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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 22, 2014 19:02:20 GMT -5
More questions seeped in Julius' mind as to this woman's, Minerva's, identity. Apparently she had some assassins after her and they represented a group that wanted her land. The assassin's talk of glory in his final breaths raised even further questions, for it showed he had a near obsessive loyalty to whatever group he was part of. Most likely some kind of cult. Maybe he was trying to give glory to their god?
But that could come later. Minerva introduced herself and now it was his turn.
"Minerva, eh? An elegant name for a suitably elegant woman." He then held out a massive armored hand. "I'm Julius Sabin. It's a pleasure to meet you. Now, I don't mean to get straight into it, but why was there an assassin after you?" As he asked this, his three swords disengaged themselves from the assassin's corpse and flew back into their sheaths on the armored man's back.
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Post by Jisui on Jun 22, 2014 21:27:40 GMT -5
Minerva's eyes curiously followed the floating swords as they sheathed themselves to Julius' back, chuckling to herself softly. Stepping forward while sheathing her rapier, she wrapped a delicate looking hand around his and shook it lightly. It was quite the loaded question he had asked her, but she figured that he had earned it at least.
"Straight to business?" Minerva questioned with a light smile on her face, before shaking her head and continuing. "Well-"
"Where are they?! Come and taste steel, you bastards!" An all too familiar battle cry interrupted her as Ritz and Drecov charged into the treeline fully armed, except this time on steeds. Upon realizing that there were no such enemies, their heads turned to scan the oasis in a puzzled fashion, until they finally saw the hanging form of the assassin on the tree.
"Oh god! Forgive me milady, for forcing you to dirty your hands with this scum!" Drecov roared in agony, dismounting from his horse and dropping to his knees in shame. Ritz on the other hand looked at the fallen form of the assassin with contempt.
"Fool... did he really think he could match the "Mist Princess of Lerwaria" so easily?" She stated with pride upon glancing at her charge, as she truly believed no one could match Minerva in combat. Upon realizing that Julius was still there however, she paled in realization of what she just said.
Sighing yet again in response to the antics of her guard, Minerva turned back to Julius, her turquoise eyes locked on his form as if trying to discern his reaction. The title that Ritz had revealed wasn't particularly well-known outside of the Sessran Desert, but it was legendary within it. And at the very least, it revealed that she was royalty.
"...Not the way I wanted it told, but does that answer a few of your questions?"
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 22, 2014 22:14:21 GMT -5
There was always a bit of satisfaction when it came to being right about such things. It made Julius feel smarter, which was always a great feeling. So this woman was the princess of Lerwaria...he figured she was important, but not that important. He was in the company of actual royalty! The "mist" aspect of her title left a question in his mind but he had learned enough about her identity for now.
The armored man wasn't in the company of royalty that often, so he wasn't exactly sure how to act now that he was. So he did what naturally came to mind. He fell to one knee and lowered his head, giving the princess a knight's bow. Truly, from an outside view, one would think they were witnessing a scene from a medieval story, with a large armored knight bowing before his beloved princess.
"Ha, my apologies then, Lady Minerva. Had I known I was in the presence of such fine company I would've done this sooner."
The only real question in his mind now was why she had been attacked. There was obviously some kind of political problem going on with her and someone else. Or maybe she and her people were in the middle of a war with someone? Although...a secret war in the desert? It seemed unlikely but, then again, so was encountering a princess by complete chance.
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Post by Jisui on Jun 22, 2014 22:55:47 GMT -5
"Oho! Good man! I knew you were of sound character when we had first met!" Ritz proclaimed, impressed with Julius' manners. In contrast, Minerva seemed rather resigned upon seeing him bow down to her, sighing slightly before turning an eye to her guard.
"Ritz, Drecov, can you prepare Argo and the rest of the horses? It's likely we'll have to leave soon if they've discovered our position."
