[1/2 Prince x Legend of Sun Knight] fic: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 7
Title: Invincible, that is the Legend - Chapter 7
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,249
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. "It's the Storm Knight!" "Storm Knight, Storm Knight!"
Notes: Behold, Lucathia's terrible world-building skills. Also considering maybe revamping the summary for this fic. *ponders*
Previous chapter: Invincible Sense of Duty; Even if Your Captain Punishes You for Gossiping, Duty Says Do It Anyway
Chapter 7: Invincible Charm; No Matter Your Age or Appearance (or Even Gender, Some Will Tell You), He Will Always Have a Wink Just for You
While Adair dealt with the "necromancer" that had supposedly appeared in Leaf Bud City, Storm Knight gathered his platoon together as well as a few members of the Earth Knight Platoon. They set out late the next morning, and on their way out of the city, they passed by the Sun Knight Platoon. When Storm Knight spotted the platoon, he slowed his horse down and gave Adair, the Sun Knight vice-captain, a nod.
Then he saw just who was next to the Sun Knight vice-captain and halted his horse altogether.
"Greetings, Storm Knight," said Chasel, the former Judgment Knight. With his black hair and black eyes, he was sticking out like a sore thumb among the shining sun knights, but he wasn't the only anomaly. Three others who weren’t sun knights were also with the platoon.
When Storm Knight spotted the young girl with them, he didn’t hesitate before tossing her a wink. Regardless of age or appearance, the Storm Knight winked at any and all females.
The girl wrinkled her brows, not seemingly affected by Storm Knight's wink in a good way. Perhaps she was too young for his charm to work the usual way.
Two tiny wings twitched from behind the girl’s back.
Storm Knight was tempted to rub his eyes. Has my eyesight grown worse...?
By the girl’s sides were two men, one with blazing red hair loosely tied and an impassive expression, and the other with a high ponytail and a scowl on his face. The latter slapped a fan close in his hand and spoke to the girl in a loud voice. Then, he winked at the girl who giggled in response and spoke words that Storm Knight didn’t understand.
T-That wink! Storm Knight quickly tried to memorize the wink to add it to his repertoire. He smiled at the man, grateful for the lesson, but the man ended up blanching and taking a step back so that he was behind the red-haired man.
“Adair, how was your patrol?” Storm Knight decided to ask, eyes shifting away from the three strangers. How did you end up returning with our former Judgment Knight? And who are these people? In fact, what language did they speak just now? I don’t think I’ve heard it before.
Adair bowed slightly. “We unraveled the mystery surrounding the rumors of a necromancer in the city, Knight-Captain Storm. Now, we’re on our way back to the Holy Temple with Sir Chasel and his guests.”
When he'd mentioned "necromancer," Adair's eyes had landed on the little girl. Storm Knight studied her again.
“Our esteemed guests happen to come from faraway. Only Kenshin speaks our language," added Adair, neglecting to mention just how "faraway" they had come from, as it was not something easily explainable out in the open like this.
Adair turned toward Kenshin and gestured at Storm Knight. “Kenshin, this is Knight-Captain Storm, one of the Twelve Holy Knights of the Church of the God of Light. He is versed in many happenings around the kingdom and would perhaps prove helpful in your search. Ah, but currently, he is on his way to a different village, so we might not be able to ask for his help until he returns.”
The redhead, whom Storm Knight now knew as Kenshin, regarded Storm Knight for a moment. Then, he stepped forward, hand reaching up to his hair. He undid his ponytail, hair unfurling down his back, and handed over the hair tie.
Storm Knight took the hair tie just as Kenshin said, “We have been separated from our companions. If you happen across anyone who speaks our language in your travels, please show them this and direct them to Leaf Bud City.”
“Ouyay ustmay eallyray ebay orkingway ouryay ocalvay ordscay hesetay aysday,” the man with the fan said to Kenshin, amusement coloring his words.
Kenshin didn’t respond to whatever the other man had said. He merely tilted his head slightly in the other man’s direction and said, “That’s how our language sounds like.”
Storm Knight smiled, bowed with a flourish at the two men, and gave the girl his updated wink. He hoped it looked more charming now. “It would be my pleasure.”
