Magic Association Magic Association - Task Reporting Board

Nadia went over to the receptionist counter again, another request in her hand.

"I'll take this request, thank you."
@Naraku

 

Walking up to the counter was Ruby and Blaiz. They looked a little tired, but over all perfectly fine. "We're here to report that we found a storage area of hazardous materials," said Blaiz.

Spoiler: Storage Area

Blaiz and Ruby looked over the task that they accepted before deciding what to do. Of course, the first thing to do was to merely head to the sewers. Which means that all that they could do was head to the sewers and go from there. After leaving Mira behind, they advanced to the entrance.


“Well, we’ve arrived. I don’t think that we should split up, so shall we just walk and see what we find, Ruby?” Blaiz asked while he looked around. Surrounding the dragonkin was a four way intersection, each as dark as the last with no hint as to which one would lead them to their destination.


“Sure! Let’s do that, Master!” Ruby said full of emotion. Sadly her response was also quite loud and attracted quite a few rats.


“Ruby, I leave the magic to you.” Blaiz told Ruby as he drew his sword. It seemed to be a brand new sword that gave off the aura of being ancient yet modern at the same time. Perhaps the blade is seeing its first battle today?


“Of course, Master!” Ruby replied as she got into a battle stance. Their plan is probably to have the elemental sling magic as the dragonkin blocks since he has better reflexes under his current state.


Hmm, this sword does in fact seem to increase the effect of slow when I hold it, so I have even better reflexes than usual, Blaiz thought. He then readied himself and launched himself at a rat that was as large as a dog. It must have ingested some kind of waste material to reach that size, Blaiz hypothesized.


Slashing at the rat with his sword, Blaiz then waited for Ruby to send a fireball down on the rat before moving to the next one. There was no finesse in his swordplay, only speed. He kept rushing from one rat to the next as he trusted his partner to finish off the mutants in one hit. Blaiz then paused, looking around. There was already four piles of ash lying on the floor, yet there was still sixteen more modified creatures to kill.


“Something must have sensed us coming in. They’re probably trying to incapacitate us. Ruby, be careful with your mana usage! Try to be as efficient as possible when killing the rats!” Blaiz roared at Ruby to caution her. Screaming made no difference now that the person behind this had already detected them, after all.


“Got it!” Ruby cried out before slinging another spell. The rats were growing even more numerous. There was already forty of them surrounding the duo. “Inferno!” The elemental yelled out another spell aimed away from her master. It easily cut the numbers back down to twenty.


“Master, we should finish this up quickly so that we can go and complete the task!” Suggested the summon. “Get behind me so that I can blast them all away! We’ll regroup after that, okay?!” Ruby screamed out. Blaiz quickly moved behind his elemental before nodding at her. At that the loli launched her spell, “Inferno!”


All of the rats turned into piles of ash. “Ruby, I think that we should go this way first.” Said the dragonkin as he pointed to one of the paths. The rats all seemed to come from it, so it was a good start. “That way we can find the what’s behind all of this.”


Ruby nodded in consent and the pair continued their trek unimpeded. They made sure to pay attention to the walls in case there was any secret switches or levers. There wasn’t. Instead they found a room filled with waste materials, rotting humanoid corpses, and a “nursery” for the baby rats. Those children were already the size of small cat and numbered around fifty.


Seeing the room, Blaiz and Ruby decided to burn the rats and return to the surface before returning via a nearby exit. They wanted to flee before the parents came back to take revenge for their children.

Spoiler: Notes

• Rats seem to have excellent senses
• They seem to be too organized for them to not have a leader
• Reproduce quickly, so they might start adapting to magic soon
  
• Found a room with waste material. We did not burn it in case it was toxic.

OOC: I suck at writing long scenes....
@Naraku

 

"Oh ? Blaize ? Ruby ?" Seeing them coming back, Umbrum exclaimed and quickly took the report since it was about the sewers. The smile on his face momentarily disappeared when reading the content but then came back as quickly as it disappeared.
"...since when you can fight that many rats by yourself...especially about that size..." Honestly, Umbrum believed them, but that was because he did that he held his head. Doesn't it say something quite dangerous ?
"Alright, thank for the information, I shall report that to a responsible... it seems to be quite important... a shame we don't know more than that but it's better than nothing." Instead of being cheerful, this child seemed to be quite worried nevertheless, as always, his voice became cheerful once again, a sudden change.

"Right ! By the way, here are your rewards ! 1 L. Wooden Coins, 10 S. Wooden Coins and 15 Merits !" He gave a large coin, ten small coins and two tables of merits, on one, it was written 10 while on the other it was written 5.

OOC: Hmm... *pats pats*
True, around 600 words, nevertheless, don't worry, more you will write, more you will get better at it~
Anyway, if I understood correctly your baits.

Leader rat.
Rats who will be able to use magic if it continues.
Unknown waste material that may be dangerous.

That's it ?

 

Task: Helping in the Infirmary

Spoiler: Story

“Thanks, Nadia.” Luke says in a cheerful tone before leaving the association building and heading towards the gate to exit the city while vaguely remembering the route to the closest village that was attacked by monsters recently, soon upon arriving he notices the guards around the gate haven’t lightened up much, curious he heads up to one of the younger guard to ask what’s happening.

“Hey, what’s with the recent buzz in activity around the gates?” Luke curiously asks.

The guard suddenly jumps up before calming down when he notices it was only a civilian, “Ahh, I’m not too sure myself, I only know that we were supposed to be alert after the captain rushed back from the security council.”

“Huh? Did someone try to smuggle anything in? Or have the surrounding monsters grown restless?”

“Like I said, no idea what’s happening, all I know is that some nearby villages are under siege by monsters but that’s normal for the most part. Who even are you in the first place?” The Guard suddenly asks with a questioning glare.

“Ahh, sorry for not introducing myself, I am Luke, and was going to do a task. What’s your name?” Luke says as he grabs a small card-like object from his vest and shows it to the guard.

“Oh, a mage, and a soon to be D-Rank even though he joined so recently?” The Guard says as he mumbles the last part under his breath is surprise before introducing himself.

“My name is Leon.” The Guard says with a slight chuckle as he introduces himself and takes off his helmet.

“Ahh, Leon is it? Are you a new recruit?” Luke asked as he observed the Guard fully, the guard seemed to be a young man maybe in his early twenties at most and had dirty brown hair and green eyes and rather clean skin compared to other people his age.

“Yep! My father forced me to join the city guards to learn discipline before taking over his position!” Leon said with a slight chuckle as he remembered his father’s demand.

‘A person of the nobility? Or perhaps a military family? He seemed surprised when I showed him my card, a normal person would of just skimmed over it and be indifferent but his gaze lingered on my rank and on my time of joining, he definitely knows more than he’s letting on.’ Luke thinks to himself in silence as he watches the movements of Leon before answering.

“Ahh, I hear that is common among families to send their children to the military or the guards to discipline them before they take over their trade. Anyway I better do my task soon!” Luke says with a chuckle as he rushes towards the gate to exit.

“Is that so? Anyway, I hope to see you again after you finish your task!” Leon says while waving towards Luke before grabbing his helmet that looked far more decorated then the other guards helmet and put it on.

___

After leaving Leon Luke proceeded to leave through the gates and headed towards the main road that lead to some of the closer villages as well as the one that was under siege.

While walking he noticed how eerily quiet it was compared to a while ago, the birds didn’t chirp as much and the nearby rodents just hid in their burrows like it was the time for snowfall, it was almost like they were all spooked and went into hiding recently.

‘It must be from the recent monster attacks, I hear non-magical beasts have a innate fear towards all magical beasts to the point that even the weakest magical beast can frighten a normal wolf.’

‘But for such a wide area to be affected is odd. Perhaps it’s a rather strong one, those wolves I observed from yesterday seemed unfazed though? A wolf-like magical beast? Is this what Sorgre meant when he said it’s dangerous?’ Luke kept wondering as he continued to walk along the main road.

After a few hours he reached the halfway point on his journey to the village that was attacked but was suddenly startled as he notices a large crowd of people walking along the main road, soon he disappears into the bushes before they can notice him.

‘Who are they? Bandits?’ Luke wondered as he watched the few dozen people that seemed to be a majority of women and children continue to walk in an exhausted manner, ‘No, these aren’t bandits. They seem more like refugees? But, why would refugees be here though? We aren’t anywhere near the frontlines though!? We’re closest to the Marden Union and Nylia, but I don’t remember a war between us happening? And even if there was it’d take weeks for these refugees to get here from there.’

‘So either there’s been a war and all communications have been cut from the frontlines which is unlikely, or a nearby village has been destroyed by magical beasts and these people were the only ones evacuated…’ Luke thought as a grimace appeared on his face before thinking about whether to help them or not, soon he comes to his conclusion and walks out of the bushes and towards the now cautious group.

“Who are you!?” Some of the few males in the group said as they cautiously stand in a guarded position towards Luke.

“Look, I’m not here to hurt you, I’m just a wanderer and noticed you were refugees! Look I can help heal your people.” Luke said as he showed the contents of his herbal bag to them.

“How can we trust you?” The largest male said as he looked towards Luke with obvious caution in his eyes.

“Look, whether you trust me or not is up to you. All I want to do is help you guys out.” Luke said in resignation towards the man whom was presumably the leader.

“... Give us a minute.” The leader said before talking to some people in hushed whispers before answering again, “Fine, but we want you to test the herbs on yourself first to ensure it’s not poison.”

“Haa~ Fine.” Luke said hesitantly before grabbing his sword and slowly cutting his finger a tiny bit and grabbed the Blue Coriander in a obvious fashion and put it in his mouth to crush it and put the paste onto the cut, after a few seconds the cut stopped bleeding and formed a scab after a few minutes.

“See? Perfectly safe, it only increases the speed at which you heal.” Luke said as he waved his finger around to show the refugees.

“Thank you.” The leader said with a obvious worry-filled sigh as a small smile dawned back on his tired face.

“Stand down, it seems like he’s a friend.” The leader said towards the still cautious people.

“Please, come this way, the injured are over here.” The leader said happily as he realized Luke was truly not trying to harm his people and lead him towards a few people who had scratches across their body as well and some even were missing limbs.

After observing the injured Luke instantly headed towards the people with missing limbs and checked their conditions, noticing that most of them had a fever and were sweating, and turned towards some of the women around the men and told them to bring some wet towels and to place them on these men's head.

After instructing the nurses on what to do he head towards the people without a fever and began to crush the Blue Coriander into a paste and applied it onto their wounds, “Does anyone have ‘Griffin Rose’ on them?” Luke said as he pointed towards a image on a herbal book that showed a small rose.

“Is it this?” One of the women said as she looked inside her bag and grabbed out a rose.

“Yes! Let me see it.” Luke said excitedly as he grabbed the ‘Griffin Rose’ and headed over to the people with a fever and placed a petal inside of their mouth and forced them to eat it, “This will help cure you.” Luke said before grabbing the leftover Blue Coriander paste and applying it onto their wounds.

After helping out the people with missing limbs, Luke looked towards the people with smaller wounds such as scratches and gashes, and went over to apply the paste onto them,

“Thank you…” One of the injured said before hissing in pain from the paste being applied.

“Don’t worry, the pain will subside soon.” Luke said in a calm tone before heading over to another injured person and doing the same thing over and over.

Soon Luke finished applying the paste onto the injured and wiped the sweat from his brow and looked inside of his herbal bag only to notice there was maybe only a handful of Blue Coriander left, only enough to heal maybe 1-2 people.

