Looking at the capital city of the country of Fiore, Crocus the Holy Capital they called it, Silver couldn’t help but let out a long impressed whistle. “Nice place you got here.” He jokingly yells over his shoulder, causing the armed men behind him to laugh knowing the foreigner was half making fun of them since the capital, while clearly impressive, was in various states of disrepair due to the recent battle. But still, it was a genuinely nice city, filled with towering pointed buildings of fine Fiorian build, pleasant busy streets, equally pleasant looking and lots of plants which made everything just so… nice. As the caravan, he was guarding got closer and closer Silver was beginning to like the place more and more. Politics didn’t matter too much to a freelancer swordsman like the Sinian, so this place was perfect as a start point for his new life. Fiore was perfect, unlike the war-torn Sin a perfect place to start a new life.

A few hours later Silver was waving goodbye to the other caravan guards that he got to know over the last few months, promising to meet them at a nearby inn later that night. Silver knew it was important to keep in touch with friendly contacts, mostly since he was new foreign looking. But the day was still young so the young man decided to explore the city a bit, maybe get some street vendor food, gawk at the weapon display at the blacksmiths, buy a trinket at the market, and flirt with some cute girls at a public garden…

Today was a great day! Silver had just arrived in Crocus and was taking a pleasant stroll around town, enjoying the wintery weather and ignoring how damaged the city was. While the change of monarch had shaken the people, business was business and life moved on. People were generally happy as they moved about their tasks, but maybe Silver was only seeing the surface. But in the end he just shrugs to himself and counties on his peaceful little stroll.

But that didn’t last long. “Armin no! Your too sick to be out of bed, let alone going to work!” A female voice yells near Silver and he looks over to see an older lady who seems to dress like a stereotypical witch hold back a young plain looking man. Well, more like hold up since it looked like he was about to collapse. “Merlin I have to! The kids are expecting me! I can’t let down future Rune Knights!” The man Silver guesses is Armin says to the woman named Merlin, his yelling ending with a coughing fit that almost knock them both to the ground. The woman loses her grip and Armin almost falls, but thankfully Silver is close enough to stop that from happening. “Woah there, steady.” He says with good humor, heling the man to do just that. “Hate to butt in but I think the ladies right, man. You look dead on your feet.”

The man glares at him before looking down and muttering a soft thank you, while the woman gives Silver a searching look. “I think I might have a solution to our problem.” She says with a sly look in her eye.

And that was how Silver found himself standing in front of a bunch of kids a few minutes later. He had been quickly gang pressed by the old lady into doing this job, which Silver accepted with only a bit of uncertainty. He felt bad for the guy and was a freelancer he technically was always looking for any kind of work so it wasn’t that big of a deal. It helped that he actually liked kids.

“Hi there! I’m Silver and I’ll be substituting for Armin today!” Silver greets the kids with a cheerful chirp and they greet him back half-heartedly. “I know that I’m supposed to be training you’re for the army buuuuuut… can you guys keep a secret?” The asks with a wink and the children eagerly nod. “Okay! Since today’s supposed to be about fitness let’s get that blood boiling! Ever played knights and thieves?” He questions and the children cheer.

Overall it was a fun afternoon. After a few games of knights and thieves he got them into capture the flag and kick the bucket, all of which the boys enjoyed. Sure he technically wasn’t training them for the strictness of the army but he was giving them exercise and making them think up ‘battle’ techniques on the spot with his games.

The sun was beginning to set when he waved goodbye to the kids and headed back to Armin to get his pay and check up with the man. In his reports he didn’t include some facts, something Merlin seemed to noticed going by the look in her eye, but Armin was grateful enough and after an enthusiastic hand shake ending with a lot of coughing he paid the swordsman and they all parted ways for now.