The Second Wind of Heroes (IC)

2 years ago, the beautiful Queen Catherine II, brimming with potential and great expectations, would fall ill.

It was a illness she would never recover from.

Despite the best assistance from the Healer's Guild and other talents that the royal court could find, she would, eventually, pass from this world. The queen fought her illness for months, though almost everyone knew that every single breath of hers brought her closer to her end. The nobles and the armies despaired.

At the same time, rumours abounded about a bandit king that called himself Kaganax. Surrounded by motivated men, they would storm the palace unhindered by the depleted and demoralized royal guard. Legend has said that Queen Catherine died the moment Kaganax entered the throne room, as if some sort of final dignity for her. No one knows if that is true.

The Chancellor at the time, the late Duke Walton Ferdinand and father of the current chancellor Francis Ferdinand, was but an old man when he stared down Kaganax, holding the crown of Empora that Kaganax very much wanted on his head. He threw it on the ground, shattering the golden symbol of royalty, and then knelt down in front of him, awaiting death. It was his audacity that gave Kaganax some twisted sense of respect of him, and that saved Duke Walton's life for that moment.

Of the remaining generals that were in the palace at the time, General Kroitz Neumman, General Reid Caval and General Leland Connall decided to serve the tyrant-king. General Maria Orsini refused to, but was killed by Kaganax's forces as she tried to escape and raised into undeath. Though as the people despaired at a random man suddenly seizing the throne for himself, the events Kaganax brought down on the Kingdom of Empora would bring about the greatest tale of heroism of the ages.

Adapted from Chapter One: The Tyrant King from "Gladius: A Hero's Tale" by Marise Fair.

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Now, it looked that the city of Lorezen had rebuilt quickly, perhaps even expanded, despite its recent history. In the past, it was only known as a small town that served as a rest stop for traders between Beval, the capital of Empora, and other trade centres of the nation. However, the quick ascent and assertion of Kaganax's power soon drove the tyrant's armies to take control of Lorezen from its local, independent governors. An unknown apprentice of the dying legendary strategist, Jonathan Jackson, righteously took command against Kaganax's forces. Kaganax's army was ten times the size of Lorezen's militia. There was no doubt in anyone's mind at the time that the token force and their futile resistance would soon be nothing more than a memory. However, the apprentice who took to the fight for peace went by the name of Gladius. The First Battle of Lorezen was about to begin.

He faced an impressively armed force commanded by General Leland Connall. Connall was known for his quiet, low-key competence by almost everyone in the nation. But any sane man, including General Connall, would have thought the battle would not be eventful. However, the invading forces were annihilated after a risky operation launched by Gladius killed the general. Though the town was abandoned after their victory, it was later reoccupied by the Rebellion a few months later when they took it from the tyrant's armies after the Third Battle of Lorezen. The 'Lorezen spirit' now referred to a level of tenacity that invoked the very idea of the impossible battle that the Rebellion fought and won.

Another unnoticeable man at that time was the late Ramza Pavel. A young mercenary that was visiting Lorezen at the time, he found himself next to the soon-to-be legendary hero planning for the battle against General Connall. Though he was said to have spoken strong and forcefully against resisting Kaganax, Ramza took his place alongside the Rebellion and would fight even harder than those who believed that the gods were on their side. It was a great pity that he would never live to see the peace that the heroes would create.

Adapted from Chapter Two: The First Battle of Lorezen from "Gladius: A Hero's Tale" by Marise Fair.

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Raki recalled being in Lorezen once. 20 years ago.

During the reign of the King Peter X, father of Queen Catherine II and Queen Lucrecia I, when Lorezen was merely an afterthought of a resting stop on the road to Beval, he had a little scuffle with an old man in the town about mana potions. He could not remember the man's name, but when he passed by a booth selling mini-portraits of famous figures and recognised one of the faces, a thought went into his mind.

Did I actually punch General Jonathan Jackson in the face?

He did not expect to touch history in the strangest of fashions. Maybe he did meet one of the heroes somewhere on his path, he pondered.

