2 Chapter 1.1 - Worthy to be a Knight I

"So… you want to be a knight…" One of the male knights in the town of Oprain strokes his beard as he thinks of something. "Alright, girl. I will help you out." He says with a sly smile.

Standing before him is a beautiful ginger haired girl with a well toned body. She looks at him, judging his miniscule body movement to assess what kind of person she is dealing with. Lucky for her, she doesn't need to try hard to figure out what he is thinking as the man checks her out from head to toe.

His eyes stop around her chest, 'examining' the mostly leather body armor with a steel chest plate. Though her leather armor seems pretty flexible, they seem rather sturdy. The rest of her outfit seems to be the same type of leather armor with the exception of steel plates around her lower arms and feet. The knight clicks his tongue as he is unable to make out her 'assets' as much as he wishes. The girl looks at him dead in the eye, unfazed by his obvious actions.

"But first." He stands up from his position and straightens his back. "I am going to have to test you to see if you are worthy to be a knight." The man peers behind her, noticing a broad sword as well as a short sword by her side both with worn handles. "You will have to…"

"Let me guess, I am going to have to beat you up." She says as she casually swings out her broad sword with her left hand. Her gaze is uninterested but her tone carries an underlying hint of annoyance.

"Ye- Wait what… No…" The guard quickly takes a step back, taken aback by how casually she was about to threaten him. "First off, you don't beat me up… you would spar with me. Second, what in the hell gave you that idea…" Cold sweat rolls down his face as he tries to get the girl to lower her weapon.

"Oh… That's not how you do it?" The girl is visibly confused as reality betrays her expectations. "My father told me that if you wanted to show how strong you are, you would always beat up the strongest looking guy present."

"What the… what kind of father teaches their child that?!" The knight exclaims while the girl simply shrugs. He sighs as he calms himself down as he gets back on track. "We will have you enter the goblin lair that is not too far from town. We will be following you to assess and in case you are not able handle things, to protect you."

"So I am basically doing your job for you while you disguise it as an assessment of my skill?" The girl responds nonchalantly.

"Exactl- Wh- NO!" The knight explodes as he realizes his ploy has been seen through.

"Humm… Seems like beating you up will be quicker." She draws her sword again and raises it towards the knight. The knight gasps in horror as his life flashes before his eyes.

"Fine! Look, you want me to put in a word for you to the captain? If you don't, we don't need you." The knight finally says seriously as he turns towards his brothers in arms around him.

A sigh escapes her as she sheaths her weapon once again. "Alright. Lead the way."

"Ah, and before we go, what do I call you?"

Her soft but stern voice sings out a single name. "Moira."

"Ah… Moira… My name is-" Before the knight can introduce himself, Moira turns around and walks away towards the Goblin Lair. "Hey! What the hell! Didn't anyone teach you manners!" His fellow knights around him hold back a chuckle.

"It's alright, Parua. It's better if she doesn't know our names." One of the knights says as he pats him on the back.

"You are right. It is better that way." The knight named Parua says. The men grin a dirty perverted grin as they swallow Moira with their eyes.

"By the way, why didn't we just make her spar with us here? It's not like she could take on any one of us." A rather fat knight says with a chuckle. Parua flicks him in the head and locks his head between his arms.

"Listen Fatty. I don't know if you could tell by looking at her, but she was not an ordinary woman we can just take advantage of. Her weapons were well worn and if you were close enough, you could smell a hint of blood on her. That girl… she has killed before. And by her gaze, she is no easy prey." Paura says, his eyes narrowing in on Moira's surprisingly plump ass. The way she walks is cautious but oddly seductive.

Another knight chimes in. "That's why we have Paura assess and judge them first. If it was any one of us, she would have caught on to what we were planning if it wasn't him doing the talking. Chahahaha." The band of knights laugh as they follow behind their prey that was walking into their spider web.

Moira glances over her shoulder for a quick second examining their expressions and their mannerisms. Her jolts of shivers run down her spine as waves of disgust splashes over her face. She had already predicted everything. Her 5 years of traveling alone had hone her senses to alert her to potential danger, especially these types of scums. Though she could easily put an end to this whole situation, she still needed them. She just needs them to fulfill their purpose as a stepping stone. After all, she aspired to become a knight. Just like her father.

