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Last Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4291796/

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Black+Clover
> Please vote if you feel like it.

Character Sheet:
https://pastebin.com/raw/GWPeFqEa

Character Profiles:
https://pastebin.com/raw/Jhu6ZZab
> I am still working on this.

Thread theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9HRm_7M4ys [Say It. ]

You scoff as you turn towards Cryz.

“You already have that bluebird figurine; that should be enough of reward for your troubles don’t you thinks so?”

He frowns, “Are you kidding? That ‘bird’ is disobedient – outright useless – and that figurine broke into small pieces the only time I tried using it. There is no way I am going to accept this as a ‘reward’ for risking my life.”

You narrow your eyes, “I know that you hid the wooden chips in your clothing. It wasn’t a onetime use, was it?”

“Aren’t you an attentive brat,” he says sarcastically before putting his hand inside his long cloak. He admits, “I did it just in case they still held some kind of magic, or it would be possible to repair it in the future. That doesn’t mean I am going to accept a bunch of wooden pieces as compensation...” He suddenly stops, his eyes briefly widening. He glances away. You nudge your head at him with justifiable suspicion. With annoyance, he takes out the whitewood carving of a blue falcon; it looks exactly the same way you found it in the “Display”. Cryz frowns.

“It seems it repaired itself,” he immediately lowers it, “But that does not mean anything. Give me the ‘Sun Eye.’”

You roll your eyes, “That is enough for you already.”

“I can’t believe you have the gall to barter,” Virginia interferes with a brief grind of her teeth, “I wonder if you even show any respect to your superiors in the Diamond Kingdom. If not, your King is surprisingly pathetic...”

Cryz doesn’t take her insult to heart; it looks as if he doesn’t really care about what she said. “Whatever.”

“Your ‘archaeologist’ stole two powerful artifacts, one of them a Magic Relic, Diamond Kingdom has more-“

“I wanted to –sell– them.”

You sigh and shake your head. You raise your head to look diligently, with a measured attitude. “I think the two of us should stay and wait for you in the Neutral Territory. I understand really why he doesn’t want to go with us.”

Virginia straightens her back – her body stands even taller now. “The Neutral Territory is too dangerous, Cynthia. It is the territory of the Witch Queen, and she hates anybody who invades her space. Even the spaces that she does not control are hideouts for treacherous criminals, dangerous magic users or hazardous lands and grounds.”

“We won’t dwell too deep,” you assure her, “We’ll stay by the very border of the Clover Kingdom.”

“Unless you decide to bring backup with you to arrest me, then I’ll prefer trying my luck in Witches’ Forest.”

You can’t help but glare angrily at Cryz; he is not helping the situation... at all. You clap your hands to plead.

Virginia sighs. She lets a heavy silence linger for a moment as she contemplates, although her face does not really show it. “I don’t have much of a choice, do I? Although I am - currently - your only superior here, and it is my responsibility to make sure you remain safe, I have to make sure Lanarel returns alive, as well, now that she is like this. You faced Fezar on your own” – she ignores Cryz – “so I –can- trust you with this, but you need to stay safe.”

You nod to her, “I will be, Wardress Virginia. I won’t do anything stupid; we’ll just wait for you to come back.”

She nods, visibly uncertain. You turn away from your companion to push Cryz along and approach Silhibip.

She slowly raises her burning, yellowish figure to have cracked pieces of her whitestone head face you. With a brief blaze her golden eyes settle to a timid glow. “Why, little girl, you are finally awake I see; alive and awake.”

You briefly nod to her as you squat – making sure not to raise your dress too high – besides her.

“Can I ask what you are doing?” you question the lingering ghost-mummy.

“I am just making sure my buddy Mydias’ here looks well and good when I bring him to his crypt.”

“You are planning on dragging him all the way back there? Why?” Cryz asks in your steed.

“It is true that Mydias’ soul, and his magic, have long since abandoned this world, but his crypt is still unfilled. Why, it is not right for his body to just stay here for everyone to step over. I’m just trying to make him look as handsome as he was when he was alive,” her ancient voice hollowly chuckles as she weaves another skull piece.

“...And what his crown?” Cryz enquires before you can. Perhaps it’s best he drives her ire and not you.

“Originally it was supposed to be a heritage to the descendant of his and the desert’s choosing, but hey – everyone is gone now. I am going to commence his ‘Dwindling Ritual’ with it; it is too dangerous for others to have.”

“Won’t it be stolen as soon as we leave? Now that the palace is exposed, others will try and come here.”

“Why, it’s true that ‘Face Keeper’ has been destroyed when you freed all of us” – you innocently glance away – “so I’ll have to stay and guard him and the remaining history and treasure of Sunasho instead. It is... fine with me, I love this kingdom and what Mydias has created, and I don’t feel like I am ready or deserve to leave just yet.”

While it’s true that the palace will remain standing until the heart of the kingdom is destroyed, it just as likely that the constantly growing power and presence of the Grand Magic Zone is going to burry and conceal it just as well...

> “It is not right you have to remain here alone. You deserve to join Mydias and the others in the afterlife.”
> “It is your decision to make, Silhibip. If you want to protect your kingdom, perhaps you should wear the crown.”
> “If you hide the crown all the way in the centre of the necropolis it is rather unlike others will find it.” You can judge by your own experience. It appears Mydias has his own riddle waiting for him once his crypt is enclosed.
> “You don’t look like you have enough magic left, and your body is crumbling. Let me hide the crown instead.”
> “It’s been thousands of years since you were turned into a mummy, Silhibip, but the Clover Kingdom is still facing constant adversity from enemy kingdoms as well as from inside. Mydias’ Crown could be of a great help.”
> “Cryz thinks he deserves the crown as a reward for helping stop Fezar; he plans to sell it. What do you think?”
> [Write In]

>>4329089
>> “If you hide the crown all the way in the centre of the necropolis it is rather unlike others will find it.” You can judge by your own experience. It appears Mydias has his own riddle waiting for him once his crypt is enclosed.
> “It is not right you have to remain here alone. You deserve to join Mydias and the others in the afterlife.”

>>4329089

>> “If you hide the crown all the way in the centre of the necropolis it is rather unlike others will find it.” You can judge by your own experience. It appears Mydias has his own riddle waiting for him once his crypt is enclosed.
> “It is not right you have to remain here alone. You deserve to join Mydias and the others in the afterlife.”

Yeah, that Crown reeks of bad Juju

>>4329093
>>4329126
sure +1

Alternatively there are scholar that most likely would be interested in learning history of this place she could communicate with

>>4329165

Can she even leave?

“You could leave with us, I’m sure the Magic Emperor will be delighted to hear about the history of Sunasho.”

“The Magic Emperor?” Silhibip’s figure whispers in ancient language, the translation echoing in your mind.

“He’s kind of like your Mydias: the head of the Magic Knights, the most powerful person.” You say sheepishly.

Her shattered floating head gently bops before dipping into the golden fire that is now her neck. “Why, maybe if didn’t suffer through those injuries... If I go through the ‘Dwindling Ritual’ again, I might be able to restore some of my body, but none of my magic.” She hits her stone palm against Mydias’ golden casket, “But I don’t want to leave this city even if I could, and I’m not sure if the magic of my scroll is going to last enough outside of here.”

You nod forlornly in response. Still, you clench your fists before approaching the ‘woman’ even closer.

“It is not right you have to remain here alone. You deserve to join Mydias and the others in the afterlife.”

Her yellow eyes shimmer as she stares you down – you have to turn away once your eyes begin to water.

“If you hide the crown all the way in the centre of the necropolis... it is rather unlike others will find it.”

“Why, that’s what I said I was going to do,” she hollowly chuckles at you. She then grants Mydias a golden foot.

“But you don’t have to stay after that is done,” you say, “Do you have to be killed or you can just... let go?”

She pauses before a circle of golden flame below her chin forms into a smile, “I never thought about it.”

“You can just jump off that hanging pyramid if you can’t, that will surely destroy you,” Cryz says.

You roll your eyes before putting your heavily bruised hands on Silhibip’s cold fingers, “You don’t need to linger.”

The gilded glow of her eyes dims just a bit as she turns to look at Mydias’ remains. “I’ll... make my decision when I am done with everything else.” You don’t have the right to demand the crown from her; neither do you think you can handle the responsibility of owning it. You hold no malicious intentions, and to have your magic spread as wide as an entire palace would simply be awesome, but if somebody steals it from you, consequences will be dire.

Slowly, she puts her half-flaming hand through her exposed – literally – chest to take out a folded papyrus scroll.

“How did you...?”

“It’s not mine,” her voice rings melodically and a playfully, “It is Zitanhu’s. I think one of you will find a use for it.”

Cryz shoves his face between the two of you. With a greedy momentum, he tries to take it.

> Let Cryz have Zitanhu’s ‘Calendar Magic’ scroll. You will be travelling together anyway.
> Roll DR 1d100-5 roll [dice+1d100+-5] – best of three – to try and grab the scroll faster than Cryz.
> Grab into the scroll to hold into it. Cryz is physically more powerful. Try to convince him to give it to you (How?).
> Grab into the scroll to hold into it. Ask Virginia for some assistance and pressing demeanour.
> [Write In]

>>4331184
>> Let Cryz have Zitanhu’s ‘Calendar Magic’ scroll. You will be travelling together anyway.

Eh, this is fine. It's a one use item, and while it's powerful, I don't think it's significant game changer.

>>4331184
>> Let Cryz have Zitanhu’s ‘Calendar Magic’ scroll. You will be travelling together anyway.

Rolled 19 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>4331184
> Roll DR 1d100-5 roll [dice+1d100+-5] – best of three – to try and grab the scroll faster than Cryz.

>>4331184
>> Let Cryz have Zitanhu’s ‘Calendar Magic’ scroll. You will be travelling together anyway.

Rolled 99 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>4331184
>> Roll DR 1d100-5 roll [dice+1d100+-5] – best of three – to try and grab the scroll faster than Cryz.

You shove your shoulder towards Cryz’s side to stand up in front of his reach; his momentum pushes you forward and makes it incredibly easy to grab Zitanhu’s scroll before he is able to reach it. Awkwardly stumbling to avoid hitting Silhibip’s fragile body, you side-step away from her before you finally stop and turn to face the mercenary.

He doesn’t look too happy with the fact you took another one of “his possessions.” You do not unravel the scroll.

After a brief moment you come to a decision. You take a few steps forward and unclench your hand; you raise the scroll towards the man, offering it to him. Visibly confused at first, Cryz quickly grabs the scroll out of your hand.

“What was that all about?” he questions you with a side-glance. He opens to look at the context of it.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to give it to you or not until just now,” you harrumph in retort.

He hems and smirks at the same time, “Well I’m glad you came to your senses. This is not enough, but it’s a start.”

You roll your eyes as you watch him read the context of the scroll. He begins to droll; his saliva drips over his chin.

“What does it do?” you ask him. He rolls it back and puts the scroll safely beneath the pouch belt of his pants.

“Your typical Calendar Magic stuff,” he mocks you before sighing. “From what I understand, the effect of it is that of a Reinforcement Magic.” He takes out a dirty napkin to remove his droll, it leaves a trail of dirt and blood over his chin but he doesn’t notice it, “If you are injured, there’s a chance to mitigate most of the damage. If you use magic on a spell, there’s a chance to restore it. However, that also applies to healing and supplementary forms.”

Silhibip slowly stands up as she finishes semi-mummifying the corpse of her king. “Calendar Magic: Intercalation.”

You nod, “Since we are going to be travelling together, you might as well carry it and use if something happens.”

“What are you talking about; I intent to sell it once I’m back at the Diamond Kingdom.”

“Of course you are...” you widen your eyes before staring Cryz down with an obvious suspicion, “Wait, how do we know you are not going to return here with back-up once after a week or so to try and –steal- ‘Mydias’ Crown?”

He looks at you with his glassy eyes if you just insulted him, “I don’t know or care about Zeden or Avrill, but myself, there’s no way I am going to return to this sandstone pit. They’d have to pay me handsomely to revisit.”

You hear a grunt and then an echo of a sudden movement. You quickly glance over to Virginia to find Lanarel awake; the Vice-Captain wakes up startled. She quickly stands up to grab the Wardress into an extremely intimate and tight hug with visibly trembling hands. She is forced to hide her head in Virginia’s chest because of how towering the woman is compared to her. Caught by surprise, the plated Wardress looks away with sympathy.

The memory of what she did under Fezar’s control flows back into her mind. Her lips wobble as if she was crying.

Virginia raises her gauntlet to gently pat the short dark-blue hair of the aphasiac woman. She lets her be like this.

After a minute or two Lanarel is finally able to calm down and ease the hug. She awkwardly and apologetically looks at you before her face grimaces in pain, visibly hole-like spots and disgusting bruises left by the tentacle-brains still clear and visible. Grunting, she looks over the ruins of the room before she catches the sitting Fezar.

As soon as her bronze-green eyes notice him, her arm immediately clenches to raise and manifest a wind storm.

Virginia grabs her by her wrist and shakes her head. “He’s not going to be a problem now, Lanarel. Our mission was to capture him and bring him back to the Kingdom. If you kill him, that’ll not be a good look for our leader.”

Lanarel clumsily scoffs and let her wind magic to disperse into the natural magic. She points her hands at herself.

“I’m not talking about Captain Charlotte but you, Lanarel. You are our leader and it is your responsibility now.”

She begins vividly – pain once again returns to her face – and negatively shaking her head. She points at Virginia.

“No,” Virginia responds to her calmly and stoically, “It was little Cynthia here who managed to bring him down.”

You awkwardly raise your hand to wave ‘hello’ to your Vice-Captain. Lanarel responds to you in the same way.

The burly bear-like stature of Avrill has been sitting nearby, awake and silent. His long lion-like brown hair hid most of his bruises over his face and neck, but his naked muscular chest showcases the rest of his deep injuries.

“Cryz,” Avrill’s harsh voice breaks the silence when the other mercenary approaches the man.

“Avrill,” Cryz responds with disinterest. Unlike Virginia, it doesn’t seem like he cares about his well-being.

The man glances to the two women, then at you, then at the golden flame that is Silhibip and then at Fezar.

“Is everything over?”

“It’s a long story,” Cryz’s responds with an audible irritation, “What is it important is that you got brainwashed by this damn Clover criminal and I had to smack you back to your senses. Don’t think I’m not putting it on your tab.”

“Very well,” the man responds calmly. “Where is Zeden?”

“She escaped with all the loot as soon as the ‘curse’ was broken. She is planning on telling the King that we got captured by the Magic Knights. This is going to be a pain; they are going to think we told them important stuff.”

“-Are- we captured?” Avrill asks calmly as he crosses his burly hands to look over Virginia. She hears it.

She tucks her sword in an attempt to intimidate Avrill, but it doesn’t work. “You are currently inside the Clover Kingdom’s territory; this is nothing short of an invasion. It would be bliss to capture the two of you, Diamond Kingdom’s dogs, and put you behind bars but...” Virginia hisses, “But I don’t have the time to do that right now.”

“I see,” Avrill begins to stand up as the fragile sandstone ground cracks beneath him. He acknowledges Lanarel.

Cryz follows his glance. He sighs dreamily, “I wish I was stuck with that good-looking girl instead.” He whispers.

You can’t let that slide, “Your ‘friend’ seems much nicer than you. I too wish I was stuck with him instead of you.”

Avrill hears your comeback and simply smiles at it. You blush. He notices your connected wrists and questions it.

“We are still like this,” Cryz says as raises your and his arms to show your fleshy connection. He takes out the pearl-hued grimoire out of his pouch and tightly grips the corner of it with his fingers. “It’s because of this thing.”

“Hey!” You wince, “Treat my grimoire nicely.”

“It’s –my– grimoire too,” Cryz hisses back before tossing it into your hands, “It was Zeden’s idea as well.”

“It’s best you don’t return to Diamond Kingdom like this. Morris might take the wrong interest in you.”

“He’s going to have to prove me a palace in the Carat Terrace if he wants to ‘experiment’ on me,” Cryz harrumphs. “No, we are going into the Neutral Territory to wait for those two,” he points at Lanarel and Virginia, “To return with the criminal and his grimoire. With his grimoire he hopefully can break us apart and I can return back.” He stops to talk to himself, as if completely ignoring you and Avrill, “I won’t leave the Topaz Market for months...”

“Neutral Territory is dangerous,” Avrill’s olive green eyes reflect the dim orange light.

“We are just going to wait by the border.” Cryz tells him. “If you return home, tell the King the honest truth.”

“The truth is that you are still captured,” Avrill tells him before nodding, “But there’s no danger left in this place.”

“There’s still the treasury, I heard there are some traps there.”

“There are less traps and more riddles,” you interfere with Cryz’s suggestion. He looks at you and harrumphs.

“Then I am not interested,” Avrill pauses. “But it looks like you are going into another dangerous prospect?”

“I told you, we are not going into the Neutral Territory to get into predicaments. We’ll just be waiting there.”

“But you might.”

“You have issues.”

> Ask Avrill if he wants to accompany you. He’s an enemy, but you don’t feel like he’ll harm you.
> Remain silent. You won’t feel safe with two Diamond Kingdom mercenaries together with you.
> [Write In]

> Anything else you wish to do before you leave the Sunasho Palace?

