Chapter 10: A Reluctant Reunion
A year has passed after Lucas' departure from Caelin. He wanders around the Lycian states on foot, with his usual green cloak but with a noticeable difference, a wrapped bandage on his left arm. Due to his obvious weakness on horseback, he had travelled the entire trip on foot. He decides to relax at a certain pub next to the inn from which he stayed for the night, ignoring the mad noise from his drunk seatmates, travellers' gossips, and the rowdy townsfolk enjoying their leisure in the pub.
It had been a year since he started his journey to find answers about the tattoo and of those mysterious men who attacked during that one summer day. And among the travellers that have journeyed further than he did and inquired about them. But it was in vain, he barely had gotten any clear answers aside from them acknowledging suspicious people that bore no empathy to their victims or about nothing at all. His thoughts then wandered to a certain green haired girl and what she must be doing right now. 'Well,' he reasoned to himself, 'most likely spending some quality time with her grandfather.' But that thought quickly faded away as it came, the looming problems from earlier came crashing down like a torrent.
As he tries to de-stress his headaches and frustrations, a certain dark green-haired girl with thin twintails, passes a free beverage of cold root beer to him.
"You seem like a serious fellow! Take this one and relax. Enjoy your time here, on the house!" the green haired twin-tailed girl cheers up, taking Lucas off his guard from her kind gesture before slapping himself.
Lucas thinks of this and takes a sip of the free drink before pushing it away from him.
"I'll pass." Lucas says still thinking about what had happened while he was making various notes based on what he had gathered. He tried compiling it together only for it to be even messier than it was before so he just left the papers as is. While not noticing that the lady was looking at the notes he compiled before he sighs.
"What are all these for?" The green-haired village girl asks curiously concerning Lucas' clutter of printed information.
"Best you do not probe any further please. It is for your own good, little girl," he answered sternly before carefully rearranging them and then puts them all in his satchel before wearing it over his shoulder.
"Mmm, I'm not little!" the village girl pouted.
"You act like it." Lucas deadpans before he stands up to pay the barkeep for the amount of alcohol that he had drunk before slinging his staff, which one tip was wrapped around with some sort of cloth and making sure that his satchel was with him.
"Where are you going?"
"To where knowledge awaits." Lucas says before heading off out of the pub, only to be pushed back into the pub's floor by a group of rugged men, with menacing looks on their faces and rusty axes hanging on their waist sashes.
"Well, ain't this real nice, right fellas!? The rugged brigand rallies, making his criminal sworn brothers roar with excitement.
"Take 'em all! Anything at will!" he commands, letting a pair of his sworn brother brigands to wield their axes, only to be swiftly slain by a javelin impaled on their chests. Cloth slowly falling to the floor as it was revealed that the staff the tactician was carrying was his emblem lance.
"Get out of my way." The tactician says with his emblem spear over his shoulder as everyone was looking at him with shock before walking out of the bar as he hears a loud feminine scream as one brigand fell down to the ground.
"Come here lassie!" one brigand yells as he grabs hold of the same twin tailed girl that tried to assist Lucas in his previous predicament.
"Hey! Let go of me!" the girl screams as she struggles against the bandit.
The bandit looks at the girl with malicious intent. "Now you're my game for tonight girl," he grunts as he shows his broad axe near her chin.
"Lady Rebecca!" one villager exclaimed with worry as the men of the village present in their pub stood from their seats and huddled around them.
"...I am so unpaid for all of this crap…" Lucas says before turning around to throw the last javelin he had on him to that bandit, impaling the bandit in the eye somehow before the others could react, making the bandits surprised that another member was killed before anyone could do anything about it.
"What happened here guys!?" Suddenly, a pair of axe-wielding brigands come to the pub before getting pushed away and hacked down to the stony road by an orange-armored cavalier with his eyes covered by his light-green hair. The orange knight enters the pub and inspects the area, littered with corpses of bandits and a lone tactician spearman wielding his emblem lance and the village chief's daughter.
"You owe me a pint, Rebecca…." Lucas mutters before moving in front of her protecting her defensively.
"What happened here!?" the orange knight inspected from the scene.
"We are being assaulted sir." Lucas says cautiously, while using his spear ready.
