Juia_Darkcrest

  John and the Alphabets moved towards the vilge as fast as they reasonably could while wearing pte mail. His newly repaired body seemed to be working well; his muscles were sore since this was the first time he hiked a serious distance with armour on, but at least he wasn't in debilitating pain. They soon came upon the outskirts of a small hamlet, if you could even call it that. It was just a collection of a few quaint-looking wooden homes and a few small farms. Vilgers could be seen in the distance, going about their day, blissfully unaware of the nearby orc threat.

  "This isn't Strahnbrad, is it?" John asked Eh. If it were, it would be impossible to defend with all the open fields around without firearms.

  "Hah, no, Sire. It is just a collection of families living near each other for safety. We are about halfway to the vilge of Strahnbrad itself." Eh replied, the man thankfully not questioning why John didn't know that.

  John surveyed the hamlet as they moved by it. There were kids out pying in the grass, men and women working in the fields or just going about their day. "Let's make a quick stop and warn the people here of the impending danger. Fan out and spread the word." He ordered.

  "Yes, Milord!" They replied, then dispersed into the hamlet proper.

  John waited just off the path for them, casting a healing spell on his thighs. After a few minutes, he noticed a woman had walked up beside him. She was of middling height and wearing a simple brown dress and a low-cut, lialic coloured blouse exposing a generous amount of cleavage. Her thick auburn hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, framing a pleasant-looking face. It was her eyes, though, that struck him, a deep blue hue that looked quite striking with the rest of her features.

  "Hello." She said to him nervously. He looked at her over again and guessed that she couldn't be more than nineteen or twenty years old.

  "Good afternoon, Ma'am. Can I help you?" He asked her.

  "No, I... umm." She said, stumbling over her words.

  John activated his scouter skill, more to kill a bit of time while awaiting his men’s return than needing to read her thoughts. Besides, if he used it more, it would become more effective. Not to mention that he was a prince in this world, doing this might prevent him from being assassinated in the future. That happened in stories a lot, right?

  'Damn it, C'mon Maria. Just spit it out! He is handsome and looks like a knight. This might be your one chance to get out of this pce!'

  John chuckled a bit on the inside. Apparently, women were going to throw themselves at him in this world, too. "Did you not hear the warning yet about the orcs nearby? You should be getting your family ready to move to safety." John told her, ignoring her internal struggles.

  "I... umm... just have my Pa left, and he wouldn't leave if orcs were coming right across the field right now. Hey, my name is-" Maria started to introduce herself when John heard a call for help behind him.

  He spun around, hefting his hammer. "Excuse me, Miss, duty calls. If you see any of my soldiers, tell them I went that way." He said, pointing up a trail between some trees across the road. He cast a barrier on himself as he jogged away, leaving Marie clutching her skirts in frustration.

  John made his way up the trail, which shortly opened up into a small clearing. A man was standing near the centre, calling out for help.

  "What seems to be the problem?" John shouted as he walked towards the man. "Are the orcs here already?"

  As he got closer to him, John could start to make out a few things. The man was wearing some dirty tan-coloured clothing, but underneath he had leather armour on and a mace at his side. The most telling thing was that he didn't appear to be in any distress at all, which put John on high alert.

  "I just fucking walked into a trap, didn't I?" John said to the man.

  "That you did. Get him, boys, take his stuff." The man said, drawing his weapon. Four more men burst from the treeline, all in leather armour and armed with maces or swords.

  Well, I would be in trouble if I hadn't recently learned a few spells.

  "Darkness," he shouted, casting a spell over the bandit in front of him. He then swung his hammer as hard as he could at the centre of that dark cloud.

  "Huh, mag-"

  *SPLAT*

  Unable to defend himself, the bandit took the full impact of John's overhead chop, driving the man into the ground. John looked at the remaining bandits, who had paused at the sudden death of their leader.

  "I am Prince John, heir to the throne! Surrender now, and I will spare your lives! Fight me, and your deaths will not be so quick." He said to the bandits, pointing a bloody hammer at them. He cancelled the darkness spell as well; their leader's head was caved in, blood and brain matter covering his upper body.

