The Divine Hunter

hearth, and the light of the fire shone upon their faces, which were red with excitement.
However, they did not notice that, for their attention was fully on Roy the storyteller.

“This is a tale told by a veteran witcher.
Once upon a time, there was a dignified knight in Aedirn, and his name was Leon.
Leon was a member in the knight corps until he was thirty years old.
But because of his perpetually deadpan look, his new leader terminated his service, forcing him to become an assassin.”

Ciri held her cheeks in her hands and asked Roy, “What do assassins do?”

“Assassins are similar to witchers, though their requests mostly involve humans.
They only take requests involving human lives.
As Leon still had a conscience, he only took the requests that involved villains who terrorized the lands.
During one of his requests, Leon rescued a girl who was hunted by the authorities and local gangs alike.
The girl’s name was Mathilde.”

A girl who was saved by a knight? The servants were starting to look dreamy.
After all, every young lady had a dream of a knight coming to their rescue.

“A pity he had a deadpan face.” A servant in a red apron sighed.

***

“If Leon had a child, they would have been around Mathilde’s age, so he took the girl in.
Even though the age gap between them was huge, Leon and Mathilde went along quite well.
Mathilde did all the house chores, taking care of Leon and his prized plant—the Silver Queen, while Leon made money to support the household.”

***

“They had a quiet and peaceful life.
Leon and Mathilde were like a family, though they were also friends.”

“Mr.
Roy…” An adorable servant with a round face asked carefully, “How much older than Mathilde was Leon? Were they really like father and daughter? Or were they more like lovers?”

“Well, it’s different for everyone.” Roy looked at the servants, and he smiled silently.
“Mathilde was about ten years old, while Leon was thirty.
You decide if they were father and daughter or lovers.”

“They must have been father and daughter!” a frail servant said.
“The girl wasn’t even at the age to understand what love is!”

“No, that just means you haven’t seen enough in life,” a plump servant disagreed.
“My neighbor is forty years old, and he married his young, gorgeous adopted girl.
They now have a son together.” The plump servant concluded, “If the girl’s beautiful enough, so what if she’s an adopted daughter?” Then she covered her face.
“Why didn’t a knight come to my rescue when I was little? Oh, but I don’t want an old, single man though.”

***

Roy let them discuss for a while, then he continued, “The local gang and authorities eventually found Leon and Mathilde’s abode.
They secretly surrounded them, and when Leon realized what was happening, they were already in a dire situation…”

“In the end, Leon sacrificed himself and took the villains out with him to keep Mathilde safe.”

***

Roy heard someone crying, and it snapped him out of storytelling mode.
When he looked around, he realized half the servants were in tears.

“They didn’t end up as a couple?” Ciri shot up angrily and swung her fists at Roy.
“Knights won’t die that easily!”

“But he did die.”

“No! He’s not dead, because I say so!” Ciri roared stubbornly.

“Fine.
Leon didn’t die.
He survived the battle and lived happily ever after with Mathilde.
Leon’s Silver Queen got to live for a long, long time because its masters were alive. 

“Yay!” The servants broke out into smiles, though there were still tears streaming down their cheeks.

Ciri muttered, “Even a lowly woman like Mathilde got her own knight who was willing to sacrifice herself for her.
Witcher, ‘Dragonslayer.'” Ciri craned her neck proudly, as if she were a swan.
“Will you sacrifice your life for me?”

“Um…”