“Damn,” Vasera groaned, rubbing her forehead. “What kind of monsters came to join this tour?”

  Adam smiled ily.

  “Why did you have to e and bother me while the finals are ongoing anyway?”

  “Is it that fun to watch them py at who takes first and sed?” Adam asked. “Sir Roseia is going to take first, and Sir Kanna is going to take sed.”

  “So why did you leave the octagon to e and speak to me about?”

  “I thought we might as well chat,” Adam said, p her some wine he had bought. The rest of his group was settled around them, in the er of one of the first flments, to keep out of the way of those ied in the final fight between Sir Roseia and Sir Kanna.

  Vasera pihe cup with her thumb and index finger, making the okay sign as she smmed back the cup of wine. Adam wasn’t sure that was how to drink wine. “Rook told me about you. He said there was someoo be careful of, some crazy bastard called Adam. If he had told me you wore purple, I would have remembered.”

  “I did say that,” Rook said.

  “Gods damn it,” Vasera grumbled. “Was I drunk?”

  “Yes.”

  “How you bme me for not remembering when I was drunk?”

  “You swore on the symbol you would remember.”

  “You know that doesn’t t.” Vasera shot baother cup of wine, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Did I make a bet with you too?” Her symbol fshed white for a moment. “Damn it. How much was it?”

  “I said a thousand gold,” Adam said.

  “A thousand gold?” She clicked her teeth. ‘Damn.’

  “You said two thousand, and we agreed on that,” Adam added.

  “Two thousand? Gods damn it!” Vasera grabbed the bottle of wine and began to guzzle it down, before she smmed the bottle of wine down. “What are our bets looking like?”

  “You pced, so we have at least ohousand and five hundred,” Rook expined. “That’s about it.”

  “Then there’s the mohe little noble sir is going to pay us…” Vasera spoke as though she was suffering from a terrible poison. “Do you accept magical items?”

  Adam blinked, looking towards Jurot for a moment. He hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end of such a statement. “Perhaps?”

  “We’ve got a magical shield. It’s Basic, but it usually sells for about a thousand and five hundred. We’ll trade it at a price of a thousand gold. We’ve got a couple of Basic ons too.”

  ‘A Basic shield? I did need one for Nobby.’ “I noticed you all use longswords and such, but no shields?”

  “Shields?” Vasera flexed from under her armour, with such force the armour visibly shifted. “I am the shield!”

  “Aren’t you the bde?”

  “How I be the bde when I couldn’t even hit you?” Vasera replied, gring at the Half Elf. She still wasirely sure how he ma her down with a single blow, but upon hearing he had basically dohe same to the other two, she didn’t get too worked up by it. She eyed up Wraith.

  “Yeah, but it’s a pretty cool bde.”

  “It’s warm,” the Drakken replied, almost smirking. “Perhaps you’ll e across it aime?”

  “There’s no use iing you twice,” Adam replied.

  “This bastard!” Vasera reached out and spped Adam’s arm quite roughly. “Everyone’s a funny guy when their shield is an Iyrman.”

  “I think you’ll find my shield is quite strong without my brother.”

  “Your brother?”

  Adam motioned his head to Jurot. “The Iyrman with skin of diamond.”

  “Diamond skin? You’re praising him too much.”

  “He wouldn’t have dropped from the blow that dropped you.”

  “Kekekeke!” Vasera let slip a snicker, before leaning back against her chair. “What about your skin?”

  “My skin is obviously puthral.”

  “Ha!” Vasera’s eyes fell to the purple armour Adam was adorned in, before she gnced around towards the Iyrmen surrounding him. “How did you two bee brothers?”

  “We have the same sister.”

  Vasera turo face Jurot, w if he’d admit more. Upon seeing him nod, she gnced between the pair once more. “Is the sister an Iyrman?”

  “Yes,” Jurot stated.

  “Are you an Iyrman too?”

  “No,” Adam replied.

  “It’s not surprising, the Iyrmen have always been difficult to uand.” Vasera’s eyes fell across the entire group.

  “Your sword is rather nice, Rook.” Adam motioned his head to the Basihanced sword. “Where did you get it?”

  “We acquired it at an au,” Rook replied. “It cost quite a pretty penny.”

  “How much?”

  “More than we should have spent on the on,” Vasera admitted. “The first bde sold for fairly cheap, but the rest? They reached four and five thousand.”

  ‘Nice.’

