"These actions cannot be forgiven! This sorcerer who claims to be Toshi Yokutsu and this woman, Sierra, are hereby permanently banished from Ebonheim! You may never return here again, and if you do you will be executed on the spot!"

"Yes, sir. . ." both Toshi and Sierra replied with heads bowed in shame.

"And you, Kleo!" the dean of Ebonheim University (who was also the city mayor) said, "Even though you are amongst our top students, you have played a part in this whole happening as well. You are expelled from the university."

Kleo, the college girl Toshi and Sierra had met, blankly stared at the dean.

Toshi butted in, addressing the dean, "Sir, this isn't her fault. The assassins were after me. I'm the one who destroyed those buildings. Leave her out of this."

"Silence!" the dean shouted, "I am aware of the fact that you did this out of self-defense, but that doesn't change the amount of damage you caused! Kleo has association with the two of you so she must be punished as well. I will be kind enough to let you three leave the city first thing tomorrow morning instead of right now. Now get out of my sight!"

The three left the dean's office and Kleo began leading them back to her dorm.

"Kleo. . .that's your name right?" Toshi asked.

"Yes. . .it's Kleo Remm,"

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for dragging you into this whole situation. . .I thought that I should also introduce myself and my companion here. She's Sierra and I'm. . ."

Toshi stopped and looked in curiosity at Kleo.

Kleo said nothing. She looked depressed and worried at the same time.

"Something's bothering her. . ." Sierra whispered to Toshi.

"Of course!" Toshi whispered back, "She was just expelled from the college, that's probably bothers her a lot."

"No, I mean something else. . ."

"How do you know?"

"Woman's intuition. I wonder what the other thing bothering her is,"

Kleo lead Toshi and Sierra to her dorm room. Luckily, her roommate was off on vacation, so one of the beds was free.

"You two will have to negotiate between the bed and the floor," Kleo instructed before walking out to her room's balcony. She leaned against the railing to watch the setting sun. Kleo's gaze looked around campus. The damage from the battle was bad. There was a huge crater where once the alchemy buildings stood. Quite a few of the trees were little more than charred husks. The place where the male warrior assassin had been killed still wasn't completely cleaned up. His body had been removed, but there was still blood on the grass.

"Hey, Toshi, go to bed," Sierra commanded him.

"Huh? Why?" Toshi asked.

"I want to talk to Kleo in private,"

"Hmm, well, alright. . ." Toshi laid down of the floor and attempted to get comfortable.

"Thanks," Sierra said, both referring to his willingness to go to sleep and his willingness to let her have the bed. Sierra walked out to the balcony and closed the glass sliding door so that their conversation could be semi-private.

"Kleo, something's wrong. And I'm not just referring to the dean's decision. Look, I know we've caused major problems for you, but please. . .give us another chance to help you. . ."

Kleo looked up to face Sierra. Kleo saw the pain in Sierra's eyes and made a silent gasp.

"What's wrong?" Sierra asked.

"Your. . .your eyes. . ." Kleo responded, "They look so. . .so. . .sad. . ."

"Yes, well. . .I've had quite a few hardships in my life as well as you seem to have. But I've realized one thing about life,"

"What's that?" Kleo asked.

"Dealing with your problems is a lot easier if you have someone to talk with about them,"

Kleo gave a sad smile; Sierra did the same.

"You see. It's about that female assassin," Kleo admitted.

"The one you took care of?"

Kleo winced. Then she began to explain about how she had never killed before. She was scared. She didn't want to do something like that to anyone, no matter what. Sierra responded and attempted to comfort Kleo, the two continued talking for quite some time but Toshi couldn't make out exactly what they were saying.

"It seems as though they're going to get along," Toshi smiled as he watched the two women conversing about their problems and attempting to comfort each other.

Toshi and Sierra waited at the gates of Ebonheim for Kleo. Toshi crossed his arms and leaned against a pole. Sierra stood next to him while gazing at the clouds overhead. They waited about fifteen minutes more; then Kleo arrived.

She was wearing different clothes than before. Her dress shirt was replaced by a tank top with an open leather jacket over it. Instead of her skirt she now wore jean shorts that were quite short. Very short. It would not be advisable for a woman to wear these around men. Toshi stared at Kleo's legs for a moment before letting out a happy sigh. Sierra elbowed him hard in the stomach causing him to double over.

