Alvos Helrough
Alvos never had any hesitation of what he wanted to be, there was only one option for him - to be an adventurer: a rogue to be precise. Master of all weaponry, the rogue is one of the hardest specialization to take but becoming one for Alvos was worth five lifetimes of suffering. As a rogue he never had to worry about money, the jobs were always high compensating and there was excitement on every single one. He was not wasting his time going slime hunting or doing underpaid mind-numbing work like farming or housekeeping...no he was going on espionage jobs, working as a hired sword or bow to slay giant beasts who strayed to close to the nobility or some rich merchant, and on occasion his sword was directed towards men, rich and powerfull but deserving of death.
The best thing about about his job was that work came only five times a month at most and the rest of the time was spent in trying to spend all his earnings, and flamboyantly so. His armor was polished titanium and his weapons were top grade silver. On his five years as a rogue Alvos knew not one day of poverty, and he loved it.
On an ordinary summer's day, Alvos took his last job for the month. He wasn't particularly in need of gold. However, ennui was upon him and he tired of training so he decided to answer some barron's request. He didn't even remember his name nor did he make any effort to know it, all he knew was that barron had a grudge with another barron for kidnapping his son so Alvos was assigned to kidnap the rival's daughter as revenge. These sort of things were what gave rogues a bad reputation, quick wealth often involves shady work but everyone feared the masters of steel enough to keep their mouths shut.
Did Alvos feel any guilt for the things his job required of him? The short answer was yes but the long answer? A resounding no, sure there were a few unsavory things that he had done, for one was kidnapping an innocent girl but there were limits to what he would do and as far as Alvos thought of himself, he was not a bad man, not a good man for sure but good men wouldn't have the pleasures of life. Sure he had to decieve, lie, and sometimes kill but the people he killed had it coming to them, the people he had decieved would or had done it to someone else (most frequently his employer), and he never harmed children or women.
Imprisonment without consent was a bit iffy for him but he wouldn't hurt the hostage, he would simply keep them in an estate owned by the Rouge's Consortium, which was fairly large and secure and he woudn't bind them and give them whatever comforts he could: good food, a hot bath, aged wine, a field for leisure and even their own servants for high ranking people. At times after learning of their eventual freedom, the hostages would even come to like Alvos and think of their capture as an unplanned vacation.
This job was no different, take the girl and hold her until the hostages are given back to their families and he got payed. He decided to dawn a servant's garments which The Consortium also provided for their members. Having worn a used woolen tunic Alvos looked at himself in the mirror, counter-intuitive to everything he was taught, he hunched his shoulder, wore a wig to cover his jet black hair with shaggy hair in a shade of chesnut. On the country of Pethanique, brown hair was the symbol of peasantry, it indicated a lineage to the Runana tribe, a whole tribe that were made slaves by the first conquerors of Pethanique.
He then gave a meek and perpetual awkward grin, and fidgetted in a scared manner. Having seen his performace and convinced of the apparent changes that made him hardly recognizable, he muttered "Perfect." for an instant showing the pompous face of Alvos the rogue rather than that of...of..."Of who?" Alvos thought for a moment. For each persona he took, he gave a unique name and background. He looked around his room and saw a flower vase containing forget me nots, he grinned and said "Miyo Soutti the servant".
Barron Winterhelm, the rival of his employer was a wealthy man and his estate was so large that his guards had trouble guarding his gates, which is why Alvos managed to climb it easily. Getting close to the daugther was the hard part. From what information he could gather, Necilla Winterhelm was a shy girl who rarely left her room. That was a little tricky given that the only servants that could even go near her room were her maidservants. Taking a broom he decided to survey as close as he could get.
With the number of servants Barron Winterhelm had, Alvos fit right in and the numerous guards around the perimeter didn't even bat an eye. Alvos hid a grin, people look down on servants so much that they could easy pull the rug from under them.
Necilla was said to be a bookworm so Alvos decided that the library would be the one place she would go to if she were to leave her room. Thus, after some walking around pretending to clean he looked for the library and found it by the west wing of the estate. He considered interoggating a servant but he wanted to avoid attention so he decided he would simply wait for the Lady and if she didn't come, he would have to be forced to use some force.
Alvos decided to kill some time reading when a maid came up to him."What are you doing here?" The maid was petite and had a button nose which Alvos thought made her seem like an angry rabbit. It made him grin which the maid did not like at all, "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing, it's just that you were so beautiful that it made me smile." Instead of pleasing her the effect was the opposite. Alvos had to learn time and time and again that when it comes to compliments, who said it matters more that what has been said. Had he been on his dashing clothes the effects might have been different but coming from a poor boy in rags, this was considered harrassment.
"I'm calling the guards." The maid looked like she meant what she said so Alvos kept pushing.
"You wouldn't want to do that. You see the Lady Necilla instructed me to bring her a book and I was just checking the pages to see if this one was suitable." Alvos pointed at the book he was reading, 'Dating Century Old Buildings' which he hoped that the maid might have not noticed.
