[1/2 Prince x Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 6
Title: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 6
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,424
Summary: On their way to finish the Dictator, the Execution Squad's "invincible battleship" crashes, separating everyone, landing them on foreign soil in the LSK world. "Good morning, Knight-Captain Storm." "Adair? Thank the God of Light!"
Notes: In which Lucathia discovers that she is really just exploring the LSK world through this fic. Here, have all her feels about Adair and her head canon about what's happening back at the Holy Temple while Sun is off in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid... what does this even have to do with 1/2 Prince? Uh... we'll get there. Really, we will. This chapter can better be known as "A day in the life of Adair." Pfft. Nothing exciting, I know, but I just really wanted to write it. I had something else for the chapter title, but I thought this fit better. This fic is now over 20k long yet... we haven't even seen everyone. I'm appalled at the pacing. Sometimes, I really hate myself for liking alternating POVs. This story is meandering all over the place! It would have been so much easier and cleaner if I just stuck with one group of characters. *grumbles* This story is an organizational mess... Alright, enough of me and my soapbox... Hope you like Adair as much as I do, and are as fascinated as I am by the mundane things that happen around the Holy Temple. =P Needless to say, spoilers for LSK v2 and v3.
Previous chapter: Invincible Prince on a White Horse... or not. Because. You'd at Least Need a Horse to be a Prince on a White Horse.
Chapter 6: Invincible Sense of Duty; Even if Your Captain Punishes You for Gossiping, Duty Says Do It Anyway
Every day in the early morning, a group of men could be seen running along the perimeter of Leaf Bud City. They wore the white and gold uniform of the Sun Knight Platoon, sun emblem embossed on the plate of their armor.
"Good morning, sun knights!" greeted one of the vendors from the street amiably.
The leader of the group nodded in acknowledgement, watching as a young girl and a man with blazing red hair purchased vegetables from the vendor. The rest of the platoon grinned despite the sweat that was running down their faces. They waved at the vendors.
"One round left!" exclaimed one of the men.
"L-Last round!" shouted another, almost out of breath.
With the morning sun glinting off their armor, the sun knights completed their final lap around the city. Many were winded by the time they finally reached the Holy Temple, but there were also a number of them whose breathing remained even. For the past five years, they'd kept up with jogging in the morning and had built up good stamina as a result; however, they had only recently added a ninth round to their routine. One round, they found, made a huge difference.
Most of them didn't know how their ninth round had come about; some said it was born out of their captain's worry for Adair (the ninth round had been added at the time of Adair's injury -- maybe their captain had been angry at them for losing to the warriors from the Monastery of the God of War) while others said it was due to Ed's big mouth.
After thinking it through, they unanimously (with the exception of Ed) decided that it was due to Ed's big mouth.
Adair, vice-captain of the Sun Knight Platoon, was perhaps the only one who clearly remembered and understood the reason -- it was because their captain had discovered that the Sun Knight Platoon gossiped a lot. With Knight-Captain Storm even. Consorting with the enemy, their captain's eyes had seemed to say at the time. Unforgivable!
Their captain had found out because of Ed, so Ed was indeed not unrelated to their demise.
In any case, they now ran nine rounds within the city walls every morning. None of them had dared to complain about it. Well, they did complain to themselves whenever their captain wasn't around (now was a great time with their captain all the way in a neighboring kingdom; even their captain wasn't powerful enough to hear them from such a distance), but whatever their captain ordered, regardless of how strange the command, they would carry out. It was the first lesson they had learned after meeting their captain.
If their captain wanted them to jump off a cliff, then they would jump, no questions asked. Their captain was their captain and... Truthfully, they would rather jump out of their own volition than get blasted by magic and squashed by a boulder for company.
After the completion of their ninth round, Adair led the platoon to the training grounds. Despite how exhausted many of them were, their training wasn't over, so there would be no rest yet.
When Adair neared the training grounds with the sun knights following after him, he heard the sound of swords clashing. Ah, is Tyler challenging Knight-Captain Hell again?
Adair was right in his assumption. When Adair reached the training grounds, he was just in time to see Tyler's sword glance off of Knight-Captain Hell's. Tyler quickly found his footing and blocked Knight-Captain Hell's follow-up strike, but the latter clearly had the upper hand.
A few days ago, Knight-Captain Hell had made a shocking declaration to Tyler in front of several holy knights, including the entirety of the Hell Knight Platoon. Adair wasn't one of the holy knights who had been present that day, but since the declaration was pretty much the only thing the entire Holy Temple had been talking about for the past few days, it would have been near impossible to miss out on what the Hell Knight had so boldly declared.
"Tyler, if you defeat me in a duel, I will relinquish the position of captain to you," he had said.
