File: Cynthia Gualdo.jpg (3.7 MB, 4000x4000)

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Last Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4329065/

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

Character Sheet:
https://pastebin.com/raw/G6A48fiW

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

Thread theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=306q860gBhw [INTERSECTION]

“M-Magic Emperor,” you hastily stumble on the words before he leaves the room. “We... Me and Cryz are not the only ones suffering with a magical curse, several of the Blue Rose Knights have returned from the Witches’ Forest with a strong curse of their own. Wouldn’t it be wise for them to come with us if this solution can help them too?”

The Magic Emperor replies back with a serious tone, “I am afraid the curse that your companions have been hit is much more sinister and devilish than yours, this solution may be unique to your case because of how the soul and grimoires work.” He pauses, as if deciding if he should allow Cryz to know or not. “Your compatriots have been hit by a Forbidden Magic, a magic not from this world: Atrophy Magic. But we continue to look for their solution too.”

You nod with a brief hesitation; it is Tugela and her arm you are worried about the most. Tresses too, you guess.

“We hope it’ll work for you,” he adds as he puts a finger to his chin, “If it doesn’t, we’ll look for another solution.”

“You are making it sound way too dramatic and secretive,” Cryz hems, “Can you not just tell us what’ll happen?”

He turns around and smiles, “You will have to find out for yourself; I’m as curious as you are.”

“M-Magic Emperor, if this solution of yours succeeds, that means this might be the last chance for us to use your Sequin Magic. C-correct me if I’m wrong but I see that you are curious about this grimoire and its magical power?”

You awkwardly raise your eyes. Your heart begins beating violently as he grabs your hand into his. His eyes sparkle, “Would you show it to me? Of course I’d love to see it, Cynthia!” He says with a voice full of enthusiasm.

You blush and nod as he allows you to lower your hand. You place it on the cover of your grimoire to force it to open and begin hovering besides you with a magical shine. You fold your fingers and the empty and ancient – fragile at glance - papyrus pages begin to turn with mad haste until the one with your only spell is stopped on.

“Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation.”

A storm of mana leaves the insides of your body to connect with the solidifying and tempering magical essence of your magic tome. With a melodic crackle, one by one sequin crystals begin to form in the lingering air of your bedroom. As if sharpened by your intent, they take shape and form of beautiful white pearls. Slowly and carefully you begin to spiral and circle the sequins around Julius: your want to give the Magic Emperor the best show and display of your magic as you can; you want him to be impressed by your magic. Carefully, you put it on his clothes.

“Oho~” he raises his hands to look over his now sparkling clothes. There is a slight shock on his face when he realizes his mana begins to trickle through the sequins with a strange, echoing sound and a powerful glow...

“This is...” he looks back at you and then your grimoire briefly. He smiles. The Magic Emperor lifts his palms towards you and, suddenly, you find yourself surrounded in yellow light. It’s been three weeks since you have returned from the Sunasho Palace, and despite the best efforts of your healers, some of the deeper scars still remain. However, here, in just a blink of a moment, even the smallest of your bruises completely disappear.

The Magic Emperor watches the sequins crumble and crack as he finishes casting his Time Magic. They vanish.

“I see... A spell that allows you to conserve your mana... this is very and very interesting. I am very impressed.”

No, it wasn’t a healing spell – it was basic magic! He didn’t say an incantation. You wanted to see his grimoire!

You sigh with defeat however; still, you are happy to be praised by the Magic Emperor. You smile at him brightly.

“It is indeed a shame that you have to make an obvious choice between the two,” the Magic Emperor says disappointingly. He ponders, “However, maybe... ” he turns to you and shakes his head with a smile, “No, I think I’ll let you two see for yourself.”

“...You’re a weird-o,” Cryz tells him brutal honesty.

He’s not weird, he just slightly unusual!

“Now then...” the Magic Emperor steps outside the door.

“One more thing,” you awkwardly hold the door open, “If you don’t mind me asking?” You fluster. “You said that there were Magic Knights who had an opportunity to fight the Witch Queen? Can you tell me who that is?”

He smirks, “I’m not sure if they want me to tell others about it, but you’ll likely get to meet him soon.” He looks behind himself towards the Magic Tool he left in your room, “Make sure you return to your room in thirty minutes or it will return back to the Blue Rose Headquarters without you. Oh, and do make sure the door is firmly closed.”

“O-of course,” you nod at him, “Thank you for coming all the way here to help a lowly bunch of mages like us!”

“It’s not often the newly-joined Magic Knights can say they successfully conquered a dungeon and detained a high-level Dark Magic user; you shouldn’t devalue your efforts, Magic Knight Cynthia... Do continue this way.”

Following such a farewell, the door closes. After taking a few minutes to calm yourself you ask the Cryz if he is ready and the man, just barely, acknowledges the fact. He is still uncertain and nervous about the whole thing, and you can’t blame him. You approach the table and put your hand on top of the magic device. Immediately, as soon as you touch the glassy surface of the hourglass, an overwhelming magic aura distorts, blurs and twists your room into a wobbling anomaly. Just a few seconds later, everything returns to normal. Your room is now covered in massive and bright white runes sprawling through the floor, the walls and the ceiling. You notice the magical sand inside the hourglass is now slowly trickling down. Thirty minutes; you have until all the sand completely falls.

“I wonder where he sent us?” you ask out-loud as you approach the door to open it.

It is an incredibly small and dark room with wooden floor and brick-stone walls. The stench is vile. You lean your head closer to try and adjust to the darkness, but there’s not much you can... there’re a pair of eyes that spot you.

The tall and muscular figure of a man growls; you find him sitting on a bench with his pants down.

“Do you want to die or something?” he asks you. You believe you know this voice – it’s Captain Yami.

> Apologize and close the door. Try to open in a minute or two.
> Don’t say anything and just close the door. Wait a few minutes and open again.
> Push Cryz in front of yourself in case Captain Yami does something dangerous.
> Ask Yami if he needs some paper and ask if there’s another way out of his ‘room’.
> “Please don’t kill us; we were send here by the Magic Emperor!” That sounds believable, right?
> [Write In]

>>4376190
>> Don’t say anything and just close the door. Wait a few minutes and open again.
That way lies danger!

>>4376190
> Don’t say anything and just close the door. Wait a few minutes and open again.

>>4376190
>> “Please don’t kill us; we were send here by the Magic Emperor!” That sounds believable, right?

>>4376190

> Don’t say anything and just close the door. Wait a few minutes and open again.

Highly relevant:
https://youtu.be/4WkYwXQljcw

>>4376190
> Don’t say anything and just close the door. Wait a few minutes and open again.

Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, you turn your gaze away and take a step back; you close the door with firmness.

You awkwardly stand in front of the closed door for a couple of second before you turn to Cryz. That was weird.

“I don’t think it worked like ‘his majesty’ expected,” Cryz mocks, although he does not approach the door either.

You gaze at the glistering white runes of Time Magic slowly rolling over the surface of your room like sunlight. You patiently wait several minutes before, with a nervous sigh, you again approach the door to try and go through it...

However, the door clacks and the door handle trembles and turns before you can reach for it. You quickly step aside as it opens from the other side to reveal, as you have previously guessed, the silhouette of a familiar person.

It’s Yami, the Captain of the most notorious and precarious squad in the entire Kingdom of Clover: the Black Bulls.

“Huh?!” he once again growls. He bites and rolls an unlit cigarette from one side of his lips to another as his cold grey eyes stare you and Cryz down. “You two are still here?” He asks before he looks over your neatly decorated and exquisite bedroom. “What the hell did you do to my hallway and my base?!” He demands angrily from you.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Cryz says with a smirk before Yami grabs him by his head and lifts his above the ground in a –very– painful manner. Immediately, Cryz’s glassy eyes widen as he begins shaking in pain. Using his free hand he tries to push and ease Yami’s grip but it quickly proves futile. “Gah, let me go you over-sized ape!”

Yami’s teeth clench as he crushes his cigarette. “I see you have some nerves,” he says as he tightens his grip.

“Ouch-ouch-ouch!” Cryz continues to wince in pain dangling above the ground. He is pulling you with himself.

Yami looks back at you; you can’t help but flinch. “This is the old man’s magic,” he ponders to himself as he looks over the runes and inscriptions casted by the Magic Tool the Magic Emperor left you, “And you are the Blue Rose girl. Yeah, I think I figured it out – you’re here because the old man heard about the brat.” He shrugs, “-somehow. Did you have to arrive so suddenly and without warning? And don’t just slam your room in front of my sanctuary.”

You hope that there is a reason this happened and it’s not because the Magic Emperor has a jiffy sense of humour.

“C-can you please let him go? You are going to kill him,” you nod to Cryz who is still trying to free himself.

Yami grunts and, reluctantly, let go of your companion, forcing him to loudly fall on the floor.

“D-did the Magic Emperor not let you know that we are going to come today?” you ask him rather carefully.

He loudly scratches his stubble-beard, “I guess one of those trash mails contained a letter from him.” He ponders out loud before connecting his fists. He cracks his knuckles before approaching the wall and flexing his big arm.

“Wait-wait-wait!!!” you panic, “Do you plan on breaking my bedroom wall?!”

“I won’t destroy my toilet, now would I?”

Before you can reply, a powerful surge of mana surrounds his skin for a brief moment as he punches the wall to rupture it into massive chunks that fly in all direction; you have to hide behind your bed as to not get hit by all the rubble. As the dust settles you find a massive hole now inside of your bedroom; it leads to a dark and dim hallway.

“That’s the place I remember,” Yami smirks as he leans his head to enter inside. “You two are rather unlucky, the brat just left on another mission and he might be back in an hour, or five.” Pleanor is still attempting to stand up.

Whose fault does he think it is?! You take a deep breath; you can always return back by using your Magic Broom...

You nearly forgot you had the thing safely stored inside of your grimoire.

> Ask if you can wait in the Black Bull Headquarters until they are back.
> Ask where they went, maybe you can catch up with them.
> [Write In]

>>4377671
>"Please explain what 'brat' you talking about?"
>Ask where they went, maybe you can catch up with them.
>Screams externally.

>>4377671
>> Ask if you can wait in the Black Bull Headquarters until they are back.

>>4377671
>> Ask if you can wait in the Black Bull Headquarters until they are back.
>Julius said we only had thirty minutes before whatever the artifact that he used did came undone.

>>4377671
> Ask if you can wait in the Black Bull Headquarters until they are back.

>>4377671
> Ask if you can wait in the Black Bull Headquarters until they are back.
>"Please explain what 'brat' you talking about?"
>Explain your situation in case of misunderstanding

You begin weirdly and awkwardly waving your hands, hastily trying to explain your situation to Captain Yami.

“The Magic Emperor said we only have thirty minutes until our room is teleported back to the Blue Rose Base.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Yami says without any pity. He slowly lights his cigarette and inhales a deep puff of tobacco smoke only to release it into the dim and murky hallway. Unlike the Roselei Mansion, the hallways here are much smaller and oppressive-looking. Not to lose sight of the man and get lost in the base, you stand up and follow him.

“We only have half an hour,” you tell him irritatingly. “Do you think they’ll be back during that time?”

“Likely not,” he bites the cigarette as he stops in front of a door, “The mission’s a piss-take but they aren’t strong.”

You stop and look at Cryz who has been awkwardly stumbling to follow you. He’s attempting to massage his head.

You let your arms fall down. You squeeze your hands, “Can you tell us who this ‘brat’ you keep referring to is?”

Yami stares you down with annoyance and bother, “What, the old-man didn’t tell you?” He sighs with full lungs before taking the cigarette between his fingers and lowering it to his thigh. “Did he leave all the annoying explanation to me? What a hassle.” He looks away, as if talking to himself. You awkwardly stand in silence.

“Are you going to tell us or not?” Cryz asks. Yami’s eyes slowly turn to him with glowing-red bloodlust.

He steps back, raising his free hand to cover his head.

“Shut up, I am trying to think how to explain it in three words or less,” again, he goes silent. Yami tch-es.

Your gaze awkwardly shifts between Yami and Cryz. It doesn’t seem like you are going to get your answer:

“Do you think we can wait in your headquarters until they return?” you ask him with a brief hesitation.

“Huh? Sure, as long as you stay silent and are not annoying; do what you want,” Yami pushes the heavy door open to enter inside a room loosely resembling a bar of an inn than a something sophisticated like the Blue Rose dining hall. There are purple fitted sofas and chairs here as well as several round and square wooden tables. There is a long counter with dozens of drinks on it, on the shelves beneath it as well as on the shelves behind the counter.

It might look cheap compared to the Roselei’s Mansion, but even despite that, it looks presentable and somewhat welcoming. Even at their lowest, the Black Bull are still a Magic Knight Squad – the most regarded job in all the Kingdom. You drag Cryz along as you venture to the centre of the room. The heavily built man approaches the table and breaks open the bottle cap of the wine standing on it. He pours some of it inside his glass before taking a sit into one of the bigger fabric chairs. He takes a newspaper from a stack of them of; he begins reading it.

File: The strange boy licks his(...).jpg (95 KB, 1610x945)

95 KB JPG

“Um...” you mumble awkwardly as you look around. You guess you have no real choice but to wait for the “brat”.

Feeling brave, you decide to approach a bench on the other side of the room and courteously sit there and wait...

You nestle there in silence with Cryz for twenty minutes or so in utter boredom. You don’t want to be rude or anything but you can’t imagine having to patiently wait like this for five more hours; or however long it is going to take the people you need to come back. You turn to Cryz who, insanely, has already poured himself his own glass of wine and has been sipping it with insensitive laziness. You immediately turn to Yami but it doesn’t look like he noticed... or cares. You sigh as your eyes begin to dart across the room in search of anything to entertain yourself.

There is a second floor, an inner balcony of sorts, in this room. On there you spot a leaning and madly grinning young man of short – he’s about as tall as you – stature. He has medium-length messy blonde hair and blue eyes.

He has the Black Bull robe. He nods his head even closer, acknowledging your presence. He is right above you.

“I didn’t know we had guests, Captain Yami!” his rather childish and exciting voice reaches you from above.

“...Yeah-yeah, they are here for the brat,” Yami barely acknowledges the guy as he continues to read the papers.

“Hey-hey, are those guests strong?” he leans even further; he barely holds himself from falling on top of you, “Hey-hey-hey, are you two strong? Tell me, are you strong?”

> Let Cryz answer the boy, he doesn’t look ‘stable’. Remain silent.
> Try to simply introduce yourself and get to know him better.
> Look to Yami to see if he can introduce you to the strange boy.
> “We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”
> “Why are you asking? What will you do if we’ll say we’re strong?”
> [Write In]

>>4379204
>Grab ourselves a some wine. In this line of work is obviously neaded.
> “No, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

Should we leave message with the cube? Obviously we won't be able to return on time now

>>4379204
> “We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

>>4379204
>> “We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

>>4379204
I'd love to say yes, but I can't really think of a good way to phrase it as a write-in.

>>4379204
> “We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

> “We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

>>4379402
Not sure how we can fight him without offensive spells in both of our grimoire.

>>4379716
Plus even with our linen magic we would have relied on our scarf, which is in tatters:-(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW00W3BlFLo

You take the bottle already opened and used by Cryz to pour yourself some of the expensive wine as well.

You consider leaving some kind of message in your-currently-spellbind bedroom but you realize that it is unlikely anybody will be looking for. The Magic Emperor have said that Captain Charlotte is aware that he was planning on visiting – and probably – sending you here, so if you do not return for a long time she will know where to find you.

“We are... no, not really. We don’t have our real magic right now.”

“Ho, real magic?” the boy asks you with a ringing voice. He jumps on the handrails of the second floor to have his boots on the same level as his hands, as if a rogue ape. Suddenly, a powerful whirlwind of magic surrounds his body as he jumps off the handrail and falls right in front of you and Cryz – a thundering and blinding crackle of lighting follows his fall like a comet trail. The electricity continues to frizzle from the soles of his boots even now.

“What do you mean?” he asks you with an unpredictable innocence.

Yami, without lifting his eyes from the papers, interrupts. “They got cursed in some dungeon – the Magic Emperor probably heard the brat had Anti-Magic sword so he almost certainly thought it could work on them. Worth a try.”

“Anti Magic?” you can’t help but gasp and immediately turn to face Yami. You are visibly in disbelief, “Is... is that a real thing?” You heard about four-leaf clover grimoires, but Anti Magic? That sounds like fiction, how would such grimoire even work? And if it works like you imagine it to, why would a person with such powerful magic join the Black Bulls? Surely, surely he would be taken a notice during the Entrance Exam and get invited by Golden Dawn?!

“It’s real!” the boy tells excitingly, “So, you’re here to see Asta? You’re a Magic Knight, aren’t you? You just returned from a dungeon? That’s exciting; Captain Yami let me go to one too!” His eyes turn to Cryz who has been sipping on the wine and relaxing through the boy’s misendeavor, “And what about you, mister? Are you strong?”

“I used to be, but I am currently stuck with her,” he nods his head at you, “And her ‘practically’ ineffectual magic.”

The boy straightens his back, “That’s boring. Hey, why don’t you fight me before and after your original magics?”

“We don’t really have any offensive spells,” you mutter. You never had. However, maybe together with Cryz...

The boy scoffs and turns to Cryz, who, reluctantly, admits, “I do, but what would be the point of fighting you?”

“The point of fighting?” the boy asks him with a bemusement as he puts a finger to his lips, “Well, it’s plain fun!”

You hear the door open and close once again, however you are unable to sense anybody present. It takes you a while to realize that the person who actually entered is a petite and chubby girl with black hair and green eyes – almost child-looking. She freezes in spot when she realizes you spotted her. Her short feet hastily and funnily bring her closer. “Ah! Visitors!” she gasps as she looks down on a rosy cupcake she has been holding in her hands. Her hands begin to tremble as she reluctantly raises it to offer to you, “But I only have one... D-do you want it?”

You smile at the girl; she looks no more than eight years old. You give her a welcoming nod before shaking your head. “Thank you for the offer but I am not really that hungry.” She turns to Cryz who also refuses her offer with a lazy shake of his hand. She beams happily with a big grin before raising the cupcake and finishing it with one golp.

She gasps again. She looks across at her now-empty hands. “No, that’s rude! Wait here I’ll prepare something!”

Before you and Cryz can tell her that there is no need she is already gone. What’s left in her stead is a soft cloud.

