"You patched me up pretty good."Leon tapped her back, now that the wound was cauterized it was no longer bleeding but it will leave a large scar. It still must be painful to move like that, but Leon"s expression remained rather cheerful.
"Glad to be of help."
"You already helped me this much but I don"t even know who you are…might I know the name of my benefactor?"
"Oh, it"s Runfar, Runfar Sevilles. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Knight of Light" Runfar tried to be a little formal when addressing her.
"Leon is fine, no need for formalities, Sevilles."
Yet, she herself referred to him by his family name.
"In that case, call me Runfar."
"All right, Runfar." Leon smiled and giggled.
Runfar couldn"t help but notice that this was completely opposite of the first impression he had of Knight of Light, right now he seemed rather friendly and amicable, not a knight that plagued his nightmares.
"So, Leon, you already told me, but please allow me to ask again, what exactly happened to you? You mentioned a man with red and brown eyes who injured you but… just who could have done something as serious as this to the esteemed Knight of Light, the mighty guardian of this kingdom?"
Leon"s expression darkened for a moment, as if considering whether telling Runfar the entire story was ok or not.
She decided on the former.
"I do not know who it was, I have my suspicions that he was one of the high level demons, likely one of the Demon Lords, though he did not have horns, he must have been wearing a disguise. My Blessing should have prevented him from inflicting injury upon my back, but he still somehow managed to injure me."
"By blessing, you mean that mark on your back?"
"You saw it?"
"Your back was bleeding non-stop, I couldn"t help but notice."
"I see, that is understandable. The healer used a lot of st.i.tches on my back but apparently I put too much pressure on my injury, causing the wound to reopen again. I am a little embarra.s.sed to admit, but had it not been for you, I would have lost my life. You have my sincere thanks."
"Though I am curious, how does that blessing of yours work?"
"This blessing…" Leon now turned her back to Runfar and pointed at her back. The mark of the sun was visible, albeit slightly damaged. "It was given to me by Lord Solaris; it allows me to have access to many different abilities as well as immunities by fate."
"Immunities by fate?"
"Even if I am caught under a swarm of arrows, none of them shall hit me, if I am struck by sword, it shall not harm me, and if I am shot by magical blast, it shall not kill me, my blessing ensures that I always have 95 % chance of avoiding an attack, and at the other 5% the attack will land without making any damage to me. That is the protection of fate: No arrow shall pierce me, no sword shall strike me, and no magic shall kill me. At least, that is what it is supposed to be. But clearly, that is not entirely the case."
Now Leon turned back to look at Runfar.
"You also mistook me for the person you were searching for, something about my eye I believe?"
"Yes, but unlike you, he had black hair and his face was whole…apologies, but what exactly happened to make your face have such features?"
Leon was referring to Runfar"s scarred face.
"Let"s just say that certain monsters are not known for being merciful, even if they leave you alive, they leave a permanent mark that can never be erased."
Leon was currently wearing the coat Runfar lent her, but otherwise she was unclothed, but Runfar paid it no heed, continuing the conversation without any hint of embarra.s.sment.
"I suppose some scars are permanent, reminders for the future, I suppose."
"Couldn"t have phrased it better"
Runfar nodded in agreement.
"The wound that fiend gave me, it disrupted my blessing. Ordinarily, my wounds should heal in an instant, but now, they heal so slowly."
"What about your other powers?"
"I can still access them, but it puts pressure on my body, if I use them for too long, my wounds might open up again, just like what happened earlier."
"So that"s what it was, I was wondering what could have happened to you, for you to be in such condition."
"I chased after that fiend for more than three months, but instead, I kept finding enemies that kept getting in my way, demons, demi-humans, monsters, I killed all of them, but it took far more out of me than it normally would have taken, and in the end, my wounds reopened and I pa.s.sed out. How embarra.s.sing~"
Goodness, even with such wounds she was active for the last few months? What kind of a monster is she?
After a brief pause, Leon spoke softly.
"Runfar"
"Yes?"
"Please keep this matter a secret."
"The fact that you are a woman pretending to be a man?"
Leon nodded.
"Very well. Though I am curious as to why? You do realize there are Lady Knights in the kingdom as well, right?"
"My circ.u.mstances make it rather difficult, especially with my family."
"Family you say? What kind of a situation is that?"
"It is complicated."
"I am used to complicated things."
"In that case…Will you…Will you listen to my story?" Leon asked.
"Well, I have nearly all the time in the world, so go ahead." Leon had no idea just how true Runfar"s words were.
"Thank you, Runfar."
Leon began her tale.
"I was born of an affair as an illegitimate child of Revilles household; my mother was a peasant while my father was the lord. My father had only daughters with his wife, so he desired a male heir to succeed the family."
"When I was young, I and my mother did not have anything but each other to survive. By a stroke of fortune, on my seventh"s birthday, Lord Solaris bestowed his blessing upon me, thereby making me a demi-G.o.d. His act of kindness changed my life forever."
