In An Attempt To Gain Power

Taking Care of Things

Ella held my hand tightly as we ventured together to see if my parents were unhurt.

We approached Father to find him unconscious but thankfully there weren't any serious injuries.

He was alive as I wished he always would be.

Ella and I (mostly Ella as my strength contributed little) propped Father against a nearby tree and continued on our way to find my mother and the man who took her.

I looked back to see the remaining bandits dumbfounded that their leader had lost to a woman and had just fumbled about not doing much. Meanwhile, Crow had been staring daggers into Ella. They obviously had a history, but I wasn't one to pry (but I was curious, so much so that I felt I would die).

"Do you know which direction your mom was taken in?" Ella softly asked. I giggled at her caring demeanour as I had just seen her kill a man in cold blood. She must have a soft spot for children.

"The man took Mother in that direction," I responded, pointing in the direction that they had gone in.

After a minute of walking in the forest, I realised something. Ella hadn't used magic for even a second while fighting. Could she not use it well like me? Or was she simply not bothered?

"Miss Ella, if your name even is that, why didn't you use magic when fighting those bandits?"

"My name is Ella, yes. I didn't use any magic because I have a rare case where I was actually born with no magical prowess whatsoever. Pathetic isn't it?"

"No! I find it really cool how you are so strong despite not using magic! Wow... So all of it was your own strength?"

At this Ella awkwardly laughed, unsure of how to respond to my praise.

"I worked really hard I guess."

"What are you planning to use your swordsmanship for?"

"Well, for my entire life I've wanted to become a knight of the Royal Guard, but before that, I plan to gain experience and money as an adventurer."

Suddenly, it felt like I didn't need to become strong. I could become stronger through swordsmanship. I could be an adventurer, a life that nobles rarely led.

However, since I'm an only child, I will need to be the lord of our land. That is my destiny.

Though I couldn't shake my admiration for the girl before me. She had become everything I wished I was at that time.

Though my thought had to come to an end when we had reached our destination.

Mother, taken by Rick who forcefully grabbed her and took her to wherever they were headed to.

I spoke quietly to Ella, "That's my mother." To which, she nodded and let go of my hand.

Ella sneaked, as quietly as she could, towards the man.

Then, with the handle of her sword, she knocked Rick out.

Mother quickly shook off the man's grip and dusted herself off. She then turned her eyes to Ella, then me. She elegantly walked towards Ella and begun to thank her.

While the two were talking, I walked forward to see if I could catch a glimpse of where Rick was planning to go.

Through the trees, I caught a glimpse of a clearing. Green and black tents stood in the clearing, organised to line paths that lead up to a stone building.

The building seemed to be fairly old and possibly an abandoned building that was being occupied by the bandits.

Along the 'streets,' there was a scattered flow of people walking. Some slugged in tattered clothes, handcuffed and chained, being lead by men with a similar demeanour to Brick and Rick.

Slave trade.

A hand grabbed mine while a soft voice caressed my ears, "Let's go, Meri, we are running late as is." Mother's voice was coated with worry as she began to pull me away from the clearing. She didn't want to stay near the danger for long, I could tell. There wasn't much I could do, so I walked back to our carriage with mother, Ella following.

" Dear! What happened to you?"

Mother rushed to father when she saw he was unconscious by a tree. She shook him until he came to.

"Selene?" Father groggily woke up, half asleep. He immediately woke up when he was he remembered the situation we were in. "Is everyone--?"

"Fine. We are fine, don't worry about us."

"Good. That's good!" Father smiled brightly in relief.

We headed back to our carriage, the bandits long gone. Father decided to drive the carriage as the driver remained dead no matter what happened. Ella rode her horse beside us, sometimes casually joining the conversation.

"What made you want to be an adventurer?" mother asked, directing our attention to Ella.

"It really isn't much. I'm not a noble or anything you don't need to worry about me," Ella nervously spoke. Once she had learned we were nobles than she immediately started being polite, even though we are no more important than a popular bakery.

"Just tell us!" I chimed in.

"Well... If you must know. My dad has been a guard to Vexital since as long as I remember and I really admire him. I have always dreamed to be a knight of the Royal Order. I've been training myself and trying to climb to the top of the guild so I might have a chance to gain recognition and strength but I've only just started adventuring so I'm only C+ ranked."

I looked at her, admiring her commitment, bravery and determination amongst other inspiring traits that radiated from Ella.

We had continued to talk. I asked her about adventuring and she told a few tales of small skirmishes she had accomplished.
She had done everything so far without relying on magic, she had done everything so far with sword skills alone. I thought that maybe... maybe I could do it too?

Eventually the clopping of hooves had slowed, and we had reached the gate to our destination.
The seaside city welcomed us with the warm air and lingering scent of salt.

We had parted ways with Ella as she headed towards, presumably, her father. Mother had handed  her 2 silver coins.

At this point I did not know much about currency in this world. I always learned it in its numeric form, which was similar to earth's system, although coins were a bit different as each type of coin has its own worth and the system in reference to coins was overcomplicated to the point where barely anyone really knows if a bronze coin with a star is worth 10 or 6 dollars.

Anyway, we had said our goodbyes and headed our seperate ways.

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I'm so sorry for this chapter being so lateeeee. I was supposed to post it a month and a half ago but my computer broke. Then my phone broke as well....
And I was a bit lost as to where I wanted this chapter to go. I felt like I did all my goals for the chapter at the 500 word mark but I wanted to have at least a thousand words per chapter so I got this chapter out really late. I was also in quite a rush to choose a song for the title. Even then, i forgot to post this chapter!Apologies!

100+ notifications....

By the way, since i havent really worked on this story in a hot minute, I have forgotten all plot I had planned. A few revisions will also be done in the plans that I DID write down since im sure ive gotten better at this in my time away. I am also working on another project that should be finished soon.

Consider this a momentary hiatus.