“What’s with all the commotion?” a voice of a person you –have– seen before questions from the stairs. It is a young man with a slender figure and Cryz’s height. He has unruly dark-brown hair and deep purple eyes. He spots you and – just like the girl before – he freezes in place. Almost sporadically, he runs his hand across his clothes to make them straight then before shoving his hand into a greyish magical portal he manifests seconds afterwards.

He takes out a beautiful bouquet of purplish flowers with which he immediately approaches you, gently shoving the blonde haired away away. “I didn’t know one of Blue Rose beauties would be visiting us today! Please, accept this humble gift of mine – those are freshly picked sugar blossom; allows this to be a token of our friendship.”

You look at the man before accepting the flowers, “Thank you...”

“I am Finral,” his smile widens as he puts a hand to his chest, “Twenty-one years old, what brings one of Charlotte’s beautiful flowers like you here?” Finral does not even acknowledge Cryz, “Can I have your name?”

“I’m Cynthia, I joined the Blue Rose just a month ago,” you sniff the flowers almost instinctively, womanly. They smell lovely, you can’t help it. Clearing your throat, you smile back at the man. Should you tell him your age too?

“I am fifteen years old, and I’m here to meet a boy called ‘Asta’.”

“Asta?” you can practically hear the man’s heart shatter; his head falls, “Why is Asta so popular with the girls?!”

You blush and, almost in repeated and sporadic fashion, you begin shaking your head and hands – forcing Cryz to fall closer by dragging him along, “No-no, we are here because we were hoping he could break us of our curse.”

“Oh...” Finral sighs with relief as he finally notices your flesh-connected wrists, “We? Oh, that doesn’t look good.”

“Ha-ha-ha that’s funny,” the lighting-boy laughs – the smile seems to never leave his face. He touches your wrists and allows a small but painfully ticklish flux of lightning to hit your skin, “How are you suppose to fight like this?”

You aren’t.

“We went through the entire dungeon and fought off a Flesh Magic user stuck like this,” Cryz opportunistically brags to the two. “It’s not the best for fighting but we did it.” He suddenly goes silent, his eyes darting upwards. There is –another– person standing there on the inner balcony, a woman in her early twenties with wavy long pink hair and lustrous lips. She has a voluptuous body and is wearing nothing but red-dark frilly undergarments.

“Hey, who’s drinking my wine?” she spots you both having a glass-full of red wine and an opened bottle. Damn.

She quickly jumps down the stairs and vehemently approaches the table. You close your eyes and prepare yourself to apologize but the woman takes no interest in you. She leans closer to Cryz, who is already more-than-curious and captured by her presence, and puts a finger to his chin, “Hello cutie~ how will you pay for all of that?”

Her silk-like voice questions Cryz who can’t help but keep his eyes on her chest.

They are quick to overwhelm you. Do those people not have missions to attend to?

> Promise the lightning-boy you’ll duel him once you have Linen Magic back. You have to get some experience.
> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.
> Pull Cryz’s sleeve and remind him about Beraber. Ask if he was just fooling around with your compatriot.
> Use the free time to talk with Finral, show some curiosity in the man. What’s his life like in the Black Bull?
> Give your greetings to the Black Bulls. Ask if any of them (Finral?) can show you around the Black Bull base.
> Follow the trail of the small-girl. If she is – indeed – preparing some food for you it’s only natural to assist.
> Just awkwardly sit there in silence and continue waiting for Asta.
> [Write In]

>>4380390
> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.
> Give your greetings to the Black Bulls. Ask if any of them (Finral?) can show you around the Black Bull base.

> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.

>>4380390
>> Use the free time to talk with Finral, show some curiosity in the man. What’s his life like in the Black Bull?

>>4380390
>> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.
>> Give your greetings to the Black Bulls. Ask if any of them (Finral?) can show you around the Black Bull base.

>>4380390
> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.
> Give your greetings to the Black Bulls. Ask if any of them (Finral?) can show you around the Black Bull base.

>>4380440
>> Promise the lingerie-woman to pay for the bottle from your own purse. You don’t want to look any rude.
>> Give your greetings to the Black Bulls. Ask if any of them (Finral?) can show you around the Black Bull base.

>>4376190
>When asked about someone who fought with Witch Queen Magic Emperor said we would 'meet him soon'. Maybe it is this battle crazy mage ask him about it or if he know someone that fought her

> Update will be later today

>>4381265
That's a great idea dude

> Sorry lads, I wasn't able to finish an update by today. A big one tomorrow. I am pleasantly surprised about so many posts; thank you!

>>4381937
No worries, see ya tomorrow

>>4381937
I'm not big fan of Black Clover manga or anime but I really enjoy your quest. Thank you for running Melk

You deliberate over the fact that the Magic Emperor mentioned somebody getting the ‘opportunity’ to fight the Witch Queen. You cursorily glance across the room and the people surrounding you before you shift your gaze from Finral to the lightning-boy. “Say, did any of you, by chance, had an encounter with the Witch Que-”

Before you can finish your sentence the woman wearing nothing but revealing lingerie underwear plumps both of her palms over her lips. The irises of her eyes nervously shake and tremble as she stares you down with a concerned and anxious gawp. Her lips quake as she whispers – just barely enough for you alone to hear her:

“Why are you asking about the Witch Queen?!” Despite her question, the push of her palms makes it hard for you to breathe – let alone answer her. You try to offer an explanation but it escapes as nothing but a mumble. You glance away – wouldn’t it be bad for you to share the fact that you are a witches’ daughter with the Black Bulls? Charlotte – your captain – would certainly be against it. Did she, or did she not, warn you not to tell anybody else?

“Vanessa?” Finral finally asks the woman after there’s an awkward silence between the two of you. She wheezes. “Is everything alright?” he continues towards the woman. Is the Witch Queen a touchy subject here, you wonder?

You really don’t want to be making any enemies right now...

You finish the wine in your glass; the alcohol practically flings into and explodes inside your head like a firework.

With excessive awkwardness and inelegance you slap both of your sweaty palms first against your cheeks, and then against your knees – forcing Cryz to get pulled and nearly fall on your lap (instead he rolls over and collapses on the floor) – before you stand up and, without looking at adult woman, grab Finral’s hand to pull him away...

“Do you think you can show me around your base?” you ask in a cutesy manner – the alcohol already working.

“O-oh course,” Finral’s smile widens immensely as he takes your hand into his. Then, he realizes Cryz is following.

Before the two of you leave, you turn to Vanessa and the other members of the Black Bull.

“It’s my pleasure to meet you all,” you close your eyes and bop your head to address and greet them with a smile. You turn to the pink-haired woman with a fiddly nod, “We are sorry for taking your wine bottle without permission, I’ll pay for it.” You reach for your purse – thankfully you were paid a huge wage. “How much is it?”

“That’s... that’s fine,” she hesitates. She looks at you with visible suspicion and distrust, “Forget about it, girl.”

You narrow one of your eyes in suspicion, as if asking ‘Are you sure?’ She nods. You sigh with relief and gratitude.

“I don’t like that girl,” you barely hear Vanessa whisper as you leave.

“I don’t really want to go explore this hell-hole,” Cryz tells you with a nudge. Still, he follows both you and Finral deeper into the headquarters – the corridor passageways are narrow and interconnected, even much more than the architecture of the Roselei Mansion. While the Blue Rose Headquarters just needs one to get used to the layout, here it doesn’t make sense, as if the rooms and what connects them has been randomly tosses around.

“What did you tell that fine-looking woman that made her angry?” Cryz asks you. He’s very unhappy about it.

“Nothing,” you frown, “Not to her specifically, either. I was just asking which of them fought the Witch Queen.”

Cryz harrumphs, “Maybe I should ask,” he asks himself more than you, “She seemed to take a liking to me...”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. “You quickly look back at Finral who all this time has been watching.

He wobbles his finger to point at you and then at Cryz. “Are the two of you friends? Relatives? Perhaps, lovers?”

Decisively, at the same time, you and Cryz shake your heads and wave your hands in front of your face.

“No way – no way, we are stuck like this because of unlucky circumstances. Let’s not spread rumours.”

“She’s far too young and childish for me.”

Finral sighs with relief and smiles. He pauses to let you comment about Cryz as well but you don’t bother to bother.

“So... what do you want to see first?”

You smile at him. Unsure of why, but your smile makes him happy, “Show us the most interesting bits, Finral.”

“Well, you have already seen the rest room but we also have the cafeteria and the dining room connected to the kitchen room and the kitchen itself, and the small brunch room” he explains as he leads you to show the facilities.

“Why do you need so many places to eat?” Cryz mocks him.

“One of our members if an avid eater,” he smirks, “But it’s useful, she can create food that restores your mana.”

Your eyes widen as you hear it, what kind of magic would that be? There’s still so much you do not know about.

He shows you the baths – compared to the Blue Rose ones they are smaller and less decorated. The steam when he opens the door is so hot it practically burns your hair and skin; you have to glance away. Do they really bath in such an impossible heat? You spot a few disgusting, stone gargoyle-heads from which the boiling water is coming.

He then leads you to a corridor filled with traps. From the visible ones alone there are spears and wires. An immense magic escapes from the floor, ceiling and the stone walls – trap magic, no doubt. It’s all a bit extreme.

“I’d love to show you the female living quarters but I am afraid if we try to enter inside I’ll get us all killed.” He hides his extreme disappointed behind a chuckle, “Maybe not as pristine, but it should be very nice and comfortable out there.”

Cryz puts a hand to his chin, as if already contemplating if it’ll be worth it to try and bypass the magic. He smirks.

“And then... there’s the beasts’ room,” Finral begins as you walk down another hallway – you don’t really have to walk a long way to reach from one location to another unlike the grandiose and towering corridors of your base...

“The beast’s room?” you ask.

He nods, “But I don’t think it’s safe to show you, or that you’d want to see it anyway. They are all very dangerous beasts, animals and monsters collected by the Captain Yami.” Finral scowls, “It’s... his hobby, or so he told me.”

He opens his eyes in realization, “In fact, Asta and Noelle’s mission was to... well, the original mission was to lead a beast away from local village but Captain Yami insisted that they’ll drag it here for his collection. I don’t like it.”

“Thank you for showing me around, Finral.”

He smiles back, “Of course, Cynthia. Perhaps... you can show me around the Blue Rose base if I am around?”

Sly. It would be extremely rude to refuse a similar request from him, but would Charlotte or others be happy?

Before you can respond, you hear a loud racket. A trembling earthquake forces the stone walls to begin shaking. You and Cryz exchange concerned looks, you turn to face Finral to ask if the building is suppose to be doing this – it wouldn’t surprise you. He shakes his head – he does not deny the fact that there is something very wrong with the Headquarters, but this loud clamour is approaching from the outside. Together, you rush to the entrance.

The wide doors have already been swung open and the people you met previously are already standing and investigating the situation. It is a sunny, cloudless day. You approach and cross over the threshold of the door.

“What is going on?” you ask the boy, but almost immediately, you question is answered.

On the horizon, coming from the shaking hill and wavering trees of the forest, you spot a silhouette of two people – a boy and girl – running away from a much bigger presence. A very big rabbit-like creature is following them. Each of its hops is a massive jump that shatters the ground it lands on, sending a circle of earthquake and a cloud of dust all around it. Its fur is all black and, under the sun, sparkles like tar and black oil. Sharp, curvy and long spikes, as if living tumours, appear and vanish only to appear on a completely different place of this big creature.

It is about the size of the ‘small’ bear you and Olyver fought in the Pink Ash Forest. Its red eyes sparkle wildly...

“What are you doing, Asta?!” the lightning boy laughs as he watches the two figures run towards the base.

The beast roars like an incredibly dangerous predator as it hops away only to land in front of the duo.

You can’t see the boy too closely from here, but you can hear him. He is extremely loud, in fact:

“We tried to bring it away from the town but Noelle’s spell only made it angry and now it’s following us!”

“I did –not–,” the woman shouts back as if insulted, “It’s not my fault it broke my cradle!”

“But it exploded by itself!”

“Alright, good job, now bring it to the cage!” Yami yells towards the two. He is completely ignoring their concerns.

“Hey-hey Captain Yami,” the boy strikes the ground with his boots, “Can I go help them with this thing?”

Yami takes a deep intake of the cigarette – he takes his sweet time enjoying it – “Do they need you to?”

He turns towards the duo who has been now attempting to fight and knock out the beast with no luck. The boy has been swinging an incredibly massive and heavy sword but the “rabbit” hide just bounced it back before the beast itself attacked and tossed the boy away with its massive claws. Please don’t die; you still need him. The girl, on other hand, has been attempting to hit it with her water magic, but the rabbit has been somehow avoiding all of her attacks. Angrily, she raises her hand and begins casting a massive bubble above herself, only for it to burst.

As it explodes, dozens of water spears fling into all directions... and one of them is now flying directly at you...

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

> Use your Sequin Magic to try and drain the creature of its mana.
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on the boy.
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on the girl.
> Use [Sequin Magic: Nacre Rejuvenation] on any other member of the Black Bull.
> Stay away from the fight and let the Black Bull group deal with it themselves.
> [Write In]

> Sorry for the wait! If you can leave a comment with your prompt selection please do, it keeps me motivated a lot.

>>4382457
> Thanks for the support!

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>4382736
>> Use your Sequin Magic to try and drain the creature of its mana.

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>4382736
>> Use your Sequin Magic to try and drain the creature of its mana.

>>4382767
bruh

>>4382776
We went thru so much shit just to be accidentally killed by incompetence... truly tragic

Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>4382736
>> Use your Sequin Magic to try and drain the creature of its mana.

Yikes, nat 1

>>4382781
On the bright side, if we survive this we'll be able to heal our injuries with our original Grimoire when all is said and done

> Can I get a 1d40+10 - best of three - roll?
> Can I get a 1d40 roll - best of three - for draining?

Rolled 25 + 10 (1d40 + 10)

>>4383749

Rolled 35, 38 = 73 (2d40)

>>4383749
First for cost, second for drain

Rolled 29 (1d40)

>>4383749

Rolled 13, 25 = 38 (2d40)

>>4383749
First for cost, second for drain

You only get the chance to gasp before the tunnelling tornado of water incredibly painfully – you feel your bones shift and tremor– connects with your chest and stomach. The sheer impact raises you and Cryz into the air before the spiral of cold water expands and surrounds the two of you into a huge sphere. You inhale seconds before the “cradle” completely fills up with water. The near-freezing temperature hits your muscles and tightens your blood.

You clench your eyes and attempt to raise your hands but the pressure of the water is just too strong to battle it. Your body quickly becomes numb as you are forced to outpour your mana to keep yourself awake. A sudden pain forces you to open your mouth and begin suffocating on the water. You gasp for breathe but only water enters...

You feel yourself losing your strength and presence; you can no longer see Cryz or anything outside of this bubble.

What an immense magical power.

You lost 3 health.
Health [2/5]

You feel a sudden, unexpected and brief pull before your body collapses on the cold and rough ground meters away from the bubble you were inside. You scrap your knees before Cryz collapses on top of you. Ouch, ouch!

You raise your eyes at Finral who quickly approaches you with worry. The bouquet you have been holding – the one he gifted you – is now drenched and withering. Sorry, Finral. Surrounding yourself you notice a static flux of black, gray and white magic slowly dissipating and vanishing. The same charge of magic disappears inside the bubble. You begin greedily gasping for air as soon as you are freed; a familiar coughing and similar breathing makes it clear that Cryz has been brought back together with you. You quickly notice many crates around yourself.

Some of the Black Bulls appear drenched, but they have all managed to dodge or avoid the water missiles.

“Are you okay?” Yami asks you half-heartedly. Despite the words, he does not appear to be that concerned.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” you answer him. A sudden breeze makes you shake from cold and pain.

“What’s her problem?” Cryz shouts angrily as he points towards the girl. “Why would she send her attacks here?”

“It seems little Noelle’s magic control is still lacking,” Vanessa looks away from you and towards the “battle”.

“It’s annoying if she’s going to do that near the base,” Yami inhales and begins smoking. “You should go inside, if you get hurt or – who knows – killed, Thorny Tsun-Princess is not going to let me forgive it until the end times.”

You grunt your teeth as you slowly stand up to face the ravaging battle. You raise your palm towards the hopping creature and your drenched-wet grimoire clumsily and slowly lifts and hovers up from the grass surrounded by a beautiful silver glow. “I’m a Magic Knight, I can take care of myself,” your magic begins to manifest like mercury.

“I’m not,” Cryz lies on the ground, refusing to even stand up, “Come on, don’t bother, it’s not ours to deal with.”

You hesitate, but the sooner the beast is dealt with, the quicker you can remove this annoying curse.

You clench your fist and the black layer crumbles to form crystal bit-sized sequins of silver radiance. The mana leaves your body like an opaque, cloudy burst of wind. It picks up and begins to spin the through the air until it reaches the beast and begins to whirlpool and revolve around it. The ebony-furred beast does not even notice the dozens of sequins attaching themselves to its half-ooze half-flesh body. You wave your hand to activate the spell.

The roar of the beast covers the crackle of the baubles. Unable to contain the drained magic within the beast, they explode only to release a hanging cloud of silver white. You pull the magic to return back to you, and the rabbit follows the cloud to see where the spell just cast on it has come from. It spots you and quickly prepares to attack.

You spend 23 mana.
Mana [142/165]

You restored 38 mana.
Mana [165/165]

You hear the boy scream from behind the black “rabbit” before jumping high up into the air – that is a magical technique you have yet to learn – to hover for a brief moment above the creature. His massive two-handed sword shines for just a moment before it comes crashing down directly on top of its head like a rock-fall. The blood-red eyes of the rabbit turn dim and then completely white; they roll up and disappear against the eyelids. The sizeable beast collapses on the ground with a loud, earthquaking force. Standing on the very top if its head is the boy Asta.

“Captain Yami!” he shouts in your direction. He looks as if he is waving his hand and jumping on the defeated beast now. He is quite energetic. “Captain Yami! We did it; we knocked the ‘Black-Heart Leveret’! Hell yeah!!!”

“You only got this far because I made it tired and reckless with my magic, idiot-Asta,” you can barely hear the girl.

“Good job, you two idiots – but bloody watch where and who you are throwing your spells at!” Captain Yami shouts back with a wave of his own hand, “Now, just bring it back to the beast room and secure it somewhere.”

