Tale Of A Knight 11 Volume 2: Chapter 1- Awake

He was lying on the bed, unclothed, covered in bandages, he could see that his right hand was shorter than it usually is. "So it is true, it was not just a dream." He thought, before focusing on the room he was in. The place he was in, he had no idea where he was.

Last thing he remembered was him blacking out in front of a building, then everything turned completely dark.

"I am glad to see that you are awake, your injuries looked rather bad, I was worried you might die from blood loss." A woman's voice sounded out.

"Where am I?"

"Inside my house. I found you on the street, drenched in blood and falling unconscious. You are lucky that you stumbled upon me, a knight who specialized in healing and combat."

"Yeah, thanks" Bakit muttered. Then he tried to stand up while leaning on his hand but ended up falling due to the fact that he instinctively used his right arm instead of left, forgetting the fact that now he was missing his entire wrist.

"Careful there, you have lost an arm, put too much pressure on the stump and the wound will open up again. It took me a while to change the bandages and disinfect the wound, so don't try to ruin it all by doing something reckless."

"Yeah? Well Thanks for the warning!" Bakit said with a clear voice of irritation.

"Do you wield a sword? With your right hand?"

"Yeah, so what if I do?"

"Then I suggest you quit while you still have your life."

"Well, I still have my left hand. That is plenty enough."

"That will be a fine line for your funeral."

"Not funny!" Bakit exclaimed. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rainir Renow, 9th seat of Holy Swords, of the Ozen Knights. Very nice to meet you. Uhm…"

"Bakit. That is the only name I got."

"I see. Then Bakit, could you please tell me what exactly happened to you to make you be so injured, was it perhaps bandits or outlaws?"

"No, those were…Not human." Bakit described in detail the strange creatures he saw there that were made of liquid, fire, earth, and crystal. He also told her how the entire group he was traveling with got annihilated, all except him who walked back on foot before collapsing.

"I see. I am afraid I know their kind all too well."

"What were they?"

"They are called elementals. They are extremely dangerous to deal with; I daresay that they are just as dangerous if not more as demons are."

"No kidding, one was creating crystals out of thin air and hurling them like they were some kind projectiles."

"You are lucky that crystal elemental did not infect you. The crystals that crystal elementals produce eat the mana of anyone it touches. When the crystal eats mana the crystal grows at extreme speed. The worst part? It only takes a crystal size of a grain of sand to work. The crystal elemental can shoot a tiniest particle of parasitic crystal at a person and the crystal will grow from the inside of the body before cutting them open from the inside with spikes."

"So that is what happened to the others." Bakit remarked how some of the knights were killed after being skewered from the inside of their bodies after a small piece of rock ended up being shot at them. It was too scary to think about.

"Indeed. The crystals can infect a person if it comes into contact with open wounds as well. You are lucky you made it alive just with one missing limb instead of being infected."

Bakit now remembered how his right wrist had small crystal particles smeared on it. He was no alarmed. If the crystals are as contagious and dangerous as she says they are, does that mean he would be skewered from the inside as well?

"Say, if I was infected, how would I know?"

"I don't think you were infected. I examined you all over. There were no traces of crystals on you. If there were you would have been dead the instant the crystals pierced your flesh."

"I see. Wait, what do you mean you have seen me all over?"

"Exactly what I meant. Don't be such wuss; it is not like your body is so much different than everyone else's. I am a healer. I have seen many bare bodies, so no need to be so embarra.s.sed."

"That line of reasoning is just wrong. But thanks." Bakit said with a sigh. Then he looked at the table nearby which had a gauntlet and a glove on it. His right hand was wrapped with fresh bandages, likely by his gracious host.

"Can you pa.s.s me the gauntlet and the glove?"

"Why? To conceal your injury? For what reason?"

"I am pretty sure master Mekros would not be happy to see his student missing a hand."

"Mekros? As in Mekros Renow? He is your teacher?"

"Yes, that would be him, do you know him?"

"You bet I do, he is my uncle." Rainir said with a smile.

"I see, then…do you have a trombone?"

