[Update 1/1]

Seeing Tugela hanging upside down above such a dangerous height, makes you grab your broom even tighter.

“Can you, perhaps, tell me more about this errand we are supposed to do?” you scream through your lungs; the wind is not making it any easier to reach her. “Tugela!” you repeat even louder, “Can you perhaps tell me-!”

She blinks as her broom swiftly glides in order to hover just above you, “Oh, it’s nothing serious,” she says.

You sigh in relief. You are not sure why Wardress Virginia needs two people to pick up a book or maybe a letter…

“People living in one of the streets in Kraal, it’s the nearest town to our headquarters, have reported seeing and interacting with a ghost. Apparently, some sort of paranormal presence has been stealing their belongings.”

You blink. You try your hardest to keep your emotions, and your control over the faulty broom, in your hands. It takes you a while to break the silence and look at Tugela straight and serious, “Our errand is to catch a ghost?!”

“They say it’s a ghost,” Tugela tells you back as she continues swinging, “But it’s obviously a rogue mage.”

“H-how can you be so sure?” you ask her, “With all the magic around, a ghost would not be the strangest thing.”

“You are right,” she smirks casually, “Good thinking, healer girl, this ghost maight be some sort of unique magic!”

“No, it can be a real ghost,” you panic. Your heard many, many stories about the undead. You shake your head furiously, “But even if it’s just a rogue magic with ghost magic, this is still a dangerous mission – not an errand!”

“Woah there,” Tugela places her hand over your broom to send her own magic into it in order to stabilize it, “Calma down, take a few deep breaths. It’s going to be alright. I am a full fledge Magic Knight, remember?”

“Y-yes, you are,” you narrow your eyes in annoyance, “And I’m just a tailor girl. Do you really need me here?”

“It should be pretty simple,” she shrugs, “It’s a low-grade maission, but even then, Captain Charlotte prefers not to let us go do thema solo, just in case somaething bad might happen. I’ma not saying it will, but your healing magic maight just come in handy if I’ll end up with a wound. I don’t need you to do anything dangerous.”

“I-I understand,” you nod and sigh; you hope Tugela is as good as she makes herself out to be. “How did you manage to convince the Wardress to forgive him? When I meet her, she wasn’t very friendly?” You ask.

“Oh, Virginia is a sweet waoman,” Tugela says with a smirk, “You just need to know her buttons to push,” her orange – you still can’t get over just how exotic her eyes are – glare looks through you, “She wouldn’t forgive mae if I told you,” she slaps her knee, forcing her broomstick to make a full circle around you, “Basically, mae and her are friends. Call it nepotisma, sure,” she grins as she lowers herself besides you. You give her a slow head nod.

You reach the furthest commune in Kraal quite fast; the street itself is far less populated than the streets in your home town. However, the houses here are just as pretty and well-kept, and made out of expensive rock, as they are in Kikka. The brownish-pavement roads are all clean and constantly maintained, and even the bush fences look recently trimmed. Certainly, this must be the calmest resort part of town – to where old families retire to.

The two of you land without any accident. Either by luck, or by effort, but your way here was less dangerous and unpredictable than your travel to the Blue Rose Headquarters. Perhaps, you are simply getting used to it?

Tugela kindly agrees to hide your magic broom in her grimoire, together with your own. Now your hands are free.

“So,” you start as you follow Tugela in her walk, “How do we begin?”

Tugela smirk as she quickly grabs one of the well-looking (clothes-wise) men and spins him towards herself. “Hey,” she says playfully as he looks at her with shock, “We’re here for the ghost, heard anything about that?” She asks.

“O-oh,” he finally notices the emblem of the Blue Rose on her cloak, “F-finally, yes. I can’t even walk carrying anything expensive on me because of it! You are finally here!” His eyes look down on you, with no cloak and all.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, she smiles at the man before looking over the streets, “Can you tell mae the last places those encounters happened at? Maybe how often they do? Just skip the useless information please.”

He adjusts his coat, “The most recent one was yesterday, a man named Murray has been robbed near the Finalis half-pub. His wedding ring has been stolen; his wife has been on edge since. She will be so happy to hear you are finally taking care of this ghost!” He points in one direction, then in another, “His house is there, and the half-pub is over there. I’m sure at least one of them will be able to tell you further but… This is all so strange and spooky!”

Tugela glances over at you, “Where do you want to go first, then – the half-pub or this guy’s Murray’s house?”

“M-me?”

“Sure,” she smiles, “I’ll let you play the investigator, little healer.”

> Go to Murray family house to question him about the accident.
> Go to Finalis half-pub to question the owner and the people there about the ghost.
> Insist that Tugela decides herself. She is the Magic Knight here.
> Ask further questions to the man before you. (Specify).
> [Write In]

>>3814570
> Go to Finalis half-pub to question the owner and the people there about the ghost.

>>3814570
> Go to Finalis half-pub to question the owner and the people there about the ghost.

>>3814574
>> Go to Finalis half-pub to question the owner and the people there about the ghost.

>>3814570
> Ask further questions to the man before you. (Specify).
> “What time do the thefts mostly occur?
> “Are the objects stolen just expensive? Or are they usually of similar size of shape? Or have sentimental value for the victims?”
> “What exactly makes everybody think it’s a ghost?”

[Update 1/3]

“Before that, I want to ask a few more questions,” you turn towards the man to question him. He looks at Tugela with visible reluctance, as if asking if he should be even bothering with you. She nods, approvingly. “Thank you. Can you tell me what time do the thefts mostly occur at?” you ask.

The well-off man runs his hand through his bushy, black beard in a thought, “From what I heard, closer to evenings.”

“Are the objects stolen just expensive? Or are they usually of similar size of shape? Or have sentimental value for the victims?” you insist with your interrogation.

“Poaches with yuls, necklaces, amulets, pocket watches, jewel headgears and, like I said, even wedding rings. I can’t say for certain,” he harrumphs, “This thing did not dare to steal from me, yet, but I imagine that yes, the things it is after are small, expensive items that the victims have in their possession when it attacks them…”

“What exactly makes everybody think it’s a ghost? Why do you think it’s a ghost?”

“You girl,” he snorts, as if insulted, “What else can it be? Nobody who says they were attacked said they saw a person doing it, their items just disappeared into thin air. Of course, before we contacted your Headquarters, we considered it being some sort of invisibility magic rogue but… the mana we sensed lead to nothing but empty air.”

Tugela pats her own head, as if trying to push the information into her skull. You give the man a bow of gratitude, “Thank you,” you say as you turn to Tugela, “For your answers. Every bit of information will be useful to us, yes.”

The man’s face softens when you show him proper appreciation; he wishes you good luck in catching the ghost – whichever way you are supposed to do that – before departing. “Let’s go to the half-pub. There are more people there,” you tell Tugela as you begin moving towards one of the directions the man had pointed you towards.

Soonish, you reach the Finalis half-pub, a three-storey building with a signboard on the second board declaring a common shopping zone in there. You hesitate a bit before entering the heavily smoke-filled hall: tobacco and also many unregulated magic herbs fill up the air. Tugela enters shortly after you, and immediately leaves to the counter of the pub in order to talk – or so you hope – with the pub-maid. You lower your head and tuck your hair up front from under your ear to make yourself as inconspicuous as possible. The strikes of the glass mugs, the heavy celebrations and adult discussions – the whole loud atmosphere of the pub makes you extremely queasy.

By the time you manage to step over the uneven flooring and bend, yet tricky, nails, to reach the counter, you find Tugela already drinking something from her glass. You furrow your brows. Is she even taking this mission seriously or not? She smiles at you and then nods to the barmaid, who doesn’t look surprised to your presence. The young woman with long, brown hair continues to rub one of glasses in wait of, what you assume to be, your questions.

You take a quick glance as the surpassingly lit pub; all the candles are way above the reach of the customers.

“Welcome to the ‘Soft Landing’,” the woman finally speaks as she pours Tugela another serving.

“Thank you, I’m with the Blue Rose,” you say as you nod towards Tugela, “We are investigating this… ghost.”

“Oh, the thieving ghost,” the woman nods. She almost interrupts you. “A recent development, but many people here have encountered it. I feel safe because I have nothing of value to be taken from me,” she jokes with a smile.

“How often does it happen?” you ask her as you take a sit one of the raised stools. Tugela continues nodding.

“No less than three ‘attacks’ per week, maybe more. But it has been happening for a few weeks now, no longer.”

“I see,” your stomach grumbles as you catch a whiff of the fresh roast coming from the kitchen.

> Ask what you will of the pub-maid. (Specify.)
> Order some food and drink for the meagre amount of money you have.
> [Write In]

>>3816551
>Have the attacks been occurring in a specific part of town?
>Has anyone new or strange been staying in town recently?
>Has anyone actually caught sight of this 'ghost' in the act of stealing?

>>3817267
This

[Update 2/2]

“Have the attacks been occurring in a specific part of town?”

“Yes,” the pub-maid says with her eyebrow a bit irked, “I believe the ghost is haunting our street alone.”

“Any idea why that might be?” you ask her.

She shakes her head, “I can’t say I am a ghost specialist, young miss.”

“Has anyone new or strange been staying in town recently?”

“There are infrequent visitors to Kraal, but almost none of them visits or stops at this street. Most people that live around here are locals, you see. The houses here are on the more expensive side, and a lot of the people who live here are either wealthy people spending their time in their holiday houses because of the Grand Mana Zone located not far from the city or older retirees. Hm… no, nobody I could describe as strange was here in particular.”

“Has anyone actually caught sight of this 'ghost' in the act of stealing?”

“Depends on what you mean by that,” she says, “None of those who have been robbed and haunted saw a phantom or any spectral figure, if that is what you are asking. But miss Kramwell says that she kept her bag close to her chest, embraced in her hands, and it still vanished into thin air without anyone or anything being there.”

You look at Tugela, to who alcohol seems to be no match no matter how much she drinks it.

“Let’s split,” she whistles as she calls for the pub-maid to pour her another serving, “I am going to ask everyone around in this pub who interacted with this ‘ghost’ to show mae the exact location and exact time it happened.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” you nod, “It might be easier if we know where to focus.”

“Exactly,” she raises her mug in a cheer, “And if there’s any magic present, then it’s nothing going to escape may eyes! You should go to this Maurray place, ask him to tell you as mauch information about his happenstance as you can, I’d rather not deal with angry wives,” she pauses before she rips off the Blue Rose emblem off her cloak and tosses it into your hands, “You are going to need it, we don’t want them to go paranoid on your butt do we?”

“Don’t put it like that,” you wince. You let a small surge of magic into the emblem and your shirt to combine them together. “What about you?” you ask her, “Will those people be friendly to you without your group sign?”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” she waves her hand, “I still got my blue cloak. And I’m a frequent visitor here.”

“Alright,” is all you can say as you turn to leave. She promises to meet you once you finished your talk. You hope that is not just an excuse for her to indulge in more drinking. You sigh as you begin climbing the steep hill to reach one of the many beautiful houses, similar to the ones below it but twice the size of them, with a garden each.

The leaves on the trees all tinkle with magical melody, and the rainbow fruits sparkling and glow with pure mana.

You step on the porch with well decorated railings before you stop in front of a white, wooden door. You knock.

The chain holding the door from opening fully jams as a fat, middle-aged face looks out of it, “Who is there?”

“Hello,” you meekly look at the man. You curse Pero to all hells having to deal with all of this. “I am with the Blue Rose. Me and my… companion are investigating a ghost and we heard that it stole one of your possessions?”

“Ah, yes,” the man gulps down his… sobs? Now that you look closer, he has massive black circles under his visibly red eyes – is he lacking sleep? Perhaps this wedding ring is more sentimental than you anticipated. “But are you really with the Blue Rose Magic Knights?” he asks as he rubs his nose with his sleeve, “You are… a bit young.”

“Yes,” you narrow your eyes before pointing to your emblem, “And they were short on cloaks… Please, can you tell me how this whole ‘robbery’ has happened? When did it happen and where? Can you show me, in details?”

He pauses as he looks inside his ghost only to cringe in discomfort and nod. He locks the door but soon opens it to join you downstairs; he has a rather adorable flat hat on his head now, as well as a walking stick. He shakes his head towards the half-pub, as to say where he was robbed. You take a deep breath as you realize you now have to climb back down! Tugela got the easier of the deals! You lead the move as Murray follows you at his slow pace.

“This ring this… thing stole,” he begins with a grump, “It is an important relic of my wife’s family, when we wed it was trusted to me as the man of the household. This ring belonged to the very founder of her surname, and is as expensive as it is priceless.” He pauses to look at the sky and sigh, “I pray that you get it back from this ghost, else she is going to divorce me.” Divorce him and break their wedding because of some stupid ring? Aristocrats…

“When did it happen, do you remember the exact time?” you ask once again.

He shakes his head, “Not to the exact minute, but it was about seven in the evening when I was leaving Finalis’ shop after buying some flowers for my wife – there is a shop on the second floor above the pub,” he explains. You nod for him to continue, “I just left the shop and after walking from it for about hundred steps, a sudden cold on my hand made me realize I no longer had the ring. I was the only person on the street, I might be old but my mind is still clear. I might not be a Magic Knight or a noble, but there was no alien mana around me. I’d feel it, surely.”

> Ask additional questions (Specify).
> Investigate the area his robbery took place in to the best of your ability.
> Return to the half-pub to share with Tugela what you have learned. Maybe she had better luck?
> [Write In]

>>3817965
> What did the ring look like?
> Was the ring enchanted in some way? Could it be traced if one knew what to look for?
> Was there anyone else in the shop at the time?
> Offer to use our magic to ease his fatigue.

>>3818165
>> What did the ring look like?
>> Was the ring enchanted in some way? Could it be traced if one knew what to look for?
>> Was there anyone else in the shop at the time?
>> Offer to use our magic to ease his fatigue.

>>3818184 Shit i put it on the wrong number i meant >>3817965

[Update 1/1]

“What did the ring look like?” you ask him.

