than he actually did. letting others give him the information he was lacking to make it seem like he knew better.
It wouldn't do to have a 'dark elf' not know what he is
"and what do your people say about us… dark elves," Willem said a smile in his voice that implied he was toying with him when he was actually fishing for information.
Sebas looked up to meet my grey eyes with his black ones, the ever-present fear in them
"your…" he spoke carefully "people are assassins so good at their job, merely announcing a person hired a dark elf meant that a certain person was to die. people who care only for gold and their lust for human blood" he said a slight tremble in his voice
If it weren't for the fact that he was currently cowering behind a little girl who looked confusedly cute with her head tilted sideways Willem would have found that offensive
he raised an eyebrow
"then am I correct in assuming all knights of the human kingdom are cowards like you?" Willem asked seeing rage build up in the man's eyes
"take that back!!!" Sebas shouted jumping in front of the child matching Willem's level stare with a glare "I may not be the bravest most skilled knight in my country but they are good men who protect people alongside the four hero's" he huffed proudly his stature straighter and eyes befitting a real knight
Willem smiled. It was time to turn this little argument into a lesson for the little one
"are you arguing Sebas, Mister hero?" Liliana spoke meekly her voice saddened and almost instantly Sebas was back to his childish persona comforting and saying stupid things to comfort the child
"No. little one, I'm trying to teach you a lesson, " Willem said sagely with his eyes closed remembering how his grandfather would look when teaching him
"lesson?" her blonde head tilted sideways again
"what your guard just proved was that most of you judge others by their worst examples" he explained expecting a follow-up question
"worst examples?"
"if you were to judge me by the actions of the worst of my kind, then I would no doubt look like a bad person" he explained noting that Sebas was also listening intently
"But you're a hero!!" Liliana interrupted indignantly. Willem resisted the urge to refute that and pressed on with the lesson
"and if I were to judge your kingdoms knights by looking at Sebas I would say they were all cowards. Now, do you see my point?" Sebas nodded to himself but Liliana still looked confused
"The lesson was to never judge a person by the worst examples of their race, more often than not they are only a few people who are actually bad, as it usually only takes a small number of people to change a whole countries opinion of them," Willem said gently taking this from his experience in the war where they believed the enemies were all evil pests who would kill their family on sight
"you really are a race that lives ages and possess wisdom beyond our people" Sebas whispered in awe
Willem raised an eyebrow
A race that lives ages?
"Are you really above a thousand years old?" Sebas asked curiously
Willem looked confused
Seeing the confused face and mistaking it for surprize on how he knew it Sebas answered again
"your hair." he elaborated "it was often said that elves with white hair are ones considered adults meaning having lived for a thousand years. But..." he said before trailing off
"though that was for normal elves…" he mumbled
Willem found it best to lie in a situation like this
"frankly even I don't know how old I am anymore" it wasn't technically a lie he didn't know how old he is and whether to add the body's age with his mental one
"ehh!!!" Liliana screamed in surprise "mister hero is a grandpa?!"
If Willem had been drinking something he would have spat it out instantly. But instead, he just chocked one his saliva
Sebas snickered
"no, your highness he's a dark elf," he tried to explain "they live longer than humans do, his white hair only means he is an adult among the dark elves," he said gently
"Does that mean my hairs gonna grow white when I grow up too?!" the princess asked in fear "no! I'm going to look like a granny!"
Willem and Sebas shared a laugh at the little princesses dispense
__________________________________________________________________________________________
It was night. The group of three had made a little camp with a simple fire and roasted a boar that Willem caught while Sebas was pitching a tent for the princess to sleep in
The two hadn't brought much by means of survival equipment. Willem wondered what they would have done if he wasn't there to help them hunt
He couldn't imagine Sebas with a bow hunting the weird monsters of the area.
Willem sat in a tree perched in a relaxed manner with his bow slung across his chest and machete dangling on a branch. had taken the first watch of the night and was now looking over the little camp the two set up
He stares at the moon wondering to himself.
Why did he help them?
Was it because Liliana reminded him of Amanda?
Was it because Sebas was incompetent?
'no' he thought to himself
It wasn't for any shallow reason like that. He was doing this because it was the right thing to do.
Besides.
It's not like playing the hero in this life would make him more of one to the one that actually mattered in the old one.
A twig snapped below his tree.
Almost instantly he fired a warning shot and barely missed the target
"ahh!!!" a very familiar scream reached his ears
He removed the machete from where it hung on a branch and returned it to his side before leaping off the tree and landing in a graceful roll… only to be faced with the panicked face of Sebas who was frozen in place by an arrow that was currently protruding from the bark of a tree just beside his head
He'd forgone his plated armor and greeves for a cloth tunic and pants letting his lean frame show. He wasn't the largest man Willem knew but he wasn't short either. He was just about above average in height with a lean body suited to running
"Jeez!! man, you could've killed me!!!" he screamed frantically falling to the ground as all of his strength was chased by the fear of almost getting hit by the arrow
"quiet." and with that word, he shut up
'This is kinda getting amusing' Willem thought
"Why are you here? Your shift was supposed to be after three hours." Willem asked staring the man down
Finally, Sebas got back his strength and did something unexpected.
He bowed to Willem.
"can you please train me!!!" he pleaded
Willem raised an eyebrow
"Explain" it wasn't a question
"there was actually a whole battalion 15 men were sent by the king to escort the princess to Lunaria city, a stronghold we have that serves as the backup city incase the Eldroso empire fell its the safe ground for those seeking refuge. Ruled by Liliana's uncle" he said hastily
"I see… and this battalion of yours where is it now?" Willem asked. a finger to his chin in contemplation
"dead." there was a hint of sorrow in Sebas's voice when he said it but pressed onwards "on the way here, we were ambushed by bandits. We fought well, even to the point where we were about to win but then something changed" he said shivering at the memory
Willem remained passive. his stance was relaxed but his eyes narrowed.
"the dead began to rise…" he whispered in fear like he was in a trance of insanity just remembering it "there was a necromancer among them. and one by one our numbers started to dwindle and I…." he trailed off looking ashamed
"you were too afraid to do anything and ran away with the princess" Willem filled in the gaps, coming to the logical conclusion.
"yes…" Sebas whispered head hung low "I wanted to help but I was weak!!!" he shouted as he looked up from where he stood
"and now that you're alone with your charge, what do you plan to do?" Willem asked harshly "let the princess die because of your weakness?" his words cut at Sabas like hot knives embedding themselves in his soul
But surprisingly he didn't sob or cry like he usually did with the princess. instead he looked at Willem with resolution in his eyes
"I would never let the princess die, she deserves to live. She's the kindest of all the nobility out there and she deserves a better guard than me" he said matching Willem with an intense gaze "so please can you train me so I could be deserving of bearing the title of her knight!!!" he screamed bowing once more
"fine…" Willem sighed causing Sebas to look up with stars in his eyes
"training starts now"
Sebas barely registered the words when a fist struck his face sending him sprawling
"you better learn to block fast," Willem said cracking his hands "cause this about to get boring if you just keep getting hit" he smiled sadistically
And even from miles away people claimed to have heard screams of pain that night.