“So little… Whatever, I can always buy more if I’m in dire need of it.” Luke says with a sigh as he sat down, but his rest only lasted a few minutes at most before he stood up and headed towards the largest tent in the area.

After arriving he heard arguing from the outside and headed into the tent, where he noticed some people and the Leader from earlier.

“Wanderer?” The Leader curiously asked as he noticed Luke.

“Luke. My name is Luke.” Luke said as he introduced himself.

“Ah, Luke, why are you here then?”

“I wish to know why you’re refugees.”

“Refugees? Yes… I suppose we are refugees huh?” The Leader said with a laugh before explaining what happened.

“It all started around 3 weeks ago when the hunters noticed the creatures around the village became far more agitated then usual, this in and of itself is not a cause for concern as such problems occur every once in a while, but after a week or so they became even more agitated and begin to regularly attack the hunters and sometimes even attacked the village for seemingly no reason, this is right around the time when we notified the association of this anomaly, those bastards didn’t even care until a few days later when a magical beast showed up…” The Leader said in spite before continuing.

“Luckily, we managed to killing it after a long and gruelling battle, after killing it we reported the Magical beast occurrence to the Association, but do you know what they did!? They only sent out new mages to help out with those injured during the attack! The attacks kept happening though, and they kept happening, until a few days ago when we were attacked again, but this time it was different, there was only a few creatures this time, but they were all magical beasts, after only 15 minutes our hunting teams were mostly dead or close to dead, the only reason we were able to evacuate is because most of the young men in the village, not even of age to join the hunting teams, distracted the magical beasts long enough, a village of 1500 almost entirely eradicated overnight.” The Leader said with a sigh as he explained the tale of their villages demise.

“Where are you guys planning on going? The city is currently guarded for unknown reasons as well so you may not be able to enter.” Luke said with a sigh as he informed the Leader.

“So even the city is cautious… But we will continue and try to enter the city no matter what, I need to bring my people to safety.” The Leader said with a grimace as he heard the news.

“Very well, if that is your plan so be it, I wish you a safe travel then to the city.” Luke said with a sigh.

“You’re not coming with us? While the main road may be safe for now, there is no way to determine what will happen in the future, are you sure?” The Leader said with a worried face as he looked towards Luke.

“No, I have something to do, and I’m not as weak as I look, in fact I’m pretty strong!” Luke said with a cheeky smile.

“Haha! I suppose you are! Otherwise you wouldn’t be wandering alone in this world huh?” The Leader said with a cheerful laugh.

“Anyway, goodbye my friend and safe journeys. Remember you’re always a friend of the Sherfield Village!” The Leader said as he donned a serious expression.

“Friends, huh? Goodbye then, friend.” Luke dawned a small a smile as he heard the term friends, as he stood up and exited the tent with a wave.

After exiting the tent he said his goodbyes to some of the refugees and walked away from the group before disappearing after he was out of sight from the refugees.

“Magical Beast attacks? Why the hell didn’t the Magic Association send out a D-Rank mage to investigate, magical beasts even the weakest kind demands a investigation and from what the Leader said it was a strong one, able fight a D-Rank mage at least in terms of power, something doesn’t add up…” Luke said in confusion as he organized the information he learned.

“And judging from those marks on the injureds body they all seemed to resemble wolf-like claws, it’d make sense fitting with the previous theory about why the wolves weren’t affected like the other creatures… And that time when I gathered the Blue Coriander it was also very quiet, it’d be right around the time when the village would of been attacked, and the magical beasts seem to attack every week and a half, does this mean the next attack will be in a week and a half? On another village?” Luke continued to think before realizing that none of the mages even thought about taking the Investigate the Surroundings of the Association task…

After organizing the thoughts in his head Luke began to rush back to the city to inform the association of this occurrence before suddenly drawing his sword and taking on a defensive stance and cautiously looking around, soon a wolf jumps out at Luke before being sliced down from a sword as Luke subtly turns his body before eloquently slashing his sword upwards from below the wolf, easily slashing through the wolfs underbelly.

‘One? No, there’s far more of them…’ Luke thinks as he looks down at the dying wolf which continues to whimper from blood loss, before looking around warily and noticing a large amount of red eyes glaring at him.

‘They’re the same wolf pack I observed yesterday? Why would they be out this far? It’s almost like something is messing with me.’ Luke thought as he noticed the coat pattern on the dying wolf was exactly the same as the wolves from yesterday, as he continued to observe another wolf pounced at him this time from behind, Luke drew a out-of-place smile and chanted a spell under his breath [Wind’s Blessing] and soon stepped forward and stabbed his sword backwards piercing the wolf.

‘Truly powerful… Wind’s blessing is truly my most powerful spell, but it’s also my riskiest due to it causing me to easily overdraft my magical power after 5-10 minutes of use, not to mention it exhausts me mentally… If I could fully complete this spell then I’d even be able to use it if I become a S-Rank Mage, sadly I doubt I’ll get the ability to complete this spell for a while, but it should at the very least last me till B-Rank due to it increasing my reaction speed and agility…’ Luke thought with a sigh as he realized the potential power in this spell, but remembered its fatal flaw, it made him too much of a glass cannon.

‘I can’t kill all of these wolves in the time limit, and even if I could I’d be heavily injured, I need to escape.’ Luke realized before immediately sheathing his sword and jumping backwards from the pairs of red and began to retreat, after a second the wolves began to rush towards him but suddenly stopped, he looked behind him and notices a medium-sized wolf that looked almost exactly the same as the wolf that casted the spell similar to Wind Enchantment yesterday, shocked Luke looked towards the wolf in surprise before returning to retreating.

After half an hour of constant running Luke eventually reached the gates of the city, exhausted, and entered the city, soon he rushed towards the association to hand in his report of what happened without cleaning himself up.

Soon he turned in his report clearly exhausted.

Spoiler: Notes

OOC: This is so far my longest task report yet I think? It isn’t as long as some insane peoples who are 6000 words long though but I like my sanity far too much to write that long! *Cough Cough*

Should of investigated the surroundings of the association...

Here’s an image of what Leon would look like:

@Haxagen

 

"Hmm...Huh? We didn't get reports saying anything about villages being attacked by magical beasts..."
Nadia's face darkened after she finished reading the report.
"Thanks for bringing back this news, Luke. Here's your reward."
A bag appeared on the table. Nadia looked aside, and begun muttering.
"Hmm...should I go see it for myself?"

 

Help out in the Library
Rank: E
Type: Researcher, Simple Task
Description: A simple task to help organizing the library. It’s always messy due to the constant flux of people.
Reward: [ 1 L. Wooden coin| 10 Merit Points ]

Spoiler: REPORT

"Hello miss librarian, Glace is back again to help with the library," Glace said with a joyous expression. "Oh Glace, You are here to work again? Hmm, there is not much task available to do right now as almost no one is coming to library right now due to the fact that they are trying to control the rat infestation in the sewers. I hope it is nothing too big."
Seeing Glace' depressed expression, she further added," Oh don't worry, I still have work for you. Help me arrange this research documents and ancient grimiores that I just received from the association's top mages,afterall you can read archaic nuffik right?"
Glace expressed his confirmation and proceeded to carry the different books piled on the librarian's desk. Even with both of them working together it took two trips to carry all the books and another one just to carry the tome full of recent research.
The place where this books were to be kept was a large, warded shelf in an unassuming, partially hidden corner of the first floor of the library."Let's start with the grimiores than,"said miss librarian as she turned off the magic wards protecting the mostly empty shelf."Let's arrange them in relevant sections alphabetically,"she added.

"Codex of low-mana medicines," Glace read aloud so that's miss librarian can hear."Place that in the alchemy section,"miss librarian replied.

"A certain magical Raven- an indepth study of the creature Ravenous Astx"read Glace as he placed the book in magical monsters section.

"Lich, Leech and Lychees,an epic ballad-part 1" unsure where to place this book, Glace again asked librarian. "Just place it in the miscellaneous section for now. Even I am not sure what the actual topic is to which it belongs to."

"Magicfall-the last question" ,"let's Place this in magic theory section," Glace thought as he placed the book. Miss librarian was also arranging books on the side.

"The unnatural symmetry found in nature," again to the magic theory section.

"A theory about end of the prehistoric world- Worldend," "a rare history book huh. This is a jackpot," said miss librarian as she placed the book in the history section.

"Fox and the cauldron - a guide to animal alchemy"another book for alchemy.

"Sword of the heaven and saber of the dragon technique","I think this is a martial art skill," miss librarian said putting it in the martial arts section.

"FFF inquisition - a logbook of cases," "let's place this in miscellaneous,"thought Glace

"The no name from the little garden - the biography of the hero" history section again.

"The Lupine spice" again in alchemy section.

...
....
.....
.......
......
(First person pov-Glace)
After working for an hour We both completed arranging the books and also dealt with the research tome. I obtained the confirmation letter from miss librarian of the completion of my quest thus ending the quest.

@Haxagen

 

*Browses through the report*
"I had no idea that some of those books were still there, hmm. Maybe I'll make a trip down there some day."
Nadia finished the report, taking out another bag from the counter.
"And the task is completed. Well done."

 

"Umbrum..." Sorgre looked at him worriedly and picked the report to read. After finishing, he sighed and put the money pouch at the table. "Here is your reward, good work. Stay well, Umbrum."

((Sorry for the wait and....

Daaaaaamn!
Nice story, btw, but daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn~))

 

@The Everdistant Utopia, @Way, @Haxagen

Task:

Participants: @BB_Tensei, @Ddraig, @leegood, @TiggerBane

<[![OOC[ Wordcount exactly 9999. ]]>

"This was long and gruelling. I'm using my right to vacation for the following couple of days, and request leave to visit the Capital..." Joan said.

Spoiler: Report

Lee nommed on a jerkey
"So~ Where was this bridge Miss....Ummm I seem to have forgotten your name~! (>//<)"
"It's Joan." The catgirl got a whiff of the meat, causing her tail to perk up "Is that chewy? I've been peckish since morning. Have some mandarin oranges I don't need. Want to trade?"
"Ohhh~ Sure!" Lee tore it in half and passed the other to Joan
"I made them with extra herbs and spices!"
(^o^)
"Eh? What did you say?" Joan asked, greedily biting on the jerky. Tears welled up in her eyes, due to the spices, but quickly chewed the food up, and loudly gulped it down. "Achoo!" *sniff* "Us felines are sensitive to such things!" she said, sniffing down her running nose. She looked a bit miserable, as she passed a few mandarin oranges to Lee, stuffed inside a small cloth. "Give me that back, once you're done eating."
"Oooohhhhh, I'll have to make a plain jerkey next time~ It's a shame I don't have any meat on hand to cook~"
She looked at joan
"I'll help you~ [cure]!"
A refreshing sensation wiped away the runny noise, leaving behind only a faint peach smell.
She then grabbed two of the oranges and gave the cloth back
"Hmmm~ If only I had some honey, then I can make candied Oranges~" lee muttered to herself.
"Thanks! "Joan's sensitive ears picked up Lee's small mutter clearly "You know, I heard regeneration magic can cause fruits to become sweeter and meatier. Though that second part doesn't mean they become meat, I'm afraid."