"Yes, milady!" With a synchronized salute, the duo mounted back on their steeds, before galloping away to fulfill their master's orders. Once they left her sight, the princess turned back to the kneeling Julius and walked up to him, gently laying a hand on his shoulder as if telling him to rise.
"Just Minerva." It was both a statement, and a bit of a command. As if anticipating a protest, her lips twitched into a coy smile while continuing. "Considering it payment for nearly seeing me in the nude."
Stepping away from the armored man with an elegant twirl, the noble headed towards the rest of clothing and equipment to prepare for their departure. Picking up a black leather breastplate, she began to fasten it to her chest. Inwardly, Minerva was mulling over how much to tell him. She supposed that it wasn't exactly a huge secret what was going on, and it might even help him find what he was looking for in the future. He had earned the information.
"You're not familiar with these parts, are you?" Minerva questioned while fastening the breastplate. "Have you heard of the principalities of Lerwaria and Ale-Estum by any chance?"
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 22, 2014 23:17:28 GMT -5
Julius chose to avoid commenting on how odd it would've been if Ritz had thought he had sound character when they first met, since when they first met she assumed he was an awful assassin bent on killing their princess.
He let out a small laugh after Minerva signaled him to rise, standing back up to his full height.. "Just Minerva? Good. I would've ended up getting tired of being all formal sooner or later." When it came to people who were in some kind of position of power, he had always preferred to see them as people instead of their title. Some people called that disrespect, but he preferred being that way since it would always prevent him from seeing high-ranking people as more than what they truly were.
Principalities of Lerwaria and Ale-Estum? Well he had heard of Lerwaria before, but never Ale-Estum. "No, this is my first time here. I've heard of Lerwaria a bit during my travels. Some people talk about it in bars and such, but I've never really met anyone who was actually from there. Because of that, I started to doubt the place even existed. I've never heard of Ale-Estum though. That one's completely foreign to me."
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Post by Jisui on Jun 22, 2014 23:58:59 GMT -5
While Minerva was initially somewhat disheartened to hear that Lerwaria had become of near myth to be told as bar stories, she rebounded quickly enough in order to explain to Julius. It wasn't surprising after all, since Lerwaria was in the middle of a desert, and Ale-Estum was even further in the desert and cut off from everyone.
Finishing her fastening of her breastplate, the princess did a remarkably quick braiding job of a small piece of her hair, which she pinned with a metal desert lily pin. Finally finishing her ensemble, she slipped a sapphire necklace over her neck and fastened a sword sheath belt to her waist.
Taking the longer of the two blades on her belt, the rapier which killed the assassin, Minerva turned back towards Julius and began drawing in the sand with the tip of the sword sheath. It took a few moments, but soon, a tiny map of the Sessran Desert was drawn in the sand for visual purposes.
"Over here is Lerwaria, in the oasis lands." She began to explain, pointing her rapier to the far left side of the desert. "It's a small principality, but because of the numerous oasis' numbering its lands, its fairly well-off. On this side..."
Dragging the rapier to the far right side of the desert, Minerva created an odd indent in the sand as to represent something. "Is Ale-Estum, known as the Ash Kingdom to some. It's about three times the size of Lerwaria, with twice the population. But it's near a volcano, and their lands are barren."
Lifting up her rapier and placing it back on her sword belt, the noble smiled lightly before turning her attention back on Julius. "Well, if you care for some history, they used to be one big kingdom before my time. There's always some bitter old men who complain of the past anywhere you go, so hostilities have been high for decades at least."
While it wasn't a direct answer, who she was insinuating attacked her was clear. What she left out, was that while the hostility between the two principalities was usually pretty bad, it was probably at an all-time high at the moment for various reasons. There was no need to worry Julius with mere complaints about the state of her lands.
