The village was abandoned recently. An unsettling silence, punctuated only by the creaking of old wood and the wind's mournful hum, shrouded the village, its empty, yet perfectly preserved houses, gave out an eerie atmosphere of a haunted ghost town. Without Noland's group, whose presence had breathed life into several of the houses, the children wouldn't have dared entering the village.

  Bob and N swiftly used Wind and Water Divine Spells to clean up their temporary lodging. Once they had taken care of the horses and wagons, the men left to meet with Noland's group.

  "Perhaps N knew what happened here when he chose the mountain route." Tiffany murmured thoughtfully as she prepared dinner. "Could he have known about the bandits as well?"

  This abandoned village reminded the children of home, which they left behind a day ago. Adrian and Winnie, eager to stretch their legs, went out to play while Tiffany was cooking. This house had a backyard, which had been freshly mowed by Bob using the Divine Spell: Wind Cutter. He also chased away a snake, ensuring that the area was safe for the children. The backyard was complete with a stable, where the horses were resting.

  "What would you like to play?" Adrian asked Winnie in excitement. They took out a toy box from the wagon to select a game.

  "Let’s play jumping rope first and then we can play knight." Winnie replied as she took out the toys. She had been sitting inside the wagon for almost 2 days and longed for some exercises.

  After jumping rope, they started playing knights. This time, Adrian assumed the role of the bandit and Winnie was the knight. These children wooden swords were light and had cushioned edges to keep the children from being hurt.

  Adrian first crouched down in the mown lawn and pretended to be hiding. Winnie marched by, her imagination running wild as she expertly 'drove' an invisible wagon, complete with sound effects and exaggerated gestures. Adrian jumped out to Winnie and bellowed with a child's voice, "Halt! Leave all your wagons and belongings behind and I might just spare your life! Rwarrr." He did his best to act like a violent bandit and his childish voice echoed in the abandoned village.

  "I am a righteous knight, defender of the innocent! I will never yield to the likes of you, you scurvy bandit!" Winnie said with a voice full of conviction, as she stood tall with pride. Then the children began to fight, swinging at each other using wooden swords.

  The children learned and practiced some swordsmanship in school. They clashed with trained and organized basic sword techniques rather than randomly trading blows. After a flurry of blows, since Adrian was 2 years older, Winnie could not win.

  "Adrian, you are not playing a bandit properly. The knight is supposed to win." Winnie complained in frustration, her face scrunched up in a pout.

  "Ok, but I just wanted to survive a little bit longer." Adrian would typically let Winnie win when he played the bandit.

  "That reminds me, you're not playing like a real bandit." Winnie said as she thought of something.

  "How so?" Adrian asked, looking confused.

  "Real bandits would just faint in front of a knight without fighting." Winnie grinned as she reminded him of what happened earlier.

  "Real bandits are pathetic," Adrian frowned because he was now playing the bandit role.

  "But N isn’t a knight," Adrian tried to correct Winnie. "He is a demon."

  "Really? He felt so... knighty and he rescued us too. Let me ask Mom." Winnie furrowed her brows in skepticism, because N was polite, gentle and was the exact opposite of how the church depicted demons.

  Winnie ran back to the house as fast as she could and Adrian followed. "Mom!" she shouted as she ran.

  "Mom! Adrian said that N is a demon. Is that true? Don't demons have horns, pointy teeth and evil laughs?" Winnie's looked at Tiffany with her curious big eyes.

  Tiffany lowered her brows. Winnie was still young. It would be dangerous to the family if she accidentally told anyone that they were saved by a demon. However, she also did not want to lie to her.

  "Um...." Tiffany hesitated, looking at Adrian.

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  "I only told her the truth." Adrian shrugged.

  "Adrian, I told you that N claimed to be a demon. However," Tiffany said to Adrian. "I am wondering who he truly is."

  "You mean he might have lied about being a demon? Why would someone do that?" Adrian asked, doubtful of his mother. Followers of Goddess Liliana were supposed to be honest.

  "He is trying to hide his identity. For example, if we believed him, this information would have led us off track if we ever tried to investigate him." Tiffany reasoned.

  Adrian cast his gaze downward as he contemplated.

  "Don't forget. From the other people's point of view, he only bribed some guards. He didn’t commit hideous crimes like murder. So if he gets caught, he simply needs to pay some fines and that would be it. If he is not a demon, you would be more of a demon than him, Adrian." Tiffany added. "In the end, we are the ones who were going to be executed as demons."

  "So, we have no idea about who he is or whether he is a demon?" Winnie asked.

