“You are my brother and I love you, Casimir. There are no words that could ever describe the extent of my affection towards all of you. However, if you ever call yourself weak in front of me again, I will hurt you.”

-Liliara when speaking to Casimir

…

The streets of Argos were crowded and constantly moving. Gwendolyn’s lack of sight seemed to be a bad combination with such a place, but thanks to Horace’s guidance and Casimir’s intimidating gaze, no one took issue. Or rather, if they did have an issue, they wisely kept it to themselves. After all, the near-unwieldable halberd resting on Casimir’s shoulder seemed to more than enough to settle any possible dispute.

“So, where’s your merchant friend?” Casimir asked with a yawn.

His eyes scanned over each market stall and shopfront located in the central marketplace but there didn’t seem to be anyone selling techniques he could use to grow. Since that was the case, his interest became non-existent. There was likely nothing around that could hold a candle to the City of Ir’rah.

"We're on our way to meet with him. I presume it is necessary to go through the central marketplace to do so, Uncle?"

“Yes, yes, it is all but mandatory to pass through here first as this is the main road through the city. It's just that clusters of shops and stalls fill this area by design as they are meant to attract the wandering eyes of anyone visiting Argos... Hmm, I wonder if there would be any medicine for your eyes, milady?”

Horace was far more careful in his examination of the items they passed. As far as he knew, any one of them could hold a temporary cure for Gwendolyn’s blindness.

“I would not hold any hope toward that being so, Uncle.” Gwendolyn smiled, seemingly unbothered by her condition.

“You…” Casimir began speaking with an unreadable expression. “My mother...- She can’t…-”

“Yes?” Gwendolyn waited for him to continue.

“My mother, she can’t speak. She lost her voice long before I or my siblings were born.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Gwendolyn replied gently.

“No, it’s...- My father has always been able to understand her even without her being able to speak. The same for the rest of us, but he can read her mind with a single glance.”

“Your father sounds like a wonderful man,” Horace said.

Without even knowing Casimir's father, he felt similar to him in when comparing the way that they treated the ones they cared about. After all, it would be no easy feat to decode someone's thoughts from their expression alone. That is, if you assumed that the person attempting it was more or less a normal human being.

“He is,” Casimir agreed. “If there comes a time where you…”

Casimir trailed off as he noticed something odd. He turned his head in a certain direction and spotted a cloaked individual standing on a rooftop above the marketplace, staring down at him. Even stranger, there was a scent he was highly familiar with.

“...Dragonkin,” He whispered to himself. “Then that means, Liliara should be nearby.”

They gazed at each other, quickly realizing who the other was. At that moment, Casimir found his father’s words resurfacing in his mind. They were allowed to harm each other in the competition and they didn’t have to ally with one another. Out of all his siblings, the few he didn’t want to run into immediately were, Raveria, Valeryn, and Liliara. Those three, in particular, had a strong desire to fight and had the talent and strength to match it.

“I’m sorry?” Horace questioned.

“Nothing.” Casimir shook his head as the figure on the rooftop departed.

His hands were tied after they discovered one another and it was pointless fleeing as the Dragonkin would’ve already caught his scent just as he caught their own.

Just as Casimir was about to relax, he found that a few figures in the distance were trailing him after glancing over his shoulder. Fortunately, they weren’t Dragonkin, but humans. A few rough-looking kids began scurrying around the marketplace, whispering to the seemingly important and wealthy figures.

Casimir frowned, focusing his hearing to listen in on their conversations.

“Morrison’s making his move, stay clear of the central marketplace.”

“They found the one who killed those swordmasters, avoid the marketplace.”

“You don’t have long, close your stall today. Morrison’s sending out his swordmasters.”

Confusion filled Casimir’s mind, caught completely unaware of the developing situation.

‘We’re they trailing someone else?’ Casimir thought, but as the trio continued to move, the group shadowing them grew into a party of six.

“Is something wrong, young man?” Horace inquired as he noticed Casimir’s strange expression.