“Oh, it’s very recognizable,” he says, “A brilliant red topaz stone in a white-gold circle.”

“Was the ring enchanted in some way? Could it be traced if one knew what to look for?”

“N-no,” he stutters, “I wish it was, now, but it’s not some sort of magical item, it’s just carries a lot of history and value. If such a helpful magic exists, it’s not in Kraal.” He hangs his head dejectedly, “What about the Blue Rose?”

“I don’t think we have somebody like that either. Certainly not me… Was there anybody else in shop at the time?”

“I did not pay much attention,” he tells you with a grim expression, “I wish I did. I remember at least two people buying flowers, too. One of them was a woman, I know her but not by name. I remember her because she was picking flowers for a funeral. Another one was a boy about your age, by the time I left he was still busy deciding on what flowers to buy.” He says, “Neither of them looked poor or like thieves, if that is what you are wondering.”

“Did any of them follow you?” you insist.

“No,” he shakes his head, “The woman left just before me, and I did not see the boy. It was only me.”

“I see…” you nod before you unclip the belts holding your grimoire in your place. You lift it by your hands, “You do not look too good, mister Murray,” you tell him. “Do you want me to heal you up a bit, to ease your tiredness?”

“O-oh,” he adjusts the collar of his coat, “I-It’s that visible? Our marriage is perfect you see- but because of this damn thieving ghost-” He pauses once he realizes he was going on a tantrum, “Yes, please, if you could.”

You surge your mana into your grimoire. The book spread open and the light-silver energy lifts it into the air before your chest. The pages begin to flicker and shuffle until your only magical spell presents itself. You spread out your palm as the spell words begin to glow ever-bright. “Linen Magic: Homely Blanket,” you incarnate your magic to take shape of a glowing, enchanted linen cloth. Like an obedient snail, it begins to surround the worried man like a cocoon. As soon as it touches him, however, he calms and relaxes – as if he just entered a hot bath. While there are no visible wounds on his body to be made to disappear, his face is quickly returned its colours.

“O-oh,” he speaks out once your cloth unwraps him and begins to slowly crumble into the thin air, “T-thank you, that’s actually fells so much better,” he says to you in kind. Hesitating, he eventually takes your hand into his and pleads, “Please, you have to find my ring. I care less about you catching the thief than bringing it back. I-Is it a reward you want? Trust me, I’ll make sure to thank you handsomely,” he insists as he lips begin to quiver.

With as much care as you can, you remove your hand from his, “I… We will do everything we can, mister Murray.”

With that, you farewell him. You approach the half-pub door only to catch Tugela exiting it. How convenient. She insists that you follow her, and that the two of you can share your discovered during your walk. You tell her everything you have learned from Murray; you show her the exact location as well as how it happened. Tugela spends about two minutes investigating the walls and ground around the scene, after which she shakes her head.

“If it was any kind of trap or persistent spell, it is no longer here,” she says, “But it can’t be any sort of regular, invisibility magic, at least one of the victims would have noticed… somaething. I still don’t think it’s a ghost, it’s a convenient cover for the thief though. The robberies never happen at the same place, but they happen between six and ten o’clock, maybe because it’s closer to the dark, but people are still outside at that time. Smart, right?”


“You said it will take two hours,” you remind Tugela.

The Goat Knight gives you a sheepish smile, “Sorry,” she slams her palms together, “It’s no later than four o’clock right now, little healer. If it’s magical in nature, it’s guaranteed I’ll be able to feel and find it. We will have to wait until then, and we’ll need to make sure we keep an eye on people with obvious expensive items on themselves.”

“So, what you are saying is…” you linger.

“Until the evening I will patrol the streets looking for… let’s call them, magical footprints. Don’t take this as an offense, but since you are not that good as sensing mana, I’m going to have to leave to look after the richest people. It’s up to you if you want to warn them about it or not, it’s not good if they act suspicious – ey - but if you catch the ghost in action, make sure to scream for mae as loud as possible. Pick somebody rich and defenceless.”

You sigh and nod your head, “Don’t wander too far on the street if you want to hear my scream, then.”

She gives you a reassuring, and half-apologizing, nod before she leaves to do her own investigation. You sigh as you enter the half-pub. Your eyes glance through the crowd of people in here – is this the only pub around for people on this street? What is even the guarantee the ghost will act now that there are Magic Knights here?

> Keep an eye and follow the young adult man with expensive clothes and decorative, silver chain.
> Keep an eye and follow the elder looking priestess with a presentable golden cross chain over her robes.
> Keep an eye and follow the middle-aged, short and loud man with decorative, expensive beard braids.
> Walk to the shop, perhaps the shop-keeper knows more about the widow woman or the boy.
> [Write In]

>Please roll 1d10+10 for the cost of the spell. The lowest roll will be used.

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3819857
>> Walk to the shop, perhaps the shop-keeper knows more about the widow woman or the boy.

Rolled 10 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3819857
>> Walk to the shop, perhaps the shop-keeper knows more about the widow woman or the boy.

Rolled 2 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3819857
>> Keep an eye and follow the young adult man with expensive clothes and decorative, silver chain.

>>3819857
> Walk to the shop, perhaps the shop-keeper knows more about the widow woman or the boy.

>>3819857
>> Keep an eye and follow the elder looking priestess with a presentable golden cross chain over her robes.

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3820587
>>3820629
Do a roll too. Maybe you'll get a 1.

> Keep an eye and follow the elder looking priestess with a presentable golden cross chain over her robes.

>>3820670
pretty sure rolls are best of three

[Update 1/1]

You eye the three likeliest victims: all of them have some sort of jewellery on full un-shameful display. You consider the time decide on climbing the stairs to the second floor of the building – the half-shop (apparently).

As soon as you open the door, the bell rings above it to announce your ingress. A lazy woman with snow-white hair is there to meet you; she is about twice your age, if you were to guess. Her long hair reaches her neck; she has two long braids hanging over her shoulders. As she leans on the table with a bored expression (the shop appears to be empty at the moment) her purple-grey eyes lazily look at you through her oval-framed glasses. On your way to her desk, you quickly inspect the shop – it appears to be the kind to sell all the necessities. On the floor there are vases with multiple bouquets of fresh flowers, on the shelves are many kinds of blankets, preserved jars, spices, dry goods, coffee, alcohol bottles, candles, metal goods, tins, decorations of both exotic and common variety, furs, linen and silk dresses and so much more. To your surprise, you find small barrels preserved in some kind of enchanted ice spell, not in a block of ice but in a freezing aura. There is a separate shelf behind the shopkeeper: protected by glass there are magical stones and magical items (not a big variety or quantity, but still).

“Hello there,” the woman speaks out in a rather innocent, but adult, voice, “Anything you looking for?”

“I am with the Blue Rose,” you tell her straight to avoid her trying to push expensive items on you.

“Yeah I can see that,” she nods, “You are newly recruited? I’m going to be clear: we don’t offer discounts.”

“No,” you shake your head, “That’s not why I am here. It appears there is a ‘ghost problem’ around here. I was wondering if you could help me. Have you had any encounters with it? Anything stolen from you, perhaps?”

She shakes her head. She covers her yawn with her palm before continuing, “While we were not prepared for a ghost, the owner of this shop made sure to protect the valuables here with proper magic protection. And I myself don’t carry too much on myself – not that I have anything to carry. To tell you the truth, the pay here is meh.”

You nod, “Yesterday, a man was buying from this shop; his name is Murray, if that rings a bell?”

She shrugs, “Can’t say I know everyone by name, girl.”

You sigh, this will be hard then.
“I have a suspicion that one of the people who was here with him, at the time, may be the culprit.”

She raises her eyebrows, “You saying one of them was a ghost?”

“No,” you shake your head, “Just somebody with strange magic. Do you remember, perhaps, a woman buying flowers for a funeral yesterday? As well as boy my age having a hard time deciding on flowers, as well?”

“Ah, yeah. Miss Vidsair, her sister recently died, she keeps reminding everyone. She was wearing all black, I believe, yesterday was the day of the funeral. She bought an even number of flowers of all kind. The boy? The boy… Oh yeah, he is an infrequent visitor, and annoying one too. He buys flowers from time to time, as well as candles and sometimes even the jewellery but he’s very picky. He won’t buy them unless they are ‘perfect’.”

“Do you remember how soon after Murray left the shop, he did as well?”

“He didn’t end up buying flowers that day, or anything. Let me think… Yeah, he left the shop soon after him.”

“Do you know where he lives?”

“Somewhere in Kraal?” she shrugs and smirks, “I’m not that big of his friend to know where he lives.”

> Ask further questions (Specify).
> Return to continue looking after one of the potential victims (Specify).
> Take interest in the magical items this shop is selling. Wonder what you can buy with 100 yul you have.
> [Write In]

>>3820670
>>3820681
>It was not decided or noted, but I think best of three is fair, indeed.

>>3822386
>> Take interest in the magical items this shop is selling. Wonder what you can buy with 100 yul you have.

Let's look at all the cool stuff we can't afford!

On a more serious note, it's hard to tell if we're getting any closer to the culprit here. The boy in the shop 'could' be our guy, if he were going full klepto and decided to steal every 'perfect' thing he set his eyes on, but >>3816549
>Poaches with yuls, necklaces, amulets, pocket watches, jewel headgears and, like I said, even wedding rings
Makes it seem like the theif is taking things at random, as long as they're worth something.

>>3822386
>> Take interest in the magical items this shop is selling. Wonder what you can buy with 100 yul you have.

>>3822386
> Take interest in the magical items this shop is selling. Wonder what you can buy with 100 yul you have.

I wonder if we buy something expensive if we could use ourselves as bait to draw out the theif

[Update 1/1]

Your eyes raise to the heightened display – it reaches about the altitude of your eyes – behind the shopkeeper.

“I see you have some magic items,” you say with mild curiosity, is there any harm in browsing things you cannot afford? You don’t think so. “Can I step closer?” you ask her, you try to appear genuinely interested.

“What exactly are you searching for?” she asks after another yawn. She takes a quick glance as the empty entrance. She forces herself to stand up straight after exhaling with defeat. She lazily nods her head to invite you behind the encounter, and after a bow of gratitude you do so. You look inside incredibly clean, almost transparent glass at the items on display. You are not too ashamed to show your greenness when you question her further.

“That’s a regular magic wand, right?” you ask as you point at the simplistic, blackthorn wand with rough carve.

“Yeah,” the shopkeeper comments, “If you have problem focusing your magic that should do the trick.”

“600 yul,” you mutter as you turn your eyes to brass ring with three dimly glowing, glass keys. “And those are?”

“Oh, you’ll never afford that,” she says. “Those are the,” she pauses to look at the notice, “Mana Chest Keys… Honestly, I have no idea how they work but I believe if you remove one of them and ‘open’ and invisible chest with your key a chest made out of surrounding mana will appear with treasure inside. The better and strongest and more volatile the mana in the area is, the better the chest and thus the treasure inside will be. 15,000 yul.”

You whistle, “That is a lot…”

“Told you, but for that price you can get three treasure chests with stuff inside worth much more, probably.”

“Probably,” you mutter as you point as a strange, peridot gem-encrusted from the inside glass bottle, then a strange, wooden frame with a glowing, reflecting mirror and then at glowing, white spices, “What about those?”

“You are just browsing, aren’t you?” she slaps her cheeks to keep herself awake, “You know moguro leaf juice? It’s supposed to improve your magical power? Well, those leaves can be petrified. In this condition, when put in a long contact with water, they can turn it into moguro juice in weeks’ time, and it can be reused. It only costs 1,000 yul. You see.” She nods before turning to look at the frame, “This here is ‘Message Mirror Frame’, or so it’s called. If you say the right incantation it will chronicle your reflection for thirty seconds. A good gift.” She nods, “I’ll sell it to you for 2,000 yuls.” She moves her palm over the small, spice pouch, “This is a simple one, it turns every object you sprinkle it with into edible? You can eat a piece of wood, a rock, a flower – anything; it’s just 500 yul, too.”

“What about that whip?” you ask as you point towards a strange, as dark as ebon whip.

“Oh, that,” she pauses before chuckling and shaking her head, “How old are you again?”

“I am fifteen,” you raise your eyebrow curiously. Why the question?

“See, it’s a whip that leaves no marks or wounds on the person you hit it with, but they can still feel the pain.”

“That doesn’t sound too useful in battle,” you say.

“I don’t think it’s for battle. Forget it, you’re a little bit too young for that, as I said. So, I repeat, interested?”

> Say none of those items interest you.
> Admit you have no money on you but you’ll be willing to return once you get the funds.
> Ask the shopkeeper if she has anything expensive looking for 100 yul you can put on yourself to be bait.
> Ask the shopkeeper if she’s willing to sell you one of the items (Specify) for a favour she needs. Likely not.
> Return back to the half-pub to continue you job of stalking potential victims.
> [Write In]

>Forgot to do this last post.
You spend 12 mana.

>>3824163
>> Return back to the half-pub to continue you job of stalking potential victims.

>>3824163
> Return back to the half-pub to continue you job of stalking potential victims.

>>3824163
> Return back to the half-pub to continue you job of stalking potential victims.

>>3824163
Yeah but how much does the whip cost?

>>3824163
>> Ask the shopkeeper if she has anything expensive looking for 100 yul you can put on yourself to be bait.

>>3824163
>Yeah but how much does the whip cost?
also this

[Update 1/1]

“I understand, you won’t sell it to me then?” you ask.

“Oh, that’s not what I’m saying at all,” she shakes her head, “If you can pay for it, I don’t really mind or care.”

You nod, “Then how much is the whip worth?”

“It’s 1,000 yul,” she hovers her hand above glass box, “I’m not going to corrupt your mind with explanation.”

“A bit expensive,” you note before you turn to the jewellery on display – rings and necklaces and circles. You take one of the rings into your hands to look it over, “Is there anything expensive looking you can sell me for 100 yul?”

