The sun sat low and weary on the streets of Crocus, casting a light shadow over the gravel path that led into the depths of the city. The wind blew heavy and ruffled the leaves of the nearby trees as they hid the sound of the clacking boots that made their way through the pavement.  

Asura's navy blue coat ruffled with the wind as she sauntered forward, her eyes slightly scrunched as she skimmed the city for the destination she had come here for. Placing her hand into her coat pocket, she stopped and took out a crumpled piece of paper with the word 'Batra' being the most prominent one. She looked up again wondering where she would find this man. It was after all, the first time she was in Crocus.

Deciding to take a leap for it, she paused a woman on the street and asked her whether she could tell her why Batra the bartender may be. The lady's face immediately lit up, clearly more than overjoyed at the mention of the man making Asura wonder just how far Batra's influence really was. She thanked the lady in a low voice, with her face still in the same monotonous expression it always adopts and walked towards the area she was pointed towards.

Asura stepped foot in front of a rather, large inn. She looked back onto the piece of paper, took a deep breath and walked inside. Immediately, she noticed that the inn was rather empty at this time of the day, which was the middle of the afternoon. The lesser people there are, the better for her. Her eyes immediately located a bald man who stood behind the counter, humming to himself and cleaning a few wine glasses.

"Um, excuse me?" She beckoned his attention as she walked towards the bar counter and he looked up, his expression displaying nothing but mere curiosity.  

Asura slid the paper towards him. "Good afternoon, my name is Asura. I'm a Rune Knight and I'm here for this job. You sent out a request to find a con artist, am I right? I've come to assist you in whatever way I possibly can." All the while she spoke, Asura held a blank look on her face making Batra wonder whether she was really here for the job or not.

"Uh, oh, yeah." Batra stammered lightly, leaving his stupor. "Come, come, sit." He beckoned her to sit down and offered a drink which she kindly declined. Batra's expression took on a slightly more serious tone as he looked at her and began explaining, "You see, I tend to take requests sometimes from members who come to this inn frequently. These requests involve stuff in which they need help with and I want to help in whatever way I can. One of my customers recently sent a request of this conman going around town and stealing money from people. If I'm right, his name is Kyle and he normally tends to hang out near that alley down the block. No one wants to mess with him because we don’t know how dangerous he could be. What I want you to do is to get the money back and arrest him. This town has had enough of blokes like him coming around and scamming money as if they own the goddamn place." Batra tsked and an expression of irritation framed his face.

Asura merely nodded and got up to go find where this 'Kyle' was. "I shall bring the money back to you as soon as possible. No need to worry." She nodded once more at him and slid out of the inn, towards the direction the alley where Kyle would be found. Batra did mention that no one in Crocus wanted to mess with him because they didn't know how dangerous he was. Asura mentally prepared herself as she could never be too cautious. Considering she was still below average with her weapons, she'd have to rely on her fists.

Making her way down the alley, she skimmed the area, her eyes on alert as she searched for any voices she could possibly find. Going a little bit deeper, she heard a howl of laughter coming from further inside the alley. The light had begun to dim, not enough that she couldn't see but enough for her to be on alert. She made her way forward, trying to be as quite as possible until she spotted a figure hunched over on the ground, muttering to himself.

"Are you Kyle?" Asura asked, loud and clear, startling the man who hadn't anticipated her. He quickly turned around and noticed her, scrunching his eyes at her.

"Yeah, I am. What's it got to do with you?" He sneered at her, eyes glaring.

"My name is Asura and I'm from the Rune Knights. I've heard you've been going around scamming people for money and I'd like for you to return that money as quietly as possible, please." Considering that her face was blank the entire time she spoke, even Kyle was slightly freaked out. Regardless, her mention of being a Rune Knight got him intrigued.

"You're a Rune Knight, eh?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Asura nodded curtly. "Well then, I guess it was my bad, huh? Here you go, here's the money." He walked towards her with a small bag in her hand and offered it to her. Slightly confused, Asura extended her arms forward to accept the bag.

"I was very foolish. I just wanted to make a bit of money, I was in desperate need for it. I didn’t know a Rune Knight would come. I'm very sorry for my mistake. Please forgive me, I won’t do it again." He looked at her with clear sadness and regret in his eyes. Asura accepted the bag and looking at the expression of deep remorse on his face, she decided to let him go. After all, he was probably just in need for the money.

She nodded her head at him. "It is good that you are apologetic and recognize your mistakes. Even if you may need money, conning is not the right thing to do. Please try to find more righteous methods."

