As he walked aimlessly looking at the almost full moon, he heard a scream from behind. Haru quickly turned on his heels and his squinting eyes scanned the field of view to identify the source. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spotted it. A merchant riding a caravan was being mugged by two masked bandits. Haru heard the fellow Rune Knights talk about the increased bandit activity around the capitol ever since the attack. The pacifist frowned and grit his teeth, shocked at the nerve of these men, taking advantage of such vulnerability. He ran towards the scene to help the merchant.
The surprise element worked for the first one. Once he was in range, Haru put his palms together and then pointed on of his hand towards the ground right under one of the two bandits, casting his Phase spell. The bandit fell into the super low-density two-meter deep pit, and just when he was neck-deep into the ground, Haru fisted his hand, cancelling the spell’s effect. The bandit did not know what hit him and he was stuck underground. The second one, seeing his partner fall into ground, quickly reacted and jumped away from the merchant. Haru took this opportunity and dashed in front of the merchant. “Stay away from him, you leeches,” he said, taking his defensive stance.
The second bandit was not willing to give up, however. He charged straight towards Haru with a combo of punches and kicks. Haru did well dodging and parrying all the attacks, and asked the merchant to run. “Get away from here and call for help,” he said, turning towards the shaken merchant. The bandit, realizing the implications, stopped attacking Haru and began chasing the fleeing merchant. The red-haired Rune Knight held onto the bandit, making him trip and fall. However, the bandit’s weight also destabilized Haru and he fell right next to him. The angry bandit rolled around, slashing his knife at the fallen Rune Knight. There was not much time for Haru to cast a defensive spell. He could have kicked the man away, but his oath to not hurt someone held him back. He simply put his hands up in front of him as a shield, hoping that the knife doesn’t come through to his body.