We were trying to get back to the palace as fast as we could. And as we were running towards the palace, Irio looked at me and said,

"Do you think we should trust those kid's words?"

"I don't trust them, but as knights, our duty is to protect the king. And to do that, we need to stay in the palace and ensure the king's safety right now, until the elite soldiers's attack is over. After that, we'll think of something for them."

When we approached the palace, the attention of the soldiers who were attacking the castle was drawn to us. More than half of the troops were headed towards us and were rushing at us to give a counterattack.

But we couldn't stop here.

I quickly took out my sword from its scabbard and started running towards them with my highest speed to fight back.

And while I did that, Brienne with her arrows, Irio with his sledgehammer and shield, helped and attacked the troops with me.

We were trying our best to get inside the castle, even though it felt impossible at that moment.

Then Brienne suddenly shouted,

"They almost killed everyone! We can't hold out much longer at this rate!"

"There is no need to panic! The necessary support for the People of the Sea must have been called in. At such a time, they will be here in a short time. We just need to buy some time until they get here!"

Brienne then looked around and said,

"But Akihiko! How are we going to find the king?"

"The palace is quite large. It would be better for us if we split up. I'll check the great hall. Take a look at the refectory and the throne room. If you find the king and the prince, you know what needs to be done."

"Then whoever finds it will have to go into the secret room and signal that they have found it." Irio added, while taking down an enemy.

"And there's one more thing."

I then looked at them and added,

"Don't go into battle with elite soldier no matter what. You two aren't strong enough."

Then without wasting any more time, all three of us left there, and we set out to investigate the different parts of the palace.

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The view I saw when I walked in was pretty disturbing. The corridors of the palace were covered with blood, there were corpses everywhere. And most of them were our men, even though there were dead enemies lying on the floor.

I wasn't even sure if we could find the king alive anymore.

But after a short walk, I started hearing voices at the end of the hallway. It was similar to a big creature's or an animal's noise and It was making extremely loud noises.

Being the only evidence that I have found, I quickly made my way towards the sound. And as I approached the area where the sound was, I saw a group of soldiers and a giant,

They were with the King, cornering and approaching him slowly.

At that moment, I started to spin around myself and threw my sword into the giant's head, knocking it down. This made the soldiers realize me and they were all focused on me. They all quickly ran towards me and started attacking me.

But I was pushing them with my fists and kicks. I blocked an incoming sword blow with the armor on my wrist, tore the sword apart and I stabbed the soldier with the broken sword in his hand. And as I used him as a human shield, it gave me a couple of seconds.

So I kicked the soldier and made the other ones behind him get knocked out.

I took out all of the enemies after a couple of minutes and I was out of breath.

So I slowly approached the giant, took my sword out, and approached for the king,

"My King, are you all right?" I said while lifting him up.

The King took a deep breath and replied,

"I'm pretty worn out, but I'm fine. I am grateful for what you have done, dear knight."

"It is not a problem at all, Sir. But unfortunately, we don't have any time to be grateful or filled with hatred. We must get out of here."

"I don't care, I need to find my son, I need to...."

"Don't worry about your son. My comrades and I will find him as soon as possible and bring him back to you."

"You don't understand. He's my only family, and if anything happens to him, I-"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to contradict your words."

"You..."

The King was looking at me with a shocked face,

I then looked at him and said,

"The duty of a knight is to be able to protect the king, the prince, and everyone they care about. If I fail to fulfill my duty at such a difficult time, I will never have the right to call myself a knight again. So, no matter what happens, let me do my duty and get back to your room safely, Sir."

The King took a deep breath once more and said,

"Fine, so be it. I trust on you on this one, Akihiko."

"Yes sir!"

As I accompanied the king to his room, I quickly took my position and sent the signal to others.

But I didn't have enough time to wait for the others to arrive, so I left and as I had promised the king I went looking for his son. As long as the others were with the king, I would have to worry about them neither for the king.

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After some time, I have reached the treasure room too. But this time, something more difficult was waiting for me. When I entered the room, it was all broken and smashed. There was no way of going forward because the room was under the rubble.

But as I was leaving the room, I heard a knock from behind the rubble. It was happening once or twice every second, like a hitting sound. It was very unlikely that somebody dangerous like an elite soldier or another soldier was here. Besides, I didn't think they would waste any time here stealing some treasure.

There wasn't also no blood or signs of an attack in the room. It didn't seem like anyone had been here before. I thought maybe it was the sound of stones.

But right at that moment, that was when I saw something.

A person's silhouette.

But surprisingly, It was Princess Mila.