Ch 7: Execution?

"Save me here right now... And I'll repay you with my life...!" Declared the blue-haired man.

"4..."

"Save you? Mhmmm, should I...?"

"3..."

"Yes! I still have yet to achieve my goal... I cannot die here now because of these bastards framing me! Save me and I will owe you my life!

"2..."

"You seem pretty strong! If I save you will you join me on my journey?" Asks Lequiss.

"1..."

The blue-haired man clenches his teeth "I solemnly swear...!"

"I'll follow you till the end of the world!! Will that suffice?!" Screamed the blue-haired man at the top of his lungs, Loudly declaring to everybody present.

Everybody present was surprised by his sudden declaration and soon confused.

"What?" "What did he mean by that?" Mumbles in the crowd.

Even The fat man was surprised and left dumbfounded but it stopped him from pulling the lever.

While everybody was in total confusion, a sudden laugh slowly emerged in front of the crowd. "Ahahaha!"

Lequiss leaps up on the platform and places his hand on his sword, ready to swing.

"Hahaha! That's plenty enough!"

"W-What?! Who the hell are you?!" Surprisedly asked the fat man.

The two other people besides the blue-haired man were also shocked to see what was happening.

Eilda stops to look at him. "What?! Lequiss?!"

"What's going on?" "Who's that kid?" "Why did Jildelmn yell that?" Murmurs of the crowd.

"Hey boss, isn't that the kid right there?" Fylo points at Lequiss while tapping Mihikolo's head.

"H-Huh? What do you mean? Where? I don't see him?" Mihikolo turns to look at what Fylo's pointing at but he's too small to see.

"Right there boss!" Fylo lifts up Mihikolo to his height.

"Ohhh! You're right! That's Lequiss! You can easily tell from the crown and the sword! ...But what's he doing...?"

Lequiss unsheathes his sword, revealing a magnificent-looking blade, with full-on black edges and a red line in the center of the blade going from the hilt to the tip of the blade. upon unsheathing his sword, he takes a full diagonal swing above him, cutting the post where the ropes are tied though the noose was still on the neck of the three.

"W-W-What the hell are you doing?!?!" Frantically asked the fat man.

"Ahahahah! You already heard him! He promised it, didn't he? I have to save him now!" Joyfully said Lequiss with a big grin on his face.

"W-W-What?!" Anxiously asked the fat man looking perturbed at the situation.

"Ah..." "AHHHH!!" "Jildelmn has been let loose!" "Everybody Ruuun!!!" "Someone let Jildelmn escape!!!" The crowd went crazy and started to run amok in all directions trying to run away.

"E-Everybody calm down! We the Vaskard will handle this situation!" Said the fat man trying to calm everybody down.

The people running around crazily did not hear a single word uttered by the fat man and still went running amok trying to escape.

"G-Gwards! What are you doing?! Cease him! A-And don't let the criminals escape!!" Commanded the young kid pointing at Lequiss while cowering behind his father.

The guards blocking the crowd turn around and are now surrounding the platform, more guards come in from behind the platform and go up to confront Lequiss. The guards point their swords at him.

"Kid! Surrender now and get away from that criminal!" Said one of the guards slowly approaching Lequiss.

"Kid, What're you going to do now? We're getting surrounded and my hands are still tied up so I can't do anything..." Asked the blue-haired man.

"Mhmm, you're right! What else can I do...?" Lequiss sheathes back his sword and starts to think with his hand on his chin.

The guards take notice of this and look at each other confused but then decide to rush in to attack the kid, they all pull back their swords ready to swing at him.

"Kid! Watch out!" Yelled out the blue-hair man.

Lequiss hears him but decides to ignore his yell and kept thinking until his eyes widen as if signifying that he thought of something. Lequiss sees the guards about to swing at him and suddenly raises one of his legs.

The guard takes a swing at him and in response, Lequiss stomps down his leg. *Crack*

*CRASH*

The whole wooden platform was destroyed in an instant, dust immediately covers the area. The guards that were surrounding the platform takes a step back and covers their eyes from the dust and some of the people running around stop to see what happened.

"W-What's happening?! What the hell just happened?!"

"Woah! I didn't think the whole thing would collapse!" Lequiss's voice can be heard inside the dust.

