Chapter 4: A street rat for a knight

Regret was the only emotion that plagued my mind at this very moment. Regret that I ever left the castle. Regret that I decided to run away from my guards, thinking that I could finally explore the city now that I had created my mana core and ultimately regret that I wasn't strong enough to do anything to defend myself from those stronger than me.

"Help" I gave out a moaned whisper of pain while I sent a hateful glare at my captors. They were two men that could only be described as ugly with hopelessly disfigured faces that not even a mother could love and large, bloated stomachs that emitted a scent similar to that of a pig.

"Will you shut your trap already! Nobody's going to find you here, girly!" One of the men snarled. His voice was raspy and filled with undisguised lust that sent a shiver of disgust down my spine.

I didn't like this. I didn't want any of this! Why did this have to happen to me? Why did I think I could leave the safety of my guards? I'm such an idiot. I hate this. I hate this. Tears started to rapidly stream down my face, their salty contents burning my pale white skin with their heat.

"Eh, don't cry, little miss. We don't want to ruin your beautiful face before we've had a taste of it, now do we?," The other man teased While I felt an unfamiliar wet sensation press up against my cheeks that forced my squinted eyes open in shock, a motion I would soon regret as my eyes fell upon the scene of one of the man's tongues firmly plastered against my cheeks drinking my tears as if they were the finest of elixirs.

"AHHHH!! HELP ME!!!!" I screamed in horror, 'what's wrong with these people? Do they not know that I'm the youngest daughter of the Zepar household? When I go back home, I'll make sure to have them killed,' I childishly thought, not realising that if this situation prevailed, I might have never returned to my family.

"Will you shut up already, you whiny bitch!" The man that had previously spoken yelled with raised fists.

"Help," I called out one more time, my mind already having been plunged into a pit of despair that no nine year old should have had to experience. 'Someone save me….please, someone save me,'. And it was then I heard it. The sound of muffled footsteps that grew ever louder filled my ears as my mind started generating delusions of hope.

'Is someone there! Will they save me!' I thought my thoughts momentarily pulled out of my well of despair while my eyes moved away from the disgusting display of my assailants and made their way towards the source of the noise, where they fell upon…. A street rat?

Walking towards me was a boy or was it a girl? I have no clue with hair like that, younger than myself. He was barely a meter tall and wore a dyed pink piece of cloth that stretched around his tiny body like a toga. His face was nothing exceptional with cheeks that stuck to his bones and dirty brown eyes that sparkled with 'Determination'. His steps were shaky and lacking in confidence, yet they moved forward, heading closer and closer in my direction.

And it seems like I wasn't the only one who noticed this child as one of my captors soon raised his eyes off of my body and sent a friendly glare that brimmed with undisguised malice towards the child. "Are you lost, little buddy? Want me to help you?" The fat man questioned as he moved away from my body and took a step closer towards the boy.

And that was when I saw it. A sparkle of metallic light peeked out from the man's clenched hand. 'He has a knife! He's going to try and kill that kid!' I screamed. My mind suddenly pulled away from my despair and pushed into a state of panic for the seemingly curious child.

"Run awaMMmmm MMm!" I yelled a warning only to have my words cut off mid-sentence as my lips were soon sealed via the greasy palm of the man that remained behind. "Shh," His lust-filled breath pressed against my ears while my body trembled in rage. 'That kid's going to be killed because I couldn't keep my mouth shut! ' I inwardly whined as my eyes resumed their prior tearful state.

"Hey, mister, what are you doing to that pretty lady?" The boy suddenly spoke, his voice soft yet melancholic as if it had already experienced the worst of the world and had long since given up on life. Of course, this was all an act employed by Arthur to drop the fat man's guard while also earning sympathy from Charlotte.

"Oh, we're just playing with her. Do you have friends that you like to play with?" The man answered his voice a disgustingly sweet tone that would make the most hardened warrior vomit with its fakeness.

