Delric was astonished.

Initially, he did not feel a drop of life energy in the opponent and immediately realized that he was not a Knight's Apprentice. However, the poison-covered dagger made him raise his guard, reminding him that he was fighting a bandit. Who knows what dirty tricks he has up his sleeve.

In addition, the bandit's swordsmanship and physical body were in perfect shape, so he could not quickly kill the enemy.
He did not think too much about it and decided to calmly end the duel with his victory without risking it unnecessarily. However, now he was truly shocked.

He suddenly felt life energy in the bandit's body!

It should be understood that even if this person possessed the Knight technique, it was not enough to become a Knight Apprentice. No matter how much he trains, in order to attempt a breakthrough it is necessary to ignite the vital energy.

Although Delric had heard of it being possible to ignite it during combat, he had never met anyone who actually managed to break through in this manner. Everyone else like him used the essence of the blood of a magical beast as a catalyst for a breakthrough.

The essence of blood is not the same as ordinary blood. To extract it, the help of a novice Mage of at least second rank is required, provided that this Mage owns the appropriate technique. Not to mention the fact that you still need to find and kill a suitable magical beast.

It was only through the help of Earl Lawrence that Delric obtained the Blood Essence. But even igniting life energy with its help did not at all guarantee becoming a Knight's Apprentice. In addition, this process was very painful and did not pass without consequences.
However, this person right in front of him managed to ignite his life energy using the duel itself as a catalyst. This couldn't help but shock Delrick.

His opponent was covered in cuts of varying severity, blood dripping onto the grass every time their swords clashed.
Entire parts of the armor were already lying on the ground nearby, and with a blow to the helmet, he left a deep cut on the opponent’s forehead and deprived his head of protection. Even the whites of the bandit's eyes seemed to turn red with exertion.

However, now with every blow Delric felt that he was losing any advantage.
If before the situation was under control, now everything has changed. The bloody man opposite stopped retreating, continuing to drill him with a cold look of his red eyes. It seemed to him that he could feel the enemy's bloodlust in the air.

Delrick felt fear and uncertainty for the first time. These feelings penetrated his mind like a deadly poison.

 

My body moved faster and faster, my senses became sharper. Adrenaline filled my body, causing me to ignore the pain and continue to fight, ignoring everything around me.

Finally I managed to counterattack!

The balance did not last very long and after a couple of moments I was already delivering blow after blow with the intention of killing, and Delric completely closed in defense.

- I admit defeat! - Delric shouted, lifting the visor of his helmet.

However, I completely ignored his statement. I understood that my body was not in the best condition and I was afraid that if I stopped even for a moment, anything could happen.

I didn't care what thoughts Delrick had in his head. I put my life on the line and I wasn't going to stop until one of us died. My attacks became more and more insane, but Delric clearly began to surrender under my pressure.

- Enough! You can take the carriage. - Delric said again.

It seemed that there was a fuss among my people and Delric's subordinates, but I could not be distracted by such things now.

Finally, Delric's hand trembled and I managed to press his sword against his own body after another blow. Taking advantage of this, I immediately struck a headbutt in a ferocious grin on his face. At the same time Delric kicked me in the stomach, trying to push me away.

Delric yelped at the impact, his nose obviously broken and looking like a nasty mess.

Me from the other hand having flown away from the blow did not seem to feel pain. On the contrary, the broken face of the opponent only added to my bloodthirstiness and I rushed forward again.

It became more and more difficult for the enemy to stop my attacks. I felt his weakness, trembling in his hands. A slight wheeze escaped from his throat from the efforts he made to save his life.

Finally, he gave up the slack again and I managed to rip open his face on the counter move. The cut was quite deep, starting from the lips and reaching almost to the temple. Part of the helmet was cut off. Blood gushed out and most of his cheek began to dangle like a window in the wind.

Delric yelped and ran his free hand over his face, trying to push his cheek back into place with a trembling hand splattered with blood. However, he managed to speak again.

- Don't do it I...

Phew!

My sword swept past Delric's face and half of his head with the remains of his helmet flew into the air. This blow was so strong that I was able to literally cut the steel with a swing of the sword.

My eyes were covered with a bloody veil. The world seemed somehow different. Because of the sound of my own breathing, I could not really make out the sounds around.

- Sir Delric! - shouted someone nearby.

I looked around and saw that there was a fight going on nearby. It is obvious that the Delric fighters were trying to help their Knight. One of them was already next to me with a raised sword.

My gaze quickly focused and consciousness sharpened again. After a few strokes of the sword, I cut off his head as well.

A little further on, 6 people remained, 3 on each side, continuing to fight. I moved in their direction at the same time trying to feel the state of my body.