“Sure! Wait,” Asta turns around to look at the beast at least ten times his size now sleeping without moving, “Bring it back –how-?!” He looks at his companion as if asking for help; she drops one of her silvery ponytails behind her back in a royal-like fashion before starting to walk away, “This is not a job for a royalty, hmph.”

“I can’t drag such a thing back by myself! Guys? Some help, guys? HEY GUYS?!!”

“Captain Yami,” Finral awkwardly interrupts the man, “I don’t think we have any space for a monster of that size.”

“Yes, Captain Yami, the basement is a bit too small, and all the cages are full.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to expand it; you remember where the pickaxes were, right?”

Vanessa and Finral both nervously - with a chuckle – glance away from each other. They are not too eager.

“Do you think you can deal with our problem before you do all of that?” Cryz suggests with an annoyance.

Yami looks back at him with the same kind of glance. “Yeah, sure; you are growing kind of bothersome, brat.”

Noelle stops right in front of you. Holding one of her two ponytails in her palm, she harrumphs in your face.

She looks extremely similar to... somebody else. You can’t really put your finger to it.

“And who is this?” she turns to Yami with a strong, narrow glance. She notices your Blue Rose robe and hems.

“Ah, those two are here for the brat,” he tells you lazily, “Hey! You no-magic idiot, come here for a second!”

“F-f-for Asta?” her head nervously – like clockwork – turns to you. Sweat begins to roll across her now-red face. “W-w-what do you need Asta for?” She turns away in the same stiff manner by awkwardly raising her chin. You can hear her quietly mumble, “I didn’t know that idiot was so popular. N-not like it’s my business o-or anything.”

“Hello there!” Asta, a young man who is much shorter than you in height but much more muscular than you in build, rushes to stop right before you. “Did you call me?” he asks Captain Yami with enthusiasm as he then looks at you with his near-sparkling green eyes. He grabs your cape, “A Blue Rose Magic Knight?! It’s nice to meet you!”

As soon as he grabs your cape, you watch him get hit by Noelle right in the chin and roll away a couple of meters.

“Asta dork! J-j-just with how many women’s hearts are you playing with, i-i-idiot!?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he quickly finishes the sentence while falling. He is quite ragged.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on here,” Cryz whispers to you.

You awkwardly wave your hands at her, “No-no-no, you got him wrong. We are here for his Anti Magic.”

“My Anti Magic?” Asta asks with his spiky ash hair now dirty with the murky dirt below him. He quickly gets up with a single jump, squatting to find his balance. He looks at you, Cryz and then Captain Yami with confusion.

It is incredibly strange but you... you are unable to sense even a tiny bit of magic from him. Even for a peasant.

Cryz had enough; “Yeah, we were interested if you could...” he looks at Yami, “Do something about our curse.”

“A curse?!” Asta shouts. “I... I don’t think my sword can do anything about magical curses, Captain Yami, sir...”

“A... curse?” Noelle looks at you with suspicion.

“Yeah, I told them, but then we thought you could slam their grimoire with that blade of yours.

“Wha-a-at?! Destroy their grimoire? No way, no way I can or want to do that, are you crazy?!” he shouts at you.

“I-if that’s what it’ll take, then we don’t mind. We have a second grimoires that we can use if it’ll work.”

“A second grimoire?!” Asta’s lips shiver as he puts his head into his sleeve, as if to hide his tears. “Y-you guys sure are blesses to be so nonchalant about your magical tomes. Damn it, like Yuno. Well, mine is not half-bad either!”

“It wouldn’t be as bad if it didn’t melt our flesh together,” you reassure the boy.

“H-how horrible,” Noelle finally notices your wrists being one, “What a horrible curse. If I and Asta were to be...”

“Alright,” Asta removes his hand to reveal a massive grin, “If you are okay with it, let’s do it right now!” Without waiting for a response, Asta calls for his grimoire; it shocks you, an incredibly thick and tattered book surrounded in rust-like dust appears to hover in front of him. Dirt grime covers the clover symbol in the centre of it, but it is likely a three-leaf clover as well. The pages begin to burn with sinister red-black fire once Asta raises his hands.

He takes out the sword he has been fighting the giant rabbit-beast with. It is a massive triangular blade in black.

You wave your hand to have your silvery-grimoire hover in front of him – directly for the hit. Incandescent and pearl-hued tome with several sequin streaks going from top to the centre opens its pages with flapping as if a dying bird. Asta hesitates, at first, but then, with all his force, he smashes his sword directly onto your grimoire.

You feel a sudden, unexplainable pain as the magic inside your body begins to turn and twist in clear discomfort. Asta’s blade does nothing but connect with the grimoire, but the radiance of the pages begins to mix with the ugly flame of the boy’s sword into an eldritch amalgamation. You feel Cryz suffering from the same strange magic rush.

You feel your magic changing as your grimoire begins to lose more and more of its connection with your soul. In haste, you take out your original grimoire from your pouch to find a gentle and brief white glow returning back.

> Please pick one of the below:

> [Curse Form] [Linen Magic: Flaying Chenille Threads] Cost: 1d60+10.
With an open grimoire, you create a sparkling cloudy textile in a loose shape of a stretchy and light-blue linen yarn. The intangible threads surround the target on a failed DR roll of 70 and bind them in a place for 1 turn. If the spell is not destroyed and the captured target is unable to escape it, the following turn the bluish-iridescent threads of the unfinished blanket begin to drain and consume 1d60 of the target’s magic to form into a more tangible woven form. The loosened fabric clutches and chains the target with its new magic for another 1 turn.
> [Supplementary Form] [Linen Magic: Frock of Daydream] Cost: 1d20+20% target current mana.
With an open grimoire, you create rough and heavy fibbers of cloth enriched with magically infused enhancement. When the magical sequins surround the friendly target of your choice, the fibbers quickly form a beautiful and feminine greenish-white dress on them. Once the spell completely forms and takes shape, the target is infused with powerful magical energy that improves their magic casting abilities. Their next spells’ DR is raised by 20.
> Try to have both of the spells. A roll will be asked for. If failed, you will receive weakened version of both spells.

> Critical fails are so rare to happen that I decided to use them, which is why I only took the roll 1 in the account.
> Very tired after this post, phew.

>>4383931
> Critical fails are so rare to happen that I decided to use them, which is why I only took the roll 1 in the account.

As it should be.

>Try to have both of the spells. A roll will be asked for. If failed, you will receive weakened version of both spells.

Im ok with this

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>4383931

well those are some extremely tempting options.

Eh, fuck it, why not gamble.

>Both

>>4383931
>> Try to have both of the spells. A roll will be asked for. If failed, you will receive weakened version of both spells.

>>4383974
Do not roll before QM ask for it

>>4383931
> Try to have both of the spells. A roll will be asked for. If failed, you will receive weakened version of both spells.
Boy, I sure hope we don't fail this roll.

> Hm, I see. Greedy!
> Please roll 1d100. You need to have two rolls above 50.
> If anybody rolls 1 or 100 there will be a different outcome.

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>4383992

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>4383992

Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>4383931
> Try to have both of the spells. A roll will be asked for. If failed, you will receive weakened version of both spells.
>>4383994
Here's hoping

>>4384033
Boooo!

>>4383992

>>4383994
>>4384033
>>4384040
Hell yeah! Does that mean we made it?

>>4384042
I have no Idea he didn't didn't say it wasn't bo3 so I am going to assume we succeded

>>4384047
Even if it was Bo3, the other Anon rolled before the prompt, so hopefully it wouldn't count

>>4384042
> Yes, Cynthia will get both spells. I can understand the frustration that rolls sometimes take a whole day-turn but no worries >>4383974. It won't count. You did it.

>>4383931
>Linen Magic: Flaying Chenille Threads

To clarify with every turn it absorbs mana does DR increase? Because description would sugest it.

>>4384057
By the way Melk, I enjoyed this update. Ypu capture the canon characters' personalities really well.

>>4384070
> The person only needs to fail the first DR roll. Then he'll be restrained for 1 turn and unless he breaks the spell with his own and big enough SDR (the total cost of the mana) attack, it'll drain him and keep him restrained for another turn. It only drains the magic once, and holds restrain for 2 turns total. Restrained people can't avoid attacks.
>>4384076
> Thank you.

The deeper Asta’s sword presses and cuts into your Sequin Magic grimoire, the more silver magic leaks and dissipates into the natural mana; it’s as if the sword was completely annulling the magical essence of your tome. The ebony-crimson flame bursts from his sword; it grows stronger and stronger while the light of your grimoire dims and weakens. Another amalgamation of agony and ecstasy rushes from within your lungs and into the rest of your body as you bend your knees back just to remain standing still. You did not expect all of this to be so painful.

Finally, there is a loud explosion as the last quintessence of magic is destroyed from your grimoire. You raise your wrist to see it turn bright-red, as if the blood beneath the skin has been slowly coming to a boil. With no soul bond, and lacking sustenance from Flesh Magic, the flux of overwhelming crimson energy dies out. It releases, and both you and Cryz stumble and collapse into opposite directions. With no magic or soul to be connected with, the grimoire quietly falls on the ground with an echoing slap. Grunting from pain you reach for your original grimoire.

You feel your old mana returning...
[Mana: 83/180]

You reach for your ‘real’ grimoire – that one that chose you six months ago, in the grimoire library: your Sequin Magic grimoire. It’s a medium sized book in light-silver covering with four decorative linen-texture-like lines creating a frame. The three-leaf clover, as if an emblem patched onto the centre of the book, is glowing bright.

It rolls over the grass before reaching you. It opens by itself right before you; the empty pages begin turning...

The two pages staring you down begin to melodically shimmer before a glowing text begins to inscribe itself into each of the pages at the same time. The shining sentences burn like a white fire. It soon finishes and calms down.

You have learned a new spell: [Linen Magic: Flaying Chenille Threads]

You have learned a new spell: [Linen Magic: Frock of Daydream]

Asta glares at you both with a visible worry. He raises his sword as soon as your Sequin Magic grimoire no longer possesses any magic. He puts the sword inside of his grimoire starting from the edge – it swiftly disappears within.

“Is... Did that work?” Asta asks you both after a brief pause.

“Y-yes,” you stand up from the ground – you are happily satisfied to not longer have to care or bother about a whole person’s body weighting you down. You slap your palms together and bow your head in gratitude at him.

“Thank you very much, Asta – was it?”

The boy laughs at you warmly, “Asta’s the name. No problem, I am always happy to help!”

Cryz inspects his hand – especially the wrist area – with an utmost care. He stands up and begins cleaning his clothes off dust. “At least it didn’t leave a scar,” he says mockingly; he notices that the girl has been watching him.

“And you are?” he asks.

Her eyes widen before her face grimaces in abhorrence, “How dare! I am Noelle Silva; treat me like a royal!”

House Silva, now you know why you recognized her silver hair and strange hairstyle. They are one of the three royal families, only below King Augustus himself. They are so above the nobility commoners like you are dirt to them. But – if she is indeed one of the Silva – how come she’s here, with the Black Bulls – the worst Squad of all?

You decide against asking her that; there must be a reason. “I am sorry for not recognizing you, Miss Silva.”

She hems and once against adjusts one of her two ponytails, “Hmph, as long as you recognize the fact.” She is taller than you, but just barely. Her pink eyes fall from the top of your head to your toes as she investigates you.

She frowns but then smirks... “I’ll be in my room,” she tells Asta and Captain Yami before entering the building.

You look at the grimoire and then at Cryz. The man just shrugs his shoulders and waves his hand; ‘Take it’.

“What are you going to do now?” you ask him just enough for him to hear.

He pauses and then shrugs his shoulders. He looks at the disfigured building, “Certainly not staying here... No.”

Yami claps his hands, “Alright! Good job, brat. You won’t get a star for that but it’s going to be useful and fun to have Charlotte owe us one, bwahahaha!” he begins laughing. You try to chuckle together with him awkwardly.

“O-Of course, Captain Yami!”

“Though, enough lazing around; bring that thing into the dungeon, make space if you have to.”

There is a crackle of electricity and an outpour of lightning as the blonde-boy lands directly between you and Cryz.

“So-so!” he says, “You got your magic back, I assume? That’s great; wonderful! Come on then, let’s fight!”

“Well if you want to get hurt,” Cryz lifts his hand to take out his grimoire but you stop him by grabbing his hand.

“What do you think will happen if they’ll see that you have a Diamond Kingdom grimoire?” you whisper at him.

Cryz frowns but... he can’t help but admit that you are right. He shakes his head, “Sorry, I feel a bit weak now.”

“That’s alright, I won’t go all-out on you!” he spreads his hands to have blue lightning begin to surround them.

> Approach Luck and suggest that you fight him instead. It might be tricky.
> Approach Vanessa and ask why was mentioning the Witch Queen such a problem?
> Approach Finral and thank him again, promise to show him around the Blue Rose base someday.
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious.
> [Write In]

We should heal yourself first.

>>4385147
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious.

>>4385147
>Cast Cloths of Solace and split them to heal ourselves [2HP] and Cryz[1HP] if he needs it.
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious
>Does Asta look like he was injured in the fight?

>>4385147
>Cast Cloths of Solace and split them to heal ourselves [2HP] and Cryz[1HP] if he needs it.
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious
>Does Asta look like he was injured in the fight?

>>4385147
> Approach Vanessa and ask why was mentioning the Witch Queen such a problem?
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious.

>>4385147
>Cast Cloths of Solace and split them to heal ourselves [2HP] and Cryz[1HP] if he needs it.
> Approach Asta and introduce yourself properly to him. Ask about his Anti Magic; you are curious
>Does Asta look like he was injured in the fight?

>>4385147
>Cast Cloths of Solace and split them to heal ourselves [2HP] and Cryz[1HP] if he needs it.
> Approach Vanessa and ask why was mentioning the Witch Queen such a problem?

You open your grimoire with a loud, excited breathe in. Once again, it obeys your command and lifts into the air with a dingle and a falling haze of white-silver magic. You sway your fingers to have the pages flip to –your– spell.

“Linen Magic: Cloths of Solace”

You say as the raising snow of magic begins to slowly form a magical opaque blanket above your head. The glimmering fire turns into brightly glowing pink thatch and soon, solidifies into an extremely long and heavy fabric circling in the air above your head and melodically fluttering. Cryz and Asta look are looking at your spellcasting with a visible curiosity. Do you blush? You raise –both– of your hands – what a unique feeling (!) – in the air.

You clench your fingers and the two small yet long, horizontal cracks begin to evenly separate the silky, shining coral-hued cloth into three long stripes. You surround yourself with two of the stripes first – they are cosy and warm; given the choice, you would never exchange your Linen Magic for Sequin Magic willingly. The two stripes tighten and the pinkish sparkles enriching the cloth begin to glint and dazzle. Your bones are no longer aching...

You restored 2 health.
Health [4/5]

You display the effects of your spell to Cryz as to make him wary that you do not intend to harm or do anything bad to him. The man hesitantly nods as you use the last of the stripes to wrap around his body. With a flaming luminescence his body begins to heal as well. Even the olden wounds engraved from the palace are paler now.

“...So, you are proficient with Healing Magic,” Cryz finally realizes as he watches the single stripe crumble into air.

You awkwardly look through your grimoire, “...I’m not sure. Majority of my spell are no longer healing spells...”

“What do you mean?”

You clear your throat, “The spells from the grimoire we shared somehow reformed in my original grimoire.”

He corks his eyebrow and almost –immediately– he takes out his own magic tome from his leathery pouch. Idiot! You are too far and slow to stop him. To your and Cryz’s surprise you find the cover of his grimoire different – it has a completely dissimilar design from his original ordonnance. It is still “gemstone-themed” but the centre-piece, the diamond, is no longer there. Instead, there’s now a white trillion ruby shape with a three-leaf clover.

You both realize this is the working of the Magic Emperor. But when did he manage to do it?

Cryz decides to go with the flow. He flips through the pages, “You are right... I also got a new spell.”

“Woooah!” Asta screams, “You guys got new spells?! That’s amazing! How many spells do you have now!?”

He leans his head; his deep black eyes are sparkling with limitless curiosity – similar to the Magic Emperor’s.

“I’ve got... five,” you tell him; you do your hardest not to make it sound like you are bragging.

“And I’ve got...” Cryz stops. He lowers his voice to a mutter, “I’ve got four spells in total now...”

You can’t help but allow your smile to twist into a mocking grin; only for a bit. Cryz harrumphs and looks away.

“Damn, that’s so much more spells than I have,” Asta clenches his fists, “Alright; means I’ve got to work harder!”

Your eyes shift over the short boy’s body – his clothes have been turned into rags and he has deep wounds and multiple bruises all over his body; the battle with the beast has not been easy for him. You raise your hand but you quickly realize that, aside from his undamaged robe, his clothes are made out of cotton – something your magic is unable to reform and heal. As your unused magic slowly vanishes into the air you approach him closer.

“My name is Cynthia,” you introduce yourself to him politely with a curtsy, “I am a new Knight of the Blue Rose.”

Asta blinks and then lowers the fists he has been holding above himself. “Asta, of Black Bulls, nice to meet you!”

You smile. You relax your body to, once again, attempt to sense any kind of magical presence from the boy; null.

“I have never heard about Anti Magic power,” you tell him truthfully, “How does it work?”

“As you can see it breaks magic,” Cryz says as he points at the magicless grimoire.

“I know that,” you frown, “I was more interested in the details. That a very strange-looking grimoire.”

Asta smiles at you, “Yeah, it is. So far I can only use a sword inside of it that can either cut through or reflect back any type of magic send me way.” He puts his hand to his chin and lips, “I’ve been thinking of other ways to use it!”

You don’t want to be rude. He just has a miniscule amount of magic, even for a peasant. That’s why you can’t sense it; makes sense. Just like Elvira, it seems he was blessed with an insane grimoire despite his lack of mana...

“Do you want me to heal your wounds, Asta?” you offer.

“Oh? Can you? That would be great!”

“Are you sure, brat? That doesn’t look too bad, I’m sure you can sleep it off.” Yami mocks.

“Captain Yami, I’ll need to be in top form for the next mission – I’ll be ready – ach!”