However, the boy seemingly didn't pick up on this as he just gave a meek nod in response. "No…my friends are all gone," Arthur replied, his voice seemingly numb to the world. Though this part wasn't him acting, his friends really were all gone, and he only realised this after hearing the man's question. "But I don't think that girl wants to play with you, mister," He continued raising an outstretched finger towards the struggling figure of Charlotte who's tears could have filled a pool.

'Why isn't he running away?! Can't he tell that he's bad news!' Charlotte inwardly screamed her beautiful emerald green eyes, now a bloodshot red. "Eh, why would you think that? Can't you see that we're just play fighting?" The fat man responded, shocked by Arthur's sudden statement. 'I have to deal with this brat quickly before he decides to make a run for it,' He commented upon seeing how Arthur had begun to slowly inch away from the two, a clear sign that he was possibly going to retreat and ask for help.

'Holy shit, this is terrifying! How the fuck do other reincarnators do this shit like it's nothing!' Arthur inwardly screamed, his eyes ever trained on the possible aggressor as he continued to keep up his innocently childish curiosity. "Hey kid, why don't you come a bit closer and play with us?" The fat man whispered, interrupting Arthur from his thoughts

"How about we play something else?" Arthur quickly replied, his mind a whirl of chaotic thoughts as he suppressed the rapid beating of his heart and the adrenalin that was pumping in his veins. His situation right now was dangerous, and he knew it. With one wrong move, not only would he get himself killed and have to experience his eternal torture early, but Charlotte could also possibly die.

'Why won't he just run away already? Has he still not realised that he's about to die!!' Charlotte wailed while her heart gave an irregular thud of sadness towards the poor boy who would soon meet his end.

+30 Love

+3000 Affection

Upon reading through the small notifications that flashed through Arthur's eyes, he felt the adrenaline in his body slow. 'It's working,' Arthur hurriedly thought, his mind struggling to come up with a game to play before his eyes fell upon the crying figure of Charlotte once again.

"How about we play Knights!! I'll be the knight, she'll be the princess, and you'll be the monsters that I have to defeat! To free her!" Arthur replied with a smile of childish happiness that perfectly masked the brewing ruthlessness that lay underneath even he wasn't aware of.

All present were momentarily stumped upon hearing Arthur's suggestion while Charlotte felt her heart once again skip a beat. 'What's with this kid? Why isn't he running away already,' Charlotte fumed, a barely noticeable blush forming on her cheeks.

+10 Love

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'Is this kid seriously a fucking idiot! How can he suggest playing a game like that at this time! Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. I can just use this as an opportunity to kill him and break this little girl's spirit,' The fat man cynically thought. "Sure, let's play that then," He commented, his sickly smile contorting to a horrifyingly ugly grin that his partner in crime soon imitated.

'Disgusting,' Arthur dryly thought, his body falling into a lax stance as his eyes rested upon the figure of the "Monster" he had to defeat.

The glint soon resurfaced in Charlotte's eyes as the man's sausage-like fingers danced around the hilt of the knife for a second before firmly grasping its soft leather handle. 'I need to warn him!' Charlotte inwardly stated, readying her vocal cords for another round of screaming.

"Mhmm, MHMMMM!!" Charlotte yelled in warning, and for once, the boy actually looked at her, though instead of sporting a face of fear that she wished he would wear, he instead had a joyful smile plastered on his face.

"Just sit there and wait, princess. This knight is coming to save you!" Arthur announced, giving the girl his most charming smile while he inwardly vomited at his own words. 'Cringe, this is so fucking cringe, Err, I was fine saying this type of shit when I played the game; however that was because I could create a character to play as, but it's so cringe to say this stuff in real life,' Arthur winced though it seems like his words had the effect, he expected them to have as soon another two panels that announced Charlotte's raising love greeted his field of view.

+20 Love

+2000 Affection points

{The host has gained a new comment under {Charlotte Zepar's} Love Meter}

{Why won't he run away?}

'Trust me, I'd love to run away but doing that at the moment is paramount to suicide,' Arthur sighed. "So, are you going to play knight or not?" The fat man snapped, interrupting Arthur from his thoughts. 'Yeah yeah, I'm coming now,' "Sure, Mister, let's start," Arthur retorted, his smile morphing into a face of childish determination that amused the man.

