32 — Joezand's Defense

"No time to wait, Joezand. We need you to learn all about Kivul!" He stops in front of a mossy stone well in the middle of the village's center. "This is a well. This is where they get their water!"

"I... I know that."

"Oh." Florian blinks, confused. "How?"

"I mean, seems pretty self explanatory. Wells are where people get water."

"But how do you know that this specific well is the one that gives people of this village water?" Florian asks.

"Because... they wouldn't build the whole village around it if it wasn't?" Joezand tilts his head.

"Ohhhh, that's right! You're a genius, Joezand!"

"I'm not. This is pretty self-explanatory." Joezand sighs.

Okay, what is this guy's issue?

They all have one. Everyone in the royal family has a massive problem. He's waiting for Florian to reveal his.

But he just seems... not that bright?

"W-Wait for us!" Anneliese says, running towards the two royals. Iaomai drags Agnes with him as they approach from behind too. He sees that the carriage is being secured by Lorelai. She's tying some parts of it around a sturdy nearby pole to avoid the horses running away. Soon enough, she also approaches the group.

"So, what do you think, Joezand?" Agnes chuckles. "I'm guessing it didn't take long for you to find out about Florian."

"Find out... what, exactly?" Joezand replies.

"Oh! And do you see that?" Florian points to a ceiling of a nearby house. "That's hay! The same thing that horses eat. Isn't that crazy?"

"Don't worry. You'll realize soon enough." Agnes says. "By the way, what are you doing here, Florian? Don't you have a kingdom to run?"

"That's the same thing Yago said to me when I told him I wanted to come here to welcome you." Florian replies. "So I sneaked out! He must be freaking out by now, hahaha."

"Who would've thought! Sneaked out just like you, Joezand!" Agnes mocks. "Brothers think alike— Hm. Wait..." She says in her usual tone, but stops after a bit, looking pensive. She quickly regains her jeering smirk. "Anyway, you really do think exactly like Florian." Whatever. Like that's supposed to offend—

Oh.

Yeah, that was it.

She's just calling him stupid.

Because Florian is stupid.

'Not the worst thing to be, honestly.' Sunnaria's voice. 'He seems well-meaning at least.'

'I agree. I'd rather deal with someone kinda dumb than someone like Agnes.' He thinks. 'She gets on my nerves—'

"You're doing the thing again!" Agnes says, stopping his train of thought. "Why are you looking up now? There's no way you're reminiscing again!"

"Ugh, so annoying." Joezand grumbles. "How can you even tell when I'm... reminiscing?"

"Are you kidding? Your eyes completely unfocus and you start looking to the sky. You completely check out, you weird ghoul." Agnes replies. "Again, you're still not telling me what you're doing!"

"Look, it's really none of your business." Joezand says. "I'm already..." He starts to whisper. "I'm already telling you about my business in Kivul later. You can stand not knowing about my thougts and—"

"H-Help!"

"What's going on?" Joezand asks.

"Bandits are attacking the village!" The woman pants heavily. "I-I apologize for interrupting, but m-my husband... he stayed to hold off them, so me and our daughter could escape."

"Alright, calm down. We'll help." Joezand says. "What's your name?"

"K-Karla."

"Bandits?" Agnes questions. "Why would they ever attack this place? It has nothing."

"Maybe..." Joezand says. "Somehow they knew that we were travelling here? Three royals must have something valuable on them, right?"

"I swear to god, if we have an informant at the palace..." Agnes grumbles.

They hear a few screams from where the woman came from.

"Let's go already!" Lorelai says, sword in hand. Anneliese takes her warhammer, Iaomai his bow, Joezand picks up his replacement rapier...

Florian unsheathes the massive sword from his hip. It looks even bigger than Pult's. That's insane.

"Just be quick about it." Agnes puts her hands on their shoulders, one at a time, using a bit of magic. Joezand immediately feels the spring on his step. "I'll stay here."

"P-Please!" Karla, the peasant woman, says. "S-Save my husband!"

"Don't worry." Joezand smiles to the the woman and her daughter. "We'll get it done."

They all run towards the screaming, weapons at the ready.

It doesn't take long until they see it.

A battle.

