Blaze: The Hero

Chapter 11

*THIRD PERSON's POV*

"Sorry for the wait. Here are your orders," the female waitress who also asked for their orders returned to their table with a trolley in front of her and with trays of food on it. She first placed the rice on the table, which Havie and Zoleta passed on to those who are far from the waitress's position. Then, the waitress also laced the one roasted chicken in the middle of the table, and lastly, she also placed a huge pitcher of beer and five tankards on the table. After making sure that Blaze and his companions do not have any other things they need, the waitress gave them a bow again and went back to serving other customers from other tables.

"Alright! Time to dig in!" Henson said while eyeing the right wing of the roasted chicken right in front of him.

"Hey! At least show some respect to the Goddess," Zoleta smacked her cousin's hand as he tried to reach for the chicken.

"Ow!" Henson complained but he still nodded his head and placed his hands together and closed his eyes.

The heck? Are they praying? To the Goddess? I thought those religious people refer to that holy person to be a male, not a female. Blaze thought to himself while looking confused at Zoleta, Henson, and even Havie closed her eyes as well.

"Psst...you should close your eyes as well," Scarlette whispered to Blaze while her hands are placed together as well and she just smiled at Blaze first before she closed her eyes. Then, Blaze noticed the other three looking at him as if waiting for him to do the same thing.

Tch! Blaze hissed in his mind and raised his hands then he placed it together and closed his eyes as well. 

I have never done this sh*t before so why am I doing it now? Blaze asked himself in his mind while his eyes are still closed.

"Preces Deae!" Zoleta, Henson, Havie, and Scarlette said in unison and clapped their hands three times. Then, they opened their eyes and noticed that Blaze is still closing his eyes so Scarlette gave him a small nudge on his side which made him open his eyes.

"Done?" Blaze asked in a cold voice but Scarlette just smiled at him and nodded her head as an answer.

"Now! Let's eat!" Henson said and finally grabbed the right wing of the chicken that he has been targeting ever since the food was placed in front of him. Then, the others also picked out their part of the chicken and began stuffing their mouth with the food. 

While eating, Blaze noticed some pair of eyes are secretly staring at them, specifically at him, so he took a glance at his right and saw a group of five men discussing something from the corner of the resto while taking glances at him, but when they noticed that Blaze is also staring at them, they immediately avoided his cold gaze.

"Tch. Cowards," Blaze whispered to himself.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Scarlette asked Blaze as she looked at him with her innocent eyes. Blaze looked down at her eyes and saw how they twinkled as the pair of light blue eyes stared back at his.

"Nothing. Just keep eating," Blaze replied to her and grabbed his tankard filled with beer, then took a sip of it. As soon as he placed his tankard back on the table, a group of men suddenly approached their table, and one of them slammed his right hand on the table.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! We got some new guys here!" the man who slammed the table with his hand spoke with a whole voice which made the other customers fear him just by hearing him speak. But Blaze did not even flinch at his presence and simply continued eating as if the man does not even exist beside him. But Scarlette and the other three are already staring at the man and at Blaze, waiting for Blaze's response, but when they realized that Blaze does not have any intentions of talking to the rude man, Henson thought that Blaze's action might get them in trouble against these men as he also noticed the man with black hair and gold tooth grit its teeth when Blaze ignored him.

"Ah hahaha, yeah we're just passing by for a meal, Sir," Henson awkwardly replied and laughed to the man. Then, the man's attention went to him.

"Ah, so you are travelers? Which way? My men and I can protect you if you want, especially if you have these beautiful ladies around you," the man with a gold tooth spoke and grinned at Scarlette who quickly hold on to Blaze's left arm.

"Haha thank you for the kind offer Sir, but we can handle ourselves," Henson answered and smiled awkwardly at the man while clenching his fists tightly under the table.

Aish! Just leave already, stinking old man! Henson thought to himself.

"Are you sure? There are five of us and each one of us are quite a skilled fighter, so you will surely feel safe when we are around, don't you think so too, ladies?" the man insisted with a creepy smile on his lips, and when Henson was about to say a response to the man, Blaze suddenly stood up and faced the man. As Blaze stood in his two long legs, he towered over the man with a gold tooth who slowly took a step back when he looked at the icy cold eyes that Blaze had while looking at him with disgust.

"Leave," with just a single word that Blaze uttered, the whole resto became quiet and every person in the room felt a chilling sensation in their spines as if giving them a warning.

"Tch! Y-You will regret this, boy!" the man replied to Blaze before turning around and pushed his men aside as he walked out of the resto.

"Hoo! What is wrong with that man? He's so creepy," Zoleta asked and drank some beer from her tankard.

"Hurry and finish your meal," Blaze coldly spoke again so Zoleta decided to stop talking and just focused herself on her meal.

When the five of them had finished their meal, Henson paid for the meal and the five of them went straight upstairs. 

"Thank you for the treat, Henson," Scarlette thanked Henson before she opened the door of their room and stepped inside. Havie simply nodded her head at Henson before following Scarlette inside their room.

