“What a mess this is.” Lina sighed. She wasn't one to complain, but this was just ridiculous. “An entire week, scrambling around looking for a bastard 'primus'. If it weren't Alexandros himself that gave the order...”

“Aye.” Tulius groaned. His feet were full of sores, weeping pus when he pinched them. Threatening to turn straight to gangrene in the fetid water except for the daily ministrations by those of their number capable of using healing magic. A good thing, too, bringing water mages to such a wet place, perhaps there was some wisdom to be had after all. The moisture in the highlands seemed such a small thing compared to the insect filled marshes they'd been marched into. “I still say we should let him die out here. His problem, not ours, can't say we didn't try.”

A slog through a bog. Mud and stale liquid full of filth and the decayed remains of monsters become trapped in the pits of marsh with no hands to pull them out.

Jura snarled, stepping forward to grab the tiny man by the scruff of his collar. They were all on edge. but Jura... Always being on edge to begin with, she was the worst. Instead of turning away from the challenge, she felt a great need to find him. To beat some sense into their 'teammate' and ensure that he felt the discomfort they'd been forced to feel.

But it was Benny who would speak first. “I'd watch the words coming for your throat, little man. Lest you wish them to be replaced by blood.” Xavier looked up at his senior with unadulterated respect and adoration in his eyes. In his mind, Benny was 'the coolest'.

“A threat? Inhuman filth. How dare you threaten a knight of the Blue Rose!” Tulius clutched at his spatha, but before steel could leave leather – Benny's over-sized axe was already resting gently against his neck. Kijin were rare for a reason, their sobriquet of 'warborn' was one of many. They were made for this, better than humans in near all ways. Without the primus that had done their race in, they never would've lost their homeland.

“Blood.” Benny repeated softly. “And make no mistake, I'll slaughter each and every one of you if you disrespect my friend again. Leave if you want, but nobody will ever know what happened to you out here.” He gestured toward their surroundings, a cold glimmer in his eye. Lina knew well enough to leave it alone. Each of Benny's adventurers was equal to herself. And she was by far the most able of her unit sent into the jungle. Expendable people, except for her and Tulius. After what had happened in Trier, their chapter masters were taking no chances. That's why they'd hired four full teams of adventurers to begin with, people they could lose and not hurt for it.

“That's enough.” She offered a strained smiled to the kijin, attempting to rest her hand gently on the blade of an axe removed before she could touch its surface. He grimaced, as if the idea of her laying hand to steel was the peak of revulsion, but Benny said no more. She was still confused. They'd been facing down immediate death by an elder leshen before three cloaked figures had torn through the clearing and turned it to dust. So fast was the assault that none of them had caught it. Adamantite ranked adventurers, at least, maybe beyond that. She was not aware of any such adventurers operating in the astral space. And neither were the relay stations, leaving her stunned. Staring down at death only to be saved through happenstance, and they'd disappeared just as fast as they'd come.

Lina tried her best to remain placid, speaking again. “We've a lot of ground to cover, but I think it's obvious he didn't come through this marsh. Let's head up to the highlands again to get a better look. Jura, is it?”

The mentioned woman nodded, not letting her eyes leave Tulius. All these humans did was whine and complain. So soft and delicate, yet they had the gall to speak ill of a blooded and well known warrior. Tyr was flawed, but no orc would ever speak in such a way about their betters, and he was certainly better than this lot. At least Lina made for a fine enough battlemage.

“You said you saw a... Tower?”

“Yes. Some leagues to the north, but with the terrain...” She gestured as Benny had. Finding it was easier said than done, and they'd questioned her eye and gone down into the marsh anyways. There was no guarantee they'd find it again. Their only saving grace was that Lina in particular was no racist, though – in Jura's mind – she was foolish and untried. Young, like they were, but lacking considerably in experience. So naive, and all of her men were going to die because of it if they weren't careful.

“Then we go back up and use the tower as a rendezvous. If we don't find any sign of him after regrouping, we leave. I will not allow you all to die just to please Alexandros. Primus or not.” Her lips a pale line and her eyes resolute, all they could do was nod. Slogging back through the muck and picking off a few velds on the way out.

“So...” Yana plucked a half eaten fish that had found its way into the folds of her leather armor and tossed it away with a disgusted look. “How do you all know Tyr?”

“He was a part of our team.” Benny said. “Briefly. He saved our lives.”

“Really?” Xavier asked. “What happened?”

“Nobody knows.” One of the other men, a half orc like Jura. He too was a bow user, and capable of petty magic. They'd not been introduced to the wider team, making him nameless. “We were hunting a scorpicore and managed to take it down. Unfortunately, it's mother showed up. A full blown manticore, true awakened chimera and all that. Put us to the dirt and it was lights out.”

