Veer was a bit on the edge now. He encountered two books having the same title and only one page but different poems. Although both were pointing to some kind of catastrophe.
Eleana was now walking back to Veer and she saw him reading an odd book. She curiously asked, fluttering her beautiful eyebrows, "What is it?"
Veer was taken aback by the subtle beauty of her eyes as he showed her the book, "Take a look at it."
Eleana looked at it, her eyes gradually furrowing as she contemplated, "It feels familiar. Hmm. The Great Mystic Tree should be the Tree of Mythria. But I can't make sense of what this catastrophe is."
She pondered as she said, "Just keep it in its place. There are tons of prophecies like this everywhere. Do you want to continue looking?"
Veer shook his head, "No, that's enough for today. Let's go." They went down and came out of the Grand Library. Veer looked ahead to see if he could spot that man but it seemed he was a bit too late.
As they went down through the gardens with gentle moonlight shining through the leaves and dews all around, and the beautiful figure of Eleana walking, he had an instinct to grab her hand. But he could not muster his courage. As he reached the end of the King's garden and was about to walk into the road, Eleana was a few steps ahead. She looked back and seemed to want to say something. Eventually she did not say anything and just stood there.
Veer was feeling all over the place. Eventually he made an excuse so that he could spend more time with her. Veer said "I am hungry. Let's eat at the tavern of the Famous Inn. It's already late."
Eleana's eyes seemed to light up a bit as she nodded. As they walked side by side, the atmosphere was a bit awkward. Veer got information about the tavern from his best friend. It seemed it was Veer's favorite place.
Currently, Veer was having trouble finding what to say. Eleana was also fidgeting a little. Eventually, Veer broke the silence, "The moon is really beautiful today." He did not think much of this statement but Eleana's face seemed to go down a bit more as she started fidgeting more. Eventually, she just said in a low voice,"The moon...". Again there was silence.
Veer wondered it can't be that she is shy, is it ? Finally, they crossed the road into a tavern. Many people, including knights, were going inside and outside of it. A wave of flavor seemed to drift into the roads. Many people were looking Veer's way—rather at Eleana—as they walked into the tavern. A few people even nodded to them as a greeting.
As they went inside, they saw a well decorated room for serving the guests. Smell of various dishes seemed to faintly reach his ears as well as gossiping from all over.
A lot of tables were arranged as Veer took a table and let Eleana sit. He sat and called for the waiter guy who handed them a menu. He was going through the exotic dishes mentioned in the menu.
He paused on a dish called "Broth of The Verdant Group" which was basically chicken simmered and then sprinkled with sporecap mushroom. It was believed that it increased energy capacity. He looked at Eleana to confirm the dish. She nodded as he ordered two dishes. As they waited, they drank something called lily-sprinkled lemonades which was really refreshing to Veer.
He muttered, "This is really good." Eleana smiled a bit as she said, "You really didn't change from the academy days."
Veer did not recall anything but was lost momentarily in her smile. As he was trying to strike up a new conversation, he heard the chattering around to silence up a bit. Heavy boot sounds resounded as three guys were approaching their table, one was a knight-A golden knight. He had sharp features and was vaguely familiar to Veer. They completely ignored Veer as one of the lackeys of the golden knight said, "Lady Eleana, your beauty is unmatched. Why are you hanging out with this loser? My leader, Knight Arvus, is way better than him."
The guy called Arvus looked disdainfully at Veer as he said, "Lady Eleana, I invite you to have dinner with me."
Veer was awestruck as he looked at the idiots trying to invite Eleana. Eleana didn't even say a word. She just looked at Veer. Veer suddenly understood that Eleana wanted him to deal with these guys.
He looked towards the tavern owner in the distance as he said, "Boss, prepare our orders quickly. After thrashing some idiots, I would feel very hungry." The chattering again grew as a lots of eyes focussed at Veer's table.
Actually Veer knew this guy was no joke. He was a genuine golden knight but since he did not respect him he did not mind giving him a thrashing. But he was a bit confused internally. Why would this guy randomly pick a fight with him? The puppet incident was already well known. Veer's strange power was actually a bit popular. Currently, Veer was confident that he could handle any golden knight given there were no special circumstances.
The Boss just waved his hand as everyone looked at Veer. Arvus and his lackeys became stupefied as though they had eaten a fly. Arvus flew into a rage and tried to grab Veer. Veer got up and channeled his energy from Star Chakra as he back stepped. He then side stepped as he made way out of the tavern. Arvus followed with a rage as he also gathered his inner energy and he punched Veer. Veer again sidestepped and made a swinging downward strike with his palm. Arvus was injured a bit as he went down.
