AN: Hello all! As you know, the Blizzard Group showed up in the last chapter, so some explanation on the Blizzard Group will be made in this one. But certain details will be different from the original OPM universe, due to the TES settings here.


Saitama had sneaked out of the Eldergleam Sanctuary around the time Farkas was cured, not wanting to get involved in a purposeless fight if the Companion recalled being knocked out – he had gotten into too many of those lately… There was no point for him to stay in there anyway.

As a result, Saitama was currently on his way back towards Whiterun.

One might question why he was not on the way back to Dustman's Cairn to retrieve the fragment of Wuuthrad as the mission from the Companions should go. The thing was… human memory a peculiar thing, and Saitama somehow managed to remember the location of a sanctuary, Eldergleam Sanctuary, he had visited months ago, yet failed to recall the position of a catacomb he had just departed from a day before.

No wood thread then.

Alone, Saitama moved on without any care for the Companion he had left at the Sanctuary, or the Companions in general.

He would admit it, trying to join that Companions group just proved to be too troublesome. Seriously, Saitama had not managed to earn a single coin going through all these hassle, including knocking out a member of the Companions, traveling a rather long distance to a catacomb, knocking out another member of the Companions… Well… perhaps he was not quite cut out to be a guild recruit or mercenary. Moreover, Saitama doubted the Companions would accepted someone whose most contribution currently was smacking their people senseless. He might as well try to join their adversary…

Never mind.

Since he never wanted to be a soldier of fortune, but rather a hero of hobby, Saitama would prefer another source of income with no strings attached. Actually… since now he was in the wilderness, hunting would be a sensible choice.

With that thought in mind, Saitama marched towards Whiterun with the intention of picking up some catching on his way.

It did not take long for Saitama to arrive at the City of Whiterun, where the first thing Saitama did was, of course, selling the pelts of the unfortunate animals he had stumbled upon on his way back – just a couple of wolves in this case. Saitama made a mental note to stay cost-conscious in the near future.

The next thing Saitama intended to do was to head back towards Breezehome, where he could find some comics to read. Nevertheless, such plan was disrupted when a courier showed up in front of him.

The letter from King just arrived, claimed the courier, who handed an envelope to Saitama.

Unsealing the envelope, Saitama fished out a piece of paper, upon which there was only one line of content:

Got some news on Alduin. Meet me at Markarth ASAP.

Followed by a near illegible signature of King.

As it seemed, Saitama would not have time to read more comics now…


Fort Mistwatch, Eastmarch

Kvorsen and his new comrades stood some distance away from the gate of the fort.

Actually, not all of them were new to Kvorsen, as some ex-members of the Silver Hand were also on this unit. The difference was, this was no longer a unit of the Silver Hand, but a unit of the Blizzard Group.

Yes, Kvorsen had joined the Blizzard Group. It had nothing to do with his cause or his plans for future. On the contrary, siding with the Blizzard Group was simply a temporary measure Kvorsen had taken in lieu of being chased into the wilderness once more.

By the time the Blizzard Group showed up after the Dark Brotherhood incident, Kvorsen seriously did not want to get involved in another fight against another group with numerical superiority. So when Kvorsen and his mates realized the two options Blizzard Group offered them were either being recruited or being cleaned up like bandits, they chose the former without much hesitation.

Yet Kvorsen had to wonder… What kind of recruitment method was this!?

And now, recruiting was apparently one of the reasons they came to this Miswatch fort, where a band of so-called Miswatch bandits resided.

Sighing quietly, Kvorsen brought his question to his one of his old comrade, Krev, who was assigned to the same team. "What exactly is the point of all this?"

Krev was caught off guard by the question. "The point of what? If you are talking about the purpose of this unit… Our job is to wait here until the vanguard unit eliminate most of the potential threat, providing support when required, and preventing any foe from escaping this way."

"No, no, that's not what I mean." Kvorsen waved his hand. "I am saying… The Blizzard Group- uh- I mean we- we just travel to some encampment and threaten the dwellers to join us. What are we doing? Isn't it weird? And what is this Blizzard Group all about anyway?"

"I can't say for sure, but from what I've heard, the Blizzard Group is some sort of mercenary group lead by, you know, Fubuki, the Hellish Blizzard. The group was not founded in Skyrim, only came here recently from another province for development. Attacking bandit camps is just a way for us to earn bounty."

"What's with the strange recruitment strategy?"

"The Blizzard Group was doing it before I joined. They said it's because many native factions of Skyrim are recruiting new members as well – College of Winterhold, Bards College, the Companions, hell… I've heard even the Dark Brotherhood is recruiting. That's lots of competition. So what we are doing is avoiding the competitors by thinking out of the box."

"That's why we are intimidating the bandits we hunt to join us…"

"Only the capable ones."

Now came to think of it, Kvorsen considered the idea not too bad, as scaring the bandits would not cause much consequence and it could be done at the same time when doing their quests.

It's two birds with one stone for the Blizzard Group.

"Wait." A conclusion just dawned on Kvorsen. "Does that mean we Silver Hand got recruited because they think we are bandits!?"

Krev stayed silent for a few seconds. "I think you are right…"

Damn! Kvorsen knew they should have purged the Silver Hand of those who acting like bandits.

But it was all too late now, with the Silver Hand disbanded and all.

Shaking his head in defeat, Kvorsen was about to ask more about the disposition of the Blizzard Group, but the door to the fort suddenly opened. The attention of the outside unit, Kvorsen included, was immediately drawn to the gaping entrance. Expecting to intercept out coming enemies, the team poised for a fight. However, what immerged from the dark door way was not their foes.