She blinks and then groans. She’s visibly annoyed, “Hundred yul? Are you for real?” Once she sees your timid nod, she sighs and leads you away from her table before taking the ring from your hands and putting it back into the collection box, “Listen, kid, times must really be rough in the Blue Rose if that’s all they can pay you. Rich people buy jewellery because this stuff is expensive, they do it to show everyone that they are wealthy. They would be no point in those things if you could buy them for 100 yul and any commoner like you and me could wear them.”

“I take that as a no,” you sigh as you give the woman a farewell nod, “Thanks for answering my questions.”

“Yeah,” she lazily returns leaning on the back counter, “Return when you have any intention to buy something.”

You close the door behind yourself, forcing the bell to ring once again. You ponder if the sound is there to keep her awake. You decide to keep a closer eye on the elder looking priestess with a presentable religious golden cross. By the time you return back to the half-pub, she had already finished eating her meal and drinking her cup of… water? You notice that they are children in this pub too, it is not strictly an adult establishment, and most of them are gathered around her. She seems to be the friendly and motherly type, or so you conclude from her interaction with the children. She has a grimoire, too, of course (everybody does), but aside from that she looks defenceless. If you are correct, that expensive-looking golden cross will be an easy item for burglary.

Once the aged woman finishes playing with all the children and gives each one a small sweet, she leaves the establishment. You follow suit, though you try your best not to act too suspicious. She passes by and crosses the semi-busy streets by herself. You follow her through her entire ten-minute journey to the chapel: nobody attacks her on the way there, and she enters the small, stone building without any accident. You sigh once you make sure she is safe. You lament as you lean on the nearest tree; the chapel is separated from the rest of the town by a semi-forest area and thus, the houses are out of your immediate reach. Ghosts, be afraid – Blue Rose is here.

A sudden, could touch shivers across your neck. You place your hands to guard and warm it only to soon realize the gift from your father – the yul necklace – is no longer there. You drop in cold sweat, that thing holds no value – those fifty yuls can’t even be used anymore! Your eyes quickly dart around the empty air, you can’t feel or see any presence, neither spectral or magical. You try to push your hands only to grab into… you are just striking empty air.

> Shout for Tugela. If she holds her promise, she should be somewhere close.
> Do your best to sense the mana of the ghost standing before you.
> “Please, give me back my necklace, it is going to be worthless for you.”
> “Wait! Can you hear me? Why are you doing this? Let’s talk this out.”
> [Write In]

>>3825968
>> “Please, give me back my necklace, it is going to be worthless for you.”

>>3826014
+
>"Don't take away only thing my father left me!"

>>3825968
>> “Please, give me back my necklace, it is going to be worthless for you.”
While
> Do your best to sense the mana of the ghost standing before you.

>>3826014
+1

[Update 1/2]

“Please, give me back my necklace, it is going to be worthless for you,” you plead the thief-ghost who you hope is still there to hear you. You open your palms. A genuine shiver of distress creeps by your skin. “Don’t take away the only thing they left me,” you exclaim. You try to concentrate in order to catch a glimpse of their mana.

At first, nothing happens. You anxiously look side to side trying to see, to sense at least a glimpse of their presence. However, after a short, but agonizing, moment, your necklace simply appears out of the thin air and, as if tossed, flies from a few meters away from you and plops on the ground. You are quick to kneel and pick it back.

It’s cold to the touch. A strange, almost forbidden mana, surrounds the yul coins. Hastily, the mana fades away.

“Thank you,” you comment as you continue to trying to sense their mana. It’s no use, you are too inept for this.

> Shout for Tugela. If she holds her promise, she should be somewhere close.
> “There is a powerful Magic Knight around. If you can’t stop stealing things, she is going to capture you.”
> “The things you steal from those people, some of them hold strong sentimental value – can you understand that?”
> “Can you tell me why you are stealing all those things? Give me a sign if there’s anything I can do to help you.”
> “I have 100 yul on myself, you can take them instead of the necklace if you want.” Try to lure them back.
> [Write In]

>Second update will be later.

>>3827391
> “I have 100 yul on myself, you can take them instead of the necklace if you want.” Try to lure them back.
> “The things you steal from those people, some of them hold strong sentimental value – can you understand that?”
> “Can you tell me why you are stealing all those things? Give me a sign if there’s anything I can do to help you.”

>>3827391
>> “The things you steal from those people, some of them hold strong sentimental value – can you understand that?”

>>3827391
Supporting >>3827406

[Update 2/2]

Once you put your necklace is back on your neck, your quickly pace forward to where from it was tossed to you – closer to the ghost. Your raised voice fills with a mix of sincerity and accusation, “The things you steal from those people, some of them hold strong sentimental value – can you understand that?” There is no response, of course, you can’t even be certain this ghost is still here. You are quick to remove a pouch full of yuls as you make sure to force a loud zing with the coins inside. You stare the empty space straight through, “I have 100 yul on myself, you can take them instead of my necklace if you want.” You keep the pouch held strongly in your hand, “Come.”

You just stand there, waiting patiently. While 100 yul is not a lot of money, it should still be enough to interest the rich-hungry ghost. You shake your bag to echo a second zinging. Then, in less than a second, your feel the same kind of cold, besmirched mana. Despite your best efforts to hold into the pouch, it leaves your hand and vanishes into the thin air. You harrumph, “Can you tell me why you are stealing all those things?” you ask the ghost.

Silence. You furrow your brows: “Give me a sign if there’s anything I can do to help you.”

Again, the ghost is either unable to or refuses to respond. You spread out your palm in an attempt to sense their mana once again, and once again it is as if it is non-existent. You sigh in defeat. There is no way you can solve this.

Then, in a blink, from nothing but air, a boy in black suspenders and white shirt appears into existence. There was no flash, there was no spell or glimmer of mana, he just… emerged as if a veil of invisibility lifted off his body. This boy is about your age, and he is also about your height (he is a bit shorter). He has a short, black hair and deep, toxic-green eyes that you catch him glaring at you with. Near his right shoulder hovers his grimoire, it has an intricate design on its ebony cover and is surrounded by dark-green mana. In one of his is your money pouch. When he realizes he is now visible, he quickly moves his hand towards his grimoire. Is he… the ghost, then?

> Attempt to intercept and grab the boy’s hand before he reaches his grimoire.
> Scream at him that you are not going to hurt him, and that you just want to talk.
> Attempt to surge your mana through the linen pouch in his hand to strike away his grimoire.
> Panic and pick up a rock to then throw at his direction.
> [Write In]

>>3828265
>>3828265
>Attempt to surge your mana through the linen pouch in his hand to strike away his grimoire.

>>3828265
>Attempt to surge your mana through the linen pouch in his hand to strike away his grimoire.
> Shout for Tugela.

We should invest in a shawl or a scarf that we can use as a weapon in an emergency when we get the chance.

>>3828265
>Attempt to surge your mana through the linen pouch in his hand to strike away his grimoire.
> Shout for Tugela.

>>3828655
That's a good idea.

>>3828655
I was thinking about covering forearms in long strips of linen.

>>3828508
+1

[Update 1/1]

You sway your hand in front of you towards the money bag. Like a thread, the spread of your magic bursts forward… however, it does not reach far enough to take control of the linen pouch. As soon as you awoke your magic, the rule was always that you had to be in close proximity with the palpable linen cloth and be touching it right before you were to control it. Here, now, despite glimmers of your mana still present in the pouch, the distance should be impossible. You grunt. you waste no time trying it a second time, and then another one.

Your mana control bursts in invisible flares as you do your best to push your limits further, and further. In a quick, but mentally longful moment, ever your grimoire begins to flick through the empty, yet brightly sparkling pages.

And then, you manage to feel it, the soft linen touch of the cloth.

Despite the distance, your hand is able to take it into a tight grip. You waste no time forcing the pouch to strike the boy’s grimoire. Moments before he is able to grasp it, his book is hit and rolled onto the ground, it is then that your mana leaves the pouch’s linen completely. The boy looks at you with pure anger before he rushes towards his grimoire; instead of calling for a spell, or using his mana, he is trying to get a hold of it. You rush forward to stop him before he can do so, and just before he can get a hold of his grimoire, you are able to tightly grasp his hand in act. “Tugela, the ghost is near the chapel! Come here, immediately!” You loudly scream into the sky. She should be here. The boy is physically stronger than you: he pulls his hand to touch the grimoire with your own...

You have been drained of 10 mana.

A cold wind bursts into and then through your entire body as you suddenly begin to feel much colder, lighter, less tangible. The quick, black veil slowly lifts off your eyes only to have you… appear in a dark backstreet between two house walls. You gasp for air; it is now much harder than it should be. Your grimoire is still hovering near you, yet it emits no mana or magic – not a good sign to be sure. It is only then you realize that your body is now semi-transparent, practically invisible, and emits a strange greenish glow like some sort of dying alchemical bonfire.

The boy you have just been fighting with is standing right next to you – he too has the same, strange aura. Once you look closer, right next to your shoulder, on the wall nearby, there is a massive green rune-like circle. Foreboding.

“What have you done to me?!”

He looks back in disgust. He begins to quickly walk away from the alley. “What’s your freaking problem?” He asks.

Your problem?! You carry in your pace after him. He speeds up: his plan is to lose you.

> “You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”
> “Return me back to normal!”
> “If you surrender now and return all the things you stole, I promise we will not punish you!”
> “You can escape me but you can’t escape my companion. It’s best if you give up now!”
> Attempt to tackle and grab the boy from behind.
> [Write In]

>>3829492
>> “You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”

>>3829492
>> “You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”

>>3829492
>Save your breath stay close to him

>>3829492
> “You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”
> “I pity you! So much magical potential wasted, being a trumped up magical pickpocket!”

>Thanks for playing so far.

>>3829490
> “You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”

[Update 1/1]

You speed up too, although it’s quite hard with your “body” feeling so translucent and weird. He runs through several of the backstreets, and you do your very best to keep up with his barely visible form; the glow is not so obvious once he is able to escape far enough. Eventually, you break into the high street. In the middle of the day, it is completely filled with people of all ages – both workers returning home and children wasting their last hours before sleep. Despite your heavy breathing and rush, not a single one of them reacts to you. None of them reacts to the boy who is practically pushing… no, passing through them. You really feel yourself as intangible ghost.

“Can you stop already?” you point your hand in his direction once you notice him standing right before a middle-aged, expensively dressed woman. The crowd is not so big where he is standing. Before you can say anything else, the boy lifts his fingers to the posh earrings the woman is wearing and jacks them. The jewels brightly burst in greenish glow and then emerge in the same aura as both you and the boy are. The woman freezes in place. She is quick to realize something is not right. Once she lifts her hand to touch her now lost earrings, she screams in horror. “It’s the ghost,” her voice trembles before she drops the supplies she was carrying and hastily runs away.

“It’s obvious now. You are the thief, are you not? Do you realize that you are committing a serious crime here?”

He pauses and raises his eyes at you, “I do. So what? Why the flick do you care?”

“W-what? If they catch you, those people will not simply rest with you returning what you stole.”

“I’m not returning them anything,” he grumbles, “They can just buy a new pair of darn jewellery or grab more coins from their gosh darn never-ending reservoir. They are -rich-, they can afford it. Arrest me – for being poor?”

You shake your head, “For stealing. They might be rich, but it is not yours to steal. There are other ways to-”

“I apologize, but you are wrong. We did not choice to be poor.”

“Do you not think this is a pity?” you yell at him, “You have so much magical potential, and you waste it to be a glorified pickpocket!”

“Magical potential?” he echoes your words as he takes a step forward, “This is the only useful thing my grimoire grants me, and you are now trying to stop me. I wish I got it sooner… if only I could steal sooner,” Your forms begin to flicker, and then, the peridot glow disperses completely. As if you overate, your stomach hungrily grumbles. The boy is now, once again in his… regular body? He looks at his hands and, with a sigh, he raises one of them to point towards you, “It only last a few useless minutes too. I know: I’m not a thief unless I get caught.”

Your feel of mana returning to you. The magic essence of your own, hovering grimoire is now in your reach. Once you open your mouth, you realize the boy’s grimoire is spread open, and is flying in your direction to strike you.

> Attempt to roll out of the way grimoire and then rush to tackle the boy.
> Attempt to grab the boy’s hand so that the both of you are teleported by his spell.
> Use [Homely Blanket] on yourself in hope the magical cloth will protect you from the boy’s spell. Is there time?
> Use [Homely Blanket] on the boy in hope that he won’t be able to control or touch his grimoire inside of it.
> [Write In]

>>3831766
>Use [Homely Blanket] on the boy in hope that he won’t be able to control or touch his grimoire inside of it.
>Then go for the tackle

>>3831766
> Attempt to roll out of the way grimoire and then rush to tackle the boy.

Noticed quite a few grammar mistakes. Sorry about those.

>>3831766
>> Attempt to grab the boy’s hand so that the both of you are teleported by his spell.

Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>3831873
>>3831941
>>3831955

>Gonna roll for a decision.

[Update 1/1]

You narrowly avoid his grimoire, and you continue to keep an eye on it as you rush forward to close the distance between yourself and him. His book of spells follows the command of his gesture as he point it towards you once again. You grab his hand in an attempt to raise your interlocked fingers right before the charging grimoire. The thief-boy, however, breaks your hold quite easily. He raises his fist as he prepares to hit you and you flinch in fear.

“My mother taught me not to hit girls,” he says as you feel his hands fall on your shoulders to push you towards the grimoire. “I’m sorry if this is going to hurt.” His voice breaks a little, although his glare is relentlessly hostile.

You sway your hands but you are unable to control your fall. Great, all of this chase was for nothing, then…

Then, a massive burst of ivory-pink wind slams into the grimoire between you and the boy. Practically galloping with constant, mild jumps, you notice Tugela, and her open grimoire, rushing towards the both of you. “Baah!” she shouts half-angrily half-happily “When did you learn to hide your mana, little healer? Wrong time to practise!”

