As our heroes are in Western Ruizai, they look around the rocky surroundings. "This must be the most beautiful part of this nation," Fiana gushes. "I've never been here before and I have to agree with you!" Sufen chuckles.

"Ladies, let us concentrate! We are not here for sightseeing!" "I, for once, must agree with the general! We're here to stop overgrown lizards from ravaging these lands!" "They're called Daifen," Luzius intervenes. "Doesn't matter!"

As they get off their boat and approach Taida, the central village of Western Ruizai, a heavy earthquake begins to shake the lands while a booming croak can be heard. "What the...!" "Everyone, don't be alarmed!" All of a sudden, Sufen raises her hands, upon which she and the heroes are lifted into the air gently until the tremor stops. "...That's convenient," George chuckles as soon as they're back on the ground.

Despite the heavy earthquakes, the surrounding lands seem to be unharmed. "These lands are strong as an ox, too. When this war is over, I will reside here," George proclaims. "I will, too," Fiana agrees with the young Highbladian. "If you survive, that is. This is still war, after all," William reminds. "Of course," George and Fiana reply in unison. 

Even the village of Taida was still standing. The only issue that can be seen as the aftermath of an earthquake are the villagers crouching down, their hands over their heads. Then, they notice that the earthquake has stopped minutes ago. "Hm?" Then, they see the non-Ruiza people and call them over to the village.

Soon, they are drinking coffee in the longhouse of the village chief. "This coffee tastes weird..." The man who gave them the coffee merely smiles. "It's made from yeti droppings. I'll go look for the chief."

While George spits out the coffee in disgust, he rambles about the (admittedly disgusting) custom. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU OTHER CULTURES AND PUTTING SHIT IN YOUR DRINKS?!" He quiets down as the door to the chief's chamber opens. He's a taller man and his expression is calm, but stern at the same time. 

"Lord, we have-!" The chief stops the general's words with a wave of his hand and points for them to sit down. As they do, he finally speaks, his voice deep and booming, almost like the croak from before. "I am Gaho. The earth has spoken of your arrival before it was shattered once more." 

"The earth has spoken? Then, what do you think, what are we doing here?" Gaho answers William in his usual monotone way. "You are here to ask Traibin to stop voicing his emotions. We, however, do not care to play with his emotions. We'll let him speak in peace."

"Speak?! If our wind mage wouldn't have been here, we would have been dead! I do not understand how you're still standing!" George chimes in. "Patience and endurance, young outsider. Peace and endurance."

Seeing as the chief of Western Ruizai wouldn't be any help, the heroes move on to the cave Traibin apparently is residing in. Throughout the way, they see a few dead bodies of Western Ruizan people. "That's what their 'peace and endurance' entails..." George mutters. "Aye, lad... Well, let's not waste time before we are the next ones to die in an earthquake."

After a while, they see tons of tortoise hatchlings roaming around. However, these hatchlings have a divine aura around them. "...We must be nearly there," Luzius mentions. "Indeed. There must be the cave Traibin is residing in."

They enter the cave to see a ginormous tortoise. "...That's not the Daife, is it?" "That can't be, lad..." Then, the ground begins to shake again as the beast in front of them croaks once more!

After surviving the earthquake, Traibin begins to speak properly. "Peace is not within you. Speak, why are you walking on these calm grounds?"

"Calm?! Not since you started creating those earthquakes!" The Daife of the West smiles softly as he hears William say that. "The people of these lands don't mind my tremors. Moreover, I shall not rest until Baho rests."

"Baho? Let me guess, the Northern Daife?" Traibin nods at William's question. "Indeed. Her thunders and typhoons have been ravaging Northern Ruizai for a longer time now. Strange, as she always has been the most sensible of us..."

"There. One more to go, then we can leave this nation. Come, everyone." As everyone leaves, William is the only one who is stopped by Traibin. "Wait, you there!" The general flinches and sighs. "What?"

