This girl, with short messy hair, tanned skin, and the snaking sky-blue snowflakes on the indigo robes, '…is supposed to be a descendant of the hero of change, Arulli?'
Her robes were rugged and slightly old. Her hair was never neat. The other thing was the tattoos barely showing on her neck. They were made from deeply blue ink, that looked more like patterns, like those on walls, houses, and armour, than it looked like tattoos. She had gained some confidence, but the Knight could still see how much she was trying. She was trying to convince the Knight to help her, the poor thing probably thought that the Knight wouldn't listen to a shy, low voiced plea for help – to be fair it wouldn't have.
'This all sounds more like a soldier's job.'
"So, tell me, why is it you are sure that not only am I the only one who can help, but also sure that I will? Why not ask for help from the police – their only reason for being is to keep peace."
She had conformed.
Until now she had been outspoken and clear, but once more the pain within her brought her back to the barely audible tone. "The police could help, but they would cause a scene, I am sure they won't be able to get my brother out in time. They said should I try something; they were going to kill him. And you're the only knight I know – none would waste time on anything other than the darkness, and I saw you go out of your way to take down the dragon, so I had a feeling that you would help."
"Yet here you are right now – asking for help, how sure are you they haven't killed him?"
"Because they need me, and without him, they know they can't get me to obey."
Story has intentional misleading's. Analyse for 20 slaughter points?
'Request denied.'
"You still haven't explained much."
She looked up into the glowing pair of eyes looking back at her, she could barely keep her hands from trembling, even during their quest, the Knight never stood so close. "If you promise me to help, I will explain the rest."
'What do you think Mugaw?'
"I realised something, if you're going back to the void soon, why not use this opportunity to collect pure souls even if her friend doesn't know anything about the sword, some of her enemies might be human."
'I thought about that, but what if her assailants aren't human?'
"Leave her then, nothing good comes from helping all who ask."
'Speaking from experience?' – No response came.
The problem with this whole request is that it cuts into the Knights time to complete its own self assigned missions, and the searching of the sword.
"How long do we have?"
"We?!"
She sounded a little bit exited; it quickly became calmer once the look on the Knight's face reached her. She didn't know how to describe it. So, she quickly gathered herself and answered.
"Thank you. We have until the weekends. For now, they think I have been kidnapped, that's how I was able to get away from them."
The Knight looked towards the palace; it was calculating the best time to start.
"What about the details?"
"Oh yeah! Almost forgot. On a town near the southern border, there is a prison of sorts, knowing them, they probably brought my brother too."
The Knight then interrupted her, "who is this 'them' you keep mentioning?"
With a sombre tone, she said, "It's a branch of the chimera organisation. One of them infiltrated the guild and that's how they found me. They want to turn me into one of their abominable creations. Actually, the only reason they haven't already is because the part of my being they want is too fragile to be extracted. They instead forced me to train and grow stronger, so that one day my soul will be strong enough.
Towards that end hey put those two on my guard detail. Their second mission was to train me and facilitate my growth. When I reached level 230, I realised something, the moment I hit the boundary of 250, they were going to kill me, and even then, I know they wouldn't let my brother go, after all he too is related to the hero."
Her tone became surer, "This is why I had to escape and help free my brother. I was stronger but nowhere near enough to free my brother, and if I run alone, he will become their new 'lead'. So, a year ago I decided to hatch this plan, because one thing had changed. Sure, the connection was thinner than thread, but I hoped that at the very least me knowing a knight, I could somehow manage."
The Knight was not even looking at her when it said this, "And this is why you risked it all on one last gambit. I too once had no way forward, and the only thing I had was a feeling that it there was a way – but no way of telling if it'd work. Take my advice for it, never enter an Abysmal dungeon."
"What?"
She had not heard the last part as the Knight had said it at a very low voice, for it was thinking back to the days when it had nothing. The battle breakthrough with the Enders. The Knight knew that the armour had to have some sort of ability, otherwise why did it seem more like an equip, rather than a vessel.
But there was no way to know if it would work. If it had not worked the Knight would have been a goner, and same for her, should the Knight refuse, her situation would go from bleak to finished. This is why the Knight was going to help her, for no other reason than that it saw its former self in her desperate but daring plea.
They then discussed the details of the mission. They would go at the end of the week since the Knight could teleport. Since the Knight had taken this mission personally, it did not really trust that she would be safe.
