“Oh, alright." this won’t end well, she thought as she watched several knights clenching their fists, arguing with one another.

“How the hell did we mess up? Did the fairy mess up his chant? Was it the maids?” their arguments continued, none reaching to any conclusion.

“My friends. May I have your attention?” The Knight of Miracles raised his hand, like a small child asking their parents to buy something. “I know this may seem concerning for each one of you. But do not fret. We were able to get this far for a reason, and I am sure that with patience we will get in contact with ‘the one’ next time.”

Some people weren’t happy with that result, but they accepted it nonetheless. Others, meanwhile…

“You-you freak!”

A guard took out his sword, dropping to the ground. Removing his helmet, he revealed a furious face as he pulled his short, blonde hair. 

“This is all your fault!”

Enraged as he was, he had thrown his helmet at him.

“Look out,” Alice pushed the strange knight away, them both falling to the ground,

“My child!”

Lady Scarletborn ran over to them, the general pointing his sword at the furious soldier.

“You idiot,” he shouted, “For attempted assault, you are to be sent to prison at this moment!”

“What?”

“Guards, take him away!”

Two knights grabbed him by his arms. “How dare you, general!”

“Oh, calm down already.”

"Calm down!!! How? We were this close, and I repeat, this close, to speak to ‘the one’! And they appeared in front of our own eyes, both yours and mine! We had finally, finally, gotten the chance to see where we went wrong in our ways, a chance to get back to normal. And this… this ‘fairy’ ruined everything! He ruined everything! And he dares to respond to us saying to do it next time? Next time!!! Do you really think we can survive for this next time?”

He looked at the guys grabbing, “How am I wrong in thinking this? Tell me!”

The guards all had begun talking to each other over what he said. The knight of miracles, sitting on his knees. Alice too would have considered the things he said, had she known what was going on.

Jeez, this guy is throwing it all out for the world to see. Just what is going on in this stupid country? And who is this ‘one’ they’re talking about?”

“Look out!”

The enraged guard pushed away the guys holding him, taking away their weapons. “Perfect!”

He ran off to the knight of miracles. “Die!”

Alice shielded the knight, taking out her sword. Meanwhile, Lady Scarletborn held him tightly. He lacked any reaction to any of this.

“That’s enough!”

Between the guard and Alice, suddenly a long row of fire was between them. They looked to their side to see the old general, breathing heavily as he held in his hand the dragon’s muzzle.

“Good boy,” the dragon didn’t respond to the compliment.

Alice looks at the dragon, the strange knight poking her arm. “My good sir, you’re holding your sword wrong.”

“Don’t worry child,” Lady Scarletborn brushed of dust on his hair, “You’ll be safe now-”

“Argh!”

The small dragon yelled and hissed. The general struggled to put the muzzle back on. “Oh, get back here you freak-”

He lost his grip on the dragon.

The guards all drew out their weapons, it hissing at anyone coming close to him.

“Oh no,” Lady Scarletborn put her hands to her mouth, “My child, we need to-”

The strange knight gets up, slowly approaching the small dragon. “Are you alright scaly friend?”

It had only hissed at him, puking out the flames at him, which he quickly dodged, looking back at the flames in curiosity it seemed like.

“Oh! That was a great one!”

The dragon growling, he ran past the knight. With its quick steps, none of the knights could get a hit on it.

“What is it doing-oh no,” the general came to a realization, “Everyone, grab that sword before it gets to it-”

Looking at the ground, they all saw the sword the enraged guard had dropped earlier. They all tried to take it away, but the dragon used it’s tail to push them away. It picked up the sword, and with just one cut, his wings were set free.

“Crap,” the general’s legs began to shake. “Stand back! Who knows what it’s going to do?”

“Don’t let it get away.”

They were unable to attack with how high it was, so all they could do is keep the entrance shut.

“Grrrr…”

The dragon had begun spinning its body around as it flew, and it lightning speeds crashed right through the thick wooden doors. It began crashing down. The guards had tried their best to escape. Many of them fall to the ground, only perceiving the echoes of the dragon’s echoes.

“General,” Lady Scarletborn said, “This is getting bad. It could burn the whole place down, or even worse, escape! What are we to do?”

They had discussed matters quietly and as they did, the strange knight didn’t move an inch away from the disguised girl.

He tried stirring up a conversation, “My, I can’t say that the general is trustworthy, but any plan to keep people safe should be fine.”

“Tch, see if it actually is anyone.”

“Hm?”

“We devised a quick plan.” they all came over to listen, the knight of miracles now holding onto the frustrated girl’s arm.

“Are top most priority is going to be to catch the dragon, however we must also keep the vassal safe from it. So we will divide into two groups.”

He pointed towards the nearby door, “Over there is a six entrance for evacuation purposes. Six knights are going to keep him and the maids safe as they traverse through it.”

Alice happened to be one of them. Unfortunately or not, time will tell.

“The rest will accompany us to find the dragon. We will first go to the weapon storage to look for bows and arrows to use against it. Then we’ll split into squadrons to go and look for it. Once we’re done with, we’ll meet all of you outside and see if anyone is injured. We’ll need to hurry or-”

“Ahem.”

Alice coughed. Everyone was paying attention to her.

“What is it? Are you sick or something?”

“Oh? Me? I’ll be fine. Can’t say for the others.”