It would also make his trip a lot more interesting.
Storm Knight's destination, Leafblade Village, was located northeast of Leaf Bud City in the northernmost region of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, right along the coast. It would take two days for Storm Knight and his platoon to reach the village by horseback, and they would have to pass through the Forest of Concealed Moon, which could add another day to their travels.
Leafblade was a vocal fishing village whose people often complained about being forgotten by the capital. The village was located a distance away from the main roads, so unless travelers or adventurers intended on going to Leafblade from the start, it was not a place people normally passed through.
This time, Leafblade shouldn't have had anything to complain about because Leafblade would actually be the first place where the Monastery of the God of War was going to set up a new branch. However, despite the honor of being the first village considered, Leafblade wasn't happy.
It was one of those no-win situations. Ignore them, and Leafblade would complain of neglect. Offer Leafblade as the first place for the neighboring kingdom to build a side branch, and Leafblade would complain that they were only offered because the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound thought they were unimportant enough to relinquish to the Monastery of the God of War without harming the Church of the God of Light too much.
The people of Leafblade were, in fact, correct about that. Leafblade was close enough to the capital to be considered an important part of the kingdom but also out of the way enough that having the Monastery set up a new branch there wouldn’t give the Monastery too much power.
Leafblade was obviously not happy for being used, hence the protests. It was essentially the citizens going, "Look at us! Don't you dare forget about us and then toss us right at the enemy! We refused to be used like this!"
A protest was an easy way to catch the attention of the Church of the God of Light, for whenever there was a protest or an uprising of any sort, the Storm Knight would more often than not show up and join in, supporting the people in their fight for their rights.
That was exactly what the Storm Knight and his platoon were en route to do. That, and catching some sleep, for this was the first time in ages that Storm Knight didn’t have to do paperwork. He would have plenty of paperwork waiting for him once he returned (in fact, this journey would generate its fair share of paperwork), but at least most of that would be his own paperwork instead of a certain someone’s.
Ceo Storm, the 38th generation Storm Knight, let the ups and downs from his horse’s trotting lull him to sleep. Having finally escaped from paperwork hell for the time being, even the lack of a bed wasn’t going to keep sleep from beckoning him.
Slowly, his eyes closed and his breathing evened out. The Storm Knight Platoon members pretended like they didn’t know their captain had fallen asleep. The Earth Knight Platoon members found it amusing and kept looking back at Storm Knight, but Ceo’s platoon members would shoot the nosy earth knights reprimanding looks. In the end, the earth knights just scoffed and considered this one of the Storm Knight’s eccentricities.
In the forest that they were passing through, a tall shadow slunk behind the trees. If the holy knights had been paying closer attention to their surroundings instead of staring at Storm Knight, one of them may have cried wolf.
Once they reached the village of Leafblade, Ceo actually received less sleep than what he had received on the way to the village despite the availability of a bed. They were shown their lodgings, but there was really no time for rest. Ceo and his men refreshed themselves and immediately headed back out into the streets.
The village was in a dire situation. As a means of protesting, nearly all of the villagers had stopped fishing. In other words, until they were heard, they would not ship out any fish to the capital. They only fished enough for themselves.
They also refused to pay taxes.
Currently, they were still able to sustain themselves, but the longer they stopped trading with the capital, the longer they would be bereft of an outside income.
If his hair weren’t so unique in color, Ceo would have dressed down and mingled among the villagers to find out more. However, since he was very eye-catching, he could only barge forward as the Storm Knight in his official position.
“How dare the capital toss us to the wolves,” Ceo heard someone say.
“I’d rather sit on my ass all day than give anything more to a kingdom that doesn’t care about us!” someone else said. The speaker was doing exactly like he claimed, that was, sitting on the floor without doing anything but complain.
The situation was pretty much like what Ceo had predicted. The villagers were disgruntled about their treatment. None of them had stopped to think about how they could use the situation to their advantage.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “It’s the Storm Knight!”
“Storm Knight!” someone else cheered. “Storm Knight!”
