"Your Grace..." Johnson speaks, his voice nervous, almost afraid despite being a grown adult.
A knight, no less.
"...why am I here? And why is that here?" Johnson asks, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "You rarely take out your pets, and especially not without any sort of leash."
Athiel, who was casually munching on a large croissant he had the chef prepare, blankly stared at Johnson.
anwhile, Johnson was staring at Kree, who stood beside Athiel, looking around with quiet curiosity.
"Johnson, do you know anything about monsters?" Athiel asks, tilting his head slightly as he looks at the older knight.
"No. Obviously not. And you’ve insulted about it for as long as you’ve been able to talk," Johnson replies, his brows knitting together.
Athiel smiles and raises a finger to stop him, signaling for silence as he glances at Kree.
"Hey," Athiel calls out.
Kree imdiately looks down at him.
Then Athiel runs.
Not too far. Just enough.
Almost instantly, Kree reacts. His hands shoot forward, claws flexing, his entire body tensing.
"A-Athiel!" Kree calls out as he tries to follow—
And then he trips.
He stumbles over his own foot, collapsing awkwardly onto the ground, clearly unfamiliar with running.
Athiel turns his head toward Johnson.
Johnson had gone pale.
"D-Did it... did it just... did..." Johnson stutters, pointing shakily at Kree, who now sat on the ground, looking confused.
’Look at him, he looks absolutely stunned.’
Athiel walks over to Kree and leans down slightly.
"Now say ’Master.’"
"Master?" Kree repeats.
Johnson lets out an audible sound of fear.
"It’s speaking!"
"Good. Now your tiny, no-knowledge-of-monsters brain is all caught up," Athiel says, glancing back at him. "I’m trying to see what else it can do. Because the more ti I spend with it... the more amazing it gets."
"You’ve only spent a day with it. How have you already discovered so much?" Johnson asks, still visibly cautious.
"Because I am a genius," Athiel replies, his tone completely matter-of-fact.
Johnson looks at him like he’s lost his mind. Well, Athiel was the crazy one in everyone’s eyes. "Why am I here then? What could an idiot like possibly contribute to you, Little Grace?"
Athiel hums. "First of all, I love that you’re self-aware." Johnson rolls his eyes at that. "Second, I need you to attack ."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Almost deafening.
’He’s going to start screeching in three... two...’ Athiel thought, and then—
"YOUR GRACE! LORD ASTER! I THINK THE LITTLE GRACE HAS OFFICIALLY LOST IT! LORD LILIOR! LORD HYAC—"
"Oh dear mother of mine, shut up!" Athiel exclaims. He knew Johnson was dramatic. He knew Johnson loved yelling at him for no reason, but he didn’t expect him to start calling for his father and older brothers.
Johnson narrows his eyes at him. "You’ve officially gone insane, Little Grace. With no offense whatsoever, I do care about you. I’ve practically raised you, but—"
"WILL YOU LET EXPLAIN?!" Athiel yells, making Kree look at him with shock and clear concern.
Athiel slams his unfinished croissant onto the glass tea table. ’Now I can’t even finish my croissant,’ he thought as he stomps toward Johnson.
"Look, this monster works differently from the rest. It has more intelligence than the others, maybe even more than half the people here," Athiel says, still irritated. "Psychology works on it, and I’ve been testing what else it can do. Rember what happened yesterday?"
"Which one?" Johnson asks.
"When it thought you were attacking , it suddenly grew another set of arms."
"Oh, yes..."
"Earlier, I got dizzy from low blood sugar and almost fainted—"
"—No wonder you demanded croissants—"
"—And it caught with its tentacles."
"Okay, Your Grace. Haha. Now I know you’re just ssing with my feeble brain."
"You certainly do have a feeble brain. So you finally said sothing smart," Athiel muttered under his breath, covering his face in frustration.
He peeked through his fingers. "Johnson, all you have to do is charge at with your sword."
"It’s not safe."
"You’re telling your skills are so low that, if needed, you can’t stop charging at the right mont?" Athiel asked. "What do we pay you for then? Your salary cos with housing and benefits."
"It’s not that," Johnson said, narrowing his eyes. "I don’t doubt the monster will attack if it sees attacking. It will be dangerous for ."
"Wow. So selfless," Athiel said sarcastically, giving a slow clap. "Don’t worry, Johnson. Of course, I won’t risk my father’s favorite captain after the last three died—"
"There wasn—"
"It’s a joke, old man." Athiel cut him off, pulling a small vial from his pocket. "This is called zappy zappy stoppy thingy."
"What?" Johnson frowned. "What kind of na is that?"
"It’s so people like you can understand what it does." Athiel raised it, peeking at the bright yellow liquid inside. "If I throw this at you, you’ll feel excruciating pain, like being struck by lightning. It can kill you."
Johnson’s eyes widened. "That’s... sothing soone like you shouldn’t have."
"Right? But I do have it. I made it myself," Athiel said. "If I use this on that creature, it won’t die because of its enhanced body, but it should still have so kind of nervous system. This will subdue it if it tries to attack you."
Athiel smirked. "I’ve tested it on the other monsters. It’s one of their most hated thods of restraint."
Johnson glanced between Athiel and Kree. Kree stood silently, watching. Athiel only smiled.
"Right... now I don’t know which one is scarier," Johnson said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "You won’t let this go, will you?"
"Nope," Athiel said, popping the ’p’.
Johnson groaned. "Alright, little grace. You better be sure about this." He unsheathed his sword.
Athiel lowered his hand, eyes fixed.
"You charge on my command."
Johnson took a deep breath, then nodded slowly. "Gotcha."
Athiel took a few steps back, creating distance between them. Kree stayed where it was, though it looked at Athiel, tilting its head curiously.
’Good. Still focused on ,’ Athiel thought.
"Okay, Johnson," Athiel said carefully.
He took one more step back. Before Kree could fully register the distance between them, he spoke again.
"Go!"
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