"Who would have known. That the rumors about him slaying a ten thousand men was true."

"I thought we were going to rain arrows down on them while the boss was getting his ass handed to him."

"Hahaha...true, I thought the same. But isn't it all too surprising?"

"What?"

"Who exactly is the boss, I mean we all know that the Judge Khan raised and cared for him. But what else?"

"Hmmm..who cares? He is a smart and reasonable leader who always shares raid loot equally. Is there anything better than that?"

"Haha. I guess. So does that mean we all lost the wager? Nobody even wagered that boss would last up 90 seconds."

"No, I did! I had faith in the boss and wagered he would win. Now, give me all your money."

"..Puhahhahaha. Shakan, do you want to incur Lar's wrath again for your lies? You really can't do without lying. Hahaha.."

"QUEIT!!" Lars shouted angrily ordering the chattering crew to shut up. At the sound of his voice, the loud atmosphere dampened and became meek.

Lars, the second in command of Oz's crew, it could be said that the men feared him more than they feared Oz, it was quite a surprising fact to anyone else as Larkin usually wore a light expression...but to those who knew him, he was as vicious as a shark.

He gained 'Lars' which meant 'Victory' as a nickname because he stooped at nothing to achieve it.

Lars was a tall, slim, 26-year-old man that didn't quite stand out. He had prominent eyebags, hairy brows, dark brown eyes, and short blond hair that he always slicked to the right. He wore chainmail armor on his torso, a ringed cloak that covered his neck area, a tunic bordering his knee area, and a leather ropes boot.

Holding his sheathed sword in his left arm,  Lars walked up to Oz who had his arms folded as he conversed with someone. It was Phen along with her team who stood behind her, they were negotiating the terms of how they would traverse the valley.

"Just lend us a ship, we do not need to travel together.' Phen said.

"You know I can't do that, My lady. That there is a Snekkja ship,  meaning it only has space for about 39 and at most 41 men, besides we cannot abandon our gold and crown." Oz replied with a smile.

"Hmph, you speak of pillaged treasure as though they were yours to begin with."

"...."

"I don't like her Lars." A crewmate murmured to Lars's ear.

"Just shut up and leave it to the boss." Lars replied.

"Why don't you want to sail with us?" Oz asked. He decided to skip the unnecessary chatter and dive straight into the question Phen seemed to be avoiding.

"You almost killed one of my own, my team bears tremendous hostility toward yours. It would do us no good to travel together." Phen replied.

"You know that isn't what am asking, my lady."

"...You don't need to know my destination." Phen reluctantly answered. She couldn't tell Oz why she and her team were in the 'so dangerous' Wild nor did she want to.

*Sigh* Oz sighed.

"You guys are probably the best of your age in the Azori Empire, maybe even in the whole West but now..now you are just some run-down outnumbered knights who swing swords that may snap at any time. Do you see what I am getting at, My lady?" Oz asked as his smiling facial expression slowly shifted into a dark, straight-faced one.

"So? You will attack us?" Phen asked as sweat ran down her cheek.

"WE ARE MANES. IT IS WHAT WE DO." Oz said with a deep, thick, heavy voice. The atmosphere around him and his crew suddenly turned dark, an absurd amount of killing intent oozed out from them. They looked like demons who had crawled out of hell.

'Hagar can't even pick up a weapon. We are not in a condition to fight right now but...we have to.' Phen thought to herself as she and her team made up their minds to die fighting. No matter what, they couldn't reveal the location of MM.

"....." A deadly silence covered the air, it was kill or be ki--

"How about we traverse the valley together and separate thereafter?" The puny Yehsu broke the silence with his simple but certainly possible answer, something that the bloodthirsty and selfish adults couldn't come up with.

"...." Everyone stopped to think for a moment before...

"Hahahahaaha." The manes busted out in laughter. They were laughing at their boss who couldn't come up with such a simple solution.

"Puhahahahahaah..*Cough*" Some of them laughed so hard that they began to cough while tears filled their eyes.

"The...man..who always came...up with fancy...ideas..got outsmarted...by a kid."  a crewmate said in sequence as he tried to catch his breath from the excess laughter.

"Shut up, you bastards!!" Oz ordered embarrassed.

The laughter just grew louder at his order. They laughed and laughed and laughed, even in pain they laughed. They just couldn't stop.

"Lars, tell them to stop."Oz said, turning to his last hope.

"Hahahhaahhahaa" but unfortunately, Lars also couldn't keep it in any longer and broke out laughing.

