Chapter 2: Crash

A few moments later, Rosa was finished eating her food as Edna served someone else their food and drink.

“Riley aside, I have a question.” It was finally time to bring up the topic Rosa originally came here for.

“Shoot.”

“Do you know any rumors about a sorceress named Annika? Or about locations where I could find Holy Water?”

“Annika and Holy Water…”

Turning to face her, Edna put her finger to her chin and looked up, her eyes staring at the roof. The name Annika wasn’t very well known, and so very few people even knew the name. Despite her actions with the queen, it was unlikely for anyone to know who she was, as the queen’s curse was kept confidential, even from her own kids.

“Well, I don’t know about Annika, but I did hear that the Evernast Kingdom had some Holy Water.”

“Evernast?” 

There was hope yet. Evernast Kingdom was a bordering country of Caera. It was a mysterious country with no ties, but this could perhaps lead to a possible alliance in the future if Evernast helped heal the queen. A journey from Crestfall to their kingdom’s Capital and back would be approximately three weeks.

“If you plan on going there, then you’ll want to go soon. I hear that the kingdom temporarily opened their gates, but they’re likely going to close them again soon to avoid the war that’s enveloped Alsphen. Since the Alsphen Kingdom also borders them, they wanna cut all ties.”

“It’s hard to believe the nation was ever open to begin with. Still. The war has gotten that bad over there… Well, thanks for the info and the food. How much should I pay?”

“Ah, don’t worry about the cost. That’s on the house there, Missy.”

“Let me guess. Riley already paid?”

“Nah, it just seems to me like Riley’s taken some kinda interest in you. My brother doesn’t show much interest in anyone, so this was a rather interesting day!” 

Edna seemed rather enthusiastic. Meanwhile, Rosa sighed and placed her hand on her head. Riley took an interest in her? What an intriguing thing to say.

Well I do have Royal blood. Looks like he recognizes quality when he sees it. Realizing her thoughts, Rosa immediately became disappointed in herself. She couldn’t stand that she was a Royal anymore, but out of habit, her primary thoughts were seeing herself as royalty, as someone special, and everyone else as commoners or nobles, not on her level.

Her level of disappointment in herself was rather evident to those who knew her. She yearned to be free of her blood, yet she hated her most bothersome habit.

Maybe… just maybe… one day, I’ll be able to bring myself to run from my Royal duties and become someone not bound by responsibilities.

And maybe one day… I can go and find him… if he’s alive.

~~~

At around noon, an hour after Riley defeated an army of adventurers, Rosa had returned to the castle and met up in a drawing room with her brother and sister.

Rosa sat on a couch in front of a very special, ornate table. Her cloak was off, revealing her special red dress. Elice stood next to the fireplace, which wasn’t actively burning. After all, it was the middle of spring. It was plenty warm. Elijah sat in a chair with his left leg resting on his right knee.

“I wasn’t able to find anything about Holy Water or Annika. Nobody knew anything,” Elijah started. “If anyone knows anything about Annika, it would be father, Sir Cadmus Drake, or Lady Maria Beauclair.”

“Why Lady Maria?” Elice asked.

“If it was 12 years ago, she was an active member of the guard back then. She would know at least what Annika looks like.”

“I’d at least hope so. I couldn’t find anything in the library about Annika, and Holy Water was only explained as rare and important. There was literally nothing helpful whatsoever.”

Elice was clearly frustrated by this. History books never had any information on something as rare as that, so it was also understandable.

“Well, it’s more of a rumor rather than information, but I heard that there was Holy Water in Evernast,” followed Rosa.

“Evernast?”

“According to the bartender at the Adventurer’s Society anyway. She said that it was possible they had it. But she also said that if we want to go there to ask that we’d have to do so soon.”

“How come?”

“Does it have to do with the war in Alsphen?”

“Yeah, Elice, it does. Apparently, Evernast wants to close its borders and gates soon to avoid the war reaching their citizens.”

The room went quiet for a moment. The siblings each contemplated what to do next.

What made this sound the most odd was the fact that Evernast didn’t really accommodate outsiders. They already almost never let anybody in, so closing their borders officially technically wouldn’t do all that much.

“All we have is rumors to go off of though. It isn’t that reliable. We can’t simply leave the country because of this rumor.”

Elijah made a valid point. The movement of royalty could cause a national uproar. If it was known that the prince and princesses were leaving the country, other countries would immediately become defensive and hostile. They couldn’t afford to deal with the royalty of a different nation.

On the other hand, if it was known that the prince and princesses were leaving the country chasing a rumor, there are those that would take this chance to either follow them and steal what it is they’re after, or they would be attacked and stolen from.

In either case, there was also the high likelihood of the transport being attacked by bandits as well as monsters. Even hostile nations would take this chance to capture them to make a hostage situation out of them. Or they could simply kill them to weaken the morale and the influence of the rest of the kingdom, which could lead to a massive attack that could have been avoided otherwise.

“Maybe, but it’s all we can go off of. We need Holy Water to save Mother.”

“Not only that, but the trip to and from Evernast from here is three weeks. If the rumor is true and we didn’t take this trip when it could have saved our mother, we’d regret it forever.”

The girls also made a valid point. They couldn’t simply leave the rumor unchecked. They’d have to go themselves if they wanted to find anything they wanted. While it was high risk, there was also a chance it would be high reward as well.

After about five minutes of silence and thinking, Elijah looked dead serious at his sisters.

“Elice, prepare a carriage. Rosa and I are going to Evernast. And be sure to select several knights to escort us.”

“Wait, why can’t I go too?”

“Elice,” Rosa began to explain, “we can’t risk all three of us leaving the country. Someone needs to be here so that the Royal line can succeed onwards.”

“Mmm…” Elice was definitely frustrated. Although she enjoyed her family’s social status greatly, she also shared one thing in common with her sister. She wanted to explore the world as well. Although Rosa wanted to be free to explore, Elice wanted to become the next Queen and use her position to go where she wanted. A fundamental yet absolutely massive difference.

Rosa and Elijah stood from their respective seats.

“We’ll come back with Holy Water.”

“Our mother will be saved!”

And so, for the next hour, everyone prepared themselves for the long journey ahead.