Her ears also picked up the mixed sound of a large group approaching on horseback and foot, along with a marching drum.
"Hmmm? What's going on?"
She looked to Joan to see is she knew anything
Or was it normal? lee had just arrived here after all
"Our charge will will arrive soon. Won't be at least half an hour at this speed, still. Can you tell me more about your abilities, before we depart?"
"Well~ I can Cast [Heal] [Cure] for healing, [Repellent] to direct insects away~. [Clean] to clean things and [Regeneration UP] as a health buff~ For non-spell things I can cook, clean, and treat wounds~!"
"Ooh, that's amazing, Lee. All I can do is make a big bang and turn things to minced meat and rubble. Putting them back together sounds much harder!" Joan exclaimed and suddenly a thought arose, that caused her eyes to lose focus for a second. She continued with a renewed glint "Hey do you play games? I have this strange thing called chest or something. The rules are quite simple."
(@.@)
"T-This looks like what papa plays all the time~ It's confusing~"

(I actually Don't know how to play~ (@.@)
"Eh? Your papa knows his games, then. Did he teach you how to play?"
Lee shook her head
"He only had time to talk with lee at the end of the day during dinner~ He is very busy~"
"I see. Well you can move the pieces like this" Joan demonstrated various pieces and their movement on the board. "The goal is to take the King. Do you know how to take pieces?"
"Uhhh~" Lee moved a piece randomly

"Hmm, that's a rather strange move. Well, all's fine in love and war!" She went for the center with a knight piece.

The game took the following 33 turns, Lee was black:
1 d4 h5
2 Nf3 h4
3 h3 g5
4 Bхg5 Nh6
5 Nхh4 Ng4
6 Qd3 Nf6
7 e4 Rg8
8 e5 Rхg5
9 eхf6 eхf6
10 Qe3+ Qe7
11 Qхe7+ Kхe7
12 Bd3 Rхg2
13 Nхg2 a5
14 Nc3 a4
15 O-O d5
16 Nf4 c5
17 Bb5 cхd4
18 Ncхd5+ Kd6
19 c4 Nc6
20 h4 Kd7
21 Nb6+ Ke7
22 Nхa8 Ke8
23 Rae1+ Kd7
24 h5 Kd8
25 Nb6 Bh3
26 Nхh3 Nb4
27 Nd7 Kc7
28 a3 Bc5
29 Nхc5 f5
30 Nхa4 Kd6
31 Re8 Na2
32 c5+ Kd5
33 Nf4# Checkmate
(@.@)
"I-I think I'm good with games for now~"
She looked at the board
"Hmmm~ where did you get this~?"
Joan was looking at piece of paper with strange scribbles on it Hmm, that KD5 was probably the best move of the game. It's certain that cavalry is useful for zoning on the field. One day I will be a commander and it pays to know the abstract principles of warfare.

"Eh? Well, I have it from the captain, may he rest in peace. I remember that guy constantly inviting me for chess games in his cabin, trying to get me drunk. He kept winning the game, but losing the war, so to speak" She winked at Lee. "Decided it would be a good present to remember him by, or something. After that I kept playing each chance I get. It's sort of a habbit by now. You are pretty good for a first timer, ever considered becoming an officer?"
"E-Ehhhh~ I'm not sure~ I'm just a healer~!"
She still giggled happily though
Lee was only praised by her papa afterall
and the only other ones were injured animals she encountered and healed, since she was prohibited from human patients because the patients would not feel they got the best treatment at the school hospital if they were treated by such a young girl.
"You are very cute when you laugh, you know that?" Joan followed Lee's example and laughed heartily. "I'm glad I got to meet you, Lee. The other two, not present as they currently are, looked to be quite serious and boring. With you around it's like there's more sunshine, or something!"

Which was an ironic statement, as the sky was turning sour and a droplet fell on her nose.

"Achoo! There's the platoon we were supposed to be guarding. Nuffia sure pays them well to polish armour, eh?"
"Ehhhh~ The school's guards looked coo--" lee stopped herself before they could hear her "So we follow them~? I guess We'll just have to wait for the other two~"
Then she remembered
"Ummm, Do you know the value of money here?"
She was blushing a bit, since she should have researched that.
"Sure, one large wood buys you a cheap meal from a stall, two large wood buys you a night at a cheap tavern, though you can haggle that down, if you stay for longer in more rural ones. In the city, there's actually bidding for some rooms, even in cheap ones! When you see a silver coin, you know you've actually earned something. It's why I keep getting in such dangerous lines of work. Well, that's one of the reasons, at least!

There are larger denominations, including mithril coins, though those are generally used for large transactions, and are used by wealthier folk as a sort of stock, that rarely gets exchanged for anything less than large amounts of, or extremely precious, goods. Some of these can get ten full tutitions for the Academy! It's so annoying that, even if you steal one, and even if they don't trace you down, you still won't be able to use it without the proper people to back you up. The wealthy sure do live in a different world, than us.

In Novelias you can still haggle prices, unlike trade unworthy places, like the Theocracy, where it's illegal, so to answer your question, the value of currency here is what you take it down or up to. Money is floaty hereabouts, so just make sure you're earning silver, and you'll be fine with pretty much anything a mage would need!"

"Woah~ Miss Joan really knows a lot of stuff!"
Lee looked at what she had in her bag
"Ehh-to~ 4 Jerkies, my medical kit and a message from papa saying the other stuff should arrive in between a few days and a few weeks!?"
She sighed a bit
Of course she knew her papa was busy so she did not mind
"Well~ Miss Joan, What are we supposed to do on this task? follow that platoon? it seems they are well armed~"
"The request didn't specify beyond escorting them and the investigation. It would be good to ask around first." Joan answered, seemingly disinterested. Her tail betrayed her irritation. "We also need to arrange for a messenger for the other two, since they still aren't here. Ah look, the soldiers are over there going downhill. I hope it doesn't pour on the way."
Glace finally completed his library mission. As such he rushed towards the troops he was going to escort.
Cadmium checks journal to make sure he hasn't missed any appointments soon realising that he needs to meet up with cat lady Joan and who ever else has been invited to the mission to help out.
Runs to meeting location to catch up with the nice cat lady.
Notices the main who originally invited due to having sketch in journal waves and says "I believe that you invited a group to join you on this quest and I accepted but I can't recall your name fro some reason.
Glace is Glace.
Ah so you are Glace I had best write that down before I forget again.

Finally banded together, the group were brought horses to ride on, and told to follow the platoon to a military camp, near the Grentzia River. On the way the leader moved his horse next to the magicians' and began the briefing...
Miss Joan, Glace thinks everyone is here and as such we should go meet the troop leader
The leader interjected "The camp where the commanding officer for our current task resides is 10 kilometers from here, please get on the horses, and we can talk on the way."

"What is out there that you need magicians to help out you troops? Don't tell me a few beasts are giving you trouble?" Joan asked.

The leader popped a vein on his forehead, but responded courteously "There is currently an urgent situation at the river. As you must be aware, we recently lost contact with the bridge. We sent a scout troop with a single magician to see what was going on, but they have yet to come back. Even worse, in two days time a dimplomatic mission from Marden is supposed to arrive here, carrying Lord Daobottom's fiancée along with it." droplets of rain began falling in earnest, causing the platoon leader to further frown. "I will explain more on the way. Even if rain is comfortable for you magicians, the men dislike marching with wet gambesons and boots, so we best make haste."
The rain is never comfortable for anyone monsieur however it is a minor problem once you have been stuck in a room with nothing but books for seven years. My pet will be able to help slightly once the rain starts falling fully but only with the rain the ground will still be just as muddy for the horses.
"I've been doing this for 20 years, and it still doesn't make sense to me. If it will not burden your mana supplies, please do so."

As soon as rain began to fall on Glace, his magic, "Heavenly gale" in combination with "Cryogenic ice" activated. The droplets that where about to fall on his body froze. They shimmered with refracted light only to slowly erode away into smaller crystals as the Heavenly wind blew around Glace's body. No droplets managed to reach Glace as they were blown away with the flowing wind much to the shock of the leader.
"Let's go than, Glace also does not like rain," said Glace as he started walking.
Joan produced a strange cylindrical contraption, inserted mana into it, and nodded satisfied, as it unfolded into a black umbrella, that she gave to Lee. "A bit of water doesn't scare a sailor."
"Hmm? T-Thanks!" Lee took the strange contraption and looked at it curiously as she walked beside joan.
A rat comes out from under Cadmium's hat and twitches it's whiskers the rain stops falling on the group as they travel towards the bridge at a slow pace so as not to hurt the horses. "Well this is some poor luck now isn't it I didn't think there would be need of this little guy just yet."
"Oooh what is that creature?" Joan asks with a sparkle in her eye.
It will not be a burden on my mana count or our attack strength however we have 20 hours if the rain continues at this rate before he dies from exhaustion. This little beauty is a rat from the sewers of the magical association which I killed and turned into a spirit water rat.
With all of the magicians generally dry, except Joan, who was rather soaked, but didn't care, the group of soldiers and magicians reached the military camp near the Grentze river. Thunder could be heard regularly in the background, yet the source of it was not visible in the sky. A young soldier, covered by a hooded coat rushed to the magicians, introducing himself as an adjutant.

"The lord is wating for you. You should make haste."

"Which lord? I heard the border defense with Marden is currently without an appointed lord, until the council determines troop distribution for next year. Has there been a change?" Joan asked.

"Lord Daobottom is currently in charge. He came over and took command, pulling rank over the local garrison commander, and ordered us to send a second scout platoon. The commander convinced him to wait for your party, before we send more men, but seeing as you've now arrived, I doubt the lord will wait any further. Follow me, please. The lieutenant should also come." quickly summarized the adjutant.

The platoon commander quickly shouted out rest orders for the platoon, who dispersed in tiredly in various directions.
And this is why I hate politics they give no rest to the weary
"What is it?" Joan whispered in Lee's ear.
"Do you want me to cast a [clean] on you?" Lee whispered back "you might get a cold~"
"Sure, but do it after we reach the tent, or I'll just get wet again. You are amazing, you know that?" Joan whispered and smiled at Lee.
"Ehehehe~"
She nodded and continued walking when she realized she could use the 'umbrella' device to try and cover joan too, but it was not successful even as she tip-toed.
Joan patted Lee's head.

"Don't worry, about it. Let's go" she said, as she grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her gently forward.
Lee obediently grabbed her hand while looking around.
"Let's go," Glace said while casting Heavenly gale in a small area to boost everyone's speed. A tailwind started blowing that also significantly lowered the adverse weather conditions from reaching everyone by assisting cadmium's pet.
The adjutant suddely found himself faster than he was used to, and nearly tripped. The party quickly reached a large tent, with two guards posted outside.
Time to get bullied by bureaucrats whom think they are important because of the status they were born with. sighs heavily
"And we have magic, which is its own status. If the lord acts up, we just need to remind him, that we're not here to wipe his ass, but do the work nobody else can."

The adjutant looked rather displeased. He was hoping nobody inside the tent heard that exchange.
"Lee, it's time. Will you be fine in front of the lord?"
"Un~ Lee has seen nobles before~" Though what was not said, was that it was because here papa was showing her off to nobles showing off their children at the same time by bragging about their child's cuteness levels.
Yeah you realise there is a high likelihood of him being a mage as well missy or he knows some well and you can be sure his status with this country is greater than us four combined
"So who is in charge here, "Glace says with a bored voice tinged with slight irritation.
"That would be me" a loud deep voice came from inside the tent. The adjutant went pale. "George, bring the specialists inside."

By the order of the lord, a well built tall man in full plate armor, sans helmet exited the tent and looked down on the party. "Is this all of you? A child, a tattooed vagrant, this strange creature, and then there's you in the yellow and red. What are you anyway?"
Miss well then I guess you are in charge of this group of magicians for now unless someone else wants to be stares at Joan
Lee looked at George and wondered if he wanted a snickers bar Jerkey snack, but decided against it for now, since she was focused on the mission~
"This would be fine." Joan said, nonchalantly ignoring George's insult.
Come on rep speak up.
"Glace is not a strange creature," said Glace with a look of confusion on his face
Yes Yes you are just as I am lightning starts crackling in arcs off his body
"Lead us in, musclebrain." Joan spoke up to her side, while enjoying the sight of Lee looking conflicted.

