On a stage, there were about 10 men in pristine plate armor that were lined up in a row on the left side of the stage, they were looking out to the audience intimidatingly as they aimed their unsheathed swords to the floor.
The guys on the stage were like knights in shining armor, I sighed with envy in the backstage as I waited for my name to be called. 'Looks like knights from Class 1 aren't drowning in a lack of money.', I thought to myself.
I wore a thin gambeson and chainmail, the chainmail had parts with reduced covering on the joints making it quite practical for movement with the cost of easily being penetrated by longbows, the problem was that I was no mercenary who needed to move a lot, I was participating the ceremony for those who would be granted knighthood.
And as I would become a knight, it would be best for more defense at the cost of movement, most knights had to be stationary on a post or castle after all. I almost forgot to mention that plate armor just looked far better, too...
I couldn't really complain much about it though, as a man beside a podium had recited my name, not even giving me the time to get too envious. "Ely Rainvor of Class 2, come to the stage!"
I walked up to the man on the podium and knelt to the ground, I grabbed the sword along with my scabbard and offered it to him. He grabbed it with both his hands.
The man behind the podium cited his words, "Do you stake your heart and swear that you will hold your sword for justice, for the king, and for me, the feudal lord?"
As if I had rehearsed my lines a hundred times, I gave him the most respectful affirmation. "I swear to sacrifice my mind, body, and emotion to protect this kingdom, and its people."
He unsheathed my sword and tapped it to my left shoulder, then to my right. "With this I, Adler Reich, officially recognize you as a knight.
I stood up slowly and raised my head, I gracefully took back my sword and bowed my head before I headed to the left side of the stage.
"What are you doing? You are from class 2, go stand on the right side of the stage.", Sir Reich ordered me.
"Ah- I'm so sorry.", I apologized and hurriedly walked to my position. Oh, how embarrassing! The good light I put myself from that vow had went to waste as I made the most simple mistake in the ceremony.
I stood to the right side of the stage by myself as I felt a slight amount of embarrassment.
I heard some of the knights in the left side of the stage snicker at my mistake. I closed my eyes in embarrassment and cursed at myself.
I sighed in disapointment and then looked straight into the crowd in front of me, whilst there were many people watching the ceremony, only a few actually knew the ceremony to the teeth, meaning the evaluation of the people was still that of indifference.
Whilst not the best public opinion of me, I could take comfort in knowing I wasn't a complete embarrassment.
***
Later in the afternoon,
-Hum, Hum, Hum.
Some time had passed after the ceremony had ended, and I gleefully hummed to myself.
"Ely Rainvor right?", the knight sitting next to me asked.
I stopped my out of tune hums and answered, "Yes? Is there anything you want from me?"
"I'm a fan of yours. It's a pleasure to meet you.", he said calmly.
'A fan? Is this guy mocking me?', I questioned myself before I gave him a suspicious look.
"N-No, I truly do mean it when I say I'm a fan."
"You see... Class 1 is a class full of talent. That talent allowed every single one of us to survive training camp. I couldn't say that for everyone in class 2 however, every single one of your classmates either gave up too soon, or couldn't physically do the tests even if they cried their hearts out in effort. If I was a part of Class 2, I'm sure their performance would've discouraged me from even trying.
"Ah- nothing too impressive, I just saw the others from Class B as a seperate person from me, also I'm just the type to try harder the more imposible something seems to be., I tried to hide my smirk with humility and a humble smile.
"That just makes you more impressive! Oh right, I'm Eldrick. I almost forgot to introduce myself.", Eldrick removed his helmet. He had a tan and handsome face with black curly hair, and almond shaped eyes.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Eldrick.", I shook hands with him. I felt like he'll be a great friend in the future.
...
A small amount of time passed and the final knight sat on the table, across my seat.
"Rookie Knights If I may have your attention, Lord Adler will be having a speech.", A middle aged man wearing a teal blue tunic with Syrup brown leggings had announced. He seemed to be the feudal lord's assistant.