>>4333289
>> Ask Avrill if he wants to accompany you. He’s an enemy, but you don’t feel like he’ll harm you.

>>4333289
>> Ask Avrill if he wants to accompany you. He’s an enemy, but you don’t feel like he’ll harm you.
lets take the chance that he isn't a a bad person

“Do... do you want to accompany us?” you question Avrill with restrict. You are not certain it’s a good idea.

Virginia sways her palm beneath her neck, “That’s a bad idea, are you forgetting he is from an enemy kingdom?”

Avrill – the man looks like he is in his early forties, he is perhaps the oldest here, if you exclude Silhibip – gives you a nod. He turns briefly to Virginia to explain, calmly, “I don’t care what happens to them but I won’t harm them.”

“Then why are you going?” Virginia asks.

“Because he’s a danger freak,” Cryz huffs, “He’s probably hoping we are going to stumble into something deadly and ‘exciting’.” He raises his eyes towards the man, “I am positive we aren’t. You better return to the Kingdom.”

“No, I think I will go with you.”

“I still think this is a bad idea,” Virginia harrumphs. Lanarel makes a few trembling hand motions towards the Wardress and the woman sighs. She looks you in the eyes and nods, “-You- should avoid the danger, Cynthia.”

You smile at her brief caring and motherly nature. “Of course, Wardress, I am just going to wait for you there.”

Virginia clears her throat and glances to the ground. There is a concern in her eyes: you’re her responsibility.

Fezar remains calm and silent during all of this. Either he has accepted his defeat or he’s positive about something.

Once everyone is in good enough spirit and shape to begin your journey, you leave the ruins of the throne room. Silhibip’s flaming gold presence leads you through the long hallways and chambers of the palace; they are much more pleasant to the eye without the plaster of bleeding flesh and gurgling organs. She brings you back to where you entered the palace from the surface of the desert – the massive and deep tower. You will be separating here.

“I guess this is a farewell, Silhibip,” you tell the ancient mummy you hardly got to know; “I... don’t think we are going to see each other ever again.” You shake your head, “And we shouldn’t, don’t torture yourself, Silhibip.”

The white stone pieces hover around the flame that is her arm. You hear her say, “Why, have a save ‘journey’.”

Cryz rolls his eyes. “I hope you find all the uses in the world for that pile of treasury you have stored away.” He takes another breathe to continue his slew of complains, “And your puzzle was annoying, frustrating and stupid.”

There is a brief silence before Silhibip’s body crackles and begins to move.

Silhibip simply takes a step forwards. The shining dust begins to solidify around her into liquid gold – she reclaims her entire body with a golden skin, the same she previously gave you and Cryz. Even as a statue, she is very beautiful... She is also completely naked, with her frames and curves exposed. Cryz cautiously leans away from the mummy but Silhibip grabs his hand and slides it over her chest and then across her torso and rest of her body.

Cryz’s breathing deepens. A hollow chuckle rings in your mind as she says, “Have this as a reward.”

With that, she let’s go of Cryz’s hand and steps back, the gold immediately melting away into a bright yellow flame. Lanarel hides her eyes and sweating face behind her palms. Even Virginia is taken aback by this display. Avrill looks at all of this with boredom. Silhibip looks at all of you with a jolly presence and then points upwards.

“-Anyway,” Virginia begins, gently smacking sheathe of her sword, “I will have to report this palace to the Magic Emperor. He might decide to come once he hears about the history and the powerful magic you lot used to have.”

“Why, it will be a pleasant talk,” Silhibip’s ancient voice laughs gently as she looks at you, “If I am still here.”

“Just thought I gave you a warning, if he’ll come, he won’t be here to steal the crown or overtake the palace.”

Silhibip’s gently floating pieces of head nod and dip, “I will keep that in mind, ‘Wardress’.”

You give her one final bow and wave before you follow others on the ascending steps. The powerful and demeaning presence of the Grand Magic Zone becomes much more present with every step you take; not for you, you magic is mixed with Cryz’s as of currently and so your mana control is somehow higher because of this, but for others. You can see it in their expression and faltering aura that they are going to have trouble with their magic...

To your surprise, the loud howl of powerful winds is less conspicuous now. As soon as you leave the tower and reach the flat roof, you find that the ravaging sandstorms are no longer rampant and widespread. While the Grand Magic Zone is still present, you feel it’ll be much easier to leave it than to enter. You exhale with obvious relief...

*** *** ***

Leaving the Grand Magic Zone, the dawn quickly enclosed on your ‘group’. Before separating, as it is dangerous to travel at night, Virginia decides to spend the night on the edge of the desert. Very much mistrusting of the Diamond Kingdom mercenaries, you, Lanarel and Virginia agree to sleep in shifts to watch over the fire and the three men. Avrill and Cryz are not too bothered about it; of course, they are going to be able to sleep all night...

*** *** ***

Your shift comes third, in the middle of the night. You wake up by yourself, without needing the Vice-Captain to shake you into lucidity. The rough cold sand that gets everywhere must be the culprit; you are not really an outdoors type of person. As Magic Knight, you’ll need to adjust. You open and narrow your eyes in the darkness, the pleasant smell of burning wood and not so pleasant caressing of smoke floats around you like a meddling eel.

You do not make a sound, or move. You keep your eyes barely open as you allow them to adjust to the darkness...

Everyone but Lanarel is sleeping – it is her shift but you are not sure how sensible it was for Virginia to let her be ‘alone’ after what has transpired inside the palace. Unlike Avrill, who looks completely unaffected, Lanarel is...

You find her sitting silently besides the sleeping figure of Virginia. She is holding one of Virginia’s hand gently in hers, caressing it with her fingers. Her bronze eyes are glimmering with a spark you have not seen of her before, and her heavily bruised and cut face is relaxed, soft and very affectionate. While looking at Virginia, she is smiling.

> Turn around and go back to sleep; Lanarel will wake you up when it’s your turn. You haven’t seen anything.
> Remain silent and continue watching. Eavesdropping is discourteous... but you can’t help it.
> Pretend to just wake up and flex your arms with a yawn. Ask Lanarel if it is your shift yet or not.
> Catch Lanarel in the act and gently ask what she is doing and if she is feeling alright. Do not be mocking her.
> [Write In]

> This marks the end of the Sunasho Palace Arc. Please give me some feedback, positive and negative, about it.

>>4334960
>> Pretend to just wake up and flex your arms with a yawn. Ask Lanarel if it is your shift yet or not.

>>4334960
>> Turn around and go back to sleep; Lanarel will wake you up when it’s your turn. You haven’t seen anything.

>>4334960
>>> Pretend to just wake up and flex your arms with a yawn. Ask Lanarel if it is your shift yet or not.

In terms of feedback, story arc was generally fairly good. Interesting characters and overall plot. Main complaint is that it was perhaps a bit too long, much longer than any other arc previously. Also, I question the decisions to hand the players an entirely new spell book just for this adventure, but I suppose it worked out. I can't imagine Cynthia making much of a difference this arc with her Linen Magic, and Sequin Magic seems a bit too powerful to let the players have permanently.

>>4335312
> Sorry about the arc being a bit too long but there were a lot of things happening, a lot of things to go through and it's Cynthia's first serious mission and dungeon crawling as a Magic Knight so it had to carry weight and longevity. I can't promise that the future arcs are going to be shorter starting now, but I'll try to make them compact to follow the adrenaline-spirit of the Black Clover manga. Regarding the OP nature of Sequin Magic is the drawback of Cynthia having less mana and also the fact that Cryz is free to use it whatever so you have to keep that in mind unless he wastes all the mana, and he - Cryz - doesn't have the best of three so he's less likely to recover the mana. I have made adjustments to Reinforcement Form magics so other spells starting now will be more balanced (I hope).

>>4335484
so does this mean that they won't be as op as nacre rejuvenation?

File: tumblr_py17vmATkE1uwa63zo1_640.jpg (135 KB, 560x835)

135 KB JPG

>>4335529
> They'll be cost appropriate, Nacre is very cheap mana-wise.

You slowly and discreetly roll on your side. Your chest and the insides of your body still hurt; you are no longer hungry but the feeling is not much different from it. You are away from the palace but the curse lingers on...

You can’t wait to find the means to get rid yourself of this ailment. You quietly raise your eyes to see Cryz still sleeping without much care in the world. What happened recently was not a dream however, and your left hand is still fleshly attached to his... that, and your magic is mixed up. You loudly yawn as to not startle or embarrass Lanarel and announce the fact that you are awake. Cryz is like a log so you are only able to raise one of your arms.

You trickle your fingers against your neck before you raise it above yourself with a flex and a loud wrist crack.

You are not sure if it’s because she’s unable to speak or not but Lanarel’s sense of hearing is quite powerful.

Lanarel has managed to make quite the distance between herself and Virginia in that short time; a patch of trampled sand now separates them. Visibly uncomfortable and in panic, Lanarel flinches her hand to force a powerful wind to destroy the evidence of her ever sitting nearby. She hopes it was too dark to see anything.

Compared to how she acts to her when they are together, it seems Lanarel is not that honest with Virginia...

“Vice-Captain Lanarel?” your voice wobbles sleepily.

She expressively points her fingers to her eyes before pointing them towards you: ‘Did you see anything’?

You act as if you are too drowsy to understand what she meant. You try to stand up to approach her but you soon realize what the problem is going to be: it is the fact that Cryz is attached to you, and he’s heavier than you. You raise your arm to explain the situation to the woman with bright red cheeks. She gives you an understanding nod.

“Vice-Captain, is it my shift yet or not?” you ask nonchalantly.

Lanarel, still sitting with her legs crossed, connect one of her palms with her other. She shakes her head at you.

“Well, I am already awake,” you smile at your superior with a shrug, “You can go to sleep, I’ll be alright now.”

Lanarel hesitates. She briefly looks at Virginia and then her bronze-green eyes look back at you. Without a regular voice Lanarel is forced to describe her emotions with her facial expressions and gestures, but the glow of the campfire is not bright enough for you to clearly see those. She claps her hands together in a plea; an apology.

You briefly gasp. “Oh, you mean about what happened in the throne room? Don’t worry about it.”

While holding her eyes closed she shakes her head – obviously stating that it is –not– alright what she did.

“I think you were holding back, Vice-Captain; none of the punches you ‘tried’ to land connected.”

She looks a bit apprehensively at first. She puts her hands to her template and raises them as if releasing smoke.

“You don’t remember anything?” you ask her, the whole conversation is like playing a game of charades.

Again, she shakes her head. If she was not in control then Fezar’s had all the intent of making Lanarel hurt you. Lanarel raises her hand to surround you in an invisible bubble; she quickly flips it as if saying you were just agile.

You chuckle briefly at the Vice-Captain’s compliment, although you cover your mouth as to not wake the rest.

“It’s impossible I’m faster than you, Lanarel, even if you did not have the control over your magic at the time.”

The short-haired woman looks over your connected wrist. She raises her hands to hug herself uncomfortably.

You nod, “Yes, I would prefer not to be stuck like this, skin to skin. You got lucky with that other mercenary.”

Lanarel glances at the burly man before she begins to push her open palms in his direction. Her experience was not as great, you imagine her exclaiming. If Avrill is as notorious about jumping into danger as you heard, then it must have been as harsh for Lanarel as it was for you to deal with Cryz’s egoism and Virginia with Zeden’s crazy.

You chuckle briefly to yourself, “I just realized this is the first time we are talking like this, just you and me...”

> You are curious... Ask Lanarel how it’s like to be a Vice-Captain of the Blue Rose; what’s her story?
> You know that it is not often that Lanarel leaves on missions like this one. What does she do meanwhile?
> Be straightforward. Ask Lanarel about her relationship with Virginia. Why is she so moody around her?
> Ask Lanarel for advice, she spent more time with Avrill than you. Should you allow him to come along?
> Vice-Captain’s opinion is extremely important to you. Ask her straight, did you do a good job as a Knight?
> Perhaps it’s against the wishes of Virginia, but Lanarel is the leader now. Ask you Vice-Captain if she wants to take over your shift as well. You got a feeling she does. Return back to sleep if she agrees to your proposal...
> Tell Lanarel that the worst is now behind you. Everyone is alive, and that’s all that matters. Tell her that between all of you she needs rest and sleep the most, you can’t have her be excessively tired in the morning.
> [Write In]

>>4336799
> You are curious... Ask Lanarel how it’s like to be a Vice-Captain of the Blue Rose; what’s her story?

> I hope https://pastebin.com/raw/Jhu6ZZab is a lil' bit helpful with remembering the characters.

>>4336799
>> You are curious... Ask Lanarel how it’s like to be a Vice-Captain of the Blue Rose; what’s her story?

>>4336799
>> You are curious... Ask Lanarel how it’s like to be a Vice-Captain of the Blue Rose; what’s her story?

“I don’t feel like going back to sleep,” you look towards the Vice-Captain, “But I don’t think you are either?”

The blue-haired woman awkwardly bobs her head towards the ground, unsure on how to explain her reluctance.

You understand; you simply put your free hand on your knee – you don’t want Cryz’s fingers touching anywhere near your legs – as you cross your eyes and flatten your back. “Lanarel, how long have you been a Vice-Captain?”

The woman puts a hand to her chest to sigh with relief; you wonder if she was worried you’d enquire something else. She raises her hand and forces the powers of wind to pick up and then toss some firewood into the campfire.

A bright fire quickly engulfs the timber; a red-ginger brightness momentarily illuminates her face.

The lean woman pauses before she puts her hands together into a fist. Silently, she motions and waves her five fingers two times, nodding to you as she does so. Before you ask, she makes a second motion, only once this time.

“You have been a Vice-Captain for five years but a member of the Blue Rose for fifteen?” you attempt to guess.

She shakes her head. You widen your eyes in surprise.

“You have been a Vice-Captain for ten years and you only joined the Blue Rose fifteen years ago; really?”

You raise your voice inadvertently. As soon as Lanarel makes an angry motion to her lips you murmur and shush.

She nods do you with a brief self-consciousness. You accidently made it sound like she was bragging, you realize, and according to Vice-Captain’s expressive nature she is not the type. You tilt your head with a considerate laugh.

You remove your Sequin Magic grimoire from your pouch to place it on your knees. You raise your eyes to Lanarel.

“It took you only five years to become a Vice-Captain... I wonder if I’ll be possible to me too,” you say accidently.

She raises her brow. It is now your turn to awkwardly and sporadically wave your hands around your head.

“I’m not saying I am planning to replace you,” you choke on your breath. A brief blush covers your face... You put your open palms to cover your face, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I am saying. I’m too self-ambitious aren’t I?”

To your surprise, she quickly forms a cross with her hands. She breaks it to point her finger at the restrained red-headed mage. She ‘knocks’ her finger and then points at you, this time firmly holding it in place. You understand.

You narrow your eyes to look at Cryz. “Regardless of what Virginia said, I don’t think I can take the credit.” You have responsibility to tell Lanarel the truth; you do not wish to be rewarded and respected for a lie. “Cryz, the green-haired mercenary over there, have been ‘assisting’ me in the palace. He helped me with the riddles to free four powerful mummies with insane magic, and it’s only because of them we were able to defeat Fezar...” You take a deep breath. You need to explain more, “Virginia was the brawn of the whole thing, she’s... very strong.”

With a clumsy and stoic nod Lanarel listens to your explanation. She looks at Virginia and once again, a brief and caring smile lifts on her face from cheek to cheek. She tries to hide it but fails to do so; she is embarrassed again...

Because either of you two refuses to go back to sleep, you spend the rest of the night ‘talking’ to each other. You share with Lanarel about your life before becoming a Magic Knight and, because she was mostly isolated in her room during your “Tailoring Challenge”, you also tell her about the crazy week you had and what happened then.

In exchange, the Vice-Captain ‘tells’ you about her first days as a fresh recruit. She was originally meant to join the Silver Eagles, you discover, but because of her introverted nature she was unable to do so. While not a royal, the Kamakaze family – it took you ten minutes to figure out her surname – are an influential noble family of the most powerful and deadly Wind Magic users in all of the Clover Kingdom so she did not have to take the Entrance Exam.

Eventually, her parents settled with her joining the Blue Rose – an all female Squad – but only until she became confident enough to join the Silver Eagles. Of course, the previous Captain of the Blue Rose did not mind the fact.

However, even that was not enough to break Lanarel’s withdrawn nature. She does not tell you why she was such an isolationist but you imagine it has something to do with her family or childhood, so you don’t really dwell too deep into that. It was then when Virginia and a friend of hers – a boy – joined the Blue Rose. Confident and brash – you can’t imagine Virginia being anything but stoical now – she quickly took it upon herself to break Lanarel out of her shell. Unlike the rest of her family, Lanarel’s winds were neither massive nor powerful at first but Virginia – according to Lanarel – didn’t care about that. She persisted on having Lanarel as a companion on all her missions.

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Lanarel briefly mentions the fact that the boy was ostracized by the rest of the Squad and, instead of performing his obligations as a Magic Knight, he just became a servant. He grew jealous when Virginia – his only friend – started spending more time with her instead and ultimately, he left the Blue Rose. She still feels guilty about that.