“Tugela!” you shout as you slam bottoms down into the dirt. Ouch. “This boy is the ‘ghost’! Be careful he-”

The boy looks at you, then at the arriving Goat Knight, and grunts. He swings his hand to recall his grimoire back. The dark book flings through the air, as if possessed, only to spread out open before him. He does not waste any time; that is still not fast enough. Tugela’s beautiful grimoire engulfs in pink mana as the ground beneath the thief’s feet shatters completely. Before he is able to reach his escape, a blazing wind silhouette of a pink spectral goat slams into his body from beneath the ground. The enormous impact forces the boy to be tossed into the air.

“Impact Magic: Nanny-Goat’s Fury,” she comments before she squats into the ground and the earth erupts once again, this time under -her- feet. Spectral stripes of pink and white of her mana shape the horns she finds herself sitting on… not for long, however, as they fling her into the air like a catapult. She begins hovering right before the boy. You can, just barely, hear her shout, “You are a cute kid, it’s almost a shame to rustle you! I’ll try not to hurt-”

Before you can warn her, the dark grimoire of the boy slides right behind her. It opens and slams shut in an instance, and that instance is enough to force Tugela to disappear… or a better term, teleport, distance away.

This short fight has caused a visible ruckus, as several of the passers-by were now looking up at now lonely boy. He looks at you and the crowd, and you look at him. You realize, he is too far away for you to try to do anything with your magic. After a few seconds, the boy’s grimoire spreads open as he mutters a magical incantation…

This is unlike how his magic worked before! A massive, green rune circle, like the one on the wall you were teleported to previously, emerges from his palm blazing with green, almost demonic to the eye, energy. The rune continues to linger where he made it despite him continuing to fall. Then, the circle encloses on itself and vanishes, and the boy soon disappears in a similar fashion once he is able to place his hands on the grimoire.

What did he do now? Where is he now? Is “ghosted” Tugela in the same place you were teleported to before?

Too many questions spin in your head. Why can’t everyone just have simplistic elemental magic?

“Nicolai…” a soft voice of a woman speaks out as you turn to look at her. A nun in bland, religious clothes, continues to look into the spot where the boy and Tugela were. She holds her hands on her chest, in disbelief.

> Turn to face the nun and ask her if she knows the boy. Enquire further if she knows where you can intercept him.
> If the boy is still around here, shout towards him that you know how he looks and he won’t be able to escape.
> Rush to the place you remember being teleported to last time. If Tugela is there you can talk to her “ghost.”
> [Write In]

>>3834781
>>> Turn to face the nun and ask her if she knows the boy. Enquire further if she knows where you can intercept him.

>>3834781
> Turn to face the nun and ask her if she knows the boy. Enquire further if she knows where you can intercept him.

We really should use our spell in previous vote

>>3834781
>> Turn to face the nun and ask her if she knows the boy. Enquire further if she knows where you can intercept him.

>>3834781
>> Turn to face the nun and ask her if she knows the boy. Enquire further if she knows where you can intercept him.

Can we heal him to death?

[Update 1/1]

You turn your head to face the nun. At first, she does not react to you, but quite soon she notices your patient glare. Timidly, the woman removes her hands off her chest and looks away, as if she was caught in a sin. She tries not to meet your eyes, but you approach her closer and step around to make it impossible to do so. ‘Look at me.’

“Excuse me,” you breathe out calmly before you point towards the sky, “Do you know the boy who was there?”

She staggers before she regains her composure, “I might be wrong. It is likely that I am wrong,” she says.

“But if you think you know who that was, I ask you to tell me,” you pause before you point to the Blue Rose emblem on your shirt, “This ‘ghost’ has been causing a lot of trouble, so please, tell me about this Nicolai kid?”

She hesitates but, eventually, agrees. The women of God, they do not lie. She points her fingers to her neck, “My name is Sister Abby, I am a member of the Kraal’s local chapel. Nicolai was a kid who used to often visit our daily sermons and similar events with his mother. He was extremely devoted to the teachings. Although blunt and sometimes rude, inside he was a very nice, helpful and kind kid – and I do not think anything has changed…”

“What happened?”

Her face turns grim, “I heard that one day, his mother had an accident at work and soon after, left this world. After the funeral, Nicolai stopped his attendance. I tried to get in contact with him but… they lived in the slums.”

“The slums?” you ask her.

“The members of the chapel are no longer instructed to go there after a few… horrible accidents. It is the poorest, and most crime-ridden region in the city, despite all the hard work Charlotte and you Magic Knights do…”

“I understand your worry,” you say, “It’s alright, I understand why you wouldn’t want to risk your life. I assume you don’t know anything about his magic?”

“No,” she says, “I have never seen him use his grimoire until today,” her sigh is worrying. “If that boy was really Nicolai, then… after his mother died, he turned away from the virtues to the life of crime… And he is now using his magic and his grimoire for sin.” She puts her hands together and bows to beg you, “Please, if you catch him and it is truly Nicolai, I ask you to turn him to us – we have many orphans here in our chapel. His life is only at its sunrise. As long as he repents the God will forgive him, the chapel will too, I ask the Magic Knights to show him mercy.”

“It is not up to me to decide,” you waver, “But… I’ll do my best to try to convince them.”

That’s enough to lift her heaved spirit. She explains you the location of the house and the shortest way to reach it. There is too much attention now with Tugela around, Nicolai is going to be careful; in the first place, he never robs more than a few people a day – there should be a limit to his mana. Tugela should be able to find you… eventually.

> “Can you tell me more about how his mother died?”
> Go to the slums alone, if you linger any longer, he might not even be at his house by the time you reach him.
> Wait for Tugela to find you – as she appears to have the ability to sense your mana. Then you can go together.
> Give up, the boy is just making a living. Once Tugela finds you, tell her he managed to escape – that’s the truth.
> [Write In]

>>3835172
>I don't think that's how healing works.

>>3836955
>> Wait for Tugela to find you – as she appears to have the ability to sense your mana. Then you can go together.

>>3836955
>> Wait for Tugela to find you – as she appears to have the ability to sense your mana. Then you can go together.

Two girls going to slums, what can go wrong?

>>3836955
>> Go to the slums alone, if you linger any longer, he might not even be at his house by the time you reach him.

If Tugela can sense our mana, we'll save time if she follows us to the slums directly.

[Update 1/1]

Kind-heartedly, you thank the nun before she leaves for her other duties; the crowd disperses as well. You try to remember how long it took you since your “ghost teleporting” to return your material form, however, it is hard to put a dot in time as you were occupied with your chase. Five minutes? Ten minutes? Maybe twenty? About so.

Unless the are some superfluities you are not aware of, it should take Tugela just as long – you presume. According to the nun-sister, the slums are a dangerous place, and going there alone is risky; and so, you decide to wait for Tugela. It does not take long for the Goat Knight to come rushing back. Her breathing sounds very tired.

“Little healer,” she tries to stop right before you yet she continues sliding a few more meters, “Ah- I get now why everyone though he was a ghost!”

“Yes,” you give her a short nod, “I know, you become a ‘ghost’ if you touch his grimoire. Was there a seal?”

“A big, green circle?” she raises her eyebrow, “Yeah, there was one – but it disappeared a mainute after…”

You nod. There are some conclusions you can lead to from that.

“So, where is he?” Tugela asks once she removes her grimoire, “Don’t tell me you didn’t catch him?”

You stumble, “I… no, sorry. There was no way for me to stop him from down here. He was in control.”

She grabs you by your shoulder and chuckles, “I’ma jesting, little healer. I will get the blame for this, no worries.”

“Actually,” you continue as you lower your body to slide her hand off, “I might know where he is…”

“You do?” her orange eyes light up, “What are we standing here for then? Chatting. Come on, let’s go!”

“It’s in the slums,” you begin slowly, yet almost immediately, Tugela tightly grips your hand and starts running. You yell in shock as your legs wobble and stumble as you try to keep up with her. “Do you know where that is?!”

“Of course,” she grins at you.

“Do you not care how I know where he is?” you ask.

“Actually,” she ponders and shouts, “I do, but we can talk and run at the samae time – can’t we?”

You tell her all about your conversation with the nun and what you know of Nicolai’s situation, at least, you try to in-between the shouts. Tugela is extremely agile and fast, as if she was a stray cat raised in the streets. The muscles in your legs give up eventually, you are a tailor not construction worker, and you are practically forced to be carried by her to the slums. Even then, it takes you at least thirty minutes to reach the slums on the complete opposite side of the city. The forsaken street meets you with dozen abandoned buildings beyond disrepair and foul stench from the piles of rotten food waste and sick water from the splitting, barely-sustainable river. The street is practically barren of trees and vegetation, and those that are here have muddy-black leaves hanging like ivy off their barb branches. Once you stop, you notice several rats chewing on the maggot-ridden food, lots of them have ill, multicolour hair and glowing eyes. You try to avoid stepping on them. It is like night and day from the street you were at previously. The few impoverished people who notice you, or, likely, Tugela’s cloak and emblem, quickly step away to a safer distance, from where they begin to creepily watch you. Tugela notices your nervousness and, of course, she painfully slams her forehead against yours. You jolt in pain and huff at her.

“First timae in the ‘bad part’ of a city?” she asks you, “Where are you from, Kikka? They have a mauch bigger one there, don’t tell mae you never been there? No wonder your reaction.” She makes a way forward and you quickly join her – here by yourself you are as good as dead. “The Blue Rose is doing our best, but you know, inequality.”

You nod. You try to keep your eyes glued to the floor. Who knows what people here will take as offence? Blue Rose uniform? Your nice clothes? How careful must two women really be when traveling through here? You keep your hands close to your grimoire and your pouch – both are important. Eventually, you reach one of the many abandoned-looking houses, although this time with a broken lamppost just on the road in front of it.

“This should be the place,” you tell Tugela as she approaches the hanging door, you quickly follow. The windows of this house are all nailed close, the white paint is cracked and the straw of the thatched roof is smelly and old.

Tugela pushes the door open; she does not even knock. You don’t have time to complain as you enter after her. It is empty. The small house is separated into two rooms, one slightly bigger than the other – living room and the storage room. There is no door leading into the storage, just a thick, dirty rag blocking the view. You inspect the poor house and… how can one even live here?

There is a cooking pit, tons of abandoned items of multiple purposes from kitchen utensils to bags of rice to clothing to vases and jars. The shelves are busy with rubbish, and the only bench is broken in two. There are two beds here, as well. One of the appears to be used just recently, while the sleeping cloth on the other is skilfully gathered away. You approach the second bed to find a small drawing in wooden frame on the unused bed: it is a, let’s be honest, badly drawn picture in coal if a middle-aged woman.

“He’s not here,” Tugela finally comments as she sniffs her nose, “But I can sense familiar mana. It is his house.”

You look at the drawing, and then around you, “Could it be he is using his magic again?”

“It could be,” Tugela nods and then, with all her lungs, she shouts, “You best come out, Nicolai!!!”

“Well-well-well,” another, completely unknown voice echoes from the entrance. A man with dirty, blonde hair and thick rags is leaning on the wall. In his hands is a massive knife, and his brownish grimoire is wide open, as if prepared to assist him in casting a spell at his will. “A Magic Knight, what luck,” he speaks to the two other men who quickly enter and close the door behind him. One of them is missing is a tooth; another – an eye and an ear.

Tugela’s grimoire spreads open as she waves her hand, “And who maight you be?”

“Oh, but I know you lot,” he comments, “One of you got my brother in jail a few dozen nights ago, remember?”

Tugela innocently shrugs her shoulders, “Wasn’t mae, but if he’s now in jail he probably did something wrong.”

“Your lot ruined his life, and I think it’s only fair we ruin yours,” he nods to the other men. They agree. “Fire Magic: Burning Scarab,” he commands and his knife is soon to burst into flames; does he not care you are surrounded by wood? If you meddle any longer, the other two are going to cast their spells. But what can you do?

> Allow Tugela to handle the fighting. You should continue looking for Nicolas, so it’s best if you slip out as soon as the fight turns chaotic – and it probably will. Could he be visiting his mother’s graveyard spot?
> Be ready to cast [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Tugela as soon as she is hurt. Try to avoid standing in her way otherwise. How much of a use in a fight are you really going to be with your linen magic?
> Use your Linen Magic and the linen fabrics nearby (the blankets and bedsheets) to strike one of the three attackers. This is not going to do any damage to them, but it will stop them from piling up on Tugela.
> Use your Linen Magic to surround the burning knife of the man using it and then, perhaps, try to either send the burning cloth at the two other men or at least sway away his knife attack away from Tugela if you can.
> [Write In]

>>3839110
>> Allow Tugela to handle the fighting. You should continue looking for Nicolas, so it’s best if you slip out as soon as the fight turns chaotic – and it probably will. Could he be visiting his mother’s graveyard spot?

>>3839110
>> Use your Linen Magic and the linen fabrics nearby (the blankets and bedsheets) to strike one of the three attackers. This is not going to do any damage to them, but it will stop them from piling up on Tugela.
we shouldn't go alone since we would be defenceless

>>3839110
>> Use your Linen Magic and the linen fabrics nearby (the blankets and bedsheets) to strike one of the three attackers. This is not going to do any damage to them, but it will stop them from piling up on Tugela.

>Question: Do the updates come too late your liking? Would you prefer them to come earlier, although that might be possible I can try to. I'm not sure about timezones.

>>3840412
for me they come at a good time

>>3840412
The time you've been putting them out is fine. You usually do only one or two updates a day anyways, so most people will have a chance to vote regardless of timezone

[Update 1/1]

Tugela’s face darkens yet, under the shadow, a white grin lifts up. You quickly begin to gather mana. You rush towards one of the beds and place your hands on top of the linen sheets. Your eyes investigate the room: clothes and almost everything else here is made out of cotton – the cheaper of the materials, one you can’t control. Your mana surges into the fabrics and exalts it to your will, you waste no time pointing your finger towards the men.

