Extrospection.

By the time she arrived back within the Rune Knights capital city, the city of Era, Iroha had cleaned herself up quite a bit. Her particular way with magic allowed her to freshen herself up, clean her hair, normalize the frame of her glasses and, perhaps most importantly, allowed her to change back into her Rune Knights attire. This, of course, was something she only did once she was certain that she had not been followed by any of the other mercenaries on the mission.

The final step of her return to form was to wipe the glamour that concealed the small “beauty mark” on her cheek. She was uncertain of the term as she could never understand how a small, natural melanocytic nevus could be considered a mark of beauty on the face, but elsewhere on the body, one that contained hair or, one that was larger than a freckle, would be considered grotesque or otherwise inconvenient. Regardless, she liked the mark herself because it was, genetically, a gift from her mother. As much as anyone had control of genetic markers that bestowed facial abnormalities.

Landing with grace in a clearing on Royal Knight grounds, she revealed her insignia to the guards so as to not raise suspicion at the sudden appearance. Preparing what she would say when she came across anyone above her rank, she mentally reviewed the scenario. In her opinion, the books she’d read on going incognito had served her well. This was only true because no one among the mercenaries she had met had known or cared about the small strange girl who seemed to only sometimes be aware that there were other people around her. It was not a high value job, no one was really screened, and for all anyone knew, there could have been more undercover agents from other factions.

Regardless, she had managed to be unnoticeable enough to end up with the artefact, although it remained in its amber prison and she would not remove it from such without clearing it with other Engineering division members. Protocol designated that someone of sufficient rank be informed of the acquisition and logging of potentially dangerous magical items, thus she looked for someone either within the Engineering Corps or sufficiently high enough in another branch.

She had, in fact, prepared what she would say. She had learned long ago that she could never control the other part of a conversation and therefore always strived to make sure that hers was as information-filled as possible to avoid any confusion or miscommunication. This would avail itself as, when she found someone whom she found with sufficient rank or commendation, regardless of what they appeared to be doing, she would unleash her prepared speech. When she spoke, her voice was flat and without particular emotion, although she inflected as normal, certainly not any kind of android.

“Private Ikegami Iroha, last name first name, reporting in from a recent mission to acquire a potentially dangerous artefact. I have acquired the twin artefacts known as the Leyrods, suspected to be capable of locating leylines flowing under the surface of the planet to an accuracy of  96.4%, recorded as being tested by Elder Sorcerer Heironymous Elethan Siitch in X831. Thought to be lost in a subsequent raid of his personal manor, the Leyrods were recorded as resurfacing again in X872 in a black market purchase by a wizard going by the moniker of Death’s Teeth." Any attempt to interrupt her throughout this speech would be met with a continuation of the prepared speech, to the point of talking over whoever was speaking with her. She knew for certain that this was her contribution to the conversation, and she knew that everything she was giving would become necessary at some point in the future. What still eluded her was when in the future it would be acceptable to divulge said information, and so the infodump continued. “This was confirmed in a ledger of transactions from a black market auction acquired by the Rune Knights in a recent acquisition of the full contents of an abandoned library in the forests beyond Morgate. Books within the library contained a number of illegal and illicit transactions and I was among the Engineering Corps recruits tasked with combing the literature for anything of note. In fact, I was the only volunteer for the task.

The wizard known as Death’s Teeth was known to be a member of the Cult of the Skyline, rumored to be gathering material sufficient to destroy the planet. According to the personal diary of a ranger known as Dayne Featherswift, left to us on the occasion of her death, she had been part of the group of unaligned adventurers which had defeated the Cult of the Skyline at Skyline Castle. The Leyrods had been in the middle of being utilized in a ritual by their leader, name unknown. In a last ditch effort to stop said unknown leader, he was frozen in amber by the adventuring group’s wizard, again, name unknown.

Venturing to Skyline Castle in the guise of a mercenary, I have procured the Leyrods and they remain within the amber for protection until I can safely register them with the proper internal authorities. The mission was brief but not uneventful. I also have recorded additional information of the criminal black market dealer known as The Fence, who hired the group of mercenaries for the job. In self-defense, two mercenaries were slain and I am prepared to give testimony and fill out paperwork as necessary in order to detail their causes of death and the situation under which they needed to be forcibly removed from the ensuing events. ”

From the small, badge-covered messenger bag on her shoulder, which looked to be way too small to carry the amber within, she pulled out a chunk of rock roughly the size of a toaster oven.

