Principle Matters

It was the afternoon, Jin had made the breakfast earlier in the day so making the lunch was someone’s responsibility. Cleaning up his utensils and his cabinet, he walked out of the kitchen. Kaya was prowling around in the guild hall since she felt bored in the kitchen while Jin was cooking. He had been working as a chef for quite a while now and had gotten used to the cooking routines. He walked to the tavern and took a stool, the bar tender brought him a cold beverage and some meat for Kaya. Kaya came running smelling the food and didn’t waste much time diving into it. Jin took the glass and started drinking it while he waited for his usual to arrive. After a little while the bar tender arrived with a red velvet cake and placed it in front of him. He took the plate and started eating his beloved cake; he never could have enough of it.

Sophie was walking around probably searching for Kakuma when she noticed Jin sitting at the bar and walked up to him. ”Well if it isn’t one of our rising stars” she said a bit informally than her usual self. ”Hello Sophie, how’s it going?” he said as Kaya looked at Sophie from the corner of her eyes but was too scared to greet her the way she usually greeted others. Sohpie noticed Kaya’s reluctance and gently patted the chibi tiger who smiled in return. She had a cold demeanor but being a Black Rose mage she was a warm hearted person like most of the mages here; Jin was getting to know here more and more slowly. ”I have a job that needs looking into. Interested?” she inquired handing Jin a job flyer. ”I’ll need help” he replied after skimming through the request. ”I’ll leave that to you then” she said as she got up and left leaving the flyer in Jin’s hand.

After finishing his cake, Jin cleaned up his face with a handkerchief and waited for Kaya to finish her meal. Once finished, the two started looking around for a familiar face to take along on this job to the haunted village.

Capture the Dark Principle:

Magna had only been on the island for a short while since his return. He'd left when he was 12 and returned when he was 15. It had been a long time since he'd been here. As such he was keen to sample the sights and smells and most importantly tastes of this island. As he walked about he caught a sweet smell on the air and paused briefly considering whether to follow his nose on this case like he so often did. His dessert recipe range was lacking so perhaps the source of this scent might be the first step to rectifying that problem. He nodded to himself and was about to follow it when Sophie walked past. He wasn't sure how to feel about her. She intimidated him quite a bit. Perhaps because she seemed to important or perhaps because he just wasn't that used to dealing with what appeared to be strong women. He gave her a little wave though and managed to get a nod in response. Well, it wasn't great, but it was better than nothing.

He began to walk and as he walked he began to muse on the scent working out what exactly it was. His perfect sense of smell was very useful on this and it had a strong scent of sugar and whipped cream. Perhaps a meringue of some kind? He wasn't sure and he wouldn't know until he found it. However, as he walked he noticed another familiar figure with a small, almost chibi-like sabertooth tiger. It was Jin. A man whom he'd last met when the two of them went with Myra and Senshi to deal with some thugs trying to steal beer. He noticed as he got closer that the man had what appeared to be a job notice in his hand.

"Hey there. Going on another job?" he asked with his usual smirk. "How ya doing Jin, Kaya?" He quite liked the pair. Kaya was adorable and Jin was quite powerful. He'd heard since they got back that Jin was one of the famous rising stars. A group of mages that were said to be potential wizard saints in the future. He doubted he'd ever become one. Power wasn't his thing. For him all his magic was purely about the cooking. The combat was just a side effect of that.

Jin was looking at the job details now that he had the flyer to himself and was enjoying the cake too. He cherished every little bite so he was taking his time and enjoying the dessert. He was so immersed in eating and reading the job flyer that he didn’t notice until Kaya greeted him. ”Maggy!”, Kaya almost pounced at the cooking mage; Jin turned to see Magna. ”Maggy? Seriously? Couldn’t you have at least chosen a nick name with a more masculine sound? Jeez Kaya”. He was a bit embarrassed at kaya’s actions but he thought Magna wouldn’t mind. ”Hey Magna, yeah Sophie just passed this one to me. Want some cake?” he asked but he looked at the bar tender who nodded in reply. He was sure Magna would want a taste of Jin’s favorite dessert. Jin pointed at the seat next to him and stretched the job flyer at Magna for him to look at.

”It’s not something me and Kaya can handle. We’ll need help”, he said taking another bite of the delicious cake. It was almost near its end which kind of made him sad but that always happened when a red velvet cake came closer to its end. ”Maggy Maggy, how’s guardy? Where’s he?” inquired Kaya as she craved the attention of both the mages. Jin gently patted kaya’s head gently telling her that she shouldn’t interrupt and let the two talk. She climbed up Jin’s lap and sat down quietly listening to her friend and owner. ”I hope you don’t mind Kaya’s shenanigans, she is a kind creature”, when Jin mentioned her shenanigans she bit into his hand. Jin saw that one coming and in chibi form she really couldn’t do any harm anyways so no harm done. Jin just didn’t want his new friend to be uncomfortable while Kaya was being a bit too friendly.

The bar tender then arrived with the ordered red velvet cake and placed it in front of Magna, ”enjoy”, he said with a gentle smile. ”Thank you” said Jin to the departing bar tender. After letting Magna read the job’s detail, he wondered if Magna would join him: ”So what do you think Magna? Will you and Aegis come along?”.

