Outer Garden, Woods

  Noah was baffled, what did his man want from him?

  “So are you going to eat it, its quite juicy” Ivan had urged him making the former knight highly suspicious of the fruit

  “I am not hungry” he had declared and threw the fruit away, his eyes were fixated on the Skill instructor ready to act should the man do a wrong move

  “Nonsense one can’t use that much mana without getting famished afterwards” Ivan had immediately pointed out, and he would be right but Noah wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that “I must say I was quite impressed by your technique, there aren’t many that would be able to do the same”

  “What does it matter? It wasn’t enough” Noah was tired, he just wanted to leave and there was this asshole twisting in the knife of his humiliating defeat

  “Don’t sell yourself short kid!” the man laughed as if he was told an hilarious joke then nonchalantly added “It was just bad luck”

  Those words infuriated the former Knight

  “Bad luck? I was beaten by someone who couldn’t even use Skills!” Noah had shouted completely outraged, now that he had time to reflect on it he was fully aware that Kain had beaten him fair and square.

  Reducing his defeat to bad luck felt more insulting then ever to both himself and Kain.

  He wouldn’t stand for this.

  “Ah your wind knocked a trained Undead on his ass that’s not an easy feat” Ivan had the audacity to repeat

  “Are you mocking me?” Noah was on inch away from outright attacking him over the insult.

  “Of course not! Undeads are heavier and stronger then a mere human, the fact you sent one flying with your Skill Whirlwind at half force is remarkable” the man had explained, bringing to light a fact that Noah already knew but was fully aware of the consequences of it.

  Which was why he wouldn’t have used it in duel.

  “Are you saying I would have won of I just focused all of Whirlwind at him?” he knew the answer to that but he wanted to know what Ivan could say next.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “You know you should have, just as you know you wouldn’t have done it” Ivan saw through it “the spite in your heart isn’t deep enough to seriously injure a brother in arms”

  Whirlwind at full force would have no doubt either seriously injured Kain or killed him.

  “Maybe it should have been, then I wouldn’t have lost everything” Noah had rebutted, but there was no bite in it.

  “Nah you lost nothing, you just stumbled” the Skill instructor had minimized “you just need to stand up again”

  “Again? Do you have any idea how much sweat and blood it took me to become a Knight?” he was sure this man didn’t know what he was talking about, starting over? How? Being a Knight was all he was.

  Now he was nothing.

  “My, my why are you blinding yourself to one path? Didn’t the Duke say you could stay as a guard?” Ivan had spoke again, breaking the down spiral going on in Noah’s head

  “And live through this humiliation everyday for the rest of my life?” he refuted the notion with an empty laugh as if it was a ridiculous thought to even entertain the idea

  “So you rather drown out of pride?” Ivan had inquired, and hearing his struggle put in those terms had Noah have a double take as he listened to what else the Skill Instructor had to say “Aren’t you curious to see where this new path would lead you? Or was being a Knight that important to you?”

  “Of course it was important! It’s the only reason I was born! It’s all I have ever known I would be since I learned to walk!” Noah defended his position, even as he felt his whole argument fall apart and his mindset crack

  “Oh is it? Then what’s the harm in trying something new?” Ivan had questioned him, his words sounding alien to Noah’s ears “You lost everything, didn’t you? So why not look around?” and with that the man turned disappeared behind the trees.

  Noah stood there speechless then another object came his way.

  An apple.

  It was the same one he threw away.

  He bit it down, devouring the whole thing in three bites at most with a savagery that had all the juice end up soaking his face.

  He even had accidentally bit his own hand not realizing the apple was gone, he had bit down enough to draw a bit of blood.

  Noah had looked at the small bleeding bite mark then he started laughing, a desperate almost maniacal laugher which broke down into sobs.

  He didn’t know for how long he cried, he didn’t even have any idea on how he ended up on his knees, but once he felt completely empty Noah got back to his feet and started walking in the opposite direction.

  His steps were uncertain, Noah didn’t even know why he was bothering to go back he only had a singular question in his head

  Could he really be anything else but a Knight?

  Unknown to him a shadow had seen the whole thing with interest and accompanied him on the way back.

  Veronique and Rhea’s Temporary Room

  Veronique had been sure she would end up with a new guard by the morning, so she was taken completely by surprise when she saw Noah at his spot, the only thing different of him was the fact his armor looked different.

  A visible less grand version of the usual Knights’ armor without any trims, it was just plain and made Noah stand up from his colleagues, even his sword was different from his usual one.

  It looked like a simple standard one.

  Noah himself was hiding behind a full face helmet, the only reason Veronique knew it was him was his stubborn red hair still escaping it.

  It made Veronique nervous, but she didn’t say anything to not rock the boat so to speak, Mos and Bos didn’t have the same regard and were lightly growling at him, which they only stopped after she chastised them, but they stayed tense.