Disclaimers: All the characters in this fic is copyright of Karashi, if there are any similarities between my characters and actual characters, it is purely coincidental. NPC characters and the Game Ragnarok Online belong to the Creators of Ragnarok.

Chapter Seven

            "Did Addy tell you how she met Warse?" Irlan suddenly asked, staring intently at Darin. The Scribe quickly recalled the tale and narrated it to the hunter.
            "That's it?"
            "Yes, that's how Miss Addy told me, I paraphrased some portions of course."
            "I'm sure… so how do you want me to start?"
            "However you want to start Mister Irlan." Darin smiled, albeit nervously.
            "It's weird having someone call me 'Mister.' Can't say I like it…" he shrugged while he ran his fingers through his cerulean hair. "I've never…

Irlan Hue

            I've never been the nice guy, never have and never will. You just don't get anything out of being nice. Oh sure some people will remember you, some will even be grateful. But it's not like you get a medal for being a nice guy. For that to happen, you'd have to be a hero. And heroes are a dime a dozen, so what's the big deal?
            Not only that, as a nice guy you have to deal with having a conscience, being considerate, and trying to make other people's lives better. I can never see myself that way. It's much too bothersome, and much too strenuous on the nerves. I probably won't even last a day acting the part of the nice guy.
            A jerk on the other hand has more laughs, more fun, and more items to boot! You don't have to look out for anyone other than yourself. You can get your kicks just about anywhere. It's just so much easier to be the arrogant jerk that people recoil at the sight of. I mean, so what if people don't like me. I don't like people either, because they're just stupid.
            Take my parents for instance. All their lives they've been kind and giving, holding charity balls and fund raising activites. And what did they get in return? Their very own massacre in their home. Do you think that would that have happened if they weren't nice people?
            I tried to follow in their footsteps at the orphanage.
            Yes, I grew up in an orphanage because my relatives refused to take me in, and they were nice people too. I mean, what with sponsoring novices in the Midgard Academy, helping retired knights with their pensions and funding alchemists for their experiments. They probably couldn't spare enough zeny to take care of me.
            So it was off to the Izlude orphanage for me. And it was there I learned the errors of being a nice person. I suppse I had adjusted well enough, maybe even led a life that could be considered normal.
            Well, except the part where I kept getting beaten up just for being alive. And the caretaker of the orphanage calling me to his bed every night, because I was such a nice little boy. And never having anything to call my own because everyone takes things from me.
            If being nice meant having to put up with all that shit, I wanted no part of it. So I decided to be just like everyone else. I decided to become a stupid, inconsiderate, barbaric, arrogant person. When I did, my whole life changed for the better.
            I was the one beating up the newcomers, even cracking a few heads open now and then. I got more stuff without even breaking a sweat to get them. I had more fun, so what if they were at other people's expense? Did anyone think about that when it happened to me? Things just became easier for me when I became this nasty, arrogant human.
            Yeah I had a nicer time, but I wasn't happy in the orphanage. We were being trained to become knights! Not that there's anything wrong with being the lapdog of the king, mind you. But it was just too constricting, especially with the clothes. Chainmail does not make for a comfortable wear.
            So I ran away from the orphanage. I saw a warp portal being opened and jumped in, not even worrying that I might end up in Glast Heim. You could call it fate that I arrived in Payon.
            Freshly inducted into archerhood, I decided to explore the forests of Payon. It was there I met two people who would make me the man I am today. Obviously the first one is my guildmaster Diuce, I met him while he was still a thief.
            A swordie had just provoked a spore and like lightning, Diuce would take a few quick stabs before hiding. It only served to infuriate the spore rather than actually kill it, so the swordie had a harder time than before. I must admit, Diuce had the most ingenious ways of making life Hel for others.
            I could tell he was a happy person, he always had a smirk on his face. We got along quite well. I drew beasts with my arrows while he finished them off when they came near. And when we were bored, we'd go around the towns scamming novices. It was sheer fun, the man knows how to live off other people's hard work.
            I have to say that's a quality I admire in Diuce, he's just brilliant. People say he's scum or that he should be locked away in Lutie prison. Well f*ck them, they just don't understand the genius that is the guildmaster of Jaded Crimson.
            Diuce was my senior by just one year, but the gap is bigger experience-wise. He knew more people, had more techniques, I almost saw him as my mentor. Almost. You see, Diuce had this one flaw that I couldn't stand about him. His rivalry with Tommas.
            What is it about the runt guildmaster of The Schattenjägers that threatened Diuce? I couldn't understand it, really. It's not like Tommas is the most popular assassin, and it isn't as if he's the most powerful. And I have yet to see The Schattenjägers do anything in retaliation, spineless wimps. Well, I suppose Diuce is entitled to his secrets, and if there's on thing Jaded Crimson has a lot of, it's secrets.
            After all, what guild doesn't have its fair share of skeletons in their closets? I know some guilds whose women aren't women at all. I know some guilds whose members are relatives of the law, not that the law does anything mind you.
            Yeah, every guild has something under wraps, just like every guild has its weak link. Which brings me to the second person who made me the man I am today. If you haven't gotten it by now, you must have been dropped on the head one too many times.
            I'm referring to the merchant in this asylum, Addy.
            She was still a novice when I first saw her. She was slashing pitifully at a poring, I mean it was a poring for crying out loud. She couldn't even handle that? I suppose the nice guy still lived in some miniscule part of me, because I decided to help her out. One shot from my arrow was all it took to kill the little pink blob. With so much effort on her part to slay the thing, you'd think I warranted a thank you to say the least.
