Back On The Road
"I already told you, I ain't know nothing." said the captured bandit.
"Oh really? How about we make a little bet?" Louis asked.
Over to the side, Cruz lowered her head in embarrassment, murmuring.
"Oh no..not this again."
She knew what he was going to attempt. And she knew that he was going to win.
"A bet? Go on, Ima listening." said the captured bandit.
"If I can guess the color of your underwear, you'll tell me everything? If I'm wrong, I'll let you go like nothing happened?"
"Aye, I have no clue why you're interested in a man's underwear, but I'm all for it. Go on. Guess."
Louis smirked and snapped his fingers.
"Abrakadabra! BEHOLD, my super magic trick. You are wearing…...No underwear? Oh…" a sweat ran down Loui'ss cheek as he scratched the back of his head.
The bandit's jaw dropped in supprise.
"What!! How the hell you guess dat?!"
"It was just a hunch." Louis stated.
"Hella accurate for just a hunch!"
Louis took a seat, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm just a really good guesser. Now, give me my info. Did anyone by chance, tell you to come here? If so, give me a name."
The entire day, there was always something getting in Louis's way. It almost felt like someone was trying to stop them from reaching the town of Hilidor. This was his hunch.
"All I know is that some sketchy guy told our boss, Jack, that there were some good here. We were running low on valuables so we came. The guy goes by the name of Faust." said the bandit.
"Did you just say Faust?! He told you to come here?!" Cruz asked.
"Uhh, yeah. He did. Why?" the bandit replied.
"That bastard TOLD me where to find valuables too. But NOOOO. I ended up being captured by this Former Royal Knight! And on top of THAT, there weren't any GOODS at ALL."
Louis thought back when he remembered a bandit threatening a kid and asking for goods. But, the village ended up not having any goods anywhere.
'Same guy named Faust and he told both camps of bandits where to find supposed goods. Was it just coincidence or Is Faust trying to stop me and the knights from going to Hilidor?'
Considering how there weren't any good in this village or back at the carriages, Louis had a hunch that Faust was trying to slow him down. But why?
"Told you. Your trustworthy source isn't so trustworthy." said Louis.
"I know. I really should've listened. But how was I supposed to know you weren't pulling stuff out of your ass?" Cruz asked.
Louis shrugged, "I dunno. But attacking knights isn't a good idea either way."
Walking over, came an older man, "Sir, Knight. Earlier, you did an incredibly good deed, saving our village from the bandits. Though, some of us did lose our homes."
"I'm sorry about that. Maybe If I was faster I could've prevented that." Louis replied.
Though his hunches predicted a lot of events, they couldn't quite predict everything.
"You did well, considering none of us lost our lives. Let's consider it a win. The downside is now, the village is running low on supplies, so we can't do much for a reward. But if there's anything you need, we can at least try to help."
The old man's offer was good enough, Louis decided to ask about transportation.
"Actually, me and some of my other knights got stranded after our carriages were destroyed. We were hoping there was a horse or two you can lend us."
"A couple horses? We can do that. We have many horses. Luckly, the bandits didn't do anything to harm them."
"That's good. But if you don't mind, I want them right away. We kinda need to head back." Louis explained.
The old man looked up at the dark sky, where many stars shined. Their only sources of light were lanterns that were hanging in important areas.
"Are you sure you two don't want to stay the night? You never know what might be roaming."
"I'll be alright. I do have the other knights waiting."
"I suppose it was dumb of me to worry. You did just single handedly deal with the bandits. I'll go get the horses, wait here." The old man walked off.
Everything was going good. Now that horses were on the way, the only thing left to do was repair the carriages.
"What are we going to do with that bandit you left alive?" Cruz asked.
"Oh him? We'll just feed him to some monsters." Louis replied.
"Wait what!??" The bandit squirmed, trying to free himself from the ropes around him, but failed.
"Relax. I was joking. But, now that you mention it, what am I going to do with you?" Louis asked.
He then leaned close to the bandits face and asked another question.
"If I do for some reason let you go, you won't come back to do anything bad to the village. Will you?"
"N-No, I won't. I swear it on mah life." The bandit shook his head.
"Well that settles it. You're free to run off as soon as I let you go."
Louis cut the rope, letting the bandit sprint off into the distance.
"Aha! I'm free!"
It was one less problem on their hands. But, Cruz didn't enjoy the idea of letting him go.
"Is that a good idea? What if he's lying and does come back?"
"It'll be alright.. Spotting a liar is..."
"..One of your abilities. I know." Cruz sighed.
The old man came back, holding a rode that was attached to the horse.
"Here, you can have these horses right here. They're not the fastest, but they'll get the job done."
The old man placed the rope into Louis' hands.
"Thank you. This helps a lot."
"It's the least we can do." said the old man.
Louis hopped onto the horses back.
"Do I get to ride the other one?" Cruz asked.
"Nope. You can just get in back of me. I can't have you running off with a free horse." Louis replied.
"Fine." Cruz pouted, before sitting behind Louis on the horse.
The old man wished them farewell, "Take care. Sir, Knight."
"You too." Louis replied.
He softly kicked the horse's sides, letting it know it was time to get going.
As him and Cruz disappeared into the distance, the old man waved them goodbye.
_________
In only 15 minutes, they were back at the carriages.
"I'm sorry I took so long." said Louis as he hopped off the horse.
"It's no problem. We've been holding out just fine." the knight replied.
Louis decided to mention the encounter with Jack.
"We ended up having an encounter with that canceler you told me about."
"You did?! Did You survive?" The knight asked.
After a couple moments of silence, he realized the stupidity of his question and admitted, "Nevermind. That was a pretty dumb question of me to ask."
Louis shrugged, "Actually. I didn't survive a couple of times. He killed me twice."
"Wait Whaaat?!! THEN, am I talking to a GHOST???!"
Louis shook his head with a smirk and explained.
"No. I'm still alive. Resurrection is one of my abilities."
"So then you're a ZOMBIE????!!!!" The knight asked in amazement.
Clearing his throat, the knight went back to being serious, "All jokes aside. I'm glad you're fine. I'll take the horses off of your hands. If you can, repair the carriages, please."
"Got it." Louis replied.
As he went over to the carriages, he saw just how bad the damage was.
The one he had ridden in, had chunks of wood torn off of it and the wheels were even missing. The second carriage only had small craters and 1 missing wheel. This way something that could be fixed easily be Louis's repair magic.
Aiming his palms at the carriages, he began chanting.
"Nature Hear My Call And Repair The Objects In My Sight with a sturdy, wooden material."
The carriages slightly hovered above the ground, surrounded by a blue light. Anyone who hadn't seen this advanced magic before would think that they were witnessing a miracle. Slowly, wheeled appeared, replacing the missing ones and every inch of damage was gone.
Tmp!
The carriages gently landed back on the path.
Louis looked at the knights and gave them the news.
"Start rounding up the bandits and put them in carriages. They're fixed now. We can getgoing right away."
"We're on it!"
In mere minutes, all the bandits were placed in the carriage behind, along with a knight watching them. However, Cruz stayed with Louis in the front carriage.
The horses started moving, bringing them on their original path.
Cruz shifted her gaze onto Louis and apologized.
"Hey. About attacking you earlier. I want you to know I'm sorry. Even after I did all that and caused most of your knights to die, you still protected me from Jack."
"I only did my job. Nothing more." Louis replied.
"I know…"
"When you get down to the jail, try not to worry too much. Since you're still young, they might try to work something out with you to actually seek a new path of life."
Cruz looked out the window of the carriage, softly resting her sight on the moon's soothing light.
"I will keep that in mind."