[Noble Region] Tota

[Bloodedge]

Tota is a village within the noble region of the Clover Kingdom.

[Apollymi]

Within the village of Tota a young girl with blue hair stood just inside of a command post waiting for orders. She was a recent recruit to the Magic Knights and fell under the squad known as Blue Rose. Her brown eyes traced the ground and she held her hands clasped behind her back in the hopes of keeping from sight the fidgeting her fingers managed to do as she awaited her orders. Over the last few days she'd been adjusting to life as a Magic Knight and she was excited to see what kind of jobs patrols would entail. She didn't figure she'd get to do much, but wanted to show herself being an upstanding member of her squad just the same. She could be seen wearing a small blue rose insignia cape over her brown and gold zip-up top. And as such she waited for such a time as an order was delivered to her.

[Bloodedge]

As Tota was located within the noble region of the Clover Kingdom, a decent number of Magic Knights could be found nearby at any given time. This day, however, a certain report had been given to bring attention to a potential theft ring performing their operations in the noble region. The result of this was a greater focus on Magic Knight patrols near residences, delivered to all Magic Knights within the area via communication devices. One particular male sporting the cloak of the Coral Peacock squad happened to be near the blue-haired girl at the time of his order being received. He had medium-length black hair and wore a bland expression upon his face even while receiving such an order to enhance patrol. "Hai. On the lookout," he said.

At the same time, there was a curious-looking man with silver hair and deep blue eyes. He looked to be no more than a teen, but his appearance was quite deceiving. The order to this man, who wore a long Azure Deer-emblazoned cloak and a hat that looked like it was designed by a witch, was taken without a word - he simply continued walking around the village as he'd been doing all along.

[Apollymi]

Soon enough the young girl had her communication device give her a potential order she was going to follow. She'd jumped when the device had shown a person but soon after recovered enough to move along as if nothing had happen. "Hai, I understand." she muttered. She'd take this particular order and turn around while shuffling to put away the device and talk herself through the details of such missions that she knew by heart at this point. "Hai, I have to... make sure to keep a look out. But because I am inexperienced, I am not supposed to make contact if I do find something. If I see any suspicious behavior, I have to report it to someone higher ranking and more equipped..." she said to herself confirming her own knowledge of such situations. Even so she was nervous enough that she almost bumped into the man in the Coral Peacock robe. She came to a thundering halt her heart beating hard in her chest. "Gomenasai. I didn't see you there... I'll pay more attention and be more careful..." she let this entire sentence roll off her tongue while taking a deeply apologetic stance with her head bowed low.

[Bloodedge]

As the raven-haired male went about his patrol, his eyes were on the nearby buildings. There was suddenly a voice from a place very, very close to him. Said voice was an apologetic one - a girl who'd gotten quite close to him, but had not actually made contact at all. "Nani?" he questioned with little care in his tone. "I don't know what you're talking about. Did you also get the order from the capital?" he went on to ask, figuring that if they were two Magic Knights with the same task, they could perhaps make each other's jobs a little easier by cooperating.

The other male of this would-be trio was not quite as close by. His distance from the other two, though, had placed him within field of vision and earshot, though his back was turned to certain events happening precisely as the others met. Nearby was the house of the Vaude family, an esteemed noble group of the Clover Kingdom. At present, this very house was being raided from the inside by assumed servants who thought it a wonderful idea to assault the family in their sleep and make off with a bigger payload than their organization had ever seen.

[Apollymi]

The blue haired girl's eyes widened at this man's words. She wasn't necessarily clumsy but she was so used to apologizing for her actions she did so even when they did no harm. As such his words made her a bit more at ease but she still didn't raise her head until he spoke of an order he'd just received from the capital. She stood up straight then and nodded her head. "Hai, I just received word that I am supposed to help in the increased patrol in the area... we're on the look out for anything suspicious around the residences..." she said in affirmation. "I was on my way to have a look at a few nearby," she said thinking about it a bit more. "If you're headed that way we could work together..." she offered though the lass was inwardly flinching she held out hope that this wasn't going to be as bad as the experiences she was used to still she was practically holding her breath as she waited.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka," the male said when given confirmation that the order had reached this girl as well. She even went on to make the suggestion he'd been thinking about working together to better accomplish their task. He nodded a response to this, choosing to offer his introduction before they began their work. "Bastien Wisteria, 2nd Class Junior Knight of Coral Peacock. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," he said. With that, he began moving to inspect the immediate area.

