Kurose was already bored. As much as he wanted to know more about this new world, he had forgotten just how boring it was to sit through a lecture.

"...As such, that is why it is best to make Charmes out of wood or metal than any material that is not resistant to water. Keep that in mind, else you will lose any sort of preparation that you had made. You dont want to end up like those wizards." Orith finished, glancing at Kurose and Eorna, who was focused on a book beside Kurose.

"...You didn't pay any attention, did you?" He directed the question to Kurose.

Kurose offered him a small smile, and Orith sighed.

"To be fair…" Kurose began, "It's Charme stuff. Isn't Woodrow supposed to be teaching me about this?"

"Well, yes. But I'm trying to make the job easier for Woodrow. I know he gets sidetracked at the best of times, and no doubt he will attempt to tell you of several incidents with wizards…." He responded with a before perking up.

"Right! If what I'm saying isn't interesting to you, just speak about some random thing you are curious about, and I'll try my best to explain it to you, alright?" He spoke. "Anything is on the table, I'll do my best to explain it. Provided I know about it of course." He added on quickly.

Eorna put down her book as Kurose thought about it for a moment. Just what did he want to ask about? After a few moments of thinking, he spoke.

"How did the dragon hourglasses appear? And where do dragons live?" He asked Orith.

"Hm… I'll answer the simpler of the two first." He spoke simply. "The Hourglasses just… appeared. They can't be destroyed, are difficult to move, but we know practically nothing about them." He answered with a shrug.

"What? How do you know nothing about them?" Kurose responded with a frown. "Do they just exist to tell us when the waves are coming?"

"No no, they do serve another purpose." Orith answered with a smile. "They allow regular people, such as me, Amarita and Woodrow to adjust our stats, so to speak. Every 25 levels, we can go through a ceremony to adjust our stats. We refer to it as a 'class up'."

"Huh… So you can make yourself better for a specific role?" he asked, earning a nod from Orith.

"Indeed. For example, scouts for an army might want to focus more on agility. But in order to increase a stat's growth, you would have to take it from another. So in the aforementioned case, the scout would likely give up a portion of his defense stats growth to increase their agility growth rate."

"Huh. But what did you mean by normal people? Do me and Eorna not count for it?"

"You don't." Orith confirmed. "Heroes are exempt from needing a class up, as well as the limit keeping us normal folk from going beyond level 100"

"I see…" Kurose murmured to himself.

"Hey! Don't forget about level resetting! That's a thing hourglasses can do as well!" Eorna added.

Orith snapped his fingers at that. "Ah, I forgot. Thank you Eorna. Yes, a level reset can be performed at the hourglass, for one of two reasons. One, the person wishes to go down a different path, for example, their previous stat alignments weren't doing it for them, or the second option, a criminal having their level reset to make them easier to contain. Wouldn't exactly be easy to keep a level 50 criminal imprisoned now, would it?" He spoke with a small chuckle.

Kurose nodded along at that. It made sense, but now he was curious about what effects a level reset might have on a hero. It would obviously reset a hero's level, that was the entire deal of it, but would it lock weapon forms? Take away the equip bonuses?

He decided to instead file those thoughts away for later. He couldn't see a situation in which he would get his level reset, thankfully.

"What about dragons?" Kurose asked. "Is there any reason for there being two dragons beside the hourglass?"

"No idea." Orith spoke with a shrug. "They were there when the Dragon Hourglass was found, and will likely be there long after all of us. As for dragons themselves… Where to start with that?" He spoke out loud to himself.

Kurose watched as Orith spoke to himself, seeming to debate about something before the elderly man let out a sigh.

"Right, let's see, how can I put this…" He cleared his throat before beginning once more.

"Dragons are an… interesting story for our world. According to the reports of a past Accessory Hero, the writings of which are held in every church worthy of its name, claimed that they possessed an odd magic. He claimed that they could grant the wishes of those that they recognised."

Grant wishes? Kurose thought to himself, his eyes widening. Could…. Could dragons be the key to me getting home?

Unaware of Kurose's thoughts, Orith continued to speak. "He claimed he made a wish upon a dragon, one to protect the world from the waves of his time. It worked, but there was supposedly one factor that he was unaware of. Any wish that the dragon granted, came with a price. One that grew with the demands of the wish."

