*??? Pov*
There's a boy currently locked up in the family's prison.
Lucas, that's what he said his name was.
Why was he so odd?
Actually he still is.
According to my maidservant, Lucy, he talks to himself inside the cell. Something about a 'Total Brake'.
Why did fate make my savior a weirdo?
Maybe the Goddess of the Night made him my knight of shining armor.
Or maybe not.
I don't know how to feel about the person who saved me being a commoner.
Or the fact his spiky black hair swaying while he ran. And his golden eyes turned silver.
He made the both of us disappear to those bandits.
He held me so that I wouldn't be found.
He's definitely weird.
***
*Lucas' Pov*
I definitely didn't touch her body though.
I did not.
At all.
It's a crime.
Okay maybe I pulled her along while running from those thug-like bastards, but so what?
She'd probably been ransomed off if I didn't anyways.
So why not earn some cash or rewards for saving her.
Okay.
Wow.
I feel like scum.
I'm going to back up.
I saved her because.....
She was pretty.
Unreasonably so.
I mean I didn't think I had a thing for blondies but,
I've got to reevaluate my goals.
She looks 14 and while that's older than me physically, I'm mentally 10 years older.
So what I left Earth at 20. It was boring anyways.
Besides, magic! Oh right. How I got myself here.
After giving the thugs the run around for a little bit they cornered me outside of town.
Not physically, but endurance-wise. A dainty noble like her probably couldn't withstand running on an unpaved road for very long.
So naturally I tried to use mana and....
"What do you think you're doing commoner?"
Ah shit.
Maybe I should be rough and say something like "Shut up if you want to live."
No, that's too harsh on such a young girl.
Maybe "I'm protecting you."
Nah.
"I can save us both."
"What?"
"Hush."
I covered her mouth and held her still as I used
We faded into stillness.
"Where'd the bitch go?"
"That little rat"
I feel tired.
Sleepy.
***
*??? Pov*
"Your Highness."
"Barton, what's your take on the boy?"
"He's a hard working kid, rough around the edges, and a recent awakener of mana."
"He's a valuable investment in your opinion then?"
"Yes, I would think he would fit in anywhere in the mansion."
"Then let's have him serve his sentence."
"Where would you like me to assign him your highness?"
"Make him enter the knights in training."
"He's had no formal or informal training in swordsmanship. Perhaps a stable hand or the mages in training would suffice?"
"What does my daughter think?"
"She has told her maid she wished for a knight."
"Then he will be a knight."
"By your command."
***
My hypothesis is that using
That's just a hunch though.
It could be I just lack the mana necessary rather than a lack of finesse in handling mana.
It's probably both.
After that whole show I released
"What was that?"
Her eyes were boring holes in my own.
She looked half excited and half admonishing.
"Um... that was magic."
"It felt weird... so don't do it again!"
My bad I should've left you to die
"but thank-"
Her words sputtered to a stop
"Pardon me?"
Manners. Must use manners.
"Nothing! Get off of me!"
She pushed herself off of me.
And proceeded to scrape her elbow.
Well it is a known fact blondes are dumb.
I don't think she meant to do it on purpose though.
She must've been embarrassed.
Yeah, I'm not consoling myself....
"What's your name?"
"And who do you think you are to ask such a thing?"
She looked up at me with a look of superiority somehow.
"pffttt.... hahahaha"
She looked a little miffed at me laughing.
"sob.....sob"
Um. Help. There is no Wiki on 'How to comfort crying noble girls'.
I got up off my ass and sat down next to her.
I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards me as she cried harder.
I wished
About an hour or so had passed and her crying finally stopped.
I guess she was exhausted because she fell asleep in my arms.
Slump.
Naturally I did what any teen boy does with a pretty unconscious girl.
And took her straight to Annelise.
"Well boy, now you've gone and done it."
Annelise ever the realist.
"I never thought you'd bring a girl home, runt."
Kelson, what the hell man.
"Can I get some help please?"
"What did you do?"
They said in unison.
"I didn't do anything. I swear."
I put her down in a chair before putting my hands up.
"That's not true."
"Huh?"
"Lucas, boy, what did you do?"
Oh my god. She's awake. In my house.
Red alert! Sound the alarm!
"He touched me and held me."
"You did what now boy?"
Annelise is scary when she's angry man.
"That's not true,-"
"Well actually,-"
"I saved her/he saved me"
We looked at each other.
Then back at the farm couple.
"Interesting lass you brought back, runt."
"But it's time we get this pretty young lady home."
We looked at each other again.
Well no duh. I think I'll be beheaded if I spend any more time with her.
"What's your name young lady?"
"You commoners with your customs. Fine if you must know I am Aurelia von Liebenhiem Svarmet."
"You mean-"
"Yes, my father is Stephen von Svarmet. The duke of this land."
"Yep that's her alright, I'm nearly certain she ran from home."
"Muuuuu Lucas!!!!"
She tugged onto my sleeve
"Boy don't you know a girl's secrets are her best friends?"
Oh man. Kelson any help here?
Seriously man. I'm getting wombo combo'ed by the two women here and you're looking away?
You're selling right now.
We'll both be squad wiped at this rate.
"Well young lady I'm sure you've gotten tired of our quaint little home so I'll send Lucas here to inform the local knights."
"Nooooo. I want Lucas!"
