When I woke up this morning it felt like Christmas. But no, it wasn't because I was excited to get my ID card, it was because as I opened my eyes I was greeted with two hyperactive toddlers telling me to wake the fuck up. Yes, both Eddie and Will were bouncing on my bed. I would totally sue if I wasn't like eleven or something, I can't remember.
This is the worst, how am I gonna shake them and go into town? Kicking them both out I had no choice to get dressed up, Eddie constantly knocking on the door to ask if I was done yet. I swear I'm about to drop kick that kid, I totally could considering I'm still taller than him. I can see into the future so I know this won't last for long, better make use of it while I can.
Finishing up I opened the door revealing an enthusiastic Eddie and a worried Will. Do I get extra points for alliteration?
"Hurry up May, I told you that today was the day I would knock you down more than usual!" I could practically see the fire setting in his eyes, he gripped the handle of an expensive looking dagger, flailing it around like a madman.
"H-hey, m-maybe we shouldn't fight t-today? Since you're so p-pumped up I don't think i-it's such a good idea..." Will rambled on softly.
I'm losing daylight here! If I fight Eddie he'll only end up asking for rematches until our never ending tie is settled. I'll win one then he'll win one, that's how it's been going for years now. Once we were sparring until the sun came up the next day. Actually that might have happened a few times...
On the other hand if I agree to Will's idea he'll take us to the library or something. He reminds me of a mother trying to entertain her two idiotic children on a rainy day. He'll teach us how to fold origami or make the best cupcakes and get us to decorate them. Honestly if my heart wasn't devoted to one person I probably would've wifed him by now.
Either way we'll be busy until late at night so I'll have to distract them. Oh wait. I have a plan, a stupid one. But I'm dealing with such idiots that it'll probably work.
I stabbed Eddie in the side with my hand, making him jump. Then from his now loosened grip, I stole the fancy knife before chucking it over the stair railing. The blonde dumbass looked at me like I'd just told him that I was the tooth fairy and I'd been selling his teeth to weirdos on the internet. A mixture of shock and horror.
"May! That was father's knife!"
Will whipped around to look.
"Y-you mean the one h-he specifically t-told you not to bring off the castle gr-grounds!?"
Eddie gulped and it was the only answer will needed. He then took a deep breath before vaulting over the railing to the floor below.
"Ed!"
Will, shocked, ran towards the stairs like a safe responsible kid and followed his brother to check the condition of the dagger. Taking my opportunity I turned and ran in the opposite direction, towards the balcony in my room. Grabbing the nearest cloak as I passed through the mess I made this morning. There was some shrubbery below it that might break my fall if I convert to what ever religion is relevant around here. In other words, if need a miracle. Lucky for me that's kinda my thing.
Surviving the fall, I immediately booked it once again down the dirt path. This seems familiar. Just as the house disappeared from view I heard Eddie scream,
"MAY IM GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU!"
I decided that picking up the pace was a good idea, so I did, cackling like a maniac the whole way.
Arriving at the guild much faster than last time, I walked through the aged doorway with no hesitation. A few of the men inside instantly noticed me, giving nods of recognition. I guess waking into a bar wearing a fancy, full length dress kinda makes you stand out.
I strutted up the the front desk, Stanley still there. He already looked done with my shit before I even opened my mouth. He obviously doesn't feel the need to keep up the polite charade.
"Hey, hey, hey my guy. Is the old man here? I need to pick up my ID so I can get going."
"Don't talk so casually to me, I don't even like you." His faced morphed with such exaggerated disgust that it had to be fake.
Ignoring him I went towards the stairs.
"Oi, hold on! Even if I don't like you, no one deserves to be alone in a room with that nut-case."
He hopped the counter with ease, moving towards me. How the he'll did he hop the counter with both hands in his pockets?
As we walked I looked at him thoughtfully,
"Do you even have hands? Cause I'm convinced you don't."
"Do you even have a brain? Cause I'm convinced you don't." He replied back in a mocking tone.
I stared at him in disbelief, "That wasn't even clever, and you call the old man childish tsk tsk."
"Hmph, I'm miles more intelligent than that creep, I just don't feel like you're worth the brain power."