"Maggy" That was certainly an interesting nickname. It was not particularly masculine or impressive. In fact it sounded like a little girl handing out flowers. However, surprisingly, despite being a teenage boy in the peek of his hormonal growth he really didn't care. All he really cared about was cooking. "Cake sounds good to me." he said with a grin. He was all for trying new recipes and the smell and look of the cake had managed to perk his interests. The two of them took a seat and he was handed the job flyer. It seemed some principal had been possessed and now the students and faculty were acting weird. Their job, if they chose to accept it anyway, was to go and catch the principal and hopefully find out what he had done and break the curse. Not an easy job.

"Guar...I mean Aegis is resting. He's good though. Stoic as ever." he replied to Kaya as he stroked her. He doubted Aegis would appreciate being called Guardy at least not by him anyway. He winced ever so slightly as the small cat-like creature bit into his hand. It didn't hurt so much. It was just a slight surprise. Fortunately, due to mistakes in the kitchen over his short life his hands were pretty tough. He'd suffered burns, frostbite, cuts, bruises, broken bones. Everything really. "Yeah I know. She's a cutie and I don't mind."

It was that point that the bar tended arrived with the cake. Immediately, Magna's attention was caught and he raised a finger as if to indicated that silence was required. He slowly raised the plate and inspected the cake all around the edge a look of complete concentration on his face. He nodded and lifted up the fork and slowly pressed it against the cake. There was very little resistance. There was an ever so slight springiness, but other than that his fork went through the cake as easily as if it was a bubble. He slowly pulled off a small bit of the cake and raised it to his eye level on the fork. He inspected it again and then inhaled deeply before biting into it. "Almost perfect. The beetroot was cooked for two seconds too long in my opinion. However, the flavour has seeped through the cake quite nicely and softened it to such a state that it is easy to go through." He commented and then began to eat the rest of the cake. As he got about half way through he realised he hadn't given Jin an answer.

"Well, I don't if i'll be much help, but me and Aegis will give it our all."

”Guardy is a stoicy?” she said out loud thinking about Magna’s reply. She was a saber tooth tiger so a rather simple vocabulary was to be expected. Jin thought he’d explain it later when they have the time, right now the thing to be focused on was: the cake, apparently. Upon arrival, Jin saw Magna as focused as he would be if someone’s life was at stake. Sure, Jin was a chef too but not by choice, he had no ambition or passion for cooking; he just had a convenient magic that went well with it. In his exam, Kakuma had given him the job and that was that, he had been cooking since then. Unlike Jin, Magna seemed pretty focused as he determined the taste and commented on how it was cooked. Jin couldn’t help but chuckle at that, it was not a sarcastic chuckle it had no ulterior motive. ”Well I’m glad the cake passed the test, haha” he said laughing a little. May be he could learn more about cooking from Magna since he had the job he might as well get good at it.

”I’m sure you’ll be a lot of help. I honestly need moral support too since it’s a school, can you imagine what would happen if we ended up confronting some kids affected by dark magic?” , he didn’t know at this point but the future did have such things in store for him. He allowed Magna to finish his cake before he got up and took the job flyer. ”I’ll go inform Kaya, if you want to pack something or you want something to bring along you can do that. I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes” said Jin as he headed off to find Sophie. It was most likely that Sophie would be either in the guild master’s office or the library. He decided to try the library first and located her. ”Sophie, I’ve found someone who is going with me so I’ll be going on that job you gave me”, she nodded in reply while reading some piece of paper. Well at least she knew, that took care of the formalities.

He returned to the guild hall and found Magna and Kaya, ”We have the approval, let’s be off then, to the port”, said Jin opening the guild’s door and exiting the building along with Kaya.

"I will do my best." Magna said with a nod. He would always do his best. It would be a good test of the foursome's teamwork. Would they blend together into a delicious recipe or would they fail like the time he tried to honey soak par cooked squid tentacles that had been cooked in soy sauce? The thought brought back a slight involuntary shudder. That had been a real disaster of a recipe. One of the worst he had ever tried, but if you didn't try you would never know and thus never succeed. This was a situation much like that. He could try and work well with Jin and Kaya. Whether they failed or succeeded was not the issue. It was whether or not they actually tried that mattered. He would believe in them and that belief would persist.

Whilst his friend was gone to go talk to Sophie about the mission he decided to have some fun with Kaya and summoned up a large frying pan beneath her. She seemed confused and worried, but was soon laughing as she was flung up into the air repeatedly like she was a giant pancake. What's more, like all felines, she landed perfectly on her feet everytime. "Again Maggy. Again." she cried out in joy. However, he stopped suddenly and caught her with his arms tickling her beneath the chin. Cooking utensils really were versatile if you thought about them enough.

When Jin eventually returned Magna smiled at him and winked. "So shall we go find a ship again?" he said putting down Kaya and allowing her to scamper back over to her friend. Or was it owner? He wasn't quite sure about the dynamic. All he knew was that the two went together like strawberries and cream. It certainly seemed a better pairing then him and Aegis anyway. The question itself was a bit of a rhetorical one. Logically, they had to go and find a ship as there was no other way off the island. Well, not that he knew of anyway. He'd heard some guilds had airships and he'd always wanted to travel on one, but it seemed this guild, as far as he knew, didn't have one yet. It didn't matter to him. Black Rose was a good guild and he'd always seen this island as home. So it wasn't like he'd changed guilds to ride on an airship. Besides, ports often got the best food, especially seafood, so he was all good.