The maid did in fact notice. "Really? She asked you to bring her 'Dating Century Old Buildings?'"
"Yeah, she said she was done with men and she wanted to date builidings instead." He joked but was left with dead air.
"Oh that's funny. You know what else is? I was just in her room next door and I don't remember anyone else being there when she called for her favorite book." Suddenly, Avlos' confidence dropped and he became the very embodiment of meek Miyo Soutti.
Having his life on her fingers, it was now the maid with the derisive grin and all Alvos could do was plead. "I'm sorry I lied."
"Why should I forgive you thief? I ought to bring you to the guards." And yet she didn't, Alvos thought. He then had a premontition of her character.
"Because it should not be a sin to read..." Under his Miyo Soutti persona, Alvos' cool voice seemed despairing. The maid was taken aback for a moment.
"Everyone deserves education right? So why then do I have to die just because I tried to actually grab it?" He kept his eye contact and the maid's eyes quivered. With that he said his final plea, "Please just let me have this."
The maid crumpled her apron but she had completely changed her vibe. "I can't let you steal...it isn't right..." She said before biting her lip. Before Alvos could make an objection, she cut him off. "But if you wait right here, I could lend you a copy of Lady Necilla's favorite book. She gave it to me as a present for my service so I hope that you don't tear it...it's the greatest possession that I own..."
The maid was about to leave but then Alvos grabbed her arm gently. "Thank you." He said with a gentle smile and the maid blushed slightly. After a while the maid asked, "Aren't you going to let me go?" without actually making any effort to remove the grip herself. "Just...a little while..." Alvos stammered and just like that the two held hands for a minute.
Alvos in truth didn't like holding the woman's hand which were greasy and calloused but he needed to keep her just a little longer because he needed one last information about the Lady Necilla. "We don't have all day..." Finally the maid let go. "Do you really have to go?" he pleaded, this time more playfully. "Oh silly, just stay here while I get 'Dance of the fireflies.'" And with that final word, the maid left the library completely forgetting that she had something else to do and that she gave her Lady's location to a complete stranger.
Alvos leisurely strolled the library until he found the book titled Dance of the Fireflies and then sneakily proceeded to the next room without the guards noticing where he knocked gently. A faint voice answered, "Yes?" it was lyrical and soft, a voice that instinctively told that the owner was a very attractive girl. "My lady, the handmaid had requested that I bring to you 'Dance of the fireflies' because of an emergency she had to handle in the East Wing," Alvos said in the meek and squeeky voice of Miyo Soutti.
After hearing the lock unhinge, Alvos opened the door without hesitation and Lady Necilla was startled for a moment. She wore a light red sleeping gown and had red hair of a darker shade. She had the refined features of people associated with nobility but also tender azure eyes that gave softness to her face. Hiding behind the persona of Miyo Soutti, Alvos let his true reactions show and gasped in awe.
Having expected a shy girl, Alvos was instead shown this reserved beautiful young woman who not only met his gaze, but read his expressions and made a cute understanding smile as if she had seen that look before but was courteous enough not to show how tired she was of it. "Can I have the book then?" Again with that lyrical voice she said. For a moment, Alvos wanted to make her moan but recovered himself quickly and gave her the book. Necilla then browsed through the pages and listlessly asked his name. "Miyo Soutti my Lady." He replied but Necilla simply ignored him.
He scanned the room and having seen a cup of tea, he shrewdly poured a sleeping agent he had hidden in his sleave before Necilla could notice. "My Lady, would you please finish your glass so that I can take it back?" He asked politely. Necilla seemed to have broken in her reverie and closed her book. "Oh yes, of course, hand it to me."
Alvos then gave her the cup and she began gulping. Alvos eagerly waited for the sleeping agent to kick in but began to grow suspicious when she took a long amount of time to finish the small teacup. When he had realized what was going on, the magic spell had already taken place. Necilla somehow managed to see through his ruse and instead of drinking was mouthing incantations behind her teacup.
The teacup then turned into a dozen butteflies that were spreading pink spores towards Alvos. He covered his nose and ran towards Necilla, but as she backed away, she casted a snowball towards his arm which froze it into ice. Alvos would have panicked then but his training took over and the coolness of thought that years of training had instilled in him took over. In one smooth motion he swung back his frozen right hand and using the momentum to push him forward, with his left he reached over Necilla's neck and pinched it with a surgeon's percision and she became limp.
Now as the magic spells disappeared, so did the butterflies and his arm went back to normal. He opened the window and carried Necilla in his arms as he jumped towards a tree branch just outside her room and casted a quick jump spell to jump over the wall in matters of seconds. Alvos doubted anyone noticed and that maid wouldn't alarm the guards until after a few more minutes.