"Aww, you have limited brain power. Now I feel bad for you~"
Just as he was about to snap we reached the office door.
"Oh, would you look at that we're here." I said, giving him a shit eating grin.
He gave up and sighed, clearly too tired to deal with my fuckery. As I was about to knock on the door, the aggressive pretty boy beside me kicked the door open with gusto. This time at his desk, the guild head dropped his fountain pen onto some important looking documents. He glanced up, probably about to start yelling, before he saw that it was Stanley standing deadly still in the door frame. Once they locked eyes, the middle aged man began hastily removing the cigars from his mouth (more of them than last time, I counted thirteen), but he wasn't quick enough.
"I swear, you've already got one foot in the grave," the air around Stanley darkened dramatically as he cracked his knuckles, "why don't I help you the rest of the way in. After all my parents always said to help out my elders."
I've gotta say, I'm pretty glad I'm standing behind Stanley so I can't see his expression. Considering that it's making an over grown child wet himself I'm guessing it's really something.
"H-hey, come on now Stanley. We're like a family, right? You wouldn't hurt this feeble old man..." he said literally shivering in fear.
Stanley sighed again, relaxing his body. He returned his hands to his pockets before shuffling into the room and dropping himself onto the sofa. Myself following.
"Tch whatever, it's not like I could beat you anyway. Besides, you'll probably end up jumping head first into your grave all by yourself."
Huh, is that tch supposed to be a 'personality trait' now? Why do I feel like this was a suggestion from somewhere beyond the blurry fourth wall... which one of you did this to me!? Great, now I've gotta deal with an aloof, fake, pretty boy, who now thinks he's '4 cool 2 school'. I'm totally dying of old age before I hit thirty, that is if the stress doesn't get me sooner.
I cleared my throat, not wanting to waste anymore time in this circus. Plus I need to recover from the infamous tongue click.
"Not to be rude, but can I get my ID card so I can leave. Honestly any time is great as long as it's some time within the next five seconds." I'm losing my patience, not that I had much to begin with. Man, I'd be a shit hufflepuff.
"Ah yes, of course. Here you go."
He passed me a silver card, my name and age engraved into it with black lettering.
Name: May Rosewell
Age: 11
Class: F
Crimes: 0
I raised an eyebrow, "crimes?"
"Don't worry about it, it's just te kingdoms way of keeping track of who has gone against them." He waved his hand is disregard, "every hunter has at least a few on their record."
"Yeah, they put you on record for the smallest things," Stanley agreed. " So don't worry too much if the number rises from time to time."
Shrugging I thanked the two and left. Almost sprinting back to the tavern to take a request nothing to hard since it's the first one, probably nothing that includes fighting. Those two wore me out so I haven't got much energy left. Uhh, aha! Herb picking should be fine. Ever since I impressed professor prick he's been determined to make me his pirzed student to put on the top of his future job applications. Sadly for me this means learning about things I really couldn't care less about, including herbs.
Taking the paper off the bulletin board, I took it to Stanley, who was now back in his place behind the desk. He took the paper and gave it the guild stamp, taking my signature and then handing it back to me.
"Come back alive, okay?"
"Aw, you do care."
"No, I just don't want to attend another funeral just to look professional. We've already had three this week it's getting repetitive."
Salty, I dragged my heels back towards the entrance, through the city and then out the from gate, into he forest surrounding. The guards gave me suspicious looks as i went, which were probably deserved considering I was still in my high class dress. I can hardly blame them.
I quickly found what I was looking for and began to gather. I was quite a bit away from the entrance now, but I could still see something resembling a road in front of me. It had been quiet for a while, too quiet. Not only were that's no people about, but there were no animals either, so.... who scared them off?
Since I now had everything required to complete my job I decided to investigate. I continued along the road, staying hidden in the shelter of the trees, until I found what looked like adult male foot prints. I feel like Sherlock Holmes right now. Where's my badass background music where I need it?
Following them I found a group of men squatting in the bushes, watching the road, waiting for something. I could tell just by looking at these guys that they were trouble. Or maybe it was just the game designers terribly obvious characterization. Mohawks, tattoos, spiky weapons and not to mention ripped as fuck. Any one of these brutes could easily squash my head like a grape, it'll probably be better to leave whatever idiot that gets caught by them to deal with their own problems.