In a city so big, it dwarfed all memories he had of the small hamlet 20 years ago that called itself Lorezen. Tiles replaced the earthern paths of the past. Brick buildings occupied the places wooden houses once stood. The noise of the marketplace was a jarring difference from the quiet past he knew. Where local trademen hawked their wares, massive numbers of shacks and shops with foreign goods and foreign shopkeepers lined Lorezen.

"This Gladius certainly has changed Lorezen," mumbled Raki. Dodging a pair of kids running in the street, Raki stepped in front of a door of a strange building. The door was engraved with the stylised image of a scroll with illegible text. Beneath the image, the words 'Quest Office' were engraved in fine curved writing.

Quest Offices were a recent innovation by the Four Guilds after Kaganax's defeat. Though the kingdom was saved by Gladius, much work was needed to rebuild the kingdom to its glory days. The armies of the Rebellion, the kingdom, and even the Heroes themselves were massively taxed by the immense goal of repairing Empora, and so the guilds stepped in with a system to hire freelancers. Quest Offices spread the news of any 'quest', any sort of job that requires specialised skills or just talented folk, to all the cities of Empora through the use of magic and the occasional courier. Though the guilds would take a significant cut of any quest reward, along with its requirement of an 'administrative fee' from all interested quest-takers, Quest Offices did their task of matching the right person to the right job very well.

He pushed in the door, and looked inside. In the other Quest Offices he visited, even in the cities of Curae, Misra and Clarenden, it was usually a simple, if well-decorated establishment with an atmosphere not unlike a bank.

Where the Rebellion began did not disappoint, but blew expectations away. Bright chandeliers lit the red carpet that covered the entire floor. Men and women sat at dining tables draped in tablecloth, enjoying meals from luxury dinners to the bare-bones of bread and water, as waiters dressed in tuxedos worked the floor serving the customers. The long, marble counter sitting at the other side of the room was the only reminder that this place was a Quest Office and not a restaurant.

"What the hell?" Raki muttered incredulously. He never liked food, only ever eating it to fulfill his human masquerade. The strange, squishy feeling between his teeth, along with the need to swallow ever single bite, seemed so tedious to a magic eater. Mana potions were all he needed, and normally all he drank.

He made his way to the front of the counter, in front of a well-dressed woman in a tuxedo. The short woman with red hair certainly looked boyish, but the tuxedo did not hide her feminine curves and 'assets', or so they called it.

"How can I help you, young sir?" she asked, bowing.

Raki's attention, at first directed towards the young woman, went to the blonde young man beside him. He was writing something on a piece of paper, and though the left side of his body obscured most of the paper, the word '500 platinum' was as clear as day to his eye. The magic eater slid stealthily towards the stranger, bending over to take a peek at what he was writing.

Quote:

---

Reward: 500 Platinum
Requester: Micah Gelbschild

Save a mermaid from the village of Danvers. She is about to be sacrificed for an annual celebration to bless their crops. Her name is Ariel.

Bring this mermaid to the docks of Lorezen at midnight. Try to minimise casualties if you can.

---

Dropping his quill pen to the side of the paper, Micah turned leftwards and smiled.

"Wha-" Raki stepped back, half in surprise. The other half felt a strange aura radiating from Micah, entering his body.

He's scanning me?

Grabbing the piece of paper, Micah shoved it in Raki's face. "You're up for the job, one-eyed boy! Did you serve in the navy?" The question, tacked onto Micah's cheerful demand, only served to compound Raki's confusion.

Raki's face twisted into an expression of 'Eh?'.

Tristan was walking around the Lorenzen market looking for food and any new and interesting things. Unfortunately the latter did not come to fruition. Her simple form didn't attract any attention from anyone, and that was a great success on her part. She wanted to take on the role of a young peasant woman carrying a bag to hold the food she was shopping for. Ultimately, she found a loaf of bread that she spent a little money to get. After her purchase, she decided that it might be best to go to the Quest Office and see if there were any new or interesting things going on there.

