Knight and Wand

Chapter 137 Moonlight Knight
There were fewer guests than usual, and a few of them were dining in the tavern on the first floor of the inn. Most of them were workers and merchants traveling between Farolis and Selva.

Ever since the young and strong men and laborers were transferred away, the tavern has been less noisy with local soldiers drinking and gambling in the past two days.

But today, compared with previous days, there was a burst of soft and pleasant singing.

The proprietress was sitting behind the counter with her chin in her hand, bored, looking at the female poet who was performing for the charity show with regret. It was a pity that her recruitment was rejected as the poet was just passing through and would leave after staying for a few nights.

If the poetess is willing to be employed here and stay for a long time, with her beautiful appearance and beautiful singing voice, she will surely bring many customers to the tavern.
Larian came to the front desk and ordered dinner for each of the women who were resting in the separate large bunk beds upstairs. Then he took his lover to a suitable seat in the corner and ate alone.

While eating simple food, Margarina quietly listened to the news that Larian had received. She couldn't help but put down the wooden spoon, her eyes showing a trace of worry: "Is there a war here?"

"Well, according to the housekeeper named Elena, the family that rules this area seems to have had a conflict with another noble family in the west, but she didn't tell me where Lord Selva is now."

Larian thought back to what he had seen and heard in the village during the day, and realized that it was no wonder that most of the people he saw were women and children.

He continued to sigh to Margarina, "It seems that this is not peace. No matter what the character of those knights is, Ms. Martha and the others are not suitable to stay in a turbulent place with the potential for war to make a living. Let's rest for two days and set off early. There is no need to meet that lord."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Margarina nodded.

She continued to enjoy the simple dinner in front of her, chewing the food gracefully, which tasted bland compared to the past, but the noble girl did not complain.

Although her living conditions plummeted, she escaped from confinement and was able to spend the rest of her life with the one she truly loved. In her opinion, this price was not even a choice.

Thank you, Master Goliad.

Magrena praised the cynical poet in her heart. Somehow, the sincere emotion seemed to be transmitted to the distance.

She raised the glass and took a sip as if paying tribute. The fruity aroma and sweetness of the wine entered her throat, and the girl's eyes swept across the wooden cup opposite her.

Larian ordered a regular ale for himself.

Feeling the other party's considerate and special care, listening to the romantic poems sung by the poetess not far away, Margaret could not help but be intoxicated.
With a creak, the door was pushed open with force.

"Erica! Wine! Meat! As usual, dice and cards, too. Bring them all!"

The leading soldier shouted rudely, and several chain mail warriors, still in their robes and armor, holding helmets, walked into the tavern with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing and slapping their coins on the bar.

"Keep your voice down, big fool. You're disturbing the poet's singing." The proprietress counted the dire and copper coins on the table, collected the money for the drinks, and reminded him helplessly.

"Oh, you finally hired someone to sing?"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers looked towards the hall, and when they saw the beautiful female poet with a charming figure, the eyes of these rough men, as fierce as wolves and tigers, suddenly lit up.

"She's a beauty, a female minstrel? We've never seen one in Farolis." A soldier whistled. This girl looked much prettier than the dancers in the camp.

The leader of the soldiers laughed and scolded his men: "Be gentlemen and don't disturb the lady here."

Several big men were singing loudly, but the poetess's singing never stopped. She just raised her beautiful eyes and looked at the red-robed soldiers of the Farolis family with a smile.

The soldiers who entered the room found a large table and sat down one after another. The innkeeper's wife and the maids served these regular guests with wine and food: "Why didn't you come these two days?"

"You don't know, the Gunnar family of Wolfenhall went crazy and sent an army of a thousand people to invade the Thorn Flower Territory. We rushed to support Longka the day before yesterday and just returned to Selva." The leader of the soldiers took a big sip of beer and answered exaggeratedly.

"Thousands of people!?"

The proprietress was so frightened that her face turned pale.

