The sun's bright rays shined upon the many riches piled high in the middle of the bandit camp. I stared at the many bandits with annoyance. How many camps had that been today? I thought to myself. Wasn't my sister supposed to get rid of them all? She was, after all, the Bandit Killer.
I sighed and unsheathed my sword. It was time for the bandits to pay for all that they have done- stealing, killing, and laughing the most annoying laughs I have ever heard.
"Who's there?" one of the bandits, I guessed would be the leader, yelled out into the open. 'I guess my cover's blown.' I thought stepping out of my hiding place. I heard a couple of gasps.
"C-could it…could it be?" one struggled to spit out.
"The famous and dangerous Lina Inverse?" My eye brow twitched a little. How come no one ever knows who I am? I thought angrily. I mean, really! I'm the Knight of Ceiphied! I pushed those thoughts aside for a moment and answered the bandit's question.
"No," I told them. "My sister couldn't make it." It wasn't a lie. Lina couldn't make it which explained why I was where I was. I took one hand from my sword and brought it down to my pocket. I felt a piece of paper rustle inside and I sighed in relief it was still there.
It was quiet in the family room. Nothing but the fire crackling to keep the nights warm made a sound. It stayed like that until my mother couldn't take it anymore.
"Are we just going to sit here?" she asked. "Just sit here and do nothing while we know that one of our family members is in trouble?"
She held up a piece of paper. A wanted poster. A wanted poster with the picture of Lina Inverse right in the middle for the world to see. I was walking home from work when I spotted it. I also saw another wanted poster of a man but I figured it must be something different. I brought the poster home to show my parents which brought us where we were.
"You shouldn't be so surprised mother," I said calmly. "We all know Lina. We knew she'd get into something like this." my father nodded in agreement.
"True but now that it's happened…" my mother paused for a moment to think then spoke again. "What if Lina has become some horrid killer?" I rolled her eyes.
"We all know that would never happen mother," I reassured her. "I think you're overreacting."
The silence filled the room once again. My parents continued to think about the situation while I thought about what to cook for dinner. Finally the silence broke, this time my father spoke.
"Maybe we should at least check on her,"
"She will hate you if you do that," I reminded him. He nodded.
"Then you can go Luna," Not many things surprised me but this surprised me so much I could feel my mouth almost drop.
"What father?" I asked trying to keep my voice normal. "You know how she reacts by me. She'll freak out."
"Exactly, if she has become some horrid killer then you can set her straight!" The logic didn't seem to make complete sense to me but what could I do? They were my parents, I had to obey. Knight of Ceiphied or not. I nodded her head, agreeing to my father's idea.
"Great! You'll leave in the morning."
So there I was getting ready to take on another bandit camp all because my sister had become a horrid killer according to my parents. But still, why must every one mistake me for my sister? We looked nothing alike!
I was about to charge but then some one spoke.
"Hold on, hold on." The voice was male. I only turned to see who it was when I knew all the other bandits turned to see. I was right, it was a male. Somewhere in his late twenties with blue eyes and chestnut colored hair. He had a sword at his side but his face made him look completely harmless. Maybe it was one of the bandits? I thought.
"Who the hell are you?" The leader asked. Okay, this time I was wrong he wasn't with the bandits. Then who was he?
"Oh, just a traveling mercenary," he replied calmly. He walked pasted me and in front of the bandit leader with a smile that was driving me crazy of annoyance. The leader stared at him for a moment.
"Yeah, and what do ya want?" Oh god, I could smell his rotten breath all the way from here, I felt bad for the guy who was standing in front of him. The man gave a chuckle.
"Well you see," he began. "I was thinking that if I stopped you guys from fighting then I would get a reward because if you lose all your men then you'll be nothing." The man turned to face me. It was only then did I ever notice that he was actually good looking and while I didn't really care for men it was hard not to admit it. He continued.
"And I'd say that women over there could take your camp down easily," Wow, good-looking and smart that's something you don't see everyday. He turned his attention back to the leader who was growling at the man's logic.
"So as a reward for saving you how about you give me some of your riches, hmm?" Ha! So there was a flaw in him, he was greedy, who else would walk into a fight defenseless?
"You wish kid," the leader spat. He signaled for more men to prepare for battle. "Now we'll show ya we can take on you and that pretty lady over there." I moved up next to the man.
"Step aside," I told him, raising my sword for battle. Instead of following my orders he simply held out his arm in front of me as if to tell me to back off. He smirked and drew his sword. I don't know what it was but something about the sword caught my eye. It wasn't normal that was for sure.
"AHHH!" cried the bandit camp as they charged forward weapons ready. The man readied himself. I watched in amazement as the man danced across the area, blocking every attack and hitting every bandit perfectly. Not one person got a scratch on him.
The battle was over quick with the chestnut haired man the winner. He gave the survivors a good look at his sword as if he was threatening them. It worked. The rest ran off terrified. The man sheathed his sword and walked over to the pile of treasure.
"You went through all that trouble for a couple of gold pieces?" I asked him. He stopped his search and gave me a confused look. Then he quickly looked back at the treasure. "There's only gold here?" he asked sounding disappointed. "Man and I thought I was lucky this time." He walked over to me and gave me a smile.
"What?" I asked when he wouldn't say anything. His smile faded.
"You're not going to say thank you?"
"Why should I? You said it yourself I could have taken those guys myself." I watched as the man burst into laughter. This guy was really getting on my nerves. What the hell was so funny? As if he read my mind he answered.
"I was joking! I was only trying to scare the bandits; I didn't actually think you could take them!" He said through laughs. He finally stopped when he found himself head first in dirt.
Hey! He deserved it!
When he got up he looked pretty mad. "What the hell was that?" he asked. I shrugged and began to walk passed him. I could tell he got even madder.
"Hey where are you going?" he yelled.
"I looking for Lina inverse," Okay, so what if I told him the truth? It wasn't like I was going to see him again. There was silence and for a second I thought the guy walked away but I was wrong when he started walking next to me.
"Well what a coincidence. I'm searching for Gourry Gabreiv." The name didn't ring a bell so I continued to walk and look forward. "You know, the swordsman that's traveling with Lina Inverse," I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at the man. I raised an eye brow.
"Who are you?" I asked. He gave me a smile.
"James Gabreiv and you are?"