The revolutionaries stood dumbfounded at the scene.

The paralyzed one couldn’t keep his grip on his sword and dropped it.

“Y-you lot, don’t j-just stand there. M-move!” although paralyzed, he managed to scold his comrades.

The motionless revolutionaries woke up from their stupor and hurriedly began to make their way towards the raven-haired figure. When they got a closer look, they glanced at the figure’s face and were dazed by their good looks, letting out a vile appearance.

“Hehe, what are you doing here, pretty lady?”

“Girlies like you shouldn’t be playing around these parts of the woods.”

“Why don’t ya come with us and we’ll take ya back home.”

Leon was smiling due to his pride when he revealed himself, but when he heard what they said, immediately, one of his eyes began to twitch and a cross-popping vein was prevalent on his forehead. But this was overlooked by the revolutionaries due to their flirting. Leon could even hear Royland snickering from his position and started cursing him in his mind.

“W-why don’t you boys come here and show me back?” Leon decided to take this moment to try and fool them. However, he felt embarrassed and angry at having to act like this and wished Royland was the one who revealed himself instead of him.

The revolutionaries let out a laugh and drew closer towards Leon.

Once they were closer to him, Leon shouted, “Now, Royland!”

Royland jumped out from the bushes, alarming the revolutionaries in the process, and rushed towards the kneeling apprentice.

The paralysis began to wear off the revolutionary and the feeling in his arms began to return to him. He slowly picked up his sword with his hand still stabbed with the dagger and aimed it towards the apprentice.

“Die, knave.”

‘I’m sorry, Duchess Sofia,” the apprentice thought to himself, believing this was his last moment.

Clang!

However, just as the blade was swung, Royland blocked it using the buckler on his left arm, stopping it from reaching the apprentice’s neck.

“Am I interrupting?” Royland smiled, mocking the revolutionary.

The revolutionary gritted his teeth and swung his sword towards Royland. Since he was still affected by the paralysis, his strikes weren’t too powerful and Royland managed to dodge and block with his buckler again.

Slice!

Then Royland swung at his hand that was still pierced by Leon’s black dagger, cutting it from the revolutionary’s body and dropping it to the ground.

“Argh!” he cried.

The revolutionary staggered, trying to stop the bleeding by using his other hand to put pressure on the wound.

“Bastard! Do you resist justice for the common man?” he questioned.

“I do stand by justice, yes. But ill acts such as yours make it for naught,” proclaimed Royland.

Anger and resentment were evident from the revolutionary’s eyes as he grit his teeth from the pain of losing his hand.

However, two other revolutionaries interrupted their quarrel, taking Royland’s attention away.

The one-handed man took this chance to run away through the forest, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Royland tried to turn back and chase him but was preoccupied with the two intruding revolutionaries.

‘Damn. I let him get away,’ he thought.

Meanwhile, with one of the revolutionaries running away and two of them facing Royland, Leon was tasked with facing the remaining two.

“C’mon lass, be a dear and give yourself up to us,” one of them said to him.

Leon’s temperament cracked, and his smile vanished. He drew his sword and entered a fighting stance. The two other revolutionaries began to take him seriously now.

Leon looked to the side of the revolutionaries facing towards some bushes and yelled, “Get them now!”

The revolutionaries were alarmed again and looked to the side. Earlier, Royland surprised them and managed to save their hostage. Now another person was lying in wait preparing to attack them? They were prepared this time and adjusted their posture to defend themselves.

However, time passed, and no one moved out of the bushes.

Slash!

The revolutionaries were confused until one of them was slashed on their back with a sword.

“Argh!” the wounded one cursed.

They looked back to Leon to find him smiling and laughing to himself. They were tricked. Leon made them believe that he and Royland weren’t the only two people here when in reality, they were. The two men grew annoyed and enraged at being deceived in such a way.

Stab!

Before they could react, Leon thrust his sword at the wounded man and pierced through his stomach. The revolutionary stood still for a moment until his body fell and passed away.

The other one grew angry at the death of his comrade and he and Leon released a flurry of attacks on each other. The fight was drawn out and both were running out of stamina, but the revolutionary endured and gained a second wind. Time passed, and Leon began to be pushed back by the revolutionary.

Bam!

The two crossed blades once more but this time, the revolutionary struck Leon’s face using his elbow, effectively disabling him for a moment. Leon stumbled back, dropping his sword, kneeling to the ground and holding his face due to the pain. But the man didn’t notice Leon making a grabbing motion on the ground.

The revolutionary grew confident and slowly made his way to Leon before he prepared to strike him with his sword.

Whiff.

However, at that moment, Leon threw a handful of dirt he grabbed on the ground towards the eyes of the revolutionary, blinding him. With his opponent’s eyesight momentarily gone, Leon finished him off quickly with a slice to the neck.

Leon took a moment to breathe and relax. Fighting two opponents at once were arduous, he had to use whatever resources he had around him to defeat them.

When Leon looked towards Royland, he found that he too managed to defeat his opposition. He began to walk towards him and the still wounded apprentice. He found his dagger implanted in the revolutionary’s hand on the ground. He bent down and pulled the black dagger from the hand. Leon wiped it clean with his cloak and then sheathed it behind his back.

“Sorry, Leon. I let one of them flee,” apologized Royland.

Leon contemplated for a moment.

“Hm. We should return to the academy and maybe visit my elder brother and let them know what’s happened,” replied Leon.

Royland nodded his head. The two looked towards the young man. His appearance was haggard, yet his light brown hair was cleanly swept to the side. His breathing was erratic, but his eyes filled with determination.

Leon reached into his pouch and took out a blue healing potion and fed it to the young apprentice. Slowly, his wounds began to close, and his appearance became livelier.

“T-thank you,” he stammered out.

“What’s your name?” questioned Royland.

“I am called Dedric of House Covin. I serve under Duchess Sofia.”