[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights IV: Fated Holy War

Episode 35: Fear of Romance

*Hideo*

"Alright, everyone ready to go fix the town?" Tetsuya asked as he yelled at my people.

The people, including the kids five and older yelled yes.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What does that guy think he's doing?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Seems he's rallying the village," Koukyuu said, joining me.

I scoffed. "That was a rhetorical question."

"Psst, Hide!" Kiara said, appearing behind all of a sudden. "You won't get her to like you if you talk to her like that."

I coughed. "Would you drop that already? I don't like her!"

My eyes shifted toward Koukyuu who had joined the town as they marched with Tetsuya.

"That cousin of our seems to be a natural born leader," Ki said, smiling.

I averted my gaze. Great, shown up by the peasant, again!

"Are you mad?" Silas asked, smirking as he walked over to us. The twins and our dad followed close behind. Dad carried a still half asleep Alex on his shoulders.

"I'm not! Why would I be?" I asked, scoffing.

"Don't lie," Kiara said, poking me on the chest. "I know that you aren't very fond of him. Why's that? Did he do something bad to you?"

I shook my head. "No, he's actually been helpful. I just don't like how he gets more attention than me, especially from girls, despite being a peasant..." I sighed. "Alright, I'm jealous, happy now?"

"Yeah, Dad was right about you needing to grow some more," Kiara said, smiling weakly.

I sighed and slid my hands into the pockets of my pants. "I know, never disputed that."

Silas snickered as he followed after me. What did he find so funny? Oh well, it probably wasn't worth asking him about it. Likely more teasing, which I really wasn't in the mood for.

My eyebrows rose. Koukyuu had paused and looked over her shoulder.

"What's the hold up? Aren't you the future duke of these lands? You should be helping lead the recovery efforts instead of leaving them to your cousin," she said, giving me her typical stern look.

I averted my gaze. "Yeah, but I'm not really much of a leader." I lowered my head. When my team was first made, some of its members didn't respect me. Borasco for example saw me as a kid, while Kiara continued to treat me as if we were at home. Even the new members such as her, Zydeco, Zyuuni, Ayumi, and Sonata didn't treat me as their leader. At least Zydeco and Sonata didn't look down on me like she and Borasco had. The only one who threated me well was currently in the hospital.

My eyes shifted toward the town of Shiwabe which had allowed us to use its fields as a campsite. Borasco had taken Sirocco to the closest city hospital once his condition was stable enough to safely transfer him.

Koukyuu put a hand on her hips. "Should I take the lead in that case? You did make me intermediate leader of your group. Though, right now only you and I are the only ones here since the others stayed back."

I laughed. "Not true. My original team members are here, such as Kiara. Well, except for two of them. Sirocco got seriously injured by the one who destroyed my town, so he had to be taken to the hospital by Borasco, Eiichi and Eita's cousin. I'll introduce you to the ones that are here later."

Koukyuu snickered. "You seem to be fond of them."

I blinked. "I do?" I lowered my head. It wasn't like I'd interacted with them much. Would've been nice if I had. Well, I still could.