Mansion and Burning Witch

"A guy and a demi-human... Alright fine looks like you." A soldier says while holding a scroll of some sort, clearly having the instructions for the mission and the details on me and Emerald on it.

"I'm Link, and this is Emerald. We'll do whatever you tell us to sir!" I say, trying to sound disciplined.

"Good. My name is Commander Jackson, I'm the commander of Squad G." He says.

Jackson seems much more new to the rebellion than Hardy, I can tell by his voice and posture. He sounds much younger.

"Come inside please." He leads us inside the tent, where there's a desk and some seats. There are multiple other members of Squad G walking around the vicinity, about 15 maybe.

"So, what do you need us to do?" I ask him.

"Well, your job is just to head up onto this mountain and retrieve the endurance booster, once you do that, come back down here and we'll head off to the big battle happening tomorrow morning." He explains.

"Got it. Can I ask why you guys aren't coming with?" I ask him.

"We're gonna stay down here and keep lookout for any possible 3rd parties that could interfere with the mission. The endurance booster is up to you." He replies.

"Leave it to us then." I say.

"Perfect. Good luck newbies." He says before sending us on our way.

Me and Emerald take our first step on the mountain, the snow crunches beneath our feet.

"I recognize this mountain." I say to Emerald.

"Yeah? How so?" She asks as we walk.

"An old friend of mine had a big house up here. She was really rich." I reply.

Scarlet Nolander. 

Her family was super close with my dad, and her father really wanted me and her to get married when we grew up. But then, life happened and we eventually grew apart. I don't remember exactly what happened that made us stop hanging out, but I think we were about 8 or something. 10 years ago has always been super hazy for me.

"Do you think they still live up here?" Emerald breaks my train of thought.

"Oh, um, possibly. It might be good to check since if she lives up here, she might have some idea on where the endurance booster is." I respond.

"Where up here did she live?" She asks.

"I think around the mid-way point. Even if she doesn't live there anymore the house should still be there." I say.

"Okay, then let's find it." She says.

"Agreed."

We continue our walk up the snowy mountain. I look at the snow covered trees, and the birds flying around, until eventually, I spot several footprints in the snow. They look recent.

"You see those?" I ask Emerald. She nods.

"Maybe they belong to Scarlet or someone at her house. Let's follow them." I say.

We continue to follow the footsteps until we finally see it. A mansion surrounded by a metal gate. Sitting at the gate in chairs, is a group of men smoking cigarettes. They seem to be talking to each other and I hear laughter.

“Who’re they?” Emerald asks.

“I can’t tell yet. Let’s talk to them.” I say. 

We approach them and they look up at us. Now I that I have a closer look, I can see that the one in the middle is Scarlet’s dad, Lace. He’s wearing a black jacket and jeans and has a grey beard. 

“Long time no see.” I say to him.

He stares.

“Who the fuck’re you?” He asks.

“Oh, right!” I forgot I still had my helmet on. I take it off.

“Still not ringing any bells man.” He says.

“It’s Link! I was friends with your daughter like 10 years ago?” I say.

“Link? That’s you?” He stands up.

“Yep!” I say proudly.

I suddenly feel an impact on the left side of my face. That bastard punched me!

“What the fuck…” I taste blood. 

Emerald already has Lace pinned against the gate with an arrow to his throat. 

He yells at me.

“You little prick! You think you can just disappear after having your father promise you’ll marry my daughter then just waltz back in here?!? Stay the fuck away from my house!” He screams. 

“Disappear? What the fuck are you even talking about?!?” I yell back. 

Lace’s friends throw Emerald off of him and he charges at me again. I kick him back into the gate and keep him there with my foot. He’s weaker then he looks. 

“Wait, are you drunk?” I notice empty alcohol bottles scattered all over the snow.

One of his friends picks up one of the bottles and prepares to hit me with it, before Emerald knocks it out of his hand and pins him to the ground.

“Don’t touch him.” She says. 

The rest of his friends stay back. Looking at something.

“Dad!?!” Someone comes outside the house. I recognize her. 

Scarlet.

She’s wearing a white dress and has brown hair and amber eyes.

“What’s going on?!?” She yells.

“Your old little friend decided to pop back up finally.” Lace grunts, my foot still pushed hard against his chest. 

She looks at me.

“Link!?!” She asks.

I take my foot off of her dad’s chest and turn to her, forcing an awkward smile.

“Hi Scarlet. Sorry about that… Good to see you again!” I rub the back of my neck.

She looks from me to her dad multiple times before finally fixing her gaze on her dad.

“Seriously dad?” She says.

“Well why should I let him show back up here after leaving us hanging for so long?!?” He asks.

“We don’t know his situation dad, anything could’ve happened.” She says.

“Well-“ Scarlet cuts him off.

“I’m so sorry about that Link!” She gives me a short bow.

“No, don’t worry about it! I kinda beat up your dad too…” I say. 

“The Burning Witch shouldn’t apologize so easily…” Lace mutters. 

“Burning Witch?” I ask.

“I’ll tell you about it later. Come in! Please!” She seems excited to see me again.

“Sure! Come on Emerald.” I say.

Emerald finally unpins the other man and we follow Scarlet into her massive house.

