The Laughing Swordsman

Maya shivered and fear was visible in her eyes.

Apollo tilted his head.

"Who is that?"

Maya did not respond.

There were muffled footsteps slowly approaching the room.

Maya held her hands above her head while looking at the floor.

Apollo shrugged, then walked up to the door and opened it.

As he did, a tall and muscular man revealed himself. He had short black hair and was wearing simple black clothes.

Apollo smiled.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Apollo!"

The muscular man furrowed his brows. He scanned the room and saw Maya cringing in a corner.

He scoffed and used a hand to push Apollo aside.

"Maya, what the hell is this? You got rid of all our food?"

Maya trembled.

"I'm sorry."

The man slammed his fist against the table, causing some bowls to fall off and shatter.

"Did we not tell you? Winter has come a year early, that means we will hardly have enough food to survive five more years, much less ten!"

Apollo walked up to the man.

"Ah, sorry. I was the one who ate the food."

The man turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"It was you?"

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"Oh, yeah."

Apollo's vision became blurry and his ears were ringing.

When he came to, he realized that he had been hit.

The man frowned.

"You think you can just take what you want?"

The man raised his arm.

Maya grabbed onto the man's arm.

"Dad, stop! I was the one who gave him the food. He ate it while sleeping!"

Maya's father scoffed.

"Ate it while sleeping? Sounds like a load of crap to me!"

The man wrestled his grip out of Maya's grasp and hit Apollo again.

Apollo's innocent smile slowly disappeared.

Maya continued begging her father to stop, while Maya's father paid no heed.

Apollo simply stood there as he got hit repeatedly as though he were a punching bag.

Maya's father continued spitting out curses, all the while hitting Apollo.

The corners of Apollo's lip twitched and turned upwards.

An eerie smile was slowly forming on his face. The entire time, he was holding on tightly to his bokken.

Soon Apollo's smile was a little too wide considering the situation.

Bruises had formed on Apollo's skin and his hand tightened around his bokken.

But before he could act, a small hand tugged him aside.

It was Maya, she pulled Apollo out of the room and dragged him down the halls.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here."

Maya was crying with a frown on her face, while Apollo still had a strange smile on his face.

"Don't run from me!"

A voice came from behind them. Maya trembled but did not stop running. She pushed aside a door, revealing the village outside.

Snow was falling and there were trails of footprints imprinted into the snow. Maya dragged Apollo out, then called for help at the top of her lungs.

"Hello! Is there anybody there? Please help me!"

Her cries caused some concerned villagers to come out of their houses and make their way over.

A middle-aged lady hurried over.

"What's the problem, Maya?"

Maya was fumbling with her words.

"My... My father-"

"The brat my idiot daughter is holding onto stole our food."

Maya's father had her arms crossed and stood behind Maya and Apollo.

Maya turned to face her father.

"What! That's not true!"

The middle-aged lady took a step back and frowned.

"What? Maya... why are you defending someone like that. He deserves to be killed!"

The other villagers that gathered initially wore concerned expressions but were now looking at Apollo and Maya in disdain.

Maya stamped her foot on the ground.

"That's not what happened!"

Maya's father scoffed.

"Look, everyone! We are already suffering enough because of this early winter! The crops that we had grown died in the frost, who knows how long the food we have now will last us?"

Maya's father then pointed towards Apollo.

"To make things worse, we have a little thief! We already have hardly anything for ourselves, yet others come into our village to make things worse. If we don't protect ourselves, who will?"

The villagers were murmuring.

Their voices grew louder until they became shouts.

"Damn! Kill this thief!"

"We already have enough trouble on our own, how cruel can some people be?"

"Look at his smile! He clearly enjoys making us suffer!"

Apollo was smiling dangerously.

As for Maya, she stared at the villagers in shock. She felt as though nobody heard her.

"No... it's not like that, I was the one who gave him the food!"

One of the men in the crowd furrowed his brows.

"Listen to the adults Maya, step away from him."

Maya shuddered.

She couldn't understand.

Did nobody believe what she was saying?

It was like anything she said would go over everyone's head.

Like it was a waste of breath.

Maya's grip on Apollo's hand loosened.

She could barely keep herself standing and stared directly towards the ground.

Apollo's pupils began shaking.

His eyes slowly scanned all the villagers.

His breathing was getting heavy, but then his eyes landed on Maya.

Apollo's smile disappeared.

He shook his head and let go of Maya's hold.

"I am sorry, I will leave."

Apollo began walking out of the village but ended up hitting someone.

It was Maya's father, he blocked the way.

"Do you really think you can get away scot-free? If we let you live, you're obviously going to come back to steal from us."

Maya's father turned to the villagers.

"Are we really going to let a thief got to steal from us again? Do we want to starve?"

The villagers were getting riled up.

"No! Kill him!"

"Let the thief learn his lesson!"

Apollo's neck twitched and tilted to the side.

Maya's father smirked.

"Maybe you shouldn't-"

"What is that!"

A villager cried out in fear, pointing towards the edge of the village.

Maya's father turned around.

There was a small group of two-horned demons approaching from the edge village.

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