  The bandits all dropped their weapons and raised their hands above their heads, terrified of the man standing before them.

  John maintained a calm demeanour, but on the inside, he was sweating, and pain was shooting through his body.

  Holy shit, that hurt my shoulder! This weapon is way too heavy to swing around like that!

  After throwing the bandits' weapons into the woods, John checked the leader's jacket for anything resembling identification and found a Spell Scroll of Healing. He pocketed it, then started to march the bandits back out to the main road. The remaining bandits just said their leader's name was Benedict and he would kill anyone who didn't follow his orders. John just shook his head, unsure what to do with the prisoners he just captured.

  "Sire! Are you okay? What happened here?" Eh shouted when he spotted John and the line of bandits coming out of the woods. He and Bee were standing next to Maria, along with two more footmen John didn't recognize.

  "Some bandits tried to rob me, so I killed their leader and captured them. Do you have any rope to tie them up? I am honestly at a loss as to what to do with them right now." John asked Eh, hoping the footman had a good solution.

  "Sire... they assaulted your person. They should be executed immediately for daring to attack the crown prince!" Eh shouted, drawing his sword.

  "Wha! But we surrendered! He said that-" The bandits shouted back, but it was too te. Some tried to run, but Eh, Bee, and the other two men were already on top of them, stabbing the fleeing bandits in the back or decapitating them. Within moments, the four soldiers had dispatched all the bandits, leaving John fbbergasted at the absolute brutality these men just dispyed.

  "Sire, you cannot just wander off like that." Eh said, wiping his bloody sword on one of the bandit's tunics. "We know you are a powerful warrior, but it is our job to be your shields. If something had happened to you, that would spell trouble for our nation. Not to mention that it would be our heads on the chopping block for our failure to protect you, not these scum who killed you!" He said, spitting on the corpse of one of the bandits.

  John wasn't sure what to say to that. He had been protected by others before, his party in The Great Cleric coming to mind, but not with such feverous devotion. The man seemed truly willing to y his life on the line for him, no questions asked.

  "I will take it under advisement, Eh. I would hate to have gotten killed before I had a chance to try your wife's cooking." John replied, trying to lighten the mood. He still wasn't sure what to think about the execution of his four prisoners, but if he was a prince here, that just might be the w.

  "Sire... please, let me take that back. She umm... sucks at cooking. Yes, I eat at the barracks instead of home due to all the burnt offerings she serves me."

  "Sorry, no take-backs, Eh. Now, who are these two men?" John asked, looking at the new footmen.

  "This is Eli and Frank. They are retired footmen, but decided to join us when we warned them that orcs were attacking nearby.

  "Sire!" Someone shouted from the hamlet, and when John looked to see what the fuss was, it was Cee and Dee running towards them. They came to a halt in front of John, panting slightly from the exertion. "Sire, are you okay? We just heard you were attacked when we were about to investigate a gnoll den for a missing child." Cee said.

  "You were supposed to be warning the vilgers of a potential attack, not investigating missing people! Do not waste the prince's time!" Eh snapped at Cee, backhanding the other man. "My apologies, my lord. I will correct him further if you desire, but I do not wish to waste more of our time when we need to go and protect Strahnbrad."

  "It is fine, Eh, though we should talk about it ter," John replied, then turned to Cee. "A child is missing, you say? Lead on, Cee, let us all go together to rescue them, then get on the road." John said, hefting his hammer with his left arm. His right shoulder was still a little tender despite having healed it earlier. He would need to switch to the sword or bow; the unwieldy hammer was still a bit too much for him to handle, but he had nowhere safe to leave the weapon right now.

  "Yes, Sire," Cee said, taking the lead. With that, John and the Alphabets ventured off to a nearby gnoll den.

