Well, luckily, the Fire Mage miraculously made it safely through the forest and into the Magnolian downtown despite the injuries from his previous, so-called ‘training’. After having tasted it himself, he should’ve been more cautious and… well, perhaps less obliging towards strangers. Given by the cat man’s prowess, if he was serious… then Hyōen could’ve died there. The mere thought made his skin shiver a little as he walked. “… Hngg, it’s not really helping with my self-confidence to think about it,” he mumbled to himself. It would only leave him saddened all day, so the best choice might’ve as well been to discard the memory and actually take a decent look at the new town. Magnolia Town was a very large, solid city with even taller buildings than those around Orchidia. Coda didn’t like the lack of space in the air due to that, continuously descending to Hyōen’s shoulder and then flying back up to try a new area. It wouldn’t be good for the bird’s psyche to keep moving forward and backwards like that, so he suddenly whistled to her with a very high tone. Coda responded immediately to his call, just as she always would, given by their time spent together.

As Coda was now resting and collecting strength on Hyōen’s shoulder, he sought for the first place to eat. Strangely, it was nothing else than a small candy store at the other side of the road. It didn’t take long until trouble emerged from inside the store as both customers and the cashier herself shouted at his choice of amount; 6000 grams of candy! “Okay, okay, chill, everyone..!” she spoke in order to calm down the shocked customers, “Okay… listen, coal-haired boy, I don’t mind that you take as much as you’d like, but couldn’t you have kept it a little bit less attention-seeking? I mean-“ Her words were quickly caught by Hyōen’s confused, fire-breathing response: “B-But I haven’t eaten this stuff for years! Just this tiny bit, please..!!!” Given that he called that weight ‘a tiny bit’ only made the situation worse for the both shocked and worried cashier; what in the world would happen to his teeth, then..?

Alice was on patrol through Magnolia, with the incident from the Kardia Cathedral as well as the cult that was going on in Magnolia. She was sure that it wasn’t going that bad, the bastard that set the Cathedral on fire was in jail still and well most of the things were still normal, pickpockets, naughty children and so on. Her orange cat ears were perked up right to try and catch the noise of the street. Thank god the Festival from a few days ago was gone, it made the patrol so much easier. She even yawned as she stared around, right now she only had to kick kids their ass for throwing tomatoes at a store and she had said hello to Father Jerad at the Cathedral to check if everything was alright there. There was nothing until someone ran out of a candy store and looked horror struck, she arched her right eyebrow and headed with her companion Ophelia towards the store to see what was going on. Was someone really robbing the candy store, were people that pathetic?

She started to walk a little faster as she heard other people talk and it seemed all to be big surprise, she couldn’t really place it. She decided not to summon any of her weapons yet but she was prepared, clenching her left hand into a fist as she stepped into the shop, ”What’s going on?” she said, showing off her Rune Knight uniform, the blue jeans, the white blouse and her magical energy already told enough. The cashier looked up at her and shook her head, ”Oh sorry, he just surprised us by ordering 6000 grams of candy.” Alice who enjoyed sweets herself turned her look at the boy that the cashier stared at too, ”Well as long as he is paying I don’t see a problem. Unless you don’t have the amount of candy that he ordered.” She frowned and looking from one to the other, this situation was so weird that it actually wasn’t.

The cashier was yet as confused as Hyōen himself was, leaving the guy no space to breathe. “… well, don’t you love candy too?” he quickly asked her to try and justify his doings. She merely lifted an eyebrow to the irrelevant question and replied: “Of course, I run this store and all, but boy! Are you trying to speed up a death sentence or what?” Firstly, nobody should underestimate the Fire Mage’s digestive system, because he’d proven several times that he can at least eat more than the average human. Secondly, even though that his tongue preferred raw, indelicate meals over luxurious food every day, candy was something special and he thought that it was a clear exception. Then again, it could all just turn into a stomach-ache like last time…

