As much as the incident happening in front of Risa scared her a lot, she managed to turn around to see who it was. She couldn't help frowning for some reason, though. A man was standing a few feet away from them, wearing a black cloak with a hood covering half of his face.
But there was something clear about him. He was ready to kill with the way he held his sword tight.
"Who are you?" The knight in front of her asked and poised to a fighting stance.
Even with all that, Risa could only watch. It was strange that she couldn't remove her gaze away from the cloaked man. Then again, she couldn't help feeling that she could trust him.
"I don't introduce myself to some knights who didn't even know where to draw the line of their privileges."
"That has nothing to do with you!" Another knight shouted and charged toward the mysterious man with his sword.
As it was happening, her eyes widened, and was about to warn the cloaked stranger to be careful. But she frowned soon after upon seeing him smirk.
"You're slow."
The man didn't even move away from his position and blocked the knight's sword with ease. He then kicked the knight on his stomach, causing the latter to groan and fall on his back.
Aa if that wasn't enough, the man stabbed the knight's sword that he soon picked up just a few inches away from his neck. The knight's eyes widened and she could see him quivering.
"N-no... Spare me!"
The cloaked man scoffed and straightened himself. "And now you're begging to live... How disgusting can you get?"
'He looked too annoyed about this, huh?'
Could it be that this stranger hated the knights in general on some level? Even she could feel the chills on her spine just from hearing the man talk like that.
"Get out of the way! You're not even a part of this. This is our business, so get lost!"
The man smirked again and faced the other knight this time.
"Well, now you made it my business. I wonder what the Master Mage would say if he found out that more knights tried to harass his ward once again."
As much as Risa was surprised to hear that, she couldn't help frowning, as well.
'How did he know about that?' Did the Master Mage mention it to someone? Maybe she'd be able to find out later.
"Shut up!"
The second knight charged towards the cloaked man and thrust his sword to him. But the cloaked man spun himself, avoiding the sword and giving him a chance to strike the knight on his crotch using the handle of his sword.
Even from her position, she could tell that the force used to do that was strong to send the knight keeling and howling in pain. She also saw the cloaked stranger kick the sword from the knight's hand, sending it flying in the air and catching it before it hit the ground. She gasped when he pointed the sword he caught on the knight's neck.
"You think you can take me on with your meager sword skills? Think again! It would take you ten more years and a lifetime of experience to match mine."
He wasn't joking around, was he? It gave her more reason to look at the stranger.
It startled her, however, when the cloaked man turned to her direction. She froze up but didn't remove her gaze away from him.
"Are you alright? Don't worry, I won't let you get hurt by these scoundrels."
Risa could only smile awkwardly as she glanced at the third knight who was now hiding behind one of the trees near them.
"What idiots! And to think you even call yourselves knights when you don't even respect a woman's privacy."
'What he witnessed had angered him a lot, huh? Then again, shouldn't I be the one feeling that way?'
But maybe she would be able to know later. At the moment, all she wanted to do was to head home.
"Get lost and don't come back, you idiots! Unless you want your heads separated from your bodies the next time I see you harassing a woman again."
He didn't shout, and yet those words seemed enough to chase the knights as if they'd seen demons or something.
It was then that Risa was able to heave a sigh of relief. Moments later, she faced her savior, the hood of his cloak still covering his face.
"T-thank you... for saving me."
The man didn't say anything, which she considered weird. But it didn't last long because he removed the hood and faced her with a relieved smile.
"I'm glad I made it in time."
But her mind turned blank at the sight of the handsome man with greenish-black hair and his bluish-gray eyes were clear to her now. This was the fourth time she had seen a good-looking man since she woke up in this world. She could only stare at him.
"Are you okay, miss?"
She nodded, thankful that the man woke her up from her embarrassing reverie – albeit unknowingly. Maybe she needed to walk and get some more fresh air. Then again, it was strange for her to think that way.
xxxxxx
"Have you always been targeted like that?"
But Risa shook her head as she walked together with this strange noble man who didn't seem to want to leave her side after that incident. Then again, who would've thought that she'd be targeted again, anyway?
"I truly prefer my simple quiet life. And since I was born, I never got into anybody's bad side or offended anyone. So I have no idea why those people were after me like that," Risa continued.
She soon noticed that she was walking slower than she was supposed to. A lot of time had passed and Jehan would probably be worried about her.
'But what is this feeling? It's like... I didn't want to leave his side, for some reason.'
