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The group were walking towards the knight kingdom, with Nao and Bjornulf in the front, Herald in the middle, and Slace and Vira in the back.
Well, they were walking. Bjornulf noticed something looking back at Slace and Vira with curiosity.
"I didn't notice until now, but you two look similar."
The rest of the group looked nodding well as they kept walking. Slace replied blatantly.
"It's just a coincidence; stop bothering me already…"
Bjornulf simply smiled, turning back to look at the front as he strolled forward; he wasn't going to pry more, especially since he believed Slace.
Well, Nao and Herald expected that response from Slace but didn't comment on it.
As they walked towards the knight kingdom, Bjornulf's tone changed to curiosity as he asked Slace a question with quite a serious expression.
"Do you know of the war between the Knight and the Fire kingdom Ecals?"
Slace nodded, responding in a dull manner.
"Yes, I do know of it."
Bjornulf then grinned widely, cackling loudly.
"A great opportunity, isn't it? I would love to get in there and battle!"
Slace knew what Bjornulf was trying to do, glaring up at him.
"If you're trying to get me to join in on the war… I decline."
Bjornulf expected that response as he sighed in defeat.
"Well, if you change your mind, then talk to me about it…"
Everyone was listening in on the conversation; it's hard not to when Bjornulf speaks so loudly. Nao responded, intrigued by the topic.
"A war? I heard about it earlier when I was in the Ice kingdom, but I wonder why it's happening?"
Bjornulf smirked; he was happy someone was curious about it.
"I heard both kingdoms had a huge dispute of culture and tradition, the Knight kingdom wanting to take the Fire kingdom's land, culture, and traditions."
Nao spoke for Bjornulf, finishing his line for him; she had caught on.
"The Fire kingdom declined, and that led to a war."
Bjornulf simply nodded, clarifying Nao to be right.
Slace muttered under his breath in a revolted tone, his eyes holding a deadly glare.
"The Knight kingdom… I'll kill you, Sloane..."
Only Vira could hear what Slace muttered but didn't decide to say anything about it.
Herald spoke perking up, hoping for the best possible outcome of the war, his face holding worry.
"Well, I hope the Fire kingdom will have their victory; the Knight kingdom had no right to treat them like that."
Nao agreed, nodding. Bjornulf said nothing; he didn't have an opinion on which side should win, as long as he got to fight.
—
They eventually arrived at the Knight kingdom; being let inside, the effects of the war were even more obvious now. The citizens were all tense; Slace had thought them being tense earlier was from the work strain, but with the new knowledge now he really knew why that was the case.
the worry on the citizens' faces, the tiredness in their eyes, the kingdom filled with quiet, pained groans Slace hadn't noticed before despite always being there. It made some of the group feel pity for the citizens; well, some didn't.
Slace ignored it, watching as Nao and Bjornulf were talking to each other, scheming some sort of tactic.
The gist of the tactic was that they help out the citizens and get answers after; it seemed more kind than manipulative to Slace, but he shrugged it off as nothing important. Vira naturally shrugged it off too.
Herald went over to Nao and Bjornulf, joining in their plan as the three went off to help citizens and get information about Sindre.
A few hours had passed, hours of gruelling work, grateful responses, and some answers. All was well; Slace and Vira just waited on the sidelines watching.
Eventually Nao and Herald came back exhausted; they both sat down, breathing heavily, drinking water from their bags. Once they both got their breath back, they seemed annoyed, making a remark.
"How come you two do nothing while we work our butts off?"
"Because I only agreed to save Sindre, not do labour." Slace replied back; he didn't catch their annoyance.
Vira nodded, agreeing with Slace's words.
Both Herald and Nao sighed; there was something that annoyed them even more, though—no, really, instead it confused them more. There was Bjornulf coming back; he wasn't exhausted at all; rather, he was excited.
Bjornulf was running back at the ground with a huge smile, waving rather energetically; once he got to the group, he stopped in his tracks, wiping off the sweat from his forehead, and then he exclaimed loudly.
"I found out where Sindre is!"
Both Nao and Herald perked their bodies up, looking up at Bjornulf surprised; they had been working for so long and hadn't found any answers until now.
Naturally, Bjornulf satisfied their curiosity, explaining further.
"He should be at the far east of the kingdom in a huge building. That's what the person I helped told me."
"So let's go!" Bjornulf, Herald, and Nao said at the same time; the unison irked Slace.
Bjornulf then walked forward east, leading the way; Nao and Herald followed behind, seemingly full of newfound energy.
Slace and Vira followed behind last, Slace thinking, "This was an unnecessary detour."
7.1
After some time they arrived at the building; it was rather fancy and pretty huge. Compared to all the other buildings, which were painted in poverty, this one was painted in luxury, almost as much as Sloane's castle. It gave a feeling, a sense of superiority, but for Sindre? It made no sense.
Herald gulped, looking up at the sheer size of the building, the intimidation getting to him.
"Guess we're here… eh?"
Nao patted Herald on the back, smirking. She was slightly intimidated too but wouldn't show it.
"Don't get scared; it's easy to sense."
Bjornulf nodded, Herald gaining his courage back. Bjornulf walked up to the front, a rather large gate. That's when a guard came forward.
Bjornulf just stood there, everyone quiet.
Slace began walking towards the guard and Bjornulf. the guard unsheathed their blade.
But before they had gotten the chance to use such a blade, Slace had already stabbed the guard in the neck, killing them.
The corpse fell to the ground, Bjornulf thanked Slace, and the rest were confused, but Bjornulf explained for Slace.
"That guard, the moment he unsheathed his sword, he had the intent to kill me."
Vira and Nao simply nodded; Herald was the only surprised one, but he didn't say anything about it.