A chant began. Now, the attention was on him. Exactly what he wanted. If people were focused on him, then they wouldn’t go off and do their own thing without Ceo knowing about it, possibly getting hurt in the process. These things were always difficult to handle, but Ceo was starting to get the hang of it.
Ceo breathed in and smiled at the people. As there were several females among the crowd, he started winking nonstop. He walked forward but didn’t make it far before the crowd had him surrounded, eager for his words. He swept the end of his long coat aside and leaped onto a large boulder to address the people.
“Villagers of Leafblade, your voices have been heard,” Ceo shouted, complete with hand gestures. “I am Storm Knight of the Twelve Holy Knights. If you would be so kind to allow me to join your ranks, I wish to protest along with you. This injustice must not be allowed to go further!”
The crowd roared in excitement. “Storm Knight! Storm Knight!”
Without a hitch, the villagers accepted Ceo as one of their allies.
Inside his heart, Ceo breathed a sigh of relief.
“Another round,” Ceo declared, beckoning the barmaid over. He winked at her as she took his order, and she smiled coyly back, purposely swishing her skirt when she turned. He was all too glad when she finally left. If she had stayed any longer, he might have broken out into cold sweat.
“You sure have the ladies going crazy for you,” a female voice said in amusement.
Here was his other problem. Despite the fact that the barmaid was no longer in his vicinity, there was another female who was even closer in proximity to him.
And was even sharing his table.
After rallying the crowd, Ceo had managed to get connected with the leader of the protest, who turned out to be a woman by the name of Edna. She was the daughter of one of the prominent fishermen in the village. They decided to discuss things over drinks, which was why they were currently at the local tavern. The rest of Ceo’s men had scattered to keep an eye on things, investigate, and gather more information, so Ceo was alone with Edna.
When their second round of drinks came, Ceo grabbed the mug and chugged the alcohol down in order to stop himself from feeling overly conscious of just who he was sharing his table with.
“You sure hold your liquor well,” Edna commented. Unlike how Ceo was currently feeling inside, she didn't appear nervous to him at all even though she was seated with one of the Twelve Holy Knights.
Ceo reluctantly lowered his mug. He smiled and winked. “And so do you, my lady. Cheers.”
He wasn’t complimenting her for nothing. Both of them had an empty mug in front of them and were on their second one.
They clinked their mugs together and downed their liquor. Since Ceo had already been drinking from his mug, he soon emptied it and had no more excuses not to give Edna his full attention.
Edna was a comely woman with her fair skin and lush curls that framed her face. Her figure was not one that Earth would whistle at, but her height was certainly one that Moon would be heads over heels for. She might not even need heels to see eye-to-eye with Moon.
After placing her mug down, Edna said, "Tomorrow night, we plan on speaking with the emissaries from the Church and the palace again. You'll put in a good word for us, won't you?"
"You bet I will," Ceo said, on the verge of winking again. It was more like a reflex than anything now, but since he had already winked at Edna more than once, he was trying his utmost not to wink at her again. At least not before she finished her second round of drinks. She might wonder whether or not something was wrong with his eyes if he kept winking at her. He almost wished he had another drink he could busy himself with.
As they came to an end with their information sharing, Ceo finally couldn't stand it anymore. He quickly turned, trying to find someone else to wink at. He spotted a dark-haired figure whose bare arms were showing and winked before he realized it was a guy. Surprisingly, the guy seemed to be nursing a cup of tea when the tavern was much more known for its alcoholic drinks.
Someone actually ordered tea? wondered Ceo as he continued looking at the dark-haired man who was clad almost completely in black, from his black vest-like shirt to his black gloves and armlets to his black neckband and his black pants and belt. He had a sword hanging by his waist, so despite how thin his clothes were and how little they resembled armor, he was most likely a warrior. Dark eyes flicked upward, glancing at Ceo before seemingly dismissing him. With his cold expression and dark hair and clothes, he could perhaps give Judgment a run for his money. He just needed a few more layers.
Edna had one eyebrow raised when Ceo turned back to her. "Are the ladies not enough for you?" she teased. Apparently, Ceo's wandering attention hadn't gone unnoticed.