  “If the shield isn’t enough, we’ll trade a Basic bde too. They typically go for a thousand, but the war has increased their price a little. We’ll add in awo hundred gold with the shield and sword.”

  “I’ll take the shield, though I would have wished for your bde. Metaphorically, I mean. No, that’s not the right word. Business wise, I mean? I’m quite partial to Drakken.”

  “Unfortunately for you, I prefer the st of women,” Vasera growled back at him with a wild smirk on her face.

  “Ah? What a shame?” Adam replied, chug lightly. ‘Is that a thing allowed in this nd? This pce seems pretty servative.’

  “You’ll take the shield and what else? If we have to, we’ll hand over the thousand gold as promised.”

  “Hmm…” Adam thought about what else he should take from her. He really didn’t need a Basic sword, though it would have been a nice addition. “I’ll take the shield, and if I ever have need of your service, I hope you’ll give me a dist. I’ll take this as the fortune of meeting a det fellow.” Adam held out his hand.

  Vasera csped his forearm. “You’re too kind, mister Adam.”

  “I get that a lot.”

  “Will you shut up?” a tipsy adveuro face them, her brow twitg. She wore breastpte and a purple scarf around her neck. At her side was a bde. She saw those that made up the group. Multiple people who pced iop ten of their segments, as well as some who even pced iop four, with even two pairs of those that settled iop two.

  Fate’s Golden and the Golden Savages, a group filled with people sidered as strong as Masters.

  ‘Why does her fanoy me so much?’ Adam thought, narrowing his eyes at her.

  Jurot gred at her, causio tense up, her eyes falling across both Adam and the Iyrman, before she turrying to pretend as though she hadn’t just berated them.

  ‘Who the hell is she?’

  “May I sit with you?” called a voice.

  “How are you doing, Stone Sword?” Adam asked, motioning a hand to the older warriors, allowing him to sit with them.

  “Well.”

  “I heard you’re fighting in the finals tomorrow?”

  “I am,” the older man admitted.

  “I’m going to be betting quite a bit on you.”

  “How much?”

  “A few hundred gold, maybe a thousand gold?” Adam replied.

  “Do you have so much to throw around?”

  “The perks of winning almost every fight.” Adam couldn’t help the smirk which crept up on his face. He had watched many of the great warriors fight. There were quite a few which had caught his i. Of course, almost all the older warriors who fought after the preliminaries were over were absolute monsters. There were quite a few Noskan warriors who had mao pce quite high. Even Raging Bull, who Stone Sword was fag against, was a Noskan.

  “I wouldn’t bet on me,” Stone Sword admitted. “Raging Bull is another breed of warrior.”

  “Is he?”

  “Yes.” He looked to Jurot. “He’s like one of you.”

  “A Rage Dancer?”

  Stone Sword nodded. “Have you heard of Ajax the Mouse?”

  “Yes,” the Iyrmen replied, simply.

  “Whose Ajax the Mouse?” Adam asked, throwing an awkward gowards the Iyrmen.

  “He’s collected the Three Gems of the Jiad,” Stone Sword informed, his voice low. “He’s the only one whose been able to do so sihey were split. Evehe Iyrmen tried, they collected one or two pieces, and were killed shortly after. He’s the only one whose mao live long enough to cim all three, and after colleg all three…”

  “Ajax the Immortal.”

  Stone Sword bowed his head. “I’m not sure if he’s really immortal, but he’s close to it. The Stro Paragon is aitle for him. He’s s already, but I hear he’s aiming to find the fem.”

  “The fem of the Three Gems of Jiad?” Adam asked.

  “There are many gems, but the Three Gems of Jiad are the greatest three gems. There are more. Some say seven ht, others say ten or eleven. Whatever the case, if he really does collect each of the gems, he’ll bee unstoppable.”

  “What does that have to do with the Noskan?”

  “Ajax rarely ever talks, it’s why they call him the Mouse. That, and the bloody mouse he keeps on his shoulder. Of the st few things he’s been recorded to say, one of them was that he didn’t want to fight Fjord Vytdrak again.”

  Adam threw a look to Jurot.

  “Raging Bull’s name is Fjord Vytdrak.”

  “Oh.” Adam slowly nodded his head. “Alright, I won’t bet on you then.”

  Idk why I found the st line so funny but it still cracks me up.

  Vasera is such a cool npc. I'm sure she'll have many more chapters to e...