~~~

An hour later, Elijah and Rosa entered their armored carriage and had several knights escorting them. Elice remained in the castle and watched them off enviously from a window in one of the towers of the castle.

For another half hour from that, Elijah and Rosa would remain inside the carriage and wait until they reached a port town to rest, the nearest one which could be reached by nightfall.

“One thing I’ve always hated about travels like this is how much time it takes to reach the damn place. It’s so annoying!”

“Settle down, Elijah. You should enjoy the fact that you’re outside of the Capital. We never get to go outside, so you should take your time and watch the trees and the grass. The leaves blowing ever so lightly in the wind.”

Rosa watched out the window as the trees along the path passed them by. It gave her a sense of peace, and the sound of the wind blowing gave her the feeling that all her worries were gone.

“Romanticist Rosa. You’re still dreaming of exploration.”

“Of course! I might enjoy some things about being born to the Caera family, but I want to live freely! I want to go out and enjoy the world! You wouldn’t underst-”

Crash! Rosa was suddenly interrupted as two large impacts suddenly slammed into their carriage, causing it to fold onto a tree. In pain, Rosa found herself laying on the window of her carriage. At a glance at how twisted it looked, she immediately recognized that it was broken.

“Ow! Ow! My leg! Brother!”

When she turned her head, she saw Elijah was unconscious. He had blood running from his forehead, pouring over his face. His arm was also broken. Seeing him in such a broken state, Rosa panicked and reached over to him, grabbing his arm.

“Elijah! Elijah! Damn it!” I need to get us out of here!

“Ah! No!”

“Gah!”

“No, no! Hah!”

“They won’t stop!”

“Don’t retreat! Dah!”

Outside of the carriage, it could be heard as the knights were defeated one after the other. After the cries of the other knights flooded, a dead silence lingered behind.

The knights outside have fallen. Rosa knew this. Internally, she was beginning to panic even more. These knights shouldn’t have had a problem dealing with monsters, yet they were dropping like flies.

Rosa’s heartbeat pounded. It was so painful, like her heart was beating out of her chest. If that wasn’t enough, her vision was beginning to blur in a shade of crimson. Her eyes were being covered in blood which flowed from the scratches over her eyebrow. Her red dress was stained deeper. It was dirty, it was bloody, it was terrifying. Was this where she was going to die?

She waited silently as she heard the heavy footsteps of the creatures slowly make their way closer to her carriage. Her panic steadily rose. Her chest felt as though it was going to explode.

I’m going to die. Elijah! I don’t want to die! Elice! Mother! Father! Someone save us!

