“Hey, careful!” Acma shouted and extended his hand when the rider in front of him scurried backward frantically, trying to get away from him.

But his warning was too late.

The rider was thrown away from the back of the eagle by the winds and free falling.

“Kyaaaaaa... Heeellllllppppp”, she screamed helplessly. Her hands were gaping upwards, trying to grab an invisible rope.

“BASTARD!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!”

Acma looked to his left, but the bird person who were shouting just now already hurried its eagle to catch the falling rider.

That falling rider was Princess Nidhwen.

Acma shook his head a little. He didn’t expect the princess would react that way. When he saw the eagles earlier, he already assumed that they were here to pick him up since Baranduin said that someone will pick him up this morning. Then he saw one of the riders was the princess, so he wanted to joke a little with her because his previous greeting was too rough. That’s why he chose to teleport straight on the eagle’s back and not waiting for them to land.

Maybe it’s a bit too much, he thought.

He jumped and locked his eyes on the princess.

‘TELEPORT’

He reappeared at the princess’ left side and hold her body before stabilizing his position to prevent both of them from rolling in the air. It wasn’t easy because the princess was still panic stricken and didn’t cooperate.

“I got you”, he said after a few seconds of struggling until finally managed to descend horizontally and stably while supporting the princess with his hands.

Her eyes enlarged, but then she tried to scratch Acma’s face and screaming again.

“Tsk”

Acma pulled back his head to avoid Nidhwen’s claw. He looked up. He don’t have much time left.

‘TELEPORT’

They were back on the eagle’s back but Nidhwen didn’t realize it yet and kept struggling, making it hard for Acma to keep his hand steady.

Should he shout at her?

“No”, he rejected the idea.

Should he let her go?

“She might faint from the shock”, he thought. Another rejection.

‘SCREEEEAAAA’

The another eagle flew overhead and its rider jumped down toward Acma. Its right hand grabbed the hilt of its sword and ready to unsheathe. It has a slender body and a height about 1.6 metres tall.

“LET GO OF HER HIGHNESS RIGHT NOW!!”, it screamed.

“Lifesaver”, Acma thought as he smiled faintly when he saw the bird person.

“She’s yours”, he said as he tossed the princess toward the bird person.

“What? ... Hey, wait!!”

The flustered bird person forced itself to ignore Acma and instantly fixed its posture before catching the princess.

“Your Highness, please calm down. You’re safe now. Your Highness, Your Highness”, the bird person knelt on one knee and called the princess repeatedly.

After a while, the princess finally calmed down.

“Thank you, Nurkac”, she said softly.

“Don’t mention it, Your Highness”

Nidhwen swivelled her head until she saw Acma who was kneeling on his left knee with an indescribable face. She can’t tell that the latter was felt guilty or happy. He just looking straight at her without any visible emotions.

Thinking about the man in front of her, he was a headache since their first meeting. He intimidated everyone under her command by displaying that humongous python soul beast. If she didn’t stop El’Tael from annoying this man, without doubt this man would began attacking her troop. The second meeting was the worst. He unhesitant to hit her unconscious. When she finally released the next day, she was told that he used her to threaten his brother’s army. No wonder she felt a great pain on her neck when she woke up.

Last night, she got an order from the Holy Maiden to escort this man back to the Tirion Shrine. The latter’s reason was unbelievable, it’s because she’s the only one among the Guardians that actually knew this man and she was selected to lower this man’s guard. So she flown here with Nurkac this morning while kept telling herself to be positive.

What did he do? He almost killed her again. Although he eventually saved her, he didn’t even show a shred of guilt on his face.

Unconsciously, she turned her head a little while kept staring dagger at Acma. All the memories of her encounter with him kept replying in her mind, really pushed her closer to the fiery chasm of rage. She wanted to explode. She wanted to scream and she wanted to beat him. But she can’t. She didn’t know why. It made her upset. Extremely upset. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she was doing her best to avoid an overflow. Her head and shoulders shook a little but she didn’t avert her gaze.

Looking at the those watery eyes, Acma was slammed by mixed feelings.

This is where I should say sorry, right? Thought Acma while scratching the back of his head a little.

He looked straight into the princess’ eyes and then lowered his head a little.

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I didn’t mean to scare you”, said Acma.

Nidhwen was caught unprepared by Acma’s action and somehow let her tears flowed down.

“Eh?”

She immediately wiped her tears. Luckily for her, Acma still hasn’t raised his head yet.

“Do you think your sorry is enough for what you have done to Her Highness?” Nurkac asked full of hostility.

Acma raised his head.

“It’s really unintentional”, he replied.

“Hmmpphh... Human are really bastard, they really can lie through their teeth. I don’t know why Holy Maiden want to appoint this bastard as a Guardian”, Nurkac sneered.

Acma frowned upon hearing that racist statement.

“Nurkac, don’t”, Nidhwen tried to stop her companion.

“Your Highness, what I said is true. You know how the human was and this man also no different. He purposely suddenly appeared in front ...”.

“Silence! Lord Acma is the guest of Holy Maiden. Insulting him is the same as insulting Holy Maiden herself. Do you understand, Nurkac!” Nidhwen raised her voice.

Nurkac’s face stiffened and slowly it lowered its head.

“I understand. I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness”, Nurkac answered weakly.

“This woman is really unpredictable. She was crying for a moment and shouting at the next moment”, thought Acma.

“You are here to pick me up, right? So, can we go now?” he asked.

