Lazarus/Paradox

"Show those rocks the respect they deserve. They're a hell of a lot older than you."

Marcellus' best friend, Sonya's caretaker, and retired hero, Lazarus is now a drunken bum, living in Iliasville. He makes a habit of going into other towns to cause trouble and getting together with his buddies to play some poker. When he's not doing that, he's a member of the mafia organisation in the criminal underworld.

Biography
Before Luka set out on his adventure, Lazarus was one of Marcellus's travelling companions. He was often peevish, but he was kind at heart, and a great swordsman. In the end, he wore out his right arm while adventuring with Marcellus, and he could barely fight with it. By the time they returned to Iliasville, his arm was near useless in any situation. But he didn't care. He was just happy to have survived his travels. But when Marcellus left the village to 'drive the darkness out', he had an emotional breakdown. Marcellus had gone on an adventure on his own and never returned.

Despite all that, he still took care of Luka after Lucifina died. He did the same for Sonya after Karen and her father perished in the landslide. Lazarus often trained Sonya to use a club, but he would never teach Luka any sword skills. These days, it's Sonya who looks after Lazarus.

You potentially meet Lazarus for the first time when exploring Iliasville. Although, it's hardly meeting. He's fast asleep, and the house is cluttered with weeds, rocks, porno mags, and liquor bottles.

Assuming you've solved the commotion with the slimes, you can return to his home, and Sonya will wake him up. He gets up and greets both Sonya and Luka, and wishes Luka luck on his adventure. You can ask him some questions.

Asking him about Marcellus is a sensitive subject for him. He mostly just grumbles about how Marcellus left his wife and child to go adventuring and never come back, without going into greater detail than he had to save the world. Lazarus knew that Lucifina knew why Marcellus had to go on another adventure, but she never told anyone. Even when she was dying, Marcellus didn't come back.

Asking him about Sonya and he will talk about his adventures. It started with Merlin, Karen, Marcellus, and Lazarus going out on an adventure together to help the people in the wake of the Great Disaster. Over time, Lazarus had lost the power in his right arm, so Lazarus and Marcellus returned to Iliasville. Karen and Merlin also went back to their hometowns.

When Karen returned, she married a doctor and soon after being together, they had a child named Sonya. But shortly after she was born, a landslide occurred in a neighbouring village, but this was when natural disasters were still common in the world. Both Karen and her husband went to the village to help the villagers, and they saved a lot of them. The couple always had been kind people, and always wanted to help people in need, but they went too far this time and lost their lives while helping the villagers.

Since Sonya had no other relatives, it was Lazarus who took her in and eventually Luka, when his mother died.

If you talk to him about the rumours, he will deny them. He admits that while he goes to other towns on occasion and causes some trouble, it's nothing serious. The rumour of him being a member of an evil corporation is a lie. The fabrication of him attempting to assassinate the Pope isn't valid either. He couldn't have possibly fought through all of his royal guard with a broken arm.

The final thing is a letter which Lazarus was writing but is unfinished presently. It reads, 'That's not him'... 'That grave must never be found'..." Lazarus catches Luka reading it and shouts at him to put it down before he can read anymore.

When you talk to Robo-Pope, he mentions that the assassination attempt on him was used with a time bomb and that the main suspect is Lazarus, but they don't have sufficient evidence to arrest him.

Talking to one of the information brokers reveals that Elka company controls the black market in the southern half of the Sentora continent. Lots of people know this, but no one can touch them thanks to their patron, Lazarus. Elka, the manager of the organisation, treats Lazarus as if he were his elder brother. You can talk to Lazarus about this, but the conversation is untranslated. But he does give Luka a letter to deliver to Elka.

When Elka sees the letter, he promises to tell Luka anything he wishes to know about Marcellus and the White Rabbit, but won't say anything regarding Lazarus. Lazarus asked Elka not to in the letter.

Lazarus' criminal side is revealed in Grandeur, but the scene is untranslated, so this is interpreted from machine translation.

There's a mafia running things in Grandeur. They have a huge mansion in the north of the town. Luka is allowed in because of his connections to Elka in Monte Carlo.

The party meet Merlin upstairs, presumably the Don of the organisation. The companion Lazarus travelled with along with Karen, and Marcellus. He gives the standard villain justification speech about controlled evil being better than uncontrolled evil and how the former Sabasa King understood that enough to leave him alone.

The party leave and a very slick-looking Lazarus crawls out from hiding under the table.

Trivia

 * In Paradox, it's his right arm that is lame this time, instead of his left although the same CG is used.