The tall, black-haired man strikes the forehead of the boy’s head with the hilt of his strangely curved sword, “Finish this one first, unless you want to wait until the beast wakes up to pacify it again.” He yawns. He begins scratching his beard, “I’ve got to fill up a form for your mission now, damn. Don’t bother me until then, brats.”

“Come on, let’s fight-fight-fight!” the lightning-boy shoves his finger in Cryz’s face before he is picked by Yami.

With that, he puts his sword back into the sheath and begins walking en route for the base. He waves his hand at you in a lazy-kind of farewell, not really bothering or caring to do it properly. You manage to nod before he leaves.

“Will you fight me Captain Yami?” the boy pleads as Yami carries him with him.

It seems both Finral and Vanessa have already been recruited and taken away...

> Would you like to heal Asta? How would you like to do that?

> Please roll 1d20+10 – best of three – for the cost of the previous [Linen Magic: Cloths of Solace] spell.

https://pastebin.com/raw/ex5Ay2VD
> This is your entire spellbook with the new and old spells.

>>4386496
>Yes
>Use [Healing Form] [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket]: Cost:1d10+10 mana. 2 HP

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>4386501
+1 don't forget to roll

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>4386496
>Yes
>Use [Healing Form] [Linen Magic: Homely Blanket]: Cost:1d10+10 mana. 2 HP
It's good to be a cleric again!

Rolled 19 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>4386501

You spend 14 mana.
Mana [69/185]

“Please stay still,” you smile at the boy as you flick through the pages to select another one of your healing spells. Together with your breath, you exhale a solidity of your mana; your radiating, ashen-white cloud starts shaping into a textile layout. “Linen Magic: Homely Blanket.” With a crackle, a long layer of pure-white linen fabric manifests into subsistence. Using –both– of your hands you gently whirl the hovering blanket to surround Asta in a linen cocoon.

It tightens over his body and begins to shine. The white textile canvass quickly turns ugly-black and bloody red as Asta’s bruises and wounds begin to vanish from his flesh and bones and into the blanket. You see him close his eyes and relax under the comforting caress of your magical spell. Eventually, the stained over-blanket begins to crumble...

Asta barely manages to hold himself from falling; just barely in time he realizes the blanket is no longer supporting him. Immediately, he raises and flexes his arms to look over now nonexistent wounds. You can’t help but awkwardly yet intently glance at his muscular physique. You have never in your life seen a mage this well-build – there really isn’t a reason to train your body this hard, the magic usually takes care of the hardest of tasks. Nobles laugh at such.

It is no surprise then that both Captain Yami and Asta – the people build like a mass of flesh – are in the Black Bull.

“I am all healed up, great! Thanks! ” Asta turns to you with a grin, “You said you were a newly-joined Magic Knight?”

“W-what?” you realize you have been staring. You blush, “S-sorry... Yes, I joined the Blue Rose just a few weeks ago.”

“Wouldn’t it be convenient to heal myself this easily every time I got hurt,” he says with ponder.

“Yes,” you smile politely, “It is convenient, I am not going to lie. I missed having my Linen Magic.”

“I wish the Black Bulls had someone with healing magic...” Asta ponders. “I... can’t really recall you from the Exams.”

“Oh, I did not enter those;” you tell him truthfully, “Captain Charlotte had her own entrance ceremony for me...”

“Oh, that explains it. Damn, they are really-really-really hard, the exams – I tell you. You are lucky to skip them.”

Cryz is just standing away in silence; despite the fact that you two are not separated, he is still keeping close: weirdo.

You accidently raise your eyes to one of the dozen windows decorating the chaotic architectural style of the Black Bull Headquarters. You notice a faith presence of a girl – Noelle Silva, was it – looking at you from one of the lower ones. She is half-hidden. It’s a bit hard to see her accurately; however, it seems as if she is chewing on her sleeve...

You glance away, “It was nice to meet you, Asta, but it seems you are busy, and I should be returning back as well.”

Again, he grins, “Yeah, compared to everyone else we: newbies – have a lot to catch up to do!!! Earning the stars, climbing through ranks, outshining my rivals – it is going to take a lot of effort to become the greatest Magic Knight!”

“I too, want to be the greatest Magic Knight there wa-”

“...The Magic Emperor!”

“W-wait wh...wha?”

Asta clenches his fist, “I am going to succeed the current Magic Emperor – the strongest of all the Magic Knights!”

Cryz stares Asta down with a bored amusement; you didn’t realize such was even a thing.

“That’s...” you can’t help but stumble on your words. “That’s very ambitious...”

“You said you wanted to be the greatest Magic Knight as well?” Asta echoes, “Will that make you my rival, then?”

You slowly shake your head – left and right, left and right. “N-no, I don’t think I want to be the next Magic Emperor.”

“But what else could you mean, then?” Asta asks, “‘Magic Emperor’ is the one who is above all the Magic Knights!”

Blood begins to rush to your cheeks, your mind at haze. Why is he putting you in such a difficult position?

> “What I meant is that I want to go even above that. I want to be the most remembered of all Magic Emperors!”
> “I want to be the Knight that will help ascend the ‘Blue Rose’ to the pinnacle as the greatest Magic Knight Squad.”
> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”
> “I want to be strong enough that no matter the threat this kingdom faces I will be able to protect people from it.”
> “I want to venture outside of the Clover Kingdom and be the first Magic Knight to explore the whole continent.”
> [Write In]

> Please roll 1d10+10 for the cost of the [Homely Blanket] – best of three.

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4387491
> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”
> “I want a boyfriend too.”

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4387491
> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”
> [Write In]
"Magic Emperors are generally kept in the capital by their duties aren't they??
> “I want to venture outside of the Clover Kingdom and be the first Magic Knight to explore the whole continent.”

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4387491
> > “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”

Rolled 9 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4387491
>> “I want to venture outside of the Clover Kingdom and be the first Magic Knight to explore the whole continent.”
Adventure!

>>4387491
> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”


Nice

>>4387491
> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”
> [Write In]
>I want a family

>>4387491
>> “I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”

>>4387491
I don't think we know how to get back to our base. Or if we do we could use it as excuse to have Vanessa escort us. Then we could talk about witches, wine and rock n roll.

You spend 14 mana.
Mana [55/185]

You hesitate; you pause to think on and consider your answer carefully (why?). Do you really have an ambition as of right now? One you can state clearly and honestly? It’s only just began, but your life as a Magic Knight has been giving you the excitement, thrill and adventure you have been recently only dreaming about during and throughout your monotonous days working as a tailor. You are satisfied and happy; not completely, but enough.

You don’t want to be a burden to the Blue Rose, and you do not want to disappoint Captain Charlotte’s and Wardress Virginia’s trust put in you. You’ll need to get stronger to not get in their way, to be a useful and helpful to them. Since the Blue Rose and Captain Charlotte have “adopted” you into their order, you want to strive to bring them to the very top of the ranks, and you’ll continue to do so, as unlikely as it is to beat the royal Squads.

But that doesn’t feel like an ambition you can call your own.

Even since you became a Magic Knight, your weirdly anachronic dreams of enchanted vistas and far away lands have been heckling and mocking you less and less with their presence. You are still not truly aware of their significance – if there ever was any – but, perhaps, you are now satisfied with your occupation enough not to bother about such trivialities. You still want to explore the world, of course, but you realize that even inside the Clover Kingdom there are things too dangerous for you to engage with. The Neutral Territory, the Spade Kingdom, and the Diamond Kingdom: they are all perilous and hostile. You need to get strong for Charlotte to let you there.

Then what? You don’t want to be the Magic Emperor; it’s not something you ever really considered. You can’t see yourself standing as the pivotal leader of the Order of the Magic Knights. It is a heavy and gruesome burden, one you can’t see you ever being responsible and dependable enough to attend to. You do not tell Asta, but you also can’t see anybody less of a noble acquiring the position. No one will respect a commoner as a Magic Emperor...

What would be ultimate position to have without having the chains that bind the Magic Emperor to the Kingdom?

No, you don’t want to replace or become a Magic Knight Captain either. There’s no way you can lead a Squad...

A mage trusted to stand by the Magic Emperor’s side, strong enough to protect the kingdom, yet free and dependable enough to venture outside the kingdom to take care of the hostile problems facing the kingdom?

You have briefly interacted with Marx when you were forced – because of your bind/curse – to be in the same room as Cryz during his interrogation. He called himself Magic Emperor’s advisor; wouldn’t it be an ideal role...?

“I want to be a Magic Knight so strong the Magic Emperor will trust me to be by their side, to protect even him.”

You tell Asta after a very awkward, and long, pause. You tighten your grip over your grimoire; you nod once again.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Asta says before smirking, “But you’ll need to be strong to stand by my side.”

“I didn’t mean your side!” you harrumph loudly, “I want to stand by the current Magic Emperor’s side; Julius’s.”

Asta glances away, he sounds – or pretends to sound – hurt. “You didn’t have to reject me that harshly,” he says.

“S-sorry,” you immediately realise the sporadic hastiness with which you have been talking. You apologize to Asta with a courteous bow, “I don’t know what came over me. I... Please don’t take what I said just now too seriously.”

Asta grins. He glances briefly as the massive beast just meters behind him to make sure it is still sleeping, “No, you shouldn’t fear to state your ambition, Cynthia.” He looks at Cryz, “What about you? What are your aspirations?”

“My ambition is to have enough rubies to live in luxury of richness, surrounded by beautiful and sexy women.”

“Rubies?” Asta looks at the man with confusion.

You sweat profusely, “He meant yul coins, of course!”

“Yeah, yels,” Cryz cocks his head. His smile spreads and widens as he begins to daydream on the spot.

“That doesn’t sound nice,” Asta frowns at the man, “You only need that one person, really; luckily I already do!”

That one person... You are well aware that your father has long hoped you would find a partner to marry and settle down, and together you and he would inherit the shop and he would have grandkids to take care of. Despite the fact that he let you become a Magic Knight, you are certain he is still hoping for the later... You haven’t seriously been considered it until now... and even now; you doubt you have the time to worry about it.

You wonder how old the Magic Emperor really is... you shake your head: is it a gross thought?

You’ll leave it to fate. Your other ambitions take precedence. Sol said Charlotte said no to relationships!

“There’s no reason to settle on just one woman,” Cryz shrugs his shoulders.

“No-no, Sister Lilly is perfection!” he says to him proudly, “I am going to marry her!” A loud grumble and grunt coming from behind you interrupts his yell. The “rabbit” turns on its side to quake the earth, but it thankfully remains unconscious – for now. “Well, it’s nice meeting you but I really need to take care of this now. Bye-e!”

He slaps his arms to his torso to straighten like a puppet; he bends upper half of his body in a deep bow seconds before he rushes behind the towering creature and begins slowly but steadily push it towards the Headquarters.

J-just how?! It doesn’t look at all like he’s using Mana Skin. With just his physical strength alone he is pushing it!

There’s no way, right? There must be some sort of trick to his magic and power. You decide not to think about it.

“You sure you don’t want stay here?” you smile as Cryz half-jokingly.

“I liked that woman,” Cryz points his finger towards the entrance of the base, “But yeah; no-thank-you.”

“I see you have your priorities straight.”

“They couldn’t be any clearer or simpler,” he says, “They are not as ambiguous and open as yours, Magic Knight.”

You frown; you don’t understand if he’s mocking you or not.

You open your grimoire; you attempt to push your hand inside of the pages to take out the items long left abandoned, but the liquid-like paper resists with a loud sizzle and rough pushback. Damn, three weeks without practice take their toll. You sigh as you begin to attempt to concentrate; you –will– need your flying magic broom.

“I am going to return to the Blue Rose base now,” you tell him, “What about you?”

“I am going with you; if ‘his majesty’ wants to me join a Squad I think I’ll fit right in.”

You frown, “No, no you aren’t. Blue Rose is an all-female Magic Knight Squad. Captain Charlotte won’t be happy.”

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” he lazily leans his head, “And all-female Squad? That sounds even better to me, actually.”
“No, it won’t work out. The Magic Emperor is hoping you would act reasonable, Cryz.”

He rolls his eyes, “Alright then, you tell me what I should do then.”

“You are asking me?” you look at him with shock.

“Well, I know little about your Kingdom or the Order of the Magic Knights. You said you wanted me to stay.”

“I... I guess I did?” you hesitate.

“I can’t just go find ‘his majesty’ now, can I? Nobody is going to let me into his castle... he lives in a castle, right?”

> “You should try joining the Azure Deer. Their captain is carefree, and someone I know has recently joined them.”
> “You should try joining the Green Mantis. Just like the Black Bulls, they do not discriminate and have a lot of commoners in their rank. Their Captain is a bit... crazy-mad but if you can impress him I’m sure he’ll let you join.”
> “I can try asking Coral Peacock’s Captain Dorothy if she’s willing to let you join. I was planning to go visit her.”
> “If you want to join the criminals and rogues, then you should go with the Purple Orca. Sounds like your type of environment. Perhaps you can do me a favour in return and keep an eye on one specific person I’ll like you to.”
> [Write In]

>>4388071
>Probably it would be best if we could discuss it with Captain Charlotte.

>>4388071
>> “You should try joining the Azure Deer. Their captain is carefree, and someone I know has recently joined them.”

>>4388071
> “If you want to join the criminals and rogues, then you should go with the Purple Orca. Sounds like your type of environment. Perhaps you can do me a favour in return and keep an eye on one specific person I’ll like you to.”
>>4388071
So we have Olyver in the azure deer, the guy we went on date with in Green mantis and the guy who cursed our father and is now working with Patricia in the Orca.

>>4388071
>> “I can try asking Coral Peacock’s Captain Dorothy if she’s willing to let you join. I was planning to go visit her.”

>>4388071
> “You should try joining the Azure Deer. Their captain is carefree, and someone I know has recently joined them.”

>>4388071
> “You should try joining the Azure Deer. Their captain is carefree, and someone I know has recently joined them.”

“You should try joining the Azure Deer. Their captain is carefree, and someone I know has recently joined them.”

“Someone you know?” Cryz narrows his eyes suspiciously, “I’ll be optimistic and hope-”

“It wasn’t a busty and mature woman-friend,” you watch his enthusiasm vanish like dawn’s haze. “It was a boy who used to work as a tailor in the Blue Rose until he became a Magic Knight, his name is Olyver. He’s... a friend of mine.”

He waves his hand, “I really couldn’t care less about your fascinations and crushes. Is there more to this Group?”

You sigh, “You are just interested if they’ll allow you to be laidback, lazy, and if there are any women in there?”

“Wow,” Cryz mockingly corks his eyebrow. He says, sarcastically, “You sure think you got me all figured out?”

“I... I didn’t mean it that way,” you glance away – perhaps that was just a bit too much on the rude side?

He puts both of his hands behind his back, “But you got lucky – because, that’s exactly what I want to know.”

Your sense of guilt immediately disappears. This man is so hard to deal with, “I don’t know if there are any women in the Azure Deer, I would be very surprised if there weren’t. I don’t think there are any all-men Squads, Cryz... What I do know is that, as I said, Captain Rill is cheerful, friendly and laidback. At 19, he is the youngest Captain in history-“

“He’s my age?”

“...You’re 19?” your eyes widen moments before you pout. You grind your teeth, “And you were calling me a brat?!”

He scoffs, “Well, you are,” he waves his hand, “Sorry for interrupting you, please do carry on with your explanation.”

You hiss and glance away, “Before that, the squad used to be called the Gray Deer and its Captain was the current Magic Emperor. I’m not sure who but I heard that some of the current advisors and Captains come from that time.”

Cryz scrubs his sideburns, “Fine then, where should I go to go to find this ‘Azure Deer’ and their headquarters?”

“I... I don’t actually know,” you sigh as you glance at the meadow and the far-away beginning of the forest, “I’m not sure where we are right now. If even could reach the Roselei Mansion we could probably figure out something but... I don’t even know where we can go to reach there. Perhaps, we should start with reaching my home city of Kikka...”

“Why don’t you just ask Finral to use his Spatial Magic to transfer you?” Asta takes a breather nearby you.

Or that; you glance away awkwardly – you haven’t thought of that. “I’ll go ask Finral if he would kindly do so.”

“I – for one – am not really in a hurry. Take your time, I’ll just wait here.”

Asta takes a deep breath before he pushes both of his hands onto the beast – again, it slowly begins to move.

“If you go left, then left again, then left again, and left again, and the right you should reach the Beasts’ Room.”

Your head starts aching, “Won’t I just go in circle?”

Asta chuckles, “That’s what I thought as well at first but it doesn’t work like that here; you’ll see for yourself.”

“Right...” you mutter as you turn to Cryz who already made himself comfortable near a flat stone. “Right...”

You enter the Black Bull Headquarters once more to begin searching for Finral. You follow Asta’s instructions and, sure enough, the moment you make the forth turn, instead of reasonably and realistically making a circle, the corridor changes to lead you into a completely different brick-stone pathway. The stairs begin to descend down.

You feel a sudden pain as somebody grabs you from the shadows and pulls you into a dark dead end. Your back painfully hits the cold wall. Instinctively, you attempt to scream and push the person away from you but you find no strength to do so. A rich silk glove covers your mouth to silence you. The darkness soon disperses when a tight, shimmering and firm thread surrounds your torso and chains your wrists. You raise your eyes to see Vanessa...

She is still wearing nothing but her underwear, and you can barely see her face because of her sizeable chest.

“You, why are you so curious about the Witch Queen?!” she demands of you. She does not lift her hand, however.

“Did she send you here? No, she wouldn’t send somebody so young. Answer me, and its better be the truth, girl!”

> “Do you have some sort of history with the Witch Queen or the witches? I’m sorry if it’s the painful kind.”
> “I was just curious about what kind of person the Witch Queen is so I would be better prepared!”
> “I heard from the Magic Emperor that somebody fought the Witch Queen. I wanted to get a word of warning.”
> “My mother was a witch; I just wanted to learn more about that part of her.”
> “My mother was a witch, and my aunts recently invited me to come to the Witches’ Forest. I want to know more.”
> “Is that... Thread Magic? This is the first time I’ve met another person with textile-type-of magic! This is cool.”
> [Write In]

>>4388789
> “My mother was a witch; I just wanted to learn more about that part of her.”
> “My mother was a witch, and my aunts recently invited me to come to the Witches’ Forest. I want to know more.”
> “Is that... Thread Magic? This is the first time I’ve met another person with textile-type-of magic! This is cool.”

