[C Rank Exam] Foreigner to the Rescue

/"How did I get here again?"/ The young man clad in black wondered to himself as he wandered through the dark, misty woods in middle of practically nowhere. The whole area had a rather creepy feel to it. But if he had to be honest, it still wasn't as creepy as the bloody tree that House Rose had in their province and considered it sacred. When House Rose won the time before the last time Burning Fields took place, the rest of the Houses' noble families had to make a bit of a pilgrimage and appreciate that bloody tree, just like House Rose does. It was a sight that Vinn would never forget, no matter how many years passed. He was glad that they had nothing like that in Anivaia. They had the mystical Crystal Tower, but it didn't compare. The young man shuddered at his memories as his feet carried him through the forest.

Not too many steps later, however, Vinn heard some noise. It was coming from up ahead and as he got closer, he recognised it as sounds of a battle. Cautiously he walked forward. He heard yells and screams and the air was suddenly filled with hints of blood. It only got stronger, the closer he got to the source of the sounds. Ahead of him was a bunch of wet bushes, that he decided to use for hiding purposes. Vinn was crouching behind them, listening to the screams, as they slowly died down. There was only yelling left, that cut through the air. Something about a territory? Vinn wasn't sure. He decided to play risky and peek out, from behind the safety of the bushes.

The area in front of him was riddled with bodies and splattered in strange dark purple liquid, that Vinn could only guess was the blood. There was a stone pillar, in the middle of the area with intricate inscriptions on it, also covered in the presumed blood. The bodies, however, were not of beings he had ever seen before in his life. They had humanoid shape, but they were certainly not humans. Their skin colour was dark green and had some sort of moss for hair. They were covered in just tiny dirty rags, that covered almost nothing. However, some of them had bright, white markings on their skin, separating them from others. /"Is this what this is about?"/ Vinn silently wondered as a couple of figures entered his field of vision.

The figures appeared from both of Vinn's sides. The ones on his right had those white markings that some of the corpses on ground did. "Stay back, fiends." One of the marked figures yelled towards the other ones, on Vinn's left side. "This is our sacred relic. You will not gain this ground." It added with a collective growl from the others. Well, collective would be too big of a word. More like, a handful of others. The ones on Vinn's left spoke up themselves. "YOUR sacred relic? You forget we are the same kind. And we have the same right as you." One of them said and stepped up. The situation was getting interesting.

The non marked one who stepped up, however, quickly turned their head towards Vinn. The young man tried to duck down, behind the bush. "Over there! Reveal yourself!" Vinn was called out and he felt like he had no option but to oblige. Carefully, the young man poked his head from behind to bushes, to see that every figure present, aside from the dead ones, were looking at him, watching his every move. "What are you doing here? Did the Withered send you here?" He was asked, accusingly by one of the marked beings. Vinn would shake his head in disagreement. "I came here of my own volition." The young man would state. "And I stumbled upon this.. bloody quarrel." He would say as he pushed the bushes apart, enough for him to pass through them. A few twigs got stuck in his coat and Vinn removed them, promptly. He felt the beings watch every little twitch of his muscles and in turn, it made him feel quite uncomfortable. Though their behaviour was understandable, in the present circumstance.

"So what is the issue? Territorial aggression of sorts?" Vinn would ask the beings to explain the situation, so that he would understand the whole picture. "This pillar here, is called Nagathuu'n. It has a deep and symbolic meaning for our clan." The marked one would begin. "These fiends cast off our ancient ways, that is why we call them Withered." They would explain further, receiving growls from the so-called Withered. "Your ways being ancient is exactly why we decided to walk our own path." One of the Withered shared their point of the story. Vinn jsut kept on listening, gathering the information in his mind, already having a pretty good idea as to what the result was and what he could do to.. help remedy the problem. "Oh? Is that why you are now stomping our sacred grounds?!" The marked one raised their voice. "What you don't realise is that we still recognise our ancestry and wish to pay our respects. How about you respect our decision instead of murdering us on sight?!" The Withered one argued back and it seemed like the two groups were ready to fight some more. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Vinn would raise his voice that then echoed within the misty forest, making both groups of moss-haired people turn towards him in surprise.

The young man's face was set in frown. After hearing all those clan complaints, Vinn lost his mischievous mood. "So you split up, one worships the old ways, the other doesn't, but both respect the ancients." Vinn would state the information he had gathered in one sentence. The beings nodded in return. "So where is the problem? I don't exactly see one." The young man would say as he crossed his arms on his chest. "You see no problem?! There's plenty of-" "No, there's not." Vinn would interrupt a marked one. "What you need to do, is to deal with having some of your kin being a little bit different." He would say towards the being. Vinn would then turn to the Withered. "And what you need to do, is to be less provoking with your choices. Don't do bad stuff on purpose just to piss off.. them." He would say as he motioned with her head towards the marked. Both groups kept looking at him, considering what he had just said. Vinn thought that he said the truth, from a perspective of an outsider. The groups then turned to one another for a moment, before turning to one another, talking in hushed voices. The young man hoped that they would come to sensible conclusion. If they didn't, he could always just try to murder them and send a message to both of the clans. Though that probably wouldn't actually solve anything in long term.

The groups slowly turned to the young man. "We are willing to.. make a temporary treaty. And settle this in a more diplomatic fashion." A marked one would speak up, sharing their decision. "We wanted to offer the same. We agree then." A Withered would say and nod towards the marked ones. "Cool. Now go and settle your dispute. There's too much blood in the air already." Vinn would reply and cover his nose with his gloved hand. The stench of blood was getting progressively more pungent and not pleasant. A Withered would nod towards Vinn instead. "Thank you, outsider, for making us see beyond our fogged vision." Reluctantly, the marked ones nodded in agreement. "I will leave you to your politics, then. That is truly none of my business." The young man would turn to his right and start making his way away from the blood-soaked grounds. "Once more, our thanks!" The Withered one called after him once more, but Vinn didn't bother looking back. Whether they actually made amends or killed one another once he was out of sight, he didn't care. One good thing about this strange run-in with the locals, however, was that he gained valuable experience for his future, once he claimed his rightful place as the leader of his House.