How in the world had it come to this? Walking along the streets of Orchidia Lycoris found herself cursing inwardly. She was officially done babysitting! Not once had she heard of a pregnant woman who disappeared during her pregnancy! Then again, rumors started to arise that Alice had been sighted leaving the city, healthy and with twins babies in tow, so at least she didn't need to worry about the young lady's well-being.

Then again, that did give her an opportunity to focus on some more serious work, for example getting stronger and obtaining more wealth for her ambitions. Fortunately, the latter had shown itself in the form of the request board, that seemingly contained a large assortment of all sorts of requests for help that the citizen of Orchidia had made.

In the end, after a short search she had found a job that might had offered a suitable reward, and all in all the job seemed fairly simple and trivial at that also. To go more into detail, the Muramasa were holding a big event that would soon be happening, and as expected they wanted everything to be as close to perfection as possible. This meant that no disturbances or unexpected shenanigans were permitted to happen, and as one might had imagined a senile old man was often the cause of disturbances and unexpected shenanigans. The man in question, Leis was often known as the 'village's idiot' All in all a harmless elderly man, but certainly not the type of person you wanted in front of the castle preaching about Satan or being up to no good when various individuals belonging to noble families from all across Fiore would be attending.

In the end a decision had been made: Leis would have to be elsewhere during the event. Of course, violence was an easy option but in her opinion there were more pleasant and entertaining ways to deal with a man like that.

It was this that led to her current situation, stationed in front of the castle as she waited for the elderly man to arrive, and just as anticipated he soon came wheeling along in his wheelchair.

"Leis, I presume?" Lycoris looked at the man with a glint of mischief in her eyes, that look that a troublemaker tended to show before pulling a prank. It seemed Leis noticed that spark of liveliness in her eyes for he nodded his head enthusiastically and spoke. "That glint in your eyes reminds me of myself in my younger days! What can I do for ya lass?"

Good, it seemed the old man, despite being labeled as the village idiot was still a rather friendly person, this would make her job a lot easier. "Leis, I noticed you been preaching a lot here recently but it's been falling on deaf ears... how about we take a walk and you can tell me a bit more about that stuff you been saying before?"

It appeared her invitation was well-received, for the man grinned at her and after a light nod turned his wheelchair around. "Come along then lass, and I'll tell ya some more about mah past!"

WC: 527/800 (20% adventurer discount)

The elderly man was quite eager to regale her with tales of his past, of how he used to be an adventurer who traveled around Fiore, and that it was on one of his adventures he met his wife, whenever he spoke about her it seemed like his liveliness knew no bounds, and his pride and joy when talking about her reminded Lycoris of how she felt whenever she talked about her elder brother. However, it was also noticeable that when he ceased talking about those moments that he became more melancholic. There was no doubt that Leis missed his wife dearly. A soft shake of her head followed as she cleared her own thoughts on the subject of her brother. It would serve her no use to complain or lament about the past, especially when she still had so much to do and accomplish before she could satisfy her grudge and bring justice to the man that betrayed her brother.

Nonetheless, she decided to stick around for a while longer, until she had escorted the man back to his house. "Thanks for your companionship lass, it's been a while since I had such pleasant company! But I think I shall retire for the day. Take care of yourself, ya hear?"

Lycoris grinned for a moment at the man before giving him a light wave of her hand, and after watching him close the door started to walk down the street. She had given up so much for the sake of her personal ambition. Ever since the death of her adoptive elder brother and the mercenaries who were like a family to her the only thing on Lycoris' mind was to seek out justice for those who had fallen. The way they were betrayed was unforgivable, in the end nobody liked a backstabber, especially not one who was bound by a certain code of honor like Lycoris was. After returning to the castle the young lady found herself reporting that the job had been successfully accomplished, something the guards were quite pleased to hear because some rumors mentioned the nobility inside the castle were among some of the most influential and important individuals within the entire country! Certainly, the caste system had changed somewhat since Arthurias' ascension to the throne, but it still made those people sound quite important. Upon receiving the pouch that contained the jewels she had been promised as a reward Lycoris decided it was time to check some of the stores in town, perhaps one of them would hold a weapon of a high enough quality for her to purchase? Then again, she also needed a replacement sword considering her current one ended up getting trashed from all that training. Nevertheless, it appeared the stores didn't contain the type of quality she desired, so, all in all, she simply left with her memento sword reforged, at least for the time being it would do its job, but she seriously needed to start considering an alternative option. That sword clearly wouldn't be able to last long against a serious foe...

WC: 513
Total WC: 1040/800