Arablest/ Prototype

It has been many days since I’ve become a stupid noble.

They gave me a change of clothes, even when I refused, saying that I liked mine better.

When they heard me say that, though, they left, and came back with clothing that was nearly the same as mine, only with the crest of Thrycia hidden on a red cape.

Not only that, the new dark blue tunic I got was longer, as well, which reached a little over the top of me new (still brown) knee high boots. I still had white pants and black gloves again, although they had been cleaned, as well.

I still looked nearly the same as I did when I arrived in Lehrail, but only much cleaner.

I suppose being able to be clean was nice, though, although it was only going to get dirty when I set out.

Ah, yes, setting out.

Apparently there was a librarian, and so when I asked about magic he said it would be better to ask General Ira than to read the books and scrolls.

I didn’t even notice the scrolls in the library.

But, instead of reading, I could apparently know more by asking General Ira.

So I guess I could set out, if General Ira went with me.

So I went to Raymond to ask about it.

When I visited Raymond about going home and being able to have General Ira go with me, not only did he allow her to come (after some convincing her that her apprentice Lisa was good enough for the time being, and that I was not allowed to take more than one General due to the rest need to defend/look for Brixus), but he also hired a group of mercenaries to travel with me.

So, we loaded supplies, and set off to meet this group of mercenaries.

Raymond said they are good enough to be trusted, but I wasn’t too sure.

Raymond wasn’t able to spare more people to travel with me, since they all were looking for Brixus. Joseph and Garrett bid me farewell, Durand refused to see me, which was expected, and Leona made me promise that I would come back and visit her sometime, which I didn't think was possible if I made it back, so I tried to refuse multiple times, but in the end she wouldn't let me.

And as for Kal…

It turned out Kal and Pierre were still going to travel with me, so that was nice, getting to travel with people I already traveled with.

So the four of us went to the where we were to meet them, bringing supplies. This time I was to bring a wagon with me to help carry supplies, so Pierre drove the horses pulling the wagon over, and then we waited until they came.

Kal even attempted to teach me some more swordplay, and although I managed to hold my own for like a few seconds, I still lost every time we dueled, even when Kal was holding back. I did hold out longer than before, though, and like Kal had promised in the Northern Isles, he had given me a slim sword as well. Fighting with that sword using the skills he taught me made it easier to fight. They were both nearly the same weight as well, but the slim sword was more likely to break.

A short while later the mercenaries arrived.

“Hey!” Some shouted, and Kal and I looked up from our spar. Pierre and General Ira looked up too, as they were watching us.

When I looked up, I saw 5 people.

That’s all we get? I wondered. There wasn’t a lot, but at first sight they also looked pretty strong.

With them, the one who appeared to be the leader was holding a massive sword over his shoulder as he approached. He wore a tattered black cloak, and the only armor was… on his boots. What was most impressive was the size if his sword.

“You… have a big sword.” That was the first thing I stuttered out, much to my own dislike.
“Sword? I like to call this a blade.” He said, smiling. The ‘blade’, as he called it, was nearly as large as he was. It must have been incredibly heavy. His body tone was lopsided, too, with more muscle on the side his sword arm, which made sense. “My name is Tomer, and I am the leader of this group of mercenaries. We are Tomer's Mercenaries. Are you people the ones we are to be escorting?”
“Yes, we are.” General Ira responded. “We are ready to go. Shall we set off?”
“General Ira! You’re coming too?” Tomer asked. “I didn’t think this mission would be that important!”
“Well,” she responded. “Jeremy was allowed to bring one General, so he choose me.”
“Really?” he said, looking around. “Is that Jeremy?” he asked, pointing at Pierre.
“No, I am.” I responded. “Shall we get going? I would prefer not to waste time. We can talk along the way.”
“Yes, yes… But all this for a kid? Hmm. There must something more than meets the eye.”
“That’s what they all say.” I muttered. Then, aloud: “Let’s go.”

So we started moving towards traveling towards Thanti, conversations starting between us and them.
While we walked, I heard Kal talking to Tomer.