“A scorpicore?” Xavier gaped. A silver ranked monster, considered an 'elite' because their capabilities could vary wildly. Typically, it was a lion with a scorpions tail. But based on their progression to their next evolution, one of them could be worth up to five of their lesser iterations. They were very dangerous, and he was just a steel ranked adventurer. In name only, in contrast to Girshan and Abe who had earned their stripes the proper way.

“That's what surprises you?” Girshan shorted, patting Xavier on the back with a gleam of predatory interest in his eye. “I'm more interested in this chimera. If I understand you correctly, Tyr fought a manticore? Alone?”

“Aye.” The orc replied.

“Must've been a hell of a fight.” Girshan laughed. “A wonder he survived.”

“How did he get away?” Yana asked. Higher chimera were an adventurers worst nightmare. They were as intelligent if not more so than humanoids, but they had far greater power. Many believed that chimera were responsible for the myth that was 'city destroying flying lizards'. As in, dragons, which everyone knew didn't exist. Not anymore, if they ever had. Hunted or killed off by the primus', was what the eccentrics that studied them said.

“He didn't.” Benny said. “He killed the beast and dragged us from the battlefield himself.”

“Killed a chimera?” Girshan frowned. Manticore, at a minimum, were gold ranked monsters – but one capable of whelping should be platinum. There were some archmages who couldn't handle one alone, and the elder chimeras were threats that would pull a primus. When he was a child, he remembered that being the case in an area not so far from Sinea. “Alone?”

“A mighty hunter!” Jura cackled. “We will breed a powerful line!”

“Er...?” Benny gave her a sour look. “Are you his... Wife? Girlfriend? Laying with him currently?”

“No.” She replied evenly, as if he'd asked an odd question. “Of course not.”

“I'm sorry, lady, but brother Tyr is already married. To three women, I think.”

“No, boss. Remember, he got kicked out of the empire and his marriages were annulled.”

Benny shook his head. “Lady Alex would never abandon Tyr. They are in love. Regardless, he said he didn't kill the chimera. Only chased it off, but we don't believe him. Tyr is a very humble man, unwilling to take credit for our kill, even refusing the reward offered by the association for killing a manticore. Which is a lot, by the way. He is a true warrior, and a man of honor. We all owe him our lives, and that's that.”

Half his current team nodded, sobered by the fact that they'd managed to live through a fight with two chimera of a not so small rank. A silver and a platinum ranked monster, at least. And neither had been properly identified because Tyr had left no traces of their corpses except for a blackened silhouette of both.

The guild manager himself insisted that Tyr must have killed it, but they weren't about to waste money when he was so insistent on ignoring their attempts to reach out to him. In their minds, he was a true hero, traveling the lands to protect the people with no interest in material gain. Benny hadn't liked being lied to, but experience had given him the hindsight to see that Tyr truly cared for his well being. Not seeking to 'one up' him. In the meantime, Benny and his team had received luxurious rewards and a uniform promotion to silver rank. Allowing them to crawl out of the muck and be 'real' adventurers.

Yana returned his own sour look to him. “Seems like we're learning a lot about brother Tyr, today.” Clearly, she was displeased, but she had the common sense to read between the lines of their assumptions. “I just... We were all traveling together for so long. There is a lot that he withheld from us, and it shocks me. I'm certainly not jealous. That man is a walking nightmare.”

“Amen, sister.” The orcish man at the read chuckled. “We have stories about the white wolf back in Amistad. Lots of them. And by we I mean a lot of the same people left alive who'd agree with that last bit.”

“White wolf.” Girshan snorted. “What a ridiculous alias.”

“Well, he does have a giant white wolf. Size of a horse. You should see it. I think it's more for the presence of Okami than anything else.” Benny said. “Huge thing, nice though. Always friendly, and he's brought us fresh meat a few times when we were on the road. He has a great fondness for Camilla, our mage there in the robes.”

“Scared us half to death, though.” The orc laughed, slapping at his hard belly. “Had no idea what the thing was until we saw Tyr riding around on it. Thought it was some kind of blessing from the gods, a guardian spirit. It would just show up sometimes and help us. Well, not it. I mean not to disrespect the great wolf. He, is what I mean. You'll meet him, I'm sure. Maybe he'll help you, too, he is bizarrely skilled at bolivar, for a magical beast.”

“...He was telling the truth.” Xavier laughed nervously. “He really has a pet direwolf?”