While Lanarel’s winds are not as big and powerful as her parents’, they are the sharpest. You are surprised to learn about the fact that Lanarel is the one responsible for the creation of –all– the stained glass windows in the Blue Rose Headquarters; even the mages with the major attributes of mana find common uses for their magic...

In a few words Lanarel mentions that it was Virginia who was originally supposed to be the Vice-Captain, but she offered her position to Lanarel instead. Vice-Captain Lanarel says, with a pout, that, while uncertain at first, she now feels tricked and irate at Virginia for ‘tricking’ her into this position. She tells you that the job of a Vice-Captain is more on taking care of things the Captain has no time for; that mostly includes: office paperwork, organizing the missions and the rewards, going on diplomatic meetings with the Vice-Captain of other Magic Knight Squads, overseeing the recruits, making sure the secret intelligence knowledge is undiscovered, and more.

Obviously unhappy with the responsibilities, Lanarel admits to you that she grew into the role and enjoys it now...

The dawn breaks soon after. Virginia is surprise and a clearly distressed at the fact that you two were awake.

“What were the two of you talking about?” she asks coldly, but she is unable to hide the curiosity.

You don’t tell her...

*** *** ***

Before your two groups separate Virginia spends a long while explaining to Avrill, and Cryz, what is going to happen to both of them if they harm you. It’s rather embarrassing, of course, but you can’t fault her for being worried about your safety. Virginia reminds you to not dwell too deep into the Neutral Territory before, finally, she and Lanarel depart with the restrained criminal back to the Clover Kingdom; it’ll take them a few days...?

It takes you half a day to reach the edge of the Neutral Territory – it is rather far from Ato, the village on the border where the magical dyes are produced and sold. While you have second thoughts, Avrill enters the deep jungle-like forest as if it was just a random, peaceful garden. You don’t have time to wait so you and Cryz follow him inside. You travel for about twenty minutes, the dark-green trees growing taller, more twisted and dense...

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It is an extremely hot and sunny day but the wet foliage of the trees glimmers the raindrops produced by the towering branches and undergrowth. Aside from the beautiful, if not sickness-inducing, mesmerizing sparkling, such a strange combination makes the air beneath those trees extremely humid, wet and hot, like a steam bath.

The soil is soft and bouncy, you have to continue walking forwards and even jump-stride as to not to sink deeper.

Eventually you reach a water source; a stream formed between collapsed and trampled trees with massive, table-sized mushrooms growing on the soil that touches the surprisingly clear water. They are hard enough to stand on.

You put your hands over your shoulders. You are dirty; not in mind, but in body. You’d love to dip into this river and finally take a well-deserved wash... however, you don’t believe it’s going to be possible to do so for obvious reason. As you begin contemplating on pros and cons of this decision, you hear a loud ruffle of the forest trees.

Slowly approaching you from the entrapment of the dark-oak trees is a figure cloaked in thick and royal light-coloured robes layered on top of a strange – you can even call it tacky – long sleeved pale purple blouse with images of exotic blue fruits wearing round glasses... all of them! Her trousers have been puffed and shortened around her knees by thick belts. It is a woman, you recognize soon enough, with braided rope-like purple hair.

Insider her hair are silvery decorations in shape of stars, planets and different moons. A massive half-moon holds multiple strands of her hair in a long ponytail. A very straight red line, as if hand drawn, is drawn above her nose.

“My name is Laniakea Kulani and I am here to kill you,” she puts a thick book into many of her grimoire-pouches.

“What do they say?” her voice echoes as she continues to slowly move towards you. In her hands is another book she just acquired, but not a grimoire, just another regular journal in a thick-leather cover. “‘Never met your heroes... no, that can’t be it...” She stops; her fingers flip through several pages until she nods with satisfaction, “This is it: ‘Never separate the group’.” Her blue-magenta eyes narrow, “I can’t believe you actually did it; really?”

Fezar takes a step back. You immediately remove your grimoire from your pouch.

“Who are you?”

She stops. After a brief pause, she asks you, “Do you want me to add that as your rule: to repeat myself?” It doesn’t sound like she is mocking you. She is completely seriously, “I don’t mind, but it doesn’t sound hard.”

> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Avrill. Hopefully, he can make use of your magic.
> Wing it. You have no idea who this woman is, neither are you in a good condition to fight her.
> Use Sequin Magic in an attempt to drain her magic. She made it obvious: you need to act first.
> Punch Cryz and demand of him to use Sequin Magic at the same time as you; double the attack.
> Nudge Cryz to use Zitanhu’s Scroll. It is not going to be much of a use to him if she kills you both.
> Calm down and – while taking a few steps back – try to engage in a conversation with Laniakea.
> [Write In]

>>4338580
>> Calm down and – while taking a few steps back – try to engage in a conversation with Laniakea.

>>4338580
>> Calm down and – while taking a few steps back – try to engage in a conversation with Laniakea.

> Please do consider leaving a comment with your prompt selection. Sorry for being annoying. But some interaction helps me stay motivated.

well I wonder why she wants to kill us

Dunno. Could be a witch, could be a Diamond Mercenary who decided to see if we had any loot on us. No way to know, but it looks like they've got some kind of astrology-based magic. So best make sure we're under some cover/

You compose yourself – but for safety sake you take a few steps back. “Why do you want to kill us?” You ask calmly. “I don’t think I even know you,” you mutter. You glance at Cryz and Avrill: they too don’t know her either.

“‘That makes two of us’”, she quotes from her book before she puts it one of her pouches. “It’s not personal.”

“Are you one of the witches? If you are then you must know...”

“No,” she whispers before she opens one more of her hanging pockets and slides out... a proper grimoire in bright-purple colour. It’s a three-leaf clover tome with celestial patterns all around it. “If I were a witch I would be wearing a pointed brim hat, wouldn’t I?” She asks rhetorically. She opens her book to enfold it with potent magic.

Suddenly, the wetness of the jungle air completely disappears to be replaced by a magical pressure not unlike Charlotte’s. You tighten the grip on your grimoire, unsure of what to do next. You –really- don’t know this woman.

Cryz lifts his wrist to point in your direction, “If you must know I have nothing to do with her.”

“’Nice try’ but I know you two were together in the dungeon,” she allows her grimoire to menacingly hover before her as she takes out her a journal to list through it, “Let me just check that I didn’t forget or break anything here.”

“Why does this girl keeping dragging me into her troubles?” Cryz asks himself with pity.

“I don’t even know what she wants,” you hiss at your companion before exhaling. “I do, but I don’t know why.”

“I did that, I avoided that,” the woman exclaims. She raised her hand to release a brilliant and iridescent purple-blue flame, “Constellation Magic: A Star Is Born.” She says out loud before the entire forest momentarily turns completely dark, as if consumed by twilight. From above the pages of her grimoire an incredibly shining object, a spheroid of plasma as big as ball, is born like a blob of lava. It forbiddingly radiates.

“’Strike the first blow’,” she says as the ‘star’ begins to circulate around the three of you like a hungry predator.

> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Avrill. Hopefully, he can make use of your magic.
> Wing it. You have no idea who this woman is, neither are you in a good condition to fight her.
> Use Sequin Magic in an attempt to drain her magic. Don’t waste the chance to attack her first.
> Punch Cryz and demand of him to use Sequin Magic at the same time as you; double the attack.
> Nudge Cryz to use Zitanhu’s Scroll. It is not going to be much of a use to him if she kills you both.
> Refuse to attack her, and ask Avrill not to do so either. Continue trying to peacefully talk to her.
> [Write In]

>>4340422
> Refuse to attack her, and ask Avrill not to do so either. Continue trying to peacefully talk to her.
well shit now I really want to know

>>4340422
>> Refuse to attack her, and ask Avrill not to do so either. Continue trying to peacefully talk to her.

Yeah, I'd rather not fight her. Mostly because it'd just be Drain->Nacre->Drain and repeat.

>>4340422
>> Refuse to attack her, and ask Avrill not to do so either. Continue trying to peacefully talk to her.

>>4340422
>>4340889
We can point out she is attacking us without answering our questions which is super out of place and not by the books

You do not attack her. You keep your grimoire held tightly in your hand, the glimmering mana escaping the open pages of it... but you do not manifest and solidify your magic for any sequin spell. This woman is acting bizarre by not doing anything outright hostile. She did say she was here to kill you, didn’t she? Avrill is not as perceptive.

The broad-shouldered man opens his grimoire; a mix of brown and black colours quickly surrounds its heavy form.

“Since you asked,” his heavy voice monotones as his magic begins to darkly illuminate his palm, “I just have one question. How dangerous of a battle is it going to be for me to fight you?” His wrist cracks as he lifts his palm...

“‘It’ll be deadly,” the woman says with a brief smirk before she tremors her hand, “‘Come on, let’s start already.”

“Deadly is the way I like it, it is the reason I came here.”

“Wait, do not!” you hastily stand up between her and Avrill, pulling Cryz along with you. “Don’t attack her... yet.”

“What do you mean?” the brown-haired man clenches his hand, “She’s confident to allow us to attack her first.”

You shake your head, turning to face the purple-haired mage; you stare daggers at her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Constellation Magic: A Star Is Born.” You hear her announce as another blinding orb explodes from within her grimoire: it begins to warningly hum as it lifts off the pages and begins to parallel the other made-star.

“I don’t know much about constellations,” Cryz mocks, “But I am sure you need more than one star to form ‘em.”

You hem: neither do you. Are there any constellations in the night sky made out of two stars? Does it matter now?

“Can’t you at least answer our questions before you attack us? That’s not how it’s done; that is not by the books.”

She blinks and, with a visibly agitated murmur, she takes out a book she has been reading previously. “Is it?” She asks you and herself as she flips through the pages. “As I thought the only rule here is that I can’t... oh, you’re sly.”

She looks at you and closes the leather book with a clap, “But if you –really- want to I can add it as your new rule.”

“What are you talking about?” Cryz enquires, “Once again a woman with a nice body is freaking insane; unlucky.”

“‘Chill personality and a smoking body’, one of them said it about me,” she picks up a rock and tosses it... at you.

“Hey!” you wince as you raise your grimoire to block it; it’s not too big and heavy, and her toss is rather weak. You look at the rolling stone before staring back at the woman with bafflement and confusion, “Okay, add it as rule.”

She opens the book and lifts pen attached to it by a pinkish rope. “‘Let’s be reasonable here’, I really dislike editing unreasonable rules. ‘If in good faith, answer at least one question from those you attack,’” she writes.

She lifts her magenta eyes to stare Cryz and Avrill down, “I am going to need a rule from you two also, but I do not want to break the convention so I’ll ask when you’ll be gasping for your last breathe. ‘Sounds fair? Sounds fair...’”

You don’t know if she is crazy or not but you’d never be able to take out and open and close a book so often...

“But let’s be fair, okay? Don’t make it too bothersome for me. I don’t want to wait here until the others join me.”

> “Is there anything we can do to have you peacefully leave us alone?”
> “What exactly did we do to have you wishing to kill us?”
> “What organization are you part of?”
> “Is there a way to avoid your Constellation Magic?”
> “Are you going to leave us alone if we tell you we don’t have any treasure on us?”
> [Write In]

>>4342510
> “Is there anything we can do to have you peacefully leave us alone?”
she is probably going to say no but we might as well try

>>4342510
>> “Is there anything we can do to have you peacefully leave us alone?”

> I will have to skip an update today. I apologize.

>>4344305
no worries

>>4344305
No big deal, take care of yourself Melk

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>>4344352
>>4344355
> Thank you!

“Is there anything we can do to have you peacefully leave us alone?”

She harrumphs. “‘Afraid not’,” she says before she manifests – another – coruscating orb of celestial magic: it glosses with reds, blues and yellows of nebula vapours. “Constellation Magic: A Star Is Born. Three should just be enough,” she says as she allows it to bounce and leap off the sparkling pages of her grimoire. She waves her hand and, with an asserted motion, she lowers the grimoire to allow it to gently linger around her legs.

“What if we avoid doing the thing that made you angry?”

Cryz follows one of the stars with his eyes, “-As impressive and intimidating as those things are,” he mocks.

“You see, ‘the thing is’,” Laniakea glances away and frowns, “That already happened. I was willing to let it slide that first time, when you and your friends got one of my staffs destroyed because it wasn’t really your fault – I didn’t expect for that guy to outright attack an entire base all on his own, ‘which he did’, so I can’t blame you for that. But this time it’s – sadly – different. You and your friends are interfering too much with my plans, ‘you see’? We still need don’t-remember-his-name, and his magic, so we can’t let you have him.” She exasperates. “Do you have any idea how annoyingly expensive and time-consuming those items are to make? ‘At least a week-time...’”

“Fezar?” you ask, “He escaped the prison and killed and injured several wardens! It’s... my job to stop criminals.”

Cryz widens his eyes, “It’s not my job.” He shakes his free hand in front of himself.

She sighs and clicks her tongue, “That’s why I said it’s not personal.” She picks up another rock and tosses it your direction – it isn’t hard to avoid this one either: her aim is not the best. “Now, let’s get this over with. Attack me.”

“This is an uneventful discussion,” Avrill says out loud as he – once again – raises his hand.

“Don’t you see she wants us to attack her first?” Cryz stops Avrill before staring the woman down, “Why is that?”

She is visibly irritated now. She tosses a rock in his direction instead, “Just attack me, I answered your questions!”

You and Cryz exchange sceptical and somewhat confused glances.

“I said I am going to kill you, why are you acting so nonchalantly?” the purple-haired woman demands.

> She said “others” are soon going to join her. You want to avoid fighting a group. Try to run away.
> It’s fair to say the more ‘stars’ she creates, the worse it’ll be. Use Sequin Magic to drain her.
> Continue talking with the woman, attempt to figure out anything else you can from her...
> It seems that Avrill is insistent on fighting her. Let him have her attention and run deeper into the forest.
> [Write In]

>>4345996
>> It seems that Avrill is insistent on fighting her. Let him have her attention and run deeper into the forest.
fuck it what is the worst thing that can happen

>>4345996
>> It’s fair to say the more ‘stars’ she creates, the worse it’ll be. Use Sequin Magic to drain her.

>>4345996
>> It’s fair to say the more ‘stars’ she creates, the worse it’ll be. Use Sequin Magic to drain her.

“She is the one who have been supplying them with those dark Magic Tools,” you realize. You stomp your foot against the ground; you quickly grasp it’s because of her that the deadliest of your battles even occurred. “Why are you doing all of this?” you demand as your fingers softly clench the papyrus sheet of your Sequin Magic pages.

The woman puts two fingers beneath her eyes. She gently pulls the skin, as if it mocking, “You are asking too many questions, ‘This is supposed to be a scene of murder, not a quiz night.’” She quotes... someone. She sighs.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Cryz lowers his voice, “But as long as she isn’t attacking is it doesn’t really matter.”

You reply with a whisper, “But she said there are others with her, and they won’t be as reaso- weird, as her.”

“I say we just wait and take our chances,” Cryz replies, “Our Sequin Magic is not meant for fights, you know?”

You pout “Of course I know that, but we might not have a choice...”

As soon as you finish the thought, Avrill’s palm engulfs with a brilliant red flame. “I am looking forward for the promise of a dangerous fight,” he says as an explosion echoes through the silent jungle – a flock of exotic birds deafens and booms as they escape the canopies of the forestry. A ray of red light burst forwards to smash into Laniakea like a flash. On her white robe there is a now a glowingly pulsating red handprint of a magical palm...

“Handprint Magic: Red Parietal Mark.”

She raises her head to grin at her floating orbs – a vortex of stars shining in his eyes. “’Took you long enough.’”

> Do you wish to drain one of the stars or the woman?

> Please roll 1d40+10 – best of three.
> Please roll 1d40 for the results of draining.

Rolled 39 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4348562
one of the stars

Rolled 7 (1d40)

>>4348562
well shit

Rolled 29 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4348562

Rolled 29 (1d40)

>>4348562

Rolled 15 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4348562

Rolled 25 (1d40)

>>4348562

Before Laniakea can begin her attack, you raise your hand, summoning an overwhelming flux of mana from inside your body. The clear as crystal mana shimmers before it becomes tangible and silvery-opaque; like a whirlpooling cloud it levitates centimetres away from your fingers before hardening into a hail storm of glittery sequin crystals.

The woman looks surprised at this. “What is this? According to my sources you’re suppose to have Linen Magic.”

You have spend 25 mana.
Mana: [140/165]

You do not reply, instead deciding to use this opportunity to send the mercury-flowing blast of shiny flecks directly towards one of the stars. The woman straightens her figure to face the overflow as it quickly approaches her. “‘It’s clear it should be avoided, isn’t it?’” she asks. You form the flux of magical baubles into a tidal barrage; the eagre rolls across the bouncy meadow of the jungle grass before it ascends above the star-orb to fall onto it.

“’You’re too slow’,” she says as she swings her hand to directly control and move the star you target. Her celestial orb passes some of the smaller sequins with unimaginable precision before it is entire out of the way of the burst.

Your sequins crash into the ground and explode into tiny flecks.

“Either you are slow or she’s fast,” Cryz mutters.

Laniakea smiles as her grimoire flicks through several pages before stopping on a glowing set of letters. “If you no longer have your healing powers... it is clear who I should be targeting first between the three of you.” The three brightly glowing stars surround Avrill before he can react. The man attempts to rush out of the way but the bright celestial orbs chase after him with a speed impossible for a human to avoid. Stopping, he attempts to cast a spell.