Having experienced the nightmarish disaster in Selva, Erica still remembered vividly the dozens of Kantadar cavalrymen who slaughtered her family and fellow villagers, not to mention an army of thousands of people. She couldn't even imagine what so many soldiers would look like standing together.

"Haha, look at your scared face. Don't worry. We thought we were going to have a tough battle, but before we arrived, your Master Pendragon only led more than 200 people to deal with the pups of the Wolf Family."

The leader of the soldiers laughed happily and said, "I heard that the lord also captured Baron Gunnar's eldest son alive. I don't know if it's true or not. Wow, it's incredible."

"Praise Lord Leon, and thank the gods for their protection." After hearing this, the proprietress's face regained color and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Larian, who was sitting in the corner, listened to the soldiers boasting as if they were on the battlefield themselves, and couldn't help but look over there.

To defeat an army several times larger than his own with a small force, such a heroic act is indeed worthy of being sung by Master Goliath.

At this time, the poem praising romance in the hall slowly came to an end and slowly stopped.

The leader of the soldiers turned his head and asked the poetess over there, "Hey, ma'am, do you have any stories that are exciting? We are a bunch of rough guys who are not used to listening to light jokes."

"Okay~."

The female poet smiled seductively, and she stood up and walked to the table of the soldiers. She put her hand ambiguously on the shoulder of the leader of the soldiers and lowered her head to tease him.

"May I offer you a more passionate poem? Would you mind sitting closer and singing? I can entertain you with more than just my voice~"

"You have a side job? Interesting." Hearing this explicit hint, the soldier leader smelled the fragrance of the beauty, his heart warmed, and a smile broke out on his face. He quickly pushed away his comrades beside him to make room for the hot female poet.

There were no dancers in this tavern, and in Lord Pendragon's territory, the soldiers naturally did not dare to be rude to the local tavern maids. If they had any needs, they could only go back to the dancers' tents in the baggage camp to get what they wanted. However, the local laws in Selva did not really restrict such situations where people would come forward to sell their bodies.

The soldiers at the table suddenly felt excited and didn't want to drink anymore. It was a pity that the female poet didn't sit next to them.

"Excuse me, ma'am, how much dirham per night? You're so beautiful, I'm not sure I can afford the price." The soldier leader looked drunk, and asked politely while groping with his hands.

"As long as you can chat with me, the price is negotiable." The female poet leaned against the other person and asked with a smile: "To be honest, I'm new to your place and I'm looking for an opportunity to sing for the local noble leader. Do you know Lord Pendragon?"

Not far from the soldiers' table, Margarina stole a glance at the female poet throwing herself at a group of men, then she withdrew her gaze, lowered her head shyly, and quickened her eating pace, because from this angle, she could just see the other party being taken advantage of by the soldiers on both sides.

This was actually a small scene. On the way from Kantadar, the noble girl stayed in various inns and taverns, and she also saw many exciting scenes among the people that opened her eyes.

"Let's go back to the room and rest." Larian glanced sideways, seeing the increasingly vulgar scene there, and had no choice but to suggest to his partner.

Margarina nodded hurriedly.

Larian lowered his head and shoveled the food into his mouth as quickly as possible. He was not very worried about the safety of the female poet. Not to mention that she was actively "making a living", just looking at the woman's true skills that she never showed in front of others, Larian did not think that a few soldiers could threaten her safety.

After finishing dinner in no time, he escorted the girl back to her room, away from the increasingly heated noise and teasing in the pub.

After a quick wash, Larian placed his long knife against the bedside in the most convenient position, then lay down on the bed, snuggling up to the girl who was hugging him and slowly fell asleep.

Time passes quietly in the sound of lovers' breathing.

But at night.

The two people who should have fallen asleep woke up halfway and were unable to fall asleep again for a long time.

In the darkness, Margarina blushed and instinctively moved closer to Larian.

Larian's heart beat faster and his chest felt hot.

Just above the bed where they lay, across the wall of the hotel room.
The creaking and shaking noise of the wooden bed that woke the two of them was extremely intense.