Suddenly, all the buzz attracted one of the city’s Rune Knights as Hyōen turned his head towards the lady that entered. Spotting the uniform, his jaw literally dropped from ridiculousness. … Who called her here?, he thought in a small feeling of fright, because he didn’t want to be involved in something illegal. Fortunately for the decent-built glutton, whoever was beneath the uniform didn’t see any problem in all of this. Yes, he had cash; he was even about to pick up his wallet and everything when the chores started. “Oh well, if you don’t see a problem in it… but if he ends up without teeth later, don’t blame me,” the cashier replied to her words, walking into the back of the store in order to pick up the amount of candy that Hyōen ordered. Turning his face back to the Rune Knight in gratitude, he quickly began scratching his black-hole-colored hair. “Hehe… thanks for that, I guess. Things got a little out of hand here.” It wouldn’t take long until Coda reacted as well, suddenly flying around the strange Rune Knight; once inspecting her enough, the Rufflet began shrieking in fright with a similar fashion to when she met the other. "Now, now, Coda, at least show some gratitude for her. She just tried to help..."

Alice was surprised to see the cashier react, seriously she was making this a crime based on the boy losing his teeth? This was bullshit, she had better things to do but she remained smiling and pretending to do her job, which wasn’t much. She didn’t see why she should stay here any longer so she planned to turn away but the young man turned to her to thank her. ”Don’t worry about it. Some people like to show their surprise and opinions.” she said with a smile, of course the amount of candy was much but he was still a paying customer. As she was talking to him, she noticed his companion and she smiled at the bird, who would fly towards her soon after that. The closer the bird, the sooner apparently it noticed her cat ears and flew straight back to its owner. ”I believe cats and birds aren’t the best companions.” she slowly pushed Ophelia in front of her, maybe his companion would like her better. She still planned to leave but it was a rather interesting concept. She wanted to see the six kilograms of candy, although she should continue on her patrol.

When she finally decided that it was her time to leave, she heard breaking of glass and her orange ears immediately perched up again and twitched. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She turned around, ”Well it seems like something interesting is happening on the streets.” she said and she hurried off, followed slowly by Ophelia whom waved the young man and the bird goodbye. When Alice arrived on the street, she could see that across from the candy shop, two houses to the left, a window was broken in. It was from a jeweler and she was sure someone wasn’t asking nicely to borrow some jewels.

Hyōen couldn’t but chuckle a little after her comment. About people liking to show their surprise and expressions to his behaviour; it was more than true, honestly. If you saw what ballads that he caused in Orchidia, actions that may have been more extreme than 6 kilos of candy, then what she just said would be an understatement. When the cashier finally arrived with a large bag of childrens’ dreams, the Fire Mage quickly picked up his wallet. “Hm… yup, here goes,” he mumbled as he put down the sufficient amount of jewels at the table, “Thanks for the worries, but I’ll do fine. You might find me here again tomorrow..!” He didn’t see her hands, but the cashier was struggling to find the precise size of a bag for the candy, and the part of putting the candy in that bag was a hell of a job for her. If he ordered the same tomorrow… that thought began orbiting her mind as she merely smiled friendly towards the customers. She was, already, having high standards for her shop, so she couldn’t complain…

About Coda, the bird made it clear that the Rune Knight that Hyōen encountered was… wait, given by her comment, she referred to herself as a ‘cat’. “… W-Wait, like a cat person?” he spoke back with curiosity, “… that’s just like the guy I met earlier.” That was when he noticed her rather apparent cat ears, but he had never heard of such a race. Yes, he concluded that it was a race for various reasons, but back at the Woodsea, he never met a single being like them except pure, feline creatures such as the leopards. Oh well, it didn’t change anything; he would’ve thanked her verbally when the sound of breaking glass crossed their ears. He noticed her ears’ twitching and commented: “… I heard that too.” She said that something must’ve happened back at the street and quickly gave her goodbyes before leaving. When Hyōen stepped out to look her running towards the block where… he lived?! That couldn’t be, there was nothing to steal back at his room!

The broken window was leading into a jewel shop, but due to him living a few floors above, Alice would quickly spot him follow suit right beside her. “I hope that I’m not bothering, but I live there,” he quickly spoke, while Coda flew beside him in the same tempo.

Alice couldn't help but chuckle a bit as the young man told the cashier that he would be here again tomorrow. Here she thought she liked candy but that was nothing compared to him. She than was disliked by his companion, although she could see Ophelia found Coda very interesting, they had never seen a companion like Coda. Ophelia was always curious when it came to other companions. Alice smiled when she looked at her friend to see her reaction. She had turned around to hear his comment about her being half cat, like the other he met, a guy. "I know two male nekos. They are both in Magnolia. I hope they were nice to you." she said but she couldn't finish the conversation as she heard the breaking of glass and dashed out.

