Roland fixed himself by letting the breeze go through his hair and clothes. It fluttered with slow winds.
He then looked at the sides and noticed the children running around playing with each other, they wore bright faces as if they weren't held captive because their lives were in danger.
"Children, go back inside. I'll call all of you when we are done, then I'll get you guys ice cream."
The children shouted with joy as they looked at Roland with happy eyes and wide smiles. They followed him and quickly went back inside.
They were talking loudly about ice cream and how the man would give them wonderful food again.
Arthas watched as they all went inside the door, but he was shocked to find what he had seen. The kids were slowly turning into adults wearing maid and butler uniforms.
"What is that?" Arthas asked.
"It is my magic, I can turn them into hallucinations of men and women wearing butlers and maids, Of course, it isn't just limited to that but to other things as well." Mayward proudly said.
Mayward shoots off his theatrics showing little explosions and flames coming off his hands.
"That's enough," Roland firmly said and swatted off Mayward's fire with the flick of his hand. "Let's continue where we left off, and stop playing with fire.
"Geez alright, anyway, Arthas just like yours whose specialization is summoning, we are arcanists who use mana to operate magic and make things such as hallucinations, fire, wind, and stuff like that but we all have our core elements so that was my quick trivia, I'll pass it off to this incessant baby." Mayward flicked his fingers and made a sour face while maintaining a soft smile.
Sigh, Roland sighed and made a facepalm looking at Mayward who was having a smug expression, not taking any more of Mayward.
"Ahem, Pardon for the delay but it was necessary to find out whether the information that I would be saying to you be alright, or do I need to withhold some crucial information."
Arthas was curious about the device and what they were talking and how they were talking he saw Roland just forming the shape with his hands but wasn't speaking with anyone.
Is it telepathy?, Arthas thought as he listened attentively to whatever Roland said, but intervened and got curious about the information.
"So what did they say, do I need to be gatekept by a piece of information that would possibly destroy the kingdom? Much more worse the world?"
Arthas played it sarcastically trying to see his reaction but nonetheless, it didn't work. Roland was adamant with his reply being consistent and held a firm face while listening to his rant.
"No, they didn't specifically tell anything of significance to be held accountable, however, I would only relay information that I have been informed with the state of the city, anything regarding the treaty, I won't have an answer nor will I answer regarding about the political aspect of the kingdom."
"Tsk, alright then how do you wanna start this conversation then?" Arthas adjusted his chair and went closer to the table and focused his attention on the two men that were in front of him.
"You...you don't have any basic knowledge about controlling your summons nor are you able to properly create a plan that would be efficient in attacking or defending, you are merely using force."
Arthas knew that it was true, but he was really interested as to how Roland was able to deduce that action and how he saw that Arthas lacked the necessary skills to do such a thing.
"How are you able to come up with that conclusion? Can it be that I was simply hiding my traits and just playing it dumb on purpose or what do you think? Why can you infer such statements?"
"I was there watching the battle between you summons and the Leviathan, Mayward and I were focused on killing the lizard and spiders that were still inside the makeshift hole that they used to transport themselves inside the city."
"So that's why it wasn't quickly overwhelmed, you guys were under there fighting all that comes out, then I'm guessing that those that were able to go through the surface were leaks from just the overwhelming numbers?"
Arthas was enthusiastically surprised about the power both of these men held, if they were able to fight underground with the least possible damage and presence they would be men in high-ranking positions in the kingdom.
He expected that Roland would be the one to answer in a yes or no fashion, if it was yes then he wouldn't be surprised but if it was a no, then he would be even more shocked and ask for the reason.
Roland instead looked away and was facing the destroyed garden with a stern conviction and silence.
Arthas found it weird that he was being silent despite being so strong and gaining acknowledgments.
"Pfft.. HAHAHAHAHA" Mayward laughed to his side and hugged his stomach, "He isn't saying anything because he lost the contest."
"No, you lost Mayward, I took more lizards than you, it was you who got them through with your flashy undetermined magic that seems to hit even me."
Roland's head whipped back getting back at Mayward saying that he was just accused of losing, from both sides it seemed that they were good friends who had friendly competition once in a while.
"What contest is this?" Arthas asked.
"No, it wasn't a contest, it was a task it was an objective goal to fight off most enemies and keep the city safe!"
Roland shouted while Mayward was laughing grabbing his trying to hold back his laughter.
"So, it is a competition?" Arthas added.
