As it turned out, while Rokurou was looking at the selection of blades the local blacksmith had to offer, he found a pair of black colored daggers. Apparently, the smith had discarded those daggers as rubbish, but after Rokurou had given them, a good polish everyone could see the real value of these blades. As a thank you, the smith had given the daemon swordsman the knives for free.

Afterward, Seres and Magilou were bringing Rokurou up to speed with the state of affairs, while Velvet herself was talking to the blacksmith with Minato standing beside her, watching.

"Sorry to say, but your blade can be considered scrap metal at this point," the smith spoke, to which Velvet waved her hand off.

"I was expecting this. After lying around in the old basement for so long without given any proper care, my brother in law can be so forgetful at times."

"I see," the smith nodded. "The gauntlet at least is in good condition. So all I'll need to do is replace the old blade with a new one. Though, I am not sure if I have anything that exactly fits your specific gauntlet regarding length and width. Do you have any specific wishes about the blade?"

Velvet shook her head slowly. "As long as it can cut things and doesn't break too easily anything will be fine for now."

"If you say so," the blacksmith shrugged. "This will take me a little while to find something, so I suggest you hit the tavern and get a drink or something. Shouldn't take me more than an hour or so."

"I'll hold you up to that," Velvet said and left the counter to go back to the larger group. Minato remained at his place for a few seconds longer, watching as the blacksmith took Velvet's Gauntlet and placed it somewhere in the back. The man behind the counter noticed Minato still standing there and called out the blue-haired boy.

"What about you? Anything I can do for you, kid? Need a whetstone for your sword maybe?"

Minato looked down at his blade, almost automatically putting a hand on the hilt. "No, just watching for now. I am a little short on money."

"Money is what makes the world go around or so they say," the blacksmith mused. "Well, you can come back at a later time when you do have some money. Or maybe you have got something you no longer need. I know a lot of merchants who will buy all kinds of junk because they know who is really interested in that kind of stuff. For example, last week I sold this old painting that my grandma had somehow gotten her grubby old hands on and just a day later, I saw some noblewoman buying the painting from the merch I sold it to."

The smith let out a chuckle and Minato smiled at the small story. "Oh, looks like your friends are waiting for you." The man pointed towards the rather colorful group of people, who were standing at the side of the street, waiting. "I should get back to work anyway. See you later."

"Later."

After Minato and the smith said their goodbyes, the boy walked back to the others.

"Well, now that we're all settled, what are we gonna do?" Rokurou asked in a cheerful tone.

"How about we some of that food I mentioned earlier?" Magilou suggested.

In response she got a very loud growling coming from the direction of where Minato was standing. The blue-haired boy in question smiled sheepishly, as the others looked at him with vaguely impressed expression because his stomach was very loud indeed.

"Haha, I think some good food would do all of us good. The stuff they served us at the prison… I don't want to think about it." The samurai swordsman's face contorted in an uncomfortable fashion.

"Urgh, you almost made me lose my appetite," the self-proclaimed witch complained. "How can those people still call themselves humans, when they fed us with… I think I don't want to remember."

"Then it is decided," Seres spoke up. "A warm meal will do all of us some good. I suggest we don't ask the abbey to provide us with any lodgings or food. If even one of the exorcists notices Rokurou's or Velvet's "unique traits," we will be in trouble."

"Then let's go to the tavern already! I feel like a skeleton that is wearing human skin as a dress!" the blonde witch complained and headed towards the building that was the tavern. Shaking his head, Rokurou followed, who in return was shortly followed by Velvet, Minato and Seres.

Since the escapees somewhat lacked in the money department, Seres opted to pay for everyone's meal. Being formerly Artorius personal Malakhim, she quickly had been able to gain access to quite the sum, before engaging in her little voyage.

The tavern the group attended was packed to the brim with people. Even before they entered the building, they could hear the chatter coming out of it. Once inside the people barely also acknowledged the newcomers. Some of them were too busy talking to each other, others were too drunk (even though Seres was sure alcohol had long since been forbidden) and the rest was busy with their food. The group managed to find a table big enough for all five of them. However, they did need to pull a couple of chairs from around other tables so all of them could take a seat.

Once that was done, they needed to wait for a bit for one of the waitresses to come around, as they were very busy with the other customers. Since they had nothing better to do, the group talked among themselves.

"So Seres, I cannot help but wonder what Artorius personal Malakhim could possibly want from a daemon like Velvet," Magilou started with a cheshire grin.

"That is none of your business," the Malak replied flatly. "I suggest you keep your curiosity in check. For own well being."

"Well, I won't say I'm not curious as well," Rokurou chimed in "but I won't pry into the matters of others."

