Last Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3945277/

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

Discord: https://discord.gg/cputZht
>Leave feedback or ask questions there.

Character Sheet: https://pastebin.com/raw/23VRg3ri
>Item list have been updated.

Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nesBkFLxKRM
>Always looking for new suggestions.

A few questions:
> What do you think about the Quest and how faithful it is to the world so far?
> What do you think about the character of Cynthia?
> What do you think about the dice, mana and spellcasting system of the quest?
> What do you think about the writing?

You hem. Who does she think she is? Irately, you stamp your foot inside the basin. Hot. You endure it as you enter further and further until half of your body is inside the hot waters. You keep an eye contact with astonished and incredibly grumpy Tresses’. ‘The nerve!’. You look at Cleole and offer your hand towards her, inviting her to join you. With a brief hesitancy, she puts her hands together and enters, too. Almost immediately, Tresses jumps back and her hair begins to flail around in all directions as if a tentacle-mouth of an underdeep monster. She steps out.

“Now -nobody- will be able to enter those cursed waters, Cerastes! As if you are not, rightfully, hated enough!” Tresses voice scowls in offense, “I can’t believe Captain Charlotte allowed you to stay! You fallen so hard the only ones willing to associate with you are low-born commoners like this bantam! Damn it, just stay locked, Cerastes!

After finishing her rant, Tresses storms off. Cleole does not respond, however it is clear she is hurt by her words.

You wave your hand as you make yourself comfortable near the marble rose. You might fall asleep like this…

“What’s her problem?” you ask Cleole after she, too, relaxes and sighs in relief.

Her red eyes stare off at the high, salt-dripping stone ceiling, “It’s my grimoire…” She gathers and then splashes some of the water on her face, as if trying to calm herself. She continues to sound emotionless. She throws a quick glance at her pouch and your eyes follow. “I am not originally from the Blue Rose, you see… A year ago, I used to be a part of the Silver Eagle,” while a huge achievement, she is in no way bragging about the fact. “But everything changed when we were sent to a Dungeon in the neutral territory bordering Spade. There, I accidently interacted with a dark force that entered my grimoire and corrupted it. Because of this, I was exiled from the Silver Eagle…”

The Silver Eagle stand amongst the three strongest Magic Knight Groups in all of the Clover Kingdom…

You look at her in confusion. You have no idea at the inner and outer workings of the dungeons.

She realizes that.

“Cerastes family refuses to even consider me their daughter in fear of being associated with dark magic. I am incredibly grateful; Captain Charlotte took pity on me because of her own curse. Despite me and Captain Charlotte searching for a year now to fix this curse, we have yet to come even a step closer. Whenever I am asleep and dreaming, this dark force becomes in possession of my grimoire and begins casting all sorts of misfortune spells – some of them you saw in my room. Because of this, by the morning time, my body is completely mana-less, there are warding spells all over in my room and I must be under watchful eye as to not fall asleep outside of there.”

> Question Cleole further about Captain Roselei’s curse – this is the first time you hear about this.
> Ask Cleole if there is anything you can do to help with researching her curse that she didn’t try yet.
> Purposefully push the topic aside and instead chat with Cleole about unimportant issues.
> No wonder it is such a hard topic for Cleole. Perhaps it’s best not to ask any further questions?
> [Write In]

>>3973661
> Purposefully push the topic aside and instead chat with Cleole about unimportant issues.
> Maybe ask her about mana detection

>>3973661
> Question Cleole further about Captain Roselei’s curse – this is the first time you hear about this.

>>3973662
>> Question Cleole further about Captain Roselei’s curse – this is the first time you hear about this.

>>3973662
>> Question Cleole further about Captain Roselei’s curse – this is the first time you hear about this.
>> Ask Cleole if she dreams about anything strange when she sleeps.
>> Does everyone in the Blue Rose treat her the way Tresses does?

By the way Melk, you've misspelled Archive in this post >>3973652 for the past couple threads.

>>3973904
Support this.

I don't think everyone treats her like Tresses but they do keep a distance and spread nasty rumors from what I remember

>>3973904
+1

>>3973904
Support. I'm curious about the exact nature of these dreams...

“Captain Charlotte has been cursed?” you say with a visible surprise.

“Oh,” Cleole keeps her mouth open, “Maybe she told me that by secret. Ah, as I always, I screw things up!”

She lowers her head shamefully half-way into the water to bubble it. Her red eyes stare loosely away from you.

“If you don’t want to tell me – it’s alright,” you lightly chuckle to reassure her, “I just never heard about this.”

She lifts her chin and continues in boring monotone, “Yes, it is because I now have a ‘curse’ as well, although not as defined as hers that she told me.” She sighs, “We are friends, I presume. I’ll tell you.” She scrubs her white hair. “As a child, Charlotte Roselei has been cursed by a witch… she told me. She was supposed to be trapped in a cage of time… I am not sure what that means, yet nothing pleasant, as soon as she reached the age of adulthood. Her roses are supposed to be red, but because of the curse they are blue. She somehow managed to stale her curse.”

“I… I see,” you lean your head on the stone wall. So even a powerful Captain can be cursed, although as a child.

“Keep this a secret,” she says kindly, yet her emotionless voice makes it sound like an unintended threat.

“Of course,” you nod; you find the hot waters becoming as claiming as a night blanket. “This might be a rude question, and you can tell me to mind my own business, Cleole… but, does everyone in the Blue Rose treat you the way Tresses does?” You cringe just a bit as you overstep your boundaries. You barely know Cleole, truthfully.

She stares are you with emotionless expression and responds in drawl manner, “No, not really. I can not blame everyone for keeping distance from either me or my grimoire – there is no knowing if it can influence the grimoire of others… although, that did not happen yet. Tresses Amuure has her own reasons to act this way, I believe…”

“There are no reason to be such a twat,” you excuse your language, “She acts like this to practically everyone…”

The girl tilts her head, raises her shoulders for a shrug and sighs, “It’s best if I… and you, just avoid her, Cynthia.”

You roll your eyes: you don’t deal with bullies by avoiding and hiding from them. Regardless, Tresses is one of the strongest Magic Knights, and everyone here knows her better… so, you have no validation to tell them how to act. You splash some water on your face to keep yourself awake as you decide to change the topic. “Can you tell me about the nature of your dreams? What do you see in your sleep when this dark force takes over your grimoire?

“Nothing much,” she says in pessimistically, “It’s hard to remember but small fragments of my dreams.” She pauses and ponders, “I was told that sometimes, even when I am unconscious, as long as I’m not in deep sleep, there grimoire will not be taken over. I do remember one of them vividly.”

She recounts the story, “I was in a black desert with sharp, menacing mountains standing far on all of the horizons. There was a powerful red sandstorm which, however, was not blocking my vision. Despite my best efforts, in my dream, I could not escape this entrapment. There was a voice…”

“A voice?” you ponder further.

“Yes, a booming yet at the same time whispering voice. It sounded like a very unclear riddle giving me directions.”

You blink, “That sounds strange.”

Cleole quickly glances towards her pouch, “Yes… It is. It’s hard to find any information about this dark entity…”

You close your eyes to ponder on the what her strange dream can possibly mean. You are not an oracle. Honestly speaking, you are having trouble deciphering your own dreams – although they are not as mudded as hers. Cleole goes silent too, perhaps, she decided to enjoy the calming sounds of the running water as well as to simply relax.

You might force yourself to make some time to visit this public bath more often… Wait. No. You quickly open your eyes to find Cleole dozing off, her head is leaned on her shoulder and her droll is trickling down her mouth.

“Cleole? Wake up Cleole, hey,” you tell her in a worry, but she does not respond – there is no way she’s a heavy sleeper, is there? In justified worry, you look at her pouch that is leaking a brilliant, soothing purple-white liquid.

> The last resort – slap Cleole across the face in an attempt to wake her up.
> Your grimoire is in changing room. Make an attempt to forecall it to your side to cast [Weighted Blanket] on Cleole’s grimoire in an attempt to stop it’s spreading magic and give you enough time to awake Cerastes Cleole.
> Cleole’s pouch appears to be made out of linen. Push your magic into the cloth to create a barrier to hold the curse constrained long enough to give you time to wake up Cleole from her slumber. Do you want to touch it?
> [Write In]

>>3973904
>Thank for noticing, auto-correct I presume. I'll fix it by the next thread.

>>3973713
>Sorry I did not understand what you mean by "ask her about mana detection".

>>3975467
>> Your grimoire is in changing room. Make an attempt to forecall it to your side to cast [Weighted Blanket] on Cleole’s grimoire in an attempt to stop it’s spreading magic and give you enough time to awake Cerastes Cleole.

>>3975467
>> The last resort – slap Cleole across the face in an attempt to wake her up.

>>3975467
> Your grimoire is in changing room. Make an attempt to forecall it to your side to cast [Weighted Blanket] on Cleole’s grimoire in an attempt to stop it’s spreading magic and give you enough time to awake Cerastes Cleole.

if that does not work then try this > The last resort – slap Cleole across the face in an attempt to wake her up.

>>3975539
i had a brain fart i meant to say to slap first then try the other thing after that if it doesn't work

>>3975467
>Use healing blanket on the grimoire

>>3975933
>I wouldn't suggest that, as your healing would have no effect on a grimoire. You try using it on Cleole but it's not meant as a "wake up" spell.

>>3975933
Do you want to switch to trying to use the weighted blanket spell instead?

You slip in the water as you stumble towards the sleeping Knight. The ‘curse liquid’ is now dripping into the waters of the bath and sizzles on contact with it, raising a foul stench. It also corrupt the air to the touch of your skin. As you madly splash the water, you reach forwards and grab Tugela by her shoulders. You shake her up and back but the woman continues to nap. Hesitantly, you raise your arm to then gift Cleole with a strong slap.

“Awch,” Cerastes’ red eyes fill up with tears as she awakes from her slumber, “Why are you hitting me, Cynthia?”

“Cleole,” you grab her shoulders only to the point your hand towards the grimoire. The outlandish, purple-white puddle is still drenching the pouch and is ‘corrupting’ the centre bath. “You were asleep when that happened!”

Her eyes widen – it is the rare time you see her usual, emotionless composure break. Quickly, she jumps out of the water and throws her hand forwards. A grimoire with the colour of a concrete block, with a cover resembling a foliated ancient boulder, with a three-leaf orange-yellow clover residing inside a turquoise cross with a loop top, breaks the lock of the pouch and lifts into the air before it spread open and a white light engulfs it’s pages. There are no signs you can spot marking it cursed or corrupt.

“Alabaster Magic: Aker’s Obelisk.” She commands and the ground beneath your feet shakes.

From underneath the waters, a glistering pink mineral bursts and breaks blistering liquid. It soon completely shelters the pool from the strange liquid and isolates it in a small basin on top of it the pillar. Cleole tightly grips her fist and the ‘obelisk’ begins to crack and then collapse on itself until it crumbles back to the bottom of earth.