"Hmpf!" George held his forehead with one hand, turned around, and entered the tent. His other hand was unconsciously stroking his scabbard.

Inside the tent were a couple of officers, and a well dressed, but otherwise average looking moustache bearer. "Finally" the lord sighed "Impressions aside, I hope your eccentricities are justfied in skill. Come over and look at this map."

Dabottom pointed out landmarks "We're here. You are expected to walk along the road up to here, locate the previous scouting team, and report back to me what you saw. After this is done, each of you will be given a squad to babysit you, as you conduct further investigation on the bridge. We need to finish this within two days, so be quick about it. Should I be impressed with your work, some of your party can be hired as guards for my departure. You'll be appropriately compensated for this. Any questions?" Daobottom finished by asking in a way, that meant just go.

"How large was the previous scouting party?" Joan posed a question.

"3 standard scouting squads, and a magician with a couple of cavalry guards. Anything else?"
Ranking of the magician please if you don't mind strokes own sword
George interjected. "All of the border magicians are at least D rank. This one was C ranked. We assume she's missing, rather than dead. If you make contact with her, you are to relay the withdrawal order and escort her back to this camp."

Daobottom's left eye twitched for an instant. "Thank you, George. In light of our lack of information, I'm ordering you to join the escort and relay to me personally anything you saw." he then glared at the party "It's not that I don't trust the association's judgement. Consider him to be my proxy, and act accordingly."

"It's association policy for magicians under temporary contract to act as independents. We came here to escort, not to be treated as your own subordinates." Joan spoke up.

"Only further reason for me to send my subordinate. He will be there to oversee the unit, in case you are independently occupied. Don't worry, I don't expect you to do anything for the army, beyond what the request specified."
Missy your orders.
"We should depart as soon as the lieutenant has gathered our charge." The man in question was silently standing on the side, acting unrelated.
"Sir," Glace says without any indication of his previous boredom. "Glace's mission is to escort the squad and not act as a scout," further repeating what Joan said. " Also sir, the association is independent of the kingdom and as such it is inappropriate to treat us as subordinates."
Lee nodded, It was not good to give order to people who don't work under you.
I'm going to have to hit this idiot Glace when we leave there are somethings you don't say even if it's true.
"Your protest is duly noted. You have two days to finish the investigation." Daobottom turned to the platoon commander "Your unit will depart as soon as possible. Go gather your men."

"Yes, sir!" the lieutenant darted out of the tent, disappearing into the camp.
The bridge is on a river surrounded by trees on either side the bridge appears to be made of stone with stone columns supporting it and appeared very mighty however the middle was a weak spot made from 2 wooden drawbridges which was on fire. The original patrol group appears to have made a detour past the main bridge and their footsteps dissapear into the river. The guard towers on either side stopping traffic both appear to be empty and seem to be damaged. The water is about 1 meter below the bridge even though it normally is about 4 meter below because of the rain.
The stormy clouds in the sky made it impossible to see the evening sun. The only source of light was the frequent lightning bolts that struck the ground with rage that wanted to annihilate everything in the surrounding area. The storm that raged drowned all the surrounding noise making it impossible to speak without a loud voice. The bridge burned at it's center with Crimson flames, fighting against the extinguishing power of the rain. As soon as it looked that the rain would manage to win this war, lightning would again strike down on the bridge and the trees, rekindling the flames of destruction. Mist permeated the surrounding 's, limiting visibility.
The soldiers were barely able to hold themselves from being blown away by the storm, walking slowly to prevent collapse of there ranks. Horses were useless in this mud-filled terrain as they only served the purpose of inciting chaos in this bitter weather.
"Whoah, would you look at that!" Joan exclaimed. She powered up, her tattoos glowing, and threw a bayonet up in the air. Two seconds later lightning struck the airborne object, vaporizing it inside an explosion. "Good thing none of us fly!" She grinned.
"Eh!"
Reacting just in time, Lee threw the umbrella upward, where a lightning strike hit the umbrella. "What's up there?!" she asked, since her vision was very limited right now.
"Lee! That thing costed me 3 gold coins in materials!" The owner looked as if she was about to cry.
(o.o)
luckily it seemed the umbrella was able to 'bounce' or re-direct the current to the ground, though it made the umbrella really warm to the touch. Lee grabbed it as it fell back down, making sure not to let go since it was worth so much money.
"U-uhm I think It's okay!"
"Eh? Ah... Keep it for now." mumbling "Wow, wonder how it did that? I don't remember putting such an enchantment in..."
Glace peered into distance, trying his best to see past the flames of the bridge. He had a feeling that something unusual was present at that place, but could not see what it was. He ran forward ignoring anyone to get a clear view of the abnormality
"Oi, what in damnation do you think you're doing?" Joan shouted, but her voice was drowned out by thunder. The soldiers were getting nervous and walked a step back in disarray.

"Is he mad?"
"Don't get any closer, the bridge seems to be cursed by a magican!"
"Yeah, leave it to those guys to handle it... we've seen enough!"
"Shut it, cowards!" the lieutenant tried to pacify the troops, but his voice was shaking.
Glace walks forward ignoring shouts from Joan. He sees a magical formation in the middle of the river that has been damaged by lightning strikes to the point where it can only emit flickering light. The last pieces of the magic formation that still work have created an area of still water in the middle of the river which gave an impression of a disguised defence formation not working properly. Dead bodies could be seen floating in that area and still water.
Lee looked ahead
"I wonder when this storm will end~"
My brother changed wifi router just then.

It won't end from the looks of it until the source is destroyed I'm guessing our C-rank mage was trying to do this which is why they disappeared.
"Someone seems to be alive in the middle of those dead bodies," Glace shouted at the top of his voice hoping others would be able to hear him. Casting Cryogenic ice on the river water, he made an unstable ice path on the river that was good enough for him to walk on. He proceeded in the direction of that person, ignoring the danger while maintaining the ice pathway so that his companions can follow him.
Joan carefully joined Cad and Glace, eyes glued to the river. She was making note of the water level, pondering something.

"Associates, isn't the water level too low for such rainy weather? Somebody must have dammed the river. Or at least they tried..." she said, as she looked at the corpses in the still water.
You are right but it might be because there is another path that the water can exit through under the river somewhere that they are hiding.
Lee walked behind them, looking at the corpses her face hardened

"This is strange" lee agreed and looked around for any clues.
Don't bother looking for clues we will know all when we reach the person whom appears to be alive and move them to safety now hurry up. *Cadmium puts his cloak and hat into his inquisition badge showing off his metallic skin and holds his sword up preparing for the worst.*
"Must be a pretty huge space, for the water to keep level for so long. Either way, the water is getting diverted somewhere. I'm betting upstream."
Notices Glace entering the river and runs after him. Mumbles "And this is why I love to work alone because people don't notice obvious traps like this." Lightning strikes where he had just been standing creating a miniature fire which is slowly growing.
Joan still had something to say before leaving.

"This spell formation is unfamiliar to me. Half of the formation looks standard, but none of it is in my field of study. Except that part over there. It seems to attract vapors in a specific spot, and that part beside it drains excess vapor upwards outside the radius, while the small circle on the side seems to spin the gathered material within a three kilometer range around the center of the formation, at some weird angle. That's just a small part of the whole formation, though. Lee, let's go."
Glace reached the still water place first and saw that the c rank magician was alive. She said in a barely audible voice while coughing blood, "Get out of here fast, it's the..... Terr...rist asso..iation" Ignoring her Glace shouted for some soldiers to help her apply first aid.
Joan heard and relayed Glace's shout to the formation waiting nearby. The leader barked orders, and a few quicker witted soldiers rushed to Glace and the C ranker's side.
Lee rushed to the wounded c ranked magician's side and checked up on her wounds
"[clean]!"
"[heal]!"
The first spell cleaned the wounds and the body, while the heal spell closed the open wounds until more medical help could be gotten in a safer place.
Glace followed that relayed signal by another one informing the commander about the terrorist organization involvement he heard from the magician. The commander tried sending a flare to inform the Reserve forces and lord Daobottom who were pretty far away but failed due to the extreme weather. As such he asked one of his soldiers to relay the message by running back to the lord. He than rushed to the still water platform with a dozen soldiers and checked if the other corpses where the high ranking members of the terrorist organization.
*Upon arrival at the corpse mound starts running in circles around the edge so doesn't get hit by lightning and has eyes closed so even if it does it won't harm him.* **** **** **** this is annoying and I am going to fall off soon so hurry up.

*Lightning hits Cadmium the formation starts glowing faintly*
The formation glows intensely and a whirring sound starts up more lightning bolts are attracted to the pedestal making the glow brighter and the whirring sound louder. The formation creates a platform of air that is getting denser and denser the lightning now strikes the edges damaging the formation. Tilting the platform so it's facing upstream. The air then explodes launching everyone off of the tilting platform and over the bridge at high speed. The group lands in the water in an area where the water is at a much higher level. A hole is approaching them at high speed and they proceed to fall down the giant waterfall that has been created inside. *Cadmium sinks to the bottom of the lake created.*
Sensing something amiss, Glace casts Heavenly gale around everyone. The air explosion that launches everyone upwards does not prove to be fatal due to the barrier.
Joan nimbly twisted inside the waterfall, hugging Lee tightly, and landed on her feet with a splash, surprised to be unharmed, even with her tattoos providing a softer landing from larger heights.
"So where are we? Looks like a natural cave. " Glace asks trying to figure out something. Such wind drops do not affect him as he is a Heavenly ice demon who used to live in places where such things were a common place occurrence. "Glace thinks that those bioluminiscent algae are pretty," Glace says forgetting the fact that his companions are not exactly doing well....
"What are you doing over there muttering to yourself? Found anything?" Joan shouted to Glace, who was admiring the scenery.
Cadmium Slowly starts climbing up the edge of the deep lake and swearing like a trooper all the while.
Lee shivered a bit thinking about the close call but went back to her senses after they landed. "Thanks Miss Joan~"
She looked around at her surroundings, cautious.
"Don't mind it, Lee. We seem to have landed in a shallower part. Grab my hand, and let's wait for the others by the shore."
"Alright"
Lee grabbed her hand and looked for the others who ended up where she was too, "Hmm? what happened to that c ranked magician-san?"
"I hope she's fine. Saw her carried away by the soldiers, before we got blasted away. My legs still hurt a bit... No need to heal right now, I'll be fine" Joan added, realizing Lee would probably use her mana for minor injuries every time she complained. It was best to save up their energy for more urgent situations.
"That's a relief~"
"Where's Cad, anyway?" she wondered.
hearing about cad Lee looked around "I'm not sure..."
"Oh yeah, Glace can see two tunnels in the front, one leading downwards while other just turns ahead and is relatively leveled. Both tunnels lead to an exit as Glace can feel the air moving. The air feels hotter in the downwards tunnel though", Glace says while still admiring the algae lining than seemed to make a spiral pattern.
"Also Glace saw Cadmium dancing wildly like an idiot underwater"
"Dammit, he probably drowned. It's going to be a problem to report that on our first mission!" Joan swallowed down her frustration, and went by Glace's side, smelling the air coming from both tunnels in sequence.
Cadmium telepathically tells his water spirit rat to pull the soldiers and George out of the water.

