The Seventh Moon

Parting After Meeting

In some parts of our lives, we might have taken a wrong turn. But that thought soon disappeared when our paths finally crossed… ~ Florence Joyce

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As much as the incident happening in front of Risa scared her a lot, she managed to turn around to see who it was. She couldn’t help frowning for some reason, though. A man was standing a few feet away from them, wearing a black cloak with a hood covering half of his face.

But there was something clear about him. He was ready to kill with the way he held his sword tight.

“Who are you?” The knight in front of her asked and poised to a fighting stance.

Even with all that, Risa could only watch. It was strange that she couldn’t remove her gaze away from the cloaked man. Then again, she couldn’t help feeling that she could trust him.

“I don’t introduce myself to some knights who didn’t even know where to draw the line of their privileges.”

“That has nothing to do with you!” Another knight shouted and charged toward the mysterious man with his sword.

As it was happening, her eyes widened, and was about to warn the cloaked stranger to be careful. But she frowned soon after upon seeing him smirk.

"You're slow."

The man didn't even move away from his position and blocked the knight's sword with ease. He then kicked the knight on his stomach, causing the latter to groan and fall on his back.

Aa if that wasn't enough, the man stabbed the knight's sword that he soon picked up just a few inches away from his neck. The knight's eyes widened and she could see him quivering.

"N-no… Spare me!"

The cloaked man scoffed and straightened himself. "And now you're begging to live… How disgusting can you get?"

'He looked too annoyed about this, huh?'

Could it be that this stranger hated the knights in general on some level? Even she could feel the chills on her spine just from hearing the man talk like that.

“Get out of the way! You’re not even a part of this. This is our business, so get lost!”

The man smirked again and faced the other knight this time.

“Well, now you made it my business. I wonder what the Master Mage would say if he found out that more knights tried to harass his ward once again."

As much as Risa was surprised to hear that, she couldn't help frowning, as well.

'How did he know about that?' Did the Master Mage mention it to someone? Maybe she'd be able to find out later.

"Shut up!"

The second knight charged towards the cloaked man and thrust his sword to him. But the cloaked man spun himself, avoiding the sword and giving him a chance to strike the knight on his crotch using the handle of his sword.

Even from her position, she could tell that the force used to do that was strong to send the knight keeling and howling in pain. She also saw the cloaked stranger kick the sword from the knight's hand, sending it flying in the air and catching it before it hit the ground. She gasped when he pointed the sword he caught on the knight's neck.

“You think you can take me on with your meager sword skills? Think again! It would take you ten more years and a lifetime of experience to match mine."

He wasn't joking around, was he? It gave her more reason to look at the stranger.

It startled her, however, when the cloaked man turned to her direction. She froze up but didn't remove her gaze away from him.