The outskirts of Kandarynd.

The sun was in the middle of the blue sky, no clouds were present to block it. Grass and a dirt road, as far as the eye can see.

After the knight captain’s words of encouragement, the students geared up in their armor, taking their weapons and set out to the outskirts of the kingdom.

Royland’s upper body was equipped with a simple chainmail and leather bracers. He wore a pair of durable leather-hide pants with brown boots to protect his feet. On his hip, he carried a steel longsword. He also wielded a buckler on his left side to use for protection in close quarters combat.

Leon wore a dark tunic with long sleeves. His lower half consisted of black trousers with brown boots. On his waist was a belt that carried a few different potions and coins in similar pouches. He had a green cloak wrapped around the base of his neck and shoulders, hood down. His preferred weapon, like Royland, was a sword. He also carried a spare black dagger behind his back that carried some sentimental value and in case of certain situations.

After the class was equipped in their armor, they set out to the outskirts of Kandarynd. From what they heard from the knight captain, an ambassador from Ecrax and some guards were to make their way to meet Queen Elaine of Kandarynd to discuss relations regarding their trade routes and politics. However, on their way, their transport was ambushed by revolutionaries.

During the ambush, one of the guards escaped and made his way to the academy, the nearest place of civilization, where he explained the situation to the knights before bleeding out. However, the guard couldn’t specify which path the ambassador was coming from. Therefore, the students were split into pairs to look for any sign of the ambassador. Should they find anything, one of the students would stay put, while the other would return to call for reinforcements.

Half a day passed since the message was passed to the knights and the students were sent out. Leon and Royland were a pair and the two rode out on their horses. They traveled on a dirt road keeping an eye out for any evidence of the ambassador and their guard.

“Royland, over there!” Leon shouted as he pointed to an area a father bit to the side of the road.

The two got off their horses and made their way to the area.

When they reached it, they could tell that a battle had occurred here. The grass around them was deformed and looked unnatural with blood spilled here and there. Weapons had been dropped around them. Some trees cut in certain parts. The pair found bodies strewn across the area, lifeless. Half of the bodies had a torn, red cloth tied around their necks, a sign of the revolutionaries. The other half donned blue cloaks with the Silhouette of an owl stitched onto them, the sigil of the knights of Ecrax.

A carriage laid on its side, battered, with the door broken off. Signs of a struggle were evident, and they couldn’t find the body of someone who would look like an ambassador, meaning they were still alive somewhere.

“Who’s –cough, cough—there?” a voice, breathless and broken, called out.

Leon and Royland look around them, trying to find the owner of the voice.

“Over there!” Royland pointed out behind the carriage.

The two ran towards the voice and found a man covered in wounds. He wore a blue cloak, meaning he must have been one of the guards protecting the ambassador.

“Are you all right? What happened?” urged Leon to the knight.

“W-we were ambushed,” hacked the knight, “we fought them while –cough, cough— running but succumbed to their numbers in the end.”

The knight explained what happened to them a few hours ago, albeit struggling.

---

The ambassador from Ecrax was making their way to the Kingdom of Kandarynd along with some knights to act as guards while they rode the carriage. On the way, they came across a fainted adventurer on the side of the road. They decided to help the adventurer and found out he was also going the same way as them. So, they decided it was all right for the adventurer to tag along with them.

The adventurer was friendly and quickly befriended the knights, telling stories of his many travels.

The journey was a long route, but the adventurer said he knew a quicker path to get to their destination. Hesitant, the ambassador was suspicious but still agreed since he was only one man while they were a trained noble with other knights as guards.

However, this was a trap. The adventurer led the group to an area on the side of the road with trees and bushes.

The adventurer suddenly tied a red cloth around his neck, unsheathed his sword and yelled, “Stand and Deliver!”

The adventurer was a disguised revolutionary that lured the ambassador to where the rest of his group were hiding. Immediately, men fell from the trees and jumped out the bushes to ambush the knights. They began to surround the knights and drew closer.

Since the ambassador was suspicious of the adventurer at first, they were able to quickly come back to their senses and order the knights to run towards Kandarynd while holding off against the revolutionaries.

Crash!

They spent a while holding back against them, but their numbers were too much for the knights. Unexpectedly, the ambassador’s carriage crashed due to one of the revolutionary’s hidden traps. The Knights eventually had to stop running and fight them head-on. With the carriage crashed, the ambassador broke the carriage door to join the fray.

Ultimately, the number of knights began to dwindle. The ambassador decided it was best that one of the knights was to flee and look for anyone that can help.

After sending one of the knights away, the rest of them began to lose their ground along with their lives. Although dead, they did manage to bring a larger portion of the revolutionaries with them. One of the knights was still barely hanging onto his life and was able to hear them talk.

“Take the noble away,” one of the revolutionaries said, “we’ll do what we were told to do with her.”

The ambassador was taken away by another person.

“What about this one?” someone pointed out.

The one he was talking about was an apprentice of the ambassador.

“Bastards! You’ll rot for this!” yelled the young apprentice. The young man had light brown hair with freckles across his face.

“His clothes seem that that of nobility,” said the revolutionary, “we can fetch a fair price for his head.”

Thus, the apprentice was taken away as well. The remaining revolutionaries fled from the scene into the nearby woods, with the wounded knight witnessing everything, barely keeping consciousness before Leon and Royland arrived.