“No… I’m going to get a room at an inn, I’ll meet with you two after you talk to your merchant.”

“Ah, well, okay,” Gwendolyn said with a trace of disappointment. It wasn’t often she was able to speak with someone in her own age range, but she understood that Casimir’s continued presence would come at a price.

Casimir paid Gwendolyn no mind as he split off from the Uncle and Niece. He came to the halt in the center of the road. The crowd continued to move like an everlasting tide, but the only ones who stood still in that river of people were Casimir and the group who were clearly following him. He exchanged glances with the group, finding their expressions to be extremely hostile. The way they met his gaze showed they welcomed a confrontation at any time.

“I don't remember robbing you all on the road,” Casimir said to himself, softly laughing as he entered a nearby inn.

Not too far away, the small group of six swordmasters began speaking.

“He doesn’t seem bothered by us.”

“Yeah, why would he? He managed to kill three in a single day.”

“Whatever, let’s just kill him and be done with it.”

“I don’t know, is it just me or does he look a little different?”

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen… uh, what’s his name again?”

“Valeryn.”

“Yeah! I haven’t seen Valeryn before.”

“Well, I managed to catch a glimpse and that pretty much looks like him.”

“Careful with him, at a first glance he may seem lazy, but he cut down a swordmaster in a single stroke. Don’t let him catch you off guard.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The six swordmasters strolled into the inn, resting their hands on the pommels of their swords as they did. They expected an instant attack but found their target sat at a table filled with food. Now that they took a good look at him, he did seem different from the description of Valeryn who was said to wear a tattered grey cloak and a completely black outfit. Casimir’s current outfit consisted of a leather cuirass and greaves, black trousers, cloth hand wraps, a grey fur pelt around his waist, and a pair of leather sandals. There was also the huge halberd which rested on the floor at his feet. He seemed less like the wanderer previously described and more like a mountain bandit.

The only quality that fit the description of Valeryn other than general appearance was the confidence in his actions. Even after noticing that he was being followed, he still ordered enough food to fill a table and ate it without hesitation.

…

“Bastard.”

Casimir didn't even blink as one of the six swordmasters cursed at him. The customers inside of the inn immediately fled, apparently recognizing the six new entrants.

“Please, I beg that you all take your conflict outside-”

“Shut up!” A female swordmaster flung a chair toward the owner of the inn who ducked out of the way. He could only stifle his feelings toward the destruction of his property. After all, the swordmasters standing in his doorway had a status he could never hope to reach.

“You just gonna keep eating?” Another swordmaster spoke as he watched Casimir drink a bowl of soup without sparing them a glance.

“If you don’t mind,” Casimir replied, wiping his mouth with his arm before moving on to a different dish.

“You’re just as arrogant as they said, Valeryn,” A young swordmaster spat onto the ground as he said so.

“Valeryn?” Casimir immediately paused, tossing his food aside without care. “Did you just say Valeryn?”

“Is that not your name?” The female swordmaster asked.

Casimir suddenly began laughing in response before he fished a gold coin out of the pouch on his waist. He tossed it to the old man peeking from behind the large counter who carefully caught it before checking if it was real.

“That’s for the damages, old man,” Casimir spoke as he stretched his arms.

“T-This is too much for a single chair.”

“I know that,” Casimir replied with a grin.

The swordmasters wouldn't be called that if they couldn't tell where the situation was heading. They instantly drew their swords and became cautious. To even become a swordmaster one would need instincts honed for battle and at that moment, their instincts rang in alarm. With light movement, Casimir kicked the halberd into the air and then pressed his foot forward. The ground underneath him immediately splintered as he launched himself forward, overturning everything in his way as he did.

Chairs, tables, and unfinished plates of food flew into the air, temporarily obscuring Casimir’s body which was his exact intention. The swordmasters didn’t stand idly by and quickly moved to avoid the path of the incoming objects. One of the swordmasters chose to cut away one of the tables flying toward him instead of dodging.

