"How is your hand?" I asked Taylor as we prepared to leave.
"I don't feel anything; thank you. You saved my life," she replied.
"It's fine," I said. "So, what will you do now?" I asked Sloane, the eldest.
"I don't know. Whatever reason that woman has for looking for Elton Hall cannot be good. I want to find her and get payback for what she did to my comrades," she said.
"We happen to be looking for Elton Hall and that woman. Why don't you come with us?" Harold asked, appearing next to us.
"Can we?" she asked, looking at me.
"Sure," I mumbled.
Harold always made decisions on his own, but I really didn't mind. They seemed reliable and strong, so they wouldn't get in my way.
"We are short on weapons, so you'd be in charge of protecting the group," I informed Harold.
"Not for free," he said. "What will you give in exchange for my services?"
"Whatever it takes. I'm really grateful to you and Ms. Cady, and His Highness too," she said. "If there's anything I can do, I'll do it."
"It's Cady, just Cady," I stated, and she nodded.
"And you don't owe me anything; I was talking to the leader of this group," he said.
"I'm not the leader of this group," I informed him.
"You are."
"I'm not."
"You are."
…
We continued moving, and it was tougher and riskier than before. In a few days, Cato was out of arrows. Harold might be strong with more magic than most, but everyone has a limit. To top it all off, the numbers of undead seemed to have doubled. To make matters worse, we were almost out of supplies.
We moved into a town that was as beat down as everywhere else. The place didn't have many undead moving around; it was basically empty.
I stopped and looked around. Cato and Alvin stayed together, Taylor and Julie, Harold and Sloane, and I was alone. If this is what being the leader means, I don't mind, but I'm not the leader. The leader is responsible for everyone's well-being, and I don't think I care enough to do that.
"I'll go and search the watchman's base. There should be weapons there," I said.
"I'll go with you," Harold said.
"You are the watchman of this group," I informed him.
"I'll go with you," Alvin offered. He jumped down from his horse and was behind me before I could reply.
I didn't say a word and turned to leave.
Watchmen are knights, whether anyone accepts it or not. There are different levels to being a knight: royal knights, watchmen, special forces, border guards, and others that aren't important.
Watchmen might do mundane jobs like protecting a town and maintaining law and order, but they are still knights. They should have a good amount of weapons; we just have to find them. They give them large buildings that I'm not sure if they still use.
At the entrance, a few undead were banging against the door continuously.
"If I blow up this place, will they be able to hear it from this distance?" I asked.
I don't know if it's because I look down on Alvin or because he is so useless, but I didn't mind showing him what I could do. If he blabbers, he wouldn't have proof, and I'd just have to get rid of him.
"You can distract them; they're not much," he said.
"That's a better suggestion," I replied.
We rode past them, and they started following us. Bean was much faster than them, so I wasn't worried. He slowed down and walked the rest of the way.
We got down and looked around cautiously.
"Stay here," I instructed and ran in.
I scanned the area carefully. The sound of something hitting a door caught my attention. I focused on it intently, but the sound persisted.
I wanted to turn and leave, but I had to know; there was a chance it was where the weapons were kept.
I moved to the door, grabbed the handle slowly, and pulled it. Just as it opened, an undead lunged at me, a sword going through his heart.
I stepped back as he reached for me and struggled with him. I pushed him back, but he was unaffected. I grabbed the sword and twisted it before dragging it out. He didn't react to having a hole in his chest. I charged at him and stabbed through his head.
I stared at the lifeless body and sighed before going inside. It wasn't the armory.
I groaned in frustration but stopped when I heard a noise from outside. I moved behind the door and held the sword tightly. The door moved slowly as someone walked through it. I was about to attack when I noticed it was Alvin.
"What are you doing here? I almost killed you," I said.
"I came to help," he said. I walked past him without a word and continued my search for the armory.
I looked around for a long time before I found a large basement with everything we could possibly need. There was one area for weapons and another with food and other supplies.
Alvin grabbed a bunch of arrows and two swords before walking out. It would be best to bring everyone here.
I walked out and went in search of Alvin. I saw him approaching me with something wrapped in a cloth.
"What's that?" I asked. "Know what? Never mind," I replied and walked out.
I peeped outside and saw some undead wandering around the streets. I made long strides toward them and slashed their heads.
Bean ran out with some undead on his trail. I climbed on his back, and we left once Alvin joined us.
We went back to where the rest of the group was and saw Harold fighting off some undead alone. I forced Bean to stop and jumped down, almost flying down. Being useless these past few days had been torturous.
I slashed through them and killed off almost all of them. I looked at the swords and nodded in satisfaction.
"Welcome back," Harold said.
"We found some supplies," I said, walking to Cato. I gave him the arrows, and his eyes widened. He took one and scanned it.
"Iron head, whoa," he exclaimed, staring at them intently.
"Alvin will show you the way; I'll look around a bit," I said and turned to leave.
"I'm not the watchman anymore, right?" Harold asked.
"Not until everyone is fully equipped," I said.
"We'd be fine," Cato said, showing off his arrows.
"Then it's you and me," Harold said, putting his hand over my shoulders.
"I'll be fine on my own," I said, pushing him away.
"Let's go," he replied, walking past me.
"Wait," Alvin called. "Is there a way for Taylor to use this?" he asked, showing Harold a hand—an armored hand.
"Uh… that would take a lot of work to connect with her magic, but…" he said, approaching them. "We can do this," he said, collecting it from Alvin. He put it on for Taylor and did whatever he did. "Try to move it," he said.
"Uh…" Taylor exclaimed, staring at it. A finger moved, but that was it.
"Keep trying. For now, don't use aura until I fix it well," he said and turned to walk back to me. "I thought you'd slip out when I was distracted," he said.
"I should have."
"Is your face red? Are you blushing?" he asked.
"You're obviously blind," I stated and walked faster.
'Why am I embarrassed? I was just distracted.'