Tyler had accepted. Adair heard from one of the other sun knights, who heard from one of the storm knights, who heard from one of the hell knights, that Knight-Captain Hell had soundly defeated Tyler in that very first duel. There had been no competition. Barely able to stay standing after the duel, Tyler had gripped his sword tightly, leaning on it and using it like a crutch, as he glared at the Hell Knight.
"I'm not going to give up," Tyler had gritted out without any deference to his captain. Instead of becoming affronted, however, Knight-Captain Hell's eyes had seemed to dance in approval, or so claimed one of the hell knights who had been present at the scene. Deciphering Knight-Captain Hell's emotions was hard since his lower face was always hidden by his mask, but his eyes often told a lot.
Adair could see what people meant by that. He watched as Knight-Captain Hell knocked Tyler's sword out of his hands, ending the duel in his favor yet again. Knight-Captain Hell's eyes clearly told Adair that he was enjoying the duel very much, and that he admired Tyler's skills.
This man has a world of patience, thought Adair. After that first duel, Knight-Captain Hell had continued to accept Tyler's challenges. Today's duel was the seventh one between them.
After Knight-Captain Hell gave Tyler pointers about his swordsmanship and invited him to challenge him again the next day, he left the training grounds. Adair motioned for the rest of the sun knights to start training without him. Then, he approached Tyler who was staring at the floor, lost in thought.
Tyler, you're still unwilling to accept Knight-Captain Hell? That's not what a vice-captain should do. He's your captain.
Adair wanted to tell Tyler this, but he had a promise with Tyler. Tyler was to give Knight-Captain Hell a chance. One month was the trial period. If Tyler truly found Knight-Captain Hell unworthy after a month of interacting with him, then Adair would support Tyler's judgment. Now, it was up to Knight-Captain Hell and Tyler to work things out. Adair did not plan on coming between them. Interfering would only undermine both Knight-Captain Hell's authority and Tyler's dignity.
Tyler looked up. "Hey Adair."
"How was the duel?" Adair asked as he came to stand by Tyler.
"Unbelievable," was Tyler's reply. He opened and closed his hands several times in succession, as if he were trying to get some feeling back into his fingers. "I think he must be even stronger than Knight-Captain Judgment."
Adair hid a grin. Was that admiration he heard in Tyler's words? Perhaps Tyler was already coming around. "From what I saw of his skills during the three person deathmatch and how he more than held his own against the Son of the God of War, I would say that his skills are definitely topnotch."
Adair himself had had a taste of the Son of the God of War's skills -- they had been enough to almost send Adair on an early meeting with the God of Light if not for Elijah's timely help. Knight-Captain Hell, who had fought evenly with the Son of the God of War, was definitely strong. Adair didn't find it hard to believe that Knight-Captain Hell could possibly be even stronger than Knight-Captain Judgment in swordplay.
For Adair, one hundred tumbles down a cliff courtesy of his captain had finally convinced him to approve of his captain. For Tyler, perhaps it would take far less than one hundred duels to convince him that his captain was worthy of his position. After all, these duels made a lot more sense than getting thrown down a cliff.
It was a very good thing that Tyler's captain was so sensible. If Tyler's captain had appeared out of the blue and had a personality like that of Adair's captain, Adair doubted Tyler would ever come around. As it was now, Adair thought it was just a matter of time.
"I'm going to challenge him again tomorrow," Tyler said, determination lacing his words.
"Of course. You're not one to give up," Adair commented, smile playing at his lips. Knight-Captain Hell didn't seem like someone who would give up either, from what Adair had learned of him so far. He was, after all, someone who would accept duel after duel and never tire of it. They were quite a pair of captain and vice-captain, both tenacious to a fault.
Truly perfect for each other.
After morning training, Adair saw to the rest of his duties as a sun knight. Without his captain around, he actually had less to do than usual. Normally, he would be preparing breakfast for his captain at this time. After presenting his captain with breakfast, his captain usually gave him extra tasks to do, such as researching someone or possibly beating someone up. Without his captain around, Adair skipped all of that and went directly to Knight-Captain Storm's door, something he normally did after he finished all of his other tasks.
He knocked on Knight-Captain Storm's door and waited patiently for the door to open. He knew that it was sometimes difficult for Knight-Captain Storm to reach the door. Stacks of paperwork could be difficult to maneuver around.
"Good morning, Knight-Captain Storm," greeted Adair when the door finally opened. A head of blue peeked out from inside. The door flew open wider once the person inside noticed it was Adair outside his door.
