A heavy sigh escaped the purple-haired girl’s lips as she marched along the streets of Hargeon, a flier that contained a request for help being held in her hand. It was not unheard of for a mercenary to take on requests in a town, in the end, that was the most natural way to make money, but to think she would take this type of request. The request in question came from Officer Kenji, a young man who had a surprisingly sociable and pleasant nature, the type you could interact with quite easily. However, the young lady found herself taking on a request that involved scaring some kids that had been vandalizing property around town with some graffiti. It was not exactly the most glorious of requests the Gardenias crew had undertaken, but considering her current situation it wasn’t like she had much choice in the matter.

She had found Kenji just when he was taking a short break from his job when the sight of the girl holding the flier made the officer smile kindly to her. “Here to fulfill my request?” A little nod came from the girl what led to the officer to reply in a friendly manner. “My name is Kenji, I’m an officer here at Hargeon, what's your name?”

Lycoris reached for the extended hand of the officer, shaking it lightly while she replied with a cheerful tone that beamed with pride. “Lycoris, of the Gardenias crew, the pleasure is mine Kenji~” The cheerful response from the girl coaxed a chuckle out of the man as he continued. “The Gardenias crew hmm? I heard quite some positive things about those mercenaries, I’m sure I can rest easy knowing one of their members is on the job.”

A little nod came from Lycoris, feeling somewhat delighted that her brother’s efforts had not gone in vain, some people still remembered the glorious reputation of her ‘family’, and she intended to make sure its fame would continue to spread. “About the job, I read something about vandalizing troubles?”

The Officer nodded his head lightly as he gestured toward a nearby wall where some obscene graffiti was being wiped away by a cleaning crew. “It’s getting out of hand… Bunch of kids have been painting graffiti all over the place. If possible, could you find them and make them stop?”

Lycoris raised a hand to her cheek, as if she was pondering a little on the matter before she replied with a hint of curiosity in her tone. “Any particular details on the way you want them handled?”

Kenji nodded his head briefly in response to the question as he explained in a more serious tone. “Basically just scare them, but please don’t hurt them. They aren’t bad kids per-say, just misguided and they don’t know anything better.”

A nod of agreement came from Lycoris as she tapped the breastplate covering her chest, replying with a grin at the man. “Alright, you can leave those kids to me.”

It should have been an easy job, in the end, intimidation was a natural asset of a warrior’s skills, to put psychological pressure upon an enemy… it was a basic tactic even her brother had used plenty of times in the past!

It didn’t take long for Lycoris to track down the trail toward the kids, a few questions left and right and an observant eye had led her trail to a small plaza near the docks, and like she had expected she found two teenage boys talking excitedly among each other. “So, do you think they will notice it this time?” The other boy nodded his head excitedly “Yeah! I’m sure they will find us badass!”

Lycoris couldn’t help but smile as she overheard the duo, recalling her own time among the mercenaries, the way they tried to keep their tough and cool imago up among each other but deep down had this soft side to them. Perhaps it was for that reason she wanted to give them some personal advice. Silently unsheathing her sword the girl approached the duo as one of them lifted a can of graffiti spray and shook it lightly when the moment he reached for the wall of the building…

There was no way she would miss at this range, especially against such a slow target, so when her sword thrust itself forwards by the momentum of her motion the tip of the blade dug into the sprayed can! The boy holding it turned as pale as a ghost, albeit calling him a ghost would had been odd because the moment her blade pulled back the graffiti spray sprayed out of the hole into the boy’s face, making him yelp in a panic while his friend exclaimed in disbelief. “WOW! THAT WAS FAST!” Yet the words of praise for her caused his friend to yell in annoyance. “WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!”

The sight of the duo made her chuckle briefly as she rested a hand on her hip and with a flourish to swipe the paint off her blade pulled it back into its sheet. “Pretty ‘badass’ right?” The two boys their cheeks flushed up red at her statement as she crouched down before the duo and replied with a smirk. “So you two want to be badass also, am I correct?”

One of the boys turned his gaze away, pouting in annoyance while he was wiping the paint off his face, but his friend nodded his head excitedly. “Teach us! Teach us how to be badass like you!” Her smirk only widened in response to his words as she reached for each boy’s shoulders with her hands and squeezed it lightly. “Fine, I’ll teach you both how to become badass!”

What did it mean to be ‘badass’? Most would likely had an idea or a role-model they considered so awesome they were considered ‘badass’, and Lycoris was no exception to that rule. In fact, she had one person she admired immensely, much more than anyone could likely ever understand. Perhaps it was for that reason she was about to think back about a certain man: her adoptive elder brother Gregory…

Taking a deep breath the girl started first, her smile fading away for a more stern and serious expression. “First off, you should do something more cool than spraying graffiti, that’s so lame in the eyes of a true badass.” And so her little scheme began…

“Well, there is a secret to being a badass...” Lycoris began, causing the children to look at her with a mixture of curiousity and excitement as they edged her on and almost pleadingly begged her to reveal the secret. “The secret to being a badass is resolve!” The words causes a bewildered response from the two teenagers as she soon continued her explanation with a smile. “Basically each badass is so cool because he or she has something they belief in, like their own rules or reason that leads them to be so strong!”

Excited little sounds came from the boys as she continued her explanation with a smirk. “So you see, the first thing you need to do is start training yourself and finding a reason!”

A few hours passed as Lycoris spend time telling and convincing the kids to start practicing martial arts instead, explaining that through their training they would get stronger and able to impress people more, especially when they had the means to protect those they care for. Of course one of the boys was quick to tell her he didn’t want to get strong to protect his family, but she could see it in his eyes that he was clearly fascinated. The little back and forth between the duo continued for a bit longer till dusk when Officer Kenji found a rather pleasant surprise: The two teenagers had returned  to him with a bag full of spray cans and apologized for their ‘lame’ actions, explaining they would rather want to become strong and cool mercenaries like Lycoris someday!

The sight of it made Kenji laugh softly and after dismissing the children home thanked her for a job well-done. It had been a pleasant request, but at the same time as she left the harbor her smile faded away as she silently hoped the boys would never take on the true life of a mercenary. The idea of them suffering the same fate as Gregory and the other mercenaries did was saddening for sure, and after a while she looked up at the settling sun. “I wonder what you would have done in my place Greg...”

But sadly he would never be able to answer her, in the end the man known as Gregory had already died… No, instead all she could do was chase phantoms of the past. It didn’t take long for Lycoris to return to her inn room within the city. It was a small but cozy room, pretty cheap also, to the point the Gardenias found herself removing her armor and a moment later collapse onto the bed, a hand clutching a small pendant that hung around her neck.

It hurt, to think she was forced to endure a future without Gregory, a future without her ‘brother’ around. Slowly her eyes closed as she felt her breathing ease little by little till she properly started to doze off. Today she was one step closer to her ambitions, one step closer to obtain the power she needed to be able to avenge her ‘family’...