The Dust from the explosion finally fades away, revealing the colossal crater caused by the explosion, in the bottom of that crater Görbbe and Baron were lying on the ground, almost dead, Baron survived thanks to the Protective spell, But he still suffered a few injuries from the shock, Baron stood up to see what happened to him, but he couldn't stand straight due to his spine injury, along with wounds to his shoulders, left arm, right leg, and several broken ribs, he looked at Görbbe who was lying down with half his face blown up from the explosion, Both of his right limbs lost and his other limbs broken, with his exposed eye gone and his other eye covered with an eye patch, Görbbe seemed to have no means of seeing, Baron assumed he was now blind, he reached toward his face to remove the eye patch and check his other eye, but to his surprise, Görbbe grabbed Baron's arm with his broken right hand before it reached his face, which made him shocked, he inhaled as much air as his lungs could contain "That.. was the greatest fight I've ever had" he said while holding Baron's hand who was shocked from this scene, "You just took a whole nuke right to your face, I thought you were dead, and the first thing you talk about is the fight ?",
Görbbe, with his hand on his chest, replied with a smirk "hahaha, yeah, I couldn't help myself but going beyond my limits.. again..", He then pulled out a medal with an owl emblem, similar to the one Baron carried, from his side pocket and held it tightly until his palm began to bleed. The medal started glowing briefly with a bright navy blue light before returning to normal, the world around them began to fade, Görbbe's rift world slowly disappeared, until a great blue wall surrounded them, Baron couldn't see anything for a moment, and when his vision returned he found himself in Guirith right where they were, and Görbbe was lying flat on the ground, "at least we're back home, I thought I'd be trapped forever if you died here" Baron said while looking around him with a great relief on his face,
From the distant street ahead of them, a group of 6 individuals approached the two, 4 armored knights and two medics and a carrier, Baron said as he was observing them "this is not a good time for guests, I just woke up from an entire sun dumped at my face, I can't go any further like this!", but to his surprise, the knights approached Baron and told him "so you must be the guy Master Fierner was talking about, he knew something bad would go wrong!!", Baron replied "Yes, something did indeed go wrong, your friend went too far with his 'magic test' and ended up doing this to himself",
The Knight signed to the medics to carry Görbbe's body on the carrier to get the medical attention he needs and said to Baron "Please come with me, young mister, Master Fierner is humbly requesting an audience with you", Baron who felt Concerned, replied "Your master's request looks a little too polite, If this was another crazy battle request then I'm heading home", The knight replied "haha, Please be assured, Master Fierner is not a fan of pointless fight, he wants to actually have a proper conversation with you".
The group escorted Baron and the injured Görbbe to the Royal Palace to the north of the City, heading to an unclear fate.
The Group arrived at the Gates of the royal palace, the scene of the Great sculpted walls and high towers welcomes Baron's sight, The Leading Knight instructed the medics to carry Görbbe to the Medical department and requested to accompany Baron to the Head Office saying "Please, this way", Baron asked "May I ask why you guys are too calm and patient with his injury? Aren't you supposed to be worried that he might bleed to death ?", The Knight Replied "Sir Görbbe is no ordinary person, this injury is not something new to him, so don't worry about this matter, now please follow me this way", Baron and The accompanying Knight headed inside the Royal Palace, inside was a great hallway extending to far end of the palace where a great hall is, great pillars of quartz decorated the way with fair distance between each other, and a royal blue color covers the walls around them, "The Royal Palace looks more royal than what I expected" said Baron as he was walking with the knight to their destination.
In a spacious room decorated with swords, shields, medals and bounties, a tall, muscular man with sat his legs cross, a small cup of tea in his right hand and a report file in his other hand behind a desk, the door in front of him was opened by the secretary, Sally, "Sir, Your Guests have arrived !" she told him, he replied in return "Let them in, I've been waiting~", the secretary nodded positively and left, moments later, The Knight Entered the room with Baron, he said "Master Fierner, I hope you're not busy with something important..", Master Fierner, surprised, with a gentle smile on his face said "Oh, you ?!, you are finally her, please have a seat here, and thank you, knight harry, I will see you after a while" the knight saluted Master Fierner and left the room, Baron was standing in the room looking around him, "All those medals and weapons, I can tell I'm facing a true man of war.." he said as he was inspecting the surrounding, Fierner replied "Thank you for this compliment, young mister, please, allow me to introduce myself, I am Fierner Leons, the head Chief of the Noctis Wardens, pleased to meet you", he shook hands with Baron who replied in return "I'm Baron Maverick, The Honor is mine, Master Fierner", The two sat down after introducing themselves, Fierner Initiated the conversation:
- "I'm very pleased you've made it here, Mister Maverick. We've been waiting for you for quite some time."