It takes you a bit more concentration, and a bit more mana, to control such a big object. Like a massive slug, the bedsheet twists around itself before smashing onto the floor and sliding to sweep the two men at the entrance off their feet before they can cast their spells. One of them does not notice the linen slug, and is send crashing into the fragile, mouldy wall. The second man notices and tries to jump over but too late, and he too stumbles and falls.

You turn to check on Tugela. The Goat Knight and the ring leader of this gang are engaged in close fight. The man is slashing and thrusting through the air with his flaming sword in an attempt to hit Tugela, but with unsurprising agility she is able to avoid his attacks. What she can’t avoid, however, are all the things in the room slowly being set on fire. First, a part of the wall, then – a few clothes and eventually, even part of the old, crisp thatched roof.

Tugela’s orange eyes light up as she completes a circle with her neck and her body engulfs in magic. Hastily, her entire form is quickly consumed in blinding rose-tinted energy. The man’s burning sword smashes into her arm but is then send flinging from his hands into the wall. Her mana begins to settle into a form of a massive, human- goat and then two massive, about thrice the size of her arms, magical spiral goat horns appear out of her head.

“Impact Magic: Capricornus’ Sentence,” her voice echoes as the man’s face pales. The full power of her horns crashes into the man. His grimoire loses its flame. The floor immediately cracks and shatters as the man is immediately knocked unconscious from the impact. His body begins to tremor as he then is sent flying through the wall of the house and the hot flames immediately settle and die out from the sudden, cold burst of wind.

Despite your distance, the shockwave pushes you away, too. You wince in pain as you open your eyes only to see… about a dozen of sharp long rocks, like massive needles, floating in the air. Unfortunately, the eyes of their master meet yours. He whispers a magical incantation and before you can address Tugela, he sends them flying right towards you! This is going to hurt…

> Avoid the attack. [Roll 1d100]
> [Write In]

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>3840655
Dodge!

>>3840659
Shit.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>3840655

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>3840655
Oh shit! Someone get us our brown pants!

>>3840731
Curse us and our feeble Tailor's body.

>>3840655

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>3840655
Ah feck

>>3840655
> [Write In]
> Cast [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket]

>>3840794
On ourselves? If we get hit we might as well not to waste a post.

>Update will be later today.

[Update 1/1]

In a blink of a second, before you can even think, your body pushes you to dodge. With all your speed, you fall onto the dirty, dust-covered flooring moments before the man shouts out the incantation of his magic spell. The sharp stalagmites pierce through the air you were standing at a few second ago, and impale themselves through the wooden wall. The entirety of the unstable structure begins shaking like crazy. You begin to feel the fear in your throat; you find yourself unable to gulp down your own saliva or even air; the clouds of dust do not help.

Your breathe heavies as you raise your eyes to face the man – how will you dodge his attack a second time?

“Impact Magic: Horned Goat Headbutt.”

Thankfully, Tugela is strong and fast; the man never had a chance. A powerful burst in shape of a goat forms from the swing of Tugela’s hand, and then it smashes, crack the bones of and then sends the second man flying into the streets through the – now – broken door. A crowd begins gathering outside. “Pick enemaies your own size.”

You manage to calm yourself. You sigh with relief. Tugela kicks the last remaining man right into the floor and then, she turns to grin at you. You soon realize that she is enjoying herself, and this battle was of no threat to her. Yet, she stumbles and then falls on one of her knees. You and her soon notice that there is a lip-pointed blade with a semicircle cut near its handle laying near the man. Tugela grunts as she soon completely collapses on the hard floor. You can see on her face a great yet silly struggle to move her foot to strike the man who poisoned her.

“Did he…?”

“A magic tool,” she explains, “A paralyze knife – it’s a commaon rogue weapon for people like thema.”

You quickly approach Tugela to check on any of her wounds, but aside from her paralysis – she has none.

“It is nothing dangerous or deadly,” she reassures you, “I’ll be back in a few hours. Took too mauch of may mana.”

“Here, let me heal you,” you say as you lower your grimoire before her. The unconscious man groans and coughs.

“If you have mana to use,” like a slug, she attempts to get close enough to hit you in the forehead with her – like she usually does. Nope, it is a bit impossible for her now. Her orange eyes darken at the complete injustice. She harrumphs. “Catching those three thugs was not part of our assignmaent, that boy is going to have to get it for four of thema, as we have no maens to restrain them. I can be unfair too,” she grumbles and mutters to herself.

“Yes-yes,” you sigh as you reassess your situation.

> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] to try to heal Tugela of her magical paralyzes. It did not work before, on your father, when Lucius cursed him, but this is just a common, regular magic too. Your spell can handle that, surely?
> Pick up the Paralyzes Knife. It will be for the best if it is out of reach of the unconscious man. You might sell it?
> Check on the unconscious man to make sure he is of no danger. He is the one Tugela did not use her magic on.
> [Write In]

>Sorry for the delay.

>>3842682
>> Pick up the Paralyzes Knife. It will be for the best if it is out of reach of the unconscious man. You might sell it?
>> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] to try to heal Tugela of her magical paralyzes. It did not work before, on your father, when Lucius cursed him, but this is just a common, regular magic too. Your spell can handle that, surely?

I'm liking Tugela and her Goat antics a lot.

>>3842682
>> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] to try to heal Tugela of her magical paralyzes. It did not work before, on your father, when Lucius cursed him, but this is just a common, regular magic too. Your spell can handle that, surely?
>> Pick up the Paralyzes Knife. It will be for the best if it is out of reach of the unconscious man. You might sell it?
>> Check on the unconscious man to make sure he is of no danger. He is the one Tugela did not use her magic on.

>>3842682
Priorities in that order
> Ensure the house you are standing in is not on fire.
>Pick up the Paralyzes Knife. It will be for the best if it is out of reach of the unconscious man. You might sell it?
We might keep it
> Use your Linen Magic and the linen fabrics nearby (the blankets and bedsheets) to tie men down.
I assume if we can mend clothes we can change them into long strips of material.
>Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] to try to heal Tugela of her magical paralyzes. It did not work before, on your father, when Lucius cursed him, but this is just a common, regular magic too. Your spell can handle that, surely?
If we can't heal paralyze effect she still got stab and cut.

[Update 1/1]

You take a deep breath. You spread out your hands up from your lungs and then in front of you to calm yourself. You need to set your priorities in order, it is no joking manner if you have to face somebody without Tugela’s help. You diligently check the walls of the house to make sure there are no fire hazards, or just burning cinders, left around them. To your relief, Tugela’s impact magic has managed to somehow blunt all of the fires. You nod, more to yourself, as you then carefully approach the man who poisoned Tugela. His breathing and coughs are heavy… is he pretending? You stop a few feet away from him; you need to make sure he is of no danger to you. You lift the thick, massive cloth of bedsheets into your arms as you then begin to swiftly release your Textile Magic inside it.

Once you are sure the cloth is at your command, it slithers towards the unconscious man and begins to tightly encircle him. Now that you are, somehow and in some way, able to give additional commands to your cloth from a distance, you jack your hand to do just that. Under your grasp, the bedsheets wrap themselves further and begin to tighten much stronger and harsher. You find yourself enjoying the fact that you were now able to use your magic in a different way – an improved way. However, rather quickly, you realize it is not the best time to practice.

You notice Tugela looking at you with a calm, but a rather hurt and at the same time surprised expression.

“W-what?” you ask Tugela as you finally gather courage to step forward. You do not want to get impaled by another dangerous spell any time soon. You bend over to pick the Paralyze Knife. To your surprise, nothing happens.

Item Acquired: [Magic Tool: Paralyze Knife][Empty Charge]

“I did not know you could do that!” her sudden shout catches you off-guard, “I though you told mae you can only heal. I think it’s fair I will call you a little liar froma now on, you know! Show me -your- amazing spells now!”

You place the knife inside your belt as you take another look around and then outside the building. You decide not to go after the men who Tugela send flying; it is not smart to do so without her. “It is my… regular magic,” you try to explain as you finally kneel before her. Tugela is still struggling to move her body; how can such a dangerous tool be common? Surely, Magic Knights should know a way to defend against it? Why was Tugela so inept about this? You sigh as you decide not to question her; the man just got lucky. “There is nothing amazing about making a piece of cloth move,” you pause as you repeat your words as you notice Tugela not saying anything. She still doesn’t. “Your magic however, is amazing, Tugela,” your eyes light up, “They did not stand a chance against you!”

She snorts. “Well,” she chuckles at you, “Wait until you see a spell I call Bicorn’s Shove: that’s a spell that took mae many maonths to perfect, little he-liar. Now, come on now, are you going to be healing mae or not?”

“I will, I will,” you harrumph as your remove your grimoire, “Just hold still.” You smirk at your own joke. You inspect her body: it is strange - the knife left no marks; no blood dirtied her clothes. Your grimoire unlocks and opens under your command as the pages begin to shuffle. Your grimoire has been acting a bit odd today, so you keep a close eye during the shuffling. To your disappointed, there are no new spells present anywhere inside the grimoire. Soon, it stops on the page with your only spell. You allow your grimoire to hover and then rest before Tugela. You say, loud and clear ‘Linen Magic: Homely Blanket’. From the bareness before the grimoire, a long piece of magically glittering cloth begins to slowly emerge and envelop Tugela. She grunts, at first, but as soon as the cloth begins to heal her and lift her curse she bleats and belches, like a goat, in pleasure. You try not to chuckle or wince at her strange behaviour as you allow your magic to do the rest of the work. Soon, the cloth releases Tugela and, with extreme agility, she pushes her hands and lands on her feet. She nudges your cheek.

“I just can’t get mad at you, little healer. Thank you, I feel like a doeling.”

“A… doeling?” You raise your eyebrow as you turn towards the unconscious man. “It’s good I could heal the curse put on your by the dagger, but how come you can no wounds from it? Not any I can see? Did he not stab you?”

“Oh,” she nods as she lifts her pants to reveal… nothing, “Before you healed mae, this here was supposed to be a curse mark. Magic Tools do not wound you like, let’s say, a regular knife would. It casts a spell crafted into it.”

You pause. You shake your head and then you groan, “This is all above my paygrade…”

“You got a nice knife of this whole event, didn’t you?” she says as she approaches the door to exit the building.

“I did,” you comment with a visible, very shy blush, as if you were caught in act of stealing. “It was dangerous to just leave lying around y-you see, I… um… I’ll give it to the Captain Charlotte as soon as we return.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” Tugela waves her hand as she stops and turns. You nearly smash your face into her chest. “It’s yours now, you can do anything you want with it. Fairly, I think you’ll be mauch safer with that knife.”

“…Thanks,” you comment as you finally enter the streets.

You wish you didn’t. The two men are being caressed by, what you can only assume to be, their friends. A massive crowd of about thirty people is shouting abuse at you and Tugela – not all of them appear to be bandits. Poor women, old men and hungry teenagers – they are all unified in their hate towards you two as a Blue Rose representatives. Instinctively, you hide yourself behind Tugela; some of them are holding stones and sticks.

You notice a black-haired boy in front of the crowd. He is no longer calm; he is genuinely angry. Nicolai.

“W-what did you do to my house?!” his voice breaks as he continues waving his hand in your direction, “They destroyed my house! You destroyed my house! Those Magic Knights think they are allowed to do anything they want!”

Tugela throws a quick glance behind her, as she then sheepishly shrugs her shoulders and apologetically smiles, “Oh, that? Sorry about that,” she says as she lifts her hand to rub her neck. A thrown stone hits her forehead.

Tugela’s grimoire opens and bursts into pink flames by her will. Does she plan to fight the entire crowd?!

Should you interfere?

> Do not interfere with Tugela. She is a Magic Knight; she knows what she is doing.
> Gently nudge Tugela and shake your head. No way Captain will be happy with her beating up innocent people.
> Tightly grab Tugela by her torso and stop her from taking another step. You need to avoid a fight no matter what.
> “This boy here is a thief! He is using his magic to steal from people as if he was a ghost!”
> “We were chasing the ghost-thief to this house. Those three men attacked us. It was just self-defense!”
> “I’m sure the Blue Rose will re-compensate and help you rebuild your house. Please, let’s all calm down.”
> [Write In]

>Sorry for the delay, ended up busy today.

>>3843153
>I assume if we can mend clothes, we can change them into long strips of material.
>You can mend and repair the textile but you can’t destroy or tear them with your magic.

>>3844400
> Do not interfere with Tugela. She is a Magic Knight; she knows what she is doing.

Worst case scenario we will need to cast our healing spell couple of times. btw QM should we roll 1d10+10 for mana usage?

>>3844482
Can we reshape them?

>>3844511
>I knew I forgot something.
>Please roll 1d10+10 for the cost of the spell. The lowest roll will be used. Best of three.

>You can fold them into different shapes to the best of your ability as well as time and effort, but you can't change the physical shape with your basic magic alone.

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3844516

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3844516
kk

Rolled 10 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3844400
> Do not interfere with Tugela. She is a Magic Knight; she knows what she is doing.
> “We were chasing the ghost-thief to this house. Those three men attacked us. It was just self-defense!”

>>3844400
>> Do not interfere with Tugela. She is a Magic Knight; she knows what she is doing.
> “We were chasing the ghost-thief to this house. Those three men attacked us. It was just self-defense!”

[Update 1/1]

You spend 15 mana.

Your hands tremble as you gingerly look at the unruly mob as you hide behind Tugela. You clear your throat. You put your best effort to outshout them, “We were chasing the ghost-thief to this house. Those three men attacked us. It was just self-defence!” You exclaim. Several more stones and sticks are immediately tossed in your direction. Your look Nicolai in the eyes. It does not look as if he is trying to trick the crowd, he looks genuinely furious at what you (mostly Tugela and the bandits) did to his dwelling. The mob ignores your pleading words completely.

“They attacked us!” you point your finger (although your father told you it is rude) at the two unconscious men.

You barely avoid another tossed stone; it smashes into the window and shatters the poor-quality wooden shutter.

Nicolai angrily kicks his foot. “Careful! That is my house, stop breaking it even further! For effin’ sake! Come on!”