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It was only about a 2 hour walk out from the town of Oprain where the supposed goblin lair was located. Small hand prints and claw marks are found by the entrance of the cave while the bones of small animals littered the area as a warning to any trespassers. Though there were no goblins in sight, the foul stench of their existence lurked in the area like a permanent stain.

"Alright Moira, we will be assessing how well you handle goblins and how your fighting technique is. If you need any help you can always just say so as we'll will be in the area to make sure nothing bad happens to you. If things start to look bad, we will interject regardless to make sure everything goes smoothly." Paura explains as he looks back at the other 3 knights around him, giving them a stern glare not to do anything stupid.

"Do not worry, I won't bother calling you guys for help." Moira calmly states as she stretches a bit before stepping into the murky cave.

Fatty, the somewhat fat knight, opens his mouth to throw an insult but another knight holds him back, shaking his head at him. Fatty grits his teeth but remembers why they are here in the first place. A wicked grin stretches across his face as he revels in the thought of what is to come.

"Hehe, all right, if you say so~." Fatty mockingly taunts.

Paura hits Fatty on the head and laughs, "Haha, don't worry about Fatty. We will be there in a flash."

Moira doesn't bother indulging their banters and just proceeds deeper into the cave. The band of knights follow not so far behind her. Soon, the light from the sun grows too shallow, forcing the group to light torches to luminate the cavern.

Suddenly, a scurry of light footsteps echoes around the edge of the light and the group quickly draw their weapons out at the sound. As fast as the footsteps came, silence dawned on them like a snake circling its prey. A few moments pass but the silence is deafening. Only the sound of their breathing and hearts pounding could be heard.

The leader of the knights clears his throat as a droplet of sweat rolls down his chin. Something about this situation made him feel uneasy. Normally, goblins would just recklessly charge at you but this one… this one was different. Maybe it sees the number disadvantage and decides to hide. No… That's stupid. Goblins are stupid, it would charge at us regardless of the situation. So why is he feeling so uneasy?

Moira sighs as she casually steps forward towards the edge of the light. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. The sound of several beings breathing within the same cavern tickles her ears. The sound of the fat knight breathing heavily is extremely distracting, masking whatever else that is breathing in the cavern with them.

Paura looks out towards Moira, interested in how she would handle the situation. He has seen countless women like her, confident that they have what it takes to become a knight. All of them are too stubborn to see their own fatal flaws. However, Moira seemed different to Paura. She wasn't like the others. Though she may appear cocky, her mannerism is rather more reserved. It's as if she doesn't need to prove herself, or at least, prove herself to them. Something about her spews out an unsettling aura. An aura none of those inexperienced entitled women could ever match. It was almost as if she was an experienced adventurer… Paura's eyes widened at the sudden thought. He was no longer dealing with a simple vagabond, he might be dealing with an experienced adventurer.

His thoughts race around his head as he tries to play out why she never revealed she was an adventurer from the start. If she was a C rank or above, any government body would accept them into their ranks… unless... she wasn't even a C rank. He smiles as he figures Moira out. After all, women were generally rejected from any form of apprenticeship. No one would be willing to train them unless they had ulterior motives. No wonder why she would come to them. She needs them to get accepted.

A stupid grin stretches across his face as undresses Moira with his eyes. He can't wait to get under her armor. And especially how well she has been taking care of herself, she is no doubt going to be a premium meal.

But as sudden as his thoughts were, a goblin lunges out from the shadows with a dagger in hand. He lunges towards Moira's side with great speed. However, as fast as he came towards her, the goblin got caught by his neck and slammed to the rough ground at violent speeds. With the goblin's own bone dagger, Moira swiftly stabs him straight through the skull, ending him before he could properly process the situation. His dimming eyes lock with her cold amber eyes as the fear finally creeps into his expression before he stills completely.

The group of knights are speechless as they see the lone girl slay a goblin in such a manner. Though killing a goblin is nothing to gloat about, the skill required to pull off what she did was beyond anything they were capable of. Paura especially begins evaluating what would have happened had he been in her shoes Before he could replay that scenario in his mind, Moira brings the group back to reality.

"Come along. I don't have all day." Moira casually calls out while she begins heading into the darkness of the cave.