"The price was massive. The Accessory Hero of that time claimed that in order to protect the world, to end the waves of that time, a sacrifice was required. The dragon personally took the lives of a majority of creatures to fuel such a wish.. The hero did not know of it, and supposedly the dragon did not see fit to inform them that such a price was to be paid."

"Before the Accessory Hero could understand what had just happened, it had already been done. The world was protected, but supposedly in ruins. The Accessory of that time despaired and blamed themself for it, for allowing such a price to be paid."

Kurose only stared silently, any hope of returning home via a dragon dashed in an instant. If protecting the world from the waves required two thirds of all life, what sort of price would a dragon demand for him to go home?

But the thought of it still lingered in the back of his mind. If he couldn't wish for the dragon to send him home, could he perhaps ask for a hint of what to do? That wouldn't be as much of an issue, right? He resolved himself to doing some research on dragons, as well as any past wishes that may have resulted from dragons.

"That is not the end of the story though. The Accessory Hero, sickened by his own actions and that of the dragons, slew it. The hero then went around, slaying any dragon they came upon in his despair before eventually disappearing. Whilst they did not slay every dragon in the world, he severely reduced the population of them."

"So… They are an endangered species?" Kurose asked slowly, earning a thoughtful hum from Orith.

"I suppose you could say that. But back on topic. Any dragon that is seen in the wild, people rush to it, desperate for the chance for a wish of theirs to be granted. Some have simple wishes, such as to bring back a deceased loved one, whilst others have more… twisted wishes. None of them ever come to fruition, whether that be by the dragon's own doing, fleeing from the people that approach it, or from the dragon hunters that roam the land."

"Dragon hunters?" Kurose felt dumb asking all of these questions, but there was no better place to do so than here.

"Yes, Dragon Hunters. Followers of the past Accessory Hero. A creative name, I know." The man spoke, rolling his eyes. "Upon hearing of his new objective and the chaos caused by the wish, they took it upon themselves to hunt down any dragon. Despite having existed as an organization for a long time, their objective still remains the same. To hunt down any dragon, whether it be causing chaos or not and extinguish its flame."

"I… I see" ." Kurose spoke.

If he was to even pursue this plan of action, which he was seriously considering putting aside mainly due to being unable to tell the cost of his own wish, he would have some serious issues finding a dragon. His best chance was to try and find the dragon hunters, but would they even give him a chance to communicate with the dragon before trying to kill it? Would they kill him if they figured out why exactly he wanted to join them?

"They use special techniques for taking down foes stronger than them, and dragons are naturally stronger than them. Some sort of art or something. I'm not exactly sure about it, but it's supposedly something they treasure, and rarely teach to any outsiders. Though, now that I think about it… They supposedly call out the technique's name, similar to those skills that you heroes have."

"Have you ever seen a dragon?" Eorna asked curiously, changing the subject quickly.

Orith paused at that. "I have seen a dragon." The man confirmed. "Not a live one, but I have seen a dragon."

"Where? And why wasn't it alive?" Eorna asked again, seemingly excited.

"Well, that should be obvious, why it wasn't alive, that is." He spoke with a grin. "As for when I saw it, back when I was a child. A dragon made its home in the mountains near my town, sent everyone into a frenzy."

He shook his head at that, a smile on his face. "Apparently, you could see the flames the dragon produced during its fight. Not that I would be able to confirm that."

"Why not? Was it late at night or something?" Kurose asked, interested in what Orith was saying.

"No, no. Nothing like that. I was just grounded." He spoke, laughing as both Kurose and Eorna deflated.

"But, as I said. The fight was a long one according to the hunters, but they managed to kill it. Bought it back to our village and let us chop it up. You wouldn't believe how well our small town did after that. Plenty of adventurers came by, wanting some of the dragons' scale for their armor, or bones for their own reasons. It was–"

Before Orith could finish, the door behind Kurose slammed open, causing him and Eorna to jump. Oriths hand went to his weapon immediately, only to freeze as he caught sight of who it was.