- "Thank you, Mister Fierner, I am-… wait, why were you waiting for me ? were you guys watching all this time ?"
- "Well, it's a bit complicated. May I explain everything directly?"
- *Baron crosses his arms*"Go ahead, I'm all ears!"
- Alright, First of all, Our organization was founded by the King Lloyd Ghyzier a few years ago, it's main goal was to specifically target and fight the Crimson Brotherhood and dismantle their operations within Silveria, I suppose you're familiar with them, if I'm not mistaken"
- "Of course I know them, those guys owe me a fortune, I never forget those who owe me money !"
- "Owe you ?, were you making trades with them or some sort of cooperating ?"
- "No, those guys destroyed my shop a few days ago and left me jobless, I intend to make them pay for the damages"
- "Oh yes, forgive me, I'd forgotten that detail, and now you plan to chase them down and make them compensate you ?"
- "Yup, that's the plan so far"
- "I like your optimism, Mr. Maverick"
- "Now, can you tell me why were you watching me all this time ? and when did you start that?"
- "As you wish, young mister, three days ago, the 28th of Bloomville, we received a report of an attack from the Crimson Brotherhood, but there was already a resistance, the report described a young looking man with dark brown hair, dark green eyes and light freckles across the face, which, after fair analyzation, happened to be you, and also a person of the same age with black hair and blue eyes, we couldn't find him, unfortunately, the report stated that you tow fought with an exceptional talent, you guys looked like you were bullying those assassins more than fighting the, such statement in a report of a fight against people like the Crimson Brotherhood isn't something we see everyday"
- "Oh, yes, our last fight against these guys, the man you're talking about was Vince, an old friend of mine, he was injured in that fight so he will spend a few days at home, I'm afraid, now tell me, where did you get those reports ? did a spy reported that to you or did it appear on your desk out of nowhere ?"- "About that, the report was found by one of the guards in the royal square, lying on the ground, the soldier that was assigned for the report went missing since that day, I thought you might have some clue about his whereabouts"
-"Nope, the last thing I remember was one of the Crimson Brotherhood guys being crazy enough to slit my throat while I wasn't aware, everything went dark afterwards.."
- "Everything went dark, huh?, in that case maybe sir Görbbe knows something, I heard he assigned himself to test you"
- "You mean Görbbe Mannors ?, Yeah he did test me, but your dear friend almost atomized himself in the process"
- *shocked* "Atomized?!, I only remember asking him to check you out, running unauthorized experiments wasn't on the list as I remember"
- "It was something within the test you mentioned, I wasn't intending to take it first, but I got excited when he mentioned a magic part, that made me feel fired up a lot"
- "MAGIC PART ?!, there was no mention of a magic part within the recruitment test, that's a straight up violation against the Codex !!"
- "Don't look at me, ask him when he wakes up, he's really messed up now"
- "please forgive my loss of temper, I was concerned about you and his safety, now, our usual acceptance routine is a report provided by the person we assign to recruit someone, it's supposed to show that the person in question has passed both mental and physical tests, and no, there is no magic test at all, we have a separate department for that, it basically means that the person can be accepted within the ranks of the Noctis wardens, the final part is up to me, I decide whether I accept them or not, based on their background, but YOU in the other hand, you are the first case in the history of our division, the head of the recruitment department himself went to test you, violated the codex that he wrote with his own hands, and almost ended himself while trying to test you, and he somehow lost, this thing itself means you have passed, you don't need any of those paper works, and as for my part, Mr. maverick, I don't accept you in our ranks, I am humbly requesting you to join us, we need your power to fight against the Evil of the Crimson Brotherhood !"