"Adair? Thank the God of Light!" exclaimed Storm Knight who had dark bags under his eyes like usual. He disappeared back into his room, only to reappear with a towering stack of papers. "Here you go. I was just wondering how I would be able to finish these. The Pope suddenly decided to send me to Leafblade, something about an uprising over there that I need to check out. The people there don't sound happy that we have allowed the Monastery of the God of War to set up a small faction right here in the kingdom. I must depart by tomorrow."
"Adair believes Knight-Captain Storm's words will greatly motivate the villagers and smooth any hard feelings," commented Adair. Whenever there was an uprising or a fight for freedom, the Storm Knight would definitely be there, since he was the representative of freedom, a soul who wasn't bound by rules. Supposedly, he appeared at all such happenings to fight for the people when in reality, the Storm Knight always helped mitigate the situation so that the Church of the God of Light could handle it more easily.
Adair took the stack of paperwork. Without fail, his captain always tossed his paperwork at Knight-Captain Storm. Without fail, Adair would always come to Knight-Captain Storm's door to help him with half of the paperwork his captain tossed at the Storm Knight. Adair was the vice-captain of the Sun Knight Platoon after all. Helping his captain with his paperwork, even if his captain hadn't directly given the paperwork to him, was within Adair's duties. Well, sort of. At least Adair was being helpful to Knight-Captain Storm, and Knight-Captain Storm almost always had information to share that was greatly pertinent to Adair's interests.
Just as Adair was about to leave, the Storm Knight suddenly remembered something. "I heard that there is talk about a necromancer appearing within the city."
Adair stopped. A necromancer? It would be the Sun Knight Platoon's duty to check that out.
This was definitely something Adair needed to know about. Without his captain around, it fell upon Adair to handle any business related to undead creatures. It was not technically illegal for necromancers to settle down in Leaf Bud City, but the Church made a point to make sure to know about their whereabouts and intentions.
"It's not her?" Adair asked after a moment's pause.
Both of them knew who Adair meant. Although they had never talked much about the necromancer that Adair's captain was acquainted with, both of them knew of her existence, and Adair thought he had actually met her at least once, if not more than that without knowing about it. His mind flashed back to one of his patrols when he had chanced upon his captain dallying about in the streets in disguise next to a man who had to be the death knight that had injured his captain. Next to them had been a little girl with a sharp tongue. She was much too calculating and perceptive for her supposed age. Adair had left quickly after realizing their identities, not wanting to intrude on his captain.
Adair had heard that the necromancer had moved out of Leaf Bud City. There should be no necromancer in the city anymore.
"No, I don't believe it's her," answered Storm Knight, "but I'm unsure." After he spoke, he frowned, most likely displeased with how little information he had.
Adair nodded. "I'll check it out with the Sun Knight Platoon. Have a safe journey, Knight-Captain Storm."
Both men set out on their tasks, the Storm Knight with his preparation for his sudden journey, and Adair with his preparation for the day's patrols. As Adair carried the paperwork to his room so that he could work on it later, he wondered if his exchanges with Knight-Captain Storm were exactly what his captain deemed as "gossip."
Perhaps Adair was the biggest perpetrator of the so-called "gossiping" that his captain had punished the Sun Knight Platoon for after all.
After a moment's consideration, he shrugged the thought away. He was merely doing his job to the best of his abilities. Gossiping with the Storm Knight played an essential part in carrying out his duties.
Truthfully, his captain always relied on it too... and his captain had never directly forbidden the gossiping.
Adair decided he would just call it information gathering from now on.
During that day's patrolling, Adair and the rest of the platoon asked around about any strange sightings or if anyone had any trouble with undead creatures. None of their inquiries yielded anything until they reached the marketplace when suddenly, a bunch of the vendors starting clamoring about skeletons chasing a little girl.
"We helped the lass out!" exclaimed one of the vendors.
"The poor thing, she was so scared!" said another. "Those skeletons were vicious!"
"Do you recall the girl's appearance?" asked Adair. Although having a little girl chased by skeletons usually meant that the little girl had been in danger, Adair found that his experiences told him things often weren't as they seemed on the surface.
It can't be that she actually hasn't moved out of the city?
The vendor, who Adair recalled was one of the ones who never failed to greet the Sun Knight Platoon in the morning during their rounds within the city walls, cupped his hands and placed them on both sides of his head. "She had her hair in two buns tied with blue ribbon. Her dress was white and blue. With uh, wings coming out of 'em."
The vendor flapped his hands and helpfully added, "She normally comes here in the morning."
Further interrogations yielded no new information. The rumors about there being a necromancer within the city seemed like they had originated from the sighting of the skeletons that had appeared in the marketplace.
"Keep an eye out for a little girl with hair tied up in two buns," Adair told Ed, coming to the conclusion that they would only be able to find out more through her.