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 23, 2014 9:02:19 GMT -5
"Huh..." Julius said as he processed Minerva's worse. "No wonder they have assassins coming after you for your land. They may have more people and are a larger place, but their location's absolutely awful. Right near a volcano? Ridiculous." Seriously, if he was the lord of a small kingdom in such harsh terrain, he'd be trying to take someone else's place too if it were surrounded by a bunch of oases. But, besides all that, this presented him with a good opportunity. It was entirely possible that the girl he was looking for had gone to one of these places. That would explain why no one's seen her anywhere else after the desert.
"If you don't mind." The armored man started. "I'd like to go with you to Lerwaria. Maybe someone's seen who I'm looking for there. Or she might even be there now as we speak."
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Post by Jisui on Jun 23, 2014 17:50:47 GMT -5
"No wonder they have assassins coming after you for your land. They may have more people and are a larger place, but their location's absolutely awful. Right near a volcano? Ridiculous."
At Julius' words, a slightly troubled look came over the princess, and she opened her mouth as if wanting to say something. After a small moment, she seemed to decide against it, quickly erasing her troubled features and replacing them with the natural smile that was quickly becoming familiar to Julius.
The clopping sound of horse hooves and familiar banter told Minerva that Ritz and Drecov had finished gathering the horses, so she used the remaining time until they arrived to ponder Julius' request. It wasn't particularly something that she had to think long and hard over. It would be fairly ungrateful if she denied her savior a ride back to her lands, and to be honest, she already had some modicum of trust towards him. It might have been naive, but the young noble didn't think he was the type to cause much trouble.
"We'd be glad to escort you back. As long as you keep the stabbing to a minimum." Minerva joked with a hint of mischief in her eyes, just as Ritz and Drecov appeared on their horses. Behind them, they were dragging a beautiful steed with a pure white coat, and intelligent looking brown eyes. "Besides..."
Taking a few steps towards the white horse, she slightly tipped the sheath of her longer rapier over, just as an abnormal wind brushed into the three open slots on Julius' helmet. The wind was similar to a stray ocean breeze, cool with a bit of moisture in it, as it almost playfully caressed the armored man's cheek before dying out.
"It seems Mistilteinn likes you." The princess stated with an amused smile, before hopping onto her horse and gesturing for Julius to follow suit. Her smile turned into a slight frown however, as she realized that he was encased in remarkably heavy looking armor. There was no way that Argo could carry both of them, actually, she doubted that her faithful steed would have been able to carry just him alone. Perhaps they would have to walk?
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 23, 2014 22:00:46 GMT -5
Julius felt the breeze flood through his helmet breathing calmly as its cooling embrace covered his face. Mistilteinn? Was that her sword? Hm...there was something unusual about that blade. Was Minerva speaking figuratively or did her sword actually have likes and dislikes? The armored man didn't ask this of course, since it would've sounded pretty damned stupid.
He saw her gesture to him to hope onto the horse as well but instantly knew it was a bad idea. It was rare when an animal was capable of carrying him in his full armor and he had yet to encounter a horse strong enough. He would've felt rather bad if he jumped on, broke the steed's spine, and killed it.
Julius let out a small laugh and shook his head. "I can see on your face that you're thinking the same thing I am. If I were to jump on there with you, it would probably end up killing that majestic beast. I'd rather not force you all to walk alongside me, so..."
An idea popped into his head. It was something he never thought of trying before because he was never really faced with this situation. Two of his blades flew out from his back, hovering slightly off the ground in front of him. Julius took a deep breath, placing one foot on the flat of each blade and doing his best to balance himself. The swords then slowly ascended until he was at level with his allies on their horses. Basically, he was standing on top of two of his swords as a method of transportation.
"I'll admit, I've never done this before but it seems to be working pretty well. I haven't fallen and sank into the sand yet, at least." As if upsetting some god with those words, he stumbled for a second, nearly falling off but managing to keep control of his swords and keep himself up.
"Alright...okay. Shall we get going?"
