Part II: Piros

After Herring and Sardin returned to the islet with a whopping mackerel, they were having a dispute whether he should eat it or sell it.

"I'm the one who caught the fish and I'm selling it."

"I was the one who helped you pull the fish out of the water. If I hadn't warned you, ye still be daydreaming and the fish would have escaped, so we're eating it!" Sardin shouted in his raspy voice.

Piros walked by the shore to Herring's hut after he rowed his way to the islet, carrying his belongingd within a burlap. He walked on the sandy shore when he spotted the two fishermen arguing over the large mackerel.

"What is going on here?" Piros corked an eyebrow while watched Herring carry the mackerel.

"Your brother is a simpleton! He wants to sell the mackerel at the mainland. Do you have any idea how rare it is to catch a mackerel of that size." Sardin rambled to the redhead.

"That is exactly why I want to sell it. We could make a good currency with this beauty." Herring held the mackerel that was wrapped in a fishnet as the fish looked at him with one eye, its fish lips close to his face.

Meanwhile, in the mainland of Meno, the citizens shuffled in an orderly fashion while some of them jaunted within the district. As the majority walked, one of them walked past the wave of people, snatching conch purses and sacks full of gules (Rubrum coins). A ten year old boy with red hair styled in a form of a rat's tail walked with a smirk on his face when he heard a shout from one of the bystanders. The boy stuffed the conch purses within his hanfu while one of the onlookers that he robbed got angry and accused another from stealing his wallet. The shouts ranged from: "I got robbed!", "My purse!", "My money!" to "That rat!", "I'm gonna kill that bastard!", "Rot will repay him for his deed." That last comment was more threatening in their culture for the Rubrums worshipped a god of war known to kill his adversaries and infidels. In their folk religion, Rot was a ruthless ruler and an avenger.

Ratu ran to a two story establishment, to which Ruben II put his boots on the desk with his hands on his nape while he took a nap. He saw the freckled fat man snoring and he took his chance to snatch anything valuable from his pockets. The red haired rat checked that Ruben's pockets have been sewn shut, however, he saw a shape of a pocket watch protruding from the pocket of his vest.

What an idiot! He fell asleep, is like stealing candy from a baby. He thought to himself as he leaned in to grab the pocket watch. Ruben let out a breath that made Ratu sick to his stomach. Ew! He should eat a mint. The second that he pulled out the pocket watch was the same second Ruben snapped awake, pulling out a dagger from his wrist and sticking it to Ratu's neck, dragging him into a chokehold.

"As if I was going to allow you to rob me, you filthy rat." Ruben sneered, his jaw clenched. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit your throat and chop your hands off!" The large red head was larger, fatter and stronger than he was so he gave him an honest response.

"I brought the money." Ruben rummaged the top of Ratu's hanfu, when he pulled a pink conch purse and shook it. It had gules alright, so he let Ratu go.

"Yer off the hook," Ruben pushed the runt away, "for now." He allowed Ratu to take his pocket watch. "You better not lose it nor sell it. Not only will I shave off your head if I found out you did, you'll lose your fingers." Ruben grabbed the pouches and purses and emptied them, he knew that his care taker wasn't a man of empty threats.

Sometimes he didn't understand how he allowed himself to live with the ol' fatso. He was only 9 years older than he was. He could've ditched him the moment he beat him with a cudgel. Either he still had pent up agression against Ruben the second, or didn't have the satisfaction to rob him blind yet. Whatever it is that is keeping him hostage, he couldn't wait to turn fifteen in the next five years so that he can suck it!

Ratu walked out of the establishment to find something to eat while Ruben counted the money that Ratu stole. Herring and Piros arrive to the mainland with the mackerel as they got on the dock while Piros tied the canoe to a post.

Violet got armed and ready to fight, she prepared the dual scabbard to sheath her two katanas and wrapped her obi belt in place. She brushed her hair while she adjusted the decorative darts to use as hair sticks and placed them on her hair, two bladed fans for discretion and self defense, a dozen kunais and shurikens hidden in her sleeves. She applied make up to look feminine yet she used a blue eyeliner on the center of her each eyebrow to resemble horns with one curved stroke along with a red rhombus shaped bindi with a red teardrop between her eyebrows. She wears her black zori shoes and purple hanfu with a lilac with patterned cherry blossoms properly dressed for the occassion before she stepped foot outside of the Morean monastery, her purple eyes staring at the sky, beholding the cloud formation of an infrastructure akin to a stadium and she heads out to find it.

Herring Ja and Piros walked on the street as they headed to the fish market. Ratu turned at the right corner from his usual route when he spotted a block full of salesman, indecisive to whom he should steal from next. His nostrils caught the scent of seafood, or to be more blunt, the smell of raw fish. He spotted a young fisherman and a red-haired lad walked past him with a big fish that had green and white scales and lime green fins.

