Kindness

This is likely the worst thing to happen to me in the longest time!

I thought as I sprang up to my feet.

I knew however that sitting in the same spot all day would not give me any benefit.

I dust myself off and attempt to look into the tree line for any noticeable exit, but to no avail.

I think for a moment, and decide my next course of action.

I point in the direction I think is north and I begin to walk.

Feeling confident in my decision, I stroll along my chosen path.

…

Until I fell into a ditch.

Realizing a second too late, I land face first into the dirt and quite literally bite the dust.

When I thought it was over, I noticed a slight issue.

I was still moving, and I was getting faster.

I begin to start sliding down the hill, I attempt to flail my legs in order to latch myself onto any sturdy object, but it is in vain as I am going too fast to grab anything in time.

I tumbled further and further down the hill as I began to shield myself from any obstacles that came in my way, of which there were plenty.

I plow through thorny bushes and narrowly avoid crashing into the trunks of trees.

Thinking fast, I plant my feet into the ground and

Although I definitely did not stop, I slowed down enough to where I could control myself.

I use this opportunity to try to reach for any tree branch low enough for me to grab.

I look in front of me, a giant trunk was in my way.

It's too late.

I slammed into the tree, it delivers a sharp burst of pain and knocks the wind out of my body.

I writhe in pain for a minute, gasping for every breath of air I can get.

After a moment, I finally manage to stand on my feet.

Despite taking every bit of power that was left in my body to remain standing, I continue forward.

I grow weaker as I draw closer to what I hope is safety.

Trees, only more trees.

I’m going to die here…

The thought of my inevitable fate only made me grow weaker, the adrenaline that kept me pushing past my pain had been exhausted, and every step I took ached with every movement that I made.

By the time I took my final step, I found a river.

Despite my state, I admired the beauty of nature for just a moment.

It’s calming…

I collapse onto the ground, no longer having the strength to keep myself up.

How am I this weak… how long was I walking for?

My perception of time is lost it seems.

Not like it matters anymore.

I admire nature for one last time.

Then, I slept.

***

“He’s starting to wake up!”

“How long has it been? A week?”

“Doctor! What should I do?”

“I do not know, Sister Maribelle.”

Are those… voices?

Am I dead?

I begin to open my eyes.

“Doctor! He’s opening his eyes.”

“Is he now?! Let me see him!”

As I adjust to my surroundings I see a face suddenly pop focus into my vision.

“GAH!!” I reel backwards, shocked by his sudden closeness.

“Hey! Hey! Calm down! I’m just a doctor!.” The supposed doctor held his hands up, signaling to me that he was not a threat.

I take a moment to examine everyone in the room.

The sister shockingly towered over all of us in the room, the doctor being a few heads shorter than the sister, meanwhile the elderly man was the shortest of them all.

After examining the three of them, I calmed down enough to speak.

“Where…am I?”

The four of them looked at each other for a moment, and the elderly man stepped up to talk to me.

“You are in the village of Cornwall, the sister found you collapsed near the river while she was gathering water.”

“I was worried you died! I have prayed relentlessly for your recovery, thank God you are okay!” the monumental woman cried out.

I was taken aback, were they really that concerned about me?

Suddenly, a horrible pain rose in my stomach, growling as fiercely as a wild animal.

“Oh my!” The sister said in surprise.

“You must be hungry aren’t ya?” The doctor chuckled.

“Ohoho! He was out for a week wasn’t he?” The mayor chortled.

“Eh?! A week?!” I said in shock.

“Yes. You were quite heavily injured, you needed a lot of rest!” The doctor said reassuringly. “Seeing as you are awake now, you need to eat! Can you cook him a meal, Sister Maribelle?”

She smiled, “Of course Doctor! I will be sure to make the most fulfilling meal this boy has ever eaten!”

She proceeded to run out the door, nearly hitting the ceiling in the process, due to her towering physique.

“Have I really been out for a week?” I said, looking at the doctor.

“Yes, you had many injuries, lots of sprains, lacerations, and even a few fractures, and don’t forget thorns! You were lucky it was not in any of your limbs, it was a miracle we even found you, you would have surely died if you were left alone!” the doctor said.

I take a quick glance at my body, bandages are wrapped around my legs and torso, and every thorn that I had was completely gone.

I struggle for a moment to say a word, but I muster up the will to ask.

“Can I walk?”

“Yes, in fact you need to, but you’ll have to do it with one of these.”

