Chapter one: The White Knights

I woke up to the yellow lights of the lantern and the clatter of wooden wheels along with the serenity of the forest, now disturbed, accompanied by chatter and laughter of the drunken and the sober. Trees and the blueish night sky are the only thing I can see from the back of this open top wagon, aside from the young girl in rags that has been nervously darting her eyes back and forth ever since I got into this particular wooden wagon. I noticed the left eye that she desperately trying to hide with her brown hair is out of the ordinary; as if it was an artistic masterpiece, its pupil resembled that of a sculpture of a lotus flower. On her feet are a pair of shackles loosely tied around them

When the laughter and chatter finally ceased, the girl seemed to have eased a bit since she finally decided to ask me if there's anything I want to drink.
"Water" I replied short. She asked if I'm hungry, I shook my head sideways and she swiftly turn around. The sound of water pouring into a tin cup along with the clattering sounds of the shackles on her feet could be heard, and I noticed that she's still trying to hide her left eye behind those hairs of hers. I took the cup of water and said my thanks, which she replied timidly "Y-your welcome…"
Her voice was low and weak, it seems like there are still nervousness left inside her.

The night went on, and the carriage continued to proceed slowly through the thick forest. Silence finally took over the night, serenity once again filled the forest.

"Where you from?"
The young girl jumped at my sudden question "Just asking"
She was a bit reluctant at first, squeezing the fringe of her rags and muttering inaudible words, as if chanting the cursed name of a creature from the deep
I told her to speak up, which it seemed to backfires since she became visibly nervous

Suddenly a breeze passed by, and with it I smell regrets
"Ga... Gallia" she said with a little bit of ease in her tone
I spot her in the corner of my eye, hanging her head low and occasionally dart her eyes back and forth between me and the wooden wagon floor
"…'s that so?" I question nonchalantly, which she replied with a yes

I asked her a few more question, and discover that this young girl have been mixing lies in her answers.
She is obviously holding back something
However, with my analytical skill and a little bit of guts I can confirm that her name is Alyssa, as she said so herself when I asked her name. She doesn't seem to be a Bavarian, nor a Gallian. And I'm pretty sure she's not even human; once in a while I had a glance on her skin, thick black lines artistically shaped in ancient-like tattoos. Ah, not to mention cat ears and tail
A Heimisch, that's what she is. It literally means home, and it's generally used to call Humanoid creatures that predates even before the first Human exist. It was believed that they were the master of this world, master of their own house

That was eons ago, before humanity brought down their friendly neighbor and claimed the world as their own

Alyssa scrambles her long hair to hide her left eye deeper the moment I told her that I knew she was lying
"Well whatever, keep it to yourself, then"
Alyssa gave a puzzled face to my disappointed tone. Honestly, I'd rather have her tell me things she would later have to tell. I mean, I don't like surprise. Like the one that was about to come

We kept our thoughts to ourselves, that was the moment when I realized the other wagon was nowhere to be seen. I checked our left and right, scanning for any signs of the rest of the caravan. When I couldn't find any I look to the front of the wagon and try to check on the driver, only to found out that he's also nowhere to be seen. The wagon slowly came to a stop

"YAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
The scream was coming from the back of the wagon
I rushed back to found two masked man in robes dragging the struggling Alyssa away. Before I even realized it, I was dashing after them and I was only several inch away from them with a raised sword in hand, leveled at the neck. With a strong grip, I swung the sword in a quick horizontal motion. Using my left feet as a pivot, I used the momentum to quickly change the direction and stabbed the other culprit right in the heart. Only within seconds the masked culprits' bodies dropped dead on the ground, with one head separated from its neck.