She quickly dashes across the water to push her grimoire back into her pouch and slap the belt on her body. “It’s always my fault, I’m going to end up hurting somebody in here,” she mutters - half-cries – and quickly escapes from the baths before you are able to stop or confront her any further. Okay – that’s enough of bathing for today!

By the time you get dry and dressed, you realize how much quicker time passes when you are lazing around. You decide to skip the breakfast and rush to the workshop, where Lilth is already working all by himself. He greets you with a meek nod and you apologize for not being able to return any sooner yesterday. You assure him that you will begin working on Elvira’s gift now and, not a second sooner, Tugela – as usual – arrives with a loud door snap.

“I’ma ready to work, lucky for mae,” she mutters something uncomprehensive, “No maissions for mae today!”

Fortunately, she decides not to discuss the mixer – and Labrys – while Lilth is here; you prefer to forget the entire night occurred at all. You are in no surprise to find Tugela struggling with moderately difficult tasks – she is not the type of characters to be precise, patient and careful. This might take a while, but by the time Pero arrives, you are confident enough to appoint the boy to more difficult errands while asking Tugela to take care of easier ones.

Like this, you find the menacing piles of clothes and uniforms being quickly taken care of. You even find some time to work on Elvira’s gown by cutting a brandy rose dress into the correct shapes – your magic is far from advanced to allow you to produce clothes without pre-maid materials or the help of scissors or knives. That’s not a problem at all, however … your father’s attribute is Scissors Magic – he taught you how to safely use them when you were three years old.

Tugela finds herself easily fitting in with Lilth’s curious and Pero’s expressive nature. Either because they know her for a lot longer than you, or because of her personality, the boys appear to be much more open to her than you…

You don’t get too far with the dress when the time of the first break-pause bongs. Somehow, Pero is able to feel and predict the exact time minutes before you realize – it’s an annoying talent. It is only the first break today, but you four have already managed to take care of more than half of today’s agenda – you don’t need him to overwork. You give Pero and Lilth the simplest of nods to acknowledge them leaving as you are left by yourself.

“I need somae energy wine in mayself about now!” Tugela escapes after that.

>Continue working on Elvira’s gift-dress.
>Enter Charlotte’s office to finally return the Paralyze Knife and enquiry her about Cleole’s curse.
>Go to the gardens to see if Elvira is there, by chance. It is a bit too early for your promised meet-up time.
>Go to the garden to practice flying on your new magic broom, as you didn’t get the chance yesterday.
>Go to the dining hall to grab a bite, maybe you can catch up on any interesting news while you are there.
>Continue working on Elvira’s gift.
>Swift your gears and go on with repairing Vice’Captain’s gown instead.
>[Write In]

>You can pick multiple, but don’t overwhelm yourself!
>Thanks for playing, sorry for the delay!

>>3977576
>>Enter Charlotte’s office to finally return the Paralyze Knife and enquiry her about Cleole’s curse.
>Switch your gears and go on with repairing Vice’Captain’s gown instead.

No worries Melk. By the way, what exactly does Cynthia's Grimoire look like?

>>3977612
>I didn't go into details as Black Clover grimoire designs are pretty intricate but it's of light-silver colour with four decorative linen-textured like lines creating a # frame.The three-leaf clover, the center piece, is light-blue and looks as if patched there.

>>3977612
+1

>>3977612
This is good

>>3977612
+1

File: chibi2.png (922 KB, 911x911)

922 KB PNG

>Emergency at work. Sadly, I won't be able to muster an update before I have to leave. Perhaps I'll have the strength after returning home.

>>3979020
no worries

>>3979020
It's all good, don't push yourself too hard.

>>3979020
Pssh, will there be a timeskip after the challenge is done?

Elvira’s gift is coming alone… gradually – it is not a hard piece, however, since you are not really a dressmaker, it is still going to take you a while to get it right and done. You decide to fold and put it away for now, and work on Vice-Captain’s gown instead – an annoying, fallow dress you have to remind yourself not even to attempt to use your magic on, for it is silk. You come into the flow of things with just scissors and needles; you have to try and be incredibly patient and careful as not to ruin the gown. You complete the skirt, but you need more silk for the flounce.

You leave the gown be as you yawn and flex your arms – there is still time for you to do something else. You decide to ask either Lilth or Pero to bring some blue silk from Olyver’s workshop, as this would be easier and less awkward for you. You rummage through your bag as you prepare to go for a walk, only to find the Paralyze Knife still inside. Oops. You should probably return it, don’t you? You don’t want to get Captain Roselei any angrier…

After leaving the workshop, you, quite straightforwardly, find the way to the beautifully engraved wooden doors of her office. It seems you are getting accustomed to those labyrinth corridors of Roselei mansion. Captain Charlotte is standing in front of them, locking the doors and preparing to leave. You approach her before that.

“Tailor Cynthia,” Charlotte nods her head as soon as she notices you. Her blue eyes eye you vigilantly, lukewarmly. “I am about to go to the dining hall, if there is anything important you need to discuss – then let us do it in there.”

Your stomach grumbles; fair enough. You give her a short, courteous nod before you take out the Paralyze Knife and offer it to Charlotte. The woman’s eyebrow perks. She cautiously takes the knife into her hands and after a brief inspection of it, she gives you an obliged nod and hides it in her bag. “I will be safekeeping it,” she says.

She knocks her boots to start pacing into the hallway. Following your invitation, you begin to tail after her.

“So, tell me,” her voice verses the sound of her iron heels, “How are you enjoying your time in the Blue Rose?”

“It’s… interesting,” you say, “It’s hard to focus on my tailor work with so much stuff happening around me.”

“I’ve noticed,” she echoes as she turns her head straight, “It seems that you can’t concentrate on your duties.”

You look at her in shock and bite your lips in dejection. It’s true that this position is not something you hold on to, Charlotte is rather perceptive. However, many of the non-tailor things you did this week were for the sake of it…

Right?

“No,” you challenge her after a brief, hesitating pause, “I am very concentrated. It is going quite well for us.”

Her expression remains calm, “What happened in my labyrinth precedes you,” you flinch, “It is an inconvenient method to gather popularity, but it is not up to me to judge you. My Magic Knights are curious; it worked…”

“It was just an accident,” you bob your head clumsily, “But I’m happy there’s much work. I think I have a chance.”

She nods.

“I wanted to ask you,” you mutter, “I was wondering if you could tell me about Cleole’s curse?”

She grimaces. She elegantly lifts her hair with her hand to put it over her shoulder. She looks down at you.

“Do you think this is your business, tailor Cynthia?”

“No, I just… I spoke to her; she seems rather troubled and isolated because of it. I was wondering if there was something – anything – I could do to help her? From what she told me, it sound very difficult and dangerous.”

She clicks her tongue before grunting and looking at you, “No, there is nothing you can do.”

“Oh…”

“Her ‘curse’ is extremely unusual and dangerous. Finding a solution would require going into the most dangerous parts of not Clover Kingdom, but the world. Until then, Cleole is the only person who can learn to deal with it.”

>Anything further or more you would like to ask Charlotte about?

>>3979263
>If you want spoilers I can tell you?

>>3980747
Hmmm, let's ask her if she has a personal request for us or if she knows anybody who needs something done but didn't approach Olyver yet. Let's also ask what she means by "usual" curse? And yes, do tell if there's a timeskip - are we going to play in the sixth month timeframe or we'll be in the BC timeline?

>>3980950
Support

>>3980950
+1

>>3973904
+1

“What’s the difference between a “usual” and “unusual” curse?” you question Charlotte curiously.

The woman briefly and slowly raises her chin, “If you never heard about curses, I don’t want to scare you.”

You wave your hand in front of your face half-casually, “I’d rather be prepared, just in… case.” You nod.

She lets out an – obviously – exaggerated sigh, “It is usually not something civilians, especially commoners, should be worrying about. A “usual” curse would be a devil anathema – a Forbidden Magic infused with devils’ power.”

“D-devils?” you look at her in brief disbelief, “Then, her curse isn’t because of her interaction with unholy magic?”

Charlotte puts the fingers of her fingerless glove over your head. She pushes you, as if to silent your curiosity. “No,” she replies after a brief pause, “It is still – call it Forbidden, call it Unholy, call it Dark – Magic, but it does not come from the devil or those in cohorts with the devils. It is much rarer and more unique, for better or worse.”

You give a short nod yet again as you ponder on Charlotte’s words. Many thoughts continue to swirl in your mind as you fail to decide on exact question to ask Captain Roselei. Instead, the two of you continue in silence until you reach the extremely busy dining halls of the Blue Rose Headquarters. You follow Charlotte as she ventures to the counter and picks up her set of lunch-meals from the chef. You pick the same things she does: a lamb stew with potatoes, aubergines, carrots, onions and turmeric, a small bowl of pumpkin soup with croutons, a small, roasted salmon fillet on its own bowl and you also pick a fresh salad bowl of watercress, tomatoes, cucumber and radish.

You trail Charlotte as she carries the thin, wooden tray over the raising steps of the hall – a moderate, yet separate level of the hall with a long, engraved in thorn imagery and blue gold side-gilded table. Charlotte places the tray in front of the one of the three chairs surrounding the table: the rest are empty. Is this the officers’ place? You watch Charlotte as she touches a spectral-glass vase with her fingers in order to manifest an enormous bouquet of blue roses to decorate the table. Satisfied with herself, she smiles and begins on her own set of meals.

She does not invite you to the table, is that a given? …Should you leaver her be and find another spot, perhaps?

You look around to spot Tresses sitting in a small clique of Magic Knights. She is dinning on incredibly massive chunk of meat, with a giant knife, as if a sword, sticking out of it. Tresses’s blue eyes are staring you down with cold judgement, she is, as much as you are yourself, curious on what you are doing near the officers’ table… and what you will do now. Her hair is twisted into a single, long whip with a massive claw holding the table hostage. Each nail-end of the claw is as sharp, long and massive as an individual scythe… she -really- does not like you.

> Join Captain Charlotte behind her table on one of the empty seats and begin with your food.
> Ask Captain Charlotte if you can join her. If she says no, apologize for being brazen and find some other place.
> Quietly step aside and look for some other place to eat your repast. Pick one:
Olyver’s Company Table; Cleole’s Table; Alice’s Table; Sol’s, Wainsley’s and Puli’s Table;

>>3983008
>Ask Captain Charlotte if you can join her. If she says no, apologize for being brazen and find some other place.

>>3983008
> Quietly step aside and look for some other place to eat your repast.
> Pick one: Cleole’s Table;
>> Apologize for slapping her this morning

>>3983071
To be honest now that I think about it I'm wondering if your healing blanket would work on weak curses, items or people. If she say yes ask her about it if she holds weak cursed items that we culd test it on.

