Find Your Rite (Brad Exam)

Ardere, the master of the Infinity Hydra guild that Brad had joined, had given him the task of protecting a noble from the country of Minstrel. The man had no issue with doing such a task, though he wished Ardere saw him as an equal rather than just some member to train. The weapons master was stronger than these people realized, he just did not have all of his weapons at his disposal. That was for another day, however, as Brad had to protect someone that had a similar status to himself. They were both nobles, he a prince and this woman one of the ruling class nobles of the country of Minstrel. He would not give away his status, that would be dangerous for himself even more than protecting her from the obvious dangers of the current situation. He was more likely to just introduce himself as Brad of Infinity Hydra to keep himself safe for the upcoming days. It would not take the man long to get to the Royal Palace, and the ease of getting in was astounding. A simple mentioning of his task, who had sent him, and proof of his being in the guild spoken of had gotten him in without even a check for weapons or questions about him or any abilities that he had. What a shame, such lax security was probably why they had outsourced security for this Lady Elizabeth. Oh well, it was not like he was going to have to rely on them too much as it was. He was tasked with protecting one person and one alone. Not that he would let anyone else die, but his main focus would be the lady that he was now waiting to be introduced to.

A small batch of Rune Knights would tell him to follow them to the Lasy Elizabeth, who was allegedly in her room awaiting her main escort before they began to walk the city from meeting to meeting. Upon arriving at the room the main Rune Knight would knock on the door and announce what was going on, the feminine voice inside telling them to let him in so that she could speak to him immediately. The door would be opened to allow him access and reveal to him a white-haired, blue-eyed, woman dressed in a pink and white dress that was likely more costly than what the entire batch of Rune Knights were currently wearing.

"You are not the man I was expecting. What happened to Ardere, why has he not shown!" The woman was clearly high strung and expecting her summons to be exactly as she made them to be. Brad simply blinked once, not used to being spoken to in such ways, before he spoke up in retort.

"Ardere Kasai had important matters inside his guild to attend to and was not able to make it today. He has sent me in his place, a member of his guild that has the proper skills to bodyguard you for the entirety of your time here. If this displeases you I can relay him a message, but I believe that you are stuck with me if you still wish for a private escort outside of the Rune Knights that Fiore provides." The woman was clearly not completely all right with this answer, but the look on her face was one that showed she clearly understood the situation. As a ruler, she knew that someone in charge always had matters to attend to. For her to demand another known leader to protect her was something that was not always possible, and it was not like she really needed to know that Brad had lied to her. That would just make things a bit awkward when they got to the protection detail.

"Well! I do not have the time for such a trivial matter as to whom my escort will be! So long as you can keep me safe during these perilous times you will suffice! We will leave at once, I have a few meetings to go to before the main talks begin between the Minstrel Nobles and Fiore's Nobles begin. You will stay at my side throughout the entire thing, I do not wish for any would-be assassin to end my life and ruin all I have been working towards!" With that said the woman, who was clearly fully prepared already, marched out and caused him to walk briskly if he wished to stay at her side.

From what she said as they walked, each meeting was within a few minutes walking distance from each other. This was the Royal Castle, the city here was heavily guarded, and it meant they were relatively safe while walking the main streets. The first meeting was with a man that seemed to be a noble of Minstrel that was on friendly terms with Lady Elizabeth. They hugged, saying honorifics and names that seemed unending, before they spoke about the major meeting and trying to figure out who else was on board with them on the peace talks. After leaving they would head to a few more such meetings before they went in to one final one with a grumpy looking man with an overly large nose. Elizabeth called the man Lord Tyrian, the man almost snubbing her completely before actually responding to her. It seemed he was on the fence for the whole thing, not really willing to decide whether he was for or against the peace with Fiore due to the ill that Fiore had seemed to be the center of for Earthland in recent events. After a while Elizabeth asked him to do what he thought was right for the country before they left.

Not wanting to remain just the silent companion, like in some of the lacrima games he had played, he spoke up about the last meeting once they were out of the building and out of direct hearing range. "He almost seemed hostile, as if he was defensive with you."

