The next day, Oreilia and Ineiru had appeared at the hideout. Oreilia kept rubbing her forehead vigorously. It seems she had bumped into several walls believing that it was the right location.

Rel, Zephise, and Aren were all asleep at the time since it was so early. One of the kids immediately greeted the duo and asked them what they had wanted. "Oi. Shut up kid. Just go ahead and grab your boss."

The kid scowled and went back to grab Grotto. Grotto on the other hand was just lazily laying in bed tossing an old dagger of his up and down and repeatedly catching it. "Grotto!" A knock resonated from his door.

"Eh?" He caught the knife and sighed, stretching a bit before he got up. With a loud yawn he got out of his bed and opened the door. The kid clearly looked sorry to have called upon him. Hesitantly he pointed in the direction towards the entrance.

He looked over "Oh. It's you two. Ummm...Orendia and Ineiru" He put a hand to his chin, trying to recollect the duo.

"Not even close!" Oreilia gritted her teeth. "AND WHY DO YOU ONLY REMEMBER HER NAME?!"

She cracked her knuckles. Grotto laughed and hesitantly put up both of his hand "Oi oi I was just kidding. Take a joke, lady." He wasn't.

"Tch. Whatever. Anyways, bring the others out here already. We've got a good lead on everything."

"Huh? what do you mean? You already found Ozen?"

"Well, just now a group of about 150 had arrived at the gates. They're being checked in as we speak. We've had the guards pull the man responsible aside. He's waiting for us at the moment."

Grotto blinked. They really seemed to get things done efficiently. But then again, these were people that worked alongside king Veilix' entourage.

The guards that sat aside immediately perked up when they saw Oreilia and Ineiru. They remembered the earlier encounter. In fact, the one on the right was indeed the same one she had smacked but 2 days ago.

The redness in his cheeks refused to leave. Whether that was the palm imprint or his embarrassment, one couldn't tell. They nervously stepped out of their way and opened up the pathway. The room was a giant almost library-like dome.

Two metallic pillars rested on each side, rusted beyond belief. Oreilia stepped in first. Behind her Ineiru, Rel, Zephise, Aren and Grotto trailed after. The guards couldn't help but snear at the plague children as they passed by. Rel ignored it however.

What awaited them on the other side was a young man, no older than his 20's. He was around their age. His robes were clearly too big for him and draped down several feet in front of him. The material was that of finer silk, embroidered with Bearim's Ram sigil.

The man pushed his glasses up. His longer hair was tied in a ponytail, held together by two pin needles. Despite appearing so young, his face was very angular. Despite this, he looked entirely soft. He could very well have made himself appear menacing, but his eyes depicted sorrow, and timidness.

"Alright, get to talking. What's going on here?" Oreilia set both of her hands on the round table and glared at the man across from him.

Ozen suddenly jolted up as if he had been spacing out. His eyes scanned the room to find Ineiru, Oreilia, Rel and the others facing him. "Ah..." He reached over to and placed a hand over his own shoulder and a bright glow emitted from it. The glow then deactivated and he was reinvigorated.

"W...what exactly was that?" Oreilia said. She was already prepared in case Ozen appeared hostile. In fact, they had no idea what his true intentions were. The concern and alertness displayed on everyone else's face.

Ineiru was the first to answer the question. Even before Ozen could explain. "Auto...pilot." Everyone turned to her. Ozen himself seemed surprised that she knew of it. "It's inscription magic that allows one to set a code of actions for themselves to do. It basically allows the mentally fatigued to continue on moving while also resting at the same time."

"...Is that how you've been doing bringing everyone over?"

Ozen nodded. "I'm surprised you know of it... but it is as you say. These days I have not slept fully or rested. Don't worry... I removed the code sequence from everyone else as well after bringing them here."

"Do you mean to tell me you've been coding them with the autopilot inscriptions the entire way? That many people at a time?"

Ozen nodded. "Some people don't have the will power to simply travel on their own. It is necessary."

"So do you want to explain to us what's going on?"

Ozen's head slowly lowered as if he was prepared to make a great revelation. However 30 seconds passed by and he had yet to say a word. His eyes were wide open. It wasn't only until they heard him snoring that they realized he was asleep.

"OI!" Oreilia banged on the table, waking him back up. "Don't go dozing off on us. We've got things to discuss!"

He jolted back up and seemingly forgot his train of thought. Rel briefly reminded him. "Chrom. Explain."

His face grew serious. "So you are aware of who Chrom is...?"

"Explain. What are you, a Baerim citizen doing here in Sei'O? Why are there cursed people wandering our lands? Who is Chrom..."

Just before Ozen could explain anything, Oreilia kept rapid firing off questions.

Ozen put his hands up in front of him, trying to slow her down. "Oy oy...Alright."

"Well, it all started a week ago." Ozen recounted the events after they fled."Once that plague child destroyed everything, several mages fled the battlefield...I mean, what is there to do against that kind of power?"

He clutched his robe and shuttered, remembering how effortlessly that demon child dispatched lives like livestock. He regained his composure briefly afterwards. But based off of his accounts, and the horror on his face, Ineiru and Oreilia could definitely tell the truthfulness in his words. This Ora child...must be tremendously powerful.

"We fled... we fled without turning back. It wouldn't have made a difference. The small group of us had planned on returning back to Baerim afterwards, but our teacher suggested against it."

