Knights and Magic Wand

A golden lion?

Leon curiously cocked his head, his gaze passing over the ruffian in front of him.

Contrary to the intimidating impression of a grand nickname heard for the first time, the person approaching was a pretty young girl in a plain long dress with a cinched waist.

She was somewhat petite, probably around one meter fifty or just under one meter sixty, with her blonde hair tied into a ponytail at the back of her head, and her light green eyes bright and clear.

Cute would arguably be a more fitting description. As for the domineering nickname...

Leon found it odd that such a seemingly delicate and lovely girl could exude an intimidating presence, causing the gang of village thugs to suddenly break out in a sweat.

He could understand "golden," as the girl had a head of very beautiful blonde hair, but where did "lion" come from?

As the young girl came closer, the thugs instinctively made way for her, as if blocking her path would bring them bad luck.

"I heard there was some swordplay and commotion in the village, so I came to see..." the golden-haired girl's tone carried a hint of annoyance as she stood before the menacing Boris.

"You're not exactly welcoming far-off guests with knives and daggers, are you?"

The girl's voice rose sharply towards the end of her sentence, and with a snap, she struck her palm with the stick she was holding, her slender, pretty fingers instantly tightening into a fist.

Hearing the crisp sound of the stick's impact, the ruffians jerked reflexively.

As if muscle memory had been awakened, Boris's henchmen quickly sheathed their weapons, darting guilty glances left and right.

Faced with the girl's stern reprimand, one of the slightly more startled thugs tried to argue: "Gold... pfft, Olivia, you've got it all wrong. Big brother just saw these three kids acting shady and brought us to question them. You know, since the militia men have been conscripted by the Baron, we're just trying to do what's best for the village."

"Yeah, that's right! That's right!"

A few other thugs, catching on, hastily chimed in agreement.

The previously silent Boris finally eased his hardened expression: "That's the case. Would you really side with these suspicious strangers? What if they are Kantadar spies?"

The young girl named Olivia furrowed her brows, not immediately responding to his pointed question but also not buying it as the truth.

After all, she knew too well the scoundrel's nature.

The young girl reined in her anger and turned to the three unfamiliar young men who were surrounded by the thugs beside the river.

"So sorry for the embarrassment, strangers from afar. If you don't mind my intrusion, may I ask where you come from? You certainly don't seem like local merchants..." Olivia said with an apologetic look and a gentle smile. "After all, Selva is just a remote little village. We rarely see outside travelers here."

It looked like a fight wouldn't break out anytime soon.

Except for Boris, who was still clutching his short sword, Leon saw the other thugs obediently put away their weapons, so he also sheathed his long sword.

He gave a subtle hand signal to Azeryan and Lokhak at his side, indicating his companions should drop their hostility.

The girl in front seemed very effective with her words and appeared to be a reasonable person.

Listening to her polite manner of speaking, Leon might have mistook her for a well-bred noble lady, had she not been wearing such plain farmer's clothes.

"We're certainly not any spies, miss. We're just passing through this place to avoid the war."

Leon explained succinctly, "My companion just bought some clothes and food in the village. Beyond that, we haven't even entered the village proper and there's been no sneaking around. Surely bathing in the river isn't against local customs?"

"Avoiding war?... Listening to your accent, you aren't Orland people, are you?" Olivia blinked, curiously asking.

"Uh, we are Seryan people."

Leon nodded. Relations between the Northern Kingdom and Seryan were good, so there was nothing to hide.

"Seryan Kingdom? That's quite far from here." The girl seemed startled, suddenly intrigued. "But isn't the road to the east blocked? How did you manage to get around Klonia Kingdom?"

"We didn't come from the east."

Leon, unsure of where Klonia Kingdom was and not wanting to weave lies that could cause trouble, pointed towards the distant southern forest and confessed, "The Kantadar people launched a war. We were captured and ended up in enemy territory, only escaping through that great forest to get here."

Olivia, upon hearing this, became even more surprised.

She looked in the direction Leon pointed, her lips parting, as if hearing something unbelievable.

"Ha, you're caught in a lie, kid. You really dare to spout nonsense." A thug suddenly interjected with a snicker.

Boris also grew smug: "You heard him, Olivia. The kid says they've crossed the Nightmare Forest."

Boris felt his hunch was more likely, concluding that these three must be runaway slaves from beyond the Gray Pine Valley Domain. They claimed to be Seryan people, which was very elaborately fabricated.

Leon watched their reactions and frowned, sensing that telling the truth seemed to raise even more suspicion.

Certainly.

