"My lady, in the end, I can't really approve of the idea."

A twenty-years old Mizoe let go of the saddle and turned around to talk to the brown-haired woman one last time.

"Didn't you agree with me that our territory needs knights? You and your son keep talking about the knight's training course for the past two years... isn't it the perfect opportunity? You want to stay in our territory after all, why not become one of the knights that we need so much then?"

Eothar Tallaran smirked and sent the young light-blue-haired man a look that anyone even slightly less dense would immediately recognize as coquettish.

"I want to stay here and protect the home you have given me and Zoemi – that is precisely why I am hesitant to leave. The sightings of wild monsters in the area had increased at an alarming rate... and I don't dare to even mention the ridiculous threats and accusations from that rude neighbor at the border..."

"...!"

Mizoe walked over to the brown-haired woman who was now much shorter than him and leaned down towards her ear to speak in a conspicuous voice – the action that took Eothar by so much of a surprise that she became flustered for just a moment before her gaze hardened with a steel-like resolve.

"Marigottie kingdom can bark all they want. They will not dare to thread on the lands of the kingdom of Bellcephora. You can freely go and claim the knight title and come back here. Still... I don't see a reason why Zoemi couldn't stay behind here... My daughters adore him to bits, it would be no problem at all for me to take care of him when you would be gone. He's such a helpful sweetheart anyway."

Eothar smirked, puffing up her chest proudly before leaning to the side and glancing o er at the seven-year-old black-haired child already in the saddle waiting for his father to join him and take the reins.

"That I cannot agree on. If I'm going away to become a knight, Zoemi is coming with me. It's a promise between the two of us."

The light-blue-haired young man's eyes widened and his expression turned even more serious than it already was as he shook his head and declared without leaving any room for discussion.

historical

"Haa... Mizoe, after you come back, there is something I want to discuss with you. Alright?"

The brown-haired woman's face turned a bit pink and she had to take a deep breath before saying another sentence.

"I'm always ready to hear you out, my lady, but if you believe that now isn't the best time to have a conversation on the subject that interests you, so be it."

Mizoe lowered his head and said while putting his right hand to his chest.

"J-just go already! And don't forget to come back. No matter if you will get knighted or not, you can even make a fool out of yourself and bring shame upon your name – Tallaran territory is your home and I order you to come back no matter what!"

Eothar could hold back the blush that engulfed all of her face and she turned right on her heel and declared while stomping her way back to her house, doing her utmost best to seem more annoyed than embarrassed.

The young light-blue-haired man was making her feel the way that no honorable married noblewoman should have towards a man who wasn't her husband.

"Thank you, my lady. I will!"

Mizoe called after her with a face lit up with the most heartwarming smile.

*WHAM*

Still, the answer to his words was only the loud slam of the door as Eothar hid in her house – with that, the light-blue-haired young man got back to the horse and saddled up.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, son."

"Nah, it was an interesting show."

Mizoe nodded towards Zoemi who shrugged his shoulders and snickered, smirking mischievously.

Mizoe took the reins and the horse trotted away on their way towards the closest territory that hosted the knight training – Tallara's one was too small and poor to be able to organize such an event, at least for now.

"...!"

As always when Zoemi had even a little bit of time to himself, he closed his eyes and entered the meditation state, but it didn't take him long to flinch and turn his head towards the foresty area they were passing on their left.

"...monster or bandits this time...?"

Mizoe didn't even budge and his face turned grim as he asked, without even looking at the boy in his lap.

"Sounds like humans."

Zoemi opened his eyes and answered with a disgusted expression.

They haven't even traveled for half an hour – with that in mind, the conclusion was obvious, as long as the humans hiding in the forest were completely lost and unaware of the location of the border village, they could not have any good intentions.

"Tsk. That's why I don't want to leave the Tallaran territory for too long."

Mioze clicked his tongue with annoyance and jumped down his mount and walked it towards the side of the road, tying the animal's reins to a low hanging branch before picking his son up and helping him down.