Holy Mackerel! The fish was enourmous. He saw the glint of the mackerel's golden eye.

He wanted to steal it. No! He had to steal it.

He can finally have some decent food on the table instead of having that fat lard wolf down the meat while he had to fight for the scraps. He prepared his snatching fingers for the grabbing.

"Oi! Basa! How much are you gonna pay me for this mackerel?!" Herring hollered as he entered Basa's fish market. The owner had a black beard, sideburns, and a balding head as his body exuded a musky cologne as a failed attempt to balance the stench of fish oil.

"Arrgh! Herring! Is been a while since I've seen yerr ugly mug around heerr!" Basa chided in an guttural voice as if he were growling. The Pirian native handed him the mackerel for him to estimate the value of its weight, in gules.

Ratu looked at the scales as Basa put the mackerel in one end and the metal weights at the other. The price estimates its worth in weight: 1 pound, 12 rories. If the mackerel weighed 60 pounds, the total of the money that Basa could give would be worth = Ř720. 

Herring smiled, finally his luck was starting to change, he could finally save money for the tools to fix his hut, a new fishing rod and with enough money to spare for food. His moment of happiness was short lived when the mackerel got stolen.

"That rrrraaaaaaaaaaaaat!" Basa roared. Ratu ran away with the big fish, Piros went out to catch him.

"Relax, Piros will catch him." Herring said nonchalantly.

"You better hope so, if not..." Basa took back the pouch full of coins.

"Oi!"

"No mackerel, no money." Basa growled.

Piros chased Ratu around the city, the boy took a U turn, then made a B line to the alleyway that led to the hideout. He unknowingly dropped Ruben's pocket watch nearby the stand that displayed wanted posters and advertisements while he followed him by the rooftops, hopping from house to two story businesses.

As when he was about to reach the hideout, a man called him out. "There's the runt who took my wallet! Let's get him!"

Ratu skidded and turned back, he tried to escape by another route, but Piros jumped in front of him. Surrounded, he had nowhere to run, nowhere to turn. Ruben II just finished counting and scrawled on a piece of paper before he grabbed a burlap sack full of coins and took it to the basement. Down there, he kept a storage full of miscellaneous items: posters, mementos, chapbooks, clothes, food supplies, bottles full of alcohol, and a barril that contains the money that he stored. He emptied the sack into the barril and closed the lid.

Herring walked around to look for Piros and Ratu, as he reached to the stand he spotted a shiny obeject on the ground as a flyer laid on top of it. He picked up the pocket watch with one hand and the flyer with the other. It had an illustration of a great stadium with Rumanian architecture with an inscription.
"Welcome to the Auctorian Stadium! Where the greatest fighters from all over the world come to compete to prove their worth at the Collaboration Colosseum; a place where competitors show their strength in the arena. We value camaraderie, courage and integrity above all. If you have these qualities, you are more than welcome to partake in the arena for the prize that is in store for you." When Herring reached to the bottom of the flyer, he saw the amount of the prize money that they offered was too hard to ignore.

"Three... million... rories." His eyes beamed with joy. He was enthralled with the poster that he didn't notice Piros bring the mackerel in his arms.

"Herring, I got the mackerel."

"Forget about the mackerel! We're entering the tournament!" Herring declared. Piros wasn't so thrilled by the idea, the last time they entered a tournament, a Caeruleum guardian thrashed the tournament and nearly killed Herring and the fighter suspected of abducting the aspiring High Priestess, princess Celeste. Urdinak and Piros were equally matched, but he still overpowered Piros in terms of speed, defense and agility.

"No, I'm not going to participate. Did you forget what happened last time?" Piros asked him.

"I know, we barely made it out alive the last time. It's all in the past, water under the bridge."

"The same water where I almost drowned." Piros reminded him.

"Good point..." Herring approached Piros ad lokked at him in the eye, "you don't have participate, I just want you to come and watch me fight the other competitors. We're basically brothers, we root for each other."
Herring gave a genuine snile as Piros did the same.

It was a good thing Piros managed to convince the mob to let him go and gave Ratu an ultimatum to return all the money that he stole. If he hadn't done it, he could've been lapidated, or worse. Dismembered.

So he had until tomorrow to return the money and the items that he stole. The problem was, how was he going to return the money when Ruben II guarding it. He was was a 5'9" feet tall and he weighed over 200 pounds, meaning despite being a fat lard, he still had the reflexes to catch him and crush him with his weight.

Maybe I should return his pocket watch. But when he put his hand inside his hanfu, he couldn't find it. Ohhh no... oh no no no no.
He checked in his pockets and on his belt, but he found nothing.

"Aw soot."

What was he going to tell Ruben? That he lost it! If he did that, he would kill him. He heard footsteps, he had to hide, but where?!