*Cough* *Cough* "W-Why did the platform suddenly collapse!?" Said the fat man lying on his ass on the ground, he looks around and sees nothing but dust, he turns around and sees his son lying down behind him knocked unconscious. The fat man quickly turns to his son, kneels down and gently tries to wake him up. "Son! Son! Are you okay?! Wake up!"

The dust starts to dissipate around them and everything becomes clear. The whole wooden platform from before has now turned into two collapsed sides of the previous platform, split from the middle. The guards that were about to swing at him before are now lying beneath Lequiss, groaning in pain while holding their stomachs. The blue-haired man also standing with the 2 other people getting executed behind him.

"I saw what you did when the platform was collapsing, you were able to punch every single one of them in their stomachs! ...Couldn't you have thought of something easier than that?!" Fiercely asked the blue-haired man.

"Ahahahaha! Nope!" Joyfully answered Lequiss.

"How dare you! You criminals and you!" The fat man glares at Lequiss.

"Yeah? What do you want dumpling?" Taunt Lequiss.

"W-What?! Dumpling!? How dare you insult a Vaskard?! Guards! Get them already!!" The fat man orders the remaining guards that were previously surrounding the platform. The guards point their sword at the two and slowly approaches them.

"LEQUISS!" Yelled out by someone at the distance. Lequiss, The blue-haired man, the fat man, and even the guards get distracted and turn to see who yelled out and it was Eilda.

"LEQUISS AND MIHIKOLO! GO BACK TO THE ROOM!" Yelled out Eilda.

"Huh, is that Eilda yelling?" Calmly Asked Mihikolo squinting his eye in Eilda's direction while the crowd around him is running around crazily.

"Yeah, boss. She wants us to go back to the room in the inn." Answered Fylo.

"The room? Why the room? Shouldn't we just escape the City while all these people are running around?" Wondered Mihikolo while looking at the people running around crazily.

"Okay!" Lequiss yelled out in response, Eilda heard it and begins to run back.

"Who was that, kid?" Asked the blue-haired man.

"I forgot her name but she really wanted to join me on my journey, so she's with me now! Though I don't remember saying yes." Answered Lequiss.

"Oh no no, don't think you can escape! Guards! What are you doing!? Capture them!" Angrily ordered the fat man.

The guards looked at each other and nods at each other.

"Hey kid, help me with this rope." Request the blue-haired man.

"Yeah, okay!" Lequiss swiftly slashes the rope with his sword dodging his hands, cutting the rope, and freeing the blue-haired man's hands.

The guards no longer approached slowly and instead decided to lunge at the two about swing or pierce them.

"Thanks for that, one last thing, can you take care of those two behind me for a bit?" Request the blue-haired man.

"Mhmm, okay!" Answered Lequiss as he walks towards the two behind the blue-haired man lying down, breathing heavily.

"Then as a thank you, I'll take care of these people." Said the blue-haired man as he removes the noose on his neck, he then looks below him and sees a thin long wood almost as long as a pole on the ground. He picks it up and says "This'll do."

He walked towards the guard with no fear and one of them gets close enough in front of him to slash him, the guard readied to swing his sword at him.

!!!

"W-What?!" Exclaimed the guard.

"What's wrong? Why didn't you slash hard enough?"

The sword was immediately stopped by the long wood before he could even swing. The other guards were also getting close so he kicks the one in front of him, making the guard fall. He spun the long wood quickly and it stops the other guards from getting closer.

"What do we do?" "How do we get close?" Asks some of the guards.

"What're you fools doing!? It's just wood! You all have swords! Just cut it or something!" Screamed out the fat man.

Two guards take the initiative to swing at the wood each right and left but as they swung at him, he stops spinning the long wood and backs off, and when they still haven't recovered from their swing, he immediately holds the long wood horizontally and runs towards them and shoves the long wood unto both their necks and lets go of it then immediately kicks the center of the long wood before it fell, the two guards flew back from the impact but the kick also broke off the long wood into two short pieces.

"Oh, It broke..." Disappointly said the blue-haired man.

He picks up the two pieces of the previous long wood and looks at it. "I'm not really into dual wield and these are too short..."

