ROGUE RAZOR

[Ike]

Ike's "House" was essentially a mansion. So it was the entire party's base of operations. Everyone got their own room, with some to spare. Hadwyn got one of the bedrooms near the staircase. Alice and Loyd also slept upstairs. Mateo slept at his house.

Ike was a very eccentric person. He was odd even by guild standards. People often talked about him, usually behind his back, whispers could be heard about the man. And it was evident the second you set foot on his property.

Statues of several famous heroes like Adonis, the Hand of Gods, and other various famous heroes. Hadywn recognized a few, like those, and a few other lesser champions. There was a statue of Mage Cryo-Corvin, four time winner of SVS duels and one time winner of a Sparparty Royale outside in the front yard. There were also various paintings inside the house.

There was an instantly recognizable one of the first hero, Adonis, lifting a boulder on his back, while the first demon king's pet hellspawn, Constrictus, attempts to strangle him. The statue wore a cheery smile.

There were also several paintings of political leaders, which was an indicator of Ike's political beliefs. Which was odd, considering that most Aldaraians don't care about politics, at least, politics that don't affect them. Aldarians followed different laws than Anivors did.

Now about Ike himself.

Hadywn could never figure him out. He imagined the others attempted somewhat, but gave up far earlier. Ike was assumed to be some sort of ex-professional fighter, adventurer, crawler, and hero. He often told stories of his glory days. Loyd always seems to be entertained by these stories, while all they did was confuse Hadwyn.

More often than not, his various stories would contradict one another. Which suggested that he was lying. However Hadwyn found no evidence that this was the case, considering Ike had so many miscellaneous relics of his past that it was like a puzzle with all the wrong pieces.

Ike always wore a robe. Always. Even when he went out, he wore it. A bathrobe, not a warrior's robe. The robe smelled nice, and somehow always appeared clean despite Ike's lack of self maintenance. Ike was prone to drinking, and smoking. Hadwyn was not fond of secondhand smoke, but luckily Ike always went outside when he did so. Unfortunately, he drank inside.

He had a beard and a head with very little hair on it. It would have been a military-style haircut if it weren't for the fact that it was done so sloppily.

When he talked, his favorite was gravelly and sandy, Like he just walked through a desert, but he talked like a noble. Even though he sounded like a hobo.

Ike had many hobbies, most he never bothered to finish, like sculpting and painting. Various half finished paintings and other projects cluttered a few hallways. The closer you got to the center of the mansion, the worse it got. The walls were covered in pain and sometimes weird black powder.

And of course, Hadwyn cleaned most of these messes. Ike, nor the rest of the team ever directly asked him to, but he did it out of fear they would kick him out. The guilds were easing out of hiatus. Soon, everyone and their mother would be concentrating on their yearly progression, which meant if Hadwyn got kicked out, he would be locked out, and the fact that he didn't have skills universally valued by potential teams made it worse. In reality, his chances of finding a replacement party were zero.

Anyways, today Ike appeared to be scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

"Yo?"

Ike immediately stopped and shoved the small slip of paper into the table's drawer. Ike turned to face the party. He was sitting on one of those chairs that had the ability to rotate freely without having to move the base.