"W-wait! Sir Lowen!" Rebecca calls out to the knight. "Gimme a minute! You must be sent here by Lord Eliwood yeah!? Hold on!" she warns as she goes to get her gear from a secret compartment.
Upon hearing the Lord Eliwood is near, he tries to sneak away from the young maiden since he does not want to deal with the 'pretty boy' ever in his life again. As the knight Lowen approaches him and tries to talk with the tactician.
"Say, you look proficient with the spear, I urge you to come with me at once with the girl, please," Lowen begs.
"No." Lucas replied bluntly. "I met the young lord once and I do not EVER want to meet him again." He says placing with emphasis in the ever.
"I'm back! Armed and ready!" Rebecca readies, wearing her leather paddings and an arrow quiver on her side while wielding her iron hunting bow.
"Great, now I can leave now. See you." Lucas says before walking out spear in hand before being blocked by the orange knight's javelin.
"Sorry, I got my orders," Lowen begs with his javelin in hand.
"And I told you, I am not interested in your matters. I have research to do and–"
Suddenly, Rebecca points an iron arrowhead behind Lucas' temple to coerce him to follow the fledgeling knight.
"Really? Aiming an arrow at me?" Lucas sighs at the dirty trick that the lass used on him.
"My village is in trouble, and you're coming with us," Rebecca answers back with a smirk.
"And like I said, I am not interested in your matters. I have things to do." Lucas says gripping his spear in case he needs to defend himself.
Despite the struggling, Rebecca pushes Lucas off his feet with his guard down, making the tactician use his spear to balance himself before giving Lowen the chance to grab him and lay him atop his steed before riding with him out of the pub and exiting the village with two passengers.
"Nooooo! I hate horses! Get me off this thing. I demand it at once!" He protests as he tries to find the most opportune time to jump off the horse but fails because of how fast the horse is going, only to be completely ignored by the others.
Now the trio make their way out into the open field, galloping for the high plains and valleys to meet up with Eliwood and a cavalier with a knight crest, indicating his rank as a paladin.
"Lord Eliwood! Sir Marcus! I have returned!" Lowen declares, letting the archer girl dismount of his horse.
"What's happening at the other side right now?" Marcus asks.
"The situation is really dire! Those bandits are being incredibly impatient with the numbers I've just encountered for a reconnaissance squad. We need to immediately address this now!" Lowen urges, ignoring the tactician who slowly regains consciousness and dismounts off the horse like his life depends on it, also making sure that none of his notes fell off.
"Oh Goodie…" Lucas mutters to himself hoping that the redhead won't notice him trying to sneak away from the group.
However, Marcus then asks "Who are those two bystanders you've brought with you? One of which is seemingly trying to escape?"
"I am Rebecca! The village chief's daughter! Don't try to stop me! Let me join the fight!" she urged with her bow and arrow ready.
After the tactician made sure that everything was in order, he then proceeded to run away faster, only to be blocked by Marcus' horse. Making the tactician curse at himself for being too slow at retreat and running away from the crowd.
"Wait, Lucas!? Is that you!?" Eliwood wonders upon seeing the familiar green cloaked spearman.
"...Oh shit…" Lucas mutters as he sweats more as he slowly gives in and stops trying to run.
"Milord, do you recognize this man?" Marcus asks while blocking Lucas' escape route.
"I do remember him. He was with lady Lyndis in their journey to Caelin. A formidable strategist by trade. He was the rumored challenger and victor in a duel against the late lord Lundgren," Eliwood relays, getting Marcus' attention.
"Excuse me, but I didn't really defeat him in a normal sense. I simply let the fool be electrocuted by the armor he wore. Pretty Boy." Lucas replies saying that last part out of spite.
"Well either way, it is good to see you again, but we really need your help now. These bandits are terrorizing my domain, and as the heir to the throne of Pherae, I cannot ignore these atrocities while I am around. I believe lady Lyndis would say the same," Eliwood implored.
"Do not bring her into this." Lucas says threateningly as he grips his spear hard.
"What will happen if these same bandit groups terrorize Caelin as well? What would you do then?" Eliwood interrogates.