"No such thing," Ceo said smoothly. Dammit, he really wanted to wink again. Surely it had been long enough since his last wink at Edna that another one wouldn't seem out of place.
Ugh I'm going to wink, and that's that!
He winked and said, "There is no reason for my eyes to wander when there is already a beauty like you in front of me."
There. Now his eye felt much better, urge to wink gone even though he was definitely doomed to a night of puffy eyes. As for the cheesy line he had spoken, he'd learned that from Earth, who always claimed it worked like a charm. He really hoped it would work for him too.
Edna laughed. "You flatterer. I bet you say that to all the girls. I'll leave you to your handsome lad here. Until tomorrow."
With that, Edna bade him farewell and left the tavern, obviously without believing Ceo's words.
Ceo seriously wanted to thunk his head against the table, but he couldn't do it with so many people watching.
Great. Didn't that just go spectacularly well. Earth, you liar. Ceo thought to himself.
He leaned on the table, fingers playing with his hair, and pondered through his reputation. He supposed this didn't hurt his reputation. The Storm Knight was a flirt. Who said he couldn't flirt with guys too? It usually even sent the girls giggling, though Edna seemed to be made of different stuff.
The point was, his reputation was surely still fine. As long as he didn’t have to start winking at all the guys too after this. He would definitely go blind from that.
He glanced at the dark-haired man again, raising his mug when those dark eyes briefly flicked upwards. Ceo really hadn’t meant to stare. He felt a little apologetic about that.
Then, Ceo remembered that he'd already finished his drink. He ordered another one.
When Ceo left the tavern, he stifled a yawn, wanting to find his comfy bed that was going to be all his during his temporary stay in the village. However, lady luck was definitely not on his side.
A fight had broken out.
You were all supposed to wait until tomorrow to get rowdy, thought Ceo. Why are you all so impatient? My bed...
A few of his storm knights had already seen the commotion and were doing their best to mitigate the situation. Ceo could also see that a few earth elemental shields had been erected, so that meant earth knights must already be present too. Ceo had thought that they would prove the most helpful in such a situation.
"Knight-Captain Storm!" one of his storm knights exclaimed.
"What's the situation?" asked Ceo, eyes surveying the riot.
"Sir! I don't know the details, but I think one of the emissaries insulted Miss Edna and her uh, parentage. The villagers were very angry on her behalf."
Great, why did you have to go and do that?
Ceo had had a plan. There was no way the Church could disallow the Monastery from building a branch in the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, as that was what Sun had negotiated for in order to have the Son of the God of War give up on marrying their princess. Whatever happened, the Monastery had to build a side branch in Forgotten Sound. Ceo planned to argue for Leafblade, demanding as many benefits for Leafblade as possible.
Even though he didn't want to increase the Monastery's following in his kingdom too much, he had also thought to ask the Monastery to send their most handsome and their most beautiful warriors and warpriests. Regardless of the villagers' initial opinion, sooner or later the charisma of the Monastery's men and women would win the villagers over, and the villagers would understand that it was not exactly a bad thing to mingle with their neighbors. In fact, Ceo had wanted to tell Edna that this would be a great chance for Leafblade to become more important to the kingdom. Ceo could certainly use another source of info, especially on the Monastery. It had been even better for Ceo that Edna was the leader of the protest, for she seemed to have a level head on her and didn't seem the sort to be swayed by handsome men. That meant the Monastery wouldn't be able to change her loyalties too easily even if they sent handsome men, but the handsome men would at least appease the rest of the villagers, so Edna would appreciate that.
Imagine that, an entire village acting as his ears...
Now that plan had just been dashed. No, no... his plans had just been set back by a bit, that was all. Ceo steeled himself and leaped into the fray.
"Stand back!" Ceo yelled and whirled, foot slamming into one of the guards. "If you dare attack the citizens, I will regard you as my enemy, an enemy of the Storm Knight!"
How dare you disrupt my plans!
to be continued
Any guesses on who Ceo came across in this chapter? ;)
Slow story is slow. Storm and his adventures, to be continued. =P
Next chapter: Invincible Direction Sense, or Lack Thereof. In Another Story, We Would Have Met Sun by Now, But This Is Not That Story
Fandom: 1/2 Prince x The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,249
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. "It's the Storm Knight!" "Storm Knight, Storm Knight!"