When she arrived the person that had stolen the goods was already gone, she hunched down to see if anything was left that could lead her to find the person. She heard the young man next to her, "Well if we want to find him, we have to be quick. Can you ask your companion if she can spot the culprit? I believe he went that way!" she pointed to her left because the little pieces of glass that would have clung to the clothing had been trailled to that side, however soon there wasn't anything to spot anymore. She stepped inside through the door, if the companion would be able to go, she would have a quick chit chat to see what was stolen.

The old man wasn't a fast talker but he said the man, the culprit, came from above. He was dressed in all black and was blonde. He stole some diamond earings, a saphire necklace and perhaps things from above. The Elderly told her that he hadn't recongnized him from before but since they changed a lot, the people that lived upstairs, he wasn't sure if that was true at all. Alice turned her eyes on the Candy-Boy. Maybe he knew as he lived upstairs, "Please do check upstairs if you want. To see if things are different there. Considering that the man left a hole in the window, I don't believe he was careful in his search for interesting goods and money." She gave him a small smile, hoping that nothing was stolen for him and otherwise she would have to be quick.

Hyōen kind of expected her to try and tell him that she was sufficient in stopping this criminal; rumours had it that people of authority were more than enough to solve the entire world’s crimes from where he came from. Perhaps it was like many other rumours, an illusion created by some loudmouth, but he was nonetheless surprised by her suggestion. He quickly nodded and whispered the command to his female friend of feathers, causing Coda to react by living out the command and soar towards the direction where the culprit had seemingly taken. She would leave a couple of feathers soaring down the streets as she took off, until she was out of sight.

As Coda was on that mission, Hyōen went inside the store to spot the old person who was present. Given by his words, the thief didn’t appear to stela anything extraordinary or something that no ordinary thief would get his hands on, but he thought that things upstairs could’ve been stolen as well. Alice asked Hyōen to search up there now that he lived upstairs as well, and he began worrying if the thief had perhaps stolen things from his room. With that in mind, he rushed upstairs and disappeared from the jewelshop in the meanwhile. There were, surprisingly, several rooms which were robbed for goods, because some of the inhabitants were still home right now. They were looking out of their doors as Hyōen came by, in which he also spotted his own door broken up. “T-T-There was something just earlier..!” a random neighbour warned, “B-Be careful! Whatever it was, it was extremely fast!” Unfortunately, Hyōen was half-listening to it due to his own worries of what was stolen. When he entered his room, he didn’t really see any difference in his already dryly decorated room. A slight hope slit through his heart as he opened the shelves, only to see that his necklace was the only thing gone…

After a couple of outrages that could be heard from the jewelshop, Hyōen returned to the base. His eyes were covered in shadows as he spoke silently: "Okay... whoever broke in was fast. Very fast... they didn't even see his contour." It was a brief indication of the danger that this culprit possessed, but a moment passed until his hair fueled up in deep-red flames of anger, emitting an almost eerie lighting in the room. “Arghhh! That prick culprit is going to pay for this!!!” he proclaimed with his clenched fists flailing around, one of them holding a piece of cloth that he found stuck on a neighbour’s window, specifically the one that the thief broke in from, “Jewels, coins, even watches! And my damn necklace, that ass!!!”

She was surprised that the young man would just listen to her but damn it was nice to see the bird would be able to help them. She had not seen the criminal but it was sure that he should have some cuts in either his clothing or face, unless he was smart enough to cover his face. She was sure she had to hurry after him because she was sure that they had to find him. But they have to know what he was stealing, so she talked to the owner. She was giving pictures from the catelogue the man had of his store and she thanked him and would make sure to bring the jewels back. Or well do the best she can, she hoped the bird would be able to help them greatly.

She heard some noise from upstairs and walked a little to the stairs to see what was happening. She couldn't help but smile a little, "Good way of saying that. Let's go. Try to find your bird and get your information, I'm going to find some answers myself. I will find you soon enough. Let's make sure that we find him. We only know he is fast, got a lot in his pockets and is dressed in black." she hurried out of the shop before abruptly stopping, she turned to her companion, "Stay here. Help the possible wounded before the glass is cleaned up." Which was not allowed to be cleaned up, her back up would look for clues, she instructed the man to give the note to her colleageus as she would dash off to find the person. She climbed up the roof and waved to Hyoën, she would see him soon, she might even be able to spot him considering where he was going, since she would have to follow the bird as well.