"Couldn't tell much, but the piss from that corner over there is definitely fresh. Also somebody seems to have been dragging corpses out from below. A fatty smelling human is probably the most common stink from that tunnel. It's so fresh, it's possible he's still nearby." Joan stated matter of factly, but her scratching her nose betrayed her disgust.
Cad's familiar appeared by the shore, where Lee was standing, bringing the passed out soldiers along with it. One of the soldiers laying on his back, groaned and began coughing.
"Are you all-right mister?" lee checked the soldiers for any injuries, focusing to see if there were any open wounds.
The soldier managed to turn around on his stomach, still coughing. His face was turning blue.

On the other hand George was fine, it would appear. He was actually doing swimmingly, appearing out of the water with an annoyed expression by Glace and Joan.

"What did you people do!? Where are we?"
Lee noticed the symptoms and pressed on his chest multiple time, then casting a smaller version of cure to help remove the stuff that was blocking his airways.
"Takes deep breaths and calm down mister"
The soldier took a deep breath, then another. Breathing heavily he looked wide eyed at Lee, and said "... Thank you!"
***
Breaks the surface of the water on the edge of the lake after being underwater for about 7 minutes. *Personality change time*
Pops up right next to Glace and as was stated earlier punches him in the head twice for being an idiot.
Joan almost got hit by Cad's punch, but was too surprised to react properly. A second later she shouted in his face.

"What do you think you're doing, you idiot? Say something first, we thought you were dead!" punctuationg her words with a flick on Cad's forehead.
How could I say anything imbecile I had to climb up from under that lake and then punished this imbecile for his idiocy as soon as I got out because it was easier that way. Flick has no effect.
***
"Un! Now we just have to stay safe!" Lee patted the soldier on the head.

Lee had already forgotten about cad, not that she does not care for him, but because she had hardly, and did not even talk to him yet since she did not get the opportunity, too focused on her more dangerous surroundings.

Lee looked back at the soldier "Let's see if the other's are okay mister!"
"We're fine." Another soldier said.
"Arrie hang in there!"
*cough* *cough* (Arrie)
"Leader, just lean on our shoulders."
"I'm fine you, you snots! Take care of Robert."
"Harry, stop searching for your goblet, it's lost. Forever."

Two other soldiers were just standing there, glaring at empty space, while a third was pouring water out of his boot, seated on a stone by the shore.
Lee pointed to the soldier that she just helped
"Is this robert?"
She looked at Arrie
"and you, mister, are you going to be fine?"
"Robert is over there, by Harry" the soldier she first helped, pointed at a person who wasn't moving.

Arrie was on all fours, coughing out water. She raised her buzz cut head, and spoke in a rather masculine voice "I'm a woman, you know!? Eh, where's my helmet?"

"Take mine, sweetey."
A goblet is sitting on the hilt of Cadmium's sword. Throws goblet to person looking for a goblet.
"Haha! Now Harry's goblet is mine!" a soldier exclaimed, while dancing.
"Give that back, you bastard!" Harry shouted, tripping on Robert.
She rushed over to the unmoving man and checked up on him
"I think"
She did a light heal on him just in case, using it to kind of 'scan' for any injuries "He might just be"
She checked again, just in case
"Sleeping...he might have fainted..."
Walks over to sleeping man picks him up and hands him to George. Well time to go down the left passage everyone.
George gently put the man on his feet, then punched him in the gut. Robert suddenly woke up, bent over and vomited something liquid, reeking of alcohol.

"Get in formation. I hope this will be a good reminder not to drink on duty, but don't worry, there will be punishment waiting for you when we get back, regardless."

Joan considered drinking and fighting to go together like, well... Alcohol and combat, but was otherwise occupied right now, so followed Cad into the tunnel, instead of arguing.

The leader approached the dancing soldier, whacking him on the back of the head, and retrieving the goblet. "This item goes to Miss Lee, as compensation for the healing. There you go, kid. It's gives a minor healing effect to any liquid poured inside of it, especially wines. The squad keeps gambling over it, and I've had enough, plus it will be more useful in the hands of somebody like you."

Lee was surprised by the strange liquid that came out of him
"Stop poisoning yourself mister!"
She looked back at Arrie and accepted the goblet
"Thank you!"
and quickly put it in her pack
"So which path should we take?", Glace asked still ignoring Cadmium.
"There are people downstairs. I suggest we sneak in, find somebody to interrogate about this place. Then we would know what to do. I get the feeling we're stuck here for now, anyway."
We should go to the left and always keep our hands on the left wall it's the first rule of exploration I'll lead the way to protect from traps.
That smells so bad dammit I hate hate hate the smell of alcohol. Cadmium starts running down the left passage because of the alcohol smell
Glace simply follows everyone
George looked around the party, grabbing Glace by the shoulder, as he was the closest one.

"You still haven't answered my question. What happened, and why are we here?"
"Glace thinks that the magic circle exploded and than we flew in the air and somehow landed in this place... Reminds me of my village", Glace says with an expression implying that he could not care less about what happened.
George shook his head, and decided to wait for an opportunity to ask somebody else. Then again those magicians were all off in the head for some reason.
Lee looked at the man who was running ahead, then looked around for any danger, to which she eventually spotted a really horrible disguised trap, with a suspiciously clean wooden plank ontop of it

"Careful! There's traps!"
Steps on suspiciously clean wooden plank
The wooden plank fell down, leading to a hunter type snare trap above a pit of wooden spikes.
The trap wraps around Cadmium's feet pushing him into the air but because of Cadmium's momentum it swings him forward allowing Cadmium to cut the rope and escape from the trap. Well that was easy can we continue please.
Joan was right behind Cad, when he fell down into the pit, and slipped on the edge. In panic, she quickdrew her handcannon, instantly loaded a fireball-enchanted cannoball, inserted mana, then she shot at the snare trap, causing an explosion, that threw both of them outside the pit, the young woman hitting the wall.
Lee checked up on joan "are you alright?" looking her over
"Hit my bum, so I'm alright." Joan said, looking dejected.
Let's keep going everyone I want to be out of this cave before nightfall so everyone can get dry.
"We're not actually going up, though, are we?" George protested. "Do you know where you are going?"
Glace walked forwards amused at his companions antics. He stepped on a stone. "Wringggg, " a sound of a machine moving came follow by a tremor and sight of a stone rolling from behind all of them
"Looks like we have no choice in the matter. Run!" shouted Joan, grabbing Lee, placing her on her shoulder, as she darted off forward with jumping steps.
Well time to go to where the air is clear and RUN!!! Takes the lead again
Glace casts Heavenly gale boosting speed of himself and the soldiers. He combines the gale with Cryogenic ice causing growth of large ice crystals that slow down the rock but fail to stop it. He applies resonance on everyone and than casts Heavenly Gale again. "This is gonna hurt, probably," A large blast of wind comes from back that carries away everyone towards the direction of probable exit. The blast initiation point freezes into solid crystalline ice that considerably slows down the rock but still fails to stop it
"Hahahaaa, we keep flying today! This is awesome!" Joan exclaimed happily, as she balanced herself in the air, one arm still wrapped around Lee.
Lee's eyes sparked
"We're flying~"
Not noticing some of the soldiers breathing heavily due to the excitement.
Traps get activated one after another. Poison spikes fly out of holes in the cave only to miss due to the sheer speed of motion of the team after getting deflected by the wind
Comes out of the water and accidentally* punches the idiot called Glace. Fits better with current personality.
Ahhh that was excellent stress relief. Notices the soldiers all in a pile again. Come on you lot I've done twice the amount of exercise as any one of you.
"Wait!" shouted the leader. "Let us rest for a bit, our armours aren't suited for running long distances, even if we did fly for the larger part."
I'm sorry but we can't stop here we have to at least get around the corner completely.

Joan places Lee on the ground gently, and looks around. The soldiers, unused to quick air travel, started to gag and lose balance, falling around. George wasn't faring any better, using his weapon as a walking stick, to help him approach the magician party.

"This is going into the report. You have done it now." he spoke out arrogantly, yet his gaze was unfocused.
Lee looked forward forward from her hidden position near the rear of the group she had taken took once she felt the tides of battle oncoming. Looking outward, She could see 10 humanoids rush to their positions, dramatically rolling and jumping when they could.

A faint barrier could be seen covering the humanoids with crossbowmen, and looking around, lee could see four more experienced looking men who were spread out around the cave for some reason, perhaps they held the key to destroying the defensive formation?

Though where they were she could not tell, only having enough time to yell "Battle-stations everyone!"
"Be careful, there might be an ambush!" Joan shouted.
"Ranks! Shields! Surround and protect our mages!" Barked out the platoon commander.

A few arrows stuck out of the soldiers' sheilds. Joan took cover behind the soldiers, from where she shot two poison bolts from her pistols. It was ineffective.

"Can anybody spot a magician? That barrier didn't pop out by itself!"
The water spirit rat has gone to check for the mage but first I think we will have to destroy those 4 containers.
Lee nodded and yelled out "Those containers are most likely enhancing the barrier's prowess, we need to get rid of them!"
Joan shot a ball lightning at one of the containers, which bounced off, discharging over the barrier and into the ground, harmlessly. An arrow flew past her head, taking a strand of hair with it, causing her to lower her profile behind the shield wall.

"The damned things seem to cast a slowing spell on projectiles."
Their is a mage over by a 5th container in the back. He appears to be a wind mage as the rat kept on getting pushed back from the container.
George quickly oriented himself to look at the magician in hiding. He wanted to hit him rather badly, but was stuck behind the shields for now.

"Ready! Slowly forward!" The leader shouted orders again, trying to move the line closer to the crossbowmen, and provide the friendly mages with more cover to destroy the containers.
Robert was rather unfortunate, as a lapse of judgement caused him to lower his shield in the wrong moment, and recieve a bolt straight into his eye. The right flank was about to break, as another man got hit in the thigh, but his comrade pushed him back and took his spot, the trained soldiers quickly reforming the semi-circle.

"Glace, can you knock down those arrows? We need to get real close!" Joan shouted.
Cadmium waits until the shield wall makes it to 10 meters from the nearest container before running rapidly at the guard and jumping into him with his sword drawn. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH DIE SCUM OF THE LANDS AND SEAS I WILL NOT SUFFER YOU TO LIVE FOR INJURING MY COMRADES!
George took on the container on the other side, catching an arrow mid flight to his cranium. His killing intent poured towards the guard, stunning him for a second. It was just enough for him to smash through the guard's skull with an overhead swing. At this point, Joan, who was looking for an opportunity, rushed from behind George, strafe-jumping in a curve toward the cointainer, intending to smash into it with the full weight of her inertia, handcannon and oversized bayonet, then jump back swiftly.
The container explodes after being damaged flinging Joan further then she tried to jump. The barrier proceeds to get weaker however it's still there.
Joan was surprised for second, but twisted in mid air, shooting an airblast from a pistol to both knock some arrows down, and slide back behind the formation. At the last moment she landed on her feet, the weight of the fall causing her to crouch down, and experience an unpleasant pulse of pain. She then noticed her handcannon was stuck into the ground, bayonet first.