Of course, it was a dangerous thought. This man was a stranger. And to think he was a noble, who could get away with whatever crime he wanted to commit with money...
Then again, she didn't know his personality at all for her to judge him like that, even in her mind. But she was sure of one thing.
She could feel safe by his side, even as they were only walking like this.
"Thank you so much for helping me deal with them, by the way. With all that had happened, I even forgot to thank you."
The young man chuckled and sighed soon after.
"This is the first time someone got distracted enough to forget to thank me. But given the circumstances, I understand."
After that, he faced her, startling her at the suddenness. Even with that, she held her gaze. She didn't know why she was drawn to those bluish-gray eyes that looked at her intensely.
"I'm glad you're alright."
Once again, her heart pounded like crazy she didn't know if she was reacting right from all that he'd been saying to her.
'Come on, my heart. You're not supposed to beat this fast. I know he's handsome and all, but seriously!'
"You're not hurt, are you?"
Risa shook her head, feeling glad that those words snapped her out of her small musings. She had the urge to place her hand on her chest to calm her fast-beating heart. But she couldn't do that while this man was still with her.
'Come to think of it...'
She faced the young man as she stopped walking.
"By the way, I kept thanking you for saving me back there. And yet, I don't even know your name."
The greenish-black-haired young man stopped walking, as well, as if finally realizing that he hadn't introduced himself to her at all. But before he could say anything, he smiled and faced her. She could seriously need some help in calming her frenzy heart.
Why does this man's smile have such an effect on her?
"Just call me Azi. Even if I looked like this, I don't want you being all formal to me," he said without looking away from her.
"W-well, I can't help it. You're a noble, after all."
"What if I don't want you to treat me as a noble at all? Would that be easier for you?"
Risa was speechless. Why was Azi didn't want her to treat him as a noble? And why does he keep looking at her this way?
'Does this man even know how hard it is to breathe whenever he'd look at someone like that?' She couldn't help thinking that his stare would drown her anytime soon.
At that point, Risa frowned. Where in the world was she getting all these descriptions, anyway?
"D-don't expect me to remain to treat you informally. It's a little bit challenging, considering we just met a while back when you saved me."
Azi was silent, but only for a few moments. Not long after, he sighed and nodded.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?"
She faced the young man upon hearing that. She didn't know if she should be glad that she heard it or not. Anyway, she'd seriously had to start training her wind magic ability if she wanted to make better use of it.
And one of them would be to listen to whatever whispers that the people beside her would utter.
xxxxxx
Before Risa knew it, she reached the Master Mage's house and she saw Jehan's worried face even from afar. She winced at the sight, though.
'Oh, boy. It looks like he's going to be scolding me again.' Then again, she was late. It was a given.
But even with that thought, she knew his worries were genuine. A lot had happened during the duration of her stay at that house. Not to mention that Jehan was her appointed caretaker. He would be answering to the Master Mage if something bad happened to her.
"Looks like he's really worried about you," Azi started, prompting her to face him.
But she staggered upon realizing that his face was just inches away from hers. She took a few steps back before she could stop herself and nearly tripped on an exposed tree root. She shut her eyes tight and braced herself for the fall.
And yet, the only thing she felt was an arm wrapping around her waist and holding her tight. As soon as it dawned on her, she opened her eyes and was shocked to see Azi's bluish-gray eyes looking at her worriedly.
"Are you alright?"
She didn't know how to respond at first as she was too focused on her frenzy heart again. Even so, this man's eyes held so many emotions that confused her as she kept looking at them. But why would she see them in his eyes like this?
She managed to gain composure before nodding as his question finally registered in her mind.
"Y-yes, I'm alright. You... just surprised me, that's why."
At that moment, she felt her ears burning up as soon as she realized what she said to him. Especially when she saw his lips curved up to a smile that she could only interpret as amusement.
'What the heck did I just say to him?' Of all the embarrassing things to say to a stranger like Azi... What was wrong with her?
"I like it when you're this honest, even if it would make you blush hard like this."
She had the urge to cover her face and run away from Azi as fast as she could. She just groaned, though.
"Oh! Will you please stop looking at me and teasing me at the same time? You're making it hard for me to act normal around you."
Azi laughed heartily that made her stare at him longer than she should.
This had been a strange and dangerous day for her. But in the end, it filled her heart with warmth that she hadn't experienced before.
That was supposed to be weird, as well, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment