Medieval RP: The kingdoms of Ardania and Derangia

"Ah, thank you your a life saver!" Connor said overjoyed, allowing Airen to take some of his load. "I hope the armors won't be so tough to carry since there's 10 only in the armory now..." He said bit gloomy before taking good look at Airen's face. " I haven't seen you before, new to the castle?"

Airen made sure he had a good hold on the load before nodding at Connor's question. "Yes, my name is Airen and I'm a mercenary hired by the Queen," he said, following the other man to the armory.

Alice's eyes had flickered back to the elf and the princess at the laughter, her eyes narrowed slightly, before she turned around at the new voice. "Oh, it's Milano. Lily.. you made me worry for no reason." She gave her friend a disapproving stare before turning back to Milano, giving her a warm smile. "Thank you, Milano. I must've missed seeing it drop, thank goodness you were here."

Milano hadn't been here long, but Alice had already taken a liking to the hardworking, yet slightly stoic, young woman. Sh was a natural at maid-work, and was always quite helpful.

Candy smiled warmly, "I can't believe I would've dropped something!" She opened up the pouch to look inside at what it could be.

Milano nodded, silently, blushing lightly at Alice. In her short time in the castle, she had grown a little fond of the maid knight. Though, she desperately ignored such emotions. She was a trained assassin. She could not let such things interfere with her work, "If you are heading back to the castle, do you mind if I join you? I have finished my shopping and was on my way to return."

Meanwhile, Lyra stood on her tiptoes, looking over the princess' shoulder, "Oh those are some herbs. I recognize those, they're especially good for relieving pain."

Candy smiled, "Oh? Hm..." She didn't remember having these, but shrugged. She was very trusting, and so put them away in her dress somewhere.

"So you get to travel often? I'm envious, i'm stuck in castle doing knights training and fixing ther equipment while they are out in the field god knows." He said giving out sad sight. Soon both reaching armor. Connor placed swords on racks one by one. "Ah there, i was lucky that you were nearby, in many ways." He said last part unders his breath bit admiration in tone when he had a good look at Airen since when he was carrying swords he didn't have a good look at him earlier .

Airen, not noticing Connor's gaze on him, placed the swords on the rack as well.

"Yes, I do travel frequently," he said tonelessly. "But this is my first time in a castle. I think it's a very lovely place to live in."

He reached up to adjust the mask on his face, a nervous tic for him that he has never grown out of.

Jack left the bar. It was early to be serving people drinks so he wasn't really needed. He had simply been brewing some in their basement, something he didn't like to do because they had 'recipes', bah. He preffered to experiment.

He looked up at the castle, a little envious. If he could find a way for his brand of magic to be legal... well, no matter. He went to the library to try and find his sister, who he still had no clue had gone missing already.


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Valery was kicked out of a weapons shop. I say kicked out, but really she had been told to leave and never come back and the owner, far weaker than her, was laying on the ground after an attempt to send her away by force.

Valery stepped out of the shop, wiping her hands together like getting rid of dust, "HAH! You fools don't realise a good weapon when you see one!" She continued to grumble as she walked away, looking for someone who might be able to guide her.

Seeing as she's found nobody as of yet, she'd even be willing to take an elf! "HAH! As if!" She said at the thought, scoffing. She probably wouldn't find an elf who'd go with her regardless. The Elves and Dwarves have been in conflict for many a generation.

She was so lost in thought, she bumped right into- you guessed it- Lyra. "Hey whoa, watch where you're going!" She said angrily, then realised it was an elf, and added, "Filthy elf!"

"I'd be happy if you joined us, Milano. We just decided to start heading back a few moments ago. We're escorting our new.. friend.." She gave Lyra a sidelong look, frowning slightly before relaxing again as she turned to look at Milano. ".. back to the castle. She claims to be here to protect the princess." She leaned in to Milano, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Personally, it makes me a bit uneasy.. but I don't really have a choice."

Alice sighed and shrugged, leaning back out of Milano's personal space. Glancing around, she was tempted to shoo Lyra away from the princess' shoulder, when she saw a very short young woman bump into her. Alice reacted quickly gently placing an arm around Candy's shoulder and moving her out of the way of the collision, before quickly releasing her when she was certain she was alright.

The flush on Milano's cheeks seemed to get redder as Alice leaned in closer to her. "Y-yes," She squeaked out, blushing more at this, she attempted to calm herself down and whisper back, "I-I mean, of course, Miss Alice, I understand. I'll keep an eye on the elf."

Milano sighed in relief when Alice leaned away. Having the maid so close to her was definitely not good for her health. Her heart was hammering wildly, it felt like it would almost jump right out of her chest.

Lyra, on the other hand, twitch her eye and bristled quite visibly at the rude dwarf that had bumped into her, "Who are you calling filthy, you brutish dwarf?! And you bumped into me!"