George had it tougher, being closer to the explosion. Most of the shrapnel bounced off his armor, but bits and pieces were stuck inbetween plates, and one piece had managed to pierce through the shoulder, wounding him.
A guard proceeds to destroy the container Cadmium is holding the soldier away from the barrier collapses in the first part making the area become a small triangle 9 enemies left.
Joan detached the handcannon from the bayonet, and followed the slow assault of their allies.
Glace used Heavenly gale again sending a wind blast towards the enemies. The arrows were being knocked away by the wind. Applying resonance on the ground, Glace casted Cryogenic ice creating huge ice spikes, below the enemies
The ice spike kill the 2 enemies whom didn't enter into the new formation fast enough. The soldiers having been slowly moving forward had also killed off 2 enemies themselves. 5 enemies left.
Lee looked over the battlefield when she noticed George getting injured "Heal thy wounds, Clean Thy wounds [Clean]! [Heal!]" A drop of sweat fell down lee's head, as she looked over the battlefield again.
"Thank you, girl." George took a deep breath, and knocked a stray arrow, that nearly hit Lee. "Let's go back behind the shields."
Casting resonance again on the enemies as well as the spikes, Glace launched a concentrated Heavenly gale. A high speed wind blast flew out filled with sharp shield piercing ice crystals that got integrated in the wind as the spikes disappeared visibly.
Stop wasting your mana please we don't know what is ahead and it won't have any effect so long as the barrier is still up.
Lee nodded, which caused her to accidentally dodge a bullet as she nodded her head down. Seeing the real implication, she got behind the shield wall, making sure ability-inhibiting wounds don't take place.
The soldier with the thigh would was back into the fight, causing a slowdown as ranks reformed, after which the assault continued.
Glace looks at Cadmium with an annoyed expression. He stopped all of his magic except the wind around everyone to protect them from arrows. He went back towards the shield as an arrow harmlessly got deflected away by the icy wind around him.
Suddenly a strong stormlike wind hit Glace's heavenly gale, and caused the soldiers to lower their stances, in an attempt to hold on.

"What is that guy doing!?" A soldier suddenly exclaimed, looking at the wind mage, now placed behind the crossbowman formation.

The enemy mage was standing with arms raised, visible energy swirling around them, as he prepared a major spell.

Joan found this a rather bad omen, and loaded her handcannon with shrapnel, preparing to infuse it with an opposite element, for all the good that might do.

Glace looked back at the mage with cold eyes. He said in a freezing tone filled with urgency. "He is manipulating the wind around for creating an wind tunnel. We need to get out of here fast"

Cadmium ran straight towards the nearest container after his container was broken getting shot with 4 bolts in the arms he still proceeded ahead jumping onto the next gruff guard and rolling around on top of the container destroying it. The barrier weakened further.

"So would everyone like to retreat using my resonance enhanced gale or somehow destroy this almost destroyed barrier and stop the mage in five minutes?" Glace said standing behind the soldiers.
We cannot allow them to retreat so forward quick march and capture that mage. There are only 4 enemies left and 2 containers supporting the barrier.
"The barrier won't block energy passing out of it. We might have a way to disrupt his spell. Can anybody appraise the mana signature?" Joan was feeling ashamed, as her ability to sense mana at longer ranges wasn't as good as other magicians'.
"The only thing that Glace can feel is wind gathering around him forming the initial shape of wind tunnel casting. Glace can't get the mana signature."
Charge men no time for dilly dallying around trying to block or dodge things when we don't know what they do.
"I have an idea, thanks. Give me a boost up!" Joan asked Glace, then prepared to jump over the soldiers, ally and foe alike.
"Here miss joan! 'Heal thy wounds' [heal]!" Lee healed her so that she has a better chance in succeeding in the thing she was planning to do.
Cadmium charges over towards the last gruff guy protecting his container. Starting a battle on the floor the gruff guy also jumped towards Cadmium and pushed him away from the container.
Glace creates a burst of air under Joan's feet sending her off flying.
The magic engineer used the handcannon as a counterweight to correct her flight path. She hastened her thoughts, her percieved time slowing down considerably. The crossbowmen still hadn't noticed her flight above, while the mage was absorbed in his large spell. It was time to chose targets. The container powering the barrier behind the enemy squad was an obvious choice, but at this point one other remained, so she had to split her attention, and address the mage situation somehow.

The wind tunnel that the mage generated was still unformed, yet their allies almost broke formation, trying to resist the wind. Ah, there one of the crossbowmen was aiming at her. Her quickdraw looked like a completely normal action, allowing her to take her time to aim at the incoming projectile. She changed her mind, just then, aiming to the side then infusing a minor air blast, that woud steer her off course, as she was about to hit the center of the large spell before her.

She had noticed this before, but when mages were constructing powerful spells, lack of concentrantion during the spell resulted in strong backlash. She would use that to her advantage, quickdrawing another pistol, then aiming a simple flare spell to detonate on touching the target. Right before his nose. The bullet shot out, while she travelled diagonally sideways toward one of the containers. The huge mana burn of the enchanced perception started to make her dizzy, but she clutched her teeth together, and focused yet again.

The curve she made in the air took her right in front of the container. Still midair, she aimed the handcannon down, charged the shrapnel with a combination of the explosive fireball and air blast spells, draining her mana even further, then amplified that and shot it from a distance of one meter, at a strange 35 degree angle, a little to the side. The container suffered multiple blasts, and along with the nearby guard, who was half reduced to giblets, half mushy flesh from explosive shock, it fell apart, while the blast propelled Joan in a strafe run toward the final container, located behind the enemy squad.

Time was getting unstable, and quickened slightly. She turned aroud, swingng the handcannon, when she saw a bolt heading for her face. Still in slow motion, she knocked it down with her arm, losing balance in the process.

She got angry, raised her heavy weapon over her head, then swung it down, as she approached the last container, then regretting having left her Chaos back behind the allied formation, smashed cannon first into the last container, jumping off at the last moment, as the damned thing exploded in turn, throwing her back in the air, uncontrollably upwards.

From her high vantage point, she could see the wind tunnel spell becoming unstable, small whirwinds forming and gathering dust, while the barrier flickered off and time returned to its normal pace.

Joan suddenly felt pain assaulting her, aggrivated by the huge mana loss, but could only fly underneath the roof of the cave, cursing and praying in her heart that the she wouldn't fall on her head.
Seeing Joan flying uncontrollably in the air, Glace unleashed a forceful gale to prevent her from falling on the ground. The wind slowed Joan's fall and managed to take her away from the enemy but the unstable chaos caused by the unsuccessful wind tunnel spell resulted in a rather rough landing.

Joan was thankful, but seemed to have cracked a couple of ribs, and toughing it out left her unable to speak. She tried to get up from the ground, but didn't fare well in the endeavor, slowly descending back on the ground. Breathing was getting hard, while small shrapnel wounds had managed to penetrate the enchanted skin here and there, causing further pain and annoyance. Next tattoo I get will do pain reduction.

"Argh!"

The shield having gone down the remaining two terrorists try to suicide but are stopped from taking this action by the gaurdsmen dog piling on top of them. It seems to be a Flawless victory!

Cadmium walks over towards the mage and restrains his legs, arms and mouth so that he can't crush a pill in his mouth. Hey George can you come over here and wake him up for me please so that we can find our way out of hear more easily.
George gave Lee a guilty look, but felt the need to dispense some justice and vent his frustrations, so keen on the idea, he grabbed the captive mage, ordered a few soldiers to come along, and pointed at a spot in the tunnel they came back from.

"We do it over there."

No we do it here get Glace to take Lee for a little exploration back the way we came to see if we are being attacked from behind. He needs to be able to see what we are going to do. Cadmium is smiling very cruelly at this time like one of those evil young masters with a beautiful virgin.

"You are a nasty bastard; you know that?" George said. He was nonetheless waiting for Lee and Glace to leave.

Nasty bastard you say that's the best compliment you can come up with please try harder next time. Cadmium proceeds to flash a toothy smile at the 2 non-magical terrorists whom are strung up like rag dolls by the guards.

"Let's go Lee," Glace said with a 'not really a fan of what was gonna happen here' expression. Let's go explore this place.

You two are lucky that we have to ask these questions quickly as I love taking these things slowly but I guess that is going to be impossible this time. Cadmium sighs slightly and his fingers have lightning gently collecting upon them.

"Hmm?" Lee looked at him with a tilted head for a moment, but decided to go with him as she finished healing another soldier, Then she looked worriedly over to Joan "I think she needs healing..."

"She is fine", Glace replied with a straight face, "That's just the aftereffects of using magic like an idiot."

"Alright then.." Lee sighed, then continued following him.

After randomly roaming the different corridors for half an hour with Lee, Glace found a paved path full of closed doors. He decided to check it out.

"Let's be careful" Lee was also curious about what was in there.

"Lee check if any doors on the right side are open or not." says Glace while going to check the other doors.

"Un"
Lee walked forward to the right doors, checking for and traps before attempting to open them, 1-2 doors later, she felt one was a bit looser than the others, signs of being used often. "I think I found something."

Glace finds all the doors on his side close. Hearing Lee's shout, "Let's go carefully".

"Un~"
She opened the door carefully and...
"Ew~! theirs used clothes everywhere! this is there changing room!"

"We should try breaking the locks of the remaining five doors"

"Alright~"
She went to the next door and
"Puuuuuhiii~!"
tried pushing it open

Glace freezes the lock and breaks it open by shattering the ice. "Let's hope that we find something interesting"

"alright~"
she looked around looking

Inside the room four oval-like objects were present."Are they eggs?"Glace asked.

"Nnnnn...I'm note sure, let's gather them~"
Lee walked close to one and poked it, then picked it up

Picking up the other three eggs, Glace went back outside, Lee followed suit.

Glace and Lee than tried all other doors by breaking the lock but only found some coins. Seeing that they were wandering around for quite a while,Glace decided to return back to where others were
"I wonder if something will hatch~" (^o^)

Joan raised her arm, trying to say something. On closer inspection one could hear a "Lee, please help." said in a quiet voice. The soldier patching her up shouted out "Healer! We need a healer!"

Lee hurridely went to joan "Wha-What?!" she exclaimed as she looked joan over "Heal thy wounds [Heal]! Clean Thy self [clean]!" Using a bit more mana than she expected, Lee's eyes glazed over a bit, with sweat drops formed on her head "Heal Thy wounds [heal]!"doing it for good measure, saving enough to stay awake and return to a place of sleeping and not much more. Looking at joan, It seemed that the injuries that inhibited her movement were gone, but she still had a few internal injuries left that could heal in time, or at a later date.


***

And that's all for the relevant events inside the underground complex. When we exited the facility, most of the tunnels had been abandoned. It would seem that whatever was powering that storm over the bridge was transported outside hastily, and we only encountered a small remnant of the force responsible for the incident. There were the remains of a fire, which contained a number of burned papers. Some words we were able to make out from those, were "weapon test" and "diplomatic mission", also the word "-bottom", which we assume meant the Lord was a target. As for the situation at the camp that transpired later, we only arrived at the scene after the fact, and not much is known, other than the truth that our C rank colleague went above and beyond the call of duty to save Lord Daobottom from certain death. We officially declare to have no further knowledge pertaining to this, and request that their report be refered to instead.

Spoiler: Notes

Met up with escort target. Got introduced to the local commander at a nearby camp. An observer was placed along with us. Weather anomaly of magical origin observed at bridge. Magic circle explodes, party and escort target nearly perished. Located a nearly abandoned underground complex. Underground complex contained remnants of a terrorist organization, affiliated to Schattenlicht. 200 Wooden coins, 4 eggs of unknown origin located inside storage area. Burned remains of documentation found at the exit. Observed the aftermath of an assault on the soldier camp.