>>4388789
> “Is that... Thread Magic? This is the first time I’ve met another person with textile-type-of magic! This is cool.”
> “My mother was a witch, and my aunts recently invited me to come to the Witches’ Forest. I want to know more.”

*Fangirling intensifies*

>>4388789
> “My mother was a witch; I just wanted to learn more about that part of her.”
> “My mother was a witch, and my aunts recently invited me to come to the Witches’ Forest. I want to know more.”
> “Is that... Thread Magic? This is the first time I’ve met another person with textile-type-of magic! This is cool.”

>>4388789
> “My mother was a witch; I just wanted to learn more about that part of her.”
> “My mother was a witch, and my aunts recently invited me to come to the Witches’ Forest. I want to know more.”
> “Is that... Thread Magic? This is the first time I’ve met another person with textile-type-of magic! This is cool.”

> I'll probably finish this update and upload it after I'm back from work.

File: Is she not cold....png (726 KB, 1280x720)

726 KB PNG

“Mghph, mphgf!” you try to raise your voice but her silk palm blocks your mouth. She frowns and finally lifts it off.

“Amazing,” you imagine your eyes sparkling as you explode in a flurry of emotions. You raise your fastened arms – despite the tightening pain you can’t help but admire that masochistic craftsmanship. Your attempts to break them fail. “Is this Thread Magic?! This... this is the first time I’ve ever met another person with textile-type-of magic; so cool!”

She backpedals a bit – the corridor is small enough to force her back against the wall now.

“You are a strange one, aren’t you?” she asks with a raising suspicion.

“I am...” you realize how unctuous you have been acting, “I have Linen Magic, and I’m just so pleasantly surprised!”

Vanessa narrows her eyes, “It’s not uncommon. Charmy has Cotton Magic, although she uses it to summon sheep.”

“R-really?!”

“- But that doesn’t answer my question,” Vanessa continues. She clutches her fingers to have her thread tighten even more around your body: you now find yourself in an unbreakable cocoon. “Why are you so curious about ‘her’?”

You briefly glance away to decide whenever you should reveal it to her or not. Do you want people to know this?

“I recently discovered that my mother came from the Witches’ Forest, and as so, that she was a witch,” you admit to Vanessa. The woman changes in expression from a demanding hostility to a brief shock and surprise. She does not let go of your bindings, however. “I wanted to know about that part of her. Also, during my mission, I ventured into the Neutral Territory where two witches – they said they were my mother’s sisters – protected me from an enemy.”

You pause briefly to allow Vanessa to say anything, but she remains silent.

“They invited me to meet the Witch Queen.”

Vanessa stares you down with a blank expression, “If you know what’s good for you, you will ignore that offer.”

“Why do you say so? They were friendly and kind. They told me the Witches’ Forest is a great and fun place.”

“That might be true,” Vanessa clearly hesitates, “But that means nothing. Since you were born outside the Witches’ Forest that means your mother must have left; don’t you think there might be an incredibly valid reason she did so?”

“F-from what I understand, she did it to follow her passion – to become a tailor. She had Linen Magic as well...”

“And why do you think she could not follow her passion in the Witches’ Forest?”

“I have some guesses but that’s what I wanted to learn more about.”

“I don’t know what kind of person your mother was, but I am more than certain she wouldn’t even be allowed to do what –she– wanted to do, else she wouldn’t leave like that. Witch Queen is an egotistical, horrible, cruel and vain being. If you value your freedom and life, you will forget once and for all about going and meeting her, girl.” She releases her fingers and the thread holding you captive crumble and vanish into the natural mana. She steps away.

“How do you know all of that?” you ask her as she begins to leave.

“I... It’s personal, and I would prefer to keep it private. Don’t take offense but... it’s none of your business.”

You hesitate to answer and by the time you get the courage to ask any further questions she is already gone.

You are not sure if you want to meet your grandmother or not anymore.

You will ponder on her words later. You sigh before continuing down the descending staircase and into a massive and dark underground chamber with cavern walls and uneven bedrock flooring. As you approach closer you hear a loud growl coming from beneath before you notice a dozen pairs of glowing, massive and hungry eyes staring in your direction – an immense magical flux coming from their direction immediately overwhelms you. The room is so beneath the base that the only sounds you can hear are their loud growls and creepily falling droplets of droll...

Thankfully, there is a massive cage separating the beasts and you.

There’s also another sudden sound: strike of metal. Dim sparks fly in all directions as you notice Finral’s figure – now covered in ash and cinders, striking one of the walls with a pickaxe. “Oh, beautiful flower Cynthia! Be careful here.”

“You are... really doing this,” you tell him as you carefully approach the man – watching your step.

“Well it’s ill-advisable to ignore Captain Yami’s requests, even if they are... as bizarre as this one.”

You sigh, “I guess I won’t be interrupting you then.”

He pauses, “Interrupting me? No-no-no, Cynthia.” He lowers the pickaxe, “What can I help you with right now?”

You smile at the man – he appreciates the gesture. “I was wondering if you could teleport me and Cryz back to the Blue Rose base. We took longer than I hoped we would, and now I don’t even have any idea in what direction to fly.”

Finral’s eyes sparkle as he straightens his backs and manly spreads and raises his shoulders, “Of course, Cynthia!”

He abandons his task – knowing Captain Yami, you are not sure how safe it is – and follows you outside the base. To your immense surprise both Asta and the beast he was pushing are no longer here – the door is not big enough for him to just shove it through; there must be a second entrance somewhere. But, why would he just tell you about it?

“Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel Gate!” Finral opens a swirling and outpouring portal – from outside it resembles an ever-changing white-black nebula – before you. It is just big enough for a single person to pass.

He turns to you with a smile, “This should take you directly to the Blue Rose Headquarters.”

Cryz lazily stands up from his sunbathing spot and without any wait and hesitation he enters through it, vanishing.

“Thank you, Finral,” you smile with a bow.

“Perhaps, lovely flower of the Blue Rose, you wouldn’t mind sparing sometime to go on a second date with me?”

“Second Date”? Did he absurdly count him showing you around the base as a date? You can’t help but blush at this.

“I’ll... think about it,” you smile at him. After his help it would be vulgar and rude to outright refuse him, even though you are not sure if you are ready for or positive about this. The short talk between Asta and Cryz did not help the matter. Now that you are free you are more than certain that you are going to be too busy for carefree outgoings.

He takes your answer positively. That’s the least you can ask of him.

You enter through the portal with a casual step – your mind explodes for a brief moment as your senses entangle for a split second in time only to painfully untangle as soon as you reappear in your destination. Your magic falters for a moment as a layer of Finral’s Spatial Magic lifts to no longer guide you. You once again stand in front of gilded gates.

You react with a blank expression to the fact that Cryz has managed to trigger one of Sol’s protective golems, and is now on edge of preparing to defend against and battle it. Wishing not to cause a scene you grab Cryz’s collar to pull him behind yourself. Although a bit fearful – the mud golem is massive and rather menacing – you stand between them. A lump of fresh dirt breaks off the towering figure of the golem and lands on top of your head. You lift your arms to shake the mud off your hair – to the best of your ability. The golem kneels to stare directly in your face...

For a brief moment you are scared that Sol did not adjust the trap and the golem is unaware you are an ally, however, that is thankfully not the case. The ground tremors and shakes as the golem stands up to tower high before you; after a few seconds of settling in place, it begins to melt and crumble to disappear back into the ground.

“If that’s the best of your security I am not impressed, “Cryz says – his grimoire held tightly in his hands.

You take a deep breath. You open your own grimoire – it takes you a few minutes of practice to finally take out your broom; you are incredibly happy to hold it in your hands and caress it with your mana once again. “You should stay here; I am going to talk with Captain Charlotte myself. The Blue Rose Knights will probably recognize you up close.”

You step on the shaft and slowly ascend above the colossal protective gates, the garden shrubbery and then the mansion itself. You hover to the centre balcony to where Captain Charlotte’s office is located. You land on the well-decorated stone railings and then on the floor of the balcony. The glass doors open as soon as find firm ground...

The briar tendrils slither over both parts of the door; they are enveloped in bright-jade magic – Charlotte’s magic.

You enter the office to have the glass doors close behind you. The briars skid against the ground and back to where the woman clad in armour beneath a blue cape is quietly sitting. They enter into her bladeless hilt: her Magic Tool.

“Cynthia,” Captain Charlotte’s typical serious demeanour is briefly – very briefly – hits a note of relief and happiness, “I see you have freed yourself of your curse and burden. It looks like Yami was correct for putting his trust into the boy during the Magic Knight Entrance Ceremony, he proved to be useful.” She pauses, “How are you feeling now?”

“It’s a weird feeling, Captain Charlotte, to be ‘free’ again, but I’ll get used to it in no time!” you offer her a salute.

The woman stands up – likely as to not be impolite – and approaches you, “I’ve heard from the Magic Emperor about his plans regarding that man from the Diamond Kingdom. I am very much against it, but it does not seem I have much of a choice in this matter. He will be given a single chance, and I’ll make sure that he is watched constantly. For even the slightest of transgressions I will put him into the stockades, into the jail, maybe hang him.”

You look at her at shock; is that not a bit extreme?

“We should be firm with our enemies; I don’t mind offering a helping hand to those who flee but not if they bite it.”

Sheepishly, you smile, “He was hoping he could join the Blue Rose but please don’t worry, he won’t be bothering us. I instead suggested for him to try and impress the Captain of the Azure Deer. Hopefully, he’ll be a helpful addition.”

“I do wonder how Olyver is doing,” Captain Charlotte confesses, “The other boys have been trying their hardest but yours and Olyver’s tailor-shoes are a bit too big to fit.” She sighs; there are several lousy patches on her undershirt...

Finally, she turns to face you. “What do you want to do now? I am willing to give you a single day off if you wish so.”

“But I spend three weeks here without... accomplishing anything,” you mutter with hesitating grumble.

“That was under my orders, and you were imprisoned in this mansion. It’s your choice, Cynthia.”

> “I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...”
> “I am well-rested and ready, Captain Charlotte. Please, assign me a mission. I won’t let you down.”
> “I would like to visit Captain Dorothy, was it possible for you to have a talk with her about myself?”
> “Perhaps it’ll be for the best if I accompany Cryz to the Azure Deer base? I can check on Olyver also.”
> “How is Tugela and Tresses doing, Captain Charlotte? Can I take them to visit a doctor I know in Kikka?”
> [Write In]

>>4390392
> “I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...”

>>4390392
>> “I would like to visit Captain Dorothy, was it possible for you to have a talk with her about myself?”

>>4390386
>> “I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...”

>>4390386
> “I would like to visit Captain Dorothy, was it possible for you to have a talk with her about myself?”

> Do also discuss what's the best course of action between yourself, friends. No promises on update today.

>>4390392
> “I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...”
I wonder how the shop has been going

>>4390386
>Ask capitan to give us some of her clothes so we can fix them properly for her.
> “I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...”
>Ask capitan if she would be ok if we would propose job as a head seamstress to our father

We don't know if he would be interested but having him around would be great bonus mostly we would not have to worry something happening to him.
Seeing state of capitan clothes someone experience is needed.

>>4390887
I don't know, he would have to give up the shop if he came to work at the Blue Rose.

>>4391015
It wouldn't have to be permanent. He could work here untill he will train somone as his replacement. And he could easly afford to maintain a shop and maybe even hire some assistance. I asume job here would give him more money then back home

>>4390819
At some point we should get Sol shopping so she can get some proper clothes properly representing her station.

I don't remember if we did but at some point we should tell Beraber that openly flirting with man is scoffed on. So she sould ton it down.

We have some new spells to test so we sould offer to duel Suzann.

> “How is Tugela and Tresses doing, Captain Charlotte? Can I take them to visit a doctor I know in Kikka?”
To be honest that proabably should have happend in last two week we were doing jack shit. Not us going with them simply send Tugela to him to see if he can do something I doubt it do to capitain using the best resoursces at her disposal but there is no harm in trying. Otherwise we should take Tugela with us one way or the other to give old doctor a visit.

>>4392234
We recovered that Canopic jar with super cure stuff in it from the Dungeon, didn't we? Maybe that would be worth trying, although it comes with some heavy risks

> I am still working on the update, sorry for delay.

You would like to visit Captain Dorothy to tell her about the status of her request – the blanket, as well as to question and discuss the Witch Queen with her. After your brief interaction with Vanessa, you’d like to know more...

But, that can all be arranged with a letter. It’s been nearly a month since you have seen your father, and you miss him greatly. You promised him that you would visit from time to time – once a week – and now, since Captain Charlotte is so charitable to give you a day off, it’s as good time as any to make your trip back home. You approach Captain Charlotte with a short step to inspect her uniform. It’s not... bad, but the repaired quality is not good, either.

“Do you want me to take a look and take care of your clothes, Captain Charlotte?” you suggest to her with a smile.

The woman looks over the patches on her sleeves, shirt and skirt. She calmly replies, “It doesn’t really bother me.”

“It won’t take much time; I should be able to take care of those imperfections rather quickly.”

“Don’t worry about such trivial matters,” Charlotte allows her fingers to run through her hair.

You sigh. You grip and clench your fists, “It’s obvious that Pero and Lilth still need some guidance, Captain Charlotte.”

She nods, “As I said, they are not as experienced as you or Olyver, but it should not be of your concern right now.”

“But it is,” you can’t help but whine, “I can’t let anyone, especially my Captain, to be wearing such meagre clothes.”

She knocks her head back, her deep blue eyes staring off into the distance. She smiles. “You are a tailor, after all...”

You awkwardly nod your head at her.

“You can do what you want once you are back, but for now – what will it be? Do you accept your vacation?”

Once again, you nod, “Yes, of course. I would like to go visit my shop and my father to see how he is doing. It’s been a while...Thank you, Captain Charlotte.” You pause, “Do you think I can take Tugela together with me? I was hoping to let her visit and meet a doctor in Kikka I know. I’d like to see if he is able to deal with her curse of atrophy or not."

“Tugela is currently away on her mission, but she should be finished with it by evening, if not by tomorrow.” She clears her throat and briefly rolls her eyes, “Hopefully. She was looked at by the best healer in all of the Clover Kingdom; I don’t think it’ll be anything but a waste of time for her to be checked by your doctor. Her and Tresses’ affliction is not something regular magic – even powerful healing magic – can deal with. We are looking into it...”

You glance at the floor dejectedly, “How long has it been?” You ask.

She harrumphs. She is unhappy about the situation as you are, “Too long. I’ll make sure it will be deal with soon.”

You nearly forgot. “Can you tell me where the Azure Deer’s base is located at so I can point Cryz to where to go?”

Captain Charlotte adjusts one of her blonde braids before she takes out a long scroll and unravels it on her table – it’s the map-drawing of the entirety of the Clover Kingdom, with all the hamlets, villages and towns noted on it. Your Captain takes out another scroll from the cupboard beneath the table – it is empty – and puts it on top of the map.

There is a short-lived but brilliant dazzle before the inks begins to emerge on the smaller scroll – a like-like copy.

She then takes a magical quill and, without dipping into an ink pot, adds a few more additions to the smaller scroll.

She scrolls it into a roll before hanging it to you. You put it into your belt. She sure has – a lot – of Magical Tools here.

“I marked Captain Rill’s location on there, if I remember it right. Let’s hope that person is worth all this trouble.”

“Are you sure he needs to know all those locations?” you ask.

“Do not worry, it’ll turn into an empty scroll in a week or so once the magic wears out.

There’s nothing more you can ask, or demand, of her. The least you can do is to ask Siegfried about his abilities directly. You thank Captain Charlotte for her time and generosity before the two of you enter the tall balcony.

“Make sure to return after breakfast, Cynthia. There is an important event I want you to have a chance of taking a part of.” She says, raising your curious. Is it, possibly, another dangerous mission? If so, you are... ready to begin!

You put both of your feet on the handle of the broom as you take a deep breath. You release a surge of magic into your magic broom to begin slowly levitating above the ground. You salute Captain Charlotte in a proper, military manner before you descend in front of the tall gilded gate to offer Cryz the scroll. He accepts it rather unhappily.

“So... We are here, and to reach this ‘Azure Deer’ I must go... here,” he presses and leads his finger from one point of the map to another – the Azure Deer’s base is located in the Noble Region. While a surprise at first, it makes sense. It used the Squad of the current Magic Emperor; it is no wonder the base would be as close to the Royal Capita as possible. “How long should that take?” he asks you with a visible annoyance, “And do you trust me with this map?”

He is not serious; he is mocking you. “Captain Charlotte does, and it should take you... less than week by foot.”

He leans his head on one of his wrists, “Can’t you just give me a lift?” He motions to your magic broom.

You smile and shake your head, “I am going in opposite direction.” You show him the location of Kikka on the map.

“If you want people to betray their kingdom for yours making it this complicated and hard is not the best option.”

You sigh, “I can’t tell you anything you do not know already, Cryz. I can wish you ‘good luck’.”

“More than luck I could use some food for this travel-”

“Good luck!” you wave at him with a farewell motion as you begin to ascend once again. You reach the tall open sky to feel a sudden warm burst of sunshine. A fresh breeze caresses your hair; you put the fingers of both of your hands to keep it from becoming a total mess. You laugh to yourself: in those past weeks you forgot this feeling of freedom.

As you fly to Kikka you check on your supplies. You now carry your battle scarf inside your grimoire, what is left of your enriched linen is no longer – sadly - possible to use as a martial weapon. It’s going to take another opportunity to get it repaired. Your Magic Wand you no longer let out of your sight – you made a pocket on your thigh especially for it. Moguro Bottle... you still have it; you feel like you got the most of its magical step up but, perhaps, it can be a good idea to give to somebody else to develop their mana. As for your Muti Crickets... they did not fare that well...

There were left on their own for three weeks; with no care or food provided it is only logical that most of them died.

Out of twenty-nine crickets, only six remain. You sigh; nothing can be done about this.

You arrive to Kikka at late evening; the friendly and familiar warm lights of the district lamps greet you. You fly above the two-story houses and the cobblestone roads until you reach the High Street. It is the most luxurious and expensive trade street in the whole city and... it is also your home. You land directly on the front step of your house.

You take a deep breath before you knock the door. Your father, a man with short, greying hair opens after a minute.

There is a visible shock on his face. Clearing his throat he glances away, and then back, then away again. He rubs beneath his eyes with his sleeve before looking back. Tears begin to gather from his sparkling deep-brown eyes.