The journey was a quick one as she knew all the shortcuts and alleyways that led anywhere in this city. After all, she had spent pretty much all of her life living here and acquainting herself with the layout of the city. As she always did, when she entered the Quest Office she felt a little out of place with her simple form. However, she was known here as she had taken a couple small solo jobs here before. It had been about a year since the last time she came here, because she had spent the time to deal with an assassination plot. She decided to take a couple months off after the whole ordeal and now was time for her to find more work. She stepped in towards the marble counter in the back and immediately noticed she wasn't the only one looking for work right now. Standing in front of her was a young-looking man with a job request being shoved into his face. She saw clearly at the top of it read: Reward: 500 Platinum. That was quite a fine amount, of course a lot of it would be taken out and equally spread among the guilds.

She put her hand on the young man's shoulder and noticed he had one eye. "So, perhaps you're looking for a partner for this job? I can be quite useful." Her voice was quite energetic and very happy.

Her stomach could be heard throughout the market and caused more than a few turned heads. How embarassing. Usually hunger had not bothered her, but her most recent excursion had caused her to hastily eat the remains of her rations in order to have the energy needed for an all-night session. It hadn't helped, as Nowe fell asleep shortly after chomping down the dried meat and bread she had in her pack.

The previous night, Nowe had entered a cemetery on the outskirts of Lorezen for purely academic pursuits. It took a fair bit of craft and bribery to get past the gravekeeper, but she would pay any price for an opportunity such as this. Nowe, upon arriving in the cemetery, set out to dig up the freshest corpse - the one with the most adornments around the gravestone. The digging, as it turned out, was a difficult task and it was only made more difficult on a full stomach. Before she could even spot the corpse, Nowe had collapsed and slept on the dirt.

And now she found her cloak covered in dirt and her stomach growling like a beast and her footsteps were carrying her, slowly, towards a place to contain her hunger. Time was wasting. The sooner she ate, the sooner she could return to her studies.

"I hate this city," Nowe muttered behind her cloak, feeling the stares of the children and the elderly on her back. The way they looked, one would think they had never seen someone completely covered by a cloak that was also conveniently covered in dirt. Nowe patted the pouch hanging from her waist, which was covered behind her cloak. She didn't have any idea how much coin was contained within but it was sounding rather light - bribes were costly. She merely hoped what was in there would be enough for a quick meal. Her nose had led her to a rather gaudy looking establishment, but if they served food she would eat in a pigsty.

With that in mind, Nowe opened the door and stepped into the halls of the Quest Office.

"What kind of restaurant is this?" she asked, her hooded face taking in the surroundings. Nowe pushed her way to the counter, scoffing at the tuxedo wearing woman behind it. "What a stupid uniform." Nowe pulled the pouch out from under her cloak and dumped the contents on top of the counter. Five measly coins clanked out of the pouch. "Whatever food I can get with this, give it to me." Nowe tapped at the counter impatiently, her eyes staring at the tuxedoed woman.

Shogun had been sitting in the quest office for about an hour now. He was in the corner and his dark red armour hid him rather well. He finished off the bottle of alcohol that he had been drinking for the past 20 minutes. He was no lightweight though he wasn't even tipsy. He placed his mask back on before locking it into place with his helmet. He turned his head upwards as a small boy walked in the door.

He looked down to the two swords in front of him he gripped one of the handles and took it out slightly to reveal the blade and the enscribed mark on it. A dragon, the symbol of his countries army. He saw another person walk in before he saw that someone had a quest. He stood up before grabbing his swords and walking over then uttering words in his own language by accident.
"これが私の探求、幼児である" he realized this and said them again in his newly learned langauge
"This is my quest, and mine alone, I have been waiting for two days for this, no one will take it from me"

Tadhg pushed open the large double doors with his side. He gazed around the room, eyebrows raised and mouth open. Human architecture amazed him, a thousand times more impressive than the huts and tents he was used to in his tribe. Tadhg's hands were filled with Pifs, a brightly coloured pastry the size of a coin. A eager stall owner, just outside, was more than happy to sell all of his stock after convincing Tadhg that it was one of the greatest creations ever.

A few spilled onto the floor as he walked over to the now crowded marble counter. He gawked at the luxury of the seating and the delicious, high class meals that were being served. He audibly whistled as he saw a silver cloche lifted revealing a bright red lobster beneath. On his way he hit his head against a chandelier. The glass tinkled as it now swayed back and forth. He looked around, a few old waiters looked at him disapprovingly and his cheeks began to burn red. He walked over the counter, in between two people in conversation. He grinned at the worker and dropped the mass of Pifs onto the table.