"Next time, I'll empty your money bag hahaha!" Zoleta laughed at Henson and stick her tongue out at him before she got inside their room.

"That~! Tch!" Henson wanted to curse at his cousin but he realized that Blaze is still around so he hold his tongue back and just hissed.

"Uhm, sorry about my cousin's child-like attitude," Henson apologized and scratch the back of his neck.

"But don't worry, she's really skilled with her guns," Henson quickly added so Blaze would not think so lowly of his cousin.

"I know," Blaze replied without looking at Henson, but his eyes are glued on the ground floor, and when Henson noticed that Blaze is looking there, he curiously approached the railing on the second floor as well and looked down, and from where he is standing he can clearly see five men talking to each other and one of those men is the man with a golden tooth.

"They're planning something," Blaze whispered and Henson nodded his head while looking at the men.

"Prepare yourself, they might attack the others first," Blaze added and turned his back from Henson.

"Others?" Henson asked but then, he realized who Blaze was talking about.

Does he mean those ruffians might attack my cousin, Havie, and Miss Scarlette tonight!? Henson thought to himself and with that in his mind he could not hold back the anger that he was trying to control earlier.

"If that's the case, then I will not hesitate to use my guns once more," Henson whispered to himself as he followed Blaze inside their room. As soon as he stepped inside the room Henson found Blaze pulling his katana out of its sheath, and as soon as the blade left the wooden sheath, flames engulfed the sharp blade, adn once again, Henson was mesmerized by the beauty of the sharpest blade he saw in his entire life.

"That blade is really a masterpiece," Henson commented while staring at the firey blade but Blaze did not say anything in response and kept on checking the condition of his katana.

"Oh, it also reflects your name, Sir Blaze," Henson added with a smile on his lips which made Blaze stop with his business and looked at Henson.

"Hmm...I didn't notice," Blaze replied and checked the katana's guard up to its point.

"Does it not hurt? I mean, the fire?" Henson asked as he saw Blaze placed his right pointing finger and middle fingers at the back of the blade and his hand is immediately embraced by the katana's fire.

"Not really," Blaze answered without looking at Henson. 

"Woah! May I try?" Henson asked excitedly as if he's asking his idol to do a handshake with him.

"Sure, but don't blame me if you get burned," Blaze replied to Henson and pointed the blade in Henson's direction, which made the latter a bit nervous, but he still approached the blade and when he was about to touch it, they suddenly heard a loud crashing noise from the room beside theirs.

"It's time," Blaze uttered and placed his katana back into its sheath and stormed out of their rooms, Henson also followed behind him, and when they stepped out of their room, they saw the door from the ladies' room was slightly open so they immediately rushed inside and as soon as they stepped inside the room, Blaze's eyes was set on the bed where Scarlette with her tears flowing down her face is being pinned down by a man on top of him. 

"Hmmff!!!" Blaze and Henson's attention was caught by a muffling sound and when they looked at their right, they saw Havie and Zoleta with handkerchiefs stuffed inside their mouth while they are being held by two men at each of them. With that scene, Henson did not hesitate in attacking the men that were holding his cousin. While Blaze rushed towards Scarlette and pulled the man on top of her. Then, Blaze punched him on his face, it was so hard that it even broke the man's nose.

"Let go of my cousin d*uchb*g!" Henson roared and pulled out a knife from his back and attacked the men that was holding his sister while avoiding the attacks of the two men who are holding Havie a minute ago. The men let go of the ladies and focused on attacking Henson, and it is a great disadvantage for Henson since he's alone and there are four enemies in front of him, but then the table was turned when Havie and Zoleta started fighting back against the men, and Henson was left with two enemies, while Havie and Zoleta have one enemy each, and Blaze was busy punching the man with a gold tooth again and again until his golden tooth went flying from his mouth into the wooden floor.

"B-Blaze," Scarlette stuttered as she watch Blaze punch the hell out of the man who tried to s*xually harass her. 

"Sir! What is going on here!?" a man's voice echoed inside the room when the man wearing a white robe suddenly appeared at the door and saw the situation inside.

"Stop that!" the man in the white robe tried to stop Blaze with words but the latter did not listen to him, so the man in the white robe had no other choice but to use his staff and raised pushed Blaze away from the poor man who can no longer be identified as fresh blood covered his face.

"Ugh!" the man on the floor groaned and coughed some blood from his mouth.

"What happened here!? Why did you hit this man with your bare hands!?" the man in white robe asked while kneeling in his right knee and tried to help the man crawling on the floor.

"Oh? Then, I shall use this instead," Blaze coldly uttered and pulled out the blade of his katana from its sheath, then the light from the fire of the blade spread inside the room.

"T-Th-That is...." the man in the white robe stuttered as he saw the blade from Blaze's right hand. Even the men who attacked the ladies were stunned as they saw the flaming blade in the hand of Blaze.

"The legend is true," one of the men who were fighting against Henson spoke while staring at the blade.