"Well, if you won't answer my questions," Magilou turned to Minato. "You have to tell me what can of hair dye you used to get this color done. You see, I'm a little bit of a performer as a sort of side-income."

The others raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Naturally I sometimes change into different costumes and the such, but I have never managed to get my hair as well done as yours. What's your secret?"

Minato gave Magilou a flat look, before letting out a sigh. "It's my natural hair color."

The others looked at him dumbstruck.

"The doctors said it was some kind of gene defect that caused this to happen. It's not even that uncommon from where I'm from." He shrugged. "Hair colors, eye colors, both have gotten a lot more variations the past years in my country. No one is sure why, but no one is complaining either. It's not exactly detrimental to my health or anything."

"You must live in quite the unusual place," Rokurou commented.

"Seriously!? There are people out there who are born with this kind of thing?! Oh, I'm so jealous! Why couldn't I have been born in this country of yours?!" Magilou was using what could only be described as her "stage voice."

"Hmm… nah. I can't imagine Magilou with blue hair." The daemon samurai shook his head. "But an entire country with people having all kinds of different hair colors? Now that's something I want to see."

"Black is still the most common hair color," Minato added.

"Hello," a new voice suddenly spoke up. Looking up the others saw that one of the waitresses had approached their table. "I am sorry for the wait, but we are exceedingly busy today. But now that I am here, may I take your orders?"

There was no menu card available, so they had to ask the waitress as to what the tavern had to offer. After each of them decided what they would get, the group resumed their talking.

"How long will it take for a ship from Titania to reach Hellawes?" Velvet asked Seres, whose expression changed into a thoughtful one.

"Days at most. The storm might have given us an extra day or two, but we should leave as soon as our ship is repaired. In that time, we should find ourselves a navigator. Preferably someone that knows how to keep his mouth shut."

"Why not let Velvet just have him as her lunch?"

Minato looked over to Magilou but kept his expression neutral.

"I'd rather avoid getting unnecessary attention, while we make our way to the capital," was Seres' reply. "We will also need to get some papers."

"Papers?" everyone except Minato asked.

"Identification papers to be precise," Seres explained. "It's something the Abbey thought to keep track of the civilians. I tried to get some fake ones for Velvet and myself, but sadly complications forced me to abandon this part of my plan."

"Papers to identify a person? What's next? A license needed to drive a cart?" the samurai asked in rhetoric fashion.

"Back at home, we actually have both," Minato allowed a smile to appear on his face when the others looked at him like he made the stupidest joke in existence.

XXX

That day Seres learned something vital: Minato Arisato was a glutton. He ate no less than five plates of steak on his own. Rokurou asked how he was capable of eating so much at once, to which Minato replied he had to make up for his sleeping metabolism.

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that," Velvet commented and focused entirely on her plate, which was only halfway done at this point. In truth, she didn't feel like eating anything at the moment. She didn't want to let all of that food go to waste. Besides, it did replenish her energy, even if she couldn't taste anything. This revelation had just come to her when she took her first bite of the dish. For the past three years, she had eaten nothing but daemons and had tasted their blood somehow through her arm.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I have some "errands" to run," Magilou proclaimed and got up from her table.

"We all probably have," Seres mused. "I suggest everyone prepares to the best of each of their abilities. That is if you really want to come along with us."

"I have a debt to pay off, so count me in," Rokurou explained simply.

"I'll be around," Minato said and walked out of the building with Magilou.

Once the two were outside Magilou stretched her arms and let out a content sigh. "Phew, I feel so much better after this. Still, that was pretty mean of you. Leaving poor Seres behind to pay for all of your meals."

"I'll make it up to her," Minato replied, already fiddling with his MP3 player.

"Hmmm, is that so?"

Minato didn't answer, opting to remain silent at the suggestive tone Magilou's voice had taken on. The blonde let out a disappointed sigh and glanced over to her former cellmate. "You know? I never thought I'd ever meet someone who is so interesting, yet so boring at the same time."

Minato let out an amused snort. "If you say so."

Rolling her eyes, Magilou put her hands behind the back of her head and wandered down the streets of Hellawes. Minato opted to do the same, although he did so at a much slower pace and while listening to his personal music library. The sun was already starting to set on the horizon, and if it weren't for Jack Frost's immunity to the cold, he would probably feel the cold. Luckily for some reason, persona immunities worked outside of Tartarus as well. And ever since he had gotten here, he could even freely summon his personas without too many restrictions.