“Constellation Magic: Triangle Zodiac: Chain Prison.” The woman smugly reads out loud her spell...

The stars begin to glimmer with a bright glow now; like electricity, lines of chaotic and unstable strands begin to connect between each of them. Such ‘bonds’ literally form a tumult triangle of celestial streams around the bear-shaped man. One more time he attempts to jump through the ethereal cage but one of the stars moves out of the way to adjust and regain the shape formed. Then, from each of the three stars a burst of blue energy enters Avrill.

The powerful magical energy surges through man; it overwhelms him in a bluish aura. The Diamond Kingdom’s mercenary stumbles forward, he is barely able to lean on his legs to find balance as the current of the woman’s Constellation Magic begins to rupture through his body. Then, there’s bright glow as three unstable bubbles of mana – some much bigger and brighter than others - escape from Avrill’s body and into the stars. You shield your eyes from the blinding glow but, as soon as the ‘connection’ between the stars crumbles away to have the three objects return to the shape they were when they were first created, you find Avrill losing his conscious and falling.

She drained him of his magic in an instant.

Laniakea hums and whistles as she claps her hands. She puts a finger to her lips, “Maybe that was an overkill?”

Avrill’s mana has been almost completely unspent before. If she hit you with that spell you’ll likely to falter too.

> Use Sequin Magic on one of the stars to try and drain it.
> Use Sequin Magic to drain the woman directly, it might be a better idea.
> Tell Cryz to target the woman directly. Strong spells need a lot of mana.
> Tell Cryz to try and target one of the stars – the less she has the better.
> Tell Cryz to use Zitanhu’s scroll. Now!
> Take out Zitanhu’s scroll and use it yourself.
> Run deeper into the jungle to try and hide from the woman; maybe the trees can protect you.
> [Write In]

>>4349817
>> Run deeper into the jungle to try and hide from the woman; maybe the trees can protect you.

>>4349817
>Run deeper into the jungle to try and hide from the woman; maybe the trees can protect you.

>>4349817
> Run deeper into the jungle to try and hide from the woman; maybe the trees can protect you.
hopefully we don't accidentally run into her teammates

“Did she just...” Cryz begins before stumbling on his words as he looks towards Avrill’s unconscious body.

“She drained him of his mana,” you shout as you tighten your grip over Cryz’s hand, “We need to run away!”

Cryz quickly turns around and – without a moment of doubt regarding his fallen comrade – he follows you deeper into the jungle forest. As soon as your legs, once again, press against the soft mouldy ground, you find yourself sinking deeper into it. You force yourself to continue running and bouncing across the tall undergrowth; the wet heat forces you and Cryz to gasp for breathe and begin sweating. You try to zigzag between the towering trees...

You look behind yourself to find that Laniakea is nowhere to be seen; you sigh with relief seconds before one of the stars bursts through the canopy like a homing eagle towards its meal. It looks burning white, as if it is melting.

“Constellation Magic: White Nova,” you hear her voice echo far away before the star begins to crack.

> Please roll 1d100 – best of three - (I’ll include -5 modifier myself) to avoid the attack.

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>4351563

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>4351563

Rolled 45 (1d100)

>>4351563

“Da-” you cry out as you force yourself to stop in order to avoid jumping directly into the bang. The star-shaped creation of the woman’s Constellation Magic continues to crackle and fracture with a deafening loudness and blinding incandescence. Despite the distance, you feel the white heat immediately begins to burn your clothes.

Your feet sink into the fluffy-mossy ground as you attempt to pull Cryz into the opposite direction. Your muscles strain from the effort of pushing the man who is at least twice as heavy as you. Fortunately (?), Cryz’s instincts of self-preservation are even stronger than yours. Quickly turning around – the coat of ashen aura emblazing him from behind – he grabs you into an agonizing embrace and lifts you up to make numerous long-distance leaps...

The moment he makes some space between the two of you and the star, a thunderous explosion loudly roars; it rolls in a circle across the land. It burns everything in its wake to cinders and ash – the circle of destruction just barely avoids reaching you, although the lingering heat continues to excruciatingly shred your body. Cryz winces in pain as he begins slapping his now-burning coat to put down the flames; the furred material ignores his efforts and continues to hastily smoulder. Having no choice Cryz takes off his rather-expensive coat and tosses it away.

You lift your eyes to see the grassland where the “star” just detonated barren and ruined. This was too close; too dangerous. You can’t help but instinctively give Cryz a nod of appreciation which he doesn’t see. The grass has been completely smouldered to reveal the hollow dirt. What remains of the fallen trees is quick to burn further.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Cryz says as he begins to manifest a small smoke of sparkling sequins crystals.

“How did you survive that?!” you hear Laniakea question before the woman –falls- from the tall canopies above you. She lands slowly and without rapidness despite the height, her magic assisting her. Her white robes flutter above her head to once again reveal her ugly purple blouse. She sounds impressed more than angry, however...

The woman runs her fingers across her hair before once-again opening her grimoire, “If you have mana skin ‘I’ll have to get more serious, more dangerous’,” she says as her purplish magic begins to trickle from within the page.

“We would if –somebody– didn’t decide to be charitable and leave the crown in the dungeon,” Cryz whispers.

“Oh, right,” she widens her eyes, “We still need that crown as well. ‘You really put a lance into our windmill.’

File: A magical manifestion rai(...).png (1.34 MB, 1231x1346)

1.34 MB PNG

“Well, never mind that,” she waves her hand to manifest another – this time a much smaller star.

Before Cryz, you or Laniakea can manifest a spell you hear a grinding sound rupture beneath your feet. Laniakea immediately jumps of the way. A humanoid golem made out of dirt and undergrowth begins to slowly rise from beneath the ground. The creature is twice your size but its legs and arms are stubbly and short. Hollow black eyes and massive wavy mouth shows no expression to discern its intent. The creature slowly turns towards Laniakea.

“‘Are you doing that?’”

“No, that’s me.” A shadowy figure standing on top of a floating broom calls from above. A woman with an elaborate pointy orchid hat and a revealing ribbon gown is looking down at you; her mint lingering is visible. You recognize her – Pistoia. The witch bites her blue lips as she flips through the pages of her grimoire, she stops...

“Wait, is that Etwilla?!” her expression immediately changes as she notices you.

She almost falls off her broom.

That’s the name of your mother, “No, my name’s Cynthia!” you yell back to her. You are relieves to see her.

“Oh, right-right-right,” she crosses her hands and nods to herself, “Sorry, you just look so much like her!”

Cryz suspiciously narrows his eyes, “Wait, are you a witch?”

“Better, she is a daughter of a witch!” Pistoia chuckles at the man as she continues trying to find her balance.

“How is that better?” Cryz asks. Pistoia’s answer is a shrug and a thoughtful pause.

“A witch and a Security Golem,” Laniakea mumbles as she flips through the pages, “I should be able to handle it.”

“I thought that Captain of yours forbid you from coming here! Oh, disobeying? You are –just– like your mother!”

You’d love to hear more... but there will be time for chitchat later, not now.

“Pistoia, this woman is trying to kill us here!”

Pistoia’s carefree attitude immediately changes; her bronze eyes narrow as the flow of her green-brown magic begins to flow like intangible water into the canopies and trunks of the mighty trees. Her grimoire brightly glows.

The buff golem acts on his own, with an earth shaking step it charges towards Laniakea. Its buff mighty arms raised, it attempts to crush the woman beneath it. The purple-haired woman slides away from the golem like some sort of ballerina, her braided hair barely touching the petrified mud of the magical manifestation. She bounces her grimoire in her arms; the smallest of her stars lifts off the page to enter the mouth of the golem.

She jumps away and smiles to herself, “Constellation Magic: White Nova.”.

In a blink of a second, the golem explodes from within, splashes of liquid mud covering the ground around it. There is now a smouldering hole where the golem was just standing, with blazing fires trickling the edges of it.

“I liked your ‘run away and have it be someone else’s problem’ plan, kid. Let’s do that again.”

> Use this opportunity to run deeper into the forest and hope Pistoia is able to deal with Laniakea.
> Ask Cryz to use Zitanhu’s Scroll to make the battle against Laniakea fairer. You’ll need any advantage.
> Tell Cryz to follow your lead and concentrate your Sequin Magic on one of the two remaining ‘stars’ to drain it.
> Tell Cryz to follow your lead and concentrate your Sequin Magic on Laniakea to drain her of her mana.
> Concentrate your Sequin Magic on one of the remaining ‘stars’ to drain it.
> Concentrate your Sequin Magic on Laniakea to drain her of her mana.
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia. She must have a powerful spell in her arsenal.
> [Write In]

>>4353245
>> Tell Cryz to follow your lead and concentrate your Sequin Magic on Laniakea to drain her of her mana.

>>4353346
+1 lets see how much our magic effects her, if she keeps on dodging then we run away

>>4353245

>> Tell Cryz to follow your lead and concentrate your Sequin Magic on Laniakea to drain her of her mana.

Back-up will make this fight viable, plus we can throw some Nacre's at Pistoia if the fight drags on.

“Forget about Pistoia for now,” you tell Cryz as you raise your hand. Your grimoire begins to glow once again. A flurry of mana surges from within your body to form a zephyr of magic in front of your palm. It forms a wet breeze and, then, a suspended haar of jewel sparklers. “We have a better chance fighting her off if we assist her; else she’s just going to follow us.” A mighty light-coloured radiance glistens across the crystal collection of sequins.

Cryz’s glassy eyes roll in response. “I shouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. It’s all your fault,” he frowns.

You clench yours and his fists as painfully as you can; he doesn’t notice. “What do you want me to say? I’m sorry?”

He sighs and raises his own hand to follow your motion – a blizzard of magic emerges to form a perfectly symmetrical spell. “It’s a good start for you to acknowledge my sacrifices, kid,” he starts sarcastically before a beautiful windblast of shiny flecks solidifies above his hand to join yours; a heavy ornamental cloud now hangs.

Laniakea is too busy preparing to take on Pistoia and her overwhelming magical energy – she is exposed.

“Let’s drain her,” you shout before your cheeks blush, “That... did not sound right. ‘Let’s leave her magicless.’”

“No-no, ‘Let’s drain her’ is just right,” Cryz comments with a cheeky smile. You and he release your magic at once.

The outburst of sparkling baubles bursts across the lingering jungle heat; the tremble of them passing through the humidity melodically rings them as it happens. Your enemy realizes the incoming danger seconds before the cloud of your magic crystals overwhelms her, she dashes out of the way; she attempts to jump away but the not-purposefully combined magic of you and Cryz is far too much for her to glide through. At first, only a few sequins are able to cling to her body but soon, the shiny storm staggers and surrounds her in baubles from head to toes...

“‘It’s going to explode, isn’t it?’” Laniakea asks you with a wince as her two stars begin to circle around her.

Wrong.

> Please roll 1d40+10 for the cost of the spell – best of three.
> Please roll 1d40 for the amount drained.

> Cryz will do his own set of rolls.

> If you have anything you want Cynthia to ‘say’ to any of the characters do feel free to add that.

Rolled 19 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4354726

Rolled 19 (1d40)

>>4354726

Rolled 9, 8 = 17 (2d40)

>>4354726
First cost of the spell
Second for the amount drained

Rolled 39 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4354726

Rolled 23 (1d40)

>>4354888
Yikes, almost critfailed on cost. Now rolling drain

> You spend 19 mana.
Mana: [121/165]
> You restored 23 mana.
Mana: [144/165]

> Cryz spends 18 mana.
Mana: [126/165]
> Cryz restored 6 mana.
Mana: [132/165]

The two of you grip your free hands in unison – the floating grimoire in front of you begins to shimmer with powerful magic. Even your three-leaf clover radiates an immense aura. You pull your hands; Laniakea falters. With her body completely surrounded by the clinging crystal sequins, she prepares for an offense, but instead, they exude an immense light as each of the dozen of baubles begin to drain her of her magic. There is a loud – and sudden – shattering as one by one the sequin crystals explode when they no longer able to contain her mana...

It is less than you’ve hoped for; even together, it doesn’t feel like you have managed to ‘drain’ a sufficient sum.

Despite this, you still weave the glistering white cyclone of magic back towards yourself to restore your magic...

Laniakea pauses for a brief moment before raising her hands away from her face, “Oh, it wasn’t an explosion.” She concludes with a short sight of relief. She straightens her back and fixes her hair, her eyes quickly turn back towards Pistoia; what you did was not enough to grab her attention. The grimoire of the witch begins to glow...

“Branch Magic: The Dhari Incarceration.”

From beneath the mossy ground of where Laniakea has been standing, the roots begin to chaotically tremble and escape through the surface of both dirt and mud. Forced to find her balance, Laniakea does not realize that Pistoia has manifested an outburst of ivy-like branches bursting and charging from within her grimoire towards her.

Brightly effulgent with brown-green light the branches smash into the ground when Laniakea, just about, manages to avoid the thundering sweep of their attempts to grab and surround her. As soon as the strike is made, the branches are overflow with spiralling thorny ends. Like a butterfly, Laniakea manages to avoid the onslaught of raining branch-whips until the spell is no longer able to sustain itself and withers. However, her rob is ruined now.

She exasperates directly at the floating woman, “‘The Restraining Magic I hate the most’,” she says. She opens her grimoire and slams the open pages with her hand. “Constellation Magic: A Star Is Born.” A coruscant silver magic overwhelms and then escapes from the pages in form of another cosmic orb. It rises upwards in an attempt to join the rest and encircle everyone currently standing inside the meadow. You prepare for her spell.

“Mummia Magic: Cocoon of Demise.”

You hear a new, womanly voice say before a bubble of sticky, black, highly viscous liquid manifests from black magic centimetres above the ‘star’. Almost immediately, it devours the shining celestial like a body-less maw, the shine of the star and its presence immediately vanquishing from the jungle. The liquid solidifies into a dark membrane. Your eyes dart to where you heard the voice come from. It is another witch, although she looks much different from Pistoia. A heavy black gown covers her body; her sleeves wobble because they are much longer than her arms. Her pristine white hair is half-hidden beneath a black, funeral veil. She has pallid eye shadows.

“I was... wondering... where you run away... in such haste... Pistoia,” she says making a strange, reluctant pause.

Pistoia’s expression quickly brightens; her smile grows, “Can you blame me, Rioni? It’s not often, no-no-no, not often at all somebody is gullible enough to attack the Witches’ Forest! I just want to be entertained a bit, jeez!”

“You swallowed my star!” Laniakea furrows her brows as she stares down the newly arrived enemy. She opens her grimoire once again only to come to a realization. With visible frustration, she says, “I am going to need at least four stars for this constellation, and you are not going to allow me to finish it, will you?” She asks the witch.

She doesn’t wait for an answer, as if it was mostly rhetorical. She grunts and, after a brief moment, she jumps and begins to attempt to run away from you and the two witches. “Two witches is a bit too much for me,” she exhales, thinking out loud, “What’s taking them so long? ‘I’m all alone here’ and they had five people to take care of their mission.” You hear her voice grow quieter as she passes near you – the two of her bright stars shadow behind her.

> Pursue the woman. Use your magic to drain one of her stars.
> Pursue the woman. Use your magic to drain the woman herself.
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on the new witch.
> Leave the woman alone, it is too dangerous – now – to pursue her.
> [Write In]

>>4356380
>> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia
she might be able to stop her

>>4356380
>> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia
Get her Pistoia!

>>4356380
>> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia

Seconded, our magic is best used to let other people break out the big guns.

>>4356380
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on Pistoia

Laniakea briefly passes just a few meters not far from you and Cryz; she quickly gains more distance with her jumps as the blazing orbs of celestial magic trail by her left and right side like comets. She doesn’t pay you attention, at first, but once she is far enough she turns her head to look at you. “‘You’re lucky, you bastard.’”

Cryz raises his head to scratch his head, he had given up engaging with her further. Not you.

You sway your wrist to force the tome to magically flip through many of the pages until your only spell is found:

“Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation,” you yell out; with a harmony between your grimoire and your body, a surge of mana torrents within yourself. It leaves your skin to commence forming brilliant-white pearls.

Wasting no time, you strike your arm in a circle to send the cloud of pearl-shaped crystals flying towards your mother’s childhood friend – Pistoia. Balancing on her curved, dark-bluish broom, she is caught by surprise at the whirlwind of crystals surrounding, overwhelming and attaching themselves to her flowery linen. Pistoia’s mana is immediately enchanted. The pearls begin to shine and sparkle as if they were just placed directly under the sun.

Her orange eyes fall on you and her shock and hesitation is quickly replaced by a relax confusion over her face.

“This is not your Linen Magic, Cynthia!”

You shake your head as you point at Laniakea. “I’ll explain later, Pistoia! Please, use your strongest spell on her!”

“My strongest spell?” she questions dumbfoundedly before she begins to chuckle, “This tickles; what did you do?”

