Changing the World isn't Easy Chapter Three
I'm rather pleased with the feedback so far, I didn't know fictions like this were rare, but I'm glad.
Enter Brave Vesperia
Brave Vesperia was a guild that truly stood out from the crowd. Despite having very few members, rumoured to be in the numbers of four to five, they held a substantial amount of influence. The service that they offered was unconventional, but essential. Brave Vesperia did the job that others found rather tedious, which was delivery.
They were the only guild in the world who could boast a moving headquarters. Their base of operations was a boat which was towed by a giant, flying whale like creature, the Entelexeia Ba'ul. In nearly every city and small town there was a small docking bay, where the guild would land. This cost a considerable amount of money, but it helped solidate their importance.
These bays were identical in size and merely consisted of a frame where their boat, the Fiertia would settle. From there they would wait for people in the town to arrive with packages they would like to send.
Fee's were decided through weight, size and sometimes, general income of the customer. This didn't mean they did jobs for free, but they were a fair guild who operated on the grounds of justice.
This wasn't the full reason for the guilds fame. A large contributory factor was the book, Tales of Vesperia, published by Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein. Whilst many nobles believed it to be a mere fairy tale, those who came in contact with Brave Vesperia, and those of the guilds understood, the true heroes of the world were Brave Vesperia.
The second factor was their most influential member. This in fact was not the guild leader Karol Capel. It was actually the infamous man, Yuri Lowell.
Yuri Lowell was a young man, age 24 and was the childhood friend of Commandant Flynn Scifo. He was known as an evil vigilante by nobles, credited with the murders of councilman Ragou and Captain Cumore of the Imperial Knights. These same 'evils' were seen as actions of good by members of the Union, it could be said, that because he was pardoned for his crimes, even his Highness Ioder condoned his actions, but that is merely a rumour.
His purple eyes and long, unkempt black hair made him an instantly recognisable figure. He was by far the most famous commoner on Terca Lumireis, only matched by Flynn Scifo. The fact that his name brought controversy actually increased business for Brave Vesperia, that very same business was about to be conducted once more.
"Hey, Judith darlin' how much long til' Capua Nor? My poor back is aching from bein' on this ship" a middle aged man complained melodramatically. This man was Raven, more famously known as First Captain Schwann Oltorain, veteran of the Great War.
"If you don't like it, how about getting off, I'd say it's only a 500ft drop" replied a sultry voice, belonging to the beautiful, yet sadistic Krityan, Judith.
"D'aww you can be so cold at times, you know that" the man sulked as he rolled over.
"Really? I never noticed" Judith said in a frighteningly convincing tone, which made all those present feel slightly cold.
"Haha, don't let it get to you Raven. She doesn't mean it" the young guild leader, Karol Capel told the man as he crouched down.
Karol, now 15 looked almost like a completely different person from the boy who Yuri met in Quoi Woods. Not only had he gotten taller and wider, but his voice had also broken. His choice of clothing really hadn't changed much though, nor had his hair.
The strangest thing about Karol was the fact that he looked far beyond his age, and could easily pass for an 18 year old. In the past he used to complain about not being strong, but not now, instead people looked at his muscular build and felt jealous. People assumed the reason for this was the fact that he'd been using large hammers and swords for years.
"Who do you think I am, you?" Raven quipped back at the teen. Obviously offended that Karol thought he was being serious.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Karol asked angrily, grasping his heavy Bravior sword tightly as he said it.
"What did your ability to think stop once your body grew?" Raven baited the guild leader.
"That does it!" Karol screamed, as he got ready to swing his sword.
"Don't let him get to you captain, if you kill him now, who'll handle the negotiations. It pains me to say it but the old man has his uses" called out the infamous man, who sat calmly with his back against the cabin wall, eyes closed, with Repede at his side.
"Oh yeah" Karol said as if he'd come to a realisation, dropping his killing urge at the same time.
"Gee, you sure don't pull any punches do ya', you're gonna break this old man's heart" Raven complained as he rolled over once more, making Yuri chuckle slightly.
"If you boys are done playing around, get ready, we've arrived" Judith called out from the helm. She was the ship's captain, regardless of her position in the guild. She even dressed like it too, adorning herself in this brown leather jacket and black trousers. She also wore a brown hat, in a slightly similar style to Yuri's black hat.
"It's your turn today kid" Raven told the black haired man who grinned excitedly.
"Alright, finally time for a little action" Yuri said as he cracked his knuckles and walked over to the edge of the boat to grab a rope, making Judith giggle slightly.
"You remember how to do it don't you?" Judith asked the man as Ba'ul began to descend slowly. She herself also grabbed a rope on the opposite side of the boat.
As Ba'ul got closer and closer to the city, Yuri and Judith made sure they were properly strapped up. Once they were, they both stood on the railings. Awaiting orders from Raven, this time.
As the boat got even closer, a few cheers resounded from passerby's obviously pleased by the sight of the flying guild headquarters.
"Ok steady... on your marks, get set, GO!" Raven ordered the two, who instantly jumped off the railing and descended towards the ground.
The rope was firm enough for the two to kind of abseil downwards to the bottom of the ship, once there, they would improvise depending on who was doing it.
Judith who was already adept in air combat, gracefully flipped. Using the rope like a bungee cord to give herself a decent landing. On the other side, Yuri turned his body and kicked off the bottom of the boat to give himself some distance, before landing fairly easily, this was met with a roar of applause by onlookers.
From there on the two simply had to tie the rope to the pillars, once that was done, Karol dropped some more down for the duo to tie down, kind of like setting anchor on a ship.
With that in place, Ba'ul was able to steadily drop the boat down without damaging its structural integrity. The entire act was done solely for that reason, and partly to make a showy entrance.
