Devil's Bodyguard [Zhoren/daisandrena]

[Zhoren]

The thing about taverns, was that the people in it irritated him by their lack of direction. Which was fine, since people usually came to such places to lose their direction, to their hair down and relax. He was not that much of a hypocrite so as to deny that fact; after all, he had come to such a place of his own will. His reason for doing so was quite different from the others that had attended the tavern however; and unlike those others, he found himself unable to drink anything other than water.

"You leavin' us Maou?" Asked the brute who sat on the other side of the table, along with the rest of his merry band of mercenaries.

Maou tilted his head slightly at the remark. Of course, there was much more to this scene than met the eye, as was usually the case in the tale that was his life.

'Maou'. He had introduced himself with that name since he had entered this continent. Most did not recognize the foreign dialect which formed the word and thus could not fathom its meaning. Nor did any in this continent recognize him or his fame. This much was fine with him. Never again was he going to let some lord pick him out because of his reputation. So as not to repeat the situation for which he was now a 'strategist without a lord', he had decided to ensure that he would personally select the one he was to serve next time.

His previous lord turned out to be some common bandit -- a dog wearing a dragon's hide -- unworthy of his service. After a while, he had simply faked his death and left the continent. Such a thing was a simple matter for him. To get acquainted with these strange new lands, he had joined up with a band of mercenaries, serving as their archer, strategist, and emergency medic where required. It was not bad for an introduction, but his skill was not meant for this ragtag bunch, nor was he satisfied at consistently failing to find a challenge worthy of his wit. But a certain renowned guild in this strange city was recruiting it seemed, so he decided that it was as good a time as any to try his luck once more.

In fact, he had already filled a recruitment form at the local Guild Hall. The name, he had put as 'Maou'; in 'weapon proficiencies', he had put in 'archery' and 'small weapons'. In 'previous experience', he had put in one single word -- 'Bodyguard'. After all, there was no point in putting down 'strategist' given that he wanted to avoid being used like his previous lord had deemed fit to. If his new lord was appropriate, they would soon find out what this 'Maou' was capable of, if not, then he would likely end up leaving anyway...

"Indeed... I have put in a guild recruitment form, speaking of which, I believe 'tis almost time for the results to be posted." He said, standing up.

He was not dumb, he realized well enough that the mercenaries had only bothered asking him since they were squeamish about handing over his part of the loot, which was fine since he did not have need of it anyway.

"Thank you for everything, please feel free to share my part of the spoils amongst yourselves." He said with a slight smirk, before turning to leave.

"Happy hunting barky." One of the brutes yelled after him.

---

When he arrived at the guild hall, he found that the selection process had already started, which was good, since the long queue seemed to have shortened a bit. Sighing softly at the excited chatter of rookies, Maou stood at the end of the queue, awaiting his turn. Something told him that the proverbial wheels of fate were about to turn...

[daisandrena]

Set up in the guild hall was a table that was a bit away from the others. Sitting there were two females who were quite well-dressed in formal attire looking a bit bored. Their table was adorned with a few parchments of paper and an ink quill, as well as a tabard hanging down the front of it which was adorned with a green background the fiery looking bird known as a phoenix in the center. A man in armor was standing near the women, he was leaning against the wall, a large looking sword was strapped to his back. A few of the rookies went over to the table but they were rejected and left with their heads hung in shame. The two women seemed to be losing their interest and looked to the man in armor who scanned the room, his eyes stopping on Maou for a moment before moving back to the two which he gave a slight nod too. With that it seemed they began to pack up their belongings from the table as well as rolling up the tabard and storing it in a protective cover. It seemed the group was about to leave.

[Zhoren]

Having observed the recruitment process for a bit, he came to the conclusion that these people were recruiting based on looks alone, rather than on merit or any sort of test. Apparently, the mercenaries he had just left behind would likely have better luck in this particular recruitment drive. Or perhaps, as unlikely as it was, it could be that he was mistaken, and that the ones running the recruitment were experienced enough to judge by looks alone. Certainly, he himself had developed a knack for judging the level of experience simply from one's stance alone -- if one continuously displayed many openings, it was either that the person was very experienced or completely inexperienced; more often than not, it was the latter.

From where he stood, he could not exactly see the recruiters properly and thus was unable to make that sort of judgment. Not that it really mattered all that much to him either way, since it seemed that they were about to leave. But the ones in front of him, seemed a bit more dissatisfied, as it were. After all, besides the rookies that had been turned away, the rest of them were about to be refused a position without even being given a chance. They looked restless, thus all that remained was to add some fuel to the fire.