"Look at that runt, I've taught you something at least."
I glared with Annelise this time.
"It'll be okay honeybun."
Annelise was really good at coaxing I just realized.
"Mm.. Lucas come back soon."
And she fell asleep again.
***
*Lucy's Pov*
My lady has been acting different from before she left.
Perhaps she has opened her eyes to the dirty world that we live in.
I will protect her from the vile thing rotting in that cell.
Despite the things he's done for her.
He's done something worse.
He's taken away my cute baby bird.
Now all she talk about is having a knight.
I'll never forgive him.
Never.
***
*Lucas' Pov*
Guardhouse. That's where I'm headed.
Yep. Nothing weird.
I'm not a threat.
In fact I'm here to do some good.
"Stop! State your reason for entering the garrison."
What?
Hold on, why am I being treated like this?
I am a concerned citizen.
"State your purpose otherwise you will be jailed for trespassing on military grounds.
"I'm here to report that the duke's daughter is here."
"Quick alert the Captain."
"Send a message to the capital. We have the whereabouts of the duke's daughter."
Wow. That was fast.
All the knights, squires, and logistics squadrons kicked into high gear.
It was like I had kicked the hornets nest.
Well in hindsight it was more like kicking it with nothing but water around me to hide.
"You will stay here to give your statement to the Duke's knights."
"Wait."
They must've thought I saw her around.
Gotta correct that.
Alright. Lets manner up and see where this goes.
"But the young lady is at my dwelling?"
"What?!"
Oh boy.
"Explain yourself."
"I mean I prevented her from being sold off or worse."
"And now she is at your residence?"
"Precisely."
I started sweating.
Why are there so many people filing into this one room.
"Where is your residence?"
"I live with Kelson at the farm"
"Right the boy's a commoner, a child at that."
"What could he know?"
"Let's send him back with a squadron of knights to retrieve the young lady."
I'm right here you know.
As in I can hear and speak to you.
Whatever as long as I can get rewarded I think the hassle was worth it.
"I can lead you there."
"Good. Squadron 2 pack up and move out."
"Yes sir" X 10
Wow that's a lot of people.
Well at least I'll be home safely.
It didn't take very long for me and the knights to make it back to the farm.
I think I may have slowed them down a while.
But what can you do with stubby 12 year old legs?
***
Well I didn't think about what would happen with Aurelia while I left.
But she's eating chicken soup, with my parents.
And Annelise is combing her hair.
What the *$@!.
Huh.
Alright then, but more importantly is it okay to touch a duke's daughter like this?
Well considering she's not making a fuss I guess we should be okay.
I knocked and entered through the front door as Aurelia finished her soup.
"So I got the knights."
"Great!"
Annelise stood up and let the knights in.
They started asking how she got here.
And my whole involvement was questioned.
However, I believe the running away from those bastards, since that was the only sensical thing to do, convinced the knights.
Naturally I excluded the part where I used mana on myself and the young lady, as well as the crying.
She may have ordered them to behead me if I had.
After that, they took her away, probably to live in better conditions in the garrison.
The knight told me once the girl was taken back to the duke's residence I could pick up a reward of 10 silver at the garrison.
Thank Nyx above.
Wait. Is Nyx studios the god of this world?
I mean if they are then the classic players' meme of 'Thank Nyx above!' may actually hold weight here.
Probably best not to say that out loud.
There is a church here in this village.
They worship two of the gods in this pantheon I guess.
One is the god of light, the other is the god of harvest.
I assume they're good aligned gods.
I hope. If they're real.
But 10 silvers?
1 silver is equal to 100 irons.
And it's about 1 iron per pound of apples.
Since apples by the pound are usually 1 dollar USD.
I'm rich.
At least in terms of this village.
One or two silvers is most people's yearly income here.
So I just earned 5 years worth of it.
Good enough for me.
***
So I slept that night thinking all about the money.
And of course when I woke up I got right back to the farm.
Work never stops here.
When the three of us got out of the fields Annelise started talking.
"Lucas I wish I had a daughter like her."
"She was so cute and obedient."
"She ate the chicken soup without complaint and she complimented it."
"The girl you bring home to us better be like her!"
Oh boy.
I looked at Kelson.
He shot me a knowing glance.
She must've kept him up all night talking about it.
Poor guy.
"I'm not sure there's many like that here in the village."
"Sure there are boy"
I looked at Kelson again.
"Stop lookin at me runt."
"I ain't know nothing about the young ladies in town."
He definitely knew something.
Best not to pester Kelson though.
The next few days here I spent working on the farm and occasionally asking the garrison about Aurelia's status.
About 2 weeks had passed and I finally got some word.
She was at worst only a day out from the mansion.
So my compensation would be here soon.
Naturally I was in a good mood walking back to the farm.
But no good deed goes unpunished.
And I felt chills run throughout my body.
I quickly dodged right of my impending doom and looked behind me.
Wow.
Tall, grey-blonde man.
Ruby eyes.
Welp. I'm dead.
Now you may be asking how that's possible, well...
The man in front of me is Aurelia's father.
In other words the person trying to cut me down is the Duke of Svarmet.
Stephen von Svarmet.
An integral part of the 'Total Brake' series.
Depending on how you play the game you can recruit him as a sponsor, a mentor, an ally...
and a father-in-law ;).