There were a great many things to be looted from House Vaude, and there were quite a few individuals in the process of looting at this very moment. A few managed to leave the building with full pockets to move on with their tasks, though a few still remained to keep the noble family in check and take the remains in the meantime.

[Apollymi]

Surprisingly for this particular girl, the lad who was now standing with her seemed to be fine with her suggestion that they work together. He was even so kind as to introduce himself. 'Bastien Wisteria!? 2nd Class!?' the girl took in this information with her eyes wide. She recognized this lad's name, as one of the higher tier nobles who inhabited the realm. She was stunned to even meet him, much less get a chance to work with him. "Wendy Marvell, 5th Class Junior Magic Knight of Blue Rose. Yoroshiku." Wendy got out her entire introduction and bowed her head once more. Though she was nobility herself, these sorts of situations dictated that she defer, not only for reasons of rank within the Magic Knights but also for reasons of posterity within the classes of nobility.

Soon after she'd lift her head and begin her proper patrol, looking out into the distance she saw the daily hustle and bustle of the area. Upon inspecting it she found that this area seemed to be fairly normal. But there was something strange to take note of, and that was the looters with full pockets moving about. They weren't necessarily odd, they just seemed to be in more of a rush than those around them. Wendy's eyes narrowed at this but she tried not to draw attention to what she'd noticed. Instead she chose to speak very calmly to Bastien. "Wisteria-senpai, those people seem to be leaving somewhere in more of a rush than everyone else around," she said. Being the sort of person who was always apologizing and always walking on eggshells, she could tell when people were trying not to draw too much attention to themselves.

[Bloodedge]

The 'widened eye' reaction to his introduction did not go unnoticed by Bastien, but he thought nothing of it. After all, it was far from the first time he'd witnessed such a thing. When the girl bowed to him a second time, he held up his hand as if to tell her there was no need. "Let's go," he said. With that, he was on his way. Soon after the two embarked on their joined patrol, Wendy was pointing out something that was rather suspicious indeed. A certain set of individuals moved in a hasty manner toward an unknown goal. One would think that in this sort of situation, nobles would be rushing to their homes, but... none of them looked like Magic Knights. Of course, there was one other thing they also didn't look like: nobles."They do look like they're rushing. They also don't look like they belong here. That house... Vaude, isn't it? We should tell someone about this."

[Apollymi]

Wendy would note at her second bow, the lad held up his hand. Whether he'd noticed her starry eyed reception of him or not, it seemed he wouldn't dwell on the feeling of superiority such things normally gave. This was a bit of a relief for Wendy as the blue haired girl was already a ball of nerves and didn't need anything else influencing her current disposition badly. "Hai!" she muttered, as they actually began their patrol it seemed she wasn't the only one taking note of their rushing suspects. In fact, Bastien pointed out the thing she'd not wanted to say at all, that these people rushing away from a noble house didn't at all seem like nobles in the slightest. He also recognized the house as belonging to a specific noble family. "House Vaude, that's the one..." she whispered. There was the matter of this needing to be reported so that the higher ups could take a look at it. If it was a recent burglary or even a robbery in progress more equipped Magic Knights should be notified immediately. "Hai, I'll notify Command. They should be able to find someone higher up to take a look more directly." she said before she began applying mana to her communication device. "Command, this is Wendy Marvell of Blue Rose. We've just spotted two people leaving the vicinity of House Vaude, none of them seeming to belong in the household and rushing in the opposite direction." she stated clearly as she waited for a possible reply. Whatever the case, she'd done her part in reporting the suspicious activity with the help of her new kindred spirit Bastien Wisteria.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. Once we've got that out of the way, we can start scouting for any other activity in the village," Bastien said when Wendy decided to call the capital and alert them of these strange people. He was vaguely familiar with House Vaude, and was almost certain these people didn't have servants leaving their estate en masse as these people were. Just the same, the likely wouldn't have hired such suspicious-looking individuals. Little could he have known, these people had done away with their actual new staff members to impersonate them, and effectively made this a proper inside job. Wendy's call to the capital was promptly answered by a male with blue hair and a red tattoo overlapping his right eye. "Command here; Jellal Fernandes. Wendy Marvel, was it? Do you have any additional information?" the man asked.