"Ahem. To all that sit at the table, you are all officially knights, as such all of you will be granted villages to protect and manage. Worry not, you don't have to be the one who needs to manage those villages, you can simply pick and let village chiefs manage their actions..."
"...Other than that, enjoy the rest of this day and eat to your hearts content. Go to the dish displays over there and simply ask the servers to fill your plates for you, don't forget to pick a number too. After that, be patient and stay on your seats unless you have questions."
Everyone including me stood up to order our food, after taking my order I went closer to Alder to ask a question.
"Lord Adler, May I take some food home? I wish for my family to enjoy this food as well."
"Feel Free. Ask the servers and tell them to put the foodstuffs on closed containers."
"Thank you.", My lips formed into a soft grin.
"I almost forgot, I have another question.", I hoped he wouldn't get tired of me.
"Speak it."
"I wish to manage my hometown village."
"'Lawas', right? I'm pretty sure that's territory close to the Demonic Regions. Considering that, are you still sure you wish to manage that village?"
"I have to, that's where I grew up. Also, my parents are both there. They are the type of people to not go anways, they love that village as much as my parents love each other.", I said with an awkward smile.
"It's too dangerous... I'll only allow you to do such thing if there's someone else to co-manage with you."
***
"That's the good stuff!", I quietly but happily expressed.
"Indeed, Master Adler's Chefs are famed to be one of the best in the region.", It seemed Eldrick agreed with me.
"Hey Eldrick..."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you wanna manage Lawas village with me?", earlier when Lord Adler required me to have an ally if I wanted to manage the village, he was the one who went forward to do it.
"The village taxes would be half because there's the 2 of us managing the place, so why did you participate."
"I became a knight to protect people, not to make money. If I can protect our kingdom from the Demons, I would gladly earn less money."
'I can't refute that.' I nodded at his words and stood up, went to the servers and asked for soft bread, meat, and condiments, I didn't forget to tell them to put it on closed containers too.
"To all knights of today, rest well. Tomorrow you will have to start managing your villages, and no matter what do NOT neglect your training.", Lord Adler put an emphasis on "NOT".
"Yes sir!", All of us took his orders to heart and we knelt down to him.", we were particularly taught that "A Lord's Kindness Shall Be Met With Loyalty", it seems all of the knights here knew that.
We soon packed our things and I went to the stables outside and got my horse. "Been a while, Liksith. Did they feed you well?"
-Neigh
The plain brown horse gave a short and quiet neigh, as if he was greeting me too. "Hehe!", I giggled as he licked my arm.
"Aren't you giggling like a little princess."
"So what if I am, Eldrick?"
"Guide your horse here, I'll attach it to a cart with Lance.", He said as he pointed to a white horse with yellow mane.
"It's about an hour of travel by horse cart.", I gave an estimation.
"Isn't that really close to here? We're at the town square right now. I'm glad that I'll be managing Lawas then. If that place gets breached then the whole town would get affected within an hour.", it seems Eldrick had made a worst case scenario in his mind.
"I'll go get Flash.", Eldrick didn't have to say that to me as if he wanted permission, he probably just liked saying what he'll do next.
"Want me to help you?", I asked
"No need."
"Okay.", in order not to waste time I put the food on the cart, along with my belongings.
'I won't use the sword. I'll just place it here too...', I placed the sword next to my belongings.
I looked up and watched Eldrick tie Lance to the cart. "I'll drive the cart, I'm the one who knows the place, you hold a torch or you enhance your eyes to look out for anything in the darkness."
"I can only do non-skeletal muscle body enhancement for a short period of time. It'll take about 5 minutes of recharge to have a duration of 1 minute.", Eldrick sighed, as if he was dissatisfied with his own ability.
"That should be good.", I tried to comfort him.
I grabbed the reins and lightly pulled them to get the horses' attention.
"Move!", I gave a verbal cue and the horses started to move forward.
After I made sure they were walking at a proper pace, I stopped pulling at the reins.
