Chapter: The helper

Isomewhere near Luin, Kratos was sitting by a river and was quietly upset that he was once again allowed to walk through world history for "Lord Yggdrasil". // Why me again?!? As if there weren't enough subordinates to send out. No! There wasn't, only about 6000 Desians that he could have sent, but I of all people should do it. Oh ... It doesn't matter //, the fawn-haired man thought with a sigh as he remembered his destination, the Asgard people farm, Kvar !! Where all he was supposed to do was check to see if there had been any prisoner escapes in the past five years that weren't reported // At the thought that I have to face this man, no, just the thought of having to speak to him, triggers a feeling of vomiting in me! Since this one man is partly to blame for what happened exactly three days ago. Just the memory of it triggers a feeling of deep guilt, sadness in me. Do I even have the right to mourn? After all, I was the reason my life is now in ruins. My family, my fighting spirit and my will to live. It was my fault! //, thought Kratos and took a deep breath to hold back tears.

Suddenly Kratos was startled by a child's scream that sounded to him like ... // LLOYD !!! //. He jumped up and ran through the approaching forest. When he came across the forest path, he went up a little way. Then he saw four bandits surrounding a little boy. The little one was lying on the floor, his face towards the ground and his hands pressed anxiously on his head. // Please, help me, papa! Biiiitttee !! //, thought the brown-haired boy fearfully and hoped that his father would come to his aid so that these people could no longer harm him. Kratos walked up to the group and stopped briefly in front of them. Only now do they notice the uninvited bystander and half turn to face him. "What are you looking at so stupid? If you want to go this way, I would advise you to look for another way ..." threatened the bandit leader, although he knew that the swordsman in front of him has more Gald with him than the child behind him. But since the child's father had played badly to his gang so often, they wanted to kill the child in revenge. They just wanted to enjoy their campaign of revenge, for the losses they suffered and for the gang members who gave their lives to fight the father whose name they did not know. Kratos, on the other hand, had to smile briefly at this naivety that they actually seemed to believe they had a chance against the experienced swordsman. Because of this, he drew his sword and the four bandits, who had turned completely to face him, also drew their swords. The leader was fat and strong, which made the others look rather narrow and weak. Which should also be true in the fight between the purple clad and the four criminals.

The three henchmen came up to Kratos. The first came from the front, the second came from the right, and the last came from the left. They believed to have circled Kratos because there was a tree behind him, so he couldn't disappear. So the two of them approached Kratos from the side without listening to the third's instructions. "Don't attack him !!" he shouted, but it was too late. Kratos looked up briefly and saw a branch there. With lightning speed he sheathed the sword, jumped up and grabbed the branch and pulled himself up. Before the two could react, they ran against each other and turned each other off. "Come underneath at once ...! So that I can process you into kindling," the last henchman called to him.Kratos complied with his request and not a moment later stood in front of him again. "And now?" Asked the red-brown-haired tall man, amused. "Fight with me!" Demanded the addressee aloud. "Come on," replied Kratos. Then the last henchman attacked him with his sword raised and wanted to stab him. Kratos, on the other hand, just turned away, lifted his arm and hit him on the head with his elbow. As a result, the bandit lost his footing, fell against the said tree and hit his head.

He went unconscious to the ground behind Kratos and the henchman's sword flew in a high arc into the nearest bushes. //Done! //, Kratos just thought and turned to the leader, who hadn't lifted a finger to help his henchman. However, he still hadn't twisted the child's hair and that made Kratos a little puzzled. But that didn't matter at the moment, he had to get him away from the boy somehow. But how? The leader had put one foot on the little boy to keep him from running away. He looked up to Kratos for help. The fat man still had his sword in his hand and slowly raised it so that the point pointed in the direction of Kratos' face. "You will atone for that!" With this sentence he came up to Kratos. He pulled his sword out of its scabbard again, parried the sword cut at the last moment and pushed his opponent back. He was injured in the arm. However, the wound was not that deep, but unfortunately it was bleeding a little too heavily. // And now I have to get the fat one off of Lloyd ... //, thought the tall young man and attacked him. The bandit leader raised his sword and parried the blow. At that moment Kratos turned away and they switched positions. Now the swordsman's back was pointing to the boy and he made sure that his back stays the same so that he was protected.

