There was a tense silence as the captain stared off with Lusha. All the while Lusha completely ignored all pretext of danger. 

 

"Are you going to answer my question?" 

 

Hah, funny. The exact same question Lusha was wondering herself. 

 

"Hey! Are you listening, wench! The boss asked you a question!"

A voice shouted from below. Lusha turned to face the young man that was stapled to the ground. "Morse, was it?"

 

Morse nodded, noticing the threat the witch carried, The captain released them from his grasp, allowing them to immediately jet from the ground and scurry by his side. Now the room was entirely set up so that on one side of the room sat Lusha, and on the other side of the room, bandits.

 

Seeing as she was getting no answer she chose to dismiss him. "We'll be quiet while the adults are speaking, kid."

 

Now, Morse was a very specific type of person, one who always needed to vent his frustrations. Without the chance to do so, he'd hold onto his anger indefinitely. Just waiting for the chance to let it out.

 

A ticking time bomb.

 

But he was also a fool unable to gauge his own strength against an opponent’s -  that is why he would fight Garn with no regards to his prospects of victory. A fool. He turned around at the words Lusha spoke with fury and contrition. Presumably having hoped for any slight infraction to unleash his pent up anger, his flames reignited. 

 

"Fuck you, buzzard!" 

 

The boss immediately shouted "Down!"

The man fell to the ground just as fastly as he turned around, crumpled.

 

"what are you doing Boss, let me take care of this disrespectful BITCH!"

 

The boss signed. Walked over to the man, and though his flames were still activated, he grabbed a hold of Morse's head and began to punch him.

 

Over and over again.

 

Lusha watched in amusement as the flames slowly quelled and were replaced by blood splattering against the stoned floor.

 

With his hands now burnt, he spat in Morse's face. "You fool. You fucking fool." It was apparent now that that tears had begun forming in his eyes.

 

"You almost got yourself killed. You fucking fool..." he let Morse's head drop to the ground.  "Even if we were to all attack her at once, we'll not survive to see the outcome"

 

"Hoh? You're able to gleam that much?" 

 

Lusha smiled and set the cup down. "I suppose you aren't your average rag tag group then hm?" It seemed the man had a knack for gauging the strengths of others. "So I suppose now would be the time to tell me your name."

 

"Blight Von Gard. Leader of the Skull blade Bandits." He gave a pause. "Are you sent here by the Borim Council?"

 

Lusha shook her head and placed her hands behind her back. “I can’t say I’m working with any government. In fact, I’m sure Borim would find it rather troublesome if they discovered someone like me was in their country.”

 

That’s right, if they heard that a mythical figure venerated in their neighboring country was to visit, they would suspect it an act of aggression, an attempt to justify a mass exodus and claim rights to their land under the approval of their deity.

 

Borim was not a country that had dealings with Lusha in any previous capacity. Just a century ago it was a small country that had nigh forgotten the tales of their history. Now, after its expansion into an empire, it had no recollection of its past. The concept of witches and dragons have become a sort of myth after that many years. Of course, many would doubt their validity. Only a few countries now ever took the stories seriously, and even then, fewer still among them truly believe it.

 

Blight gave a tense smile. “Then you’re of the same. Are you not?”

 

“Hm?” Lusha inquired before realizing what the man must have meant. “Ahh no no.. I’m not a bandit or ruffian or whatever the sort you people are.”

 

“But I assure you, I mean you no harm. I’m simply seeking shelter from the rain. That… and information? What is this tournament you speak of?”

 

Out of all the cases she could have ran into, talk of a tournament appears to be the very first thing she hears of. Somehow, it felt like the girl’s information wasn’t wrong at all. Perhaps subconsciously she still had the right intuition.

 

“If it’s something that simple, then please. Join us for a drink. This tournament—“

 

Lusha promptly held a hand up to her. “But first, I’d need to bring in my associate. She is outside in the rain at the moment. You see… with her current weakness, it wouldn’t do well to keep her out there too long.”

 

The bandit nodded and motioned for Limn and Victor to go and grab her. Limn nodded and swiftly left the stronghold. They later returned with a shivering Eri, looking distraught to have made contact with them.

 

Blight motioned for everyone to resume what they were doing, and they all left to return to their previous activities. This was clearly a show of faith, to try and show them that he meant no hostility. “Well, despite your appearance, you’re quite diplomatic.”

 

“I’m sure if I had a better appearance, I’d have sat on the council instead.” Blight nodded with a smile.

 

Now getting a better look at the rugged man, he actually had a kind and gentler smile than one would expect from a ruthless ruffian.

