"Halt!"

A few dozens of soldiers of whom wore the same armors poured out the rectangular entrance of the wall, and lined up in rows of formation. They all jogged in a synchronised, orderly manner and guarded the flanks of Kaiji and Simonne, who were both stunned at the scene.

"Capture them."

One of the leading knight bellowed as he held his spear into the air and made a gesture to his subordinates. Hearing the orders, several soldiers from both sides stepped forward and pointed the pike of their spears towards Kaiji and Simonne's faces.

Simonne couldn't help but frown. He hadn't expected that there would be knights here in such a desolate village. And what's more, was why would they want to capture the both of them? They haven't even done anything wrong— at least none of them should know anything about that. Should they escape? But seeing all the armored knights, who all held frightening weapons, he immediately dispelled the thought of escaping out. It would be best if we'd just follow them here, he thought. 

Kaiji tapped Simonne on his back, his expression was painted with anxiousness. He responded with a smile and stepped forward. 

"We'll follow you." Simonne announced as he held his arms high in the air and gently nodded at Kaiji. "You needn't burden yourselves to tie us. We'll go along your orders."

The knight shrugged, not caring about anything at all as he waved his arms again. "Take them in."

With that knight leading the way, Kaiji and Simonne willingly set out with them, as they raised their arms overhead, with a few numbers of soldiers guarding their flanks until they neared the entrance to the wall.

Entering the threshold of the rather short wall of layered bricks, several numbers of houses made from wood and stones came into their sight. Some tiny ones were even seemed to be made from bundles of straws and branches from trees. But Simonne immediately felt that something was off. They noticed that other than the knights and some horses that mingled around the surroundings of the village, there was nobody else in sight. No villagers. 

Simonne could only guess that the emergence of knights probably had something to do with all of this. But he wondered what happened? 

The knights brought them to a small building just a few meters away from the wall, and entered through the door. Desks and stools were placed around all the corners and several knights stood in guard inside. Afterwards, they were brought to a room, where there were only three wooden stools inside— a square table laid in the center, separating the two stools from the other one.

"Sit down." The knight ordered in a hoarse, throaty voice, gesturing at the wooden seats.

Kaiji gave a look at Simonne, who in turn, nodded and took the lead to sit down upon the round surface of the stool. He then unhesitatingly followed in suit.

The knight slowly strode long steps and halted at the remaining stool, but did not bother himself from sitting down. He stared intently at the both of them for a good while before he parted his lips. "I'll get myself straight to the point. Have you two met someone on your way here?"

"...Someone?" Kaiji asked, tilting his head to the side. 

"We haven't." Simonne replied, not in the slightest way perturbed at the unfaltering gaze from the person before him as he crossed his arms.

"You haven't?" The knight narrowed his eyes. "Are you certain?"

"I am." He answered in a firm tone, resolutely staring back.

The knight scowled at him. "Do you know what consequences will there be if we've found out you're not stating the truth?"

Simonne smirked. "At most, we'll probably get hanged."

The knight's complexion slightly trembled at his casual statement. He wanted to admonish and reprimand this person in front of him for the looseness of his tongue, but ultimately, held himself back. We have more important things to take care of, he thought to himself.

"Well then... we still need the both of you to remain here for a few more days for a thorough investigation. Please cooperate and everything will be just fine." The knight turned around and reached for the door. "If there's nothing else you want to ask, then I'll take my leave."

"But what if we don't want to stay?"

The knight coldly smiled. "But this is an order. You'll remain here whether you like it or not." He said as he slammed the door shut. 

    

    

    

---

     

   

   

Kaiji leaned upon the corner of the room and heaved a deep sigh as he looked over the direction where Simonne, who currently had a heavy expression, stood. He had been standing there for a long while now since the time they were both brought here in the deserted cell, frowning at the uncertainty of the situation. Kaiji thought that he might be worrying too much about this. The knight clearly said that we were here just for some interrogations. They won't know we had actually met someone if we don't reveal it to them. At least, we just need to act as if nothing really happened.

But why do we need to hide what actually happened from them in the first place? Kaiji thought. 

"Why do we have to hide the truth?" Kaiji asked as he reclined on the wall, scratching his arms. The knights guarding this cell aren't here at the moment so it was only at this point that they can finally talk to each other without anyone hearing them.

Simonne eyed him at the corner of his eyes, tightly knitting his eyebrows. "Did you truly thought that they would actually release us if they found out we've really met that boy? And besides we can't be sure if that's even the person they're finding."

"Well I did thought it at first... yes. So they won't?"

Simonne chuckled at his answer but did not respond anymore as he trained his eyes at the door, far behind the cell they were in. 

*Creak*

A familiar figure emerged from the door— Kaiji and Simonne instantly recognized him as the one who interrogated them from earlier. But behind his back, another person entered the room— also a knight particularly. 

That knight wore an overbearingly large, silver armor that made his frame double the size than that of an average adult man. His well-toned arms and broad chest also seemed to be bulking in brawny strength, and especially his height, that reaches for about eight foot, made both Kaiji and Simonne gasp in surprise (and envy a little).

The two of them strode towards the cell and stopped at the front of the iron bars where they were at. 

   

   

   

    

   

----------------

A/N: I'll try to update the story every weekends so please stay tuned!