“‘I don’t think so’,” you hear Laniakea say before quickly turning on her feet and sending one of her shining stars directly towards the witch. It charges through the air like a bright, blinding firework, a trail of burning smoke bursts from behind it like a tail as it turns entirely white and loudly shatters. “Constellation Magic: White Nova.” She says seconds before the orb blows up directly into Pistoia’s face and more. The ashen-white explosion begins to expand high up in the air; it turns even the breeze air into ash and cinders. What just happ-

Thankfully, Pistoia is as agile with her broom as you would expect of a witch. Holding to the shaft with both of her hands – and still glimmering with the refining and filtering presence of your “Nacre Rejuvenation” – she leaps into the air and the edges of the explosion barely bruise across her body. The fire trickles across and burns her already revealing ribbon gown, now leaving her half-naked. Of course, to your predictable disbelief, Cryz is quick to stare.

“Well that wasn’t nice,” Pistoia smiles as she raises her hand – the clover on her magical tome brightens. “Branch Magic: The Touch of the Lotus Tree,” she voices before an immense magical aura ricochets with powerful force from within her grimoire. At first eldritch and twisting, like blooming forestry compressed to glob, the dozens of long blossoming branches – no longer contained – hasten towards Laniakea. As they fly through the air they lose their leaves and yellowish-green flowers, creating a zephyr trail of shimmering petals.

Pistoia’s broom soon leaves your presence, with the woman deciding to follow Laniakea closely to capture her...

She returns after several minutes of silence, exposed but uncaring about the fact. You heard that the Witches’ Forest is a village with no men but that does not mean she should be so immodest. Your first instinct is to try and repair her dress with your magic but you quickly remember that – indeed – you do not have your Linen Magic yet.

With an apologetic smirk, Pistoia jumps off her broom to step in front of you and Cryz.

“Did you... manage to get her...?” the second witch approaches the three of you. “Rioni” you believe her name is?

Pistoia’s cheeks expand with a pout as she looks at you and then at her, “I used my most powerful spell but...”

“Your most... powerful spell was not strong... enough to capture an intruder, Pistoia...?” the witch with the black-gown asks Pistoia. “Could it be... did she manage to avoid your spell and escape...?”

Pistoia awkwardly shakes her head, “No, I managed to affect her with its curse, but...”

“But...?”

Pistoia pouts even further; her face turns even redder, “But after I used it on her she got away! My “The Touch of the Lotus Tree” makes them forget their spells and forces them to be unable to use their grimoire, for long time!”

Rioni is unimpressed. “Why didn’t you... use something that would restrain... or simpler, even... injure her?”

“Because Cynthia here said to use my strongest spell,” she echoes – trying to shift the blame on you.

“Cynthia...?” Rioni repeats as she slowly turns her head to finally face you, “Is she the daughter of...?”

Without a warning, Pistoia sneaks behind you to grab you beneath your elbows into a hug. She raises you above the ground and begins to friendly-shly shake you around with a genuine chuckle. “That’s right; this girl here is Etwilla’s daughter! Can you believe she is this old already? I wouldn’t think it’s been twenty years since then!”

“I can...” Rioni mutters coldly as she looks you over. She takes a deep breath, “How old are you...? Why did Etwilla leave us without saying goodbye...? How did she die...? Why did she give you your name...? What is your name...? Does your name have a secret meaning...? How could Etwilla leave us for the sake of a –man–...? How handsome was this man... your father...? Was Etwilla’s favourite dish ‘breigh mushroom curry’ as it was when she was still living here...? Is it really true she opened a tailor shop... with her lacklustre skills...? Did she improve her magic... what new spells did she learn...? What was life like for your mother outside of the Witches’ Forest...? Why did she never write to us... was she that afraid to come back...? Why was the real reason she left the Witches’ Forest...? Did she ever tell you about the time we got stuck in the mud-swamp...? Who was her bests’ friend, after me...?”

You wince as you try to raise your head away from the gothic magus, “That’s a lot to answer at once...”

“Give her some breathe,” Pistoia chuckles as she looks over at Cryz, “Anyway, it’s too dangerous to bring a boy here, Cynthia. The Witch Queen hates intruders, but she hates men even more than that.” Her eyes fall on your connected hands as she squeaks, “I see, you two are ‘that’ way. But still, this is too lewd even for the Clover Kingdom, it is some sort of tradition I am not aware of that makes lovers to forever hold their hands together?!”

“No, it’s a long story... We just returned from a dungeon and we got cursed to be like this there.”

Rioni is still patiently waiting for you to answer every single one of her questions.

Pistoia inspects your connected wrists; her eyebrows rise in realization once she sees that the flesh – too – is connected. “Oh, so it is a curse,” she mumbles before a bright spark is seen in her orange eyes, “There’s no curse the Witch Queen can’t deal with, be-lie-ve me. It’s a perfect excuse, I mean, opportunity for do what we originally planned, isn’t it?” She beams, “I can’t wait to show you the Witches’ Forest, Cynthia! There so much for you to...”

“To see my grandmother?” you interrupt her with a brief ponder.

Cryz gives you, and then Rioni, a ‘Is she serious?’ glance. He sighs, “You don’t know? The Witch Queen is the mother of all witches. Those two are your not only your mother’s friends, they are her sisters, your aunts...”

Pistoia shrugs her shoulders, “We don’t really treat each other as sisters though!” She smiles, “What do you say?”

“But how are we going to deal with the boy? If he’s connected to her we can’t just enter with him...”

“The Witches’ Forest?” Cryz grimaces, “I heard many things about the Witch Queen; I’d rather avoid meeting her face to face.” He pauses to rub his beard with his hand, “Then again, a village full of beautiful, mature women...”

“But what about the girl who just attacked us?” you ask.

“While Pistoia completely... blundered with her attempt... as soon as one Security Golem is made aware of an intrusion, every single one in the vicinity... will come to join it, or where it fell, until the intruder is stopped.”

> What about Avrill? Should you check on him? Leave him be? Dress him up or ask him to leave directly?

> Suggest dressing Cryz as a woman – with make-up, a dress, a witch’s hat and all.
> Suggest turning Cryz into a ‘Security Golem’ look-alike. There’s plenty of mud to cover him.
> Suggest having you sit on Cryz’s shoulders to try and become a tall – very tall – witch.
> Suggest making Cryz into some captured intruder you wish to bring to the Witch Queen.
> Suggest that the women ask the Witch Queen – your grandmother – if she can make an exception for Cryz.
> Suggest that, despite the assurance, its best make sure your attacker is found and restrained first.
> [Write In]

> Please roll 1d10+10 for the cost of the previous spell – best of three.

> Damn it, shoving a long pasta into multiple updates - a pain.

>>4357906
>> Suggest that, despite the assurance, its best make sure your attacker is found and restrained first.

>Go back to check on Avrill first, and see if he can help find the attacker.

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4358002
+1
you forgot to roll

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>4357906
> What about Avrill? Check on him.

> Suggest that, despite the assurance, its best make sure your attacker is found and restrained first.

Rolled 10 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4358026

Rolled 9 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4357906
> What about Avrill? Check on him.
>> Suggest making Cryz into some captured intruder you wish to bring to the Witch Queen.

It's really not a good idea to meet the Witch Queen.

>>4357906
> Suggest that, despite the assurance, its best make sure your attacker is found and restrained first.
>Go back to check on Avrill first, and see if he can help find the attacker.

> Hello all. I'll post an update tomorrow, sorry about that. There has been a chance to my shift at work so there'll be some adjustments as well.

>>4359704
no worries

>>4359704
It's all good

You can’t lie, if your grandmother –is– the Witch Queen, you are incredibly curious to meet her. This is something your father would’ve never told you if you were to remain a trouble-free tailor; you are only here because you decided to become a full-fledge Knight. Wait-a-moment, wouldn’t that mean that Dorothy is – at least technically – your aunt? You wonder now how nepotistic it would be to join the Coral Peacock to advance on her coattails...

“Your golems looks like menacing creatures,” you tell Pistoia and Rioni with a brief smile, “But that woman said she wanted to kill me,” you pause briefly – Cryz is looking at you with a hem, “- and Cryz. I don’t know why, but it has something to do with what we did inside the dungeon. I would prefer if we make sure she is well restrained.”

Rioni narrows – almost closes – her eyes at you. She shortly nods, agreeing with your conclusion.

Pistoia, on other hand, frowns. After a brief pause, she surrenders and awkwardly climbs back on top of her hovering broom – she made it float before properly getting on it first, but you decide against remarking about it.

“Fine-fine-fine, Etwilla’s daughter; if you’re so worried about this woman then we’ll just have to capture her!”

You look at the ground, “One more thing: there was a man with us, he’s unconscious not far away from here.”

Cryz blinks at you before opening his mouth slightly, “Oh... oh, right: Avrill. I almost forgot about him,” he says.

You try your hardest not to look with dismay at him, he makes it look as if you care more about the Diamond Kingdom’s mercenary that he. They might not be friends but he does not even bother to treat him as a colleague...

“Another man?” Rioni’s face grimaces, “That is not... a good thing, Etwilla’s daughter. Did she attack him as well?”

You nod before raising your hands, “She used a powerful spell on him, and she knocked him out in an instant.” You try not to mention she deemed you too unworthy to use that spell on you; it’s humiliating yet relieving. “He could help us find this Constellation Magic user. He’s from Diamond Kingdom and he has Handprint Magic...”

Maybe then, once restrained and questioned, you can learn why exactly she wants you dead –this– much.

“Ha-ha-ha, Handprint Magic?! What is that?” Pistoia laughs with a shortness of breath as she tries to hold on to her ornamental broom; she barely manages. She looks at her arms with a clearly over-exaggerated confusion, “How would that even work?” She winces as if she just ate a jar of sugar, “Is he the touchy-kind of a man, then?”

“It... Actually, I am not sure –exactly– what it does,” you turn to Cryz with a timid smile in hope he would answer.

He looks at you with pity, “You didn’t figure it out? He switches the location of two different hand-printed things.”

“I... I figured out that much,” you frown at him, “I was hoping if there was more to his magic he didn’t show us...”

“There is a list of rules and convoluted spells I can’t be bothered to remember,” Cryz yawns to expose his fangs.

“I don’t know, Etwilla’s daughter,” Pistoia continues to awkwardly wobble and balance on her broom.

“Cynthia.” You don’t really want her to continue calling you that way, as curious as you are about your mother.

Pistoia innocently smiles and brightly nods, “You just look so much like her! Anyway, his ‘Handprint Magic’ doesn’t sound –that– useful in assisting us with finding this assaulter of yours.” She trickles her fingers against her chin, “It doesn’t seem like he’s your friend or not, can’t we just leave him be? He’ll leave once he wakes up, yes?”

You shake your head – it just doesn’t sound right.

Cryz lowers his arms below his chest, “I don’t really care about his well-being,” he says, “But I wouldn’t want him dead before he returns to the Diamond Kingdom to exonerate us.” He looks at you, as if framing everything as your fault, “I don’t want to waste my time explaining to the King what happened in the dungeon and trying to justify this unnecessary journey – so I hope Avrill can deal with it instead.” He smiles to himself with satisfaction.

“Let’s at least check if he’s alright,” you tell her; you stop giving attention to what Cryz was saying mid-sentence.
Reluctantly, Pistoia agrees to your plea. The four of you begin searching the vast jungle-like forest to find either Avrill or Laniakea; preferably both. You spend at least half-an-hour trying to find any trace of the woman who attacked you but, even with her inability to use her Constellation Magic, you find yourself unable to trace her mana and magic, as well as neither Pistoia or Rioni. Maybe because of the curse spell, or despite of it, she is able to hide herself in the deep humid forests of the Neutral Territory for nobody to spot her. It’s hard to blame her...

You try to answer most of Rioni’s questions to the best of your abilities:

‘How old are you?’ You are fifteen and a half.

‘Why did Etwilla leave us without saying goodbye?’ You don’t know.

‘How did she die?’ She dies peacefully in her sleep; you believe the horrible sickness was the real.

‘Why did she give you your name?’ She did not explain. You imagine it was just a pleasant sounding name.

‘What is your name?’ It’s Cynthia. Cynthia Gualdo.

‘Does your name have a secret meaning?’ If it does, you are not aware of it... Does it?

‘How could Etwilla leave us for the sake of a –man–?’ You now are aware of this one. Your father weaved her favourite dress, a beautiful white gown. It is because of how pretty it was your mother decided to run away.

‘How handsome was this man... your father?’ You can’t say, but he’s not that popular with neighboring women.

‘Was Etwilla’s favourite dish ‘breigh mushroom curry’ as it was when she was still living here?’ Indeed, it was.

‘Is it really true she opened a tailor shop with her lacklustre skills?’ By the time you were born your mother was an artisan, an awesome, hardworking and incredible tailor. If she was so bad in the past, that was no longer the case.

‘Did she improve her magic what new spells did she learn?’ You can’t say, she never did anything jaw-droppingly- remarkable with her magic. You can’t imagine Linen Magic being on the same echelon as Mercury or Time Magic.

‘What was life like for your mother outside of the Witches’ Forest?’ She was very content with your Francis...

‘Why did she never write to us... was she that afraid to come back?’ Was she? You can’t really say for sure.

‘Why was the real reason she left her home forest?’ Why? Did she fall in love with your father to such an extent?

‘Did she ever tell you about the time we got stuck in the mud-swamp?’ Now you are curious!

‘Who was her bests’ friend, after me?’ Your mother never told you much about her past, or her childhood friends.

You walk around several of the chubby mud-golems – they thankfully ignore you – patrolling the forest and the surrounding area around it, until, eventually, you manage to find Avrill; Laniakea’s spell was too powerful and even now he is still knocked out and unconscious. Rioni approaches the man to gently slap his cheeks to wake him up. She mumbles, “His mana is unstable.... it is going to take a while until... he’s able to recover completely,” she tells you; pausing heavily and unnecessary. She puts her white fingers on his cheeks to pull and wake the man up.

With a harsh grunt the man with brownish lion-like mane – beard and hair – open his eyes. Noticing Rioni, he clenches his fists preparing for a fight; his grimoire loudly strikes open to reveal glowing letters of his magical spell. Once he realizes the gothic witch means him no harm, however, he calmly and acceptingly listens to you.
You tell him about the essential stuff, the fact that Pistoia and Rioni are local witches and that Laniakea escaped.

“I don’t think you are going to meet that woman again,” Cryz tells to Avrill with hum, “You should go home.”

Still sitting, the man crosses his palm over his knees, “You said you were going to go meet the Witch Queen?”

You give Avrill an uncertain nod. “Maybe we can make it look like Cryz was some sort of captured intruder...?”

Cryz, on other hand, shakes his head negatively at both you and his “companion.” He spreads out his hands, “Like I said, I don’t mind going into the Witches’ Forest, even if your idea is to make me a pitiful criminal – which I’m not – but if you plan to meet the Witch Queen face to face I’m out.” Cryz notices your – ‘why is that?’ – expression and, deciding to go with a brief-short clarification, he says. “I heard bad things about the Witch Queen: how she uses her Blood Magic to control people who invade her domain like marionettes; like puppets. She breaks their bodies, and flesh, when they are no longer of use. I don’t think there’s any man who face her and survived that.”

You raise your eyes to Pistoia to ask her – wordlessly – if this was true.

“Yes-yes, she’s very cruel to intruders,” Pistoia nods with a worrisome smile, “But she is not going to harm you, Cynthia.” Briefly, as if in apparent jealousy, Pistoia pouts, “In fact, Etwilla was one of her favourite daughters!”

“The Witch Queen... paid your mother... more attention than to any other of her daughters,” Rioni adds.

You look at Cryz but the man is adamant about such a horrible idea – according to him. “...And if she’s powerful enough to separate us and our magic, what then: she’s going to just kill me on the spot? No way am I going there.”

> [Write In]

> Please refer to previous prompt suggestion.

> Sorry for the delay.

>>4361006
wasn't the majority vote > Suggest that, despite the assurance, its best make sure your attacker is found and restrained first.

>>4361033
>You spend at least half-an-hour trying to find any trace of the woman who attacked you but, even with her inability to use her Constellation Magic, you find yourself unable to trace her mana and magic, as well as neither Pistoia or Rioni. Maybe because of the curse spell, or despite of it, she is able to hide herself in the deep humid forests of the Neutral Territory for nobody to spot her.

> You can decide to continue looking for her.

>>4361006
>Continue searching for Laniakea

>>4361006
>> [Write In]
>Convince witches it would be better if we would visit on our own on a later date
>We don't anger grandma by bringing intruders
>We can fix our clothes
>We won't have work assignment

Ask questions:
>Why our grandmother give more attention to our mother? Or what they think would be a cause of that?
>Why would mom be afraid to come back? Is leaving forest a big no no?
>Is there a way to send them letters from clover kingdom?

Remind Cryz that in fact he is criminal. On a fact he attack clover kingdom citizens
And pitiful being matter of a personal view witch in fact we see him as pitiful
So yeah Cryz you are pitiful criminal suck it

>>4361217
switching to this

>>4361217
+1

As you continue to search below the damp green drapes and canopies for your attacker – some of the trees you discover for the first time act in a self-coiling, wailing or prickly (and many other bizarre ways) manner as you touch them – you turn towards Rioni and Pistoia to question them about your mother. They are her friends – best friends, if they are to be believed – it might be your best chance to learn more about her as well as other witches.

“Why was she afraid to come back? Is leaving the forest something you don’t do?”

