Chapter 9 The Lady Knight

Nami clung desperately to the great sword, shivering for quite a while before she finally shook off the dizziness brought on by their high-speed flight. The first thing she saw as her vision cleared was Garen’s amused smile.

Nami tensed immediately. As a thief, being caught red-handed by her victim was never a good thing. If she had run into a ruthless pirate, her life might well have ended here. But Nami did not panic excessively. As a seasoned professional, she had survived countless desperate situations before; all that was required was a calm mind and quick wits.

So, Nami began to think deeply about possible escape plans. But Garen’s teasing voice interrupted her thoughts.

“What’s wrong?” he said. “My lady knight, are you still unwilling to get off my sword?”

As he spoke, Garen cheerfully brandished the great sword in his hands. Even with an entire young woman still dangling from it, his extraordinary strength made light work of the task.

“Umm…” Nami finally tore herself away—though reluctantly—from her obsession with the magnificent sword. She fumbled and let herself drop clumsily to the ground. A rare blush stained her cheeks. Yet, as she absentmindedly tidied her slightly disheveled hair, she couldn’t help but steal another glance at the splendid blue gem set into the sword.

Garen silently shifted the sword to his other side.

Nami’s gaze instinctively followed the movement…

“Stop staring!” Garen said unkindly. “You’ll never steal my sword!”

Though his tone was unfriendly, Nami—who had met all kinds of people—could sense that this armored man meant her no real harm. In fact, despite her nearly making off with his precious weapon, he seemed to harbor a faint, protective kindness toward her. Perhaps this fellow truly was a knight who knew how to treat a lady well…

“So, my lady?” Garen put that wicked smile back on his face. “Shall we talk about your little ‘runaway with the loot’ problem?”

Two unsightly veins popped up on Nami’s smooth forehead, and the subtle goodwill she’d just felt was promptly tossed out like garbage.

“Hmph!” Nami snorted, folding her arms and puffing out her chest. “Who’s your lady? You’re the kind of guy who makes women pay for dinner—how could you ever hope to find a wife?”

Garen took a critical hit to his soul, and forced out, “Mind your attitude. You’re my prisoner now!”

“So what do you want?” Nami retorted, playing shameless.

“What do I want? With my prisoner, I can do whatever I like…” Garen’s laughter turned mock-evil. The sound sent a shiver of goosebumps down Nami’s arms.

“Pay up!” Garen suddenly thrust out a broad palm. “Ransom!”

No matter what world you’re in, money makes the world go round.

Having just arrived in the world of pirates, Garen saw his first chance at a windfall in the beautiful thief before him.

“What? You want me to pay?” Nami’s reaction was even more explosive than if she’d met a lecherous pervert; she bristled and shouted, “That is absolutely impossible!”

“If you don’t pay…” Garen eyed Nami’s perfect figure with interest, his voice full of mischief, “I’ll just do as you wrote in your script and keep you as my lady knight!”

“Heh…” Nami sneered. By now, she’d practically finished profiling the armored man in front of her: definitely someone with little experience dealing with women, all bark and no bite, a master of racing games who’s never driven a real car…

“Go ahead and try,” she said.

To Garen’s surprise, Nami’s expression turned enchantingly flirtatious. She rose on tiptoe, pressing her soft curves against his icy breastplate, and locked her soulful eyes with his, refusing to back down.

They were close—so close that Garen could clearly feel her breath. And, just as before, he found himself utterly flustered.

“Hee hee…” Now that she had the upper hand, Nami whispered triumphantly into his ear, “If you want me to be your lady knight, you can’t be so scared…”

With that, she withdrew, spun around, and waved her hand with a careless grace.

“Well, since you’re not going to force me to stay, I’ll be off!” she called over her shoulder. “Goodbye, my gallant knight!”

As she said her farewell, Nami pushed away any lingering greed for Garen’s treasure. Taking advantage of honest people was not her style, and besides, that flying sword was truly beyond her reach.

She comforted herself with the thought that she could always find other ways to scrape together the money she needed; yet in her mind, the vision of that enormous, dazzling blue gemstone continued to shimmer.

But she kept walking, growing further and further away.

“Sigh…” Garen muttered helplessly to himself. “I can’t believe I just got flirted with by a thief… Turns out, women are the real masters of the road; I just can’t keep up with her speed.”

He watched as Nami’s figure gradually melted into the surging crowd, a strange sense of loss settling over him.

Then, just as suddenly, Nami reappeared, darting back through the throng. She threw herself at Garen like a swallow returning to its nest, and landed squarely in his arms.

“What in the world?” Garen was completely unprepared for this sudden bonus.

“Darling!” Nami’s voice rang out, full of bashful affection—loud enough for the nearby passersby to hear clearly.

Garen was left dizzy by the unexpected endearment, but as he glanced down, he caught the sly, undisguised smile on Nami’s face.

From within his embrace, her soft whisper floated up, “Sir Knight, your lady knight has arrived… I’ll be counting on you for what comes next.”

Garen snapped to attention. This sorceress was definitely up to no good!

Sure enough, before Garen could even guess at her scheme, a thunderous roar echoed from nearby:

“Well, well! No wonder you little brat dared to touch the Steel Blade Pirates’ treasure…”

A towering brute, nearly three meters tall, brandished a massive steel blade and glared at Garen in his shining armor. “So you’ve got this kind of backer, eh?”

“Huh?” Garen stood dumbfounded.

With perfect timing, Nami slipped out of his arms, her sly smile transforming instantly into a look of helpless fragility. She took hold of Garen’s armored arm with one hand, pointed at the fearsome captain known as Steel Blade with the other, and adopted a tremulous, pitiful tone:

“Honey, those men are here to bully me!”

Then she slipped behind Garen’s broad back.

Steel Blade and his gang of dozens, all wielding blades, focused their furious glares on Garen.

“I…” Garen felt an overwhelming urge to curse.

“Gentlemen…” he tried to explain, exasperated, “I don’t even know her…”

But the captain was in no mood to listen. All he wanted now was to cut someone down.

“Boys, get him!”

Men of action waste no words. In a matter of seconds, a handful of pirates charged Garen in the bustling marketplace, brandishing their oversized blades.

“Calm down, everyone!” One sword clanged off Garen’s great blade with a shower of sparks.

“Listen, I really—” Another blade crashed against his armored arm.

“Wait—”

A third blade came chopping down from above.

“Damn it!” Enraged, Garen swung his sword, sending the inferior steel blade flying dozens of meters away—and with it, the pirate who had wielded it, who soared through the air like a ragdoll.

“Enough!” Garen thundered. “In broad daylight, you dare flout the law and commit murder in the street? You rats and cockroaches, who knows how many innocents you’ve harmed before!”

He raised the sword of justice high, righteous energy radiating from his every pore.

“I, Garen the Lone Ranger, shall mete out justice today!”