At the same time he made sure that his opponent is busy. After a few more blows with the sword and the clash of the two blades, which was announced again and again by a loud clink, Kratos broke through the cover of his opponent and disarmed him. This led to the thief falling on his back to the ground, guiding his gaze along the blade to then looking into the fawn-colored eyes of the winner ... "Don't you want to kill me? After all, you won ..." said the bandit humbly, knowing his defeat, "If no child were present, I would do it for sure ... You are lucky, you collect your people and disappear.", said the swordsman threateningly, but also appreciating the skills of his opponent. Because this has not done badly.

After the gang had run away, Kratos turned to the boy. "Llo - ..?", The red-brown-haired wanted to ask when the boy sat up and Kratos had to realize that this was not about Lloyd. It was a different three-year-old. Kratos mentally shook himself to collect himself again. He looked briefly at the little one until he noticed that he was still holding his sword in his hands. But then he quickly shoved it into the scabbard with a clang. "Little one, what's your name? I'm Kratos.", He asked and knelt down so that the boy could look into his face, "Um-er, my name is Sammy, sir.", The little one answered politely to his question . "What did these people want from you, Sammy, where are your parents?", Asked the man who called himself Kratos, "I don't know. I wanted to ... my papa ... to Luin ...", the little boy smuggled and gave his as well little hands in the face. Kratos gently shook his head and lifted the little one in his arms.He suspected he'd run away from home. When his mother wasn't paying attention.

There was a call to be heard. "SAAAAAMMYYYY !!!! WHERE ARE YOU ????", a female voice called loudly through the forest. // Hopefully nothing happened to him !!!! //, thought the young woman to whom the voice belonged. Unfortunately, no little boy's voice answered her call. When she was in sight of Kratos, Sammy also heard his name being called. "There is Pia ...!", The little one called loudly on the swordsman's arm and began to fidget where the brown-haired man let him down. Sammy ran to Pia as fast as he could. This just looked around. // A lot of area in the area, but unfortunately no Sammy ... //, she thought dejectedly. When she turned back to the way back, she was almost overrun by Sammy. He fell around her legs beaming with joy.

"Sammy, where have you been?" She asked, first of all puzzled and secondly a little angry. But above all she was glad that she had found him again. Kratos, who had followed the little light brown-haired man, was now standing in front of the said "Pia". "He told me that he wanted to see his father. He was attacked by bandits. I assume that you are his mother, right?", Kratos spoke to her and asked carefully at the same time. She laughed softly and answered; "No, I'm not his mother. His mother lives in Asgard and only asked me to take care of him while she was out shopping. However, he had used the next best opportunity to escape, the little bully. In fact, when we were going for a walk and I had a quick chat with my girlfriend ... ", she finished the explanation. "Aha ...", Kratos said quietly, "Should I accompany you to Asgard? After all, it's very dangerous for both of you.", Said the concerned swordsman with doe-brown eyes, as she probably intended to go alone through the forest to go out with a young child. He was not entirely comfortable with that. "Uh, if we're not a burden to you, then yes.", She replied happily, "You, Pia, why are you kissing him? I know his name ...", the little one asked, a little puzzled, and looked at Pia high. "Because it is polite to see someone you don't know, even if you know his name, Sammy!", Pia replied to the little boy's statement. Then she took his hand so he couldn't run away this time. Kratos just nodded and walked past the two of them. Pia and Sammy followed him. "By the way, what's your name actually?", The wine-red-eyed woman asked kindly, "My name is Kratos Aurion and I'm a mercenary. However, you don't have to pay me to accompany you. I have the same way anyway," he replied without to turn to her. Why didn't he turn to her? Because he paid attention to the way and the wayside so that no one could harm them.

After another three hours, they reached the city of ruins without further incident. Asgard. Sammy ran between Kratos and Pia. When they reached the entrance, however, he tore himself away and headed for home. The swordsman and the blue-haired young woman followed him. They ran up the stairs and over a stone bridge. Arrived