The same was true of the faint "singing" of the ensemble, which even Margaret could hear through the wall.

Larian, with his excellent hearing as a warrior, could even distinguish clearly that the female voice singing passionately was the female poet he had seen downstairs before, and the other person who was accompanying diligently was naturally the leader of the soldiers.

I never expected that the other party would happen to book the room next door to do the business tonight.

Larian and Margarina on this side, with their eyes open in the darkness, were forced to listen to the sound from the other side of the wall. The noble girl seemed to be somewhat infected by what was happening next door, and her passion was ignited a little. She began to flirt with her lover with her little hands.

The other side.

The spiritual resonance gradually came to an end.

The poetess hugged the leader of the soldiers tightly, and asked him in her bewitching voice, "The big house in the center of the village, isn't that the lord's residence? Why is it full of guards day and night? Whose nobleman's residence is that? Will I have the honor to visit and perform?"

"Husband, Madam, uh~! Ah, it seems to be Madam. I heard the adults mention Madam."

The leader of the soldiers was immersed in ecstasy, with a few faint purple lights reflected in his dazed eyes.

"Madam? Whose madam?" The poetess tightened her body and continued to ask, "The madam of Lord Leon?"

"Maybe. No. I don't know. I just heard Madam address me as a respectful title. I..." The leader of the soldiers suddenly felt as if his throat was strangled. His eyes rolled back and he could no longer control himself. He lost consciousness and fell straight down.

Sighing silently, the poetess pushed the other person away, turned around and rolled off the bed.

After putting on her dress, she sorted out the information she had received.

There was a baggage camp east of Selva where the army of Thornflower once lived. From there, they entered the Nightmare Forest in the south?
There lived a lady in Selva. Whose lady? From Leone?
The poetess fastened her belt and sat on the edge of the bed, thinking.

She had come into contact with the housekeeper, Elena, and she was definitely not Leon's wife.

So, does that mean that the young knight's family lives in that big house in the village?
No wonder the guards are so strict, this is very likely.

Do you want to go and have a look? Maybe there is a chance?
Having made up her mind quickly, the poet stood up and went to the window.

She gently pushed open the window, held onto the frame, and jumped into the darkness.
"Larian?"

Inside the bedroom, Margarina felt her lover holding the back of her hand, and she felt confused.

"Something's wrong next door." Larian comforted the girl a little, frowned and sat up.

The voice of the soldier leader suddenly stopped.

There was no more sound coming from the room, neither from men nor women.

This wasn't what made him feel strange.

Larian turned his head and looked at the window on the side of his room facing the street.

Although the noise was small, he felt that he had not heard it wrong.

There was an obvious sound of a window opening next door, followed by the sound of clothes passing through the air, which meant that someone left the room through the window instead of the door.

Not going through the main entrance? To hide from others?

Was it the poetess?

But how much money could the captain of the soldiers have that was worth robbing? Besides, what had already been done, was it necessary? Wouldn't it be enough to just raise the price?
Past experiences brought all kinds of thoughts into his mind. Larian reached out and picked up the long knife beside the bed, stood up and straightened his clothes.

"What's wrong?" Margarina asked in confusion.

".You stay in your room and wait for me to come back. If you need anything, call my servants to come over, or just go to Martha's place next door."

Larian consoled him, "I'm going to catch a female thief. Of course, it could just be a misunderstanding."

"Female thief?" Margarina blinked, and although she was confused, she did not stop her.

After all, that was the oath that the Knight-Errant she loved had sworn all his life.

Pushing open the window, Larian glanced at the window next door. He wanted to confirm whether the silent soldier captain was still alive, but when he looked at the back figure that was almost disappearing in the alley ahead under the moonlight, he had to immediately turn over and jump down from the third floor as well.

With a bang, the knight landed neatly on the ground, gripped the scabbard tightly, and ran in the direction where the poetess disappeared.

One in front and one behind, separated by a long distance, two figures flew in the darkness of Selva.

But after a while, Larian saw Selva's tallest three-story house in the center of the village, except for the hotel.