"What? Why would I have a…oh, he uses it as a way to wake you up doesn't he?" she seemed to know her uncle extremely well.

"Every morning before training. He uses different instrument every day of the week. Starting with trombone, then vuvuzela, and then drums….until he finally ends the week with bagpipes."

"I see. I feel a little sorry for you. But he does have his reasons for doing so you know, to cope that is."

"To cope, with what?"

"With his condition. You see, during the Demon Invasion ten years ago, Uncle Mekros was injured during the battle, forcing him to retire from the frontlines as the captain of the troops. Before he retired, he was the 9th seat of the Holy Swords, just like me. His injuries proved to be extremely extensive. Apparently the demon who injured him was a deadly poison type, causing uncle Mekros to lose most of his right leg's motions, along with broken bones and damaged muscles. The healers were able to fix his leg, but the poison rendered complete healing not possible along with loss of muscle memory. Right now, he is far weaker than he used to be."

"I see. Was he very strong back then, back when he was fighting demons?"

"More than just strong. In his youth, he challenged and defeated many of his foes, he even challenged the Sword Lord, but he lost to him though…in a rather humiliating way."

"Wait a second, he told me he never met the guy, what is up with that?"

"Probably in order to hide his old shame. He was defeated in a single move. I heard from my father that Sword Lord just bonked him on the back of the head with a hand chop. He didn't even use the sword against him. Uncle must have been too embarra.s.sed to tell you the truth."

"I see. So that is how he knew how Sword Lord looks like."

"He told you? How does he look like?" Rainir asked with eyes filled with curiosity.

"You don't know?" Now Bakit was surprised.

"I never met him, but I hope I do one day. It is every knight's dream to challenge him to a duel, you know!"

"Why would anyone want to do that?"

"If someone beats the Sword Lord, the winner can become the next Sword Lord, the strongest warrior in the entire kingdom, surpa.s.sing all of the Holy Swords. Sword Lord is even stronger than the top five members of the Holy Swords and they are ridiculously powerful! Winning against Sword Lord would mean you are officially strongest in the entire kingdom! Isn't that something to aspire to?"

"I am pretty sure I would rather run for my life rather than face him…." Again. He thought in the inside. The way he trained him was brutal and painful, even if he was just using wind pressure to hit him left and right.

"To us, Ozen Knights, he represents a pinnacle we one day want to reach. By being alive he creates a goal for us- to become stronger than him."

"I don't suppose anyone beat him though?"

"No, everyone who challenged him has either given up on challenging him again or is dead. He is simply too strong for anyone, right now that is. I hope I can beat him and become the greatest one day as well."

"I hope you can survive in one piece if you ever meet him."

"Well, the problem is- I have no idea what he looks like. Apparently he never wears his formal clothing and he never has his signature sword on him. He apparently sneaks around the city without anyone knowing it is him by pretending to be a commoner. That is so frustrating! It means any person I walk into in the street can be Sword Lord in disguise! I can't even find him to challenge him to a duel!"

"I am pretty sure that is exactly the reason he pretends to be a commoner, though." Bakit now sadly remarked. His teacher, Sword Lord aka Zenjuro Tamaraki seemed to be rather strange while walking around the streets, almost as if he was paranoid about someone recognizing him. Now this explained everything.

"Rainir, could you tell me, why Sword Lord is so famous, other than being the Strongest in the Kingdom?"

"Don't you know? The one who lead us to defeat the Demon Invasion was none other than Sword Lord. He single handedly ended the war, allowing humanity and the Tazak kingdom to be the strongest force in world of Alem. That is how great of a warrior he is."

'Wow' Bakit thought with a sense of awe. Seems like there was a lot about his teachers that he never even suspected.

While talking to her, Bakit found out that Rainir was twenty three years old, and that she was an adventurer before following her uncle's footsteps to become a knight of Ozen, and then later a member of Holy Swords.

Her green eyes and hazel hair complimented her warm personality nicely. Bakit noted that she was far easier to befriend than a certain cross dressing prince and the icy maid who serves him.