Alvos then slung Necilla effortlessly in his right arm and then wore the Rogue's armband with his left. What he did next was simply walk in town nonchalantly and even though people could see that he was carrying a sleeping woman in his arm, no one dared say a word. Rogues had a bad rep, but an advantage of that was that no one dared mess with them, lest they incur the wrath of a master of steel and even if they survive that, the Rogue's Consortium would forever loom in their shadow. Even a King's Guard would think twice about interfering with Rogue work and as for the rest, well everyone seem to universally find other things to do than to stare at a Rogue.
Alvos smiled, the one thing that made him more invisible than wearing a servant's garment was this armband that marked him as a member of one of the most elite class of trained warriors. He made sure that everyone knew that the Baron Winterhelm's daughter was kidnapped by a rogue, though no one would even dare glance and sure enough a stammering man, even meeker than the Miyo Soutti persona handed Alvos a heavy bag filled with gold.
With his work done, he called for a coach and rode home. The cabman was fidgeting just outside the carriage and Alvos gently placed Necilla in a seat just in front of him. "It's a shame." He thought, she wouldn't be waking up for hours yet and Alvos had questions he desperately wanted to ask her.
When they arrived in the Rogue's Estate, Alvos handed the cabman a gold coin which made his eyes shimmer and carried Necilla to a wheeled bed which a staff of the Consortium pushed inside. Everything was standard procedure.
Upon reaching inside a maid handed Alvos a letter containing only 4 short words. "Your father is sick" It was from a old cook that Alvos knew way back when he was still in the sleepy town of Littleleg. Not knowing what to do about it, he gently folded the letter and placed it on his pocket. He gave a wondering smirk as he thought about his father. Stubborn and hard-headed, sick was the last thing that can be imagined about that old man.
With time to spare he walked towards the training fields where new recruits gaped at him and the veterans armed themselves, ready to challenge. Even amongst the elites, Alvos could be considered as a celebrity, a nobody, suddenly rising the ranks and taking on jobs with a near perfect success rate, when the name Alvos Helrough is mentioned around the community, it's never without a hint of admiration and often jealousy.
"Back here so soon? Could it be that the great Alvos failed a simple hostage mission?" A woman, Alvos' age taunted him as she threw a blunt sword towards his direction. Alvos carelessly picked up the heavy iron sword as if it was light as a pen and answered the woman's taunt with a scornful glance.
Speaking the language of the warriors, the woman ran towards him while unsheathing carbon steel twin swords from each hand. Alvos made an downward slash just barely missing the woman's unveiled head. Having forced the opponent to step back he made another upward slash and let go of the sword midway, being seconds away from having his hands cut off. With the woman back on the offensive, he flourished his cloak showing his shiny light weight armor and seemingly bowing to the crowd. A sword slashed his armor and Alvos made a quick two step away from the next one but knowing his enemy, he quickly unsheathed a hidden sliver knife from his sleeves and as he predicted, a blade quickly pushed down upon it.
A broadsword was usually Avlos' weapon of choice but having thrown away his only sword, he had no choice but to use his hidden blades instead. Parrying another sword with his knife, he kicked the woman away but before his feet could land she nimbly cartwheeled back and bowed to the surrounding spectators. Wanting her to regret that insult, he threw his knife towards her but just as his instincts knew to dodge her bullet speed, hers made her nearly impervious to shiny projectiles which she easily dodged with a sideward movement.
"I'm not a fan of hurting women." Alvos taunted her to once again attack.
"Ha, you'll be lucky to even land a hit." The woman with temper as cool as her double blades refused to budge, it was now Alvos' turn to take the offensive whether he liked to or not. Naturally, he took on the challenge and threw another hidden knife as he ran towards her. She ducked preparing a low kick but he jumped up and threw three throwing stars at her from above.
Not having the option to dodge, she parried with her right sword and thrusted her left sword upward. The first strike landing square on his left shoulder, Alvos staggered back, the woman chased after him slashing her twin blades gracefully as if she were doing a dance.
"Fighting her close contact with only projectiles was a mistake." Alvos thought as he struggled to dodge the blades that was barely visible with its amazing speed. With no chance to deliberate, he let his instincts take over and he threw whatever he shake off from his sleeve which to his relief was a smoke bomb. As the woman kept on slashing, the black ball collided and spurted out black smoke that blinded even the audience. As the woman was about to make another slash relying on her prediction of where he was rather than her tearing eye, a kunai knife locked her left wrist and before she could try to free herself with her right, a low kick forced her to the ground and as the smoke cleared, a silver hunting knife was staring her right in the face and Alvos was on top of her.
"I bleed." She grumbled and the crowd cheered softly.
"I win again Ai." Alvos smugly got up, even more so because he defeated her with weapons of her own specialization.
"Nihon weaponry? Is this an insult?" She looked annoyed, her cool expression shattering the moment she lost.
"Why not? It's a compliment to the culture having a skilled warrior use the weapons for once." As he expected, Ai was even more furious than had he made any other insult.
Having a good sweat, save from his aching shoulder, Alvos thought it was a good day, nothing could ruin it...At least until his next assignment was given..."Kill Necilla Winterhelm"...