I turned my attention towards Alyssa who just almost got kidnapped by two weird men, who's probably a child molester, now trembling on the ground unharmed
She seemed to be fine

I cleaned the blood off my sword and put it back into its scabbard
As the blade slides in it gives out a sonorous sound shrrrrrriiing, after that the forest was once again filled with silence, undisturbed

As much as I would like to get back to the capital as fast as possible, I can't just leave a Heimisch alone in the forest. Not her, especially. A feral Heimisch have high price potential, while one that's still sane is a fortune worth of 7 generations. That being said, I'm only doing this because if someone get that rich then there certainly an increase quantity of Reichsmarks and, in result, this Kingdom and its country would economically be thrown from balance
"If you can stand on your own then hurry up, we're getting out of here"
Alyssa replied with a weird look while gasping in the middle of her breaths, then she followed close behind me after I explained to her that beasts might try to kill her if she wanders alone in the forest

I learnt that this forest is called The Wolves Den, and it lives up to its name once we encountered packs of them trying to encircle us as we tried to get out of the forest. Luckily these wolves weren't as aggressive and we got out into an open plain safely
Alyssa explained to me that the caravan was going west towards a small town called Karl before continuing up north towards the capital city of Stahlberg. Now that I have a general location of where we are, I decided to take it slow and set up a camp as I could felt the fatigue catching up from the long journey. I picked a nice camping ground by a big tree near lake Wuld, it literally means "World". It is famous not just for the view, but also its popularity amongst Crime Syndicates for the best place to get rid of bodies. One of the most notorious Crime Syndicate is The Black Serpent, they stir up quite the trouble when the previous King, King Jaune the Third was on the throne, as if the turmoil from the war with another Kingdom was not enough. Although now through some negotiations the Crime Syndicate is cooperating willingly and is aiding Stahlern Kingdom with the war

Back to the situation on hand, Alyssa and I found ourselves standing on a cliff overlooking Karl town and the long road beyond towards the Capital city. I'm have no doubt about my trained body to climb down the cliff, but I can see the fatigue began to crept up into her eyes
I know for a fact that Heimisch can manifest nature's energy into mana, magic in other word, and bend elements at their will. However, it requires a lot of focus training and stamina. I have no idea about Alyssa's skill, but she's clearly out of breath, and I don't want to risk myself falling from flying 800 feet above the ground. So instead I offered Alyssa a piggy ride "You're tired, and I don't want the trouble of having to look for your dead body if you fall"

Alyssa hesitate at first, when I told her I'd leave her alone in this mountain if she don't hurry she immediately hop on my back.

She's light
like a potato sack
Suddenly I felt a light jerk, it appears I forgot to keep my thought to myself. And a potato sack is not a nice equivalent when comparing to a women

We got down from the mountain and after a short walk we arrived at Karl. I put Alyssa down and stopped briefly just outside the town
"People aren't going to be nice to a Heimisch" I told her. I undo my cape and wrap it around her, I also undid the broken shackles around her feet and neck.

We look for an inn to rest and we did found one, it was called the Rattling Snake inn
The inn was bustling with lives, people chatting and drowning into their booze alike.
The innkeeper, who I assume is the old man standing behind the bar table, clean mugs and arrange them into the shelf. Suddenly a young girl in an apron running into me and asked whether I wanted something to drink

"No, thanks. But I would like to rent a room for two" I said, whilst handing her 35 Reichsmarks

"I see. Then, I'll show you to your room"

Beefs and Vegetables stews, those are dinner for tonight. The Beef tasted good, on the other hand the vegetable stew tasted awful. Suddenly I feel like leaving and hurry up getting home, but I can't possibly do that for obvious reasons

After dinner I told Alyssa to head on first to bed, but she refused so by shaking her head slowly whilst looking down trying to hide her extra features. It might seems childish but I don't sleep until I'm sure everyone else is asleep. I always fell sleep the last, afraid if something or someone might kill me

"The night is long, it's 27th of Last seed and the earth rotates slowly until the New dawn" I explained whilst draining my mug of ale with one hand

"I... don't need sleep today"

I shouldn't sleep on the 27th was what I could interpret despite what she just said

Gulp gulp gulp "...Look, kiddo, we're roughly 30 miles from the capital and it'll be night by the time we get there, even if we hire a carriage. I don't mind paying the tab and the room, but if you can't wake up early tomorrow morning I will leave you here"
And don't get me wrong, but if you want something to blame then blame the stew

"If there's something important you're not telling me, then you're going to regret it. I don't like shady people having shady past and keeping shady secrets"

snap

The innkeeper accidentally broke a wooden spoon. And the next moment, he had tears running down his face
"Oh deary, deary, me. That was my precious spoon"

ah well, I'll just get a new one said the innkeeper after he thrown his broken precious wooden spoon across the room into the fireplace, and disappearing into his room

Silence remained in the dining hall, with the company of the tranquilizing sound of firewood burning down in the fireplace.