"You and all of your companions reek of impatience, but your stench is the strongest." William leans against the wall of the cave. "That'd be George, actually." "He's young, so that might be forgiven. You, however, are beyond impatience."

The general shrugs at the Daife's statement. "And, what does this mean?" "I will test you." William scoffs, disinterested in Traibin. "We have better things to do..."

Traibin blocks the exit of the cave with a wall of earth, leaving everyone in there. "If you pass, I promise to stop the tremors." William, seeing no other choice, sighs in frustration. "I accept...your test."

As the general accepts, he is forced to sit down and close his eyes. "You must confront two challenges that will test your patience. If you let your impatience get the best of you, you fail the test." William simply nods understandingly.

For the first challenge, the entrance to the cave opens up again to let some of Traibin's offspring in. Heeding a few chirps from the Daife of the West, the hatchlings begin to chomp away at William and to bump their heads against him repeatedly. 

Five minutes. The onslaught of the hatchlings, if one could even consider it more of an onslaught than a pesky assassination attempt on William's nerves, goes on for five minutes until Traibin calls for his children to stop.

"That is enough." William's companions look on in astonishment. "How did he...?!" "I've no idea...!" "If I were him, I would've slaughtered these little shits then and there!" As George says that, Traibin points at him with one of his legs. "You there. Since you insulted my children, you are part of the next test."

George looks around in confusion before he shrugs. "Very well. What should I do?" Traibin nudges his head towards a gong. "Beat it repeatedly with your utmost strength." The young Highbladian nods with a smirk as he grabs the mallet next to the gong.

"Ready, Goresby?" The general does not reply at the youngblood's attempt on a mocking question. "Of course," George chuckles before beating the gong. He starts off lightly, which doesn't faze William. His next strike to the gong is enough to make the others flinch, but not the general.

"Stubborn bastard..." The last strike resonates throughout the entire cave, forcing everyone but George, William and Traibin to cover their ears. Still, no reaction from William. "So, you can be patient. Remember, patience is the path to victory, impatience is your downfall." 

William opens his eyes. "Before I become patient, do I get to strike George?" The Daife of the West hesitates, but nods, upon which William snatches the gong from the young Highbladian's hand and hits him on the head with it. "AH, WHAT THE HELL, GORESBY?!" "That's what you get." Then, William puts the gong back where it belongs.

"Very well. I shall not disturb the mortals anymore. The Daifen don't break their promise easily." "What about Buho?" Traibin sighs at Luzius' question. "As I have said, Buho is usually quite sensible. Something, or someone, forces her to disturb the peace." William turns and is the first to exit the cave. "Let us get out of here, then..."

Having no interest to communicate with the people of Western Ruizai, the heroes are on the way to Northern Ruizai on their boat. "Billy, that was outstanding! How did you manage that?!" William sighs at Fiana's question, shaking his head. "My dear cousin, if you see your loved ones slaughtered, your own wife, your own mother... You have no time to be bothered by such things as a test."

"So, that's why you joined the Royal Union's guard, huh?" William nods as he grabs another flask of Honeyshire mead. "Right on."

Loud thunder begins to sound and heavy storms begin to rock the ship as the heroes move on. "We're in the northern part of Ruizai, that is certain!" George yells. All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning hits the boat and sends the heroes flying. They land on the ground, nearly unconscious. Before they lose their conscience, they see a man in white robes, with lightning crackling in his hands... 

________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, Traibin's arc turned out to be kinda boring, I guess... But the next one is gonna kick ass, I can feel it! 

Fun fact: I was wondering why Buho's name looked so weird to me...then I remembered that buho (with an ú instead of an u) means owl in Spanish. Whoops. Whatever, for the hispanohablantes, you have something to laugh at now. De nada.

(also, lil author's note, y'all noticed that Luzius does basically nothing except say something here and there...Well, I never said that this story is only about Luzius (which is me saying that keeping track of all the hero characters is kinda difficult. Luzius will have his importance soon enough, y'all believe that)