”Yes, let’s go; getting there is going to take some time too” he said as a very happy Kaya accompanied him. It appeared that while he was gone Kaya had gotten quite a bit of attention and had bonded with Magna. Jin was pleased to realize that, Kaya was a friendly person and got along with anyone who paid her enough attention. After a little while the group arrived at the port where quite a few plant based gigantic ships awaited them. He had been on quite a few missions but he could never stop getting amazed at these ships. The signature ships of Black Rose, plenty of them were monstrous in size. The more the ships remained at sea the more they grew, it was almost like a giant living creature. ”Let’s go Maggy”, said Kaya as she led the way barging into a ship. Jin smiled and followed his friend and pet, well they had to board a ship anyways.

After meeting with the captain and talking about their intended destination the ship set sail. Kaya decided to get some rest and found herself a quiet place on the main deck. Jin walked to her and noticed she was already asleep so he stood beside her and Magna; she had fallen asleep next to where Magna would be. ”The captain said we’ll get to the nearest port in a few hours, after that we’ll have to go quite a distance. I’m thinking we’ll hire a carriage or any other transportation we can find”, he informed Magna. Jin had never been to the haunted village before, he wondered if Magna had been there. It wouldn’t hurt to gather some information about the place they were headed. ”I’ve never been to the haunted village before, have you? I wonder what kind of a village is it”.

As the captain had informed Jin, after a few hours the ship arrived at the port and the group got off the ship and onto some more travelling. There were no carriages heading to the haunted village but luckily they found a place willing to rent them some horses. Jin rode with Kaya in front of her, she held tightly to Jin’s shirt and along with Magna they made their way to the haunted village. It was a journey of a another few hours so when they arrived it had already gotten dark.

"Been to a few villages in my travels. Quite a few that people have said are haunted or ghost towns." he said with a thoughtful pause whilst they were sailing on the plant-like ships. They really were amazing ships. He wondered what they would taste like. On top of that would he even be allowed to take some of the ship to try in some recipes or was that  out of the question entirely? It was an odd thought, but one he felt worth considering. "Never been to a place just called the Haunted Village though." He thought for a bit. "Though there was a pretty creepy town I went past when I was last in the phoenix mountains. That might of been it. Sorry I can't be more help." He was a bit saddened by the fact he was not of more use here. Then again Jin couldn't offer much better so perhaps it wasn't too bad.

It was a long boat ride and then following that it was a long horse ride. He wasn't TOO at home on horses, but at least he didn't fall off more than twice. That was pretty good considering. So when they eventually arrived he stretched out and rubbed his body and didn't complain too much. "Damn...I really need to practise my riding. Not been on a horse in a year at least." He chuckled and then his gaze turned onto the village. It really did look a creepy place. Exactly the sort of place where you would expect to find ghosts and goblins. A possessed principal didn't even really feel that out of place. Still if that is what they were here to stop then that is what they were here to stop and they would stop it.

"So I guess we find the client first then go find this school?" Magna said looking at Jin. That seemed to be the protocol for these sort of things, but he wasn't sure. It might not always be the case so in this situation he would let Jin take the lead. Maybe once he was a bit more experienced he would be able to lead a mission, but right now wasn't that time. Jin was the chef and Magna the sous. That was the dynamic of their relationship currently.

He was relieved to know that at least his friend had some experience with weird villages like this one. Even if he hadn’t been here before, he knew how to deal with similar situations. Jin on the other hand, had no idea what so ever; the villages he had visited until now had been quite normal. ”Actually it’s a lot better than me, at least you know what to expect from such villages. I on the other hand have only visited normal villages like the desert village or the mountain village”. It would’ve been a little easier if one of them had been here, they would know about the layout of the land. Despite, being a stranger it wouldn’t be the first time for either of them so it was no big deal anyways. Their casual conversation continued until the voyage by sea ended and then the journey continued on horseback until they arrived at the desired village.

Jin had lived a country life so horseback riding was something basic to him. Kaya hadn’t lived that kind of life and the ride was actually quite bumpy for her; she felt a bit sick and was wobbly as she tried walking on her own. Jin noticed that Kaya’s steps weren’t firm so he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders, her usual spot, so she could rest for a while. ”May be you can practice more after we’re done with this job. Hopefully, under more favorable circumstances”, he said the last sentence as he looked around the gloomy and silent village. The village had this dark and serene aura about it, as if something unnatural was happening in it. Even for someone at Jin’s level, he could feel it quite clearly.

As he observed the village, Magna questioned about their next action. Jin wasn’t really sure, they had arrived in the dark so would this be the right time to go visit someone? More importantly, was this a place where the two should spend a night? Did they have a choice in the matter anyways? ”Honestly, I’m not sure. This place gives me the creeps for some reason but our timing is bad. It’s already dark, for all we know the client might be fast asleep. So, what do you suggest? Do we go wake up the client or spend the night and start working tomorrow morning?”. Sure, Jin might have some experience but he wasn’t the leader type. Even if he was going to take the lead, he would never make a decision without the consent of his friend.

It was true he had been to creepy villages so he supposed that was, like Jin said, an edge over someone who hadn't. Plus he'd been in these mountains before and around the area so that was probably another advantage. How much it would help though was another matter entirely. "Well, this one is a bit worse then most of the others i've been to. Some of them were meant to be haunted, but I never saw any ghosts." It seemed Kaya hadn't had much experience on horses either as she seemed very unstead when they arrived. "Maybe i'll take Kaya to practise with me." he suggested wondering how Jin and Kaya would react to such a suggestion. He quite liked the little tiger so if he could help her whilst helping himself then that would be quite a tasty recipe for improvement.