“The twin artefacts known as the Leyrods, presented for inspection by Private Ikegami Iroha, last name first name.” At the end of her speech, she tilted her head to the side then returned it to its normal position, as though some kind of learned signal that she was done speaking to... whoever it was that she had stumbled across.

WC: 1044

Life; it never ceased to amaze, excite, surprise, or bewilder. And yet, even in the infinite possibility, some things never failed to happen; predictability was born amidst the ever-shifting patterns and occurrences that filled everyday life. The sun rose in the east every day, animals sought food and shied away from threats, and Nohres found himself yet again in a bizarre situation. 

It had started in his decision that morning to practice in the yards. Normally, he preferred to practice his magic in solitude, having not yet grasped the fundamentals to avoid accidents or startling himself with the power that now suffused his body. Weeks of training had given him the capability to draw upon the magic without causing immediate mayhem, but he was growing tired of the stares. Before, he had been a common soldier; mundane in all aspects save perhaps his physicality. Magic was commonplace, to be sure, but many who began their journey as Wizards did so with intent. Many were born with the talent ready to manifest, or they set themselves down the path with conscious thought and effort. Some even gained access to magic through the purchase of a lacrima.

Few could claim to have magic spontaneously manifest so late in life.

Few woke in the middle of the night having cracked the barracks in half in a fit of terror.

So his decision to openly practice in the yards, still the object of speculation and uncomfortable attention, was an unusual one for the lowly Rune Knight. Yet Nohres took to it with the same seriousness he took his physical training. However much he hesitated to associate with others beyond the duty of his station, Nohres enjoyed the physicality of exerting himself in learning this mysterious magic. Yet even the sudden acquisition of magic would do nothing to propel him up the ranks within the Rune Knights in and of itself. Despite a clear and deep well of power, Nohres remained a mere Private. 

However, he was repeatedly confused for someone with more authority and knowledge of the organization that he truly commanded. Perhaps it was a result of his sheer physique. Towering over the average person by more a head and then some, Nohres had a natural aura that seemed to be evidence of command, On more than one occasion he had been stopped and questioned by someone with the belief that he was the one to answer their question or knew what to do in a given situation. 

It was this natural phenomenon that deemed it time for another episode. 

As he practiced his self-developed forms, he noticed the arrival of another Rune Knight. She was slight of frame and stature; in many respects, she was his opposite. He watched as she flashed her insignia to a pair of guards to identify herself before she moved further into the grounds. Perhaps it was because he had stopped and observed her, perhaps she was drawn to him as a result of his size, or perhaps it was just the work of some fickle entity that delighted in his confusion, but whatever the reason Nohres found himself having a torrential downpour of knowledge thrust upon him.

Nohres did not interrupt the tiny woman before him as she recounted, in rather impressive detail, the history of the artifacts she had collected. It was not out of shock that he did not interrupt the comprehensive commentary, but rather out of a combination of interest and courtesy. She had clearly taken a great deal of time to learn about the artifacts she had retrieved, and Nohres found himself rather enraptured by her narration. Despite his own interest in the history of such artifacts, he had never felt qualified to attempt to research them.

When her report subsided, Nohres made a noise in the back of his throat that simultaneously conveyed his approval of her summation of events, his deep well of bewilderment, and how thoroughly impressed by her exhaustive detail he was. "I must say, that's rather a lot of information to take in. I think I got most of that," he said with only a modicum of self-depreciation. He raised one large hand and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, unconsciously displaying a bicep almost as large as his head.

"I'm afraid if you're looking to turn the artifacts over, I'm not really one to take care of that." He looked around the grounds and found no one of significant authority in his immediate eyesight. He wasn't too surprised to see a lack of personnel from the Engineering Corp; in his experience, they tended to keep to their workshops and libraries rather than come out to the training grounds. It wasn't normally too hard to find someone amongst the command level, however, which is perhaps what led her to mistaking him for such a person. "If you would not mind an escort, I would be happy to walk with you while we search for someone to handle the matter. Perhaps you could tell me more about these... Leyrods." Nohres gave a small smile as he looked down at the woman. "I admit I'm not especially well-read; Leylines are... what, exactly?"

-----

@Iroha Ikegami

The giant knight, whose name she had not gathered, seemed like a pleasant fellow. A kind curiosity mixed with a genuine urge to help. Hopefully he at least had enough social sense to follow her as she spoke, since Iroha herself did not have enough sense to verbally agree to take him up on his offer. Instead, at his question on the topic of leylines, her eyes alit like a child who had been given permission to use finger paints all over the living room without supervision.

