It's been more than a month since Violet, no, Fujika left Night Wing and resettled in a small fishing village to the South of Cameron. It was her dream restart in life, because in this place, nobody knew her and she needn't resort to her assassination techniques to make a living.

Instead, she currently worked as a healer in this small village, making good use of her proficiency in Water and Healing magic to treat both external wounds and illnesses. She became well-known in this village, and its people accepted her wholeheartedly, despite the fact that she wasn't a native.

Fujika had grown fond of the kids of this village and they too reciprocated her adoration, constantly visiting her without fail at her place where she offered her services. Life was peaceful and filled with joy as she was immersed in the company of these worry-free children.

If she might add, Fujika was also close to being attached in a romantic relationship. Through her work, she got to know a young man who shared her interests, and loved children as much as she did. He was named Arthur and he claimed that he was here for voluntary work.

With his help, Fujika helped improve the sanitation and healthcare facilities available in the village on top of providing training to the locals, which led to improved health in the village. She felt torn when Arthur told her that he would be returning to the capital, Argos, shortly as he had other matters to handle there.

On one hand, she wanted to accompany him as she felt that he was her special one but on the other hand, she couldn't bear to leave those kids that had given her the best time of her life.

Today felt like an ordinary day for Fujika but she knew all that would change when she heard the whooshing sound of a cannonball. The explosion that followed was deafening and Fujika rushed out of her house. A wooden hut nearby went up in flames as the fire threatened to consume the adjacent huts. Screams were clearly audible and Fujika could make out that pirates were attacking the village.

Fujika was confused. The village was not wealthy nor did it hold a strategic position. Saving her thoughts for later, Fujika rushed to assist the evacuation of the villagers especially the children and elderly who were less mobile. Through this attack, Fujika realised how closely knitted the villagers were as they helped one another out without reservations.

Within minutes, most of the villagers had already evacuated the village. However, Fujika noticed that some of the children were still missing from her knowledge. She quickly rushed back into the burning village despite warnings from the concerned villagers.

As Fujika ventured deeper into the village which was practically a burning wreck now, she ran into a group of shady people who were most likely the pirates raiding the village. Without warning, she struck them down mercilessly with her [Water Whip] spell, rendering them unconscious without killing them.

Suddenly, Fujika heard the cackling sound of electricity as she instinctively jumped away, narrowly avoiding a blade coated with electricity. Facing her was a pirate wearing a bandana who had his mouth covered by a facial scarf. In his hands were 2 scimitars coated with electricity.

The pirate scoffed, "What's a pretty lady like you doing here? After seeing my men knocked out cold, I'm not going to give any more chances, in case you've been the one who has been cutting my men down. Prepare to die!"

Fujika was surprised that the pirate believed that she was the one cutting his men down, though she did knock them out. Her adversary was decently skilled, as the electricity that flowed through his blades made it fatally sharp, slicing stone with ease as she avoided his every strike.

Realising that his swipes were not effective, the pirate quickly plunged his blades into the ground, shouting, "[Lightning Current]!" The ground rippled with electricity as Fujika leaped to avoid the attack. The pirate quickly jumped up towards her to follow up with a quick slash in an "X" like fashion.

However, Fujika anticipated his attack as she counterattacked with a [Water Jet] spell, pushing him back with a jet of water from her hands. The attack caught him by surprise as he was pushed back and pinned against the wall of one of the huts, creating a dent on its walls. Before he could react, Fujika swiftly trapped him in her signature [Water Prison] spell.

Despite all his struggles and the huge amount of sparks within the sphere of water which ended up hurting himself instead, the pirate eventually submitted to Fujika as he lost consciousness. After ensuring the defeat of her opponent, who she believed was around Expert tier, Fujika continued her quest to find the missing children.

Fujika's efforts steadily paid off as she found the children cowering in fear one by one, getting them to follow her as they sought out the remaining children. The children were naturally frightened, witnessing their homes going up in flames and bad guys trying to abduct them.

However, they felt safe with Fujika, who dealt with the pirates easily since she had not met any pirates who were on the same level or higher than the opponent she had faced earlier. After 30 minutes of intense searching, there was only one more place left to search.