The forces gradually left me, the pain was felt more and more clearly, I was still covered with wounds all over my body and the bleeding did not stop everywhere. The body was on fire, but I myself was not sure from the wounds or the so-called life energy.

What happens if I pass out all wounded while someone else is around? Can I trust my deputies with my life, given that I myself was one of them and blew my boss's head off? In addition, the treasure carriage was very close, it was just a stone's throw away.
My tired mind made a quick decision.

First, I helped my men finish off Delric's men one by one. But just as we were almost done, I suddenly attacked my subordinate and killed him with my suspender. Then immediately turned to the remaining two.
One of them was Slender who recruited me once. I heard them say something, but now it was difficult for me to make out what it was, and it didn’t matter.

Despite my terrible condition, I believed that I had managed to break through and become a Knight's Apprentice. My strength had surpassed the others before, but now they had no chance. I killed both.

Finally, I was convinced that everyone around was really dead and relaxed a little. I was sideways, but forced myself to focus again.
I searched Delrick first, but I didn't have time to parse what I found.

Treasure!

What it was all about was right in front of me. I moved towards the carriage breathing heavily.

First, I checked the luggage compartment near the coachman's place, but there were only tents and all sorts of nonsense.
Finally, I managed to open the door and climb inside. However, what I saw amazed me. Someone else was still alive. Although my eyes were swollen, I could still make out the beautiful features of the girl who was staring at me in horror.

However, she was huddled in a ball with her arms around her knees, apparently unarmed, so I let my guard down a bit.

- Where are the goods? - I asked dryly, looking around and probing the interior of the carriage.

- It's just me... I am the goods. - answered the stranger.

I spat blood onto the floor of the carriage, coughing.

After inspecting the interior, I had no choice but to believe what was said. There was nothing else here but her and some supplies. It was because of her that I went through all this.

Gathering my thoughts, I decided that this is not the worst deal. If there were treasures here, maybe I would just die with them in my hands. I was on the edge and sat down opposite the girl.

- Save my life. Here is the medicine - I squeezed out of myself, taking out a bundle of medicine from my bosom.

Soon everything went dark and I lost consciousness.

 

Isabelle was slightly frightened when the bloody man entered the carriage, but realizing that he also did not intend to harm her, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Since childhood, she has become the main hope for her family. She was provided with all the best - toys, jewelry, clothes, food. They tirelessly taught music, poetry, etiquette, applied sciences and other disciplines. Loaded with any literature and knowledge related to magic. Basically they did everything possible to prepare her as a future Magician.

Of course, all this was accompanied by strict daily control. Everything that she eats, what she does, with whom she communicates, and so on, was strictly controlled by her parents. She was strictly forbidden to communicate with anyone outside, including other children. She was not even allowed to leave the mansion and everything she needed was brought to her.

As she grew older, she began to feel more and more clearly that in the eyes of her parents she was like a precious thing. She even began to doubt that they were really her parents. Although she understood that her life was not bad at all, and magic was very interesting to her, so she was not against it at all.

Of course, such a lifestyle affected her in a certain way. For example, she is not at all used to expressing vivid emotions. In addition, the meeting, and even more so communication with strangers, caused in her a feeling of discomfort and self-doubt.

She was supposed to be sent to a talent test at the age of 14, but something clearly went wrong and tragedy befell their family. Due to her reclusive lifestyle, the information she received was severely limited, so she didn't even have a clue what the reason was.

Not only did she lose her parents, but she was soon sold to slave traders, who in turn sold her again.

Fortunately, she had long since realized that she was valuable to more than just her parents, so she was not directly harmed. However, almost 2 years have already passed, and finally after several transfers from hand to hand she was supposed to arrive at her buyer.
But instead, the product changed hands once again...

To be honest, in 2 years she has already cooled off a lot to this whole situation. Nevertheless, she could not help but think about whose hands she would eventually fall into and what would happen to her next.

Realizing that the person opposite had lost consciousness and did not pose a threat, Isabelle finally calmed down.
First, she carefully stepped outside and looked around. The expected scene appeared before her, this was not the first time she had seen this, although she still covered her face with a handkerchief.
Realizing that there was no one alive outside, she returned to the carriage.

Isabelle wondered if she should help this man. However, she quickly realized that she didn't have much choice. She was an ordinary girl. Alone in the forest, no one knows where exactly, around a pile of corpses. If wild animals come running here, then the carriage doors are unlikely to save her.

Sighing to herself, she first took out water from the travel supplies and washed the face of the unconscious person using a wet towel.

“Pretty young…” she muttered.

Slightly hesitant, she jabbed her finger into his nose, blushing slightly. Then she touched his cheek. Except for the cut on his forehead, quite an attractive person.

It just so happened that she had almost no physical contact with anyone before, especially with an unconscious man.

Soon she stopped doing stupid things and got to work.