So anyways, if you’ve been frequenting the art category, you might have seen mine and cherry_berries “AM I IN THE WRONG?” Romance-Comedy story thing featuring this guy and cherry’s character: Vivian!
Buckle up cause this might be a long one if you want to get SPOILED for the STORY (I have marked the spoiler accordingly, so if you read it, that’s on you!). This guy is like an onion. He has many layers! (Good luck drawing him though, I’m told it’s rough…)
REFERENCE:
MODEL BY @Kierof !
He uses PLATINUM MAGIC.
May I present to you, STENDHAL! The one and only Vagabond. He is exactly who he claims to be: “Just a guy who’s a hero for fun.”
But even then, what drives a man to go so far as to strip half naked and frolic around the War Seas, saving puppies and kittens, speaking a tongue barely anyone understands, helping old ladies cross busy roads, bully Proxy Knights (Vivian) whom he totally doesn’t consider his “type”, douse criminals and heroes alike in the pinkest paint a person can ever make (BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY?!), and generally just make a fool out of himself for the heck of it?!?!
Well let me tell you: BOREDOM.
For lack of better word, the life that Stendhal leads when he isn’t the Vagabond is one that could be best defined as “stressful, but in a much less mentally stimulating way”. In what way exactly? If you asked him, he’d dodge the question and try to rage-bait you in any other way just to make you forget about it, because if there’s one thing The Vagabond doesn’t like, it’s when people try to dig too deep into who he really is. I mean; the dude’s just doing this for FUN! Keep your nose out of his personal life!
But hey, speaking of life. That has been particularly exciting lately since he’s begun gallivanting around with that favorite Proxy Knight of his who thinks she can single-handedly kill him (How cute!). He’s secretly counting down the days until she remembers that big ol’ favor she did for him five years ago.
Really, only time can tell.
And if he’s being honest, he does have a bit of a soft spot for her…
Additional References and art!
^ (The reason why cherry hates drawing him)
Stendhal and Vivian really do love each other… Maybe…
SPOILERS FOR “AM I IN THE WRONG“
So, actually—it turns out the “The Vagabond” himself is actually also the War Seas famous author Mr. Cutlass himself (Damn, who would’ve thought? But then again, who else have you met has white hair and golden eyes?).
Yes. THAT Mr. Cutlass: Universally beloved and respected, writer of multiple theorems and books that have changed the way countries approach their own economics. Schools teach his work. Royal families hire him to tutor their children. He owns one of the biggest merchant companies in the War Seas. Great leaders take his advice.
[In addition to that, the name “Zeke Cutlass” ( “Mr. Cutlass” ) is nothing but an alias. His real name is actually Marcel Stendhal the Third.]
He must have it all, right?
Not exactly.
Prior to finding this life of fame and eyes constantly on him, Stendhal himself was once a Proxy Knight. He had been 21 at the time; having just ran away from the custody of his adopted father, the merchant: Norman Winterfield Galleon, who had kept Stendhal under lock and key—forbidding him from using his magic and never allowing him to stay in the same place for too long. Growing sick and restless and wanting to see the world, 21-year-old Stendhal ditched Norman with the goal of using his powerful magic to become a mercenary.
Trying to become a mercenary when you have never been in a fight in your life went as well as one would expect it to go.
Turns out, having raw power means nothing if you have no idea how to use it. Stendhal was beat within half an inch of his life by the first bounty he tried to take on, and realizing how pathetic he was (and how much of a skill issue he has), he promptly deserted from the Proxy Knights.
Long story short, upon finding himself in a nearby town, finding out that he was now a “criminal” because Norman himself had put a massive bounty AND contract to have him returned, and that both the Grand Navy AND Assassin Syndicate AND criminals and heroes alike were gunning for his capture and return to the custody of his “beholder”, Stendhal wasn’t exactly having that wonderful of a time. But when all hope seemed lost, a hand was offered to him in the form of one Lieutenant Vivian Fallenfire, who, upon realizing that Stendhal needed help, offered to help him escape.
Stendhal would never forget her act of kindness.
And five years later (A short period of many events that included accidentally founding an entire company with pirates and criminals as it’s first members, learning how to use Impact Fist from his best friend, and being taught how to use his magic to it’s fullest potential by a dragon [That’s a story for another day]), when he hears rumors of a particularly ruthless Proxy Knight who goes by the same name: Stendhal decides that he HAS to see her.
Needless to say, he leaves their first encounter more concerned than anything, and determined to do whatever he can to make her smile just like she did for him all those years ago.
Dare say, he may even come to value her much more than he thought.
It should also be worth mentioning that Stendhal would also never forget that time his own mother: the Platinum Curse user, actively tried to murder him because she never wanted to give birth to him in the first place, or that time his biological father: a man who happened to be a member of the Throne Empire’s nobility, tried to assassinate him with a devourer under the assumption that Stendhal himself had the Platinum Curse (He had hoped to obtain it for himself).
(TLDR: Stendhal is a legacy who inherited a decent fraction of the Platinum Curse, he doesn’t have a great relationship with his biological parents, and Norman did in fact have a very valid reason to want to keep him hidden for his entire life. But at the very least, he and Norman did eventually make amends, and Stendhal decided to “fake” his death and put the man “Marcel Stendhal III” to rest, only to be replaced with “Zeke Cutlass”, the merchant-economy-philosopher who spends his days doing nothing but paper-pushing and teaching. He doesn’t exactly want people to know that he’s the child of curse user who inherited a large portion of his mother’s abilities. “The Vagabond” is merely a persona he made up to have an excuse to practice his skills to prevent himself from getting rusty… and it gives him a chance to see Vivian again).
