Wham!
Roy forcefully dumps the gigantic wine glass on the table, issuing a tremendous racket. The table begins to sway. The mug spilled a small amount of wine like trickle on the table. Everyone is taken aback and confused.
"Kill the loooooord!!" Roy shouts. "Hey hey hey!! You ain't really serious, are ya?"
Then, he rolls his eyes. "Gimme a break. That's the last thing I thought you'd say. Heh!"
Roy promptly turns the seat around, moving from the table towards Lucius, and swiftly changes his stance by crossing the legs as he puts one hand on the armrest and one on the table to sit like a chief.
"Listen up! Killing the lord means pitting against that entire castle myself. Even if I sneak in, I'm dead if they find me."
He laughs and adds "It's stupid! Why should I put my life on the line for people I don't know?!"
Rita and the villagers' faces are enveloped in unexpected shock as their mouths are wide open. Rita puts her hand on her mouth as if she disbelieves such a cynical response from the heroic warrior.
Lucius' face develops into a ghostly pale snow like a baby squid roasted on a stick. "But...but there will be a due reward!"
"Ha! A tiny village like this couldn’t reward me with much." Roy gets up, wearing his cloak, fixing his clothing and ensuring the proper placement of the items.
The elderly woman who was sitting there, depressed and mentally occupied when he previously saw her, as he had just entered this rundown village, strolls over and embraces him whilst her head barely reaches close to his chest. He stops and awkwardly looks down to her sobbing face, as she looks at him and speaks with a heavy tone "Please! Avenge my grand-daughter."
She looks down again to weep a bit more. "I beseech you...." Her words trail off as her voice loses its force.
Puzzled Roy looks at Rita, making an eye contact. Rita says "The girl who was found in the river...was her grand-daughter."
Olaf whose eyes got weepy, yielding puppy-dog eyes, speaks in a tone as if he's requesting Roy. "Rooooooooooy! C'mon!"
"Sorry, old lady." Roy gently pushes the lady away. "I have nothing to do with *Just and Chivalry*." He smiles that looks almost like a smirk. "I could care less."
-- 'Not that I'm interested in helping them, but there are more incoming problems. It’s getting dark. Soon night will fall. All sort of monsters from the otherworld will blow in pursuing me before ya know it. Staying here is not safe for these people.'--- Roy thinks.
With a serious but calm face, he walks away towards the backdoor, which is in the opposite direction. Then, he momentarily stops and slightly looks back." 'Kay then, good-bye."
His green cloak is swaying in the wind as if a flag of hope forsaking the sufferers like God forsaking the followers, not heeding their prayers filled with sadness, loyalty and expectations. That is what it seemed like in the eyes of the struggling village residents.
However, Roy is no god. He is not the angel they mistook him to be. There’s no angel to save people from their problems. They must pave their own paths to freedom from the cage of their anguish and struggle on their own. Such is life.
He's merely a man who is also struggling. That's what he believes.
The old woman completely breaks down as she sits down on the floor, covering her face with both her hands. Rita darts to her and grabs her by the shoulders and says with an upset face bursting with disappointment, "What a low thing to say!"
Lucius clenches his arms and teeth with frustration. Judgemental and harsh remarks are issuing from the crowd.
"I knew it'd be useless!"
"He calls himself a knigh?! A warrior?!"
"Heh!"
"Serban was right after all."
As the murmuring of the crowd gossip continues to spread, Ruwi becomes upset, feeling sad for Roy and blaming herself for this situation.
"I always wanted to take my own life, but it is not easy for a child like me to have the courage to take her own life. I could not bear my father's failure and lack of income all the time. There was no food at home. I used to be so hungry and sad.
Mother started a small shop and we had our income from there.
After getting drunk, the scoundrel often beat my mother. But I hated my mother for enduring torture and abuse. My mother, on the other hand, used to always agree with whatever her husband had said. She served him more, loved him, and matched the devil's tune.
Lack of money, love, and all this made my life completely tasteless. That's why I readily agreed to go to Baron Malacus. But this man, Roy, inspired a new hope in me. It’s my fault that I told everyone he's a powerful warrior. I shouldn’t have done that.
It is not right to let him go like this. I have to give a proper goodbye to him, which will remain as a fond memory.
It seems that the poor man will not eat at night because he has no food or money. I'd rather take food quickly. It will come in handy for him at night."
----***---
The gate through which Roy first entered the village, now he is not going that way, Roy has gone out through the gate on the other side of the village just opposite to it; He is walking a new path - one that is completely twisted like a serpent on the other side. Small hills are visible on both sides of the unspoiled, bucolic path. Most likely this path is leading to human civilization, but it’s probably a long way.
"How could you?!! Ahh, what a thing to say!! Why not help them?" Olaf is yelling at Roy.
"Ehh, pipe down."
"Jerk, Jerk, Jerk, Jerkkk." Olaf flies close to Roy's nose and starts slapping with his little paws.
"What gives?" Roy says with a droopy expression in his face.
Olaf clenches his fists in anger and furrows his eyebrows. His eyes are glowing with emotions.
"The old lady whose loved one was killed... you should understand her feelings."
Roy pulls up his hand and gently pushes Olaf away as if he's driving an annoying fly away from his face. "Heh. She'll forget eventually once she gets senile."
Olaf crosses his hands and puffs his adorable face in a huff.
They have covered quite a distance on foot. Now there are rows of trees on both sides of the road and only a combination of trees can be seen in the distance. The sweet chirping of the birds spread all around. All the birds are returning to their nests. Slowly the chirping of the birds comes to a stop.
Sun is setting across the horizon on the far side of the island, a slash of red and orange.
Darkness is falling slowly, but with each passing minute the temperature is dropping. Roy is all tempted to make a fire, but as with everything else today, he decides to play upon his survival instincts and leave such a task to the last possible minute.
The shadow of the day slowly envelops the world like an immortal god, snuffing out the remaining frail sources of light and casting the world into endless, eternal night.
The moon has already risen, a slim crescent hanging on the horizon like a silver blade, the first light of its demise shimmering on the water's surface.
He looks around, trying to spot any potential hazards in the dark that he might accidentally trip over or run into. His eyes soon light upon movement on the other side, where the trees are thicker and darker. Something is moving there...
He gulps reflexively and holds his breath, trying to focus on the shapes in the bushes.
The cursed mark branded right below his throat is starting to bleed, and that means only one thing.
Roy tightens his teeth as his eye's sharpens with a resolute gaze of a hunter, and says with his deep voice that sounds like a growl of a beast, which retains the flames of scorching wrath, "They are here!"
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