I ignored that at first, but soon, I kicked the handle of one of the swords on the ground and made it hit another enemy. It didn't kill them, but it hurt them a fair bit. It hurt my toes, too. Still, the pain vanished thanks to the tension and excitement taking over my body.
In the end, the remaining ten enemies didn't have the chance to surround me… they were cut down mercilessly, and then I found myself breathing roughly while the smell of blood was spreading across the forest. The torches also burned some plants, but the remaining snow would prevent any natural fires.
'I can understand now the fear… I can also understand now why people conspired against me and my family. This power is simply insane.'
I was starting to think that the Maxwell family truly planned to take over the world, despite what those guys who saved me said… power might not corrupt everyone, but wielding too much power for too long certainly would put some dangerous thoughts in the heads of people.
In any case, that was an issue for another time… I had to check the bodies of the enemies for anything useful and then move on. I broke some of their swords, but I can sell some of them and gain time instead of doing some menial jobs. Still, as soon as I crunched down to do so, I felt a stinging pain in my neck… when I touched the place, I found a small dart in it.
'Fuck no…'
It didn't take long for me to lose the strength in my body and for my vision to get darker… I never expected that someone else would have watched that whole fight from the shadows…
— —
When I began to wake up, I felt my head shaking a bit. Slowly, I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the wood floor, something shaking as well. All of a sudden, I got up and then found myself inside a wagon and then staring at a hooded man sharpening some knives. It was still a bit dark, so it didn't look like a lot of time had passed since the fight.
"Good morning, Your Majesty. I hope that you have slept well."
A bit of an ambushed and ominous voice came from the hooded man when he raised his head and then pointed to the side where my things and weapons were.
"I hope that you don't mind that we borrowed your stuff for a short while. You see, for safety reasons."
I checked my body for a bit, and I couldn't find anything odd with it. Then I looked around, and I saw a large piece of white cloth above us and some blocks of wheat around. It seemed that we were being smuggled. That guy probably had a reason to do that for himself, too. I could tell by the fact that he was hiding his face.
"So, what is the offer that you have for me."
"Straight to the business? I was expecting something else, considering that you lost your memories."
"I still have a functional brain, even without my memories. Can we even talk here?"
"Good, you are a lot smarter than I assumed that you would be. Considering that you were captured, you decided to fight those guys yourself. A single mistake, and you would be a goner, after all."
"My life has been like that for the past few days, so you get used to it. I recommend."
"You are pretty amusing, Your Majesty. In a positive way, I need to add. Your reputation doesn't precede you. We always thought that you were only a skirt-chasing fool, but perhaps all that was an act."
I was a bit curious about how someone like the previous Leon could be a skirt chaser despite his young age, but I decided that it was probably for the best not to ask or think about it. It was a medieval age, and Rick people had a lot of people from an early age, so I decided to think that was all.
"To be completely honest, we were planning to trade you for the freedom of some of our allies, but I think that we can benefit each other more than that. I don't like your enemies; they are my enemies, too."
"That seems like a good way to introduce yourself, using me like a bargaining chip."
"It is better to start a new relationship honestly, don't you think?"
That was fair but way too convenient… I was in a difficult spot, so working with someone who had planned to use me a while before didn't sound so good. Still, this guy saw my power and assumed that he could use me to achieve many more goals.
"You might not like us, but we can help you weaken the new empire that is being formed. While you get your revenge, we can watch your back too."
"Or poison me when I become a nuisance."
"We can also do that, but it won't be as effective. Why ruin such a possible beautiful friendship?"
This guy seemed to know a few things about my power, so I could use that in my favor. Still, I hesitated to put myself in such a compromising position. Besides, nothing says that I would get real information. He could only give me information that would make convenient for him.
"What do you know about the power of my family?"
"Starting from there, huh? WeWe have time to talk, so we'll start there. What have you learned since you woke up without your memories?"
"That there are some people from other countries and my own who want to me dead."
"You saw that some of them are different, right? Thank you, I mean."
"What about it?"
"Well, this can be real or can just be a fairy tale; someday, you can confirm this or not when you recover your memories. Apparently, ten gods created this world, and each one of the species lived in it. They also offered their blessings to their creations, but the god of the humans was a bit different. He only granted power to a single person. His power weakened when he got his descendants. Apparently, all of that guy's descendants obtained that same power for thousands of years. Now, all that power is in your hands. Or was… you were killed a bunch of times and lost it with your memories."
"... I was killed a bunch of times?"
"Your ancestors were pretty hard to kill, so they became rulers after becoming pretty famous on numerous battlefields. You probably were tortured quite a bit until they were certain that you were a goner and decided to make a bit of event out of it."
Now, things were taking a weird turn with gods and stuff. That made me recall a game in the past where the main character had the power of the gods. He was a king, too, but that stuff always comes with a price. Usually, it is their life…