Adrian raised an eye brow
" How dare you display such nonsense in front of a goddess. You should be punished!" William yelled.
" Are you lost young master?" One of the men spoke. Angry growing in his voice.
The women seeing Adrian and William come to their aid scrambled to their side.
William, from where he sat on the rock , took a look around. A bit of crowd had gathered even before they got there. But it seems they couldn't really interfere. They seemed really scared of the men with weapons.
He took a sharp breath.
" Eiyah! My wife! What should we do?" William asked Adrian. Adrian shot him a glare and realizing it isn't exactly the time to banter with the man, the turned to the thugs.
" Why disturb the woman?" Adrian simply asked the men.
They all moved slowly towards him, armed with all sorts of weapons. William, whom had first decided to be playful, saw them move towards Adrian and in a split second, he was standing between them and Adrian. Adrian took a step back.
" Young men, be on your way. Nothing is of concern to you" one of them said.
" Exactly its not of our concern but you see, whatever this is about, it's bothering my good friend here."
Good friend - Adrian felt somewhat about that. It was the first William will address him as that. He had always addressed him using sweet words.
" So" William continued- " whatever bothers him, bothers me."
One of the men spits on the ground. " We own this street and these women haven't paid their tribute this year. We are only teaching them a lesson. Don't get involved in this. " The man who was the first to speak amongst them responded.
" Errrmm-" William begins to scratch his head and later shrugged. " Too late? "
The man, not pissed off, raised his hand and made a gesture." Take them out." He ordered and the men immediately began walking closer to William and Adrian while waving their weapon and smirking.
Seeing this, William did two light jumps and took a fighting stance all while grinning happily.
" Nice ! Nice! Time to let out some steam" he laughed.
Adrian only shook his head.
The men advanced slowly, their weapons glinting under the sun. The smiles on their faces were ugly, confident—like they already knew how this would end.
William rolled his shoulders, still grinning, his body loose and ready. He shifted his feet slightly, excitement dancing in his eyes.
"Come on then," he said lightly. "Let's see how brave you are."
One of the men lunged first, swinging his stick toward William's head.
William moved.
He stepped aside easily, the stick slicing through empty air. With one quick motion, he grabbed the man's wrist and twisted. A sharp cry left the man's mouth as his weapon fell to the ground. William pushed him back—not hard enough to break anything, but hard enough to send him stumbling.
The crowd gasped.
Another man charged, knife raised. William ducked, kicked the man's leg, and sent him crashing to the ground. Dust rose. The women cried out.
"Enough."
Adrian's voice cut through the noise—clear, sharp, and steady.
William froze mid-movement. The man in front of him hesitated too.
Adrian stepped forward, placing himself beside William. His eyes moved over the men calmly, not afraid, not angry—just disappointed.
"This will only turn ugly," he said. "For everyone."
One of the men scoffed. "Move aside. This doesn't concern you."
"It does," Adrian replied quietly. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small pouch. The sound of coins clinking inside drew everyone's attention.
The leader's eyes narrowed.
Adrian walked closer and dropped the pouch at the man's feet. Coins spilled onto the dusty ground, catching the sunlight.
"This covers their tribute," Adrian said. "And more."
The men stared at the money. The crowd whispered.
William turned sharply to Adrian. "Temì—"
Adrian raised a hand slightly, stopping him without even looking.
"Take it," Adrian continued, his gaze never leaving the leader's face. "And leave them alone. Today. And after."
The leader hesitated. Pride and greed wrestled on his face. Slowly, he bent and picked up the coins, weighing them in his palm.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue. "You're lucky."
He gestured to his men. "We're leaving."
The men backed away, grabbing their fallen weapons. They disappeared down the street, melting into the crowd.
Silence followed.
The women breathed in relief, some falling to their knees, thanking Adrian over and over. The crowd slowly dispersed.
William stood stiff beside Adrian, fists clenched, jaw tight.
"That was unnecessary," he muttered.
Adrian turned to him calmly. "No one got hurt."
William looked away, clearly unhappy. "They didn't deserve your kindness."
Adrian simply sighed. "Kindness isn't given because it's deserved."
William said nothing—but his anger had softened, replaced with something else he didn't quite understand.
\
\
They walked further into the heart of the festival in silence, which was very unusual- For William and that was because he was sulking.
Adrian, who was for once glad the man was quiet, felt the feeling of him being quiet was foreign, too weird and he decides to break it.
" You can't always resort to violence" he broke the ice.
William only exhaled and and pouted more. He said nothing and only folded his arms to add emphasis on his sulking.
Adrian tried really hard to fight back a smile. William was like a five years old sulking kid.
It was cute- Adrian cut that thought immediately.
" So what? You really think we should have settled that with a fight?"
"I mean, yeah because-" William cut in.
" Have you deeply thought about what that would have caused? The people that will get injured? The women? The shops? The likely-to-be destroyed goods, if we had resorted to violence. I think that was the best way to handle it. " Adrian said and nodded his head a bit.
William stopped on his track and faced him. " I mean, do you have to stop the fight by giving them your money? They don't deserve it. Besides, you don't need to be kind to others. I only want you to be kind to me. "
"Everything-" Adrian stretched his hand, arched his head up to look straight at him. He then placed it on William's shoulder " Young master William, everything is not solved with a fight. Sometimes wisdom works better."
William grumbled beneath his breath, something unintelligible, words lost before they could reach Adrian, and kept walking. Adrian's lips curved into a small smile as he followed him.
/
/
/
Dada having spent up to two hours in the ruined village, decided to leave. He turned back to the part that lead outside the village and met the old woman again along the path.
She stopped beside the charred ground and looked at him, her eyes dull with memories. "You see," she murmured, "I told you. Nothing is left anymore."
Dada said nothing. The silence pressed against his chest as his thoughts wandered through the ashes—homes, voices, lives erased. He wondered what horror had passed through this place, and whether even one soul had escaped it. He needed to know what had really happened. He needed to know what had become of his parents, if they were still alive.
"Is there anyone," he asked quietly, "anyone at all who might still be alive and remember what happened?"
The old woman lowered her gaze. For a long moment, she did not speak. Then she shook her head, slow and weary.
"No," she whispered. "After that night, everyone scattered. The village died with the fire."
Dada's thoughts returned to the village again and again. To the ashes, the silence, the memories that refused to rest. Even the mission given to him by the emperor could not pull his mind away.
He knew he could not carry out the emperor's command with his thoughts so unsettled, his heart still bound to what had been lost. The village lingered within him like an unclosed wound, aching for answers.
He needed to know what had happened.
And so he decided—before he took a single step toward fulfilling his mission, he would uncover the truth behind the fate of his old village.
He turned and began to walk away. After only a few steps, the old woman called out behind him.
"Wait—hold on!"
Dada stopped.
"I know a man," she continued, her voice lowering, as though the past itself might be listening. "A man who still remembers what happened fifteen years ago."
Dada slowly turned back to her.
"You will have to go to the Irele Kingdom. That is where I last heard he was. Surely," she added after a pause, "he will be able to tell you what truly happened to this village."
'Irele'- Dada thought. That is the kingdom of the first prince. The Prince he had abandoned days ago with a kid.
( A subtle reminder that all our characters are in the central kingdom. Although William and Adrian have the intent of heading to Irele soon. Now , our charming assassin has plans of heading to Irele too)