Kyle thanked her profusely and shook her hand as Asura made her way out of the alley with the small bag of money in her hand, relatively pleased that this ordeal went without any form of physical stance. Turns out, she was worried for no reason.

Asura entered the inn, once more, the bag clutched in her arm. There were a few people in the inn as of this time but it was still relatively empty. She dropped the bag onto the bar counter, catching Batra's attention as he looked at her quizzically and proceeded to look inside the bag.

Asura stifled a yawn as she watched him look at the money inside the bag. She expected him to be gleeful when he rose his face but it was somber. "Miss Asura, you do realize that this is fake money, right?" He showed the notes to her, pointing out the parts of it that we fake. "I'm afraid to tell you but I think he scammed you too." Even though not evident from her face, Asura was indeed shocked. So all that begging for forgiveness was an act? How abhorrent! That is unforgiveable. A rage burnt inside of her as Batra asked her to go search for him before he could leave the city and run away because that is what he would most likely do. Without wasting a second, Asura towards the inn exit and outside as the low sun was beginning to set.

She ran towards the city exit, as fast as she possibly could, seething at the audacity of the man to con her! How could she have fallen for it? But he did look extremely genuine.... And that is exactly why he's a conman! He could have probably left by now too. With that thought in her mind, Asura tried to run faster. For all she knew, he didn’t have to be at the city exit but she prayed to whoever she could that he would. She was ready to knock him out.

Lucky for Asura, out of the corner of her mind, she spotted a figure with a very hideous hairstyle oddly similar to the one that Kyle had. It was him! He was still rather far away but it was him! It seemed as though Kyle had slowed down into a jog as he approached the city's exits. He probably thought that he outran Asura and that he was most likely safe. Well, he had another thing coming.

Asura sped up those last few steps and attempted to tackle Kyle onto the ground. However, apparently, he sensed her when she was a few steps away and immediately swung the baseball bat he was holding towards her that Asura hadn't noticed. She abruptly stopped herself by putting her leg on the ground and jumping backwards. The baseball bat grazed her arm lightly, not enough to hurt or leave a bruise, though. Kyle cursed under his breath and tackled her onto the ground as Asura lost her balance because of being distracted by the bat. He pinned her down with one arm, ready to swing the baseball bat with the other. His eyes were livid as he was clearly very angry at being caught. Kyle had successfully thought that he had managed to fool the Ruin Knight and if it hadn't been for Batra, Asura would have easily been scammed and made a complete joke out of.

Asura quickly scanned her surroundings and found a rather medium sized rock that lay next to her hand on the ground. Before Kyle could swing, she caught the rock and chucked it at him, successfully hitting him in the head. He stumbled off her, clutching his head and moaning in pain as Asura quickly got up and caught the bat he dropped when tending to his head. She lifted it up and smacked him on the back of his head, yet again, enough to cause him to lose consciousness. Kyle fell to the ground, his head bleeding as Asura panted in exhaustion.

Immediately, she wondered whether she hit him too hard and sat down next to him, feeling his pulse. Oh good, he was just unconscious. She hoped he didn't suffer a concussion because it would be difficult to deal with him. Quickly draping Kyle over her shoulders, Asura attempted to drag him back to the inn with the bag of real money clutched in her hand.

It took quite a bit of time and by the time Asura reached the inn, the sun had already set and the inn was bustling with people. She peaked in through the window after setting Kyle on the wooden porch. Asura really didn’t want to go inside, there were far too many people and she didn't settle well with too many people. So instead, she opened the door lightly and beckoned someone to call Batra over.

Waiting outside, she glanced towards Kyle, wondering whether she should be glad he's not awake or worried. Well, at least he was alive, that's what mattered. Batra came outside and immediately looked at Kyle, unconscious on the ground. His face immediately lit up and he called a few men from the inside to tend to Kyle's head injury and to tie him up. The entire time, Asura waited outside, huddled in her coat. Batra came back with her reward in his hand and offered it to her with the biggest smile possible.

"Thank you so much, young lady. You've done us all such a big favour by capturing this conman. We are all very grateful. Why don't you stay the night in the inn free of cost huh? You can leave in the morning if you wish to. It's far too cold to travel at this time, don't you think? This is the least we owe you."

Asura looked at him, wanting to deny the offer but then faced with having to travel in this cold, she looked back at the inn and decided maybe one night of rest wouldn't really hurt. And it was free so that was a bonus.

"Yes, I'd like that very much. Thank you." Despite her lack of expressions, Batra still smiled at her gleefully and gave her the key to one of the rooms. Asura made her way through the back stairs and sighed in relief at the night of proper rest she'll have after a hard day of work. She clutched her reward in her hand and made her way to her room.