Suddenly, the roof of the carriage was torn off, and an image of a large, hairy monster wielding a club stood tall. Its massive black eyes looked down at the poor girl who looked up in pure fear.

No way! A Grendel! Those things exist in swamps, not Forests! Why is there one here?

Suddenly, a second one stomped its way behind the first. Seeing this, Rosa jumped and fell back, her own back pressed against the sideways seats.

No, no! Another?!

In a panic, Rosa raised her hands up and pointed them at the creatures.

I’m hurt pretty badly, so I don’t know if I can produce enough power!

Rosa shook as her arms were raised. This was the first time she had ever been in such a life-threatening situation. Before she could do anything, she froze. The sight of massive monsters and their petrifying images were terrifying to her.

Is this what an adventurer experiences all the time?

Biting her lip, she finally shouted. “~~~~, Dark Casting: Corrupt Flood!”

Flowing from her hands, an orb of darkness built up, its presence so cold that her hands were beginning to coat themselves in frost. So cold! The orb then exploded forth, releasing a torrent of darkness that directly hit both of the Grendels.

As the flood of black and dark purple covered the towering figures, they were suddenly coated in ice, completely frozen from the spell of darkness. Realizing she defeated them, Rosa wryly smiled. 

I… I beat them!

Before anything else, however, she reached for her brother and began pulling him over to herself. She was still in pain, though. The wound she received on her leg kept her from standing.

Realizing this, she dragged her brother with her as she crawled out of the carriage. She winced in pain with every movement. The leg was practically screaming at Rosa to make her stop.

She wanted to cry. Her blood flowed from her head and her leg. Her leg was definitely broken, yet she continued to drag it beside her barely breathing brother.

Damn! I feel so weak! I was barely able to fire that spell. There’s no way I can heal us.

As she dragged her pain along the road, she could see the other knights. A few were barely conscious, but the rest were clearly out cold. There was no telling how much damage they sustained.

Finally, at the limit of her pain, Rosa let go of Elijah and reached for her bleeding leg. As she held it, she screamed in pain, her tears rolling down her cheeks side by side with her blood. The pain was unbearable. She had never experienced something like this before. Maybe Elijah had, being a knight prince, but Rosa, even though she was good at conjuring, had never been in such a dire situation.

She might not die from this, but to have to suffer this pain for the first time in her life, she couldn’t take it. Hopefully someone would find her soon, help make the pain go away.

However, as she laid on the ground, a large crack could be heard near the carriage. In fear, her head shot up immediately to look at the horrifying image. The ice which froze the Grendels had shattered, and the Grendels looked over to Rosa and glared at her, causing Rosa to reel back in an even greater fear than before, her heart rate rising even faster than before.

If her heart wasn’t beating so fast that it caused her pain, then she felt like she would’ve fainted by now.

But… I hit them… with Corrupt Flood…

They broke from the ice because she was so weakened. Her body had sustained a sudden and unprepared for attack. Her guard was down, so she took more damage than she realized. This directly affected her ability to build up her Ether and dramatically weakened the spell’s efficacy. The result: a weak and temporary flash freeze.

Deciding to kill everyone that laid on the ground, one of the monsters walked forward agonizingly slow. Every footstep shook the earth, and its low groaning only made the creature seem even more overwhelming.

Paralyzed with fear, Rosa simply watched the creature make each and every sluggish step. Her body shook, her arms refused to raise themselves. It seemed like this would be Rosa’s final moments.

There’s no way to escape…

Finally, the Grendel stood above Rosa and looked down at her. It raised its hand, the one that held its large stone club, far above its head, the club covering up the sun and blocking its light. And after a moment, it swung.

As if to defend herself, she raised her arms over her eyes and closed them.

My life is over… the end… came faster than I ever thought it would.

For Rosa, it felt like an eternity for the swing to come down. Every passing second felt like hours at a time, days, weeks, years. Like the swing and her body were both frozen in time. And then there was the crash!

However, after a mere moment, in reality about five seconds, she realized she didn’t feel anything happen to her. Opening her eyes, she looked at herself to find that her body remained untouched by the heavy set swing.

What’s going on… Shouldn’t I be dead?

“Well, Princess Rosa. I didn’t think we’d meet again so soon. It’s a good thing I decided to start with this mission.”

The sound of a familiar voice stood above her. Having noticed how the voice spoke down to her, Rosa quickly shot up her head and stared at the face that looked her in the eyes.

