The next morning John awoke from a horrendous nightmare. To a freakish yet beautiful double sunrise.

John: “Wow that is a weird sunrise, one red sun and one yellow sun that’s going to take some getting used to. But at least I can hear the peaceful quiet serene sound of birds chirping… yeah right.”

Riley: “SNOOOOOORREE”

John: “Wow it sounds like someone is trying to pull-start a chainsaw, it’s a gooood thing I’m a deep sleeper”

John looked at Riley snoring and let out a deep sigh while shaking his head and grumbling. He then looked down and realized that he was covered in sweat.

John: “Man those deaths affected me more than I thought, damn…”

He then collapsed back into the cart in an attempt to steady his breathing and calm his rapidly beating heart.

After calming down for a bit John walked away from the cart in an attempt to find a stream to wash off in.

John cooled his head in the frigid water of the stream for a couple minutes enjoying the refreshing feeling.

Once he finished he climbed out and reached for his clothes, after putting on his pants John picked up his shirt but before he put it on he heard a cat call.

Riley: “*Whistling*”

John then pulled the shirt up to cover his chest and looked at Riley with accusing eyes.

Riley: “What? It’s not like you have a bad figure.”

John: “You’re going to wreak havoc on my maiden’s heart like that, you peeping Tom.”

Riley: “Yeah, yeah grow up already you princess.”

She then walked up to John and placed both hands on his chest.

Riley: “All right John, clench your teeth this might hurt.”

She then tugged at both sides of his wound to make sure it was healed enough to withstand some pulling.

Johns sucked air through his mouth in a slight gasp as pain shot through his chest but thankfully this time there was no blood.

Riley: “Whew looks like it’s healing up just fine.”

John: “So what are you doing here?”

Riley: “You were taking too long, we needed to leave here ASAP remember? However it seems we’ll now have to change our plans, some Royal Guards arrived here earlier.”

John quickly put his shirt on and followed Riley back to the wagon where they both donned their tattered cloaks and prepared to head into town.

As they got to the remnants of the guard house they found some of the Royal Guards talking to the Guard Captain that Riley had left alive.

His legs still seemed to be broken but there was a Royal Healer tending to his wounds, In that instant he raised his head and noticed the cloaked John and Riley instantly, His eyes lit up as he pointing in their direction and screamed.

Guard Captain: “THERE IT WAS THOSE TWO GET THEM!!!”

In the next instant the Royal Guards rushed over and surrounded the two of them pointing their spears at them with wary looks.

Riley: “OH now isn’t this a warm welcome I’m guessing you guys are scared, after seeing what my partner did to that building and, seeing the state of the Guard Captain, are you sure you want to screw with us?”

Right as she said that she started releasing a menacing aura, as John drew himself up to his full height towering over the guards and backing up Riley.

Some of the Royal Guard’s spears began to shake but as expected of well-trained soldiers they refused to back down.

Royal Guard 1: “If you two would come with us for some questioning, that would be great, as we don’t intend on fighting you unless you resist.”

Right as Riley was about to have another outburst, John placed his hand on her head.

John: “Ok that seems fair enough we just need to answer some questions right? But I just want you to keep in mind the state of that prison over there if you try something fishy I can promise you it’ll end up the same.”

Now John did not actually mean this, as making that explosion took up almost all of his mana, not to mention the fact that without sufficient protection, he would get killed by it too. It was simply a bluff; however that bluff seemed to have worked as the guard paled and beckoned them to follow him.

John and Riley were led back to a gigantic tent right outside of the town; the guard then motioned them inside the tent while he waited on the outside.

John's eyes glanced over the interior of the tent as he entered.

In the center of the tent was a table lit only by a small amount of sun and some candles surrounded by Royal Guards and Tacticians, the tent seemed to be separated into separate sections for sleeping quarters with various cot’s and clothing items laying around them.

John looked back at the beings surrounding the table, it seemed like these Royal Guards were all Tigerkin judging from the stripes on their ears and tails and their golden eyes. One in particular however, caught John’s eye.

It was a very small Tigerkin female seated next to a decorated General. She was wearing a puffy pink dress, with frills all along the arms, atop her petite head was a lavish crown befitting of a princess.

Riley made eye contact with the princess and nodded her head whereas John simply stood still gazing warily at the princess.

Tiger Princess: “Since neither of you bowed down I’m assuming you have no respect for royalty.”

Riley: “Not quite your shortness, see I’m a merchant the only thing I have to pay respect to is money.”

John: “And I’m not from this country so I will treat you with some amount of respect, but bowing my head would be the same as pledging my fealty to you and I’d rather remain unfettered to your country in order to preserve my right to travel freely.”

Princess: “As expected of an impudent Wolfkin merchant and a disrespectful foreigner, i'm already at my limits today!"

Riley: "Your limits seem to be as small as your height princess."

John was a bit angered by this comment but decided to ignore it as one would ignore a child throwing a tantrum.

John: “Alright' I’m assuming you have some questions to ask us, can you get to it? My partner here has a bit of a schedule to keep and I wouldn’t want her to be late due to some unnecessary prattle.”

The General then clenched his fist and began walking towards John.

Princess: “Shtand down General Etten! Although he’s rude I don’t want thish tent going up in fwames. And though their attitudesh irk me to no end we do need to get the answers out of them as fasht as possible.”