 

He motioned them over to a table in one of the rooms. It appeared to be his personal office. A rounded table sat with a cupboard and an aurora of books lining the walls. Aside from that several mugs sat on the table, half turned over and some still partly full. He picked up one of the mugs and filled it up with mead from a barrel behind him, offering one to Lusha.

 

Lusha politely smiled and took a sip of the cup. Blight watched as the girl drank without any concern over what it held in its contents. ‘Bold.’ He thought. ‘A girl that’s not afraid of death’. She drank it with no regard of whether it was poisoned or not.

 

He looked over to Eri before offering a glance at Lusha’s drink. Eri politely declined, as he had expected.

 

Lusha avoided eye contact while drinking the mead. It had tasted like a thousand deaths, but she didn’t want to show face now. She boldly finished the entirety of the drink and gave a sigh of relief. Almost as if she was saying “that hit the spot”. Truthfully though, she was thinking “thank god that’s over with.” The man may as well have been a specialist in torture.

 

“HAHAAH! I’m impressed, girl!” He quickly slammed his drink on the table and began to chug it, wiping his mouth and breathing a sigh of relief. “Now this is more like a true discussion!” He seemed to have gotten in a much lighter mood after drinking his share. Of course, he couldn’t help but slam another drink in before taking his seat at the table across from Lusha.

 

“So what did you want to know about this tournament?”

 

“Well, first… tell me everything.”

 

The leader gave thought on where to start. “Well, every 5 years or so theres a tournament that occurs in Borim, held in their capital city. A couple thousand people make the journey there along with nobles, merchants, lords, and of course the competitors.”

 

“Is there any among you that plan on entering the competition??”

 

 

Blight leaned back against his chair. “Fools come along attempting to make it big in the pointless competition. But we’re not interested in anything like that. See— the real deal here is the amount of opportunity which presents itself.”

 

“Opportunity?”

 

“You see— sometimes there’s rumors of people that attempt to go to the tournament, and never make it to the capital. Do you catch my drift?

 

“I understand.” Of course, she had already assumed that was what they intended to do, but nonetheless, it never hurt to verify and make doubly sure.

 

“Then, you plan on attacking and plundering from the nobles?”

 

Blight nodded. “Because the king is going to be hosting the event at the capital, there won’t be any room to deal with trivial things such as missing peoples reports. So long as you ensure there are no witnesses, then you never have to worry about the attacks.”

“Most of the nobles will be escorted the Peerless Knights. Noone expects a group of lowly bandits to be able to discard the elite warriors of Borim.”

Lusha cocked an eye. “Oh… are you strong then?”

Blight laughed out loud. “HAHAHAHAHAHA No no nothing like that. I have something better than strength.”

With a smirk, he then waved his finger in a circle around the air. “My team.”

“But to answer your question… I would say I am.” Giving it a bit more consideration, he then added “But it’s nothing compared to your strength.”

“and how do you suppose you know my strength?”

“I happen to have a good judge of character. I can see the strength in others that they themselves do not yet know of. A skill I’ve learned through many bouts of on the battlefield. It’s thanks to that, that I can assemble such an amazing team--- However fickle they may be.”

“You on the other hand… you’re something else. I’m not sure I could defeat you myself. I’ve only felt that from one other person.” A sense of pondering filled his head. Upon seeing Lusha’s strange expression, he then elaborated. “Viridis.”

Lusha’s look of confusion only seemed to heighten. “Y-…you don’t know of Viridis? There’s not a man in the eastern continents who don’t know of him. The Wandering Death, the Stone Casket?”

Eri seemed to know the man’s name. Her anxiousness seemed to rise when his name was brought up. “Ever since I had crossed paths with him, I avoid the strong like the plague. The rift between us could never be closed. Not in a thousand years.”

“He’s singlehandedly the man keeping balance between Borim and the other nations. Noone wants to rebel with the possibility of Viridis joining the fray. That monster… really should not be alive.”

Lusha’s interest was piqued. This Viridis was surely the man they were looking for.

Blight couldn’t help but notice the glint in her eyes. A sense of uneasiness washed over him. Anyone who would get that way at the mention of Viridis is surely not a sane person. “What’s your interest in this tournament any ways?”

“If I had to say… I suppose I’m looking for a person.”

“What kind of person?”

Lusha promptly stood up. “Sorry. All this talk of Viridis has suddenly gotten me in a lighter mood. How about it?”

Eri quickly eeped her way out of the location. “I can only answer your question best by showing you.

“How…-- about?”

Her aura began to flare up and the entire room could feel the shift in the atmosphere. They had been paying close attention to all the details and events. They would be fools to let their guard down.

“All of you. Come at me at once.”