“...”

“... Yes, we were ordered by Holy Maiden to pick you up and yes, we can go now. Nurkac”, said Nidhwen with a frown.

“Yes, Your Highness”, replied Nurkac.

Nurkac gave a signal and the eagles immediately changed direction toward the east. Somehow, Nurkac forgot that Acma was supposed to be riding the other eagle.

Acma turned around and admiring the sunrise. He always loved sunrise. In the previous world, whenever he got time, he always climbed the hill at the back of his villa to watch the sunrise. But none of those experiences were comparable to this moment. He was up a few hundreds kilometre in the sky, riding a huge eagle while watching a sunrise with a beautiful elven princess sulking behind him. It felt great.

He turned his attention toward the eagle’s head.

Golden Eagle LVL 463

This is awesome. If I can tame one like this, it would be easier to travel. Travel by air is faster than by land and I don’t know if the aircrafts like aeroplane or helicopter could still be used or not, Acma wondered.

The eagle slowly raised its altitude until it reached a few thousand metres. It supposed to be colder and unbearable up there, but after Nurkac casted sort of a shield magic, Acma felt the effect of the wind disappeared. He turned his head, looking at Nurkac, thinking.

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. I just thinking that the magic you casted just now is really convenience”, Acma replied. Then he looked at Nidhwen.

“Let us introduce ourselves properly”, he said.

Nidhwen nodded once, agreeing with Acma’s suggestion.

Acma turned around and sat crossed legs.

“My name is Acma Heart from Earth. I came to this world six days ago and everything about this world is new to me. I hope we can get along well. I sincerely apologize about what happened earlier. It was totally unintended”

“...”

Nidhwen looked at Nurkac as if she was telling it to introduce itself first, but Nurkac just crossed its hands and pulled its face.

“I’m not introducing myself”, it said.

Nidhwen shook his head a few times before looking back at Acma.

“I am Nidhwen from the House of Ise, 3rd Princess of the Isebial Kingdom. This is Nurkac from the Eagle Tribe”

“Nice to meet you”, said Acma with a smile on his face.

“...”

“Damn, this is so awkward”, thought Acma after both Nidhwen and Nurkac kept their silence.

“Where are we going?” Acma asked, trying to continue the conversation.

“We will be going to Tirion Shrine. That’s where all the Guardians were appointed”, replied Nidhwen reluctantly.

“Good, she replied. Chance. Have to ask more questions”, thought Acma.

“How long it will take?”

“If nothing happened, we will arrive at the shrine the day after tomorrow in the morning”

“That’s quite far”

“Yes, it is”

“Are we going to fly straight to the shrine or are we going to rest somewhere first?”

“We will stop at Ulsenor City this evening and at the Thaneas Fortress tomorrow evening. Then, from the fortress, we will be riding a carriage to the Tirion Shrine the day after tomorrow”

“A city and a fortress. Interesting, I wonder if I’m allowed to sightseeing”, said Acma after nodding a few times.

“That depends on the Mayor of Ulsenor City or the Lord of Thaneas Fortress”

“Oh really? Hmmm.. Then I will have to sneak out if they stop me. I can’t let this opportunity slip away”, said Acma as he rubbed his chin slowly.

The face of Nidhwen and Nurkac immediately darken.

“If you dare to cause trouble, in the name of the Guardian, I will personally cut your head”, Nurkac said grimly.

Acma raised his head and looked at Nurkac. He smiled provokingly.

“You want to cut my head? I’m sorry, but you’re not worthy”, said Acma dismissively.

“What did you say!”

“Nurkac!”

“Yes, Your Highness”

“Lord Acma, I will ask the mayor to give you the permission and assign a few guard to accompany you sightseeing”, Nidhwen gave her words.

Acma smiled faintly.

“Thank you, Princess Nidhwen. I appreciate your help”

“...”

“Tell me about the Guardian”, Acma asked after a while.

Nidhwen didn’t immediately answered. She took a deep breath and then looked at Acma.

“The Guardian is an organization affiliated to the Sacred Forest and they received orders solely from the Her Eminence Holy Maiden who was appointed by the Sacred Forest. However, the Guardian always keep a close relationship with the Isebial Kingdom. Since they were tied to the Sacred Forest, the standing of the Guardians in the kingdom are much higher than the Knight of Forest. Each of the Guardian is qualified to command between 300 to 1000 Knight of Forest”

“What did they do?”

“As their name implies, they guard the forest from anything that the Holy Maiden considered as a threat”

“...”

“Are human considered as a threat too?” Acma asked.

“...”

“I accept your silence as a yes. It’s mean that I’m going to Tirion Shrine right now is a suicide”, said Acma.

“No, that’s not true”, Nidhwen quickly denied.

“Then, what is the truth?”

“Her Eminence Lady Kylana didn’t give any opinion about the human from Earth yet and she didn’t gave any orders regarding them in these few days”, Nidhwen answered.

“Is that why she didn’t order the knights to kill the Boulder Town residents?”, Acma pondered.

“If the Holy Maiden didn’t view us as a threat, then why your brother was so quick on attacking us?”

“Prince Iandithas isn’t a Guardian”, Nidhwen gave a vague answer.

“Then why he attacked us when the Holy Maiden didn’t considered us as a threat?” Acma questioned.

“I don’t know”, Nidhwen replied while looking somewhere else.

“...”

“...”

Acma was stupefied and stared dumbly at Nidhwen.