Considering the sun's position at the moment, it should be until 15 minutes until it gets dark enough that we have to enhance our ocular sight.
"Grab a long and girthy stick, one that lasts quite a bit of time.", weird choice of words aside. I felt like we'll need it.
***
20 minutes later,
"You should be able to use extreme sight enhancement again, right?", I asked Eldrick as I moved through the trail with ease, disregarding the coming pitch black.
"Woah!", I exclaimed as the cart suddenly jerked up, as if I had accidentally drove over an obstacle.
"Ely, wait... I see a figure.", Eldrick had stated.
"I'll stop the horses, quickly but also quietly approach it. If the figure isn't a wild animal then bring your scabbard and prepare to use your sword if its either an inhuman or bandit.
"Roger that.", Eldrick jumped off and sneaked through the trees, he made sure not to step on either a branch or dry leaf.
-Shaaang!
I enhanced my ears and heard the sound of a sword slice.
I heard foot steps approaching as if in a walking pace. Since it was my ears that were enhanced right now, I wasn't sure if what was approaching was Eldrick, the figure I saw, or something else.
"You should definitely prepare your sword, I could've easily been an orc, you know?", said Eldrick as he sat back on the carriage.
"What was the thing you sliced?", I asked him.
"I can only see the figure of it even up close. It made quiet, monstrous growls though, so I'm sure its no human. I'll put him in the cart once there's light to confirm what it is later."
"I recommend just travelling everytime you recharge your eyes.", I suggested.
"Our horses may get heard and we could get assassinated whilst we can't use oir enhanced sight."
***
Another 20 minutes passed, Though in truth we could only move our cart for 1 minute every 5 minutes.
"We're definitely close, wanna just use inferior ocular enhancement?"
Body enhancement works in a way where someone who developed their circulatory system could send qi to the whole body or specific body parts. In exchange, the qi exhausts the body part used and would need a while before something returns normal. However, Inferior Body Enhancement Works by improving something less than normal, in exchange it can be used for an extended period.
"Yeah, I'll be able to see changes in values. I can't guarantee what I see won't be imagination, though."
"I'll believe in you.", I meant it.
"Hyah!", the horses stopped their rest and started moving.
"Anything?", I asked.
"Nothing. I'll just tell you when I do see something."
***
7 minutes have passed by and I could begin to see a light source in my peripheral vision.
"Thank God We're Here!"
I breathed out a sigh of relief now that were free from that dangerous forest.
"Let's go, Eldrick.", I reached out to the back of the cart to get the branch from earlier.
"You seem excited, Ely."
"Of course I am, I can finally go to my parents with good news.", I opened up to him a bit.
"You love your parents a lot, huh? Even earlier when we had eaten food, I've heard you requested the Lord himself if you could give some food to them."
"Yeah, they're the reason I became a knight after all. If it wasn't for them, I would have given up the moment I encountered the difficulty of our training.", I held a feeling of nostalgia whenever I spoke about anything regarding them.
"I see... Good for you then.", he said with a hint of understanding.
Anyways, both of us stopped our chat as I needed to go to my parents, and he needed to sleep. In an act of friendship I started to mentally prepare to light up the branch I had him pick up earlier.
I closed my eyes and gripped the top of the branch, and then I prayed for magic power. 'World born from fire, Give me the energy I desire. I sacrifice my mana, now allow me to control the fire of Seraphina.'
"Haaaaa...", I breathed out. I felt a burning feeling in chess. In reponse my body had begun to sweat to cool me off.
'Imagine Fire...', The heat on my chest travelled to my palms, I opened my eyes to release the flame.
-Fwaaaa!
Suddenly the branch lit into flames. And unlike normal torches, this would burn until there is no more fuel left.
Whilst it sounds like normal fire, the difference is that it keeps burning even when underwater, magical fire results from energy stripping potential energy from fuel and then that energy is used to create flame and light, .
Oxygen is an unnecessary part of the process.
