“Let's find out who's the fastest for real this time”

  He declared the pointless competition. It was no more than a half-assed idea being flung around without any thought behind it. To put it simply he was bored.

  “Wait, it's not fair! Why are you running without any signal. “

  “The losers have to obey the winner's command so foul play is allowed. “

  The girl was bewildered by the unfair condition as the boy dashed far away, having the head start.

  She was used to it, nevertheless she couldn't let him win. Tying her crimson wavy hairs into a ponytail, a shine of determination appeared on her pitch-black eyes.

  “That was smart but… “ she jumped up and down. With each succession her jumps became faster. “It's not enough to beat me. “

  A method of esoteric warm up was the only way to describe it. After a while her legs touched the ground and without any motion of running stance, she flung herself forward.

  He was by no means unathletic. Despite having the appearance of a malnourished peasant, looking at the muscles in his body, people could tell that this boy had gone through a harsh training. In a contest of sprint he could easily triumph over the average runner. However, the one he challenged was even more extraordinary than him.

  He could not hear any footsteps so the right thing to assume would be that the girl had been left behind by considerable distances. He should not be looking back at her, doing so would slow down his pace. But, the curiosity took over and so the boy looked back.

  What the girl had done could hardly be called running. She took a long stride and each time her feet touched the ground, she dashed forward. Her motion was swift and quiet as if she blended into the shadow itself.

  “Corn nuts! I know she is fast,” in a desperate attempt to gain a semblance of triumph in this petty game, the boy pushed his legs to the very limit. “But not this fast! Nevertheless, I must push myself further. I still have the starting advantage.”

  A futile attempt. A failure. An inevitable defeat. That’s all the boy’s hard work amounted to. In front of the insurmountable talent showcased before him. His breath became unstable while his hips swung his legs forward with diminishing speed. It was hot both literally and figuratively. It was the end of summer and the boy's face was there crawling a legion of sweats, blindening his sight. The combination of the sun's ray and his performance had made his thigh filled with heat.

  He pulled his everything into this run and yet as if mocking his effort, the shadow kept moving forward. The flash of movement finally stopped at certain rock. Stepping into the rock to gain elevation, the shadow had turned into a shape that can be perceived by normal eyes. The grin that decorated her face with her eyes looking down at the boy below her, she was showing the difference of power between them. The crimson haired girl crossed her arms and finally jumped down from the elevation.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Just like always this is my win again,” she said with nonchalant voice while loosening and releasing her flowing hair back from the constraining hair tie. “At this rate you won’t even have the strength to walk to the capital so please stop pushing yourself too much Robin.”

  Robin, the boy who lost, could only swallow her criticism without complaint. This was after all a game where foul play was allowed and yet he still lost. Pride didn’t have anything to do with it, it was pure sportsmanship for Robin to kneel before the crimson haired girl.

  “It’s my lose. With that the score for you is 100 wins, 0 loses, and exactly 1 draw. Well, here I’m. I proposed this game and cheat yet I still can’t surpass you. Lily, as I said before you have the right to exactly give me one order I can’t refuse.”

  “Is it really anything?” Lily leaned her body closer to Robin. She was touching her lips with her slender finger, playfully smiling while thinking of all the possibilities.

  Robin who had steeled his resolve finally gulped. For he finally realized the full implication of what he said. She literally could order him to do anything. What if she gave him the order to kill the king? Then Robin would become the national number one criminal. It’s a disaster. His dream to become the strongest knight would never be realized if that happened.

  “Fu fu fu….” There it was, the signature sound of her. The sound Lily only made when she was victorious.

  “Indeed, I’m your superior after all so as your superior then I will give you an order that you won’t be happy with. Are you ready?”

  “Yes, just please…” Robin was about to plead to her to not gave him a strange request that could hurt his chance to become a knight but doing so would be violating his own oath and so he bit his tongue to prevent further unnecessary dialogues.

  “Don’t worry, I know how much you want to become a knight and so I won’t stop you. It’s just that even though you never won once against me, it will be sad if our rivalry ends here and so I have a proposition..”

  “Well, I’m listening. Just out with it.”

  “In the first place, I was supposed to just escort you into the capital of the Kingdom of Zefir. You will become a knight and I will become a trader. But, it would be boring for me. The numbers, the accounts, the books, it’s all so boring. So I will also register as a knight with you.”

  Robin could not believe what he heard. Lily the girl who even though she was strong, she was also the kindest person Robin ever met. For the girl who despised violence to become a knight would be too cruel of a fate.

  “I object!” Robin shouted his thoughts out loud. It was for the sake of an innocent girl who was about to plunge herself into an endless abyss of blood and sweats.

  “Nuh uh, no objection allowed. Remember the rule you have proposed.”

  “But this is ridiculous. For you to be witnessing the horror of war would be too much. You shouldn’t be burdened by the responsibility of a knight.”

  “And you think the burden I bear by worrying about you constantly is better? Worrying whether you would come back alive or not? Checking the news everyday just to see your condition? I don’t think so.”

  “Lily… You…” For Robin it was the first time for Lily to express her concern regarding his future. For strong people like her, he must be no more than an ant yet he understood that he was an ant that had a connection with her, a connection that if severed would make her more sad than watching the horror of war.

  “Very well if that’s what you want. Just don;t be surprised that once I become knight and done the training regiment, I will become too strong. Strong enough for you to not worry about me anymore.”

  “Fu…fu…fu… I’m looking forward to that future.”