That proved to be a terrible decision as he sliced the table in half but could only look on in shock as a halberd flew toward next.

“Shit!” He managed to curse as the heavy blade cleaved into his shoulder and knocked him back, pinning him to a wall.

Casimir ignored the pinned swordmaster and soared through the air before delivering a powerful kick into the chest of the youngest swordmaster, sending him flying through the inn’s window and outside.

In a bid to separate Casimir’s head from his shoulders, the female swordmaster attempted a horizontal strike, but her target ducked under it with inhuman agility. Casimir then performed a sweeping kick, knocking her onto the ground but grabbed her by the ankle as he stood up before prying the longsword out of her hands.

“Get off of-” She couldn’t her finish as he threw her toward one of the other three remaining swordmasters. While he moved to catch her, his two companions rushed Casimir on either side. He held the stolen sword in an underhanded gripped and waved his hands and he blocked the two different strikes. The power behind them was nothing to scoff at, but all it managed to do was push him back rather than injure him.

Casimir grunted as if angered by the attacks and sent a devastating punch before the unlucky swordmaster could react. The shattering of bones seemed to echo as Casimir’s fist collided with the swordmaster’s face before sending him crashing into a wall. Needless to say, he had died from a single strike.

“You!” The second swordmaster wasn’t able to react as Casimir’s shoulder was driven deep into his abdomen, knocking him through the inn’s doorway and sending him tumbling.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” The female swordmaster cursed after she climbed to her feet, seeing that everyone had lost in their exchange with Casimir.

Casimir ignored her as he pulled his halberd from the shoulder of the first swordmaster to suffer. He examined the long sword in his hand before dropping it onto the ground.

“You’ll need this,” He said as he kicked the sword toward her feet.

“Just who are you?!” The swordmaster who was previously pinned to the wall by the halberd asked with an expression full of fear.

“I’m not Valeryn,” Casimir said grimly. “I’m Casimir... his younger brother.”

After he finished speaking, he lifted the halberd and split the swordmaster’s skull open, causing a thin line of blood to splatter across his face. He gazed at the other two, while the female swordmaster had only been knocked to the floor, the man who caught her hadn’t even joined the fight. Judging by their expressions, it seemed that they weren’t likely to try again.

“You should know where my brother went, right?” Casimir asked as he pointed his halberd toward them.

“Go!” The female swordmaster shouted as they two kicked off the ground and began to flee.

“You’re just making it harder on yourselves!” Casimir shouted after them before stepping outside at a leisurely pace.

The two swordmasters who were sent outside were busy crawling to their feet. The young swordmaster who suffered a kick to the chest could barely move as he coughed up blood while the other was nearly recovered.

“You bastard!” He brandished his sword.

With a light swing, Casimir’s halberd crashed down on him. Even as he raised his arms to block, the shock from the blow reverberated through his internal organs. Even as though he managed to block the first attack, Casimir didn’t let up. Instead, he began slamming his halberd down on the poor swordsman in a brutish manner. Like a hammer to a nail, the swordmaster was beaten until every ounce of strength left his body.

He could only scream hoarsely as Casimir’s final strike fell on him, completely chopping his skull in two.

“...Ugh,” The young swordmaster who was busy vomiting blood looked on in horror as Casimir sauntered toward him.

His lips parted as if to plead for Casimir to stay his hand but it would never be transmitted. Casimir’s fist smashed into his face, sending him to the ground, never to rise again.

Casimir inhaled deeply as he surveyed the relatively empty marketplace. A few onlookers watched from what seemed to be a safe distance but flinched as they made eye contact with Casimir. The owner of the destroyed inn was among those who could only watch the fight happen.

Without another word, Casimir lifted his halberd over his shoulder and began walking after the two swordmasters who fled. His nose twitched as he sifted through the many scents in the air before picking up on two distinct smells. While the two weren’t aware, there was no possibility of escape after Casimir began tracking them.