Treasonous Trouts and Righteous Rogues with a Lemon Twist [Mission;Adam]

This wouldn’t do. No, this wouldn’t do at all. How could they call themselves guards if they were such… corrupt individuals? Even in the area surrounding the capital… To think that such treasonous behavior could be taking place when the walls of the capital could still be seen! How could they call themselves soldiers!? It boiled Arashi’s blood to think that such individuals were claiming to be soldiers of Zou while acting in such ways. They were taking protection money, women and various things from the village. That made her angry, very angry.

Gripping the sling that was tied to her sash, Arashi narrowed her eyes as she watched the soldiers in front of her. She wasn’t welcome in the main cities, but that didn’t mean she would leave the country. Taking a step forward, her eyes scanned the area. In front of her were soldiers that she had been watching for the past few days. They had been behaving very poorly. From protection money to accepting bribes, these soldiers were in no way fit to bear the name of a soldier. The only remedy for such treasonous actions would be death.

So, she followed them. Arashi seemed innocent enough, given her stature, and they didn’t seem to care. When they were fairly far from the center of the settlement, she spoke out, stopping several meters behind them. Her arms were formally folded in front of her as she bowed her head down, speaking in a steady and polite voice. ”I apologize, but for your treasonous actions, I’m afraid you will all have to face severe punishment.”

250/1000

Adam had recently taken up a quest detailing a group of "city guards" who needed to be dealt with. These guards were more or less rag-tag bandits and marauders, posing in official armor and using imperial weaponry. He decided he should get this job over with before his father found out, lest it became any more of a disturbance. Once he got to the small town being victimized he entered the guard's outpost and took a quick look around. He noticed several guards drinking and smoking; most would not have been allowed to do so at the hour as they were on duty, but these were corrupted folk anyhow.

In a corner, one was asleep. In his hand he clutched a spiked mace. He had a wild looking beard and his arms were tattooed all over. Better not mess with him.

Finally, near a dusty and dirty window, there was a group of men looking outside. Adam strode quickly over and pushed them aside- he was rather interested in what was going on as well. From what he could see, a young girl had confronted a group of the corrupted lawmen. Even though Adam cared little about her or any other poor sods in this town, he felt obligated, as prince of the empire, to protect her. He walked out unenthusiastically, and walked in front of her, turning to face the rather angry looking men whom she had confronted.

Now, now. Did this little girl make you angry? Surely someone of her age could not be taken seriously by such superior and marvelous law enforcers as yourselves. However, word of your corruption has reached my ears; By order of the King, I, the prince of the Zou Empire, am obligated to eliminate you.

He turned to face the young girl.

If I were you, I'd scurry off and go home, little lamb. I'm sure your mother and father would not wish for you to be injured.

326/1000

Before anything could be done about the marauding group of guards, another voice reached Arashi’s ears. She turned, staring at him. Her face paled slightly as he approached the group. That was a prince. What was he doing out here? When he stopped in front of her, her eyes widened. Did he know who she was? Her shoulders tensed as he spoke, but the more words escaped his mouth, the more it became evident that he probably didn’t know who she was. While her family had dealings with nobility, the royal family themselves rarely relied on guards such as themselves.

When he finished speaking, denouncing her threat, Arashi gulped silently. As he turned to face her, she stared at him. He wanted her to scurry off? Why? She had been there first. She wasn’t angry by his words, but it didn’t make any sense to her. Why would she leave? She had been the one to threaten the guardsmen first. Why would she have done that if she wasn’t confident in her ability to take them down? Reaching into her sash, Arashi took a step forward, pulling out her sling. ”Sir, I was here first, so I’d like to continue,” she spoke, her voice quiet and soft.

As they spoke, the guardsmen were getting more and more agitated. One of them even decided to step forward, raising his halberd as he began to march towards the two. It seemed as if he was holding the weapon up to threaten the two, hoping they would leave. However, before he could speak, Arashi pulled the strings of her sling and threw up a metal marble between the straps of her weapon. When the marble was in place, Arashi’s finger pulled it back into the leather, aiming the shot quickly. Right after, she shot it off. Less than a second later, this was done again, shooting off a total of two marbles. The marbles hit the grooves of the man’s armor, pushing into his lower torso. Almost immediately, his legs fell limp and he collapsed in the dirt.

”Prince, I can assure you that I will not be the one getting hurt.”

609/1000

Spoiler:

Adam stood dumbstruck as the girl knocked a man's legs senseless; he dropped his weapon (which Adam caught) and rolled around on the ground, unable to use the lower half of his body. Shouting curses, the befuddled leader commanded the other men to attack. While this happened, Adam turned to the little girl. Clutching the halberd in his fist, he spoke to her calmly.

So be it. But I'm not going to be held responsible. That said, I'm staying. There's about 6 or 7 more, and you might run out of marbles.

Adam swung the halberd around above his head and smashed the blade downwards, into the back of the fallen guard's skull. All at once the target's body spasmed, entering a violent and painful seizure for a good 5 seconds, before falling limp. Adam removed the weapon which had just slain its master, and threw it at another guard's head like a javelin. He threw it with so much force that the pointed spearhead above the axehead of the mighty weapon led the rest of the halberd through his skull, crushing it. He had killed two men with one weapon. Inspired by his own power, he decided to actually practice his skill in combat. Two more charged him and the girl; Adam led them away, into an open area just nearby. He unhitched his staff, Kingsbane, and smashed it into the ground.