Ed gasped, "Don't tell me you're into little kids? Don't do it, Adair. I know the Captain overworks you, but don't give in to the dark side!"
Adair snorted and amended his previous thoughts about how maybe he himself had something to do with his captain ordering them to do a ninth round within the city walls. It was definitely all Ed's big mouth.
"Shut up, Ed."
"...got it."
The next morning, Adair and the Sun Knight Platoon went on their usual morning run, but when they reached the marketplace, they stopped for a "rest." Adair stationed the sun knights around the plaza and along the streets, instructing them to pretend like they were shopping. Most purchased drinks for themselves. They stood out a lot, but it would do. The vendors always saw them running in the morning, so it was not out of the ordinary for them to drop by.
Adair was chatting with one of the vendors when he suddenly felt a mix of dark and holy elements behind him. It was strange feeling them together, strong enough to ping even his senses.
"Ed, who is behind us?" asked Adair.
"A little girl and her big brother!" Ed exclaimed and then added, "Is that the little girl who has caught your interest?"
Are all necromancers little girls or what? Adair thought to himself even as he willed Ed to stop fooling around. He had thought that maybe the girl was indeed a necromancer, and she could possibly even be the necromancer that his captain knew, but he hadn't been sure of the possibility of her being a necromancer until now. She possessed strong enough dark element to be a necromancer, but what didn't make sense was the holy element that he felt along with it.
He turned around. "Surround them."
Despite Ed's fooling around, he immediately followed Adair's orders. The sun knights who had been milling about quickly fell into a circle to surround the girl. The Sun Knight Platoon may not win over the Judgment Knight Platoon in physical fitness, but the Sun Knight Platoon was surely the best at ganging up on people. It was perhaps not something they should be proud of, but their captain had indeed trained it into them.
After successfully surrounding their target, Adair noticed the man next to the little girl. He had a head of blazing red hair, face marred by a scar. Adair realized that he had seen this duo in the morning before, just not as closely as now. The man was unforgettable, and he was on the verge of striking out at them. One wrong step, and that blade would be at Adair's neck.
"Hold your weapon," Adair said. "We're just here to ask a few questions."
"Then there is no need to surround us," the man said, angling himself before the little girl.
"It is just a precaution," said Adair.
The man kept his hand on his sword, as if saying, Then forgive me for staying alert. This is just a precaution as well.
Adair waved for the Sun Knight Platoon to back off. They only took a few steps backwards, refusing to leave Adair by himself.
Hm, the holy element isn't coming from the guy. Both the dark element and the holy element are coming from the girl.
"Are you a necromancer?" Adair asked the girl bluntly, seeing no need to dance around the matter. Surprisingly, the girl turned to the man and spoke in a strange language. The man spoke back to her in the same language before the girl replied and both trained their eyes on Adair.
"She is," the man finally said. "Is that a problem?"
Adair frowned and looked back at the girl. This was not the same necromancer that his captain knew, even though this one was also a little girl. "It won't be if the citizens aren't disturbed. I heard there were skeletons causing havoc in this very marketplace not too long ago."
The man conversed with the girl before answering, "She was merely trying to get her bearings. It won't happen again."
Adair's frown deepened, not understanding what the man meant by that. However, there was something else that bothered Adair even more. He turned to the girl and asked, "Why are your dark and holy elements both so high?"
The girl and the man exchanged words in their strange language again. Then, the man said, "She's an angel."
...did I hear that right?
The girl, possibly seeing the doubt on his face, flapped the wings that were sticking out of the back of her dress much like how the vendor had flapped his hands the day before in demonstration (except these were actual wings), and looked up at him with a curious expression.
Adair had thought the wings to be part of her dress. Apparently, they weren't.
to be continued
*twiddles thumbs*
Lemme just say that Doll's wings are real in this story. XD; Chasel was going to show up too, but I thought this was a good ending place. ;) Adair kind of felt like a bad guy at the end here... XDDD Tsk tsk, ganging up on a little girl!
So, here's the current breakdown:
♥ Neo, Aldrizzt, and Prince are in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, adventuring.
♥ Kenshin, Doll, and Wu Qing landed in Leaf Bud City in the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, right in front of Chasel's house. They've been staying with Chasel but haven't made contact with the Church yet.
♥ Gui and Wicked are in the Kingdom of Kissinger, being chased by dark knights. They have Kylie and Aaron helping them, minor characters from LSK.
♥ Sun and Leaf are off in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid as groomsmen for the Son of the God of War.