He grabs you into a tight hug; you gasp for breathe. You chuckle as you accept and return the embrace. You are happy to see him as well. It is annoying that you have to travel such a long way just to spend a few hours with your father but unless the Blue Rose recruits somebody with Spatial Magic, or Nicolai further develops his magic, you don’t think that is going to chance. Your father leads you inside the house where he immediately prepares tea...

You notice a stack of letters on a table near the entrance. They all appear to be from the Mayor Council of Kikka.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to come? I would’ve prepared the food you love, my little girl, Cynthia.”

“It all happened so suddenly, father. I didn’t know I was going to have a day off until later.”

He frowns, “It was not right for your Captain to lock you for three weeks. Why couldn’t you stay here for that time?”

“Its complex,” you smile. You’re not sure if you want to tell him about Cryz or the dangers of the Sunasho Palace. You look around the shopping floor as well as the workshop. Not much have changed in both, there is still business.

“I don’t see Nicolai?” you ask with slight raise of your eyebrow.

“He is asleep,” your father answers after a pause. “He has been helping me a lot the last few weeks.”

“Is everything going alright with the shop?” you ask.

There’s been no arson, and it doesn’t look robbed or damaged.

“We can’t finish as many orders as we used when you were around,” he reminds as if on purpose to make you feel guilty. Just a bit, there is nothing cruel or harsh in his voice. “But we have been managing so far. The amount you send to me...” His eyes begin to tear up once more, “It is enough to cover up multiple rents! I only saw so much yul at once when I and your mother bought this house. I already hired a specialist to put protection runes around it.”

You sigh with relief, that’s one less thing to worry about.

“There’s been a new problem, however. The White Yul, the Navika family especially, have been making it harder and harder for independent shops such as ours to remain on the High Street. Ever since you left they have been in talks with the Mayor Council of Kikka about implementing further restrictions and limitations to owning property here...”

“What kind of restrictions?” you ask him.

“There are many dozens of them. Thankfully, I and others have been able to defend against those suggestions in the council state but I heard rumours that they want to take it to the Magic Parliament. Many of the independent shops are showing reluctance against facing the Magic Parliament, especially because they are aware that it is made out of council members with noble blood and they will rather agree with aristocracy than people like us. A couple of them have already agreed to fall and join as a part of the White Yul businesses. I fear this shop might stand alone then...”

“If it’s the money you need...”

He shakes his head, “It’s not the money, Cynthia. Those restrictions will make it impossible who is not part of the White Yul to exist on the High Street. They are mostly the same harsh limitations that you need to join them for.”

> Tell your father about your adventure in the Sunasho Palace. It was deadly, but he should be able to trust you.
> Tell your father you can talk with the nobility in the Blue Rose to give a few praising letters of recommendation.
> Ask your father if this battle is worth fighting and if he would instead prefer to work in the Blue Rose Headquarters.
> Ask your father if he’d be happy to train a couple of boys from the Blue Rose to improve their skills in tailoring.
> Ask your father if he wants you to accompany him the next time he is summoned to the Kikka’s Mayor Council.
> [Write In]

>>4392867
>> Tell your father you can talk with the nobility in the Blue Rose to give a few praising letters of recommendation.

Probably the best move to do here, alongside some discreet investigation. Odds are that Nicolai's been putting in a few all-nighters ti gather some intel, some hopefully we've got a lead to pursue as well.

>>4392867
>> Tell your father you can talk with the nobility in the Blue Rose to give a few praising letters of recommendation.
> Ask your father if he’d be happy to train a couple of boys from the Blue Rose to improve their skills in tailoring.

Both seem like good options. Hopefully we can speak with Nicolai later to see if anything fishy has happened while we were gone.

>>4392867
> Tell your father you can talk with the nobility in the Blue Rose to give a few praising letters of recommendation.
> Ask your father if he’d be happy to train a couple of boys from the Blue Rose to improve their skills in tailoring.

>>4392867
>> Tell your father you can talk with the nobility in the Blue Rose to give a few praising letters of recommendation.

You take the cup of tea your father put before you on the table into your hands. You exhale gently on the surface to cool down the liquid before raising it to your lips and taking a timid sip. The enchanted properties of the herbs relax you with drug-like effect. You feel calmer, yet at the same time, way less tired. You click your finger against the mug.

“We have many established Magic Knights of nobility in the Blue Rose, father. I can ask them for support – perhaps a recommendation letter – that will surely assist with convincing the Magic Parliament to not put restrictions on our workshop. I know that joining the White Yul requires support of at least one noble, but if I can get the backing of three or more nobles, then your word will surely carry more weight than theirs.” You put down the cup. It should!

Your father hesitates, however. He glances away, “I’m not sure if we should be using your favouritism like that...”

You can’t help but frown, “We are not the ones who started this. If we want to save this shop, we need nobles on our side, and unless you know some personally, the only ones we can rely on are those in my Magic Knight Squad.”

“It might help me in short term, but for one reason or another White Yul is now gaining hold on the Mayor Council.”

You quickly glance to the stairs leading to the guestroom where Nicolai should be sleeping. You hope there are some questions he can answer, and some useful information he can share with you. “Doesn’t matter if Charlotte Roselei...”

“If she shows her support to my business, Cynthia, it will only get her in trouble with the Magical Parliament. There’s no explainable reason as to why she would do so, aside from my daughter now being a part of her Squad, is there?”

You imagine the edge of a wick of a metaphorical candle above your hand coming to a fierce blazing existence.

Still, your emotions are somehow tempered by enchanted tea. Your voice is soft and calm, even more than usual. “In fact, father, there is currently a ‘problem’ in the Blue Rose. After the challenge between me and Olyver was over, the four boys who have been assisting us were forced to take over the duties the two of us briefly shared; and before which Olyver was in charge of. Most of them are much younger than us, and they are not... Don’t have experience.”

“Do you want me to ‘train’ them?” your father asks. He shakes his head, “Cynthia, I can’t and won’t leave this shop.”

“I know that, and I’m not asking you to. But, maybe, they can – one after another – come to get tutorship from you?”

“Here?” Francis looks around the kitchen area and then to the workshop floor. “I could find a space for one more,” he pauses and chuckles, “Do not worry, I will not let anybody to borrow your room, ‘Thia. There won’t be any need.”

He knocks his fingers against the surface of the table, “If that is alright with your superior, and with the boys, I could use some additional help in this shop – and in exchange I would not mind teaching them, especially if they have some prior experience.” He quiets his voice, “Nicolai –has– been very helpful, but teaching a complete beginner reminds me of the times when your mother came to my shop, and even then she had the advantage of her magic.”

You chuckle in return, “His Soulseal Magic makes him a better courier than a tailor, but don’t tell him I said that.”

“Perhaps if Nicolai sees those younglings doing better than him, it’ll bring the much needed rivalry.”

You awkwardly glance away, “I’m not sure if you really want Nicolai to be rivalrous... but I will leave it up to you.”

“If there’s history of me cooperating and assisting your Captain then it will raise less questions about her support.”

Your eyes sparkle, “Perhaps you can fix one of her dresses? No, maybe you can do some personal orders for her?”

You father crosses his arms over his chest, “I’m not sure if I can make something worthy of a noble and a Captain.”

You chuckle and wave your hand, “Don’t be modest, I’ll send you some ideas and letters if you’ll struggle with it.”

Your father narrows his eyes at you with a playful annoyance, “Is that so? No, you are right, I’ll manage by myself... However, I’m not sure if it’ll work for other nobles as well. It’ll be very suspicious if all of them are from your Squad.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

It is so nice to talk to your father again.

> Is there anything else importance-wise you would like to ask or tell your father before you go talk with Nicolai?
> [Write In]

>>4394529
> Spend some time with our father talking about the adventure we've been on so far and all of the amazing people we've had a chance to meet. The Vice Captain and Wardress, the Diamond Kingdom mercenaries and the Mummies, our aunts, the Black Bulls, even the Magic Emperor himself!

>>4394529
Tell him about the request from Dorothy and has any advice for us?

>>4395335
> Do you want to tell him everything?

>>4395801
Probably leave out the most dangerous and near death parts

>>4395801
>>4396028
yeah

You have so much to tell your father; so many things you want him to hear and pay attention to. You need to make sure you are well-rested for anything Captain Charlotte will you need you. Despite this, you can’t help but babble on way past midnight time. You decide against hiding the real reason you were stuck with house arrest – the fact that you ended up cursed and connected to a man from an enemy kingdom during your first-ever dungeon exploration.

As soon as you reveal the fact, your father – understandably – becomes very worried. He hastily takes and inspects your wrist but, to his relief, there are no scars or other kind of wounds left. You reassure him that now everything is fine and the fact that you had your mana and soul turned upside down and combined with Cryz’s is not a problem anymore. It’s fun to share with your father the grandiose of your adventure through the massive under-sand palace.

From time to time you have to reassure him that you were never in any possibility of dying – which is untrue – just to keep his concerns to a bare minimum. It is quite likely that your father knows the real dangers of being a Magic Knight - it took you some time to convince him to let you become one – but because of everything that happened, including being separated from people who were there to keep you safe, going to a dungeon this soon worries him.

‘The Vice Captain Lanarel and Wardress Virginia are so powerful and cool! I hope I can be just as strong someday!’

‘The storms were brutal and violent, but Vice Captain Lanarel was able to keep a wind shield all by her own, father!’

‘We met the spectral ghost-mummies-councillors of the ancient ruins! One of them had magic to influence time!’

‘There were so many unbelievable and efficacious artifacts in the room we went to, father! I even got to use some!’

‘The walls were made out of flesh, the floor was made out of stretched skin, and the ceiling was eyes; it was all eyes!’

‘The black obsidian golem was as big as our house, no... it was five times the size! We barely managed to dodge it!’

‘Their names are Rioni and Pistoia, we were so lucky to have them find and save us from that woman – Laniakea!’

‘This is the first time I ever got to talk to royalty, father; and can you imagine: Noelle Silva is part of the Black Bulls!’

‘Oh, I nearly forgot, father; the Magic Emperor- Yes. Yes, Julius Novachrono came to talk to me and Cryz! He is everything the rumours tell about him and more. He is able to cast his spells with a single twitch of his fingers!’

You gasp for breathe – you just now realize you have been talking with only wheezes and short gasps in-between.

Your father connects his fingers. He is smiling, although his hands are quite clearly tense.

“It’s unusual for you to be this ambitious and eager, ‘Thia... I am glad you are enjoying being a Magic Knight.”

You can’t help but feel offenseful. You glance away to the closest thing nearby – a pile of unfinished clothes.

He chuckles and stands up. He holds and grips your shoulders tightly in a show of support; you jump in surprise. He ruffles and messes up your hair – you allow him to do so, although, you remove it from your face immediately after.

“I can’t say I know how you ended up this ambitious and tenacious, a high climber, but then again, they used to say the same about me and your mother when we were trying to open our shop here.” He suddenly hugs you, “I won’t lie that I am worried about you every day, Cynthia” – you need to become strong enough so he wouldn’t worry – “And I miss you here, it’s weird not to have you... I know you will be busy, but make sure you keep yourself safe.”

You nod, “I am going to be in the background, helping much stronger Magic Knights, father. You don’t have to worry.”

You return with your father to the table where you tell him about the far-fetched request from the Captain of the Coral Peacock. You already had this talk with him before, but this time you decide to ask if he has any suggestions.

“I’m still baffled by how much Ashaya is asking for, or the fact that this Captain Dorothy is willing to pay so much.”

You awkwardly smile, “It’s true; she must really enjoy her sleep if she’s willing to pay this much for a magic blanket.”

You are now wondering just how incredible her bedroom and her bed must be if that is truly the case.

“It seems you have it all figured out, Cynthia. I am not an expert on enchanted cloths, not much advice I can give.”

You share a few more brief talks before you finally feel the tiring weight of today collapse upon your shoulders. You cover your mouth to yawn innocently. After looking outside the window, your father agrees that you should rest. You wish him goodnight – you stay in the kitchen for one more cup of water. When your father leaves, however, before going to sleep you decide to pay a visit to Nicolai. You enter the dark guestroom to find him snoozing there.

You approach the makeshift bed and bite your lip; you are not sure how to wake him up without being annoying.

“Nicolai,” you whisper gingerly and softly, “Nicolai, wake up. Wake up, Nicolai. Nicolai!”

“H-huh...” he turns around with a grunt and covers himself further into the blankets like. You pout.

“Nicolai, I need to talk to you,” you harrumph as you begin shaking the bed.

He grunts again, this time turning his head in your direction. He scares you by opening his toxic-green, bright eyes.

“Cynthia?” he grumbles in annoyance as he closes his eyes. He turns away, only to then lazily turn back, “Oh great, I am freaking dreaming about the tailor girl now. I am sorry, dear mother; it seems the devils are trying to break me.”

> Play along; perhaps you can pretend you’re a part of his dream, and now that he’s aware, lucid dream?
> Snap him out of it. Tell him that you are really here and you wish to talk with him about the High Street.
> [Write In]

>>4396296
> Snap him out of it. Tell him that you are really here and you wish to talk with him about the High Street.

>>4396296
>> Play along; perhaps you can pretend you’re a part of his dream, and now that he’s aware, lucid dream?

>>4396296
>> Play along; perhaps you can pretend you’re a part of his dream, and now that he’s aware, lucid dream?
I am curious of what would happen

>>4396296
> Snap him out of it. Tell him that you are really here and you wish to talk with him about the High Street.

>>4396296
> Play along; perhaps you can pretend you’re a part of his dream, and now that he’s aware, lucid dream?

> I am freaking dreaming about the tailor girl now
>"'Now'? What other girls you dream about?"

Nicolai turns away from you to dig his head deeper into the pillowcase. He lies still like this for a few second before sighing and turning back. He tosses away the blanket to reveal the fact that he is shirtless but he is still wearing his pants; compared to Asta and even Cryz, the boy is very skinny and unmuscular. It’s unlike that your father is having him be ill-fed so it must simply be his complexity. “You are not going away, are you?” he growls angrily towards you.

That’s it; you’re a kind soul but this boy deserves to be embarrassed. You shake your head – ‘No’.

He takes a sitting position on the bed, crossing his hands and placing them between his legs.

“If you are trying to corrupt me because I darn stole a few things half a year ago you are... very darn naive.”

You smile and shrug your shoulders.

“I was taught a way to deal with likes of you; sorry.” He closes his eyes and begins muttering some kind of mantra.

Nothing happens; of course it wouldn’t. The boy opens his eyes. He’s upset more than shocked, “It didn’t work?”

Again, your shoulders lift. Still, it surprising he’s going with ‘devils’ instead of the reasonable fact that you returned.

He glances away to the floor, “I am now aware so I don’t know what you are still trying to achieve here. And just freaking because I did not get to interact with that many girls before does not mean you should be using the form of Francis’ daughter to influence me. It’s not that clever, and it won’t work.” His toxic-green eyes stare daggers at you.

You whisper, “I am not a devil.”

He blinks. He pushes himself back from the edges of the bed, “So this is just a dream then? This is a first for me.”

You quietly question. “A lucid dream?” You can’t really say you ever had one either. How would you act in one?

“If that’s what they call it,” he narrows his eyes, “Since it’s my dream: be gone. I don’t want to dream about you.”

That surprisingly hurts to hear. “What girl would you like to dream about instead?” you ask him rather accusingly.

Nicolai widens his eyes briefly before looking down, “I... I shouldn’t be dreaming about girls like this at all. Even if this is just my own dream, sinful dreams still carry influences and powers of the devils. I should just go and wake up...”

“Are you repeating what the church taught you?”

He looks away, “I agree with the darn view, and so did my mother. A sin is a sin.” He sighs, “Can I have a nightmare?”

> “Nicolai, you dork, this is not a dream. I’m home visiting today, I was finally able to leave Blue Rose to do so.”
> “Is it any dream involving a girl or you are afraid it’ll go into impure places? Not a lot of self-control is there?”
> “Why did you think the ‘devil’ picked this form, and why do you think you are dreaming about me right now?”
> “I don’t think you should be judging your dreams so seriously. It’s okay to be true and free with your imagination.”
> ‘It might be still too dramatic for him to imagine his mother comforting him, he you decided to think of a second closest female to him.’ It would make sense wouldn’t it? You should placate Nicolai and give him positive support.
> [Write In]

>>4398004
>> “Nicolai, you dork, this is not a dream. I’m home visiting today, I was finally able to leave Blue Rose to do so.”

>>4398004
>> ‘It might be still too dramatic for him to imagine his mother comforting him, he you decided to think of a second closest female to him.’ It would make sense wouldn’t it? You should placate Nicolai and give him positive support.

>>4398004
> ‘It might be still too dramatic for him to imagine his mother comforting him, he you decided to think of a second closest female to him.’ It would make sense wouldn’t it? You should placate Nicolai and give him positive support.

>>4398004
>> “Why did you think the ‘devil’ picked this form, and why do you think you are dreaming about me right now?”

>>4398004
We should invite him grave robbing, that would cheer him up.

>>4398004
> “Why did you think the ‘devil’ picked this form, and why do you think you are dreaming about me right now?”
> ‘It might be still too dramatic for him to imagine his mother comforting him, he you decided to think of a second closest female to him.’ It would make sense wouldn’t it? You should placate Nicolai and give him positive support.

>>4398004
> “Nicolai, you dork, this is not a dream. I’m home visiting today, I was finally able to leave Blue Rose to do so.”

You slowly approach the boy to sit beside him on the bed – he looks surprised and is taken aback by your approach.

“What?” he sniffs his nose and furrows his brows.

You put your hands over your knees. “Is there anything that is troubling you?” It feels weird to move your right hand.

He hmphs with a brief conceit, “So instead of a devil you are suppose to be my guardian protector or something?”

You smirk gingerly, “Just a part of your subconscious.” That’s not true, and for a brief moment a sense of lingering guilt makes you judder with uneasiness. Nicolai is not your friend; it’s hard to consider him one. He’s an accomplice and assistant-worker of your tailor-shop, and that are as far as your relationships go. Even since the two of you left Kraal, Nicolai has been helpful and compassionate, but he is very reserved and it is unlikely he’ll reveal his feelings.

This is wrong but in any other circumstance Nicolai is never going to confess what really-really troubles him.

