"I'll tell him", Kenos yawned, sinking deeper into Nala's soft fur. "We stayed at the location father told us to for a week. When Doza came back from his last visit to the estate I could tell that things would truly never be the same. We were sad for a little while, but Doza said we had to keep moving."
Doza raises his glass of liquor into the air, "gotta drink to that".
"For a while, we kinda just went from place to place", Kenos continued. "Doza would find a city he could find work in, set up someplace to hide away in and we'd stay until the work dried up. Here and there we'd run into some trouble but it was nothing for Doza to handle.
That became our life. Before Doza went to the academy I barely knew him. He was nothing but an arrogant ass whole but in those days we became brothers. We'd fight, makeup, Kenos pauses to chuckle.
"I even ran away once."
"A real pain in my ass", Doza added.
"When we were hiding out in the deserts of Amata, we got caught up pretty bad", said Doza, putting down his cup, "A job I took turned out to be a setup. People were getting annoyed by the new young bounty hunter snagging all the jobs so they tailed me back to the desert ruins. Ken and I were camping out in them at the time. I fought and killed all five of them for seeing our faces. One of them even recognized us as Umbrage, believing I fit the description of the supposedly deceased student Doza Sango and suspecting Kenos must be the dead head's son. After that, I decided that I'd have to do a better job of keeping Ken safe while still earning enough money for us to be comfortable. I thought back to a story Kronos told me about the start of clan Umbrage, How they came together and made a home in the Cursed forest of Wisteria to protect themselves. That sounded like the perfect spot to keep Kenos safe. After some searching and thanks to Kronos's travel log, I found it and learned the techniques to traverse through the cursed forest. I had to do some renovations but the estate was still in good condition. I managed to even get power running through it. For the last three years, that's where Ken and I trained and rested."
"Yeah right", laughed Kenos. "I lived there, you just came to check if I was alive every now and then.
"Shut up brat", yelled Doza.
Aeolus laughs, "Really now, where would you go during those Instances Doza".
Somebody had to keep bringing money in, he explained. "We both needed shit to keep us entertained and maintaining an old house isn't exactly cheap. I got money the only way I knew how."
"And I bet that led you to more trouble didn't it young master", said Aeolus as he turned to Kenos.
"We stayed in that old estate longer than anywhere else during our journey. I learned a lot about myself and the Umbrage while I was there. But yes, eventually we were found out again. Doza said they were a random band of assassins but when I saw they wanted to catch me as well I started to think that might not have been the case."
"They probably followed you from a bar you dumbass", said Aeolus, his disappointment showing through the tone of his voice.
Doza chuckles, "like I could get caught up like that, they were probably keeping tabs on me for a while. They were pretty skilled too. I didn't notice any of their Zen until right before they attacked."
Aeolus lets out a little laugh sneering at Doza, "how amateur of you to be caught like that. Tell me did you at least notice anything distinguishable from the enemy? Their gear, callouts, or even the symbols they bore ."
"Come to think of it", Doza responded. "Their leader wore this huge star on his chest.
A burst of energy emitted from Aeolus, Nala springs up reacting to her master's energy launching Kenos in the air during the process. "Nalaaaa", he wailed landing on his backside.
Doza grins towards Aeolus, "Did that excite you old fart."
Nala purr's crawling around Aeolus and gently resting her head on his lap.
"Aeolus gently glides his hands through Nala's soft fur, "So you've encountered the five stars. That was the same group that took us out. Although from your description it sounds like you only ran into a one-star ranked officer.
"Lucked out I guess", said Doza stoically. "He wasn't any real pressure. Before we came to this town we stopped in Amasu for supplies. While we were there I ran into an incredibly strong opponent by the name of Cassan. He and another person I fought before reaching the town bore similar runic markings on their face. The blacksmith whose estate we took residence in told me they belong to the Ratari."
"Ratari" repeated ``Aeolus. They're just a group of thugs from the capital, what were they doing there?"
"They were getting new territory", Answered Doza. "As well as recruiting." Aeolus took a moment to take in this new information petting Nala, "Hmm, when you fought them did you make sure to kill everyone it's never good to have one of Ximara's most notorious gangs searching for you."
"Of course!" shouted Doza, although I did struggle to kill Cassan, the leader of the Amasu operation.
"That's right!", screamed Kenos. I stepped in to save the day.
"Ugh", groaned Doza, planting his hand on his face. "Cassan smoke release made the fight incredibly difficult. The young master managed to track me to the enemy base and by using the eclipsed eyes he was able to land the deciding blow shooting his bow through the thick smoke.
Aeolus's eyes widened, "the eclipsed eyes!"
"Yeah", Doza responds. "But ever since that instance, they haven't appeared again. No matter how many times we tried to activate them.
"It makes me sick that I had to be saved by the young master, that being said." Doza quickly gets on his feet and continues to bow, "I request that you train me so I can get stronger." I wanna get stronger too", yelled Kenos clenching his fist. ".
Doza smacks Kenos on his crown, " I taught you better manners than that, bow down brat!"
Hmph, I was gonna train both of you anyway, said Aeolus. At the level you are at now, the both of you will die a pointless death on this journey. Is that something you wanna Accept?"
"NO!!!", shouted both Kenos and Doza.
*THUD*
Everyone looks back to back to see the door swing open.
"The fucks going on in here," said the wiry-built man, he wore a confident face in his hunter's garbs with his eyes trained on Doza.
"D' Anthony" Doza chuckles. "It's good to see you."