>>3983078
+1

File: Cynthia.jpg (48 KB, 640x1021)

48 KB JPG

>>3983071
Supporting this.

Also picrelated how I imagine Cynthia to look.

>>3983302
>Aside from eyes that are more brown-orange than red, and a biggest chest, I think it's fair representation! I should probably use it as a next OP pic. It'll gather more attention than a metal scissors sign.
>On your previous question, sorry, yes, there are plans for a timeskip but it all depends on how the challenge will go.

>Bad News: No update today
>Good News: After this week is over I have holiday so I am very likely to update more often.

>>3983828
I think you should stay with the old one. I at least prefer it

>>3983828
i too think that you should stay with the old one

>>3983828
Yeah, don't change it.

“Do you mind if I join you?” you ask Charlotte in the most oblivious way you can.

She patiently finishes chewing a piece of her meal and then gives you a short glance. She nods, silently.

You quickly answer her with your own, ginger nod as you pick the closest – a rather well-decorated and gold-gilded – empty chair and place yourself there. Instinctively, you can’t help but glance back at Tresses who you now see grinding her teeth and cracking the corner of her table with her sharp hair-claw. You decide to ignore her…

“Who usually sits here?” you ask after a brief hesitation as you look at the empty chair.

“It was designed for me, Vice-Captain and the third highest ranking Magic Knight here to gather and discuss things together,” she answers you patiently, “However… is the rare for the Vice-Captain to join me, and today, even Wardress Virginia is absent.” She silently hovers spoon mid-air, “I ponder on what her excuse will be today…”

You gulp and hastily start on your food. It’s delicious, of course, but your nervousness ruins it’s taste.

“Hello there,” Tugela’s high voice follows as she suddenly slaps your shoulders from behind and leans forwards, “I see you took may seat,” she chuckles lightly at you. She looks at the captain and smiles, “Enjoy your food, Captn’.”

“It is not your seat, Tugela,” Charlotte reminds her with a slow remark, “It’s the Wardresses’. Where is she?”

“She said she had somae things to take care of,” Tugela bangs an incredibly expensive looking bottle of red wine on the empty side of the table as she spins on her heels and joins you and Charlotte by the empty chair… huh?

“Do you want somae, Captain?” Tugela asks Charlotte. That’s right, Tugela is always together with Charlotte and Victoria during the dinning breaks – can it be that she’s the fourth strongest Knight in here? That’s possible…

“No, and unless they have a body as weird as yours, I do not want anybody else drinking here,” she answers.

Tugela pouts her cheeks but then, reasonably, shrugs and, without bothering with a wine glass, starts drinking the wine from the neck of the bottle. Gulp. Gulp. Gulp. You shake your head in a concerned manner at this display.

“I will have to bring the share to both Wardress Victoria and Vice-Captain,” Charlotte mutters to herself before sighing, “Alice and Tresses are leaving for their mission tomorrow, I am worrying if anyone else should join them.”

“It’s a secret maission, isn’t it?” Tugela asks as she begins eating her salad, “The lesser the better on those…”

“You are correct, Draken,” Charlotte acknowledges the woman, “But I reason you should join them.”

“M-mae?” Tugela coughs on the wine and winces, “With Tresses and Alice? There is no way, Captain Charlotte.”

“This is Alice’s first mission of this standard. Tresses needs to learn to work together with others and you…” she finishes with a sharp emphasis, “You need to learn to control your impulsiveness, this mission will test that.”

“I… I can’t,” Tugela glances away – sweating, “I… I promaised to help little Cynthia here with her workshop.”

“Have you?” Charlotte eyes you suspiciously, “I did not know you had tailoring as your interest, Tugela.”

“I don’t,” she spreads her arms in front of her, “I’ma doing this because I like her, and goodness of may heart.”

Charlotte turns her body and leans her empty arm on the side of the chair to meet your eyes, “Let’s say I believe that. Tailor Cynthia have managed to split her attention on both of those things, so it should be no problem for you. It is originally a two-person mission, of course, but I it will benefit Tugela. What do you say, tailor Cynthia?”

You glance at Tugela: she is vividly shaking her head – she really doesn’t want to go on this mission.

> “Thousands apologies, Captain Charlotte, but if Tugela is not here, I will not be able to finish my requests.”
> “I am just a mere tailor, Captain, it’s unfair for you to put me on this spot. I only asked Tugela to help me a bit.”
> “This mission sounds dangerous and important; I am certain repairing clothes is of less significance than it.”
> [Write In]

>>3984673
>>3984685
>>3984970
>Fair enough. I will keep the old one for now.

>>3986364
> “I am just a mere tailor, Captain, it’s unfair for you to put me on this spot. I only asked Tugela to help me a bit.”

>>3986364
>> “This mission sounds dangerous and important; I am certain repairing clothes is of less significance than it.”

>>3986364
> “This mission sounds dangerous and important; I am certain repairing clothes is of less significance than it.”
> "I think it's expected that Tresses and Alice will butt heads and who would be better specialist then you Tugela?"
Cruel seamstress is cruel

>>3986364
> “Thousands apologies, Captain Charlotte, but if Tugela is not here, I will not be able to finish my requests.”

File: padoru.png (83 KB, 339x349)

83 KB PNG

>>3986367
Happy holidays QM

>>3986367
Yeah, merry Christmas

>>3989108
Cute Charlotte!

>>3989108
>>3989131
Thank you! Sorry for the lack of updates, a wild Christmas and then a long airplane flight. I'll try to update today.

“This mission sounds dangerous and important; I am certain repairing clothes is of less significance than it.”

“It is,” Charlotte affirms your words, “That’s why I can trust only select few to do it; people like you, Tugela.”

“I think it's expected that Tresses and Alice will butt heads and who would be better specialist then you Tugela?"

The Goat Knight stares both of you down with her orange eyes and scowls, “I’ma a bad negotiator you know!”

“You’re not the best,” Charlotte cuts her harshly, “But that is why this mission will be beneficial for you, too.”

“You know how Tresses is, Captain Charlotte,” Tugela takes a long gulp of her wine, “She only listens to people who can best her, and may record in battles against her is not that good.” Tugela pulls the edge of her ear to belch, like a goat, in annoyance, “With the type of maission it is, I think mae being there will get in the way.”

“I will make it clear that you will be in charge,” Charlotte says as she finishes her meal and courteously folds her fork and knife on the tray, “As your Captain, I am taking a big responsibility by accepting and assigning my Magic Knights for this mission, Tugela – I hope you understand that.” She taps her chin in a thought and then stands up for the table, “I have already made my decision; I don’t think tailor Cynthia needs your help as much as I do, now.”

Echoing her words, Captain Roselei gently bumps her chair and leaves to the counter to add something else to her meal. Tugela looks at you with another pout, then her eyes wander towards Charlotte’s back before she puts two fingers to her forehead. She hums in a thought. You clap your hands to catch her attention and shake your head.

“It maight work,” Tugela harrumphs and then leans on her elbows. She sighs, “I ama not looking forwards to it.”

“It will be alright,” your earnest smile grows, “It won’t be a problem for an amazing Magic Knight like you!”

Tugela’s shortens the distance and, just a bit rudely, pushes your head down with her cold, iron palm. You eek.
“Don’t think I don’t see obvious flattery, little tailor… You should go check on Virginia after you finish eating.”

“Is she not feeling well?” you lower your voice as you, uselessly, try to raise your head against her physical strength – she doesn’t allow you. “How did -her- date went, then? Did she return back safely? Was she happy?”

“Oh yes,” Tugela drawls, “She was satisfied, -too- satisfied – I think it went a little too well. She has a headache.”

A rare few are as incredible drinkers as Tugela Draken; of course. Neither you and Virginia are that type of person.

You nod to Tugela as she finally raises her hand. As if a spring, your neck swings way up: it makes you doozy. With that, she gives you a short – a well-mannered – nod and leaves the table. Hopefully, Tugela understands you were put between a rock and a hard place. You are caught off-guard as a short person with bushy sand-hued hair creeps on you from behind. It’s… Bonnie, right? She’s the snoopy with the gossip diary. Her voice is very furtive and sly…

“Are you actually another Magic Group’s spy? Is Cynthia even your real name?”

“W-What are you even talking about?” you exclaim in disbelief.

Her hazy, cloudy emerald eyes give you an uncanny feeling of being watched and ignored at the same time, it’s hard to say what she is thinking. She slams her open diary against the officer’s table and grind her fingers against the fresh ink, “That would explain why you were able to finish Captain Charlotte’s twisted and trap-filled dungeon on your first time – it’s too obvious you are not a regular tailor with such abilities. A spy is the only explanation!”

“How many times do I have to-”

She cuts you by placing her finger on your lips, “If you don’t come clear now, I will find more evidence.”

“I’m not a spy, I have been living in Kikka my entire life.”

“Don’t deny it,” she quickly turns the pages of her diary in search of additional information. “And what about Mizu, the city famous for its vinegary yacons? I was there just a few hours ago… There are not that many people with cloth magic around the Clover Kingdom, but that’s exactly who they say healed them last night. Let’s see…”

You gulp, audibly. “Cloth magic may be rare, but it’s not unique to me,” you slap her diary shut.

Wildly, she grabs the pen from the closed diary – acting as bookmark, and puts it into her mouth to chew on it. “But what group would need you to spy for them, and on who? Our activities? Could be… the Silver Eagle! ‘Course, even though they exiled ‘Misfortune Grimoire’, they must be still keeping an eye on her very strange curse… Yes-yes…”

She is going on a rant, now. You have to stop her from overblowing her, obviously wrong, accusation.

> Rudely insist that Bonnie should not be spreading around such accusations without -real- proof.
> Tell Bonnie that you are here to make sure Cleole is safe; ask the woman what she wants for her silence?
> Tell her that you are a spy from the Magic Emperor and that your job is to secretly judge how Blue Rose does.
> With how much information she had gathered, ask Bonnie how you can know -she- is not a spy here?
> [Write In]

>>3989949
>> With how much information she had gathered, ask Bonnie how you can know -she- is not a spy here?

>>3989949
> With how much information she had gathered, ask Bonnie how you can know -she- is not a spy here?
Welcome back

>>3989949
>> With how much information she had gathered, ask Bonnie how you can know -she- is not a spy here?

>>3990094
>Thank you! Merry Past-Christmas to all here.

You snort, “With how much information you seem to have in this little diary, how can I know you are not the spy who is trying to take attention from herself? It looks like you know every detail about every Blue Rose member…”

The short woman gasps, “Me? I have been part of this noble and amazing Magic Group for three years straight!”

“Maybe it’s a long-term plan,” you insist and grimace in phoney suspicion, “How can you say that’s not true?”

