32. Brielle Averin - The Perfect Knight

Both the elf and the knight sat at the table. Yumino passed Averin a cup of tea, and they went on to discuss what was bothering the girl.

"What about Nima? You said you know where she is."

"I said I know where she went," Averin corrected the elf. "But I don't know why she is taking so long to come back..."

"Maybe she's just taking her time. What's the problem with adventuring a little more?"

As someone new to adventuring, Yumino failed to see the problem.

"Yumino. Didn't you talk to her about this mission?"

"Not really. Now that you mention it, she's usually so excited she wouldn't shut up about it, boasting all day about how she is going to shine out there."

Yumino reminisced about the arrogant laughter and the sparkling eyes of the girl whenever she came home with a new mission prepared. She loved adventuring, and Yumino was glad to see her enjoy her life.

While the elven lady was full of confidence around Yumino, she rarely displayed that attitude to strangers; that's why their night in the tavern also felt so special. He was proud to see Nima show her bold, strong self to others. Almost as if her cool yet spicy attitude gave him the right to brag about her to others with just a glance.

"Can you stop daydreaming? I don't want you to scream the name of another woman while I'm here..." Averin interrupted him with a disgusted look.

"Anyway, when she told me about it, it didn't feel right. It was almost as if she was asking me to keep her from going," she continued.

"I'm worried, Yumino!"

The way Averin presented things, Yumino also felt unsettled. Nima could solve almost anything by herself. She was strong enough to take care of any threats that may roam outside the city. Unless, of course, she was expecting something more.

"Do you think she's in danger?" the elf asked.

"If she knew she was walking into something dangerous, she would have done so with her chin held high, not looking at the ground while she spoke to me. We both know that."

"So then, what do you think happened?"

"I really don't know..." the girl answered. "The others don't know anything either..."

"Should we go look for her? But if we did that and she's actually fine, she'll crash out for sure..."

"I think so too. The others also said it's too early to worry. So I'll just wait for her here."

Yumino listened to the girl, but it mush be that his long ears had deceived him.

"Can you run that back? Do you plan to sleep here? You do know that means you have to put up with me for a whole day, right?"

"What do you mean by 'run that back?'...Of course I won't sleep here! What are you even saying?" said Averin, her cheeks pink.

"I'll just stay here until evening comes. She should be back by then. I think..."

The idea of spending the whole day with Averin worried Yumino. She was the type of person to do everything by the book way more than Nima. For Yumino, who was planning to relax all day, Alverin's presence meant that his day off was ruined. 

As such, he answered her with a broken smile.

"Sure, stay here as long as you'd like!"

Yet through all the despair, a stroke of genius hit the elf.

"Averin!" the elf said, smashing his hands on the table and getting his face closer to the girl, his eyes sparkling bright.

"Wh... What are you doing?" Averin asked, her face bright red by now.

"Teach me everything about you!"

"Everything?!"

"Everything!"

Of course, the elf meant to ask about her training; he just forgot to specify it. If one day he was going to lose the powers he had been borrowing, he had to find a way to keep his strength from dropping.

*****

As a younger sister, I grew up in a loving family.

My father dedicated his life to being a knight. He wanted to protect the people, and dedicated his entire life to becoming the best knight this kingdom had.

He trained every day, he ate as much as he could, and he spent his time studying whenever his body was exhausted. That's how he grew up tall and strong. If I think about it, he looked somewhat similar to Garron. Only, he had the decency to wear his armor.

One of the most prominent qualities of a knight is its loyalty. Almost to the point of following someone blindly, a knight doesn't question their lord's orders. The best knight is the one who gets things done as instructed. That's how my dad was.

No matter how hard or how unreasonable the command was, my dad would follow it. Night or day, summer or winter, it didn't matter; he would always answer Lord Lucien's call. Honestly, I have no idea how he had enough time to find Mom, or how come Mom accepted a man who put someone else above his family.

Ah, don't get me wrong! That doesn't mean he was a bad father! He truly loved and spoiled us. He would do anything for our family as long as it didn't interfere with his duties.

The only thing he asked for in return was a son to follow in his footsteps. Fortunately, he got what he wanted rather quickly, as my brother was born soon after Mom and Dad had gotten married.

Mother says that's the happiest she had ever seen Father. He held Brother high, laughed, screamed and cried, thanking her for bringing him to this world.

In my case it wasn't quite the same, but that doesn't mean he didn't love me! Don't look at me like that!

Regardless, by the time I was born, my brother was already close to his teens. By the time I started walking, he had already picked up the sword, learning everything Father had to teach him. Sometimes, when I would watch him train, I liked to pretend that I was looking at my dad in his childhood years.

Years passed, and I grew up just like any other girl my age. I would play with my dolls, go outside, wear nice dresses, and act like a princess. Life seemed perfect, like nothing could ever go wrong in our serene household.

Things changed after the death of the demon lord. Once his grasp on the continent was released by Gavin and the others, the biggest banquet I had ever seen was thrown.

Don't get me wrong, the influence of the demons didn't really get to our city. They were mostly kept away by the many vampires, yet that didn't mean we were carefree. Danger was always there.

As a child, I was shielded from those things. I grew up ignorant of the hardships from outside Veston. For me, life after the demon lord should have been not much different from life during his reign.

However, what nobody thought about were the consequences of his disappearance.

One night, when I was getting ready for bed in my new room in the castle, I looked out the window to get a view of the whole city. That's when I saw how the sky lit aflame.

Before I knew it, alarms rang out, and from beyond the horizon, what seemed like a huge drake came out roaring.

You've guessed it... It was a dragon. One of those insanely strong creatures that are depicted as old and wise, or proud greedy forces of destruction. This one was the latter.

Its first attack was the most brutal. It razed half of the city to the ground. Lord Lucien led the army in an attempt to save everyone, but all they were able to do was drive the dragon out of the city. It made its nest right at the gates.

In that fight, my brother lost his life. Father was struck with grief, but that didn't stop him from taking care of us.

Maybe things would have worked out somehow if what followed didn't hit the city even harder.

For the first time in my life, I felt hunger. Not just me, the whole city was going through a famine for the first time. With the gates blocked by the dragon, we could do nothing but go hungry, praying that one day that monster would get bored and fly away.

Even then, as the kid of the best knight, I still found chances to smile and play, but the same couldn't be said for everyone around me, and before long, something had to be done.

In a desperate attempt to free ourselves, Lord Lucien called everyone to arms.

Many of the soldiers—scared, hungry, and weakened—refused to answer, but not Father.

Mother begged him to reconsider. She begged him, holding me in front of his eyes, to protect us, not the kingdom. She even tried to shame him for thinking about risking his life and leaving us behind.

But maybe the perfect knight shouldn't even have a family, for the most important thing to them is serving their lord.

With a heavy heart, Father turned his back on us and went to fight the dragon with Lord Lucien. Of course, such a weak and troubled army failed to do anything. Father died after being struck by the dragon just once, and Lord Lucien almost lost his life in that battle.

It was only a couple of days later that Garron discovered this place, called in Velmira and Gavin, and drove the dragon away together with our lord.