"Do you have everything you need?" the guard at the gates of Ebonheim asked, "If so, leave immediately, if not, hurry it up!"

"Okay, okay. We'll miss you too. . ." Toshi sarcastically snipped.

The three left the city and began walking along the dirt road that connected to the main traveling highway.

"So. . .where do we go now?" Toshi asked Kleo, "You said you knew something about the person we're looking for."

"Yes, well," Kleo began explaining, "I saw this woman you're looking for in the bar about a day before you arrived. She was talking to that old sorcerer assassin as well as another person. But this other person was unusual. He had shoulder length purple hair and wore priest's garments, but they were black. I couldn't see his face because he was facing the opposite direction. Well, anyway, I overheard a bit of their conversation. The woman in black plate mail was discussing some sort of plan with the old sorcerer and the odd priest. She said something about a tower to the north of here. I figured that might be where she's going. But why are you two after her?"

"Well, a group of bandits took something from the community that Sierra lives in and it's really important that she gets it back, so, anyway, Sierra and I beat the shit out of the bandits that stole the thing and I got the item she needed, but then we got in a. . .'quarrel'. . .and while that happened the item that Sierra needed was stolen from us again, this time the clues from various assassins that are trying to kill us suggest that it's a woman in black plate mail with long black hair in a pony tail." Toshi gasped for air after having explained the whole thing in one breath.

Sierra and Kleo looked blankly at Toshi for a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"Anyway," Kleo continued, "There is something else that I noticed was unusual. This woman that you're looking for. . .her eyes were closed for the entire conversation. It looked as though she was blind. But despite that she didn't seem to have any trouble finding her way around. Perhaps she uses magic to sense her way around?"

Sierra's eyes grew wide with an emotion that Toshi thought was perhaps concern, perhaps fear. Perhaps both.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"N-Nothing," she replied.

"Well, that is odd," Toshi said, "A black priest and a blind woman who can find her way around without problems. . ."

"Toshi," Sierra said, "We need to go to that tower!"

"I agree," Toshi commented.

"Huh? Toshi? You mean. . .YOU are Toshi Yokutsu?!" Kleo asked with shock.

"Oh yeah, I never got around to introducing myself, did I? Yep, I'm Toshi Yokutsu, the infamous Bandit Hunter. I can understand if you're somewhat disappointed by the way I look. I look just like your average sorcerer,"

"Yeah, I am a little disappointed," Kleo admitted, "All the rumors say that you're seven feet tall, carry a huge enchanted two-handed sword, and are covered in battle-scars. I never would've guessed that the real Toshi was such an average looking sorcerer. Though judging by your Dragon Slave I'd say you're quite powerful."

Toshi frowned at Kleo and sighed in annoyance, but said nothing.

"Anyway, I know where this tower is located, so I'll lead you two there," Kleo offered.

"Kleo, why are you coming with us?" Toshi asked, his normal friendly attitude replaced by concern.

"Well, at first it was because after being kicked out of the University I didn't have anywhere else to go. . .but. . .now I have two reasons for going with you. The first is that I'm a historian. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm studying history as my college major,"

"History?"

"Yes. With the Fall of Seyruun, people have been more concerned about trying to survive from day to day than remembering the events of the past. I'm trying to uncover those events so that things might be learned from them,"

"Learn anything interesting so far?" Sierra asked.

"Certainly! There are lots of things I've learned that the common person wouldn't know about. I'll have to tell you about them sometime,"

"You said you had two reasons for coming with us," Toshi reminded her, "What's the second?"

"The second?" Kleo's cheery face suddenly became quite grave, ". . .when I killed that assassin back at the university. . .I. . .I felt guilty. I thought I had committed a heinous sin. . .and then. . .Sierra comforted me. She told me that what I did wasn't wrong. . .but I'm not sure. I have a feeling that if I travel with you two, I will find the answer to the question of whether what I did was right or not."

"What do you mean?" Toshi asked, then put on a very serious and lecturing tone, "Of course what you did was right! 'Tis not a sin to slay for a just cause, to slay is justified if put in place of being slain."

Sierra looked at Toshi in amazement.

"What?"

"What you just said. The whole thing about self-defense being justified. Those are the exact words that Lord Rekos used to describe the same subject. Back in the Shrine of Rekos there is a tome that holds a written record of the wisdom of Rekos and the one you just quoted is reasonably famous. Where did you hear it?"