Another sigh threatened to escape Minato's lips. He briefly looked at the people going back and forth on the street, doing whatever errands they had to run. It was still unclear to him as to how he had gotten here, wherever "here" was. It was a question that he had been thinking about over and over during his time in prison, but the answer had eluded him up to this day. Sure he had theories, but they were just that: theories. Time travel, dimensional travel, lying unconscious inside a hospital bed and many more. However, being stuck inside a prison cell did limit his capabilities of investigating things.

But now that he was outside, he wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do. So far he had just gone with the flow because it at least had gotten him away from the prison. Yet, he still felt like he did when he first woke up in this place: lost and confused.

The blue-haired boy kept wandering around the city. Calling it a city was actually pretty generous in the wild card's opinion, as Hellawes wasn't even as big as some of the small countryside towns he had been in. He could probably memorize all of the important places within a day and the rest within two weeks at most. This so-called "city" was nothing compared to Iwatodai.

While Minato was trapped within his musings, he didn't notice that someone else was paying less attention to the road as he was. Before they knew it, the blue-haired boy and a red-haired woman ran into each other, resulting in both of them landing uncomfortably on the ground.

"Ow…"

"Ooof…"

("Not again…") The wild card thought to himself. It happened way too often where he was lost in thought, listening to his music, walking down the street and then ended up running into someone. From the looks of things his latest weapon was a cute redhead with green eyes and equipped with a spear. She had her hair tied up in pigtails with flower hair clippers, wore a blue vest with golden studs over a white dress with golden decorations, along with boots of the same color scheme.

"Sorry about that," Minato spoke up, stopping the music from playing. His headphones had come off anyway, and they were now loosely hanging off his neck. He got up on his feet relatively quickly and offered the woman he knocked down a hand.

"It's alright," the woman assured and accepted Minato's hand. After getting back on her feet, the woman introduced herself. "I am sorry for running into you. I am Praetor Eleanor, exorcist of the Abbey."

"Minato Arisato," Minato introduced himself. "And I wasn't really paying attention to the road either. Sorry. Are you alright?"

The exorcist smiled kindly. "I am fine, don't worry. What about you?"

"Eh, don't worry. It's only the 254th time this has happened," the blue-haired boy replied, to which the red-haired woman couldn't help but giggle.

"Really? You must be daydreaming a lot in that case."

"Not much more than regular dreaming," the boy shrugged with a smile. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind lately. The ship I was on got caught in a storm and… it wasn't pretty."

Eleanor nodded, her face becoming serious. "Yes, that storm was quite severe. I was lucky enough to have arrived in Hellawes a few days earlier. But you were caught up in that nasty weather? I guess you're lucky you arrived here safely."

"Relatively," Minato looked to the side. "The ship crashed against a reef on the other side of the island. Only five of us… survived."

Eleanor gasped in shock. However, the shock on her face was quickly replaced with realization. "You're one of the people who arrived here today. I… I am sorry for what happened to you."

"It's alright," Minato assured. "I have… I guess I have gotten used to death by now," he said with resignation in his voice.

Eleanor flinched and felt slightly uncomfortable, after hearing Minato speak that sentence. The latter decided to change the subject before things got awkward.

"So, what are you doing? Enjoying the end of a hard work day?"

Eleanor shook her head. "The work of an exorcist is never done, I am afraid. You must have heard from the guild, about the man named Dyle who turned into a daemon."

Minato nodded, his expression hardening. "I have," he nodded.

"I am going after the daemon," the redhead said firmly.

"All on your own?" the boy asked.

"Don't worry, us exorcists are trained for these kinds of situations. Plus I have my Malakhim with me, so technically speaking I won't fight him on my own." To reassure the boy in the school uniform, Eleanor summoned her two Malakhim, one of the wind element and one of the fire element. Minato visibly tensed up but managed to prevent his hands from going to the handle of his sword.

"I… see," Minato spoke slowly. He looked over from one Malak to the other and noted how their faces were their expressions were blocked by the masks they were wearing. "But still, there are a lot of daemons out there. Are you sure you three can handle them?"

Eleanor smiled kindly at his words. "As I said, this is what we exorcists were trained for. I have already faced my fair share of daemons in my career."

"If you say so, still," Minato looked up into the orange and purple sky. "It will be dark soon. I don't claim to be an expert, but is it a good idea to hunt a daemon at night?"

"Hmm?" Eleanor herself took a look at the sky and gasped. "Oh my gosh, it is that late already? I have been so preoccupied with my other duties. I completely forgot the time." The two Malakhim disappeared in two flashes of light. "Thank you, Minato. You just prevented me from doing something foolish. Oh, this is embarrassing."

"We all make mistakes," Minato reassured her. "Isn't that one of the traits that make us humans? That we learn from our mistakes?"