"To ask what leylines are is to ask about the basis of all magic within the planet. First, I must preface: While it is not true that all magic currently residing on the planet came from the planet, as I'm sure you are aware there are all manner of beings currently inhabiting the planet. A non-exhaustive list would include things such as extraterrestrial beings, extradimensional beings, those which we can only refer to as gods, creatures out of time and creatures displaced in the fabric of reality itself. All of the aforementioned and those related are exempt from the concept of leylines although they may still draw power from them and may still contribute to the power within them. It will make sense in the end. It should."

A more self-aware person would have checked to see if he was still following both physically and in her speech, but she continued on, "Keep in mind that this, like all things concerning magic, is merely a theory, a way to explain a thing that may never fully be explained. All magic goes somewhere when utilized and all magic resides somewhere when not utilized. Similar to how oxygen exists around us to be utilized by our bodies before being exhaled and, in a different form, remaining around us. While it is not infinite, while we walk a clean and free planet, it is so abundant so as to be nearly so. The same is true for what could be called mana. Ecko. Ki. Chakra. Energy. All words to describe the same pre-manifestation of energy that comes together when utilized and becomes something from nothing, then dissipates again once the action has occurred. While it's true that we manifest the magic in various ways, the magic exists to be manifested."

She summoned a small ball of electricity and tossed it between her palms like one would toss a baseball between their hands, "The reason we know this is because of the extradimensional beings which are around us. No sooner could we become aware that there are places with magic, and that there were other places, it must then be theorized that there are places without magic. Without mana." She exorcised the ball of energy with a clenching of her tiny fist. "Then comes the question of, where that mana is when it is not being utilized. What does our planet have that those planets do not. What could our reality have that those realities don't? The answer is, according to the aforementioned theory, leylines. Leylines are the veins through which all magical energy on the planet may transfer, though not where any of it must."

"The Leyrods, which I believe you recall that I showed you briefly a moment ago, exist as a way of tracking leylines, again, to a 96.4% accuracy rate, but by themselves they're nothing but dowsing rods. They find what is there but can do nothing to it. Furthermore, even if I told you to stand on a leyline and release all of your magical energy, nothing special would happen. You're just breathing in a forest. If, however, you could locate the leylines with precision and then you had a way to attune to them, it would be similar to introducing oxygen into a flammable environment. Depending on how much they could tap into the latent energy…" With another show of harmless electric energy, she made what looked to be a miniature explosion concealed in the palm of her hand.

With almost no break following her explanation, she said, "You have a name." It wasn't a question or a request for it. It seemed almost an observation.

@Nohres Xaclamir

WC: 696/1740

Nohres did not consider himself an intelligent man at all; not to say that he thought himself stupid, but Nohres had enough honesty and introspection to assess himself as 'moderately' intelligent. Whereas others enjoyed academic discussion, Nohres was more prone to practical demonstrations. He kept up to date on relevant discourse regarding Rune Knight operations. He had dabbled in a few L-casts on some more esoteric magic theories with humor and acting blended through. Still, the manner in which the diminutive woman spoke made him reconsider his pecking order on the intelligence totem pole. 

It wasn't what she said; the exact words she chose to use were not inherently difficult to understand. Nor did he have any difficulty following her as she spoke; she did not talk too rapidly or quietly. Rather, it was the intensity with which she spoke. For an infinitesimal moment in time, as she began to elaborate on this or that, Nohres fell under the distinct impression that he did not exist to her. In her mind, he may very well have been part of the cobblestone below their feet. It didn't feel malicious or condescending, merely incidental to her rapidly-apparent intellect. 

It was disconcerting, nevertheless, to be so wholly unnecessary and beneath notice. 

Not that the Fioran man let his emotional turmoil show. He smiled as she spoke, not venturing to even offer an active bit of acknowledgment to her speaking, less that be taken as a sign he intended to attempt to contribute to her discussion. Rather he set the direction for them as they began to move through the guild grounds. There was a vague memory in the back of his mind of just where the library was on the grounds and how to get to it from where they were, but it wasn't a place Nohres frequented enough to become ingrained yet. 

The small display of magic caught Nohres' attention rather fiercely. The newness of it still had not died down, so any time someone performed any magic in front of him, Nohres never failed to study it intently. There was a casualness to her hands and gestures as she continued to speak that spoke of a more confident grasp on the intricacies of magic than he himself had. As if spurred on from her demonstration, he reached inward and gently tapped that internal well of magic power. 