The doctor then goes into his storage room and walks out with a cane and the clothes that I worn before, completely mended, and hands it to me

“Sister Maribelle mended your clothes too, you can change into them later.”

‘We’ll help you up boy.” The mayor stepped forward saying.

I extend my arms and put myself into the shoulders of the doctor, with the mayor attempting to aid me despite his small stature.

I grab the cane and attempt to use it to step forward.

The bandages that are wrapped tightly around my legs limit my movement, but thanks to the cane I am able to take steps slowly.

I exchange a look back and step through the door, finding myself in a long highway with multiple doors, some of them are fully open.

Walking out of the hallway into the main room, I notice rows of seats and an altar, and on the biggest wall is adorned with what I assume is a religious symbol.

A church?

I examine the room one more time.

…Definitely a church.

Suddenly, I find the Sister walking out a door to the left of the altar.

“Oh! You’re walking! Come right this way, your meal is ready!”

She begins to excitedly usher me to the dining room, I struggle to keep up but I make it to the dining table.

She comes over and lays down a plate in front of me, I find a bowl of soup, with what I assume are chunks of carrots inside, a small loaf of bread sits to the side of the bowl, and to complete the meal, a small wooden cup containing milk.

Without hesitation I began to dig in unconsciously, I scoop every single chunk of vegetable out into my mouth, chewed, then swallowed.

‘Oh my!” Sister Maribelle said, seemingly shocked, but smiled after a while.

I drank all the broth in a single sitting and devoured the loaf of bread. I finished with the drink, which I chugged within seconds.

I put down the cup, as soon as I swallowed, I exhaled in satisfaction.

“Well… you were quite hungry weren’t you?” The mayor walked in, chuckling.

I look at the mayor and back to the sister.

I struggled to put my finger on how I felt, it wasn’t something I felt in a long time, or ever.

“Oh… was my meal not good?”

“No! I can’t thank you enough!!” I said instantaneously.

Sister Maribelle smiled, “I’m glad you enjoyed it!”

I get up to try to clean up my mess, but she reassures me “Don’t worry about this! The Mayor wishes to talk to you anyway.”

“That's right, now that you’ve eaten boy, I have to ask a few questions.”

I looked at the Mayor, who with difficulty sat on the chair next to me.

“So where did you come from?” The Mayor asked.

Right as I was about to say my answer, I held back after realizing that said answer was idiotic.

“...Do you remember?” The mayor asked.

...I came here from another world.” I said reluctantly.

We sat in silence for a second, the silence being ironically the loudest thing in the room.

“BOHAHAHA!!” The Mayor guffawed, breaking the silence.

As he laughed we stared at each other, his laughter slowly dying down.

“Oh, you’re serious aren’t you?”

I nod solemnly.

“Well son, I don’t want to say you are a liar, but it’s a bit far fetched, if you understand.”

I nodded in understanding, “Either way I came from a far away place.”

“Well, all I want to say to you as of now is you can take as long as you need to recover from your injuries, we wouldn’t want to send you out into the wilderness to die after all, though… it might take a while for most of the villagers in this town to trust you.”

Hm? I looked at him questioningly.

“Don’t worry boy, I’m sure they’ll come to you eventually.” He said while patting me on the back while giving a warm smile, then walked off to the door exiting the church, shutting the door behind him.

I guess I am a complete stranger to them. I thought.

After a moment of consideration I decide to exit the building as well, following suit to the door. I open the door slowly, and I cover my eyes as I adjust to the light outside.

Once I take a proper look, I am dumbfounded at what I found myself in.

It was a town that I had only seen described in history textbooks, the roads were made of stone, houses made of wood, with no glass windows, rather wooden doors that were either open or shut, their roofs were lined with straw, looking further out, I saw more houses and fields of plain grass even farther, extending out into the horizon

Taking my view back to the town, I found out that the medieval village I found myself in did indeed house people, they strolled along in the town center, carrying bags of what I assume to be grain, people loading water from wells into buckets, conversing with others, and children frolicking around the centermost area.

Upon examining the center area more, I found a large stone, but that wasn’t the strange thing about it, the strangest thing was what was embedded INTO the stone.

It’s… a sword?!

No mistaking it, it’s a sword!

It is stuck halfway into the stone, showing a small section of the blade, with the most eye-catching parts being the golden cross-guard, which was curved downwards and adorned with what seemed to be a ruby.

Is that… what I think it is?!

My heart began to beat faster.