  Maria stood there amongst the corpses of the bandits, still trying to process what just happened. Finally, things started to click, and she looked at John's retreating form, a terrified expression falling over her face. "He is t-t-the P-P-Prince?" Maria stuttered, ashamed of herself, thinking she would be a good enough wife for his highness. "Maybe... maybe a mistress?" She thought, but shook her head. Even that was too far of a reach for a commoner like her.

  It only took John's group about thirty minutes to arrive at the gnoll camp just outside the hamlet and kill the handful of bipedal dog-like creatures milling about. John didn't even have to swing his hammer this time; the six men with him were eagerly charging at the three creatures. Despite that, when the st one died, John felt something change within his body. Like he just grew stronger.

  Are there levels in this world? I feel like I am tougher now, and I have even more magic. And... is this an aura?

  He wasn't sure, but it felt akin to the auras that some of the adventurers gave off in The Great Cleric, except instead of anger or hostility, it was protection. He explored this new ability while the men cut down an iron cage, trying to release the little blond-haired boy trapped within.

  "Please get me out of here, I want to go home!" The little boy said. He couldn't have been more than five years old.

  "Stand aside." John commanded, then cast 'Dig' on the lock. A block of metal fell to the ground, and the door swung open, releasing the child. He knelt and reached out a hand to the terrified child. "It is okay now, you can come out. My men and I rescued you from those beasts."

  Tenitively, the boy took John's hand, letting him pull the child out of the cage. The child immediately hugged John and clung to his armour, as if he was worried John would disappear if he let go.

  "You alright, son?" He asked, returning the child's hug as best he could, patting the boy on the head.

  "I am now, Mister. Thank you all for rescuing me!" The boy said, still sniffling, but a smile was on his face.

  "It was no problem, just be safer in the future, okay? Now, let's get you home. I am sure your parents are worried." John said, then hoisted the kid up on his back, giving him a piggyback ride all the way back to the hamlet. His men followed a moment ter, astounded at how well John handled a scared child.

  "Didn't he say a few months ago to his father that he was no good with children and wasn't interested in having a family?" Dee said quietly to Bee.

  "Yeah. This is a huge change of attitude, and one that can only be good for the kingdom. If the prince is finally ready to settle down, then that means the king may have a grandchild before he dies." Bee whispered back.

  "Stop gossiping, you two. If you are going to do it, make sure the prince isn't in earshot!" Eh said to them in a terse whisper. Not that he disagreed with their assessment, but there was a time and pce for these things.

  After a quick stop to drop off the child, whose name turned out to be Timmy, John and his men were back on the road out of the vilge.

  Alice, the woman John assumed was Timmy’s mother, gave John a ring as a reward for saving the boy. He tried to turn it down, but she insisted he take it. When it touched his hand, he could tell it was magical, so he put it on his finger and gasped a little. For whatever reason, his body felt slightly tougher after wearing that ring.

  Now that I think about it, I am not actually sure that was the boy's mother. She looked pretty young to have ten kids running around her house. Maybe it was some sort of day care for the families tending the fields?

  It didn't matter in the end. It was te in the afternoon, and they had another hour of travel to get to the vilge. An amusing thought flirted through John’s mind, causing him to chuckle out loud.

  I should jump in my new spaceship and travel there in a few moments. There is magic in this world, and I could just call it a magic airship or something along those lines.

  Something prevented him from doing that. Whether it was the canon influencing him, an abundance of caution, not wanting to have to try to expin where he got the ship, or just the fact that he was going for a long walk with minimal pain for once. Despite the bandits, the gnolls, and everything else, he was actually enjoying his time in whatever world this was. So far, anyway.

  Maybe I’ve just missed having some male companionship?

  "Are you okay, milord?" Eh asked him, turning away from the conversation he was having with the others to check on his prince.

  "Just fine, Eh. Don't mind me, I am just thinking about some things. That Alice woman definitely had a lot of children running around her pce, didn't she?" John said, trying to change the subject instead of expining why he just started to ugh randomly.

  Inadvertently, John's deflection solidified the soldiers' earlier thoughts that their prince had changed and was finally considering starting a family.