After eight days of voyage, they arrived in the southernmost port town of Valerya. With no goods in hand, both of them navigated easily through the city as they looked for temporary lodgings. However, with Karel’s meticulousness, he never took a liking to those lodgings they inquired about and Kani suggested they go to Izma instead.

  “Then, we should drop by the store now.”

  He fondly shook his head. “You’re quite the troublemaker, aren’t you?”

  “I just want the best for you, master. We need to be somewhere safe, clean and comfortable.”

  Kani chuckled. “I understand.”

  They arrived in the store after a few more turns and inspected the account books. Cashile did his task well and they left immediately after the inspection.

  “You should stay next time, Master.”

  Kani only smiled at the manager before exiting the store.

  Luncheon came quicker than they expected and scoured the area for a decent restaurant.

  “Montes and Valerya…”

  “Hm?”

  “They have a simir architecture?”

  Kani paused for a second then chuckled. “I’m amused that you noticed it immediately.”

  During the reign of Astadvran’s second king, he won the heart of a noblewoman from the east and eventually married her.

  The said queen then helped in developing the said kingdom throughout his loving and harmonious marriage with the king. They even expanded their territories westwards and founded Weissdel and Rouwen thereafter.

  “That’s interesting. The Eastern States are far older than Astadvran.”

  “Yes. Once we get to Stavros, I will tell you more details.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “There’s more?”

  Kani chuckled. “Of course!”

  They didn’t linger in Valerya for long and arrived in the isthmus in the afternoon.

  “Izma is actually rger compared to the State of Valerya.”

  “Really?”

  They walked through the main street and Karel suggested taking a break in a nearby café.

  Izma proved itself as the trading center of Grantierra just by the bustling atmosphere alone. Weissdel and the port city of Dahar might be on par but this massive trading city proved to be on a whole new level.

  “C’mon, we need to get going.”

  They headed north and conversed to themselves quietly along the way. By the time they reached the settlements, the bustling crowd slowly faded in the background.

  Halfway through, Karel stopped on his tracks which alerted the brunet.

  “What ha—”

  Instinctively, both of them looked towards the western direction as they both heard the muffled screams of help and the distant crying of children.

  Karel clenched his fists, stoic expression turning to frown.

  “Karel…”

  “Let’s go.”

  “What—” Kani gaped as his figure went in the western direction instead of north. After an exasperated breath, he quietly followed him.

  “Walk casually and cover your head,” Karel whispered as he pulled up the hood of their cloaks. He snatched the brunet’s luggage from his hands and stored it in his spatial storage.

  Due to their inhuman nature, they treaded on light steps with Karel leading them to where the cry of help came from. As they inched closer, the muffled voices and cries became clearer.

  “Hoh? This will fetch a good price.”

  Kani held onto Karel’s cloak, stopping him in his tracks. The tter looked back and saw his distress. He held his hand, enough for its warmth to distract the brunet and smiled a little.

  “Get away from us! You evil humans!” the ragged voice shouted as they approached.

  They only saw the backs of three people cornering someone.

  “Stay hidden in the—”

  “No, I will accompany you.”

  Karel leveled him with a stare then nodded firmly. They quietly approached but Kani stayed behind the crate while Karel announced his presence.

  “Let him go.”

  Only then when he said those words did he see the man being cornered. A werebeast—more precisely, a werewolf. He clenched his fist in anger seeing how beaten and wounded the man was.

  “Not minding your own business, I see.” said the man and held onto the hilt of his sword.

  “Huh? You’re trying to save these monsters?” The other man taunted as he stepped forward. “Wouldn’t that mean… you’re also a mon—”

  The man stopped speaking then loudly yelped. In a blink of an eye, he crashed on the brick wall face first and his body slumped down like a puppet with discarded strings thereafter.

  The werebeast looked at the man before him, shudders running down his spine. With his human-like appearance and with the strength he wielded, he assumed the worst—the blond man standing in front of him was a Ramayan.

  “Had they been doing that all this time?”

  He flinched and held his sobbing children closer. “Immortals… like us are discriminated against in this pce.”

  “Karel! Behind you!”

