The kingdom had long since outlived its days of wealth and prosperity, and it now resembled an elderly man on his deathbed, with numerous internal conflicts that could not be ignored.
The nobility is divided, the common folk are poor, prices are skyrocketing, and thieves are taking over the mountains and robbing the merchants.
The King's City is the country's transportation hub, where most merchant routes converge, which is why many thieves and bandits target caravans along this route.
Blue Moon, a large bandit organization based in the Yucca Forest to the north of King's Castle, regularly plunders caravans and villages along nearby trade routes.
They had just ransacked a village outside the king's city this evening.
It was ten o'clock at night, and the thieves were counting the evening's harvest; however, the atmosphere was much quieter than usual.
The explosion from the King's City had cast a shadow over many people's hearts, with some believing that the throne was about to change hands and others believing that the kingdom was about to fall apart.
At ten minutes past ten, a scout reported seeing a luxurious caravan crossing the forest.
The assembled band of Blue Moon thieves proceeded to set up an ambush with the vast majority of their forces at ten-twenty.
"How come you haven't starved in such a large village with so little money and food?"
A balding thief with a scar on his face spat at the peasants who had been imprisoned on the mountain, calling them "worse than animals."
The purpose of transporting these peasants to the mountain was to exploit them, to use them as cannon fodder for robberies, and to use them as hostages during negotiations if there was a siege.
The peasants cowered in the corner, huddled, with their heads lowered, not daring to look directly at the vicious bandits.
Anyone who looked up and met the angry bandits' gaze would almost certainly be severely beaten.
Dozens of peasants cowered in one corner of the cage, while a lone little girl squatted in another.
None of the peasants dared to approach her for some reason, as if she were more dangerous than the thief in front of them.
Naturally, the scarred thief noticed the scene, and when he turned to face the girl, she returned his gaze.
The girl stood about five feet, five inches tall, and her frail frame appeared to be light enough to be blown away by a gust of wind.
Her dark red hair streaked across her body, covering her cheeks and sticking together as if she hadn't bathed in a long time.
Her exposed arms were ghastly white, with no visible blood vessels.
She looked worse than a beggar on the street in terms of outward appearance.
But she raised her head and stared straight at the thief, making him tremble.
Her hair covered parts of her eyes and cheeks, but the thief could see right into her eyes.
The thief took a step back subconsciously, but on second thought, why should he be afraid of a mere peasant?
"How dare you look at me like that, you got a death wish?"
The thief cursed as he drew the cleaver pinned to his waist and used the key to open the cage, entering it.
The villagers on one side of the cage became even more terrified as they squeezed towards the corner, pulling everyone to the periphery in desperation to shield themselves from the blade, and the dead silence was briefly broken.
The few remaining thieves laughed, as they had many times before, at the sight of civilians being abused.
They were all just tools and cannon fodder to them, and having one fewer might even reduce the food consumption slightly.
Within a few steps, the highwayman1 was in front of the young woman, mockingly gesturing with his palm in front of his grimy nose while saying:
"What a stench, you make me sick... "
The girl ignored the bandit as she glanced around the to make sure there were no dangerous individuals among the remaining bandits left behind.
"Like I said! Wanna die?" Angered by the girl's casual dismissal, the thief placed his cleaver directly on the girl's neck, holding the blade to it.
"Hmm?" The girl raised her head and looked directly at the thief who was much taller than she was.
The moment their eyes made contact, the tension suddenly took a violent turn.
With a chill girpping his heart, the bandit tried to raise his cleaver and swing it at the girl, but he was ultimately a step too late.
"Boom!"
With a loud sound, flesh and bone shattered, and the Highwayman's body flew out and crashed into the iron cage.
"Clang!"
The cleaver fell to the ground, and the bandit’s body showed no more signs of movement.
The villagers froze in place as they looked at the girl with even more horrified eyes.
The rest of the bandits froze as well, as a not-so-weak friend of theirs just collapsed.
"Whew~" the girl picked up the cleaver and swung it, slashing with a whooshing sound.
Glancing at her remaining targets, she dragged her cleaver across the ground with sparks and ran towards them like the wind.
......
"How rash of them, I didn't think we'd run into bandits." As Lin and Bella walked up the hill, Lin shook his head.
The two were followed by a swarm of knights and magicians; they had already dispatched all of the thieves on their way up the mountain, and the so-called encounter had lasted only a few moments.
"Why don't you let me fight?" Bella said, pouting her cute little mouth in displeasure.
"You can just be a cute little princess, fighting and killing is not for you," Lin replied casually.