Just looking at the outline of the courtyard wall in front of him and the faint flickering light of torches inside the wall, Larian found that he had lost the whereabouts of the poetess.

His eyes scanned the dark corners around him and he narrowed them.

Lost you?
But there was no other way. He didn't think it would be useful to open his mouth and call out to the guards in the village.

Larian didn't know if there were any other warriors like him in the village. If a group of rabble surrounded him in the dark, they would only scare them away and flee into the wild.

Shaking his head, the young knight turned around and seemed to have given up the search.

--clang!

The scabbard was swung violently, deflecting the thin and narrow flying blade that came from the side.

The dagger spun and flew into the sky. Larian turned around, took a step back with his right leg, and instantly pressed down the scabbard in his left hand.

The sharp willow blade made a crackling sound and sparks flew as it struck the metal inlay on the scabbard's surface.

The Knight-Ranger blocked the willow-bladed dagger that was stabbing at him from the darkness and counterattacked in an instant. The carving on the end of the scabbard smashed towards the enchanting body in the shadow like a hammer.

The poetess jumped back to avoid the blow, and her figure jumped in like the wind.

A doubtful female voice then floated faintly in the darkness.

"~Who are you? A knight of Farolis? No. You don't look like a knight of the Northern Kingdom."

"I was still hesitant and maybe there was a misunderstanding, but seeing that you have no hesitation in wanting to take my life." Larian steadied his steps, straightened the scabbard with his left hand with a click, and firmly grasped the long handle of the sword with his right hand.

"Madam, you have to explain now why you are wandering the streets with a weapon in your hand in the middle of the night. From what you said before, you should not be a night watchman hired by the locals, right?" The Knight-Errant looked around the darkness with a sharp gaze and slowly unsheathed the "Moonlight" in his hand.

The graceful Uriah single-edged long sword emits a hazy blue light and shadow according to the will of its owner. Under its beautiful and deadly arc, it is like a bright moon held in the hand.

"What does it have to do with you, little knight? You are just a traveler passing by. Since you are not employed by the Thorn Flower, why do you care about the affairs of our Gunnar family and Farolis?"

Placing a cone of magic around the knight in the darkness, the poetess drew his attention with delayed words.

"For a knight-errant who is loyal to his oath, no evil deeds within sight are trivial matters, lady, and your sneaky actions and the malicious intent you unleashed make it impossible for me to ignore the intentions behind them.

Please put down your weapon. I can still give you a chance to explain yourself. If my tracking caused you to overreact, I will apologize for my behavior later." Larian silently felt the surrounding atmosphere and tried to find the other party's footsteps.

"Haha~, you are such a nice person. To thank you for your kindness, I can only let you die quickly." The erratic voice had just fallen, and the female poet had been chanting the spell silently without stopping for a moment.

(Lorelit) Show me the hexagram of Arias.

The magical light instantly linked the six rune cones that served as the nodes of the ritual.

Dense white lines covered the sword-wielding knight in the middle from all directions, as if they could cut his figure into pieces with just a touch.

——Hurrah!
The sound of wind was blowing high, and several sword lights were like blooming lotus flowers.

The azure light almost simultaneously shattered the magic lines around the knight.

"!?"

The poetess quickly tilted her upper body sideways.

The ends of her hair that were raised in front of her forehead were silently cut off by the crescent-shaped slash.

A few backflips led to the low wall at the entrance of the alley, creating some distance between them.

She looked in surprise and doubt at the moonlight blade that was swung towards her again.

——Come again!
The poetess turned around and jumped back to the courtyard.

Like the sound of wind, the low wall of rammed earth and stone was split in two, and behind it, Larian's bright eyes appeared.

Tsk~ This little knight is quite capable. I can’t defeat him alone.

After escaping from the moonlight's blows one after another, the poet wisely judged his strength and immediately opened her mouth wide.

The next second, the rough male voice of the soldier leader sounded in the silent Selva:

"Someone is trying to assassinate my lady! - Catch the assassin!!"

(End of this chapter)