A/N: Reading back, I completely forgot Rokurou was a part of the story. So, I fixed that in this chapter. Warning that it contains really minor swearing, but otherwise enjoy the chapter!
The character called Topaz is a friend's character and is used with permission.
It was late when we finally got back down the mountain, towards the makeshift bridge that Sorey had made prior. Noting that neither of the guards looked anything like the knight I'd run into before, I took a running leap, and windstepped to the other side. It was like I was there one minute and on the other side the next. Landing on my feet, I took a different route than going straight to Marlind.
Arvald was in this general area last time, if I recalled right. He probably wouldn't remember who I was, or what was going on. Not like Kain, who Maotelus had told about me and what was going on. I would probably still have to figure out where Aevar was first, because of the relationship between him and Arvald being nephew and uncle. It was probably why he let us off easily, because of Aevar.
"Kain, have you ever been with the bandits?" I asked.
No, I haven't, Kain replied with a small sigh. If I did, I would've helped you find them already.
Why are we looking for bandits, anyway? Eizen asked, confusion apparent in his voice. Nothing good can come from them.
"Arvald targets the greedy, not random people."
"We tend to only strike merchants that've been price gougin' as they think the higher prices will give them more money to line their pockets with." Arvald's words echoed in the back of my mind as I said what I did. There weren't a lot of good merchants, only those wanting to make a quick buck. The Sparrowfeathers had always been the only ones exempt from this, as were the only good merchants….
Wait, hold on. Zaveid's voice had me pause in walking. There's a few people coming this way. Don't think they're friendly, either.
"You've gotta be kidding me." I groaned, shaking my head. "If not being able to find Arvald was bad, this is ten time worse! Ugh! Guess I don't have a choice."
Pulling out my daggers, I glanced around and took a few steps forward before feeling myself being pulled up into the trees. A typical trap I'd walked right into. Of course, out of the shock of being swept off my feet, I'd dropped my daggers. Lovely. Whose bright idea had this trap been? And then, as if to answer my question, a few people came out of the bushes. One of them was familiar– a woman with a cloth around her breasts and a pair of pants for clothes, but not much else. Her hair was blonde, and in a pixie cut. Just like before.
"Ryda?!" I exclaimed, causing her to look up at me and squint for a minute.
"...Holy shit." Ryda exclaimed. "Yer fuckin' kiddin' me. If it ain't Rani! But what the hell happened to ya? Topaz, the rope! Cut 'er down!"
"Alright." A tanned brunette with amber eyes, wearing a sleeveless tunic with a purple cloth around the midsection, blue short pants, blue armbands, brown gloves and brown boots used a sword to cut the rope. I fell to the ground, yelping in pain when I hit it and laying there for a moment.
"Could've just untied it and lowered me down…." I said as I sat up. Noting someone else was there, but was more secluded by shadows, I didn't really bring any attention to them. Instead, I focused on Ryda, who shook her head and gestured at me.
"C'mon, kid. Someone's waitin' fer ya. Two someones, in fact." She said. With a nod, I got the rope off my ankle and picked up my daggers before going to follow her towards where the two someones were waiting. It was mostly quiet on the way there, as not even the Seraphim wanted to break it. But soon, the familiar building of the bandit's hideout appeared, and there were two people stationed outside that I didn't recognize. We did, however, walk past them and down the hallway to the main room where I'd first met Arvald.
In the room was Arvald, who was staring out the window with his back turned to us. Sleeping in one of the chairs was Aevar, who looked a bit worse for the wear. Upon hearing the door opening, however, both of them were alert and looked straight at us. I winced a little, moving to the side and out of the line of sight. In another one of the chairs was Rokurou, who I'd thought was following me originally. It seemed, at some point, he'd gotten separated from me and the others. This meant that I'd lost track of everything while going to go save Eizen. And that would mean that-
"So, finally decided to show up, huh?" Rokurou asked, leaning forward to get a better look. "Guess that means that you did what you needed to?"
"After a bit of begging during a fight." I shrugged, looking from him, to Arvald and then to Aevar. "I'm guessing, with Ryda knowing who I am, you two also know? Your memories weren't wiped during the reset?"
"Nope. Hate t'break it to ya, but we remember very well." Arvald chuckled, shaking his head and sitting down in the chair at the head of the table. "And, seein' as Izayoi isn't with you this time, guessin' the Oracle business is off?"
"I have another Seraph as my Prime Lord." I responded. "A Wind Seraph instead of Water. That was... kind of the problem, besides Izayoi being corrupted by Malevolence and none of us knowing about it until it was too late."
Both Aevar and Arvald winced. It was Aevar who spoke up next. "So, I'm guessing that you don't know where she is? If you did, I'm sure that you could've taken her on as a Sub Lord instead."
He was right. I could take on Izayoi as a Sub Lord... but she'd died so long ago, due to all the malevolence she'd generated while going after Lailah. It meant that she was probably not here, since she died long before the reset could even happen. It really did mean that she was... gone-gone, completely dead. That didn't exactly bring my hopes up in actually ever seeing her again, but I would take what I could get at this point. I had three Seraphim, following the same pattern as Sorey but... a bit mixed up, in a way. I'd gotten Zaveid first, then Kain and then Eizen... Next would be Izayoi, if she was actually alive. I hoped she was still at Glaivend Basin, where I'd met her before, so I could at least initiate the pact first before anything could happen.
