Tufail Tigor staggered his way towards the Great General of the Zenith Empire and gave a slight bow before saying. "Eyo! Greetings, Great General. This insignificant one *hic* is called Tufail Tigor, a wine lover by profession." He said with a stupid grin on his face.
The middle-aged man with short black hair and greyish sideburns inspected the drunkard from head to toe a couple of times. He gently caressed the hilt of his sword that decorated his waist and spoke. "Why did you save her?"
Tufail knitted his eyebrows together and asked in a puzzled manner, acting oblivious. "Great General, I did no such thing. How could I have possibly interfered with your mighty self. Now that I've had a closer look*hic*, I must say that you… are the very definition of heroism. The ladies over there fought over the right of having your company *hic*. I just got involuntarily dragged into their riot… no, I mean… scuffle. No, no, no. gotta find the correct word."
He pressed his temples and shook his head overzealously. "Argument! Yeah, I was slithered in their bod-involved argument over the honour of warming Your Excellency's bed. Amidst that lofty course of action, a hoe- *hic* a heroine threw a neat uppercut, which by a stroke of luck, landed on my fragile frame of a wrist that held a wine bottle. Thus, it flew and obstructed your puissant and cogent attack that was tasked to take the soul out of that unwashed fatuous witch."
The crowd blinked three times at what they had just heard, while their eyes were glued to Kizaru. All the while still mulling over Tufail's explanation, trying to understand it.
The middle-aged general gazed at Tufail. "Pfftahahaha, that was hilarious." The domineering man guffawed.
"Heh… he, he, ha, ha, ha" Tufail Tigor laughed alongside him or pretended to.
"That's quite a reasonable answer and here I thought you were a Will user who had come here for the Fire Fate Pome." Said Kizaru while Tufail shook his head with a wide grin before replying. "Why would I eye something that is already in my possession? Ha, ha, Great General is such a bonehead."
The temperature instantly fell in the surrounding area as the jaws of the people also dropped while they glanced at the drunkard.
The Great General smiled at Tufail before questioning. "Then perhaps, you also possess knowledge on something called the Midnight Suns?"
Tufail moved his wobbly legs before he sent his hand into his robe, taking out a small bottle of wine while giggling. "Yup, but you won't believe me."
Kizaru pivoted his head. "Try me, I might just surprise you."
"It's just a myth, a legend… there is no such thing as the Midnight Suns. The people of old made up this fantasy to ease their hunger, their undying longing for lost times. The dragons, were they real? If yes, and they had even one tenth of the power that had been told of in folktales. do you believe that we, lowly humans, could oppose them?" Tufail said as if he was never drunk to begin with.
He gulped down the wine and continued. "This is nought but a farce, a pleasant story to appease the children. Just like the existence of dragons, the existence of the Midnight Suns is a myth."
Everything turned to silence, but before long, a lone voice resounded in that emptiness of sound. "The Midnight Suns are not a myth."
"Yeah, and your mother is not a hoe." Tufail retorted instantly without even looking at the source of the voice. However, the heads of the masses did turn towards a certain lanky man, wearing armour with the insignia of the Moro Kingdom. Bulbo, the Great General of that same country, peered at him with his eyes widened. "Aino, what are you doing here?"
The lanky figure was the man that was dubbed a demon, General Aino. He grinned evilly at the fallen Great General. "I'm here to aid the Great Zenith Empire."
"You traitorous mongrel!" Blood oozed out of his wounds when he hollered in anger. "How dare you!"
A kick hit the face of Bulbo, his teeth broken and lips torn, blood dripped out from his mouth as he coughed lifelessly. Aino gave him a final glance, his heart pounding in satisfaction. Then, he turned his head towards Kizaru and bowed respectfully. "Great General, I was the one who gave General Kaze the crucial information. My name is Aino, I am-, was a general of this feeble kingdom. But deep down, I have always wished to serve the Great Empire of Zenith."
"Cut to the chase. You told Kaze about the Fire Fate Pome and the Midnight Suns, share it." Kizaru said indifferently.
Aino was taken aback, but soon, he recovered his wits and continued. "Great General, this unwashed drunken lout is spouting nonsense. I have a shred of solid evidence in regards to the existence of the Midnight Suns."
"Mhm." Kizaru nodded as he urged him to continue which is when Aino waved his hand and ordered in a low voice. "Bring him here."
Soon, a bloodied, red-haired man was brought in. He only had boxers to cover his battered body on which 13 punctured holes could be seen all around his limbs as if nails had been embedded there.
"Is he the one?" Asked Kizaru.
"Yes, he is the one who caused this ruckus. He possessed the Fire Fate Pome but sneaked it away before I could catch him. His name is Bahlol, a former commander of the Moro Kingdom.
Tufail, who was chilling and drinking his wine with no care of the world paused, the name he heard was familiar to him. He jerked his head to see the man but the moment his eyes landed on him, his heart skipped a beat. The Bahlol he knew was very different from the one he was seeing, the only commonality between them was the red hair.
His moustache was shaved off, his body was punctured multiple times over including in his joints and there was a long diagonal cut across his chest that looked a week old yet it bled like it was just cut open.
Tufail Tigor simply stared, jaw slacked and eyes blood-shot.