The remaining four guards saw that he broke his weapon and took this chance to attack, all of them rush in at him. The blue-haired man sees this and throws one of the wood directly at one of the guard's head, rendering him unconscious. Two of the guards swing at him one by one.

Slash.

Pierce.

Thrust.

One by one the blue-haired man swiftly and efficiently dodges all their attempts to slash him and when they were done with their barrage of attacks, he forcefully takes one of the guard's arms and swings him towards another guard, making them collide with one another.

"Uhrk!" The impact was so great both the guard spat out in pain.

The blue-haired man releases the guard's arm and immediately went off to another guard, the guard couldn't react and just closes his eye from fear and blindly swings his sword. The blue-haired man stops in front of his blade, it didn't reach him at all as he just stood there. "D-Did I get him...?" Said the guard as he opens his eye and sees the horrifying man right in front of him.

The blue-haired man slowly places the wood on his chest covered with armor and thrusts it.

The guard was knocked back from the impact.

The blue-haired man was left standing there with the guards beneath his feet, some of them groaning in pain and some of them knocked unconscious, and the crowd still running amok in the back.

"Kghk!" The blue-haired man kneels down from the pain.

"Haah, Haah." Breathe heavily the blue-haired man. He looks at his arms filled with cuts and bruises. "I guess just this much is already too much for my body right now..."

"NOW! KILL THAT BASTARD!" Suddenly yelled out the fat man.

The blue-haired man instantly looks back and sees the guard he kicked earlier about to slash down at him.

"Crap! I can't dodge!"

The guard slashes down at him.

Lequiss kicks the guard with his foot and sends him flying, Lequiss stands there looking down at the blue-haired man while carrying both the old man and young boy like luggage in both his arms, both knocked out.

"Ahahaha! You're pretty strong! Whatcha doing on the floor though? wanna get carried too? Ahahaha!" Jokingly said Lequiss.

The blue-haired man looked surprised to see him. "No." He stands up "I'll manage but thank you for saving me again."

"Again? You mean I saved you from the one I kicked?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, I thought you were just picking up something on the floor again and attack him with it."

"No, I could've died if you hadn't kicked him... Anyways why are you carrying those two?"

"Oh these two? They asked me for help and then they passed out, so I'm just carrying them now."

"Help?"

"Yeah! They said something about the basement."

"I see... So they wanted to help the others as well, either way, where are we going now?"

"She said to go back to the room."

"I don't know where that is."

"Oh right, you should just follow me then." Lequiss turns around and starts to walk off towards the crowd.

"Stop!" Yelled out the fat man still kneeling down and holding his son, the two of them stops and looks at him.

"Where do you think you're going?! After all this chaos you've caused, do you still think you can escape!?" Angrily yelled out the fat man.

"And who will stop us?" The blue-haired man glares at him.

The fat man feels the glare and gets scared off "Kgh, D-Don't you dare think you can run after doing this to my son!"

"We didn't do anything to your son though? Who even is your son?" Asked Lequiss.

"You!! What's your name and what's with that crown?! Are you a noble in another country?! How dare you act this way in my City!!" Angrily remarked the fat man.

"Me? My name is Lequiss!" Answered Lequiss with pride.

"Wha?!" Said the blue-haired man dumbfounded.

"So it's Lequiss, huh?! I will hunt you down throughout the entire city! You won't be able to escape!" Angrily said the fat man.

"Let's just go." Said the blue-haired man as he turns around and starts to walk off, Lequiss does the same.

"You'll be hunted! You hear me! Lequiss!!" Yell the fat man as they're walking away.

"Why would you even say your name to him?" Asked the blue-haired man.

"What? He asked for it didn't he?"

"Uh- never mind..."

...

Eilda leaping across the alley with no one around and stops right in front of the inn, she goes in to see Mihikolo and Fylo sitting by the counter with the Innkeeper at the other side cleaning mugs. They turn around and look to see who came in.

"Oh! Eilda you're here!" Said Mihikolo.

"You two are quick." Remarked Eilda.

"Well after getting through the crowd, it was rather easy with how empty the alley is." Said Mihikolo.

"I see, has Lequiss arrived yet?"

"No, you're the second to arrive."

"I see." Eilda walks towards the counter and takes a seat beside Fylo.