Hyōen quickly nodded to Alice’s suggestion. Given that he found a piece of cloth, they did now know what kind of clothes that the burglar wore, or at least what colour that they were. Coda was still searching out there, so Hyōen had to get out and see if his feathery companion had made its return. His fiery hair lowered its flames and revealed his ordinary, coal-black hair beneath as his eyes were closed for a second. “Roger. Coda is a skilled finder, I tell ya..!” he replied to her before heading past the jewelshop and outside. He still held the piece of cloth on his hand, thinking that perhaps he could recognize the clothing by comparison.

After waving back to Alice, his eyes were fixed up on the air as he awaited Coda’s return. The routine was pretty much like this; when returning at least a couple of kilometres away from Hyōen, Coda would soar around in a specific pattern in the sky to stand out compared to the other, random birds. Then, when spotted, the Fire Mage would quickly make it beneath the grey lifeform and whistle towards it, while Coda would be able to find him below. That was why he expected Coda to show up at the very edge of Magnolia, because they were very close to that point. It did take a little while before the female bird made its presence known at the direction expected, in which he already made his way across the streets, while he had his eyes upwards. Given by Alice’s movements, he would’ve probably been able to track her as well from below the roofs…

She had followed something that she thought a trail, her red ears straight up but twitching a little to catch the sounds to hear other Knights entering the shop. She followed Hyõen more or less, she had no idea what it meant if he had some sort of code with his companion. She would need some with Ophelia. She followed, jumping on other parts of the roofs, skipping the alleys by using a washing line that was spread between them. She couldn't take too much time, they had to find this man. Get the jewelery back, not only for the shop but also for the important heirloom or items people carried. Like Hyõen his necklace for example it seemed to mean a lot to him. "Did she find him?" she yelled down to the young man. She needed to be sure in case she followed him around and it was not true.

She made sure to dash a bit forward and climb back downstairs so she could be on the same ground as Hyõen, they always could split up if they were in pursuit of the criminal. They need to be careful though, she might not be that fast, she was faster thanks to not wearing her armour but it was a nice idea to dash soundlessly behind the criminal and catch him. She didn't know the meaning but soon she spotted someone staring at something shiny. "Careful." was all she whispered as she jumped aside into an alley to run around this man and catch up behind, so he was surrounded. This must be him at least, or so she hoped.

If it wasn’t for the continuous bumping into random passers-by at the street, Hyōen might’ve been able to catch up to the Rune Knight further ahead. He wasn’t that fast himself, anyway, so that would’ve required a lot of struggle in the long run. Coda was still soaring above the buildings as they both approached the place, but despite its friend’s tolerance towards the Rune Knight, it yet had to trust the feline being. Perhaps this little investigation would change its thoughts as it kept waiting for its dark friend to show up. Down there, people didn’t mind standing just in front of his path, which made the Fire Mage wonder: Umpfh! It would be much easier to jump across the trees at the kerbs… but they’re too small.

Further across the road, the cat knight returned to the same level as him, while the road turned more wide for him to gain more space to run. Now that it helped with his agility, they approached the outskirts rather quickly where Coda would descend to Hyōen’s arm. Given by the raptor’s sight, it looked over at another window to some discreet room at a red building. In front of that window was a suspicious person with a backpack and hoodie who quickly approached casually towards an alley nearby. Was he trying to get away now? That was what Hyōen thought as the Rune Knight whispered a warning before her disappearing indicated that she was tracking him down. Perhaps she wanted to catch him by surprise from the very same alley, in which the Fire Mage followed up by approaching the culprit from the same direction as him, ending up behind the guy as they stood near the alley. Hyōen took a quick look at the cloth that he held, noticing the similar colours to the person’s backpack…

Thank god she wasn't wearing armour or anything else that slowed her down. There was no one in this alley, with a reason as it ended in a block of houses, which was no problem for her. She jumped up and ran over the roof to jump down on the other side by lowering herself. She had to be quick, how fast did culprits notice that they were being followed and Hyõen was on the other side all by himself, the culprit if he knew what was going on would at least notice him now and walk a bit faster or perhaps even started to run.