“Tomer.”
“Kal."
"Tomer, it's been a while."
"Yes, it has. How has it been going? Last I heard, you were off in a mission in Raalte. How did it go?”
“I left the mission, to join these guys instead. It was the right thing to do; I was assigned to kill the princess of Thrycia and her escorts, which included this boy, although I didn’t know it then.”
“What? Raymond had a daughter?”
“I didn’t know either until recently. That was when I switched sides, because I knew it was wrong. Although, I can’t believe the princess actually bested me in combat.”
“Kal! You’re out of shape. Tonight, when we camp, we duel.”
“Wait, what?”

That was the last I heard, because they were now walking as the rear guard of our group.

General Ira was conversing with another of the mercenaries, this one a young mage. He did sound rather nervous, but I suppose that was natural seeing Ira was a General and a sage. He carried a quite a few books with him too.

One of the other three mercenaries was a young woman, who had two swords attached to her belt and a long scarf. She wore a dress (or a tunic, I’m not sure which) which reached just below the knees. Her boots were only a little higher than her ankle. Her swords were interesting, although I hadn’t seen them yet before.

Another mercenary traveling with us was a middle aged man with a wicked looking axe. He didn’t speak much, wore some sort of white cloth on his head, a brown vest over a red shirt with the sleeves torn off, white pants, and thick brown boots that reached his knees. He continue to move in silence as I observed him for a bit.

And the last Mercenary was a surprise. It was another unicorn rider, riding her unicorn as she they trotted with us. Another surprise was that she actually wielded a bow. Wasn’t it hard to shoot accurate with a bow while flying in a unicorn? Who knows.
But the most surprising was her similarity to others that I knew. She looked similar to Athruien and Veronica. She may have been able to pass off as Veronica if she was younger, as well.

So I approached her, to start a conversation, even though I didn’t say anything for a while.

She glanced at me suspiciously.

“Did you want something?” she asked.
“I just wanted to know if you were from the Northern Isles.” I replied.
“All unicorns and their riders are from the Northern Isles.” She replied. “Who doesn’t know that?”
“Well, I didn’t until know. Do you know a unicorn rider named Veronica?”

At that I heard a sharp intake of breathe, and she stiffened, which I only noticed out of the corner of my vision. I was looking straight ahead in the direction we were moving, anyways. I was never good at looking someone in the eye, talking or not.

“Perhaps. There are many unicorn riders.” She responded carefully. “But I have a sister named Veronica. Why do you ask?”
“Because you bear much resemblance to a rider I met, who was named Veronica. I think she also has a brother named Athruien.” I replied.
“Then I think we are talking of the same person. Tell me, how is she? And how did you two meet?” She asked quietly, relaxing.
“While I was traveling to Thrycia with someone,” I said, trying to be as discreet as possible. “We came across a Unicorn rider who was scouting the mountain ranges in Raalte, who decided to travel with us until Thanti, but unforeseen circumstances had all of us go to the Northern Isles as well. Last I saw her, I believe she was all right.”
“I see. I suppose that’s relatively good news.”
“Also, why are you equipped with a bow? It seems strange to see a bow in the hands of a unicorn rider. Isn’t it hard to shoot accurately while flying?”
“Why, yes it is. It’s nearly impossible at first, but I had friends in Raalte, and I asked them to teach me archery on horseback. Of course, that’s still easier than on air, but now I’m probably the only unicorn rider who can shoot relatively well with the bow. It’s extremely difficult, though, so I don’t really recommend it as a weapon for unicorn riders. You even have to estimate the distance between yourself and the target while you’re moving, but your height also changes, which reduces my accuracy. Still, I try, and I’m getting better at it. Besides, I thought, since our country’s legendary weapon is the bow, and we’re also the only country with unicorns, why not have unicorn riders use the bow? Of course, it still is extremely difficult, and I’m still not much help on the battlefield with my allies yet. Better for me to fire arrows randomly into a crowd of enemies instead of accidentally hitting my own allies.”
“I see. That does make sense, I suppose.” I replied. “Why don’t we drop by the Northern Isles during this… mission? I should visit Veronica too.”
“Yes, it would be good to visit my family, as well. Thank you for giving me the opportunity; I haven’t seen them for years.”
“No problem.”

And so we traveled, slowly getting acquainted with one another as we went.

But first, I couldn’t wait to see the duel between Kal and Tomer tonight after we set up camp.