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Post by Jisui on Jun 23, 2014 22:38:41 GMT -5
All three of the armored man's companions stared wide-eyed in wonder at Julius' spontaneous means of transportation. Even Minerva, who had seen him use his levitating blades to take down the assassin, couldn't help but stare in amazement.
"What wondrous sorcery!" Ritz exclaimed, speaking the mind of her fellow companions, while Drecov seemed to grimace slightly. It seemed that Julius' past statement of being able to stab them in the face wasn't for mere show. Even he realized that if the armored man were a different person, he might not have been alive at the moment.
"We'll try not to set too fast of a pace." Minerva said with a grin while looking at the unstable way Julius was standing. Best not to have their new guest fall into a dune of sand on their way to Lerwaria. "Let's move!"
Gently urging Argo forward, the group set off a steady gallop away from the oasis, into back into the harsh desert sands. Julius wasn't wrong before. Horses weren't suited for a desert environment... however, these were special Lerwarian bred desert horses that excelled in this atmosphere. They could traverse the sands with relative ease, and while they couldn't retain water as well as a camel, they could go a reasonably long time without needing a drink. Argo, being a horse that Minerva had tended to since her childhood, was one of the fastest and obedient.
As they traveled, and the familiar silence of the desert sat into the group, Minerva placed a single finger on her lips as if she were pondering something. Finally, she glanced at the sword-surfing Julius beside them, and asked a question she had been wondering. "Not to be nosy... but what does the person you're looking for look like? Perhaps we can help you search?"
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 23, 2014 23:45:23 GMT -5
Julius was both amazed with himself and ashamed of himself. Amazed because this idea of riding on his swords was actually working and ashamed because he never thought of it before. There were several times where this could've come in handy in the past, not even for transportation, but for many other situations. He still felt himself swaying from side to side and knew he would have to practice more to ride them more flawlessly, but it was a start.
The armored man thought in silence for a few moments, wondering if it'd be alright to tell Minerva who he was looking for. She wasn't asking for her identity, just a physical description. That wasn't that bad really.
"She's short, less than four feet tall, has short brown hair and wears a witch's hat with a veil attached to the brim. Along with a black robe and cloak. Has a staff too. She basically looks like a child sorceress."
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Post by Jisui on Jun 27, 2014 1:02:34 GMT -5
A silence sank in among the group as they took in Julius' words, Minerva quietly mulling over the armored man's odd description of who he was looking for. His words seemed to raise more questions than answers. From the description, it sounded like he was looking for a child that was playing dress-up as a witch. But the way he worded it made it sound like she only looked like a child, not that she was necessarily a child herself. If that were true, could it be that he was looking for an actual sorceress...?
Regardless of how much her curiosity was piqued by the matter, Minerva respected Julius' privacy, so she wouldn't dig into the matter... as long as it didn't threaten Lerwaria in any way.
"Oho! That sounds just like my little girl! She enjoys playing dress-up as well." Drecov proclaimed proudly like that of a doting father. All too soon however, his features changed into a look of suspicion upon realizing that, yes, Julius had basically just described his daughter word for word (sans witch's clothing and hair color).
"You fiend! You plan to abscond with my daughter?!" The Lerwarian soldier roared at Julius as his partner's eyes widened. "She's only eight! I won't let her go until she's thirty- no, fourty!"
"Drecov, no!"
Upon seeing a dangerous look in Drecov's eyes, Ritz quickly made a split-second decision in her mind before cleanly tackling her partner off of his horse. Their horses, well-bred to await for their owners, stopped as they watched the top slide down a sand dune and away from view.
"..." As if she had seen this many times, Minerva merely sighed with a slightly amused smile before urging Argo onward and glancing at the armored man next to her. "They will catch up eventually. I would prefer to reach Lerwaria before the day ends."
"As for the person you're searching for... if they're in Lerwaria, you might find them fairly quickly. Someone like that is bound to stand out among our people."
Honestly, for his sake, Minerva hoped that she were in Lerwaria. Because if she was in Ale-Estum instead... his search would get slightly more complicated.
