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[IcyTea31]

"Well, you don't need to worry about your boss at least while he's still stuck in that tree over there. Do you know where he got this picture?"

[IamanElfCollaborator]

The bodyguard closes his eyes and sighs.
"That picture's been around Ishim probably.....five times in the last two hours. Every gang in Ishim knows you killed Cassius of the damn Drake Park Chiefs."
"The Chiefs? The.....the gang that's been trying to turn legit? The gang who's been running ops against the Demon Lord's forces? Who opened up a soup kitchen down in Harel? Those guys?"
"Yes, him! If you knew who he was, you'd know WHY we're all trying to kill you!"

[SirAston]

"Argh, are we forsaken by the Goddesses tonight?!"

He heavily stomps the ground in frustration.

"... At least that explains the fake blood and the spiked drinks. Someone wanted Cassius dead and we were the perfect black sheeps for that albino wolf."
"Revivian! Again, we did not kill Cassius! If you believe us or not, that I cannot influence, but if you believe us, please do everything in your power to spread the message!"

Largo checks his equipment.

"... Objective remains the same for tonight. We need to keep her safe."
"But is our base still a safe place...? Every gang who cared for Cassius will be knocking on our doors, and not with their knuckles."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"It should be. No one's stupid enough to take on the ENTIRE clan. _{At least, not in a fight...}"

Lucidan lifted her foot and let the bodyguard get away.

"I can't think of a safer place to be. At the least, the boss might have an escape plan for Nico, and once we get her safe we'll at least have done our job."

[Dwarmin]

Xerxe noticed that somewhere in between the start of the battle and now, they enemies had gone from capture to kill.

If Cassisus had been a good man, good men would be lining up to avenge him...but intelligence had no correlation with morality. Unfortunately.

"Well this is a mess. We're going to be under attack by every gang in the city for a murder we didn't commit. And we have to pull our punches if we want to clear our name...more bodies would only implicate us even further in this conspiracy..."

Xerxe had fought in many Church wars, sometimes against armies he had served in previously. He had seen bodies piled like hay bales, so thick one couldn't see the ground...and how many had born his mark? He had learned to restrain himself off the battlefield, but it never came entirely easy-the decision not to kill. In his mind every foe you let live could sneak up behind you again.

He spent a long moment staring 1000 yards into the distance.

"Yes, him! If you knew who he was, you'd know WHY we're all trying to kill you!"

Xerxe picked up the bodyguard and dusted him off.

"...Perhaps you can spread the message. You claim we are merciless killers. Yet despite your clan ambushing us, we didn't slay a single member of your gang. We showed remarkable restraint. I can forgive your trespass since you were clearly the target of a deception, but now the truth is known you must act with the knowledge that the Gods are judging you. Now you must spread the truth to atone for your sins. Perhaps you will save others from further trouble...and perhaps in return, we will not speak the word of your own clans humiliation at our hands. Truth in return for a measure of tact is a good trade." He finished dourly. "I would further ask you to see to your fellows medical care before running off. Ichigo is a friend of mine."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"OF course we ambushed you! Cassius....he had plans to unite every gang in the city. We all thought we'd be fighting the Demon Lord! How could you kill him?"

[IcyTea31]

This guy doesn't know anything useful that I can't just check myself...

"Can't know if we can catch the tram without trying. I mean, I could catch it without a problem, if I went as the crow flies, but I really don't want to be alone in the skies while this is going on. So let's get moving! But while we're going..."

As she drives Bowler to a walk, Lastelle pulls out her own tablet and quickly browses through her bulletin boards.

"Hey! Adrienne's got a new chamfron...never mind, focus on what's relevant..."

She finds a number of posts with pictures of the "bloodied" weapons and leaves a few quick comments to debunk them as best she can. "There's not a nick on the blade, it hasn't seen combat." "There's blood on the grip, where a hand would have covered it." "Why would a spell tome get bloody, it's not a bludgeon?" She doesn't bother to respond to any accusations beyond pointing out how an obvious frame job it is.

"It's spread wide. This is bad."

[Dwarmin]

"OF course we ambushed you! Cassius....he had plans to unite every gang in the city. We all thought we'd be fighting the Demon Lord! How could you kill him?"

"And now we're fighting each other. Who stands to benefit from that the most? Who would benefit most from the death of Cassius?

The Demon Lord. This is not ballista science."

"It's spread wide. This is bad."

"If a storm is moving fast, you've got to move even faster. It's time for us to go...we're not getting much out of this one and we've got a plot to unravel. Hopefully the next group is more amenable to reason."

Xerxe personally doubted it.

He glanced over Lastelles shoulder at her tablet. He didn't have one himself, couldn't understand why chalk and a piece of wood nailed to a signpost couldn't do the same thing.

"...They're calling me Xerxe the Barbarian!"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Why? Do they know something about you I don't?"

Lucy started walking backwards after the pair so she could look at the rest of the crew.

"We're not going to get Nico home by sitting here and checking messages. Come on guys."

[SirAston]

"OF course we ambushed you! Cassius....he had plans to unite every gang in the city. We all thought we'd be fighting the Demon Lord! How could you kill him?"

"Guess you chose not to believe us."
"Then again, I can't blame you. Sounds like that Cassius guy was dearly beloved by most gangs. It's only natural to want to avenge his death, given his ideals."

Largo smacks his knuckles together, releasing a surprisingly audible, crunchy sound.

"However, feelings of revenge will not beat the truth. And if we are forced to punch some sense into every single gang of this city on our way back, then so be it."

He looks to Nico.

"Guess our bodyguard job just got more stressful all of a sudden. Make sure you won't stray too far away from us."

And with that, he slowly begins to walk forward. They had no more reason to stick around.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Lucy has a point. The gangs....they wouldn't have the guts to go up against an entire adventuring guild. But with just us...."
"If we move we can make the tram. It's a ten minute walk to Claudine Street and the tram leaves in about twenty minutes."

[IcyTea31]

"Then let's make it a five-minute run."

[Dwarmin]

"Then let's make it a five-minute run."

Xerxe thought back to the discussion he had when he first met Lastelle and her previous recording breaking runs.

"A shortcut through the coal mine could cut it down to two and half."

[IcyTea31]

"True, but we'd all be covered in coal dust and they wouldn't let us on the tram," Lastelle says jokingly as the group walks.

"Say, does anyone still have a headache, any trouble handling their weapons? That Ichigo guy threw a ring at me before I knocked him out. I'm not sure if he was trying to propose to me or something, but it does seem to make one's hands a little quicker."

"I also got some drinks if anyone's thirsty... huh, this one's alcoholic. Silfursverd. I never understood why they give wines such fancy names. Also got a can of Staminan if someone needs an upp-"

As Lastelle opens her saddlebag to show the goods, it practically bursts open from being overfull.

"Yikes. I really need to pass some of this stuff around."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"I'd help you out but my sash is full of weapons and I got some medicine stored in my inside pocket, so I don't have any carrying room. Sorry L."