"Cheer up, dad. If the bits and pieces of information we've gathered from the others are true, then it might be one of the last if not the last raid attempt until the Marigottie kingdom will succeed at taming monsters. Still, those might be just normal bandits, we can't be sure until we will get rid of them."

Zoemi smiled brilliantly at the light-blue-haired man and nodded his head reassuringly.

"That's absolutely correct. Are you ready?"

Mizoe returned the smile after which he took out a long dagger from the bag at the horse's saddle and offered it to the boy.

"As always. Law of Aries. Law of Taurus. Law of Capricorn."

The black-haired child took the weapon that looked like a shortsword thanks to his small frame and nodded in confirmation before breathing out and focusing on channeling his spiritual energy into star power.

"They are between the middle and longer range in that direction... you could give them a warning shot and throw an ice spear or something. It would be more honorable."

Zoemi pointed in the exact direction he heard the sounds of the people who had no right to e in that exact location at this time and smirked at his father.

"I am not a knight yet, my honor isn't worth more than the safety of the people that helped us."

Mizoe took out his sword and announced, as his eyes shone with a cold glow and thin pale-blue lines spread all over his body like some luminescent veins.

*WHOOOSH*

Powered up by the variation of enchantment spell that he came up with himself, the light-blue-haired man dashed into the woods with the blade in his hand.

"Hey! Not fair!"

*WHOOOSH*

The black-haired boy called out after him and kicked off the ground doing his best to follow his father, but neither his small body nor the level of star power was big enough to catch up in time.

"WHAT IN THE?!"

*SHING* *SHING* *SHING*

The supposed bandits were not some run-of-the-mile thugs and reacted immediately upon the light-blue-haired man's arrival at their secret camp – but the three men closest to the place that Mizoe burst forth from weren't fast enough to escape or defend from the ice-cold sword that cut through the air and flesh with equal efficiency.

*TSHHHRRR*

The wounds inflicted by Mizoe's weapon would immediately freeze over – but instead of it being a good thing, stopping the bleeding and all, the ice would spread through the victim's veins freezing their blood, which in turn led to the veins bursting apart.

And considering that the first three bandits were slashed in the throats, the deadly chill made its way to their brains killing them right as they were trying to get back up in the position to retaliate.

"FIREBA...!"

The one hooded bandit who looked past the death of his comrades and began the counterattack turned out to be a disguised fire mage, as he reached out his hand and shouted an incantation as the air ignited and began coiling within his palm...!

*SHING* *SWOOSH*

But before the spell was fully formed and deployed, Mizoe swung the ice-cold sword and unleashed a crescent of frost that extinguished the forming flames and froze the bandit's hand.

*crack* *thump*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH...!"

*SHING*

The fire magician wailed in agony as his frozen fingers broke apart and fell to the ground, but his shout was cut short as Mizoe already got to him and ended his suffering by slashing his throat with a short, precise movement.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE LIKE THIS! GET THIS FUC-GHAAARGH...!"

*WHAM* *CRACK*

Another bandit appeared to try to take charge and command the rest, already drawing a bow about to release an arrow at the light-blue-haired man's chest, but he was unable to finish the task because a black-haired boy fell at his from the treetop, slamming the pommel of the heavy dagger right into his temple – which cracked the bandit's skull like an eggshell.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!"

"HMPH!"

"HAAAA!"

Mizoe scoffed and Zoemi shouted while launching himself at the remaining bandits who lost their heads and panicked, which made dealing with them a lot easier.

A few minutes later the light-blue-haired man and the black-haired boy both sat on the ground in the middle of the bandits' camp, surrounded by corpses, and breathed out in relief at the same time.

"...those... were both a lot tougher and a lot easier than all the other groups we faced until now, weren't they...?"

Zoemi dropped the heavy dagger by his side and wiped the sweat from his forehead before looking at his father and asking.