"What in God's name is this?" Eanar asked with a confused expression. To Phen's team, they seemed like madmen, there was nothing funny about what Yeshu had said.

But to the people who had gone through thick and thin and also traversed the continent with Oz, someone who always came up with brilliant ideas and led them out of sticky situations, it was extremely funny.

"But there is nothing in it for us!" Oz shouted trying to get them to stop laughing.

"There is though. You get to curry favor with knights of the infamous twelve legions." Yeshu replied.

'That might actually be better than stealing the information about their destination and killing them. It's less risky too." Oz thought to himself.

"What is your name, young scholar?"

"Ye, Son of Jose."

'Jose?!' Oz's embarrassed face suddenly lit up at Yeshu's words.

"Do you--" Oz was about to question the boy when he was abruptly cut off by his crew who came forward and picked up Ye. One of them carried him up his shoulders while they all marched in circles chanting..

'Ye, Oz's rival! Ye, Oz's rival! Ye, Oz's rival!" They all chanted, marching back and forth merrily.

Manes truly were a free spirit.

"What the fuck just happened?" Thud said doubtful of what had just unfolded before him.

....

Deciding to journey together, the two longships rowed along the vast rivers which the ever-beautiful, stars-filled night sky reflected upon.

The merry Manes drank and chatted all through the night while Phen and her team, who had their guards up against the Manes focused on getting rest and tending to the bedridden but stable Hagar.

"Why did you decide not to build a ship anymore, Lady Phen? 'Ye, Oz's rival' asked Phen who was intently monitoring the movements of the manes.

"Hagar was in a really bad condition earlier meaning we would have to sacrifice manpower to not only carry but also tend and protect him from any monsters. Leaving us with fewer people to chop down trees for wood and actually build the ship whilst still protecting ourselves along with you. One more crisis was that Hagar is assumably part of the top five here in terms of fighting abilities and is thereby a core part of our team, moving on with these ship plans without him would be deadly." Phen explained in length.

"In other words, Never have liabilities in a group, right?" Yeshu asked.

"Yes, never, you really are smart 'Ye, Oz's rival." Phen jested.

"Can I ask another question?"

"Sure."

"What do think of Miracle Wo-" Yeshu was cut short by Oz who cried out from the other ship saying...

"Oi, are you guys sure you don't want any booze? It is really good."

"We don't want booze covered with the blood of others." Phen said in turn.

Afterward, Oz grabbed a barrel and easily hopped onto Phen's longship.

*Land*

"Come on, it's really good. See.."

*Gulp* Phen gulped down the full tankard booze he held in his hands.

"Aaaa." Phen let out a satisfied sigh after he completely emptied the tankard.

"Can I have a cup?" the bedridden Hagar asked shamelessly. He was tempted by the satisfied expression Oz had on his face after he had gulped down the booze.

"Rest, you dumbass." Phen said, kicking the already wounded Hagar.

"'And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Says El." Phen said quoting the Holy Chronicles.

"Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress. Says El." Surprisingly,  Oz replied by also quoting the Holy Chronicles.

"..! How do you know the contents of the Holy Chronicles?" Phen asked with a surprised expression.

"Here you go, my friend. Forgive me for putting you in this state." Oz said as he bent his knees and poured a drink for Hagar.

Hagar happily accepted Oz's very appealing apology and drank the booze.

"He seems okay now." Thud said to Eanar who had been responsible for Hagar.

"I am going to get some shut-eye," Thud said as he got up and went to lie down, pulling a blanket over his head. The others followed and did the same, leaving only Yeshu, Phen, Oz, and the drunken Hagar.

Oz walked up to and sat near Yeshu and Phen. He looked up to the sky and said...

"The book of you Holy Believers is very interesting, every time I read a verse, I see something that would look like nonsense to we manes, stuff like 'Love your enemy and give without taking'. It's almost funny." *Chuckle*

"What is so funny?" Phen questioned angrily.

"No, it's just that I don't see the all-so-believing kingdoms and Empires loving their enemies and giving without taking."

"...." Phen remained silent as she couldn't refute his statement.

"Maybe the Vatican does such things. Who knows?" Oz said whilst still looking up to the sky.

"What does it say about Miracle Workers, Sir Oz?" Yeshu raised a question. Both Phen and Oz were quite surprised at his sudden inquiry but Oz happily answered.

"NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL."

Surprise! Blurry Character Sheet of Oz, the quality image would come later.

His design is inspired by 'Askellad', a character in the Vinland Saga manga.