  "Right, Winnie. We must never tell anyone about him or that we were in prison. It may put us in danger again." Tiffany put her hand on Winnie's cheek.

  "Ok. It is a secret." Winnie replied as she put two fingers as a cross in front of her month.

  "But, I am a true believer of Goddess Liliana. I am not a demon!" Adrian exclaimed in frustration to his mother.

  "Whether or not you are a demon is not up to you to decide. You are a demon if the Kingdom says so." Tiffany said. "You can die denying it, but in the official records, you will be remembered as a demon forever. What you believe and what you think do not matter."

  "If everyone in the Kingdom says that someone is a demon, then that person is a demon." Tiffany stated with finality.

  "If..." Tiffany considered continuing, but ultimately decided against it and said, "Never mind."

  Tiffany noticed Adrian’s confusion regarding the recent events and wanted to teach him more about the realities of the world.

  A person without an open mind would become defensive, throw a fit or walk away whenever their view was contradicted by facts and logic. Adrian, on the other hand, did not say a word. Although he had been stressing his faith and what he was taught, the recent events contradicted with many of his beliefs. Tiffany's reasoning opened a new window for him to cope with his confusion. He looked back at Tiffany after digesting what she just said. Tiffany smiled in satisfaction because it meant that Adrian was growing up and getting wiser.

  "What about making the bandits faint? Can knights do that as well?" Winnie asked. This was actually what she was concerned about.

  "Yes, but only the strongest of knights can do that." Tiffany replied.

  "See? Knights can do that too!" Winnie said to Adrian proudly as she won the argument.

  "How?" Adrian furrowed his brows, looked at Tiffany and asked again.

  "When you're strong enough, you can extend your Divine Power, also known as Aura or Mana, outside of your body to increase casting speed. Let me show you." Tiffany said.

  "Divine Spell: Levitate." Tiffany said as a glyph manifested in front of her right hand. A ball of light made of Divine Power then formed in front of it. Next, the ball of light was sent forward to hit a pot on the kitchen counter and it was lifted up for an instant.

  "However, if I extend my Divine Power first." She said as the vicinity was covered in a light green colored aura. "Divine Spell: Levitate." Some of that light green sparkles concentrated onto the same pot and it got lifted up.

  "As you can see, the pot was lifted almost immediately because my Divine Power was already near the pot. There was no need to shoot it out." Tiffany explained. "If your Divine Power is significantly stronger than another person, you can make them faint by manipulating the Mana inside their own body."

  "Can dad do it too?" Winnie asked.

  "Yes, he can. Your dad is strong." Tiffany answered with a smile, proud of her husband.

  "By the way, Mom, in the wagon, I felt a lot of swords when N extended his aura. Did you feel it too?" Adrian asked.

  "The more you train your Divine Power, the more it adapts to your use style. For example, if you keep on practicing Reinforce Blade on a sword, you would become very skillful in modeling your Mana into sword-like shapes. N is apparently very skillful with a sword." Tiffany answered. "Legend has it that there exists a legendary swordsman who can wield grass or tree leaves as swords," Tiffany added.

  "What about the color?" Adrian asked.

  "N's aura had a mix of black and silver color. Black means that he has an affinity to all elements. Silver typically comes from healing spells, which is rare." Tiffany answered.

  "We can also change the color of our aura." Tiffany changed her aura from light green color to dark green. "You simply need to imagine what element you want to cast and extend that thought, but doing this is not natural and it takes some effort."

  "I never wanted to teach you two about this because I didn't want you two to become knights." Tiffany said with regret.

  "Why?" Adrian and Winnie asked together.

  "Joining the military is very dangerous. I wanted the two of you to stay safe." Tiffany sighed as she put her hands on their faces with sadness and regret. "But looking at what happened, perhaps, I should agree with your father and teach you enough for self defense."

  "Oh, and there is one more thing I can show you." Tiffany said as she took a breath, straightened her posture, faced the kitchen counter top and raised her left hand.

  "Divine Spell: Levitate." Eight glyphs manifested simultaneously. The sheer quantity of glyphs lit up the kitchen as if they were fireworks. Various objects in the kitchen were lifted up together. "See?" Tiffany smiled proudly as she demonstrated the feat.

  "Mom, you’re amazing!" Winnie clapped and laughed.

  "Wow! Can you teach me too?" Adrian expressed his amazement.

  "Sure, but let's wait until we reach our new home..." Tiffany began to say, but before she could finish her sentence, they heard a loud voice outside. "Tiffany! Bob! I know you are here. Come out!"

  Confident and authoritative, it was the voice of the Holy Knight who arrested them.