“Riley? But…”

She was completely shocked. Her life… could it have been saved by Riley? But what did he do?

No, more importantly than that, he called her by her name. Wait, I never told him my name or status! How does he know that that was me?

With a face of amazement, she looked up to find Riley in a completely different get-up. Rather than the appearance of a noble, he wore a pair of black slacks, held up by a belt. While he wore his dress shoes as well, a knife seemed to be attached to the sides of them. His red button-up shirt was tucked in, and he wore a black jacket that hung over his shoulders. 

He also still had on his glasses. However, he closed his eyes and took them off before crouching down in front of Rosa. Then, he outstretched his arm and handed her his glasses.

His glasses?

“Hold on to them for me. I don’t want them to break,” he requested as he opened his eyes, their color changing into the shine of a ruby red. This color greatly surprised Rosa as she had seen eyes like these before.

What? He’s got Mother’s eyes?!

Riley stood up and turned around to face the Grendel. From behind, Rosa once again noticed the same item as before protruding from his clothing, but what was it?

The monster before him had previously swung its club down, but somehow, it didn’t seem to reach its target. Instead, the club was pressed into the ground near its own feet, as if it swung too hard downward.

Confused, the monster raised its club from the ground and roared loudly. Its roar was so loud that it seemed to echo well past the trees of the surrounding woods. Rosa quickly covered her ears to dampen the beast’s roar.

“Woah, you’re pretty loud. And you’re pretty big. Maybe you can do some damage to me.”

Having uncovered her ears, she heard Riley’s statement and immediately felt the need to admonish him.

“Don’t be so cocky! These things are stronger than a bunch of adventurers! Get out of here before it kills you!”

Genuinely confused, Riley turned around and looked at Rosa with an innocent face once again. “I’m not being cocky. I was being completely serious.”

As he spoke, the Grendel swung its club downward at an incredible speed towards his head.

“Look out!”

As she spoke these words, the club made contact with Riley’s head, releasing a loud crash. Riley, of course, wasn’t paying attention to the creature and took the full impact of the club. However, what followed the impact left Rosa’s mouth gaping wide open, her eyes staring as if the impossible just happened.

Riley seemed confused and turned around to find the club that was in the monster’s hand had exploded into chunks and had scattered all over the battlefield. Realizing what happened, Riley was left disappointed.

“Ah, so you don’t have the kind of strength to injure me either. That’s a shame. I guess I’ll have to find someone else.”

What the absolute fuck is his body made out of?! That stone club exploded on his head?!

With another great roar, the Grendel charged Riley, tossed aside the handle of its weapon, and began punching Riley in the face over and over. Every impact created loud and powerful shockwaves that blew Rosa and Elijah back some.

“Ah! So much might!”

However, even as the creature threw hundreds and hundreds of punches at Riley, it soon tired out and stepped backwards, huffing and puffing. The dust that picked up from the ground lingered as a cloud, covering the road and hiding all visibility.

But that wasn’t the only problem. Riley had no presence. Even when he showed up to help Rosa, she could see him, but it still felt like the only thing in front of her was the monster. It was impossible to tell if he was even still standing without being able to see him.

However, as the dust began to settle, Rosa looked deep into the brown fog and saw Riley standing there without a scratch. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

This guy isn’t human! This goes beyond physical enhancement! Even with conjuring, nobody should be this sturdy!

Even the Grendel was left dumbfounded.

With conjuring, it is possible to enhance one’s physical strength and durability. Of course, it requires the use of Ether to cast on oneself. And not only that, there’s only so much strength that the technique can provide. This was far beyond anything someone should be able to withstand. 

Having ‘peeped’ at him before, she knew that Riley also had no Ether. She saw nothing coming from him. So that meant his body was naturally this tough. Simply imagining how tough he would be if he had enhancement was terrifying.

“Man. I guess you can’t cause me any injuries either. Oh well, I guess I can end this then.”

As he spoke, the Grendel moved with immense speed and attempted to swing one last futile punch. However, Riley, having had enough, grabbed the creature’s wrist and squeezed tight, cracking its wrist with ease.

Feeling incredible pain from Riley’s grip, the Grendel fell to its knees, as if it was being forced down. Rosa never blinked, and simply watched in amazement as Riley managed to physically overpower a monster with enough physical strength to create shockwaves upon impact with something.

