It seemed to Jason that Alphard fought harder now than before Kenshin’s death. The two of them were locked in intense hand-to-hand combat with a group of marauding dungeon monsters reminiscent of a D&D campaign. The pair had actually even gone to an underground dungeon to, you know, dungeon crawl. The entrance had been hidden in Tarbinal’s catacombs, on the fourth level, behind a chrome and bloodstone sarcophagus. Not many others had been down into the monster-infested labyrinth yet, so the pair of warriors decided to be useful and map the dungeon while they were exploring. They hadn’t been in the dungeon twenty minutes before the first monsters came for them. A veritable horde of zombies surged from under a nearby arch and shambled menacingly towards them. Alphard drew her dragonbone shield and upgraded hand scythe and charged into the melee, calling out to Jason over her shoulder as she did so, “Cover me! I will take out the front lines, you clean up any that make it past me and protect my back.”

“Yes milady,” Jason responded and unlimbered his new weapon, a dragonbone maul topped with the neigh impenetrable ivory crown protecting Mordred’s head and with a grip made of the ebony flesh of the same beast. This new weapon was called <<Defiler>> and had a length and weight nearly equal to Jason’s old hammer. Indeed, the only real difference between the two tools was the overall look and stats. Moments later, Alphard purposely let an enemy past her whirling wall of blade and shield. The zombie seized the opportunity and opened its greasy maw wide to bite the woman. Imagine its dismay when all it got was a mouthful of maul. Later, Alphard tested Jason by unexpectedly calling for a switch whilst immersed in combat with a couple of particularly nasty wights. Jason complied, somersaulting over the first wight and braining it from behind before activating a sword art to brutally hammer the other into submission so that Alphard could deliver the coup de grace. Over and over Alphard set up difficult situations to test Jason’s ability to think on his feet and his willingness to dive into combat to help her. Over and over Jason unfailingly completed his duty; fighting where it was needed, healing at other times, and once even acting as a springboard so that Alphard could attack the enemies from above. He was the perfect picture of a loyal knight: loyal, brave, and true. And despite herself, Alphard began to feel for this man. Not in a romantic way. No, the wounds of Kenshin’s passing were too fresh for that. She felt for Jason as one feels for the great heroes of myth: Arthur, Diarmiud, Sun Wukong, and Sigurd. You always felt safer after you heard their stories, like they were there beside you, protecting you from harm. It was like having your very own Prince Charming looking over you. Quite touching when you stopped to think about it. 

Several hours after setting out, Alphard called the mission off. She and Jason headed out of the dungeon, discussing their actions the whole way. Alphard informed Jason officially that she now trusted him and would accept his help as her personal knight and protector. Jason knelt before her and delivered unto her a solemn oath: “Ayano Nobunaga, I am now your personal knight. You will no longer fear evil, you will have no more need for anything in life, any problems that you have will be forgotten. I am yours as surely as if you had bought and paid for me. Do with me what you will.” He bowed his head and gave Ayano all of the loot that he had gained from their little excursion. She nodded and accepted his offer with the requisite solemnity. They walked the rest of the way to the shared inn in silence. When they got there, they noticed the mass amount of people at Suto’s room and decided to stop in for a visit. They showed up just in time to hear Suto greet Nero and a strange man with a dispassionate “That’s new, What’s up?”