Notes: Behold, Lucathia's terrible world-building skills. Also considering maybe revamping the summary for this fic. *ponders*
Previous chapter: Invincible Sense of Duty; Even if Your Captain Punishes You for Gossiping, Duty Says Do It Anyway
Chapter 7: Invincible Charm; No Matter Your Age or Appearance (or Even Gender, Some Will Tell You), He Will Always Have a Wink Just for You
While Adair dealt with the "necromancer" that had supposedly appeared in Leaf Bud City, Storm Knight gathered his platoon together as well as a few members of the Earth Knight Platoon. They set out late the next morning, and on their way out of the city, they passed by the Sun Knight Platoon. When Storm Knight spotted the platoon, he slowed his horse down and gave Adair, the Sun Knight vice-captain, a nod.
Then he saw just who was next to the Sun Knight vice-captain and halted his horse altogether.
"Greetings, Storm Knight," said Chasel, the former Judgment Knight. With his black hair and black eyes, he was sticking out like a sore thumb among the shining sun knights, but he wasn't the only anomaly. Three others who weren’t sun knights were also with the platoon.
When Storm Knight spotted the young girl with them, he didn’t hesitate before tossing her a wink. Regardless of age or appearance, the Storm Knight winked at any and all females.
The girl wrinkled her brows, not seemingly affected by Storm Knight's wink in a good way. Perhaps she was too young for his charm to work the usual way.
Two tiny wings twitched from behind the girl’s back.
Storm Knight was tempted to rub his eyes. Has my eyesight grown worse...?
By the girl’s sides were two men, one with blazing red hair loosely tied and an impassive expression, and the other with a high ponytail and a scowl on his face. The latter slapped a fan close in his hand and spoke to the girl in a loud voice. Then, he winked at the girl who giggled in response and spoke words that Storm Knight didn’t understand.
T-That wink! Storm Knight quickly tried to memorize the wink to add it to his repertoire. He smiled at the man, grateful for the lesson, but the man ended up blanching and taking a step back so that he was behind the red-haired man.
“Adair, how was your patrol?” Storm Knight decided to ask, eyes shifting away from the three strangers. How did you end up returning with our former Judgment Knight? And who are these people? In fact, what language did they speak just now? I don’t think I’ve heard it before.
Adair bowed slightly. “We unraveled the mystery surrounding the rumors of a necromancer in the city, Knight-Captain Storm. Now, we’re on our way back to the Holy Temple with Sir Chasel and his guests.”
When he'd mentioned "necromancer," Adair's eyes had landed on the little girl. Storm Knight studied her again.
“Our esteemed guests happen to come from faraway. Only Kenshin speaks our language," added Adair, neglecting to mention just how "faraway" they had come from, as it was not something easily explainable out in the open like this.
Adair turned toward Kenshin and gestured at Storm Knight. “Kenshin, this is Knight-Captain Storm, one of the Twelve Holy Knights of the Church of the God of Light. He is versed in many happenings around the kingdom and would perhaps prove helpful in your search. Ah, but currently, he is on his way to a different village, so we might not be able to ask for his help until he returns.”
The redhead, whom Storm Knight now knew as Kenshin, regarded Storm Knight for a moment. Then, he stepped forward, hand reaching up to his hair. He undid his ponytail, hair unfurling down his back, and handed over the hair tie.
Storm Knight took the hair tie just as Kenshin said, “We have been separated from our companions. If you happen across anyone who speaks our language in your travels, please show them this and direct them to Leaf Bud City.”
“Ouyay ustmay eallyray ebay orkingway ouryay ocalvay ordscay hesetay aysday,” the man with the fan said to Kenshin, amusement coloring his words.
Kenshin didn’t respond to whatever the other man had said. He merely tilted his head slightly in the other man’s direction and said, “That’s how our language sounds like.”
Storm Knight smiled, bowed with a flourish at the two men, and gave the girl his updated wink. He hoped it looked more charming now. “It would be my pleasure.”
