the fighter
Jul. 2nd, 2023 01:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyumillspairing: none
rating: teen
series: tales from the selene
summary: He is well acquainted with death. He’s stared it defiantly in the face for most of his career as a knight, and the King’s personal bodyguard and even much more now as a fighter. Here, however, he can just be himself. He can rest his head for a moment and relax before he moves on to another dangerous task.
He knows that not every member of the village militia, or even of the king’s army is a fighter. Not every member of the village militia has had the training that he has, not every member of the village militia has had the hardening experiences of war, and most certainly have not fought in battles as long and as gruesome as he has.
He supposes that his time as a knight prepared him for this very moment. Back before he turned to the life of a fighter, he was a knight for the Lord of Oceanus, and the perfect person to be called in by the King to fight the undead plague that had been rushing about Stellae; that is his mission in the central city. There’s been a plight of undead enemies in Stellae that need eliminating, and the King has called upon the most experienced of fighters from all around the kingdom to assist in eliminating them.
He is well acquainted with death. He’s stared it defiantly in the face for most of his career as a knight, and the King’s personal bodyguard and even much more now as a fighter. Here, however, he can just be himself. He can rest his head for a moment and relax before he moves on to another dangerous task.
He opens the door to The Selene and is greeted by the innkeeper, a man with honey-brown hair and a kind smile. . “Hello, traveller,” the fighter hears the innkeeper say. “Say, are you the fighter we’ve been expecting? I’ve heard word from the Adventurer’s Guild out in Oceanus that they’d be sending one of their best. Looking at the crest on your armor, you must certainly be one of theirs.”
The fighter nods. He’s traveled for days from the oceanside city to Tellus, the central city, to take up the quest. Sent to the city with a map, his shield and his spear, this fighter's ready to fight for this land with everything he had.
When the fighter looks over at the innkeeper, he sees the letter of the Adventurer’s Guild with the ornate blue wax seal. The innkeeper is careful when he opens it, slides his dagger ever so carefully beneath the wax seal; he keeps the seal whole as he opens the letter, carefully unfolding the letter. His eyes do a careful scan over the parchment before he grabs what the fighter could only assume to be the guestbook and quill, jotting down a quick name before looking back up at him. “Chanmi,” the innkeeper says, “That’s a beautiful name, dear adventurer—”
Choi Chanmi. A name he’d much rather forget. A name he never aligned with even though it was the one everyone knew. The name on the parchment from the guild, people he thought knew better than this.
“T-that’s not my name,” the fighter says, “That name there, written on the parchment. It’s not mine, it never really was.” The tightening in his chest comes back full force. It feels overwhelming, but he can’t help it, “They knew that, but they still…called me that. Ah, that’s so embarrassing–”
And really, he should have known they would do this. The Adventurer’s Guild was important, sure, but hardly ever accurate when it came to things like this, so he knew it shouldn’t have been so jarring to hear slip from the innkeeper’s mouth, but it was.
Chanmi is a name that, since this fighter was born, he has never aligned with. Using it like this, unprompted? It was a clear signal to what they truly thought of him.
The fighter snaps out of their internal dread when he hears the innkeeper“Please forgive me, adventurer,” the innkeeper replies. There’s a quill on the side of the logbook, a crow’s feather adorned with a golden quill tip, that the innkeeper picks up. He strikes out the name Looking back at him with kind eyes, the innkeeper continues, “Forgive my ignorance and allow me to rectify my mistakes. I can’t keep inaccurate records, especially if they make the guests in this inn feel unwelcome. So tell me, dear, what is your name?”
He feels the sincerity, the kindness behind the eyes of the innkeeper. He feels safe, safer than he’s ever have in his life.
“Chanhee,” he responds, placing the three gold pieces on the counter carefully, “Choi Chanhee.” The innkeeper carefully writes down his name on the guestbook, leaving the book open for the ink to dry. Then, he grabs one of the metal keys from the wall behind him.
“Well, Chanhee,” the innkeeper beams, “Welcome to The Selene. Your room is on the second floor, first door. There’s a bard at the beginning of the steps over there, they’ll tell you where to go."