As I was about to turn around and forget I ever saw this, a carriage turned around the corner. I glanced back only for my heart to stop beating. It was a white carriage with tasteful silver swirls decorating the corners, two white horses pulling it along. It didn't look out of place in this over grown forest, almost like something out of a fairy tail. But I didn't really have the mental capacity to drool over the workmanship of the carriage that that moment, as the crest on the side had caught my attention. It was a blue and silver crest, with a white rose right in the centre. In other words the crest of the Snow family, the crest of Lillian's family.
Snapping out of my daze I ducked down further than I was to avoid being seen. I'm panicing. Oh shit, 99% panicing 1% excited. It couldn't be Lillian in that carriage right? No, she isn't supposed to get into danger. What are the chances anyway? She has a younger brother so it could easily be him.
Ah, wait no. I shouldn't forget about that little twerp, he's a capture target as well. Phillip Snow, the childish character who looks like he's seven. I always forget about him since I don't consider him a rival at all. Even in the 'bad end' where the villainess wins, Phillip and her just form a closer sibling bond. I'm not going to get intimidated by an infant disguised as a teenager, although I wonder what he looks like now that he's around ten years old.
He'll be fine anyway, the carriage is followed by around five armed guards. Whoever is inside will be safe. For all I'm know it could actually but be her parents, and I don't know much about them.
Making up my mind to leave whoever it was to fend for themselves, I tiptoed back away from the road. Well, until I heard five thumps. Thumps that sounded suspiciously like metal hitting the ground. Don't turn around, don't turn around, dont turn around......
Ah to hell with it I'm turning around! Stupid morals getting in the way of my free time.
While slowly picking up the pace, I all but shredded the dress I was wearing, in what I like to call my magic girl transformation. Underneath I was wearing a blouse, boots and cuffed brown trousers. I feel kinda upset about the dress though, I really liked that one....
Oh well, if I'm going to be a badass super hero I need a tragic backstory anyway. You will not be forgotten dress, I'll engrave your name into history!
Getting a clearer view through the trees I could see the five knights unconscious on the ground and the ten or so bandits surrounding the carriage.
"I don't know about this one boss," one said in a voice that reminded me of why I don't like asmr, "there's nothing of value in the trunk and the kid inside won't come out for nuthin'."
The biggest looking guy right in the centre brought his hand to his face, "we'll just get the next one, I swore this one would 'ave somethin' good considerin' the amount of guards."
"Then what do we do with this?"
"...light 'er up."
Moving slowly to avoid their sight, I reached down towards my calf, rolling up my trousers, and grabbing the two knives strapped securely. If you really though I would wander into the forest with nothing go defend myself you must think im an idiot. You wouldn't be wrong but I'd still be offended.
With a hand signal the leader sent the other men along the road to a new spot, where the carriage about to be burnt would be out of view. Only the leader, the one with the strange hissing voice and some guy covered in scars remained. The asmr nightmare began to strike his flint, I assessed my opponents. Big boss guy looks like he'd be harder to beat, although asmr looks like he's the brains of this operation and scar just looks like he's on look out. Probably a good idea to take him out first then.
All of them are much bigger than me, but if I play my cards right I'll have the element of surprise on my side. Two knives, three opponents. If my aim's any good this could be over as soon as it started. Do I kill them though? Not that I'm concerned for their lives, they deserve to die if they're gonna threaten my love's family name. The problem here is that Stanley and the old man said that they put you on record for the smallest thing, I don't want that on the first day!
My inner turmoil was cut off by asmr clicking his tongue,
"Tch, why's this 'ere carriage so hard to set alight?"
Ew, you know what I've decided that the "tch" thing is only cool when Stanley does it. I no longer care about the record, I just want this guy to burn.
Bringing both knives closer to my face, I closed one eye aiming, ready to throw. With a quick flick of the wrist they were gliding through the air towards their target. One of them found themselves firmly in scar's neck the other only made it to big boss's shoulder as he dodged out of the way.