'This kid seems to get really immersed in these games, huh' He inwardly commented, reminiscing to a time in his childhood when he too would play such games before he was rudely interrupted by the sudden pitter-patter of footsteps that rushed towards him in a sluggish manner.

'The kid's so slow,' He laughed, not realising that this too was all an act and that Arthur was just biding his time. "Take this, you monster…DIE!!!" Arthur yelled in his childlike voice as he threw a frail punch towards the bloated stomach of the man, who quickly dodged his punch with speed unbefitting his size.

'Oh no!' Charlotte screamed upon seeing the figure of the man blur only to reappear in front of Arthur, his knife finally exposed and poised at the child's neck. "Sorry, Kiddo, but you need to die~" The man offhandedly commented, having fully expected his knife to meet with the soft flesh of Arthur's body.

Yet it met nothing and simply missed the boy's figure who had vanished from sight. "What's going on? Where did he go?" The man quickly questioned. Yet this question was soon answered as the boy's figure stood atop one of the broken houses, his back to the men like some cartoon hero that had come to save the heroine for the nth time this week.

'How'd he get up there so fast?' Was the unanimous thought between the three while the boy in question slowly turned around, the stern face replaced by a broad grin that had no trace of fear from having a knife drawn against him.

'Why didn't he run away! He knows that they have a knife, and yet he chose to stay? Is he really dead set on being a hero?' Charlotte questioned, her cheeks becoming rosier the more she thought about the idiotic child in front of her.

'Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, Holy shit, HOLY SHIT, I almost fucking died!!' Yet this was all a facade. 'Those guys are really going to kill me,' Arthur inwardly screamed as he hopped down from the house back to the ground underneath as he slowly approached the "Monster" again for their second confrontation. 'Calm down, Arthur, deep breaths. You can do this. Even if he might be stronger than me, I still have the element of surprise,'

"Why aren't you running away? You know I have a weapon, right?" The man asked, overcome by curiosity with the child's antics.

"A knight would never leave the princess no matter how fierce the monster that guards her," Arthur smugly responded, repressing the urge to gag at his words while he continued his slow, methodical trudge towards the man to reassume their game of "Knights."

'He's really willing to give up his life to try and save me, even if it's for a game!' Charlotte suddenly screamed, her heart beating faster than it had ever done in its life. 'Awawawa w-w-w what's going on,'

+20 Love

+2000 affection points

'Nice,' Arthur commented upon seeing the sudden increase in points while he finally met with the fat man again. 'This time, you're going to lose~~' He smugly thought with no evidence to back up his claim besides sheer arrogance and his own expectations. 'Let's see if you can keep up with me,' Arthur inwardly teased while his little figure blurred, disappearing from the eyes of everyone present.

'Fast!' The group unanimously thought once again, while the fat man's senses raised as in alert to an unknown danger that would promptly introduce itself to be Arthur's fist.

*Bam!* Arthurs tiny fist plunged itself into the man's rolls of fat, almost getting lost in the meat that seemed to try and consume him. 'Eww,' *Guagh!* The man spat while he stumbled back from the sudden impact. 'So it seems I wasn't strong enough to send him flying,' Arthur sighed he had hoped to defeat the bad guy in one move like some cool superhero from the novels he read.

'Though I suppose that's to be expected, he also has a mana core and probably has quite a lot of endurance,' Arthur commented with another fist in motion that neatly connected with the man's stomach once again though this time it actually had an effect as the man toppled over with a loud thud that shook the ground around Arthur. 'Just how fat is he to be able to make a sound like that?' Arthur joked in an attempt to distract himself from the rising panic that was building in his body.

He had never hit someone prior to this nor been in a fight, so his moves were unpolished and wasteful. If not for his significant advantage with the element of surprise, he would have surely been ohkod at the start of the fight. 'Is he awake, or is he out for the count,' Arthur questioned, moving towards the collapsed figure of the downed man only to have his body instantly shiver in fright when he saw the hatred in the man's eyes along with the sudden motion of hand that contained the glimmering knife.

