Balgair sat against a tree with a large bag filled with banknotes on his side. His head was still throbbing from the Commander's kick. He looked at the bag of money and sighed. He could just walk away now. Cade would maybe hunt him down. And maybe she wouldn't. Balgair wasn't sure if she had the connections and skills for something like that. But still.

'I guess I'll go,' he thought.

He still had that one thing to accomplish, after all.

***

"He's at your friend's place?" Balgair asked, his face twisting in a dumbfounded manner. "Didn't know you had friends."

"Haa haa," Cade laughed very loudly because Balgair was very funny.

Balgair sighed and looked around. "Well, are we going to go somewhere else to talk?"

"Under this bridge is fine. I don't suppose there's a better place either," Cade answered. Balgair lifted a finger as he was about to open his mouth. Cade interrupted before he even managed to get a word out: "No, we're not going to your bar again. It's morning, for god's sake. You're really not thinking about drinking this early. Are you even old enough to drink?"

"Hey, I'm at least Aurelius' age," Balgair blurted out defensively.

"Yeah, whatever," Cade said with a shake of her head. "You got the banknotes?"

Balgair nodded and took off the bag on his shoulder before handing it to Cade. "There was 3000 gold in that safe. My 5 percent cut makes it 2850."

Cade looked inside the bag. 'Shit. It's not enough. After I spread 500 to those in need, it'll be even less. We can't do much to further our plan with just, 2350 gold.'

Then she looked up at Balgair and asked, "You sure you didn't swipe any extra for yourself?"

Balgair raised his hands high. "Hey, 150 gold is plenty for a street rat like myself. Besides, if I wanted to steal from you, I wouldn't have brought you the money."

Cade nodded and put the bag on her shoulder. "I guess this is farewell. It hasn't been a pleasure, but you're not the worst of them."

As she was about to turn, Balgair yelled, "Wait!" She looked at him and widened here eyes, prompting him to speak. "How is Aurelius?"

"Why are you acting like you care?" Cade asked with a tilt of her head.

"Hey, he kind of saved my life. Of course, I'm grateful," Balgair said, as if insulted. "I'm not an asshole."

Cade looked to her sides before stating the obvious. "You are, though."

"Oh fine. Still, I do care. And I know Aurelius is probably pretty shit right now. So, can I see him? Thank him or whatnot."

Cade exhaled. 'It would probably make him feel better.'

She then clicked her tongue, and answered, "Yeah, sure."

***

Aurelius woke up after midday. He was hungry, but didn't feel like eating. He didn't have the energy to get up either way. He was once again at the home of Cade's unknown friend. The inn had just been a place to crash for the night on their travels.

For hours after waking, he just stared at the roof, at his body, and out of the window, but he wasn't really looking. He wasn't really thinking, either. He didn't even care to swipe away his disheveled hair that was irritating his eyes. He was in somewhat of a limbo state.

Then his senses were greeted with some new stimulation when he heard the door being unlocked downstairs. He turned his head to the left, looking out of the open door, where the sound came from.

"Aurelius? Are you awake?" Cade's voice came into Aurelius' ears.

Aurelius grumbled as he turned his body slightly towards the door before answering, "Yeah, what is it?"

Cade noticed Aurelius' sunken cheeks and frowned. "Have you eaten anything?" Aurelius stayed quiet. It had been days. He would starve himself to death at this rate. Cad sighed. "Balgair's here," Cade said as the sounds of stairs being climbed started to echo.

"Why?"

There was no answer before Balgair's face was revealed to Aurelius as he entered the second floor and started heading into his room. "I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Aurelius asked as Cade and Balgair entered the room.

"Yeah, for saving my life."

"For killing the Commander, you mean."

Balgair exhaled a dissatisfied breath.

Aurelius frowned. "Well, you came here to thank me. Now you've thanked me. You're free to leave. You weren't supposed to help is further than this in the first place."

Balgair looked at Cade and said quietly, "Could you give us the room?"

Cade looked at Aurelius before nodding and leaving the room, shutting the door in the process.

Balgair looked around for a place to sit before simply leaning his back against the wall.

Aurelius tilted his head. "So, what more is there to discuss?"

Balgair reached for his pocket. The one he kept his cigarettes in. But he quickly retracted his hand and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for how I treated you. I know I'm an asshole."

"Do you?"

"Yes, but it's not like I want to be. Shitty people are shitty people because of shitty people. And I've known nothing but shitty people all my life." Balgair looked down at his hand as he popped his knuckles with his thumb, pushing each of his other fingers down in their turn. "I grew up in the slums as an orphan. Slums far worse than the ones you've seen. The streets can get much dirtier than you can imagine. You probably saw some puddles of piss and even some feces lying around during your time in the slums. But when I was a child, it was a regular occurrence to have a few liters of blood mixed in those puddles. It wasn't all that unusual to have guts lay on the streets or find dead bodies in random alleys."