The middle-aged man only rudely harrumphs at the boy. He mutters some curses and spits on the ground…

Tugela catches one of the stones tossed right at your face. Her reaction is quick, and her grip cracks the stone. She slaps your shoulder and then simply says, “You tried. They are just holding a grudge.” Afterwards, she turns to face the crowd. Those two men naturally will be unconscious for a very long time; by itself, the mob can imagine all sorts of ridiculous and unreasonable reasons to hate you for. Tugela makes sure her metal boots are heard once she steps forward. You put one of your hands over your chest and another over your chin as not to get hit…

You wish you could heal Tugela before she rushed forward. You really want to use your healing magic: you hope to use it more and more. Tugela’s open wound is still bleeding, the red line flows over her left eye and then by her chin. Her eye fills with fresh, crimson blood. Such “mascara” makes her appear murderous and brutal: the crowd frightens. The closer she gets to them, the more nervous they become. Her walk is casual, but even that appears strangely eerie, especially since now she decided to do so without even talking to the crowd. At first, Tugela has her open palms raised in front of her, but as soon as the crowd begins to backtrack away and starts throwing rocks, she gives up and hastens. Some rocks – she catches, some – she avoids and some – she strikes back with just enough power to make the crowd run away. She is a Magic Knight, of course people will be afraid of her.

Nicolai panics once he sees Tugela running at him. He mutters something inaudible before he takes out his grimoire off his belt poach and tries to remove it. Tugela does not give him the chance: she releases a powerful blast of pink, goat-shaped wind right into him and his grimoire. Nicolai notices this. He is able to jump out of the way of her spell. However, hers Impact Magic smashes straight into the grimoire.

Under the power of her magical foray, the moment the goat-like phantom smashes into the grimoire it sends it flying, and then rolling through the ground, right until the end of the street. When Nicolai finally regains his composure, his eyes meet the cold metal of Tugela’s iron boots and then, her tall figure as she grabs him by his shirt and raises him above the ground. The boy begins to struggle to free himself. It is only he and she left now…

You remove yourself from the premise of the unstable house as you begin to walk towards them.

“I knew it, even you, darn Magic Knights, are only defending the rich. You don’t care about the poor or our situation!”

Tugela narrows her bloody eye, “We defend every citizen of the Clover Kingdoma and its laws, boy. That’s it.”

“You destroyed my parent’s house!” he shouts as he clutches her arm with both of his, “If I was a rich snob noble you wouldn’t ever think about touching a speck of dirt inside of that imaginary house. But because I’m poor, and you consider my house a worthless shack, you think you can just destroy it. It is my home, it’s not your business.”

“It’s not us who set your house on fire,” she says with a bleat, “But don’t worry, we took care of your neighbours.”

“Fire?!” Nicolai’s face pales as he begins to hit Tugela into her armoured chest with his cheap and very poorly crafted boots. “Shiznit, let me go! I… if it collapses because of you all the things I took will be unrecoverable!”

“Be honest. I’ll let you go once you show us where you -really- hid your stolen goods. Where -were- you?”

“Darn you,” he hisses. He raises his hand to hit her in her shoulder. Flesh meet metal. “Ach, let me go, you lanklet-woman. You itching bee. You hogget!” Nicolai swings one of his hands before her face but… he is too far to hit.

Tugela’s left eye is pure red, with only her bright orange iris managing to appear through the blood. “I’ma trying to be nice here, boy. Depending on what, and from how many people, you stole, you -will- get in serious trouble.”

You look around. You notice Nicolai’s grimoire charging towards Tugela from behind her: one of his many hand gestures was to recall it back to his position. Tugela is too busy trying to get some answers from Nicolai. He is just wasting her time, however. As soon as his grimoire touches her body, she will likely be teleported far away…

You have no linen cloth in your arms’ reach aside from your clothes, but that will not be much of a help.

> Shout at Tugela about the grimoire and that she should get out of the way. Can she hear you in time?
> You are not too far from her and Nicolai. Attempt to protect her back to have grimoire “ghost” you instead.
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Tugela to heal her, as well as try to protect her from the grimoire, with your magic. You have no guarantee that this will work but his mana should be no more powerful than yours.
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Nicolai. If you can cocoon Nicolai in your spell-cloth, he will not be able to summon and control the movements of his grimoire, at least for long enough that you can warn Tugela.
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Nicolai’s grimoire. Can you do it? The grimoire is moving quite franticly.
> [Write In]

>Tell me if you wish me to update and inform you about the current mana poll you have or if you can do that yourselves. Reminder that if your mana goes into a negative number Cynthia is going to fall unconscious.

>>3845490
> You are not too far from her and Nicolai. Attempt to protect her back to have grimoire “ghost” you instead.

It'd be helpful if you kept track of the total and showed it to us whenever our Mana pool changes.

>>3845578
Health [5/5]
Mana [63/100]

>>3845490
> You are not too far from her and Nicolai. Attempt to protect her back to have grimoire “ghost” you instead.

>>3845490
>> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Tugela to heal her, as well as try to protect her from the grimoire, with your magic. You have no guarantee that this will work but his mana should be no more powerful than yours.

[Update 1/1]

You conclude that there might not be enough time to both warn Tugela and for her to react, so instead you rush forward as fast as you can to step in the way of the grimoire. You shout, too, although you fail to form a coherent sentence as you do so. Bending, you strife your hand towards the spell book. Tugela’s orange eyes widen when she notices you, and just moments before you make contact with the grimoire, she grabs into your empty hand.

You have been drained of 10 mana.
[Current Mana]:[53/100]

Your vision is soon clouded in darkness. Freezing cold overwhelms your soul. In this weakened state, you are barely able to feel yourself slipping away. Finally, you manage to regain your ability to see only to find yourself several meters above the ground… flying straight towards it. Your body is, once again, half-visible and translucent with green glow. You shake your head to find Tugela and Nicolai near you. Damn it, he got what he wanted, then.

Yours and Tugela’s grimoires are accompanying you, but they have no glow in this world. Nicolai’s grimoire, however, still has its luminosity. The people below do not see you, for them you literally look like empty air.

“If you are thinking that we will all from falling, it is possible,” Nicolai warns you, half-invested in the situation.

“There is no reason for you to kill yourself together with us. And you already did this once, did you not?” you say.

“You are too dang observant, aren’t you?” he glares angrily as all three of you make contact with the ground.

Despite your word, you do not find yourself 100% confident that this will not hurt, or will not injure you. You instinctively close your eyes just before the impact. Thankfully, there is no crack of bones or splatter of blood. You are alive, unharmed. You stand up and you check on Nicolai.

“Do you plan to run away again?” you ask him. To your surprise, the boy does not hurry, he even approaches you.

“We will still catch you if you try. You look a bit tired, little boy, was this the last of your mana?” Tugela smirks.

“You too,” the boy sighs as he lifts his hand near Tugela only to grab into her grimoire. As if not a magical artefact, but an old boring novel, he is easily able to take it into his hands. Tugela’s face pales in short panic as she tries to grab into the boy and her grimoire. She is unable to, Nicolai’s body flashes in bright green as Tugela completely passes through him and stumbles forward. In disbelief and alarm, she tries again and, once again, she cannot.

“You are darn aware that there is a limit in time to this spell, so no use of hiding it, or wasting that time,” Nicolai says as he -tosses- Tugela’s grimoire away.

As soon as the book leaves his arms, it loses its transparent aura and falls into the streets.

Tugela’s voice changes to a more serious one, “Watch what you are doing carefully, I won’t be nice forever.”

“I’m the one who should be angry,” he exclaims. You try to hide your grimoire in your hands but he is easily able to take it from you. You try to fight back but your hands, too, pass through him. Without restraint, he throws away your grimoire: it lands in completely opposite direction from Tugela’s. “I suggest you watch them closely; you’ll be able to pick them up in about five minutes now, but people here might just get interested to pick them up first.”

He then looks at Tugela, “You do not want to freaking risk it, do you? Just leave me alone, nobody here is happy to see you, or even wants to see you. But if you still go after me, you won’t be able to use your darn magic without your flippin’ grimoire, will you now?” Ending with that, the boy turns around and begins quickly walking away.

While only the original owner of the grimoire can use it, ones that are unique are sold on the black market as a collector’s item. Before, it was a no brainer to follow him – and you even managed to do it. Now, however…

“Tugela?” you look at her in question, “What do we do?”

“I did not spend enough timae with hima to be able to feel his mana proper,” she grumbles as she then runs her fingers into her hair buns, “And he is right, I wasn’t really conservative with my spells... I’ma a commaoner, like you. This daman magic as well,” she comments as she looks at her transparent hands, “It drains our mana too.”

“I noticed that, too,” you try to pick up your grimoire. Nicolai, as the wielder of his strange magic, can use his grimoire to not only bring himself and others into the “ghosted” form, but bring the objects back and forward.

You can’t.

“Losing your grimoire is a death sentence,” Tugela finally speaks up, “He is right, we can’t leave them here.”

Is that it then? He looked really worried about the things in his house when Tugela mentioned the fire…

> Ask Tugela to stay here and pick up the grimoires as soon as she is able to; you will follow Nicolai. If somebody who is stronger than a teenage girl decides to pick up your grimoires, Tugela can deal with them better than you.
> Assure Tugela that you’ll look after the grimoires if she decides to go after the boy. Even if her grimoire is not with her, you saw Tugela able to see her impact magic as he basic. Compared to you, she’s a strong adult woman.
> Patiently wait until you are able to pick back your grimoires. It is unlikely, but he might be hiding at his house.
> Admit defeat and tell Tugela that you are worried about Elvira and Lilth, as more than two hours passed by now.
> [Write In]

>>3847454
>> Ask Tugela to stay here and pick up the grimoires as soon as she is able to; you will follow Nicolai. If somebody who is stronger than a teenage girl decides to pick up your grimoires, Tugela can deal with them better than you.

>>3847454
> Ask Tugela to stay here and pick up the grimoires as soon as she is able to; you will follow Nicolai. If somebody who is stronger than a teenage girl decides to pick up your grimoires, Tugela can deal with them better than you.

>>3847454
>> Ask Tugela to stay here and pick up the grimoires as soon as she is able to; you will follow Nicolai. If somebody who is stronger than a teenage girl decides to pick up your grimoires, Tugela can deal with them better than you.

He's probably less likely to attack us if we follow him than Tugela, since we're clearly not a fighter like she is and he's already said he doesn't like hurting girls. Plus as long as we're with him Tugela might be able to sniff out our mana to get to him.

>>3847649
I agree, best we talk to him.

“I’ll follow him,” you tell Tugela after a brief hesitation.

“Sure,” she nods. Shortly, she stops to ponder, “Are you sure? You won’t have your grimoire with you.”

“It’s fine,” you reassure her, “All I have is a single healing spell, anyway, it will not be much of a use to me in a fight. Once we return to normal, please do pick up my grimoire. And after, you can find me by my mana, right?”

She seats her bum on her grimoire and lazily flexes her arms, “Don’t do anything too stupid. If dangerous-”

“Yes,” you nod, “I know. He won’t hurt me. I don’t think he will…”

With that, you wave your hand in farewell as you immediately rush to follow Nicolai to his destination. You pass by the streets as you try to recall the exact path Tugela took to get to the slums of Kraal, although it is a blur. Thankfully, you do not have to worry about stumbling into people as you are able to pass right through them – you try not to do this too often, as it is awkward, rude and probably uncomfortable for them. By the time you enter the slums the time of day is a dark evening. You stop to catch your breathe only to realize that you now have to do so, and that your body has returned to its original, physical form. Alone, you stand on dangerous road.

You quickly rush closer to the walls and to the shadows to avoid any confrontation with the easily angered locals.

Without no accident, although going through a lot of adrenaline and paranoia, you reach Nicolai’s house. While hard to spot in the dark, you are still able to recognize it because of all the damage Tugela did to it in unique ways. You look left and right to make sure there are no suspicious people around before you climb the steps and approach the poorly hanging door. Is he here? You look into the windows only to not see any light from inside.

You take a deep breath to calm yourself down. A powerful gust swooshes some leaves and makes you jump. You raise your hand and, as gently and feebly as possible, you push the door open. You hear no reaction. You decide between for or against entering inside. It does not appear that he is even here, but is it a good idea to shout?

Before you can settle your mind, a flash of green magic erupts from the middle of the room flying towards you.

“Please wait!” you scream as you block your face with your hands and quickly jump out of the way of it.

A familiar voice comes from the other side of the room – it is not really that big and so you are able to hear his voice loud and clear. “I returned you your ‘precious’ necklace, did I not? And you can’t even leave me alone?” The boy sighs, he sounds rather tired, “You two really want to catch me... They have thousands of jewels and yul in their pockets, yet they still worry about a few lost ones… stoles ones. One ring is enough to feed me for weeks.”

“Where is the-”

“I send him away, of freaking course,” the boy says as he lifts his candleholder. A pathetically weak light just barely brightens up his chin and face – no wonder you were not able to spot it from the outside. “You just tied and left an unconscious man in my darn house. It’s because you don’t care, I know. What are you trying to do now?”

“That picture, it looked important to you. That is why you were worried about the fire, isn’t it? I found you here…”

“… So what?” he asks as his grimoire begins to circle the room, “Let me tell you this. I don’t need my mana to use my magic on you, I can use my grimoire to send you away as many times as I am able to – you and the woman-lanklet you are hoping is going to come here to assist you… I am tired of you following me like a bay leaf, though.”

> “I just want you to return all the things you stole to their rightful owners. If you continue with this charade, it might not be us, yet the people you robbed will ask for different Magic Knights to come. It won’t end well.”
> “You don’t have to steal and become a criminal, there are other ways. You can find an honest job. You magic is amazing, I’m sure there are ways you can use it for good. I don’t want you to go to prison, please, trust me.”
> “This is your house. Do you plan to leave it and live on the streets escaping us if we come back tomorrow, or the day after? If we tell the mayor and the people, you will have to go into even deeper hiding. Do you want that?”
> “Sister Abby wants you to come live in the chapel. There a lot of orphans there, you won’t be alone anymore.”
> [Write In]

>>3849507
>> “You don’t have to steal and become a criminal, there are other ways. You can find an honest job. You magic is amazing, I’m sure there are ways you can use it for good. I don’t want you to go to prison, please, trust me.”