This could become a detriment in the future though, it would mean that the flame would burn at a consistent heat, unlike with oxygen where adding it could make it useful for explosions.
Enough talk about fires, its time to put all of our stuff at a mansion.
"Hey Eldrick. Wanna go to our place immediately? Or do you wish to see my parents?", I gave him options. Seeing him yawn though... It looked like he'd prefer lying down on the ground.
"Let's go to the mansion I'm tired from that stressful roadtrip we had.", To be honest I felt the same way too.
"Go to it, here's the torch.", I gave him the beautiful burning stick.
As sleepy as I am right now, I wanted to eat with my family more.
I grabbed the food and headed to my family's house.
"If I don't go to the mansion tonight, it's because I'll be sleeping with my parents.", I gave Eldrick a heads up.
"All right, then. May your reunion with your family be delightful.", he said as he headed for our shared estate.
'At least I'm sure I won't get lonely in the mansion.', I thought to myself as I watched him go.
I turned around and started to walk towards the village's most populated part. I gave the torch to Eldrick so I didn't have a light source. No worries though, even if it's been over a year or so I've been gone from here I was sure I knew every single nook and cranny this place had, so it didn't take long for me to get to my parents' house.
As I stood on the front door, a certain feeling crept inside my heart, I've begun to worry if the parents I've come to see were the same people as they were back then.
I let go of my hesitation and opened the door.
Warm light filled my eyes as my mother and father happily sat down on old tables, their kind gazes and warm smile directed at me. Seeing them again, with their warm hearts had made tears form on my eyes.
"Son, you've grown so much bigger, I've heard you're now the vassal for this village.", my mother had remarked.
"He really did grow, dear. From his musculature, his height, and even his pose all make him look like a proper knight.", it seems father agreed.
"Looks like you kept your promise, didn't you, Ely?", he said as he pointed to his left arm. His left arm was peculiar. After all, everything from his wrists to his fingers were gone. Ever since he lost his left hand his hunting efficiency and woodcutting fell. It made our family from people that lived comfortably to being those that were on the edge of falling to poverty. Father hunted for food and sold animal hide, the wood he chopped was for dealing with the cold, and any wood that was left was sold too. It was the reason I left the village and trained for knighthood in the first place.
Now that I've become an official knight, they could finally start to relax. It was a bittersweet feeling, considering I was the reason most of our problems started to appear, and the reason his arms disappeared...
8 years ago,
I was wearing a thick coat and boots that were made to keep me warm. I was excited to venture out to the snowy woods with my father who was a lumberjack and hunter. I waited for my father to open the door and for us to take the stroll.
The door creaked, and the cold wind blew through the doorway. I shivered at the sudden drop of temperature. "So cold...", I complained. I hate the feeling of my body shaking and shivering without my control.
"Ely, remember to control your breathing. It'll help you deal with the cold.", he reminded me.
"Yes father.", I properly listened to his words. I breathed in deeply and exhaled, it still felt cold but my shivering stopped.
My father and I stepped outside, our feet beneath the snow, it wasn't too thick to hinder movement drastically, however. Father grabbed my hand as we walked towards the forest, he knew I felt nervous.
If I remembered correctly, we just be venturing into the woods to make sure there were no sign of wolves. As the village's best hunter, it was his duty to reduce the amount of people from being attacked by wild animals.
"Father?", I called out to him.
He looked down to me, "What is it, son?"
"Why are you the one who scouts the woods for danger?", I asked. He was qualified to do it, I knew that, but I had to ask why he accepted such an arduous task.
He thought about it for a few seconds, then he chuckled to himself, "Hehe, I do it to protect everyone. You see my face every time we play or eat, right?"
"Yes father, you look like you're the happiest man in the world when you do that.", I replied.
"Every man... no, everyone feels happy when they have good times with the people they love. Knowing that, I want to keep everyone safe so that everyone can stay happy. Besides, I'm strong. Last year I was able to hunt down a bear that was getting too close to the village."