It would also make his trip a lot more interesting.
Storm Knight's destination, Leafblade Village, was located northeast of Leaf Bud City in the northernmost region of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, right along the coast. It would take two days for Storm Knight and his platoon to reach the village by horseback, and they would have to pass through the Forest of Concealed Moon, which could add another day to their travels.
Leafblade was a vocal fishing village whose people often complained about being forgotten by the capital. The village was located a distance away from the main roads, so unless travelers or adventurers intended on going to Leafblade from the start, it was not a place people normally passed through.
This time, Leafblade shouldn't have had anything to complain about because Leafblade would actually be the first place where the Monastery of the God of War was going to set up a new branch. However, despite the honor of being the first village considered, Leafblade wasn't happy.
It was one of those no-win situations. Ignore them, and Leafblade would complain of neglect. Offer Leafblade as the first place for the neighboring kingdom to build a side branch, and Leafblade would complain that they were only offered because the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound thought they were unimportant enough to relinquish to the Monastery of the God of War without harming the Church of the God of Light too much.
The people of Leafblade were, in fact, correct about that. Leafblade was close enough to the capital to be considered an important part of the kingdom but also out of the way enough that having the Monastery set up a new branch there wouldn’t give the Monastery too much power.
Leafblade was obviously not happy for being used, hence the protests. It was essentially the citizens going, "Look at us! Don't you dare forget about us and then toss us right at the enemy! We refused to be used like this!"
A protest was an easy way to catch the attention of the Church of the God of Light, for whenever there was a protest or an uprising of any sort, the Storm Knight would more often than not show up and join in, supporting the people in their fight for their rights.
That was exactly what the Storm Knight and his platoon were en route to do. That, and catching some sleep, for this was the first time in ages that Storm Knight didn’t have to do paperwork. He would have plenty of paperwork waiting for him once he returned (in fact, this journey would generate its fair share of paperwork), but at least most of that would be his own paperwork instead of a certain someone’s.
Ceo Storm, the 38th generation Storm Knight, let the ups and downs from his horse’s trotting lull him to sleep. Having finally escaped from paperwork hell for the time being, even the lack of a bed wasn’t going to keep sleep from beckoning him.
Slowly, his eyes closed and his breathing evened out. The Storm Knight Platoon members pretended like they didn’t know their captain had fallen asleep. The Earth Knight Platoon members found it amusing and kept looking back at Storm Knight, but Ceo’s platoon members would shoot the nosy earth knights reprimanding looks. In the end, the earth knights just scoffed and considered this one of the Storm Knight’s eccentricities.
In the forest that they were passing through, a tall shadow slunk behind the trees. If the holy knights had been paying closer attention to their surroundings instead of staring at Storm Knight, one of them may have cried wolf.
Once they reached the village of Leafblade, Ceo actually received less sleep than what he had received on the way to the village despite the availability of a bed. They were shown their lodgings, but there was really no time for rest. Ceo and his men refreshed themselves and immediately headed back out into the streets.
The village was in a dire situation. As a means of protesting, nearly all of the villagers had stopped fishing. In other words, until they were heard, they would not ship out any fish to the capital. They only fished enough for themselves.
They also refused to pay taxes.
Currently, they were still able to sustain themselves, but the longer they stopped trading with the capital, the longer they would be bereft of an outside income.
If his hair weren’t so unique in color, Ceo would have dressed down and mingled among the villagers to find out more. However, since he was very eye-catching, he could only barge forward as the Storm Knight in his official position.
“How dare the capital toss us to the wolves,” Ceo heard someone say.
“I’d rather sit on my ass all day than give anything more to a kingdom that doesn’t care about us!” someone else said. The speaker was doing exactly like he claimed, that was, sitting on the floor without doing anything but complain.
The situation was pretty much like what Ceo had predicted. The villagers were disgruntled about their treatment. None of them had stopped to think about how they could use the situation to their advantage.
Suddenly, someone shouted, “It’s the Storm Knight!”
“Storm Knight!” someone else cheered. “Storm Knight!”