All the while, Riley’s face never changed expression. He still looked as though he was just watching the whole incident, his eyes still wide open and his finger scratching his cheek.

Then, Riley balled his remaining hand into a fist and raised it as if he was aiming. Then, without any effort whatsoever, he struck the monster in the abdomen, causing tremendous pain towards it as he blasted a hole in it. The impact also sent it flying a decent ways down the road, at least ten meters.

If that weren’t enough, its arm was still in Riley’s hand, severed from the monster’s body. Rosa couldn’t contain her shock at all and let out a loud gasp as Riley had blood splatter on his innocent looking face.

“Hah! What even are you?”

Riley turned back and faced Rosa and simply grinned a small grin, the splatter of blood on his cheek somehow complementing his appearance.

“My name is Riley Murus. I’ll tell you my story another time.”

These words rang through Rosa’s head. His name was Riley Murus.

“Apparently Indestructible Murus is in town!”

“I once saw him fight and it’s like his body is made of pure bedrock!”

“However, he came back to the kingdom, dragging five witches by their hair. And to top it off, Murus didn’t take a single scratch!”

“You’re… Indestructible Murus?” She couldn’t comprehend this. A commoner had such incredible physical might and an insanely tough body, and his presence practically didn’t exist. The rumors she heard earlier didn’t seem to be false.

Suddenly, the second Grendel appeared behind Riley at tremendous speed, practically the blink of an eye. It had its own club ready to strike Riley.

However, just before it could make contact, Riley had reached the item he carried in his clothes, and pointed it upwards. Suddenly, with his finger on the small contraption, a small yet very loud explosion burst forth from the weapon. 

Following the sound, the Grendel that stood above him had taken damage. From beneath its jaw to the back of its head, a massive hole appeared, and a large gush of its blood exploded outwards. Following the sudden attack, its body fell and landed beside Riley’s feet.

Left confused by what happened, Rosa was left dumbfounded once again. In front of her was a fallen Grendel, killed by “Indestructible” Murus, with a weapon that she had never seen before. (It’s basically a flintlock.) The barrel of it was smoking as Riley placed it back where it belonged.

Common sense… doesn’t apply to this guy…

Riley looked down at the creature and simply showed his normal expression. “Headshot. Zero chance of survival.”

From a distance away, the other Grendel, in spite of all of its damage, raised itself with its remaining arm and opened its mouth wide. Noticing this, both Riley and Rosa looked towards the creature.

“So you’re still alive? Guess I should’ve figured you’d not stay down just because you lost your stomach and arm.”

Riley tossed the arm he still had in his hand aside, leaving it bleeding on the side of the road. Meanwhile, the Grendel began charging what looked like an orange beam of energy in its mouth.

“It’s charging powerful magic! If it does that-”

“That amount of energy would probably kill everyone here excluding me.”

“Don’t act all matter of fact about it! Surely that could hurt you!”

“No, these things’ conjuring is weaker than their strength. But, I’ll still nullify it. It would be bad if a prince, a princess, and a handful of knights were killed by this thing.”

Riley placed his hands in front of him as if he were praying and began chanting.

“~~~~~, Creation: Reaper.”

From his hands, a silver weapon suddenly appeared, spinning from a small nothingness into a large scythe that was taller than Riley. Grabbing his spinning weapon, he gracefully wielded it and got into a unique battle stance. His right hand was near the blade while the rest of the long handle rested beneath his arm and extended behind his back.

Rosa, once again, couldn’t believe what she was seeing as what he just did should have been impossible.

That was conjuring! But he has no Ether!

Finally, the Grendel stopped charging its attack and fired off a massive ray of orange energy, directed at Riley and Rosa.

Waiting until the attack was just in front of him, Riley swung his blade upwards and diagonally towards the left. The sharp sound of the metal tearing through the attack echoed in the ears of Riley and Rosa until suddenly, the energy was split in half and then shredded into nothing, leaving nobody in danger. Somehow, Riley managed to perform even more attacks following the first.

Rosa’s face began to twitch as her mouth seemed to twist. Everything she was seeing was far beyond what reality should have accepted.

With that said and done, Riley then charged the Grendel, which stood in fear. Rosa watched as he ran with grace towards his opponent. After a few moments, he was just beneath the Grendel. And with one swing, faster than any previous attack, Riley cut the Grendel in half.

From the spot it was slashed, the Grendel slowly began to tear apart, its left half falling to the ground first. Then, the right half fell on its knee.

