Fantasy Kind Of Story

Chapter 38: Knightfall

"Roland!? What are you doing here?", Lara exclaimed, pleasently surprised by his sudden arrival.

"I followed you lot and you lead us right to the biggest gang of thieves and criminals in all of Felsen!", Roland explained, looking at the heroes proudly.

"W-wait, you've been following us this WHOLE time!? And you didn't think to step in during ANY OF IT?!", Silvio questioned, eagerly awaiting a sufficient answer.

"Dont get your whiskers in a twist, we weren't going to let anything bad happen to you, but I wasnt about to do it all for you, besides, I had faith in you guys", Travis explained further.

"Wait, what do you mean 'WE'?", Lara said, but right as she did multiple guards came marching in, grabbing all the remaining thieves and tieing them up.

"How did we not notice them?", Marya asked rhetorically, trying to count all the knights that had supposedly been following them around.

"Look Roland, I have something to tell you, the uhm....the key got broken...I failed", Lara told him with shamefully, her head hung low and her hands behind her back.

Roland looked at her and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What are you talking about kiddo?", Roland asked plainly.

"T-the key, it was broken by the Ebony Knight guy, I was supposed to bring it back to you all...but I didn't...", Lara stammered.

Roland smirk and shook his head, stifling laughter.

"Oh my gods you are precious, Lara, who cares about the key? You brought us the biggest room of REAL artifacts any knight has EVER retrieved, besides, the key was a fake", Roland explained to her, putting his hands on her shoulders trying to comfort her.

"....wait, you KNEW it was a fake too?!", Lara exclaimed.

"Yeah to be perfectly honest with you, this whole thing was a setup", Roland stated while shrugging.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?! Did my mother know?", Lara questioned Roland.

"Yeah everybody knew, you think your mother would let me throw you to the wolves like this? Hell no! We discussed this entire thing while you were in your cell", Roland explained.

"I told your mother that some of my undercover operatives had been hearing whispers of a plot to use ancient relics to overthrow the knights, and they needed the key to access the vault, and had been planning to steal it, but the thing is that the key was always a fake, no object exists that can open that vault, only Jord's magic can".

"The initial plan was to have them steal the fake and when they went to open the vault, they wouldn't be able to open it and we would arrest them, but during your tryout I saw your powers and realized that we could actually open the vault and get all the relics within! So I came up with a new plan involving you", Roland continued, his enthusiasm and pride becoming increasingly evident.

"So you used me?", Lara asked.

"Well no, I convinced your mother that you would end up chasing them and more than likely once they realized the key was a fake, they would turn their eyes on you, and I knew that your uncle was the lead bandit and had a soft spot for you, so he wouldnt let anyone lay a finger on you other than to open the vault, and me and my other knights would be right behind you guys in case anything got shakey".

"Honestly your mother expected you to get scared by this whole experience and never want to join the knights ever again, but you have outdone yourself tremendously young lady, and for that I would like to give you what I promised", Roland said proudly as he pulled out his sword.

Lara tried her hardest to control her excitement, she quickly got on one knee and lowered her head. Roland raised his sword high above her and began to speak, her friends watching eagerly behind her.

"Ms. Lara Schmied Anneliese Schmied, for your courage and perserverence in the face of adversity and your assistance in thwarting a coup, I hereby declare you an official Knight of Felsen!", Roland announced, laying his blade on her right then left shoulder.

"You may now freak out", Roland said to her, as soon as he did she jumped upwards and ran to her friends, hugging them as they all cheered and celebrated, she noticed however that Klaus had disappeared, probably to avoid being arrested, she didn't allow this to ruin her moment though.

"I knew you could do it Lara!", Silvio exclaimed.

"They had to allow you in, I would've busted some heads if they didn't!", Kiburi said, holding up his fists and cracking his knuckles.

"With a bad ass bitch like you in the knights, I might have to be a bit more cautious", Marya said.

"Dont worry, I'll give you a five minute head start", Lara replied jokingly.

Lara looked at Jiro who just gave her a nod of approval.

Roland watched with a slight smile for a few minutes as they celebrated before getting back to business.

"Alright, please arrest all the criminals", Roland said, pointing towards all the bandits still remaining inside the vault, the men and women behind him immediately got to work, arresting the bandits and carrying them outside.

However, a few knights surrounding Lara and her friends, grabbing Kiburi, Marya, and Jiro.

"Hey, what gives?!", Marya exclaimed furiously.

"We aren't bandits you morons!", Kiburi complained as the three knights began to restrain him.

"Roland, what's going on?", Lara asked desperately.

"What do you mean? They are criminals Lara, you know that", Roland explained.

"What about the pardon?", Marya asked, still trying to fight off the knights arresting her.

"We never discussed a pardon?", Roland said, completely unaware of what she was talking about.

Lara suddenly turned back to her friends, who had all stopped when they heard what he said, staring daggers at her.

".....Lara, whats going on?", Silvio asked.