- "So, you're basically offering me job to avenge my shop, get back what I lost and secure a future for the people here ? there is no reason for me to refuse, count me in !"
- *smiling* "Thank you for considering our request, we're truly pleased to see someone like you in our side, you're now officially a Warden"
The two shook hands again, and Master Fierner offered Baron a tour around the Base inside the Royal palace to introduce him to the new work environment, The Left the Room and walked through the Great hallway, "I'm so grateful for you joining us in this battle, your strength will be a crucial factor against the Brotherhood and their Assassins" Fierner said,
Baron asked "Is there some sort of fixed fighting style for your soldiers or everyone has his personal preferences?", Fierner replied "The Diversity of our fighters' Combat methods is what strengthen our lines, we might have a few groups that adapted to some specific fighting methods but they're not necessarily forced, by the way, do you have a personal fighting style or shall we help you find one ?",
Baron answered "It was only a few days since I return to fighting, I haven't involved in any sort of physical combat since I was like 14, I dedicated most of my time to weaponsmithing and trades",
"So, I suppose you need to fight a few more Battles to get back to you old senses ?" Fierner commented.
Baron and Fierner walked into a great yard, filled with training dummies, swords and training recruits sparring with each other, "This is the training yard, this is the place where we train to strengthen and sharpen our skills, you can come here whenever you please to train or spar with other fighters within our ranks" Fierner said as he pointed his hand towards the area,
Baron replied "That looks sweet, and who's that guy in red right there ?" he pointed at a young guy in a dark red samurai light armor with a katana in his hand sparring with a knight, "That guy ?, he's the youngest fighter in our ranks. the name is Hojo Genzo, he came from the east to join our organization, don't be tricked by his appearance, that guy is very skilled in combat", the silver haired samurai saw them from afar, paused his sparring and sheathes his sword to welcome the leader, "I see you're having some guests here, Fierner" He said, Fierner Introducing Baron to him "As you can see, I do have a guest here, He's a powerful addition to our ranks, Don't let his innocent look trick you, he's an extremely strong fighter, he is Baron Maverick, and Baron, this is Hojo Genzo",
Genzo looked at Baron and commented "Tall man, Brown slicked back hair, eagle shaped green eyes and Muscles barely contained under a shirt, if these weren't signs of strength and charisma, I don't know any further, Nice to meet you, Baron Maverick, What brings you here ?" Baron replied "I heard you guys are fighting some people I don't like, so I'm in", Genzo Replied "I like your straightforwardness, Welcome abroad", Genzo went up the stairs that separates between the training ground and the exit door to shake hands with Baron, and to his surprise, Baron quickly noticed how unusually short Genzo is, "Thanks, I'm look forward to work with you, short king" Baron said with a little smile, Genzo Giggled a little,
Fierner and Baron left the training yard, excited to see the next area, and probably meet another unique person from the Noctis Wardens, a true Warden, Fierner talked to Baron as they were both walking down the hall "I'm quiet surprised, to be honest" Fierner said to Baron with a gentle smile, Baron questioned his comment, so he answered "usually, people who meet Genzo for the first time negativity comment on his height, the aren't used to see people as short as him", Baron replied
"Oh, it might be unusual to them, but I've seen people from the east before, they're usually his height when they're Younger than 17,I guess Genzo is a little unique since he's way too short, But I'll assume he's been through some hardships to be like that, so I'm not in the place to judge",
Fierner was surprised by Baron's Morals, he commented saying "This is an interesting side of yours, Baron", he continued "Now, let's continue in our way, our next destination is the Royal Library, you may not be a man of science but I'm sure this place would be an exception"
BOOM!
A massive shockwave from across the hallway behind them shakes Everyone rushed from the rooms drawing their weapons to see what happened, Baron and Fierner Rushed to the Location of Impact, and to their surprise, a Massive part of the ceiling in the main hall was destroyed, the flames engulfed the entire hallway, including the secretary who was screaming in pain, Baron looked through the flames at the hole in the ceiling, a tall white haired man in crimson red was staring right at Baron, armed with two swords and a deadly aura, Baron could see what his intentions were just by his face, He is here for only one thing, and he won't leave without it,
The Crimson Assassin is here for REVENGE.
To be Continued.