“That would be an extremely elaborate, complicated, long-standing, calculative and hard plan unlike yours.”

“Yes, that sounds like something someone as bright and investigative as you would come up with.”

“Why thank you – hey,” she grumbles and clutches the diary into her hands, “I see what you are doing here…” She bites an edge of the pencil with her surprisingly wolf-like teeth to sharpen it. She opens the little book and immediately begins feverishly writing something – more-than-likely about you – down. And more… and more…

She is so concentrated on her diary she completely misses out on you escaping. Which you do. You give Sol an acknowledging nod as you quickly pass by her and escape the dinning hall… Only to trip and fall on your face…

Ouch… you slowly raise your head and rub your now-red nose. You brush the small tears of pain off your eyes as you take a sitting position and glance around you at many of the Magic Knights looking at your direction. Some of them are trying to hold down a chuckle while others have a face of utter confusion. Is stumbling a crime now?

A long, snake-like braid of brilliant, blonde hair hastily escapes your view as it slides behind a nearby table. Your eyes dart towards the one sitting behind it – Tresses Amuure. She looks very happy and satisfied with herself…

> Get in Tresses’ face and question why she is acting so childish and petty. Why can’t she just leave you alone?
> If Tresses is going be this petty, so will you. Surge your Linen Magic through tablecloth and slap her with it.
> Ignore this juvenile and immature attempt and be the better woman. Stand up and return to your workshop.
> [Write In]

>>3991061
>> Ignore this juvenile and immature attempt and be the better woman. Stand up and return to your workshop.

>>3991061
>> Ignore this juvenile and immature attempt and be the better woman. Stand up and return to your workshop.

>>3991061
>> Ignore this juvenile and immature attempt and be the better woman. Stand up and return to your workshop.

>Do you think Tresses is a tsundere or just a bitch?

>>3991061
> Get in Tresses’ face and question why she is acting so childish and petty. Why can’t she just leave you alone?
>>3991230
Tsundere Ojou-sama

>>3991230
She definitely hasn't shown any dere as far as I remember. She just seems like a stuck up bully. I'd feel sorry for Tugella if she had to contend with not 1, but 2 tsunderes between Alice and Tresses on that secret mission lol.

You push your hands to stand up in one single, graceful motion. Your eyes dart forwards, ignoring Tresses and the rest. You slap your working clothes to clean them from dust as you escape the dinning hall amongst the stares and awkward whispers. You meander the labyrinth hallways of Blue Rose headquarters for a brief while before you eventually reach the workshop and return back to heaps of yet-to-be-finished, damaged clothing. You try to keep your mind off Tresses to be a better woman, but the growing agitation is hard to quiet down. Your magic gives up in uneven surges before you have to leave the clothes be and sit on a pile of textile spools to hush your nerves.

Lilth and Pero come back twenty minutes later: if they have seen anything that happened in the dining hall, they do not show it. For some reason, Pero is acting extremely hyperactive and verbose but, when you ask him the reason why, he suspiciously avoids the question. You whisper a prayer that it is not something as shady as what transpired with the wine bottle. This time, Tugela does not come back… it is because of having to prepare for her mission that is to happen tomorrow (was it?) or is it because you did not take her side? You shake your head…

… … …

“Thia? Hey, Thia,” Pero voice wakes you from a trance as you realize you have been working in silence for what appears to be a very long time; there are just so many things to concentrate and take care of, and you barely have the time to! Your eye look down at the small, young worker who is tugging at your work dress. “Can we go now?”

“Go?” you ask him in awkward, almost sleepy manner, “G-go where?” Is the boy trying to sleaze away again?!

“For our break, of course!” he pouts his cheeks in a mocking manner and then points towards the table that is, obviously, lacking any clothes in need of repair? You need to keep a better track of time. You look at Lilth who is giving you a worried gaze, despite the absence of his eyes behind his enchanted glasses. Right, the second break…

“Thia,” Pero repeats and silently connects his fingers, “You don’t look that good, do you need a -rest-…?”

You casually grasp his fingers in your palm’s grasp to stop him casting his spell. Second break… you gasp in shock and realization; you seize your second set of top-clothes to put them on as you dash towards the door… With any luck you are not going to make Elvira wait too long! In haste, you open the door and turn your head to look at the boys with a nod. “I have to run but, of course, you two can go on your break! Lilth, I left some notes for the dre-…”

Once again, you find yourself tripping over something unexpected and painfully slamming your face on the unfriendly, hard floor. You groan as your forehead grows a noticeable lump from the impact… So juvenile, so petty, so childish… You take a deep breath… Does Tresses not know when to give up?! You glare right at her…

“Tugela?” your voice hiccups in utter surprise as the tall, displeased looking Goat Knight slides away her boot.

Can this be considered as one of her domineering headbutts? No, that’s not the question you should be having!

“That’s it,” she shakes her hands in zealous excitement as she approaches and quickly lifts you off the – thankfully clean – ground before you can even react, “Since I have a single day left, we will be getting you offensive spells!”

“Wh-what?” you lift your hands to rub your aching forehead, “What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“You didn’t do anything to Tresses because you don’t have offensive spells, right-right?” she looks over your face as if to make sure you have no serious injuries from her toppling you over, “So – you need to learn somae, easy!”

“No,” you wince, “I didn’t attack her because I have no offensive spells… I just didn’t want to.”

Tugela’s orange eyes narrow as she pauses as if to proceed your explanation. She grabs your hand and pulls you towards herself as she starts running to the end of the hallway, “We’ll get you an offensive spell in no timae!”

“W-wait, please,” you huff as you, somehow, manage to break her tight grip. It takes you a few seconds to stop from the reckless dragging, “I have somewhere else to go right now… It’s very important, Tugela.” You put both of your hands together, as if in a plea. She crosses her hands over her chest, deviously. “Besides,” you insist as you take a few steps backwards just to be sure, “It’ll probably be impossible for me to learn an offensive spell in just a few hours with a simple practice, I’m a healing mage… It will require a lot more training and time I don’t have.”

“Every mage should have an offensive spell, little Cynthia – the ones that don’t are an exception, not the rule.”

“But you, Cleole and Alice have offensive spells, and you lost to Tresses – even if I get it, it won’t help me much.”

Tugela starts waving her open palm in front of her face, “No, I’ma sure you can kick her bottoma if you get one.”

You sigh, “Let’s talk about it some other time,” you smile at her apologetically, “How are you feeling now?”

She drops and lazily waves her arms towards the floor, “I really don’t want to go on this maission with those women, little tailor – but it looks like the Captain won’t be satisfied until I do, I’m going to physically train now.”

You look away sheepishly, “Does Tresses really only listen to people who can beat her in battle?”

“She’s an annoying noble, an annoying kid and an annoying prodigy – the worst of thema all,” Tugela complains as she slides her hands across her rosy face in, obviously, exaggerated manner. However, a small smile grows as she adds an interesting detail, “The time she heard about the boy who got the four-leaf grimaoire was incredible!”

A four-leaf clover?! WHAT?!!

Damn, you really can’t make Elvira wait any longer than you already did. You throw a swift and half-serious apology to Tugela as you promise to consider her offer despite the palpable negatives. You rush down the stairs and then the slippery entrance hall before you dash through the exit door and further into the Roselei’s gardens…

To your gratitude, Elvira is in your secret spot – she has her grimoire taken out but she is not practicing any magic, instead, she seems to be patiently waiting for your appearance. Once she notices your heavily breathing and worn-out figure, she decides, for best, to approach you instead and lead you to one of the lake’s grassy beaches.

“Sorry,” you gracelessly accept her water bottle to wet your throat, “I lost the track of time…” You tell her as you then remove a 500 yul coin from your money bag to offer it to the cooking assistant, “Here, as I promised you.”

“O-oh,” she nervously takes the coin she have seen as many times as you – that is to say, not many. “T-thank you, Cynthia… really, this means a lot.” She gives you a ginger smile as she awkwardly stumbles a few time until she is able to open her grimoire with her free hand. You watch as she holds the coin into her palm and closes her eyes.

Elvira’s grimoire begins to glow in intense, copper light. The three-leaf clover turns all-white as the spell is cast…

As soon as the light calms, Elvira puts her head to her shoulder to avoid it falling. You put your hands on your knees and calmly put your head forward with a curious gaze – did it work? Elvira smiles briefly as she opens her palms to reveal two absolutely identical coins – this is no mere counterfeit. She lifts her hands for you to take both of the coins into your hands. You inspect them to the best of your abilities – physically and magically…

No, you can’t find a single fault with either of them, they both look… real. What a dangerous magic.

“Do you think you have the mana to do it again?” you ask her with a mild curiosity.

Her cheeks redden in harsh embarrassment, “I… I am not sure. I feel very tired now – the coin is complicated.”

“Yes,” you spin the coin in your fingers, “It’s pure gold, but the engravings and safety measures are intricate.” You pause before you realize Elvira is hungrily looking at the high-valued coins. You nod and push your palm towards her, “Here, as promised, you can take one of them. I… can’t even guess which one of them is the original one.”

File: Yul Coin.jpg (84 KB, 700x330)

84 KB JPG

Elvira’s irises widen as she gasps and then nervously holds her fingers over both of the yul coins, “N-no way. Y-you are correct, Cynthia, they are the same… M-maybe I should try again, m-maybe I have just enough mana left to do it a second time.” She finally takes one of the coins and holds it to her eyes. The golden sparkle of its tempting surface reflects in her eyes. “This is… a day’s wage, even more. N-no way, if I can just do this it will be so simple…”

> “There should be no problem as long as you are just practising your magic; copy as many times as you want to.”
> “I am not sure the Magic Knights will approve if they learn about this, Elvira. I suggest you keep it a secret.”
> “I’m a weak mage, there might be a way to sense if it’s fake. Let’s have somebody else look at it…” [Specify]
> “It will be very suspicious if you base your income on your magic alone, it’s best you try to use it sparingly.”
> “Do you think I can borrow some of the coins you’ll make once you get the hang of it?”
> [Write In]

>>3992915
> “I am not sure the Magic Knights will approve if they learn about this, Elvira. I suggest you keep it a secret.”
> “It will be very suspicious if you base your income on your magic alone, it’s best you try to use it sparingly.”
Those two definitely
> “I’m a weak mage, there might be a way to sense if it’s fake. Let’s have somebody else look at it…” [Tugela]

>>3992915
supporting >>3992936

Hmm. I was going to suggest that maybe we show the coin to Sol instead of Tugella, since her magic is related to earth she might have a better feel for something made of metal. However, thinking on it again, Sol is extremely loyal to Charlotte, so she'd probably tell her about this and Elvira would be forced to stop. Tugella was friends with that illegal magic item shop lady, so she'll hopefully be more cool with it.

>>3992936
+1

“I’m not sure the Magic Knights will approve if they learn about this, Elvira. I suggest you keep it a secret.”

