Author note: extremely hung over right now and gotta go work my second bartending job tn till late so probably won't be able to respond to comments or questions until tomorrow night.
Anyways enjoy the chapter
P.S- the magic knights exam should start in about 5 more chapters
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Kenji POV
Following the group chasing Yuwei through the forest, Kenji kept his distance while masking his mana signature. When he saw them stop in a clearing, he positioned himself on a tree branch behind a hidden man and thought, Oh, it seems she decided to stop running.
He watched as the leader gave orders to tie her up and wondered, Did she give up? Should I step in? Nah, that's definitely not what's happening.
He then watched as the woman materialized two golden spears made of mana and launched them at high speeds toward the two men, seeing them fall instantly.
Yeah, didn't think it would be that simple. She's pretty strong though—those spears materialized pretty fast. Wonder how I would fare against them.
Coming out of his thoughts, he heard three voices simultaneously: "Poison Magic: Reaper's Touch!" "Echo Magic: Canary's Scream!" "Water Magic: Water Jet!"
He regained focus to see three spells launched at the girl simultaneously. Seeing she had no room to escape, he began to move his hand in the familiar snapping gesture before, to his utter shock, he heard:
"Rule Magic: Queen's Domain!"
He froze with his mouth hanging open. No way. No wonder this girl looks so familiar—this is Queen! But what the hell is she doing here?
He watched as a golden sphere domain materialized, stopping just short of the man on the branch in front of him. He observed her, wrapped in a golden mana cloak, walk through the spells unharmed.
Damn, that was pretty cool. Should I be taking notes?
Then he thought, But she's losing mana extremely fast while maintaining this domain. It seems she's wasting a ton of mana, probably because it's a new spell. She could be using less than half the mana she currently is if she had better control.
Seeing her now in front of the 3 men he heard a cold voice belonging to the girl saying "Kneel" before suddenly the gravity around the men increased, forcing the to their knees where she delivered a decisive blow with a golden spear, soaking the ground in blood.
When the domain collapsed with her completely out of mana, he thought, I wonder if she noticed the sixth guy.
Looking over to the man who had been hidden on a branch in front of him, he saw him leap with a poison-coated blade. Seeing her unable to dodge, he muttered, "I guess not. Well, I guess it's my time to shine."
Snap
he disappeared and reappeared right in front of Yuwei, flicking a coin to create a barrier while transforming into his familiar all-white appearance. The blade was stopped in its tracks.
He looked back with a smirk to Yuwei, who, not feeling any pain, opened her eyes to see him and widened them in shock.
"Phew, that was a close call. You alright there?" he asked.
Snap.
The man attacking disappeared onto a piece of bark on the ground, trapped in a two-dimensional prison unable to leave.
With that done, Kenji turned back to Yuwei, who jumped back startled, trying to put up a defense, only to fall back on the ground.
"Wh-Who are you?" she asked shakily.
"Kenji, pleasure to meet you," he replied with a casual smile.
There was a brief awkward pause before she asked, "Where did you come from?"
He paused, not expecting that question. Quickly recovering, he said, "I saw you speaking in the village earlier, and seeing you run off getting chased, I thought it seemed interesting so I followed."
She answered with an emotionless face: "So you were just watching that whole time."
Kenji's smile twitched. "Well, when you put it like that, it just sounds weird."
There was a stretch of silence with her not responding, causing his smile to twitch more. "Geez, no 'thanks for the save' or anything. How rude."
She completely ignored this and asked, "What happened to that guy?"
Kenji sighed at once again being ignored and walked over toward the bark the man was trapped in.
"Hey! where are you going?" she called.
He bent over and picked up the bark, walking back. "He's right here. Not dead or anything, if that's your next question. He's trapped in here and can't get out until I let him. So if you have any questions you want to ask him, let me know."
She nodded and started to relax, feeling she was out of danger.
Kenji took a seat beside her. "So that was some pretty cool magic there. You're pretty strong—why were you running from those guys in the first place?"
She sighed. "Habit, I guess. I've been on the move most of my life. Mentally, it was just a habit. Besides, I didn't know I could do that until just now."
Kenji processed the answer before responding, "Hmm, makes sense."
"So why did you help me out?" she asked.
"Let's just say you remind me of someone, and I didn't want to see you die. Plus, it seemed like those guys had it coming, so that's always a plus."
Hearing this, she cracked a small smile for the first time.
Kenji got up. "Well, we should probably get out of here. This isn't the best of places to hang around—it is a Grand Magic Zone, after all. Great choice to flee to if I may add," he said jokingly.
"Well, I was more focused on the running rather than where to," she responded.
This caused Kenji to chuckle. "So how are you feeling? You think you can manage to walk?"
She tried to stand before falling back down. She gave a frustrated sigh. "It appears I can't. I'm completely out of mana, and can barely stay conscious as it is."
Kenji sighed. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have to carry you then," and began approaching her.
She looked at him with an emotionless expression. "I don't know you. Why would I ever agree to that?"
Kenji sighed. "Don't have many other options now, do you?" he said, smirking as he saw her squirm.
Seeing her getting more and more uncomfortable as the silence stretched on and he got closer, he sighed. "Well, lucky for you, I have other ways of helping you back."
He walked over to a tree, jumped up, and broke off a large branch.
Snap.
The branch suddenly turned into a white and gold carpet, and he walked back with it floating beside him. He willed it to the ground. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hop on."
She looked at him confused. "What exactly is that supposed to accomplish?"
He smirked. "Well, you won't know unless you try, will you?"
She sighed and muttered, "You're insufferable, aren't you?" and reluctantly crawled onto the carpet.
Kenji hopped on and willed the carpet to fly, shocking Yuwei as they took flight heading back toward the village.
The trip remained silent for a bit before she said, "How are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" he asked, confused.
"Making the carpet fly. I've never seen this before."
He paused for a second before answering, "Really, you haven't? It's not really that different from a magic broom, it just takes more control. I'm surprised you haven't seen this before—doesn't seem that groundbreaking."
"I guess, but I genuinely haven't seen it," she replied.
He smiled, then waved the piece of bark with the man still trapped in it trying to break free. "So what do you want to do with this guy? I can just toss him to the ground and let nature take its course if you want, or bring him back. I'm good either way."
She thought for a bit. "I'm not sure. What can I even do with him being stuck in there?"
"Fair point. I can always take him out if you want answers once we land," Kenji responded.
She nodded.
"You don't have to stay awake, you know. I can see you struggling to stay conscious as it is," Kenji said gently.
Seeing her hesitation, he continued, "Look, if I wanted to do something to you, it wouldn't have been that hard to do it already. I'm not gonna do anything, I promise. You're good. I'll take you to the inn I'm staying at until you recover."
After a bit of silence from her thinking, she hesitantly nodded and lied down, seemingly finally letting the exhaustion take over.
Now alone, Kenji sighed and thought, Well, this certainly makes things interesting with her here. I wonder who else from Hero X is in this world. Do her powers work on trust too, or is this just a coincidence?
He shook his head. No point dwelling on it. I can always just ask when she's awake again.
After flying for a bit, he saw the village and flew toward his room at the inn, going through the window and hopping off the carpet. He gently placed her on the bed.
Seeing it was starting to get dark, he muttered, "Well, I guess I'll just go get another room," and headed out, locking the door behind him.
Inside, Yuwei opened her eyes, and seeing him not in the room anymore, thought, Well, I guess I can trust him after all, and slowly closed her eyes before finally falling asleep.