Catching Up

Walking closer to this mysterious man, James thought that he had seen him from before, however as many of the man's features were blocked by the cloak, he couldn't be for certain.

Arriving at the table that the man was sitting, James noticed that the cup that he was drinking from was empty. Speaking up James said, "Good day brother. How are you doing?" With that, he passed over one of the cups to the man and said, "This one is on me."

Sitting opposite of the hooded man, James started to see more features of the hooded man. As he started to inspect the face in more detail, James froze in his position. He knew that man. He knew him all too well. It was Sir Edward, who had gone missing the day after the battle took place.

Coming back to realization, James stood up in a flash and bowed to him. His whole body was tense. Yet the opposite party ignored this. Taking the drink that James brought, he emptied it in one go, and signed James to sit down.

Looking up to James, James could see that Sir Edward's face was worn out. There was no sign of strength or spirit. It was clear that the one mighty warrior lost quite a lot back then. At that point, James heard a weak voice talk to him, "How are you doing boy? I see that you are still alive. I am happy to see you standing."

It was clear that Sir Edward lost his spirit. Curious about this, James sat down, however was reluctant to ask any questions about it, scared that he might be yelled at.

"I never thought that someone from our troops would have come to this tavern… What actually brings you here?" Sir Edward asked.

With that, James told him what happened after he was saved by Sir Edward and the reason for him coming to The Saint's District. As James was telling the story, he could see Sir Edward nodding his head.

Taking his courage, James asked Sir Edward why he disappeared and what he actually was doing in here. As James asked that question, he could see that Sir Edward's expression changed.

After a moment of silence, he opened up his mouth. The same weak voice answered, "Well after I saved you that day, we got attacked by various demonic hybrids. There was even a new one among them…" Sir Edward told James the story what happened during the fight. "… After we killed the last demonic hybrid, I thought that the other demonic beasts would retreat. But… they didn't… we lost close to half of our troops that day. Because a blunder that I made." As Sir Edwards was finishing his story about the demonic beasts, James could hear the regret and pain that Sir Edward had in his voice.

Clearly Sir Edward had gone through a lot that day. James could not help himself from feeling guilty. Voicing his guilt to Sir Edward, James said, "I am sorry sir. I think that this all has been my fault. If I didn't act so stupid back then, you wouldn't lose your focus and concentration. It is all because of me."

As James was speaking these words, he could see Sir Edward shaking his head, "No boy, it has nothing to do with you. It is all fully my mistake. As the commander, I would have been responsible to know what would happen. Yet I didn't."