“Not... usually,” Rioni’s pale-marigold eyes are just barely visible from beneath her “funeral” veil, “No. The Witch Queen... does not mind us.... leaving to either of the Kingdoms... to do the things we feel like...” she explains. As she pauses, she raises her hands. From her fingers a viscous black liquid begins to slowly leak and then form into a shape of a surprisingly charming squirrel... and then another, and another. A pack of black rodents – they act in precisely in the same way as the ones they have been shaped after – jump off her sleeved gown onto the tree.

The tiny things leave a trail of black amber on the bark they quickly climb over to reach the top of the tree and then jump onto the next. Can any mage have a spell to create a familiar? You can’t imagine a linen-made golem being –that– useful... “However...” Rioni interrupts your thoughts. “Leaving to live outside... the Witches’ Forest...
Is another thing altogether. Our country is considered... to be the safest for us, witches, so being marked... a fugitive is not something many of us risk...” She hesitates, “That’s why I was wonder if it was worth it for Etwilla.”

You can’t really say; you did not even know about this past of hers until after she was dead...

“So... my mother was a fugitive?” you ask with hesitation.

“Technically...” Pistoia nods, “But the Witch Queen made it clear to us... she was waiting for her to return...”

“The Witch Queen can see the future you see,” Pistoia explains merrily as she hastily lowers herself on her broom.

“The... future?” you briefly glance at Cryz. Is it like the ‘Oracle Beast’? “But my mother can’t return any longer...”

“I guess it’s not always accurate,” Pistoia puts a hand to her lips, “Don’t tell her I said that, thought!” She panics.

“Is there a way to send letters from Clover Kingdom to the Witches’ Forest?” you ask.

“There are many... dozens ways,” Rioni tells you, “But since Etwilla did not even tell –me–, her closest friend, about where to, why and when she was going to leave... she wanted to stay away... from the Witch Queen’s gaze... As long as you are as powerful... as the Witch Queen... any kind of magic can be traced back to the user.”

You nod; that would make sense.

“How often to witches leave the Witches’ Forest like my mother did?” you ask.

“It is not... too rare,” Rioni pauses to admit, “It is not like the Witch Queen hunts them down... never...”

You close your eyes to try and sense Laniakea’s mana; it is no use. Is she under the effect of her ‘Constellation’?

“Why did you think the Witch Queen give my mother more attention than the rest?”

Rioni and Pistoia exchange brief glances. Pistoia pouts her cheeks - she is clearly envious. “We are usually left to our own device days after we are born...” She whispers, “To say, we are almost neglected. We have step-mothers to take care of us...” You can see it on her face that it hurts for her to say it. “It is only in very few circumstances that the Witch Queen decides to personally focus her attention on a select few; the ones she and her ‘future sight’ see potential in. The Witch Queen must’ve seen something special in her Linen Magic...” Pistoia bites her lip, as if the notion hurts her. “However, your mother never was happy about the attention the Witch Queen gave her...”

Pistoia’s jealous attitude lingers over her face for a couple of minutes before a sudden and immediate smile lifts from one of her cheeks to another; it trembles, obviously forced and semi-fake. “However, we were still friends!”

You try to nod as understandingly as possible. What was so special about your mother’s Linen Magic?

As you fail to spot Laniakea once again, you sigh with defeat. You ponder. It’s hard to lie, you want to see what kind of person your ‘grandmother’ is for yourself, and you want to see the place your mother was born and raised in – the all-female township that is the Witches’ Forest. However, despite what Rioni and Pistoia say, and how honest they appear, it might not be the best idea... now. Captain Charlotte made it clear she does not want you to enter the Witches’ Forest or meet the Witch Queen until you are ready. The only reason she – might – be happy to see you is your Linen Magic, and currently you do not have even that. Cryz, too, is extremely against meeting her.

“I want to come with you,” you tell the two witches but before you raise their expectations, you add, “However... Now is not the time. For example, my clothes are dirty, shredded and just not nice – it’ll be insulting and bad-mannered of me to appear before her like this.” You point your hand at Cryz, “I don’t to be rude by bringing intruders either, I am sure she won’t be happy about that – and this one is glued to me. Not to mention, I am still technically on my mission, and there are people who I promised to wait and meet here. They’ll be looking for us.”

Pistoia yelps with disappointment – quietly clearly – but Rioni stays stoic. “You’re responsible, Etwilla’s daughter.”

You smile sheepishly, “I am a Magic Knight, after all.”

“How dry,” Cryz rolls his eyes.

“That is a shame,” Avrill tells you. You turn to him in a surprise. “The Witch Queen is said to as strong as all the Shining Generals combined. Meeting her will petrify your blood: literally and figuratively. I’d love to do so...”

“That sounds... suicidal?”

The man straightens his back – his muscular and covered in animal-skin body overshadows you, “-And interesting.”

For a moment, you considering telling Avrill that he does need you to go and face the Witch Queen but... you decide against that. You don’t want him to actually go and die out there, even if he is the enemy of the crown.

You turn to Cryz, who is not bothering to help you look for Laniakea at all. He is lazily glaring at the two witches.

You need to set some things straight, “Cryz, you are a criminal.”

Slowly, he turns to look at you. Confused, he reveals his glowing orange fangs to smile, “Can you repeat that?”

“I said you are a criminal. A pitiful criminal,” you stumble briefly with your words.

Cryz, still confused, looks over at Avrill who gives him a nonchalant, uncaring shrug. The bear-man folds his hands.

“Alright?” Cryz replies after a short, uncomfortable pause, “Where are you going with this?” He sounds laidback.

“I...”

“Oh~,” he interrupts you to jolt your connect wrists to force you to stumble towards him, “You think just because we are like this you can treat me like a detainee?” He is a head higher than you – when he raises his hand as high above his head as possible you are forced to stand on your tip-toes to make it less uncomfortable. “You are stuck with me, not the other way around, -kid-,” he tells with ridicule. Your eyes reflect like mirrors in his dead flat glassy ones.

“I... I... I don’t care! Your attitude has been driving me nuts!”

With frustration, he painfully clenches his fingers above your wrist, “I think you are misunderstanding something, you unthankful brat. I have been carried by your actions so far, but I too have a limit. Let’s try and remember... I wanted to leave the palace as soon as we ended up like this, but no, you wanted to find your comrades. We did.

“I wanted to find the treasury, the reason I came to that dungeon, but you had other plans. I played nice, haven’t I? Leaving was more important to me than defeating ‘Fezar’, but I still went along with your ‘Magic Knight’s duty.” He says the last part mockingly. “In the chamber with the Magic Tools you and your ‘friend’ made sure to keep most of the artifacts away from our hands; let’s be real, if I didn’t grab any you won’t let me have any...”

“Despite all of that, I still risked –my life–,” he points his thumb to his chest, “To defeat Fezar. I was –nice-.”

He suddenly lets you go – forcing you to fall on the ground and awkwardly sprain your ankle; not too heavily.

“You did all of that for your own sake – there was no escape from there without defeating him,” you find no other means to portray your frustration but by pushing his away with your palms, “You are a criminal. You have no right to be in the Clover Kingdom, and this is the second time I –personally– find you invading our territory. Half-a-year ago you were hunting for the ‘Oracle Beast’. There were regular citizens there – kids – entrapped in your crystal cages, and you were planning on crushing them just to leave no evidence or witnesses. That’s why you’re pitiful.”

“Are you mad that I stole the ‘Oracle Beast’ from you?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all!”

He looks at his free hand. One by one he closes his fingers, “You should keep in mind that if your ‘rescuer’ was a second too late I would’ve crushed the crystal you were in into unrestorable pieces. I was this close to killing you.”

Before you can reply, Cryz’s smirk is replaced by discomfort as both of his shoulders are grabbed by long-nailed hands of the witches. He freezes as a different kind of magic with pain and coldness begins to flow down his arms.

“While I don’t know – and I’m curious (!) – what happened in that dungeon...” Pistoia begins.

“...You really... shouldn’t be threatening the daughter of a witch...” Rioni finishes menacingly.

Black liquid falls down his right shoulders, it petrified and cracks. Thorny branches impale into his left shoulder.

Suddenly, there is a loud explosion. A deafening ricochet thunders over the canopies not far-off from the high aboveground. While you only manage to raise your hands to cover your ear – you shoulder your shoulder to cover your other one – Avrill’s figure rapidly dashes into the jungle –directly– towards the source of the sound as soon as he is able to hear it. Pistoia and Rioni let go of Cryz, their magic dissipating to allow him to once again move.

Pistoia begins to quickly ascend using her broom, “The Security Golems are fighting somebody, it must be the girl who was after you, Etwilla- I mean Cynthia.” She acrobatically turns on her witch broom to now have both of her boot soles firmly on the handle. In an instant, with a sparkle and a flowery bloom, she rapidly dashes away...

Rioni nods her head as prepares to run inside the woods, “Etwilla’s daughter, come on... stay close...”

You try to rush but you find yourself immediately jolted back. Your shoulder twists in pain as you fall on the ground. You find Cryz standing completely still and nonchalant. Before you try to calm yourself you huff and puff.

“Did you not hear what-?”

“I heard,” Cryz replies. He runs his fingers beneath his gemstone-encrusted cloak, “I just have no reason to go.”

You blink, “She said she wanted to kill us. She tried to kill us.”

“Correction,” Cryz yawns into his hand, “She has problems with you. For some reason you have been interfering with her ‘plans’, whatever that means. I don’t see why I should bother, if she escapes, and once we are separated, it is unlikely she’s going to go after me. She has ‘Clover Kingdom’s’ grimoire, I don’t think she’ll search for me in the Diamond Kingdom. If she does, I’ll take my chances. I’ll be able to handle her with my Crystal Magic.” Without any warning Cryz takes a cross-legged lotus position on the ground and forcefully drags you down to his eyelevel.

“I think I’m just going to stay here.”

He is stronger and heavier than you, and you can’t really use his own magic against him...

> “Do you really think you can take her on your own; her and her Magic? Do you really want to risk it?”
> “I already said my “gratitude” to you. What do you want, an apology? How childish can you be?”
> “I am sorry for calling you a ‘pitiful criminal’. We should be working together; it works when we do...”
> “I am the granddaughter of the Witch Queen. Pistoia and Rioni are right, you shouldn’t be cross with me.”
> You know where he is hiding Zitanhu’s scroll. Attempt to steal it, and threaten to use it if he does not come.
> [Write In]

> I'm having trouble with dialogue prompts, not sure why. Also, phew, this was a lengthy update. >>4361217 That was a swell Write In.

>>4362506
>> “I am sorry for calling you a ‘pitiful criminal’. We should be working together; it works when we do...”
we should not have called him a pitiful criminal

>>4362506
> “I am sorry for calling you a ‘pitiful criminal’. We should be working together; it works when we do...”

>>4362506
>> “I am sorry for calling you a ‘pitiful criminal’. We should be working together; it works when we do...”

You sigh, “I am sorry for calling you a ‘pitiful criminal’. We should be working together; it works when we do...”

The man looks up at you with an arrogant smirk, “You didn’t realize how lenient I was until now?” He mocks you. He shrugs his shoulders. The wind pushes the tall branches of the forest to bow; he patiently watches them do so.

“Come on, Cryz,” you try to pull him by his hand, “There might be no better opportunity to stop that woman...”

Another powerful explosion – the sky above the forest not far from you thunders yet again – can be heard nearby.

He leans on his free hand, bowing his lazy body even lower to the ground, “I don’t feel like risking my life, again.”

You stomp your foot, “I am –trying– to be nice here.”

His glassy eyes roll in response, “I can see the effort. Just let her escape, I don’t see why I should bother with this.”

“Are you –trying– to be difficult right now?” you ask him in the most courteous manner you manage.

He sluggishly bops and waves his hand, “So far we’d done mostly what you wanted. You are not listening; you should pick your conflicts wisely. Do you want to be hit by one of those ‘explosions’? If you do, do it without me.

“Don’t be like Avrill... I think he forgot he has barely any mana left to fight.”

Before you can reply to him, a powerful burst of wind echoes high above your head. Four floating figures wearing deep-layered black-white cloaks and hoods emerge floating from the direction you previously heard the explosion happen. Two of them are floating on their own magic brooms while the other two are on top of a long spinning disc with constantly turning orbs floating around its edges. On top of the disc there is Laniakea, an unknown cloaked figure and also... Fezar, the man is as surprised to see you as you are. They managed to get him back...

“Mummia Magic: Rot and Impalement.”

“Branch Magic: The Vengeful Jubokko.”

A massive wave of black liquor-like liquid bursts from beneath the tree canopies, it forms into a massive ever changing trident with dozen-prongs of different – but all sharp once solidified – lengths. Quickly to follow suit, another spiralling ray of creeping and shifting branches swirls towards the invaders, the barrel of Pistoia’s spell is just big enough to envelop and then crush the invaders once they are inside, as if some sort of fish trap.

The two white figures open their grimoires. Immediately, spells manifest from both of their tomes to burst and charge in opposite direction. A body of liquid glass curls into an arch before it spirals into a circle before Rioni’s “spear” and solidifies into an opaque mirror. Much stronger, it stops her attack in track and pushes the oily goo.

“Glass Magic: Borosilicate Barricade.”

The shimmering magic of the second magician floats like a raging silvery-yellowish river directly inside Pistoia’s spell before suddenly blowing up into dozens of sharp whip-like spears. Each of those glistering alloy-like whips expands into a net-like form to such a degree Pistoia’s branches are knocked back, cracked and soon ruptured and shredder from the inside, leaving them to disintegrate into a magical dust and soon evaporate into natural mana.

“Pewter Magic: Retiarius’ Assault.”

Despite what he said previously, Cryz stands up from his half-sitting position to face Laniakea and her friends.

You tighten the grip of your grimoire, your mana slowly solidifying into magical sequins. It is too damn slow...
“I am afraid I can’t stay to finish you two off,” Laniakea yells downwards at you with both of her hands places to form a triangle over her mouth, “‘I broke a rule, you see?’ Rather unlucky, eh? ‘Let’s try again next time’, you two!” She raises her hand to grasp one of the blinding star-like objects floating besides her, “I’ll probably be busy so unless you continue to interfere with the Eye of the Midnight Sun, you shouldn’t expect us to meet too soon!”

Despite this, she –tosses– the incredibly fast star into your direction. “You should survive this farewell reminder!”

“Constellation Magic: White Nova.”

> Please roll 1d100 to avoid the attack – best of three.

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>4364105

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>4364105

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>4364105
I guess we'll be meeting the Witch Queen after all...

>>4364310
>>4364121
>>4364139
well shit

>>4364314
Are we gonna die? Is this it for little Cynthia?

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>4364105
Well, this is bad.

The distance between you and the iridescent star shortens in an instant. You barely have time to create a petite cluster of sequins before realizing that there is no point – it is unlike you’ll have the ability or time to drain her celestial orb before it explodes before you. So you try to dodge; to run. Your breathing halts as you quickly turn around and try to jump from the incoming calamity. Incidentally, this means you have to pull Cryz behind yourself. You stumble onto the ground and pull him directly in front of the crackling luminary. He’s -forced- to shield you.

The star explodes as soon as reaches his body. An explosive and vehement blast of white heat and magic quickly expands and ruptures the air, the forest and, soon, your bodies. It hurts. It hurts a lot. The smouldering fire envelops your white dress and quickly turns it to cinders that agonizing settle onto your skin. They burn deeper.

You lost 1 health.
Health: [1/5]

As your mind finally begins losing conscious, and your body begins becoming numb, from the corner of your eye you witness a brilliantly glowing spark of blue magic. You force yourself to remain awake. You thrust your fingers, ignoring the pain, to touch the lingering presence – you try to push your mana into the object. You somehow manage to step close enough to see Cryz with his hands – too – holding the orb. His glass eyes are ever dimmer.

You spend 50 mana.
Mana: [71 /165]

Once the celestial blaze completely overwhelms you, your body becomes numb. Anything that touches bruises and scratches your skin in an extremely uncomfortable coldness. However, you are not dead. You soon realize that the white explosion is no longer able to reach you – a flickering blue aura is protecting you. A majestic blue bird three-times your size shields you and Cryz with its massive wing. The falling feathers crumble into blue fire.

You remain like this for a painful, lingering moment before the towering familiar begins to crumble into blue ash to reveal the circle of withered and destroyed earth all around you. It pains you to raise your head to see Laniakea and her companions being just distant dots in the clear sky. You grunt in pain; you are not naked but your beautiful dress is nothing but rags now and the enriched scarf you spend so many days working on has been completely burned out, only a few charcoal-like threads remain; they fly away once you raise your hand to let go.

You quickly turn to Cryz, who collapses almost as soon as there is no longer anything to keep him balanced. In his burned palms lay white wooden fragments of the bird toy he took from the palace; it must have been what essentially managed to save you. Even then, some of Laniakea’s attack did heavily injure him. You slowly fall on your knees to check if the unconscious mercenary is still alive... you judge by his uneven breathing: he barely is.

“Etwilla’s daughter!” Pistoia quickly jumps off her staff to run towards you. There is a look of absolute dread on her face as she grabs you into a painful hug, “Etwilla wouldn’t forgive me if I let you die like that! You look horrible! Does this hurt? Oh-oh, sorry,” she apologizes after pushing her finger into your burns, “What a relief!”