As scar fell to the ground, asmr turned around. He was quickly yelled at by big boss,
"Turn back around and get that carriage alight!"
Damn it I needed my knife back. Ah fuck it you only live once right? Beside if I pull this off and Lillian is in that carriage it'll be the perfect moment to introduce myself.
Rushing towards scar, I dislodged my knife from his throat and faced the overgrown man stomping towards me. He grinned,
"Well, well, well. Wha' do we 'ave 'ere."
His disgusting teeth coming out, like bro ever heard of flossing?
I wish I could turn this into a high tension battle, but sadly my love life comes before epic fights to the death. So a quickly ran behind him and slashed the back of his knees with my knife.
"Ah shit-"
Ok I'll leave him to squirm for a bit. Facing my final opponent, I twirled the dagger between my fingers. May as well have his last impression of me being really cool. I was about to rush him but as it turns out this guy might actually have half a brain in his head.
Realising that it was the carriage I was after he smacked the horses, spurring them on. My super cool, badass, future knight instincts kicked in and I immediately mounted one of the fallen knights horses, chasing the carriage down as asmr snuck away.
I'll be real, I feel really cool right now. The only thing that could make this better is if the carriage was on fire.
Oh, would you look at that. The carriage is on fire.
Asmr must be been able to set his fire before sending them off. I tried calling out to the people inside. They struggled to hear me over the rattling carriage so I got in closer.
The curtains opened and sitting inside was the one person is wanted to see all my life. I almost felt myself going into a daze before I quickly snapped out of it. How uncool would it be if after all this I didn't manage to save her.
"You're going to have to jump out!" I yelled over the hooves of the elegant white steed I was riding.
She gave me a look of uncertainty. The perfect blue eyes flickering in fear, dainty features- Ack no, concentrate! She mustered up her courage before jumping through the now open door and clinging into my outstretched hand. I effortlessly hoisted her up in front of me and we came to a stop, watching as the carriage continued to run. She looked devastated.
"The horses..." she mumbled under her breath, her voice was low for a girl of her age but held a maturity far beyond her.
"I'll go looking for them later, my first priority is to get you back safe." I said struggling not to stutter out of nervousness. I can't ruin this moment now!
The tilted her head backwards to look at my face,"thank you".
Was that my soul flying away? Huh, I didn't know it could do that. The more I looked at her the more I realised that I was such a fool for her. I'd definitely do anything she asked me without any hesitation. This is dangerous, I have to get her back before I say something stupid.
The ride back into town was quiet, I couldn't think of anything to say. Probably a good idea anyway. Man I've totally blown this already, she hates me, it's over, there's no point in being here if she doesn't love me, or at least like me! I'm not asking for much I swear!
She looks quite composed, but judging from the small tremors in her perfect hands I could tell she was quite shaken up.
As we arrived I dropped her off at the front gate. She seems to have finally calmed down. We walked toward the guards together,
"May I know he name of my saviour?"
"May Rosewell." I answered trying to give my best smile. Most likely looked more like a grimace though... jeez I need to relax.
"Thank you again, miss Rosewell." She spoke softly, a delicate smile on her features. This girl is going to give he a heart attack.
Resisting the urge to literally slap myself in the face I turned back towards the horse, mainly trying to hide the violent blush on my face.
"I better get going then," I said mounting the horse again.
"Where are you off to?" She asked tilting her head.
I have to get out of here before I cry from happiness.
Putting on my best playful smirk I turned to her one final time, the hood slipping off my head.
"I told you I'd find those horses didn't I?"
And with that I rode away not wanting to see what expression she made next, I don't think my heart would be able to take anymore.
So I left her in the dust with the knights.
Ah shit speaking of knights I completely forgot about those guys who got knocked out, I hope they're ok. Ok, that's a lie. They don't deserve to work for someone so perfect. Oh my god she was so pretty...
Taking my card out to check, I noticed that the number had gone up by one. How.... is that even possible. Even if they were to work fast, how would they even know who I am. Oh well, I'm gonna die anyway, I haven't we Eddie will strangle me as soon as I return. It was worth it though, to see her. I wonder what would be happened if I wasn't there. I hope I can seen her again~