Tales Of New World: The Magus 5 The Mage

"This battle is really small compared to our other battle... But, the cost is higher because of someone unrelated from us become the victim."

"I know about that..." answer Aubert as he prepares the wood to burn all of the body.

"Even though it's only one... the burden is much heavier because of a small fact that he is some unknown people that dragged into this conflict," says Albert as he pats Romain back.

"If only I'm more prepared... He will not die in this battle..." says Romain

"Don't blame yourself or it will really make your performance drops, Romain," says Clement.

Romain nods and takes Volya's body with the bandit's corpse. After that, Albert lit the fire and all of them prays for Volya soul. Not long after that, all of them hears something coming from the bushes behind them. All of them prepares their weapon immediately and waiting for anyone or anything that comes to them.

The moment they see the one who comes out from the bushes, all of them are really surprised to see Volya stands there. And what more surprising is he is unscathed. Romain looked at the fire behind him and then at Volya in front of him. Volya then laughs and says, "It is a good thing that I follow my guts to create a copy of my body to meet all of you before this, if not I will meet my father in heaven."

All of them can't hide their surprise to Volya that laughing at them. After that, Volya starts to walk again and says, "Then, let's continue our chat that postponed before while I lead all of you to the outskirts of Azalea."

Volya starts to walk with the knights still stand still there. The 'Queen' looks at Albert and hears him says,

"I could say that we could follow him as his intention is really pure."

"I agree with you, Sir Albert. But, we need to stay vigilant around him," orders the 'Queen'.

"I will."

He then orders the other knights to protects the 'Queen' while following Volya, the man that help them in that small fight.

Thirty minutes later, all of them continues to walk in silence and all of the knights are focusing their attention towards Volya, the mage that suddenly helped them. Volya understands that they are really suspicious of him, but he doesn't care about that. But because he is bored with the situation, he asks them,

"I believe all of you should be understand about that treaty, right?"

"Did you mean the treaty about Azalea?" asked Albert.

"That's right. If you understand that treaty, why did you chase them until this area?"

"That's fully our fault to follow them without thinking about our location." answer the 'Queen'.

"Then, why did you chase them?"

"That's because they already killed a lot of our villager and raid a lot of village near here." answer the 'Queen' once more.

"Hooo... And then all you chase them until here and the rest becomes history. Then, my next question is why don't you let them go?" asked Volya.

"If we let them go, they will continue to raid other village and more people will be killed by them," answer Albert.

"Hooo... And the end is all of you almost fall to their ambush if I didn't intervene. And together with that, you let your kingdom in pinch with you almost break the treaty."

"About that..."

"This is a small suggestion from me, it's better not to chase them to deep as they could suddenly bite back like small creature that already cornered."

All of the knights are really surprised to hear that from Volya. Meanwhile, Volya continues talking,

"And I believe all of you break a lot of basic principle in chasing something. Like how many is your target? Where are they going? Do we know the location? Etc. From there should be safe from a bigger problem."

Albert looked at Volya with awe and want to ask something. But, Volya already finished it by saying,

"But, that's just a theory that I heard from several veterans that I meet when I am reading their fortune in the past. They even stated that it's hard to do it in practice."

"Still... It's an embarra.s.sment for us to forget that basic principle as a knight," says Aubert.

"Well... I can't blame any of you as it is a dire situation, no?"

Volya then continues to walk and lets the knight thinking about their action for a while. He then continues to lead them towards the edge of the forest in silence until he asks them again,

"Then, what will you do to them if all of you arrest them?"

"We will bring them to the capital and hanged them!" answered Clement.

"Hmmm... execution without a trial? Isn't that quite brutal?" ask Volya.

"It's not a problem as they ask for it," answer Aubert.

"Is that so..."

"But, isn't what you have done to them almost the same with us? Killing them without any hesitation?" ask the 'Queen'.

Volya looked behind him and then says,

"At first, I think I could avert any conflict from this forest. But, everything change from bad to worse in split second and I need to take such action."

"But, you still kill them without any trial," said Albert.

"That's the forest and the fate will."

"Huh?"

"Hahahahahaha... Just ignore this hermit rambling alright. And you are right, I am a hypocrite for doing that."

Albert and the 'Queen' looked at each other and they understand that the person in front of them is someone unique in his mind. They continue to follows the person that help them until they arrived in front of a vast field.

Volya stopped there and asks them,

"By looking at your insignia, I could say that all of you comes from the kingdom at north. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are right." answer the 'Queen'.

"The kingdom that located at Snowmarsh mountains, the Haegia Kingdom. Isn't that quite far from here?" ask Volya once more.

"Yes, we know that it is quite far from here. But it is our job as a knight to protect everyone near our border," answer Albert.

"Then, is it something ordinary for that?" ask Volya ask he takes a glance at the 'Queen'.

"Of course." answer the 'Queen' after seeing Volya looking at him.

"Ah... I'm sorry, my question isn't that clear. What I mean is this... Is it something ordinary for the Queen of the kingdom to follow their knight and hunt down the bandit?"

The 'Queen' really surprised to hear that and seems hesitant to answer that question. Volya then smiles at her, then bows, and asks her,

"If possible, could I ask your name, Your Highness? It's something rare to meet a Queen that also act like a knight."

All of the knights are really surprised and looked at the 'Queen'. The 'Queen' looked at Albert and see a nod. She then laughs a little bit and then says, "If you insist."

The 'Queen' takes off her helmet and let her saddle brown hair shown to the world. She let her hair tied in order to not disturb him under the helmet, but that didn't reduce her beauty at all.

Her blue eyes as clear as the sky looked at Volya with full of determination, and Volya could see that the 'Queen' is smiling as if she is teasing him a bit. She then says,

"My name is Helena Estrudiantes, The Queen from the Haegia Kingdom that rule the north side of Therious Island at Snowmarsh Mountains. It's an honor to meet you."

Volya really surprised that Helena really introduces herself and revealing herself as the queen in front of him. And because of that, he laughs really hard and that really triggered the knight. Albert then says,

"You are really impolite, Sir."

"Ahahahahaha... I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... It's just... This is an unusual sight in my eyes..."

"Unique? Why did you say that?"asked Clement

"Isn't it simple? You Queen really answer a question from a stranger like me. If I have a bad intention, I could just kill her after her confirmation, right?"

Everyone prepares their weapon, but Helena gives a sign to stop. Helena then says,

"But, at least I believe you."

"Why did you believe me?" ask Volya.

"Someone who really cares about this place isn't someone who will have a bad intention to anyone around them, except for those who dare disturb this place," answer Helena

"Heee... Is that so..."

"And if you are a bad guy, I believe that squirrel will not come to you, right?"

Volya really surprised and see one squirrel at his leg and smiles. He then bows at Helena and says,

"I'm really sorry for making such a ruckus in front of a wise Queen like you."

"That's alright," answer Helena.

"You know it's been a long time since I have a long chat with anyone. So, I'm sorry if my action really impolite in your eyes."

"And it's been a long time since all of us find a unique person like you. So, it's even for us, "answered Helena

Volya can't hide his embarra.s.sment and then hears Helena asks him,

"Then, could you introduce yourself? I want to know the name of the person that saves all of us."

Volya looked at all of them and then takes off his cape. He let his saddle brown hair to the open air. He then smiles at them and says,

"My name is Volya Portar. A Magus. It's nice to meet all of you."