Consequences of unwanted Heroism

The grand duke, Tika and Gunnir finally arrive in Outragjas. The trip wasn't necessarily difficult, at least it was nothing compared to the atmosphere. The cold eyes between Tika and her employer not any help in relieving the tense situation.

"I'm starting to think that your glares might kill me before the assassins do." The grand duke said during the carriage trip. Tika continues to read in her book, unfortunately one she had finished long ago. Still, however between the two options rereading was by far more pleasant.

Gunnir sighs as he steers the carriage, singing softly to himself. Often times he looks in the forest before turning his head to face the road again. It had been a few days since the others departed and whilst Cristal acted confident, the task itself could prove difficult depending on the number. He would know after all as one of the sole members of their party that had experienced the battlefield before. Some nights he still dreams about the days he spent on the battlefield, when they could still find the green behind his ears.

'Well, a battlefield… Was it that even?'

He hadn't even reached his twentieth dance of the sun, yet before he entered the plains of beasts with his company. Hired by the Theocracy of the Rising Sun to stop the beast men and beast shapers from stepping over the boundary. Kaiay was around 15 years his elder then and Lhedo would join soon after.

Some tribes had apparently moved too far north and the archbishop didn't trust nor appreciate those who had already once killed half the population. Accompanied by some regimes of paladins and other mercenary bands they marched south. Hoping that the tribes would disperse as soon as they saw the assembled army.

They didn't.

'In your lines! Paladin take the eastern flank! Mercenaries the west! Let them move not one step closer!' Gunnir can still hear the first order as if it was still being yelled at to this day. The leaders of the mercenaries doing what they were paid for and engaging in battle. Gunnir had killed around 10 that day, 5 the day after, and 12 the day after that. The battles themselves didn't last long, it was an accumulation of frustration between a nation and some suppressed groups of people. Neither side wished to make it a long-drawn-out war, but neither side was willing to back down.

The night attacks were the worst, the paranoia and the lack of sleeping a not-so-ideal combination. It was also during a night raid that a snake beast shaper managed to bite him before he bashed its head in. The poison was quickly purified, however, hair would never grow on his head again. Instead of trying to hide the baldness, Kaiay urged him to embrace it fully. To make it serve as a reminder because the beast men wouldn't forget and nor should he.

'Kaiay… What happened after I left? When did it all fall apart?' Gunnir thinks about the past as they arrive at Outragjass. Two local militiamen standing guard as the carriage arrives.

"What's your purpose and from where do you hail?" One of the two local militiamen asks, their weapons drawn.

"We search shelter for the night before continuing on our travel. We've come from Provokopjus and before then Enver." Gunnir responds to the inquiring man.

"Then I guess you know the reason for our suspicion?"

"I heard word that one of the nobles took interest in the matter. Mercenaries have been dispatched to deal with the deserters."

"Asariel be damned that those stuck-up pigs would ever do anything except ask someone to wipe their own asses!" The local militia guard bursts out, the other one still inspecting the carriage itself and the passengers. The one inspecting raises his thumb in the air. "Well, if that's truly the case then thank you."

"I've done nothing but relay what I've heard."

"Still, got no one else to thank… make sure you behave. If you're looking for a place to stay Baxter is the tavern keeper of the "The Provoked Cup." The man's an annoying old bastard and his wife is a bit of a bitch but good people. Especially in times like these." The local militia guard explains, pointing toward the direction of the tavern.

"Thank you, have a good day." Gunnir waves with his large hand, entering the village to spend the night.

As the guard said, politeness doesn't seem to be a priority for the couple running the tavern. Gunnir, Tika, and the grand duke hiding his identity as a simple rich noble were all firmly cussed out but at the end of the day given a room. They enter their rooms, hoping that the day they reunite with the rest will soon come.

*Knock, knock*

Someone knocks late at night in the tavern. To the annoyance of both Baxter and Betzy, they had kicked all the drunkards out around an hour ago and were just finished cleaning.

*Knock, knock, knock*

"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming wait! You impatient fool!" Baxter yells before he opens the door, two individuals stand there. Both were wearing complete black, one masked the other not.

"My apologies for the disturbance. Have you perhaps heard or seen a noble pass by here lately?" The masked one of the two asks, both already completely entering the tavern.

Betzy looks at the individual's hips and faces before she replies. The unmasked one has a tattoo on half of his face, the tattoo resembling something of a face swallowing an arming sword. Both are clearly armed as they walk with a particular silence.

"I don't know if you're just plain stupid. But not a lot of nobles care about villages like us. So of course we haven't seen one!" Betzy responds before the masked man approaches her. Now standing in front of her the mask seems to have no design, only one crack at its right side. But for the rest, there is nothing of note.

"That's strange because that carriage standing in the stables does fit the description. Care to explain?"

"Maybe your eyesight has gotten worse or the one who told you was wrong. Lots of idiots are walking around these days."

"That's true. But it doesn't have to be this way, you know? Tell us, and we will take care of it quietly. There might even be a pretty sum for you two." The masked man says as the other gives a pouch to the tavern keeper filled with gold. The man looks at his wife, and she looks back before he returns the pouch.

"No one like that's here. Fuck off will ya?" Baxter says as he moves next to Betzy, both standing in their tavern with the two armed individuals drawing close and closer. A calm magical aura engulfs them as they're pulled by the aura and quickly placed on the other side of the room.

From the hall where the tavern rooms are, two individuals arrive. One a gigantic bald man with a ginger beard and the other an ebony-skinned female mage.

"I believe we have visitors." Tika says whilst her calm magical aura flow out of her, engulfing the tavern.