While Jack's father watched the Dacres' soldiers reunite with their families, Jack sat on a bench near the notice board, recovering his strength and tending to the wounds he'd sustained in his battle with Zughred, patiently waiting for his full recovery. Later, Jack regained his full strength and fully recovered.
"Good to go?" Looks at his son.
"Yep!"
Jack and his father were heading toward their horses to ride home when a marquess of House Dacre, an older man nearing his sixties, approached them in a fit of outrage, his son struggling to calm him down.
"You stole another's glory again, didn't you, Kingslayer?!" the marquess shouted at Jack's father. "You and your family couldn't stop taking it, can you!"
"Father, please calm yourself."
Jack's father nodded to his son, signaling him to prepare the horses while he spoke with the marquess.
"With all due respect, Marquess Theo, even with your ten mages and thirteen elite knights, your son couldn't withstand the orcs' assault, especially that of their chieftain and his fiercest warriors. So we have to step in with your son's permission."
"It's true, Father. Without their help, the orcs would've destroyed our land."
"Our land, or that wretched knight you're so infatuated with? Don't you think I would've noticed that?" he snapped, glaring at his son, Llyod, with a look of disgust and disappointment for falling for a knight who merely served their noble house.
"Doesn't matter. What matters is that we've taken a few casualties; most are injured, but the rest will return safely to their families. Your land is now secure. We simply passed by and saw that your son needed help, so we stepped in. However, if it weren't for your stubbornness in putting your son in charge of the town's defense for your own glory, everyone here would have been killed by them." Jack's father said, defending Lloyd from the marquess's harsh words toward his own son."
The marquess fixed a long, hard stare on Jack's father. After a few silent moments, he finally turned and walked away, leaving the scene behind.
"Tch… Ryders… out of all the people in this blasted country." The marquess muttered.
After the marquess left, Lloyd turned to the Ryder.
"Thank you for all your help. Without your strength, this entire town would've been pillaged by now." Young Lord Llyod bowed, lowering his chin to his chest.
"It's alright, we're glad to help while we were crossing."
Llyod departed, and Jack's father returned to find Jack already preparing their horses, swinging himself into the saddle.
"Shall we move on?"
"Yeah, let's go. Giddy up!"
Jack and his father rode off together, heading back toward their home.
________
Present Time, a fairy suddenly interrupted Jack's story, cutting in with a question, while they rode through the woods.
"Wait, so why does the marquess call your father a Kingslayer?"
"Uhh…" Jack shot the fairy a squinting glare, still wearing a bright smile.
"That's a story for another time!"
The fairy pouted at Jack, understanding that she would have to wait until he was in the right mood to share the tale behind his father's legendary title.
"Then could you tell me about your family name?"
"The Ryders?"
"Yeah? What's so special about them? You said the marquess has some sort of grudge against the Ryders."
"Well, my family has been known for generations as protectors of the innocent. We carry an immense power, power I bear as well, and we've used it to do good, purge evil, save countless lives, and, at times, topple corrupt nobles. That's why many nobles fear us… including the marquess."
"Wow, really?"
"Yeah, but it's not just this country; they've even traveled to other continents to help those in need, even when they had no ties there."
"That's so cool, you have a whole legacy of heroes."
"Yep."
"So where's your family now?"
"That's where I want to find out."
"Huh, you don't know where your family is, when we needed them now?"
"I know where Uncle and Auntie are, but I have no idea about the others… except my father, who is…" Jack's expression shifted to concern.
"What's wrong?"
Jack sighed. "I don't even know if he's still alive… not since the last time I saw him."
"I'm sure your father made it out alive."
"Yeah, I hope so."
Jack suddenly halted his horse, sensing danger up ahead.
"Something's up ahead."
"Where?"
"Stay with Jackson"
"Huh?"
Jack leapt from his horse, Jackson, and burst forward down the road with blinding speed.
"W-wait!"
The fairy hurried after Jack, flapping her wings rapidly to catch up. From a distance, Jack could already see the chaos ahead. A massive griffin was attacking the locals, talons clamped around their caravan as it let out a fierce, piercing screech.
Upon taking a closer look at the creature's twisted, abominable form, Jack realized it was no ordinary griffin at all, but an Eldritch mutation. It had four wings, tendrils writhing beneath them, six glaring eyes, a second beak nested inside the first, and brutish, misshapen talons.
Jack knew he had to slay the beast. He unsheathed his sword, dashed toward the griffin, and severed its fourth wing, sending the creature crashing to the ground just as it was swooping toward a terrified bard. The griffin snapped its focus toward Jack, tendrils rising and striking at him.
Jack met each lashing tendril with swift, precise parries.
Jack spun to the right, dodging the cluster of striking tendrils, then raised his fist, lifting an earthen boulder and hurling it at the griffin's head. The impact sent the creature reeling, its skull rattling from the concussion as it staggered in a daze. Seizing the moment, Jack dashed forward and sliced off its second wing.
The griffin roared in pain and leapt back from Jack, spewing streams of acidic venom toward him. Jack swiftly dodged the sizzling spits and parried the creature's incoming talons as it lunged at him, hurling its arms forward. But its assault was cut short, the moment it closed in, Jack's blade, infused with wind magic for speed, flashed through the air.
With an acrobatic spin, he sliced through the writhing tendrils beneath the creature's wings as the griffin stumbled backward. Then he drove his sword upward, delivering a final, decisive stab through the griffin's skull from below.
Jack quickly pulled his sword free from the griffin's skull, fearing the creature's acid might corrode the blade. He flicked the remaining acid off with a swift swing, watching as the griffin collapsed to the ground.