Is that Ex-

I was suddenly interrupted by a group of children running past me screaming as they were being chased by Sister Maribelle.

I couldn’t tell if they were screaming of joy or of fear due to the fact they were being chased by a monstrously tall nun.

“Oh it’s you!” She stopped in her tracks to face me, and started to walk towards me.

“It's good that you seem to be walking now uh…..”

I forgot to tell them my name it seems.

“Tobias.” I answered softly.

Sister Maribelle smiled. “Tobias! What a beautiful name!” ‘

I was instantly flattered. “Oh it’s not really anything special…”

“No really! Tobias is a fitting name!”

“Huh?”

“Tobias is the name of a noble saint, I’m sure you’ll go on to do great things one day!” she said excitedly.

“Gee… thanks… Maribelle.”

Tears started to well up in my eyes, they streamed down my face as I smiled.

“Oh my, do you not like being named after a legendary saint?”

“No that's not it!”

She put a hand onto my shoulder. “Then why are you crying?”

I pause for a moment.

“Where I came from, I never received this much kindness from anyone, no one ever cared about me this much.”

I look down and laugh, “So what is happening now is super unusual to me, is all.”

I look up and see that Sister Maribelle started to sob, she suddenly grabbed me and held me to her chest in an embrace.

“M-my goodness, I never knew that life has been so hard for you, it truly is God’s miracle that we found you.” She was sniffing and sobbing as she finished her sentence, she began to squeeze even harder, causing me to feel pain.

Frighteningly strong too!!

“Haha! That’s the sister for you!” a voice nearby rang out.

The villagers took notice of the situation and laughed, the laughter of the village people soothed me.

“Oh! Sorry!” She released me from her grasp, I took a big breath and I smiled and laughed too.

Trumpets began to echo all across the village, the villagers looked like they went from full of joy to having a slight hint of fear on their faces, losing their smiles and seeds of uncertainty began to sprout in the crowd .

The village children ceased playing and ran into the crowd of adults and hid amongst them in the crowd, most likely behind their parents.

I lost my smile too and I looked to the source of the trumpets, the longer I listened the closer the source of noise got closer, until it was clear that a squad of knights on horses was the source of the noise, the villagers move out of the way as the knights walked through the crowd of villagers.

What is going on?!

The knights advanced into the center of the village, dismounting their horses, the mayor ran past me, once he reached the town square he took a moment to catch his breath, his expression changed from a jolly old man to one of a scared old man.

“Why hello, O’ Knights of Camelot, what brings you here today?” He kneeled before the knights, and all the villagers and Sister Maribelle followed suit, she brought me down to kneel too, making me the last one to do so.”

The biggest knight of them stepped forward, his blade was colossal, the blade stretched to be about as tall as he is, who is nearly as tall as Sister Maribelle, it also lacked a scabbard and a cross-guard, the fact he is able to sling it on his back was a feat in it of itself, much less actually use it, he took off his helmet as he stepped into talking distance.

He has long dark brown hair and a fuzzy face due to the amount of facial hair he has, he has multiple scars on his face, one was notably on his left eye, so it was likely he has gone into battle many times.

“Hmph! We have come on a decree by King Arthur of Camelot himself!” he spoke in a rough voice, he clearly led the squad of knights he arrived with, that much was clear in his commanding voice.

“King Arthur himself?! What does the decree state?”

“Hmph! “Citizens of Cornwall, by this decree, you must now supply the Knights of Camelot with free shelter, food, and drink effective immediately, you will not resist this decree, lest you face secession from the Kingdom of Camelot. Your Highness, King Arthur Pendragon.”

The knights began to cheer, hooting and hollering as they laughed.

The mayor winced when he heard the decree by the king, “But sir-”

“That’s Sir Hauser to you.” He cut off the mayor in a bold voice.

“Sir Hauser, we would be glad to provide to you food and drink, but as of now we have very little food to give out, you see we have to feed a lot of people here, especially the injured and orphaned children.”

“Hmph! THAT is no excuse to deny the holy decree of King Arthur himself! Fool! We take priority over mere men, women and children!” The man exclaimed violently.

“Sir Hauser, I am terribly sorry, bu-”

“Shut up you meathead! You knights think you own everything!” A child yelled out from the crowd, he picked up a stone and tossed it at Hauser, nailing him straight in the cheek.

The villagers gasp as the boy stood his ground, his legs shook as if they were hollow and brittle, barely able to keep the boy standing, poorly concealing his fear.