As we walk down one of the halls, Scarlet speaks up.

“So, who’s your friend?” She asks. 

“Oh, right. This is Emerald. She kinda forced herself to come with me to Klein’s army and now we’re in the rebellion together.” I say.

“Hi.” Emerald says.

“Hey! Oh, right your dad is close friends with Klein right? Wait, the rebellion?!?” She looks shocked. 

“Oh, yeah. Klein’s kind’ve an asshole so we ditched.” I say. 

“Oh… I see.” She says. 

We make it to a large dining room with a long table in the middle, with red carpets and a chandelier. There’s a butler and a maid standing beside the table. They’re both quite short.

“Wha- You?!?!” The butler speaks up.  

It’s the little boy that I beat up outside of the village. I’ve been beating up a lot of people lately come to think of it. He’s now wearing a black tuxedo.

“Do you know him Ray?” Scarlet asks. 

“Yeah! He knocked me out when I went to buy the apples!” He points at me.

“Hey! You attacked me first it was self defence!” I point back.

“He was making fun of my height!” He yells.

“Was not! I was just confused that’s all!” I yell back.

“Look, I don’t know what happened between you two but it seems you got off on the wrong foot! Ray, this is Link. Link, this is Ray.” Scarlet interrupts.

“Hi Ray.” I look at the ground.

“What!?! YOU’RE Link?!?” He yells again.

“Damn straight! Wait, you know me!?!” I ask.

“I’d occasionally tell them stories from our childhood…” Scarlet looks embarrassed.

“It’s so great to finally meet you Mr.Link.” The maid speaks up. 

She has the same dirty blonde hair as Ray and is just as short. 

“My name is Amelia, I’m Ray’s twin sister.” She says calmly. She gives a little bow.

“Well I can tell who the favourite is.” I say.

“Hey!” Ray yells.

“Please, have a seat.” Amelia says.

Me and Emerald find spots and the table and sit down.

“So, what’s this about a Burning Witch?” I ask.

“Oh! Oh! I can answer this one!” Ray looks enthusiastic.

I look at him. 

“Lady Scarlet’s the coolest! She goes around helping and donating to people in need in the area, and eventually, they gave her a nickname. The Burning Witch! I know it sounds bad but it’s a cool name! Honest!” Ray says.

“Oh, I see. Lucky. I want a nickname. Why Burning Witch?” I ask.

“That would be because of my arcana. You remember right? I can make a flame at will.” Scarlet speaks up.

“Oh, yeah! A less cool version of mine right?” I say. 

“Mhm.” She puffs out her cheeks.

I’d always tease her as kids about how her arcana is pretty much mine but just normal fire and less hot. 

“Anyways, what brings you here?” Scarlet changes the subject.

“Well, we were sent here on a mission from the rebellion and I remembered you lived up here so I thought i’d see if you knew anything. We’re looking for something called an endurance booster which we heard is somewhere on this mountain. Do you know where it might be?” I ask.

“An endurance booster? No, I haven’t heard of it.” She shakes her head.

Ray looks up.

“Huh? But I thought- ow!” His sister kicks him in the shin.

I tilt my head. What was that about? Is Scarlet lying? I look at Emerald. She’s clearly thinking the same thing. But why would she lie?

“Oh, okay. Oh well! We’ll find it eventually.” I say, deciding not to call her out on her lie.

“Do you guys need a place to stay tonight? Amelia was just about to cook dinner.” Scarlet says.

“That’d be great.” I say. 

“Perfect. Ray, lead them to the guest rooms please.” She says.

“Yes miss.” Ray nods.

He takes me and Emerald out of the dining room and leads us to our rooms. When we get there, I turn to him.

“So, about the endurance booster.” I say.

His eyes widen.

"I dunno." He says.

"It was pretty obvious Scarlet was lying back there." Emerald speaks up.

"...No. Scarlet doesn't lie..." He looks down.

"Fine. Don't tell us. But now we know it really is somewhere on this mountain. I don't know why you guys are hiding it from us but it doesn't matter. I'll see you at dinner." I say before disappearing into my room.

It's fairly small with a bed in the left hand corner and a dresser to the right. I plop onto the bed and relax my muscles. It's been a long ass day and I deserve some rest.

---

After dinner is over and the sun has set, I'm back in my room and laying on my bed, with the moonlight shining down on my face.

I wonder what my dad's doing right now.

He must be furious with me for ditching my duties. I don't think I'll be able to properly face him ever again. It's not like we were the closest but still, it makes me sad. All these sad thoughts are making me hungry, so I leave my room to go to the kitchen for a snack. When I do however, I hear talking, and I think I hear Emerald's voice.

I enter the kitchen and see Ray and Emerald, seemingly having a conversation. They both look at me.

"What are you two talking about?" I ask, surprised.

"...The endurance booster." Ray says.

---

CHARACTER PROFILES

NAME: Klein

RACE: Human

AGE: 55

HAIR COLOUR: White

EYE COLOUR: Brown

ARCANA: Hammerdown-

Allows user to control his hammer like an extension of his body

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Giant Sledgehammer

ATTIRE: White armoured robes with a red cross going down the middle