"Hi, I'd like to mail these to Cuimhne. My family has got to try these. Do your postmen go that far? Or should he drop them off at a tavern, so they can pick them up?" He had clearly mistook the name "Quest Office" for some sort of Post Office"

The woman cocked an eyebrow, momentarily too surprised to speak. As he waited for an answer Tadhg threw his arms around the two beside him and pulled them in, instantly befriending them.

"I tell you, you humans are great at this stuff." He gestures towards to Pifs as he popped one in his mouth. "Feel free to take some if you guys want."

Kane had never missed the seas more than this moment. The people here did not know his past and were quiet disrespectful; he had earned respect many times over, but those days were over. Now he was a sword for hire which loved the quest office, but he couldn't stand disrespect, so when the foreign man had stood up, abruptly challenging someone, he called him on it.
"Sir, please, this is a respectable place where people should NOT fight, so take it outside, please."
He had no need for money at the moment, however, a high paying quest was never an offer to turn down. Then the 500 platinum was noted quite obviously. Control was lost, a knife produced, and a witty comeback prepared, because the witty comebacks was half of being a pirate, Kane began to edge into a more strategic place and prepared for the fight that would probably ensue with the foreign man.
He had then noticed, too late, that this note had attracted more attention then he had previously thought. 'And then life gets hard again, but i could use the adventure' and so he issued diplomacy.
"I don't want the money, but i would love to go on the quest with you." And again he entered the world of etiquette and bowed, "My name is Kane. Just Kane."

The dryad snickered as she scuttled through the market. There was surprisingly more people here than she had remembered. Of course, the last time she came through this area was almost thirty years ago, and back then it looked nothing like it did now. Things had changed so much, that the city was practically unrecognizable to her. There were all of these buildings, which had certain names for them, and people selling things she had never seen before. Her curiosity was spiked to it's height.

Acacia was dressed in dark, worn robes she had found laying around in a nearby alley. First seeing them, she thought that these were in good quality, much better than the clothes that were worn all of those years ago, but now she realized that she probably looked like a peasant among kings and queens. Even so, she was too curious to be embarrassed now, and she had been in her tree form for so long, that the robes she once wore no longer fit her. Her "human-like" appearance was taller and thinner than most of the females in the marketplace, but in her opinion, she was too short. She couldn't feel the energy of the sun as much as she used to.

Ever since she had heard of the queen's passing away, she had wanted to come and visit, but so much ruckus happened after that, that she had decided to wait for a little longer. Her heart still ached for the queen, for Catherine II had a kinder heart than many. Acacia mumbled to herself as she passed a man selling some kind of strange liquids. She glanced at them curiously for a moment, then continued walking.

"Wait a moment, miss!" the man called to her. The old fellow was waving a thin arm in the air. "I see my medicines have caught your attention." He had a big smile on his face, one that was obviously untrustworthy.

Acacia frowned slightly, but she didn't like to be rude. Hesitantly, she took a couple steps backward, and stopped in front of the man, eyes on the liquids. They were each a different color, and bottled up in small jars. Her interest fell on one in particular. It was green and as thick as honey, giving off a strange, yet familiar smell.

"That's a special one," the old man whispered, leaning towards her. "It heals anything," he continued. "In a matter of seconds! Now, to discuss the price?"

"Um, no thank you," Acacia shook her head slowly. She would have no need for something like this (she doubted it would work anyway), because she could already do the same thing herself. "I don't think this is the product for me." She gave him a faint smile, and took a step away.

The old man grabbed her arm. Although his grip was weak, it startled her. "I've got plenty of others that may be of use to you," he claimed hurriedly. It seemed as if not too many people came around his booth, probably for this very reason. "I can show them to you."