>>3849507
> “You don’t have to steal and become a criminal, there are other ways. You can find an honest job. You magic is amazing, I’m sure there are ways you can use it for good. I don’t want you to go to prison, please, trust me.”

>3849507
> “You don’t have to steal and become a criminal, there are other ways. You can find an honest job. You magic is amazing, I’m sure there are ways you can use it for good. I don’t want you to go to prison, please, trust me.”

>>3849507
> “Sister Abby wants you to come live in the chapel. There a lot of orphans there, you won’t be alone anymore.”
Can we promise him he won't go to prison though? It's up to the big bosses in blue rose.

>>3849507
>> “Sister Abby wants you to come live in the chapel. There a lot of orphans there, you won’t be alone anymore.”
>write in: You could use your magic for things besides theft you know? You could charge people to transport them quickly and discreetly across the city, for example... The point is, perhaps you could earn coin, rather than stealing it.

This guy really has an annoying magic tbqh.

[Update 1/1]

You carefully approach the bed he is sitting on. In case he decides to resume his hostility, you keep a close eye on the grimoire. He raises the candle holder to illuminate the distance between you and him when you get too close.

He knocks his chin up with a grunt, as if asking you to break your silence as well not to do anything stupid.

“Sister Abby wants you to come live in the chapel. There a lot of orphans there, you won’t be alone anymore.”

The boy pauses before shaking his head. He looks at his grimoire as he then slowly takes it into his hand, “I had this grimoire for a year now, but the people in the chapel, and because of them, my mother too, disliked me using it. I was granted it by the same tower as the rest of them, yet, apparently, the magic here is somehow dark.” He runs his finger by the cover and stops on the three-leaf clover mark, “Maybe if my mother was not as devoted…”

He silences himself. You wait, he refuses to exlain any further.

“I don’t think your magic is dark. It is just unique.” You point at the empty space on his bed. Can you sit?

He shakes his head profusely and even lifts his grimoire as if to create some sort of barrier between you and him.

You try to not appear, or sound, annoyed. “You don’t have to steal and become a criminal, there are other ways,” you explain, “You can find an honest job. You magic is amazing, I’m sure there are ways you can use it for good.

"I don’t want you to go to prison, please, trust me.”

“Why should I?” he asks. “Nobody cares about the people in the slums, not even” – he covers his mouth with his palm, as he then finishes his sentence with a quiet whisper – “the God.” He shakes his head and looks away. “Besides,” he begins as he looks away from you to his mother’s empty bed, “What job is there for me now?”

“You could use your magic for things besides theft, you know? You could charge people to transport them quickly and discreetly across the city, for example...”

“That sounds like black market territory,” his chuckles, though in a weak manner, “Are you really a Magic Knight?”

“Not really, no… The point is, perhaps you could earn the coin, rather than stealing it.”

He stares you down, and despite the awkward situation, you refuse to look away. “That is where you are darn mistaking,” he says as he finally stands up and startles you. “I’m not stealing those things for myself, girl.”

“It’s Cynthia,” you slowly move your hand off your heart as you calm yourself, “And I don’t understand?”

“I’ll show you, if you really care,” he moves towards and then opens the door to invite you outside.

You are jammed in the flow of the situation, and so you follow him. It does not look as if he is going to hurt you. You trust Tugela to come if things turn sour and you need her protection. You do not engage in any further dialogue with Nicolai, as he keeps himself silent – perhaps it’s not because he dislikes you, but because it’s best not to catch any attention of the beggars of cutthroats around those parts (you avoid several of them, in fact). You pass by several of the reeking, insect and rat-infested streets and he even leads you to a tiny, make-shift wooden bridge across the river canal. Despite the fears of what sort of infections you can get by simply falling into this river not leaving your mind, you manage to cross over it. You enter a low-populated area of the city with barely any houses present. The only buildings you manage to notice are three, massive towers with triangular roofs and visible, bronze bells illuminated by magical light. They stand silent.

“W-where are we?” you finally manage to ask as you continue to follow in his steps.

“The Kraal graveyard,” Nicolai answers you without turning his head. He leads you through a massive hole in a rusty, yet still as dark as ebony, fence. It is twisted and tall, about twice your height – the graveyard is well separated. You shiver your shoulders from the winds of the cold night as you try not to lose the sight of Nicolai in the pitch darkness that is the graveyard – the only lights here are the occasional, now dying, candles. After a few minutes, he eventually stops in front a very poor-looking but a very well-kept grave with a simplistic tombstone.

“This is?” you ask him once you stop by his side. You’ll ask Elvira to make you some honey tea when you are back.

“Elena Tussaud’s grave,” he says as he squats before it.

“I heard” – you catch your breathe as you take a few, careful glances around yourself – “How your mother died.”

“She worked to the bone to support me,” Nicolai speaks as his voice trembles. He begins to remove the dirt off his mother’s grave until the cask becomes visible. You have no right to stop him. “She was as ardent and zealous to the virtues of the church as only a darn priest could be. I believe she was hoping that He would reward her and me for our efforts. She worked three jobs, yet her money was just enough to help the matters of the chapel and feed me. She was always malnourished and tired, and the God did not protect her from when the roof collapsed…”

Nicolai puts his fingers under the cover of the cask and slowly lifts it open. You jolt in fear as you find yourself as loss for words. What -is- he doing?! You try not to look, but Nicolai’s uncannily calm reaction eventually allows you to do so. He remains silent as you approach the grave closer. The body is, thankfully, covered in cloth and what is visible is not decomposed, it hasn’t been that long of a time. What you find inside, however, are dozen of yul coins, rings, necklaces and all sort of jewellery and expensive trinkets laying by the side of his mother’s body.

“Y-you hid all of them in your mother’s casket?” you ask, in utter disbelief and harsh accusation.

He grunts and responds in kind, “No, this is where I brought them. She lived all her life poor; she deserves to be like this – surrounded by treasures and riches… at least in her afterlife.” He sighs and takes a few steps away.

“W-what?”

“This what you wanted, was it not? Everything I ‘stole’ is there, take it if you want.”

> Do not argue with Nicolai, jump inside and take out as much of the jewels as you can; you can’t carry all of them.
> Ask Nicolai to take out all the jewellery himself, as he is asking you to practically desecrate his mother’s grave.
> Leave the grave be. Find Tugela and tell her about the situation… perhaps she can desecrate it instead of you.
> Ask Nicolai if he intends to continue with his thievery. Tell him if it’s a job he wants you might have one for him.
> Search for the Murray family ring inside the casket. It is a sentimental thing; Nicolai will not mind if you tell him.
> [Write In]

>>3851440
>Ask Nicolai to retrieve the ring, it wouldn't be right for us to desecrate his mother's grave.
> Ask Nicolai if he intends to continue with his thievery. Tell him if it’s a job he wants you might have one for him.

>>3851440
>> Ask Nicolai if he intends to continue with his thievery. Tell him if it’s a job he wants you might have one for him.

>>3851440
>Rant about how his mother work herself to death and what he is doing is wasting time and potential to do what? Decorate corpse with trinkets? Oh how his mother would be so proud to know that rather then use them to better his life or life of other he let them waste it on a corpse.
>Is that what would his mother want?

[Update 1/1]

You grunt as you turn to face him. “You know perfectly well I won’t go into your mother’s grave.”

“Why freaking not?” he says in annoyance as he lifts himself off the ground, “Don’t you want your ‘stolen’ riches?”

You take a step away from the open grave. You shake your head; calmly, you clarify to him:
“I hope you realize what you are asking of me, Nicolai. Do you -want- me to desecrate her grave?”

He huffs in annoyance and responds in anger, “No, what effin heck do -you- want? I’m closing it!”

“We were sent here to stop the ghost from stealing,” you admit with a sigh as you come closer to the boy, “Nicolai, tell me honestly, do you intend to continue with your thievery? Do you really need to do this?”

He lowers his shoulders and then slaps the hand you were slowly moving towards him. “Why do you care so much about the rich? Nobody is going to be hurt because they lost a few trinkets. They want you to be jealous of them.”

“But are you and your mother going to be happy because you stole those things? She will not see those things in the afterlife, Nicolai, they don’t need jewellery there; she can only watch you from there, do you think she will be happy to see you like this?” You ask him in a begrudging tirade, “You can and should improve your life with th-”

“What do you know?” he breaks and shouts as he grabs you by your shoulders. I-is he going to toss you inside!?

“W-wait-”

“I don’t care about being rich, you hear?! She didn’t have to work so hard; she didn’t need to put so much effort for me and the chapel! There are so many aristocrats who live in this city, and do you freaking thing they donate a yul to the chapel? Or bother about the slums and how the poor live? Even if they are angry at the loss, even if it makes them miserable, the darn better! Why did my mother had to work and die… just because we were so poor?”

His voice breaks. You try to grab into his elbows to keep yourself from falling into the grave – that’s the last thing you want to happen today. In the shadow, it is hard to recognize Nicolai’s face, but it’s fair to assume he is or nearly desperate. You lead him and yourself away from the edge before you let go of his hands. You lament.

“It’s not how she would want you to live your life from now on, Nicolai,” you say as you turn to the gravestone.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he admits as his body mellows and his hands sway in a dejected manner.

“My father owns a tailor shop, although it is far away in Kikka, we are now in urgent need of some help.”

“Me? A tailor?” he huffs at you. What an imp, is he suppose to be sixteen or not? “You joking?”

“You don’t have to accept my proposal, or even move to Kikka, but I think it will do you good,” you say. “You need to take a respite from this city; some people – like the nun – know your face now. You don’t have the means to repair your house right now, but I’m… certain the Blue Rose will make sure it is by the time you come back.” You sway your hand to the east, “My father will pay you, he’s a very kind man. And we have a room for you too…”

“Do you feel -pity- for me?” he asks, his fingers rolling by the cover of his grimoire.

“No, we are honestly in need of some help,” you chuckle lamely, “We can help each other. Is that fair?”

“I don’t know… if I can leave all of this behind,” he mutters quietly, as if thinking about your proposal.

“I am a commoner, not an aristocrat or a noble,” you add, “But not all of them are bad, or wicked.” You say, “Our job coming here was to stop the ‘ghost of Kraal’, and if you will stop your thievery, I’ll consider this a job done. We can leave all the things you took in there, I feel it is fine… but, one ring there is very precious to one of the men you stole it from – if he does not get it back… well, terrible things will happen to him. Can I have, only it, back?”

Nicolai’s figure pauses before he sighs, gives you an awkward nod and carefully jumps inside not to bump his mother’s corpse. He picks up the ring fitting your description before he climbs out of the grave and rather cumbersomely offers it to you. You feel a bit awkward as well – it is a wedding ring offer to you by a boy, after all. You make quick haste to put it in your bag; out of eye out of mind. You thank him as you assist him with the lid.

“Little healer? Hey, little healer? There you are!” Tugela’s voice echoes as the metal of her armour rings loudly with her every step, “What are you doing all the way here in the graveyard, are you crazy?! It is dangerous!”

> Tell Nicolai to hide. Explain to Tugela what transpired and try to convince her there is no need to arrest him.
> Tell Nicolai to hide. Explain nothing of your talk but that you magically convinced him to stop his thievery.
> Tell Nicolai to hide. Tell Tugela that Nicolai was a part of a thief group and everything he stole is no longer retractable aside from the wedding ring. Tell her you managed to convince him to quit the group and leave town.
> Appear before Tugela with Nicolai. Help him with explaining the situation and what your agreement is.
> [Write In]

>>3853379
>> Tell Nicolai to hide. Explain nothing of your talk but that you magically convinced him to stop his thievery.

>>3853379
> Appear before Tugela with Nicolai. Help him with explaining the situation and what your agreement is.

>>3853379
> Tell Nicolai to hide. Explain to Tugela what transpired and try to convince her there is no need to arrest him.

>>3853379
Is this the first sentence she didn't butcher?

>>3853379
> Appear before Tugela with Nicolai. Help him with explaining the situation and what your agreement is.

>>3854115
I thought Tugella was speaking in like a Scottish accent or something and that's why the text in her sentences was kind of odd.

>Quest will be updated later today.

[Update 1/1]

As soon as Nicolai hears Tugela’s voice, he attempts to kneel and thus hide behind the tombstone from her gaze, but you grab into his hand to stop him. You shake your head once and give him a reassuring smile as you take a step forward to meet the Goat Knight. Her lips lower once she notices Nicolai, but you reassure her that the situation is under control. After a brief pause and explanation, a joyful expression brings the colours to her face.

Tugela puts her battle-prepared grimoire into her pouch and returns you yours. Incredibly happy, you hold it in a tight hug. Once you realize both Nicolai and Tugela are watching, you quickly sneak it into your own grimoire-specialized holder. By the time the wind breaks into devilish wails and you find yourself struggling to stand still, Tugela settles on moving away from the spooky graveyard: in the first place, the cemetery a rather disturbing place to have a conversation in. Awkwardly, Nicolai suggests and leads you to his untidy and unstable house.

Once inside, you realize how cold his house is during the nights. Even through the harshest of winters, your house never felt this cold. Now you see that the walls here are poorly cloistered and the firepit is the only source of potential heat. Tugela shudders her shoulders; she does not complain, so neither do you. She sits herself on the chair and leaves you no other place but join Nicolai on his bed. Once he lights up the candle-lights, you pursuit him to tell Tugela all he was comfortable with telling you. Tugela listens intently, although sometimes she interrupts him rather obnoxiously to ask something completely unimportant and unrelated. In the end, however, Tugela and Nicolai are able to find common ground. Tugela – she makes sure this is what you want – agrees not to give Nicolai to the authorities. Still, she insists that she must tell either Captain or Wardress Virginia the truth. She promises you that they will understand and agree with your decision as long as he really follows the compromise.