Lucas, partially absorbing Eliwood's point, takes a look at the bandits terrorizing the villages down below with his reliable spyglass as he thinks of the most optimal strategy to take them out. After a while of silence, he simply replies. "Pretty boy, you and your paladin are the most capable as the vanguard while me, Rebecca and the annoying little cunt follow up. As soon as we pass through the narrow mountain path, me and the annoying little cunt are going to that village to ask them to prepare and defend themselves from any other possible bandit intrusions, while you, Rebecca and your paladin take care of the rest of the nitwits. We do not have a healer, so that means that you and your paladin must protect Rebecca at all costs and make sure that you are not flanked from your left nor your right. Happy pretty boy?"
"Um, sure, that is doable. Let's get into positions!" Eliwood commands as directed by Lucas' strategy.
"Sir Lucas, because Milord has placed his confidence in your ability, I ask that you lead my sword and lance wherever you want it to be! Command me!" Marcus sternly replies with his silver lance and heater shield ready for combat.
"Don't call me sir…" Lucas says bluntly while he carries his spear and as he slowly approaches and enters the village in advance. "If you want to attack, just do not go too far from where we are. The pretty boy needs to know about how hard battles are." He says to the other general as he slowly moves down ahead.
Slowly, they commence the strategy and move out with Eliwood and Marcus on the vanguard position engaging in combat with a couple of axe-wielding bandits. Overwhelming them with Eliwood's speed and Marcus' power with Rebecca providing backup as some of them tried to regroup by themselves, they easily pushed through and pressed on to engage with another wave of bandits heading their way. However, despite their strength in quality, they are gradually being overwhelmed by the bandits' strength in numbers.
"There sure are a lot of them," Marcus comments as he slain another bandit with his steel sword while blocking arrows with his heater shield.
"I believe we underestimated our foes. These bandits aren't playing around," Eliwood replies as he pierces his rapier into the beating heart of a bandit before pulling back out swiftly, dyeing the green grass with the bandit's blood before facing another axe-wielding bandit alongside Rebecca and her trusty hunting bow.
Meanwhile, Lucas and Lowen were slowly walking to the village without being noticed by the residents in it. Lowen was alternating watching the tactician and the battle as he slowly went to the village. On the way to the village square, they saw a couple of axemen, planning to move out and assist the pretty redhead lord in battle. Recognizing one of them, Lucas just simply let them pass as he went to the center of the town and after a casual talk with the chief of the village and went on to surprise the axeman he found familiar.
"Hey! Dorcas!"
From there, the serene warrior turned with wide open eyes as they caught up with each other after a long time.
"Lucas! You're here!? But what are you doing here exactly?" Dorcas asked with his new broad steel axe over his shoulder.
"Long story short, trouble keeps following me wherever I go, currently being forced to do things against my will, and now I need to deal with them needless to say. I see that you have a travelling companion with you," Lucas smiles while musing as he catches up with Dorcas with some matters before noticing the brash axeman with a blue headband.
"Hey, who's the li'l guy here? Know him from somewhere Dorcas?" the brash axeman asked rashly, wielding an iron axe with a handaxe as his sidearm.
Lucas, stops smiling almost immediately, very much annoyed by his harsh tone, decides to keep silent until Dorcas does his introduction for him.
"Ah Bartre, this is Lucas. He's a tactician and a good friend of mine that helped me change my ways and saved me from a path that I would've regretted doing if it weren't for him and the other good people that I've come across. I sorta owe him, in a sense," Dorcas nervously tried to answer while thinking of the proper words and scratching his hind temple.
"Oh really? So it's all good then! The name is Bartre, don't forget it! Tell me anything! I can cut down any opponent with my ax!" Bartre replied proudly with his iron axe held high, making Lucas rub his eyes in disappointment from his theatrical antics.
"Yeah, he does that sometimes, just pay no mind to him," Dorcas embarrassingly points out on behalf of his companion.
In the midst of his short reunion with Dorcas, a village elder interrupts the meeting curiously.
"Hey you! You down there gonna fight those miscreants? Surely ya can't just go out without some protection while protectin' others!? Take this ol' reliable here, it will assist ya. Keep it on behalf of our small town here, " the elder advises as he hands over a Dragon Shield to Lucas.
"Whatever, it is fine as long as it doesn't get over his head in combat. Now let's move out! The Pretty boy must be getting in trouble and you guys are helping me whether you want it or not," Lucas explained before turning to the village elder with a grateful word of thanks as he gratefully takes the enchanted shield.