Kurose turned his head, catching sight of Amarita breathing heavily.

"Heroes?" Amarita managed to get out between breaths.

Her eyes flickered between Kurose and Eorna, and she seemed to calm down slightly from confirming their presence.

"Amarita?" Orith spoke in concern. He stepped forward, continuing to speak. "Are you alright? Has there been an issue?"

Amarita took another breath before standing tall. "Before I say anything, I want your word, from all three of you, that nothing I say will leave this room."

"Of course." Orith answered immediately.

Kurose and Eorna however, hesitated. They looked at each other for a moment in confusion. Was this knowledge really that important? After a few more moments, Kurose nodded.

"I won't say anything." Kurose offered her. She seemed to relax even more at that before turning to Eorna.

"Sure?" She said slowly.

Amarita let out another breath. "It… It has been brought to my knowledge that King Ronald Brovask has been killed."

"What? How?" Orith demanded almost immediately. He coughed before speaking again. "How did he die?" Orith asked once more, concern evident in his voice.

"One of prince Kabir's Wyrden reported it to me on his orders. They claimed that the had rapidly fallen Ill upon leaving the cities gates, and that they are investigating."

Orith held a frown on his face, a hand held to his chest as he took in the information.

"I…I see. The prince likely sent a Wyrden to keep an eye on his father whilst he travelled." The man spoke. "I'm sorry heroes, I need to attend to the young master. I am sure he is going through it at the moment, and I need to be there for him."

He bowed towards Kurose and Eorna, but Kurose barely registered it, frozen in position.

The king had seemed perfectly fine the night of the party. He had been cheerful, with no sign of illness, so what had happened? What had happened to the healthy looking king within the last day or so?

"Of course." Amarita murmured, bowing her head towards Orith. "Prince, no, King Kabir will have need of you. I'll stay with the heroes, at least until Woodrow arrives."

"Thank you" Orith spoke quickly. He gathered up the few things he had placed down before rushing out of the room.

As it turned out, they did not have to wait for Woodrow to appear for anything to happen..

Kurose and Eorna had spent the past fifteen minutes trying to get information out of Amarita about the king's death, but she was tight-lipped, shaking her head at any question they asked her.

"I'm sorry, but I truly do not know any more than what I have already said." She spoke apologetically.

It did make Kurose feel a bit bad, for asking her all of these questions. She had undoubtedly been close to the king, if his words at the feast were anything to go by. They seemed to have known each other for a while, so it probably wasn't easy for her, having them answer these questions.

Before he could speak up, to tell Eorna that they should probably stop and give Amarita some peace, the door opened once again.

"Kurose, Eorna?" Orith spoke, stepping into the room.

"Yeah?" Kurose spoke, turning to face the man. Was he already done with the prince turning king?

"The King has asked to meet with the pair of you, to discuss future plans."

"Future plans?" Eorna asked. "Aren't we just gonna… fight the waves and be done with it? What else is there to plan?"

"I'm not sure." Orith responded, shrugging his shoulders. "All I know is King Kabir has asked me to escort the two of you to his quarters. Please come along."

"Whilst that happens, I'm going to go find Woodrow. He will be staying with the two of you. He shouldn't have left his home yet…"

"He said he had a few things to pick up before our lessons." Kurose spoke quickly, earning a nod from Amarita.

"I see… So he could be anywhere in the city, is what I'm hearing." Amarita spoke with a sigh

"Wait, Kurose that bracelet! He's gonna have to go there eventually!" Eorna pointed out helpfully.

"Right! But what was the name of the place again?" He questioned her. He really did have to learn the language here if he actually wanted to be helpful.

He held back a groan at that.

"It was Steeves Armor and Weapons." Eorna answered.

"Understood. I suppose I will be waiting at that store then, as I doubt Woodrow will be at home. Thank you for the warning, Heroes. Please offer the Prince, no, the King my condolences for his loss. I will speak to you at some point later."

With that said, Amarita took off, leaving Kurose and Eorna with Orith. Orith snapped his fingers, motioning for them to follow behind. They both did, and Orith began to speak.

