Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

"Good morning. How's it going?" Ike greeted the final two members of Relin's troupe. By elimination, these two had to be Mars and Nett, though he had no idea which was which, just from looking at them. One was a tall woman and the other was a short man, and at a glance, he couldn't guess their jobs, either. Maybe they're fighters. So far, all the others had been builders, fixers, engineers, mages with skills in support. Relin certainly looked like a fighter, so maybe these were her warriors under her.

Or maybe they all fight, and just also have out-of-battle skills, Ike thought, laughing silently at himself. Either way, he could only find out by asking them.

Mars and Nett looked up as he approached. They nodded. "Good to meet you," the man said. The woman eyed him warily. She nodded once, and said nothing.

Before Ike could ask, the man stepped forward. "I'm Mars. She's Nett. We're scouts. Our job is to investigate the area around the castle for danger or resources."

"Can you set up traps out in the woods?" Ike asked.

They exchanged a glance. After a beat, Mars nodded. "Sure. But until you know what kind of danger there is, that isn't much use."

"No?"

"Well, sometimes the monsters breathe fire. A wood wall won't be much use, in that case," Nett offered suddenly.

Mars nudged her. "Don't give away too much."

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Nett stiffened. She glanced at her feet.

"Are there rules about how much you can tell me?" Ike asked, curious. I already know they won't tell me if I directly ask them what they are, but maybe I can sus it out if I ask a few questions.

Mars gave him a look. "You're not supposed to know that."

"I already figured some of it out, thanks to Fflyn," Ike bluffed. It wasn't totally untrue, but then, he hadn't told them how much he'd heard from Fflyn. As far as they knew, Fflyn had spilled all the beans. His instincts told him that Mars had his guard up enough to not say anything, even so, but Nett seemed like the kind to let a little too much slip without thinking.

Nett frowned. "He told you about—"

Mars nudged her in the side. "Hey."

Nett closed her mouth and put her hands over her lips.

Ike snorted. Guess that's not an option. Maybe if I catch her alone, though. He nodded at Mars. "If you're scouts, then get at it! Let's figure out the lay of the land."

"Which castle do you want us to scout out?" Mars asked.

"No, not the other castles. If we destroy them, we'll have to take on the brunt of the danger ourselves. Scout out the area around us. The best places to build external defenses, that kind of thing."

Mars looked at him. "The other would-be kings will seek to destroy you."

"Yeah, that's stupid, though. I'll talk to them." It wasn't like Ike was convinced he could get through to them, but it was worth a try. After all, it was to their mutual benefit to work together against whatever challenge came, rather than fight one another and the monsters Nett had mentioned at the same time.

"Even if you talk—"

"We'll worry about it when it comes. If they disagree, then fine, I'll quash them. But for now, let's just worry about defending ourselves, rather than attacking others. We lose nothing from building up our defenses. In the worst case, we'll still have a stronger position from which to fend off the other cities, and if they decide not to attack us, then we'll also be in a better place to take on whatever comes."

Mars ducked his head. "As you wish." Nodding at Nett, he took off over the castle walls and back out the front gate. Nett nodded at Ike and quickly followed.

Despite trying not to give anything away, Mars still handed me some information, Ike thought, watching them go. Mars was convinced the other three cities would attack one another. In other words, people who knew more about the trials might think that was the default, or might distrust his efforts as insincere due to the trial's history. Rufus would be hard to sell, for certain. But Scar had seemed friendly, and Vi… he had no information on her. Still, splitting whatever danger comes between two is better than taking the full brunt ourselves. Hopefully, he'd be able to convince Vi as well. If she came from a family of assassins, she probably knew a good deal about the trial, since assassins and informants came hand in hand. That meant she'd be poisoned against cooperation, but on the other hand, she'd have the informants to investigate his castle and see that he truly wasn't planning any offensive action against her.

Rufus was the real lost cause. The man already hated him, after Ike had solidly beaten him in every trial so far. And on top of that, he clearly knew more about the trials than anyone else. Ike suspected it was the old men who were feeding him information. If he had elders who 'knew the trial better than anyone,' he'd almost certainly trust them over Ike, some guy who had the motivation to lie to him. He didn't have any faith that Rufus would be able to tell he was sincere, either, or determine that his route was the best route. After all, Rufus had failed to understand the truth of any of the trials so far. He'd only seen the surface truth, the one that his elders pointed out to him. If Ike was sure of one thing, he was sure that Rufus would tunnel-vision focus on 'winning' the trial at the expense of everyone else, and misunderstand that cooperation was necessary to succeed.

Well, I'll still try. It doesn't hurt to try. But if he rebuffs me, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

As everyone else toiled away, Ike stood on the ramparts, feeling vaguely useless. Even Mag had a job, circling overhead. He alone had no purpose, save when it came time to battle. Restless, he shifted from foot to foot. Maybe I should learn a secondary skill. Something to do before battle starts.

Though, usually… I don't have any forewarning of battle. So I don't usually stand around useless.

But even so…

Before he could start seriously considering a career of some description, Mag swooped down toward him. Hovering over Ike, he pointed a foot in the direction of one of the stone platforms. "A new castle's coming. That way."

"I'm on my way," Ike said. Without hesitation, he hopped over the wall and sprinted off toward the new castle. There we go! Now I have a job. Good. It feels better to have something to do while I'm waiting for the fight.