Chapter 66: Structure(Bonus - )
The knight looked down at Gerald. His rage was nowhere near quenched at the moment. He still wanted to ensure that he punished him properly.
"You are a mere three-star warrior. The nerve to raise your blade against a royal knight," the knight said and began approaching. Every step caused the hearts of those who were watching to fill with fear.
Would this be the death of one of the most beloved people to live in their town?
Gerald struggled to his feet. He staggered to the side and then forced himself to stand. He looked up.
"Oi, a royal knight defends the weak against the strong," he spoke while facing the ground. Then he looked up. The massive gash on his chest was bleeding. It was only a matter of seconds before his body gave out.
"Ya disgrace the name of royal knights. The great organization, once created for the sake of defending the kingdom, has now become the very worm that eats it up.
Ya claim to act under the laws of the royal family and the gods above, yet ya actions spit on the very thing you protect.
So listen here, lad. I’ll not allow y- carry out your madness here," Gerald declared while breathing heavily.
The knight stared at him for a solid second and then scoffed. "A commoner, lecturing me on what it means to be a knight. How pathetic.
I have no more interest in listening to your ramblings. Die."
As soon as the words left the mouth of the knight, bolts of silver lightning began to gather around the sword. He raised it and then, in one slash, unleashed a clean arc through the air. The lightning moved fast.
Gerald planted his foot and swung with all that he had. The lightning slammed into his blade.
"Arghhhhhhhhh!"
He roared. His white hair glowed even more. He gave everything into blocking that single attack, but that was not enough. It could never be. After all, he was facing someone leagues above him.
The slash shattered his sword and dug into his chest. He collapsed right to his knees with a second massive gash and vomited a gallon of blood. His eyes slowly started closing.
"Now off with your head," the knight said.
WHOOSH!
Before the knight could move, a ball flew through the air and slammed into the ground between them, exploding into a massive cloud of smoke that blinded the view of everyone.
Two shadows moved into the smoke fast, grabbed the already dying Gerald, and bolted out of there as fast as they could.
The smoke cleared away, and the knights were standing unfazed. The leader, in fact, was staring in the direction that the shadows had taken Gerald to.
"Tch, I hate this shit town. Sigh, let’s just deal with the main issue at hand and leave this place. If I stay any longer, I might end up killing everyone."
He got onto his horse and immediately led the knights to the baron’s home.
[....]
"So you are a dragon?" Aris asked. Even after that had been very well established, she still seemed to have a bit of an issue taking it in.
They were all inside the guest house and were now having the talk. Ren was eager to see how this talk would go.
"So it seems," Ren replied.
"Then where is your mother? Young dragons do not leave home early," she added.
"Hey, I didn’t tell you I was an infant," Ren said.
"Yes, but everyone knows that. You are a young dragon," she said.
"Sigh, well, let’s just say I do not have a mother," he replied in a way that made it clear he was not willing to take this discussion any further.
He leaned back a bit and used his hands to keep himself up.
"So what do you two really want?" he asked suddenly. Everyone felt the mood of the room shift from the jovial flow to a more tense state.
Aris looked at Tempest for a few seconds and then back to Ren.
"We need to ensure that you are safe and kept within the right boundaries," she started.
"This forest has existed before you and has grown into what it is now over many years. We have to ensure that you honor the structure of things and play within your allowed limits," Tempest said. His eyes turned serious as he spoke.
"We have to ensure that you are an ally to the already developed structure and not an enemy.
We cannot have a forest lord that goes against what is laid down."
Aris looked at Tempest in a manner that told him to shut the hell up. Then she turned back to Ren.
"Tempest might be too tensed up, but what we are trying to say is that we want you to be in alliance with us to ensure that everything flows smoothly," she said with a soft smile.
"Alliance? Before I go on to say a few things that are on my mind, I’d like to ask something.
Did you know about the deal with the orc lord, where he sold his own to the humans for practicals?
Or did you know about the fact that he consumed the lives of his own to get stronger? These two questions are important," Ren made it clear.
"Tch, that’s no way is imp-"
"Tempest, shut up already. Tch," Aris cut him off and then looked at Ren.
"Yes, we did know. We knew about both."
"I see, then what structure do you claim exists? A structure that does not defend those below it? A structure doctored to favor only the strong and give no avenue to the weak?
Let me inform you, my hands are not clean and will never be clean. I have killed lots and will still go on to kill more, from how it seems. But do you know what I’ll not do? Act like I’m right about it.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and I participate in it, but I’ll never try to have a high ground and look at those below and say their lives are meaningless.
Every monster I have killed came to me as an enemy, a fair fight that I took on and won. But you, you watched the orc force people who did not want to be his enemy under his thumb and took their lives. The leader meant to defend them.
So I ask, what structure do you speak of?"