Meeting

Two days has passed after I left the mansion. And these two days, nothing pretty much happened as I continued travelling through the forest.

While I was in the carriage, I felt bored so I decided to train my stamina.

After hopping through the trees to practice my stamina for a couple of minutes, it wasn't long before I spotted something at the distance.

"A carriage, huh..."

I muttered to myself while placing my fingers to my chin.

The carriage had a lion crest on the side representing the Imperial Royalties. The soldiers outside that was meant to protect the prince, was only numbered as 10 in total, including the driver.

Then, while I was looking at the carriage, I decided to spread my mana onto the surroundings to check if someone was preparing to ambush it.

'I see... 30 bandits in total.'

Like what I've been expecting, there were a big number of bandits trying to ambush it.

In other words, they are surely doomed.

Although the soldiers guarding the carriage was strong, the bandit's seemed to have 3 B-ranks with 6 C-ranks and the rest was either D or E on their side.

After a couple of minutes observing them from a distance, the bandits finally made their moves.

The ten archer from the top of a rocky cliff began aiming their bow towards the surrounding soldier... It seems to me that their plan was to capture someone in the first place as they only aimed their bow to the guards surrounding the carriage.

As if noticing that something was wrong, one of the guards started looking around and stopped after spotting one of the archer just above them.

"It's an ambush!"

One of the soldiers said, while raising his shield to block the incoming arrows heading towards him.

The bandits that was hiding behind the trees began to come out, as they also dashed forward to take advantage of the surprised soldiers.

'I guess that this is already bound to happen in the first place.'

When I saw this scene, I suddenly thought of a classic cliché from every novel, manga and anime I've seen so far.

"Come and take my hand, princess~"

Smiling, the princess took the man's hands and said.

"Yes... My savi-- Enough of this crap!!"

I spew out. Taking out one of the growth potion from my waist, I drank it whole until it was empty.

I hopped down from the tree I was in after the potion took effect as I also took out my sword from my storage ring. Focusing my attention back to the bandits in front of me, I readied my stance.

I should probably take them out in the most harmless way as possible.

But I guess, this fight would be easy.

***

"Protect the prince, no matter the cost!"

One of the soldier said before running forward and slashing his sword downward. His attack managed to break the sword of the bandit, and was sliced on the chest.

Stepping back a couple of meter away from the injured bandit, he suddenly felt a bloodlust on his behind. Turning his heals around, he successfully dodged the sword hairbreadth as he once again took a step back.

Panting, the soldier decided to take a defensive stance, waiting until the backup arrives.

Just when he was about to lose hope, he suddenly felt a regal aura somewhere at the distance.

Looking towards the direction where he felt the aura, the soldiers saw a fox masked man with a long white coat, walking forward as he took out his sword from it's scabbard.

'Who is he...?'

Almost all soldiers and bandits stopped and stared at the man that was seen at the distance.

Three bandits fearlessly ran towards him, but just when they were about few minutes away from the man, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of the bandit leader.

"I guess... that was pretty easy."

After muttering something from himself, the bandits that he went passed by all fell unconscious on the ground.

'What just happened?!?'

All the soldiers thought after they saw the 29 bandits passed out.

***

"Please don't kill me."

The bandit leader fell on his bums as he began to beg, before raising his arms to cover his head.

Pointing the tip of my sword on one of the bandit's neck, I spoke.

"Relax. I'm not a person who kill unless it is needed."

The bandits who heard me all let out a sigh of relief after they heard what I said.

It has only been five minutes after they woked up, but after they remembered what happened they all looked at me fearfully.

When I saw this, I smiled inside my mask, before placing my sword back to the scabbard and putting them inside my storage ring.

"You're not going to kill them?"

The leader of the guards asked.

I shrugged my shoulder and gave the bandits a side glance before answering.

"Meh~ there's no need for that. They're death won't have meaning anyways. Also, aren't you guys gonna apprehend the bandits before they got away."

I said while pointing my fingers to the bandit leader who was trying to escape. The soldier who saw this immediately caught the bandit leader before he could even get away.

The soldier who asked me the question earlier, placed his sword back to it's scabbard before saying.

"I pray that you're naivety won't put you in danger someday... Anyways, I'm Arnold, the Prince's Guard. Thank you sir...?"

"Blanc."

I said, placing my hands back inside my pocket.

"Blanc, for saving his Highness."

He bowed his head slightly. Walking up to the carriage, the man began making sure that his Highness was alright.

"Sigh..."

Letting out a long sigh of relief, the leader of the soldiers began mumbling something to William that I couldn't hear.

Though, I wasn't currently focused to that.

'Naive, huh?'

Yes...

Sure, I'm naive. But, that was all because I lived my twenty-one-year life on a peaceful world, that killing someone was prohibited or illegal.

Well, what I'm currently feeling right now was pretty much natural to be honest.

Like for example. A loner is transferred in a new school that was filled for about an 80% of girls and 20% boys.

What will you do?

Are you going to try to hit with some girls, creating a harem like the other protagonist? Or, are you gonna try to associate with the other boys first?

No... Just a quick reminder to slap you back to reality, you're a loner, right? So, It'll probably take awhile before you could even learn how to associate with the girls, let alone even boys in the first place.

Always remember, it'll take a long time before someone can do something they weren't familiar or used to do in the first place.

Opening the door of the carriage, I saw two children, a boy and a girl that seems to be the same age as I am when I'm not using the potion, walked out, holding each other tightly while looking at me warily.

The boy's coloured hair is aurburn, and it was the same color as his eyes. He wore an elegant and expensive clothes that has a crest of a lion on the right side.

Another thing that made him stand out the most was his delicate face that made him looked more cute than handsome.

Turning my attention to the girl that was holding his right arm tightly, I began examining what she looked like.

The little girl has yellow eyes while her hair was a touch of blonde and pink giving her a tender look with an anxious expression on her face.

She also worn a white dress that has silver patterns in the design.

When I saw the girl's face, my eyes squinted.

'Persia...'

Princess Persia from the Arcanian Kingdom. The little sister of one of the main heroine, Lumine van Ashford.

Lumine also has a little brother, but right now, none of this matters.

'Why is she here?' Is what I wanted to ask, but it didn't take long for me to realize why.

'Right... She's betrothed to him... To Prince William.'

Although the information Chief gave me about William heading back to the Imperial Castle after finishing his business with the Arcanian Kingdom is valid, it wasn't written that Persia will be coming too. So because of this, I was a bit surprised when I saw her with him.

Wait, that's not the most important right now... When I took a quick glance to them, I noticed something... different.

"Umm... Sir? Is there something wrong?"

William said in the most polite tone as possible, while he was looking at me anxiously. When I saw this, it got me thinking.

He's surprisingly innocent... Not only him, Persia was included.

'Eh... They're not like what it was mentioned in the novel.'

Just by looking at them, I could tell that they're quite different from what they were supposed to be in the novel.

In the novel, not long after Arthur killed William and took over the throne, Persia committed s̶u̶i̶c̶i̶d̶e̶ because of depression.

Although Persia was a cold-hearted person in the novel, she truly loved William even though he only wanted power... Talk about one-sided love, haha!

Looking at the two of them holding hands together, I inwardly smirked.

'If William didn't became a Villain, perhaps, these two would probably look good together.'

Anyways, I'm not that really envy when I saw them like this, but instead I pity them.

For William, because of his greed persuading for more power, he became a twisted villain. As for Persia, because of William's own doing, and her feelings for him, she became his most loyal pet that doesn't have the ability to survive without it's master.

Like some people say, 'too much love could end up killing you someday'.