Maou yawned, disinterested.

He realized that this might've been quite the show, but he didn't feel particularly interested at the moment.


"You just wanna let it end like this!?" Shouted one of the potential recruits. Apparently, he was unable to hold it in any longer.

"NO!!" Some of the other rookies in the front and even those in the back (who had been turned away) replied in unison, and this was followed by much jeering, shouting and chair throwing.


He smirked.


Apparently, a show had just started.

Softly slipping out of the crowd, he sat on one of the chairs in the back, deciding that if they were going to give him a show, he might as well remain and watch a while. Such things were common in these lands it seemed and usually brought under control quickly enough.

He wondered how long it would take to contain this one.

[daisandrena]

After much commotion the girls looked over to see what was going on and saw that a fight was breaking out. One of them rolled their eyes. "And that's why we didn't pick any of them..." The other girl nodded and finished packing everything up. The two of them made their way out of the guild hall but the man who was with them remained. He looked at Maou again and decided to walk over. "Never seen you around here...what's your name?" He asked looking at Maou. The two women stopped to look at the man for a moment before they went on their way giggling to each other. "I don't mean to be so forward but your the only one here who isn't complaining. I also noticed you didn't come over. You looking for a specific job?"

[Zhoren]

He was having a good time watching the commotion. It was first time since he stepped foot on this continent that chairs and tables were being used in place of swords and arrows, and the sight was rather comical. After all, even if there was some chance that they would be recruited, it was certainly gone now.

He hadn't bothered looking towards the recruiters as they moved in his direction, most likely for the purpose of passing by him and leaving through the front door. Only when he heard someone requesting his name did he turn to have a look at the trio. The two women had not displayed any recognizable attributes as of yet, and thus had not entered his vision properly. The man on the other hand, was different. First of all, it was difficult to find any openings in his stance, which was substantiated by the fact that he was wearing armor. In any event, he seemed to be the brains behind the recruitment committee.

After taking a few seconds to observe the man instead of answering his questions outright, Maou arose from his seat, one of his hands immediately traveling to his pocket, the other scratching his chin in a somewhat thoughtful manner.

"There isn't really much to be complaining about, is there?" He replied casually, deciding to tactfully ignore the inquiry as to his name and background, and not to point out the fact that the man was being quite rude for asking such questions without introducing himself first.

"Although..." He glanced at the commotion in the hall room. "This might get out of hand sometime soon."

"In any event, I do not believe you require someone of my skills." He held up the copy of the recruitment form he had filled up earlier for the man to take.

The hand which had traveled to his pocket seemed to be rummaging around in there in search of something.

Maou coughed slightly and cleared his throat.

"Mind if I smoke a bit?" He asked.

[daisandrena]

The man raised an eyebrow to Maou, seeming to become slight irate by his rudeness and brash attitude. He then took the paper and began looking it over.

"Oh so you actually have experience. What happened to your charge? I assume nothing good because your not with them now. Just another punk trying to..."

The man was interrupted by a soft but firm female voice.

"That will do Captain." said someone from behind the man. Once she came into view, all in the room stopped to look at her, many of them already knowing who she was, and to that effect bowed respectfully. The ignorant ones stood still doing nothing. The woman who stood about five foot and seven inches tall walked gracefully over to the one whom she called 'Captain' and Maou.

"Good evening sir. I apologize on behalf of Captain Luzel. It seems he forgot his manners when he left the manor this morning..."

She said cutting her eyes to him. The fully grown man who easily towered over the smaller woman suddenly looked a bit worried and bowed his head.

"My apologies Lady Maryel, I...shall escort Zori and Lu back to the manor."

The one called Maryel nodded to him "See that they make it home safely. Dismissed."

The man bowed once more and made a quick exit from the guild hall. Maryel sighed when he was gone but a smile quickly returned to her face as she looked at Maou.

"You will have to forgive him. This is the fourth day in a row they have been here and it seems his patience has reached its limit. My name is Maryel Luso, I am the head of 'Rise of the Phoenix'. Might I inquire as to your name sir?"

The woman seemed to have an aura of gentleness that surrounded her as it seemed a few of the men who had shown up to get hired were now quite googly-eyed looking at Maryel. She didn't seem to notice this or if she did was not showing any signs of it bothering her. She seemed to be given her undivided attention to Maou.

[Zhoren]

Maou continued waiting for permission to smoke, not paying much attention to what the man said as he continued judging him based on the papers. If the paper was all he cared about, he was not worthy of respect after all. He suddenly regretted bothering to stand up; after all, the boring drawl may have been much easier on the ears if he were sitting down.