"No, it isn't! It was a task that has some predetermined goals that whoever reaches the first would win nothing but gratitude and make things efficient."
Roland refuted and slammed his hands on the table trying to keep everything in order.
Oh his ears are becoming red I shouldn't tease this guy too much, Arthas thought about it and just decided to keep silent letting the guy win. But Mayward won't allow such a thing to happen.
"Exactly, isn't that what a competition is? Don't lie you had fun while fighting didn't you? Come onnn, it's really nothing to be ashamed of, your ears quickly get bright red you—HEY—STOP—No magic that hurts stop it…Alright, I'll stop."
Mayward was teasing Roland so hard that it seemed like his smile turned that into of a sly cat that had found its toy to play with, it was until a strong wind constricted his movements and made him choke from running out of air.
Roland quickly stopped and readjusted his composure and made sure that he would not hear anymore of it, his ears were red from embarrassment and his face scrunched up trying to keep himself composed.
"...So who won?..."
"I did"
"I did"
Both looked at each other and were dumbfounded to speak to the other half about the results, they were dissatisfied.
"Tsk, we are getting sidetracked here, Mayward we discuss this later!" Roland made a light cough and gave his buddy a glare before continuing to look at Arthas. "We have deviated from the topic, but have you ever wondered why the purple smog quickly disappeared, then if you have then your answer."
Arthas did notice how quickly the smog disappeared and convinced himself that it was the fire that was made by Nemesis that made it disappear, apparently, it wasn't it was with little help.
Even though there was a lot of smog present it didn't fully combust into one big explosion. Arthas now thinks that Roland controlled the wind to push it away from the area to be separated from the rest, but how fast it was done, Arthas wasn't sure.
"So you were present during the fight? Well…I guess it's like that."
"Yes, and if I hadn't been there, Alcemia would be nothing but a giant crater due to your recklessness. Seriously you didn't think it through that if one giant mass of smoke enough to cover the city explodes it would only cause minimal damage." SIgh, " I don't know if I wanna reward you for bravery or stupidity."
"There is of course a fine between stupid and brave!" Mayward intervened in the conversation and replied in an energetic voice.
Roland shifted his gaze and he snubbed while slowly turning towards Mayward who was very happy to make a statement.
"Of course there is and you sit next to stupidity Mayward."
"You mean Bravery? Awww, Thank you, Roland, I didn't know you had it in you! Your friendship rating has increased by at least 1 percent for me. Thank you, dear Arbiter!!"
His eyes sparkled with bright stars that seemed to resonate in the sky partnered with a grin that seemed to haunt the sins of humankind.
"Shut up, you have no right to say that. If there is a fine line between those two then you are on another level below stupid." Roland then made a motion of annoyance that can be seen on his face, "Anyways, from what I saw from that fight you lack experience, the resolve, but of course it is understandable despite your age, you carry a wonderful power... And the burden of that power…"
"I know, I am still far from everything, I barely have knowledge regarding this thing, new to killing that after a while it kinda gets repetitive that I don't even feel it anymore. To be honest, it hasn't even been a long time but I am already lost…"
Arthas revealed his pent-up exhaustion and thought that he even thought about the time when a lot of people died in the village, but after such an event, it came to his attention that death and blood were just normal to him, it seemed to be nothing now.
Although it was disgusting to see, he was still fine even getting it on his hands, it wasn't a healthy habit, for him it was more of getting used to killing.
'I am afraid that I won't know how to value life no more, and would just recklessly kill everything that comes my way.'
"You know Arthas, there is no such thing as good or bad, it is about how everyone sees it and how you see it that affects the overall decision whether it falls under good or bad, I read stories that are solely for their own motivation that makes it good."
Mayward once again cuts in but this time it is a piece of serious advice that correlates with the topic. His face was no more than just a regular face minus his smile, he was quite handsome if he stopped acting like a psychopath.
His smile was no more as he said the following words of wisdom that struck Arthas.
"It's not that you are lost, it's because you pretend to be lost that you make yourself lost in the process of thinking what you need to do. You know what you need to do, you just don't know how to do those things."
For the first time since Arthas came here, this was the first time that he ever felt like Mayward was serious, it was stern, cold, and dead eyes that seemed to shadow the icy winter that paralyzed those that fell on.
"And that's why we're here," Roland added.
Arthas looked at Roland with mixed feelings about the situation, as he looked at Roland he now understood their purpose as to why they came here.