 

((I'll be tagging due to the sheer size of the report. @Ddraig @TiggerBane @leegood @BB_Tensei ))

Sorgre finished reading the report and gave a slight nod. "It seems everything is okay with the report itself, but the contents are... In short, the least unwanted outcome... Ah, don't be mistaken. I don't mean your performance, but the current situation in itself." He sighed and started filling a bunch of papers as a boarkin brought four bags with the rewards. "The total rewards are 3 L. Wooden coin, 20 S. Wooden Coins and 25 Merit Points for each one of you, and as for the Special Reward..." He nodded to the Boarkin lady and she handed him four pieces of paper. "Those are permits to keep those eggs. Usually, you'd have to go through a three month's long process to gain the authorization, or just jump some steps by buying from the Merit shop a pet that's already certified." Showing the four pieces of paper, he said. "Would you want as your extra reward those papers? In addition, I'll ignore any complaint filled by Daobottom about you guys and I'll add an extra 2 L. Wooden coin, 5 S. Wooden Coins and 15 Merits to the rewards, making it 1 S. Cooper Coin, 2 L. Wooden Coins and 40 Merits for each. Can't do anything about Rank Points, but I'll do at least this much. So, will you take? Will you not? The eggs will be confiscated if you don't accept, though."

Spoiler: Many many things I wanted to point out.

Not exactly on order. Disclaimer, those are all just jokes. Don't take to the heart.

And be the undesired comedic relief!

Fourth wall breaking 1!

*proceeds to move the bishop to the enemy Queen's place*
*stares at King*
Omae wa mou shindeiru...

*starts playing shounen opening music*

"Money is worth money! WAOW!"

Said no real merchant ever.

So... haggling is a crime? What a shitty place to live.

Truth was spoken.

Bloody hell, you explained it yourself, like, 10 minutes ago!
Sheesh!

I feel that Glace will really grow on me...

What if he's a Margrave then?

Daobottom Ex Machina.

Dude... what the f*ck is with that? Who the heck does this?

No, seriously. Try to imagine, it'll be weird as hell. The wording killed whatever you were trying to convey with that, as it just strikes me as odd.

Okay, so I guess George is just into strange shit, and you want to make sure you get this across, heh?

... and we're idiots.

Ewwww!
Aside from being weird as hell if taken out of context, it also doesn't sends any message aside from you being weird randomly.
If you want to showcase how much your character is ready or eager to battle, tap the scabbard or grip it like a normal person does.

And we assume based on anything.
If you assume, at least state the premises to lead to such assumption, otherwise it just sound random...

It actually isn't...

You should hit him, then hit yourself, because it isn't.

And Daobottom seemingly gave half a f*ck for what they said.

I guess there wouldn't be a bridge at this point, would there?
Unless the flames are just for show.

The most expensive umbrela of the story of expensive umbrelas.

Umbrela Ex Machina

Fourth Wall breaking 2!

That must hurt a bit.

You know... based on how few evidences they have to back up this claim, it makes it look like the character is pulling it from his ass, since it could have been some natural disaster that ended up unfortunately dammning the river.

If she has blood in his throat, and is coughing it, she shouldn't be able to talk!

Snubbed.

Cadmium Ex Machina.

Glace is a precious cinnamon roll sometimes.

Pun intended.

Fourth wall breaking 3!!!

You know, when you use something to indicate who is bloody coughing, considering that you didn't used in any other situation, it just strikes me as odd.

Bargain Bin Harry Potter and Bargain Bin Hufflepuff Goblet.

I think that... instead of just alcohol, he'd be puking his fuking meals after a punch straight in the guts while unprepared.

Well, I'll just step out a bit from the joking tone, or supposed joking tone, to say that, by far, Glace is the most solid and incredible character in this task.
I mean, he was pretty much true to his personality most of the task, and he's so simple and endearing that it actually surprised me. I can only say that I've loved a lot what you did here, and although there are some points here and there where he slips out of character, it was a really goddamn good job.
Anyway, back to the supposed jokes.

Oh, look! It's Haxagen!

An, nevermind... It's that kind of trap...

That is a bit near a "WRYYYY!", so it begs me the question.
Is that a motherf*cking Jojo reference?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It's not funny.

Uuuhhh... Are yyou guys alright there? Eh, okay.

Firstly, the shields most probably aren't made of wood, so the arrows wouldn't be stuck in it.
Second, as revealed later on, they're crossbowmen, not bowman, so it's bolts, not arrows. And in this case, yeah, some would get stuck.

And I know this because... Reasons!!!
For all they know, after not making any investigation or checking at all, the key to bring down the barrier could actually be the crossbowmen, making the four men be diversions, or anything else, really.

This phrase is wishful thinking, at best.

Robert wasn't unfortunate. Robert was a numptie!

Bargain Bin Leroy Jenkins.

Defying the laws of physics without magic.

Defying the laws of physics without magic 2: Trying to justify, but failing miserably.

OOOOH, so they're blind!

Rather than aiming at her by himself, wouldn't it be better to warn the others to shoot a barrage at her?
What a shitty plan he had here.

Again, bolt. You used it quite some times, so why insist in it, George.
Also, if it nearly hit her, he must have some goddamn reflexes and speed.
I guess that he gets this in enchange from being a weirdo.

Ah, so now she lost the power to defy the laws of physic?

In whose books? For me it looked like it was a f*cking struggle.

Dude...

Why though?

I also think that.

Glace... You're my boy, but... She's clearly beaten up.

And of course you're taking the advice as a given. Goddamn...

No, they're pretzels.

Because... why not!

So we're already taking as a given that they're eggs now....?

 

Trap Ex Machina

 

@Haxagen

Walking up to the counter, Blaiz gave his ticket of completion to the receptionist and waited.

Spoiler: Enchanting

"Understood. Good luck, and don't set the whole area alight."


After leaving the desk Blaiz finally said in frustration, “You use fire magic in the wrong place one time and everyone immediately assumes that you’re irresponsible with your magic! Why?!” Then he breathes in deeply and exhales to relieve his anger. Though Mira seemed to wake up at his statement. “Anyway Ruby, do you know anything about enchanting or are we going to need to learn from scratch?”


“I’m an elemental, Master, why would I know anything about enchanting?” The loli said in a questioning manner.


Learning this Blaiz decided to head to the enchanting guild and start from there. I’ll succeed in this quest no matter what, thought the dragonkin.


Walking to the building was mostly uneventful. Still it was interesting to see the capital and go window shopping with the...right, they’re nearly broke. Well the trio walked on to the enchanting guildhouse with great gusto to hide their inner depression at being poor. Arriving at their location the elemental and her master stopped to marvel at the building! Or rather what was left of it….


“Master, I think we took a wrong turn somewhere.” Ruby said looking at the dilapidated...shack for lack of a better word.


“As much as I hate to admit it, Ruby, this is the correct location.” Said the dragonkin as he sighed in even more depression. “I think that our fellow magicians must have made them nearly run out of business and this is all that they can pay for now.”


“...Master, let’s go back and say that we can no longer complete the task. So far the Association hasn’t implemented a penalty so we can get away scott free!” Is what the loli said while sweating nervously.


“No, this is our task, Ruby, and we must complete it whether we want to or not!” Blaiz said in a confident manner as he walked inside the shack. “See, Ruby, this place isn’t so bad after all! Look at all of the gold plated chandeliers!”


“Master, those are just floating candles that have been painted yellow.”


“What about the windows? They’re so clear that you can see right through them!”


“That’s because there’s no glass in the windows.”


“Okay, then how about luxurious green carpets that are spread out beneath our feet?”


“That’s just rotting wood that has gotten too out of hand.”


“...Can you please let me delude myself that I’ll still get money somehow, Ruby?” Blaiz said exasperatedly.


“Nope! Master’s one and only source of happiness is only me! There can be no others!” Ruby said with a grin.


“Haa, fine, let’s just try and find the person who runs this place, then.” The dragonkin said with a sigh. “Maybe ringing that bell will help?” He said as he spotted a silver bell that was very tarnished. Picking up the bell, Blaiz examined to find a lot of engravings on it. Perhaps the bell was a magic item to summon the guildmaster? Thinking as much, Blaiz rung the bell.


What happened next was wildly unexpected. A ripple of light shot out from the bell and a slight crack could be heard as if a spell was broken. Anywhere the light passed over seemed to restore itself to its previous majesty. The windows regained glass, stained at that. Rooms seemed to spring up from nowhere as the walls repaired themselves. Next came curtains, rugs, carpets, and chandeliers, finishing with a library of books and a letter with instruction written on it about what Blaiz needed to do to finish the quest.


Meanwhile Blaiz and Ruby were completely shocked with their mouths wide open. As for the sleeping dragon, she seemed to wake up with a cute mew to announce it, which triggered the minds of the fiery duo to start working again.


“See Ruby, this is why you should never judge a book by its cover. If you do then you might miss out on the best spellbook that the world has to offer!”


“Master, please try to act respectfully.”


After having another miniature argument, Blaiz looked over the letter.


Dear Association member, please take a look at one of the many books that we have and try to enchant an object. Once done ring the bell again and you shall be judged on whether or not you have completed the task.


Seeing as much, Blaiz thought that he would try to enchant his sword a bit more with the powers of space and time. Hopefully it’ll at least reduce casting times, though an efficiency bonus would also be nice. Grabbing for the required books, he studied up on the theories pretty quickly and decided to put them into practice.


The dragonkin grabbed a stone tablet and started chiseling it so that it had the shape of an empty hourglass with a swirling galaxy in the center of the two halves. He tried it out and while it did seem to improve the casting time of his Slow magic, it only seemed to go down to fifty-nine minutes and his teleportation remained the same. Mulling over the design a bit more, Blaiz started speckle the hourglass with stars disguised as sand, signifying that stars were as common and close together as sand.


This time his Slow went down to a mere forty-five minutes and his teleportation only costed four fifths of what it used to. Being content, Blaiz started to scribe the pattern into his sword, inlaying the pattern with silver to make it more permanent and pronounced. It worked just as well he hoped it to, so the dragonkin decided to try out something else as well. He didn’t like always taking things out of thin air, so he decided to try and make an inventory bag to hide it.


The first pattern that he tried was a circle with more circles inside of it. This was carved into the seal of a small leather pouch with around a half of a cubic meter of space inside. Sensing around, Blaiz figured that it successfully doubled in size, but he wasn’t quite happy with those results. Thinking such, he decided to add a spiral connecting all of the circles, but that made it even worse.


Finally, he sighed and placed the bag and the sword near Mira as he went back to the books to try and understand the theories better. As he did so, Ruby was petting Mira who was purring in content. Soon the dragon started humming a strange tune filled with the empty feelings of one forgotten by time. The song seemed to resonate with the bag and the sword as they shimmered with magic.


Noticing the light, Blaiz turned looked away from his book and checked the equipment for any defects. He found none as they had instead improved! The sword now reduced his chant for Slow to thirty minutes on himself, and three seconds on others! As for teleportation, it only used up three fifths of the amount of mana that it used to! Even the bag seemed to have its volume multiplied by ten!


Shocked, Blaiz looked at Mira in a skeptical fashion. Thinking about the song he heard, he decided it best to look for a book on dragons at a library soon to try and identify her true species. One thing was sure, though. She was most certainly not a fire a dragon.


Seeing as he was finished, Blaiz decided to ring the bell, which appraised his wares quickly before a ticket appeared before him. It was the proof of task completion. The dragonkin was ecstatic when he headed outside the building with Ruby and Mira in tow. As they left, he was humming that same strange song that Mira had.

Spoiler: Notes

-Mira isn't a fire dragon
-Blaiz made storage bags! Expect a business opportunity soon.