"Alright, give me your orders," Dorcas accepts as he brandishes his heavy steel axe.
"You got it man!" Bartre follows with his sharp handaxe.
Now, with two axe-wielding fighters, Dorcas and Bartre, joined the fray as he simply strategized by making them attack from both flanks from their weak left flank. Lucas's group immediately attacked them from the left flank of the bandits. Now properly reinforced, Eliwood's team now managed to easily push back the bandits and kill them off one-by-one with ranged support from the nimble Rebecca, leaving only the leader of the squad as the sole survivor.
"Grrraaaagh! It's not fair! Curse me luck! I thought no knights were supposed to be comin'! Damn it, I'll take you all on!" The bearded caveman-like bandit roars with his axe ready to hack and cut anything that moves.
"No more losses! Your misdeeds end right here! Haagh!" Eliwood yells as he flaunts his rapier and readies for a swift thrust then nimbly lunges fast and, at the blink of an eye, stab right through the beating heart of the bearded bandit before quickly pulling his rapier out, making his chest spray and turn into a fountain of blood.
"Gyaaarrrrrggh," the bandit coughed as he fell on his knees and choked to death on his own blood.
"...showoff…" Lucas exhales before being tapped on the shoulder by Eliwood inquiring of his unprecedented appearance in Pherae.
"Say um, I know this may be late for me to ask, but what are your reasons doing here in Pherae? You could have informed me that you would be around," Eliwood inquired with his kind smile shining so bright that Lucas turns away in annoyance before responding.
"...I am busy doing some work...," Lucas straightforwardly but partially lies about not informing Eliwood because of his personal matters. "But enough of that, what I do want to know is the reason for your sudden appearance in this slightly remote village, which, mind you is prone to bandit raids. Besides it's not like a pretty noble like yourself has the luxury of time to actually grace these towns with your royal presence," he sarcastically adds, making each insult sting harder after the last.
"How dare y–"
"Calm down Marcus, this is just his manner of speaking, I suppose...also, yes, you may find it strange. My reason being here is quite complicated you see: recently, My father, the marquess of Pherae, along with the main military force of Pherae and some of his royal guards, all went missing for weeks for some strange reason. I only happened to be here as a starting point in my journey to search for my father and the rest of the Pheraen knights that followed along with him. And now, here we meet again," Eliwood explained clearly.
"So you are not even here for the starving people nor the ones oppressed by bandit raids." Lucas answers back, slowly getting more and more angry at this so-called noble.
"Lucas, I can empathize with you as I have felt with the citizens under my family's care. But the people will eventually become uneasy and worried for my father's absence with his current position as the people's marquess. That is why I have to find my father to help restore and preserve the peace in our land, even though it truly pains me that I too have to be absent and be away from my people, as most of the force in the knights' order left with my father," Eliwood replied with conviction, leaving Lucas speechless with his logic since the people of Pherae are next to being leaderless with their marquess gone missing before momentarily changing from that sensitive topic.
"Maybe. But perhaps I am unlucky with my endeavors in a previous life, or cursed to have trouble or have some annoying noble following my every step and eventually having to clean up their every mistake when it is obviously unnecessary," Lucas comments while holding his face in disappointment.
"So you see the company of Lady Lyn to be unsettling to you perhaps?" Eliwood asks with concern, making Lucas glare daggers toward the gentle lord that bore strong convictions.
"Don't bring her into this." Lucas says, gripping his spear tightly and was rather close to just to impale the young Lord here and now, if not for the presence of his paladin bodyguard Marcus, making the atmosphere tense as they know of what he can do. That is until Dorcas just tapped his shoulder and reminded him to calm down..
"But aside from that, I never thought I'd come across you again Dorcas, that's for sure," Lucas comments to the serene axeman.
Dorcas chuckles from his response while holding his broad axe over his shoulder. "Likewise, Lucas, likewise."
"Anyways, now that we have made the main details clear, I have a request for you if you would please. Urgently, we were supposed to be making our way through the state of Santaruz in order to search for any whereabouts concerning my father as he passed by there before heading to the marquisdom of Laus. The marquess of Santaruz, Lord Helman, is a good friend of my father that I've known awfully well in my childhood days. I believe that he may be able to tell me clues about my father. However, I know and predict that this journey I'm taking will be perilous and of course not a comfortable one, but I must know what has happened to my father and the other knights and save them all if possible. So um, Lucas, would you please help and guide me and my comrades in the art of war against all odds in our journeys?" Eliwood explained and begged, followed by an urgent and respectful bow towards the stoic tactician.
