Beast Knights (KKM Fanfiction)

Familiar Feeling

Conrad soon stepped forward and bowed down in front of Mari who was perplexed for a moment at the soldier's sudden action. But it was only for a short while. She regained her composure after that and gave respect to the said soldier.

"You must be him, huh? The soldier that Klaus would always talk about to us."

The soldier nodded and properly introduced himself to Mari. "Yes, that's me. Lord Conrart Weller. I'm the second son of the previous Maoh and Yuri's bodyguard."

Mari nodded and bowed, as well. "It's nice to finally meet you. And thank you... for always protecting Yuri." She was sincere about that part, considering that she was aware of the fact of how dangerous the other world could be. It didn't take long before she remembered something. "I'm sorry. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself to you. My name's Mari. Akiyama Mari. And as you know now, I'm Yuri's mentor on Earth and Shori's childhood friend."

The others introduced themselves, as well, to the woman despite the sudden turn of the situation for all of them.

"Now this is weird coming from you, Mari," Shori soon commented, changing the others' focus to him.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't usually befriend people this easy, considering that you just met them now. Aside from that, you already believed that Conrad was the person that Klaus was mentioning to you. How are you able to do that in this world?"

But Mari smiled mysteriously and turned around, deciding to keep quiet about the matter.

"That's because of her ability that she was able to gain the moment she first appeared to this world," a woman's voice said, making Mari stop in her tracks and sighed in defeat.

When the rest of them turned to the source of that voice, another shock came to Yuri, Shori, and Murata upon seeing who it was.

"Rina-senpai?" Murata blurted out.

"Yo!" Rina smiled cheekily to Murata and even did a two-finger salute.

"Even you, Rina?" Shori also couldn't help blurting out his surprise to see another familiar face in that world.

"Yes, even me. But I was brought here two months after Mari."

Mari turned around and faced her friend. "Seriously, Rina. Shouldn't you be guarding the west part of the forest?"

"I got curious since things had gotten a bit quiet in this area so I decided to check it out. I never thought our kouhai and even our friend would be the reason for that to happen." Soon after, Rina faced the four soldiers just watching them. "I'm Harusaki Rina, Mari's best friend, and Murata-kun's mentor back on Earth."

"Do you mind if I ask you two about your role on this island? You don't seem to be normal warriors just guarding this forest," Yozak managed to ask that question.

To their confusion, both Mari and Rina looked at each other, as if deciding together whether or not they would tell the truth.

"I think it's better if I let Klaus tell you everything. And you should tell him everything that's going on to Shin Makoku, as well." In the end, Mari said those words.

XXXXXXX

As the Maoh and his retainers walked the forest with the two women they met along the way as their guide, Conrad remained silent the entire time. He did manage to act naturally around everyone. But as soon as he laid eyes on Yuri's mentor, something stuck him with a sense of familiarity that he considered weird. Why would he feel that now, of all times?

Yes, he was already on the island where Lyall was born, raised, and died altogether. This was the island special to her and the land she protected even after she died. But the familiar feeling that was bothering him at the moment wasn't meant on the island but to the woman named Akiyama Mari.

It was always a wonder to Conrad how he could still know the feeling related to Lyall even though she'd been gone for more than two decades now. But he was sure of it this time. Mari's appearance made him realize that feeling again. But why? Why could he only feel that towards Mari?

He was sure of one thing. She was nothing like Lyall wherever he looked at it. And yet...

"Conrad, what's wrong?"

That question brought him out of his reverie and upon looking around, he saw Yuri worriedly looking at him. That made him stop in his tracks. But he was surprised soon after to see the others had also stopped in their tracks and were now looking at him with concern.

Damn it! Does this have to happen now?

"I'm sorry," were the only words that Conrad managed to say, and even bowed after that. But for some reason, there was a part of him that told him those words were meant for Mari. Why was that?

Moments later, he heard someone sigh which made him raise his head to see who it was. To his surprise, Mari was already just a few feet in front of him.

"I might not be able to give you a bit of good advice if it would involve the dead princess. But I still hope you'll remain strong whatever it is that you'll learn about her along the way. Two and a half decades had passed since her death and I believe you never learned any more about this land after that."

The soldier remained quiet since he couldn't think of any words to counter that. But before he could say something, Mari spoke once again. This time, with an understanding smile on her face.

"But I'm sure Klaus won't be that heartless of a person to blame you for something that's not even your fault. The proof was the crest that he gave you that one last time."

At that point, Conrad couldn't hide the surprise on his face. "How did you know about that?"

"He told me, though I had to force that out from him." Mari shrugged after that.

"Mari-san, even in this world, you sure bring out your tenacity, huh?" Yuri commented with a nervous laugh. Being the young woman's student for quite some time now, he was already familiar with some of her personality.

"To a guy like Klaus, I need to be tenacious, especially when I need to know something important from him."

Soon after, Murata began asking that one crucial question. "Have you met the Beast Knights of this era, Akiyama-san?"

The said woman's expression became somber in an instant that stiffened the rest of the group. Was there something wrong with the question?

"Mari?" Shori called out, hoping that it would somewhat dissipate that serious atmosphere.

"Do you want to know?" Mari asked instead of directly answering the first question. As for Rina, she was looking at Mari placidly.

Murata nodded. "We didn't know what happened to the Beast Knights after this land dealt with the war against the Phantasma that soon abolished the monarchy system of this kingdom. From what Lord Weller mentioned to us before, Lord Amrein was one of the current Beast Knights. Unless, of course, something happened that made him pass on his position to his successor."

"Klaus is still the Light Eagle Knight and the current leader of the Beast Knights, though he was already training his successor so that when the time comes, that person would be ready," Mari explained. "To tell the truth, only two Beast Knights remained until now since that war. The other four died and I believe you already know that Princess Lyall was one of those four."

"Mari-san, do you know the identity of the three Beast Knights who died during the war?" Yuri asked.

The woman nodded and sighed before speaking. "Yes, I do know them, but only by name since I never actually met them personally. But I'll tell you about it once we managed to talk things through with Klaus since I think that's of paramount importance not just for you guys but also for us who live here in Esovia."

The others couldn't agree more with Mari's suggestion.