Touching it was always an interesting feat; he had heard it said that everyone had a different experience with harnessing their magic power. Nohres Xaclamir, diligent Rune Knight and meathead-with-a-heart-of-gold that he was, felt his magic first with his muscles first. There was always a muscle set that tensed or twitched as he felt out his magic power to begin shaping. Spinning the mana into an earthly shape, he segmented it and divided it repeatedly until a small collection of pebbles orbited his hand. 

Pausing to allow a group past, Nohres briefly looked downwards at the woman as she briefly broke her prior train of thought and made a rather odd declaration. The suddenness of it certainly put him off balance, but Nohres found he was not particularly bothered by her statement. Instead, he merely chuckled and nodded, though he suspected she was not watching him. "Last I checked, though if Tomas continues to practice his Curse Word magic so poorly, I may well end up unable to speak it or remember it."

Coming to a set of tall stairs, Nohres began the climb with a pace born of a natural long-legged gait and the many years that he had with it. "Now that you mention it, I realized I've not properly introduced myself; my name is Nohres," he said simply. He had considered other variations of an introduction - giving his first name and then his full name, going straight with his full name, adding his rank, if one could be said to have a rank at the bottom like he was, or perhaps attempting to create a title for himself. He was simply Nohres.

"Now, when you say 'explosion'," Nohres began to ask as they turned a corner and began to draw near to the library. "I'm not sure I follow; so tapping into a leyline would just cause you to 
explode? Wouldn't it just be like adding its magic power to your own?"


@Iroha Ikegami

She stopped when he did, assuming there was a reason to do so. It was only when people were passing them that she realized why he had done so. She tended to be hyper-aware of her surroundings, but the excitement of someone who was genuinely interested in her studies had taken her full attention to translating the ultrasonic multi-track express train that comprised her thought process and slowing it down to at least some kind of rapid line that would allow a normal person to understand it. Normal person.

Her magical senses were drawn towards him summoning his own magic. It seemed to follow a tensing of his muscles before creating a rocky formation. As though mimicking his actions, she tensed the same (much, much smaller) muscles, performing the same trick with the flickers of lightning she had summoned previously. It wasn't mocking or showoffish, rather she seemed to be attempting to pull her magic from the same place he had pulled his. Clearly she had never practiced this before, as the spell fizzled out the moment her concentration was taken by his self-introduction.

"Nohres." She repeated. And although she had already technically introduced herself to him, she had now been introduced to by him and therefore social niceties insisted that she also introduce herself once someone introduced themselves to her, "Ikegami Iroha, last name first name." Eyes still shifted away and not meeting his gaze, she gave a curt nod of her head. A self-soothing gesture to confirm to herself that she had done it right. She had done a normal person thing.

To the next statement she opened her mouth to speak, the flame within her eyes igniting anew. Before she could get started, however, another person entered the direct conversation area and, additionally, entered the conversation.

Averting his gaze, the woman copied his name was well, "Mythal." Before doing the normal human thing again, "Engineering division Private Ikegami Iroha, last name, first name. I'm reporting in from a recent mission to Skyline Castle with the successful goal of acquiring a potentially dangerous artefact. I am in possession of the twin artefacts known as the Leyrods, highly suspected to be capable of locating leylines flowing under the surface of the planet to an accuracy of  96.4%." She was stopped from continuing, thank god, by his waiting hand. She looked at his hand as though she was weighing her options towards it, very slightly extending her hand away from gripping her bag then pulling it back with an obvious 'No, no' gesture. Instead she turned her hand slightly to point at the walking mountain beside her. "He is Nohres, but you know his name."

Somewhere in the files of new recruits was a mention of an exceptionally bright private named Iroha Ikegami who possessed encyclopedic recall and had passed entrance exams into her study programs with perfect scores. Additional notes included personality quirks and diagnoses confirmations by physicians, which ultimately deemed her fit for combat but recommended supervision in social situations. Whether Mythal had read the recruit files was an entirely different question.