  The man attacked him with a sword but Karel manhandled him, letting the sword fall out of his hands. As they engaged in close-quarters combat, the man pulled a dagger from his back.

  He screamed in anger as he stabbed Karel on his shoulder which he intercepted, got the dagger out of his hands and kicked him in the stomach. The man fell unconscious instantly. The blond turned to the other side and used the dagger as a dart, throwing it towards the fleeing man.

  Thud!

  The third man colpsed to the ground with a dagger embedded on his nape.

  Ensuring no more threats posed, Karel gnced at Kani who currently stood up from his position. A figure loomed over the brunet and chaos befell them again.

  “Kani!” Karel shouted in arm seeing the man attacking him from behind. He swiped through the air, tearing a space behind the man and let the dimension pull him inside.

  “Don’t use magic here, sir! The knights will get you!” The werebeast also shouted in concern. At the reminder, he lost concentration and failed to completely pull the attacker in his dimension.

  The man still screamed in helplessness as the void slowly let go of him. When he returned to his senses, Kani took the chance to ruefully knee the man on his stomach. The man coughed and held onto his abdomen and gred angrily at Kani.

  Seeing how the assaint slowly recovered from it, the brunet materialized something in his hand. In his anger, he forcefully stabbed the weapon on the man’s neck, piercing it through horizontally.

  Karel worriedly watched as everything unfolded, as the blood slowly seeped out from the injury. With a loud thud, the bloodied corpse id itself down by Kani’s feet. He covered his mouth with the back of his hand then staggered backwards.

  “Master!” Karel called out in distress, clenching and unclenching his fists in worry.

  The other man weakly gestured at him. “I’m fine. Just a little bit nauseous.”

  “You should go get him then follow me. We’ll go to the nearby infirmary.”

  Karel looked at the werebeast in worry. “Can you stand?”

  “I’ve regained a little strength thanks to your aid. Come on.” He wobbled when he stood but held firmly onto the children now sniffling and dozing off in his arms. “Let’s go before the knights come.”

  Karel then ran towards Kani. The blond pulled him closer to himself and assisted him to walk. “We should go. Can you stand?”

  “Yes. A little assist will really do.”

  The chimes at the door rang then a head peeked from behind the counter. The man adjusted his eyegsses seeing the familiar furry ears. Seeing his battered state, the physician stood up in arm to immediately assist him.

  “I’m sorry we’re here again, Damien.”

  “Don’t be sorry, Haryan. I’ll always help and cure patients, you know that.”

  He held onto one of the twins and carefully pced him down on one of the beds; Haryan did the same. The werebeast sat on the opposite bed while observing the twins as Damien helped him disrobe and frowned seeing his wounds.

  Only then the physician noticed the two other men following them but Karel interrupted him by saying, “Treat his wounds first or they will fester.”

  “You must be…”

  “I am El,” Karel introduced himself. “This is my master. We happened to stumble across the werebeasts.”

  “Your companion?”

  “A little shocked.” He held onto Kani’s hand and squeezed it. “Maybe some calming tea will work? We will need some water.”

  The physician nodded and pointed at the rge urns of water near the counter. Karel let Kani sit down on one of the vacant beds as he fetched the needed water. The brunet, on the other hand, lost his energy to argue and mutely followed his instructions.

  Karel stealthily got the Gaikan tea from his space and sloppily poured it down on the kettle. He pulled the tray from the side and it nearly slipped from his hold. With his inhuman reaction time, he managed to catch the items before they fell to the floor. He breathed out a sigh of relief and squatted down.

  He held onto his forehead then covered his face. Tears nearly pricked his eyes at the thought of the prior incident. Karel proved himself as one of the most powerful knights during the Ramayan Civil War and yet reduced to such a state because of a miscalcution.

  I nearly lost him…

  “Aaahhh!!”

  Karel snapped out of his reverie when he heard Haryan’s pained screams.

  He slowly stood up from his position and carefully settled the set on the tray. He strode briskly towards Kani and helped him drink the tea slowly.

  “Did it ease you up?” Karel asked in a whisper after he finished three cups in half an hour.

  Kani slightly nodded and Karel squeezed his hands, reassuring silently that everything would be alright.

  “Argh!”