Oh what she wouldn't give to slug that dwarf in the face, but she couldn't do something like that in front of the princess.

"Oh my, the girl looks like she's about to faint, Alice," said Lily. "You may have to give her some mouth to mouth if that happens; that ought to keep her heart racing...."

(CPR exists in our Medieval setting because shut up)

A clash of swords, sparks flew as metal hit against metal. What should be another training exercise for the knights, seemed more like a fierce battle to the death. Another clash and one of the knight's sword flew into the air, hitting against the floor with a clang. The red haired knight stood victorious above his now weaponless opponent.

There was a clap of hands, a grizzly man, their commander grinned at the knight, "Good job, Lance. Now finish it."

Lance saw the look of fear in the other man's face. His opponent had challenged him to a duel to prove his worth as a knight. But he was not good enough to defeat Lance. And as the tradition of Derangia dictated, the man could no longer live. Weaklings were not allowed in this kingdom, weakness as a sign of well deserved death.

Lance.... hated every bit of this tradition. He hated killing, he hated taking the lives of people that did nothing to deserve it. But if he refused now, he would surely be executed and leave his sister alone in this god forsaken world.

Without another word, Lance's sword plunged into the other man's chest, ending his life almost instantly. The red head could still hear the clapping of his commander, but he ignored the praise. Why should he be praised for killing a man?

"Tch..." Lance spat on the ground in disgust of himself as strode out the room. He was going to need to take a long bath to clean the blood that now stained his hands.

During the fight, a figure had been waiting outside the room, leaned against the wall. With the upper-body of a human and the lower body of a snake, ti wasn't hard to tell that this was the Queen's familiar, a lamia that went by the name of Nesta. A smirk curved the woman's lips up at the seemingly kindly-looking creature slithered down the hallway after Lance as he walked out.

It was an understatement to say Lance and Nesta didn't get along. Nesta new perfectly well of Lance and his sister's dislike for the Queen.. but seeing as she wouldn't dare harm a a young woman in any manner, beyond the pleasureful at least, she instead directed her snarkiness and aggression toward the young man. It was always fun to see his reactions when eh knew perfectly well he couldn't harm her.. unless he'd like the Queen's wrath to be centered on him and his dear sister.

"My, my Lansssce.. you ssscertainly didn't give that poor man a chance to defend himself. The poor man mad a family and friends.. people who cared about him and those he cared for.. and you slaughtered him without remorse. It was deliciousss."

"Wee~" Candy giggled at being pulled to the side.

Valery stood up. She had finally had her limit for the day, "Alright, listen here ELF, I've already had enough crap today. I had to climb down a mountain, got attacked by some random freaking horse, walked through crap, and fought a man who dare call himself the best blacksmith of this kingdom. And now, I'm looking at an elf who's head is about to be knocked right off her shoulders," her face was very red from anger, and she had several massive veins of anger showing.

Milano felt a sudden urge to strangle a certain Jester as she felt the blood rushing to her head all at once. Debating on whether to put her assassin training to good use, the maid finally resigned, it would blow her cover too soon to do anything to the Jester now. Taking a breath to calm herself, she spoke to the Jester trying to keep her usual neutral tone, "I'm not going to faint, Miss Lily. There is no cause for worry."

Lyra rolled her eyes at the dwarf. Like she cared what kind of day the annoying little brute had. She hadn't been the one to run into the dwarf nor had she been the one suddenly mouthing off about someone being filthy. She honestly didn't like the dwarf's attitude in the least bit, "No you listen, dumbass, since you apparently have a brain the size of a gnat, I'll explain this slowly to you. I. Do. Not. Care." She then muttered under her breath in elf, "Stupid dwarf, with her stupid attitude, ought to send her flying with my magic."

---

Lance ignored the comments of the lamia, clenching his fist and biting back a curse. Oh how he hated that wretched pet of the Queen. How he wished he could knock her out one good time. With teeth gritted and a voice dripping with sarcasm, he spoke to the most loathed of creatures, "Oh? I'm surprised to see you here, Nesta. Shouldn't, you know, be 'entertaining' the Queen."

Valery puffed up in anger, "Don't make fun of me in some other language!" That was the last straw. She ran forward, aiming to punch Lyra in her face.

Candy gasped a bit, but otherwise didn't have the experience to react in a situation like this quickly enough. Valery was pretty fast for a dwarf...

While Valery was fast for a dwarf, Lyra was an elf, specialized in speed enhancement magic. She swiftly moved back from the punch, putting distance between herself and the dwarf. What did that idiot brute think it was doing? Suddenly punching people like that, this was why elves would never get along with dwarves. The short temper of a dwarf could not stand an elf's sharp tongue.

"Brutish dwarf!" Lyra yelled out Valery, despite the fact the dwarf did not understand a word of elven language, "What is your problem? Do you always pick fights with random strangers?! And people wonder why we elves can't stand you dwarves..."

