The surrounding people coud not believe what they have seen , such a magnificent display of swordmanship and strength.
Arslan himself was in a stupor about the situation at hand and he quickly realize that he had to come up with a quick resolution to diffuse the situation. " hold my good people , I am only a traveling swordsman" Arslan sheath his sword and raised his hand, hoping that they would understanf him.
The people who he has defeated slowly stood up and raised their hand slowly calming down the situation. "We are the racks" an older male warrior slowly approached him. He came up with an exuse that he only stumble upon this area after he was chased by dragons and he had no prior engagement with them. The older warrior named Gusmag told him about the battle and they were here for loot and plunder because their villages were poor and had to look elsewhere for better prospects.
Gusmag asked him if he had a prior engament to attend to and Arslan tolm him he had nowhere to go. He was lost he knew the kingdoms and destinations but as lost as he was right now he needed people. Gusmag started talking to the rest of the warriors , they invited Arslan and the looting began. They did not even bury the dead before they left, they told him that they need to set up camp by a river bed somewhere but not here.
When they reached the destination the racks started camp , Arslan haf a little experiance camping but with crude materials he had a hard time putting up the tent and soon after a fire began all around the camp. From what Arslan can gather out of 2000 racks only 90 survive, it was a failure of a raid and they have to return to their villages.
As he was sitting by the fire one by one the racks talked to him about where and how he learned to be a warrior of that caliber. They were in awe of him and his equipment for they say that their only fighting techniques were taught to them by the village warrior. Some of the racks were cautious of him especially a man name Rufus and his friends , he was jelouse of Arslan because he was getting all the attention of the women. Women in their villages loved powerful warriors and as young as he looked like he had unlimited prospects and as strong as he is he had a great survival capabilities.
As he was talking to the women, Rufus and his friends came to him and offered a challenge. He did not know what to do but in challenges was inevitable as he often challenge great npc and other players for items , loot and reputation so he accepted.
The racks were not to happy with Rufus as he challenges Arslan with ten of his friends but Arslan didn't even bat an eye and that impressed the racks , pretty soon betting began in the camp and the atmosphere turned lively. He walked outside the camp and checked his inventory, he found some majestic rubies and took it out.
Arslan walked toward Gusmag and told him that this was his bet , the racks were stunned to see how rich he was. Those rubies could buy him a vouple of sets of armor or a mercenary company, this action humiliated Rufus much more as he had nothing to equal the bet. Rufus walked out to him and threw in some of his arm rings which was fine to Rufus, apparently arm rings were given to warriors that showed bravery and loyalty in battle but even though he already had some from looting the bodies more never hurt anybody.
After the bet was tallied the match began , Rufus and his friends came one at a time and he easily disarmed them with power and technique. It was not even a match it was a humiliation, as Rufus void not take the humiliation he cut his hand and soon the merry atmosphere became quiet as he just declared a death match. Gusmag yelled at Arslan and explained the change of the situation as Gusmag dishonorable did not even explain to him the custom of what was happening.
But to his surprise his body and emotion stayed calm , he looked at Rufus as he was staring at a dead npc. He knew he was real and every swing and movement there was a reaction front weapons to the dirt at his feet. Arsland slowly raised his palm toward Rufus and casted flame of icarus , the a flame shot out of his palm like a beam and blew Rufus into tiny little pieces. There was some eerie quietness and stillness aftewards, the look of horror and awe amiss the surrounding faces was nostalgic for him.
He walked toward Gusmag and took the bets that he won, Gusmag asked who he was as just as he answered before just a wandering swords man. They have never seen such a warrior in their life before and asked him after today what would he be doing. Arslan had no place to go in such an unknown land he also didnt kniw anybody so they invited him to cross the sea back with them to their lands and he agreed, to him maybe he will find a purpose traveling with these people.
Morning came and they started packing , the racks after last night started to warm up to him and it was decided that Gusmag would be the party leader since he knew where to go. Slowly but surely as they traveled he slowly learned the custom and the name of the people he was traveling with. After two weeks they reached another camp it was commanded by a stock man name Gimp. he was guarding the boats with a 100 men. after gimp heard what happened there was not even a trace of sadness in him. He said that's the life of a raider sometimes you win sometimes you die.
He became the talk of the camp again as Gusmag explained the situation to him about how he was encountered and his situation and he was freely welcomed to join them back to their villages. As they started loading up, Arslan looked over the horizon hoping he made the right decision.