You narrow your eyes towards Cryz; you try not to move too much, “Do you... have healers in the witch city?”

Pistoia stops with a visible confusion. She begins to loudly ponder, as if wondering on how to tackle your questions. “We do... of course; lots of them, but the Witch Queen and they will ask questions if we call them.”

“It would be bad... if she learned you were here...” Rioni joins in the hug to painfully show how much she cares.

“But I understand...” Rioni continues awkwardly, “That you do not... want to carry a corpse... around with you...” She hesitates for a few moments to break the embrace before finally allowing herself to do so. “We have healing potions... some of them incredibly powerful and well-protected... I will try to discreetly... bring some back...”

You raise your head to smile, “Thank you, Rioni.”

The woman keeps her mouth open for a minute before a gray blush covers her cheeks. She leaves afterwards.

“Your mother was brazen but I don’t think she ever got into dangerous situations,” Pistoia nods.

While you manage to ignore the wounds and pain, you can’t help but wallow in pessimism. Fezar is with this ‘Order of the Midnight Sun’ now; it is unlikely you’ll be able to use him to break your ‘curse’. But you are not ready to meet your grandmother yet, and you do not want to go against the warnings of Charlotte and others...

> Is there anything you’d like to ask Pistoia while you wait for Rioni and, hopefully, Virginia to come back?
> Take the splinters of the wooden bird carving Magic Tool from Cryz.
> Take Zitanhu’s spell scroll from Cryz and into your pouch.
> [Write In]

>>4365746
Not really. Let's just wait (unless our strongest knights got killed and they are not coming.)

>>4366380
+1 I can't come up with any questions

>>4366380
this

>>4365746
>>4366380
+1
>Tell Pistoia and Rioni when she will come back that they are awesome aunts

I want to steal his shit, but I know he will regain consciousness and make us feel bad about it

Unsure of what to ask Pistoia about – it doesn’t look like she was made aware of the important things you want to know about your mother by the Witch Queen – you clumsily and slowly take a sit near Cryz’s unconscious body.

The woman turns to you with a bright smile, “So, niece Cynthia, you’re one of those ‘Magic Knights’, aren’t you?”

You are thankful Pistoia is more loquacious and prying than you are, some dialogue will lift your mind off the pain.

You reply shyly, “For only a week...” But what a week it was. You won’t be going into dungeons any time soon...

“I personally know a couple of witches who left the town to join the Magic Knights,” Pistoia slaps her knees with a pout, “What’s up with that? Is it really that exciting?” There’s a dumbfound expression on her face, “Should I...?”

“Do you know Dorothy?”

“No, who’s that?” she blinks innocently, “Do –you– know Kinga? She left for that reason, is she a big shout now?”

You clumsily lean away your head, “I did not get to interact with the other Squads that much yet.” Who is Kinga?

The two of you spend the time until Rioni’s arrival discussing your “life” as a Magic Knight. You tell Pistoia about your short-lived adventures and missions and, perhaps you should not have had, as Pistoia takes a rather unhealthy interest in your stories. You make sure to mention the more boring and troublesome parts of the job.

Eventually, Rioni comes back with a bunch of strange, oily potions inside opaque vials. She admits to not knowing about which of them are the more powerful ones, but – she says – as long as all of them are healing potions it shouldn’t be a problem. You thank her yet you decide to act in a more cautious manner. You open the healing potions one by one and feed them to unconscious Cryz by slowly pouring it down his raised head and mouth...

Not all of his deep scars get healed but the majority of the burns, wounds and cuts hastily vanish under the effect of the potions. The magical flora of the Clover Kingdom and beyond allows a great variety of potions to be brewed and used, however, the most effecting and important of them, and the ones that heal your body and restore your mana, are also the most expensive and hard to produce. Even the weakest of such potions cost a whole fortune.

You decide not to think about the liquid yul you pour down your throat. Soon, you feel your wounds dissipating.

It doesn’t take long for Virginia and Lanarel to find you, together with a few supporting Magic Knights. Both of their hairs heavily disturbed and their clothes badly damaged they indeed look like they just went through a battle of their own. Virginia remains stoic when she approaches you, although it’s not hard to guess by her exasperated breathing that she was in a worried rush to find you. Lanarel is far more disturbed, she quickly rushes to hug you.

Just as you feared, Virginia and Lanarel have been attacked by Laniakea’s comrades in order to try to murder them and free Fezar. While outnumbering the two four to two, they were still unable to heavily harm the experienced and senior Magic Knights of the Blue Rose, despite Virginia – and especially Lanarel – still going through the “decompression sickness”. However, in the discord and ruckus of the battle, they managed to retrieve Fezar and escape together with him. They stupidly did it before he had his grimoire, however, which is the only good news...

With no chance to separate Cryz and yourself by using Fezar’s Flesh Magic, and with your reluctance to go face the Witch Queen just yet, Virginia physically –forces– Cryz to return with you to the Clover Kingdom, more specially, the Charlotte Mansion. Although the man tries to argue that he’ll be able to get the required help in the Diamond Kingdom to separate you, the Wardress and the Vice-Captain do not wish to take any chances. Until a way to reverse the “curse” is found, the safest way for you remains under Charlotte’s protection. You can’t argue this...

You thank your two awesome “aunts” and promise to return as soon as the circumstances are better.

On your arrival Charlotte puts you and Cryz on a sort of “house arrest”. While, at first, extremely unpleasant and unhappy about the fact, Cryz is quick to turn into a nasty and arrogant guest-type, happily enjoying his stay in a massive and extremely expensive manor. It doesn’t seem like he lied about enjoying the “rich life”, not to mention all the women that are now surrounding him. The Blue Rose is an all-woman group; it might just be his dream.

You can understand a little of his frustration, he is practically a capturer and a prisoner, the things he wished to avoid. All his Magic Tools are quickly ceased by Charlotte so he is not even allowed to keep the only thing he went for in the dungeon. Still, that is the extent of which you are willing to take pity on him. With an enemy literally attached to you by your wrist you are unable to participate in any missions and when you try and offer your assistance to Lanarel and the type of paperwork she does, Charlotte refuses: she can’t let Cryz to see the info...

*** *** ***

Three weeks later...

> There is no prompt this time because it’s a big update so I’ll continue tomorrow. Thanks for playing!

>>4367842
I've finally caught back up after being behind for about a month! The pyramid arc was fun, although as another Anon mentioned it might have stuck around tor a bit tol long. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it, it was a neat setting and presented a lot of interesting twists, like everyone getting bound together and the mummified councilors coming back to life. It's a shame Zitanhu died before we had a chance to speak with him again, he really saved us in that fight.

I like that you jumped immediately into the action with this new arc and introducing The Eye of the Midnight Sun as antagonists. Laniakea definitely seems interesting so far, I find her quirk with all of the books filled with rules and quotes amusing. It was also nice to get another little brush with Cynthia's witch heritage (+2 Cool Witch Aunts!), I look forward to when we'll get to come back and explore that path in earnest.

Lastly, I really want to point out how much I liked the exchange you wrote between Cynthia and Cryz after she called him a pitiful criminal. You can definitely see that what he said was a long time coming after all of the suffering that Cynthia and he went through in the pyramid, a lot of which was admittedly in service to Cynthia's interests rather than his own. He's still an asshole, but an asshole with a point.

Thanks for writing Melk, and I look forward to reading the next update!

>>4368402
> Thanks for the kind words and feedback!

The passage of time during those three weeks felt like a torture. With nothing to do, the time has been boring, unproductive and uneventful. While travelling with Cryz through a dangerous, deadly and ancient dungeon is one thing, having him follow your every movement was another. A man older than you – eventually you managed to learn that he was nineteen years old – was now sharing your room and participating in every single thing you did.

For the time being Charlotte gave you a different room, one much bigger with with two separate beds. While in any other situation you would be happy about such a bequest, the fact that you had to share it with Cryz soured the deal a great bit. You had to go to sleep at the same time, with your attached hands between suspended in the space between the beds. It was uncomfortable. During dinning visits it was hard to sit down near any of your friends to simply discuss news. Even when he didn’t talk, and he tried to flirt, his mere presence made it awkward.

A few days into your Charlotte gifted you with magical tool: an eyeblind to use on Cryz when you had to go to wash yourself or for other private dealings. With just a little bit of infused magic it covered his eyes and ears and made him lose all of his senses. He could not even talk; it was a bit cruel so you tried not to use it too often on him. Even if you wished to, just having him is present during your bath visits was embarrassing and flustering.

The constant jokey jabs from your compatriots did not help the situation one bit, especially mocking from Tresses.

The fact that Cryz tried to flirt with every member of the Magic Knight, and some of the workers, only made it less likely for you to leave your room. Thankfully, only a few of the Magic Knights responded to his catcalls. One of them was Beraber Pythia, the – lightly – hedonistic rule breaker. While the other Knights made absolutely clear – at least publically – that they did not care about romance, Pistoia was the only one who did not bother to hide it.

Having you stop to listen to their blabber or having Pistoia nonchalantly join your table to talk to Cryz has been awkward, excruciatingly so. The fact that Cryz was older than her, and a mercenary-enemy, did not bother her.

As Cryz had a history with dungeon dwelling for the Diamond Kingdom, and retrieving and selling back expensive items back to the king and his forces, the advisers and military pundits of the Clover Kingdom wasted no time questioning and interrogating Cryz; you had to attend. Eventually, Marx Francois, an advisor to the Magic Emperor, used his Memory Magic in an endeavour to intercept the information Cryz, he assumed, tried to hide. However, truth to his word, Cryz knew little about the inner workings of the Diamond Kingdom. He was a mercenary and so, he was not made aware of the important things like war strategies and weapon development.

However, Cryz did refuse to tell Marx something he dragged out of him: all the dungeons and artifacts he, Zeden and Avrill went through and brought back to the Diamond Kingdom and its King. There were lots - lots - of them.

For your recent missions – and for a successful ‘dungeon dwelling’ (ignoring the fact that Fezar escaped once again) – as well as for returning some of the artifacts, you have been rewarded multiple golden merit stars. You are not sure about the exact workings of the promotional system but with such a massive boost you should be a third-way away from becoming an Intermediate Magic Knight. However, as Charlotte pointed out to you, you are unlikely to earn enough stars to earn a promotion by the time of the next War Merits Conferment Ceremony.

Despite the fact that you spend the weeks doing practically nothing, Charlotte still acknowledged your efforts and your hard work with a 200,000 yul wage. The moment you received it you immediately sent half to cover the costs of the rent and to make life for your father a little bit easier. Having been unable to visit him because of your “house arrest”, you had no other choice to contact your father by mail. You did not really tell him about Cryz.

Three weeks later, and you are still stuck in your room together with Cryz. Unlike you, he’s enjoying the situation.

“I think you should go take a bath,” Cryz finishes a cupcake only to additionally clear his fingers by licking them.

“Even if we do, I –am– going to use the blindfold on you,” you respond with brief annoyance, “And there won’t be anybody there but us; none of the Knights want to take a bath with me while you are around, you debauchee...”

There is a knock on the door, then, after a few seconds, another. It is not a violent one; rather, it is courteous-like.

“Maybe that’s my ‘golden strand’” – that’s how he refers to Beraber – “You should ask if she wants to join us.”

You sigh heavily before jumping off the bed and approaching the door. Suddenly, your magic falters away...

You know one thing – behind the door is not Beraber. You ignore the brief weakness as you slowly open the door.

File: This guy....jpg (94 KB, 1230x1080)

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An immense, uncontrollable wave of magic like a hundred-old untouched and lingering dust finally being raised by a powerful wind flows inside your room. A tall, middle-aged man with short messy blond hair and purple eyes greets you; he is just tall enough to not hit the top of the entrance. On the left side of the man’s forehead there is a blue six-pointed star. His attire consists of a shirt and pants of parallel colour and designs. The pearl shirt has a high collar with black fur at the end, and intricate gold and purple-coloured designs on its circumference. On top of those clothes he wears a long red robe that covers his entire body. The part of his robe which covers his torso is decorated with white fur. On top of the fur there is a shining and massive gold necklace with several medals...

You close the door shut. You begin breathing, heavily. It takes you a couple of minutes to finally calm down.

You open the door once again; the person is still there. You have seen him a couple of times from a far distance during the Star Awards Festival, but only a glimpse. There is no mistaking it, this man before you are the current Magic Emperor – he is the strongest Magic Knight in all of the Clover Kingdom. Your voice trembling, you ask:

“Y-yes?”

“Hello there,” he closes his eyes, leans his head back a bit and smiles, “Is this is where I can find the duo with a curse?”

> The Magic Emperor is so.. friendly? You did not expect him to be the type to joke around and be light-hearted.
> You feel a rush of blood redden your cheeks. It’ll be too obvious to hide it. Is it... wrong to have a crush on your Magic Emperor?
> The powerful flux of magic, there is no doubt he is the strongest Magic Knight. Your hands tremble; for one reason or another you feel like you –want– to beat him. Is it bad to hope you can one day reach those heights?
> You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!
> [Write In]

>>4369754
> You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!

Oh shit, Julius! I don't know if we want to make Cynthia go full Shounen protagonist just yet, so I'll stick with this option for now.

>>4369754
this by far he most difficult vote in this quest, to blush or to not blush that is the question or to want to beat him up or not that is another question. I can't decide so I will wait for the input of the other anons

>>4369754
>You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!

I think we forgot send cash money for paints

>>4369821
Just going by what I feel would be most in character for Cynthia, the wanting to beat him up option might make a little bit of sense, since we've seen evidence of her growing more ambitious and wanting to rise through the ranks, so why not aim for the very top of the mountain? I'd totally be down for that option too, but I picked a different one while waiting to see what other anons thought

>>4369832
I thought we were going to tell Dorothy about the price and get her to pay for the materials?

>>4369941
On other hand, we can finally get our love interest.

>>4369954
but remember Cynthia is 15 years old the magic emperor is 40-ish

>>4369754
> You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!

>>4369754
>You feel a rush of blood redden your cheeks. It’ll be too obvious to hide it. Is it... wrong to have a crush on your Magic Emperor?

>>4369832
I would be ok with

+ BLUSH

>>4369941
Aspiration to be strong enough to protect that beautifull man.

>>4369754
>> You feel a rush of blood redden your cheeks. It’ll be too obvious to hide it. Is it... wrong to have a crush on your Magic Emperor?

I still can't decide on what I should vote for, on one hand having a crush on the magic emperor would give Cynthia some extra characterization on the other hand he is 43 years old while we are 15 years so it would never happen therefore he can't even really count as a love interest

>>4370225
I am on the same boat.

>>4370225
>>4370337
Come on guys it's been like 8 hours.

>>4369754
> You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!

>>4370458
> You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally met him!
> You feel a rush of blood redden your cheeks. It’ll be too obvious to hide it. Is it... wrong to have a crush on your Magic Emperor?

Let's have Cynthia be confused.

>>4370225
>Mediaeval
>Fantasy Europe
>15 and 43
>Unrealistic
XD

>>4369754
I wonder if Cryz is gonna shit himself now that he's face to face with the Magic Emperor.

> I'll update once I'm back from work hopefully!

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You hold nothing but respect and admiration for your Magic Emperor. You can’t believe you’ve finally got to met him! Still... Still (!)... You clumsily slide your hand off the door handle to avoid rudely closing the door in front of the Magic Emperor’s face once over again. You eyes slither down towards the ground and your head quickly follows. Your heart can’t help but skip a beat and two, and your cheeks redden and turn incredibly hot. You don’t know what is going on... but this is not the first expression you want to be making! Gawkily, you raise your eyes.

And after a brief moment, you return to inspecting the wooden flooring. He is just so cool, so awesome! And his fashion sense... wait, why are you thinking about his fashion sense now? But... but... (!) It’s magnificent; there is not a single thing you – an experienced tailor – would add to his style! You begin wondering if he dresses himself. Was it his wife? As far as you are aware – and as far as the newspapers and rumours are to be believed – the Magic Emperor does not have a loved one. Even if you ask, he’ll probably say something cool, dramatic and awe aspiring like ‘My love is to all of the Clover Kingdom citizens’. Yeah, he probably would... Why are you silent...?

You awkwardly raise your wrist to show the Magic Emperor the flesh that connects you and Cryz:

“M-Magic Emperor,” you exhale a couple of times to return the skin of your face to its natural pink colour, “It’s such a honour to finally talk to you; it’s such a surprise, you were the last person I was expecting to see today.”

“You can call me Julius if it’s more to your liking,” he smiles. There is an embarrassing pause as he continues to stand behind the entrance. After a few moments, realizing that you are struggling with words, he asks, “May I?”

“O-of course, Magic Emperor,” there is no way you’ll be so rude you’ll call the Magic Emperor by his first name!

There’s a loud racket as you are dragged backwards – Cryz has fallen from the bed and painfully pulled you along.

“-You- are the Magic Emperor?!” the man screams as he stumbles to get on his feet. His glassy eyes stare the man.

In relaxed manner, almost carefree, the Magic Emperor enters your room. The door closes slowly and quietly behind him without him having to lift his hand, instead he motions it forward. His smile widens, “Let’s not be so loud, only your Captain knows that I am currently visiting. I don’t want to rise too much of a scene.” He explains.

Only Captain Charlotte and you know the Magic Emperor is here! This is a secret, a private secret!