Jin had a point. Night time was not exactly the best time to go visiting someone. He doubted the client, no matter who they were, would be happy to get interrupted at this time of night. Heck, he doubted even if they brought a cake would it be safe. However, staying here for an extended period of time didn't feel particularly like a good idea either. "Well, the job said that people were staying at the school overnight right?" he said as an idea struck him. "So we could try and tackle the job and then if we finish and its still late I doubt the client will mind if we turn up with the captured principal. That would be better than the most delicious pie I think." It was an idea. Not the best idea perhaps, but it was better than staying around this kind of area for any length of time. Whatever darkness was possessing the principal and the school could get to them if they spent too much time here.

"Either that or we go find a cave or something in the mountains and wait till morning. Though its probably better to get this stuff done sooner rather than later." he added as a second opinion. "Possession, from what i've heard, seems to become worse the longer it happens. Sooner you cure them the less side effects there are."

Kaya wasn’t feeling well but she opened her eyes and stared at Magna due to the offer he had just made. ”Horseys, me no likely!” she almost shouted with a slight ‘hmph’ at the end. Jin couldn’t help but chuckle at that, it was funny but he didn’t mean to offend his pet. ”Now now Kaya, he’s making you a generous offer. It’s not polite to reject him like that”, he looked at Magna and continued to speak: ”Maybe I’ll accompany you two, too”. It wouldn’t be too bad, hanging out with Magna while he and Kaya practiced horseback riding. Jin could give them a few tips if they needed any and he could learn some professional cooking skills from Magna in return.

With Jin’s presentation of the problem, his quick thinking friend found a solution to their predicament. Jin thought a little and then nodded in reply, he agreed with Magna. The job flyer did say that the students remained in the school which was too unnatural even for a haunted village. The right time would be to investigate the school at night. ”I don’t know if that would be better than cake but, that is most certainly a good idea. I think we should go and take a look at the school”. It was true, not many things could best a well prepared piece of pie in Jin’s opinion. The thing was though, they didn’t know where the school was located; well they had the entire village to themselves so they might as well snoop around. ”We’re going to have some difficutly finding the school though but let’s give it a try regardless”, he said looking around to find some kind of hint. On a wall, there was a half torn banner saying something about a school, it was probably the remnant of an advertising poster. Jin walked close to it and examined it for a while, there was no name of the school but it said something about the directions. ”It appears lady luck is on our side, we already found a hint to the school’s location” he said turning to the direction described in the poster.

”The cave is a hard pass, who knows what would await us there. Let’s go and investigate the school instead” he said as he scratched the back of his head. There was his fear of the unknown acting up a little, he really didn’t want to take such a risk at a haunted village. ”Possession eh? So you’re already considering such a thing. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case. If that does happen, how are we going to counter it?”

Possession. It was a truly difficult thing to deal with. He hadn't dealt with it before, but he'd heard of things like exorcists and what not. They did it for a living, but it was said that it was often quite difficult and the difficulty depended on the strength of the possessor as well as the possessed. If the possessed person was strong then they might be able to offer some resistance and help things. If the demon or whatever was possessing the individual was strong enough it would again be very hard to get rid of. Something he didn't have experience with whatsoever. "Well, we don't have to get rid of the possession or whatever it is. We just need to capture the guy and then maybe they will call someone in to break the possession." Or at least that was what he hoped. He couldn't see how they themselves could break the curse. "Though I suppose I could probably whip up some holy water or something. Not really something i've made before, but i'm pretty sure I know a recipe or two." He thought about other tales of possessions and undead and other things like that. There were plenty of items that were supposed to weaken and hurt undead and the possessed. Lemons, garlic, salt, fire. Those were to name just a few. He had a few fire spells beneath his belt that he could probably use.

Eventually in the distance they saw a gate and above the gate was the name of the school. The building itself seemed quite foreboding. It was straight out of horror film cliche. Bats seemed to be flying about and he was sure he heard a wolf howl on the air. "Probably not a good idea to go for a head on assault. That would likely be a recipe for disaster." he said with a bit of thought. That was his opinion anyway. It was a very creepy building and to be honest he didn't want to go in there. His hand went to the knife at his waist, but he decided against bringing out Aegis just yet. Instead he grabbed the white cloth wrapped around his arm and pulled it off before wrapping it around his head. "Ready when you are chef."

Jin hadn’t considered the possibility of possession so thinking about a remedy was out of the question. It appeared that his friend who was one step ahead of him in suspecting possession had no way of curing it either. ”Getting to the guy is the thing to ponder about. The possessed won’t take it easy on us and there will be children among them. I’m sure you too are going to be as reluctant as I would be in that situation”, it was difficult question. How were the two going to handle things if their opponents were possessed children? Regardless, they didn’t have a choice in the matter. They would have to make it through the children and deal directly with the person who was the source of all of it. ”If it comes to that, we’ll keep the holy water as a possible weapon. However, we can’t rely on it so we’ll have to be careful”, it was a bit comforting to know that they had at least one thing.

While still considering their possible means of attacking and dealing with the situation, they arrived at their destination. It was something Jin had never seen before, let alone dealt with. Bats flying around, that cold ominous wind that would normally be around cemeteries; ”What is this? Is this really a school?” By now, Kaya had recovered from her horseback ride trauma and was looking around. She didn’t like what she could see, Jin felt that right away since she was quiet. Normally, she would be saying something or trying to acquire the attention of both mages. He gently patted the head of his friend and pet, ”I’m going to rely on you again my friend”. He said to Kaya and then turned his gaze to Magna, ”.. and you too. Let’s find those children and take out the corrupted principle”. Motivating words but how were they going to launch the attack? Going in guns blazing wasn’t the right idea, was it? ”Jinny, I can scout ahead” said Kaya. She had an ability that allowed her to move undetected and swiftly, using that she could gather information for them.