“Subconscious, then?” he glances away for a thought, “Then there’s nothing new you can help me out with.”

“You’ll be surprised,” you smile as kindly as supportively as you can imagine. It’s very hard to remain composed. He stares back with clear cynicism. You briefly glance at your hands, “Although, I’m not sure about looking like Cynthia Gualdo. Why did you think the devil picked this form, and why do you think you are dreaming about her right now?”

He opens his mouth only to close it. He loses himself in a short-lived deliberation. “This... is the first effin’ dream involving Francis’ daughter, I can’t say for certain. I guess you, as my darn subconscious, is trying to freaking help me out and there are not that many people I relate with support; must be because she aided me about six months ago.”

You look away to sigh with relief. You don’t want this to turn malevolent and uncomfortable, or to annoy him.

“So, is there something that you have been feeling anxious about lately?”

He lazily tilts his head; aside from his emerald eyes it’s hard for you to see anything else of him in the pitch darkness of the room. He sighs and takes a deep breath. He leans himself away so you would be unable to see his face; even in his ‘dream’. “When my mother died and I was left all by myself, the only freaking thing I felt was raging hatred for the darn aristocracy. I abandoned the church and forsake its effing teachings because I no longer cared or felt like they mattered. It was unfair that God protected them, yet freaking abandoned my mother. I just felt... very angry.

“I wanted to give me mother the life she never had, so I began stealing things for her sake.” He waves his hand to point at you from your head to your toes, “Then this girl appeared and made me realize how darn stupid that was.”

He hesitates, “It was part of her darn assignment, of course, but I am still very thankful. It was a pretty horrible situation for me, and she did not have to but she effing offered me a place here, in this workshop – of course, it wasn’t all of my sake, they were really darn short on hands.” He is picking on your helpfulness, but much is truth.

“My mother would be incredibly dang happy I now have a bed in Kikka of all places and a vocation in such a freaking popular workshop. She is probably as happy as one can be up there for me now, and I don’t want to disappoint her.”

“But...?”

“But I don’t feel like I belong here; it’s been half-a-year and I barely improved. I am freaking glad I am being helpful to Francis, but I don’t think that is enough – it’s pretty clear I’m not that effing good as a tailor. I’m a darn delivery boy, and as good as the payment and accommodations are, it feels hollow. The freaking fact that I can be helpful to
Cynthia by keeping an eye on the rival shops and their dang machinations is positive, but it’s been annoying, as well.”

You raise your legs to have your knees on the same level as your head. You lean your head to place on top of them.
You let your flowing red hair fall and touch the bed sheets. You’d love to know more about what is it he finds annoying but now is not the time to ask him, else he gets suspicious. “Is there anything you really want to achieve?”

Nicolai heaves a sigh, “As a little kid I thought an obvious path was set for me – to become an acolyte of the church and then a high priest of a chapel. That’s what my mother was effing happy about as well. I did not want to aim any higher, neither a deacon nor a bishop. But freak, after all I’ve done it would be disrespectful to God for me to even attempt, and I do think its right for me. And even ignoring my sins, nobody would trust a priest with my grimoire...

“I miss her so darn much; it feels like I have been just drifting ever since she died. It just... so... darn...annoying...”

> “If you don’t feel fulfilled, you shouldn’t force yourself to stay. You should go and discover what you want to do.”
> “Perhaps you need a change of scenery. Maybe you should ask if you can go with Cynthia to have her teach you.”
> “I don’t think your grimoire should stop you from trying to become a man of the cloth, if that’s what you want.”
> “Half-a-year is not such a long time; it takes years if not decades to become a good tailor. It’ll work out, I’m sure.”
> [Write In]

>>4399824
>> “Half-a-year is not such a long time; it takes years if not decades to become a good tailor. It’ll work out, I’m sure.”

>>4399824
> “Perhaps you need a change of scenery. Maybe you should ask if you can go with Cynthia to have her teach you.”

>>4399824
> “Half-a-year is not such a long time; it takes years if not decades to become a good tailor. It’ll work out, I’m sure.”

We need him here but i don't think we are that egotistical.

>>4399824
>> “If you don’t feel fulfilled, you shouldn’t force yourself to stay. You should go and discover what you want to do.”
I feel like Cynthia is all about following one's dreams

>>4400689
Yeah this

>>4399824
> “If you don’t feel fulfilled, you shouldn’t force yourself to stay. You should go and discover what you want to do.”

“If you don’t feel fulfilled, you shouldn’t force yourself to stay. You should go and discover what you want to do.”

“Go where?”

That’s a good question. You smile. “Anywhere you want to. Clover Kingdom is a big place, and there are places even beyond that. Your grimoire is a part of you; maybe you can find things you want to do which involves your magic?”

He pauses and immediately scowls, “Like a delivery boy?”

You chuckle lightly to yourself, “Is that the only way you imagine yourself using your Soulseal Magic?”

“Darn, well, no,” he hesitates, “I did use it for larceny before this, but I don’t think I want to do that.”

“You best not.” You look at him, “I know that you have no ambitions of becoming a Magic Knight, Nicolai.”

With a frown, he runs his hands against the bed-sheets to lean a bit back, “No, I have no interest in that.”

“You don’t even realize how useful your abilities would be as a spy or on the battlefield. It is a shame,” you mentally shake your head – you can’t just go convincing everyone you know to become a Knight to make your decision more justifiable. “I might be your subconscious, but I can only offer ideas like blurs. You need to discover it by yourself...”

He hesitates, “And what about Francis, and my promise to Cynthia of making sure I am keeping an eye on him?”

“It’s unfair to you if you put their wishes before your own, and that’s what matters. You should do what you want.”

He looks away from you and then, he briefly looks back. He groans and falls back onto the bed, “Of course my darn subconscious would say that; my mother would never freaking tell me to be this narcissistic. Let me dream alone.”

You stand up gingerly from the bed and nod, “I just want what’s best for you, Nicolai. Enjoy the rest of your dream.”

You watch him turn away from you and dig deeper into his bed sheets and turn silent. You walk out of the room as quiet as a mouse – in a dream, you would probably simply disappear but that is not the case. You silently ascend the stairs before you reach your room and exhale. Burden and guilt falls off your shoulders as you dig into your pyjamas.

*** *** ***

The next morning you wake up hours before dawn: you need to leave in the early hours of the morning to make sure you arrive back to the Roselei Mansion just after breakfast. You wash your face, get dressed and descend to the workshop area. Your father is still sleeping but Nicolai should be awake if you are correct about his schedule.

Preparing the shop for reopening, adding finishing details to and ironing the clothings which need to be completed by today, checking the linen stock to make sure there is enough cloth and other materials for today, and going through the orders on the list were just a few things you had to take care of beforehand, and Nicolai has to now.

You find him in the workshop checking the stock. He is extremely surprised to see you, he even gasps a smidgen.

“Cynthia?” he coughs on his words. He clears his throat, “I did not know you were planning on arriving today?”

“I arrived yesterday,” you immediately feel him eyeing you with suspicion, “Very late at night.” You sweat; you feverously glance away, “I had something I wanted to talk to you about but I could not get you to wake up...”

He stares you down in silence. You watch the tip of his ears turn red, “I am sorry...”

You blink and smile, “Sorry for what?”

He looks away, “Nothing... You haven’t visited your home for a month now; your father has been very worried.”

“I know, and it’s a very long story. Trust me, I would be delighted to tell you all about the desert dungeon, the powerful Magic Knights I was able to fight alongside by, and the fact that I now have two witch-aunts, but I don’t have the time. I’m sure father will tell you all about it. I should be leaving, so I was hoping you could make it short.”

His green near-glowing eyes stare you down, “I’m listening...?”

You fidget, “I want to ask if anything happened, or if you could learn anything new about the Purple Orca or what the Navika family has been doing. From what I heard from father, they are wrists-deep in trying to overtake the district.”

He sighs and nods, “Truthfully, I’m not the best person to talk about the High Street politics, Cynthia. Since you warned me about the fact she might know I am nearby I have been trying to be discreet, and I’m not sure if it worked. What I know for a fact from my enquiry is that she has been doing a lot of ‘dark room’ talks with other shop owners, be they part of this ‘White Yul’ club or not. She, her father, and the girl that is now always following her...”

“Elvira?”

“Indeed, her. The boy who is currently a part of the Purple Orca has been constantly feeding her information about fresh news, developments, and changed on the High Street and the Clover Kingdom, and he seems to know a whole lot about the inner workings of the Magic Parliament.” He pauses, “With Elvira, however, they have been discussing ways she has been using her magic to advance Patricia’s goals. I don’t know how much of it is true, however, as she never did anything described. Some of the ways the girl was asked to use her magic were: making copies of magic bind contracts, making clones of Patricia so she would be able to attend multiple places at once, making clones of those unwilling to cooperate to question them and from what I recall, threatening to cut their magic forever in half.”

You blink, all of that sounds illegal and horrible, but most of all- “Elvira does not have enough mana to do all of that.”

“That’s what you told me,” he crosses his arms and shrugs, “Do you think they know I am watching them and lying?”

“No... Maybe... I don’t know,” you hesitate. Even if Elvira could manage to learn how to better control her magic, as well as acquire new spells, the amount of magic ones has is near impossible to change. One can be drinking the nastiest moguro juice concentrate all their life but, a peasant would never be able to have as much mana as a royal.

Nicolai notices your confusion. “I will continue watching to catch her in act, but so far, I had no luck.”

“Thank you,” you smile at Nicolai. You pause, “No, really, thank you Nicolai. You have been a great help to my father. I was afraid and contemplative about leaving to become a Magic Knight because, after the arson and because of how dangerous those inner politics of the High Street apparently are, I did not want to leave him alone. Thank you for keeping an eye on him and the Gualdo Workshop.”

“...Where did that come from?” He looks away with an incredibly visible embarrassment.

“I think it’s only right I praise you,” you shuffle your body as well; you hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way. “I’m hoping that there will be a few more workers coming here to assist father and you so you wouldn’t be overburden.”

There is a heavy pause. You wait for Nicolai to say that he’s considering leaving but despite the wait, he doesn’t.

> Tell, praise or question Nicolai further. [Please specify]
> Visit Siegfried’s house to talk with him about Tugela’s curse.
> Visit the Navika manor to have a serious discussion with her.
> Return back to the Blue Rose Headquarters.
> [Write In]

> [Thanks for playing! I am not going to push it so if you guys would like to push any romantic relationship with any of the characters it's up to you.]

>>4401554
> Visit Siegfried’s house to talk with him about Tugela’s curse.

I want good romance

>>4401554
>> Visit the Navika manor to have a serious discussion with her.

A romance would definitely be interesting to pursue, but I think I'll personally withold pushing for one until the quest has progressed a little bit further.

>>4401554
> Visit Siegfried’s house to talk with him about Tugela’s curse.
> Tell, praise or question Nicolai further. [Please specify]

Repeat what dream Cynthia told him that if he want he can move somewhere else and do his own thing. We can even give him some money so he wouldn't need to starve and sleep on the streets

>>4401554
>> [Thanks for playing! I am not going to push it so if you guys would like to push any romantic relationship with any of the characters it's up to you.]
Magic Emperor is my Bea. But honestly maybe later on

>>4401554
> Visit Siegfried’s house to talk with him about Tugela’s curse.

Hopefully we can match with someone nice and attainable for us.

> [I am too tired to write an update today, I apologize.There will be one tomorrow but on Saturday I will be busy flying/transferring covid-19. I'll be on holiday then and hopefully I'll be able to update consistently for the following weeks. Meanwhile, I saw this question raised in the /qtg/ so I wanted to ask if you guys are happy with my prose/style (if I am continuously making some specific grammar mistake please let me know); what about the selection of choices? Mechanic as well, I was wondering if it is too slow for you guys or not. I wanted to base it around mana management, yours and your opponents' mana.]

>>4403482
No problem at all for me on verse and mechanics.

>>4403482
Don’t worry about that. I enjoy your writing as is. But if you want my opinion then I’d like to see more descriptions of people, clothes and stuff.

>>4403482
I've no complaints about you're writing or mechanics, you're doing well! Also, I just realized from checking the archive that the 11th was the one year anniversary of this quest, so big congratulations on that!

“More people would certainly be helpful,” he finally retorts. Your father’s initiative to defuse Nicolai from cursing every second sentence seems to be working out; however, he still has to push himself to do it, especially if you compare it to how he was acting in a ‘dream’.

You allow a brief pause to linger. You smile, “Certainly, you won’t have to force yourself to stay here anymore.”

He corks his eyebrow with discomforting perplexity, “What do you mean, Cynthia?”

You clear your throat, “You had nowhere to go when we met way back in Kraal, but I don’t want you to feel like you owe me or my father anything. If you want to move somewhere else to do your own thing I can even give you so-”

The two of you are interrupted by a sudden step – it is just loud enough for you to hear. It is your father.

“Sorry if I am interrupting anything,” he enters with an honest apology, “I just wanted to wish you a farewell, ‘Thia.”

The man is still wearing his sleeping clothes; his face and hair are messy and unwashed.

You look briefly at Nicolai and then back at your father. You shake your head, “No, you did not interrupt anything.”

“Your daughter was just telling me how much she appreciates my help,” Nicolai says, an obtuse grin visible over his face. You cheeks turn red; you did indeed say it, but Nicolai saying it out loud to your father makes it embarrassing.

Your father looks at you with a brief surprise before his lips break into a smile, “Of course, she’s correct, and I agree with her. You might still be making beginner-level mistakes, Nicolai, - rather often in fact - but I wouldn’t be able to do as much without a pair of hands or your magic abilities. In a year or two maybe you’ll be able as good as Cynthia.”

“I think that’s rather unlikely,” you frown and pout at your father. You’ve been a tailor since you got up on your feet.

On other hand, it seems Nicolai is enjoying the flattering. Maybe he doesn’t feel himself as alienated as he mentioned in the “dream”.

You sigh and turn away – it’s up to him to take you up on your offer. You approach your father to give him a hug.

“Sorry, father, I have to run – I need to make sure I return to the Blue Rose Headquarters by breakfast time...”

He embraces you back tersely yet firmly, “Please keep yourself safe, Cynthia. Say no to your leader if it’s dangerous.”

You don’t think you can really do that – however, it is unlikely Captain Charlotte Roselei is going to put you in any danger willingly. She became very protective since you came back from the Sunasho Palace; it is rather unlikely she’ll let you join any Senior Magic-level mission. Still, you nod to your father – you do not want him to worry for nothing.

“And you too,” you look at Francis but also briefly at Nicolai, “Keep me well-informed about what the White Yul, and especially Patricia and her father, are doing. Tell me in detail about the visits to and decisions of the Mayor Council.”

Your father hesitates – he clearly does not think it is your burden. Still, after he – probably – sees the sparkling determination in your eyes, he relents. He nods, “Tell me what your Captain says about your proposal, ‘Thia.”

You break the hug and - with a final farewell – you leave the workshop and close the door behind yourself...

You take a deep breath – sooner or later you are going to have to have a serious talk with Elvira and Lucius; not today. The Mayor Council is one thing, but if the White Yul is able to bring the case to the Magic Parliament it is going to be pain in the bottom to deal with and argue against. Kikka is not in the Noble Realm, it should be fine...

*** *** ***

You find yourself in front of a red-brick house. Overflowing and forever blooming garlands of exotic dark-purple flowers hang and flow against the stone surface of the walls. The roof spirals into a bonnet cherry-crimson gable triangle. The stone pillars supporting the roof are shining with scarlet efflorescence and brim-full with orchid briars.

You knock on the door and wait.

“Enter,” you hear an elder voice summon you from inside of the house. Like always, the door is unlocked.

The barely lit guestroom is filled with the smell and smoggy presence of the drug Siegfried often smokes during his solitude – in his old age (although he is no older than forty, his appearance makes him look as if he is in his sixties).

The man taps his pipe and then lets it fall on special ash tray sitting on top of his light-oak table. He continues to rock his antique chair; the flames of the fireplace and the dim glimmer of the magic smoke are the only illumination here.

“Respectable Siegfried,” you respectfully address him as you slowly enter the room, “I hope you are doing well?”

“Francis’ daughter...” he sluggishly mutters your name. You see him close his and put the tip of the pipe back into his mouth, “It’s been a while...” He exhales and releases a tub of smoke to hang to the ceiling. You can already feel its effects – relaxing and calm. “If you returned to ask me for more tutorship, my time is going to cost you triple now.”

The man is wearing a thin button up khaki sweater with a brown country-type paddock vest-jacket and trousers.

You shake your head – although he probably does not see it. “I’m here to ask you about a curse...”

He pauses – his chair stops rocking as he lands his boots on the ground. A flock of his long greying blond hair falls to cover his face and eyes. “Have your father been cursed again, Francis’ Daughter?” he asks with a deadbeat voice.

You put a hand to your chest to sigh with relief, “Thankfully, no, respectable Siegfried. It’s about the Blue Rose.”

You notice his fingers as well as the pipe he’s holding begin to tremble. With haste you never could expect from Siegfried, he turns to stare you with his narrow pumpkin-hued eyes. “Was Roffi’ hit with a curse magic?” he asks.

Roffi’? Oh. “You mean Wardress Virginia?”

His eyes continue to practically burrow through you; demanding an answer.

“N-no,” you awkwardly clear your throat, “She wasn’t the one hit with a curse-” he immediately loses any interest.

“It’s another one of the Magic Knights, two of them – in fact; they have been hit by powerful Atrophy Magic curse.”

He tapes the pipe against the table before taking out a clump of herbs. He begins winding them deep into the pipe.

He grumbles, muttering: ‘Damn child, you made me worried for a second – the herb effects are all wasted now.’

“Respectable Siegfried, do you think you can come take a look at them, or maybe they can come here for that?”

He harrumphs, “There is a mage with Healing Magic who serves directly under the Magic Emperor – Owen. It is likely that Captain of yours have already asked him for help. If he was unable to fix their curses, it is unlike I’ll be able to.”

You frown, “You can still try, I’m sure Captain Charlotte will be willing to pay you any amount you ask for, for that.”

“I told you beforehand, and I hate repeating ‘I have every justifiable reason to hate the Blue Rose’, I won’t assist.”

“But-”

“It’s a waste of time, yours and mine.”

You frown, “What’s so special about Wardress Virginia that you were worried about her but not anybody else?”