“I… Of course,” she dark-haired girl nods at you repeatedly, “Even I can’t believe this actually worked for me.”

“Yes,” you put your hand over her coin to hide the glistering object from her view, “Also, it will be very suspicious if you base your income on your magic alone, it’s best you try to use it sparingly.” You give Elvira a soft cautioning.

Her nails fretfully scratch and then squeeze the yul coin tighter. Slightly, she bites her lower lip and look at you with a spent smile, “I don’t think I can use it more than sparingly, Cynthia, even if I wanted to… Just my mana.”

You furrow your brows but you, too, smile, “What I am saying is… keep this trick if you are -really- low on funds.”

“My family is -really low on funds-, Cynthia,” Elvira answers back with surprising sternness, “I… Like this, with this… I’ll finally be able to return home with all the money we need. I love it in my village… I-I really hate it here.”

“You hate it here?” you ask, and she – with obvious discomfort – shifts her body.

“T-that’s a s-strong word,” her voice staggers. She puts her hand on top of another, “But I don’t belong here.”

“You don’t have to work as a cooking assistant forever,” you nod your head in upbeat manner, “It is just my opinion, but I think you’ll be able to do amazing things with your magic and it will be a waste to hide it away.”

“I-it’s a waste such an amazing magic and grimoire manifested in me, isn’t it?”

Why does this sound familiar?

“Is this about Tresses?” your voice chills as you glare at Elvira’s trembling hands with suspicion. “If it is then…”

She looks away, “Miss Tresses is a powerful Magic Knight, and her goal is to become the Magic Emperor, Cynthia.” The dark-haired woman who is more of an adult than either you or Tresses, says all of this with oblivious distress, “I’m just a peasant with no mana, it’s not for me to get in her way or even talk back. I know this. Which is why…” Her eyes return to the coin she refuses to even put aside or hide away, “If I can do this everyone will be satisfied.

You sigh and shake your head. How can Charlotte be allowing this? Can it be that not even she is strong enough to deal with Tresses? No, that doesn’t seem to be the case, that girl seems to be respecting the Captain… Then what?

“Elvira, I’m a weak mage, there might be a way to sense if it’s fake. Let’s have somebody else look at it…”

“N-no,” she snaps her neck in nervous motion as she steps back and glances left and right, “L-Like who?”

“Don’t worry, it is a person I can trust…” you motion forward to ask her to give you the coin. Obviously, she hesitates. “And it’s a person I already know who -deals- with illegal magic usage… in a way. I won’t mention you at all, I promise. I’ll find you later today and return you the coin regardless of what she tells me. Trust me, Elvira.”

She puts her hands to her conservative shirt before, very slowly, bobbing her head and giving you the coin… She understands your chariot of thoughts – since you don’t know which one is the original coin, you will need both. The two of you exchange a farewell near the doorsteps of the Headquarters as you start looking for Tugela – you remember her mentioning planning to physically train herself for tomorrow’s mission, and, quickly enough, you find her by the exploding noise of her – extremely loud – Impact Magic and the overturned tress and stones…

“Is Captain fine with you destroying all those garden splendours?” you question as you, carefully, approach her.

Tugela stops as she notices you. The Goat Knight flexes her hand so dexterously and hard it echoes a cracking sound. She is surrounded by semi-transparent, sharply thin, pink winds; as if standing in the eye of the storm. All resembles a stampeded of ivory, somewhat eldritch animals with glowing eyes shadowing the landscape. It all dissipates almost immediately by the time you come closer to Tugela. Her face is sweating as she grins at you.

“Little Cynthia!” she exclaims and hastily bends her head, “I knew you wouldn’t maiss a chance to get offensive!”

“No,” you awkwardly raise your hands to show Tugela the yul coins, “I just a serious concern about those coins.”

Tugela’s orange, goat-like eyes narrow, “Concern about those coins, little Cynthia?” Without much of an argument, she takes both of them into her hand and, skilfully, begins to roll them around her fingers.

“Yes, one of them… felt wrong. Is it just my imagination?”

“Hma, no,” her answer is very quick – she just barely touched them. Good magic sense… She keeps one of the coins locked in her palm while gripping the second one between her fingers, “This one does not, really, feel wrong, but there is somaething strange about it. A very weak mana is comaing from inside of it, as if it was used in a magic ritual. You got this maoney a few days ago, right? It must be strong magic to be able to hold for so long.”

“Is it a problem?” you ask in a puzzle manner.

“You don’t have to worry your head, little tailor, it’s very strange Captain Charlotte did not notice the oddity but she wouldn’t give you a cursed or magic influenced coin. It depends on the magic, and I can’t tell you just like this – especially since it feels very discreet – but usually itemas used in magic rituals lose their “trace” in a few days…”

“I see,” you give her a reassured nod. So, at best, Elvira just have to avoid using those coins for a week or so…

“Still, I think it’s best if we let Captain Charlotte check it, what do you say?”

> Elvira’s mana is weak; Charlotte won’t know much about her magic either. Worst case, she’ll confiscate it.
> Try to convince Tugela that there’s no reason to bother Charlotte about this coin and you’ll figure it out yourself.
> Admit to Tugela that you were not honest with her and that, while you can’t tell her the truth, another person who doesn’t want to be named has been using magic on the coin and you wanted to know how obvious it was.
> [Write In]

>How conveniently Tugela ignored the landscape damage question.

>>3994367
>> Try to convince Tugela that there’s no reason to bother Charlotte about this coin and you’ll figure it out yourself.

>>3994367
>> Admit to Tugela that you were not honest with her and that, while you can’t tell her the truth, another person who doesn’t want to be named has been using magic on the coin and you wanted to know how obvious it was.

>>3994367
> Admit to Tugela that you were not honest with her and that, while you can’t tell her the truth, another person who doesn’t want to be named has been using magic on the coin and you wanted to know how obvious it was.

>>3994367
Try to convince Tugela
Distract her by accepting her offer for magic training and totally not because Cynthia thinks Tresses really deserves it

>>3994616
This plus, change the subject on her. Accept magic training to stop further questioning about the coin.

“I don’t think we should be worrying Captain Charlotte about this,” you appeal to Tugela, “She seems to be busy as it is. I’ll figure it myself.” You extend your hand and the Goat Knight to take back the coins. She returns them.

Tugela shrugs her shoulders, “Let mae take a look at it another week, anyway, little Cynthia, just to be sure of it.”

You give her the softest of smiles as you push the coins back into your pouch, “If I’m still here after the challenge.”

She, painlessly, bumps your shoulder with her fist, “You are always so negative. That’s why you need an Offensive Forma magic – you won’t let others or life bully you if you can just slama thema down with your magic. You ready?”

You lightly sway your head only to stop it mid-way and, with a tired sigh, positively bow it down. Since you are here, you might as well practice and improve your magic… it will also help shun Tugela’s mind off your strange coin question. You take out the small, pinewood wand from your pouch; you grip it tightly in your hand to get a feel for it. Taking a deep, calming breathe, you strike your wrist – and the wand – ahead… there is no linen to use.

Your stand there surrounded by awkward song of quiet, hushing winds. Stiffly, you slide off your plain, working shirt over your head to only leave your white undershirt to defend your modesty. With your eyes closed, you overflow the shirt with your magic and then toss the shirt in front of you. You swipe the wand towards it…

Your magic erupts in white light as the sparkling energy of your magic reveals itself in the darkness of your mind as it did before in the labyrinth, but so much clearer now. The celestial snake follows the precise direction and movement of your wand, almost to a fault – you have a much better control over your shirt now. It’s just a shirt.

“I see you have been practising with your wand,” Tugela compliments you trivially, “Is it any better?” She asks.

“Yes,” you whirl the wand above yourself and the shirt follows into another direction. You smile, “Much better.”

“Great!” the ivory haired girl slams her knuckles against the palm of her other hand, “Not a lot of magicians use wands, but don’t be bothered about that.” Now you do. “It will probably imaprove your casting over your grimaoire spells as well, but you are still maore-or-less defenceless by yourself against anybody stronger than a horned goat.”

“I’m… sure I’ll be able to defeat a goat,” you insist.

“No,” she answers coldly before her wool-coated grimoire lifts into the air, “Don’t underestimate goats, little Cynthia. Now, you don’t have naturally born affinity and you don’t have timae to spend training which maeans that the only way for you to acquire new spells it to be put in life threatening situations. May spells are of that sorts…”

She slides her iron heel against the dirt, readying for a kick.

“Impact Magic:…”

> Scream for Tugela to stop. This won’t help you get any offensive spells and you will simply get injured.
> It is too late to stop Tugela now. Use [Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket] on her to see how strong it really is.
> Despite how unlikely it is, swing your wand and pray for your grimoire to grant you an offensive spell...
> Do your best to jump and roll out of the way of her spell – even with healing magic, getting hurt is painful.
> [Write In]

>>3995805
>> It is too late to stop Tugela now. Use [Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket] on her to see how strong it really is.

>>3995805
>> It is too late to stop Tugela now. Use [Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket] on her to see how strong it really is.

>>3995805
>> It is too late to stop Tugela now. Use [Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket] on her to see how strong it really is.

>[Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket] - your new, cool spell!
>Please roll 1d10+10 - best of three - for the cost of the spell.

Rolled 6 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3996026

Rolled 3 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3996026

Rolled 3 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3996026
God fucking dammit we about to get stumped

“Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket,” you quickly whisper under your breathe as you hurriedly snap your wand.

The pages of your grimoire riffle rapidly until a single page containing your new spell snaps the motion and stops. In a blink, the letters of the spell are immersed in a brilliant, silver light before a small piece of a thick cloth manifests itself from the magic-filled air darting straight towards Tugela. By the time it reaches the Magic Knight, the enchanted linen threads finish their formation into brilliantly glimmering carpet which shadows the goat girl.

Tugela’s orange eyes widen in a strange mix of surprise and excitement as she finds herself facing your spell. A soft, ivory-rose wind bursts out of feet as her entire body is elevated further into the air to avoid your blanket.

“So, you did have an offensive spell after all!” Tugela snickers in your direction as she – still high in the air – flexes and twists her arm, “You’ll need to do better than that to catch mae off-guard, little Cynthia! Imapact Magic…”

“It’s not an offensive spell,” you snap your wand as she monologues to place the straightened blanket right underneath her. With a single motion, all four corners of your magical blanket raise as if a carnivorous flower to surround and clutch the flabbergasted “fly” into a linen maw. “It is a restraining spell, I’m sorry to disappoint.”

