"I suppose that the short answer is that we t Aziz when he was out traveling the world and he invited us to visit his ho as guests, but I am sure that you probably want to know more details than just that." Zilre said after pulling out a sound blocking magic tool that isolated the area.
Marcus and Mrazivý of course nodded their heads in response and waited for Zilre to tell them more details.
"It was around five years ago now that we t Aziz when he was visiting our ho nation of Fera which lies on the smaller of the two central continents. I doubt either of you have heard of it before though."
However, while Marcus shrugged his shoulders indicating he did not have a clue about Zilre and Igna's ho, Mrazivý's eyes began to sparkle with familiarity.
"This is the sa Fera where the Epic of the Thirteen Beast Kings takes place, right?!" Mrazivý said, becoming far more animated.
Zilre and Igna were taken aback at first by the sudden excited outburst, but quickly both of them nodded in confirmation.
"I am surprised that you have read that old book. It does not circulate much outside of our nation." Igna said, a slightly bewildered look on her face.
"It was one of my favorites when I was younger. A tale of thirteen daring young n and won forming a band to fight back against the wicked monsters that were subjugating their people and founding a new nation for all of them to live together. I must have read it at least a half dozen tis in the castle's bookroom." Mrazivý said, a nostalgic expression on her face.
Yet it was only a mont later when Marcus slamd his hand down on her shoulder and used telepathy to tell her to stop. She had just let slip a very important piece of information about herself.
Mrazivý went wide eyed and clasped a hand over her mouth, and she looked towards Zilre and Igna to see if they had picked up that she had just revealed that she used to live in a castle.
After all the drinking they had done she had beco slightly inebriated and as a result her guard had relaxed a bit.
"So, you lived in a castle when you were younger. And to have access to the bookroom you must be of a pretty high status." Zilre said, picking up on Mrazivý's slipup. She had practically confird that she was royalty or at least so high-ranking mber of the nobility in so nation.
Thankfully Mrazivý's royal blue hair was currently changed by a magic tool, otherwise it would be fairly easy to identify her as a mber of Borealia's royal family.
"I am guessing you two are not just going to forget that?" Marcus asked, wearing a guarded expression.
"No, but we will keep it to ourselves. We are guests just like you. We have no duty to inform anyone about things we learn about you." Zilre said. Neither she nor her sister were beholden to share information with Aezam.
This helped to relieve so of the anxiety that Mrazivý was feeling, and she sighed in relief. Both she and Marcus had done well to hide their backgrounds, but she had just willingly given out an important piece of information about herself.
"Now, Igna and I actually first t Aziz under less than favorable circumstances." Zilre said, getting them back on topic. "He had snuck into Fera and inadvertently invaded the territory of a family of legendary grade beasts that made the area along the border their ho. Naturally these beasts attacked him, but as I am sure you both know, Aziz is a powerful warrior and he drove them all away. This caused the beasts to migrate elsewhere, and several stampedes of beasts and monsters began to plague two of the regions of Fera. One from those fleeing the intense battle, and another when the legendary grade beasts settled in a new area and threw the ecosystem into a frenzy. It was a huge ss."
Zilre had an exacerbated expression on her face when she spoke about this incident and how she and her sister were chosen to investigate what had happened.
"We tracked down the source of the problem and found Aziz wandering around one of the larger border cities and writing things down in a book. Imdiately we could tell that he was strong, and we figured he was so sort of spy docunting our nation's defenses. So, we waited for him to leave the city and tried to capture him. Unfortunately, it did not go so well as we thought it would."
Igna and Zilre had been unable to subdue Aziz, but Aziz could not beat both of them together either. Leaving the confrontation to end in a draw that left the area they had fought in devastated.
Luckily, after the battle Aziz surrendered himself and explained why he was there.
"It turns out he had gotten wildly lost on his journey to the larger of the two central continents and was just trying to find his bearings. But he got a bit distracted exploring our nation and forgot about his initial goal. Thankfully, no one had died from the beast and monster stampedes and Aziz offered to help with repairing the damages and repaying Fera for the trouble he had caused. My sister and I then spent the next year as his watchers to make sure he did not cause any trouble. Thankfully he was sincere in his offer to repay our nation and he went above and beyond to use his abilities to help us out. And once it was all over, he asked us to visit his ho, which we accepted." Zilre said, finishing up the story of how she and her sister t Aziz and ended up as guests of the Sulb Clan.
At the end Marcus still had several questions he wanted to ask about Fera and Zilre and Igna's standing within the nation, but neither of them seed keen to elaborate. Likely wanting to hide their statuses just as Marcus and Mrazivý were.
"What about the two of you? How did you truly end up as guests of the Eazim Clan? We have heard rumors, but what exactly is the truth?" Igna asked, brimming with curiosity.
Seeing no reason not to oblige, Marcus answered her question. Withholding a few details about how they actually received the favor of those running the Chelr Resort, and who those individuals really were.
"Hm, that is not as bad as the rumors that we heard." Igna said.
Apparently, so of what was going around about Marcus and Mrazivý was that they were blackmailing the Eazim Clan. Not that they had made a mutually beneficial deal with them through one of their major trade partners.
'I have a pretty good idea about where those rumors are coming from.' Marcus thought.
He could tell that Jamal was antagonistic towards them, and he found it likely that the man had spread these rumors in an attempt to get back at them for imaginary slights against him.
"Well, it does not matter. We don't live here and the grand elder of the Sulb Clan has already confird that he would give us his support and approval to enter the Desolate Desert. Marcus said, not interested in the rumors going around.
The four of them then continued to drink and converse until the night was winding down and it was nearly ti for them to go their separate ways.
But before they did, Mrazivý had a question she had been waiting to ask.
"If you don't mind my asking, who is stronger, Aziz, or his brother Ghazi, the grand elder?"
Igna chuckled after hearing this question and said, "I was wondering when one of you would broach this topic. I was beginning to think you were not going to try and fish for information on them."
"It is only natural that we might want to learn more about our future opponents. We have gotten information from the Eazim Clan, but I bet you two know a lot more being their guests and having fought them before." Mrazivý replied.
"You two must be pretty confident if you already think that you are going to reach the finals." Zilre said, raising an eyebrow.
"Do you think that any of our other opponents stand a chance against us? Mrazivý asked, a confident smile on her face.
Zilre thought about it for a few monts before shaking her head.
"No, you are likely not to run into anyone that is able to beat both of you before the finals. But we are not just going to give you detailed information about Aziz and Ghazi. We are rooting for them to win after all."
Sighing, Mrazivý had expected this answer, but she had been hoping to learn at least a little bit.
Luckily Igna was willing to give them a little bit of information, even if none of it was specific.
"It is hard to say which one of them is stronger, but in a fight between them, Ghazi would co out on top. Still, Aziz's fighting style is pretty unique and dealing with I the first ti is quite tough. If what the two of you showed during our match was your best, then you don't really stand a chance of beating them."
"You don't need to worry about that. We have cards to play that we have not shown off yet." Marcus said assuredly. "But what is this about Aziz having a unique fighting style? From what we have heard, he just uses a single scimitar like many of the fighters in Aezam.
Unfortunately, Igna was not willing to elaborate further and just smiled in response. Clearly not going to say anything else.
Marcus tried a bit more probing to find out about Aziz and ghazi's powers, but neither Zilre nor Igna gave them anything else. And soon the night of drinking and information sharing ca to an end.
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