"Who are you?" The dwarf looked at Arthur with fear. Getting such a reaction, Arthur felt hurt that his scammer's face didn't work.
"I'm here to help you." Arthur tried to appear as sincere as possible, but it didn't work as well.
"That's what the man from earlier said as well." The dwarf backed away. "I don't have eight gold coins."
"Well, you'll have a lot more if you follow me." Arthur scratched his head. He still felt like a scammer or a human trafficker. He looked at Gala and Dia for support.
"Listen well, dwarf." Dia stepped forward and said in a menacing tone. "If you don't follow us, we'll rip your hands off!"
"Seriously?" Arthur turned around in speechlessness.
"Ignore her, young man." Gala stepped forward to save the day. "How about you follow big sister, and I'll make sure it's worth your time?" She said seductively.
"More like a grandmother." Dia spat.
"Great-great-grandmother." Arthur corrected. The two snickered to themselves as Gala's brows twitched. She turned around with crushing kill intent.
"You two. Just to let you know, I'm young compared to some witches out there." Gala said in a wrathful voice. "How about this great-great-grandmother show you what she has?"
"I think this guy fainted." Arthur backed away as he laughed. The two looked at the dwarf, and his eyes were rolled back.
"What do we do now?" Gala asked helplessly. "Did he get so bewitched by my charms that he fainted?
"Definitely that instead of your crazy killing intent. It's weird that it only appears when we mention your age." Arthur walked over and crouched beside the dwarf. "Let's take him."
"Kidnapper Seika? I'm into that." Gala giggled. Arthur ignored her and lifted the young dwarf's body using his spiritual arm.
The three left the house and walked to the streets. As soon as they left the alley, they ran into three patrolling knights. The two groups looked at each other.
The Knights stared at the three. Three robed people with two of them hooded. Even if Arthur and the rest tried to be more suspicious, they wouldn't be able to.
The Knight's attention then turned to the floating figure behind Arthur. The appearance of the dwarf was far from peaceful. His eyes were white, and his mouth was agape.
"I can explain," Arthur said as he raised his hand. The three knights gripped their swords' handles and unsheathed them immediately.
"No one moves!"
"What happened to diplomacy in this country?" Arthur sighed.
"You're carrying an unconscious person wearing cloaks and robes. What did you expect?" Dia sighed. "Let's kill them."
"HEY!" Arthur turned to her and wanted to slap this self-centered princess. The Knights heard her words, and their mana exploded. The mana then seeped into their swords and armor as they lit up. "Oh?" Arthur raised his brows. "Are those artifacts?" He asked with interest.
"Kidnappers, killers, and thieves." Gala shook her head. "These knights will never believe us. We need to contact the Knight of Courage."
"I fear that these men won't let us go easily." Dia shook her head as she looked at the three knights assuming formation.
Arthur walked closer and looked at a knight's sword. He studied the exterior with interest as the Knight pointed the sword his way.
"Release that man immediately and raise your hands!" The Knight threateningly roared. However, Arthur ignored him and walked to the side of the Knight and studied his artifact.
"A Basic-Tier artifact," Arthur nodded. "It's amazing that even a low-level knight carries such an item."
Seeing that Arthur was ignoring him, the Knight grew frustrated and slashed with his sword. The sword descended on Arthur's shoulder as it let out freezing energy. Before it could touch Arthur, the blade stopped.
"Interesting." Arthur grabbed the sword with two fingers and pulled it away from the swordman. As soon as the weapon touched his hand, an alarm set off in the entire city.
"Reinforcements are coming!" One of the other knights shouted. "Let go of the artifact immediately!" He said with a grave expression.
'They didn't react this way when Dia threatened them.' Arthur looked at the sword in his hand that was sending signals after he took hold of it.
[Item Bind: This rune allows one user to bind to the item. If another person takes hold of it without the user's consent, the rune sends an alarm to the designed rune.]