"At the age of twelve, I met my father for the first time. My mother wanted me to have a better fate than her, so she told me to disguise myself as a boy and present myself to my father as his only son. Seeing that not only was I his only male heir but also a demi-G.o.d blessed by King of G.o.ds himself, my father accepted me into his house with open arms. He even granted me his family name of Revilles."
"Runfar, you probably wouldn"t understand, what it means to be an illegitimate child, wanting your father to acknowledge you. Oh, how proud I felt. Back then, becoming a n.o.ble meant everything to me. That was the only way I could give my mother a stable life."
"You probably don"t know, but before I took over my late father"s estate, I was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d as well. I only took over because I was his only living heir."
"You were?! I can"t deny that I am surprised, but… you and I truly are alike, are we not?"
Runfar simply shrugged.
Leon continued.
"I thought everything would be fine from then on, but just after a year, my mother fell sick; the finances of the n.o.ble house of Revilles were dwindling as was our status as n.o.bles. The only way to restore my house was for me to become a knight and support my family."
"For seven long years, I fought against countless monsters, demons, and enemies of humanity, and defeated all of them. I even earned the name of Knight of Light as well as recognition by the royal family."
"Speaking of which, I heard that the princess proposed to you, but you refused, right?" Runfar curiously asked.
"Runfar, do you really think I am capable of being a husband to a princess or husband to anyone for that matter?"
"I suppose not, but since you contributed so much to the kingdom, it shouldn"t matter whether you are female or male, right?"
"Even if it is a false reputation, it is a reputation that keeps many enemies at bay. If enemies of humanity find out, then I fear they will be more likely to make a strike. The only thing keeping many of them from causing ma.s.sive devastation is fear of Knight of Light. As long as humanity is in danger by non-humans, then Knight of Light must be there to protect it."
"I see, thinking of everyone but yourself, huh. That way of thinking will get you killed someday."
"If it means dying for humanity, then I will give up my life without a moment"s hesitation."
Well, this girl is piece of work, all right. Too bad I don"t have my crystal dagger, I could have stolen her blessing, but oh well, can"t complain about spilled milk. My choice of not bringing a weapon was a mistake on my part, but I couldn"t have known I would encounter Knight of Light, of all people!
"No need to go that far, Leon. Don"t you have people who would miss you, your family, and friends perhaps?"
"Other than my sickly mother, my family is not likely to miss me. To them, I am simply a tool for maintaining their status, the more deeds I accomplish the more gold my family receives. As for friends…I don"t have any."
She said the last part in almost a whisper.
"I couldn"t hear you."
"I don"t have any friends, all right! I only meet enemies that I inevitably kill and knights who challenge to duels, not a single one considers me their comrade."
Most likely because you literally are at the top, it is a position of envy for many.
"If I were to die next day, most of the knights would simply laugh if not outright celebrate my pa.s.sing, to many them, I am simply an obstacle."
"Even those who pretend to be kind do so for their own agendas, trying to get n.o.bility by b.u.t.tering up to me."
Leon"s face expressed pure disgust.
"Well, I am already a n.o.bleman, so I don"t have anything to gain by getting on your good side. So, how about it?"
Runfar offered his right hand.
"Really? Will you be my friend?"
Just how desperate is she for a friend?
"Is that what you want?"
Leon nodded.
"All right then. This secret will be just between us, as proof of our camaraderie."
She took his hand with two of her own, not noticing that she ended up touching his hand with a drop of blood that resulted from a single p.r.i.c.k of his hand.
"Will you…betray me?"
"No."
"Thank you." Leon"s cheerful expression changed a little, a sad smile appeared on her face, along with a single tear on her right eye which she immediately wiped off.
"My blessing would have told me by usage of fate, if you were lying, I am glad you were telling the truth. I am so glad…"
"You might be my first real friend."
The truth was Runfar was lying.
It seems like when it comes to fate, he had a way of going against it, if what Knight of Light said is true, part of his blessing is ability to use fate, which meant that everyone that has fate are susceptible to it.
Words of certain Shinigami echoed within Runfar"s mind.
Every mortal with a complete soul is bound to fate, but for those who lack or have an incomplete soul; their fate is severed and is nonexistent. Such beings are viewed as dangerous even by G.o.ds, for not even they know what the fateless one will do next. Fate has no effect on you, but it does not mean you don"t have effect on fates of others.
I see, so I am immune to her fate based powers, huh. But I am not immune to her other powers, I need to be careful.
I considered killing myself to loop back, but doing so would result in death of Knight of Light, if people end up finding her corpse in Tracoa, then many strong knights will come immediately, Shadow Lords are not yet ready to deal with them.
But this way, I can keep tabs on the Knight of Light, maybe even earn her trust. I was fortunate to have run into her, this might be an unfortunate situation, but I might be able to take advantage of it.
There is no need to loop back; if I play my cards right, then Knight of Light wouldn"t be a problem for some time.
Nothing good will come with her death; kingdom will immediately act if their strongest hero perishes, but if I can manipulate her even just a little, then it will be of ma.s.sive service to me.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.