Ch:71 – The answer is Ray

"Tell your highness, we're thankful for his gesture, but we'll stay."

"Luke?" My mom raised her voice surprised by his words. 

"It'll be fine. I have faith in the Saintess."

"If you'll excuse me." The man bowed lightly and left, entering the wagon.

"Dad. When I was a kid you told me the saintess couldn't handle an army."

"I know. However, the capital holds many dangers. The fanatics, the nobles, the political struggles." He placed his hands on the table, grabbing one another.

I turned my eyes from him, not satisfied with his answer, but unwilling to argue.

"Rosaline. I'll approve of sending Iris to train with your old master."

"Ray..."

I noticed her thinking deeply about his words.

"I'm unsure if he's still alive."

Dad ignored her and looked at me with a serious almost scary glint. 

"She's an adult and she's capable. He'd increase her chances of becoming stronger."

"Yes..." she lowered her gaze. "You're right."

Our gazes matched as the wind blew our golden hairs to the same side. 

"Pack easy to move clothing."

I averted my gaze, feeling upset. This was not how I intended to spend my 18th birthday.

Nevertheless, I knew they had good intentions. Even if it sounded like they were just trying to send me away, potentially to a safer location.

That same night, I took on a wagon and headed north towards a different village.

Mom had paid the driver extra to make sure he sent me to the proper location. And, safely at that.

The trip felt long, at least two days came to pass.

I found myself in a far away village, far more developed than Astia could hope to ever become. 

After walking with a bag filled with clothes, I found a guard.

"Greetings, sir."

He looked at me from top to bottom, considering something in his mind as he might have judged my appearance like many had in the past.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for an old man called Ray."

"Another one..." he sighed then turned his back to me. "Keep walking forward then turn on the third right. You'll find a narrow alley and a homeless, drunk old man."

"Thank you, sir." I moved past him, ignoring his atitude. If my parents were around they would have told him we were nobles and deserved to be treated with respect. However, I could not care less about nobility and their frivolous niches.

Upon following his tips, I found myself in a alley with poor people on sight. They wore tattered clothing, laid on the dusty and somewhat dirty ground. I moved between them, trying not to catch their attention. It was no easy task, a beautiful young woman like myself brought all sorts of unwanted attention.

My feet stopped by an old man that looked just a little different than the rest of them.

A sickening stench of alcohol scattered from his sleepy body. Still, the distinct detail were not the accumulation of likely empty bottles but the two swords which he hugged tightly as he slept deeply.

From behind, I heard some footsteps growing heavier.

Three black figures halted close to me. 

I turned around and noticed them removing knifes from underneath their robes.

"Thieves?" I placed my hand on my waist out of habit, finding out my sword was not there. My mother had asked me to leave it behind, saying she would likely need it more than me.

"Damn." I clicked my tongue. The situation turned sour rather quickly. I allowed my bag to slip from my shoulder all the way to the ground, landing with a soft sound.

The one in front lowered his head slightly. "Clean the witnesses."

The two behind him moved, slaughtering homeless men and women one after another in rapid succession.

I raised my hand and froze the floor between one of them and one of the asleep dirty human. The blackrobbed slipped, falling, but getting up unhurt.

Out of fear and instinct, I took a step back, then two, then three.

They quickly killed 11 homeless. 

And, I stood there as one of the next victims. 

Then, one of them moved to stab the old man who was closest to me.

And I used my ice on the ground once more, causing the black robe man to hit the old man.

"Let me sleep..." he protested in annoyance.

"Run! They'll kill you!" I shouted, finally able to let my shaken voice flow.

His eyes opened and his right hand shook for a moment.

The black robe got up and looked at me, at my hand covered in blue and hints of frost.

"I'll kill you bitch!" 

As he was about to make his move to me, his knife pointed in my direction. I felt the wind pushed my hair behind, likewise, his hood went backwards.

I saw then, his head and his body, split from each other as if they had never been connected.

My field of vision lowered for a moment, in the corner of my sight, I caught the old man's hand on top of his sword, but the weapon still inside the sheath.

And then, very blurred as if it didn't happen at all, the sheath seemed to have shifted a couple centimeters.

Further ahead, the second black robe man fell, a horizontal cleave this time, splitting the body in two.

The third one who had spoken ran without saying a word.

"What?" I looked at the 13 corpses. What in the hell had happened here.

"Curse those cultists." The old man got up, spitting to one of their corpses.

"Cultist?"

Our eyes met.

"They're part of a different religion."

"But Aria is the goddess of humans." I pointed my finger at them, disgusted by the bloody sight.

"You must be new in this kingdom." He laughed, leaning lower to grab a bottle then throwing it away as he found it empty, doing this through all the 4 bottles, finding no alcohol left. "Agh. I'm thirsty."

Out of my bag, I took out a small leather bag with water inside, stretching it to him. "For saving my life."

"You remind me of someone."

"Do you happen to be Ray?"

"Depends on who asks."

His hand covered the edge of his sword. 

Hastily, I raised my hands in the air.

"I'm Iris. My mother Rosaline told me to find Ray and ask him to teach me, to make me stronger."

"So... she has a child now." He took a sip then spit it out. "This is not booze."

"It's water."

"I know what water is. Do you take me for stupid?"

My left eyebrow rose surprised by his childish behavior despite being far older than me.

"A bit?"

He threw the bag towards my face causing the water inside to leak on the ground and my clothes.

I barely caught it. A soft red mark remained on my right cheek from the hit.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"You're incredibly weak. You're her daughter alright." He laughed, pissing me off.