CHAPTER 2

Charlotte saw hanging Cuirass with faulds and tassets plate metal armor set in front of an old house, then she realized that she's already in Alabama as she remembered reading a book regarding their clothes. She took it and hid in the cave next to the house to change her clothes. She put it on her body and her armor suits her well. She left her old clothes and left the cave.

When she exited the cave, two men of the same height wearing full metal armor on their whole bodies and heads confronted her. They have long hair and blue eyes. "Who are you? And what are you doing in Alabama?" asked the warrior on the left.

"I am Charlotte, nice to meet both of you," she said after bowing.

The warrior asked her again. "You are not living here, are you?"

"I am from this place, I often hide in the cave at my back and I don't go out often!" she responded.

The warrior looked at Charlotte pervertedly. He gradually maneuvered himself toward her. He leaned over and placed his lips next to her ears. "You are so beautiful, Charlotte! Do you have a romantic partner?"

Charlotte's forehead glistened with sweat and her face reddened. "I am sorry, I don't know what you are talking about. May I excuse myself? I am going to hunt for food!"

The warrior grabbed her hand and kissed it. "I'm ready to give food, but on one condition, have a sex with me inside that cave at your back!"

"Hey Johan, stop harassing the pretty young lady. You probably know that the punishment for abusing women here in our area is heavy!" forewarned Balmond.

Johan glared at Balmond and pointed his knight sword at him. "Shut the fuck up Balmond! I am tired of you reminding me of shitty rules made by the most stupid King ever existed in Alabama!"

"Don't you dare to speak to the King like that!" exclaimed the warrior up in the tree. He got down and Charlotte saw that he was wearing the same armor as the other warriors.

He took out his celestial sword with a faint pattern on its curvy blade. "Leave her alone, she did nothing wrong with either of you fucking idiots!"

"Huh, you again? I have known you as the warrior with the Aries zodiac sign, Alexander!" said Johan.

"It was never my intention to spread rumors about my great swordsmanship!"

Johan clashed his knight sword with Alexander's celestial sword. "I would like to test your skills in battle, let us see if you really have a great swordsmanship like you claimed!"

Balmond interrupted their conversation to wean his friend. "Keep your cool, Johan! He is one of the zodiac warriors of Prince Arthur. Challenging him to a fight is obviously out of the question. Let us leave Charlotte at once and go back to our home!"

Johan's eyes are fixed to Alexander's fierce face. "You can return back to your disgusting home if you want Balmond. I am going to teach this warrior a great lesson he had never learned during his training with the Prince!"

Charlotte meddled with their conversation. "Hey, please stop this nonsense already. I don't want to be the cause of your trouble! If I offend you in any way, accept my sincere apology!"

Johan and Alexander ignored Charlotte and began fighting. Alexander effortlessly defeats Johan who runs away after Alexander's celestial sword cut his armor and exposed his chest. His friend Balmond followed him in escaping.

Charlotte hugged Alexander's back. "Thank you so much for rescuing me brave warrior, I hope there are more like you in this place!"

Alexander put a rakish smile on his face when Charlotte suddenly hugged him from behind. He faced her and turned pale when he saw the gorgeousness of the girl in front of him. He returned his celestial sword to his scabbard, hanging at his waist. "Why have I not noticed you here before? Are you really from Alabama?"

"Don't be angry, I ran away from-"

Charlotte saw Venus behind Alexander and she gestured her not to say a word about where she came from before disappearing like a bubble. Charlotte returned her gaze to Alexander. "I mean, I rarely leave my home!"

"Where are you going? I want to take you to your house so I can ensure your safety. Didn't the news reach you about the dumb warriors who are lurking throughout Alabama? They are looking for beautiful women like you to prey on!"

"Thank you so much for reminding me, don't worry, I will take care of myself!"

"Your name is Charlotte, isn't it?" asked Alexander.

"Yes, and based on what I heard earlier, you are Alexander? Is that right?"

"Yes and I'm one of Prince Arthur's warriors with no permanent home and I enjoyed sleeping everywhere!"

Charlotte remembers what Venus said that a man with a compatible sign with her can save their kingdom. But she hesitates to be friends with the zodiac warrior of Prince Arthur. "I will consider it a great debt of gratitude that you saved me, Alexander. I hope our paths cross again!"

Alexander bowed to her. "It's nothing, keeping the peace in this place is one of my responsibilities, especially since we heard about King Abaddon's invasion of King Solomon's Kingdom."

Charlotte's eyes widened in shock as the news about their kingdom already got to him.

Alexander continued his speech. "That's why we trained so hard to prepare for King Abaddon's possible invasion. He is greedy and cunning and yet, he is so strong, King Bartholomeo told us, they might have conquered King Solomon's kingdom at this moment!"

Alexander noticed the sadness in Charlotte's eyes. "Aren't they our enemies? What's with the long face? King Bartholomeo and King Solomon had a great conflict eighteen years ago!"