"I saw it." Said the innkeeper.

"You did?" Asks Eilda.

"Yes."

"I wasn't planning on doing anything but he acted on his own."

"I see then did you go here knowing who I am?"

"Yes, exactly..."

"I see, well th-"

The door slams open, all of them turn to look who's at the door.

"Oh, sorry bout that, had to kick it since my arms are full." Lequiss walks in carrying two people in each of his arms.

"Ah! Lequiss!" Call out Eilda to Lequiss.

The blue-haired man walks in behind him.

"Pardon the intrusion." Said the blue-haired man.

"And the ones getting executed?" Confusingly asked Mihikolo.

"So you even decided to help them." Said the innkeeper as he put down the mug and gets out of the counter.

"Yeah!" Answered Lequiss.

"Follow me, everyone." Said the innkeeper walking towards the stairs.

Eilda, Mihikolo, and Fylo stand up and everybody follows the innkeeper upstairs, the innkeeper walks through the rooms passing Eilda's room, stopping at the door at the end of the hall, he brings out a key and opens the door. Inside was a spacious room, just a plain room with multiple beds and multiple chairs with some drawers beside the beds.

"Lie them there."

Lequiss lays each of them on a bed of their own beside each other, the innkeeper takes one of the chairs and places it beside the bed then opens one of the drawers beside the old man and reaches in for something, he took out a medicine kit and sits down in the chair. He takes out a bottle and some bandages, he tosses them to Eilda.

"Here, you know how to apply these right?"

Eilda catches it. "Ah, yes."

"Apply it to that kid and the man over there." Said the old man looking at the blue-haired man. The rest of them takes a chair and sits down.

The innkeeper starts applying the medicine to the old man, Eilda begins to apply it to the young boy as well. "Kid." he calls out to Lequiss without looking at him.

"Hm?"

"I'd like to thank you for stopping that tragedy from happening."

"Tragedy? What tragedy?" Asked Lequiss

"The execution." Answered the Innkeeper.

"What? Why would it be a tragedy? It was an execution of criminals, right? Wasn't everyone celebrating it?" Confusingly asked Lequiss.

"So you mean you saved them even knowing that they're criminals?" Asked Mihikolo.

"Aren't you criminals too? You stole from Mister Mixsoup or something, didn't you?! Ahahahah!" Retorted Lequiss, Mihikolo seems a bit angered.

"No. I'm Innocent." Said the blue-haired man interrupting Lequiss's laugh.

"Wait Wait, why are you even here? Weren't you about to get executed?" Asked Mihikolo.

"Ah, I haven't introduced him yet? This is uh, umm. What was your name again?"

"My name is Jildelmn Voncratus and like I said I'm innocent."

"What do you mean Innocent? The people were calling you a criminal right?" Asked Lequiss.

"No, I'm definitely innocent. I came to this city last week because I heard there was someone strong that uses a spear here and when I finally found him, I challenged him to a duel but when he accepted, suddenly the son of the mayor appeared and I was then suddenly jumped by about 30 guards including the man with the spear... They captured me and then when I was down there, I was falsely accused of a killing spree." Explained the blue-haired man.

Mihikolo, Fylo, and Lequiss were shocked by this which can be seen by their faces while Eilda and the innkeeper were unfazed and kept applying the medicine.

"W-What...?!" Shockingly asked Mihikolo.

"That's right, It's a tragedy because most of the people getting executed are innocent people, not criminals... They mix in actual criminals with people who have been falsely accused without doing anything but nobody will know that... These executions are just a means of a way for the Vaskards to deal with people they don't like while making it seem that they're doing good..." Said the Innkeeper calmly.

Mihikolo and Fylo were speechless to their shock while Lequiss was speechless but his face looked like it was filled with anger

"B-But that still doesn't explain why people would celebrate an execution!" Said Mihikolo.

"That's because these executions scare most people resulting in lesser crimes in the city and with a lower crime rate, the happier the people right?" Explained the innkeeper.

"B-But wait, how do you know all of this?" Curiously asked Mihikolo.

"Because..." The innkeeper stops for a moment

"I was a Vaskard as well."

Everybody was surprised by this.

"W-Wait, you're a Vaskard?! Then aren't you one of the enemy as well?!"