Jin took Kaya off his shoulders and placed her on the ground, ”Okay, scout ahead. If you run into an enemy that is somehow able to detect you, remember; we’re here, you don’t have to do things on your own”. Jin cared about his guild mates, his friends and he would never accept that even little harm would come to them. Kaya’s help was necessary in this case but that didn’t mean she had to be reckless. She nodded and activated her ability: hunter. She disappeared from site and began to move ahead. Her presence was completely gone, even Jin couldn’t sense her anymore. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be anyone inside who would be strong enough to sense her. Kaya, in her chibi form, entered through the gate and made her way into the main building. After a little while, she returned and made herself appear once more. She had moved around the main building and had brought some general information about the enemies that lied ahead.

Jin looked at Magna, ”Now that we know what’s awaiting us. Let’s make our move”, he said as he pushed the gate wide open making a creaking sound alerting the enemy that Kaya had told them about.

Hunter (Kaya's Ability):

The member 'Okura Jin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Attacking children just didn't sit that well with him and most of his spells weren't exactly pleasant. They weren't things he wanted to use on any person let alone a child or children. "I'll try to restrict their movements rather than hurt them directly." he decided. This was more of a personal decision, but he said it out loud. He had a few spells that might be suitable for that. The holy water would of course be a last resort, but he still began to consider recipes that might be effective. "Undead and the like are said to be vulnerable to salt, garlic, lemons, having their left sock stolen and direct sunlight." he said mentally preparing himself for the task ahead. The only one of those he had on hand that he could really use in a combat situation was salt. He wasn't sure if it would work as well when mixed with water, but he had no choice. It was one of the few techniques he had that wasn't really damaging.

Kaya's hiding skill was very impressive. Even with his perfect senses of smell, taste and hearing he couldn't detect her. It wasn't too long before she returned and informed them of a group of three small children who were waiting just by the gates, hiding in some bushes, waiting to pounce. Jin did not wait to form a plan and instead went straight ahead forcing open the creaky gate. Whoever was hiding would be alerted instantly by that sound and indeed they were for three small children ran out. Their movements weren't quite natural. They ran close to the ground, almost on all fours, but not quite. On top of that their running gait was rather odd. Drool dropped from their lips and their eyes were glazed over. They didn't appear to be that smart though. With a quick flick of his wrist he sent a tiny drop of water at one and it was instantly surrounded in a bubble of salt water. He didn't like doing it as it potentially could cause drowning, but in their state he doubted it and it was one of his least dangerous techniques. "Afrika-Styl Pekel." he said. The one trapped in the bubble began to struggle trying to escape, but they couldn't The other two instantly turned on Magna going straight for him. "Style Francais Rondeau." he said as he formed a large deep metal pot that was enough to cover his body. The two children leapt at it trying to break through, but it was too dense. "Now's your chance Jin."

As he hid behind his shield he noticed that the young boy trapped in the bubble didn't appear to be trying to escape, but appeared to be struggling against himself as if something was trying to stay in the body despite something trying to force it out. It seemed that they were indeed possessed. Or something like that anyway

Rondeau:

Pekel:

Magic:

Just like Kaya had told them, there were three children waiting for someone to arrive through the gate. Jin couldn’t even feel their presence but he trusted Kaya’s information. With Kaya on his shoulder, the three kids appeared and attacked them. Jin’s fears had come to realization, they were up against children and now they needed to deal with them. Would he have to fight them seriously? He would never be able to harm innocent children, what then? While Jin pondered, his friend took control of the situation and confronted the foe. Right now, he needed to think straight; this was no time to be lost in thought. He shook his head and decided to help out his friend as best he could. Sure, harming children was the last thing he wanted but he wouldn’t allow that to come in his way if his friend was in danger. One of the kids ended up getting caught in Magna’s spell while the two collided with one of his summoned utensils. It was the perfect time for Jin to step up and take out the two.

Using his heat magic, he did two things: first he increased the heat of his leg muscles providing him a boost in speed. After that he got close to the two and placed his hands on their shoulders. Why did he got closer to them and risked getting damaged? His magic was limited by the distance and the area of contact. If he was closer and directly touched the object of interest, he could alter temperatures much faster. He expected them to either throw a punch or a kick or even a head butt but strangely both tried to bite him as their faces instantly reacted like a reflex. He had already begun to decrease their body temperatures so in that smallest of moment, it was a race. A race between the decreasing temperature of their bodies and the decreasing distance between their teeth and Jin’s arms.

The teeth of both children got closer to his arms, it appeared that time itself slowed down; the temperature kept decreasing but their movements weren’t slowing them down enough. Jin didn’t plan on backing down, he might have to take a few bite marks but that was nothing compared to the beating he had suffered in other jobs. When the distance between their teeth and Jin’s arm was only one inch, their teeth began to chatter. Neither could open their mouth to bite Jin since their body temperatures had now been lowered significantly. After lowering their body temperatures even more, he raised his hands since the two children had almost been frozen. ”That was a close one, but at least we didn’t hit them. Still, I don’t like it”. His gaze turned to the main building as he began to wonder how much more they would have to deal with. This was only the beginning and he was feeling uneasy.