Fujika brought the children who had stuck closely to her to the final location. Unfortunately, Fujika had a bad feeling about this place as the sounds of explosions were the strongest there. True enough, the last child, a little girl named Dora was found there, her eyes seemingly transfixed to something Fujika couldn't see as her line of sight was blocked.

Fujika tried to call out to Dora as softly as she could while remaining minimally audible to get her attention. Unfortunately, the girl was too engrossed and failed to hear Fujika. Left with no choice, Fujika ordered the children accompanying her to stay put and silent as she inched closer towards Dora.

When the girl was within an arm's reach from her, Fujika swiftly pulled Dora away to safety. Dora, caught in surprise, was about to let loose a scream before Fujika placed a finger on her lip. Fujika instructed the girl to link up with the other children as she took a peek at what Dora was looking at earlier.

To her horror, she realised that her love, Arthur was fighting against a pirate! Arthur was armed with an ordinary sword, which was stained with the blood of the pirates who stood in his path. Fujika looked around. There were several bodies of dead pirates, all of whom had appeared to be cut down. It seems like Arthur was a rather skilled swordsman.

However, it seems that Arthur had finally met his match, as both duellists appeared worn out and injured. From the looks of it, Arthur was on the losing end and even though he scored a few cuts on his adversary, he had received a few burns from the Fire magic of his opponent which kept him at bay.

His opponent taunted, "Ha! You may be a good swordsman, but so long as I keep my distance using [Fire Bullet], victory would be mine!" as he continued shooting more bullets of fire from his fingers. Arthur dodged as many bullets as he could, while cutting those he couldn't. It was clear that exhaustion has taken its toll on Arthur, as his movements became increasingly sluggish.

Fujika wanted to intervene initially to put an end to Arthur's misery but held back before she could hurl a [Water Shark Bullet] at the insignificant pirate. After all, Fujika was worried that she would hurt Arthur's pride if she had come to save him. Furthermore, Arthur was not in any danger as of now, hence, she decided to carry on watching.

The turning point of the duel came sooner than expected, as the pirate, who was getting increasingly impatient, decided to lunge forward with his sabre ablaze when he determined an opening in Arthur's defence. It turned out that Arthur actually feigned weakness, as he quickly transited into a sword-drawing stance.

Arthur muttered quietly, "[Bestial Form Sword Style - Cheetah]!" Within a flash, he rushed past his opponent, slicing him at his midsection and instantly killing his opponent. Fujika walked up to Arthur and chirped, "That's a pretty neat technique you got there. Care to share with me some time after we've dealt with this crisis?"

Arthur turned around sharply with a surprised expression, "Fujika? What're you doing here? It's dangerous and I can't let an unarmed woman fend for herself alone down here. Come on, I'll get you out of this place and hopefully I can find the other kids along the way. Wait, where's Dora?"

Fujika smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I can hold my own weight against unskilled ruffians like them. I've already rounded up the kids including Dora. If there's nothing else to do here, let's get out pronto!"

Arthur nodded but before they could link up with the kids, their path was blocked by a menacing man who appeared to be the captain of the pirates. The captain snarled, "To take down my left hand and right hand men respectively, this is an unforgivable sin! Repent with your lives! Roaring mad thunder, [Berserkbolt]!"

The captain's sword morphed into a double-edged axe cackling with a huge amount of electricity. Subsequently, he swung it down onto the ground, cracking the ground with a huge surge of electricity. Both Arthur and Fujika jumped up to avoid the attack, before rushing off in the direction of the kids.

Fujika exclaimed, "The safety of the kids is our priority, dealing with that oaf and his cronies can come later!" Arthur nodded as they both swiftly found the kids that were separated from them.

Noticing that their enemies had already caught up and surrounded them, Fujika instructed calmly, "Arthur, I'll open a path. I need you to get these kids to safety while I'll cover our escape. Go! [Water Dragon Bullet]!"

A huge water dragon was instantly conjured out of thin air before it flew towards the pirates. The huge torrent of water swept the pirates aside as a path was opened. Arthur exclaimed, "I can't leave you behind, Fujika!" Fujika replied, "Go now! I promise I'll return alive!"

Arthur winced as he brought the kids down the road littered with puddles and unconscious bodies. Suddenly, Fujika noticed a shadow flying over her head. It was the pirate captain! He laughed, "Fools! I can easily conduct my electricity through the puddles left behind, shocking them all out of existence! Behold the might of the weapon bestowed on me! [Berserkbolt]!"

