Chapter 20: Chapter 20 – Childhood? 3

"What are you doing to my daughter you bastards!"

A voice called out from behind the group, catching not only the attention of the merchant and his goons but also the attention of Shi who was still being pinned to the ground. For some reason she felt as if the voice should be familiar, yet, something within her told her she didn't know the voice, something soft, like a whisper, warning her about the voice. Yet the feeling that she should be familiar with the voice, that this voice was safe, was too overwhelming to ignore.

The merchant moved back upon being startled and looked up at the newcomer, it was a man dressed in iron armor, with a sword to his side. On the armor was a symbol that he didn't recognize, but he knew that to have a symbol on your armor meant you belong to a group, and he didn't want any kind of trouble with a group.

"Tsk, let's go boys, leave the girl." He ordered the two hired thugs that were still holding down the girl while also keeping an eye on the man. Upon hearing their order, they released the girl, and quickly moved back, standing in front of the merchant while keeping an eye on the man in armor. They still had a job to do after all.

Now being released, Shi quickly stood up from the ground and turned to look at the man in armor. What she saw surprised her, but she also felt like she should be surprised, causing the feeling to be quickly suppressed, it was definitely an odd thing that Shi didn't outright notice due to being distracted. Before her, stood a young-looking man, no later than his 30s based on looks alone, dressed in what she could only describe as knightly armor. An iron chest plate to protect his upper body, along with leather pants to protect his lower half while still allowing movement.

His face wasn't hidden, which should've allowed Shi to see it, but no matter how much she tried to look at his face to see how it was, she just couldn't. It felt like she was staring into the sun, her eyes blurred with every attempt to see his face, and slightly hurt, forcing her to look away. 'What the hell?' She thought to herself, however, as soon as she thought that, another thought assaulted her mind. This thought was screaming to her that she could in fact see the person before her and that it was her father.

Just as fast as it came, the thought of how weird this was also left her mind, leaving Shi without any doubt that the person before her was actually her loving father whom she loved so much, causing her to quickly shout, "Dad!" She called out to the armored figure who was now revealed to be her father, causing the man to also turn and look at her.

"Do not worry dear, daddy will punish these bad men, quickly come here, and stay behind me while i deal with them." The man said as he urged his daughter to come towards him quickly, in case the thugs changed their minds and decided to use her as a shield, or worse, she got hurt in the fighting between the two.

"Ok, dad!" Shi replied as she quickly ran over to her father, dashing behind him and hiding behind his wide frame, as if using him as a shield. She peeked out from the side in order to see what the thugs were doing, only to see them glaring towards her direction.

Both the merchant and the two thugs were initially shocked by the sudden revelation, they hadn't expected that the random girl they were trying to capture would turn out to be the daughter of a knight, why would they? They saw her dressed in old clothing, thinking she was from just some poor common-born family, who would assume a knight's family dressed so poorly. What really got to them, however, was the fact that her father said he was going to deal with them, which meant this wasn't going to end with just them running away. They had to fight here, or they would be screwed.

After a short moment of hesitation, the merchant ordered the two thugs to attack the man, while he stood behind them, "Get him you fools, he's not going to let us go without a fight." The thugs knew this was true, plus they couldn't disobey the order of their employer, so they stepped forward, this time drawing their weapons out.

The taller man drew out a long sword from the sheath that rested at his side, while the short man took out two daggers that were hooked to his legs, both of them getting ready to lung an attack at the slightest opening. The merchant? Well he stood the furthest away from the group, even further than Shi was standing, clearly cowering in fear that they might fail.

"Come on then! I don't have all day you know! I still have to show my daughter what i brought for her." Said Shi's father loudly as he drew out a short iron sword from his sheath in response to the two thugs getting ready to fight. Shi heard what he said, but she was too worried about the fight, and if he would be ok, to worry about what he could have brought for her while at work.

"Ugh, damn it, why don't you just take yar kid and leave before things get bloody yar bastard!?" The shorter thug yelled as he readied himself for any sudden movement by the knight before him. The taller man was moving closer to the knight while the other spoke, using this chance to try and close the gap, at least close enough that his longer sword would benefit.

"Hmph, you think I'm a fool? You dare lay your hand on my daughter, I'll remove them! Come fools, no more talking!" Her father yelled as he lunged towards the man that he saw trying to creep closer to him, instantly closing the distance with a speed no one expected. He was a trained knight, that guarded the borders, he wasn't a fool that didn't know how to fight, nor some street thug that only knew how to bully the weak, he knew how to fight, and so he did.

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Swinging his sword in a swift motion forward, aiming to slash the arms of the taller man before he had time to use the long sword, he succeeded. The taller man was too stunned by the sudden movement, plus the weight of the long sword, not allowing him to move it fast enough to block the incoming attack. That didn't mean he was incompetent though, he was a street thug after all, and one thing street thugs were good at, was surviving. He used the chance of the man aiming for his arms, to drop the sword and jump back, freeing up weight and thus allowing him to move faster.