Putting all those things aside, you find Nicolai to be much more talkative and calmer than he was through the entire day. He is now what you imagine an acolyte to be, although perhaps he is just tired and hungry... You exchange a few final words with Nicolai before you tell him all the information he needs to know to find and approach your father for the job. You also promise and make a note to send a letter to your father about him.

“If he stops, that’s fine,” she says after a long yawn, “Our assignmaent is done here, then. You should be proud!”

“I am not sure if I am proud,” you take a few short jumps down the steps. You need some warm clothes…

“Don’t sell yourself short, little healer,” she grins as grabs you by your shoulders and gently strikes your forehead with hers. The hit is weak and scrawny, yet unlike previous times, she does not move her forehead. You can feel the warmth of her face. Her lips speak, “I’m sure the fact that we took care of this will make Wardress happy.”

With that, she puts her hands behind her head to flex. “Let’s go about leaving; let me get our broomas.”

“Wait,” you insist as you put your hand forward, “I… need to return this ring to Murray, the sooner the better.”

“Oh?” she pauses as she chuckles. “Oh, sure-sure,” she answers nonchalantly, “I have timae to waste now, I’ll be in the half-pub when you are finished. Still, this street maight be much better, but don’t be too careless.” She pets you.

“You will be drinking?” you ask her agasp.

“Of course!” she hears past your accusation, “Even if the wine here is crap, I will try my hardest to enjoy it!”

There is no need for a farewell, as you intent to meet her very soon. Instead, you wish her good luck with finding a bottle of wine that is not, as she says, ‘crap’. From what you have seen, Tugela is able to handle a lot of alcohol – there is no way she is completely immune to it, is there? Just like before, you begin climbing the steep hill to the beautiful, magical gardens of the upper living spaces. You lick your lips, the glittering fruit is even more appetizing like this, in the dim moonlight. You shake your head – you are above stealing. You climb the porch and knock.

Mr. Murray appears; he answers almost immediately (you were afraid you would have to wake up him, but it appears the loss of the ring is still taking its toll on him). He lowers his face to recognize you, and as soon as he does so, he beams. He removes the chain keeping the door from completely opening off and pulls you inside.

“D-did you?” he asks. His lips quiver.

You nod as you remove the ring (brilliant red topaz stone in a white-gold circle) and offer it to him. With a trembling hand, he hovers and then rudely takes the ring off your hands. Tenderly, he looks it over and almost immediately puts it on his index finger. You smile. The man turns to you with a comically red face and bloated cheeks. As tears begin to fall off his face, he raises his hands as if to grab you into a hug, however, he probably soon realizes how inappropriate, on itself and to his status, that is going to be and stops. Instead, he grabs your hand and shakes it. He raises it up, and then down, and continues to do such wide motions for about a minute.

“Thank you, thank you… you saved the Murray family, you saved my marriage! Oh, you are a saint miss…!”

“I-It’s not that big a deal,” you chuckle. You feel awkward and shy, yet proud and pleased at the same time. “It’s Cynthia,” you share your name with the man as he finally breaks the handshake. You leave your hand in your pocket.

“I can’t believe you were able to catch that… ghost! Was it not scary to deal with such horror?!”

“You could say that,” you roll your eyes in cumbersome manner, “He… It shouldn’t bother you ever again.”

“O-oh, that’s right, y-you wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t for a reward, so of course,” he says it as a manner of fact, you try to butt in to correct him, but is he really wrong? This person is the type Nicolai hates the most, and you can’t really say that you hold a lot of love for the aristocrats and nobles – like the White Yul – either. The only reason you asked Nicolai to pick this ring in particular is because Murray begged you, but how many of the trinkets left in the casket are still precious and missing by their owners? You try to keep such thoughts out of your head as Murray leads you into his rich living room decorated with expensive furniture of red oak. It is extremely warm here: the fireplace is three times the size of the one you have at your house. There is a massive carpet spread across the entire floor with an ill, maze-like diagram drawn across it. You find massive paintings of flora and fauna put in gilded frames decorated on every single of the engraved white-stone walls. Very luxurious…

He leads you to a medium wooden cabinet separated by a clear, half-invisible glass with all sorts of trophies and showpieces inside of it, ranging from a life-like taxidermy of rare birds to crystal tableware to porcelain figurines of young women to even elegantly crafted models of horses and brougham. Your attention is caught by a small hairpin with a rose flower made out of lapis lazuli surrounded by copper leaves… you are not the trendiest or most fashionable of girls, especially with jewellery, but you think it will look very nice on your head. There is also a gilded hairbrush decorated with pin-sized ruby quartzes across it’s head. That can be of use to you too… right?

Then, you notice a grimoire in his collection. A real grimoire.

“A grimoire?” you ask him with a visible confusion, “Is it yours?”

He shakes his head as he opens the cabinet to allow you to check it closer. It is a three-leaf clover grimoire with a graphite-hued cover and twisting, skull-like shapes across it “No, this is just a thing I was able to buy off hands a few years ago. It’s a know fact you can’t use a grimoire that is not your own, but it makes a good display piece.”

He smiles. How can he not realize it was likely stolen from someone else, a person who is without their magic now?! He notices your concerned face and his expression turns gloomy. You try to calm yourself…

“If none of those items are to your liking, I can offer to pay you in coin,” he says, “Six hundred yuls, as a thank you.” He pauses before his eyes begin to sparkle, “Or… maybe you would like to meet my nephew? You seem like a nice and hard-working girl, Cynthia, if you two can hit it off I wouldn’t mind you becoming part of our family.”

Wait. What?

> Take the hairpin as your reward.
> Take the gilded hairbrush as your reward.
> Take the abandoned grimoire as your reward.
> Take the monetary reward as your reward.
> A-agree to the marriage meeting as your reward. Y-your father wanted you to find a husband, r-right?
> [Write In]

>>3855951
> [Write In]
>Ask him to donate cash to chapel Sister Abby works at.

>>3855951
> Take the monetary reward as your reward.
> [Write In]
>> Tell him to donate a third of the reward to Sister Abby's chapel

Hmm, the Grimoire is interesting, but I'm not sure we'd be able to find a use for it.

>>3856024
While it's a nice gesture, we're kinda in need of money right now, let's not go giving away all of our earnings. How does a third sound?

>>3856068
+1

>>3855951
That grimoire sounds like it can be useful in the future quest or something. Let's get that.

>>3857003
Uh, what?

>>3857056
>Please ignore that.
>I am writing an update right now, sorry for the delay.

[Update 1/1]

“All of those items are… beautiful,” you say as your eyes dart from one expensive ornamental piece to another. Never could you imagine being able to afford something of this value, even the hairbrush or the hairpin. You have a feeling, an unquestionable feeling, that if Patricia seems you with one of such, she will be drowning in her envious saliva… as disgusting as that sounds. Your wage in your father’s shop was always small, but you understood that the majority of earning had to go for the prosperity of the workshop and its capacity to stay on the luxurious High Street. You sigh as you turn to the middle-aged man and, gingerly, you put your hand forward.

“I thank you very much for your offer, and I have no doubt your nephew is handsome and upright,” your lips quiver in awkward smile as you then shake your head to Murray’s visible disappointment, “But I do not think I am ready for this yet.” You gesticulate your hand towards the cabinet, “You have a very unique collection here, Mr. Murray.”

“But none of it interest you?” he asks in slight disbelief.

“I don’t want to be rude,” you say – the grimoire had caught your attention but you are not sure if it can be of any use to you just yet. “I think monetary reward will do just fine, but there is a favour I would like to ask you regarding it.”

The man uses his stick to assist him with locking the cabinet once he is aware you will not take a single thing from there. You are not big-headed, but you wish you could have the money -and- the hairpin as your gratitude gift.

“Can you donate two hundred yul to the Kraal chapel?”

He blinks and hastily places his hand under his chin, “That’s a very liberal request, Cynthia. Can I ask why?”

“It’s… not personal, but I think that chapel and the orphans inside of it could use some donations.”

“You really are a saint,” he smiles; it is gentle and honest, “Of course, I will do as your request, Cynthia.”

“Thank you!” you beam as you eventually accept the four hundred yul in two heavy pouches; perhaps, learning how to store items in your grimoire might be extremely useful… how else do they expect you to carry thousands of coins in your pocket?

You thank and apologize to Murray one more time as you give him a grateful farewell and turn to leave. You feel yourself proud and a bit smug as you open the door, however. You turn your head on the porch to face Murray and point your finger towards the Blue Rose emblem on your neckband, “If you are having any trouble, remember – Blue Rose is there to help you.”

With that, you step down the steps and return to the half-pub. It is a late evening – maybe even midnight. You now have about 500 yul in your possession. You stop to see half-shop now closed. You reassure yourself that once you will gain the position of the Head Tailor, you will have enough money to visit and buy the things you want and need in there, and maybe in some other magic shops. Even if you are to fail your challenge, you are going to have to visit Kraal at least once more this week since you promised Adeliza to fix her magical broom. It’s decided.

You meet Tugela who is still not even a drop drunk. After a short convincing – no way you will agree with her plan to spend the entire night drinking “crap” wine here – she leaves the half-pub. With your mission done, she removes both yours and her brooms. The two of you ride towards the Blue Rose Headquarters. You find yourself getting better and better at using the malfunctioning Magic Broom, and Tugela, who is much more experienced in this field and it still riding her own broom in the most obnoxious and acrobatic way possible, even compliments you. The entire way there you are tired and sleepy, yet your flight towards headquarters passes much quicker.

There is no security, and nobody is there to meet you; still, you manage to hear a few strange, distant voice coming from the maze – from what you can assume, it seems somebody is attempting the Blue Rose challenge.

“It took us maore than two hours, didn’t it?” Tugela chuckles as puts her broom inside her grimoire. You find yourself extremely jealous having to carry it around in your hands. Tugela takes a few quick steps to approach you, and you instinctively place one of your hands over your forehead to protect it. She chuckles, removes it and… then knocks your forehead with a finger snap. You step back in pain and give her a very rude and insulted glare.

“Trust mae, Virginia is going to forgive him now and you shouldn’t have any problema with a maissing person.”

“I need every bit I can get with this challenge,” you admit to Tugela with a heavy sigh, “Oliver is… experienced.”

“He is,” Tugela says as she leads you into the main hall, “He’s a boy – a male – but the captain is very satisfied with hima and his work; not mauch with his assistants, but they are getting there. He has a lot over you, little healer.”

You feel yourself sulk. You hang your head dejectedly.

“But you have somaething he does not,” Tugela says as she suddenly stops, turns and points her fingers at your…

“My… chest?” you repeat in awkward, slow voice, “I am not sure that is going to be much of a help to me.”

“Not your body,” Tugela harrumphs and then rolls her eyes. Why would she put it in such a weird manner, then?! “Your magic, little healer. You are the only person I know who has magic that is this unique for your trade and role.”

“My magic?” you repeat after her as you bite your lower lip, “But I only have a single healing spell, Tugela…”

“Everyone started like that, don’t worry-don’t worry. If you really want to win this thing, you will need to grow it – train it,” she says as she ruffles your red hair, “It’s all unique, but I can offer you a few advices later.”

You thank her – not for ruining and forcing you to adjust your hair, but for the offer to teach you how to better use your magic. The two of you separate as you move to return to your temporary tailor workshop, and Tugela goes to Wardress office… you notice a bottle of wine badly hidden in her bag.

Is it early at night, you do not meet a single person on your way back. You do not expect to find either Elvira or Lilth this late; rather arrogant of you to expect them to still be working, or waiting for you. To your surprise, however, you hear a loud turmoil by the time you approach the workshop’s door. Cautiously, you unlock and open the door only to find a rather chaotic scene. Elvira is now three persons, with not a single difference between them. All three of them are drunk; their faces are red and their eyes are spinning and hazy. The boy, Lilth, is held – practically – hostage by the two Elviras, who are hugging and petting him on the stacks of linen cloth. Lilth does not even notice you; he has been completely defeated and has now succumbed to his fate.

“C-Come on, girls,” the third Elvira, standing by the table with a single shirt begs the others, “I n-need help.”

“What is going on here?” you interrupt them as you step forward. The three of them shudder and look at each other for guidance and support. You look over the shirt the third Elvira was working on: the stiches are horrendous. You glare at Lilth for answers, but the boy shows no response – he is in a half-conscious trance.

You groan, “How did this happen? -What- even happened?”

“I… hic… we… don’t know how… I… I’m sorry,” third Elvira cries as she holds into the dreadfully repaired shirt.

> Ask the two Elvira’s using Lilth as a pillow to step back and then try to wake him up to explain what is going on.
> Insist on Elvira to recombine or destroy her clones. You are too tired to deal with this problem right now.
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on Lilth to make him come to his senses and explain the situation.
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on one of the Elviras to fix her intoxication. There is a chance this might work?
> [Write In]

>Thanks for playing and your patience, I really appreciate it!

>>3857122
>> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on one of the Elviras to fix her intoxication. There is a chance this might work?

I was wondering if we would be able to cure hangocers/drunkeness and such. This is a good chance to test it!

>>3857146
By the way, we're at page 10, you'll probably want to archive the thread and make a new one next time.

>>3857147
>I think I will do that, yes.

>if the thread dies before you can give your response you can do it in /qtg/, I'm sure they wouldn't mind!

>>3857122
> Ask the two Elvira’s using Lilth as a pillow to step back and then try to wake him up to explain what is going on.

>Sorry guys, there won't be an update today as I currently feel terribly sick. See you tomorrow!

>>3857122
> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on one of the Elviras to fix her intoxication. There is a chance this might work?
>>3858747
Thanks for running QM. Hope you get better soon!

Elvira can make clones of herself that is useful

>>3857122
>> Use [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket] on one of the Elviras to fix her intoxication. There is a chance this might work?