"I won't be able to stay with you for long, his Majesty has asked for me to gather a few other people that need to be alerted of changes." He explained quickly. "I will be leaving you just outside of his quarters. Guards have been posted nearby so the two of you should be safe. Dagger Hero, he wishes to meet with you first to discuss some private matters. I am not aware of what, but after that he wants to talk to you, Accessory Hero."

Eorna and Kurose both simply nodded at that. Eorna didn't even attempt to correct him about their names, seeming to understand that now wasn't the time to do so.

The trio walked the hallway in silence, with Kurose and Eorna giving each other nervous looks. Just what was the prince like? Would he ask them to go hunt for his fathers murderer? Or something else entirely?

Eventually, they turned a corner, coming upon a group of guards. Four guards were stood by the door which presumably led to the King's chambers, whilst a handful of guards stayed at the entrance to the hallway.

"Sir Orith, are these the heroes?" A guard asked, stepping forward.

Behind him, a few guards readied their weapons, eyeing the two cautiously. Kurose could understand why.

"They are. If you would, Heroes?" Orith prompted.

Kurose nodded, lifting his Parasol and letting them look at the gem. Eorna did the same with her Dagger, and the guard seemed appeased by that.

"Understood. Accessory Hero, if you would please wait over there, beside the guard. Dagger Hero, I will take you in."

Kurose nodded, making his way to stand beside the guard he had been motioned over to, whilst Eorna gave him a small smile.

"See you in a minute Kurose."

"Yeah, see you in a minute, Eorna."

As the guard motioned for Eorna to follow behind him, Kurose couldn't ignore the feeling of something being off.

He pulled the Charme out of his trouser pocket, tapping it gently as he let out a sigh. Nothing was going to go wrong. He was out here, surrounded by guards, whilst Eorna was in there with the King. If anything, they were in the safest place they could possibly be.

So why did Kurose feel like they were in danger?

Eorna gave the guard a smile as he stepped out of the room before turning to look towards the prince. She strained her eyes to get a better look at him, surprised at just how dim the room was.

"Dagger Hero." The prince turned king spoke calmly, tapping his fingers on the desk.

"Your Majesty." Eorna spoke politely, bowing to him. "I'm sorry for-"

"Don't" The king spoke quickly, cutting her off. "I don't need your pity. I just need you to do something for me."

"If I can, I'll do it." Eorna spoke once more, still bowing.

"I'm sure you will be able to." He returned with a smile. "It's simple really. I just want you to hand me your dagger."

Eorna froze at that, her mind racing as she thought it over. What did he mean by hand over her dagger? Heroes couldn't be separated from their weapons, unless he knew something she didn't?

The king continued on, oblivious to Eorna's racing thoughts.

"Of course, you can deny this. You can choose to keep your Dagger, but I can't ensure the safety of your sister, nor your friend out there…" Despite speaking softly, there was a hint of...something that Eorna couldn't detect. But she didn't like it.

Eorna risked raising her head slightly, and she caught sight of the grin on his face. She clenched her hands, taking a breath to calm herself.

"I can't do that, your majesty." Eorna began calmly. "It is known that heroes cannot be separated from their weapons. Even if I did want to, I can't do it."

"Yes yes. But I have my methods." He spoke, waving her off. "Of course, if that's not enough to convince you… Well, I believe your friend is outside. Is having his death on your hands worth keeping the dagger?"

Eorna stood up at that, glaring at the King. She took a better look at him. Despite the news having broken about his fathers death, he didn't seem torn up about it at all. It could have been due to him already coming to terms with it, but something still felt off.

He seemed almost proud of himself, for threatening those two.

"Are you… saying you will have Kurose or my sister…killed if I don't?" Eorna asked him, as if she was unable to believe what he had just said.

"Well, let's not be so direct here." He spoke calmly, slowly beginning to walk around his desk. "I won't have them killed. Rather… there may be an unfortunate slip up, perhaps an accident during an expedition for the Accessory Hero, and I'm sure I would absolutely love to meet your sister."

Eorna took a step back, her eyes narrowed on the prince. "So… What do you say? Do you perhaps want to give the Dagger to me?"