“Despite your brain being split, you’re still alive. You’re much more resilient than your comrade.”

The left half tried to grab Riley while the right half tried to crush him. Rosa watched as it futilely performed its now meaningless actions.

“It would be cruel to let you suffer any longer. Let this herald the end for you.”

With another few movements, Riley reaped the rest of the creature’s life, tearing its body into chunks of blood, meat, and bone. With the incredible splatter of blood that followed, Rosa was left in a semi state of fear and amazement. Riley was either a god or a monster, but she couldn’t tell which.

Riley turned around and began walking towards Rosa with a small smile. Although, she didn’t know how to react to him now that she knew who he was.

This guy is a commoner? Then where did all of his power come from? Conjuring without Ether? An indestructible body? Immeasurable strength? Is this… how all adventurers… No, those others in the society aren’t the same. What makes him so different… and… is it possible for me to reach the same level of strength?

As her mind was lost in thought, the earth shook around her. Confused, she looked around, only to find the Grendel with a hole in its head to have managed to stand up with a loud roar.

With the look of shock, Rosa observed as the monster raised its club one last time and tried to bring it down. It swung so fast that Rosa couldn’t react. There was no time.

However, in order to protect her, Riley appeared between them and grabbed the club with his hand, digging his fingers deep into the mass of stone, not allowing it to retreat.

“You’re tougher than I gave you credit for. I didn’t think anything could live with a massive hole in its brain. Maybe I should give you the same respect as I did your friend,” he complimented.

Rosa simply stared as he began chanting. “~~~~, Fire Casting: Inferno Spark.”

Suddenly, what appeared to be small sparks of flame began popping around the creature. Nearly twenty of them were attracted to it and began attaching to its body. Then, in a massive flash of devilish heat, the searing flames devoured the Grendel, turning it to ash in merely a moment. All that was left behind was its club, which Riley quickly tossed aside.