"Y-You...Are you...the prophesied hero?" the man in white robe asked while staring at Blaze who did not even say anything to him, Blaze is simply glaring at the man on the floor.

"This...This is an honor! It is my greatest honor to meet you in person, Sire, I am Amuhn, the guardian of the holy water lake," the man in the white robe spoke and bowed down to Blaze, totally ignoring the bloody man on the floor that he wanted to help just a few seconds ago.

"Sire, if I may ask, are you here to fulfill your mission?" the man in white robe asked but still he didn't receive any answer from Blaze who is still occupied by his anger towards the man who tried to harm his woman. 

When Amuhn noticed that Blaze is not paying any attention to him, he glared at the man on the floor and stood up. Then, he raised his staff and swing in the direction of the window, and in just a mere second, the bloody man's body went flying out of the window and was dropped from the second floor down to the ground where he hit his head in a stone.

The people inside the room were speechless as they witnessed how the man easily killed someone just because Blaze is not paying attention to him.

"Sire, I have gotten rid of the cause of your discomfort, are you pleased?" the man in the white robe asked while smiling at Blaze.

What a lunatic. Blaze thought to himself while staring at the man in the white robe. 

This man is dangerous. Blaze thought again and placed his blade back to its sheath again and turned his attention to Scarlette.

"Pack your things," Blaze uttered to Scarlette, who simply nodded her head at him since she's too scared to speak a word.

"Sire?" the man in white robe called Blaze's attention again and blocked his way so Blaze looked at him with no emotion at all.

"Get out of my way," Blaze spoke in a very dangerous and cold tone of voice which surprised the man in the white robe, but he still smiled at Blaze and stepped aside while bowing his head. 

The ladies quickly grabbed their bags and stepped out of the room and waited for Henson and Blaze who picked up their bags as well. Then, the four simply followed Blaze as he went out of the lodging place.

"Sir Blaze, are we leaving now? But it is not dawn yet," Henson said to Blaze.

"Then stay here if you want," Blaze simply answered to Henson who immediately shut his mouth and just followed Blaze out of the place. Then, they quickly took their horses and rode their way out of the lodging place.

"Sire! Sire! Don't leave!" the man in the white robe screamed but Blaze did not look back at him.

"W-Will he follow us?" Scarlette asked with a trembling voice and clenched her fists in fear.

"No, I don't think so," Blaze answered to her without looking at her and the five of them kept riding their horse away from the lodging place.

"NO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!!!" the man wearing the white robe screamed at the top of his lungs while his tears are falling down to his cheeks, and his hands are hitting an invisible wall that was enclosing the whole place as if prisoning him inside together with the lake of holy water.

"SIRE!!!!!!!!" the man cried out loud that it even echoed inside the forest and made the whole place creepy and scary for Scarlette.

"Sir Blaze! Where are we going now!?" Henson asked in a loud voice as they kept riding their horses in the forest. Blaze looked down at Scarlette who is still terrified from what happened at the lodging place.

"Scarlette," Blaze called the woman sitting in front of him.

"Y-Yes?" Scarlette replied and looked up at Blaze.

"Take us to your village," The way Blaze spoke those words are not asking for a favor, but a command that Scarlette must obey, but the woman seems to be hesitating at first.

"B-But...Is it necessary to go there?" Scarlette asked while avoiding any eye contact from Blaze by facing straight on the road.

"Halflings are the only race in this world that has a strong connection with the angels that is also connected to the tree of life, so it is necessary. We would not have to go to your village if you already know the way to the tree of life, but since you do not, we'll have to ask someone who does," Blaze replied to Scarlette.

"I don't think there's anyone left," Scarlette whispered in the air as her eyes started watering, but she controlled herself and prevented the tears from forming in her eyes.

"Sir!?" Henson asked again while waiting for Blaze's answer, who is also waiting for Scarlette's answer. After a few seconds of silence, Scarlette took a deep breath before opening her mouth.

"West. We'll go west," Scarlette answered and clenched her fists tightly.

I just have to be strong when that time comes. Scarlette thought to herself while facing the road ahead of them with her heart beating fast. 

"We'll proceed to the west," Blaze commanded and Henson simply nodded his head and the five of them kept riding their horses.

"Sir Blaze! We cannot go to the west without passing through the old train station, will it be safe?" Zoleta asked while riding her horse close to Blaze's. Upon hearing the words train station, Blaze remembered what he heard from the two men talking about a weird attack of demons at a train station.

I don't think its a good idea to pass through that place, there might be some demons lingering there. I don't want to use up my energy just to fight those b*stards while while enduring the pain of this sh*tty poison. Blaze thought to himself and grit his teeth.

"Is there no other route available?" Blaze asked Zoleta.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but it is the only route left after the riverbanks has been occupied by the demons a few days ago!" Zoleta answered in a bit louder voice so Blaze can clearly hear her.

"Tsk! Fine. Let's use the route to the train station!" Blaze replied and Zoleta simply nodded her head at him. 

And the five of them continued their journey towards the old train station.