A chant began. Now, the attention was on him. Exactly what he wanted. If people were focused on him, then they wouldn’t go off and do their own thing without Ceo knowing about it, possibly getting hurt in the process. These things were always difficult to handle, but Ceo was starting to get the hang of it.
Ceo breathed in and smiled at the people. As there were several females among the crowd, he started winking nonstop. He walked forward but didn’t make it far before the crowd had him surrounded, eager for his words. He swept the end of his long coat aside and leaped onto a large boulder to address the people.
“Villagers of Leafblade, your voices have been heard,” Ceo shouted, complete with hand gestures. “I am Storm Knight of the Twelve Holy Knights. If you would be so kind to allow me to join your ranks, I wish to protest along with you. This injustice must not be allowed to go further!”
The crowd roared in excitement. “Storm Knight! Storm Knight!”
Without a hitch, the villagers accepted Ceo as one of their allies.
Inside his heart, Ceo breathed a sigh of relief.
“Another round,” Ceo declared, beckoning the barmaid over. He winked at her as she took his order, and she smiled coyly back, purposely swishing her skirt when she turned. He was all too glad when she finally left. If she had stayed any longer, he might have broken out into cold sweat.
“You sure have the ladies going crazy for you,” a female voice said in amusement.
Here was his other problem. Despite the fact that the barmaid was no longer in his vicinity, there was another female who was even closer in proximity to him.
And was even sharing his table.
After rallying the crowd, Ceo had managed to get connected with the leader of the protest, who turned out to be a woman by the name of Edna. She was the daughter of one of the prominent fishermen in the village. They decided to discuss things over drinks, which was why they were currently at the local tavern. The rest of Ceo’s men had scattered to keep an eye on things, investigate, and gather more information, so Ceo was alone with Edna.
When their second round of drinks came, Ceo grabbed the mug and chugged the alcohol down in order to stop himself from feeling overly conscious of just who he was sharing his table with.
“You sure hold your liquor well,” Edna commented. Unlike how Ceo was currently feeling inside, she didn't appear nervous to him at all even though she was seated with one of the Twelve Holy Knights.
Ceo reluctantly lowered his mug. He smiled and winked. “And so do you, my lady. Cheers.”
He wasn’t complimenting her for nothing. Both of them had an empty mug in front of them and were on their second one.
They clinked their mugs together and downed their liquor. Since Ceo had already been drinking from his mug, he soon emptied it and had no more excuses not to give Edna his full attention.
Edna was a comely woman with her fair skin and lush curls that framed her face. Her figure was not one that Earth would whistle at, but her height was certainly one that Moon would be heads over heels for. She might not even need heels to see eye-to-eye with Moon.
After placing her mug down, Edna said, "Tomorrow night, we plan on speaking with the emissaries from the Church and the palace again. You'll put in a good word for us, won't you?"
"You bet I will," Ceo said, on the verge of winking again. It was more like a reflex than anything now, but since he had already winked at Edna more than once, he was trying his utmost not to wink at her again. At least not before she finished her second round of drinks. She might wonder whether or not something was wrong with his eyes if he kept winking at her. He almost wished he had another drink he could busy himself with.
As they came to an end with their information sharing, Ceo finally couldn't stand it anymore. He quickly turned, trying to find someone else to wink at. He spotted a dark-haired figure whose bare arms were showing and winked before he realized it was a guy. Surprisingly, the guy seemed to be nursing a cup of tea when the tavern was much more known for its alcoholic drinks.
Someone actually ordered tea? wondered Ceo as he continued looking at the dark-haired man who was clad almost completely in black, from his black vest-like shirt to his black gloves and armlets to his black neckband and his black pants and belt. He had a sword hanging by his waist, so despite how thin his clothes were and how little they resembled armor, he was most likely a warrior. Dark eyes flicked upward, glancing at Ceo before seemingly dismissing him. With his cold expression and dark hair and clothes, he could perhaps give Judgment a run for his money. He just needed a few more layers.
Edna had one eyebrow raised when Ceo turned back to her. "Are the ladies not enough for you?" she teased. Apparently, Ceo's wandering attention hadn't gone unnoticed.