“Others?”

“Good sir,” a bitter taste in mouth appeared as she said those words, “What are we to do with the prisoners?”

As she asked this, the guards and maids laughed under their breath. The lady was quiet, looking away while the strange knight looked up at her.

“What about them?”

“You do recognize the danger they’re in, right? The dragon could be anywhere, spouting out fires, assaulting people, and who knows what else? Shouldn’t another squadron be sent to protect them or maybe we should evacuate them too-”

“Pfft.”

“Huh?”

She was confused seeing the old man chuckling out of nowhere, bursting into sheer laughter. The lady next to him stayed silent.

“Oh, that was a good one. Young lad, how should I best put this…”

Utter disgust felled up inside her as he actually said this:

“We are going to let them die here.”

She stepped back, unable to believe what she was hearing, “Excuse me?”

“Please, I know you’re still young, but think about it for a moment. Most of these people were given a life sentence, they were going to die here one way or other.”

“What… what of those who didn’t?!”

“Their bad luck, I guess.”

“How,” with each word he spoke out, her anger had reached its limit, “How could you say something like that?”

The general got annoyed. “You’re being rude, don’t you think so?”

“I’m being rude?! You are literally leaving people to die! To die! You have all the power to help them! Hundreds of soldiers! Millions of weapons! So, why? So why won’t you save them, you son of a-”

“Soldier!”

Other knights came in, their sword against their neck.

“First of all,” he walked towards her, “How dare you speak to your own general like that! After I was the one to give you this position. One more word like that and I’ll get you arrested.”

She grit her teeth as he looked straight ahead at her.

“And second of all, to answer your annoying question, those peasants are not worth saving. Am I being understood?”

“Ugh,” the swords got closer to her neck.

“I said, am I being understood?”

There’s no way out of this, huh?

“Yes, Sir,” she gave in, this time.

“Good. Now let’s not waste anymore time with nonsense like that.”

The general and the lady left alongside the guards, who were completely quiet during this argument. Those who stay had gossiped with the maids over what just had happened, and the weird knight kept looking up at her.

All the same. All the same. All the same. Their live aren’t worth saving, who are you to decide? I’ve had it. I’ve had it. I’ve-

“Young sir,”

“Agh!” the strange knight had held her arm, startling her, “What-what is it?”

“I must apologize.”

“Uh,” she wasn’t quite sure how to respond, “For-for what?”

“For not saying anything.”

He began prancing around the room, “You were correct in saying that we should consider the safe for the imprisoned as well. But considering my position has nothing to do with the state of the imprisoned, I doubt anything I could have said would have mattered. Still, I feel absolutely embarrassed about my state of silence, so I must apologize.”

“Ah, I see… well it’s fine, I guess. There’s nothing we can do now, anyway.”

“You sure about that?” his face was barely an inch away from hers.

“Ugh! What are you-”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he clapped his hands, “While we’re evacuating, let’s go and pay a visit for the prisoners!”

What?

Everyone was shocked hearing that from him.

“Now my darlings, before you say ‘but the general said this and that’ it will only take a couple of minutes to see each one of them!”

As if! What are you thinking?!

“Plus, we won’t upset him if he never finds out, hehe!”

The maids were clearly concerned over what he said. Frowns on their face, whispers unclear. They all came over and bowed down.

“Of course, my liege.”

They all bowed down and decided to follow his orders.

“Perfect now, let’s go!”

"..."

Alice followed them, waiting for whatever comes next.

One of the maids managed to find the entrance, “Um, you first, sir.”

As they found the hidden entrance leading to another stony and uneven pathway, the strange knight began humming a song of sorts. Not fitting the situation, they are were stuck in the slightest.

He began kicking small pebbles on the ground. “You know, despite how much of a popular and beloved knight I am, I couldn’t really properly attend any classes. My body is not in the best of conditions at times, you see. So I had a ton of home tutors teach me the basics.”

He sprinted, “They taught me a ton of things! Especially sword fighting! I have had a ton of fun learning the different kinds of weapons and how to use them! Especially the good old small swords this region uses! I can even remember the first thing I learned is to hold it with only one hand!”

He kept walking ahead, ignoring the sudden sounds behind him, “I am pretty sure that they also teach that first in the academy too, so it’s pretty, shall we say, embarrassing to use a short sword with two hands. But many people don’t tend to notice it, except for the experts.”

A piece of armor rolled next to him. “Heh, that kind of rhymed. In a way, that mistake is not the end of the world by all means, though it does say things about you. Either A, you are a fairly new recruit, and B, you aren’t an actual knight.”

He turned around, seeing the guards and maids knocked out on the ground, only one of them standing with all of their weapons in their hands.

He looked around, a smile on his face out of all things, “So it’s the latter! Very well! Just one more thing…”

He reached out his hand. “May I know your face?”

-

Chapter 4 part 2 is here! Sorry for the late upload! Was busy with irl things and I couldn't edit it out in time, but now it's here! The curious knight had found out the truth! Wonder what's gonna happen next! Share your thoughts in the comments if you want to! Aldo on another note, did you know that the term "fairy" was commonly used to refer to more feminine and queer men in the past? Thanks for reading and goodbye!

Edit: Okay, so I noticed some MAJOR font issues with this update so I fixed it up quickly. Sorry for anyone who had to handle...that