>>5271255>>5271266>>5271267"No need to worry, little girl. I'm just some guy." You smile to the child as you place your weapon in the snow, meaning no harm in your words. "Would you happen to know if this is the land of the legendary wordsmith Godot?"
"...Daddy is not with us anymore..." The girl looks over to a gravestone near the entrance of the hills, appearing to be a recent passing.
"Shoot, I'm sorry to hear that." You hold on your swearwords, not wanting to be insensitive to the youngest girl you've met walking in these outskirts. "You wouldn't happen to be alone here by yourself, would you?"
"Rickert told me not to talk back to any strangers." Her head perks up from behind the well.
"Rickert? I think I've heard that name before..." You scratch your head while the girl gets flustered at accidentally revealing who her caretaker was.
"That would be me, mister." A blonde teenager shows himself, holding a short sword and a thin, weirdly shaped gadget in his left hand. His mixed expression showing that he's still apprehensive about your intentions.
"Erica, what did I tell you about going out to the well when it's dangerous outside? The monster could still be nearby, and the last time we saw one of those, it wasn't exactly pretty..."
"But I was thirsty... And you were so busy working, I didn't want to bother you." She gets a pat on the head for being honest, but Rickert is still weary of your presence.
"I apologise if I'm not exactly quick to trust you, stranger. The rumors of the faceless monster are starting to spread all over the place. Even if you introduce yourself and give me a full name and information, you never know when the creature could just be making stuff up."
"I have a crew with me who can vouch for me, so no problem there. "It's good to be cautious, but i am no demon or ruffian, I am Lord Vlad Santana, a Midland Knight and a Member of the Union of Ilos. But call me Vlad for short."
"So he wasn't just some guy..." Erica tilted her head to her friend.
"Vlad?" He places a hand on his forehead, trying to remember the name. "...I am Rickert. Proud member of The Band Of The Falcon."
Right... You remember the name Rickert being thrown around when talking with Corkus or Judeau all those years back. A child soldier who by all means, shouldn't be fighting with The Band, but given how they were all mostly teenagers and young adults, maybe the desolation by their backgrounds is what united them towards a common goal. Guts said something about him being alive, but if Griffith visited him over here, his loyalty is in need of questioning.
>The new one or the old one?>I don't think we've ever talked, but it's nice to meet you, Rickert. Knowing who Griffith is saves us the trouble of talking about him.>Could you help my horse get up the hill?>What's this you're carrying?>I'm sorry about Godot's passing... Were you his pupil?>How did you survive the eclipse? 