The forest concealed the Cursed Land, and the natives certainly had their share of folk tales about its mysterious and eerie dangers.

Without Miss Lora's assistance, I wouldn't have had a chance to make it out of the "Spirit-like Field" alive, even with ten lives, let alone other ordinary people crossing that perilous forest.

But in haste, I couldn't fabricate a more plausible false origin based on the geography of a foreign land.

One lie necessitates many more to cover it—speak too much, and you're bound to slip, but if not the truth, then what?

"No matter what you think, this is the truth; we really crossed the forest from Mamor County of the Kantadar people to get here."

As he spoke, Leon took a Kantadar silver coin from his pouch and showed it to the golden-haired girl in front of him, "I have no more proof, the only thing that could, perhaps, substantiate my experience are these few Kantadar coins. Believe it or not, Miss Olivia."

"Holding Kantadar people's money, and you say you're not their spy?" Boris crowed triumphantly. He didn't care about the truth; so long as he could pin a crime onto the other party and seize that treasure sword, that was all that mattered.

"I'm sorry, your experience is quite incredible—at least in Kosos County, I have never heard of anyone managing to cross the Nightmare Forest," Olivia said carefully, "But I won't overly doubt your origins because of that. Tell me, how long do you plan to stay in Selva Village?"

"Hey! You're not really buying this kid's gibberish, are you?" Boris was furious.

Olivia ignored him, simply waiting quietly for a response from the foreign boy in front of her.

Leon also ignored the shouting local ruffian, pointing to the tattered pants he had just changed out of, "We've just emerged from the woods, tired and hungry, wounded, and even bought these clothes in your village. Right now, all we're looking for is a place to shelter from the wind and rain to rest our feet."

"…Of course, if outsiders are truly unwelcome here, we promise to leave immediately after a brief rest and look elsewhere." He shrugged.

While he was not afraid of the village thug stirring up trouble, Leon, having calmed down after his bout of anger, did not want to cause a scene. If they alerted the local lord and the military took them for spies of enemy nations, that would be bad luck indeed.

"Enough!" Unable to bear being ignored by both, Boris, infuriated, interrupted the conversation between Olivia and the other party.

He raised his short sword, pointing it at the youth with a sword, "I'm sick of your endless lies. Either hand over the sword and get lost, or I'll take you in and deliver you to the lord! Choose."

Leon glanced at Boris without a word, feeling that arguing with such a creature was a waste of breath.

Suddenly realizing the elaborate sword at the boy's waist, Olivia's tone grew cold as she looked again at Boris, "I see."

The girl warned for the last time, "Put the sword down."

"What do you mean?" Boris gripped the hilt tightly, laughing with rage, "Are you going to protect these suspicious spies from outside the village?"

"More than this absurd accusation is your coveting of their treasure sword?" Olivia pointed out his twisted thoughts with an indifferent expression.

The surrounding ruffians nervously stepped back, afraid to be caught in the impending conflict.

Boris suddenly aimed his short sword at the girl before him, screaming with false bravado, "You fucking whore, don't think I won't dare to kill you...!"

Before he could finish.

Suddenly, the whoosh of a stick slicing through the air rang out.

The head of the stick lashed out at incredible speed against Boris's right hand.

The solid thud was so shocking that it made Leon at the side tremble.

"Aah—!!"

The excruciating pain in his fingers made Boris burst into tears and screams, and the short sword immediately flew from his grasp.

With a cold look, Olivia said to him, "Considering your wounds from last time haven't fully healed, I'll refrain from adding more color to your face this time. Pick up your sword and get out."

After she spoke, her gaze swept over Boris's entourage.

Her voice wasn't loud, but the chill in it was like a cold gust of wind.

These youths who seemed far older than the girl didn't dare to be negligent and quickly shrank away in dispersal.

Before long, the riverside quieted down again.

...Watching Boris's humiliating retreat, clutching his hand, Leon finally understood why the girl before him had earned such a nickname.

Her fury in front of these village ruffians was truly like a majestic little lion.

But Leon didn't dare to underestimate the girl before him. Though he paid close attention to the unfolding events, he didn't catch when she had moved to swing the stick.

Her strike was so fast, not even shadows or traces were caught—a speed and precision that even as a former amateur swordsman in his past life, he couldn't help but admire. Even Lokhak didn't have such exquisite "swordsmanship."

He just wondered if the girl could still swing as swiftly if the stick were replaced with a steel sword...

"I apologize for the scene," Olivia turned back, her expression relaxing, her eyes showing a hint of helplessness.