Knight and Wand

Chapter 22 Lion
A golden lion?
Leon tilted his head curiously, looking past the thug in front of him.

Contrary to the impressive nickname that might sound at first glance, the person approaching was a pretty girl in an ordinary corseted long skirt.

She was a little petite, probably around 1.5 to 1.6 meters tall, with her blonde hair tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, and her light green eyes were bright and clear.

It would be more appropriate to describe it as cute. As for this domineering nickname,
Leon felt strange. How could such a petite and lovely girl have such intimidating power that made these village thugs suddenly sweat profusely?

He could understand "gold" because the girl had very beautiful golden hair, but how could he understand "lion"?

As the girl got closer, the hooligans instinctively made way for her, as if they were afraid of getting into trouble if they stood in her way.

"I heard from the villagers that you guys were getting together again brandishing swords, so I came over to take a look." The blonde girl said with annoyance as she stood in front of Boris, who had a fierce look on his face.

"You are not welcoming guests from afar, are you? With knives and daggers?"

The girl's voice rose sharply at the end of her words, the stick in her hand hit her palm with a snap, and her slender and beautiful fingers clenched instantly.

The village ruffians were startled when they heard the crisp sound of the wooden stick being struck by the palm.

As if their muscle memory had been awakened, Boris's followers quickly put away their weapons, their guilty eyes wandering around.

Facing the girl's shout, the slightly more agitated village ruffian tried to argue: "Gold, Olivia, you misunderstood. I just saw these three guys acting suspiciously, so I brought us here to question them. You know, the village militia has been conscripted by the Baron, and we are doing this out of kindness for the village."

"Yeah, yeah! Yeah!"

A few village ruffians reacted and quickly agreed.

Boris, who had been silent the whole time, finally relaxed his sullen expression after hearing this: "That's what's going on. Are you going to favor these suspicious outsiders? What if they are spies of the Kantadar people?"

The girl named Olivia frowned and did not immediately respond to his question, but she did not think it was the truth.

After all, she knew this scumbag's character too well.

The girl suppressed her anger and turned to look at the three strange boys who were surrounded by the village thugs by the river.

"Excuse me, strangers. If you don't mind my offense, where are you from? You don't look like merchants from nearby." Olivia showed an apologetic look and smiled gently, "Selva is just a remote little village after all. We rarely see foreign travelers here."

It seems that the fight won’t start for a while.

Except for the leader named Boris who was still holding the dagger, Leon saw that the other village thugs had put away their weapons obediently, so he also put the long sword back into the sheath.

He gestured to Azerien and Lohak beside him, signaling his companions to put away their hostility.

The girl in front of me looked like she was effective in speaking and was a reasonable person.

Listening to her polite way of speaking, if she hadn't been wearing a very simple peasant dress, Leon would have thought she was a well-educated daughter of a noble family.

"We are certainly not spies, young lady. We are only passing through here to escape the war."

Leon explained simply: "My partner just went to the village to buy some clothes and food. Apart from that, we didn't even enter the village, let alone be sneaky. Is bathing by the river also against local customs?"

"Escape from the war? Judging from your accent, you are not from Orlando, right?" Olivia blinked and asked curiously.

"Well, we are the Serrians."

Lion nodded. The Northern Kingdom and Serian had a good relationship, and there was nothing to hide.

"The Kingdom of Serrian? That's quite far away from here." The girl was stunned for a moment, and suddenly she became interested: "But the roads to the east are all blocked. How did you get here from King Kronia's territory?"

"We are not from the East."

Leon didn't know where the Crown of Kronia was. He didn't want to get into trouble by talking nonsense, so he pointed to the distant forest in the south and told the truth: "The Kantardars started a war, and we were captured and trapped in the enemy country for a time. It wasn't until we had a chance to escape that we fled through the big forest and escaped to this place."

Olivia was even more surprised when she heard this.

She looked in the direction of Leon's finger and opened her lips as if she had heard something incredible.

"Haha! Now you're exposed, kid. You really dare to talk nonsense." A village ruffian suddenly sneered.

Boris also became proud: "You heard it all, Olivia, the boy said they passed through the Nightmare Forest."

Boris felt that his guess was more reliable. They didn't even know how terrifying the deep forest was. These three people must be escaped slaves from outside the Grey Fir Valley. What about the Serrians? It was a very convincing story.

Leon looked at their reactions and couldn't help but frown. Telling the truth seemed to have aroused more suspicion.

Right.

There is a cursed land hidden in that forest, and the people who were born and raised nearby must have corresponding folk legends about the mysterious and strange dangers therein.