 

~~~

 

“Now then, Princess, give me just a moment.”

“Wait! Where are you going? Don’t leave me here alone!”

When he took a step forward, Rosa almost instinctively grabbed onto his foot, as if pleading (although she couldn’t feel him despite her hand grabbing him). Turning around to see her desperate and blood covered face, Riley crouched down and looked into her azure eyes with his own ruby colored eyes.

With a fleeting smile, he reassured her. “I’m not leaving you again. I’m just going to make sure the one responsible pays for their crimes.”

Placing his free hand on her head, he stood up and turned around once again. Feeling a sense of nostalgia, Rosa put her hand on her head. Although she couldn’t feel his hand at all, she couldn’t help but feel as though this was all very familiar and began thinking back.

She had heard words like that before, but from where? “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to leave you. I just need to handle some business.” These words rang through her head, echoing in her brain like an irritating gnat.

Finally, she remembered why they formed nostalgia within her. Four years prior, she had met Riley and clung to him. But she didn’t know his name.

Was that Riley back then? Was he the boy who visited the castle so often?

She remembered how one day, that boy was forced to leave the kingdom. He appeared before the king and said that his business was going to take him into other territories and that he might not be available for a long time.

Crying for him not to leave, she grabbed onto Riley and begged him not to go. However, even back then, he just gave his innocent smile and placed his hand on her head.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to leave you. I just need to handle some business.”

Those were the last words I heard from him. I cried for days, weeks, waiting for him to return! And now…

As a tear rolled down her bloody cheek, she watched as Riley pulled out his gun and pointed towards the road. Realizing someone was there watching the entire fight, he raised his voice loudly.

“Witch! Your monsters have met their end! Show yourself, or I will get violent!”

Despite his threatening words, his face never changed. No hint of fear, anger, anxiety. Not necessarily happy, no sadness, no arrogance. Just innocence.

A deafening silence overtook the area, the witch he called out to not returning his call. Riley lightly sighed and pointed his gun at the tree nearest to him.

“Last chance!”

“…”

Once again, silence. However, this time, the silence only lasted a moment. With the sound of another explosion from his gun, a bullet was fired, easily piercing through the tree.

From behind it, a loud scream could be heard. It was definitely a female scream. The sorceress that he called out for began writhing in pain as she fell to the ground nearby, holding her knee as it bled.

“You son of a bitch!”

“I gave you a warning.”

While the angry sorceress laid on the ground seething in pain, Riley kept his gun trained on her and cocked it.

Rosa looked up at Riley’s figure. Standing above her was a guy with a face that couldn’t be hated and was also covered in monster’s blood, holding a scythe in his right hand and a gun in his left. It was as if a benevolent god came down and raised its fist to fight for others. An almost divine presence.

Then she looked at the witch that laid on the ground. She was rather young, and seemed very familiar, what with her long silver hair and grey outfit that basically screamed magic.

“You’re going to pay! What is that weapon you hold?!”

“My gun? It’s a unique design. It’s quite useful when dealing with human targets in particular.”

“Whatever! If you’re going to kill me, then do it!”

“No, I’m going to turn you in to the kingdom, Annika.”

Hearing this name, Rosa’s blood began to pump faster and faster. Rage began to swell within her. Annika… the one who cursed my mother?!

As her fists balled up, Riley made his scythe vanish and he walked forward until he stood over Annika. She looked up in fear as he looked into her eyes. Annika, however, didn’t see what Rosa saw. Rather than a benevolent god in human form, she saw a tyrannical devil hiding his ruthlessness behind a mask of emotionlessness.

Charging up magic at the end of his “loaded” gun, he aimed at Annika’s head. “And so I curse you, Annika. You are bound to me and to the Royal blood of Caera. Should you disobey the words of those which shall become your masters, an endless torrent of pain shall befall you until obedience has been achieved. Curse: Slave Brand.”

Then, he fired his gun at her forehead with a black bullet. However, instead of pain, she felt a swell of Ether coat onto her skin. The curse settled on and in her, the crest that was visibly crawling over her face soon dissipating. Then, her silver eyes shone brightly before turning into the same ruby red as Riley and Isabelle.

Seeing this, Rosa was shocked. She had never seen anyone’s eyes change color before. Her eyes turned red! 

However, she realized something that she hadn’t thought of before.

Wait, is that brought about by a curse? Then that means… If my mother and now Annika have the same eyes because of their curses, then does that mean Riley is also cursed?

As Rosa watched in curiosity, rage, and wonder, she watched Riley lower his gun and returned it to his clothing.

“Your first order. Do not move from this spot. You are only allowed to apply pressure to your wound or to speak when asked a question. Also, you are not allowed to perform Conjuring of any kind without my say-so.”

“Screw you! I’ll make sure th- AAAAAHHHHHAHAAAAAHHH!!!” Violating her orders, the crest that sunk in her skin became visible once again and shone a bright flash of red alongside a visible display of what appeared to be crimson red electricity. Meanwhile, Riley just sighed and maintained his normal look while he began walking back towards Rosa.

“I’d prefer it if you just listen. I don’t like to hear people in pain.”

After he said this, the crest vanished once again, leaving Annika with an expression of extreme pain, and drool and tears covered her face. She breathed heavily. Today was a day that she would never forget.

Rosa, while still rather angry, was absolutely horrified by Riley’s curse. She had never seen anyone in so much pain, whether they deserved it or not. Finally, Riley stood still and looked over the whole area.

Everything was an absolute mess. All of the knights were unconscious now and scattered all over the road. Blood was everywhere following his fight with the monsters. There was a massive scorch mark and a pile of ash where one of the beasts was killed, and the other one was in bits and pieces in a pile of its own blood.