Everyone else's whereabouts are still unknown! Storm is off to investigate Leafblade though... *hint hint* XD
Next chapter: Invincible Charm; No Matter Your Age or Appearance (or Even Gender, Some Will Tell You), He Will Always Have a Wink Just for You
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,424
Summary: On their way to finish the Dictator, the Execution Squad's "invincible battleship" crashes, separating everyone, landing them on foreign soil in the LSK world. "Good morning, Knight-Captain Storm." "Adair? Thank the God of Light!"
Notes: In which Lucathia discovers that she is really just exploring the LSK world through this fic. Here, have all her feels about Adair and her head canon about what's happening back at the Holy Temple while Sun is off in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid... what does this even have to do with 1/2 Prince? Uh... we'll get there. Really, we will. This chapter can better be known as "A day in the life of Adair." Pfft. Nothing exciting, I know, but I just really wanted to write it. I had something else for the chapter title, but I thought this fit better. This fic is now over 20k long yet... we haven't even seen everyone. I'm appalled at the pacing. Sometimes, I really hate myself for liking alternating POVs. This story is meandering all over the place! It would have been so much easier and cleaner if I just stuck with one group of characters. *grumbles* This story is an organizational mess... Alright, enough of me and my soapbox... Hope you like Adair as much as I do, and are as fascinated as I am by the mundane things that happen around the Holy Temple. =P Needless to say, spoilers for LSK v2 and v3.
Previous chapter: Invincible Prince on a White Horse... or not. Because. You'd at Least Need a Horse to be a Prince on a White Horse.
Chapter 6: Invincible Sense of Duty; Even if Your Captain Punishes You for Gossiping, Duty Says Do It Anyway
Every day in the early morning, a group of men could be seen running along the perimeter of Leaf Bud City. They wore the white and gold uniform of the Sun Knight Platoon, sun emblem embossed on the plate of their armor.
"Good morning, sun knights!" greeted one of the vendors from the street amiably.
The leader of the group nodded in acknowledgement, watching as a young girl and a man with blazing red hair purchased vegetables from the vendor. The rest of the platoon grinned despite the sweat that was running down their faces. They waved at the vendors.
"One round left!" exclaimed one of the men.
"L-Last round!" shouted another, almost out of breath.
With the morning sun glinting off their armor, the sun knights completed their final lap around the city. Many were winded by the time they finally reached the Holy Temple, but there were also a number of them whose breathing remained even. For the past five years, they'd kept up with jogging in the morning and had built up good stamina as a result; however, they had only recently added a ninth round to their routine. One round, they found, made a huge difference.
Most of them didn't know how their ninth round had come about; some said it was born out of their captain's worry for Adair (the ninth round had been added at the time of Adair's injury -- maybe their captain had been angry at them for losing to the warriors from the Monastery of the God of War) while others said it was due to Ed's big mouth.
After thinking it through, they unanimously (with the exception of Ed) decided that it was due to Ed's big mouth.
Adair, vice-captain of the Sun Knight Platoon, was perhaps the only one who clearly remembered and understood the reason -- it was because their captain had discovered that the Sun Knight Platoon gossiped a lot. With Knight-Captain Storm even. Consorting with the enemy, their captain's eyes had seemed to say at the time. Unforgivable!
Their captain had found out because of Ed, so Ed was indeed not unrelated to their demise.
In any case, they now ran nine rounds within the city walls every morning. None of them had dared to complain about it. Well, they did complain to themselves whenever their captain wasn't around (now was a great time with their captain all the way in a neighboring kingdom; even their captain wasn't powerful enough to hear them from such a distance), but whatever their captain ordered, regardless of how strange the command, they would carry out. It was the first lesson they had learned after meeting their captain.
If their captain wanted them to jump off a cliff, then they would jump, no questions asked. Their captain was their captain and... Truthfully, they would rather jump out of their own volition than get blasted by magic and squashed by a boulder for company.
After the completion of their ninth round, Adair led the platoon to the training grounds. Despite how exhausted many of them were, their training wasn't over, so there would be no rest yet.
When Adair neared the training grounds with the sun knights following after him, he heard the sound of swords clashing. Ah, is Tyler challenging Knight-Captain Hell again?
Adair was right in his assumption. When Adair reached the training grounds, he was just in time to see Tyler's sword glance off of Knight-Captain Hell's. Tyler quickly found his footing and blocked Knight-Captain Hell's follow-up strike, but the latter clearly had the upper hand.
A few days ago, Knight-Captain Hell had made a shocking declaration to Tyler in front of several holy knights, including the entirety of the Hell Knight Platoon. Adair wasn't one of the holy knights who had been present that day, but since the declaration was pretty much the only thing the entire Holy Temple had been talking about for the past few days, it would have been near impossible to miss out on what the Hell Knight had so boldly declared.
"Tyler, if you defeat me in a duel, I will relinquish the position of captain to you," he had said.