Just then, the very same silver-haired male who'd been wandering in a different direction from Wendy and Bastien, stepped out in front of Wendy. "Disregard that," he said to the man named Jellal. "We'll take care of it right away. Leave everyone else to make sure nothing else is going on in the village," he concluded. This prompted a nod from Jellal, who knew this Magic Knight well. The communication link would be ended right away, leaving the silver-haired male to address the other two Magic Knights now in his company. "You two are with me. Good job finding this problem; now it's time we did something about it."

[Apollymi]

Wendy gave a nod of her understanding of what Bastien wished to do post her call to the Command Post. That being said, such plans would see anything to fruition. As the girl opened her mouth to explain further the situation she'd come across to command, someone stepped out in front of her bringing the girl to a complete stop. This person spoke to command and soon after their conversation was terminated by no fault of Wendy's own. Her eyes widened as it was a bit stunning for Command to simply take the word of this newcomer that this situation would be handled by him and two Junior Magic Knights. "Sumimasen, who are you?" the girl asked, honestly confused about what had just happened. She was all about following her rules, and if a superior officer gave her permission to participate in some manner she would do her best to be useful, but she didn't have many skills which could be applied to such a situation. "Ano, I mean.... I don't think I am much use in a potential combat situation, and I don't know what's going on there nor how much I can help. Gomenasai." she quickly explained going back to bowing and exceedingly respectful speech which she would have done, even if she hadn't thought it was possible her question could be thought of as rude.

[Bloodedge]

The young-looking male who'd interrupted Wendy's call was more than ready to move directly into the Vaude house, but he was halted by the girl's words toward him. "Gomen. Zinc Silva, Azure Deer... Senior Magic Knight... 1st Class," he said as his eyes scanned the house's exterior. He seemed a bit spaced-out even while introducing himself. Bastien recognized this name, but the appearance to go with it didn't quite match up. Still, he had seen the Silva family's current Captain of the Silver Eagle squad, and this individual did look much like her... though more like her child than anything. "1st Class Senior Magic Knight?" the black-haired boy questioned. To this, and to Wendy's claim to a lack of potential usefulness, Zinc waved an all-too-casual hand around over his head. "Yes, the very same... and yes to you," he said whilst pointing in Wendy's direction. "No, wait... Gomen. No to what you said. I'm sure you'll do fine." With that said, Zinc gestured for the two to follow him as he moved forward, aiming to enter the Vaude estate through the front door. Meanwhile, Bastien lagged behind by several paces, aiming to hold said pace with Wendy while looking at her as if he thought this ordeal strange.

[Apollymi]

'SILVA!' If the eyes of Wendy had grown from meeting Bastien they would only get larger as she was apparently meeting one of the royals from House Silva. Beyond this initial bout of disbelief was a bit of skepticism though, this lad claimed to be Zinc Silva and though she didn't know the name to match it to a face, she had at least seen the elder sister of House Silva, the Captain of the Silver Eagles Sibylla. What she'd seen of the woman indeed would lead her to believe this man was related to her, but she couldn't agree with him being old enough to be a Senior Magic Knight. Beyond her outward cynacism it seemed that this man wanted her along, though his method for getting to this point seemed a bit... spacey at best. "H-hai." she murmured. It seemed she wasn't alone in her disbelief either as Bastien had questioned it directly and in getting his answer was content to take up the paces that Wendy had. She looked to the lad with a raised brow questioning this man about the young looking man who was a member of House Silva. Obviously, Wendy was without this level of confirmation. "Sou ka, it's not just me then..." she whispered to the lad. They were approaching this potential crime scene but she had more of a problem with their potential leader than even she managed to have with her own lack of combat prowess.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. I'm sensing a lot of power though, so... he's at least something," Bastien whispered in response, sharing Wendy's skepticism completely. At least this person could be of some potential use in combat if it came down to that. Perhaps there was even some truth to his statement. It could hardly be argued that he was a member of House Silva, but everything else he claimed just didn't seem to add up when looking at him.

Interestingly enough, Zinc managed to hear everything the younger Magic Knights said. "Focusing on the task at hand would be a good idea," he said while ironically seeming to do the exact opposite. Zinc used basic reinforcement magic to break open the Vaude estate's front door with his left hand, and simply walked right in. Multiple people were inside, including the restrained residents of the house and the crooks who were still robbing them of their every valuable. Zinc stepped inside without seeming to pay any mind to any of them. All he did was move forward at a very casual pace, holding out his right arm and angling it inward until his forefinger was pressed against his forehead... all while he stared into absolute nothingness, as if confused by something totally unrelated to current events.