Chapter 54

"Who attacked you?" Nash asked in the middle of assisting Lady Gwyneth.

"Help me wear this! I can't raise my arm. It hurts" Nash sighed and helped Gwyneth wear its clothes. Gwyneth's arms were wrapped in bandages.

"Again, who attacked you? Are they golem? A human-like rock?"

Gwyneth gave Nash an odd look, saying, "What do you mean human-like rocks? You're strange."

"It's not?!" Nash exclaimed. 'How come?'

"It is not." Gwyneth passed a comb to Nash, "Brush my hair and tie it. I'll answer your questions after."

Nash rolled her eyes but continued to style her hair. Gwyneth's long hair is braided and pulled into a bun.

"It's done. What now?" she grit her teeth, suppressing her anger.

"You're good, want to be my maid?" Nash can't help but slap Gwyneth's wide forehead. "Aw!"

"Can you stop that and just tell me what attacked you?! We're here to find out what or who attacked, so don't waste any time!"

Gwyneth was startled at Nash's shout. Tears started to form in her small eyes. "No one has ever scolded me like that."

"Urgh! For pete's sake! Stop!"

"Who's Pete? Why should I be concerned about him?" Gwyneth innocently asked.

"Urgh!" Nash clenched her fists in frustration. "I'm out of here."

Nash was about to leave the room when Gwyneth started to talk.

"It's traumatizing, I don't want to remember it,"

Nash suddenly felt guilty.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to—"

"No... it's fine."

"Actually, I couldn't see it because it was already night and dark. All I know is that it was the size of a tree and was surrounded by smoke. It has a foul odor. That's all I can recall since I became unconscious."

"I see... thank you for that" Nash bowed and was about to leave once again but Gwyneth continued.

"I believe it was aiming for me; it was solely focused on me, so I did everything I could to avoid its grasp. I fell down numerous times just to evade that terrifying beast, but in the end, it captured me with his enormous filthy hands, and I lost consciousness after being terrified."

"I see, you're a brave one," Nash patted the lady's head. "You should rest more, let's go back."

...

"Did you two get into a fight?" Yjhan inquired as soon as Nash returned to them.

They were outside the center sitting in a big trunk of a tree. The breeze was a little cold as the night came.

"Of course. That's unavoidable," Nash chuckled, "I asked her a few things"

"What did she say?"

"It was not a golem."

"What?"

"It is not a golem" Nash repeated for her squad.

"We heard you,"

"Then why ask 'what'?"

Squad 15 sighed at Nash's idiocy.

"So what attacked her?" Kane asked.

"She claims it's the size of a tree, and she believes she's the creature's prey. The creature captured her and she fell unconscious," Nash explained, "The question is, how did she get saved?"

"Squad knights! Dinner!" Thed yelled.

"We'll just wash our hands," Yjhan said. Thed nodded and left.

They went to a nearby well, where Tado was joined by some senior knights.

"Hey kid I—" Tado started.

"I'm sorry for disrespecting you!" Nash bowed immediately. She knew Tado would apologize.

"Wa—"

"I swear I won't bother you anymore and won't say anything unless you ask me to! I apologize!"

"I...it's alright"

"Then, please excuse us,"

Nash drew Idris and proceeded to the next well beside the one used by the older knights.

The senior knight observes their junior knight washing their hands.

"Nash," Aeries called.

Nash removed her gloves and senior knights immediately looked at her hand in curiosity.

Aeries give the bucket to Nash to wash her hand. She wiggled her hands to dry them as soon as she finished and discovered she was being watched.

"Do you have something to tell me, sir?"

Senior knights all shook their heads in unison.

"Ah... ok."

"Let's get going." Yjhan said, and his team trailed behind him like a duckling.

"Have you seen her hand?" A knight asked.

"I did... It's wrinkled. Was it burned?"

"Who knows?"

...

"We'll continue to examine the area for 3 days. I already interview some and I heard it was not a golem," Thed said. "It was reported to be as large as a tree and exclusively capture women."

All the knights looked in Nash's direction. Nash brows furrowed.

"I'm going to divide us into three groups: squad 15, Tado's group, and my group. We'll go in other ways for a more thorough examination."

As soon as they prepare themselves, they go in different ways.

Squad 15 proceeded to a part of a village where there are a lot of inhabitants. Tado's returned to the location where they had gone the day before to search the area. Finally, Thed's party searches for a forest-like location where a creature is likely to live.

—Squad 15—

"That smells good!" Nash exclaimed as they passed by houses. 'I heard Amethyst Villagers are good cooks.'

"Kane! Kane!" Nash shouts and walks backwards in front of Kane.

"You're ugly, step away," Kane said and pushed Nash, but Nash didn't budge. "You're ruining the view."

"What do you mean? I'm the best view," she smirks and poses in front.

Squad 15 looked at her with a blank face.

"What with that look!?"

Idris burst out laughing when he saw Nash's disappointed expression.

"Just shut up," Kane said.

"Shh..." Yjhan said and looked around.

"What's wrong?" Aeries asked. Yjhan raised his hand in front of Aeries to stop him from talking.

"Someone's looking in our direction."

"Oh that? It's that guy over that big tree there," Nash pointed at a tree a few distance from that. "I wanted to ask Kane to shoot it."

Kane looked at Yjhan, "should I?"

"No. We'll get close to it."

They approach the large tree and look up to see a topless man with a large build.

"Ohhh..." Nash whispered but her squad heard it, "Excuse me! Can you come down here?"

The topless guy jumped down and looked at Squad 15 with a creased forehead, "Who are you?"

"Cool! Look at those muscles," Nash whispered a little once again.

"Nash," Jaxael scolded her before Yjhan did.

"Sorry," She pressed her lips thin.

"We're Squad knights from the Capital City. We've come to look around for anything suspicious."

"There are no predators prowling here, despite the fact that this is where practically all of the villagers live, because of a protection erected by the wandering sorcerer."

"A sorcerer? Where is that sorcerer?" Idris asked.

"He's not here anymore. He stayed for a few days before leaving the village. That was several years ago."

Nash thought to herself, 'of course, that is why he is called a wandering sorcerer.'

"I see, then why are you on top of the tree?" Yjhan asked.

"I am observing the area. I have enhanced eyesight and can see within a 100-meter radius."

Nash's eyes sparkled, "that's so cool!"

Nash became flustered when the guy smiled, and she paused in her spot as if time stood still in her. "His smile, too, is cool."

"Aw!" Nash touched the back of her head after Kane and Jaxael smacked her.

"We're doing business here," Jaxael said.

Nash pouted, "sorry"

"Do you see any creatures that reside in this village?" Yjhan asked. "We're here to investigate after knights were attacked the other night."

"Yes, I do."

"Please tell us, sir." Yjhan pleaded.