Lady Elizabeth stopped in her tracks, causing Brad Clad to do the same, before she looked at him with a grim look on her face. "That man has a lot of sway back home, and he is not one that is friendly with my family tree. There have been many fights in our past. While everyone else has forgiven and forgot, that man only sees the past sins and nothing else. I fear he may spitefully be going against the peace treaty in the end, if only to see me fail in my endeavors."

"That's a bit petty, even for a politician and noble. One should not put their country's life on the line over personal feelings. That is what gets one deposed in the end. When the people realize they are not working for the whole, and just for themselves, it gets violent very fast."

"Clearly you have done this before, and you are correct. I was hoping I could help him see the errors in his ways, but he may just be hearing me try and make him look bad or to get him to bow to me and my family name. Either way that meeting did not go how I wished it to. All we can hope is that the main meeting goes better. We have an hour before it starts, but the crowd will start to form so we will head there now." A nod from Brad would let her know he had nothing more to say before they began to move in the direction of the Royal Castle so they could find their seats. He would likely be sitting either next to, or behind, the woman under her protection during the meeting. It would make the most sense for him to do so, given her was the bodyguard for her during the occasion, and it also allowed him to make sure no one else was hurt just by being there for anything that went wrong.

A few minutes into the walk he would hear footsteps running towards them before he turned to look. Coming straight for them were two men that were dressed from head to to in black clothing that left none of their identifying features available to see. It was clear they were running towards them so Brad immediately summoned forth his two daggers in a way that they were behind him and unseen; the daggers floating against his back. "Do not panic, and do not stop your speed. Keep walking towards the castle. We have two possible targets coming our way and I'm going to stop them before they get close enough. If they draw weapons, do I have permission to kill?" The man's tone was as serious as it could get, almost making the Lady gasp before she responded.

"Do not kill, you can maim if you must but they need to live so we can find out who sent them and allow them to be punished in a proper way. It will still lead to death, but we will also get the information we need out of them at the same time." It was almost disappointing to heat, but he would follow the wishes of this leader.

The duo would keep running towards them, but as soon as weapons were drawn Brad would send his daggers out to strike at the ankles of both men. Each would find the tendon in their left ankles suddenly sliced clean even as they attempted to throw their hidden daggers at the woman he was protecting. One went wide, clanging against a nearby wall before simply falling to the ground. The other would fly true, though would never strike the proper target. Brad could see the dagger flying towards them, it was a standard steel one that was made for throwing. He had caught many of them in his training to be a weapons master, and this one would be easier due to the way it had been thrown. His right hand would reach out and grab the handle of it as he spun around with the daggers momentum, keeping it from being lost by his grip due to the speed it was going, and as soon as he recovered himself he threw the dagger into the dirt of the road. The guards nearby, seeing the spectacle, would rush forward and take the two into custody with a swiftness only known to those that were trying to keep their job after something went wrong. A sigh would leave his lips as he glanced over to see Lady Elizabeth a few meters ahead of him, she had clearly stopped moving even though he had told her to keep going. "If there had been more you would have put yourself in danger by standing here. I could have kept them distracted as you got to more guards for safety. Please let me do my job properly, I would rather you not get yourself killed while under my care."

Lady Elizabeth would scoff at Brad, clearly not used to such wording used in her vicinity, but she did not argue with what he was saying to her. The noble would simply tell him to come along as they made their way to the Royal Castle and began to find their seating for the main grouping that was to decide the possible fate of the two nations. It would be interesting to see how their talks went. Would they be anything like the ones back in his homeland? Or were they a bit more aggressive and showy? He was used to the cut and dry talk at a table, something he felt was more appropriate a setting. When the leaders met personally, guards at the ready for both, it tended to let them deal with things peacefully without letting the public interrupt. Well, I guess I will see shortly. Won't I? The man's thought was the only one not involving him mean mugging everyone that came in. Some would look away, others would glare back. He wasn't trying to make them mad, he was trying to guage reactions and find the guilty ones.

[2030/2000]

[Going with the changed WC totals and finishing my WC with lower numbers so we can keep IH going (B to A is now 2k instead of 4k, I had a 5.5k word exam, doing 2.5k as the new exam WC was allowed to be retroactive.)]