"No," Lucas straightforwardly answered.
"What!?" Marcus exclaimed angrily from his response.
"I see, would you at least tell me your reasons why..?" Eliwood asked with a slightly downcast face.
"Like I said, I have my own business to attend to and too preoccupied with my own matters. I have things that need solving, especially concerning my own friends too," Lucas answered bluntly.
"You mean solving all these weird detailed info on paper?" Rebecca points out while holding a bundle of Lucas' notes that were found scattered in parts of the battlefield as he tread, surprising him greatly in the process as he checked for them in his satchel, upon realizing his mistake he immediately tries to find them while cursing at himself while trying to find and keep all of these said notes. It took awhile but as he was about to collect the last one, Rebecca took it from his eyes and started childishly keeping it away from him.
"Hand them back!" Lucas aggressively orders, while trying to tackle the said archer.
"Oh yeah? What if I do not?" Rebecca taunts.
"Why you–"
"I would not step any further if I were you," Marcus compels as he blocks Lucas with his shiny and heavy silver lance alongside Lowen with his light javelin.
"Sorry my friend, but don't go too far," Lowen adds.
"For all the good..." Lucas curses while trying to reel in his temper.
"Hey Hey, calm down, I was just playing. Here, take these back. Besides, I was overhearing your previous talks with various travellers back at the pub, most of which are pertaining to rumors about black robed rogues and mercenaries that are lurking around Lycia lately. This may be presumptuous of me, but maybe you could find what you are looking for if you join us. You can probably find the clues for your search while assisting us in future battles, right?" Rebecca answered, shocking Lucas with her sharp mind.
Lucas stops and thinks for a while, weighing in all the pros and cons of what he had just been suggested. After a few minutes, he curses out loud and mutters a few choice words for certain people and from the frustration of being schooled by a village chief's daughter, since he was speechless without a comeback to argue.
"That does make more sense and seems to be more practical than working alone. So, Lucas, would you please have the honor of joining us as our temporary battle strategist?" Eliwood requests with his hand reaching out to the stoic Lucas.
Lucas sizes up the young lord and his retainers, knowing that this would be a harsh strain and test to his extremely limited patience before reluctantly agreeing. "Fine, but I reserve the right to leave if I see fit." To which Eliwood acquiesced the demand of the tactician.
"Looks like we'll be working together again, like old times. Just say the word and I'll squash the enemy with all I got," Dorcas comments with a smile while letting his axe rest upside down.
"Pleased to be working with you," Marcus replies, with Lowen nodding in agreement.
As Lucas and the rest were 'preoccupied' with the addition of having him as their tactician, Rebecca makes a decision that may truly impact life's future decisions to her father, the village chief.
"Do you really wish to go...my child?"
"Yes father, I have made up my mind. I want to follow Lord Eliwood and aid him in his journeys. Please let me do this, father," Rebecca asks.
"If that is what your heart desires, then I cannot stop you. Just be careful out there," the village chief implores.
"Of course I will be careful. Take care father!" Rebecca assures him before running off to Lucas and Eliwood's company.
Lucas then sees Rebecca running back to him and the company before turning to Eliwood for a quick confirmation after muttering something about how the Gods eternally cursed him with rotten luck.
"I'm comin' with you guys!" she answers gleefully, making Lucas rub the bridge between his nose in annoyance, and ignoring the intrepid archer he asked the redhead.
"Where is our next destination, pretty boy?" Lucas asks, really frustrated by this affair.
"To Santaruz. We must make haste. Lord Helman may be in trouble of some sort, despite being the marquess with his frail and old age. Onward!" Eliwood rallies, raising the group's spirits, except for the tactician who just followed along on foot, reading off his notes and listing down what had happened today. With time not on their side, Eliwood's meager team along with their reluctant tactician, hurry to their next destination in the marquedom of Santaruz, in hopes of finding clues concerning Eliwood's father's whereabouts from the marquess of Santaruz himself.
Chapter END