Valery had nearly fallen from the punch missing, but caught herself on the ground with her hand. "For crying out-" She stood up tall, and cracked her knuckles, "And that's exactly why we can't stand you elves! You're all high and mighty thinking yourselves better, and you won't even apologise for running into me at full force!"

At this point, her mind was making things up. She dashed forward again, but this time she jumped right before reaching the elf, intending on hitting her from the air with a kick.

"Rise," Lyra muttered under her breath, suddenly vines erupted from the earth shooting up right toward Valery. They wrapped themselves around the dwarf's legs, arms, and waist while she was still in mid air. The thick vines then lowered themselves and the dwarf closer to the ground, so now Valery was eye level with the clearly agitated elf. "You pea brained dwarf, no one ran into you. In fact.... I WASN'T EVEN MOVING WHEN YOU BUMPED INTO ME!!!"

Lyra took a deep breath, touching the bridge of her nose to calm herself. No use losing her temper with an idiot dwarf.

Valery struggled against the vines, "What are you talking about?" She demanded, "And GET ME DOWN! Stupid plants...stupid elves..." She continued struggling, her face still bright red and her veins popping so hard that her head may explode at any moment.

"If she were to faint, of course I would help resuscitate her. That's common sens-" Alice was cut off when the battle between the dwarf and the elf picked up. Or well.. it was more the dwarf was attacking Lyra while she fended her off. Standing between the battle and Candy, she kept her hand on her sword handle, ready to draw it and fight if she had to intervene.

It seemed, though, that Lyra had the situation under control, and Alice relaxed someone. She glared at the dwarf from where she was. How dare she pick a fight for no reason.. especially a guest of the castle, albeit a bothersome one, and in front of the princess too! Of course, the dwarf wasn't aware of the details, but still.

Lily noticed the scene, and got a rather mischevious grin on her face.

Dwarfy and Elfy, sittin' in a tree.... she thought.

"Yeah and as soon as I let you down, you're gonna take another swing at me," Lyra replied, placing her hands on her hips, "I'll let you down after you calm down and stop accusing me of things I did not do."

Milano meanwhile had watched the short tussle from her spot. Completely forgetting her previous dilemma of Alice and the annoying Jester. It had been a long time since she saw elven magic used like that. Her own mother had often used the magic of their ancestors despite being half human. She even made sure both Lance and Milano learned the elven language so they could perform a few simple elven spells. But nothing they had were on the level of a whole elf who has greater assess to the knowledge of that magic like Lyra.

Valery took a deep breath, "Stupid midget..." She murmured...

"Fine, I'm calm now. See?!" She demanded, "ALL CALM! Now let me down!"

"Well, let's take a break before moving on to armors, shall we? Drink? I'll buy?" He said giving his offer with smile.

A man dressed in red and black walk down the streets of the city. There was a cocky sway to his step as he headed inside a store, with two other members of his rebel group. Here he would meet his informant on the castle and hopefully get some useful info. He walked up to the store owner and said in a natural tone, leaning against the counter, "I'm looking for the Ruby of Osiris."

"Oh, right this way sir, we have it here in the back," The young woman said leading the three to the back of the store. Truth was, there was no Ruby of Osiris. That was just a code word to let the woman know who they were and why they were there.

Barny walked along behind the one he admired most. He kept quiet, because he considered himself very lucky to be on such an important mission.

When they entered the secret room, he 'oohed' and 'ahh'ed a little. Being in a secret room was awesome in his mind.

The second companion of the tall man was his 'sister', another member of the rebel group and a gypsy of their former tribe. She preferred to wear her traditional gypsy clothes that she used to dance, but they weren't very subtle, so she had opted for putting a cloak around herself which covered most of her body, except for her bare feet.

She followed the other two into the store, staying on one side of the tall man, away from the shortest one, as they walked into the back of the store.

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"Dwarf." Alice was about tired of this fighting. She merely wanted to get back to the castle at this point, and this inter-species spat was getting on her nerves. "I understand your kind and eleven kind do not get along, but this elf is a guest of the castle, and I would appreciate if you ceased struggling. If you assault her again.." she trailed off for a moment, pulling her sword out of its sheath somewhat. ".. I will be forced to put an end to your actions by force."

she went and stepped between Lyra and Valery, then looked at Lyra pointedly. "Please, my lady, put the dwarf down so we may continue on to the castle. This argument has gone on quite long enough."

Valery huffed. She wasn't afraid of some chick with a blade. She wasn't scared at all... so why didn't she say so?

Oh right, she said she's from the castle... something clicked in her brain, something that told her that pissing off this woman wouldn't be good.

Valery huffed again and stayed quiet, waiting to be released. She happened to see Candy's face, and stared at her for a moment.

Candy didn't notice.