Either way, Slace and the others scurried inside the building before anyone could notice who had killed the guard.
Slace and the rest noticed guards patrolling and hid behind a wall; Nao then spoke, devising a plan.
"Let's split up. Bjornulf, you'll go and try to find and save Sindre from his representatives."
Bjornulf nodded obediently, running off straight away, causing Nao to faceplant in frustration, but she calmed down quickly.
"He ought to learn how to stay during planning."
She continued, "Ecals and Vira, you two deal with all our problems at the ground level."
Slace and Vira nodded, unsheathing their blades. Vira seemed to have gotten a new one since Slace had last broken it.
Vira looked over at Herald; he also had a new bow after fighting Nao in the tournament.
"Herald, you take out threats from the highland, and I'll follow Bjornulf."
Herald nodded, jumping upwards to find a vantage point, and with that everyone went their separate ways, although they didn't have a return point.
—————————-
Herald had dealt with the guards from above pretty quickly, and he was just chilling on the roof of the building; he reloaded his bow, still vigilant just in case.
"That was easier than I had expected."
Then a swarm of birds came at the herald in the distance; he shot at them, but they were easily swayed by it. The birds then swooped down at Herald with their claws.
Herald dodged the onslaught; noticing the bird's claws and appearance, he figured out which type of bird this was quickly.
"A Ravenclaw, native to the knight kingdom, they have poisonous and very sharp claws; better to watch out than be struck."
Every time after a Ravenclaw attacked, they would fly back; this was because they used the momentum in their flight to deal better damage to prey or, in this case, an enemy.
Herald was going to use this; he aimed his arrows at the Ravenclaws as they flew back, shooting at them. Again, they dodged and swooped at Herald; he dodged again, but this time, as they tried to fly back, he shot them in rapid succession before they had the chance.
He managed to kill all the Ravenclaws with his method rather quickly. Now seeing the dead Ravenclaws, he got on his knees, inspecting them.
"Are these wild Ravenclaws or military ones?"
That's when he noticed a piece of silver on the Ravenclaws' legs, most definitely military.
Herald quickly got up, looking around, scanning the whole area. If this beast tamer got away, they could be in quite some trouble.
He then noticed someone running away.
"Found you."
Herald shot his arrow towards the beast tamer confidently. The arrow pierced right through the beast tamer's head, killing them instantly.
"Killing them as fast as possible was the best course of action."
If a beast tamer happens to stay alive and have more beasts at their side, they can become a rather troubling problem.
Herald then sat down, waiting for something to happen.
—————
Bjornulf and Nao were running through the building, hall after hall, pushing past servant after servant.
Nao tried to reason with Bjornulf.
"Stop running; we have to stop drawing attention to ourselves!"
Bjornulf just kept running; his devotion to his goal was too powerful, and also just because he was excited, he really wanted to fight that representation, as they were powerful.
So he just ignored her and kept running; Nao sighed, following behind.
"Fine, whatever, do it your way then."
They eventually arrived at Sindre's room. Nao tried to speak, but Bjornulf bashed through the door, interrupting her.
That's when they both saw a sight they would never forget: Sindre was chained to the wall, his representative kicking away the door that was flying at them.
Nao looked on in horror, taking out her scythe, Bjornulf walking forward in anger. The representative turned to look at the two sighing.
"Intruders shall face punishments; it was a foolish idea to come here."
Bjornulf pointed at the representative asking a question, one of wrath.
"What's the name of the man I'm going to kill?"
The representative listened and for a moment became quiet, but then he just began to laugh, finding the whole idea impossible, despite that he answered.
"Loather."
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Herald noticed something: someone coming from the gate inside; they seemed like a knight. Herald got up quickly, taking his bow out and shooting at the knight.
The knight rather easily deflected them with his sword, leaping up on the roof to where Herald was.
"You're different from the rest of the knights." Herald said, surprised.
The knight simply walked forward, the herald stepping back threatened as he continued to shoot his arrows at the knight.
The knight simply dodged them; as in one quick move, he had knocked out Herald, and he then spoke for himself with pride.
"I'm a royal knight, and I will be taking all of you to justice."
The royal knight meant the group.
————-
Loather was fighting both Nao and Bjornulf at the same time and was on par with both of them.
Sindre was watching the fight terrified; there must be a way to stop it. He tried to force himself out of the shackles, but it was a fruitless attempt.
Nao rushed at Loather with her scythe, slashing at him, but Loather responded by thrusting his leg upwards and kicking the base of the scythe, knocking Nao back before he could get hit.
That's when Bjornulf came at Loather's side with a punch to the face. Loather dodged by side-stepping, kicking Bjornulf in the stomach, knocking him back.
Nao spoke, looking down at Loather's legs, slightly annoyed.
"What the hell are those legs made out of, to push back Bjornulf of all people?"
Bjornulf grunted; he was quite angry as he tried to order Loather.
"Let Sindre go, Loather!"
Loather simply sighed, looking over at Sindre shaking his head.
"So that's what this is about; I should've figured it out."
Loather walked over to Sindre, Sindre's face suddenly changing to one of terror.
"Why don't you tell them, Sindre? About your past, how you killed your family, your father who was my master, and how you killed your wife… why don't you tell them?"
Nao and Bjornulf stopped completely in their tracks, completely shocked, unable to say anything.
Loather was getting increasingly mad.
"How after you became like this?"
He kicked Sindre in the head frustrated as Sindre yelped.
"HOW YOU RUINED THE KNIGHT KINGDOM?!"
Loather calmed down, stepping back a bit looking at the now shocked Nao and Bjornulf, they didn't quite believe Loather fully but they had to let Sindre explain.
"Tell them pathetic weakling."
Sindre, shaken, responded in fear, but also some sort of defiance?
"I-I can't…"