To be bootlicking scumbags, or to be true knights of the Kingdom.
When the choices were simplified to this extent it was obvious what they would choose…
Shoving the guards to the ground, they restrained Jeffrey and Savage as they helped out the Hero. Yup, they chose to bootlick. The Hero was just too magnificent for them to oppose after all.
"If you surrender now, I can guarantee that we will not harm you, and the proper procedures will be handled accordingly," essentially, the Knight said that if they stopped fighting now, they would just release them later.
Of course, the two didn't get the intent behind the words and still kept their combat stances. That was until Karl urged them to stand down, essentially spelling out the intent between the lines for them.
Soon enough, all the guards were 'arrested'. Though they were 'arrested,' the Knights only had them stand in place.
A majority of the criminals had already escaped, but there still remained a few. As the Hero inspected the people bound in chains, he came across, a rather peculiar looking individual. The elf to be specific was dressed in a cheap convict uniform and likewise bound in chains.
Yamada's eyes widened as excitement built up in him. An elf! Finally, he met a fantasy race! All this time, he would only see humans and maybe strange looking birds, but he had finally come across something that most certainly screamed fantasy.
Looking at the slavers they had captured, he should've expected that they would be the ones who would import a foreign race into the Kingdom.
"Are you alright?" Looking at the elf's empty gaze, he mistook it that she must've been through a lot.
"Don't worry, your safe now," cutting her chains, he held her hand.
…
"Sacred stars man! Can't you see, he's clearly an enemy spy!" the captured guards yelled out at the knights.
"He is a summoned entity come to aid our Kingdom, do not speak ill of him like that,"
"Ooh, yeah, then this summon's an enemy of our Kingdom then!"
"Yeah, what kind of aid is this!?"
"He just beat us up, just to rescue our enemies!"
At this point, the Night Knights were starting to doubt their previous decisions. This 'hero' seemed rather stuck up to abuse members of the Kingdom in front of their watch. This would only show that they're pushovers who wouldn't even stand up to protect their own people, yet they still let this happen, odd.
"Sir. Hero, I think that's quite enough," the lead Knight said
"What do you mean?"
"I've noticed that you have called these people slavers, yet they have a solid identity as part of the law enforcement," the Knight explained, "Not to mention, that this wagon had already been marked as a prison wagon, there is nothing wrong to find people bound in chains here,"
"Then why is there an elf here?" the Hero spoke as if elves just somehow couldn't possibly commit crimes themselves.
How could he not have noticed how immature this hero was before? He had the appearance of a young boy, just on the verge of stepping to adulthood, and sure did act his age.
Putting on a stern expression the Knight reprimanded the hero,
"The elves are our enemies,"
"What?! You're fighting the elves?" the hero for some reason seemed shocked. The Knight could have sworn he briefed the hero about the Kingdom's enemies.
"No, I believe that I have said this before, but the elves are causing no small number of incidents around our border, even to the extent of gathering proxies to assault our outer cities,"
"That can't be possible. It's the elves!"
That was a rather shite reason to prove their innocence.
At this point, some guards from Joost had come to investigate the commotion. After all, they were fighting just outside their gates. The guards would all have to be blind, deaf and paraplegic to not respond to it.
…
"Sure was nice of them to give us our own quarters, huh?" Kelli mused.
After coming to understand the situation, the Guard Captain of Joost allowed the convoy to rest and recuperate, giving them spare quarters until they can travel back to Tanz City after winter is over. Of course, they would still have to fulfil guard duties in Joost, but it didn't really make a difference here or there.
In fact, it was probably safer here, because there wasn't a need for the guards to frequently leave the city and cull beasts after all.
"Hmm," Jeffrey cleaned his weapons as he looked over at Savage. The guy was assigned to the same quarters as them, and this normally wouldn't be a problem... However, his refusal to clean himself made him stink up the place.
I mean, how hard is it to just pour some water on yourself?
Anyway, getting up he moved to leave the room, however, learning from previous experience, he informed Kelli of where he was going,
"I'm gonna be walking around the city,"
"Huh, wait wait, let me follow-"
Nope, Jeffrey wanted some alone time. Leaving before Kelli could finish her words, he quickly left the barracks as he wandered the streets.
Immediately, he noticed a stark difference from Tanz City. The roads seemed to be cobbled over with stone, how wealthy.
…
*Ding*
'Grade C Quest: Save the Captives complete!
'Obtained: Appraisal!'
It took a lot of persuading, but Yamada managed to bail out the prisoners. They were mainly just petty thieves, after all, no real harm to society. The one who took the most effort to free was the elf and that came with the condition that he interrogates her himself and watch over her.
But, that might as well be a benefit, Yamada was quite 'fond' of elves after all.
Getting the skill, he immediately used it on the elf to see what would happen.
[Alais Krissys Salihn Adzorwyn
Rank - Bronze Body
Class - Elven Sword Dancer
Race - Wood Elf
HV - 140 / 146
EV - 1 / 116 (Nature's Blessing)
STR - 16
DEX - 22
CON - 12
INT - 7
WIS - 5
CHA - 11 ]
It worked!
Looking at the elf's or rather, Alais' status, she was quite strong. However, it was quite concerning that her INT stat was even lower than his when he first came.
"Nature's Blessing?" I guess it makes sense the elves have it. It was a decent skill for beginners and in the low ranks, but its use would be outlived once one entered the higher ranks. As stated by appraisal when Yamada reappraised 'Nature's Blessing' it granted an extra 50 EV whilst also allowing the user to better perceive the fundamental elements. He couldn't see her skills, which was a pity, but still, being able to see their Status Values was still incredibly useful.
Under the inquisitive gaze of the Hero, Alais covered herself with her hands, before giving out a cold glare.
"Pervert,"
It would take Yamada a lot of explaining to get out of this one.