Lequiss, Fylo, and The blue-haired man immediately stand up and takes a stance, Lequiss holding the hilt of his sword, wary of the innkeeper.

The innkeeper still calmly applying bandage to the old man says "Calm down everyone, like I said, I 'was' a Vaskard but I'm no longer one."

The three not letting loose of their stance.

"What...?!" Asked the blue-haired man with an intense gaze.

"Yes, that's right. I'm no longer a Vaskard, I was once Hans Vaskard the brother of Fattah Vaskard but I threw away the Vaskard name in the shame of being the same with them..."Explained the Innkeeper.

"So you threw away your nobility and became an Innkeeper?" Asked The blue-haired man.

"Yes." Answered the innkeeper.

Lequiss lets go of his sword and the two follow and lets loose of their stance."Ahahaha! Why didn't you say so, I thought you were like that dumpling earlier."

"Sorry to startle you like that but please don't compare me to him."

"But wait that doesn't make sense... How would no one know he's a Vaskard? The Vaskards rule this city, right? Then how could nobody recognize the brother of the mayor?" Asked Mihikolo.

"That's because I was presumed dead. While I was constantly trying to make my brother stop the meaningless execution of the innocents, he must've had enough of me and tried to kill me but I escape with an inch of my life and was saved by some citizens whose families were executed and knows what's happening but can only keep quiet because they can't do anything..." Explained the innkeeper.

"You were presumed dead?! So everybody in the kingdom knew of your death! ...But still, how could no one recognize you?" Asks Mihikolo.

"Because it was 10 years ago. I had grown out a beard by then and had gotten bigger... Either way, you people are lucky, I don't how the young lady over there knows me but right now you've escaped their eyes by hiding here, there must be a ton of guards or knights outside in every part of this city looking for you, Fattah holds a grudge quite well and will try to repay it no matter what. So what will you do?" Said the innkeeper.

"Hehehe! What can he do to these?" Lequiss holds his shoulder and flexes his muscle.

"Yeah, that's right. How do you know him Eilda?" Asked Mihikolo.

"I don't know him personally, I didn't even know that he was a Vaskard but I knew him as The Mysterious White Hooded Man." Answered Eilda.

"I see, so It was that you knew me by." Said the Innkeeper.

"I've heard of that nickname before, I think...?" Said Lequiss.

"That's right, the mayor mentioned it earlier when I was about to get executed. He said that hopefully, the mysterious white hooded man won't interrupt this year." Said the blue-haired man.

"What did he mean by that?" Asked Mihikolo.

"The White Hooded Man, that's in front of you right now has been stopping a lot of the executions from occurring though not all of them..." Answered Eilda with a saddened face.

"What's wrong? You seem sad." Concernedly asked Lequiss.

"Yes, I'm a bit saddened remembering what happened." Answered Eilda.

"What did happen?" Asked Lequiss.

"When I first came here, I was pretty lost and knew nothing about the city until I met some kind folks who helped me throughout my stay, though I could not call all of them friends but one particular little girl was quite close to me, she was about 8 years old and when I was about to leave, some of the folks I knew were captured by the Vaskard without reason, even the little girl, the next day the annual execution began and the ones captured were all hanged... I saw it... I saw them but I didn't do anything...! Everybody was cheering while a little girl was hanged...! The white hooded man did not show up until the third day..." Said Eilda with a saddened look but no tears in her eyes.

"I didn't know Eilda had that kind of history with this city..." Said Mihikolo.

"I'm sorry..." Said the innkeeper.

"No, it's fine... At least you saved the rest, that day." Said Eilda.

The atmosphere took a sudden shift with everybody silent...

"But anyways, what do you think we should do now, Lequiss? Should we make a run for it and esca-"

"AH!"

The young boy that Eilda was tending to suddenly awoke with a shout.

*Huff* *Huff* The young boy looks around, sees their faces surprised, and recognizes Lequiss.

The young boy gets up, quickly runs to Lequiss, and tightly grips his shirt. Lequiss surprised by this couldn't react and just looks at the young boy.

*Sniff* Sniff* The boy looks at Lequiss, nose with snot, eyes filled with tears.

"Please! Save them... Please save my parents!!!"

?!?!