There was a reason why Dame had left Safa and the others at their location, and it was because ahead of time, Cronker had rushed ahead and met up with Dame, informing him that the request he had made was completed.
They had successfully saved Rayna, his sister. Honestly, when Dame had given the task to the Crimson Crane, he had great confidence in them. Even if it was an opponent his stronger sister couldn't beat, the Crimson Crane were full of strong individuals. Each one of them was stronger than him. Although with the gauntlets that he had received from Raze, he was sure he could give one a run for their money. Regardless, they had set up a secret meeting spot for them to talk in.
The warehouse used for alchemists had completely been rented out. The main room now was just filled with scrap, broken equipment, and destroyed benches and metal. It was the leftovers from multiple experiments that would go on. While he was waiting there with Cronker for the others to arrive, he heard the full story of what had happened.n.-(/-.-(()-/I/(n
"You met Ra—I mean the Dark Magus?" Dame almost shouted so loud that those outside could hear.
"Correct," Cronker smiled. "We can see why you wanted to keep him a secret. He really helped us out back there. I'll be honest, if it wasn't for the weapon he had handed me back then, then I'm not too sure how the fight would have turned out."
Dame was grinding his teeth slightly. He would be lying if he didn't say he wasn't annoyed. Dame had to do a lot, he had to go through a lot to get a weapon made for himself, and it had such a bad effect that he couldn't even be himself anymore. Yet, Cronker had one made for free. Cronker hadn't gone into detail about the battle, so Dame was completely unaware that the weapon that had been made for him had completely broken, and Cronker wanted to keep it that way.
Seeing Dame depressed, it put a smile on Cronker's face. "Wait, but then does this mean our deal isn't valid?" Dame asked. "It was still because of me you got to meet the Dark Magus."
At that moment, the metal door was slid open, letting in creases of light, and two people could be seen entering.
"As you asked, this is the one that hired us to save you," Alba said standing there, and she gave Rayna a little nudge.
Rayna didn't look too pleased as she looked back slightly annoyed, but soon went in and walked forward, as she could see who it was.
"Dame... you were the one that asked the Crimson Crane for help!" Rayna was beyond surprised.
Although they were family, the Neverfall Clan was anything but a normal family. She didn't expect any of her family members to help her, even her dad.
"I... I did," Dame said. "And I think we should head back to the Neverfall Clan together."
She understood, giving a slight nod, and as Dame went to walk by her side, he looked at Alba on the way, who mouthed the words. 'You owe me one.'
He knew he had a lot to talk about with her, but even before that, the one that they had a lot to talk with, was his father.
Exiting from the building, the brother and sister walked in silence for a while. They had headed out of the city of Repton and now were continuing to head toward the Neverfall Clan base, and eventually, Rayna couldn't take it anymore.
"Tell me, what exactly was your plan, why did you save me?" Rayna asked.
"Plan, what do you mean plan, and shouldn't you be thanking me for helping you out?" Dame replied back.
"Why would you rescue me with no value to your own? Are you going to ask a favor from me, are you going to ask me to step down for the position of head of the family, because I won't do it!" Rayna complained.
Dame slapped the top of his head, and he started to shake it violently. He was wondering why he had done such a thing himself in the first place. He somewhat knew that this was going to be the reaction and what he would get out of it.
"Look, our father was the one that asked me to help you," Dame replied. "He said that you had lost a fight against the Light Faction. Since I had produced a miracle before when going up against Beatrix, he thought I could produce a miracle again."
Hearing this, Rayna gulped somewhat. It made no sense to her for him to send out Dame, who wasn't even a middle stage warrior. Why would he be able to complete a task that she couldn't? If he wanted the job done, then one of the older brothers would have made more sense. If anything, it felt like he wanted to send Dame off on a death sentence again, and as for her, perhaps their father had given up on her due to the failure she had made. This thought had made her sulk a bit.
"I know what you're thinking," Dame replied. "And honestly, I feel the same way. I knew I had no chance at winning, and honestly, I thought, maybe the best thing to do was to run away, but there was one detail that father told me in all of it. It was the fact that you were alive. Knowing that you were alive, I thought I would do what I could to help you. I'm close with Alba, you see, so now I do owe them a favor and a very big one."
Rayna felt awkward; she couldn't even remember the last time the two of them had a full conversation or had been together like this. Her cheeks turned a shade redder as she turned away.
"Why, though, you could have left me," Rayna asked again.
Looking up ahead, Dame could tell they were close to the clan base, and memories started to surface in his head.
"When we were younger, both of my brothers, they used to tease me a lot," Dame started to explain. "I still remember, there was one time, where you stuck up for me, and you looked after me, treating my wounds. I guess I did it because of that."
"Huh?" Rayna stopped in her tracks. "That must have been when we were still kids. Do you have a screw loose? You risked your life just for that?"
"Yep, yep, as I expected, keep talking crap about the one that saved you, yeah?" Dame said as he continued walking.
She soon realized that he was right. If his words were true, Dame being the youngest sibling seemed to have this innocence about him.
'Is it because he knows that there is no chance for him to become the next head? Did he not see us as rivals like all of the others?' Rayna thought. 'When we were younger, things were so much simpler back then.'
As the two continued to walk, and the awkwardness between the two started to disappear, another question had popped up in her head.
"Well thank you, thank you for asking the Crimson Crane for their help," Rayna said. "But what about that Dark Magus guy, did you ask him for help as well?"
Dame was starting to wonder just how much the Dark Magus had done for his sister to talk about him as well.
"That guy is really powerful. The Crimson Crane invited him to join their clan," she said.
"They did what!" Dame turned around. "Wait, that can't be! I'm the one working with him. I invited him first; he can't accept their offer."
To Dame, an offer between him and the Crimson Crane was night and day in terms of what a person should accept. Because he was just an individual, he had no clan backing him whatsoever.
"Oh, you invited him, well, you don't have to worry because I'm going to offer him an even bigger proposal," Rayna said. "I'm going to offer him my hand in marriage."
At that moment, Dame's jaw almost dropped to the floor. "What did you say?"
"I'm going to offer for him to marry me. If he does that, then he will become part of the Neverfall Clan, and if that happens and father finds out how great he is, he might even get his own territory and all sorts of benefits, don't you think it's a good idea? Hey, you would be his brother-in-law!"