> You spend 13 mana.
> Mana [87/100]

The Goat Knight finds herself completely restrained in the thick, moonstone cocoon. “Not a bad one either, little Cynthia, but… You won’t be able to hold your opponents caged forever.” Her grimoire snaps open in front of her neck as the pink winds begin to mantle her in a zephyr cyclone, “Impact Magic: Horned Goat Headbutt”. Her voice booms and echoes and, after a brief scuffle, your enchanted blanket is completely torn asunder by a pink wind manifestation in form of a raging goat. The hundred linen pieces of the Weighted Blanket quickly vanish in the air.

As soon as Tugela’s iron heels scrap the dirt and she lands on her feet, she motions her arm in full circle and then raises her knee to her chest, as if preparing to toss a stone. Instead, she tosses a punch containing a deadly spell.

“This won’t work if I don’t treat you seriously!” she shouts as she hastily manifests another spell! You weren’t meant to excite her! “Impact Magic: Horned Goat Headbutt!” A powerful magical airstream gathers in shape of a semi-transparent, shining dangerous, horned animal that begins to rush, with clouds of dust raised, towards you!

> Roll [DR] 1d100 – best of three – to do your best to avoid Tugela’s attack.

> [Write In]

File: 9d525dc41eb4a80449c69a315(...).jpg (51 KB, 564x602)

51 KB JPG

>Happy New Year's eve!
>I couldn't find any holiday-ish images of Charlotte or any other Blue Rose members so here's Julius (Magic Emperor) playing a saxophone.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>3996891

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>3996892
Happy New Year! Honestly, that seems like something Julius would do, he's a total dork.

>>3996961
Damn, these rolls are shit

>>3996961
>No pressure to the last person!

>>3996961
oh fuck

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>3996891
Remember! Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and ... Dodge!

>>3997054
Poor Cynthia is about to get yeeted!

>>3996896
>>3996961
>>3997054
Well, crap.

In haste, you raise both of your arms in front of your body to protect yourself. You make an attempt to rush out of the way but the breaking-fast current of wind surrounding the goat manifestation makes it extremely difficult. No. Impossible! You can only squeeze your hands harder against your body as the blast of impact magic smashes into you… Every single one of your bones is forced into a throbbing, pulsating tremble as the blast lifts you off the ground. The abrupt anguish hazes your conscious before you are awakened by a raw pain; your figure smashes the hard ground again and again until your uniform is scrapped to tatters and your skin resembles a bloodied carpet.

You body rolls several more times until you, eventually, stop. Your entire body shivers as if in ill heat. You whine.

> You have been injured for 3 health.
> Health [2/5]

You will have to fight and get yourself injured if you are to become a Magic Knight… do you -really- want to?

Slowly, your concentration and capability to feel your body returns. There is a ringing deafening as Tugela quickly rushes to your side with a visible distress and panic on her face. The Goat Knight drops to her knees to caress you.

“Daman, Cynthia… Cynthia? Little tailor, can you hear mae? Sorry-sorry, I didn’t expect -it- to be that strong…”

You groan, “I… won’t lie – it is very painful.” With a great effort, you manage to lift half of your body upwards.

Your eyes languidly search for the grimoire you lost in Tugela’s impact. You find it in Goat Knight’s hands. “I picked your grimaoire,” she gives you the good news as she, with noticeable awkwardness, puts it to your chest: in your hands. Your body quivers at her touch as she quickly takes a step back. “Do you think you can use your grimaoire?”

“In a… minute,” you groan yet again as you slowly raise your fingers to – first, open – and then slowly turn the pages of your magic book. Of course, when a new spell is born the magician -feels- it, but you still give it the benefit of the doubt as you glance through the content. Empty… Empty… Empty… There are just your two spells.

“That was a very life-threatening situation, Tugela,” you wince at Tugela as you leave the “Homely Blanket” spell open. You grunt and sigh as you attempt to concentrate your mana, “Maybe I’m just one of those rare cases…”

She grunts and folds her hands over her chest. She chews on her words before giving you another, very apologetic smile, “I don’t think that’s the case, but, if it is – that maeans you will be exceptional in other formas of magic.”

You mutter, in part hoping Tugela would not hear it – “Do… you need offensive spells to be a Magic Knight?”

You try to sound as un-dejected as possible, but this girl is extremely perceptive.

“No,” she shifts her heel against the dirt, “But you need to be extremaely useful in other ways comapared to comabat mages.” She ponders, “That’s right… are you going to look for the ‘Oracle Beast’ today with the boys?”

You look at her in confusion, “What’s an ‘Oracle Beast’?”

She takes a sit on the ground near you and lifts her knee to her chest tomboy-like, “Can’t believe they didn’t tell you. Well, I will: there is a place called the ‘Pink Ash Forest’, according to history long timae ago it used to be a Grand Magic Zone but not anymaore. However, once in a while the lingering magic energy beneath the ground is strong enough to remaind of itself: and one – or maore – animals in the forest are overwhelmaed by the magic power. They say it grants somae beasts the magic affinity to see the future – if you look in their eyes you will see it, too.”

“T-that sounds hard to believe,” you doubt, “And Olyver and boys go in search of this ‘beast’ every…?”

“Every maonth, but nobody knows where exactly this will manifest – or in what creature, so maost just call it a fairy tale. I won’t lie, I tried to search for the beast mayself a few times but…” she shakes her shoulders, “No luck…”

“I only heard of one person in Azure Deer as well as a rumaour that our Vice-Captain did.”

You bite your lips, “It’s a wild forest, is it not dangerous for the boys to go all by themselves into it?”

“Yeah,” she grins, “Captain Charlotte said as mauch, but it looks like the boy – Olyver – is strong enough to protect thema. He really wants to know his future, it seems.” She puts her grimoire in pouch, “You should follow them.”

“If they don’t want me to join them then I don’t think it’s right for me to do so,” you say with a brief hesitation.

“But imagine if it’s a bad thing!” she slaps her knees with her palms in a melodical rhythm, “You could stop that!”

> It might be best to heal yourself with [Homely Blanket] to fix the best of your wounds. 1d10+10 best of three.

> Is there anything further you would like to ask Tugela about? Would you like to ask the boys about the ‘Oracle Beast’ and if you can join them, or perhaps you should follow them – just to be make sure they are safe – ‘course? Maybe you should leave them be: Olyver will manage to protect them. You have many things to take care of…

Rolled 2 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3998201
>Could the magic appear in any beast? Rabbit, deer, frog... goat?
>Is Tugella familiar with the nosey Magic Knight who was bothering us during lunch.
>Remember to return the coin to Elvira and tell her what we learned.
>Visit the boys to ask about the Pink Ash Forest

Rolled 10 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3998201

Rolled 4 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>3998201
>>3998245
These seem like good questions to ask.

>>3998245
+1
Normally we would ignore QM's plot hooks so this once let's follow it

>>3998245
+1

File: 1576960072658.png (357 KB, 640x1021)

357 KB PNG

>>3983828
I edited the image a bit, tell me how you like it.

Scowling from pain, you murmur an incantation of your healing spell. A cooling energy of your manifesting ‘Homely Blanket’ softly flows through your body and soothes the worst of your pains. You take a deep, content breathe as your torn skin is mended to health and is brought back to vigorous cream hue while the throbbing of your bones stills to a meagre discomfort. Once the dirty, blood and mucus drenched blanket is vanquished into the surrounding mana, you find it much – much – easier to stand up. You still have a few bruises here and there.

> You spend 12 mana.
> Mana [75/100]
> You restored 2 health.
> Health [4/5]

“Can this ‘oracle magic’ appear in any beast in this forest? Rabbit, deer, frog… goat?”

“There are no goats in the Comamaon Region,” Tugela puts a finger to her chin as she leans extremely close to the left and then to right side of your body, as if scrutinising your wounds and appreciating the effectiveness of your healing spell, “All of the herds are in the Forsaken Region… The rumaours are that it can appear in any beast.”

“That’s… interesting to know,” you tell her with a fake half-shrug – you don’t want to appeared too concerned about this, “What about insects? If it’ll appear in a snail or an ant or a grasshopper then it will be impossible…”

Tugela pauses to awkwardly scratch inside her wild, ivory-hued hair, “That’s a good question, I don’t know.”

You sigh yet you give her an appreciative nod – less than fairy tale, this sounds nothing less of a gossip…

She grunts, “Does it still hurt?” She asks in quick, embarrassed yet considerate, fashion.

“A bit,” you smile and, in a similar fashion to how she usually interacts with you, you raise your hand and gently punch her arm through her wool arm-warmer, “Next time, I hope my Restraining Magic will be able to stop you.”

“Probably not,” Tugela forcefully yet playfully pushes her hand on top of your head, “I’m a Senior Magic Knight.”

You have little idea about how the Magic Knight’s rankings work; the name of the rank sounds impressive.

“Say, Tugela,” you cork your eyebrow as you put your hands behind your back, “I was bothered at the dining hall by a strange woman today – it was not the first time. No, no, not Tresses – the other woman, with dust-like hair.”

“Oh? Bonnie? Yeah, she’s a bit like that – don’t tell her too mauch about your personal life.”

“I know, I saw her diary with information about everyone in the Blue Rose. Sorry… are you two friends?”

“Not really friends,” Tugela rolls her orange eyes as she slides her palm under her neck, “But she’s a high ranked Magic Knight too. She is the only one Charlotte trusts with dangerous investigative and infiltration maissions.”

You nod; indeed, she was even rewarded a star by Charlotte during the ceremony you attended a few days ago.

You glance at the sky to check to see how far the sun went since you arrived to the gardens. “I think I should be going back now. Talk to you later, Tugela!” you give the Goat Knight a friendly, non-malicious wave as you hastily lock your grimoire in your pouch and pace back inside the mansion. Before you enter, you stop not far from the gates to fix-up the embarrassing tatters that are your clothes. You do not want somebody else to see you like this.

Back in the workshop you find Lilth all by himself – he is working on Elvira’s future dress according to the instructions you left him. Unfortunately, he is still lacking the necessary skills to create a dress all by himself.

“I’m back,” you announce your return in soft voice as to not startle the boy, “How is it going?”

“I’m having problem keeping this part folded like it shows on the picture… I-I did not want to ruin the cloth.”

“Oh, that,” you stop by Lilth’s side as he steps aside to give you some space. You hold your hand a few inches above the bottom edge of the skirt that you need to crease into a flounce. Your mana flows into the linen gown as you softly guide your fingers to bend the cloth into ruffle tucks. You stop in brief hesitation once you notice that Lilth is watching you work with embarrassing nearness. You realize: he does not have Linen Magic – he won’t learn a thing like this. Even if it’s just for a week, you are his superior – his Head Tailor. You reach to take a needle.

You wet one end of a thread of the same colour as the skirt with your tongue before you put it through the needle. You double a single tuck of fabric back on itself before you carefully secure it with the needle’s thread.

“I’ll leave the rest to you,” you smile towards Lilth as you offer him the needle, “Just follow the folds I made.”

“You made it look so easy,” Lilth praises you as he accepts the needle but stops it just short of piercing the cloth.