The carriage was knocked over and basically folded in half, most likely caused by the Grendels either charging at it, or by slamming it with a club. The roof was also gone as well, torn off when they tried to kill Rosa and Elijah. 

There were also scattered rocks everywhere from when one of the clubs exploded on Riley’s head. The other club laid with a massive crack in it. There was also a crater from where the first club had crashed into the ground. The amount of force was definitely impressive.

Then of course, there were Rosa, Elijah, and Annika. Elijah seemed to be unconscious and had taken a hit to the head. That wound was caused by the carriage crash. Annika had a gunshot wound to the knee and was clearly in terror. Her pain from the Slave Brand left her in a shaken and terrified state. She wasn’t likely to move anytime soon.

Finally, there was Rosa. From a simple overview, she appeared to have similar injuries to Elijah. She had been hit in the head from the carriage crash, but she also had a clearly broken leg from it as well. That she was able to crawl while dragging Elijah on top of a broken leg was nothing short of the power of a strong will.

Physically, she would be okay. But mentally… Well, that was another matter entirely. This entire time, she was continuously shaken and shaken. Before he had gotten there, she was riddled with the fear of dying. She had been assaulted by two giant monsters before she even knew what hit her. Her Conjuring didn’t work on them because of the damage she took and because of her fear.

After that, she was left in an emotional imbalance of surprise, anger, amazement, and fear. She feared the monsters, and she feared dying by their hands. She feared Riley would be killed over and over. She was amazed at the strength and durability Riley possessed and couldn’t comprehend why. Everything that happened all at once shocked her immensely and left her speechless. And finally, her blood was boiling after seeing Annika.

Poor girl is probably shaken pretty badly by all of this, he thought as he looked down at Rosa.

“Riley… tell me… Are you… Are you the guy who left me all those years ago?”

Riley’s expression didn’t change as he lightly nodded his head. “I am. But you have to realize that when I left all those years ago, I had every intention of returning. I didn’t mean to abandon you, Princess Rosa.”

More tears flowed from Rosa’s eyes as she smiled, sadly and joyfully. Riley was someone she looked up to a long time ago. Although she had never seen him fight in the past, that isn’t why she admired him. Riley treated her like a person. For a full year of being in and out of the castle, he treated her like she was her age rather than as a princess. This was something she deemed invaluable.

Rosa looked up at Riley and tried to bring herself to her knee. Although in pain, she managed to jump with her non broken leg and hug Riley. She cried deeply into his shoulder, happy that she got to see him again.

“I’m so happy you came back to me! Please, never leave me again!” She continued to cry on him, hanging from his neck. Happily, Riley returned her hug.

“It’s great to see you again, Princess Rosa. You’ve grown into a fine woman over these last four years.”

After a few moments, he helped her back down to the ground. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, Riley used a clean rag to wipe the blood from her face.

“Edna said you were here two years ago?”

“Yeah, for a job. She’s still mad at me because I only came back for a day.”

“But if you were in town, why didn’t you come see me then?”

“That would be hard for me to describe. Maybe I’ll tell you later, but for now…”

Riley tried to stand back up, but like a child, Rosa gripped tightly onto his clothing.

“Wait, Riley. Can you please carry me?”

“Carry you?”

“Yeah! I’d walk by myself, but… my leg is broken…” she said, her voice seeming to lower as she complained. In truth, she simply wanted Riley to hold her, and for several reasons.

First, yes, her leg was broken. Although, that was simply a relatively minor reason for her.

Second, she was still afraid. After what happened here, she didn’t feel safe. She was still shaken rather badly, and there was nobody else nearby that she could cling to. Riley was strong, though, so if he held her, that’s where she would feel the safest.

Finally, there was one more reason. After seeing Riley so often during the year that she knew him, she developed feelings for him. At the time, she was twelve, and she didn’t know how old Riley was. Not only that, she didn’t know his name and never asked him. As a princess, she decided to hold these feelings back. Her sense of duty at the time was rather important to her as she believed in the importance of her bloodline.

However, it was also true that because of Riley, she began to yearn for the outside world. Her reasons for wanting to become an adventurer stemmed from him and all of the stories he told her from his own travels.

Now, she was sixteen, and her sense of duty began to waver when faced with her desire to adventure. Not only that, but she felt like that soon, she could hopefully profess those feelings. Although, she couldn’t do it right now as she was still nervous. Instead, the closest she could do is have Riley carry her in his arms. Then, she could at least stay close to him.

Realizing she was deep in thought, Riley considered her feelings (which he didn’t know about) and simply smiled. “Well, I guess I could carry you.”

These words excited Rosa, stars gleaming in her eyes.

It seems more like she just wants to be held rather than because her leg is broken. And she was rather attached to me back then, so I could at least do this to make it up to her for not seeing her in so long.

Riley knelt down and quickly picked up Rosa, holding her in a bridal carry. Slightly embarrassed, Rosa grabbed onto Riley’s shirt which, surprisingly, was completely dry. There was no blood on it at all. His jacket did some on it, but he took it off before picking her up so that she wouldn’t get any blood on her.

“All right, that should do. Feel free to hold on tightly, Princess.”

Despite her not being able to feel him at all, she still felt as though he was emitting a special kind of warmth that she’d never experienced before.

Riley then closed his eyes and began chanting. “Dimensional Shift: Caera Castle Courtyard!”

On the ground, a mass of Ether formed into a giant field of a light green light. The glow of magic surrounded the entire area, every person, every object, splatter of blood, and chunks of flesh. Then, in an instant, everything vanished.