The God of Jesters
Chapter 520 - 8.07.5 Aarth a stupid name.

Chapter 520: 8.07.5 Aarth a stupid name.

’Fate is truly the greatest enemy for us.’ Cursing at his luck, Rosso could only sigh before looking at the girl and asking whether there was a chance of reconciliation, but all she did was shake her head in denial.

"Boss is a bit weird man, from what I saw of him, it’s virtually impossible." Although the old man didn’t show it, she can feel his anger towards Rosso who brought him all this trouble.

If not for Rosso, none of the subsequent events would have transpired that led to the peace of his life ending.

It can already be considered a miracle that Heroth didn’t completely explode just like he did during the night the fools broke his display window. Well, part of it can be blamed on Raja, who came to the rescue on time.

"Mister Blood Fiend, it’s better if you stay away from him for a while. I don’t think it’s safe for you to get anywhere close to him at this point." She told Rosso, recalling the monstrous arm whose silhouette she saw from the crack in the shop’s door. An arm that even shook her to her core.

The old man was dangerous. Much more dangerous than whatever Rosso was capable of doing.

"I have no other choice, I need to find him one way or another." Initially, Rosso had thought Malidi might be in the city, hence the reason the man who turned out to be Heroth had walked into Rudrain followed by the Knights.

And from the Knight’s inactivity on a full scale, it can be further confirmed that they were distracted, meaning that they might be looking for Malidi in the city as well, but who would have thought that distraction was caused by a sect of Jester’s followers? Leaving the issue at hand.

"What to do, how to do." It was a conundrum, but soon an answer came from the girl herself. "From our reports, Boss Heroth still remains in the shop, although under tight watch... he hasn’t chosen to run away as of yet. There might still be some opportunity." It was then that she told Rosso about the recent happenings, one among which was the arrival of a High-rank Radiant Knight that was the confirmation of Heroth being their target.

Along with the arrival of a few more odd fellows, some of which seemed to belong to the Bartender’s Guild and even some families that came for a visit, they were ruining the peace of Heroth more and more as time passed.

As for their intention? One can only imagine, as it was impossible to know what transpired there. "With the exception of the Church, all the major families have walked into the shop as of yet."

What this meant can only be left to the imagination, but one thing was sure, the four Major families and certain guilds were already showing some goodwill on Heroth’s end, which went to show that his backers the bartenders were pulling certain strings in order to facilitate the subsequent hearing.

’But why not run?’ Rosso wondered this as well. The best choice of action in Heroth’s hand was to run from the scene and never come back. It was the safest and the best way to deal with this situation.

Meaning that to Heroth, the annoyance of going through all the hassle was worth it if he got to stay. ’He was running away from the Radiant Knights... are they the issue?’ the man he had been looking for, or at least that man’s followers had been tracked for a super long time, and not much had come out of it besides a few stories that Rosso had heard along with some odd recollections and memories of his creator.

’Would someone so strong really have to worry about the Radiant Knights so much?’ He thought further, before shaking his head, finding the whole situation odd.

There was something he lacked, some core information that would connect all the dots, but that was not the issue at this moment. "If he stays there, there will be many eyes on him for now, meeting is impossible." Rosso knew that he couldn’t meet Heroth as long as this whole case didn’t come to an end, as for how long it would take?

A month at most, or so he thought.

The City can’t waste its resources on a man who was not causing direct harm. "The false face and identity that we talked about, bring it to me," Rosso asked, the girl, the girl he did find beautiful at once, but now his tired mind had no such flowery thoughts, he just focused on the task at hand, which was to get some answers from that old man.

"Here you go, this is a skin mask, a deconstructed version of the old witches mask, using the Dwarven tech." She said, handing out what seemed to be the skin of a young man. Rosso could even feel the flesh on it pulsating bit by bit.

’Dwarven tech, so, it’s the same thing that birthed me.’ It was probably a byproduct of the experiments that led to his Rebirth.

This skin was someone living once. Someone that Rosso found a tad bit familiar. "Who did this face belong to?" Rosso wondered, ignoring the activated runes on the mask before looking at the girl, who showed just a confused expression. "I don’t know... I got this for myself from the quartermaster, she said to use it when in trouble, but then she asked me to give this to you."

"Hmm Did she hand this to you?"

"No, I picked it myself, the face just looked cute." Well, Rosso can see that whoever this boy once was, he was one handsome fella. And this goes against his rule of never attracting unwanted attention. So wearing this might bring him some trouble.

But this face might just work for the goal he wishes to accomplish. "This can be useful," Rosso spoke, before asking how to use this.

"Cut all your hair first, otherwise it won’t attach to your skull properly." After this, he was given a certain direction, including the process of making small cuts in different parts of the skull, which would be used by the mask as anchors on the face.

"The Mask not only changes the face but also the body build as well as modifies your Aura to an extent... but considering you exude none, it won’t be that useful for you." The Mask looked simple, but its functions sounded a bit too absurd for the matter.

He had originally just asked for a new face, but this was a whole body-changing artifact whose value might exceed his imagination. Which put him on guard a bit. ’The girl had this with her all along?’ This should be an outright lie. A mask like this can’t be treated as a common item for the agents.

But Rosso was happy as long as he got to use it. Which is why he didn’t question much and placed it in his pocket.

There were certain precautions needed before he stuck this to his face.

"I will be leaving then," Rosso spoke, intending to leave at this point.

He got what he wanted, both of those things, even if one of them turned into something troublesome.

But with this mask, part of his plan can be a success as long as he plays his cards right.

"Hey, you are leaving just like that?" She said, intending to stop Rosso by putting her arm on his shoulder, which slipped past it as Rosso easily dodged it, then looked at her with some anger. "Are you a fool?" He asked, suspicious of her motions.

"My hands are empty, there is nothing here, none at all." She said, showing her palm.

"Then why try to touch me?"

"Nothing much, really I didn’t mean much by it, I just wanted to stop you, and my hand slipped in desperation." Her face really matched the words she spoke, appearing desperate. Though if this desperation was caused by being caught in her little trick, or genuine mistake, only god knew the answer to this.

"The conditions were for me to meet you people here in return for the mask and information, there was nothing else."

"Well yes... but... " She said with some shyness. "I just wanted to know your name."

"Names are redundant."

"Still calling you by that audacious title feels wrong for some reason." From the title, she obviously meant the Blood Flower Fiend, and Rosso really couldn’t deny that the name was too grand for the kind of person he was. But he still preferred to keep certain things professional, so he said. "Pick something for yourself."

"This... what kind of name is this?" She asked, a bit baffled. But Rosso simply retorted with. "I abandoned my name the day I started to work for Jester." With those words, he chose to leave the scene.

But, slowly as ever as he came here. But before he could move too far, a voice came. "Oh yeah, then... then I will call you Aarth, The earth with A, cuz you are an asshole."

"..." He paused, turning around and then looking at the girl one last time. "Then why earth?" He asked, curious about her reasoning for coming up with such a simple name.

"Those blood flowers are not you, you grow them, you nourish them, just like Mother Earth nourishes all the life."

"That is a bit too much of a stretch, even for me." As Rosso spoke these words, his lips curled up with a smile. "But I like the name." With those words, he left the scene. Not intending to fall for the girl any further.