"Your teacher..." Oreilia thought about it for a second. "You don't mean-"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

He nodded. "Yes. Chrom."

"He instead decided to take over Sei'O, or deal the worst damage he could to it. At least... that's what he told us. Once we learned of his inscriptions, we opposed him and tried to stop such a foul practice."

"Out of the 233 of us, only 10 survived that encounter."

Grotto listened intently and was visibly horrified by the extent of this man's power. If this man was able to kill 223 mages then he was clearly not someone to be taken lightheartedly.

Ineiru had been lost in thought for a while. "Chrom... who is he?" she finally asked. It bothered her that she had heard the name before. It finally struck her. "You don't mean C-"

"Yes, the Cursed Calamity. Chrom."

Ineiru's face went pale. Similarly, Zephise was also struck by the information. During the third era war, the most dangerous man was a mysterious mage who went by the name of Zion. Even to this day, his name holds tremendous weight.

The enigmatic magician was solely responsible for making a bad name for variants. He was born with a seemingly limitless mana reserve. It was not known for how long he lived, but he spent decades upon decades practicing only the arcane.

No other thought crossed his mind. He never seemed to run out of reserves. That gift alone, combined with his maddening determination brought him to heights the world had never seen before.

It was speculated that Zion trained and trained day in day out from morning to night until he was proficient in every magic category. In fact, he held skills that others had never seen before.

The only thing had that rivaled his arcane talent, was his ambition. And the world shook when they realized.

Before his death to the copper knight, he had eight students he trained personally. Among these eight were Chrom. Though they had only briefly undergone Chrom's teaching, they each grew to become prolific and dangerous individuals.

Chrom specifically, was called the Cursed Calamity. A couple decades back, he had dismantled much of the beast men army in Iremin.

"He intends to do something he's theorized many decades ago. His fascination with curses and inscriptions is horrifying...I only realized it now."

"I only now realized that he had been testing on Baerim citizens in secret for years. This development is not something that just perfects itself through theory."

"If he mobilizes a good portion of this country under his control, everything else would play out by itself. He's somehow found out how to transmit the inscriptions through others. If it comes down to an all out war. The more Sei'O suffers casualties, the more cursed beings he'll gain on his side."

"Tch. Such a disgusting man."

Grotto nodded in agreement. At that point Ozen stood up and everyone around the room grew tense. They still weren't sure what to think of him- whether he was an ally or enemy.

However, he immediately dropped to the ground before them, bowing. "Please... You guys have to help me...- I can't do this alone.. I.- I can't anymore."

"Didn't you have 9 other associates?"

He teared up a bit as he tried to get out his choked words. "The past couple of days, they haven't been answering my transmissions... I haven't seen any of them anywhere. I fear they've all-"

He cut his words short and regained his breathing. "No.. I mustn't think like that. Eril is too strong. He'd at least escape if it came down to it. He'd save the others as well."

"Anyways. I need your help. This whole thing. It's starting to take its toll on me." His demeanor was entirely calm again. "So please. H-"

"Oi. We get it. We'll help you out. This is part of our mission anyways." Oreilia butt in.

Ineiru who had been thinking this whole time finally asked. "So if we take out Chrom, the curses should subside right?"

Ozen shook his head. "..I'm afraid not. These inscriptions are self-sustaining. They function off of the user. So long as the user's body is intact, it'll continue to function."

"Then, once they run out of stored energy, they should go back to being corpses no?" Rel asked, with his finger up.

Ozen looked at him for the first time. His eyes scanned over all of the plague children and the hairs on his neck stood up. He was mortified and memories of Ora's tirade began to flash through his mind. How many comrades had he lost to that child?

He couldn't tell, all he knows is that an indiscriminate amount of them died instantly. How many friends were among the dead? He had no idea.

Rel glared back at him and he looked away, breaking away his stare. "Sorry...that was impolite of me."

"Huh?" This was a surprise. Out of all the people who bared those disdainful eyes, he was the first to apologize for it.

"To answer your question... no. I'm afraid not."

"After death, the body continues to function.The energy it stored up initially is set up to keep the body running. In turn, producing more energy, and invigorating the inscriptions. The only way we can beat it is by finding a counter."

"If we're to launch our assault, we need to locate the other 9 first. Without at least that much, I'm not sure how we're going to take him down."

"Um..O-ozen.." Ineiru gave him a nervous look but before he could say anything, Oreilia elbowed her rib hard.

"Well we've got what we wanted from you. For now, let's end this meeting short. We'll meet again here at noon. So please actually get yourself some rest. If we're to face off against Chrom, I'd rather have you at your best condition." Oreilia waved and abruptly cut off the meeting.

Ozen simply bowed yet again and thanked them all.

As they all walked away in their file line, Zephise began to speak. "Those friends of his...they wouldn't happen to be-"

Oreilia nodded. "The Nine Baerim mages we finished off earlier."

Rel sighed. "It would be better not to break his hopes prior to a fight like this. Who knows how he'd react. They ran into Chrom and got defeated.. but still... we did finish them off."

Ineiru hesitantly nodded. Something didn't feel right to her about massacring the man's own comrades and not alerting him. She swallowed that feeling and resolved herself. He shall not know of it until after this challenge is over.

For now, they have to prepare for their departure tomorrow and debrief on tactics.