If he hadn't had Miss Laura's help, he wouldn't have been able to leave the "Spirit-like Land" alive even if he had ten lives, and other ordinary people naturally couldn't cross that dangerous forest. But in a hurry, he couldn't make up a more reasonable false origin based on the geography of a foreign country.

One lie requires more lies to cover it up. As the saying goes, too much talk leads to mistakes. So what's the point of not telling the truth?

"Whatever you may think, this is the truth. We have come here through the forest from the Mamor County of the Kantardars."

Leon said, taking out a Cantadar silver coin from his waist bag and showing it to the blonde girl in front of him: "I don't have more evidence. The only thing that can barely prove my experience may be these few Cantadar coins. Believe it or not, Miss Olivia."

"You took the Kantadar people's money, and you still say you are not their spy?" Boris said proudly. He didn't care what the facts were, as long as he could catch the other party on the charge and get the sword.

"I'm sorry, but the experience you described is a little unbelievable. At least in Kossos County, I have never heard of anyone being able to cross the Nightmare Forest." Olivia considered, "But I won't doubt your background too much. How long do you plan to stay in Selva Village?"

"Hey! You don't really believe this kid's nonsense, do you?" Boris was angry.

Olivia ignored him and just quietly waited for the answer from the foreign boy in front of her.

Leon didn't respond to the yelling village thug. He pointed to the ragged pants he had just changed and said, "We just walked out of the forest. We are tired, hungry, and injured. Even these clothes were bought in your village. Now we just want to find a place to rest our feet in the wind and rain."

".Of course, if this place really doesn't welcome outsiders, we promise to leave immediately after a short rest and find another place." He shrugged.

Although he was not afraid of the trouble caused by the village thugs, Leon, who had calmed down after his anger subsided, was unwilling to take the initiative to cause trouble. If he alarmed the local lord and sent troops to arrest the three of them as spies of the enemy country, he would be in trouble.

"Enough!" Unable to bear being ignored by both of them at the same time, Boris angrily interrupted Olivia's communication with the other party.

He raised his dagger and pointed it at the young man with the sword: "I've heard enough of your nonsense. Either you hand over the sword and get out of here as far as you can, or I will arrest you and take you to the lord. Make your choice."

Leon glanced at Boris speechlessly without saying anything. He felt that it would be a waste of time to say any more to such a thing.

Olivia heard this and saw the gorgeous sword on the boy's waist. She suddenly realized what was going on. Then she looked at Boris and her eyes turned completely cold: "I see."

The girl warned him one last time: "Put down the sword."

"What do you mean?" Boris gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and laughed angrily, "You want to protect these suspicious spies from outside the village?"

"Compared to this ridiculous accusation? Aren't you more concerned about the sword in his hand?" Olivia pointed out his evil thoughts with an indifferent expression.

The surrounding village ruffians nervously retreated a few steps, fearing that they would be affected by the impending conflict.

Boris suddenly pointed the dagger at the girl in front of him and shouted in a bluffing manner: "You stinky bitch, don't f*cking think that I really don't dare to kill you!"

The words have not yet fallen.

Suddenly, there was the whistling sound of a wooden stick cutting through the air.

The stick head hit Boris's right hand at a speed that no one could see clearly.

The solid muffled sound made Leon, who was standing nearby, jump with fear.

"what--!!"

The severe pain in his fingers made Boris burst into tears immediately. He screamed and the dagger fell out of his hand.

Olivia looked at him coldly and said, "Since your injury last time has not healed completely, I will not add more color to your face this time. Take your sword and get out."

After saying this, she glanced at Boris's followers around her.

The girl's voice was not loud, but it was as cold as a chilly wind.

This group of young men, who looked much older than the girls, did not dare to be negligent and immediately retracted their necks and dispersed.

After a while, the river bank became quiet again.

Looking at Boris's back as he walked away in shame with his hands covered, Leon finally understood why the girl in front of him was given such a nickname by them.

When she got angry in front of these village ruffians, she really looked like a majestic little lion.

However, Leon did not dare to underestimate the girl in front of him. Although he had been paying attention to everything that was happening in front of him, he did not see clearly when the other party swung the wooden stick.

The speed was so fast that even the shadow and trajectory could not be caught. As a fan of swordsmanship in his previous life, he instinctively admired the swift and precise blow. Even Lohak did not have such exquisite "sword-drawing" skills.

I just wonder if this girl can still swing so fast if she replaces the wooden stick with a steel sword.
"I'm telling you a joke."

Olivia turned her head, her expression relaxed, and there was some helplessness in her eyes.

(End of this chapter)