Incep: "Jesus, I procrastinated hard, see I had planned to upload this early to surprise ya'll but I'm writing THIS PART June 25, and I'm NOT EVEN DONE, I also had to do some back tracking (Apparently the Enchanted Fairy is actually the Charming Fairy, according to the Wikia anyways), and yet i managed to get this out early -.-, Even if you don't celebrate it, have a Happy Fourth of July, enjoy!"
I sit up, fully refreshed and invigorated, I stretch and yawn, having slept in a real bed for the first time in what feels like a week...
"Hmmm, how long HAVE I been here?" I ask under my breath, I look over to the asleep Louise "I could ask her, but, why do I have the feeling she'd interpret that as something negative..."
"Morning partner" Derf says to me quietly
"Mornin'" I reply as I stare at the rusted talking sword, making me wonder if the Inn Keeper has sword cleaning materials, my cover as a traveling swordsman with his little sister would be compromised if my sword looks bad...
"Hey Derf, how's about I get that rust off of you?"
"O-Oi, really?!" Derf asks, very ecstatic; I simply smile in response, tightening up my disguise and sheathing Derf, I head downstairs, as I do the inn owner's son, a slim, young man about my age with short brown hair, bored blue eyes and not too remarkable facial features, hails me from behind the check-in counter
"Mornin'" he says with little enthusiasm, sounding like he greeted because it's part of his job rather than any actual kindness, he glances at my face and his eyes light up
"Ah yes, morning to you too" I say in the faux-accent I adapted at some point when we were checking in, perhaps a caution to far considering the wanted posters don't have audio, but it was a 'heat of the moment' thing, when you see your face on a wanted poster, it shakes you up "May I ask, is there a place where I can tend to my blade" I draw Derf, showing his rust to the young man
"Oh, yeah, it's uh, right out back" he points to a door behind him, as I go towards the door, he grabs my arm, pulling me around to him, he looks into my eyes with an expectant look "So, uh, dude, are you that wanted earth mage?" I glance at the poster, lo and behold, next to the sketch there's a brown colored Dot symbol, Earth mage? Where the hell did they get that from?
As I stare at the artist rendition of my face it hits me, if I'm not convincing enough, I could very well get caught...
"Listen to me carefully..." I begin, swelling my courage into a performance, steeling my glance I grab his arm and stare back at him, causing the young man to cower slightly "...A sword is a man's weapon, no substitutes! A bow? FOR COWARDS! A spear? FOR WEAKLINGS! A flimsy, weak, wand? YOU HAVE NO PLACE THE BATTLEFIELD! Do we have understanding?!" I growl, in the deep accent, the poor guy is shaking...
"S-sir yes sir..." I pat him on the back, reassuring him, and head through the door into a grassy, fenced-off 'backyard' area, where a lone, worn down stump is rooted with several objects sitting around it, the moment I close the door, i slump against it, and breathe a sigh of relief
"Oh my god, I hammed it up back there!"
"I thought it was rather convincing partner!" Derf somehow launches himself from my grip and onto the log "Come on now partner!" I sigh and walk over.
Derf explains the tools around me as I get to work removing the rust with several instruments I've never seen before. I figured it would just be one of those stone wheel things, but I should expect to be surprised at this point, in the end Derf looks MUCH better without all of that rust on him, so mission accomplished I guess.
I re-enter the inn's lobby to find Louise waiting for me, staring angrily at my wanted poster, we head out to scout the town.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
"Ugh... five more minutes..."
*PFWOOSH!*
The door shoots inward causing a loud slamming sound, David jumps awake
"GYAHHH!"
He stands there dressed in just his uniform pants with a shocked expression on face as he stares at Kirche and Tabitha
"Holy six pack..." Kirche says, before clearing her throat "Anyways, the teachers just called an assembly, get dressed and let's go"
As the trio walk down the stairwell...
"So what is this assembly about?" David asks
"Apparently there's another thief" Kirche says
"Really?" David sighs "wasn't that Fouquet girl just caught a day or so ago?"
"Yeah, what's really different is that supposedly he attacked a Count, cutting his arm off"
"Damn..."
The trio makes it out of the tower and walk down the hall to the auditorium
"So..." Kirche nudges David "Are you and Louise?" she asks
"What no, why would you think that? Just because we live across from each other, I mean, I haven't even been here for a week, in fact, I barely know you..." he points to Tabitha "...And I've never even met you until now!"
"Fair enough" Kirche says
"Why do you care?"
"Because, I swear she's hogging my darling all for herself!"