She continued to glare at him, and the prince clicked his tongue. "Damned heroes… Always so troublesome." He spoke with a sigh. He came to a stop in front of his desk, staring at Eorna for a moment before lunging towards her.

Eorna dodged to the side, the prince stumbling into the empty space where she once was before turning to her again, a feral look in his eyes.

"Give me the damned Dagger!" He shouted, lunging forwards once more.

Once again, Eorna dodged to the side. The prince stumbled into the table, and taking that moment of distraction, she ran towards the door, her mind made up.

She was going to grab Kurose, and they were going to get out of here. It clearly wasn't safe for either of them.

Kurose was leaning against a wall, tapping his Charme occasionally as he went through both his weapon forms and help menu. He had unlocked the Aransilk Scarf yesterday and he had slept with the Sapphire bracelet on, also unlocking that equip bonus, so he was feeling pretty good about that. Right now, he had the Aransilk Parasol equipped, intent on mastering that.

Hopefully by the end of the day, he would have a few more weapon forms to start mastering, otherwise he would be stuck with nothing to master.

He turned his focus from his weapon book to his help menu. It was all as he remembered yesterday, with the exception of one part he had skipped over. Combination skills

A mixture of both skills and magic could be used to create a unique skill. It seemed pretty useful, but Kurose did find it slightly odd. Was it any sort of magic that could trigger it? Could he trigger a combination skill himself, or did it require other people?

"Accessory Hero?" A guard spoke up, taking Kurose out of his thoughts.

Kurose responded, lifting his head to meet the guard's blue eyes. He seemed young. At least compared to the other guards in the area. If he had to guess his age, he would say the same as his own.

He was wearing a standard set of armor, a shiny metal that was worn by every other guard with the exception of the four that stood outside of the door to the king's chambers. He supposed that they were the king's personal guard, so it stood to reason that they likely had better equipment as well as a higher level.

"Accessory Hero?" The guard repeated once more, a hint of concern in his voice.

Kurose, upon realizing he had been staring for a while, cleared his throat.

"Oh, yeah, what's up?" He responded.

"I… I was just wondering, what are you doing with that Charme?" He asked, his nervousness evident.

"I'm just tapping it, whilst I wait for Eorna." He answered. "The Dagger Hero." He added on after a few moments, unsure if they knew who he was referring to.

"I see. Is there a reason why the Charme is so… thin?" The guard continued his line of questioning, still seeming nervous. Kurose wasnt that intimidating, was he?

"Sera!" Another guard called out, causing the guard to jump. "Stop being so nervous! He's not gonna bite your head off!"

"B-But he's a hero!" Sera spoke back, a frown on his face.

"And? He is still just a person at the end of the day! He's around your age for crying out loud!" The same guard responded. "Honestly, be more confident in yourself, kid. Believe in yourself."

Sera frowned at that, but didn't say anything in response.

Seeing that the conversation was done, Kurose took a better look at the Charme. Sure, it was pretty thin, and it looked like any sort of pressure could snap it, but that's how they were supposed to look, right?

"No? It's just how it was given to me. Is there any issue?" he asked, continuing the conversation

The guard looked even more nervous, but he kept his head low. "I… Well, you see, it's just that I, along with many of the other guards I am sure, would prefer for you to not have it out, due to the fear of the Charme snapping."

"...I'm sorry?" Kurose spoke uncertainly, unsure of what he was trying to say. Why was it so bad if a Charme ended up snapping? It was just a wooden disk, that's it, right?

"Can I ask why it would be such a bad thing for it to snap?"

The guard finally lifted his head, giving Kurose a curious look before speaking. "You don't know?"

Kurose answered with a shake of his head. "Nope. My education in Charmes is… lacking. I know I don't want it to snap, thanks to my teacher, but other than that? nothing."

"Well, Charmes are filled with Mana, which gets released using the Charme as a medium, and using the script inscribed onto it to form it into what it should be, are you understanding so far?" The guard spoke quickly.

Kurose nodded, and the guard continued. "Well, Mana tries to take the most direct path out. With Charmes, that is following the instructions written upon them, but if one were to snap, then that would provide another, easier exit. Though, it is a rather explosive one at that."