Tower Burst!

From underneath the men who were chasing him, a 15m wide explosion erupted. The guards' flailing bodies were flung into the air and slammed down by gravity, the initial impact crushing bones and the fall damage potentially killing them. The young girl and the rest of the guards would feel a wave of force pass them, and one of the remaining guards would be knocked off his feet, but they were otherwise unharmed.

Magoi: 120/150

Spell:

634/1000

While the fight, if one could even call it that, was going on, the villagers were gathering in force to watch the confrontation between the two and the guards. This was rather big news for such a small village. The royal prince was confronting the guards with a strange young girl! What was even going on? Why would the prince have worried himself with something like this, and who was that little girl who had shot one of them down? This was madness! Naturally, the crowd gathered the attention of the guards, who were all unsure of whether or not they should intervene due to the presence of nobility.

Meanwhile, Arashi looked to the prince, waiting for his response. Nodding, she reached into her back pocket for more ammunition to use. The prince made sense. Originally, there had only been four guardsmen, but now, their numbers seemed to be gathering with the crowd. She understood that the prince’s presence made things more interesting. Even royal soldiers couldn’t get away with harming the prince. No matter how corrupt they were, the soldiers were probably wary of getting involved with the prince in such a matter.

Her eyes widened as the prince took the blade and smashed it down into the guard’s skull. As the guard fell into his spasm, bleeding out during the violent spasm before dying, she felt a large lump in the back of her throat. Arashi had been perfectly prepared to kill them, but seeing it actually done, well it shook her. Despite all her training, she had never killed anyone. However, she was trained to do so, and she had been raised to think little of it. Why was it bothering her so much? Was it because the prince did it? Yeah… that had to be it. There was no value in the life of a corrupt guardsman, but a prince was valuable. Seeing someone raised in nobility act was inspiring… Yes. That feeling in the pit of her stomach had to be inspiration. That had to be the explanation- especially when her shoulders tensed as he speared one of the other guards.

When the two remaining guards began to charge at them, Arashi moved to aim her sling. However, before she could do that, the prince led them off. When he did so, she watched, not sure what to do. The prince seemed perfectly capable of handling himself. There was a reason the royal family did not use bodyguards too often. Still, the force that pushed the guards back left the girl in awe. Magic was a terribly wonderful thing. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been born with the ability to use any of it. Gulping, Arashi turned to see that one of the guardsmen in the crowd had fallen over.

Finally, the guardsmen had decided they had had enough with watching this. They held up their arms and began to march towards the two. Arashi frowned, looking towards the prince as she slid her sling into her sash. There were four times the amount of guards than previously. Calling out, she turned to begin to run, ”Prince, you should leave too!”

1115/1000

Adam noticed the young girl leaving. He hoped for her to stay- however, she wasn't going to, obviously- so he tailed behind her. The guards, however, gave chase. Surprisingly fast despite their heavy armory, Adam had to exert a lot of energy into sprinting away. One of them tried to throw their weapon towards the prince, who was running directly behind the girl now. He scooped her aside and held her in his arms, dodging weaponry. Whilst he sprinted, he decided now would be a good time to ask her a few questions.

So, little one... What's your name? How old are you, exactly? He continued sprinting along the old and beaten path. The guards gave chase and tailed them, and Adam felt an arrowhead just narrowly miss his own head. So he leapt from the path, put the little one in a bush out of harm's way, and tackled a guard, disarming him and grabbing his weapon. Adam swung the great halberd around, striking one, two, three heads; he watched with awe as the bodies came tumbling down. The rest of the guards were not fazed- the one with the spiked mace came from out of the crowd, waving his weapon wildly in a drunken and tired frenzy. Adam jabbed the halberd inward and struck his chestplate, which was barely chinked. He recoiled back abit before charging at the prince once again; Adam kicked him down, whilst dodging jabs and strikes. Finally he grew tired; he slashed the halberd about violently, spinning in a circle and extending the blade; he struck many armors and severed a few more heads. One charged towards the prince and ducked underneath to dodge the halberd, but Adam simply swung it downward and cut the guard's head clean off. By now the rest of the guards were intimidated; they ran off, tails tucked between sorry little legs.. It was about time; Adam was tired as anything. He walked back over to the bush, where he scooped the girl gently and delicately back out.

973/1000

What was going on?! Just as she was trying to leave, the prince was right behind her! Why the hell was he following her?! Arashi blinked, unsure how to react to the prince following her. When the weaponry was about to be thrown, she honestly couldn’t see it all that well behind his head. So, when he scooped her up, she was dumbstruck. What was he doing? She stared at him, not quite sure what to do. As he ran, she looked around, realizing they were being chased. However, despite this, the prince began asking her questions. That wasn’t good.

She bit down on her lower lip, looking to the ground. When he put her down in the bush, she took this chance to run off, hoping to avoid him. If he asked too many questions, he’d figure out her status in Zou, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.

[Exit]

Well... the girl had run off. That was pretty weird. But expected. Adam didn't really care. What were the chances of meeting her again? Right now the only thing on his mind was returning to Zou's Palace of the Kings, and the nice, warm, comfy bed which awaited him. He walked down the dirt trail, hoping some real guards would come down to the establishment with the corrupt ones and oust them from power. Whether or not that happened did not matter now, though- he was so tired that he wanted to sleep forever and ever. So he trundled back to the limits of the main city and walked up the steps to his palace.

[exit]

1088/1000