Chapter 10: The Knight

Diether stiffened a bit as blood splattered around the place after he threw the sword to the last assassin.

'T-this...'

It was his first time killing someone. Although he was expecting this to happen after seeing them kill a person a while ago, the sensation was still different. Even though Reiji was the one using his body, he had still seen himself doing it.

The stench of blood was also something that he thinks that he wouldn't get used to.

'I wonder how these assassins managed to kill people without any hesitation. They weren't even grieving the death of their comrades...'

While he was coping up on what just happened, Reiji had given him another instruction.

"Hey, let's not waste the blood of that powerful swordsman a while ago... Put me down. Bath me or this shinai in his blood. Hurry up."

Reiji had never killed a person in his previous life but for some reason, he didn't feel anything after killing that assassin. He wasn't sure why, but he can only guess that it has something to do with him being a shinai and not a person.

He also notices that the female knight had managed to find her strength and stand up to approach the young lady she called Rina.

The knight also withdrew her knife and she seems to have a plan of finishing off the other unconscious assassins.

Reiji didn't mind that as he waited for the kid to put him down.

"Is it like this?"

"Mhmm... Good, you can help the ladies there for now. Confirm that they weren't badly hurt..."

Reiji has good eyes on people. He was sure that the young lady who cried after seeing her uncle died like that wouldn't hurt Diether who saved them. After all, they are definitely thinking that the kid was strong and unafraid when he approached them.

[ Blood has been detected. ]

[ Consuming blood... ]

[ A High-Quality Blood has been consumed. ]

[ Bonus Reward: Durability increased by 10 ]

[ You now have Durability of 110/110. ]

[ Congratulations! You have completed the First Blood Mission! ]

[ You have received 40 Skill Points. ]

[ New Mission Created ]

[ More Blood ]

[ Have a taste of better blood! You have just consumed some blood filled with unknown power. You need more of them to increase your Durability and earn more Skill Points. The amount of reward will depend on how much blood the user was drenched with.

But as long as the user's current form received even a drop of blood, the mission can be considered a success and will get a reward ending the mission. ]

Reward: 1-70 SP ]

"Oh! I got it back!"

His zero SP now became 40 SP making him a bit excited.

His remaining missions were "More Blood", "Hold Me More" for 12 hours, and "Teacher" with the same reward of 25 SP with Hold Me More mission.

"Hmm... It is a bit tough teaching him a sword technique. He must build at least some muscle or even if not, he must be stable in using that Spiritual Energy..."

When Reiji used the Take Over skill on him, he can feel the abundant energy the kid possess but it was quite tough using them because his body was not accustomed to such energy.

Reiji remembers that the kid said that he was sickly before, now that he was healed, they can start increasing his muscle mass a bit so the flow of Spiritual Energy wouldn't be dampened by his weak body.

Now, Reiji was curiously looking at the ownerless Arcana. The sword used by the Swordsman called Graham. It was still emitting a mysterious aura telling that it was still alive and powerful.

"Guide? Can we analyze that Arcana? I want it to be compared to me..."

[ Yes, but it requires to be touched. ]

"Hmm... Alright, I'll wait for the kid to pick me up."

Reiji observed Diether as he approached the two ladies.

The two were injured but not too critical. The female knight was mostly exhausted and as soon she recovers a part of her Spiritual Energy, she should be able to heal herself from the bruises she had.

***

"A-are you alright? Are you hurt somewhere?"

Diether asked the young lady but instead of answering, she started to sob and he couldn't stop himself from approaching her and giving her a hug...

Or that's what he wanted to do but the female knight was staring daggers at him.

Soon, he noticed that the approaching female knight wasn't about to console the young girl but instead planning to finish off the unconscious assassins...

"Wait... They're no longer armed... Can't we just capture them and send them to the nearest city guards? They will be imprisoned there for life with their crimes..."

Again, the knight didn't bother talking to him, and decisively killed all the assassins. There were no traces of hesitation in her actions and it seems to be natural for her.

The knight must've killed a number of people just to be this cold and heartless... or she may have been clouded by anger due to the death of the Silver Swordsman... Diether wasn't sure...

"I'm Marian Fraser... A member of Chaos Knight from House Larkinson..."

Diether had no idea what that means but it seems that they came from a prestigious clan or something. He had never heard of Chaos Knight and House Larkinson at all. They might be foreigners or from another city.

"I'm Diether Luxford. Nice meeting you..."

"Thank you for your help. We don't have that much with us but..."

The female knight called Marian pulled something out of her pocket. It was a golden token with an engraved two winged dragons facing each other.

"This is a token of appreciation. We will part ways here but in case that we survived and returned to our home, you can visit us there and we'll definitely repay you..."

She threw the token to him and after hearing her explanation, Reiji, who was listening to them, was a bit surprised since Marian didn't think of using Diether and ask for further help and even draw a clear line from each other. She seems to be a prideful fellow.

Diether realized this as well and couldn't help but be dismayed at himself for being weak.

If he can just show the same strength as his master, he'll definitely volunteer and accompany them to their home but since it was just a borrowed power, he didn't want to ignore his master's wishes.

At the very least, he can try to offer a little bit more help. His master shouldn't mind that since they've already helped them.

"I understand... But I'll accompany both of you in the meantime to make sure that you are all healed..."

A moment had passed and the girl stopped sobbing and she looked at Diether closely.

Her eyes were filled with tenderness... She seems to be thankful for what he just did.

"I'm Rina Keystone... Thank you for saving us. I don't want to be rude but may I know what was your intention for doing that?"

"Oh, that? I just happened to see everything while I'm on the way to the nearest village... Right, it shouldn't be too far from here. We can all have a good rest there..."

Diether offered as he looked at his master that was supposedly drenched with blood. But to his surprise, the ground was dry and no traces of blood can be seen at all!