I wasn’t truly sad about Ilea’s death. No that’s not correct. I was saddened and felt miserable, but the level of sadness that was cause by her death was not comparable with the one I would feel if Maira or Enri were to die. The kind of relationship I had with Ilea was not at the point that would cause me to lose myself over her death. It sounded cold, but that’s the way it was. A mere week and the few short exchanges we had were far from enough to build up deeper feelings for her. If she had died while hunting or because she became ill, I would have felt sad and mourned for some time, but it would have only briefly affected me.

But she had not simply died while adventuring or because of sickness. It was no matter of fate or misfortune that had caused her premature death. She had died to protect me.

She had died because I was powerless, useless piece of junk.

I had been unable to run away when Sir Mellen attacked me. I had been unable to defend myself when this royal knight had appeared. I had been unable to control my magic causing it to harm myself. And now I had been unable to do anything while my three slaves tried to sacrifice themselves for me.

Even now I couldn’t do a thing now that Ilea had died. I could only watch as he would take the lives of Riina and Maira as well.

My maddened cry managed to reach Sir Mellen and Enri who had been fighting a distance away from us. Up till this point they had been completely unaware of what had happened. Now however they looked over and saw Maira and Riina desperately defending themselves against the attacks of the foreign knight. And they saw Ilea’s lifeless body that was soaking in her own blood.

At first Sir Mellen looked like he couldn’t understand what was going on. As his gaze fell onto the dead body of Ilea his face began to pale. It was almost a comical sight when he recognized the person who was attacking Riina and Maira.

Finally, he understood, and his confused eyes turned bloodshot. A crazy mixture of pure hate, livid anger and miserable anguish turned his confused face into a hardened mask as a heartbroken cry escaped his white lips.

“ILEA!!!”, all of sudden his entire body began to burn as mana was violently pushed out of his body. It was as if his entire being had suddenly caught fire and was powering a gigantic flame that was rapidly increasing in strength and intensity.

“HOW COULD YOU!”, he howled with thick despair and misery vibrating in his voice.

Seeming like a true crazed dragon, he suddenly pounced into the air and descended towards the other knight. Oppressive mana gathered in the air and created an invisible pressure that forced everyone on the ground who were too weak to their knees.

“DIE!”, Sir Mellen shouted his voice full of loathing.

Whether this loathing was directed towards himself or the other knight was not something I could tell at that moment. What I could see was a single red blade descending from the sky and the surrounding forest which seemed to dim in face of the light coming of this sword.

The other knight looked shocked and immediately let off of Riina who was barely alive after having a few rips broken by the impact of his sword. Instead he too channeled the massive reservoirs of mana that rested within his body, similarly, setting it on fire and boosting his already overwhelming strength.

“It’s the royal guards secret technique.”, Maira suddenly whispered. Her body was swaying, and blood was dripping from her mouth. She had obviously overused her mana and was now suffering from the rebound.

“Flaming dragon.”, the name was a little bit cringy but very fitting considering the fact that both Sir Mellen and the other knight truly looked like enraged, dragons that had set themselves aflame.

When Sir Mellen’s strike finally connected with the enemy’s sword a massive shockwave was created that immediately send me, Maira and Riina flying. Our internal and external injuries worsened, and Riina even fainted on the ground.

That was only the beginning though. Both knights began to furiously attack the other, striking at each other at a speed that I couldn’t possibly copy or defend against. Numerous shockwaves were created, each capable of killing a normal person on impact. In order to survive the three of us had to press our bodies against the cold ground.

“What is your problem? It’s not like I killed the princess, that elvea was just the hero’s slave!”, after a few minutes of intense combat the other knight finally spoke.

Sir Mellen did not answer, his lips distorted into a maddened frown. Instead his attacks became even for furious and deadly.

“The hero has committed treason by enslaving the princess, you cannot possible want to protect such a hero? Do you want to betray his majesty??!”, irritated by Sir Mellens lack of response and shocked to realize that he was slowly gaining the upper hand the other knight continued to speak.

A dark glint appeared in Sir Mellen’s eyes as he heard these words and for a moment his sword faltered with his attacks lessening in intensity. But then he shook his head.

“I have already decided my path. I won’t be used for your schemes!”, he executed a number of slashes, followed by a stab that almost pierced through the shoulder of the other knight.

The royal knight’s eyes narrowed, and a disappointed expression appeared on his face.