Tyler had accepted. Adair heard from one of the other sun knights, who heard from one of the storm knights, who heard from one of the hell knights, that Knight-Captain Hell had soundly defeated Tyler in that very first duel. There had been no competition. Barely able to stay standing after the duel, Tyler had gripped his sword tightly, leaning on it and using it like a crutch, as he glared at the Hell Knight.
"I'm not going to give up," Tyler had gritted out without any deference to his captain. Instead of becoming affronted, however, Knight-Captain Hell's eyes had seemed to dance in approval, or so claimed one of the hell knights who had been present at the scene. Deciphering Knight-Captain Hell's emotions was hard since his lower face was always hidden by his mask, but his eyes often told a lot.
Adair could see what people meant by that. He watched as Knight-Captain Hell knocked Tyler's sword out of his hands, ending the duel in his favor yet again. Knight-Captain Hell's eyes clearly told Adair that he was enjoying the duel very much, and that he admired Tyler's skills.
This man has a world of patience, thought Adair. After that first duel, Knight-Captain Hell had continued to accept Tyler's challenges. Today's duel was the seventh one between them.
After Knight-Captain Hell gave Tyler pointers about his swordsmanship and invited him to challenge him again the next day, he left the training grounds. Adair motioned for the rest of the sun knights to start training without him. Then, he approached Tyler who was staring at the floor, lost in thought.
Tyler, you're still unwilling to accept Knight-Captain Hell? That's not what a vice-captain should do. He's your captain.
Adair wanted to tell Tyler this, but he had a promise with Tyler. Tyler was to give Knight-Captain Hell a chance. One month was the trial period. If Tyler truly found Knight-Captain Hell unworthy after a month of interacting with him, then Adair would support Tyler's judgment. Now, it was up to Knight-Captain Hell and Tyler to work things out. Adair did not plan on coming between them. Interfering would only undermine both Knight-Captain Hell's authority and Tyler's dignity.
Tyler looked up. "Hey Adair."
"How was the duel?" Adair asked as he came to stand by Tyler.
"Unbelievable," was Tyler's reply. He opened and closed his hands several times in succession, as if he were trying to get some feeling back into his fingers. "I think he must be even stronger than Knight-Captain Judgment."
Adair hid a grin. Was that admiration he heard in Tyler's words? Perhaps Tyler was already coming around. "From what I saw of his skills during the three person deathmatch and how he more than held his own against the Son of the God of War, I would say that his skills are definitely topnotch."
Adair himself had had a taste of the Son of the God of War's skills -- they had been enough to almost send Adair on an early meeting with the God of Light if not for Elijah's timely help. Knight-Captain Hell, who had fought evenly with the Son of the God of War, was definitely strong. Adair didn't find it hard to believe that Knight-Captain Hell could possibly be even stronger than Knight-Captain Judgment in swordplay.
For Adair, one hundred tumbles down a cliff courtesy of his captain had finally convinced him to approve of his captain. For Tyler, perhaps it would take far less than one hundred duels to convince him that his captain was worthy of his position. After all, these duels made a lot more sense than getting thrown down a cliff.
It was a very good thing that Tyler's captain was so sensible. If Tyler's captain had appeared out of the blue and had a personality like that of Adair's captain, Adair doubted Tyler would ever come around. As it was now, Adair thought it was just a matter of time.
"I'm going to challenge him again tomorrow," Tyler said, determination lacing his words.
"Of course. You're not one to give up," Adair commented, smile playing at his lips. Knight-Captain Hell didn't seem like someone who would give up either, from what Adair had learned of him so far. He was, after all, someone who would accept duel after duel and never tire of it. They were quite a pair of captain and vice-captain, both tenacious to a fault.
Truly perfect for each other.
After morning training, Adair saw to the rest of his duties as a sun knight. Without his captain around, he actually had less to do than usual. Normally, he would be preparing breakfast for his captain at this time. After presenting his captain with breakfast, his captain usually gave him extra tasks to do, such as researching someone or possibly beating someone up. Without his captain around, Adair skipped all of that and went directly to Knight-Captain Storm's door, something he normally did after he finished all of his other tasks.
He knocked on Knight-Captain Storm's door and waited patiently for the door to open. He knew that it was sometimes difficult for Knight-Captain Storm to reach the door. Stacks of paperwork could be difficult to maneuver around.
"Good morning, Knight-Captain Storm," greeted Adair when the door finally opened. A head of blue peeked out from inside. The door flew open wider once the person inside noticed it was Adair outside his door.
