Invasion of the Four-Finger Pirates (C-Rank Job - Blanc and Leila)

Pirates. They appeared to be making their move again, or so Leila thought when she first saw the request that has been sent to her guild. With a loud sigh, she recalled the tiny plundering men she had encountered oh so long ago now. Come to think of it, that was also the first time she had truly work with other mages on the same task. In a way, those were very lovely and nostalgic times. Not that something like that would be an appropriate excuse for Leila to stay out of this one. No, she wanted to get involved and show those pirates once again that what they were doing was not okay.

Considering that she was currently in the lobby of her guild hall, the best way to reach the island which requested her assistance was probably to open up another warp gate. To be perfectly honest with herself, the girl missed good old-fashioned travel. Be it on an airship, boat, or just horseback. The powers she obtained overtime were far too convenient! Though at a time like this, they were also pretty good at saving lives. No need to wait several days or weeks for Leila to arrive when she could just warp herself anywhere in an instant.

And so she did. In one of the alleyways of the village, a blue and black gate to seemingly the oblivion opened up and from it, the silver-haired maiden jumped out. Letting the gate close back up behind her, she swiftly moved into the more populated streets to orientate herself. While a traveler herself, she had never been to this specific island, or at least she didn’t recall ever visiting it. Which made this all the more valuable experience. Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to find the man who had sent the letter in.

Probably a local trader, a man wearing very light clothing with plenty of golden accessories to lure others to his shop at the very edge of the village. Leila herself was wearing pretty unusual clothes for this part of Fiore, her usual purple shirt and skirt. And so seemed to be another man wandering about nearby, who was perhaps the trader’s apprentice or something. Of course, Leila had no idea this was another mage with the name Blanc just yet. “Ah, you have made it! Wonderful. The pirates said they would attack around today if we didn’t pay them, I was starting to get sweaty that you wouldn’t make it…”

“Apologies, sir. The letter was delayed for some reason, but our magic allowed me to get here quickly. Now that I’m here, I will ensure your safety. But I ask that you go around and tell everyone to lock themselves in their homes for tonight. The confrontation with pirates could get… a bit messy.” Of course, Leila wanted to capture them alive. But one never knew what could happen. She now also eyed up Blanc, as he didn’t seem to be actually what she thought him to be. Though, of course, she also didn’t want to be rude by staring at him like that.

It didn’t take long at all before the boy had actually approached Leila by himself. Perhaps he caught her eyeing him a bit? Ah, that would be quite awkward.  Thankfully the girl had a good enough reason to quickly send him on his way if that was indeed the case. After all, a group of pirates was about to arrive. As such, all civilians were to be hidden away in the safest place they could possibly find. If not to avoid getting caught in the fight to have a better chance of getting away if she was to fail somehow.

But thankfully, that situation did not have to transpire. As the boy had introduced himself as someone who was here to repel the incoming invasion much like Leila. This made her sigh out in relief as she now had the opportunity to look him over from much closer up and without it seeming weird. And although she could not sense that much magical power from him, he clearly must have had promise in his abilities if he was here to fight the pirates. And what better way to grow than by having a wonderful trial by fire!

“I see, it is my pleasure then, good sir. My name is Leila Vergious and I’m a mage from Silver Wolf. I am capable of using warp magic across very large distances, so don’t feel bad, please. Your help is very welcome. It might sound a bit cliché, but one person cannot do everything.” And indeed, while the girl might have wielded a lot of magical power, she definitely appreciated the assistance. She even quite liked working with new aspiring mages, as she adored showing them a few neat tricks and then sending them off on their own adventures.

But alas, there would probably not be much time for that here. As was clear, this situation was not exactly going to be simple, as a strange mist seemed to suddenly hit the harbor and spill into the town. Quickly becoming much more alert, Leila turned her gaze toward the sea in front of them. Just as she suspected, it appeared that there was at least one ship approaching from the distance. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name… anyway, we should try to engage them as soon as they are in range. Preferably before they even get on the shore.”

Naturally, Leila was confident enough to fight them on their own ground. Something that would normally not be very wise. But in this case, it would be a bit different. “If we can get on their ship before it gets into the harbor, we will have a much better chance at protecting everyone. They also won’t expect a direct attack like that, it will throw them into chaos and give us a good chance and dealing with them. I can get toss you on board with my magic if you’re okay with such a plan.” She winked at the boy and then started sprinting toward the edge of the town where concrete met water and waited.

The pirate ship in the distance started growing bigger and bigger as it slowly approached, evidently carried toward the harbor by a magical current. So these guys truly were a step above the average pirate one would have the pleasure of meeting on the wild seas. Not that it really mattered, they would have to beat them all regardless. It didn’t even take too long for them to be entering Leila’s effective range. A moment when she turned to face Blang again with a mischevious smile plastered across her face.

“Pleasure to meet you, traveler Blanc. But no, I did mean tossing you, quite literally. The best kind of distraction!” Just as Leila said those words, the stone flooring beneath the boy would buckle and break apart, something quickly jotting out. It was a sturdy root that started acting like a spring, its sudden appearance beneath Blanc shooting him into the sky in a trajectory where he would fly directly at the pirate ship. This was actually one of the girl’s favorite moves, though she rarely did this to an ally rather than herself. Still, it clearly worked.

All eyes on the pirate ship stared at the flying man in disbelief, which allowed Leila herself to actually use the aforementioned teleportation and get on the deck pretty much undetected, slipping behind the backs of all the mages. One quick glance showed a rather troubling sight. Most of the pirates were mages as well. And a lot of them were prepared with fire magic, seemingly ordered to chuck the fireballs at the town if they were to not get their payment. Something like that, they could not allow. With a smirk present, one of Leila’s hands quickly transformed into a vine-like form.

Using this new appendage as a whip of sorts, she got the upper hand in the fight presumably just as Blanc were to land on the deck himself. Her vine arm slammed into one of the fire mages and sent him flying into the rest before transforming back into its ordinary form. “Attack from the front while I slow them down from behind, Blanc!” It was a perfect opportunity for a pincer attack. And to make the number of pirates present not that much of a deal, the girl had started casting a spell. One that made beautiful white flowers bloom all over the ship’s deck.

But while it might have appeared completely harmless at first sight, those flowers actually started sapping away the magical power of all the pirates, as well as more than halving their movement speed. Something that should give just about anyone a good fighting chance, so she was looking forward to seeing how her new partner was about to handle it all. Though, of course, she was also prepared to charge in with more offensive spells if she noticed that the boy was getting into trouble with the enemies. After all, it seemed that at least a handful of them was quite strong. One of them who was dressed much fancier even appeared to be the leader.

Combining the forces of two different mages made a quick work of them, however. Especially considering that despite their looks, they were all far below Leila's own level of power. She made sure that Blanc would remain safe during the whole ordeal as she also dealt with the more powerful ones. And her final strike which grew roots from her hand tore the entire ship apart, letting it slowly sink into the shallower water of the dock. Something that was a horrible threat to the city, yet so easily dispatched by the duo of mages... these things were often quite surprising for the girl. Regardless of that, they managed to protect all the citizens and deserved their reward in the full.