“Then you are also a traitor. I’m sorry old friend, but you will die now.”, having reached this decision his aura suddenly exploded with even more power and massive amounts of mana were used up within seconds.

“You might have forgotten about this, but I was always stronger than you!”, his sword soured through the air and slammed against Sir Mellens defending sword. A metallic sound rang through the clearing and the maddened knights was blown away while Sir Mellen was forced to back off. The madness in his expression had lessened and was replaced by apprehension.

“You want to kill the hero that the gods have send to save us? He may be a perverted asshole, but he is willing to do the task that even we royal knights are afraid of.”, he suddenly said with a calm tone.

“Do you truly think that this is something a royal knight should do?”

The other knight looked surprised, then he began to chuckle.

“Didn’t you want to kill him too?”, a scornful look appeared in his eyes.

“What do I care about gods? I am a royal knight, servant of his highness the king. His commands are my law. I cannot believe that you would give up your loyalty for the mere reason of not wanting to offend the gods!!!”

Sir Mellen shook his head.

“I do want to kill him. But the same goes for you and even myself.

As for my loyalty? What worth does loyalty have when it means being used as a mere chess figure? How long have you known about the princess’s state? A week? Three days?

Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you sentence the hero within the capital? Why didn’t you safe the princess instead of letting her go off with that bastard?

Instead you waited until we were out of the public’s eye and planned to use me as a mere pawn that would kill the hero in his unreasonable rage. Let me guess, afterwards the king would have proclaimed justice and I would be sentenced to death in order to appease the common folk.

I ask you. What worth is there to serve a king that uses his loyal servants in such a way?”, his voice was bitter and there were a couple of tears caught up in his eyes. He may have argued with the will of the gods or the deception by the king, but I understood the real reason why he had turned against his former comrade.

The other royal knights’ expression had turned grim.

“So, you truly want to betray his majesty.”, he seemed saddened by that fact. Then he sighed.

“Then Farwell, traitor!”, he pushed himself off the ground and dashed towards the unarmed Sir Mellen. The beautifully adorned sword in his hand began to glow in green light and I could see some sort of current that was created around it. A moment later I realized that it was pure mana.

Sir Mellen simply smiled and the look in his eyes changed. It was almost as if he was looking at a corpse.

“Farwell, you son of a bitch!”, he did not move to defend himself even as the sword was right upon him.

“You craz-“, the knight said with a scornful smile. Then, a moment before his sword would pierce through his former friends body, he felt a burning pain in his back.

“You are really stupid aren’t you?”, a bell like voice rang out and blood began to explode out of his back. A huge sword had completely severed his spines, coming out of his stomach. His eyes turned wide as he realized that he was about to die. He turned his head and caught sight of a small dragon girl whose cold eyes were piercing right into his soul.

“Die already.”, she said, and her small hand pierced through his defenseless skull. She retracted both her hand and the gigantic sword out of his body and it fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

“For killing Ilea you deserve far worse.”, Enri said before turning around to Sir Mellen. He had long since ran off and kneeled down next to Ilea’s dead body. Tears ran down his wretched face as he cried her name over and over.

I on the other hand slowly rose up from the ground. My mind felt like it was caught up in a cloud that hindered most thoughts of becoming corporal. Despite feeling like my body would break down any second I walked over to Ilea’s body and the weeping Sir Mellen. I looked down on the mangled body that was covered in bruises. The cold and unnaturally pale skin that had been so lively only an hour ago.

“May the gods reward you for this life.”, my voice was merely a quiet mumble, but Sir Mellen still heard me. He looked up and for a moment his pale lips opened like he wanted to say something. Then they closed again, and he simply stared down on the ground.

I simply ignored that and turned around to Enri.

“Take care of them and give Ilea a proper burial. I don’t know how elvea are cremated but try to make it a proper one.”

The dragon loli threw me a worried look but nodded.

“What about that bastard knight?”, a flickering fire of ire burned in her eyes as she looked at Sir Mellen. It seemed like she was blaming him for Ilea’s death.

I sighed tiredly.

“Leave him be. He was fooled and used.”, with this I slowly began to limb away.

“Shouldn’t I follow you?”, she looked even more worried than before and began to follow me.

“No.”, my voice was firm and cold.

“Stay here. I will be back in a couple of days.”, with this I ignored her and slowly dragged myself to the brushes. Struggling to walk I disappeared into the thick vegetation of the forest. My body was crying out in pain and my brain was telling me to lay down and rest, but there was only a single thought burned into my confused mind.

‘You are pathetic and weak!’