"Your darling?" David questions
"Yes, her familiar, oh, he's brave and strong and, and..." Kirche proceeds to sigh dreamily
"Wait, I thought her familiar was a dog?"
"it's no surprise you'd get that by the way she treats him"
"So he isn't?"
*KA-THUNK!*
Kirche drops a small black case, she hurries to pick it up
"Safe..." She says with a sigh
"I didn't even notice you were carrying that" David stares at the case "Why does it look so familiar though?" Kirche scoffs are his confusion
"I assure it isn't, after all my darling is one-of-a-kind! He's not even from this wo-"
"We're here" Tabitha says, interrupting them, the three filter in to relatively adjacent seats, near Guiche and Montmorency.
The Headmaster Osmond, an old man in black robes with long grey hair that drapes into his long beard, takes the stage in front of the many students, The headmaster clears his throat.
"Attention students, as you may have heard an assailant attacked a high ranking official and is on the run currently, this assembly is to detail the culprit to you so that you can spot him, he is incredibly dangerous and has killed trained guards, so DO NOT approach him, from the details given by Count Mott, he is approximately 17, Black hair, Green eyes, Bronze plates were found in the room he entered the estate from, inscribed upon it was a crude, indistinguishable map, some of the guards say he left on a strange, roaring familiar, with this it is suspected he is an earth mage, and that-"
"-Kamen RAT..." Guiche mutters to himself "If just explain the circumstances... that criminal THREATENED me to get that bronze plate, I can get rid of that upstart commoner for good!"
"You better not be implying my darling did this Guiche" Kirche says, Guiche turns his head to her
"OF COURSE HE DI-"
"Gramont! Silence please, this is important!" Osmond says from the stage, Guiche crosses his arm and grumbles.
"No one would believe him" Tabitha says
"Why?" David asks
"Because my darling defeated him in a duel! Everyone would assume Guiche is licking his wounded pride, that's what you meant, right Tabitha?" Kirche asks, Tabitha merely nods
The sun begins to set as the sky turns purple and stars fill the empty void.
"And this where we part ways... Master" the last part I say under my breath as we're in a crowd
"So, you're heading to this... 'Charming Fairy' place?" Louise asks, visibly disgusted by the thought of me going to sleazy bar
"Yes, and you said you were going to check out that fancy hotel we went to yesterday?" She nods, showing her Uniform under her civilian disguise
"We'll meet back at the inn when the moons are at the highest point" she says
"So about midnight-ish then? Got it" we part ways and I head down the street to the 'Charming Fairy' establishment, it's a long walk, but I eventually reach it.
The Charming Fairy is a nice looking building with a ridiculous number of windows out front, 9 in total, it seems like the owner lives here as it has this 'Inn' quality to it, though it's definitely a sleazy bar; If the frilly outfits and cute girls are any tell, its unsurprisingly full as only one table is empty, I take a seat and luckily its infront of a window, so If anything happens outside I can respond quickly, I scan the bar for anybody who outwardly looks like a noble, there's a more revealing black frilly costume on display on the stage, is there some contest going on?
"Hello!" A brown haired girl in a powder blue outfit says standing next to my table "I'm Jeanne! What would you like?"
It's not like I can order alcohol, not so much that I'm underage so much as I can't stand the taste.
"Just water, I'm waiting for someone" I lie, with a smile she nods and walks off "I hope a noble shows up soon, I don't know how long I can linger here just ordering water..." I say quietly, thinking to myself out loud. The cute brunette returns with my water and I tip her, which seems to make her happy, she glances at the black outfit on display and leaves with a skip in her step.
As I sip at my water a rotund man in green regalia with gold designs and a red cape enters with a troop of guards...
That's probably my fault, huh...
"Oh if it isn't Lord Chillan~" The owner of the Charming Fairy, Scabbard or something says, 'squirming' towards the short brown haired man with a pencil thin mustache "It's nice of you to come all the way out here!"
"It looks like your business is doing quite well Scarron..." The noble says, one could almost see dollar signs in his eyes as they shift around quickly from the drinks to the customers as if taking inventory and making a head count.
"Oh no oh no, not at all, today's the exception, usual we're so empty you could hear a coin drop!" Scarrock-or whatever-exaggerates, with all these girls, I bet this place always has customers.