Charlotte was very upset by what Alexander said to her. "I'll go ahead, see you next time, Alexander!"

"Wait," Alexander took the black digger knife from his scabbard and handed it to Charlotte. "Use that to protect yourself against evil warriors, just think that every time you see that knife I'm protecting you!"

Charlotte smiled and left to explore the rest of Alabama. She saw the warriors and warrioress wearing metal armor on their bodies walking peacefully in the area. She noticed that the armor of the warrioress was thinner compared to the warriors, and their pentagon shields were also smaller.

As stated in the book that Charlotte read, gold, silver, and bronze coins were used by the warriors so they could buy food, clothes, and weapons in the Alabama market. Also, according to the book, they received coins from the quests or missions.

Most of the warriors looking at Charlotte were immediately captivated by her beauty. They approached her to kiss her hands but she refused. Two more warriors with nice build bodies arrived. They were about to draw their knight swords when the warriors who were obsessed with Charlotte ran.

"Beautiful young lady, where are you going? We can go with you and protect you!" asked one of the concerned warriors.

"Thank you very much, but I want to be alone on my journey," Charlotte answered.

The two brave warriors stepped aside and let Charlotte walk. She continued walking through the Alabama Market, where she discovered a variety of fruits, meats, and warrior weapons. She came to a halt when she saw her favorite dragon fruit, which her father frequently gave her. She wanted some dragon fruit but realized she had no money in her pocket. The old warrioress selling the fruit was looking at her.

"Hi, beautiful young lady. Would you like to have that fruit? It's only worth ten silver coins," asked the warrioress.

Charlotte looked at the warrioress. "I'm sorry, I don't have coins with me to buy your fruit. If you want, I would like to work for you!"

"I'm sorry, I can handle the shop by myself! Just look for a job with someone else!"

Charlotte's stomach growled, and she continued on her journey. She went out after exploring the entire Alabama market. There was an old warrior running and tapped her from behind. He spoke to her even though he was still panting. "Good day to you, I'm Felipe. I didn't mean to overhear your conversation with my fellow seller. I'm also doing a lot so I didn't call you right away. I heard that you are in need of a job, right?"

"I am Charlotte and it's nice to meet you. May I know what kind of job you would like to offer me?" Charlotte asked.

"I would like to make you a servant in my house. I will make your salary 50 bronze coins per day, much higher than the average bronze coins that other servants are receiving!"

Charlotte did not think twice and wholeheartedly accepted the old warrior's offer to her. They went back to the Alabama market again and he fed Charlotte some gray pie, gingerbread, and dragon fruit. While Charlotte was eating, Felipe was interviewing her.

"What was your previous job?"

Charlotte took a drink of water before answering. "I don't have a job and I don't have a family anymore, they all died in a horrible tragedy!" she lied.

Felipe felt pity for Charlotte when he heard this because he was also an orphan of his wife and child. "It turns out that we are in the same boat, it seems that the stars destined our paths to cross!"

"Actually, I really don't have a place to stay. If you hadn't called me, I would definitely be sleeping on the road!"

"Don't worry, my house has two rooms and the work you will do is not heavy!"

"What exactly caused you to become an orphan in your family?"

Felipe's face reddened as his excitement turned to anger. "They were brutally killed by magicians before the conflict between King Bartholomeo and King Solomon. And it started when we couldn't pay our debts to the magicians, and in return, they killed my family mercilessly and made me a slave so I can pay my debt until the last cent. Since then, I almost cursed all magicians!"

Charlotte rode Felipe's anger so he wouldn't notice that she was also a magician. "I heard some news that the King of werewolves named Abaddon attacked them and they plan to take over Solomon's kingdom!"

"I'm glad that's the case. We finally turned the table, and the bad deeds they intentionally inflicted on us are returning to them, but how did you gather that information?"

"To a Zodiac warrior whose name is Alexander. He is one of the twelve warriors of our dear King Bartholomeo!"

"I've heard that name, they say he's the Prince's right-hand warrior and he's good at using any kind of sword!"

Charlotte pulled out her knife digger with a black handle and silver blade from her pocket. "This is what he gave me before we part ways. I'm supposed to use it as protection against people who will try to hurt me!"

Felipe teased Charlotte, "that zodiac warrior of Prince Arthur seems to like you!"

"Why do you think that? Maybe he's just concerned about me?" asked Charlotte.

"Because he is protecting you... isn't that one way of expressing love to someone?"

"I think he is just so overprotective. I don't want to give meaning to his kindness and thoughtfulness toward me, who knows if he treats others the same as well?"

"I am a man and from the looks of it, my intuition is telling me that he's probably having an interest in you. I mean, I also admire your beautiful face. I am sure you already captivated the hearts of many warriors in Alabama!"

Charlotte immediately consumed the food served to her by Felipe because of her extreme hunger. "Thank you again for the food, Mr. Felipe!"

Felipe smiled at Charlotte. "I am glad that I filled your stomach with delicious foods!"