For the first time in what felt like forever, Orochalcus woke not from interruption, but naturally, a rather pleasant shift, as one could imagine. He sluggishly pulled himself off of the rough, glorified straw mattress, an action which failed to be any sort of endeavor, due to him having neglected to use a sheet or blanket the previous night, and stood himself up. Glancing at the corner of the room, where he had dumped the majority of the several hundred kilograms of sharp metal he carried with him at almost any time. for what was, again, the first time in several months, He neglected to take everything with him, after all, he felt strangely safe here, even though he knew they would be coming soon, and that meant he would probably have to face him again, he didn't feel the need to be lugging around an entire band's worth of weapons with him, at least not for that day. Still, however, he took his largest blade from the pile, the glorified hunk of metal that had effectively become as important to him as his arm or leg. He threw the over sized blade over his back, so used to it's constant weight he was barely affected by it, despite effectively haviing the weight of several grown men on his back, the majority of the hunk of tungsten and titanium concealing itself beneath his equally oversized, black cloak, only the rough handle, sticking out from the top, and the wide tip pertruding from the bottom of the glorified sheet, which he resumed clutching tightly over himself, before exiting the place he had slept, not feeling the need to take care of his long, dark brown hair, which had slowly grown to resemble a mess of shredded tree bark over the months of neglect it had endured.

He walked down the stairs he had used the previous night, returning down to the lowest floor of the building he was now temporarily residing in. He glanced over to the side, where he observed the man who had so graciously offered him a place to sleep, seemingly busying himself with what looked to be counting money, presumably from the other people he had observed him to be housing the night before. The heavy sound of Orochalcus's were clearly heard by him, as he turned around to face Orochalcus, before commenting sarcastically.

"Well, you took a while to wake up, didn't you?"

Orochalcus's reply was far less sarcastic in comparison, as he remained as blunt as ever.

"My apologies, I take it I'm late for breakfast?"

The man sighed, looking up at his customer, the bluntness Orochalcus's words changing the mood to a far less friendly one.

"Yes, I'm afraid you are, and if you insist on getting straight to business, I'd suggest you pay up, twenty bronze for the night."

Orochalcus nodded, producing two small golden coins from beneath his cloak, tossing them over to where the man stood.

"I'll give you two silver for the week, deal?"

The man took the coins, swiftly nodding back at his customer, and adding them to the small pile of silver and bronze already before him

"Quite the generous offer there, if I do say so myself, yes, I think we'll both find that agreeable."

Orochalcus nodded in return, and turned to leave. He much preferred it when people dropped their acts, it was far easier to communicate with someone who's clear about their goals, after all. He didn't find it rude, it'd be quite hypocritical if he did, after all, but mainly because he saw it has how people should communicate, swiftly and efficiently, there were no needs for matters of politeness in this world, they didn't matter, especially if he only intended to be here temporarily, he had no need to be kind to these people, just as they had no need to pretend to be kind to him.

Once again ducking through the doorframe to exit, he once again took the streets, resuming his usual flowing through and weaving past the occasional people who would be present. it was far more quiet and empty than the market, or even the area near the entrance to the town, though, as it was yesterday, he would've preferred not to have to be out there, but he needed to eat, and unlike in the wild, where he was used to spending most of his time, it was challenging to live off of the land in a town. Besides, his initial plan of just going in and out had already more or less been cancelled, he was going to be here for a few days, no, he had to be here for a few days, so it did no harm for him to see what was there.

Keeping up his, as per usual, rather swift pace, he found himself back at the market, the trip being far quicker now, due to the fact that he was no longer held back by the need to follow someone to find a specific destination. Walking through the still just as crowded, tight streets which made up the markets, he had a clear goal in mind, find something to eat, and leave, just because he was living in the town didn't mean he was going to remain there the whole time, it was easier to think while out in nature, after all, and thinking was something Orochalcus had to do a lot.

As he pushed and weaved his way through the masses of people, he once again heard someone call out, once again, in a manner that was presumably aimed at him, but there was something different, this voice was slightly familiar, as if he had heard it once or twice before, but he wasn't able to identify it. that was until he glanced over to the side he had heard the noise emerge from, connecting the face of the man to the voice. It was the man who had attempted to rob him a mere two days ago now, staring back at him. There was something odd about the man's expression though, there was no rage, or hate, the man didn't seem to desire a fight, but why? perhaps more importantly, why was he here? had he followed him? did he just live here? both were certainly possible, and both had very different implications were they to be true. Nevertheless, Orochalcus decided to do just as he did the night before, and approach the stranger, speaking in the same, blunt tone as usual.