"Wheew" Raven mock cheered as he looked over the edge, applauding the black haired man with a small smirk, gaining one in return from him.
"I don't know what you're joking about, it's your go next time old man" Yuri called back to him, making Raven quickly disappear from view, backing away from the edge in the process.
As the boat began to land, a few people approached Yuri and Judith respectively, asking them the general questions such as, "How long will you be in town for" and various questions on how long it would take to deliver to so and so.
"You'll have to take that up with the leader" Yuri said, diverting the responsibility onto the young man.
All Yuri wanted to do right now was getting his sword from the boat and then go and get something to eat. "Hey Judy" Yuri called out. "What you planning on doing whilst we're docked?" Yuri asked the beautiful Krityan who put a hand to her mouth to think.
"Well, I might go for a walk and then get something to eat, you?" Judith replied before quickly deflecting the question back to him.
"I'll probably head to the nearby restaurant, I might buy some stuff, you know just relaxing really" Yuri said in a nonchalant manner.
"As long as you don't go off and get into any fights" Judith quipped, the realistic chance that it would happen was quite scary.
"I don't want to hear that, especially from you Judy" Yuri replied with a grin.
"Now whatever do you mean?" Judith asked as she raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, before Yuri could reply Raven shouted down to the two.
"As much as I enjoy watching you two, you should probably get what you need from the boat whilst you still can" Raven told the two, who nodded and went to collect their stuff.
-A little bit later-
After Yuri and Judith went their separate ways, all that was left was for Karol and Raven to rake in the work. In the short time that they'd hit the town, they'd already secured small package deliveries to Dahngrest and Halure. They weren't massively paid jobs, but the pay from them was enough to cover all potential expenses for the next few trips.
"It's been a bit livelier since we picked Yuri up in Halure hasn't it Raven" Karol commented, from beside the man, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.
"I guess" Raven said, shrugging off the comment. "I wonder why he was in Halure though" he pondered mischievously as he scratched his stubble.
"He was probably visiting Estelle, and when we arrived he decided to hop on board, I think your reasons for getting on board was more suspicious to be honest Raven" the teen said in a dubious tone.
"Hey, what's with the tone, there's nothin' suspicious about ole Raven coming aboard is their?" Raven mocked hurt.
"Well, you were half-drunk and missing some trousers for that matter" Karol stated before laughing. "Seriously what were you doing?" Karol asked curiously.
"Let's just avoid that topic shall we?" Raven said quickly as he walked towards the front door of the magistrates office.
"Aw come on!" Karol complained but was quickly shushed by Raven.
"You two got any business with the magistrate?" a burly guard asked in a deep voice.
"Why yes" Raven started out sarcastically, though to normal people it sounded more like enthusiasm. "We received word that the magistrate needed something delivered to Heliord as quickly as possible, so here we are Brave Vesperia, at your service" Raven finished his little introduction.
"Ah, that's brilliant, let me inform the magistrate that you have arrived" the guard responded in a chipper tone, as he turned around and entered the magistrates office.
After a few moments of waiting, and impressed staring from Karol, the magistrate himself arrived at the door.
"Good day" the man started in a thick, upper class accent. "I have been informed that you are members of Brave Vesperia, correct?" the frail looking magistrate asked.
"Not just members" Raven said with a smile. "You are looking at the Guild Leader and the second-in-command" Raven told the man in a grandiose tone, obviously intending to impress the man.
"Splendid" the magistrate said in a delighted tone, his features visibly brightening. "Please come in, I have some important business to discuss" the man beckoned, turning to the side to courteously let the two enter the glamorous manor.
-At the same time-
True to his word, Yuri went off to the nearest restaurant. The feel of his sword, the Second Star hanging from his hand, brought him a subconscious comfort, befitting of someone of his combat prowess.
Luckily for Yuri, the restaurant allowed dogs in which was an added bonus. As much as Repede didn't mind sitting outside, Yuri often preferred having his loyal companion with him at all times.
As Yuri walked up to the counter, he noticed a man in an Imperial Knights uniform watching him carefully. The man had slicked back red hair and green eyes and his lower face was coated by a small amount of facial hair.
Yuri assumed this man was of high rank, he could tell by the man's uniform which adorned the colours of green, white and blue. It irritated Yuri that he was being watched, but he was famous amongst knights so he dealt with it.
As Yuri was set to order, the man got up from his seated position and walked over to Yuri, the man's movement was followed by the eyes of twenty knights, whom Yuri assumed were the man's subordinates.
"Excuse me, I wouldn't be wrong in assuming you're Yuri Lowell?" the man asked in an accent that clearly signaled that he was a noble, making Yuri smirk slightly, Repede however growled at the man.
"And if I am?" Yuri asked as he tilted his hat slightly and slung his sword over his shoulder, his tone purposely forceful to sound challenging.
"Then I would very much like to fight you, care to accept my challenge?" the man asked with an aura of confidence, which made Yuri's blood heat up in an instant.
"And who might you be?" Yuri replied sarcastically, imitating the man's form of speech to purposely rile him up.
"I'm Captain Michael Lexar of the Imperial Knights" he said proudly, putting his hand to the hilt of his sword. "And the man that will defeat you Yuri Lowell!"
(End of Chapter)
Whew that was a fun chapter to write. The next few chapters is Yuri's side. You see this fiction is split between Flynn and Yuri's side, they do come into contact quite soon actually. However I decided that it would be more fun to have everyone involved, except Rita :S (for now anyway.)
This is the first glimpse of Captain Michael Lexar, he is an important character, but don't worry he won't be a stupendously overpowered, godlike OC.
Hope you enjoyed.
-Aquilon