@Nohres Xaclamir @Mythal Ragnos

The twins sat in the kitchen of the Rune Knights, having been on break from their latest accomplishments and Jellisha was busy fussing over her sister's reluctance to take a break for a while. It was only by the stroke of luck of running out of their fridge contents that the Jellisha had managed to take her out of the workshop. The two were quietly sipping on their beloved milk cartons, Grappa handling her strawberry milk while Jellisha was far more of a chocolate milk kind of girl. They sat sipping from their respective containers for a while before one of their eyes had caught something outside. "Hm?" Jellisha caught on, gingerly walking to a window outside at the woman wearing glasses speaking with Nohres. She furrowed her brows while watching the pair with interest. She looked somewhat familiar, with one half of the Generals Sinclair trying to figure out who exactly she was. The conversation must have been fairly interesting as they had been talking for quite some time. Grappa took a few more drinks of her milk before walking over to see what it was that her sister and looking at and giving a soft smile. "Oh, I didn't know that Private Ikegami was back from her mission." The sound of her sibling acknowledging the mysterious woman by rank and name had caused her to spin around and give Grappa a look of confusion.

"Wait, you know this girl?"
"Yeah. Mom gave us that assignment to hand to one of our people."
"..."
"Y'know. The one with the ley-"
"Leyrod Girl! Yeah, now I remember! Totally!"

Jellisha said, the synapses in her white haired head finally going off as she managed to recognize Iroha again. Her sister rolled her eyes while finishing off the last of her drink and tossing the carton inside of the nearest trash bin. Crimson eyes glanced across the lawn in some hope of catching sight of those leyrods that they had given orders for one of the people under them to deliver to one of the recruits. No such luck so far. "If you want to take it easy back in here while I welcome her back-" "I'm fine." Jellisha and Grappa looked at one another, the two furrowing their brows at one another in preparation for another fight. One of many about the same topic that had caused quite the divide between the two. Silence rang between them as Jellisha was biting her tongue on her internal thoughts for what to do with her sister. Grappa, however, would take the time to make her thoughts known to the two.

"Why do you keep thinking I can't do any kind of work we used to do."
"Because I know what our old workload was. Why we were told to take that leave of absence."
"We're behind on so much stuff! And every time I try and lessen that load, you won't just...budge on their decision."
"Because I'm worried about you, okay?! You think when I saw you...That I didn't just start freaking out?!"

The silence returned before the emerald eyed twin would respond, "It happened once. Everyone makes mistakes."
"That's not a mistake! You scared the shit out of me! Of Mom and Dad! You..."
"Stop treating me like I'm some bed ridden patient!" Grappa said a little more sternly, mirroring how their mother had tried to keep things civil when emotions were high.
"Then stop trying to end up like one!"

The two were mere inches from each other now, the air rife with conflict as the two were just mere moment from another fight once more. Jellisha was the first to look outside in some vain attempt at deescalating the situation, but what she did happen upon was Mythal wandering towards the two people outside. Her sight lingered for one moment before she sighed and leaned away from a frustrated Grappa. "Look, we'll talk about this later. Just...Don't push yourself, alright?" They both quietly began to walk out and make themselves known to the members of the Rune Knights that were nearby.

"There you guys are." The door opened leading to the three, with the two twins slowly walking over to them. Grappa offered a elated yet distant expression at everyone while her sister seemed a lot more open despite usually being the more moody of the two. It was also probably the first sighting of Grappa in a while since the twins' being put on leave but a few months ago. The two were still in their teenage forms, having saved their more official looking appearances for actual meetings or anything that wasn't just idle chatter. "We were wondering where all that chatter was coming from outside, we'ren't we?" she glanced back at Grappa, who would nod back in return, though a tad more hesitantly than usual. Definitely some trouble between the two. Jellisha forced that smile out and would cross her arms under one another with a smirk at everyone. "Hey Nohres, Dad and Ike...gami? I think that was it."

Grappa then looked back to Iroha in a more Serilda-like manner before asking, "Private Ikegami, how did your mission go? Do you have anything to report back with?"

@Iroha Ikegami @Nohres Xaclamir @Mythal Ragnos

Before Nohres could get an explanation, a new arrival caught their mutual attention. For his part, Nohres only barely managed to avoid the nigh-instinctual act of bowing as Mythal approached. He had that particular instinct all but beaten out of him, verbally and metaphorically if not physically and literally. While he could not pretend to understand the request entirely, he did his best to treat Mythal with a normal degree of respect outside of formal and combat considerations. 

The success of this reaction varied from day to day; on some days he managed to make it almost effortless, while on other days he seemed to be constantly sucking a lemon for all the effort it took not to add titles and honorifics to every sentence. On this given day, he briefly stiffened but forced his muscles to unwind and settled on a raised hand in greeting. He watched the exchange between Mythal and Iroha with a small degree of amusement. Idly, he wondered if this was how it looked to others when he was interacting with Mythal or, gods forbid, Serilda. 