“Tyr never lies. And a pet, noble Okami is no such thing. He is a great spirit and warrior in his own right.” Benny asserted with determined eyes. Almost reverence gleaming in them. “Tyr is a true champion of justice. Denying knighthood and the privileges of aristocracy to become a common adventurer like us. It takes a certain kind of man to do that, never forget. Always earning his own way.”

“I won't!” Xavier cried. “Tyr is my hero.”

“That's a good lad. He never treated us based on our race, but always our ability. If all humans were like him, the world would be a better place.” Benny chuckled. Despite being 'only a year' apart, he took to the 'older brother' role very well. Patting Xavier on the back and telling him all sorts of wild tales. All of them were things they'd hear, for the most part, and considered fabrications. But Benny claimed to have borne witness to most of them. Girshan was still skeptical, but the young women in their party felt lied to. False humility was not humility. It was an arrogance all its own. Like he didn't think them worthy of knowing how able he was.

Naturally, there was something to say about misunderstandings...

“So... Tell me about this 'Alex' you speak of?” Jura said in a low voice. “She is a great warrior?”

“Yes.” Benny nodded. “And beautiful, but you are obviously a looker yourself. She commands a legion of monsters on the border of Haran that scoured the lands of Hastur's aberrations and destroyed an army of undead. Oddly absent during the mycelian campaign, or so I hear. She is very impressive. A great mage and warrior, some say she's even stronger than Tyr.”

“Contact!” Someone shouted, drawing the group low and tight as the water began to froth and bubble. Their swords, spears, hammers, axes... All held high in anticipation of the threat.

“Relax.” Benny said, waving them off and shaking his head. “Welcome back, partner.”

Xavier stared at the creature that emerged. Something he'd never seen before. “A... Crab?”

“A maxxid.” The crab said, pulling itself from the swampy water with a huff. “You racist bastard.”

“A talking crab!” Xavier sighed. “Are you guys seeing this!?”

“Yes.” Yana rested a hand on his shoulder. His body vibrating with the energy of youth. “We're all seeing this... We have eyes.”

“Wait...?” Benny said, staring at them all with a raise eyebrow. “You can understand Kirk?”

“We can.” Abe raised his eyebrows similarly, staring at the crustaceous lifeform before him. “Incredible. We seemed to have developed the ability so speak maxxid! Marvelous! I have so many questions for you, crustaceous one!”

Yana squinted. “We're speaking maxxid? Oh, wow. How am I speaking maxxid?”

“Tyr can speak maxxid.” Benny clicked. “As can I. Perhaps he's blessed you as well?” He shrugged, there was no way of knowing. At the behest of Lina, they all departed with Abe crawling onto Kirk's wide 'back' and scribbling feverishly into his grimoire. As for Kirk, he didn't seem to mind, erupting into a song of his people, gleeful that so many around him could understand his native tongue. “You know, some – and don't repeat this – call him the monster primus. Perhaps this is his ability...”

Girshan looked to Abe with a confused expression. “Is he... I don't know... Contagious?”

“Unclear.” Abe said. “If his abilities could be shared. No. I feel no enchantment or impression on my spirit. Perhaps he... No, that's not possible. Hmm. I'd posit, given the limited information, that he is – indeed – contagious. As to what that means, I'm not sure. Through proximity to him. I... Let's see. My fish ran free from the stream, a bucket full of oats and loins full of cream. A big fish brother, with a plump mother. Do you know what I mean?”

“...What?” Yana frowned, staring at him. “Is that... A song? What, exactly, does a fish with loins full of cream have to do with any of this? Does that mean what I think it means?”

Abe nodded erratically, refusing to answer while returning to his grimoire. “Amazing...”

“What the hell is wrong with this dirty old man?” Yana turned to Girshan.

Girshan appeared conflicted. He flexed his hand, staring at his skin as if looking for some imperfection or malady within it. “Yana. Do you speak telurian?”

“Of course not.” She replied. “Why?”

“Because he just spoke in telurian.” His words were heavy, leaving them all wondering exactly what Tyr had 'done to them'.

As for Benny, he simply shrugged. “That's Tyr for you. He really is the best. He must be spreading his ability to understand so many languages so that Kirk can have more friends.” He sighed. Unfortunately, his own party hadn't spent enough time in his presence to be 'blessed' with these gifts. Leaving him wishing that he'd worked harder to get Tyr into their party.

Kirk clacked his claws, whistling in delight. “He's the best!”

“If you're done back-patting...” Yana replied, red faced and disturbed on several levels. “It's time to find him and drag him out of whatever problem he's gotten us all wrapped into. Let's do so, and get the hell out of here. Oh, well, it is a pleasure to meet you – Sir Kirk.”

“Aye, aye, cap'n!” Kirk clacked again. No argument coming from him. He had so many friends to speak with, friends who could understand him!