So, instead of compromising her, the Knight took her with it back to the castle. This is how the stories about the hero's wife began – oddly enough, through some coincidence, it was a descendant of one – even if not known.
***
In the palace garden, two days later, a crowd had formed. Knights, guards, workers, a few officials and more. And at the centre of this was…
"Cathina! Have you seen inside of your husband's helmet?"
"No."
"Cathina! How did you two meet."
"On an adventure…"
"Is he romantic?"
"He…"
"Cathina! Is he a good lo…"
The crowd was being sent away by Adriel and Poli. The former had just come back yesterday. "Everyone! Go back to work, and give the girl some breathing room, it's been a day for crying out loud."
Poli stopped by Cathina. Cathina was now much neater. Her hair had been tied up into a neat bun, with some of the hair just flowing. Even her robes had been changed, these came from the Knight. They were navy blue instead of indigo. And no snaking blue snowflakes, just golden embroidery and some silk accents.
This served to hide the patterns on her body and left her virtually untraceable. Until they could save her brother. "I really don't see it."
"Huh?"
"Why would the Knight be interested in you. Not to sound jealous, but I always figured his eyes could not care less about such, after all he's the first person who didn't flinch at Fetching's beauty. And he did not seem impressed after meeting the bannerets, I saw him leave the war council room unphased."
She leaned in closer, "My question is, why would he be attracted to an average adventure like you?"
Cathina remembered what the Knight said – 'Try as much as you can to avoid lying. If not possible don't even answer their questions, they won't force you. As far as they are concerned, I'm your husband, they wouldn't dare.'
"I don't know."
Poli expected the answer. "Anyways, don't mind the crowds, usually the palace is quiet. They heard rumours about the hero's wife and they came rushing. The ones who came by today were off on duty yesterday; they just had to confirm the rumours themselves."
The crowd was gone and Adriel was approaching. "So, it's you. I never pegged the guy for a husband. Basically, you're the first ever piece of information about the mysterious Knight that has to do with his life outside being a knight – so you'll have to forgive me, even I am curious."
***
At night, Cathina walked into the room and turned on the light. She stumbled back as she saw the statue of armour sitting on the chair near the bed. She then collected herself after remembering that the Knight never used the light, it could see without it.
'I keep forgetting he likes the dark. Too bad they didn't have rooms to spare. In the end I am just an adventurer I shouldn't even be sleeping in a palace. Every time I walk in, he looks dead. I don't know what he focuses on all night, but he never sleeps. At least we're leaving tomorrow. I better not disturb, and just go to sleep, no matter how hard it is.'
She then crept into the bed. The Knight could still sense her, but she really was of no consequence. As usual, it was still using soul craft and crimson smith to make something. It had been on it for a while, and even today, it still couldn't make it. The good part though, is with the heightened knowledge stats, the progress was way faster.
Unfortunately, the Knights presence, even on the third night was still too much for her to sleep, so again she just laid there until morning.
Since the Knight had the following week off, and even if something should happen, it could easily make it back. Cathina held onto the Knights cold steel gauntlet as they teleported far away.
The plan was simple, so much so they could complete it while being silent. The Knight was too strong to be undetected. It couldn't even equip a robe such as the one it made for Cathina. So, it was going to break in through the front door, but not itself. It still had doubts about Cathina's story, so for now the Knight was going to send one of the new followers it had given vessels for.
A green formless goo flowed up the tree. This was the level 280 monster, that was now level 270 due to the follower sacrifice when taking a vessel. This did not matter, because the important part was the skill it had. This monster is known as Dsace. Its skill allows it to become the object of a being's affection. The Knight didn't even defeat it, more like the skill somehow caught the attention of one of the followers who eventually consumed the being for the skill.
So, as it flowed inside, the people on the entrance just watched as their hands shook, they did not find it in themselves to attack the one person they were affectionate towards. This thing did not create illusions; it just filled any and all with this yearning as it consumed them. The fact it could affect the Knight means none should be able to resist, thus none did.
More people kept rushing out of the building, but really, nothing much changed. The follower was not to invade the place; its sole purpose was to be a distraction. With that the Knight teleported inside. This had left Cathina a bit startled. She had asked for the Knights help, but truly she did not know what to expect from the Knight. She knew that there was no way that monster just conveniently appeared.
With a worried mind she thought, 'Exactly what have I gotten myself into?'
They then walked deeper into the building.