Etten: “Sigh alright… Look you two, we came here from a call telling us about corruption among the guards here. The whistleblower was apparently silenced, as we lost communication with the town. So we were sent to investigate however, yesterday; we witnessed a massive fireball that lit up the sky. A fire magic of that level has never been seen before. And at least 10 of the palace mages would have to team up to recreate something like that. So judging by what we heard from the Guard Captain we’re guessing that you, the tall one, are responsible for the fireball. And you Wolfkin are responsible for the damages done to the local Guards. Also Princess your lisp is showing again.”

Princess: "It's their fault for getting me sho riled up!"

John looked at Riley questioningly, she made eye contact with him and shook her head, John nodded in response and faced the captain again, while ignoring the princess.

John: “I can neither confirm nor deny any of what has been said. In truth I have no idea how the Guards were taken out.”

Although John had mostly pieced together exactly what happened it wasn’t a lie to say he had no idea as he was underground in a prison cell. He did not witness exactly what happened so he was simply stretching the truth instead of outright lying.

Etten: “Well since you seem adamant about keeping your mouth shut let’s bring in the Guard Captain.”

The entrance to the tent was then drawn back as the Guard Captain was led in by two soldiers.

He made eye contact with Riley and shot a fierce glare her direction. She in turn released killing intent which caused the Guard Captain to shiver.

Etten: “So Captain Jovich do you have anything to say in regards to these two?”

Jovich: “Ye-yeah I do! The short one is a devil incarnate she killed all of my men and left me in that wrecked state for no reason!!!”

Etten: “As Jovich is the only one who spoke up and since you too refuse to speak we might have to take his word for what happened and arrest you two.”

Riley: “Mmh how bothersome ah well since it’s come to this I’ll tell you my side of the story and John can fill in for his.”

Riley then recounted about how she had brought the injured John into the town and how she had left to go retrieve

medicine. John filled in about waking up in a prison cell badly injured with two Guards posted out in front of him, Riley then explained about how when she got back she was surrounded by guards and how they began talking about enslaving her. John filled in about getting treated by the healer and Riley told them about the Guard Captain ordering the death of the Healer she then went into detail about taking out the guards as she escaped from imprisonment in order to find John. John filled in the rest of them by saying that he had caused the explosion in an attempt to escape the prison and meet back up with Riley.

Etten: “And where is your proof?”

John pulled up the cloak and his shirt revealing the massive bandaged wound that ran across his chest which for some reason caused the princess to turn away her head while blushing and muttering something about commoners.

Etten: “Yeah that seems to be about right for a Deryun claw, alright fair enough Jovich I’m assuming you know the penalty for murdering a citizen and attempting to enslave someone.”

Jovich: “NO NONONONON THEY'RE LYING @#$$%$ I SWEAR IT!”

Etten: “SILENCE YOU COWERING DOG! GUARDS TAKE HIM OUTSIDE!”

Jovich was then dragged screaming outside by two guards.

John: “I’m guessing he’s getting executed right?”

Etten: “Yeah He is, it’s a damn shame; he was a great soldier back in the day.”

Riley: “Geeze that took forever. we’re in the clear now that everything has been explained right?”

Etten: “Well not quite we have a request for you two directly from the princess.”

John: “Oh great forcing us to comply with what you want otherwise we’d be going against royalty, that’s low.”

Riley looked at John with a shocked look on her face as if she couldn’t believe he had caught on that fast.

John: “What’s with that look I might lack a lot of common sense about this place but I’m not stupid. I know how things like this go”

Riley: “Give me a second. I’m still in shock. my entire world just flipped. Also as to your “Request” I don’t appreciate being threatened.”

Etten looked pale at how fast the two of them had caught on but quickly regained his composure.

Etten: “The queen requested for the two of you, being the capable fighters you are, to join our escort as mercenaries in order to protect the princess from any threat she should face on her journey around the kingdom.”

John: “Well Riley I’m assuming that since they're hiring us as mercenaries they intend to pay us.”

Riley: “Yeah if it’s a decent amount I could delay my schedule a bit to escort the Mini princess”

Princess: “WHO ARE YOU CALLING MINI! I’M ALMOST 11 YEARS OLD NOW!”

Ignoring the princess's tantrum John looked at Etten and inquired about the amount that they were going to be paid.

Etten: “We are willing to provide food for midday and evening but morning is left up to you. as for pay… how does 10 gold sound?”

John looked at Riley skeptically as he had no idea as to what value that held.

Riley: “Are you trying to rip us off TEN GOLD! Look buddy make it 25 gold a piece I’m sure your kingdom is anything but poor if the princess can afford to take a field trip.”

Etten: “Geh you drive a hard bargain but I suppose for the amount of power you two possess it would be expected fine you have a deal 25 gold each paid once we finish traveling now get packed we leave by mid-day.”

John and Riley walked out of the tent and watched nonchalantly as the corrupt Guard Captain’s head was chopped off.

Once the execution was finished they headed back to the wagon and readied up all of their supplies.

John and Riley met up with the guards and after everything had been packed up, they finally left the village.

Sorry for shorter chapter i'm in a bit of a rush lately and i wanted to get something up for you guys! love you all feel free to comment no PLEASE COMMENT your feedback fuels me! next chapter coming soon!!