Hauser slowly looked at the crowd, he focused on a place inside the crowd. “HMPH! YOU THERE, COME OUT NOW!” he found the child standing amongst the adults, the child stared at Hauser while whimpering, refusing to budge even an inch.

“Hmph! I’ll just have to come to you then!” He began to step forward to the child, each step shaking the very ground we stood on.

Maribelle suddenly jumped past me, shocking me as she ran to the commotion. “Stop! Please don’t hurt him!” Maribelle jumped in between Hauser and the child.

“Please don’t! We will feed you as much as you would like Sir Hauser, just don’t lay a finger on him!” She blocked the way from Hauser, facing him eye to eye.

“Move woman! We as the Knights of Camelot have honor to uphold, we command respect, and thus we need to make an example of that boy!” Hauser reached for his sword, upon laying his hands on his blade, the villagers gasped and began to panic.

“WAIT! Please don’t hurt them!!” The mayor put his hands on Hauser, “Hmph! Off of me!” Hauser swung at the Mayor with his fist, clubbing him on the face and launching him into the crowd of villagers, the doctor quickly rushing to the scene to tend to the mayor.

The villagers screamed as the mayor was knocked unconscious, some men stepped forward but the squadron of knights blocked the way by drawing their weapons, which quelled any bravery that the men had.

“Hmph! If you won’t move, prepare to die!” He finally drew his sword and raised it over his head, Sister Maribelle and the child tried to run but were blockaded by Hauser’s men, they closed their eyes and braced for the impact.

I have to do something!

But what can I do?

I’m pathetic and I'm injured, I am too weak.

The only people who ever showed me kindness are about to die and I can’t do anything about it.

I’m hopeless.

I see now… yes… you could work, I guess.

Huh? Who was that?

Come to me, you wish to do something, yes?

I quickly looked at the source of the voice.

Quickly, before it’s too late! Draw me!

I bolted toward the source of the voice, running the fastest I ever could, my heart beating the fastest it ever had.

Section OST - Perfect Time - Hiroyuki Sawano

It was like a flash.

I dashed in front of Sister Maribelle and the child and swung, letting the blade take control of my arm.

“Hm…? GUH!” Hauser was knocked back as the impacts of my blade connected, shattering his blade instantaneously.

“WHAT! I-IMPOSSIBLE!” He held the hilt of his once monstrous blade, now rendered useless.

Heh! Like a shoddy blade like that could nick my edge!

What?!

“H-hmph!! I’ll have you know I’m a candidate to join the Knights of the Round Table, I am no weakling… Wait, that sword! It couldn’t be… a white blade, golden cross guard, sharp blue hilt…”

“Heh… That’s right!” I grinned, “It’s THAT sword!”

Who are you?

We can introduce ourselves later, for now just call out my name and finish this!

Agreed.

“Hauser! Allow me to show you just a portion of this blade's power!”

“N-no! Please! I’ll do anything, PLEASE!!!”

Allow me to accumulate the mana you’ll need for this attack, all you need to do is swing!

A white glow began to emanate from the sword, casting light all over the village.

Hauser grimaced as the white light flooded the area. “HMPHHHHHH!!! I’ll KILL YOU!!!” he lunged at me with his fist, bulging with muscle.

“Take this!

CALIBURN: SWIFT STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I swung forward, a slash made of light launched forward, it flew towards Hauser, crashing into him.

“THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, THAT SWORD IS THE ONE KING ARTHUR USED TO WIELD… IT'S THE LEGENDARY BLADE OF LIGHT… CALIBURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Upon finishing his sentence, he was launched into the air and his armor shattered instantly, he coughed blood and screamed.

The slash kept flying, cutting cleanly through any building it came across, and even slicing down the nearby forest, felling any tree it came across.

Everyone stared in shock as I holster the blade onto my back.

The knights, who were once unfeeling and cruel, were shivering and cowering, I look at them and smile.

“Who’s next?”

Authors Note:

Hello readers! I was quite disappointed with the quality of my chapter post-publishing, many issues such as grammar and lack of story have been bugging me the whole week, so alongside this chapter being posted, the first chapter should have been edited to be of much better quality than what it was before.

One more thing! Think of the first chapter and this chapter as one complete chapter, I should have waited to combine the two chapters but I rushed out the first chapter, so now here I am! From here on out, I will push out one chapter a month of about 4000-5000 words, thanks for your understanding! :D