The arriving knights spread out around me.
Six armored men, all carrying weapons, all looking at me as though they had arrived in the middle of a murder scene and found the murderer conveniently kneeling beside the body of their victim.
I couldn't blame them, from their perspective, the evidence wasn't exactly in my favor. There was blood everywhere, all over my hands, clothes, even having created a pool that encircled us on the ground.
And most importantly, the man I was kneeling beside way laying on the ground covered in blood, with a visible hole in the chest of his clothing itself, the wound was not visible but that was only because my hands were still pressing down on the location where the wound would exist keeping pressure until i was sure that his natural recovery had healed him enough to survive even if he let go of the wound.
No weapon that cause the wound was here, nor was the one who wielded it, or the girl who was taken leading up to this.
Everything was gone, and only i remained, and the only person left standing beside the victim was me.
The captain of this troupe of knights drew his sword levelling the blade so the tip pointed towards us, or rather towards me.
"You."
I slowly raised both hands, being careful to watch if the wound began bleeding once again. "I didn't do this."
"Stand up, and step away from him."
"I'll do as you say, but if he starts bleeding again someone will need to stopper the wound, or use healing magic on him."
The captain's eyes narrowed at my words. "So? What you're trying to save the man you almost killed?"
"What!? No, i saw him get stabbed by those other knights and i couldnt just stand by and watch him die!."
Even as i stepped further away the knight didnt lower his sword, instead he advanced on the downed man, but at least the look on his face had changed from being angry to being frustrated.
Once i was enough away two knights stepped out of their surround and grabbed onto me from both side holding me in place by my arms and shoulders.
Once i was secured, the lead knight sheathed his sword and knelt down to check on the man, i looked at Walter still laying upon the ground, his breathing was still shallow, but it had become steady at least, and the pallour of his skin had faded giving way to normal tinted skin and rosy cheeks, even the pained look on his face had faded to one of content.
That was the only reason I hadn't moved already to try and get back to his side.
The 10 points in natural recovery were clearly doing whatever it was that they do, with his body healing himself rather than needing to rely on anyone else.
"You are under suspicion of assaulting this man." the lead knights voiced boomed once more, though his tone was considerably lighter than before.
I stared at him almost in shock, had he not seen what i could see? The man was clearly bleeding to death, and yet the wound was sealing up and vanishing as if the stab had never happened.
"You still think i stabbed him?"
"You were found standing over him covered in blood."
"Yeah from trying to save his life!"
"You claimed other knights were responsible?"
"They are."
"Be careful with what you say boy, accusing a noble is a very serious matter and falsely doing so can result in your death."
I sighed, noble privilege was strong, but in this instance i had seen everything and wasnt afraid of reporting only to see if the Count would protect a fellow noble or . "Cole."
His eyes sharpened after hearing just this one name.
"That knight Cole, he came back to take the girl away again, this time he stabbed the old man through with his sword and left him to die, before then taking his daughter and leaving."
"Knight cole...?" The lead knight almost mumbled out after having heard my piece. "How many knights in all?"
"There were four and then that knight cole."
"Alright, hand over your id to prove who you are." he stated.
Left with no choice i struggled a bit to free my left arm and retreived by guild card from my pocket, handing it over to the knight who had let go of my arm, the knight gave it a look over, before he recited something under his breath, and a symbol appeared in the top corner of my card that had never been there before.
"He'd clean capt." the knight stated before handing the card back to me, and placing a hand on my shoulder again while leaving my arm free to move. "Blacksmith runner."
"A runner?"
"Huh?"
Both the captain and myself seemed to be confused at the announcement of a title.
One of the knights actually snorted when he heard it as well.
The captain looked as if he wasn't sure whether I was joking, "You saved this man... even though your a blacksmith?"
"Does it matter what profession one has to need to save the life of their fellow man?"
...
...
...
My words stunned the knights, being of nobility they never considered the plight of the common man before, resurrection was a thing afterall and no noble would be unable to pay for that right, but someone like this innkeeper walter who could only afford this if he was to sell everything he owned and even then only just, but if he was dead and his daughter was gone, he'd have to rely on his family or neighbors to do this for him.
Before he could ask anything else, Walter groaned, everyone immediately turned toward him.
His eyes fluttered, before they slowly opened and his eyes stared up blankly at the sky above.
"Sir?" The captain leaned closer, leaning over to appear in walters field of vision.
The man tilted his head, for a moment, he looked confused. Then realization dawned on him and ,he tried to sit up, but his hand immediately went to his chest while he sucked in a breath ~Hissss.
"My daughter." His voice was barely audible squawked out of his throat still slick with blood he'd previously been coughing up. "Where's my daughter?"
The captain looked over to me, but seeing me looking sadly bad at the man, the captain finally seemed convinced, but then his expression turned grim. "I'm sorry... she's gone, it's best... that you forget about here from now on."
""what!?"" Both my and walters voices overlaped.
His daughter was taken and the Count's knights said to just forget about her? What about justice?
"She was taken by the Baron, by now she will probably be within his estate, and without a warrant from the local magistrate we cannot invade another nobles lands without breaking the law ourselves." The captain said, but his own irritation was clear in his voice.
"Even if they grant her the mercy after what she'll experience it would be kinder to simply let her rest in peace... for what its worth i'm sorry."
That was the last word spoken before he and his men just walked away, that was it, Cole had nearly killed someone and just because he was a knight they could do nothing.
This wasnt justice, this was injustice.
It was in these exact situations that a hero should arrive to save the day, to save the damsel in distress, and purge the city of the corrupt nobility.
But sadly the Hero Cade didnt even care.
The rumors about Cole were everywhere, there was no way Cade hadnt heard them and yet... what did he do about it? Nothing, not a damn thing, it was almost like he condoned it, just like the baron did.
Since the local authorities wouldnt do anything, and Carter himself could even be said to be the one to blame for creating Cole as he was now to begin with, this was a wrong he needed to right.
But even more than that as he left the man who managed to get to his feet and walking sadly into his inn to weep alone over the loss of his daughter, Carter overheard even more information.
Mainly about the hero Cade.
About how there was news that he was going to be moving on from the town, heading off for the capital city in a few days, since as a C-rank there was not much else he could do here in this town.
If i was going to fix the problem Cole had become i'd need to do it quick, otherwise i'd be stuck here dealing with him, while Cade was off doing god knows what in the capital, but if i could fix Cole's problem first, then i could follow to the capital and get to continue watching Cade while also checking up on Alison as well.