 

"Umu. I understand."
Nadia finished her reading of the report.
"Well, it's a good way to earn money, especially for non-magic users. Here you go."
She placed a bag of rewards on the table.

 

@Haxagen
"Lass, the job done," I said as I put the slip of completion. "Hope everythin be okay with this."

Spoiler: Helpin the Librarian Lass

[Help out in the Library]
This be a good time to make meself useful. And also apart from the free lodging, I be a dirt poor dwarf. And, by thunder, I won’t be a dirt poor dwarf! My ancestor will curse me from their grave! And for that, I took me first task….

“…what be my task again?”

I looked at the paper I just got from the lass at the receptionist desk. Never really got her name. I put that on my note for now. Let’s see…help out at the library? Ain’t that too simple of description! Argh, blast it, faster to go there and just ask the librarian.

=============================================​

“Yes, your task is to help out the librarian here.”

Sandstone! Ye are not helpin at all! Well, at least ye be a perty lass. Be that the only reason they put ye here? Surely that not the case.

“Can ye be more specific, lass?”

“Hmm….since the library is not that crowded due to the sewer problem there hasn’t been much thing to tidy up. But we sure do have a bit of them here, if you don’t mind.”

Sewer problem? I remembered hearin that not long ago? Maybe?

“Sure. I did signed up fer the task, now do I?” I then gave her the widest grin I had of the day.

She flashed me her own smile an’ then gave me a stack of book…..let me fix that. She gave me a stack of THICK BOOKS. Nay, I be far from kiddin you. The stack of them almost as tall as me.

“Thank you very much for that, Mr. Ironskin. The other book has been put on their designated place except these little ones.”

Geez, I wonder why? Might that be the size that caused them!? Gah! No time to waste, I reckoned. Might as well started me job. I then picked them up without letting a single sound. And…blazing beard! These books are heavy! Might be as heavy as me hammer. Nae! Twice of them, in fact. Heh, but that be nothing for me. A good workout for me, I say.

“So, lass, show me the bookshelves, if ye be so kind?”

“Certainly, Mr. Ironskin. It’s over there, the largest on the back near the wall. You can see it right from here,” said the librarian while pointing toward the place.

“Over there, largest one near the wall. Aye.”

“And also please arranged them according to their title and author.”

“Aye, gotcha.”

And with that last words I walked toward the bookshelves. Sure enough, this be not as hard as I imagined. I mean, back in me place, I used to read lots of book, ya know? And keepin them in a proper order will make me easier for me to look up somethin mighty quick. But….by the beard, these books be as heavy as two of me own hammer. Glad I could do that, if not me arms might break. Or it will take me lots of time.

Anyway, when I reached the shelves, I looked at the books and then sorted them out, one by one. Not the most exciting jobs, ye say? Well, everyone needs to start small, ya know? And this is a nice start for me.

“…oi, this book….”

Let me fix that. This be a very good start for me! Hahaha! Why, ye might ask? Since I found meself a good book. The title is “Fire Liquid, The Drink”. Never thought I be findin a good alcohol book in here. After puttin that one aside, I continued my work. And by some luck, I can reach all of the place no problem. Of course, there be a ladder near me. An’ I ken surely raise the earth, but that be a messy job. And I be sure that that librarian lass will scold me fer that. Better not do it.

Finished with me task, I read the book. Sure enough, most of them be weak drink. Only a handful of them be a nice throat burner for me. Hmm….the herbs be simple enough to gather, I reckoned. The association might have them, ya know? Hahaha! Nice find. Nice find indeed.

Finished readin the book, I put it on it’s place before returning back to the librarian lass. The lass gave me a slip for completin the job. Simple job, simple slip. I be content at that. Time to get back to report it.

 

"Hmm. No problems with that one. As for the herbs you seek, they can be found in the greenhouse. Maybe you could go gather herbs there occasionally?"
Finished, she took out a bag from under the counter.
[ 1 L. Wooden coin| 10 Merit Points ]
"Here ya go."

 

Task: Collecting of Herbs Near the Association

Spoiler: Story

“...Shit.” Luke exclaimed after realizing his mess up before sighing in defeat and heading out of the association, knowing not to stray too far from the Association City.

“Haa~ Am I a fool? Or just simply stupid?” Luke mumbles to himself while walking among the crowds, after awhile he reached the gate and headed outside, hoping to finish this task fast so he won’t get ambushed.

After walking for awhile he reached a small grotto and noticed some mushrooms with polka-dots on them of all colours and put them in his bag before leaving the grotto and heading towards the association to turn his report in.

Spoiler: Notes

Intended to post this at 1 am, but got distracted for a few hours~ Basic Task Report, because laziness is bliss.

@Haxagen

 

"Seems alright. Here you go."
Nadia took out a bag.

 

@Haxagen
"Oi, lass. Got a basket of them here. Hope that be enough."
Not enough for me, at least. Blasted!

Spoiler: Pickin Herb

[Collecting of Herbs in the Association’s Greenhouse]
“Ah, the smell of the herb. Ain’t that a wonderful smell in the morn. Hahaha!”

Got to handed to the association. They managed a nice place here. It be far from huge and vast, but it be enough fer now. Okay, enough wastin time. If I have time to waste, might as well lookin for those herbs. And what did that lass said? Don’t pick too much? Aye, that be it. Of course, they dinna say how much be too much, eh? A basket of them be enough, I suppose.

To my surprise, there be many of the member here pickin herb. I know some of them, of course. What do ye take me fer? We Ironskin need to know the bounty of the land, ya know? And with that, I quickly took one of the free baskets – it be made quite properly, I must add, material and technique I mean – before walking toward the middle of the greenhouse. Why, ye ask? Why to find the herb I want. As soon as I reached the center of the place, it was time to put me skill to the test. Echo Earth, I called it. I stomped my feet on the soft soil and then put my mana into it. Just a wee bit is enough. The place ain’t that large anyway. And I’m sure the herb ain’t hidden deep down in the ground.

“Hoho, that way, eh? Hahaha!”

I then walked toward the area my echo told me the proper location of them herb. Along the way, the other member gave me a weird look. What? Never saw a dwarf before? Or did they felt the mana? Nonsense! Tha place be filled with mana already because of the variety of herb. Must be the beard, eh? Got ta take care of it later. Don’t want to look dirty, ya know?

“…This be the place?” I said with one of me brows lifted up. “By the beard! So little!”

Yes, so little. Only a wee bit of them left. I mean, sure the area be filled with them. But not like we cou’ take them all. Or else there be nothin left to grow. Blasted! Am I too late? Probably that. I cou’ barely fill the basket. There be no more left for me own to make that drink. Bah! Whatever! Time be not on my side, it seems.

Ah, forgot to mention what I be lookin fer. Fire Root. Aye, that fire root. The combustible one. I be hopin that I cou’ harvest some of them and take a wee bit for meself. Apparently that be not the case fer today. Maybe someone in the association needed them, eh? Dissapointin.

It took me not long to collect the herb, while grumblin of course. Hey, my plan got ruined. What do ye think? The remaining ones, that is. The place be almost empty of harvestable herb. No wonder the lass said to not takin too much. This way the greenhouse ain’t gonna be enough to keep up the order.

“Bah! I be needin another plan,” I said as I took me harvest to the receptionist lass. Should I take them to the lass or not? Might as well as her when I meet her.

 

"Welcome back. Let's see...hmm...Ah, the greenhouse must have been rather underwhelming, judging from what you collected."
Nadia grinned.
"Your main objective is the Fire Root, yes? There are reports of it growing in abundance in the mountainous regions surrounding the Association HQ, but it also means you might encounter monsters, so be careful if you decide to pick herbs from there."
Having finished, the Half-Undine took out a small bag.
"Here you go."

 

@Naraku

Walking up to the counter, Blaiz once again placed the ticket on the counter and waited for Umbrum to show up to confirm that the task was completed.

Spoiler: Library

Umbrum quickly nodded as he seemed to be flustered about something regarding a new member, fortunately, Blaiz didn't know why he was acting like this. "Granted ! Please don't use Fire Magic in the library~ we never know what might happen~" Only his voice didn't seem to be flustered but everything else…


Leaving the building, Blaiz once again complained about people not trusting him. “Sure, a fire mage is highly volatile with their magic, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to accidentally burn everything down!”


“Master, they’re just trying to be cautious. Don’t blame them. It’s also part of their job, after all.” Replied the summoned elemental. Perhaps she was correct? Well, the only way to be sure is to go to the library.


The duo (trio if you included Mira) walked to the library together while idly chatting about things like the weather, their dreams last night, and what the task might entail. Soon they arrived at the front door to the library. It was wide open, but there were guards blocking the way in as soon as they saw Ruby. “Sorry, no fire elementals, water elementals, or wind elementals in the library.”


“Eh? But she can control her flames just fine and has never burnt anything before!” Blaiz said defensively.


“Sorry, but rules are rules.” Was what one of the guards said in response.


“Ruby, we’ll be teleporting in. They’ve already given us the details of where to go for the twenty books that we need to put away along with the sections that they belong in. I’ll take half, while you do the other ten. I’ll make sure to slow the guards so that they can’t catch us, so it’ll be really embarrassing if you still get caught, okay?” Blaiz whispered the loli. Apparently he was a little too determined to get the quest completed.


“Er, Master, you can just leave me here, you know.” Ruby suggested. At least she was thinking clearly when Blaiz can’t.


“Not going to happen. This is clearly racism and should be reported to the Magic Association.” The dragonkin said as looked like a figure of justice! ...Okay, he looked like a misguided citizen, but it’s close enough, right?


Blaiz quickly grabbed Ruby, muttered Slow a few times to slow down the guards who only just started to realize what was going on. He then teleported them both inside of the library which luckily had its doors open. By then he already used up half of his magic supply, but he wouldn’t be needing it anymore. Letting go of Ruby, he grabbed his books, memorized the map that he received, and then gave it to his elemental.


“Well then Ruby, I’m off. Get them put away quickly so that we can teleport back into the Association!” Said the completely irresponsible dragonkin. ...At least he wasn’t abusing his fire magic?


“Master, I’m pretty sure that this is illegal.” Ruby said, once again acting as the straight man.


“Ruby, they are the ones who are being racist. We are completely in the right.” Blaiz said before speed walking, not running, off.


“Haa, why did I ever fall for you…." The elemental wondered aloud. “It’s probably because he’s doing this for my sake, but still, he’s going too far!” Frustrated, the redhead decided to just focus and put away the books. She spotted the guards trying to run towards her, but they were too slow. Apparently the sword increased the magic’s strength too.


Sighing once again, she put away the first book, something about ancient weapons called “railguns” away in the magic tools section. Next was a book on how to drastically improve your transmutation and make you ten times stronger despite the magic itself being quite weak. That one went in the transmutation section. Though she still didn’t understand what a “gun” was and how it could be that effective.


Next was a romance book about a loner finding something in common with a school’s belle. Ruby made a mental note to ask her master to check it out for her later since it seemed interesting. Her fourth book was a novel about two men falling in love. She had a strong urge to burn the book, along with the whole section it belonged to, but she managed to restrain herself somehow.


After putting the book away slightly warmer than it should be, she moved onto the next one...or six. Apparently they all went in the same genre called “yuri.’ They each depicted girls falling in love with each other, so she made a note to recommend them to Blaiz since he seemed interest in the subject though she doesn’t know why. Putting them away, she dodged the ever-so-slowly moving guards and left the library where she met Blaiz who got the ticket for task completion. All that was left was to report.

Spoiler: Notes

-The library is racist towards elementals
-The library is not well guarded.