The captain swung his axe towards the ground, and just as it seemed that he would make contact with the water, Fujika jumped before him, ready to shield the strike with her body. Arthur turned around and gasped, "No…"

In an instant, the captain's axe struck something hard, as the iconic sound of clashing metal could be heard. What followed next was howling winds that dispersed the electricity from [Berserkbolt] as the unknown individual repelled the captain away with his blade where the winds were converging on.

Fujika looked around her and realised that she was surrounded by 7 new individuals, and all gave a dominating aura prevalent in people who were at least Grandmaster tier. Among them, Fujika could tell that a single woman was the most fearsome of them all, her mana pressure sending shivers down her spine though the woman had kept her mana output to the minimum.

The woman turned around and looked at both Fujika and Arthur before saying with a big smile, "Thanks for your help, miss. Without you, our dear Prince may have stupidly met his end. Here you go, my foolish lord." The woman threw a sword still within its scabbard to Arthur. The sword was beautiful, with a sapphire adorning its hilt and its scabbard engraved with several intricate designs resembling suns.

Fujika was stunned. Did the woman just call Arthur a prince? Arthur replied, "Ah, thanks Merlin! You're a lifesaver! Though I wouldn't really want to use [Excalibur] if I could afford to. Using it exposes my identity straightaway after all."

Before Fujika had time to digest everything that was occurring around her, Arthur drew [Excalibur] out of its scabbard, revealing its well-polished blade with a single symbol of a sun on it.

The captain, just recovering from the blow he experienced earlier, stammered, "D-Did you s-say, [Excalibur]? T-The S-Class weapon? In that case, you must be-" Before he could continue, Arthur had quietly muttered, "Shining bright justice, [Excalibur]!"

Arthur's sword emitted a blinding light and in the next instant, a big diagonal slash made its mark on the captain's chest, spilling blood as [Berserkbolt] was cleanly cleaved in half.

Fujika was stunned. Magic weapons are far more durable than normal weapons due to their natural mana enchantments that raises their sturdiness. Even a C-Class weapon would require at least a Grandmaster tier attack to break. From her estimations, the enemy's weapon was probably at least B-Class, since it was enchanted with elemental magic, a form of magic difficult to imbue.

To destroy a B-Class magic weapon so easily, the weapon used must be of far superior class compared to its target. Of course, other factors such as the skill of the wielder, amount of mana used etc count too, but it was clear in this case that Arthur only performed a simple swing and nothing more.

The pirates were stupefied by the fact that their leader was taken down so easily. Before they could react, the woman named Merlin simply raised a hand, creating a hexagonal constellation above them and the burning wreckage around them. She casually swung her hand down, as the hexagonal constellation swallowed the pirates and the wreckage into its cosmic interior.

As the constellation shrunk out of existence, Fujika noticed another hexagonal constellation being formed several miles offshore. The pirates and the burning wreckage consumed earlier were all released into the sea from this constellation.

Merlin stated coldly, "These parts are the deepest parts of the ocean, given the distance between it and the shore on top of lurking sharks, even the best seafarers won't last long under such circumstances. A fitting send-off indeed."

Fujika was overwhelmed by the sudden display of power from the woman named Merlin. She paused for a moment. Merlin…why did that name sound so familiar? She suddenly realised that the woman in front of her was the strongest magician in Cameron, the legendary Merlin who singlehandedly fought and eliminated 2000 Miran troops!

Arthur went up to Fujika, holding her hand tenderly and asked, "Are you alright? I hope the events which just transpired hadn't shocked you too badly. I believe some introductions are in order. This beautiful lady here is the Royal Adviser of Cameron, Marissa Merlin, better known as Merlin. The six other guys here are my treasured Round Table Knights, Firen, Zexel, Alderon, Cynthia, Sasha and Krow. You'll get to know them better over time."

Fujika replied confusedly, "Okay, but more importantly, who exactly are you? You feel like a total stranger now." Arthur replied cheerfully, "Me? I'm Arthur Pendragon, Crown Prince of Cameron and wielder of the sacred sword, [Excalibur]. Welcome to Cameron, my dear."