24 Justice for a City

"H-Hold on a minute... Why are you so angry? I saved-"

"You saved only your skin, isn't that right?", he interrupted and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. "Tell me, why you were nowhere close to the city yesterday?"

"I was...", I stopped myself and looked to the side... I couldn't just say to him that I was after the four elements to be able to see the princess again, could I? "I was doing something that's not of your business"

"Not my business?! You freaking killed Mike!"

"Uh... Mike? The wizard? I definitely didn't kill him, from where did you get that idea from?!"

"Of course you killed him! Those soldiers were after you! They knew you came here... And since they thought we were hiding you, they burned the whole town down. It's all your fault..."

"So... It was they who burned the whole town... I suspected as much... But look, it's not really my fault. It's totally outrageous to burn a whole town just because someone wanted! You should be angry with them, not me!"

"How about I just surrender you to them? You won't be giving any of more problems if you were to be arrested!"

"I am afraid I can't let that happen..."

"Really? And what are you going to do? Fight me?", he said and I nodded, closing my hands in a fist. I was still healing from my own injuries, but I should have strength enough to at least fight the blacksmith if I needed... "Give me a break, you're just a woman, you have no chance-"

"What were you saying?", I asked after giving him a quick knee kick on his stomach, forcing him to step back and release the collar of my shirt.

With his arms on his stomach, he looked at me with pure anger and charged against me, pushing us both against the frail wall of the tent, tearing it apart, and taking the whole tent down, not on us, luckily.

He forced me against the ground and helped his hands against my neck, willing to kill me... With the strength I had, I punched him on the face, forced him to step back while also getting away from him the fastest I could, but the place was now crowded with Coventry soldiers, all surrounding the now fallen tent...

"You... You can't escape your crimes now, Dagger!" the blacksmith said with a little smile of revenge on her face... A very devilish smile. I really didn't have much I could do right now... No armor, my weapon is with Jeffrey and the fox, and my condition would never allow me to fight against such an outnumbering force. I was willing to fight to my death to be able to continue my journey for that stupid gem, but it was very unlikely that I could win... But that's when the light of hope came.

"Dad? Dad!", the voice of a little girl echoed through and it stole the attention of everyone. The daughter of the blacksmith entered through the formation of the soldiers around me and jumped to her father.

"Ah... Ah... You're alive? I thought... I thought I had lost you too, in the middle of that ardent fire... I... I am so glad to see you still here with me...", he said and gave his daughter a very tight hug.

"Dad... It hurts, I have many wounds over me..."

"Ah, sorry, sorry..."

"But I am happy to see you too, dad... It was scary to be inside the fire, with the ceiling looking like it was going to fall..."

"It doesn't matter, I am here with you now..."

"... And what are you doing with Ms. owner of the fox?", the girl asked while looking at me with a very gentle and still small and innocent smile... I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Ah, don't mind her... She's just a monster that killed our friend Mike, ignore her"

"She killed him? But she saved me from the flames! She's my heroine!". Maybe I should have mentioned that to him in the first place... I think it would spare me and him from many problems.

"She... did?", he asked while looking with huge disbelief at me.

"Yes! She entered the house and picked me up... She tried to get me out of there, but then I passed out... She's a great heroine! Like a knight in shining armor from the stories you tell!"

He was still staring at me with very serious disbelief after hearing all that... And people started to gather around us to see what was happening. If you can't win by force, I guess you can win with words... So I took a deep breath...

"So... How much honor has Coventry Kingdom lost ever since I left it?", I asked one of the soldiers who angrily rose his weapon to me.

"None. Our kingdom cannot lose any honor because of a person like you.

"You say that... But tell me, for how long has the truth been deprived to the people? I am here as proof that everything you said about me being dead was a big fat lie".

"That's just a minor thing..."

"Well, put fire on an innocent town sure must stain the honor of the Coventry Kingdom as a military nation, then. Tell me, how many of those people lose children, friends, and loved ones, all because of you?"

"It's nothing. Justice must be delivered in the end. You will be punished, wanting you or not!"

"But the end doesn't justify the means!", I shouted... The people around the knights were starting to whisper to each other, and some of them were growing a grudge against the Coventry soldiers standing there. It seemed like they could just go against those soldiers at any minute now and they outnumber those knights as much as they outnumber me...

"If you still have some honor left, you will at least get out from here, where the people you acted against are", I said... They looked at each other, some seemed to think that honor shouldn't be an issue, but others were considering the odds they had right now... It was impossible to fight, both for me and them.

"Alright... You win... We get out of here, but this is not over yet", the soldiers said and one by one, they walked out of the encampment... I let a very long sigh of relief after that and some of the people started to gather around me, as well as the blacksmith, the fox, Jeffrey, and the little girl.

"I thought you had been captured... Well, I wasn't totally wrong given your situation... Glad you made it out", Jeffrey commented and I smiled a bit.

"Yes, I can't believe I escaped either..."

"But are you really Dagger Everblade?", one person, among the crowd gathering around me, asked.

"Yes... Yes, I am Dagger Everblade..."

"So... You still should be punished for your crimes. They hadn't the right to burn our town, but you hadn't the right to rape the princess either!". I couldn't argue with that, if I told them the truth right now, the princess would surely be dead before I can even break the gem.

"That's... That's true... What are you planning to do?", I asked, a bit curiously... It seemed like I was put in a very bad position yet again.

"Let's... Let's just release her this once. I accused her of causing the fire, but instead what she did was brave it to save my daughter... I say... That she deserves a chance...", the blacksmith said and he approached me with a very serious face, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you, Dagger... But this is the only time I will ever do a favor for you, do you hear me?!"

"Yes, yes.... And thank you too, by the way", I answered and he simply huffed a bit. Then I finally left the encampment... To the next element we seek.