"I'm not a big fan either." Magna replied though he was quite impressed by the way his friend had dealt with the two remaining children. He had chilled their bodies to such a degree that they became incapacitated. An interesting technique and one that shouldn't really cause them any harm, just discomfort. Freezing them was perhaps a step further then Magna would of gone, but it was one way to keep them out of harm's way for a while. The three wouldn't be bothering Magna and Jin anytime soon. "Let's just hope that's all the kids that got caught under this spell, possession, whatever it is. Fighting people more my own age would be preferable. Though i'd rather not fight at all." He would fight if necessary, but he preferred to disable rather than hurt. It wasn't his style to hurt things he didn't plan to cook and eat afterwards. It was just a needless waste of time and energy and life. That wasn't to say he wouldn't defend himself should his hand be forced, but he really didn't like it much. With a snap of his fingers the two spells he had used deactivated. The young child he had trapped in a bubble looked around widly and then ran from the gates. His gait was now much more normal and their seemed to be a more wholesome smell to him. It seemed that ,whatever was causing the weird behaviour, being trapped in the salt water solved the issue. It seemed more and more likely that this was possession of some kind, but there was still no guarantee so far.

"Kaya smell anything else coming our way?" he said. He trusted the sabertooth's sense of smell and knew she was quite proud of it. On their previous missions together the young tigerling had seemed to be upset at the praise the dragonoid got for his own sense of smell. So for this particularly job he decided to play on that strength she was proud of and hopefully build up her confidence just the right amount. He would have to be careful. Too much confidence, like too much of any ingredient, could cause bad results. It was all about finding the right balance between confidence and humility. He just hoped he didn't go too far. He wasn't overtly praising her sense of smell, but was telling her that he trusted her nose enough to let them know if something was coming.

Magic:

The member 'Shard' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Magna’s reply depicted his discomfort with the situation at hand as well, Jin realized that he had no right to complain about the matter. Both of them were going against their will and doing this for their guild and for the people of this village. ”Three kids in an entire school? I find that hard to believe but I hope the rest of them, if there are any, stay away from us while we grab the perpetrator”, Magna probably knew that too. Jin just wanted to point out the obvious as a personal reminder to keep himself alert. They had only begun and it was far from over, thinking that they won’t have to face more children will leave them unprepared; at least mentally.

As Magna deactivated his technique and the kid trapped in the water ran away like a normal kid, Jin looked at his friend. There it was, the solution to their problem; somehow Magna had managed to find it. That implied that the water he used in that technique was no ordinary water, then what was it? ”How did you manage to do that? That kid was no longer possessed when you deactivated your technique. I believe that’s our remedy”, his voice depicted the hope he had placed in the mysterious remedy of his friend.

Upon Magna’s inquiry, Kaya began sniffing the air for more scents. Jin was doubtful, the air was already defiled with dark magic, was she really capable of sniffing some scents in this situation? Contrary to his thoughts, Kaya’s nose was a sensitive one. Underestimating a saber tooth’s nose wasn’t right; however, she hadn’t displayed her skill with it in the past or at least Jin hadn’t noticed it. ”Three people, different from these ones. They smell different, probably older are hiding nearby” she said as she looked at Magna and then at Jin with a smile. She obviously was waiting for the praise she deserved, Jin was surprised. He really didn’t think she would be able to smell any kind of scent from a distance. However, it was yet to be proven, she could still be wrong. Regardless, she still managed to give them some information so he’d better give her, her due share of praise. ”Good job Kaya, let’s hope you’re right”, the last part was to make sure she wouldn’t get overconfident. ”You’ll see” she said as she looked at a certain direction, Jin assumed that the source of the scent were there.

”It appears we have a welcome party set up for us, how generous of them” he said looking at Magna. If they were older, then may be these two wouldn’t have to hold back but that depended on how accurate the information was.

It was definitely true that there was likely more kids around in the place. It was a school after all and it seemed odd that Jin would mention this. Almost as if he didn't think Magna would realise this. It was true he hadn't really ever attended a school, but that was besides the point. He didn't say anything on the matter for now. It was highly unlikely that Jin had meant anything by it and he couldn't tell for certain either way from this single sentence. His next question however was something that he could reply to honestly. Though in truth he was quite surprised that the salt technique had been so effective. It seemed old legends had some truth to them at least.

"It was just salt water. I heard salt was effective against zombies and what not so thought i'd give it a shot." he said with a shrug. "Right ingredient for this recipe of a situation I suppose. Still, its not really effective on anything more than a single person." He paused considering the point carefully. He did have one other spell that might be effective. "If one anti-zombie remedy worked then perhaps others will." he murmured to himself though it was loud enough for his friend to hear

It seemed Jin had not been aware that Kaya had a good nose. In truth, Magna didn't know for certain either, but she was a feline and felines tended to have good noses. Not as good as dogs perhaps, but decent enough for the situation. It seemed her nose was good or at least she believed it was as she detected three other scents that she believed to be older children. "Nice job Kaya. Doubt Senny could of done any better. Let's just hope you're right about the age." Older children would be a bit easier and he'd feel less bad if he had to bring out more harsh techniques. However, he'd still feel pretty bad. Cooking techniques tended to hurt people. Perhaps he could test out his other technique. No, if he used it now he might regret it later as the stronger possessed individuals might be smart enough to prepare for it. He'd have to save it as a last resort. "Hey Jin. You can make a fire right?" he said an idea popping into his head. Another thing he remembered was that undead creatures and other creatures of that ilk tended to be afraid of fire. "Fire...might be enough to keep them at bay without hurting them."