'He's awake,' Arthur panicked, raising his hands to guard himself against the sudden attack. *Shwing* The knife cut through the air like butter before firmly planting itself into the side of Arthur's left arm, burrowing its way through more than half of the bone before finally coming to a stop.

"ARGHH!!!" Arthur yelled, releasing a gut retching scream that could turn the face of the most veteran of warriors white with fright. For a moment, Charlotte felt her heart stop as her trained eyes stared at the mangled mess of Arthur's left arm. She didn't even know this boy's name, yet he had gone so far as to get this beat up just to protect her. She didn't know what was happening.

To call her disoriented from the sudden whiplash of events would be an understatement, yet she knew one thing… And that was that she wanted this boy to live….No, she didn't want him just to live. She wanted him to live and never get hurt again, and to her immature mind, there was only one way this would be possible.

'When this is all over, I'll protect him….' Charlotte thought through the emotional turmoil that plagued her mind.

+20 Love

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{Ding}

{Congratulations, the host has reached 100% Love with Charlotte Zepar}

The system announced to the pained Arthur, yet he paid the message no heed as he currently had bigger issues plaguing his mind. 'That fucking bastard!!! AHHHH!!!! This hurts so much!' Arthur inwardly screamed. His left arm dropped limply to his side. The knife stuck in his brittle bone like a makeshift Excalibur.

'I swear I'm going to kill this fat fucking pig!!' Arthur raged, not knowing a better way to vent his anger than returning this pain to its originator. Though the part about him killing was most likely a lie, he still subconsciously refused to take a life. After all, he had been raised in a world where killing was frowned upon and was labelled one of the vilest acts a human could partake in, so no matter how hard he tried to sound tough, he still had a subconscious restriction placed upon him.

"You're dead!!" Arthur was soon interrupted from his anguish by the sudden booming voice of the Fatman underneath, who, much to Arthur's chagrin, was no longer underneath him and had instead reappeared a few meters away from the seven-year-old child.

"Shut up. You monster, just lie down and play dead already. I have a princess to save!!" Arthur screamed, somehow managing to remain in character despite the pain. Immediately after Arthur's words left his mouth, both figures blurred, only reappearing in the midst of their journeys, fist clashed against fist in an almost comical display of strength, with Arthurs might soon faltering against the adult and crumpling in on itself.

"AHH!!" Arthur yelled once again. It seemed like this day was full of nothing but pain for the transmigrated seven-year-old as his humerus was soon forced out of his skin, puncturing the substance like how a toothpick skewers a piece of chicken. "AHHHH!!!" Arthur yelled once again after his eyes took sight of the bone that had halfway left his body and was now spewing blood like a broken fountain. 'What the fuck!!' Arthur yelled more in disbelief than in pain, his mind struggling to comprehend just how brittle his bones were.

"Die!!!" The voice of the fat man resounded in Arthur's childish ears alerting him to the ever-present danger he had placed himself in. Arthur's eyes quickly returned back to the figure of the bloated man, his nostrils flaring both in anger and in repulsion to the overbearing stench that endlessly poured out of his assailant.

With another punch in motion, this time aimed at his head Arthur quickly evaded the first attack falling onto his behind, only to soon find another fist heading straight towards his gut as the man sent punch after punch at the small boy like a steam roller of fists which Arthur only managed to narrowly avoid by using every ounce of strength in his bony legs to push himself out of harm's way.

"Stop!" The man yelled, sending another punch at the child, who narrowly avoided the attack with an impressive head weave. "Stop Fucking…. Dodging," He screamed, his face red with both rage and exhaustion. This fight was the most physical exercise the man had ever done in his life.

"No!!" Arthur screamed in retaliation, forcefully raising his mangled left arm and directing an open palm towards the fat man, who merely scoffed at the sudden gesture. 'Is he surrendering?' He quickly questioned his mind in no state to think too deeply into things nor remember any words that either side had said, and this flaw would prove to ultimately be his downside.