            She sauntered up to me while smiling oh-so-innocently. She twirled a lock of her orange hair around her finger and bit her lower lip shyly.
            "Um, excuse me," she began, scuffing her sandals on the grassy floor. "Were you the one who fired that arrow?"
            I showed her my bow as proof, even told her I could slay the poring with just one swing of my dirk. She looked at me with wide gray eyes and flashed me a sweet smile. There was something about her that made my heart skip a beat and my flesh tingle. Then my skin began to sting, particularly my cheek.
            Yes, the ungrateful little matyr slapped me.
            "If that's the case, look for your own poring to kill! I was doing fine until you showed up!" she yelled, then kicked me on the shins. Hard.
            I growled and made a lunge for her when she began to wail,
            "Aaaaiiiii!! Help me!! Sexual harassment!!! This man is trying to rape me!!!" she yelled so loud, a party of knights and blacksmiths arrived.
            "Leave the lady alone!" one of them ordered.
            "It's not what you think…" I began, I probably could outrun one of them. But there were three knights and two blacksmiths. It would take only one hammerfall to seal my fate.
            "He attacked me and tried to force himself on me." She sobbed as real tears flowed down her cheeks.
            "Didn't your parents ever tell you that's not the way to treat a lady?"
            "No, please listen to me."
            "I know I'm just a novice, but does that give him the right to look at me like some piece of meat?" she cried.
            Well, as much as I would have wanted to defend myself, I knew I was outnumbered and outmatched. So I ran. When I glanced back, I saw Addy grinning at me. If I hadn't ended up getting pummeled, I wanted to get to know her more. But because it took three acolytes and two weeks of bed rest for me to heal, all I wanted was payback.
            The next time I found her, she was finally a merchant. She recognized me and actually tried to apologize, it was too late for that. So I lured her into a word-war. I won easily, I was used to verbal sparring but it seemed Addy wasn't.
            Not that she couldn't say anything in return, but she couldn't stand saying 'mean' things. She had so much potential in her, but she was wasting it all by being a nice person. It just didn't make sense.
            I mean the times I watched her pathetic attempts of slaying lunatics and rockers were so frustrating. She could have just joined in on someone else's kill, it would have been so much easier for her. Why did she have to be such a nice girl?
            We all know that bad things happen to good people, that's the way the gods get their kicks after all. And there was just something so wretchedly helpless and undeniably tough about Addy… I knew something was going to ruin that part of her.
            So I decided then and there that I wanted to change her. I was going to change her into someone like Diuce, like my future guildmates.
            Like me.
            I tried so hard to change her mind every chance I got. To the point that Diuce got a little suspicious. So it was something of a god-send that Jaded Crimson was formed.
            "Hey Hue!" Diuce greeted, smacking me hard on the back. No one but Diuce ever called me by my last name, not that I wanted them to.
            "Yeah?"
            "I managed to snatch an emperium from Tommas. You know what that means!"
            "Hmm, let's see, I am capable of processing thought, and I have been given information regarding emperiums. So yes, I believe I do know what that means."
            "I've already registered the guild. You are going to one of the members of Jaded Crimson!" he declared gleefully.
            "Green and red? I didn't know we came from Lutie."
            "Funny guy." Diuce laughed then smacked me on the nape. "Well, just to let you know, I've already invited some people. But only the two of us can approve membership, so if anyone asks to join us you know what to do."
            I grinned, "Make them regret it."
            "Oh and before I forget, if you ever encounter anyone from a guild called The Schattenjägers, give them Hell."
            Well, with Addy being a member of The Schattenjägers, I had the perfect alibi. But no matter how often I picked on her, no matter how much I looted from her, she didn't… she wouldn't see things my way. She was as stubborn as a wild Grand Peco.
            So I decided to try something else. Direct assaults didn't seem to be working, I thought why not try other methods? And I did find a way to change her mind. I think it worked so well she ended up in here! Yes, it was that devastating.
            But it shouldn't have turned out like this. Addy shouldn't be in that god-forsaken asylum because of Warse. If anything, she should be in there because of me! Me, god damn it!
            Who has been picking on her and insulting her since her novice days? Me!
            Who has been harrassing her in every single encounter? Me!
            Who has been thinking of ways to ruin her happiness in The Schattenjägers? Me!
            Who has been wanting her to be his ever since the first time he saw her? Me!
            Me, me, me, me!!
            Not Warse!!!
            That priest wouldn't even have known Addy if I didn't set things up in the first place. What? Surprised that the whole meeting was rigged? Don't be. With all the things you've heard about me, you shouldn't expect anything less.
            Now I should clear some things up. Addy was never interested in Jaded Crimson, it was Warse. But like Diuce said, anyone who asks to be a member of Jaded Crimson must be made to regret it. I told the priest he'd have to prove that he was Jaded Crimson material. So I gave him a test.
            "What do I need to do?" he smirked, trying to match my arrogance. As if that was possible.
            "Simple, do you know The Schattenjägers?" I asked.
            "No, but give me a few days and I will."
            "Great, one of them is what we can call a weak link, she's the scrawny orange haired merchant. What you need to do is to get information about The Schattenjägers, and in the process change her."
            "When I'm successful, what else will I get, aside from the membership?"
            "Well, if you're as good as you say you are, you can do whatever you want with her. Just keep her alive."
            "Child's play."
            "Glad to hear that. We'll meet at Zera's every two weeks, and after six months I'll tell you if you've passed."
            And then we parted ways.