A few peasants have what's available to them. Pitchforks, woodcutting axes and knives. Dozens of bandits have spears, combat axes and swords. Most of the peasants wear simple raggy clothes, while most of the bandits wear leather armor.

Weird. These bandits are a bit too well equipped.

Joezand rushes forward, the ring and Agnes' magic combined helping him gain more speed than anyone else. He already sees the bodies of a few townsfolk on the ground. One bandit goes to hit a citizen, but Joezand is able to parry the strike. He can see around thirty invaders, give or take. No signs of a boss or anything like that.

"Guess the tip was right, boys. There's blue bloods in this city." One of the bandits snickers.

"Just his outfit alone is probably hundred thousands in gold." Another one says.

"You people can go." Joezand says to the peasants as everyone else arrives. Iaomai stays back with his bow drawn, while Florian, Lorelai, and Anneliese stay by the prince's side. "Come on, move it. We'll deal with it from here."

The people run away back to the city, as he faces the invaders once again.

"The lot of you better leave, riff-raff." Lorelai says to the bandits. "You're dealing with the best of the best."

"And the richest of the richest." The bandit grins, showing off his yellowed teeth. "Last chance to give up anything of value before we get violent."

"You were already violent when you murdered the townsfolk." Joezand says, pointing the rapier at them. "Go away before you get hurt."

"Oh, look. The prince thinks he can tell us what to do." A female bandit snickers. "We're not kneeling to you, if that's what you want."

"I just want you to leave this place alone—"

One of the bandits throws a knife at him, which he easily deflects with his rapier. An arrow flies from behind the prince and hits the bandit in the throat, killing him instantly. Joezand quickly glances back at Iaomai, who's drawing another arrow.

And the bandits attack.

He's outnumbered. There's only four of them on the frontline. Joezand, Florian, Anneliese and Lorelai. Two bandits come at him at the same time, one with a saber and the other with a axe.

But that's fine. He trained for this.

He jumps back as the two bandits attack him at the same time. It shouldn't be too much of an issue. Both of their weapons are short, while his rapier is quite long. He thrusts towards axe guy's knee, making him fall to the ground and scream in pain.

'Watch out!' Sunnaria says as he looks up to see the saber going towards his face. He parries with superhuman reflexes. 'Good, now finish the other one off quickly.'

'W-What? No, I'm not ready to kill—'

He feels a sharp pain on his leg. He looks below, and sees his calf.

With an axe blade inside of it.

It's shallow, but it still caught his muscle.

The downed bandit on the ground crawled over to him while he wasn't paying attention. He twists the axe, making Joezand scream in pain.

'Kill him, NOW!' Sunnaria voice says.

Without even thinking, he trusts the rapier inside of the man's eye, the tip of his blade hitting the back of the skull. Joezand immediately falls down on one knee because of his injury, as he sees the saber bandit try to strike at him again...

And an arrow hits his face, sending him back.

"Prince Joezand!" Iaomai's voice comes from behind him. "I'm sorry, this is going to hurt."

"Huh?" Joezand says. "AGH—"

Blood gushes out as Iaomai yanks the axe out of Joezand's leg, before putting his hands above it. Green energy starts to emanate from his palms.

"This won't take long." Iaomai says. "Be wary if anyone tries to attack us."

Scanning the environment, his eyes land on the other three. Lorelai stabs a bandit in the stomach, Florian straight-up decapitates a man with his massive sword, and even Anneliese crushes a woman's head with a hammer. Not to mention the arrows from Iaomai from before.

Are they all... this used to killing? Lorelai was a war soldier, so he understands. Florian and Iaomai he doesn't know that well, so it's possible. But Anneliese? She doesn't look like she'd hurt a fly. Her whole personality is kind, meek and nice. So why is she so used to that hammer? How can she kill without thinking about it?

The pain in his calf subsides, being cut in half, as he sees a big red scarring through the big cut hole that was left in his pants.

"That's the most that I can do." Iaomai says. "The rest your body will have to do on its own. But you should be able to move now, Prince Joezand."

"A-Alright. Keep providing cover." Joezand replies.

The ache in his calf is a reminder. He can't go soft on them.

If he wants to survive this, he needs to fight to kill. Again.

He runs back towards the bandits with a new outlook.