Magic:

”Salt water was this useful, I wonder how much garlic or silver would work. You could summon garlic too right?”, he wasn’t sure how Magna’s magic worked. However, he had seen it a few times now so he supposed that Magna could summon ingredients as well as utensils; in which case getting garlic wouldn’t be difficult. Would garlic really work though? Wasn’t it something to scare away vampires? He wasn’t that good with old myths and stories. ”Finding the right ingredient though takes patience and experimentation. I’m not sure we could take that kind of risks here”, they weren’t sure about the total number of foes; this was foreign land and they were the only two around. They had no back up besides a saber tooth tiger and a guardian.

”I is better than Senny.. hmph!” she said slightly jealous and frustrated, Jin patted her head disapproving her reaction. ”Now now, he’s not here doesn’t mean you get to talk behind his back. If you want to prove your nose, you should do that in a friendly competition”, Senshi was a friend of his friend. Obviously, he wasn’t going to let anyone talk bad about them, even if it was another friend and pet. Kaya chuckled when Magna asked Jin if he could make a fire, he was a heat mage after all. ”A fire? Not a bad idea, let’s try it” . His hands began to glow red as he raised the temperature of his hands only, slowly a fire ignited from it and behold, there was fire. He decided to better see whether Magna’s idea was accurate, he would walk straight into the ambush set up for them.

It was a slight dark path way that lead to the main hall of the building, he walked into it. It was quiet at first and dark, the only light source were his hands that were set ablaze. Thanks to Jin’s magic, temperature changes didn’t affect him, so the fire on his hand wasn’t burning him. As mentioned by Kaya, the moment he entered the path, three teenage boys charged at him. He turned his hand to one of them and pointed the other at the second one, both got close but then stepped back. It appeared that the fire did work, the third one; however, attacked Jin from the front with a pocket knife in his hand. Having very little time to react, he decided he had no choice but to switch to the offensive. He raised the temperature of his arms and his legs using of his spells: Heat Source. All four limbs turned bright red, he stepped aside and grabbed the arm of the frontal attacker. Right when his hands made contact with the attacker’s arm, it started burning him. He twisted and flipped the arm, making him let go of the knife and falling away.

Even though he was lucky to avoid the frontal attack, the two from the sides returned to attack him from both sides. One knife grazed his left arm and the other cut his right upper chest, he grabbed the arms of both attackers making burn marks. The two screamed in agony as he kneed one of them in the stomach and flipped the other to the opposite side. With their knives gone and their arms burned badly, they decided to turn tail and run away.

Kaya had remained behind when Jin had entered the path way so she immediately rushed to his side and he deactivated his spell. The wound had begun to bleed, he stopped the bleeding by decreasing the temperature of the parts that were wounded. ”Well fire is effective but we will need a larger flame”, he would say to Magna when he would come close to Jin. The wounds weren’t serious, just flesh wounds but they managed to tear up his shirt.

"Well its likely that it was only because they were soaked in it so heavily that it freed that child." he said offhandedly. Sure he could summon up garlic and salt and all sorts of other potential ingredients. However, there was no guarantee they'd be in a sufficient enough amount to work. It was definitely true that they didn't have much of a chance to experiment. They would just have to wing it and hope that whatever they tried next worked. He was personally quite fond of the idea of using fire to solve their issues. After all, he was a cook and without fire what was a cook?

He did have to chuckle slightly at Kaya's reaction though it seemed his comments might have been a bit too much. She had a slight arrogance about her skill. That or at least she didn't like to be compared to others in it. Perhaps because she wanted people's favour more and so she wanted to be the best so everyone would want her. It was admirable to want to perfect yourself, but to be vain about it left a bad taste in his mouth. "Hey Kaya. How about this? When we get back to the guild i'll try and set up a little competition for the two of you to prove whose best. Winner gets to pick whatever dish they want and i'll cook it." he suggested. Despite the situation he was trying to keep the environment happy and not let the group succumb to the despair that surrounded them. "But you have to promise me one thing though. Whether you win or lose you can't be arrogant about it. Nobody likes a sore winner or a sore loser. Right JIn?"

It seemed the heat mage, much as Magna had expected, was able to generate a flame and much to his delight the flame did seem to deter the teens somewhat. However, it didn't stop them completely. As Jin said it would likely take a bigger flame in order to deal with them. He had two fire spells, but neither of them were that much more impressive than Jin's one. There had to be a way though. "I don't think we are going to have to fight." he said with a slight sad tone to his voice. He hated hurting people. "But lets try and stop them in the least damaging way possible...its not their fault they are possessed." he paused briefly. "The principal on the other hand..." That man deserved some punishment.

Magic:

”Highly soaked, so we need a saturated salt solution that would be then ingested by these possessed kids; only then will they be cured”, he thought to himself. If they had prior knowledge or if they could go back and prepare then this would be a piece of cake. Sadly, they couldn’t do that, who knows what would happen to the children while they were preparing. They had come here now, they had no choice but to keep moving forward. ”So that means a saturated salt solution is our answer and without preparation we can’t have that. I thought we had a remedy on our hands”, he was a bit sad about it but hope wasn’t lost. It just meant that they would have to be a bit harsh but still they could make their way to the principal.