Kurose paled at that, looking at the Charme in his hands. The guard continued on, not noticing Kurose's concern.

"Now, the explosion is slightly delayed and is based on the magic stat of the person that broke it. Me personally? It would probably give you a bit of a burn, but nothing a bit of healing salve wouldn't fix. The Inscriber though? I imagine he could take a chunk out of the castle." He explained carefully to Kurose, who paled ever further at than.

"And from knowledge, it has been said that the Accessory Hero primarily fights with magic, as such, you can understand my concern with you holding such a thin Charme." He explained apologetically.

"Ah, yeah, I can. Sorry. I didn't know." Kurose spoke with a small smile.

"It's no problem, Accessory Hero. Thank you for being so under-"

The guard was cut off by the sound of muffled shouting coming from the door. Shortly after, the door burst open, revealing Eorna standing there.

She scanned the area quickly, her eyes locking onto Kurose's.

"Kuro-" Before she could say anything, a voice, likely the prince turned king, shouted from the room behind her.

"Guards! Seize the heroes! Alive for the Accessory Hero, and whatever for the Dagger! Just get them!" The voice demanded, and Kurose froze.

The guard beside him was also frozen, taking a moment to understand the instructions that were given to him. The two guards stood by the door, however, didn't waste a moment. They drew their weapons, with one of them moving to attack Eorna.

Kurose's body moved before he understood what was going on. "Erst Scarf!"

Almost immediately, the scarf shot forward, wrapping around the sword making its way towards Eorna. It gave Eorna the few seconds she needed to move out of the way of the incoming blade before the skill was destroyed. Then, she was at his side.

"Kurose! We need to go!"

"What? Why?" Kurose couldn't help but ask, his eyes still locked onto the guard who had shattered the skill. Just how strong was he to be able to destroy the skill that easily?

The guard who was standing beside Kurose finally began to move again, and Kurose expected him to turn with his weapon drawn as well. Yet he surprised Kurose by not doing that.

Instead, he stepped in front of them, obviously nervous with the way his hands were shaking as he gripped his spear

"What are you doing?" The guard who had spoken to Kurose called out, obviously confused.

"We are following his majesty's orders!" One guard snapped at him, causing the already nervous guard to shake more.

"B-But we need the heroes!" He responded just as quickly.

"You have one last chance to step aside or assist us." One of the guards threatened, a spear pointed towards him.

Kurose watched in shock, fully prepared to use his skill again to give the guard even a slight chance of surviving. His eyes wandered around the hall, the few other guards stationed around the area were all frozen as well, unsure of what to do.

"...I refuse." was the response that Sera offered. "Accessory Hero, Dagger Hero. Please leave whilst I hold them-"

He cut himself off as a few other guards moved into position in front of him.

"Sera, leave with the heroes" One of the guards spoke, eyeing up the guards opposite them..

"Yeah, you are far too young to be sacrificing yourself like this." Another spoke with a grin.

"W-What? No, I have to-" Sera began, only to be cut off.

"The only thing you have to do is help the heroes out, got it?" The first guard spoke again. "Now go!"

"Are you all truly turning against me?" The same voice that ordered them to be captured spoke, emerging from the room.

He held a frown on his face as he looked at the small group of assembled guards blocking their path forward.

"I'm willing to let this go if you turn your weapons toward the heroes." The king spoke, a smile on his face.

"If you aren't going to assist us, we will have no choice but to cut you down." One of the king's guards spoke. "I don't want to do this, but you will be forcing my hand."

Eorna tugged on Kurose's shoulder, and he reluctantly turned. Sera was still looking towards his fellow guards, seemingly torn between helping Kurose and Eorna, or going back to assist them.

Eorna made his decision for him however as she grabbed hold of his shoulder, yanking him forward. With a frown, he turned, but not before shouting.

"Don't you dare die!" He called out. "When I come back, I want to be able to shout at you all! So all of you better live!"

"Yeah yeah. We get it! Now get going for real!" The guard who had initially spoken to Sera responded with a grin.

With that, the trio left, with both Kurose and Sera leaving the guards behind reluctantly.

The trio stopped once they had gone far enough away. The sound of any footsteps following them had long since faded, and as such they had descended into silence.