“I’m surprised myself – trust me, I would screw it up eventually – I am too reliant on my Linen Magic,” you sigh as you step aside as to not burden Lilth with your – so he thinks – judging gaze. Still… “I heard you and the rest of the boys plan to go to a place called the ‘Pink Ash Forest’ tonight, Lilth?” Immediately, he stops working on the dress.

“W-where did you hear that from?” he asks, dubiously.

“I heard it from one of the Magic Knights,” you shrug, “Don’t worry – I’m not going to stop you.”

“O-oh,” he takes a deep breath before he calmly puts away the dress. The boy adjusts his glasses to look at you through their completely white lenses, “I… don’t mind telling you, Cynthia but… I’m not sure Olyver will like that.”

“It’s not fair that it’s only you guys who get a chance to see into the future – is it?” you joke, half-seriously.

“N-No, it’s just that… We compete with each other because we think there is just enough magic for one person.”

“Compete?” you raise your eyebrow, “All five of you?”

He sighs in defeat, “No, Olyver doesn’t… But if you want to, there’s nothing I can do to stop you from coming.”

“Is there something you are unsure about that you need this ‘oracle’ magic for?”

He turns away his head as his cheeks turn bright-red, “I-It’s nothing important. I am just curious, that’s it.”

> “I am worried about your and Pero’s safety – not to mention, tomorrow’s an important-to-last day!”
> “If that’s the case, I don’t see why I can’t assist my juniors. What do you say – do you mind my help?”
> “There are a few things I am extremely… curious about. I won’t fight, but I want to look for it as well.”
> [Write In]

>If you insist on going with the boys, do you want to take any Muti Crickets with you? How many?

>>3999147
>I like it, thanks! Too bad the original artist forgot how to draw hands at the end, but oh well.

>>3999185
>I know you would go there even if I forbid you from doing it, so I have no choice but to come with you and look after you.

>>3999185
Supporting >>3999196

>>3999185
>> “I am worried about your and Pero’s safety – not to mention, tomorrow’s an important-to-last day!”

>>3999182
>”She is the only one Charlotte trusts with dangerous investigative and infiltration maissions.”
So she is a spy! That sneaky witch!

>>3999185
> “I am worried about your and Pero’s safety – not to mention, tomorrow’s an important-to-last day!”

>>3999185
>> “I am worried about your and Pero’s safety – not to mention, tomorrow’s an important-to-last day!”

>No Update today; Sorry!

>>4000635
No worries. Thanks for keeping us informed. Good luck with all your stuff!

“I need both you and Pero to be safe, uninjured and at full strength because tomorrow’s an important-to-last day!” You tell him incisively, “But I know you will go there even if I ask you not to, and I can’t really stop or forbid you from doing so, so I have no choice but to come with you two and look after you.” You self-righteously exhale.

“You don’t have to worry that much,” Lilth speaks out lazily as he grinds his finger over the frame of his magic glasses for… adjustments, possibly? “We have been in this forest at least six times now, we won’t die out there.”

“But it’s a wild forest, isn’t it?!” you exaggeratedly slap the table, “There are feral bears, wolves, wildhogs – no?!”

“A… a couple,” the dark-scarlet haired boy admits slightly nervously, “But we are taking the needed precautions.”

“But what if one of you gets badly hurt?” you insist, “You won’t have anybody with healing magic, will you?”

“Cynthia,” Lilth awkwardly coughs into his loosely squeezed fist, “…Others out there will call you as bothersome as a mother.” He continues, calmly, “It’s fine. It’s thrilling to see the future; I know why you’d want to see it too.”

Your cheeks turn shy-red, “Not even a tiny bit, I just want to make sure you both return safe; easier on Olyver.”

He sighs and shakes his head – he makes it obvious he does not believe you. Still, he nods his head and, after a brief glance at the half-finished gift-gown, he hides it away from prying eyes with clear nervousness and shyness.

“We will be meeting up in the garden in about an hour,” he informs you – unlike Pero, Lilth does not seem to like quarrelling, it seems, he has that in common with Elvira. “We will be going on feet there – it’s not far from here.”

“On feet?” you react with a brief surprise before you realize that they, obviously, do not have their own Magic Brooms yet – they are expensive to afford and adults dislike pre-ceremony kids using them willy-nilly. You have yet to test your newly bought Magic Broom: you don’t want to seem boastful and it will be able to sit two, maybe three, people at best. If the forest is close, the it’ll be for the best to leave the cumbersome Broom in your room.

You agree on Lilth’s conditions and, after an hour-long breather in your room, you come back to the boys’ meeting location well-hidden in the gardens. Thankfully, Lilth had already informed the rest of the boys about your coming, so your arrival is less of an awkward and disappointing surprise as it could be.

Pero, the youngest of the boys, is excitingly hopping in one place; with every gesticulation of his fingers you worry he will accidently click them. Both Viktor and Cruz are visibly unsatisfied about your attendance, and they are only making the barest of efforts to hide the fact. Olyver, on other hand, is completely unbothered about you – he is cheerful. The boy is wearing thick set of clothes consisting of brown-blue lean but lengthy pants and a coat with a pyramid-like hood.

The six of you depart. The four other boys immediately fall into their own, social circle in front of you and Olyver.

“Very happy you are joining us, Cynthia,” he gives you a half-wink as he approaches to peep at your regular clothes – he looks a bit disappointed that you are not wearing something more refined, you guess. “If you can keep an eye for two of them, then it will make it so much easier for me.” He raises your sleeve to rub his cheek on it – there it is, a satisfied yet smug smirk. He lowers it and apologizes. “Have you been in this forest beforehand?”

“No, this is the first time I hear about this ‘Oracle Beast’. How much can you tell me, so that I… know?”

“I only know from the rumours that came from supposed people that encountered them,” he keeps himself close to you as not to talk loudly and keep track of the boys’ dialogue, “I was told Vice-Captain encountered it as well, but she is harder to catch than the ‘Oracle Beast’ itself.” He jokes. “But if you see it first… – will you try looking?”

“I… I don’t know,” you answer after a brief hesitation, “Only if by accident. It’s only enough for one person, correct? Or, at least, according to the rumours I heard? What about you, Olyver. What are you so interested in?”

“I am not as interested as them,” Olyver’s deep-black eyes look, and his hand points, at the group in front of you. “But I want to know one thing, and one thing only – I want to know if there’s any chance of me becoming a Magic Knight.” He nods and proudly raises his chin, “But even if that is not the future I will see, by accident – as you said,” he coughs and awkwardly runs his hand through his hair, “That means I’m currently doing something wrong, right? Cynthia… I apologize beforehand, but I need to win our challenge to become a Magic Knight.”

You wouldn’t mind knowing where you will be five or ten years in the future – so that you don’t aim for the stars.

“Do you need to?” He looks at you with bewilderment; you gingerly put your hands in defence in front of yourself, “I mean, Captain Charlotte is not holding you hostage – is she? You can go to the Entrance Exam without trouble?”

“That Exams are extremely difficult,” he sighs, “I might fail or perform worse than the others… Captain’s promise is that she will offer me a place in the Blue Rose if every other Magic Knight group refuses to invite me… Of course, you can try to become Magic Knight every year – but I don’t want to waste a whole year and my chances.”

He is so serious about this. You fidget your body – from the cold, not from the sense of guilt

“But you, you are amazing, Cynthia!” Olyver’s eyes sparkle as he practically shouts his praises, “You were given – and finished – a Magic Knight’s mission! And you also reached the end of Charlotte’s labyrinth on your very first try, correct?! That is incredible, as incredible as the clothes you make – they are amazing as well. Do you really need this regular job? You are practically acting as good as any Magic Knight already; I am so envious of you!

You place your hands over your cheeks just in case they turn any redder from all the praise the boy has been giving you. Despite this, your eyes turn melancholic and your voice quiets, “It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

You arrive to the edge of the forest soon afterwards – the day is now at end and the sun is beginning to fall and surrender the sky to the darkness of the half-awakened moon. The boys have several lanterns and torches one of which they kindly give to you after it is set ablaze by Cruz’s fire magic. From the outside there appears to be nothing unusual about the forest – the branches of the trees are not twisted and there are no eldritch, glowing runes on any of the tree trucks – this regular mixed woodland contains trees of the local variety. If there is any mana in either the vegetation or the ground it is either well-hidden or in such a small quantity you can’t sense it.

How long ago this place used to be a Grand Magic Zone? From what you can see, no less than thousand years ago.

“It can be any beast,” Olyver reminds you and the group as he lifts the lantern towards an ‘entrance’ consisting of two bend oak trees making an arch, “Or there can be no beast at all today, it all depends on lady fortune… luckily, we have her here with us,” he does this in a very cringey manner. You grimace and bob your head. Olyver continues to beam and smile; he nods his head to the right, “Let’s split here, then. We will quit by the time is gets too dark, so we have an hour or two – remember that: Viktor, Cruz. Pero, Lilth – don’t cause trouble to Cynthia.”

“We won’t, we won’t!” Pero shouts as he quickly stops in front of one of the tress and already begins looking for any signs of the animals there, “Come on, C-O-M-E O-N, let’s start already! It’s not this centipede, is it? Hm…”

Olyver chuckles lightly and soon, the three of them completely disappear in the gloominess of the Pink Ash Forest.

“What animals do you usually look for?” you ask Lilth who seems to be in pondering about this exact question.

“I usually keep it low – birds are the easiest to spot on the trees… I’d rather not meet an angry wolf or bear.”

You nod at him; is it really wholly accidental on what animals receives this ‘Grand Magic Zone’ surge, or is there a specific way it happens? You join Lilth and Pero in acting as their guiding light as well as a third pair of eyes…

“Do you know what kind of animals the previous ‘Oracle Beasts’ were… at least, according to the rumours?”

Lilth pauses as he calmly readjust his glasses to keep a track of a whole flock of birds on top of one of the tress. He ponders on your question with an audible “Hm-m-m” before he finally replies. “One was a fox; I am sure of that. The other one was a hare… and I believe another one was a deer. Beasts, but I don’t see any correlations there.”

You ponder…

> Continue acting as a simple guardian and simply make sure that Lilth and Pero are safe from any predators.
> Look for the kind of animals the ‘Oracle Magic’ have already been spotted in. [Specify – Fox, Hare, Deer].
> Move to another area to look for another beast: it’s impossible to say if it will appear in the same animal again.
> [Write In]

>tfw finished an update but fell asleep before posting it

>>4002405
>Continue acting as a simple guardian and simply make sure that Lilth and Pero are safe from any predators.
>Get on your broom for speed in case you need to react and for vantage point

>>4002405
>> Continue acting as a simple guardian and simply make sure that Lilth and Pero are safe from any predators.
>>4002483
I don't know if Cynthia brought the broom, since there was no need to fly to reach the forest.

