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Ryukai
The Crimson Blade, Zeron
I had met my close friend Zeron in my travels a very long time ago. He is one of the most powerful Humans I have ever met.
Not soon after I had completed my training with Master Kioty as a child, I set out on my own adventures in my early teen years. I had happened upon the vast human kingdom of Heiron, and I began to look for ways to make money and perhaps a place to stay so I wouldn't have to sleep outside in the forests. I can clearly remember the vast commerce and culture of the place and it amazed me. I had never seen such things before since my earliest days as the Divine Crusader, which I had no recollection of when I was in this particular stage of my life.
I was fascinated by the great castle that loomed over the entire city and I went to go see it up close for myself.
As I was heading to the front gates of the castle, I saw a group of knights bringing a young, white haired man in a black cloak to the castle and they were struggling to restrain him. The knights had finally gotten him under control for the most part and took him into the castle. Curious, I followed them to see what they were going to do to him.
Luckily, most of the palace was opened to the public, so I had no trouble getting in. When I entered, I caught a glimpse of them, carrying the white haired man downstairs. I followed with haste and secrecy to find a dungeon awaiting at the bottom of the stairs. I remained hidden until the knights had left the area before going to investigate his cell. I tapped my knuckles against the bars softly. He approached the cell door from the corner of the cell where he was undoubtedly brooding over his capture. I can remember parts of the conversation we had,
"Who are you, long ear?" he asked in a whisper. "Your kind isn't welcome around here."
I was confused by this, but I decided to inquire about the issue so I could perhaps understand the situation.
"What do you mean by that? And long ear?"
"Yes, the Humans of Heiron and the Elves of Cassaden hold fragile trading relations at best. I'm surprised you were allowed in here."
"I didn't ask. I just came in. No one stopped me."
"Hm… Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I saw the knights bringing you in here. I was curious. What did you do?"
"Hm, none of your business. I don't trust you."
"I'm not going to tell on you or anything. Like you said, it isn't like they'd listen to me anyway…"
He stopped and thought for a moment during a long pause.
"Well… You did seem clueless about the situation around here, so I guess you really aren't on anyone's side. You must be new around here."
"Yep."
"Well, first of all, my name is Zeron, and I'm a mercenary."
"What's a mercenary?"
"I'm a special kind of soldier that people hire to do things for them."
"Oh, I see. So were you… 'mercenary-ing' for the elves or something?"
"No. I was hired to kill someone who had stolen gold from my client. He had gone to the guards, but they did nothing, and he decided to take matters into his own hands. I went to the man's house and took the money back from him and then killed him. Apparently the guards had caught wind of my deed and surrounded me. Suddenly, as I drew my sword, I could barely move. I felt my strength leave me just there, and the guards took me down easily and took me here… I don't know what happened to me…"
Later, we had actually found out the cause of his sudden weakness, and it came to both of us as a shock. The Goddess, Fate, had weakened Zeron in that moment for the sole purpose of him being captured so that we could have met like we did. She weaves Destiny into our lives in mysterious ways…
I thought over Zeron's story for a few moments, and it seemed like he had done the right thing in getting revenge for the man who was robbed. He told me to look around for some keys, but I couldn't find any. I decided to put my training to work finally and I used my magic to break off the door. Together, we fought our way out of the castle and made it outside of the city and far away from their authority. I traveled with Zeron for a while, becoming a mercenary with him. In that time I learned a lot from Zeron, and I bettered my swordsmanship by sparring with Zeron on a regular basis in our off-time.
It wasn't until later that we found out that our escape triggered a war between Cassaden and Heiron. When we were fighting our way out, they saw that I was an Elf, and they thought we were working with Cassaden in a conspiracy against the kingdom. We did a lot of mercenary work for Cassaden, hoping that we could help them since we had set off the Humans in the first place. In my time there, I became close friends with the Elven king of Cassaden, Masaname, and I was able to further my training while still working with Zeron in the war. Ultimately, even our participation wasn't enough to keep Cassaden from being destroyed, and the Elves had lost the war. Few of the survivors had gone to live in the neutral trade city Con Square, but majority of the Elves had fled east to the dark continent of Orreth where they established their new kingdom, New Cassaden.
After the war, Zeron and I went our separate ways for a bit, but I knew that we would meet again in the future…