More and more people came to his aid. Why? He was just a random thief, and nobody cared for a random thief. Virde blinked up at the crowd, a frown on his lips. His eyes were glossed were pain and his body was screaming in protest. The armored man seemed like he was losing his nerve—yet, the people didn’t back down. I’m lucky that they showed up. What would have happened if they hadn’t come? I would have probably been beaten to a pulp… he heaved a sigh, but even then his body whimpered in complaint. His green eyes raised to the armored man and the men and women who gathered around them. If only I could get away. He’s probably going to hand me over to the town guar-

Virde was suddenly lifted off of the ground without the slightest bit of effort. The man had thrown him over his shoulder and was carrying him away from the jousting arena and toward the outskirts of town. The thief glanced over his shoulder at the back of the man’s head. He had started to say that he was a good thief and that he was recruiting him into the Sacred Blades. Wait. Oh no. Is he talking about that group of ‘do-gooders’? I’d rather be killed…

But then again, the Sacred Blades probably had a ton of cash. It would be easy for him to get healed up by a cleric and take all of their money when they were asleep. Hell, perhaps he could even slit their throats. He bet that a ton of people wanted them dead. If he claimed that he had killed them off, then he would be regarded as a hero amongst the ruffians and thieves of the land. But… Virde wasn’t that type of person. Stealing their money would be good enough for him.

”Fine…” the thief murmured as he was set down on the ground again. He took the piece of candy and popped it into his mouth as the cleric came over. I hope I can get away from them. Maybe I could run into Valm…

Laciel and Noelle

Noelle held her breath, frozen to the ground in fear. "What did I just do?" she thought to herself. She only moved when a guy came up to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright. "No, it isn't going to be alright." Then, another guy came up, a person who knew her name even though she didn't recognize his face. At least the swords-woman was backing off. Before she could question the robed man, Vincent yelled and a blade was suddenly pointed at her chest.

He was mad at her. Yet, Noelle held her ground, even though Vincent had drawn out his weapon against her. He then seemed to recognize her, stabbing the sword down into the ground and continued his talking. After he had left with the thief thrown over his shoulder, Noelle hung her head, staring at the dusty ground. She had definitely made him mad.

"Whats up with that guy?" Laciel stayed beside her, confused at what just happened. Were their intentions wrong, or was there a miscommunication of sorts. Either way, whats done was done, crisis averted for now. "Ugh, all we know was that this guy he took was a thief, and robbing people from the way Mr. Fussy Pants put it..." He just sighed before continuing on. "So, should we go after him?... Er, Missy?" Laciel bent his head see her face as she stared at the ground after the scene that just occurred. "Look, he was probably not thinking clearly for the time being, and that clouded his thoughts. If you didn't step in, things would of gone from bad to worse. If they started to fight, I would of jumped right in, trying to disarm them... S-so thank you," he said, giving her a genuine smile.

The man beside her had begun to talk, thanking her for what she had did. Noelle sniffled, looking up at the guy before she rubbed her eyes. Did she even want to go after Vincent right now? No, she would wait till she could properly apologize to him alone. "N-no, it's fine," she said, her lips pulling up into a tiny smile. What he had said made some sense; Vincent was probably stressing out. "Oh, no problem," she answered, a light blush covering her cheeks. She was always easily embarrassed when thanked by anyone. Despite recent events, Noelle straightened herself up, a light chuckle escaping her lips.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you. I'm Noelle."

"My name is Laciel, pleasure to meet you Noelle," he said, giving her a friendly nod. "(She mentioned something about the Blades earlier... Does she mean Sacred or another group,)" he wondered, quietly contemplating to himself before continuing on. "Anyways, we should return the stolen money since Mr. Grumps doesn't want to do it." Laciel picks up one of the sacks of money, and juggles them for a bit before catching them in his arms, cradling the three like they were a whole baby. "Well then, shall we Missy?" Laciel took one of the sacks, and stretched his arm towards the girl. "I mean, it would be rude to leave ten people hungry and deprived, right?"

She took the sack of money, quite impressed with Laciel's juggling skills. "Yeah!" she agreed, picking up a few more sacks. Well, the thief certainly a skilled pick-pocket. At least the owners of the stolen goods would be getting it back. Before long, the pair had found the ten people, graciously giving back their money. When they were finished, Noelle gave out a long sigh. It was an arduous time trying to locate that certain person in the midst of hundreds. She glanced at Laciel, knowing full well that he was the type to be in the Blades. However, she had never seen him before, so she supposed this would be a great time to try recruiting him.

"Hey, Laciel, have you heard of the Sacred Blades?" she asked. "I think you would make a wonderful addition to the group!"

Laciel nodded as they finished returning the final coin bag to the robbed person. "Actually, that's the reason why I'm here in Ylisstol." He turned his head towards Noelle, his friendly smile turning into a serious, stoic look. "I've been looking for the group for quite some time... Rumors lead me to different towns, or bandit camps." Laciel sighed, putting his hand to his face before continuing on. "It was a pain to find you guys, but it was well worth it..." laciel let out a slight chuckle, grinning a bit. "Your leader Wyeth recently recruited me... He seems to have a balance of seriousness and friendliness, which I like."

"So, whats your experience with the Blades been like Noelle, because its been a while since I've been in a mercenary group," Laciel speaks, his eyes lowering a bit. Despite his smiling, theres a glint of sorrow in his eyes.

"Ah, really?" she murmured, pleasantly surprised that Laciel had already been recruited by Wyeth. However, she was more surprised that Laciel had taken great lengths to find the Sacred Blades. Did that mean the Blades were becoming more popular among the general population? Noelle smiled, glancing at the man before answering his question. She felt a sense of sadness from him...