>>4002629
She keeps it in the book

>>4002405
>Continue acting as a simple guardian and simply make sure that Lilth and Pero are safe from any predators.

>>4002629
>>4002644
>Sorry. She did not bring it, as she would have to keep it constantly in her arms and the reasons above. Cynthia is unable to keep the broom in her grimoire yet, as she does not want to risk it since she doesn't know how to take out the things she puts inside. I don't know if any Muti Crickets were taken as nobody answered that.

>>4004066
Uh right I forgot Tugale did it for us. No crickets as they need to reproduce first

You decide to keep it to the shadows and simply keep an eye on any predators whom could prove to be a hassle. You join Lilth in observing the deep, sky-obstructing treelines in search of nesting birds and smaller critters such as squirrels and night lizards. You take a deep breath as you step over the prickly undergrowth – a pair of white, shinning eyes hiss at you from below the scrubs before the dark creature – obviously a snake – slithers away.

It’s been six months since you last visited a forest, there is a large birch one not far from Kikka. Snakes… it’s because of them you have been avoiding leaving the city – you still remember the time you’ve got accidently bitten by a “Black Rattle” as a child: her poison so deadly, you were in coma on the verge of death. In instinct-born fright, you footstep aside from the undergrowth until the rattling and the hissing is no longer audible. Still, despite this horrible memory of your past, this time you feel… more at ease – your ‘Homely Blanket’ has made you cocky.

“Pero, don’t go too far,” you shout at the darkness as you motion your torch back and forwards, “Any luck?!”

“No, Thia!” you grumble at him still using your nickname – not even your father calls you that, “I won’t tell you or Lilth if I’ll find one unless I get to look into eyes first. You know that’s fair, yes? That sounds fair to m-AAA!”

“Pero?!” you shout as you exchange short, worried glance with Lilth and rush into the direction of the shout.

Heaven’s blessing, you find no dangerous animals here. However, Pero is sitting on his bottoms – startled. You carefully approach from behind the seven-years-old-boy to spot a… strange sight – a wild fox that is completely encased in what appears to be a massive, white crystal. The animal is not moving, it looks as if it was frozen still.

You are not sure if it is alive or not… You have not seen anything truly magical happening in this forest until now.

“Does this usually happen here?” you ask both of them in worry.

“No, this is the first time I see something like this,” Lilth hums calmly as he overlooks the crystal with his glasses.

“The fox was like this when I found it, I swear!” Pero gasps for air as he continues to crawl away to make distance.

> Strange, but nothing to worry about. Likely, it was some kind of Crystal Magic user looking for ‘Oracle Beast’.
> You don’t like this. The boys won’t like it, but it might be a good idea to find Olyver just to check on them too.
> You don’t want to end up like this fox. On your authority as a Head Tailor (none), cancel the whole venture…
> [Write In]

>>4004551
>> You don’t like this. The boys won’t like it, but it might be a good idea to find Olyver just to check on them too.

>>4004551
>Try to sense magic from the crystal or the surrounding area.
>> You don’t like this. The boys won’t like it, but it might be a good idea to find Olyver just to check on them too.

>>4004551
>> You don’t like this. The boys won’t like it, but it might be a good idea to find Olyver just to check on them too.

You try to sense any kind of magic from the crystallized fox and once that fails, from the surrounding area… none.

“I don’t like this,” you tell Pero and Lilth straight as you tuck the younger boy by his shoulder; in a paranoid fashion, you keep throwing glances behind yourself. There is nobody here… that you can see. “Let’s leave…”

“Let’s not,” Pero whines as he regains his impudent quirk, “I… I was just surprised, that is all.”

“Don’t you see the horrible things that happened to this fox? Do you want to be in this state as well?”

“This might be just an effect of the forest we haven’t seen before,” Lilth says with an obvious doubt.

“Or it might be a dangerous magician walking around here,” you exhale with a twitch, “Let’s check on Olyver.”

“Do we have to?” Pero whines. Despite this, the boy’s eyes are glued to the crystalized fox – he sounds unsure.

“Yes, it’s best we warn them about this as well – and stick together,” you insist as the current grown-up… yuck.

Pero sighs with an obvious disappointment as he turns away – then turns back for a brief moment – and then away, again, from the ‘dead’ fox. Lilth is, thankfully, in agreement with your conclusion and he quickly follows you back to where you separated from Olyver and his group. From there, you three go into the direction you last saw them leave… the massive and vast forest is covered by a dim, barely present, blue light. Your light sources are just strong enough to break the evening’s overlay. You awkwardly dart your gaze back and forwards to keep an eye on Pero – and Lilth – as well as to keep looking for the rest of the boys. There is a quiet hoot of an owl that stops you.

“Cynthia… You have to calm down. We’ve been to this forest several times… and Olyver is incredibly strong.”

You run your wrist against the cold sweat of your forehead, “I know… But I can’t help but be worried here…”

You can hear Pero irritably mumbling under his noise, “The only worry we should be having is that they found the beast first…” He stomps his foot a couple of times as if to make sure you and Lilth see how unhappy he is here.

Suddenly, a ringing howl echoes through the woodlands… a howl that repeats, and then repeats again…

You shove your half-dead torch towards the primal wail before you recklessly rush through the thicket of tall, annoying close growing trees. It is by a miracle you manage to avoid a couple of them before you finally burst into the meadow, from the darkness of which you can finally hear another human voice. Once you break through the shadows, you find a rather unpleasant sight (although nobody seems to be yet stuck inside a giant crystal here): a pair of mad, almost lunatic wolves with glowing, white eyes and sparkling, sharp teeth slowly pacing not far from the boy they appear to be fighting against – Olyver. The boy’s grimoire is engulfed by white-blue flame and is hovering right beside him – the trees behind the animals look as if damaged by a powerful, destructive tornado.

You glimpse around but Viktor and Cruz are nowhere to be seen; Lilth and Pero are yet to join you – either…

> Allow Olyver take care of the wolves, go searching for Viktor and Cruz: there was a third wolf’s howl someplace.
> They are not magical wolves, none of your spells will work. Turn your shirt into a weapon and smack one’of’em.
> Try to catch the attention of one of the wolves by acting all-weird and disruptive. After that – run the hell away.
> [Write In]

>Sorry for the delay!

>>4006800
>Cast Weighted Blanket and try to hold one of the wolves in place so that Olyver can deal with them.

>>4006856
+1

>>4006856
support

In unison, you lift your grimoire into the air with a push of your palm and snap your magic wand forwards with your other hand. “Linen Magic: Weighted Blanket,” your yell to catch Olyver’s and the wolves attention as a massive grey fabric bursts from a single spot in the mid-air, as if a magic trick. The wolves are caught in a surprise as your ever-expanding blanket, like a bewitched netting, slams and covers one of the animals. You can hear the wolf scowl as the textile tightens around it’s body until it is left harmlessly skidding on the verdant ground.

The other wolf steps back in clear disbelief before it immediately bites into the enchanted cloth with its teeth… it pushes them deeper into your blanket but even the creature’s visibly sharp fangs are not strong enough to rip it.

You gasp for breath as a gold fish until you shake your head and return to your senses. “Olyver, come on, now!”

The boy, finally over the fact of your sudden arrival and spell, nods. Olyver’s grimoire spins in the air and snaps its pages towards a specific spell. “Steam Magic: Vapour Wave!” he wastes no time succeeding your labours as a colossal ring of steam obediently begins to gather inches away from his hand and then erupts forwards. Quickly, the cold, blinding steam connects and overwhelms the wolves like a tidal wave – the steam carries them away.

Of course, he would have an amazing offensive spell…

“Phew,” Olyver takes a deep breath as the thick steam begins to clear out. His eyes sparkle at the sight of you. “Tailor Cynthia! That yours was such an amazing sp-”

“Yours too, Olyver,” you awkwardly forward a compliment, “But let’s leave that aside – where are the others?”

Olyver is forced to clear his throat due to the sudden interruption. In worry, he begins glancing around the area until his eyes dart upwards and his expression softens. He raises his hand and points his finger towards the branches: high up, where you spot Nicolai and Cruz. Cruz is keeping a small flame alight with his Fire Magic…

“O-oh, so they are safe…” you exhale in respite as you put a hand over your chest, “That’s a reli-”

“Olyver! Cynthia!” Lilth removes several branches from his hair as his iris-less glasses stare you down; his face is pale, “It’s… Pero!” The boy raises his shaking hand as he points towards a small path between the thicket – you immediately rush inside without wasting any time and Olyver is there to follow you. Running inside a barely discernible woodland proves to be a terrible idea as you find yourself unable to act in time and face-slamming into a tree trunk… the bark scraps your skin as you cry in pain and drop the torch… only to find it quickly setting the dry tree aflame. Fantastic, Cynthia… By the dawn of the morning, this wonder of history will be nothing but cinders!

A splash of water drops and quickly extinguishes the massive part of the fire, but not all of it. “Forget about this,” the boy cries in a worry, “Pero… He… I’ll stay here to make sure there is no fire – you need to go check on Pero!”

With a short-lived hesitation you put the grimoire beneath your belt and rush to follow Olyver’s dim lantern. Thankfully, the moment it disappear the next open meadow is just close enough for you not to wander off blindly; you join him to see… a bear that is at least three times your height, as well as Pero, standing eye to eye. Yet, both of them are crystallized in the same kind of prison as, previously, the fox was – each in their own individual one.

“W-what in the world?” Olyver repeats your thoughts. He looks at loss as to how to approach this situation.

“We found a fox minutes ago in the same condition… But the bear doesn’t look like it was caught off-guard.”

> First things first – you don’t know how long the crystal prison will last. Ask Olyver to shatter the bear-crystal(?!).
> It appears that Olyver is as knowledgeable of the situation as you. Ask him if he can sense anything strange.
> Carefully approach Pero while keeping an eye on the obviously hostile bear. Send your magic into the crystal.
> Your Healing Blanket was not strong enough to heal your father, but perhaps it can break the “crystal curse”?
> You -really- do not like this. Keep your wand by your side and shout towards the darkness – ‘Is anybody there?!’
> [Write In]

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

>A few updates before archive...

Rolled 8 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4008362
>> Carefully approach Pero while keeping an eye on the obviously hostile bear. Send your magic into the crystal.

Rolled 1 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4008362
> Carefully approach Pero while keeping an eye on the obviously hostile bear. Send your magic into the crystal.

>>4008542
Nice! Minimal mana loss.

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d10 + 10)

>>4008362
>> Carefully approach Pero while keeping an eye on the obviously hostile bear. Send your magic into the crystal.

>>4008362
i think it is time to archive this thread

>>4009655
>Done. Once I am off the plane I will make a new thread. Thank you guys a lot for playing!

>>4011429
>>4011429
>>4011429

>New Thread.