Knights of Tezoth

I'm not going to unravel anyone... This is a kind expedition where nothing bad happens to anyone.

- You won't believe it, but this knife has seen a few liquidations... - Lester gazes lovingly at the "pocket" weapon. - How much, in your opinion, does a person need to pass into the next world? Whether a king or a simple laborer... Just a strip of steel...

- Time will take everyone eventually, and without steel.

- Bad! You left your neck completely unprotected.

- Maybe I just want some vampire to take me into the world of night...

- Not bad. I deliberately opened my flank to see if you'd take advantage, and you did - right between the plates. You've got instincts.

- Thank you for the compliment.

- Bad! You opened up again - come and take whatever you want.

- I'll try to do better.

- Bad! I didn't even put much effort in. Couldn't you hit such a large target?

- You are quite slender, sir, and hitting you might not be easy.

- Verdict... - Vargas closed his eyes. - Form - acceptable, there's potential to make something of you. It's clear you've trained in it. Technique - that's what suffers. And you need to feel your opponent more, understand? Battle isn't just doing A => countering with B. You need to see your opponent, know yourself, and make the best move when it should be made. I see that ability in you, but you'll need to work on it further.

- Understood, I'll work on it...

- We'll work on it, don't doubt that. You remember what it means to be my squire? Work like a damned soul, but also enjoy like a blessed one. That's the very zest of life. Heh-heh! - Vargas shakes the boy's hand. - So, will you sweat for something so ephemeral? I'll forge you into a perfect instrument, you'll see. And we'll resolve your family debt. It weighs heavily on my soul if someone close to me suffers. Problems exist to be solved, exercising our minds and strength in the process, don't they?

- Hmm-m-m, heh-heh-heh! A curious story once befell one of my countrywomen — she disguised herself as a human and made an important man fall in love with her. They did all sorts of mundane nonsense typical of your kind — read books together, held hands, went for walks and admired the scenery, whispered sweet nothings to each other. But one day her illusion faded, and her true nature, including our ears, so long compared to yours, was laid bare before his eyes! She immediately tensed up, her face contorted, and she asked him with disdainful anger, "How did your heart manage to overcome my charms? That should not be possible!" And he said to her — "Life saw fit to endow me with a mind unlike that of ordinary men, and I am, alas, incapable of losing my own will." That answer puzzled her even more than before, and she nearly shouted at him, "So it turns out you knew everything from the very beginning?! What were you after, playing the fool?!" And do you know what he replied? "I was never playing the fool — I am a genuine fool through and through." And she said to him, "Are you trying to say you knew everything, and yet it was all still real to you? A-ha-ha! What absurd words are coming from your mouth right now! Do you not know the nature of my kind?" Ugh, so much emotion in that dialogue, and the ending is an absolute bombshell! He declares to her, "I know you will never love me, and that like any other man I am worse than cattle or a toy to you — someone deserving only contempt. But that matters not, for my feelings for you are true, and there is nothing I can do about them." Can you imagine? What an idiot! And it all ended with him being unable, at that moment, to betray his duty to his "homeland," and he threw himself into the river along with her.

— Truly a curious tale to hear! I might even call it romantic in tone... Hmm, that probably sounded strange! But still, such an ending is infinitely better than if that man had used his immunity to separate your friend's head from her body, or done something else to her, for instance? The curiosity of our kind often borders on madness. Or perhaps the opposite story would have occurred had he not possessed a fortified mind, hmm? Or maybe they would have simply continued coexisting until all his loud "love" turned into the poison of a corrupted heart? In our world, only death is a constant, and every pursuit of euphoria turns into base betrayal.

— Ha, forgive me, forgive me — sometimes the image of a thousand-year-old crone seizes my imagination. But the motive is quite clear to me now. The Iron Land is full of such tales, and of perverted shades of human nature — you will still have plenty of opportunity to indulge your curiosity.