It was their allies.

By the looks of it, it was yet another bandit camp successfully taken over. Kvorsen was not sure whether he should be glad about it, being once a member of an overthrown group.

One thing was in Kvorsen's mind though.

Looking at the leading woman trudging out of the fort, Kvorsen had to admit the head of his current faction was much hotter than of his previous bosses. Kvorsen did not know why he had not noticed it earlier, but Fubuki, in her tight soot black dressed, looked absolutely gorgeous.

At least that was plus in his current predicament – the only plus Kvorsen could think of…


Markarth City, the Reach

Saitama made it to Markarth after a couple of days of uneventful journey. Maybe it was due to the general decline of the unlawful activity of Skyrim or it was because Saitama's extraordinary luck; either way, not even a single bandit camp was seen during the trip.

Not that Saitama had anything to complain.

What did bother Saitama was the lack of detailed information on King's letter. In short, he did not know where exactly in Markarth should he find King. So Saitama settled for checking the buildings in Markarth one by one and asking the inhabitants of each.

Someway, such scenario seemed oddly familiar to Saitama. Shrugging off the sensation of déjà vu, Saitama continued his search of King.

The local inn was his first stop, where Saitama, to his disappointment, received a negative response when requesting for King. And Saitama moved on, touring from buildings to buildings in a not-so-systematically order.

It was when Saitama made a visit to the Warrens that he found out something, or more specifically, someone of interest. This person of interest was, nonetheless, unrelated to King, but related to the déjà vu feeling Saitama got.

The Warrens was not exactly a pleasant place. It was where the citizens with low social status in Markarth resided – the poor, the sick and the homeless. Upon entering, one would be instantly greeted with the putrid smell, the depressing dimness and the hostile stares from the inhabitants. While the central hall of the building was not too small, its roof was low and oppressing, and its structure looked decayed and neglected. On both flanks of the hall, six rooms nested, three on each side. The quarters were small and cramped, with only hay piles inside as beddings.

Overall, this place was grim and hopeless, unwelcoming to its residents and visitors alike.

Yet Saitama somehow failed to register the unwelcomeness when he strolled through the bronze door into the Warrens. He simply walked in with the casual attitude as always, and strode towards the first person he saw.

The said person was a Breton male, whose face covered in black warpaint, and was heading out. When Saitama halted the man and was about to ask the man whether King had been spotted nearby, the guy suddenly flared up.

"It's you!" The stranger yelled at Saitama with recognition. "Where have you been?"

The question was not out of concern, however. Judging from the scolding tone, one could easily tell it was out of displease.

"Who are you?" Saitama was not sure the unknown guy got the right person.

"Don't pretend you don't know me!" The man seemed to become more triggered by Saitama's unawareness. "I had been waiting for you at the Shrine of Talos for a whole month. But you never show up!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about…" Saitama's face was completely blank, so was his brain.

"It was after that Forsworn attack at the market place. I slipped to you a piece of paper, remember?" The stranger was now waving his arms in disbelief. "The note should tell you to meet me at the Shrine of Talos. Didn't you read it?"

Silence.

The confused expression of Saitama compelled the stranger to rant on.

"By the eight! Or is it nine now… You genuinely forget it! I can't believe I thought you would do!…"

The man's ravings continued, whereas Saitama finally contrived to pinpoint the source of his feeling of familiarity. Right, Saitama now was quite sure he indeed had met this man, or at least some man, since Saitama could not quite recall the man's face, during his last stopover at Markarth. He had received a note telling him to meet the man somewhere, just like King's letter, and he had to search for the man's location by checking one building after another, just like what he was doing right now…

And Saitama seemed to remember he gave up, or he should say forgot about the search after the incident related to a haunted house and Genos. So the man waited and waited and waited at the Shrine of Talos for Saitama to appear, which had never happened.

No wonder the guy was so pissed.

Perhaps, Saitama should…

Hold on, that did not sound correct.

"Hey!" Saitama interrupted the man's babbling. "Who would wait a whole month for someone he only sees for one time? I don't even know you, and I never promise you I would go to that Shrine. Isn't it weird to pull such an act on a total stranger?"

The stranger was taken off guard by Saitama's words, and stopped briefly. But the peace did not last long. "Oh, so it's my fault now? You could at least tell me you were not coming! You know what? I am done with this… Murder investigation, Forsworn attacks, corrupt guards… Whatever! I don't care anymore. There is just no one! No one is reliable enough to help me out!"

Saitama was not sure what to say. The guy seemed fully indulged in his own little world… Much of what he said just made no sense.

"Uh…" Unable to find a good response to the man's outburst, Saitama chose to ignore it completely. "Anyway… Have you seen King around?"

"What?" The stranger threw Saitama an incredulous look. "Don't change the subject! It's about your… arrggh… Forget it! I got better thing to do than wasting my time here."

With that, the odd stranger pushed past Saitama – in the sense that the stranger pushed Saitama but Saitama did not budged, so the stranger ended up stumbling away, almost tripping in the process, and barely succeeded to wobble past Saitama in his unbalanced status.

Then the stranger rushed out of the Warrens in record speed, leaving Saitama watching without a word.

That, Saitama concluded, probably means the guy did not know where King is…


AN: In case you are curious, the stranger appearing in the last part of this chapter is called Eltrys, who has appeared in the chapter 6 of this fic, the chapter before Genos' first appearance.