An odiferous scent caught Nohres across the face as the breeze shifted directions and he felt his gaze pulled away from the two present Rune Knights and found himself staring at the doors as the titular twins of the Rune Knights joined them. Nohres gave them both a wave and a nod while noting Grappa's more reserved demeanor. It was unusual in that Nohres could scarcely recall a time Grappa wasn't the one normally bounding about with smiles and cheer. Still, everyone was allowed their off days, and whatever malaise had taken her she didn't seem to bothered by it if Jellisha's exuberance was any indicator.

Turning to Mythal, Nohres gave a shrug and said "I wasn't on the job with her. I just happened to be here when she got back. I never did figure out the Engineering folks' whereabouts and whatnot, else I'd've taken her that way myself."

-----

@Mythal Ragnos @Iroha Ikegami @Grappa & Jellisha

“That’s funny,” Iroha said in an immediate response to Lux’s remark, “You're funny. Your many, many friends must think you are very funny. If you say other things like that.” Although delivered the exact same way as everything else she’d said, pretty much anyone would recognize sarcasm when they heard it.

Turning to the newest entrants, Iroha’s demeanor changed. Here were two that she was certain were in charge of her directly, and no one would be more interested in the Leyrods than those who initially charged her with the task of retrieving them. “Yes, Generals, I am pleased to report that the mission was a success.” There was no hint of joy or pleasure in her voice, although this would likely be a well known personal trait to those familiar with her. Once more she reached into her bag and procured the amber-encrusted Leyrods. The bag itself remained unremarkably flat during extraction, as though she was pulling a notebook out rather than a chunk of stone the size of a small dog.


With her extraction, she began to once again give the full report to the Generals, which Nohres would potentially realize was the exact same word-for-word report given to him when he first found her. “Private Ikegami Iroha, last name first name, reporting in from a recent mission to acquire a potentially dangerous artefact. I have acquired the twin artefacts known as the Leyrods, suspected to be capable of locating leylines flowing under the surface of the planet to an accuracy of  96.4%, recorded as being tested by Elder Sorcerer Heironymous Elethan Siitch in X831. Thought to be lost in a subsequent raid of his personal manor, the Leyrods were recorded as resurfacing again in X872 in a black market purchase by a wizard going by the moniker of Death’s Teeth."

It would seem rehearsed in that even the intonational changes and vocal tics were the same.

“This was confirmed in a ledger of transactions from a black market auction acquired by the Rune Knights in a recent acquisition of the full contents of an abandoned library in the forests beyond Morgate. Books within the library contained a number of illegal and illicit transactions and I was among the Engineering Corps recruits tasked with combing the literature for anything of note. In fact, I was the only volunteer for the task.

The wizard known as Death’s Teeth was known to be a member of the Cult of the Skyline, rumored to be gathering material sufficient to destroy the planet. According to the personal diary of a ranger known as Dayne Featherswift, left to us on the occasion of her death, she had been part of the group of unaligned adventurers which had defeated the Cult of the Skyline at Skyline Castle. The Leyrods had been in the middle of being utilized in a ritual by their leader, name unknown. In a last ditch effort to stop said unknown leader, he was frozen in amber by the adventuring group’s wizard, again, name unknown.

Venturing to Skyline Castle in the guise of a mercenary, I have procured the Leyrods and they remain within the amber for protection until I can safely register them with the proper internal authorities. The mission was brief but not uneventful. I also have recorded additional information of the criminal black market dealer known as The Fence, who hired the group of mercenaries for the job. In self-defense, two mercenaries were slain and I am prepared to give testimony and fill out paperwork as necessary in order to detail their causes of death and the situation under which they needed to be forcibly removed from the ensuing events. ”

Concluding the verbal report in the exact same way, she added another part, “With respect, I suspect that there is something greater to The Fence wanting to acquire such a potentially dangerous magical artefact. I request a small squad to research and, if necessary, make attempts to put a halt to whatever plans may be underway before they spiral out of control. However, within our current rank organizational guidelines, my current rank as Private E-1 deems me of insufficient rank to marshal any kind of assistance of other Privates. For this reason, I request a promotion to the Corporal E-2. Although my field time is limited, I would like to cite perfect entrance test scores and more than acceptable training marks. Of course, I leave the ultimate decision in your capable hands.”

After a moment she added, “All four of them.” This was likely the closest Iroha had gotten to a joke in front of the Generals since she’d become acquainted with them.

WC: 371/2111 (Didn't count the rehashed words)
@Grappa & Jellisha @Nohres Xaclamir @Mythal Ragnos