"Oh well, I'm happy," she thoughtfully said. "I like everyone in the Blades, and it's fun helping out people. I'm sure you'll have a great time being a part of the group, promise!" she said, trying to subtly cheer up Laciel.

"Hehe, yeah, I'm sure I will," he said, perking up immediately, smiling a bit. "I feel that this will be a wonderful and invigorating experience." He closes his eyes for a bit, reminiscing something for a bit, before opening them and continuing on. "I just hope the same fate doesn't befall this group, just as it did to the previous on I was in eleven years ago." Laciel rubbed his chin for a bit, frowning a bit. He then just shook his head, a rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "S-sorry if I brought you down on accident, I'm just afraid of them and what they did."

"Anyways, shall we watch the joust Miss Noelle?"

"Eh? What exactly happened 11 years ago?" she thought to herself. When Laciel had mentioned his fear of 'them' and what 'they' did, Noelle could only helplessly wonder. She didn't want to unearth up more painful memories for him. However, she was confident that his old group's fate wouldn't befall on the Blades. Not with her around! "Don't worry! We're all capable of beating off any adversary we face," she assured. "And okay!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you guys are," Laciel said, partially lying a bit. How could they stand up to the Grimleal? Who knows how powerful they've grown over the years since he left them... Then again, the Blades could stand up depending on how well they were trained. Once he spilled the beans, he would need to tell them everything... It was pretty stressful, knowing that if he slipped up, he might of doomed the world. But for now, he would discard all feelings of that for now. For now, he was going to enjoy watching this joust with a newfound friend and ally of his.

He gave her a small smile, and then continued cheering fervently with the crowd.

Vincent needed to cool off. Not many people were back at the camp yet. He'd wait for them to get back... He walked into his tent and removed his armor, changing into lighter clothes. Myrmidion's clothes, actually. He had gained skills as a Myrmidion during his travels with various mercenaries. He'd abandoned his old golden armor when he'd lost his honor. He didn't deserve to wear such an honorable title. Working as a sell-sword had exposed him to many truths in the world. He'd allowed the deaths of innocents, and had even stolen things himself. He wasn't any better than that thief he had stopped. They could all see that in him. That's why he had been stopped. He probably needed that help. And yet, he'd almost killed one of his companions in the army. Maybe he wasn't any good for this army. Being such a self-righteous person, and persecuting those who did wrong was like a pot that called the kettle black. He sighed, and left his tent, walking out of the camp and sitting down under a tree nearby. He laid his sword down, and stared out at the field, trying to calm the raging tides of his mind. He wished he could be an ignorant and kind person like Wyeth. His world would be a lot simpler... He put away his thoughts, and meditated, clearing his mind.

-Vass/Gran-
The day for Gran just got worse as his brother buddy buddied with one of the Blades. There's no way he could murder his brother discreetly without drawing attention to himself... Was this what Master Grima foresaw? Yes, yes things probably were supposed to go this way, you can't defy the one truth. Gran shuffled away from the duo, looking up at the sky for a sign of his hawk, Ragmi. He would need to report to Zayn on the double about this thorn.

As he made his way to the camp, Gran took another one of his apples out, and began to nibble on the skin of it nervously. The camp was filled with a few people, ranging from regular foot soldiers to seemingly professional mercs. He sighed as he made his way to a tree, and lied under it, munching on his apple.

"What to do, what to do..."

Gran mumbled quietly to himself as he continued to look up at the sky. It should take Ragmi a day or two to reach Gran. He sighed, and continued eating his apple under the tree, occasionally looking up at the sky anxiously. He hoped that the HVT would be killed in a bandit raid or such, but knowing his brother, it would probably take hundreds of bandits to take him down. He had the Grimleals training, and he exceled in swordsmanship.

"(I can't underestimate him... Otherwise it's going to bite me in the ass later.)"

An'zu slipped off Lune's shoulders after what she assumed to be a small panic attack (one she just triggered, for gods' sake), and as he waded through the crowd in a hurry, she barely managed to hang onto him. It was probably the most unstable piggyback ride she'd ever had. She supposed she actually could have just let go earlier, but she didn't want to lose Lune in the crowd when he was all freaked out like this. An'zu craned her neck as far back as she could, watching as the wyvern receded into the distance. Of all the things she could do, she just had to practically give her potential new friend a heart attack.

It wasn't until they reached an area where the crowd started to dissipate, a fair distance away from the joust and the wyvern she so graciously pointed out to him, that she finally let go. An'zu pulled at his arm to stop him from moving, and gave him a comforting pat on the back, rubbing small circles along his back in an effort to soothe him. "Sorry," she said, quirking her lips into a sheepish, apologetic smile. "Didn't know you had a thing about wyverns."

Her everything was screaming out in curiosity, desperately wanting to find out how Lune happened to get such an intense phobia, but even she knew better than to prod and pry. She'd just have to wait until he calmed down, unless she wanted to risk setting him off even more. An'zu looked around for a distraction—anything to get his mind off the wyvern—but found none. They were near the town's gates, and seeing as nearly all of the townspeople had gone to watch the joust, there was little activity beyond the arena. The only thing worth noting was the brown-haired man in dark clothes, on his way to the gates, a big sack of something slung over his shoulder. No, wait, that was a person--

"Hey, it's that guy again," An'zu muttered distractedly, watching as he disappeared out into the outskirts of town. "Guess he won against the redhead." She couldn't help but wonder if he left the arena to have his privacy with his new conquest. Was that the right word? Or was that rude? Crap, she was digressing again! An'zu shook her head, remembering just then why she was looking for a distraction in the first place.

"Feeling any better?" she asked, genuinely apologetic as she hoped the answer was yes.