Arvus tried to get up but veer focussed a major portion of energy as he kicked the guy who landed in the other side of the road. Surprisingly Arvus didn't said a word as he just murmured ,"I will remember this as he went away."
The peace was restored as Veer returned to the tavern. In just the nick of time the dishes were served. Veer flashed a smile as he said, "Please Lady Eleana, enjoy." They both started eating. It was just so good, especially after that fight.
After finishing and payment, Veer and Eleana moved out. He saw Kerin standing a bit far away. Kerin was a bit awkward as he saw Eleana.
Eleana nodded as greet and then turned to Veer as she said, "Thanks Veer for today. Goodnight." Veer took her a few steps as he waved her goodbye.
As Veer went back, Kerin scrutinized Veer as he said, "Congrats bro, you are so close to your goal. Maybe I should not have come now. The relation could elevate even more. Sorry Veer."
Veer shook his head as he said, "Let's grab a drink as we go."
The two guys took another two bottles as they went over the garden nearing Veer's actual residence. Just a few walls away from the girl's residence. The protectors generally resided here.
Veer asked, "You know I saw a very suspicious guy at the Library. Clad in trench coats and all."
Kerin shouted a bit drunk, "That guy's a bastard. I think he is that fuc*ing butler that gave Alicia that present. That puppet that ruined everything that day. That's not all. That fucker Rio is another bastard. But no one can touch him. I am not sure who he is working for."
Both friends were feeling really drunk, as Veer muttered absentmindedly, "How will you go back?"
Kerin took another sip as he said, "It's no issue. I have a lot of experience in drinking."
They were randomly discussing topics as a sharp sound emerged from the bushes. A white arrow flashed by, grazing Veer's face as he barely reacted. Another few arrows rapidly came as both of them dodged.
Two arrows got stuck in Veer's legs as he screamed, and one in Kerin's abdomen. Both fell down. Then a figure leapt and landed in front of them. She wore fully covered knight's armor, grey in color. She made an unsheathing motion as two swords came into her hands. She was a dual wielder. There were very few people who could dual wield. She couldn't be a no-name. Her two swords, surprisingly, were one red and another blue. But Veer could feel a tingling sensation prickling all over his skin. He unsheathed his katana. Same with Kerin. Kerin unsheathed his longsword.
Kerin and Veer both attacked the veiled knight simultaneously as she seemed to be highly capable. She easily parried both at the same time as her swords seemed to glow in flames and ice. She really was a conjured Knight who could manifest abstract concepts. Veer stepped back as he rapidly concentrated his Star Chakra to augment his sword. His katana shimmered in faint darkness as Kerin engaged with the veiled knight.
Just within a breath Kerin was injured as the knight parried his attacks with one sword and sliced Kerin with the ice sword. Kerin's hands and shoulders had small icicles forming with blood coming out as she stepped back.
Veer jumped over and attacked the knight. She dodged as Veer was opposite her. Kerin made a stance, his sword kept at an uncanny angle behind his back. As his muscles contracted he went forward at a dashing speed. The veiled knight expected a thrust but at the last second Kerin's trajectory changed as he made a sharp sweep attack immediately followed by a downward slash and then again a horizontal slash.
She barely parried the first attack but the next attack hit her in the shoulder while she parried the last one. Her balance gave out as Veer circulated his breathing in a drunken state and performed a very strong thrust. That tore through the figure. Blood flowed from her back. It missed her vitals barely. She just seemed to move at the exact time to avoid fatal damage.
She tumbled as she made some distance. Then she raised her blue sword. She chanted something as ice and flames seemed to really appear on the swords. Earlier it was just like an illusion. But now Veer and Kerin could feel something lock on to them. Then she made an stance as she swung both her swords sideways and rapidly swung her ice sword four times. Each generated a wave of ice attacks as they tore in the way of Veer and Kerin.
They survived the attacks but barely. Veer was already exhausted earlier and with his drunken state and that thrust, it cost him enough to be left with no reserves. Now Kerin was actually guarding most attacks. The first two attacks almost stripped off the garden they were in. The third wave swept Kerin in the back as the fourth wave landed on Veer's sword. He survived but his armor was badly broken. The lady then rapidly spun with her flaming sword. As flames conjured and were coming over to Veer and Kerin, Veer was considering using his trump card he had worked a bit on but his reserves were too low for that. But then a figure landed in front of him as she shielded them from the flames.
She was a valiant beauty with a long claymore-like sword in her hand. Her one hand was raised and the flames did not get past that. There was a blue cape on her back that was fluttering wildly, her side profile visible to Veer. She had long black hair, a delicate nose, and emerald eyes. Kerin shouted from the back, "Lady Sythris."