"I never heard it anywhere before. I just said it without thinking about anything like quoting someone else,"

"Hmm. . .but the way you said it. . .exactly like Lord Rekos. . ." Sierra muttered to herself and pondered it for a few minutes longer as the three kept walking to the north in silence.

Night had fallen. The darkness swept over the sky quickly. Unusual, to say the least: darkness by five o' clock. Toshi, Sierra, and Kleo had continued walking for a few hours more before making camp along the side of the road. The three now sat around a fire. Toshi turned his attention to the college girl while Sierra sat eating a sausage she had roasted on a stick (it was her eighth one so far.)

"How do you know about this tower?" Toshi asked Kleo.

"Well, I found out about it in an old tome that was buried in the university library. I visited the place once, but after entering I decided not to explore too much. After the main hall is the longest staircase I've ever seen, it's absolutely amazing,"

"How does this place have historical relevance?" Sierra wondered aloud between bites of somewhat charred sausage.

"It's called the Tower of Rezo," Kleo responded, "About one hundred years ago the sage Akahoushi Rezo Greywords accidentally summoned the Mazoku Lord Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo there."

"Oh, please. . ." Toshi muttered in doubt while picking up a water skin he had filled with red wine. He poured some into a small mug and began slowly sipping his favorite beverage.

"No! It's true!" Kleo insisted. She was occupied with attempting to roast a marshmallow without having it catch on fire, "Not many believe it, but this tome has proof that this really happened! I also found out that Rezo died from the summoning and Shabranigdo was defeated by three people: a sorceress named Lina Inverse, a swordsman named Gourry Gabriev, and a chimera named Zelgadis Greywords. It appears that Zelgadis was a descendant of Rezo; a grandson or a great-grandson or maybe both, but I'd rather not think about that possibility."

"That means that Gourry Gabriev was real!" Sierra exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes! He most certainly was!" Kleo answered with equal excitement. Her marshmallow slipped off of her stick into the hungry flames of their campfire, "Dang it, that's the third time tonight. . ."

Toshi sighed and looked rather unconvinced at Kleo's belief of the Mazoku and the other legends that she spoke of.

"Do you know anything about the legendary Swordsman of Light, Gourry Gabriev?" Kleo asked Sierra.

"He may be an ancestor of mine. My surname in Gabriev,"

"Really?!" Kleo stood up from her seat on a log. After a moment she realized how stupid that action must have seemed so she sat back down.

"Yeah, but it's probably just a coincidence that our surnames are the same," Sierra said while looking at the ground in a disappointed manner.

Toshi said nothing, he just kept sipping his wine, but he still felt sort of guilty for so forcefully telling Sierra that there was no way that she was related to the legendary Swordsman of Light.

Kleo and Sierra started a lively conversation about various legends and whether or not they held any factuality within them. Yes, there was once a tribe of humanoid fish-men lead by one named Noonsa. No, there was no such thing as Quetzlcoatl. Yes, Ayeka's dubbed voice was amongst the most annoying of things ever created. Yes, there was once a large-breasted, bikini-wearing, sea cucumber-summoning sorceress named Naga. Yes, the goblins in the Record of Lodoss War legends were really as ugly as they were described to be, if not more so. No, the Lodoss War never took place.

"How does that work out?" Sierra asked, confused about the responses to the last two questions.

"Simple, the Lodoss War never took place, but the goblins from it were real," Kleo said matter-of-factly.

Sierra looked confused, but decided not to press it.

"It's late girls," Toshi said while packing up his water skin of red wine. He rolled out his sleeping bag and laid down on top of it, "We need to get up early tomorrow so that we can find this woman."

"Okay," Sierra replied, "Who gets first watch?"

"Don't worry about that," Toshi assured her, "When we set up camp here I put up guard runes around the area. . .just be sure that you don't sleepwalk and you won't have any problems."

"Sleepwalk? What kind of runes are these, Toshi?" Kleo felt a little worried that Toshi's security might be too secure.

"Let's just say that I can heal burns from the Flare Runes, but if you cross the Blade Materialization Runes you'll have no such luck,"

Kleo gulped nervously and looked over to Sierra. She already was in her sleeping bag, apparently she wasn't worried about accidentally triggering any of the runes. Kleo carefully unrolled her own sleeping bag and tried to position it far enough away from the fire as not to catch flame, but close enough that she wouldn't trigger any of Toshi's runes.

Soon all three were asleep.