The hallway was rather empty, with the only thing of note being the windows which gave a view of the city beside them.

"So…" Kurose spoke, breaking it quickly. "We need to leave, but how do we-" He was cut off by Sera.

"I… I can guide us, but the king may have put guards at the entrance just in case." Sera responded nervously.

Kurose gave him an encouraging smile, quickly inviting him to the party so that they could keep track of each other health wise.

Sera was a higher level than both him and Eorna, though that didn't shock him much. What did shock him though was that he was guarding the hallway to the king's room at only level 17. Had they just selected people at random?

He let that thought fall to the side for now. He could always ask Sera later why he was chosen as a guard.

"Okay." Kurose responded with a nod. "So, we start getting out of here. Let's say we get past the guards that the king probably has stationed there, what then? We trade this castle sized cage for what, a city sized cage?"

"We could-" Sera began, getting cut off as Eorna jabbed a finger into both his and Kurose's sides. He looked at her for a minute before looking where she was.

"Or," The King began with a smirk, taking one step forward. "You could just surrender to me? It would be much easier."

Kurose stepped in front of Eorna, whilst Sera stepped in front of him.

"Don't be like this." The King spoke with a smile, shaking his head. "It really isn't that difficult! I'm giving you the option here Accessory Hero!"

The King took another step forward, and the trio took one step back.

Kurose was desperately looking for any other way out of this situation. Any sort of hidden door, a hallway they might have missed, anything to help them get out of here.

"Just give the Dagger Hero up to me, and I'll forgive everything that's happened up until now! I will let you leave peacefully, hell, you can even take that guard with you!" He exclaimed. "I don't need him, he's already shown how disloyal he is."

Sera looked at the king in shock, but the king didn't seem to pay him any attention beyond the brief mention.

"So what will it be, oh great hero?" he asked mockingly.

Kurose had sorted out an idea. It was dangerous, but it was the only thing he could think of right now. Hell, he wasn't even sure if the equip effect worked like the name implied, but it was either that, or have whatever the king was planning happen.

Kurose turned his head to look at Eorna, and she stared back at him, concern in her eyes.

"You aren't…" She trailed off, but Kurose understood what she was trying to say.

It hurt him slightly that she even thought he would do that, but he pushed it aside for the moment. They did barely know each other after all.

"...do you trust me?" Kurose asked her quietly.

She looked at him for a moment longer before nodding her head slightly, and Kurose gave her a smile.

With that, he stepped forward. "Sera?"

The guard perked up as Kurose called his name, but did not face away from the king, who had stopped moving, a frown on his face.

"I know we just met pretty much, but do you trust me and Eorna?"

Sera didn't hesitate. "Of course I trust the heroes," he affirmed.

"Great. Just follow our lead when it comes to it, alright?"

Sera shot Kurose a questioning look, but didn't say anything, which was fine with Kurose.

"Whatever you've got planned Isn't going to work." the king declared. "But I see you've chosen your side. A shame really. Then again, I didn't have much need for you anyway. Your weapon is lame as fuck. It wont help me with my build"

Kurose paused at that, a frown on his face. His build? What was he on about? He pushed it to the side to think about later. He lifted his hand, his fingers pressing against the Charme.

The king stopped moving forward, taking a moment to look at what Kurose held in his hand.

"A Charme?" He questioned Kurose. "What the hell are you going to do with that? It's probably some shitty lighting Charme you stole from your room."

"It doesn't matter what sort of Charme it is if I snap it, does it?" Kurose responded to him.

It was a total bluff. Kurose wasn't intending on snapping the Charme. He didn't know how much damage it would do if it did snap, and he didn't exactly want to be responsible for blowing something up yet.

"You wouldn't," The king spoke after a few moments of staring at him. "I know what sort of person you heroes are."

The King took a step forward, and Kurose took a step back.

"See! You are too much of a coward to even do that!" The king shouted with a grin.

Once again. The king took a step forward, and Kurose stepped back, bumping into Sera who had moved forward..

His already tight hold on the thin Charme tightened for a moment. Kurose's eyes widened as the Charme snapped in half, with the king's expression mirroring his own.