She herself rounded the corner and he bumped into her. He indeed had noticed Hyõen as he had looked back as he bumped into her. This was way to easy, she had fallen but quickly got up herself and took the man his right front arm and turned it behind his back, "You are under arrest." she said and the rest that came with it such as: "Everything you say can be hold against you. You have perhaps the right of a laywer." She found this the most annoying thing but it was done. She shook the backpack of his other shoulder and threw it lightly towards Hyõen, "Would you be so kind to see if everything is in there?' Especially because his necklace was lost, she wanted to make sure that was in there as well, he knew how it looked. She looked up if she would see his companion, if she was near him or so, she would thank her for her great work because this had made everything a lot easier.

It appeared that the Rune Knight made it just in time for the culprit to suddenly run into her. It sort of surprised Hyōen too, watching Alice just stand there, appearing from what looked like nowhere when in reality, it was quite obvious and well-thought through. Coda had stayed silent the entire time, feeling that her assistance had come to an end for this situation and that it now required her beak to be shut. She was a smart companion, as always. Sometimes, Hyōen had to credit that if he just remembered to do that after the occasions. Oh well, it appeared that due to her next words, this was truly the culprit that stole those stuff from their home.

“E-Eh… you should watch your steps too, miss…” he couldn’t but mumble in a worried tone to the person whose name he never really got. As the thief was arrested, Coda finally flapped her wings in excitement and peeped a little. She appeared to enjoy the scene, whereas it didn’t appear so for the Rune Knight during the arrest. Suddenly, the backpack was thrown towards his arms, in which the Fire Mage quickly grabbed them without any warning. “Ah, yeah, yeah,” he replied rapidly, before he searched through, “Yes, that, this… that’s my neighbour Evin’s… that’s her jewel box…” It took him a few, perhaps a couple of moments before he looked up at the culprit’s neck, noticing something shiny and bright. It was formed as a kind of drop, but when you focused more on it, it clearly resembled a smooth feather. His eyes were darting towards the thief’s, causing him to tremble a little as he was already held up by the knight. “You,” Hyōen addressed him, holding up one index finger. A small flame was surrounding it, slowly forming a long string of pure, controlled fire that grabbed and pulled the necklace right off the man’s neck. The flame would pull the necklace towards Hyōen’s hand as he grabbed it and put it around his neck where it belonged. “That’s mine, thank you…” he commented afterwards.

“… He didn’t seem to steal that much, but some of the things are broken,” Hyōen spoke back to the knight, “I guess that I have to repair them later.” With that said, Coda kind of nodded back to Alice as a kind of tolerance that the bird had accepted towards this feline creature. What were the odds, though…

Spell Used (475/500):

Alice rolled her eyes to this culprit. He wasn't one of the smartest, immediately wearing his stolen goods. She shook her head as well. "I will bring this man to the store. I could maybe ask the jeweler to fix some of the goods that are broken." she asked with a hand gesture for the bag back. "I will also bring him to the station for an interrogation." She was done with most of the things and would take the backpack and so on. She would walk back to the shop, not sure if the boy would follow her. "My name, by the way a bit overdue, is Alice. Thank you for your help as well as your companion. It made it very easy for me." she would hand the jewels back to the jeweler. Had a short talk with him about the broken items but he said that he would fix it out of happiness for everything back and she thanked him and would bring this man to the station, "May we meet again." she said to Hyõen, "Enjoy your sweets." was the last thing she said as she left with the culprit.

Exit.

Even though the Fire Mage wanted to build up the damages himself, Alice was nice enough to suggest her asking the jeweler for fixings. The culprit was going to end in a station and all, so apparently, they did it. His first catch appeared decent enough to remember, and Coda was delighted as well due to her flailing her wings. “Well… if it doesn’t bother you, then please do.” He would look down at the culprit with fierce eyes, telling him not to cause any problems through expression. Then, he turned his gaze up at Alice who finally revealed her name… wait, did he tell his yet? “O-Oh, no problem… authorities and all, if you know what I mean.” He felt obligated to help her because of that, but during the thinking, he didn’t realize that he hadn’t told her his name yet. Unfortunately, she quickly departed in order to deliver the catch back to the station, leaving Hyōen with the feeling that he forgot… oh no…

[EXIT]