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Balgair breathed deeply and wagged his finger with a comic undertone. "Now, crime happens everywhere, but in the slums, it isn't crime. There are no real laws. Nobody gives a shit. Everybody just hates everybody while looking out for themselves."

Aurelius listened with his gaze downcast and his lips tightly sealed. There was a moment of silence where nobody said anything. Then Balgair chuckled.

"It's a cruel world we live in, ain't it?" Balgair said. "Terrible, terrible stuff. Crime is a horrible thing, and the first chance I got, I became a part of it." Balgair walked up to the only window in the room and gazed out, where only a forest was in sight. "This house was paid for with dirty money. I can smell it. I've always been able to smell it. And that smell is on more things in this world than it is not. That says a lot. So, anyway, I started teaching myself all kinds of stuff. I learned how to cheat, lie, steal, and, most of all, kill. I was often surrounded by people, but I was always alone. I didn't see a use for others, and I really just despised everyone. That, of course, led to conflict. I won't go into detail, but I ran. I just didn't want any part of it anymore. Not because of the constant violence or any other reasoning concerning that morality stuff. Just didn't think it was worth it. Chose to just waste away somewhere else while I lived a miserable life, and that's what I've been doing ever since. Hasn't been long, but I was starting to grow tired of it."

"Weren't you supposed to be here to thank me? Why are you telling me this?"

Balgair turned and scratched his head with realization. "Oh, right, I'm kind of a shit storyteller. My bad. What I'm trying to say is that this world is shit. It's pure and utter filth in every meaning of the word. And I am part of that filth. That Commander was a part of that filth, too. You're not." Balgair leaned back and put his hands on the windowsill. "I know you want to be a hero. I know you think you have this great responsibility to save people. Maybe you do, but the way you're going about it, won't work. You can't try to save people who don't want to be saved. The world appreciates authenticity, so you better give authenticity to it. Be clear about who to protect and who to eliminate. Learn to draw a line. I can draw that line for you this time and say that no matter how many Father's Day cards that piece of shit Commander gets, he is still the same filth that kills with no remorse. He should've died, and you killed him. It was a good first kill. I'd swap first kills with you in a heartbeat, that's for sure."

"Fuck that," Aurelius spat. "How can you draw the line?"

For a moment, Balgair was startled by Aurelius cursing, but quickly formed a counterargument. "I can draw the line because I see clearly. A loving daughter doesn't resurrect the hundreds of people the Commander probably slaughtered during his life. What I also see clearly is a little wannabe hero sulking because his hands got a little dirty." Balgair exhaled and brought his hands forward to help punctuate his point. "What you did maybe wasn't according to your morals, but that just means your morals are shit. What you did was right. Everybody knows it. Even you probably do, but you'd rather give up than let your morals evolve. But if you're truly interested in helping people, you have to evolve," Balgair said, and in the same way, there was a sound of the front door opening again. Aurelius paid no mind to that, however, as Balgair posed the real question. "So what will you do? Act depressed and waste away, or evolve and become someone capable of changing millions of lives for the better."

"What's with the speech? Since when do you care about millions of lives?"

"Sorry, it's just... I've seen so much filth that I've become able to see it with my eyes closed, so trust me when I say this. You're not filth, Aurelius. You're right about me not caring about millions. I have barely enough to care for myself, but I don't hate you, and I don't want you to be depressed over stupid shit."

Finally, Aurelius' deep frown got a bit less deep. "Depressed over stupid..." he said under his breath. Then he looked Balgair in the eyes. "Thanks for coming, Balgair... but will this be our last conversation?"

Balgair smiled. "No, I don't think so. Well, it depends on whether you'll have me. I'd like to continue being a part of this group."

Aurelius smiled slightly. "It—"

The door opened, and Cade walked in with a young woman with silky, slightly curled brown hair. The woman wore neat, round glasses and had freckles on her cheeks that blended smoothly with her tan skin. She also possessed a row of white teeth, which she seemed eager to show off. That was until she saw Aurelius.

"Aurelius, this is Aleyah. She's the one who owns this place," Cade said, gesturing to Aleyah. "Aleyah, this is Aurelius; he's been my traveling companion for a few weeks now." Cade gestured toward Aurelius.

"What have you done, Cade?" Aleyah asked as her shoulders dropped.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Cade asked with furrowed brows.

"You don't know?" Aleyah gulped before answering with a severe tone, "Your companion is wanted by Numen. There's 1000 gold on his head."