"Haha, you're awfully wise for someone so young."

"Nah, picked that one up from a book."

Eleanor let out a good-hearted laugh. "In any event, you're right. I should go out tomorrow morning and not when it is about to become dark. Maybe I should use the extra time to do some more research. Do you happen to know anything about the daemon Dyle?"

"Only that he was a navigator," Minato supplied. "Well, the shipwrights did say I should stay away from his hometown. Apparently, they think he might be hiding there."

"Yes, I have gathered that much already myself," Eleanor nodded. "But thank you for your cooperation. And do not worry. Dyle won't pose a threat to Hellawes for much longer. I give you my word as an exorcist." Eleanor put her fist on where her heart was positioned. "I bid you goodnight Minato Arisato."

"Good night. And be careful."

Eleanor nodded in appreciation, before turning around and walking away. Minato looked after her for a while, before he suddenly felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he saw none other than Magilou standing right in front of him. A cheshire grin was sprouting on her face.

"You know, I didn't know you could even use so many words at once in ten minutes," she mocked him. "But don't you think you're getting a little bit too friendly with the exorcist lady? After all, it won't be long before she hears about the dastardly crimes you committed."

Minato looked to the side. "If that's how it is," was his simple reply.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my," Magilou held her arms up in a fake shock. "Don't tell me you're actually falling for our dear, innocent, exorcist lady."

Minato rolled his eyes, suddenly finding himself reminded of Junpei and his first reaction to seeing Yukari and Minato going together to school.

"Jealous that you don't look as good as her?"

That threw Magilou off. "Excuse me?" she asked in the most serious tone Minato had ever heard her use. In response to her question he just gave her a shit-eating grin, which surprisingly she countered with an equally shit-eating grin. "Well played, blue boy. But a witch doesn't give up so easily," she proclaimed and pointed a finger at him.

Minato's grin turned into a smile. Magilou had always amused him with her antics back at the prison island, even though he rarely had shown any apparent reaction. This was due to him having trouble to cope with the entire situation.

"So tell me, why were you send to that place?" Magilou minded her words because a few people were passing the way by. "I already told you all my reason and Rokurou gave at least a partial explanation. Velvet is pretty obvious. So, what about you?"

And all of the sudden Minato felt his mood becoming sour. His right hand wandered towards his holster and he took out his evoker. "Magilou?"

"Yes?" the woman asked patiently, shaking her hips back and forth.

"How are daemons made?"

"Huh?"

"Or rather, how do humans turn into daemons?" Minato clarified still looking at his evoker.

"You haven't heard? It's the daemonblight," the blonde said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Daemonblight?"

"Some kinda sickness that turns humans into daemons," she explained offhandedly. "No one knows how it spreads. And a cure is at this point nothing more than a faraway dream, completely out of reach."

"...I see," Minato said after a moment. The wildcard put his evoker away and put his hands into his pockets. "I saw a girl being surrounded by some kind of black energy. I guess that was the daemonblight," he spoke slowly. Magilou raised an eyebrow, now very interested.

"Everyone around was panicking, screaming. I was totally taken off guard too. The girl grew claws and her teeth became really sharp. She reminded of a monster out of a storybook." He shook his head. "But she didn't act like one. In fact, she was crying. She screamed for her mother, her father in this distorted voice." Minato allowed himself to sigh. "I decided to approach her since no one else was doing it."

"Huh, brave of you. Or incredibly foolish."

Minato just went on with his story, ignoring the comment of the blonde. "I tried to talk to her, calm her down. I didn't say two sentences when the local exorcist arrived."

The blue-haired boy made a small pause. "He told me to step away and wanted to kill her. I… let's just say I disagreed."

"I see," Magilou nodded thoughtfully. "Well, can't say I expected such a tragic story. But then again, life is a tragedy in of itself. Tragically boring that is."

Minato looked up from the ground and gave Magilou a studying gaze. "Is that really what you think?"

"What? Are you offended? To be honest, I'm only still around all of you, because all of you are a nice change of pace from the boring monotony of life."

The blue-haired boy tilted his head, his expression having become neutral. Magilou was looking at the boy with an equally neutral expression for a couple of minutes, that is until she got bored of it and let out a big yawn.

"Well, that was an enlightening conversation. But I think I'll be checking out our new lodgings. It's been years since I slept in a real bed." With those words being spoken, the self-proclaimed witch turned around and casually strolled towards the inn, where everyone else was staying. Minato stood there for a couple of more minutes, before following. He wasn't sure, but he thought he had felt a faint bond forming between Magilou and himself.