Or just purify her. That could work, too. She becomes a Hellion, I purify her and then everything's hunky dory. That was really wishful thinking on my part, though. It didn't mean anything if I could purify her. Water Seraphim were easier to corrupt with Malevolence, and that meant that Izayoi was probably holding a lot of it, even now... If she really had been brought back with the reset, that is. I didn't really have high hopes about it at all, since it would be a bit too on the nose and obvious. Maotelus just handing me what I need to help Sorey. Hah! That was most definitely something that shouldn't happen, especially with all that had gone on at this point. A sigh escaped me, and I looked over to Rokurou.
"So, you're a part of Arvald's group?" I asked, changing the subject away from that. I didn't want to think of how many times I'd passed out while being Izayoi's Oracle. That was one too many times of just days of unconsciousness. No thanks. Didn't want to relive those memories.
"Pretty much. Kind of an informant for 'em, to be honest. Found me when I was injured, so it's a debt I'm inclined to repay in any way I can." Rokurou shrugged, not really bothered by that. "Arvald and his gang have been pretty welcoming, despite the fact I'm a hellion. Guess when their name changed, daemons really stopped being as sentient as they used to be."
"The malevolence is really to blame in all of this." I wondered if this was actually true, or if humanity here had really fallen further than they had when Rokurou was known as a daemon. "I'm surprised, though. Who would've thought there were sentient hellions that could talk amongst others?"
"Ha ha." Rokurou shook his head.
"Despite all o' this, I should inform ya about th' hellions." Arvald took a drink from the goblet near him.
"I know all about the hellions, unfortunately. I used to travel with Sorey, remember?"
"Ah, the Shepherd. I'm hopin' the kid doesn't get 'imself killed." He looked a bit thoughtful, but shook his head. "From what we've been told, yer gonna need a lot more help than what ye had before. An' this means that we're gonna have ta support ya in yer endeavors. In that case, Aevar here can be yer own Squire."
"...My Squire. I can have a Squire? Isn't that the Shepherd's thing?" Yet again, I looked from Arvald to Aevar. "I thought it was the Shepherd's thing."
It's not. An Oracle can also have a Squire, though if the Oracle and Squire separate, the Squire can't use any of the powers of Purification. Eizen said. How the hell did he know any of this?! Damn two thousand-year-old Seraph. This was some information I could've used at any other time! Maybe to actually help out instead of being dead weight to Sorey while I was his Squire. It felt... like some sort of cheap new information that could've been told to me at an earlier date. Did Lailah not even know about this? What the hell!
"I have been sufficiently informed that it is a thing Oracles can do and holy cheez-its, I wish I'd known this earlier!" I heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping a little. Straightening up after that, I finally decided to ask my own question. It wasn't going to be a big one, but I knew I'd probably run into Sorey again. If I wanted to ditch the cloak and actually walk around while being able to look less suspicious, I would have to at least get a mask. It didn't really matter what kind I got, only that I did.
The door opened behind me, and I moved out of the way. A woman walked by, a bag in hand, before tossing it onto the table. She had pale hair, ending in a darker gradient with the right side of her hair being shorter than the left, lightly tanned skin, bandages covering her right eye and wore a long-sleeved blue-violet shirt with a blue fur collar that exposed her back and her cleavage, a dark corset that flared out into a half-skirt with lace trimmings and white pants with black lace-up boots. Her left eye was a bright blue, which was... the same colour as mine was.
"Sorry I'm late, Arvald. Figured to pick up a few more supplies before coming back." She gave a smile, before turning to look at me. Placing her hands on her hips, she leaned forward before knocking the hood of my cloak off my head. "And hello to you, miss Oracle. I'm Zero, and I'm gonna be your Sub Lord."
I put the hood back up, but she knocked it off again. "Stop that."
"You shouldn't hide your face."
"I can, and I will. If you want me to get rid of the hood, give me a mask and I'll wear that instead."
"Let's see if we have one!" Zero returned her attention to the bag, opening it up and then searching through it. "Hmm... Aha! This was something some guy gave me because he was trying to hit on me, but I told him off. Here ya go, one mask." She held it out towards me, the smile still ever-present on her face. I took it from her and looked it over, noting how it looked. It wasn't too fancy, just a black mask with golden trim. A mask that seemed to catch Rokurou's attention.
"...Never thought I'd see that mask again. Guess it survived, somehow." Rokurou got up from his seat to come look at the mask. "A long time ago, a Seraph wore that mask. She later got eaten by a friend of mine."
"Huh. Guess I learned something new today." I put the mask on my face, finding my vision not impared in the slightest. Strange. This mask didn't have any holes for eyes and yet I could see through it like it was nothing. With a shrug of my shoulders, I took off the cloak and stored it in my bag. At least now I could walk around without having to hide myself behind a damn cloak. It'd been getting annoying at this point, and I was glad to finally be rid of it.
"And, of course, you'll be making the Squire's Pact with Aevar!" Zero seemed confident enough in that.
"Now hold on a minute." Zaveid made himself known by appearing right beside me in a quick flash of light. "Who says you get to make the orders?"
"It's really easy. In fact, why don't you do it right now, Mr. Prime Lord? Make it official!"
I looked from Zaveid to Zero and back again.
This was definitely going to be some form of argument happening, wasn't it? I hoped I was wrong but... It sounded like it was going to be.