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"You again, going to ask me for a duel over your honor or something?"

The man sighed, and shook his head, looking back up at Orochalcus, before replying.

"You're from Ambazia, aren't you?"

Before Orochalcus could even reply on the affirmative, let alone question why he had asked, the man continued speaking.

"We don't care about honor here, not least as much as you do over in the far west, what happened happened, besides..."

The man pointed at the handle to the sword which protruded from the top of Orochalcus's cloak, continuing in a tone that sounded as if he were speaking the obvious.

"I'd be delusional to think I could best you in a duel, with a sword that huge, there's just not a chance I could defeat you, not without a musket, at least."

Orochalcus looked down, seemingly not expecting the man's reply, but he remained calm and seemingly disinterested, sighing, before once again responding.

"Fair enough, but that doesn't really answer anything, why are you here in the first place, and why the hell have you bothered to talk to me?"

The man once again sighed, looking back up at Orochalcus.

"You're not very likeable, are you?"

He laughed a little. seemingly trying to lighten the rather tense mood Orochalcus had created.

"But, to tell the truth, I just wanted to ask you something. Why didn't you kill me back there? When I got a good look at your sword before you put it back under that cloak of yours, I saw that one side of it was sharp, and you had hit me with the blunt end."

He paused for a moment, before quickly continuing.

"Had you hit me with the sharper end, you would've killed me on the spot, so why? why didn't you? did you simply strike me with the wrong side of your blade, or did you mean to spare me? I wanted to rob you, to take your belongings, no bad would've come to you had you taken my life, so why do I still have it?"

Orochalcus stared down at the man silently, seemingly contemplating what to say for a good few seconds, though they were seconds that, admittedly, felt more akin to minutes.

"No, if I had wanted to kill you, I would've swung again, simple as that."

Orochalcus continued to loom down, feeling his face involuntarily soften as he explained himself.

"The simple answer is, why would I? you and I had never crossed paths before, I had absolutely no reason to hold any ill will towards you."

Orochalcus, just as the other man had while he spoke, paused for a second, before continuing on.

"Besides, people don't just steal for no reason, for all I knew, you could've had a family to feed, or hell, maybe you just needed it to survive yourself. My point is, you held no animosity towards me personally, we weren't enemies, I had no reason to want to cause you any harm."

Orochalcus thought for a second, before deciding to add more, seemingly to finish off his explanation, which had by now become more akin to a calm rant.

"Plus, if it was that you were trying to care for someone, I'd be causing harm to more people than just you, and it's not my place to do that."

The man stared back up at Orochalcus, clearly not expecting this kind of response. He had assumed the tall man would've said he had meant to, or insulted him, said he didn't matter enough to be killed, but instead, there was genuine compassion in him, he truly hadn't wanted to cause any grief, not just to him, but to anyone, was that why he just let everyone else leave? Did he truly hold no hjatred in his heart for them? even though all they had done to him was threaten, and attempt to inflict negativity, he didn't feel any desire to hurt them, or kill them. He pondered for a second, before speaking.

"You're... you're a good person, I see that now."

He sighed, seeming somewhat sorrowful.

"I'm sorry I can't give you something to apologize, I can barely even make it from one day to the next as is, so I can't spare any-"

Orochalcus cut him off, placing a hand on the man's shoulder, in an attempt to be reassuring.

"Don't act like you need to, you've done no wrong here.

Orochalcus removed his hand, withdrawing it back to beneath his cloak, but continued to try and have a reassuring expression, even though his naturally rough face did make it rather difficult to do so, before changing his mind, and turning to leave, choosing not to finish speaking. forgetting his initial intention of getting something to eat, he flowed back out of the town, exiting, just as he had intended to, and began sprinting away, his thick cloak flowing in the wind behind him, only concealing his form thanks to the firm grip he still maintained onto the front of it. before long, he found himself at the boundary of a nearby woods, an environment found practically everywhere in this region of the world. He slumped below a tree, sitting on the parts of the roots that were above ground, resting his back on the rough bark of the trunk, which was separated from touching his body by the think sheet of metal he called a sword that was still rested on his back.

"Damn it... I let down my guard..."

Orochalcus slapped himself, furious that he had shown so much as an ounce of weakness in front of another person, but there was no point, all he could do now was carry on, after all, it would be soon that he would meet him again, he simply had to exist until that day, the day that would come sooner, rather than later, that was his goal now, nothing else mattered.