At that point, he noticed someone approach the man from behind, which was followed by the entire room going quiet, leading him to believe that the person was someone of importance. A soft and yet firm reprisal from her seemed to quickly put the man in his place. Soon enough, there was a name to put to the lady.

'Lady Maryel, is it?' He thought, his attention span having withdrawn from his surroundings and the rest of the room and focused solely on studying her.

He continued studying her as she spoke to him. His eyes searched not only for openings in her stance but also for behavioral patterns, slight twitches and nervous movements. This had been developed to the point where he no longer had to intentionally observe someone; where necessary, it was instinctive, almost automatic.

'So you are to be my Lord...' He thought.

If he were to count her openings and weaknesses, he could see many, and yet, there were none that could be exploited, it was a difficult concept to explain, even to himself; but suffice to say that he had only rarely seen such persons during his travels. She carried with her a charisma that made people want to obey her, to work for her, to do as she commanded, but the extent to which she could make use of that remained to be seen -- quite an interesting prospect for his new employer, if indeed that is how this was going to work out.

Although long, all his observations had taken split seconds only, and no normal observer would be able to tell what he had done within that time.

"Maou." He replied, bowing slightly. "...'tis a pleasure M'lady."

Although he was not too keen to show it unless necessary, courtly manners were not unknown to him; after all, this was not the first court he had walked in.

"I sympathize with the plight of your men. Rest assured I took no offense from their behavior..."

[daisandrena]

Maou's words seemed to put Maryel at ease as she seemed to visually relax some. She then let her smile become a little more genuine.

"That is good to hear. Captain Luzel often comes off as a cold-hearted person but he really is just a big and soft teddy-bear. So, what brings you to the guild hall? What kind of work are you looking for?"

She looked to him with a gentle expression but yet one that still let everyone know that just because she was somebody important, that she still had a softer and quite human side to her. The others in the room had saw that their idol was talking to someone who was not them and quickly began to give Maou a look that if looks could kill, he would be pushing up daisies. They all seemed to file out of the guild hall until only the two of them, and the usual workers were all that remained.

[Zhoren]

His words seemed to have a visible effect of easing her tension, which in his opinion was not appropriate for a leader. Letting one's facial features change at such small things was a bad sign no matter how he looked at it; but somehow it seemed rather appropriate in her case. He couldn't quite figure out the reason for it.

However, the good thing in this was the fact that she didn't seem to understand the implication in the name he had picked for himself, or more appropriately, the name that was forced on him.

'So 'Luzel' was the good captain's name huh...' He wondered. 'Kinda resembles the 'crying' gem.. Lapis Lazuli....'

He nodded slightly, there was no point in keeping secrets after all. Nor was it appropriate to keep secrets from one's lord, unless absolutely necessary. And yet, the more of her he observed, the more uncertain he got; since he wasn't really used to anyone or anything that he couldn't figure out in an instant, or a few.

The looks from the people were surprising, and yet not new. As a strategist, such looks were very rarely for him though; for it was usually the leader who took all the credit, be it good or bad. Only on occasions were the looks of the people centered on him in the past, and on those rare occasion , the looks were of hatred and not praise. For even he, the devil, was not impeccable. Sometimes, he made mistakes, other times, mistakes were unavoidable, and sometimes, they were necessary. But that was fine, the looks were rarely for him for too long.

"I am a strategist M'lady, I would serve a Lord who wishes to win his battles outside the battlefield." He decided to speak of his skills clearly, leaving nothing to imagination. "I am also an archer and specialize in bows and concealed weaponry."

"If your guild has need of such skills, then I aim to please."

[daisandrena]

Maryel smiled at him and nodded.

"That is very good to hear as my wishes are not to have my people going off to get themselves killed. I want the ones who follow me to have a better life for themselves. I do everything I can to make sure that happens. Believe it or not, there are some who do not like the kind of work that we do, and often seek to shut us down, but fortunately they have not had any success."

"Yet..."

Came a voice from the doorway to the guild hall. It belonged to a tall Elvaan man with black hair who looked like he had seen a battle or two himself. He seemed to be eyeing Maryel quite intently. This person's presence seem to put Maryel on her guard almost instantly. She glared at him.

"Mavellris...I can only assume that Ruby and Alfonso are here too..."

The Elf laughed in a very cocky manner.

"Now you know they go where I go...so what is our little goody two-shoes up to today? Not walking around with the good Captain?"

He said as his gaze then went to Maou.

"Well well...what do we have here? New boyfriend Maryel?"

He said as he began laughing.