He approaches Cryz who has been clenching the sheets with a visibly anxiety and growing agitation.

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“You must be Cryz,” Magic Emperor says as he stops, “The mercenary from the Diamond Kingdom. You are probably thinking about attacking me right now, I imagine the Diamond Kingdom would reward your considerably and handsomely if you were to kill me, or just scratch me. But I do not think you are in any condition to attempt.”

Cryz is not used to being on the receiving end of taunts.

The man angrily harrumphs, his hands reach for your Sequin Magic grimoire but you are faster; you grab it before him. Cryz stares daggers at you; he grimaces. He looks away, “It’s not like there are any useful spells in that thing anyway!” Did he seriously - even for a moment – thought he could harm the Magic Emperor? That’s ridiculous...

You huff before suddenly stopping. The Magic Emperor gaze has completely changed, his hands are now trembling and his eyes are bright-black and sparkling. He has an extremely goofy smile he fails to keep under control. You open your mouth only to remain silent like a goldfish. He is pointing at your grimoire. You offer it to him kindly.

He takes it from; he is extremely careful with your magical tome. His eyes filled with brilliant spark, he begins turning the pages of the book inspecting it closely. “I have never seen a tome this ancient,” he says without lifting his deep purple eyes from the papyrus pages, “The report your Vice-Captain submitted said there was a whole grimoire library in this ‘dungeon’? Amazing, if only I could investigate it myself... but it’s too late now, isn’t it?” Lanarel submitted a report? You wonder how descript it was... “It’s amazing, simply amazing,” he continues to talk to himself and you with excitement, “The spell here is written in ancient language, I can’t figure it out at all.”

“Well, we can,” Cryz jabs from his corner, childishly trying to up-take the Magic Emperor.

“Remarkable,” the Magic Emperor completely misses his mockery attempt. He turns to you, forcing you to once again freeze in place, “Can I please see your ‘original’ grimoires?” he asks. Without a second thought your hands reach for the pouch containing your Linen Magic grimoire. Just like before, the three-leaf clover is dim and, when opened, the pages are muted and magicless. The Magic Emperor takes your grimoire with his other hand; his hands are big enough to hold one each. He looks towards Cryz who is still glaring towards him like a predator.

“What, you want me to trust you enough to give you the last thing I have? No chance.” This is the Magic Emperor!

Julius, the Magic Emperor, simply laughs. “Ha-ha-ha, I see the reason you are so angry-”

“Just one of thousands, do you want me to list them all, ‘your majesty’?”

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You have been drilling Cryz through their entire dialogue; your hands trying to find the heavies object to blunt him with. The Magic Emperor, instead, keeps his smile. “No need, I am aware of all of them. You are not the only intruder from the Diamond Kingdom we have, Cryz,” he briefly looks over your room, “But I can say for certain you are the only one who is being ‘forcefully kept’ in such lavish conditions.” He looks through your Linen Magic grimoire analytically and thoughtfully; he makes sure to inspect each of the pages containing a spell. Most of the pages in your grimoire are empty. It is somewhat embarrassing. “As I anticipated, I can’t feel any magic in yours’.”

“W-what do you mean?” you ask him as he returns you your original grimoire.

“Our souls are connected to our grimoires; they are created from the mana with a specific and sole individual in the entire word to anticipate and patiently wait for them. You are Cynthia, if I am not wrong? Do you mind me calling you that?” You clumsily shake your head; no, you aren’t. “Excellent! What that escaped criminal Fezar did was not just mix your flesh and mana but also your soul, albeit only weakly even with all the additional magic power he had used. Like I said, it was a weak connection you had initially, but the moment it was formed there was a grimoire laying in wait to fall on your hands in that grimoire, self-made.” He lifts the tome as he explains.

“The connection that formed between your soul and the grimoire made your new soul stronger, which is why it didn’t break when he was defeated, despite doing so for your Vice-Captain and Senior Magic Knight.” He breathes out while looking one more time over your Sequin Magic grimoire, “It’s an awful shame it might get destroyed.”

“D-destroyed?” you lungs fill with hope, “D-does that mean...?”

“I believe you are aware of the ‘Eye of the Midnight Sun’ by now? A criminal and terroristic organization; we don’t know their goals, motivations or motives but what we know is that they have been attacking the regular citizens and the Magic Knights of Clover Kingdom indiscriminately. I’d be very curious to ask you, Cryz, if that is same in the Diamond Kingdom, but I do not believe that you’ll answer me. What we know is that they are not made only out of Clover Kingdom criminals, some of the ones we captured or fought off were from the Witches’ Forest and the Diamond Kingdom. It is fair to assume that Fezar is one of them, and they are keeping him well-hidden and protected. They have been no attempts on his grimoire just yet. Regardless, it’s unlike we’ll capture him soon.”

You can’t help but feel your cheeks falls down with a sad frown.

File: A very big smile....png (707 KB, 1280x720)

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The Magic Emperor continues, his voice now completely serious, “And I know that there suggestions to visit the Witch Queen to ask her to remove the curse” – it doesn’t seem like he knows you are a daughter of a witch – “but she is an unpredictable, dangerous and callous individual, I am speaking from experience of one of the Magic Knight Captains who had the possibility of fighting her (Who?!). It should the matters of the last resort to do so.”

“Is it?” you ask.

His smile immediately lifts your spirit, “No! I believe that we found another way to separate the two of you.”

You don’t even bother enquiring further. If the Magic Emperor himself came here to tell you about this method you trust him completely and fully. You can’t help but squeal. Finally you will be unconnected from Cryz Pleanor!

You look at him who, unlike you, is rather unhappy about the sudden news.

“And then what?” Cryz straightens his back, this time he is the serious sounding one. “Will you put me in prison?”

“That would, more often than not, be the case, yes,” Magic Emperor answers him instantaneously. “But I don’t want you to be uncooperative here, and we got as much useful information from you as we possibly could.”

“Not to mention you stole my Magic Tools,” Cryz adds; his voice full of venom.

“Oh, that’s right,” the Magic Emperor puts one of his hands inside his deep red robes. After a moment, he removes a bird carving made out of ancient white wood: the blue falcon familiar. “I am happy to return it.”

Before you can realize what is going on, Cryz quickly snaps the Magic Tool from the Magic Emperor’s hands.

“...And the scroll I had?”

“That is something that is too powerful. It’ll be used to assist the Clover Kingdom.”

Cryz steps back immediately, pulling you after himself, “What... what are you trying to do here, ‘your majesty’?”

The Magic Emperor loudly guffaws, “You should stop doing that; our king is Augustus Kira Clover XIII, you know.”

“I did not know that, and I don’t care. The one everyone is afraid and worried about is you, Julius Novachrono.”

Again, the Magic Emperor laughs. “I wouldn’t be a good Magic Emperor if that wasn’t the case, now would I?” He winks at you and you can’t help but blush once again. “As for what I am trying to do... Cryz, do you have a family?”

“Why would I tell you that, ‘your majesty’?”

“Loved ones? Parents? Close friends?” the Magic Emperor continues.

“Might as well not have,” Cryz replies with semi-distance in his voice.

“I see,” the Magic Emperor nods, “Then why don’t you join the Clover Kingdom?”

File: He's so cool... so serious....png (719 KB, 1280x720)

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He is dead serious.

It is your time to stumble and collapse; you have a look of complete shock. There is no way he’s for real, i-is there?

Of course, Cryz is taken aback by such a proposal as well. He takes a few minutes to compose himself. With calm, although he fails to hide the worry, voice, he mocks, “And what will happen if I refuse such a ‘generous’ offer?”

Obviously he’ll be put into the stockades. You are completely baffled Cryz is daring to mock such near-charity!!!

“Nothing, although it would be a disappointing decision,” the Magic Emperor, once again, surprises the both of you. “Usually, we would use you for a prisoner exchange, but those are extremely unique circumstances. You have worked together with Cynthia here, from what I understand, and because of this, I am willing to show some leniency and if you decide to refuse, then you can leave and return back to your kingdom. It is up to you now.”

Cryz narrows his eyes, but his lips dry out and he is forced to lick them.

He is considering it! Cryz is seriously considering it – just like that!

“We have magic users similar to yours; they can look into my mind to see what you forced me to tell you all.”

“If you are worried about that, we can ask Marx to remove some of your memory. It is a painless process...”

“And what about my grimoire?” Cryz immediately retorts by removing his white-gray tome in white gold gemstone patterned cover. Unlike yours, there is a diamond shape in the centre of it. “It’s pretty obvious, eh?”

The Magic Emperor leans forward, finally being allowed to inspect it, “Nothing magic can’t hide, although you’ll have to be careful about it. You have Crystal Magic, don’t you? It is rather uncommon in the Clover Kingdom, but I wouldn’t say it is unique or will raise unnecessary eyebrows.”

Cryz pulls his grimoire away from the Magic Emperor, “So you want me to be a spy? To betray the kingdom I was born and raised in to rely you information about our weak spots so you could assault and burn down our cities?”

As if he cares about that!

“The Clover Kingdom is not an expansionist nation,” the Magic Emperor nods, “But we are going to protect our borders from the Diamond and Spade Kingdom’s militaries with everything we have. It would be extremely helpful if you could be my spy, Cryz, but if you decide not to return to the Diamond Kingdom at all, I am sure we can figure out another arrangement.” He puts a thumb to his broad chin, “Would you be a good Magic Knight?”

> Remain silent. As much as you dislike it, this is between the Magic Emperor and Cryz. It’s their decision to make.
> You can’t allow someone like Cryz to join the Clover Kingdom. Remind the Magic Emperor about the events in the “Pink Ash Forest”. About how Cryz intruded, tried to capture the ‘Oracle Beast’ and nearly kill the servant kids.
> Remain silent. He might not be the most pleasant person but he is not weak. From what you have seen of Cryz’s Crystal Magic, he is strong and powerful, not somebody you want as an enemy. He conquered dozen of dungeons.
> “If you stay in the Clover Kingdom, then you’ll get to spend as much time as you wish with Beraber. If you want, I can tell her about some of your better qualities – the little there is – to nudge your ‘relationship’ a bit further.”
> “Cryz, I don’t know about others but I will be happy if you decide to join the Clover Kingdom. Please consider it.”
> “Magic Emperor; Captain Charlotte, Wardress Virginia and Vice-Captain Lanarel might possibly be against this!”
> [Write In]

>>4372330
> “If you stay in the Clover Kingdom, then you’ll get to spend as much time as you wish with Beraber. If you want, I can tell her about some of your better qualities – the little there is – to nudge your ‘relationship’ a bit further.”

>>4372330
>> “If you stay in the Clover Kingdom, then you’ll get to spend as much time as you wish with Beraber. If you want, I can tell her about some of your better qualities – the little there is – to nudge your ‘relationship’ a bit further.”

>>4372330
> Tell Cryz about your salary and see if that changes his mind.

>>4372456
>>4372811
Maybe don't use our acquaintance as a trading token

>>4372330
I'm with >>4372903 I think it would be kinda slimey to bribe him using Beraber like that.

> Tell Cryz about your salary and see if that changes his mind.
> Also, unlike with Avril or Zeden, the knights of the Clover kingdom wouldn't just abandon one of their comrades without a fight.

>>4372903
+1

> Sorry guys, no update today - out with friends. I will probably make a new thread today with another broad update. Thanks for playing so far!

>>4373342
no worries, have fun Melk

>>4373342
See ya tomorrow Melk

“A Magic Knight?” Cryz corks his eyebrow in a rather sceptical manner, “Sounds like a job, and a dangerous one.”

“It is,” the Magic Emperor smiles, “It’s the most important and valuable occupation one can have in the Kingdom.”

“Importance and valuableness... doesn’t sound like it’s worth the risk,” the man yawns.

“Is dwelling into unexplored dungeons filled with deadly traps, chaotic magic and potentially perilous beasts different?” you turn towards Cryz to ask him. You are not sure why you are trying to convince him, but you do.

“Of course it is,” the man looks at you dumbfounded, “I can just quit and turn back any time I want if I don’t feel like getting the treasure is worth it.” He weakly smirks towards the Magic Emperor, “If I am a Magic Knight like Cynthia here, I won’t be able to leave until I fulfil my mission, no matter how unreasonable it might be continue.”

You frown at him.

“You won’t be appointed anything that you can’t handle,” the Magic Emperor smiles, “But, I heard that you are very strong, skilful, adept and proficient...” Where –did- he hear all that; neither from you or Virginia, surely?

Cryz grins but, rather soon, his eyes widen. He shakes his head, he realized he was falling into the Magic Emperor’s rhythm, and the mention of his strength was just part of it. You are not sure about yourself but with Cryz, the Magic Emperor has been using his words and the questions he asked very specifically and precisely, you realize.

“My strength is proportional to the money I’m paid,” he admits callously, “I won’t even keep the artifacts, will I?”

“It varies in their importance and how powerful in terms of lethality and magic they are,” the Magic Emperor admits to him with a nod, “However, I wouldn’t say it is unlikely for you to be able to keep some of the artifacts.”

“Then what’s the point?”

“The wage,” you tell Cryz a bit demeaningly.

“Oh, you get paid?” Cryz responds with a roll of his eyes.

“I do, in fact, all the Magic Knights do,” you raise your chin, “The wage for Knights like me is 200,000 yul.”

Cryz raises his finger to point at it. He narrows his eyes sceptically:

“That’s a big and impressive number, but I imagine in Diamond Kingdom currency it’s nothing impressive.”

“No, I am pretty sure the yul and the ruby should be more or less identical in their worth,” Julius ponders loudly.

Cryz can’t help but begin to visibly salivate. Awkwardly and with haste he takes out a napkin from a pocket of his shirt to cover his mouth but the spit continues to drip down the floor. “There’s no way you are paid that much!”

You nod, “And my superiors and other Magic Knights ranks above are paid even more,” you pause, “Much more.”

Cryz, still holding the handkerchief, turns to the Magic Emperor, “And what is your wage?”

The Magic Emperor light-heartedly chuckles, “You will have to become a Magic Emperor yourself to learn that.”

‘As if’ – you pout. You can’t help but be curious yourself, the Magic Emperor is the strongest custodian of the crown, and he holds respect and control of all the military services and powers. He would be paid handsomely.

Finally managing to get himself under control, Cryz slides the wet handkerchief back into his pocket.

“I’ll... think about it,” Cryz looks way from the much bigger figure of the Magic Emperor.

“Unlike your compatriots, the Magic Knights are unlikely to abandon their friends without a fight,” you say.

“I don’t really care about that,” Cryz tells you; he sounds honest. “I’m the only person I can truly rely on.”

Your genuine smile turns into a frown. You are not sure if he’d be able to fit in with the other Magic Knights.

He looks around: “How about you make me a part of this group – the ‘Cyan Tulip’? I like it here a lot.”

“The Blue Rose.”

The Magic Emperor laughs, “I am afraid that is above even my capabilities. I appoint the Captains, but their Squads and the way they are run are up to them; Charlotte’s intent has been to display the power and capacity of women Knights and it is unlikely she’ll make an exception for you, Cryz. However, if you want to try and convince her it will be up to you alone. If you don’t want to become an espionage agent, and it seems that the wage of a Magic Knight has interested you a great deal, the next ‘Magic Knight Entrance Exam’ is a year away. Until then, the only way for you to join a Squad, and I won’t assist you with this, is to approach the Knight-Captains yourself.”

Cryz harrumphs. That sounds troublesome to him. You don’t think he’ll be able to convince Charlotte... or Yami.

“But you said you’ll think about it so take your time,” the Magic Emperor says with a smile as he lifts his robe to reveal a Magic Tool, a hollow cube with made out of shimmering brass-like metal holding a opaque sandglass in the centre. He touches it and a tiny bit of yellowish magic escapes from his fingers and into the object to power it.

The object begins beaming with powerful magical power.

“This should transport you to designated location where, hopefully, you’ll be able to get the help and assistance you need. This is a time-focused spell so, once activated, your room will return back to the Blue Rose headquarters without anybody knowing you were away. I am afraid I can’t join you with this as there are some important matters I have to attend, and while I’m here, I might as well discuss them with your Knight-Captain.”

He gives you and Cryz an assuring nod before the door opens as if by itself as he turns to leave.

> Is there anything you want to ask or tell the Magic Emperor before he leaves?

> It's not page 10 yet!

>>4374787
no I don't we we have anything to say to the magic emperor

>>4374798
> Are you su-u-ure? You probably won't get to meet him again until much later, if ever.

>>4374787
ask for a kiss

>>4374814
no just no

>>4374787
> Is there anything you want to ask or tell the Magic Emperor before he leaves?
>There are few other magic knights that are under influence of strong curse shouldn't we take them with us?

We probably should also ask about location and what we were supposed to do there. But where is fun In that :3

>>4374787

>Thank him. You'd never expect someone like him to take the time to help someone like you.

>>4374787
I support this anon's >>4374845 idea to ask about the other cursed Magic Knights, that's a good call. Also

>Julius mentioned that there were Magic Knights who had had an opportunity to fight the Witch Queen. Could we ask who they are?
>Would he like for us to demonstrate our Sequin Magic for him? It may be the last chance we ever get to use it.

>>4374787
supporting these two >>4374845 >>4374884

>>4376167
>>4376167
>>4376167