Kaya was like a little child, bratty yet kind and caring in her own way; she relied on her skill and didn’t like comparison. In a more Kaya sort of way, she had respect for all the guild members and their pets. Despite that, due to her childish nature she didn’t like it when her skill was considered less than any other. May be that made her look a bit arrogant but she was impervious to that fact. ”Food? yum yum, I’ll win! Then I’ll make you cook for me forever, bwahahaha!!”, in her chibi voice it sounded more comedic than horrifying. Normally that would be referred to as a mad scientist laugh or an evil laugh, in her case that didn’t fit the criteria. Jin laughed a little too at her reply, maybe she stood a chance but he wasn’t sure how skilled Senshi was. It was highly likely that she would end up defeated against a dragonoid but at least she would have gained some experience. There was a good chance that she might learn to be a bit more subtle and modest in the future. Magna’s words reflected that he wanted to teach Kaya and Jin wasn’t going to get in his way. His intentions were good and Jin liked that, if Magna was prompting for Jin’s permission, he didn’t need it. Magna was already a Black Rose mage and had Jin’s trust. ”I agree, win or lose you must accept it, learn from it and cherish it. I’m sure you understand that, Kaya”, he said as he looked at Kaya and she nodded in reply.

Jin wasn’t happy that he had to burn children, even if they were possessed and cut him slightly. He didn’t hold it against them, they weren’t doing things on their own. Magna too shared his thoughts, both wanted to make through this and keep the casualties at a minimum. Sure, they could argue about collateral damage later but they were Black Rose mages, that would be the easier way out. Would that suit a Black Rose mage? Nope. ”As long as we can get through them, we don’t need to fight either. And the principal, I really want a piece of that guy”. Jin wasn’t one to get angry under normal circumstances but these were no normal circumstances.

Considering the current situation, fire was the only solution that would work for them, if they had a bigger flame. Jin considered the resources that they had and attempted to formulate a way to use it. ”Say Magna, can you summon something flammable? Like flammable oil? I could use that to produce and sustain a larger flame. That would keep the other possessed children away from us while we make our way to the principal”. If Magna’s reply was a yes, they would be able to walk straight past the affected and get to the source.

It seemed that Jin had understood the situation. It would take a large amount of salt that would need to be ingested in order to cure each person and at best he could only use pekel on one or perhaps two small targets at a time(if they were close together). They didn't really have the time or resources to prepare such a solution. "On our way through maybe we'll come across a kitchen...that might let us prepare a solution without leaving the area." he suggested. Most schools had cafeterias of some kind and this one seemed pretty big. It wouldn't be enough to make them detour to find it, but if they passed it along the way perhaps they could prepare themselves a bit more.

It seemed Kaya was a child. Confident in her skills almost the point of arrogance. Too much praise and it might make her over confident, but it seemed that was part of being a child. It seemed she was confident enough in her skills to accept the proposal of the competition. Now all he needed was to get Senshi to agree. However, that was a matter for another day. It seemed Jin had understood the purpose of the competition and his statements. In a way that had mean he gave his permission for the competition to take place and understood that the underlying point of his comment was to actually gain that permission. A recipe of a conversation most well executed in his opinion.

Oil. That was a good idea. He had spells to generate fire and he had a spell that could generate oil. He also had a spell that could generate another flammable liquid. "I have a couple of spells, but we best be careful so we don't set the whole building ablaze." he said with a thought. "THough oil might not be the best thing I can come up with. I think I have some communion wine left over from when I stayed in a temple." he added as a bit of a further explanation into his plans. "Wine is flammable and if its holy wine...then that should make the fire holy as well. Might work a bit better than normal fire."

Finding a cafeteria or a kitchen and making a detour would probably be useful. [b”Good idea Magna, we’ll keep our eyes open. Kaya, you try and find some scent of food, if its concentrated that’s where we’ll find the kitchen or cafeteria”[/b], Kaya nodded in reply. They would probably have to hold out while one of them prepares the liquid but he was sure they could manage. If they did end up finding one, Jin would take the job of keeping them safe while letting Magna cook. Magna cooked with passion and loved doing it, Jin only did it because it was his job. Obviously, just because of the motive Magna would be the better cook. Besides, Jin could generate a flame and keep the possessed ones at bay while Magna cooked; so his skills were more suited for guard duty. ”If we do end up in a kitchen, I’ll leave the cooking to you and we’ll have your back”, by we he meant Kaya too.

Jin didn’t know whether Magna could generate a flame or not but he on the other hand could easily manage it. He only would need something to generate the flame, after that it wouldn’t be a problem sustaining it. ”Wine? That should be perfect. Give me what you have and I’ll make a path for us, we can walk right past them while keeping them away from us”, he said stretching his hands to Magna. If Jin could get at least two bottles, that would be enough. What Jin could do with an already impressive combination of communion wine and flame was to make it moveable. He would have to alter the temperature to move the flame along with them as they did but he could manage that within a certain range. ”I’ll make a circle around us using that wine and then I’ll move the flame as we move. We’ll mostly be surrounded by it and the flame should be large enough to keep everyone away”, the plan was formulated.

With the wine in hand, he would ask Magna to stand still for a while as he would spread the wine around them in a circle of radius 15 feet. After that, he would raise the temperature of his finger until it generated a flame and place it on the wine line, instantly setting it on fire. ”There, that’s our protective barrier. Now we can move in and find that principal without having to hurt those innocent children”. It was easier said than done, he would need a lot of focus to move the fire along with them. It wasn’t just something stable, it was a flame; a lot of variables came in play. Despite knowing that, he was confident that he was able to move the flame. However, while he was moving the flame there was no way he’d be able to fight since moving the flame took a lot of focus.

”While we’re in this barrier, if we need to fight I’ll leave it to you. Moving the flame along with us is going to take up some serious concentration” he said to both Magna and Kaya. He believed that with Magna, Kaya wouldn’t have to step in but if she had to, she would anyways.