"Enough with the excuses! I'm here today as a customer" he says
"Ohhhh~ well you might me out of luck, we JUST ran out of tables" The noble smirks at the comment, snapping his fingers the guards twirl, from my seat what looks like muskets, all the customers stand up and the lively atmosphere turns dead quiet, out of defiance I loudly sip my water, he laughs uproariously
"BWAAHAHAHA! I see, you must an out-of-towner! It'd be in your best interest to stand" He walks over to my table, slamming his palm on it. "I'll have you know that is my favorite table" he says with a shit-eating grin
"That's nice" I reply, I move a hand into my disguise and hold the Matsubokkuri Lockseed preparing myself for escape if need be, the guards point their weapons at me.
"Listen up, I'm Lord Chillan, a Tax Collector, yes that's right, I'm of nobility! You disrespectful commoners think just because that armored charlatan attacked Count Mott that you can do as you please? Don't make me laugh!"
"I'm the one being disrespectful?"
"YES, YES YOU ARE!" he shouts
"Hmm, I see well you know wha-" I quickly press on the lockseed
BATTLE START!
A zipper appears behind me as an Elementary Inves jumps out, it begins to rush towards the guards, everyone, including myself run from the establishment, I stick close, watching the Lord
"Damnit!" He pulls out-!
"T-The Ichigo Lockseed?! How does he have that?!" I say aloud in shock, As my Inves is preoccupied with the guards, Chillan stares at the lockseed
"I was supposed to turn this in with my next tax report, I heard that this is a powerful magic artifact, capable of summoning some unbounded familiar, lets see how true that is hmmm!"
BATTLE START!
A zipper opens as a Shika Inves jumps out, the orange and blue deer-like creature's presence causes my grey cocoon-like Inves to stop and turn towards it, a small ring appears around the two
*DUN, DUN, DUN, DING!*
"Shit! An Inves battle, b-but I'm at a total disadvantage Matsubokkuri is a C-Class lockseed and Ichigo is an A-Class, damnit if I lose, he'll get my lockseed!" I speak under my breath, I run into the bar and draw my sword and leap into the ring, if I'm right, when held the Inves have a safety mode where they can't attack humans unless the lockseed is dropped, I point my sword at the Lord's Inves
"What are you doing?!"
"This one looks more vicious, I'll deal with it first!" I run forward and slash through it...
Because when a battle starts Inves become holographic in nature...
I honestly forgot about that...
"You idiot that one is mine!" As soon as he said that an idea popped into my head, doing a quick check I see all the guards he had with him where knocked unconscious by my Inves, alright, let's do this!
"Then you're the one who was summoning monsters!" I shout, loud enough for the scatted patrons outside to hear "That is why they aren't attacking you!" clenching the lockseed I order my Inves to strike me in the back, of course it passes through me, but I throw myself forward, to the lord's feet, the onlookers begin mumbling to themselves
"Did you see that!"
"What are those things?"
"Damn noble, as if money wasn't enough for him, he wants our lives too!"
"W-What are you all talking about-!" getting to my feet I bring Derf to his neck, he drops the lockseed, run past him, grabbing it on the way and close the Strawberry shaped lockseed, sheathing Derf.
BATTLE OVER!
I bring my Inves over and hold him, I pull out the copy of the princesses letter I have
"For abuse power, by order of the princess of Tristan, you are under arrest Lord Chillex!"
"First of all its Chillan! Secondly its Tristain! And thirdly WHAT?!"
"Heheh, I'm not good with names" after a while law enforcement drops by and I give them the run down, and they arrest Chillan, I wait at the Inn for Louise to get back when she does I tell her what happened
"Why'd you draw ALL that attention?!"
"I, uh... don't know" now that she mentions it, that could of ended up real bad! "Sorry Master... heheh" She sighs
"That's fine, your distraction let me get a couple of corrupt nobles, so that should of gotten the princesses point across, I'm sure things will smooth over soon enough"
"You're hopeful, I expect this will making tensions between the classes even worse, not only that, but I bet a lot of nobles now resent the princess"
"Well we can only wait, we're heading back to the academy tomorrow" she says as she lays down on to the bed, I roll over and stare out the window
"I wonder what's going on at the academy..."
*ZIP*
A Zipper drags across the screen, a Fourze Kaban appears, it opens as the Ichigo lockseed is tossed back in
Anyways, you might have noticed some weird writing during the scenes where Elliot wasn't present, that's because I switch to third person for that(and i usually write first person so it was awkward for me) I have done it before (With David) but that was in small bursts, this time around I had to write a whole scene ., well, hopefully I become a better writer because of it, oh and don't expect the next chapter anytime soon, I JUST got Persona Q, so maybe winter-ish? i tend to do it on Saturdays and the next holiday( I know of) is Halloween, so then-ish, I don't know, well, until next time.