Lin had a strange feeling about Bella right now, and he didn't want her to be exposed to too much bloody fighting.
"Rin is the worst; I don't want to talk to you." Bella averted her gaze and wore an angry expression.
Lin didn't say anything else, he just patted her head in amusement.
Rin heard a fierce fight as he approached the hideout at the top of the hill and ran up with the men.
When he entered the brightly lit hall, he noticed a delicate girl engaged in a fierce duel with a bandit, as well as a number of his decapitated friends on the floor.
To say she was frail would be a grave mistake, the cleaver in her hand shone brightly with each slash.
Her movements were so wide and full of inertia that it was as if she wasn't slashing with her blade, but rather having it swing her around, and with each swing she forcefully committed to the blow, like a berserker.
This was the kind of sight you could call “the beauty of violence”
"She's going to die if Lin doesn't help her." Bella, who was standing beside Lin, reminded him.
Lin jerked his gaze away from the girl and realized she was at a disadvantage, not an obvious one, but one slip up and she'd be dead on the spot.
"Ka-ching!"
By chance, the burly bandit parried the girl's knife, and she deftly fell back, but the bandit's large blade pursued her.
The girl was suddenly cornered and had no chance of escaping as the blow was about to land on her neck.
In the face of death she did not panic in the slightest, just stared straight into the eyes of her opponent with the utmost calm.
The sharp blade reflected a silvery glint.
Even so, she was surprised.
"Poof!"
She anticipated being struck in the neck, but what she saw was a small silver dagger impaled dead in the middle of the bandit's throat.
"Ugh..."
While covering his bleeding throat, the thief peered around the girl to see a young man standing with his hand poised to throw something at him.
"Pah!" He fell to his knees in despair, unable to stand up.
Bella gave Lin a nod of approval, "Well done, Lin, I didn't think you were hiding something."
She had always known that Lin had an ace in the hole, that he wasn't weak and powerless.
"It was just luck," Lin put the words aside and approached the girl.
Although she appeared to be Bella's age or younger—roughly fourteen or fifteen—her aura was ice cold.
Lin softly asked, "You did this?" as he cast a glance at the dead bodies lying on the ground and the villagers hiding in the corner.
The girl paused, moved back, and then turned to face Lin again while lowering her head and making a feeble nod.
She was like an ugly duckling hiding in a corner, a contrast to her well-dressed savior that could not be overlooked.
From her birth, everyone had told her that she was the lowest of the low, that she should stay in the dark and away from the rest.
Lin approached her without thinking, patted her on the head, and said, "Very good; you did well."
The girl's hair didn't give Lin a pleasant sensation, it was stiff to the touch.
Lin quickly pulled the blue glass tube from his pocket and slipped it into the girl's hand, "You have a great talent, it might help you."
Lin also took a few gold coins from his own money pouch and placed them in the girl's hands; he didn't want to give her too much because it would get her in trouble.
Lin turned around in style, turned his back on the girl, and waved his hand, saying, "We have to go, you guys should leave this place as well."
Lin simply wanted to take the girl with him because she was very talented, but he hesitated in the end.
There was not much he could do when he needed help himself.
"I... My name is..."
The girl opened her mouth to say something, but her voice was so low that Lin, let alone herself, couldn't hear it.
Clutching the object in her arms tightly, the girl knew for the first time what it felt like to cry and sob.
"My name is Shire..."
As the figure vanished, no one heard what she had said.
She lowered her head and noticed that her waist was gradually turning red.
......
"Is Lin just going to leave?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
"What a pity. She seemed to have a good impression of you."
"Not true. Drop the topic"
"Huh~ I’m telling the truth."
The caravan set off again, this time much faster, after leaving the hill with the hideout.
In the blink of an eye it was past twelve o'clock and Lin received a letter, it came in a pink envelope.
[My name is Lin Kleist, and I will be dead by the time you read this letter].
On my first day on the run, I met a very interesting little girl who had a great talent that even I had noticed.
[Unfortunately I hesitated, I didn't think I could take her with me.]
When I saw her again three years later, she had grown into a powerful being and had revealed her beauty, becoming the most beautiful Knight.
That day, she ran into battle for one man, cutting through the imperial capital and crushing a thousand soldiers with her own strength.
She was defeated by a hair's breadth and ended up dead at the age of eighteen.
[It was also that day that I learned her name ...... Shire.]
"Bella?" Lin hid the letter under the table and covered his face with one hand.
Bella: "What's wrong, Lin?"
"Let's go back."
"Back to where?"
"The forest!"
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