"Adair? Thank the God of Light!" exclaimed Storm Knight who had dark bags under his eyes like usual. He disappeared back into his room, only to reappear with a towering stack of papers. "Here you go. I was just wondering how I would be able to finish these. The Pope suddenly decided to send me to Leafblade, something about an uprising over there that I need to check out. The people there don't sound happy that we have allowed the Monastery of the God of War to set up a small faction right here in the kingdom. I must depart by tomorrow."
"Adair believes Knight-Captain Storm's words will greatly motivate the villagers and smooth any hard feelings," commented Adair. Whenever there was an uprising or a fight for freedom, the Storm Knight would definitely be there, since he was the representative of freedom, a soul who wasn't bound by rules. Supposedly, he appeared at all such happenings to fight for the people when in reality, the Storm Knight always helped mitigate the situation so that the Church of the God of Light could handle it more easily.
Adair took the stack of paperwork. Without fail, his captain always tossed his paperwork at Knight-Captain Storm. Without fail, Adair would always come to Knight-Captain Storm's door to help him with half of the paperwork his captain tossed at the Storm Knight. Adair was the vice-captain of the Sun Knight Platoon after all. Helping his captain with his paperwork, even if his captain hadn't directly given the paperwork to him, was within Adair's duties. Well, sort of. At least Adair was being helpful to Knight-Captain Storm, and Knight-Captain Storm almost always had information to share that was greatly pertinent to Adair's interests.
Just as Adair was about to leave, the Storm Knight suddenly remembered something. "I heard that there is talk about a necromancer appearing within the city."
Adair stopped. A necromancer? It would be the Sun Knight Platoon's duty to check that out.
This was definitely something Adair needed to know about. Without his captain around, it fell upon Adair to handle any business related to undead creatures. It was not technically illegal for necromancers to settle down in Leaf Bud City, but the Church made a point to make sure to know about their whereabouts and intentions.
"It's not her?" Adair asked after a moment's pause.
Both of them knew who Adair meant. Although they had never talked much about the necromancer that Adair's captain was acquainted with, both of them knew of her existence, and Adair thought he had actually met her at least once, if not more than that without knowing about it. His mind flashed back to one of his patrols when he had chanced upon his captain dallying about in the streets in disguise next to a man who had to be the death knight that had injured his captain. Next to them had been a little girl with a sharp tongue. She was much too calculating and perceptive for her supposed age. Adair had left quickly after realizing their identities, not wanting to intrude on his captain.
Adair had heard that the necromancer had moved out of Leaf Bud City. There should be no necromancer in the city anymore.
"No, I don't believe it's her," answered Storm Knight, "but I'm unsure." After he spoke, he frowned, most likely displeased with how little information he had.
Adair nodded. "I'll check it out with the Sun Knight Platoon. Have a safe journey, Knight-Captain Storm."
Both men set out on their tasks, the Storm Knight with his preparation for his sudden journey, and Adair with his preparation for the day's patrols. As Adair carried the paperwork to his room so that he could work on it later, he wondered if his exchanges with Knight-Captain Storm were exactly what his captain deemed as "gossip."
Perhaps Adair was the biggest perpetrator of the so-called "gossiping" that his captain had punished the Sun Knight Platoon for after all.
After a moment's consideration, he shrugged the thought away. He was merely doing his job to the best of his abilities. Gossiping with the Storm Knight played an essential part in carrying out his duties.
Truthfully, his captain always relied on it too... and his captain had never directly forbidden the gossiping.
Adair decided he would just call it information gathering from now on.
During that day's patrolling, Adair and the rest of the platoon asked around about any strange sightings or if anyone had any trouble with undead creatures. None of their inquiries yielded anything until they reached the marketplace when suddenly, a bunch of the vendors starting clamoring about skeletons chasing a little girl.
"We helped the lass out!" exclaimed one of the vendors.
"The poor thing, she was so scared!" said another. "Those skeletons were vicious!"
"Do you recall the girl's appearance?" asked Adair. Although having a little girl chased by skeletons usually meant that the little girl had been in danger, Adair found that his experiences told him things often weren't as they seemed on the surface.
It can't be that she actually hasn't moved out of the city?
The vendor, who Adair recalled was one of the ones who never failed to greet the Sun Knight Platoon in the morning during their rounds within the city walls, cupped his hands and placed them on both sides of his head. "She had her hair in two buns tied with blue ribbon. Her dress was white and blue. With uh, wings coming out of 'em."
The vendor flapped his hands and helpfully added, "She normally comes here in the morning."
Further interrogations yielded no new information. The rumors about there being a necromancer within the city seemed like they had originated from the sighting of the skeletons that had appeared in the marketplace.
"Keep an eye out for a little girl with hair tied up in two buns," Adair told Ed, coming to the conclusion that they would only be able to find out more through her.
Ed gasped, "Don't tell me you're into little kids? Don't do it, Adair. I know the Captain overworks you, but don't give in to the dark side!"