"No such thing," Ceo said smoothly. Dammit, he really wanted to wink again. Surely it had been long enough since his last wink at Edna that another one wouldn't seem out of place.
Ugh I'm going to wink, and that's that!
He winked and said, "There is no reason for my eyes to wander when there is already a beauty like you in front of me."
There. Now his eye felt much better, urge to wink gone even though he was definitely doomed to a night of puffy eyes. As for the cheesy line he had spoken, he'd learned that from Earth, who always claimed it worked like a charm. He really hoped it would work for him too.
Edna laughed. "You flatterer. I bet you say that to all the girls. I'll leave you to your handsome lad here. Until tomorrow."
With that, Edna bade him farewell and left the tavern, obviously without believing Ceo's words.
Ceo seriously wanted to thunk his head against the table, but he couldn't do it with so many people watching.
Great. Didn't that just go spectacularly well. Earth, you liar. Ceo thought to himself.
He leaned on the table, fingers playing with his hair, and pondered through his reputation. He supposed this didn't hurt his reputation. The Storm Knight was a flirt. Who said he couldn't flirt with guys too? It usually even sent the girls giggling, though Edna seemed to be made of different stuff.
The point was, his reputation was surely still fine. As long as he didn’t have to start winking at all the guys too after this. He would definitely go blind from that.
He glanced at the dark-haired man again, raising his mug when those dark eyes briefly flicked upwards. Ceo really hadn’t meant to stare. He felt a little apologetic about that.
Then, Ceo remembered that he'd already finished his drink. He ordered another one.
When Ceo left the tavern, he stifled a yawn, wanting to find his comfy bed that was going to be all his during his temporary stay in the village. However, lady luck was definitely not on his side.
A fight had broken out.
You were all supposed to wait until tomorrow to get rowdy, thought Ceo. Why are you all so impatient? My bed...
A few of his storm knights had already seen the commotion and were doing their best to mitigate the situation. Ceo could also see that a few earth elemental shields had been erected, so that meant earth knights must already be present too. Ceo had thought that they would prove the most helpful in such a situation.
"Knight-Captain Storm!" one of his storm knights exclaimed.
"What's the situation?" asked Ceo, eyes surveying the riot.
"Sir! I don't know the details, but I think one of the emissaries insulted Miss Edna and her uh, parentage. The villagers were very angry on her behalf."
Great, why did you have to go and do that?
Ceo had had a plan. There was no way the Church could disallow the Monastery from building a branch in the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound, as that was what Sun had negotiated for in order to have the Son of the God of War give up on marrying their princess. Whatever happened, the Monastery had to build a side branch in Forgotten Sound. Ceo planned to argue for Leafblade, demanding as many benefits for Leafblade as possible.
Even though he didn't want to increase the Monastery's following in his kingdom too much, he had also thought to ask the Monastery to send their most handsome and their most beautiful warriors and warpriests. Regardless of the villagers' initial opinion, sooner or later the charisma of the Monastery's men and women would win the villagers over, and the villagers would understand that it was not exactly a bad thing to mingle with their neighbors. In fact, Ceo had wanted to tell Edna that this would be a great chance for Leafblade to become more important to the kingdom. Ceo could certainly use another source of info, especially on the Monastery. It had been even better for Ceo that Edna was the leader of the protest, for she seemed to have a level head on her and didn't seem the sort to be swayed by handsome men. That meant the Monastery wouldn't be able to change her loyalties too easily even if they sent handsome men, but the handsome men would at least appease the rest of the villagers, so Edna would appreciate that.
Imagine that, an entire village acting as his ears...
Now that plan had just been dashed. No, no... his plans had just been set back by a bit, that was all. Ceo steeled himself and leaped into the fray.
"Stand back!" Ceo yelled and whirled, foot slamming into one of the guards. "If you dare attack the citizens, I will regard you as my enemy, an enemy of the Storm Knight!"
How dare you disrupt my plans!
to be continued
Any guesses on who Ceo came across in this chapter? ;)
Slow story is slow. Storm and his adventures, to be continued. =P
Next chapter: Invincible Direction Sense, or Lack Thereof. In Another Story, We Would Have Met Sun by Now, But This Is Not That Story