“Duke? What did you mean by Duke? Is he a noble or something?” Alwyrn slowly moved his eyes around that swordman Helix referred as “Duke”.

Noticing the confused eyes set upon himself, the towering swordman laughed:“Ney, mate, it’s just me name, all me boys love to make fun of it, I’m sure you would join‘em too.”

“By that, he meant everyone he met.” The mockery came from the bird masked man:”And he doesn’t have ‘boys’, his sole friend now stands in front of you.”

“You’re really a funny bunch, the name’s Alwyrn, I know it’s difficult to pronounce, just call me Al would be fine.” Alwyrn, though amused by the company they made, still he blamed himself for losing track of his own location:”Krelis-hout…Why in the name of the Thousands I ended up here…” He turned to the landscape, the city, was constructed on a rare solid ground standing in the midst the vast bog areas, slightly differed from the ashen walls, most buildings were rust of colour, perhaps it was the polluted salt that seeps into the earth where the bricks were made from. He had heard of this city, a strange and barely natural combination indeed, the city somehow stood upon the only fresh water spring in the region.

“Cursed! Condemned! ALL OF YOU!!!!” Grave shout-outs broke him from his thought, a skeleton-like man in his middle age marched along the street, he wore nothing but shredded rags coiling his likely hunger tormented figure, yet something beyond reasoning was blazing in his eyes.

“You brought this upon yourself, vile and corrupted deeds roam this city while you bathed in their stained odour, ALL OF YOU!” the presenter of the warning proceed:”You lost your children, Krelis-hout, for the foul play of the powerful and the rich, you lost your hope, Krelis-hout, for the ignorance and impurity of those who dance in the night and sleep during the day while others suffer and perished on the streets! ALL OF YOU!!!”

“Doomsayers? Really? Just when I thought my day couldn’t be worse.” Alwyrn buried his face back into palms again.

“Careful, my good man, he’s not just any doomsayer.” Helix cleared his throat to stop the sellsword from giving out more comments.

“Ironically, that pile of walking bones probably stands as one of the most powerful men in the city.” Duke spat on the ground as if he just saw a collection of decomposing unpleasant.

“So, a merchant of hellish terror, is he not?” the sellsword unearthed his face from his hands, staring at Helix.

Helix covered his mouth as if he could actually cover his joy-twisted lips:“I like your metaphor, but please keep them to yourself if you intend not of trouble.”

“You’re asking me for something I always fail miserably, lad.” Alwyrn shrugged his shoulders, the next thing he noticed was the approaching presence of the doomsayer.

“Are you taking the piss!?I’ll be damned if he heard what I just said...” He thought.

The walking dire warning in human shape got closer, those flaring sights seemed to penetrated Alwyrn through his brain, however, the man in rag spoke not to the sellsword, but to the bird masked man.

“I see you still have trouble in creating a better company for yourself, brother Helix.” He grinned, revealing a set of unnerving bucked teeth:”Sinister as you and your family has already been known for, the error of your way doesn't even bother me anymore.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Master Jevour, your presence humbled me and my unworthy company.” Though just been insulted, Helix still remained tame and polite as if he knew nothing of anger or worldly rage.

“Unworthy, yes, that is at least what you can be.”

“Oi. goat face, I don’t care if ye’re sum keind of big deal‘round the city, but if ye mess with me matie, I would have words with ye, perhaps bones to pick, and ye won’t have any of them remain after I’m dun.” You may consider his accent ridiculously hilarious, yet you sure won’t ignore the warning from such a visually awe-inspiring man.

“You will keep your tongue to yourself, young Mister Duke Malius, or you will have none when I’m done.” Difficult to tell if the unpleasant doomsayer was irritated or simply impatient, he didn’t even bother to look at Duke’s direction.

Even the calm and cold appearance of Helix’s mask could not conceal his anxiety for Alwyrn noticed of the sudden changing in tone of the healer. He struggled to bar off his “matie” in a set of motions which could only be described as twitching, waving his hands in front of that doomsayer :”Alas, Master Jevour, I was just thinking, since the church was preparing for actions against the Hydraliscian vagabonds in the city, we could just hire some mercenaries? I mean, look at him, a man who illustrates little investment in manner and relent, he definitely will have no problem of hunting down those scaled thugs.”

“Your proposition is noted, Brother Helix, I would see you later.” Fortunately, Master Jevour was not in the mood of lingering in this section of the city, he turned his back, walked his saddles back onto the main road, kept giving out his dire warnings again.

“Hooh…Thought he’s going to have my hide.” Helix holds himself in his arms, Alwyrn could swear he saw Helix was sweating on his mask.

Unlike his companion who was apparently in terror, Duke simply laid his gloved hands on his waist:”That would be a good riddance for ye, there’s lots of jobs ye can take outside.”

“Like hunting down giant humanoid lizards who actually did nothing to put this cute little city of ours in peril but we kill them off anyway?” Helix raised his voice a little bit, but clearly, he didn’t want anyone other than his companion to hear.

“Wait, you two killed that big lizard on the road over there?” Pointing his finger to the road he traveled down earlier outside the walls, Arwyrn seemed to realiszed what had happened.

“Yeah…We’re…Some sort of crook, you may say…Anyway, the city governor published a marshal law that all able-bodied citizens can track down and kill any Hydraliscian they suspect of conducting indecent deeds, children abduction especially, for a reward of 50 silver corals, and those whose kills are confirmed of suspicious activities would be rewarded even more.” The masked physician cleared his throat and lean to a wall behind him:”Oh yes, I know, it’s awful, sinister, but it’s a business, right? And you seem like someone who has no problem of committing unethical deeds, I assume?”

“Guilty as charged.” The rugged faced swordman smirked then he looked upon that masked face of Helix’s:”Well, let’s go find some scaled buggers to kill.”

Just when Alwyrn pulled up his right leg to move on, he heard screams, shivering, heart-rending screams.

You may imagine Alwyrn would, just like any other heroes in the stories, dashed into the scene of horror and try to figure out what had happened, but this is not that type of story. On the contrary, our sellsword didn't bother to even look at that direction, he just turned his head, started to walk away.

“Uh…where’re you going, mate?” Helix grabbed him by his sleeve.

“I’m going to leg it, what else?” Alwyrn looked back to the healer in a confused gaze.

“There might be people, probably looking for help! Or, you know, lizards for us to kill, more coins to make!” Helix seemed more excited by the thought of killing and bounty collecting instead of helping.

“Or there could be a dozen of angry lizard men who were looking for two idiots responsible for killing their kin.” Alwyrn looked into those coin-lusting eyes shining behind a bird mask, he knew his words were nothing.

“Or ladies! Damsels in distress! Even better!!!!” The towering two-hander lift Alwyrn with one arm, walking towards the direction which screams came from while Alwyrn struggling on his shoulder like a sack of living sparrows.