“Why is it so loud out here?” suddenly a voice interrupts.

All the people glanced at the direction where the voice came from.

The owner of this voice was a slender looking man with messy shoulder-length hair. He was wearing the military uniform but not any heavy armaments like other guards. He looked pretty worn out and his eyes seemed tired. This guy looked like he just walked out of bed, just now.

The guards seeing this mysterious man suddenly straightened their back. Even the senior guard who was acting all haughty stood in attention after seeing him.

“Captain, we just caught a suspicious person who was sneaking in the capital while smuggling kids. Also, he lied about being a participant in this year’s magic knight exam and even forged a fake letter to deceive us.” explained the senior guard to his captain.

The Captain sleepy eyes widened,

“Wow! That’s too much information to intake at once, I just woke up. I went to take a nap for a while and things just escalated so quickly here.” he took a yawn, “I hope the top officials won’t chew my head for this.”

“Hey! That old fart is full of lies. I am innocent! I came here to take part in the examination and I even showed the letter as proof. Have you, guards have no dignity? How could you just treat me this way! Also, return Ivan and Martha at once!” screamed Sebastian who was now pinned down on the ground by the guards.

The captain noticed Sebastian,

“Hey, slow down! I told that I just woke up. There's so much my brain can handle at once. By the way, you seem to have a good time while being pinned down by the guards. What's with the creepy smile in your current circumstances? Are you perhaps masochist or something?" asked the curious captain.

Sebastian in return responded,

"I am not! I just told that my smile- are you even listening?"

The captain had already ignored Sebastian and turned his attention to the senior guard, “So what’s that you're holding?”

“Oh! This is the hoax letter that I told you about. He forged this letter thinking that we might get in the city.” answered the senior guard.

The captain glances at the letter and reads its contents carefully.

After reading the letter, the captain let out a sigh,

“Let him go,”

The guards were quite astonished after hearing the captain.

“You heard me right, let him go.” the captain restated his orders.

The soldiers obeyed their orders.

Sebastian slowly got up from the ground, while holding onto his shoulder. He had sprained his shoulder when the guards had pinned him hard to the ground. He glared angrily at the senior guard with a wide grin.

“But sir, he’s a very skeptical person, and today we caught him smuggling two kids in the city, red-handed.” added the senior guard.

“That is a load of horse crap! I did no such thing and those two kids you are going about, are my little brother and sister,” answered Sebastian angrily.

All of a sudden, Martha and Ivan rushed to the scene where Sebastian was standing.

They seemed to have escaped from the guards and ran to rescue their brother.

The guards were startled seeing kids running towards Sebastian. The nearby guards tried to capture them. One of the guards managed to capture Ivan but Martha was quick to dodge them and reached Sebastian's side.

Martha stood in front with her arms wide trying to defend Sebastian.

“Girl, what do you think you’re doing?” asked the puzzled Senior guard, “Get away from him at this once.”

“He’s my brother" replied Martha with an angry grunt, "and I won’t let you take him"

Upon seeing Martha's expression, the senior guard was quite baffled. Young Martha despite having a teary-eyed, she had a wide grin on her face.

“Martha… your smile,” whispered Sebastian as he saw her grin.

“They tried to hurt you! We should not let them get away with this,” she responded angrily with teary eyes.

Martha had the same habit of smiling as Sebastian. Children of her age used to tease Martha for the same reason, so she never had any friends. After getting tired of all the teasing, she just stopped expressing emotions on her face entirely. She always had an expressionless face most of the time, but anger was the one emotion she couldn't suppress.

The Captain glanced at the young girl trying to protect her big brother, a smile appeared on his face.

“Well, at least now those siblings look a little alike don’t they.” he replies and starts to walk away, “Send these lads in my cabin, we owe them an apology.”

The senior guard was discontent,

“But sir! What about this letter?”

The captain let out a sigh once again,

“This is an authentic letter of approval by a silver knight from the northern border. So yes, he actually is a candidate for this year’s examination.”

The senior guard was still not quite convinced,

“But what if this boy forged that to fool us?” he asked.

The captain turned back and glared at the senior guard,

“Do you think, it’s so easy to replicate a letter from a silver class knight?” he asked.

The senior guard replied,

“Of course not! It’s just-”

“I don’t think that you are taking me for an incompetent fool, that can’t even differentiate from a real and fake letter, are you?” asked the Captain as he glared at the Senior guard with a friendly smile.

To that, the guard started sweating profusely,

“No! I never meant in that way, I just-”

“Very well then, send those kids right away. I know you are after my post but being a senior guard, you must not act on impulse.” added the captain as he walked away.

Sebastian patted Martha’s head,

“It's alright now, Martha. That was very brave of you. I am really proud of you and Ivan”

Martha had stopped grinning and once again returned to her faceless expression. Although, she still had teary eyes. She looked away from Sebastian as she was embarrassed to show this side of hers. She usually acts more mature than her age but in the end, she was just a child.

Meanwhile, Ivan had latched himself behind the back of one of the guards. He was attacking that guard on the head with his tiny fists. He was getting back at the guards for bullying his big brother.

Sebastian glanced at the sorry sight of that guard. The other guards were trying to pull Ivan away but he had a tight grip on that poor soldier's back.

Sebastian let out a sigh,

“Let’s just get Ivan before that old fart (senior guard) could charge me for assaulting a soldier on duty. I am exhausted as it is.”

“Leave it to me,” responded Martha.

She quickly went to the soldier's aid. Unlike the other guards, she pulled Ivan by the ear with her full strength. Ivan finally let go of the soldier and thankfully the soldier let this incident slide.