  The master and bodyguard looked over and saw Damien already stitching up the rge wound of the werebeast.

  “I know this is really painful, Haryan,” they heard the physician say to comfort him, “but I don’t have anesthesia as of now so please bear with it. If I don’t close this up soon, it will really fester.”

  Haryan’s grunts and muffled screams filled the infirmary as the physician continued suturing his wounds.

  Within the next hour, the werebeast lied down, still whimpering in pain.

  Karel stood up from his seat and approached Haryan’s bedside. He pulled something from his pocket and gave a small satchel containing at least 10 gold Ryuu. “It can help you.”

  He fiddled with the satchel and nearly excimed, “This is too much!”

  “Don’t aggravate your wound!”

  He turned to the physician. “I’ll also pay for the services. How much does it cost?”

  He shook his hand in disagreement. “No, good sir. It’s in the house.”

  “I insist. It seems you also need to restock your supplies.”

  The physician scratched his head. “So, you’ve noticed. My assistant went ahead and bought what we needed but we’re already short on funds.”

  “So, please receive this. Thank you for your help.”

  The physician stiffened upon seeing the golden Ryuu coins inside the small satchel and widened his eyes at him.

  “How can we repay you?” Haryan asked in a trembling voice instead.

  Karel stood up then looked at the werebeast. He shook his head. “I charged ahead without any reason.”

  “Ha?”

  “But, if you still insist, what are the names of the twins?”

  The werebeast then smiled and merrily answered his question. “Hariff is the older twin, he’s the one on the left side. Haliff the younger one. They’re only a year old and my wife died giving birth to them.”

  “It must have been hard.”

  He smiled wearily. “We get by somehow.”

  The blond moved closer, poking their cheeks as they now peacefully slept on the nearby bed. “I hope these twins will grow up well. May the Goddess Ananta bless them.”

  A small neckce appeared on each of the twins’ necks. “These neckces would at least protect them. Keep it close to them most of the time.”

  Haryan sobbed while looking at the twins still sleeping soundly on the other bed. “Thank you.”

  Kani, quietly sitting nearby them, smiled to himself.

  How ironic for a Ramayan to do such a thing.

  “You’re a Ramayan, right?” Damien asked nervously.

  “Yes.”

  Damien bnched. “Ramayans rarely go out of Ramaya… you…”

  “I love traveling.”

  “That’s weird. You’re weird,” Damien remarked and sat on the nearby chair, clearly exhausted.

  He chuckled. “I get that a lot.”

  They bade goodbye to the physician even before his assistant returned. Karel was also worried about catching the knights’ attention since there would be traces of magic left in the said alleyway where they rescued the werebeasts. Left with no choice, they decided to flee.

  The traces might yield some information about his magic but he hoped they would find themselves at the dead end with how unique it was.

  I should be careful next time.

  “I was reckless,” Karel immediately remarked when they entered their lodging during the te afternoon. “I’m sorry I dragged you into it.”

  “I insisted on accompanying you, Karel. I should have known that it’s dangerous.”

  Karel shrugged his cloak off then helped Kani out of his clothes. “Are you alright?”

  Kani bowed his head as he csped his hands. They never stopped trembling since the incident and the blond held onto them.

  Attempts on his life during his teenage years steeled his resolve in pursuing whatever he desired—to escape his supposed home and travel around the world. Because of the said experience, he learned a little bit of self-defense. His mother also taught him Elven Magic and it greatly helped him in surviving.

  He frowned deeper as he reminisced the memory of killing someone for the first time. After he did it out of self-defense, he vomited his guts out. Nightmares even pgued him during those tumultuous times. Now, although quite used to it, he still employed someone to protect him, and a Ramayan at that.

  Because I know what they can do to me.

  Karel whispered, “I’m sorry for my misjudgment, Kani.”

  The brunet said nothing in reply but circled his arms on his torso and pressed their bodies together. Karel returned the embrace while patting his back.

  “I’m sorry if I didn’t tell you about myself.”

  “Take your time to tell me, master. We all have the time in the world.”

  Kani chuckled as he clutched onto his back. “You’re right.”

  Both of them looked beyond the window and noticed the sun finally sunk down the horizon, the st rays illuminating their melded figures.