"Heimisch" I said "A shady Heimisch. No wonder people don't like your kind, especially you in particular. I don't like people but, hell! I don't like shady people in particular"

Alyssa pouts at my comment
I swear I heard her swears, and I'm pretty sure it was dirty although I don't understand what she said

Finally, she told me what's been she's hiding
"How rude! I'm just trying to make you at ease!" she said "But if you insist then let me tell you"
Alyssa stands suddenly and for some reason I felt the temperature in the hall drops significantly

"My name is Alyssa von Edelweiss. And I am not a shady person!"

My body froze in an instant, trying to absorb what Alyssa just said while chewing the meat inside my mouth
Moments ago she was just a cute and shy girl and... wait, did I just thought of her a cute and shy girl? Ah no, I mean a cute but shady girl
It's almost dangerous
After a moment of silence I swallow the meat and it went into my stomach

"Uhhh come again?"

"As I said, I'm Alyssa von Edelweiss. And I do not want to hear you calling me a shady person"

... what?

"Who?"

Alyssa pouts and I swear I'm not wrong when I thought she's cute

"Mein gott! Just how much is the extent of your rudeness? Is this is how the royal house of Schwarz behave towards a royalty?"

I find this whole thing funny

"Okay you claimed that you're some royalty from the house of Edelweiss, yes?"

"YES, I AM!"

"Heh, I didn't know the Edelweiss had some shady Heimisch between them"

"That is MY family business, and you have no right to meddle in it!"

"Ha... Okay then, I had enough of this" I grabbed the fringe of my coat and wipe the leftovers from my mouth. I stood up and head for the stairs

"I'm serious! Why wouldn't you believe me!?"

"Because—" I stop right before the stairs and turned around to face her "The Edelweiss are all dead. If you're serious that you're one of them then you shouldn't be here. You shouldn't told anyone about that, me in particular"

"Why you—!"

"I killed them all, five years ago"
And I should've killed her too, if she were present back then

"What does that supposed to mean? What do you mean you killed all Edelweiss?"

"Eight years ago, King Gerard somehow mistaken an accident as a provocation of war. He managed to cut all our trade routes throughout the continent, killed our civilians, raided our caravan and farms, burned down villages, shot down air vessels, and sent all able Gallian soldiers to surround the Stahlern empire at her borders. We sent countless messengers and couriers to tell him about the misunderstandings and to appease him, to subdue his rage. But he didn't listened so he ordered his men to march towards the capital. Arriving at Stahlburg his forces were stopped with heavy resistance and couldn't breakthrough it's wall, so King Gerard thought it's a good idea to let in the devil himself and his armies into his ranks. Words went out fast and only days after, the whole world; from the very western continent, the Nordic Kingdoms, and even the Dutch East Indies came together to stop King Gerard. The whole world remember it as the Holy War. It wasn't necessary, especially the name, but who would want the devil himself to walk the earth? And so many battles were fought and even more men died. And at the siege of Galla, the devil were cast back into the nether realms. Even though it wasn't necessary, King Gerard was labelled as a heretic, and I was forced to kill him, his brethren, his whole family. I killed the Edelweiss. I killed your family"

After I finished my explanation, I could see an expression of disbelieve on her face. As if she was a devout nun and I just told her that God did not exist

"It's true that your name was on the wanted list for the whole year, but I doubt your savior whoever it might be told you any of this. It's because you weren't present, you were missing and even though everyone was looking for you, the bandits that were keeping you wasn't interested in fortune and perhaps they find someone so pretty is useless if she were dead"

I don't know why I just told her all this, why does it even matter now? It's in the past, and it should stay in the past

"I don't mind if you hate me for this. But let me make something clear; this conversation is over, Alyssa. If you value your life, treat this conversation as it were never happened; Fräulein Edelweiss, because I sure won't remember any of this"

I head upstairs into our room and climbed up onto the bed. This day and its ordeals has got me exhausted

Ah, I guess it's too late to ask her about what's with her and the 27th of Last seed