'A runic network of communication.' Arthur nodded in approval as knights flooded the streets. A hundred knights surrounded the three all of a sudden. 'A bit of an overreaction.'
"Let go of the artifact!" An old knight walked from within the crowd. "I'm Captain Francis from The Knight Order! Surrender now or suffer the wrath of a thousand man!"
"... You're barely a hundred." Arthur smiled as he threw the artifact to the knights. "I was just curious. Stand back."
"Reveal your identities!" Captain Francis shouted with furrowed brows. It seems Arthur's relaxed attitude either scared him or ticked him off.
"I'm a gardener, Riko." Arthur introduced. "This is a herbalist, Kiro." He gestured toward Gala and then at Dia. "This is my spoiled daughter, Roki." Arthur introduced.
"Your names share the same four letters?" Captain Francis seemed unconvinced. Arthur shrugged. "Reveal your faces."
"That would be problematic." Arthur sighed. "My daughter suffers a terrible rash. It's highly contagious that even looking at it can transmit it. I fear for the lives of these young men."
"Enough! Do you think I'm a fool?!" Captain Francis snapped. "You've threatened to murder my knights and tried to steal their weapons! Surrender or die!" The Captain unsheathed his sword as well.
"Seia, I think you've made fun of him too much." Gala sighed. "Look at this man. He's about to kick the bucket out of anger."
"Your words are more venomous than mine." Arthur shrugged with a smile. "How about we take them down first?"
"We can just reveal their identities," Dia said, but Arthur raised his brows.
"I want to see their artifacts' strength." His words made the two speechless, but Arthur meant every word he said.
He wanted to see the effect of the artifacts that Solomon created. If they were just as powerful as his artifacts, Arthur could very well be just another inheritor of Jizo.
The words Rega said still didn't make sense to him, but he couldn't take them at face value either. Even if the spirit didn't lie, it could be mistaken about his identity.
"Dia!" Arthur shouted, and Dia raised her hand. Ice shards appeared above every Knight and descended with frightening momentum.
"Shields!" Captain Francis shouted, and a barrier appeared after several knights stepped forward with their shields. The runes resonated with each other and amplified the strength of the circle.
"A runic resonance?" Arthur raised his brows. He waved his right hand, and a giant flaming sword appeared above him.
The knights looked on with fear at the sword that pointed toward the heavens. The flames raged on its surface as the fire blade descended on the knights.
"You might kill someone," Gala muttered to Arthur, but he shook his head. He simply wanted to test his runes against theirs.
The flames collided with the barrier, and the world shook. The power of tens of runes contended against Arthur's fire until the barrier broke apart.
However, a large portion of Arthur's flames dissipated. The rest of the sword descended on the knights as they screamed in horror. Before the fire could burn the defenseless knights, it suddenly disappeared.
"Fascinating." A voice said, making the knights snap out of their daze. They looked at the cloaked person who was walking toward them as he grabbed his hood.
"I'm sorry, Captain. I had to satisfy an itch I had. You understand, right?"
The Captain looked at the man who took down his hood. His appearance was quite ordinary, but there was a majestic air around him. As the man took down the hood, he revealed enough for the Captain to realize he was one-armed.
"Y-you are..." Captain Francis's eyes shook as he pointed at Arthur. "Are you the guest from afar, the Seika of Living Beings?"
"Yes." Arthur nodded. "As I said, I'm the gardener."
***
"The Seika was interested in seeing the life in the city, that's why..." The Knight of Courage was telling the Duke of Contracts and the rest of the nobles of the reason the Seika couldn't meet them at the moment. It was at that time that a knight apprentice entered the hall hurriedly.
"Your Grace!" The young Knight shouted, interrupting the Knight of Courage. She glared at him, but it seems the Knight was too preoccupied to notice.
"Speak." The Duke of Contracts squinted his eyes. He was a dignified man with a stone, cold face with a thin mustache. He combed his hair neatly, but the scar on his eye made him look more scary than elegant.
"It's about the Seika! He kidnapped someone and fought against the Knights Order!"