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Post by SlvrNight on Jun 28, 2014 11:33:30 GMT -5
Julius's eyes widened within his helmet at Drecov's words. The fact that he thought he was trying to get with his eight-year-old daughter was actually quite an insult but, thankfully, Ritz managed to defuse the situation by tackling her partner off his horse and rolling down the sand out of view. The armored man released a sigh of relief.
He looked over at Minerva and nodded, agreeing with her optimism. "Indeed. She's really attached to that outfit, so it shouldnt be easy to find her." He wanted to say more. To say that things could go either way from there. To say that he needed to make sure to clear the area of civilians before finding her. But that would reveal too much and would force Julius to tell the whole long story to Minerva. He didnt want to do that if he didnt have to. She had her own problems to worry about, what with her being royalty and having assassins after her.
"How much further?" Julius asked as he looked towards the sky, eager to change the subject.
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Post by Jisui on Jul 11, 2014 20:54:19 GMT -5
[[Sorry for the wait, seriously]]
"How much further?"
Sensing the subject change, Minerva took the hint gracefully while laughing quietly at the question. Although he hadn't intended for it to come off like that, it had reminded her of the impatient squabbles between Ritz and Drecov while they traveled. Even if it wasn't obvious before, the question really did prove that Julius was an outsider. After all, for anyone bold enough to live in the Sessran Desert, both an iron-will and high amount of patience were required while trekking the sands.
It made the young noble wonder just how Julius had managed to make it across the desert as far as he did, on foot in heavy armor. Then again, if he could ride on floating swords, he might have had some type of sorcery to help him survive.
Nevertheless, the princess merely flashed the armored man a small grin before gracefully reigning in her horse to a stop at the top of a particularly high sand dune. Gesturing with a nod of her head towards the distance, a fond look came over her face as she took in the surroundings.
If Ale-Estum was known as the Ash Kingdom, then Lerwaria must have been the Oasis Kingdom. Over the sand dune the two were on, the rolling sands that had once stretched out as far as the eye could see leveled out to an even level. Sprawling fields of sand were intermixed with lush oasis springs and palm trees, as well as numerous adobe buildings concentrated around individual oasis'. It was a unique sight, seeing as how the buildings were extremely clumped together near individual oasis, yet at the same time, there was a bit of distance between each oasis. It was as if each oasis was its own, tiny village. And at the same time, the roads that connected them together, and the numerous amount of people traveling to and fro gave the whole principality a sense of togetherness.
It was odd and unique to some, but there was no more refreshing a sight to Minerva. It was home.
"Before you go on your way, care for a tour Julius?" The princess offered with a smile, glancing over at the armored man. Even if she had seen the assassin coming, Julius had saved her life, and one didn't become a ruler without learning to be gracious. It was the least she could do.
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Post by SlvrNight on Jul 14, 2014 10:26:58 GMT -5
It was a kingdom unlike any kind Julius saw before. A clump of buildings surrounding each oasis, basically acting as cities, and roads connecting each oasis to one another. The mobs of people moving throughout the place helped show the true community of the place, helping to make it all look like one united nation instead of multiple smaller cities. It was an incredible sight and one that the armored man found himself admiring for a few minutes.
"Despite this place being in the harsh desert, it still manages to look rather beautiful with the water and the trees."
He pondered her offer for a moment. He was going to say he would be fine on his own but, honestly, he didn't know the first thing about this place. A tour would be an excellent way to gather information about Lerwaria and become familiar with his surroundings. After all, if his target was here, it meant she was probably here for a while and was more familiar with it than he was. That would prove to be an advantage for her and he needed to minimize it as much as possible.
"Yeah, I'll take you up on that offer. Would be good to get to know this place. Lead the way, Minerva." Julius finished his sentence with an obviously dramatic bow, outstretching his hand towards the kingdom and signaling the princess to head out first. This was all meant for a joke, of course.
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