            "The rest is better left up to your imagination, if you have any." Irlan snorted.
            "Right, thank you so much Mr. Irlan." Darin smiled, allowing the ink to dry on the parchment. He waited until the hunter was out of earshot before giving a huge sigh of relief. 'Sometimes I wonder if this occupation will allow me to reach old age.' The Scribe shuddered.
            He got to his feet and gave Addy's door a few knocks.
            "Go away!" Addy yelled, "I don't want to see you, you mean hunter!!"
            "Miss Addy, it's Dar."
            "Liar!!! You leave me alone!! Or I'll get Warse to beat you up like he did when we first met you!"
            "Alright, I'm leaving now." Darin announced, truly heading for the stairs.
            "Good! Because I-I-I- oh just go!"
            Scratching his raven-colored hair, Darin went downstairs.
            "You're leaving already? You normally spend three to five hours a day." The priestess asked in surprise.
            "Yes, but Miss Addy's not quite herself today."
            "Well she never really is."
            "I beg your pardon?"
            "Oh, never mind, it's not right for me to speak of patients in this manner." She laughed, "Am I to warp you to Prontera?"
            "No, Lutie."
            The priestess nodded, "Please come again, your visit is highly appreciated."

            After experiencing the blazing heat of Morroc, the intense cold of Lutie simply overwhelmed The Scribe.
            "M-m-maybe I sh-sh-should have gotten s-s-something warm before I came here." Darin shivered, quickly running to the Kafra dressed in a black fur coat.
            "Welcome to er… how did that go?" she blinked in confusion.
            "N-n-never mind that, I w-w-want to open my s-s-storage box."
            "What are you withdrawing?"
            "M-m-muffler and leather c-c-coat."
            "Here you go."
            Wasting no time, The Scribe donned the garments and headed for the woods. He was careful in avoiding the wild beasts along the way, but one of the white bears caught his scent and decided it was hungry.
            "Aaaaaaaa!!!!" Darin yelled, "All I wanted was a collection of tales! Was that so much to ask!?" in his blind panic, he failed to see where he was going and tripped over a santa poring. The sasquatch caught up and took a swipe.
            To Darin, the world seemed to stop as the bear's paw descended upon him. Eyes wide in horror, The Scribe remained sprawled on the ground and awaited his death. An odd sensation suddenly enveloped him and the sasquatch's razor claws struck against his skin.
            But rather than hearing his flesh rip apart, a metallic ring sounded.
            "Here, beast." Came a voice and Darin looked up to find a man wearing a leib olmai coat standing over him.
            "Mr. Kaedyn!!"
            "I'll keep the creature occupied while you run to my house."
            Nodding, Darin bolted for the sanctuary offered him. He risked a glance and saw the sasquatch struggle against his employer.
            "Thank Odin for Kyrie Eleison." The Scribe praised.