Chapter 227: A Female Member of the Holy Knights Taken Hostage
Debt 227 - A Female Member of the Holy Knights Taken Hostage
"A woman from the holy knights?" Ryan asked. His deep voice broke the brief moment of peace that had formed in the living room. He did not expect to hear that specific title within the safe walls of his territory.
Much less after having ordered maximum discretion from his espionage group on the human continent.
"Where is Helen right now?" Ryan asked. He maintained a completely neutral expression in the face of the unusual information Alicia had just delivered to him. Alicia swallowed hard, trying to control her heavy breathing after running all the way across the village to deliver the news.
Her hands trembled slightly, something very unusual for the always composed wolf assistant.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Alicia replied, nodding her head repeatedly.
She raised a hand, pointing immediately toward the open door of the main living room.
"Miss Helen is near the entrance portal area. She is trying to control the wyverns with her bare hands. But on top of that, she is injured." Alicia added.
Her voice reflected a clear and genuine concern. Ryan asked no further questions regarding the matter. He got up from his comfortable chair immediately and walked straight toward the exit.
’So there were holy knights near the nation of Kallistia?’ Ryan thought to himself as he stepped out of his house.
While it is true that the current space of the village was vastly expanded thanks to Ryan’s power, that immense expansion only corresponded to the space around the village that still remained empty, waiting for new inhabitants or structures.
The inhabited village itself was not that large.
From the central location where Ryan had his main residence to the portal’s arrival zone, the distance was quite short. It was equivalent to walking just about two or three blocks down the paved roads.
Mirian snorted with evident annoyance.
She was walking hurriedly right behind Ryan, almost tripping in her rush to keep up with the boy’s pace.
"In the end, she just had to get into a fight to feel at peace, that idiot." Mirian commented.
The archer complained out loud about the impulsive and always violent attitude of the black-haired warrior.
Irina also got up from her chair with great speed upon hearing Alicia’s report.
The elf princess brought both hands to her chest, showing immense concern for her companion’s physical well-being.
"We must help her." Irina said with her soft voice.
She immediately followed Ryan and Mirian’s rapid footsteps toward the outside of the house.
Ivis, on the other hand, remained seated in her spot.
The imposing dragon woman did not show a single drop of urgency at Alicia’s hasty words.
She watched the others leave with total calm. Then, after letting out a long and heavy sigh, she got up from her seat and decided to follow them.
Ryan had already advanced far enough along the stone paths of the village.
From a distance, he could already see the massive commotion in the wide area designated as the entrance and exit of the village.
There was the energetic Helen, dealing with two of the immense wyverns through sheer brute force. The massive winged beasts refused to move forward, shaking their thick heads and baring their long teeth as a warning.
Helen held the thick leather straps that bound the wyverns by the neck using only her left hand.
She pulled on the beasts with brute strength, digging her boots into the ground to not give an inch.
Meanwhile, over her right shoulder, she carried the limp body of a person. That person’s long brown hair hung down, almost brushing the stone with every sharp movement Helen made to control the monsters.
On the other hand, Vel remained at a very safe distance from the chaos. The wyvern Ryan had stolen a while ago from the holy knights watched the other members of his race with curiosity.
Vel made no attempt whatsoever to intervene or help in Helen’s tense attempt to subdue them.
There were some elves and demi-humans running around Helen. They tried to help however they could, attempting to appease the agitated wyverns with highly cautious movements.
Ryan focused his dark gaze directly on Helen’s body.
The warrior’s clothes looked dirty, torn, and heavily worn from recent combat. The thick protective fabric was ripped in multiple places, leaving skin exposed.
Ryan stopped for a second to fully analyze the situation before intervening. Despite the fresh blood and shredded clothes, it didn’t look like the scene of a severely wounded woman.
Helen was shouting loud orders and pulling on the heavy beasts with far too much energy. Then, he understood the real reason for his wolf assistant’s panic.
Alicia’s urgency wasn’t because Helen had mortal wounds.
The urgency was due to the simple fact of bringing along a direct enemy and two massive flying monsters that disrupted the peace of the place.
Ryan moved forward in silence, closing the distance between them.
And when Helen noticed his approaching presence, her wild attitude changed completely. She dropped the wyverns’ straps immediately, not caring in the slightest what the beasts did next.
And at the exact same time, she tossed the person she was carrying on her right shoulder to the ground.
The elves and demi-humans present reacted instantly. They ran and restrained the loose wyverns before they could cause any real damage to the village’s structures.
Other curious residents approached and stood in front of the person lying on the ground to watch her closely.
Helen ran directly toward Ryan.
She called out his name with massive energy and jumped onto him without hesitating for a single second.
"Recovery." Ryan said out loud.
He activated his healing magic while Helen’s body was still suspended in mid-air.
A magical and comforting light enveloped the girl instantly. Her tired and wounded body was immediately cleansed under the healing effect of the spell. She finally fell against Ryan’s chest, hugging him around the neck with all her might.
"You didn’t need to heal me." Helen said.
She looked up to meet his eyes with a wide, proud smile on her face.
"They were just a bunch of weaklings." Helen added, trying to downplay the obvious battle she had just fought.
But the earlier image Ryan saw did not match at all with the words she had just spoken so confidently. Even though her body healed completely before he could see what her actual wounds were, the clear evidence was still there.
The remaining traces of red blood from those mysterious wounds still stained her skin and torn clothing.
Ryan said nothing in response to her usual arrogance. He raised his right hand toward the warrior’s face, placing his thumb right at the corner of her lips.
And applying a gentle pressure, he wiped away the fresh blood still running down her mouth.
"If you ended up in this state, then you faced S-ranks?" Ryan asked.
He stared right into her eyes, demanding the truth.
"Yes, one of them was an S-rank." Helen replied completely naturally.
She pressed herself much closer to Ryan’s body, enjoying the physical contact in front of everyone present.
"But it was no big deal." She said, keeping her massive ego intact despite the obvious difficulties she went through.
Mirian and Irina arrived on the scene at that exact moment.
Both girls positioned themselves right next to Ryan to observe the aftermath of the combat.
"You’re a total mess, Helen." Mirian commented right away.
The archer crossed her arms, looking critically and thoroughly at her companion’s shredded clothes.
"Weren’t you supposed to be the strongest of all of us?"
"Shut up." Helen fired back instantly.
She shot an extremely sharp and threatening glare at the slender yellow-haired archer.
"They caught me by surprise while I was in the air. By the time I realized the threat, the attack was aimed directly at the wyvern. So I used my body as a shield to keep them from shooting it down." Helen explained, furrowing her brow.
She looked away to the side out of pure embarrassment, although she still kept her arms wrapped around Ryan’s strong torso.
Mirian raised an eyebrow, showing a clear expression of mockery and disbelief at the unusual confession.
"So, you protected the wyvern with your own body. Since when are you so sentimental about animals?" Mirian said, with a sharp tone laced with pure irony.
"Tsk." Helen clicked her tongue, letting out a soft growl in her throat.
"I only did it because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a way to get back to the village." Helen muttered defensively.
Ryan looked away from Helen, bringing the useless argument between them to an end.
Then, they advanced at a steady pace to where the woman from the holy knights was.
The enemy prisoner was still lying on the hard stone ground. And Alicia was now crouching beside her.
"She is waking up." She said upon noticing the subtle change in the woman’s breathing.
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