*BOOOMMMM* Like a dam had burst, a torrent of highly pressurised water soon burst forth from Arthur's destroyed arm, shocking the onlookers and terrifying his opponent, who took the attack head-on, hitting him like a ton of bricks, knocking him flat on the ground underneath.

Though having learned from his prior mistakes, Arthur didn't bother to check whether the body was conscious or not and instead opted to go for the overkill approach as a myriad of clumsily made water shaped blades started to float behind the youth in a daunting display of power.

'He's so young, yet he can already use magic!!' Charlotte thought her mind now filled with thoughts with nothing but the boy, whether it be his overwhelming strength, talent, or will to go so far for a girl he had never met before. 'He's my knight in shining armour!' Charlotte blushed upon realising that the childish declaration of the boy was now an actuality. 'He was the one that came to save me in my moment of despair, saving me from the clutches of these monsters…. It must be fate!' Charlotte purred, her mind falling ever deeper into the abyss though this was not one of despair but that of love, a love that would soon prove to be both overwhelming and shocking to her knight, a love that bordered on obsession, a love that Arthur would fear.

+10 Love

+1000 Affection points

"Now stay dead, you annoying monster!!" However, Arthur's childish yell soon interrupted the girl from her borderline horrific thoughts. The water-based creations flew towards their target, where they promptly impaled his flesh, pinning the fat man to the gunked street underneath.

"GAGH!!" The man released one final strangled cry of pain before his mind collapsed under the pain of Arthur's attack. 'Finally~' Arthur sighed, his body no longer bothering to process his pain while adrenaline pumped through his small body, filling what should have long since been a corpse with some semblance of life. 'I only have to deal with this one guy now!' Arthur sighed, not realising that this statement wasn't necessarily true as Charlotte's protectors would soon arrive at this location to save the girl if he failed to free her.

'I should have just done that at the start instead of trying to make Charlotte fall for me,' Arthur sighed, his legs slowly dredging their way towards the other man that had attempted to attack the lone girl.

Yet it seems that Arthur wouldn't even need to fight this overweight piece of scum as the man had already let go of the girl in his grasp and was attempting to flee from the zombie-like figure of Arthur that slowly dragged his body ever nearer to the star-stuck girl.

'What a pussy, he's scared of a child!' Arthur fumed, pissed that he couldn't vent his stored up anger on the other man, but hey, it is what it is. It's not like Arthur even came here for a fight anyway. "You're saved now, princess!" Arthur yelled with a forced smile that failed to concede the pain he struggled to carry.

Charlotte remained momentarily frozen upon hearing Arthur's words, 'that's right, I'm saved,' She breathed, her face exploding into a crimson blush as her eyes stared at the broken figure of the child before her. 'He probably won't be awake for much longer,' She panicked, rushing over to the tipsy figure of Arthur and quickly scooping the child up into her embrace.

'We're so close,' Charlotte blushed her face, now no more than an inch away from her heroes. She could feel his breath lightly graze against her flawless skin, his rhythmic heartbeat that pounded against her arms and more importantly, the heat of his body that filled the girl's heart with a strange unknown sense of comfort.

"What's your name, my knight?" Charlotte questioned in her most dignified voice playing into her role as Arthurs designated princess.

"My name's Arthur. What about yours?" Arthur slowly questioned, struggling to resist the urge to sleep.

"My name is Charlotte," The girl responded with her most beautiful smile that even made Arthur's weary heart skip a beat. 'Dangerous,' Arthur briefly commented.

"Ok, cool, I'm going to sleep now~" Arthur yawningly stated, shocking the young girl who thought that they had just started a conversion though she couldn't blame the boy for giving in to this urge. After all, he was probably both exhausted mentally via his magic and physically by the fight.

"Umu, you can sleep now. Thank you for everything, Arthur~" Charlotte responded, giving her parting words to the boy whose eyelids soon closed as a strained silence that was only broken by Arthur's slow rhythmic breathing soon filled the street that previously echoed with the sound of battle.