Father's words were quite boisterous, but I felt a certain darkness in his heart.
'I do it so that I can shower with gifts and give you options to live your life. The chief pays pretty well for this, even though the words I said were indeed what I felt, in truth, I only do it for you.', is what father had thought to himself.
As we walked I saw a tree with a third of its trunk missing. "Father, what is that?", I pointed towards it.
"Those marks are quite big... A bear?", father identified the mark.
"Do we hunt it down?", I asked him.
"No."
"But didn't you say you've hunted one down?", I asked him.
"I said NO!", he yelled out, it seems he was quite worked up about it.
"...", I became silent from fear that he would yell at me.
"We'll go and return to the village. We'll warn them from coming to this part of the woods.", he explained as we turned back.
We followed our footprints back to make sure we didn't just randomly go and get lost. I looked at father's face, he seemed worried.
As we walked strong gusts of freezing wind blew past us, but we ignored it and kept walking. It seems the wind was blowing fast enough to forcibly open my eyelids, so I put my arms up to my eyes.
I saw the footsteps slowly fade as it started to snow. Father had just realized what was happening and hurriedly picked me up. 'Strong snowfall and powerful wind, shit! This might soon become a snowstorm even worse a blizzard,'. We had to go as fast as we could, we could possibly get lost in a storm if our trail disappears.
I heard my father's rugged breathing, his rushed heartbeat. I felt time slow down around me and it seemed that a second felt like a minute. I could individually see the snow as if it had stopped. Even my father's rushed sprint was exceptionally slow, like the swing of his legs were the movement of plan-
My body suddenly jerked and I passed out. My father felt my body loosen and glanced at my lifeless expression. "Ely?", he muttered.
*****
I opened my eyes and rough stone had been my bed. I stood up with my father sleeping with his back turned to a stone wall. I had suddenly gained the realization of our current refuge, the rough floor and stone that surrounded us, it was clear we were inside a cave.
"Father!", I went to him and woke him up.
"You're okay.", he said with a gentle smile painting his face.
-Roaarr!
An animalistic noise had echoed throughout the cave. "Shhhhh...", Father held his index finger to my mouth and gave a shush in order to stop me from making more noise.
He pulled out his hunting knife and prepared to fight whatever was made the noise and he leaned against the wall.
-Clomp Clomp
Heavy footsteps approached us. "Roaaaaar!", it growled.
Father readied his knife and rushed to the animal. He blindly swung it to the direction of the growl as a sneak attack.
-Shank!
I heard the sound of metal going tough flesh, and after a second a sound was made, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the stone path. 'What's that sound?', I questioned to myself. And a realisation befell me.
"Father!", I ran towards him. I knew I heard him cry out in pain.
"Ely? Don't go! The Bear isn't dead yet!", He yelled out, however I couldn't hear him and continued to get closer.
-Roaaar!
More beast like noises entered my ears and the sounds of heavy panting entered my ears. There was a strange feeling in my stomach, as if it was sinking.
I turned and entered the room, "Ah!", I groaned out, bumping into something hairy.
"Ely?", Father called out my name with despair in his voice, I looked to him and saw he was on the opposite side of the room.
The sinking feeling in my stomach had intensified, my skin riddled with goosebumps, my heart racing, and my breathing rushed. I lay on the floor, a gigantic fur-ridden monster standing on its hind legs before me.
I gazed into its terrifying eyes and its eyes met mine, its saliva falling down on my face, there was wet fluid on my eyes and my pants. I lay helplessly on the rough floor and I closed my bawling eyes, I had hoped for a miracle...
"ELY!!!"
"Ely?", I opened my eyes, looking towards them as tears left my eyes.
"Ely? You're crying again.", father told me as my flooded memories passed, I smiled at them, I knew I can take care of them and have them live the rest of their lives happy, I'll make sure I make them happy, even on the day that they die.
"It's been a while, let's eat.", I wiped the tears off my face and I put the food on the table.