One of his eyes visibly twitch, “Do you not understand simply words, Francis’ daughter? ‘It is none of your business.’”

> Apologize and thank Siegfried for his time; leave to the Blue Rose Headquarters.
> Stomp your feet and angrily leave the house, there is no reasoning with this man.
> “You clearly have some history with Virginia. Does this have something to do with your hatred of the Blue Rose?”
> “You might not care for anybody else but Virginia is in distress; those Magic Knights were under her protection.”
> “If you don’t tell me, I can just ask Wardress Virginia personally. You were worried; do you not want to meet her?”
> [Write In]

> [Thank you for the feedback.]

>>4404611
>> “If you don’t tell me, I can just ask Wardress Virginia personally. You were worried; do you not want to meet her?”

>>4404611

> Apologize and thank Siegfried for his time; leave to the Blue Rose Headquarters.
>"Well I fortunately we will find a way to cure them. Otherwise Wardress Virginia will have to go after culprit, hopefully she will avoid the same fate..."
>"Welp time to go apologies for disturbing your time and thank you anyway Respectable Siegfried"
>...
>...
>...
>Roffi... pffft

>>4404611
> Apologize and thank Siegfried for his time; leave to the Blue Rose Headquarters.

>>4404611
>> Apologize and thank Siegfried for his time; leave to the Blue Rose Headquarters.

> [I tell you what, I'll allow a romance route with Siegfried. Please don't take this seriously. ]

>>4404611
>> Apologize and thank Siegfried for his time; leave to the Blue Rose Headquarters.

I am guessing he may be related to her or something like that

>>4404611
>> Stomp your feet and angrily leave the house, there is no reasoning with this man.

>>4405118
>> [I tell you what, I'll allow a romance route with Siegfried. Please don't take this seriously. ]
And with this post Melk unwittingly set the precedent for Cynthia liking older men. First Julius and now Siegfried!

>>4405118
No brakes on the middle aged man train

You try your hardest not to laugh at the way he referred to Wardress Roffissard; Roffi... phfh...

You lower your head with a long bow, “I apologize for asking this, Respectable Siegfried. I’ll be leaving now.”

He doesn’t reply back; not really. The elder man turns away from you and continues starting off at his fireplace.

You awkwardly raise your leg and turn around to face the door you quickly approach to open. You take a breather.

You turn back to face the seating man, “Thank you or your time, respectable Siegfried...” As much as you want to be assertive and discourteous right now, you keep your feelings grounded. You say the rest of your sentence loudly – as if you thinking out loud and not telling it to him. “Hopefully she will not feel guilty enough to suffer the same fate...”

As you close the wooden door, you hear him quietly mutter to himself: “She is far too powerful for that to happen...”

You lean on the door and take a short but deep breath; the fresh air slowly breaks the tranquil effects the smoke of the drug overfilling his house has been having on you. It is not very healthy to be smoking it as much as he is doing.

You do not know for sure what happened between Virginia and Siegfried, as well as with him and the Blue Rose, but this seems to be a spiteful quandary that has been going for a long time. Maybe, you should give them just a nudge...

You quickly ascend above Kikka’s tallest towers.

*** *** ***

You return to the Blue Rose Headquarters about the time you were hoping to arrive at; just two minutes after the breakfast time has ended. You were able to nibble on a few apples to clench your morning hunger so missing the breakfast shouldn’t be much of a problem for you. As you hover above and cross the tall wall of the mansion and then further into the massive garden, you spot a gathering of people – with Captain Charlotte present there too.

You descend quietly enough not to make your return too “extravagant”, but obvious enough for them to spot you.

“Cynthia,” the armour-wearing Captain of the Blue Rose acknowledges your return with a short-lived smile and nod.

“I am sorry for making you wait,” you say; you jump off your magic broom when it’s only a meter above the ground.

“Finally, you are here.” Suzann - a muscular girl with a mushroom like bowl-cut - groans at you with clear annoyance.

“Where have you been, friend Cynthia?” Beraber playfully puts a finger to her lips. “No, wait. Let me guess... hmm...”

Aside from the two Junior Magic Knight, there are also three other Magic Knights present here: Tugela (who is as smug as always and is very happy to see you), Alice (who is visibly giving you her grievance about having to wait for you), and Bonnie (who is raising and lowering the tippy toes of her feet in excitement). You are not 100% sure but it is rather likely they are all either Intermediate Magic Knights or at least 1th Class Junior Magic Knights. You bow...

“I hope you have settled all your private matters in a due manner, Cynthia,” Captain Charlotte waits with a relaxed expression for you to answer back with an assertive nod. She patiently waits as you take out your grimoire to place your magic broom inside of it. Charlotte clears her throat and, with a deliberately slow but martial manner, she steps away from the crowd to have you, Beraber and Suzann be standing in another group from the other trio of Knights.

“Now that we have everyone here, I will give details. I will try to be as to the point as I possibly can, however, I will answer your questions afterwards.” She turns to face you and the other Junior Magic Knights, “Do any of you know about the “‘Hollow Mountain’ Y’ere”?” Her blue eyes coldly stare you down. You immediately shake your head back.

It seems neither of the other two is aware of such a location all the same. Suzann is unhappy to admit this.

Captain Charlotte is not disappointed or, if she is, she does not make it too obvious that she is. She explains, “It is a Grand Magic Zone but it is not unlike any other.” Her armour clangs as she adjust her gauntlets and the points them into a far away direction, “Not many people are even aware that is exists, and it does not really bother the citizens of the Clover Kingdom. It is not a topic of concern and, as far as I’m aware, it is unlike to harm people who approach it.”

You cork your eyebrow.

Beraber is biting her knuckles; her eyes are madly darting left and right as she comes up with potential answers.

“- As they are unlikely to enter it; Y’ere is like a massive bubble and its boundaries form an impenetrable mana layer. For thousands of years dust, dirt and rock have been collecting on top of it, giving it appearance of a real mountain. However, that is not the case – hence the name. Deep beneath the ‘crust’ there exist an extremely dangerous cavern with deadly creatures, outlandish vegetation and discordant inhabitancy. It is unexplored and holds a lot of secrets.”

She continues with just a short but cute hiss to catch her breath, “However, once in 27 years, the outer layer weakens just enough to allow outsiders to enter it. It has been decided long ago between the Order of the Magic Knight to allow an extremely limited amount of people to enter this area; there is a way for them to return afterwards, but you shouldn’t worry about it. The ultimate goal is to explore as much a possible of this cavern.”

“This time, it is our turn – the Blue Rose turn – together with the Green Mantis and Purple Orca, who will also be joining the expedition for the following two days.” She looks at the three of you with a gaze which immediately makes you freeze – a gaze of complete conviction and expectation. “However, only two people per Magic Knight Squad are allowed to go. This is the perfect chance for one of your to raise in ranks, and to prove themselves. It is a rare opportunity to have our Squad quickly rise in ranks for the Star Awards Festival and so, I don’t want to waste it.”

Before Beraber can exhale with a barrage of questions, Captain Charlotte interrupts her attempt.

“‘An Intermediate Magic Knights accompanied by a Junior Magic Knights’, which are current orders of the Magic Emperor. Those are the restrictions and only the two of you will be able to go. As such, we will need to decide on who’ll be the best fit.” She approaches you and the rest. She stops and opens her palm – there are three petals lying undisturbed on top of her gauntlet. There are blue, but they faintly vary in hues. She nods her head to other group.

“You will each be paired with one of the Intermediate Magic Knights and we’ll have a competition-of-sorts. The victorious pair will go and the rest will continue with their other duties. Each of the Knights there is holding a petal-less flower missing a petal – once you touch it, it should float to connect with it to let you know. I believe it’s fair.”

She waits, “Who would like to go first?”

> Take the first petal.
> Take the second petal.
> Take the third petal.
> Wait and let Beraber and Suzann to pick their petals first.
> Attempt to sense the similar mana between one of the Magic Knights and the petals [Who?].
- Others might use your pause to take the petals before you.
> [Write In]

> [Hello all, sorry for the delay.]

>>4407951
>> Wait and let Beraber and Suzann to pick their petals first.
An interesting proposal. I'd rather let fate decide who we end up partnered with

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4407951
> Take the first petal.
> Take the second petal.
> Take the third petal.

>>4407951
> Take the first petal.

>>4407951
> Take the second petal.

>>4408031
Yeah lets wait

> [It's between taking the second petal and waiting, is that correct? If so, I'll vote between the two.]

>>4408863
Nice. Enjoy your day guys! Im off to work

>>4408863
>>4408055
I will switch from dice gods to waiting. AS THE SENIOR WE WILL ALLOW THEM TO PICK FIRST

>>4408867
> [See you later, anon.]
>>4408868
> [Alright then!]

You drag your foot against the grassy ground in order to step back and let Beraber and Suzann to take their pick first.

Suzann loudly harrumphs and, without a second of thought, shoves her hand to grab one of the petals with her fingers. An ashen-white flame leaves her fingertips to touch the petal and have it begin to crackle. It unhurriedly hovers from Captain Charlotte’s palm and then begins to levitate through the air and towards... the woman: Bonnie.

“With you?” the mushroom girl scowls as she approaches the twenty-something girl with spiky sun-shaped hair.

“With me!” the short girl beams with a massive green. She takes out a blue flower and tosses it away seconds before the petal can reconnect with it. She then takes out and bites a pencil with her fang-like teeth to sharpen it before placing the graphite edge to an empty notebook fresh, “I’ve heard about you, yes-yes, tell me your deepest secrets.”

“...Maybe no,” Suzann’s sharp purple eyes narrow at the short woman. She begins pushing the Magic Knight away.

You sigh with a short-lived but satisfactory relief; you have a history co-operating with Tugela and Alice, at least.

“This one?” Beraber asks as she hovers her hand from one of the two petals left, “Or this one? I... I don’t know gah!”

You sigh. She shortly glances in your direction but you just casually wave your hands, “I’ll go after you, Beraber.”

She nods and then pouts. She continues to hectically struggle with a decision for a few minutes until, finally, she infuses one of the petals with her magic. She begins to excitedly watch the petite flower whorl fly through the air.

It reaches Tugela: the “Goat Knight”. The woman with ivory horn-like buns on her head grins at this result and loudly cracks her knuckles. Beraber approaches her excitingly; the great Mage-Knight grabs her hand into a firm handshake.

You can’t help but feel jealous; between the three of them, you feel like Tugela is the closest to being your friend.

Alice, the “Worst Knight” – although it seems she manage to climb through the ranks quite rapidly after “successfully” going through the labyrinth and learning “Mana Skin”, so you wonder if the title even still applies – is already looking disappointed and unhinged. She has her hands folded on her chest. Just like before, her hair forms an eccentric hairstyle of multiple cube-like gatherings standing above her scalp.

Damn, this will be very troublesome.

She is holding a flower in her hand; the stem is stuck between her fingers as it looks dejectedly at the ground.

You don’t have to, but for courtesy sake you too infuse the late petal with your magic – it floats towards Phetocruel.

“Again with you? You are very clingy soldier, commoner,” Alice hisses as you approach to join her by her side.

You try to stay positive – you are lucky to be stuck with a noble and her mana. “It is good to see you too, Alice.”

Charlotte lowers her gauntlet, “Now that this is taken care of, we can begin.”

Beraber winces, “Are you going to ask us to play a game of hide and seek inside the mansion using the magic we have to our advantage? Oh, maybe you’ll make us fighting enormous magical beasts to see who can defeat and bring back the strongest? Are we finally going to the so-called ‘Blue Rose’ Labyrinth?” Alice looks very smug when the labyrinth is mention, you just awkwardly look away – no way, you’ll have an advantage. “Maybe you’ll ask us all to-”

“There won’t be a need,” Captain Charlotte says, “I was considering to allow only those who managed to acquire the ‘Blue Rose’ from the labyrinth to participate in this mission, but we do not have a Junior Magic Knight who managed to do so yet, nor would I suggest somebody as inexperienced as you to attempt it.” All eyes are on your now; this is so embarrassing. “What I need to see is your ability to cooperate, your battle prowess, your skills to adapt to rapid changes in a middle of a fight, and your stamina. We can easily do so with a simple all-out battle in the battle hall, with a few additional rules and changes Sol will take care of. Let us go there, and I’ll explain the details further.”

Fighting?! You don’t have any offensive spells, and Alice does not have any ranged spells as far as you recall.

This is going to be a bloodbath, and not of the good kind. You shiver but Alice, near ignoring, just follows Charlotte.

> [Do you have any questions to ask Captain Charlotte further regarding the mission?]
> [Do you want to discuss with Charlotte that, perhaps, the teams as they are could be unbalanced?]

>>4409035
We are fucked

>>4409035
Hmm, can't really think of any questions for Charlotte.

>>4409089
We just gotta believe in ourselves! Alice probably has more mana than anyone else, and we're the only ones with any healing spells, so we might be able to turn this into an endurance match.

>>4409035
No questions. We fucked up.

>>4405118
Is a Cryz romance possible lol

>>4409035
I’m excited to try our new spells out! Alice is probably the single best mage here to benefit from our new support spell, and the curse version will probably mitigate our opponents mobility, making our lack of range less of a issue!

Time for some cursing!

>>4409035
We'll be fine.

>>4409198
> [It can be attempted, like with any character; sure.]

>>4409035
> [Do you have any questions to ask Captain Charlotte further regarding the mission?]
>If we win are we going to be provided with information acquired so far about that dungeon?


>Ask Alice if she wants to win.
>If yes. Ask her what she knows about Bonnie's magic?

I think her and mushroom girl magic we have no idea about.

>>4410211
Kinda stupid question because well obviously but might as well ask

>>4410211
+
>Tell Alice what we know about other girls magic beside Tugela because he should know her

“Surely there’s more information about this hollow cave, is there?” you nimbly follow behind Alice and Charlotte.

“Of course, Cynthia,” the plated Captain nods at you although she does not turn her head, “The winning pair will be provided with most of the information – most importantly dangers - gathered from the previous expeditions. Of course, because of the nature of the Y’ere, you shouldn’t rely on it too much – the isolated changes happen rapidly in the chaotic magical environment of it during the 27 years between the expeditions.” She enters the headquarters.

You nod – you wonder how dangerous it is going to be comparing to Sunasho Palace. If the Magic Emperor and the Order as well are allowing Junior Magic Knights to be a part of the expedition that means the danger level is not too extreme – right? You approach Alice to tuck her by her sleeve. You whisper, “I assume you want to win this thing?”

She frowns and hems, “Of course?” She sounds insulted, “I’ll make sure to make the greatest discoveries in there.”

The group of you enter one of the many hallways – Lanarel’s brilliant stained glass windows illuminate your pathway.

You nod. You take out your grimoire to hold it before yourself, “I have learned a couple of new spells that can help.”

She gurgles and spits, “Don’t get in my way and cast your supportive magics, commoner. I am going to do the rest.”

You frown, “You won’t ask what my spells are? We should be figuring out the most efficient strategy...”

“We’ll see, but I imagine I just have to beat them up,” she loudly cracks her knuckles, “I know we failed gruesomely during our cult infiltration, but I’m going to prove that mistake won’t repeat. I’ll make Captain Charlotte regret not allowing me to go into the ‘Kisehva Desert’ dungeon.” She takes a short breath: a loud whistle through her teeth.

You fidget as you take a quick skip-step to be side by side with her; she escalates her pace in provocational manner.

Her envy and jealousy are obvious. “I was only invited to join the Wardress and Vice-Captain because of my magic.”

She clears her throat, “And yet, it was an opportunity. Both of them, as well as Captain Charlotte, were impressed.”

Were they really? You do not really feel like that is the case, it all could’ve gone so much better. You exasperate.

The shadow of a long and dark corridor with no visible ceiling hides you in the darkness. You continue slowly moving forward through the shadows; you try to make sure not to accidently stumble into the other Magic Knights. Smell of fresh – as if after rain – forestry hits your nostrils. Tall and sharp grass begins to painfully bruise against your skin...

You enter the indoor gardens – the Blue Rose battle hall. It is a massive semi-orangery linked to the main mansion. The towering ceiling is made out of enchanted glass panels that ensorce both the sunlight and the moonlight passing through them. The walls are completely covered with thick brown undergrowth and massive root-like vines. Wreathing like tentacles on the walls of the hall room, near all of them are covered long, twisted and sharp thorns.

As you do not have any Offensive Form spells it’s rare for you to attend and participate in the duelling that happen here; at most, you make sure the more-serious injuries are immediately taken care of. Aside from the glass ceiling, the battle hall is also illuminated by the twilight-hued muted light of the sprouting and rapidly glowing sun flowers.

There is nobody on the tribune benches; you wonder if Charlotte does not want any audience or if she is worrying for their safety. The usually raised hill platforms are not present; instead – aside from the flat edges and a few hills – there is a colossal crater which continues to expand and descend deeper. Instead of a gradual slope there is a rapid plunge between multiple flat layers – with the last one being a hole just big enough to spread out your open arms.

“Sister Charlotte!” Sol waves at Charlotte excitingly. “Sister Char’! Here! I took care of it while you were away!”

“Refer to me as Captain, Sol,” Captain Charlotte demands with annoyance before she leads you by the edges of the pit. She is impressed, and allows this to show on her face, “Yes, this should do quite nicely. You did a good job, Sol.”

“Thank you, Sis’ Charlotte!”

She sighs and turns to face the rest of you, “There are five layers in this hollow; each becomes smaller and harder to fight those who are on the upper levels. The lower layer will also have some additional difficulties and annoyances present you must deal with. The six of you shall fight in this pit until there is only one pair with two people left standing; once those requirements are met, those who will remain standing will be given points according to layers.”

You notice Bonnie writing it all down.

Suzann frowns, “Are standing? Should they be knocked out unconscious?” Her veins turn blue as she flexes her arms.

Captain Charlotte nods, “Or they are out of mana. Four is the maximum that shall remain, but it can be three – too.”

“Sorry if I hurt you, little Cynthia,” Tugela chuckles at you – she is being playful; she not really sorry.

“So the last pair standing is going to receive points from both people?” Bonnie investigates curiously.

“That is correct, Soleado,” Captain Charlotte nods – first layer grants one point, and the last grants five. She pauses and then raises her hand towards Alice, “I will also confiscate all your Magic Tools for the duration of this battle.”