The sun began to rise again as the day began to bring in heat. A dirt road with nearby trees. A carriage carried by two horses slowly came to a halt.

Leon woke up to a small nudge.

“Sorry to wake you up like this, milord. But we’ll be taking a small break to relieve ourselves,” said Walice.

Leon looked around and saw Wilster waking up Royland and Dedric and gesturing what Walice said to Leon. The group each took turns to relieve themselves while the others stayed by the carriage trying to wake themselves up.

Once everyone was done, they got back onto the carriage. Dry food and water were packed with them before they departed the other day and they ate a bit of it, saving the rest for the next few meals.

The three young men were inside the carriage while Walice and Wilster were out in the front. This time, Walice took the reins while Wilster rested beside him.

Thinking from yesterday, Leon thought about his family again.

---

Days grew into months as Leokas continued to think of Liera. Although Magnus and Jaina managed to get their father back on his feet, they could tell that he wasn’t the same man he was before.

Occasionally, they would find him with an empty look, his mind wandering on their mother. However, they didn’t know what to do to bring him back to the loving father he once was. And so, time passed as they grew older.

One day, the Queen sent Leokas and some men on a campaign to defeat a group of infamous bandits. The Queen could have sent some of her other men on a simple mission like this, but she’d seen how down Leokas has been looking and thought this job would help him take out some of the stress he’s been feeling.

The mission was successful. Leokas led his men to the bandit’s den and managed to take down their leader. The bandit leader was considerably strong and took Leokas some time and effort to defeat him. He and his men restrained the bandits who gave themselves up during the fight. They were ones who still had some morals and only became bandits to earn gold to help feed their families.

The other bandits were those who were rotten on the inside. They were bandits because they enjoyed what they did. Invading villages, kidnapping women, raiding merchant’s carriages. They never thought of the consequences of their actions and only acted to benefit themselves. Some of these types of men had bounties on them too.

Leokas ordered his men to swiftly kill them and bring evidence of their death so they may collect the reward.

Once they were about to leave, they heard a faint cry coming from the bandit’s den. Leokas had his men stay outside to keep watch of the surroundings and their eyes on the surrendered bandits.

He went deeper and deeper into the den until he found a hidden passageway. Once he entered it, he was in a dark room that smelled foul.

He lit up a torch that he brought with him. He heard gasps and frightened voices.

He looked around and found women across the ground. Thankfully, it seemed none of them were dead. However, some women’s clothes were torn, and others were even naked. A lot of them had a lifeless look on their face, looking like they’d rather die than continue living. It was obvious these women must have been ones who were kidnapped by the bandits.

Leokas clenched his hands into fists, he grew angry at the thought of what the bandits did to them. When he looked forward, he saw most of the women gathered around one of them.

She was beautiful with dark blonde hair and gentle green eyes. She had a buxom figure that couldn’t be hidden under her clothes. She wore simple clothing to move in with a green mantle.

Clothing? It seemed the bandits didn’t touch her.

Her eyes showed that she was nervous, but she kept her body strong, protecting the women around her.

When she noticed Leokas she gave out a hateful glance and pointed at him with a…flute?

“Y-you! What d-do you want?!” she shouted out.

Leokas noticed the women looked cautious around him and realized they think he must be one of the bandits.

Quickly, he turned around to show his cape. It was red and had a silhouette of a griffin on it, the symbol of Kandarynd.

“Worry not, I am Leokas Nightwell, Knight General of Kandarynd,” he explained.

It was dark even with Leokas’ torch and the women were unable to properly look at his face. Now that he introduced who he was, they became excited and elated, for they knew who the Knight General was and heard of his kind and humble demeanor.

Immediately, all the women began to cry tears of relief. They gathered around Leokas and thanked him profusely for saving them. They were finally free and were able to return home.

Leokas led the women outside. He yelled for his men to remove their cloaks to help cover the women and keep them safe. Some of them grew wary when they saw the other bandits but quickly calmed down when they saw their hands were covered in a small cloth bag and tied around with rope. Each of the restrained bandits’ hands was attached to another’s using the rope. Knights were by their sides making sure none tried to break free.

While helping the women aboard a carriage, Leokas was confronted by the beautiful flute-carrying woman.

“Thank you for what you’ve done. I pray these women may return to their normal lives. My name is Aria Ashford,” she introduced herself.

When Leokas got a better look at her, he got a better chance to appreciate her beauty. Dark blonde hair flowing past her shoulders, her porcelain white skin was clear and made her look like a doll. Her body had curves in all the right places – even drawing the attention of some of Leokas’ men.

Once everyone was ready, Leokas decided that it was time to set off back to the capital. With that, they began to make their way back. The den wasn’t far from the capital of the kingdom, so they’d be able to make it back before sunset.

Leokas and his men traveled by foot with the restrained bandits in tow. The women were on carriages together covered with blankets and cloaks to help cover them and let them rest. At the front was Leon, and beside him was Aria trotting along.

Although she just recently left the bandit’s den, her attitude was bubbly and carefree. Honestly, it seemed that a lot of the men were interested in her, seeing as most tried to talk to her and get to know more about her. But no matter what, she didn’t seem interested them. The men kept trying but it was clear to them that she didn’t look at them that way.