Adair snorted and amended his previous thoughts about how maybe he himself had something to do with his captain ordering them to do a ninth round within the city walls. It was definitely all Ed's big mouth.
"Shut up, Ed."
"...got it."
The next morning, Adair and the Sun Knight Platoon went on their usual morning run, but when they reached the marketplace, they stopped for a "rest." Adair stationed the sun knights around the plaza and along the streets, instructing them to pretend like they were shopping. Most purchased drinks for themselves. They stood out a lot, but it would do. The vendors always saw them running in the morning, so it was not out of the ordinary for them to drop by.
Adair was chatting with one of the vendors when he suddenly felt a mix of dark and holy elements behind him. It was strange feeling them together, strong enough to ping even his senses.
"Ed, who is behind us?" asked Adair.
"A little girl and her big brother!" Ed exclaimed and then added, "Is that the little girl who has caught your interest?"
Are all necromancers little girls or what? Adair thought to himself even as he willed Ed to stop fooling around. He had thought that maybe the girl was indeed a necromancer, and she could possibly even be the necromancer that his captain knew, but he hadn't been sure of the possibility of her being a necromancer until now. She possessed strong enough dark element to be a necromancer, but what didn't make sense was the holy element that he felt along with it.
He turned around. "Surround them."
Despite Ed's fooling around, he immediately followed Adair's orders. The sun knights who had been milling about quickly fell into a circle to surround the girl. The Sun Knight Platoon may not win over the Judgment Knight Platoon in physical fitness, but the Sun Knight Platoon was surely the best at ganging up on people. It was perhaps not something they should be proud of, but their captain had indeed trained it into them.
After successfully surrounding their target, Adair noticed the man next to the little girl. He had a head of blazing red hair, face marred by a scar. Adair realized that he had seen this duo in the morning before, just not as closely as now. The man was unforgettable, and he was on the verge of striking out at them. One wrong step, and that blade would be at Adair's neck.
"Hold your weapon," Adair said. "We're just here to ask a few questions."
"Then there is no need to surround us," the man said, angling himself before the little girl.
"It is just a precaution," said Adair.
The man kept his hand on his sword, as if saying, Then forgive me for staying alert. This is just a precaution as well.
Adair waved for the Sun Knight Platoon to back off. They only took a few steps backwards, refusing to leave Adair by himself.
Hm, the holy element isn't coming from the guy. Both the dark element and the holy element are coming from the girl.
"Are you a necromancer?" Adair asked the girl bluntly, seeing no need to dance around the matter. Surprisingly, the girl turned to the man and spoke in a strange language. The man spoke back to her in the same language before the girl replied and both trained their eyes on Adair.
"She is," the man finally said. "Is that a problem?"
Adair frowned and looked back at the girl. This was not the same necromancer that his captain knew, even though this one was also a little girl. "It won't be if the citizens aren't disturbed. I heard there were skeletons causing havoc in this very marketplace not too long ago."
The man conversed with the girl before answering, "She was merely trying to get her bearings. It won't happen again."
Adair's frown deepened, not understanding what the man meant by that. However, there was something else that bothered Adair even more. He turned to the girl and asked, "Why are your dark and holy elements both so high?"
The girl and the man exchanged words in their strange language again. Then, the man said, "She's an angel."
...did I hear that right?
The girl, possibly seeing the doubt on his face, flapped the wings that were sticking out of the back of her dress much like how the vendor had flapped his hands the day before in demonstration (except these were actual wings), and looked up at him with a curious expression.
Adair had thought the wings to be part of her dress. Apparently, they weren't.
to be continued
*twiddles thumbs*
Lemme just say that Doll's wings are real in this story. XD; Chasel was going to show up too, but I thought this was a good ending place. ;) Adair kind of felt like a bad guy at the end here... XDDD Tsk tsk, ganging up on a little girl!
So, here's the current breakdown:
♥ Neo, Aldrizzt, and Prince are in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid, adventuring.
♥ Kenshin, Doll, and Wu Qing landed in Leaf Bud City in the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, right in front of Chasel's house. They've been staying with Chasel but haven't made contact with the Church yet.
♥ Gui and Wicked are in the Kingdom of Kissinger, being chased by dark knights. They have Kylie and Aaron helping them, minor characters from LSK.
♥ Sun and Leaf are off in the Kingdom of Moon Orchid as groomsmen for the Son of the God of War.
Everyone else's whereabouts are still unknown! Storm is off to investigate Leafblade though... *hint hint* XD
Next chapter: Invincible Charm; No Matter Your Age or Appearance (or Even Gender, Some Will Tell You), He Will Always Have a Wink Just for You