Acacia snatched her arm away, causing the sleeve of the tattered robe to rip. "No, it's fine. Really," she said with an awkward laugh, then rushed away, retreating into the nearest building she could find. It appeared to be a restaurant, a fancy one too. She stared in bewilderment, unsure of what to do. She definitely didn't want to go back outside where the old man was surely waiting for her,

Micah frowned as the strange man in armour barged into the scene, claiming the job solely for himself. "私のホバークラフトは鰻でいっぱいです," he said. The frown on a his face turned into a cheeky grin, and then back to a semi-serious expression. "Sorry, it's a job for multiple folks. I pay, I choose."

Micah grinned towards Tadhg. With the giant man's size, him looking upwards a D'isac would have looked disconcerting to an outsider. But Micah smiled as if it was nothing special or unexpected. "Like this D'iasc man over here." He jabbed Tadhg lightly in the arm with a finger. "You're short for one of them."

His eyes then went to the white-haired young man with a streak of black on his fringe. "More? It's going to my lucky day!" quipped Micah. He bobbed up and down as he spoke, bouncing around Karne like a hyperactive vulture. "I can even cut the payment for one person!"

Raki stared at Micah. He failed to register the D'iasc's presence, even as his feet were dragged lightly from where he stood. "Did you say something about a boat and eels?" he asked in an incredulous tone. Raki raised the only visible eyebrow he had towards the other blonde man.

"Oh, I know a few foreign languages." Micah circled his own arm around Tadhg's waist, grinning at Raki as he did so. "And so do you, navy boy." He pointed a finger at Raki from the arm that wrapped around Tadhg.

Raki looked aside and downward awkwardly. "I'm probably older than you, the tall guy and the weird guy in armour combined," he mumbled.

The tuxedoed woman popped her head across the table, glaring upwards at the giant. "I'm interrupting your little conversation, but you do not mail food! Especially to Cuimhne!"


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On the counter, a little bit further away

A twitch on her upper eyebrow meant that the woman heard everything Nowe said, but she still smiled anyway. "Oh my. It's just bread and water then," she said in the most diplomatic of tones, sliding the coins off the table into her palm.

What she did not say was that bread and water costed 3 of those coins. Slipping 2 of the coins into her pocket, she walked away from the counter and into the backrooms, coming out with a medium-sized loaf of bread and a mug of water in her hands. The woman placed it on the counter and smiled at Nowe, even if her smile could not fool the blind.

"Thank you, and we hope to see you again!" greeted the woman, with an mostly veiled annoyance towards the hooded woman. Her eyes carefully watched the customer, and then towards the group being served by her co-worker.

Gossip was the first order of her mind, but she knew never to gossip when the relevant target was focused on them.

Tristan giggled at the tuxedo woman's quip about mailing food.

She then stepped around Raki after having been ignored by him. She gave him a look of curiosity as he mumbled something about being older than a few combined people. She stared intensely at all the strange new people that suddenly showed up. She then turned to Micah and smiled. "Hey, Micah, been a while." She had accepted a job from him before... almost a year ago now. "I think it'd be fun to work with a nice new group of people like you all." She said turning back to the mismatched group of people surrounding her. "I'm kind of tired of solo jobs. The last few months have been one giant solo job." She spread her arms out for example trying not to bump her hands into anything or anyone.

She was excited. This whole job would be a learning experience and she'd get paid. Two birds with one stone.

It was food, yes, but even Nowe was taken back by what her coin bought. What sort of place charged so much for such a paltry meal? And there wasn't even any spread for the bread. Still, Nowe picked up the loaf and brought it close to her hood. The faint sniffing noises coming from Nowe went on a bit longer than usual, but she couldn't be too careful. Moldy bread was not something you wanted to bite into a second time. Satisfied with the smell, Nowe brought her free hand to the hood, stopping before pulling it down.

Right, patrons. Nowe glanced around at the odd group nearby. They appeared to be off in their own inane conversation, but they were still to close for comfort. She couldn't eat so close to them, plus there was that tuxedoed woman still loitering about. "So annoying." Nowe held the loaf of bread in one hand and retracted it into her cloak, leaving the armhole empty and dangling. Now there were going to be crumbs inside and they had a bad habit of hiding in the worst possible places. Nowe's head slowly bobbed, the sounds of chewing were the only indication that she wasn't having some kind of spasm. "This bread is terrible," she said, her mouth nevertheless full of it.