Way of the Knights

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It was tough battle for those who participated.

The sudden invasion of the Black Curtain Guild took everyone by surprise. Scenes of the battle were still imprinted on people's mind. The atrocities that the Mort Family hid, their blatant collaboration with the enemy, their plans of uprooting the Royal Family, and the amount of people who were sacrificed in order for them reach their goals.

It was a rare time when the hearts of everyone in the kingdom were mostly united. They desired to get rid of this malicious tumor and attain the perpetual peace of their home. No amount of efforts were spared, warriors flocked over the Mort Family Estate on their own accord to defend their home from the invaders.

Out of all the people who participated in the great battle. An individual stood amongst the rest.

He, despite his limited cultivation, confronted the evil deeds of the Mort Family and didn't back down. He refused to turn blind eye towards the injustice and evilness that he seen. Not only he straight up confronted them, he used everything he had to stop their advances knowing full well that he might never come back for it.

Although it was unknown who was responsible or how it was possible for everyone to witness the confrontation, it didn't change the fact that he still fought valiantly and almost stopped the invasion from happening. It was due to his heroic deeds that the kingdom still stood tall in this day and the casualties of the battle were greatly minimized.

It was also due to his efforts that the captives of the Mort Family was able to reunite with their families. When all of them thought that these people were dead, they felt nothing but despair, but imagine their surprise when they saw them at their doors, telling them about their terrible experience as a slave in the Mort Family Estate.

In this heroic action of his, he made at least a large majority of the families in the kingdom, indebted to him. Out of all the captives that he freed, it was safe to say that he never thought that he will have a certain powerful individual, feel specially grateful and indebted to his deeds.

This person is none other than Morel Bluesky, a respected Golden Knight of the Kingdom. Raven might not know this but he already met Morel before.

It was precisely during his visit in the Eternal Horizon Clan before. Morel was there, only under a disguise that left a deep impression towards Raven. He was Elder Drake.

Morel, just like Leona and Old Lee, is also one the current King's most trusted men. It was only under their care that the King was able to depart in peace knowing that the Kingdom is safe under their care.

Morel, despite his overbearing strength and resplendent reputation, was actually a lonely person. He grew up alone, reached his current state using nothing but his own efforts and was able to stand tall as one of the Kingdom's Pillars. The only respite he had was when he found the love of his life and married her.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it upon giving birth since she afflicted with a disease that severely weakened her. Their child survive thankfully, the child is a girl and he named her Joanna.

She became the only one left for Morel, so he gave her everything that she wanted so long as he could. She grew up as a sensible child but one day she mysteriously disappeared. Morel nearly turned the whole kingdom upside down in search for her but wasn't able to find her anywhere. In truth however, she didn't disappear but rather taken by the Mort Family and turned into a slave.

Imagine Morel's surprise upon seeing his one and only child waiting for him in front of his house. She might've looked differently from the last time that he saw her but blood is thicker than water, how could he not tell that this is his daughter?

Joanna couldn't even looked at him in the eye, she was so afraid that her father won't recognize her but how is that possible? A father's love is like a mountain, no amount of changes in her could stop him from recognizing his own flesh and blood!

Despite her admonishing herself for being careless and falling for the trap of the Mort Family, despite her feeling disgusted at herself knowing that she was forced to do all those horrible things during her time as a captive, despite her not being sure on how to greet her father after being freed, the strong arms wrapped around her body and the overflowing love of a father melted all those worries away.

All the injustice that she experienced, all of the miserable memories imprinted on her mind, all of her fears and worries, gone with the wind upon reuniting with her father.

Morel didn't expect her to be alive. Oh, what a wonderful surprise this was. He didn't have any strong connection with Raven before but he became incredibly indebted to him without knowing it. The two shared dinner for the first time in a long time. After dinner, Joanna recounted her experience and revealed every detail on her father. Suffice to say that angry is a severe understatement to what Morel felt. If he had only knew, he would've personally rained down Wind Spears on the Mort Family, alas it was too late.

Joanna didn't blame him for everything but Morel was still guilty. He vowed to never lose sight of her again or else he would turn mad. He nearly went insane upon losing her the first time, there's no telling what he would feel if it happened again. Joanna was prepared to leave her past as her past.

Raven had given her enough hope and encouragement to close this chapter of her life and begin anew, she was still young and there's so much more to life rather than wasting it in a depressed mood. Of course, no one said it would be easy, but she vowed to never allow herself to be deprived of her freedom ever again. She was ready to face tomorrow, knowing that her dad would always have her back and the experiences that she encountered during her days being a captive would be a reminder for not the be careless once more.

***

Raven would surely feel an immense headache if he ever known that he became this famous after that incident. Thankfully for now, he was unconscious so he didn't have to deal with it.

That being said, him being unconscious didn't bring any joy to neither Eva nor Luis. Specially Luis though, he was forced to sleep on the couch for weeks now, his wife even refused to talk to him for the first couple of days upon receiving news that Raven was unconscious.

Even though his friends told them that he was fine and would just be unconscious for a long time, that didn't really consider that as much of a good news to them as parents. While it did alleviate some of their worries, as Raven's parents they didn't really want their child to be in danger, specially after the fact that he's an only child.

Luis didn't spare any efforts nor money to invite healers to check the well being of his child. Thankfully, all of them came up with the similar result saying that he's far from any danger, in fact he was quite healthy and recovering very well, he's just going to be unconscious for a while but there's no need to worry about him. Of course, how could the Sacred Leaf Tavern ignore the current state of their Holy Son?

Richard and Jacob, along with a few of the most trusted employees of the tavern paid visit to him and ensured that he is well. They even prepared a concoction that would nourish his body in his sleep so that when he wakes up, he would be as energetic as a bull.

After Luna woke up, her along with the Prince, Old Lee and her teacher Leona, paid a visit to Raven.

The Prince didn't hesitate to bow and ask for forgiveness for being incapable of preventing the sacrifice of their child. Even Old Lee, Leona and Luna asked for forgiveness. This melted any misgivings that Luis and Eva felt for them and accepted their apology.

Luna in turn explained what happened to them but the information she provided was limited due to Raven mostly doing all the work and not really explaining his thoughts with them. Needless to say, for a mere child, his methods are incredibly mysterious, even to that point that none of the Golden Knights could give a proper explanation on this matter.

All of this made them feel helpless, it would seem that they have to wait until Raven does the explanation himself in order for them to be satisfied.

According to his friends, Raven's going to be unconscious for at least one or two months. Not exactly a long time but not too short either.. Due to his meritorious deeds, he became an inspiration to many which caused the recovery of the kingdom to hasten as well.