"Argh!" Yelled the taller man, as he may have avoided the brunt of the attack, he was unable to fully avoid the slash, leaving a bloody trail along his right hand that he blocked with. "Dammit, throw me a new weapon!" He yelled back at the merchant that was still cowering behind, growing annoyed with how difficult this job was turning out to be he was beginning to wonder if he should just abandon the job and run away. Sure that may lead to issues if the merchant ends up surviving and reporting it to his superiors, however, he didn't want to die here along with him.

The merchant was too scared to move, causing the shorter man to curse under his breath and move back towards the carriage to grab a weapon out from it, "Shit, useless." He quickly shoved his hand into the back of the carriage, ever so often shifting his view back to the knight to make sure he didn't move, looking for a weapon. Pulling out his hand, all he got was a short sword that was originally to be put on sale, but it would do for now. "Catch!" He said as he threw the weapon at the other thug.

The man barely had the chance to catch the sword and was about to prepare for an attack, however, unfortunately for him, the knight was too fast. Before he could even spot him, or be prepared, the knight took the chance to dash forward, slashing his blade at the neck of the thug. The man didn't even have time to register what had happened before the blood started to gush out from his neck, spraying all over the air and falling on the gravel floor below.

Shi was stunned upon seeing the man get killed, his freshly red blood spraying all over the area, not expecting her father to kill them in front of her. This was the first time she had seen someone die in front of her, yet, something felt so familiar about it, the blood, the way it flowed, the way it smelt, the way it, tasted. 'Wait, tasted? What.' Her mind froze, she couldn't taste the blood, why would she think it had a familiar taste to it, in fact, why would she think it would familiar at all. This was something she had never seen before, what was going on with her lately, she kept feeling odd. 'What is wrong with me, maybe i should ask my dad, he might know?' she thought to herself, yet something within her made her shake her head and deny that idea.

While she was lost in thought, the only remaining thug yelled out in response to the death of his teammate, lunging forward as he did so in a fit of rage, "Bastard! How dare you, you're dead!" He attacked him, his movements not having any thought or reason behind them. Rage filled his mind as he swung his twin daggers around wildly. Though it proved effective against Shi's father since he couldn't predict where he might attack next due to the erratic movement, causing him to retreat with each swing.

"I got you now!" He shouted as he lunged forward once again, swinging his blades down onto the man's shoulder at the first sight of an opening. The thug wasn't able to dodge the attack due to his enraged state, resulting in the slash going through his entire shoulder, cutting it off. Pain overtook the mind of the thug, mixing with the rage to make him act insane, because he lunged forward without any concern for his own life, attempting to stab the dagger into the chest of the knight, with the only result being failure. He only stabbed the armored chest plate, not being able to penetrate it.

"Damnit, why won't you just die already?" Shi's father cursed aloud, stabbing his blade into the chest of the thug that was right in front of him. Easily piercing through him, as blood gushed out from the open wound when he retrieved the blade. Dead, the thug fell to the ground, the thud of the man hitting the ground only being covered by the yelp of the merchant as he realized he was screwed if he didn't run quickly. Which was exactly what he then tried to do, turning around as he tried to scurry away.

He didn't get the chance to go far though, since Shi's father grabbed a dagger from the now-dead thug, and threw it at him. His accuracy was masterful, seeing as he was able to purposefully miss hitting the man anyway that would kill him right away, and instant was able to stab into his leg, causing him to crash to the ground and scream out in pain.

"Please! Please spare me! I didn't know she was your daughter! I am just a merchant! They made me do it, yea, those thugs forced me to do this, please help me, spare me!" He rambled on and on, trying to make an excuse that might stick as he saw the knight approaching him, Shi who was previously hiding to watch, now walking closer to the two.

"Silence!" The knight yelled, shoving the merchant to the side, making sure he could look into his begging eyes, "I've heard enough from you! A bastard that dare think about laying his filthy hands on my daughter, you have no right to beg for mercy!" He yelled, the anger dripping off his words, each step he took closer to the merchant sending shivers down the man's spine, his eyes drenched with tears as he knew he was dead.

"No, mercy isn't something you deserve, and death is too good for a lowlife like you, no, you're going to pay." As he said this, he stepped on the merchant's chest, stomping his boots down onto it, causing the man to yell out in pain, only for his voice to be muffled by his own blood being spewed up.

Shi watched as this happened, scared at what was going to happen to the man, she didn't think she wanted to know, let alone see it, her body visibly shaking. Her father noticed this and turned towards her, speaking. "Run on home dear, tell you're mother I'm back and I'll be there soon, i just need to deal with something first. Ah, take whatever you want from the carriage."

Hearing this, Shi didn't hesitate to turn around and run away, heading home. As for taking anything from the carriage? Why would she even think about doing that, the only thing in her mind now was to avoid seeing whatever her father was about to do.

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