Noels first day in Baska wasn't as grand as time he'd spent in Astera. It was different here. Somewhat more accommodating towards his own ambitions and goals. This place, Baska, was a place where many warriors originated from. Their great Baska rock was world famous. Noel was planning a visit to the city center though, as he believed that there might be an interest for Advent World to hold a stake in such a place. The tall Advent World wizard had managed to build quite a reputation, alas the people from Baska didn't see the male as a huge threat - though, initially as he entered the confinements of the town some of the guards were whispering among themselves. Soon, word that Noel had been seen within Baska was spreading like wildfire.

Merchants and common folk dominated this district. That was known to Noel prior to his entrance to the City Center. Noel wore no armor, but had his other equipment with him - should an attempt at a diplomatic relation between himself and Baska backfire, he could protect himself regardless. This made Noel seem quite intimidating, the burghers of Baska knew that this man could enter combat at a moments notice - for him to appear without armor proved that he was confident in his abilities. Enough so that he didn't retort on using it should the moment call for it. As Noel wandered through the center, people stayed away from him like he was carrying some kind of virus. Noel sat on his horse, the streets were emptying as fast as they could as Noel approached on his horse. Onlookers in the buildings he passed watched with one eye from the many different windows.

Merchants hid under their stalls as Noels horse passed by them. It had become obvious to the male that this was going on, and he'd begin to clap his hands - creating more attention towards him. "Citizens of Baska's City Center - I applaud your efforts to avoid me. I hope you do the same to threats similar to me, for my name is Noel Raion - the Juryoku Okami of Advent World." He'd proudly say, the many various citizens listening to his announcement slightly peeking up a bit more. He was being identified as a threat previously, but that slowly was being torn down.

A certain merchant obviously didn't care a shred about Noels reputation, he was one of the only ones not hiding himself between his wares. After his customers had run away, he merchant sat on top of the wooden market stall. Noel was about to pass by him, but halted his horse. The merchant begun talking to Noel, before Noel could say anything to him. "I'm not afraid of you. I've seen way worser than you. Now beat it, kid." The wizard withheld himself from chuckling, raising one leg over the horse, to get off of it he stood to face with the merchant stall owner. This man was quite old. Older as himself, by no doubt. "That's alright, I've not come here to spread fear. On the contrary." Noel opened his arms a bit, "I recognize the difficult times Baska has been put through. I'm here to put an end to it." Noel said to the sole merchant owner, who chuckled at him. Obviously mocking his intentions for being here. The merchant didn't really believe it.

Noel decided to double down. He'd look left, to face the empty street for a second before doing the same with the right side. "Are you the one that's going to protect everyone? The only one who dares to protest?" He'd cross his arms, not showing ill intent - but rather baiting the old man to reveal some more information about this district. Noel guessed there was more to the surface than just this old man being weirdly protective of Baska. Power backed him, and Noel was curious as to this source of power. The old man didn't think it was that relevant who was going to protect Baska. "No. Everyone is. They see you as a dynamite, waiting to explode. Nobody wants to ignite a dynamite, but I can assure you the citizens of Baska will jump on one if it means protecting another." Noel clicked his tongue.

This town held a code kept to a high standard, to protect one another. After years of being disregarded by their local government, the Rune Knights - and anyone else who was meant to protect them, they've gathered up the manpower do it by themselves.

"Consider me one of those who are willing to jump on the dynamite, chief." Noel said to the merchant, before walking back to his horse. "Who do I have to talk to to make this clear?" Almond brought his hand to his chin, stroking it as he inspected Noel more carefully. He couldn't tell whether or not he was being serious, nothing bad had happened so far so a feeling of obligation came to the call. This deep loyalty within other civilians had interested Noel more than he had anticipated, if what the merchant said was true. While Noel climbed back on top of his horse, he'd turn his head back to the merchant, awaiting a response from him. The merchant gave in. "If you're serious about that, talk to the merchant leader." Noel nodded, that seemed logical. "And who might that be?" Almond chuckled at Noel, responding in a witty sense. "I said if you're serious about what you said. I assume you can find out, my name is Almond. That knowledge should make it easier, good luck young'n."

Noel blew a raspberry at the merchant. "Pfff kusojiji. Fine." With a subtle tap with the back of his boot on the back of his horse, the signal for Mustang to continue walking was clear enough for the Advent World wizard to proceed into the center.

Some of the glances thrown by the regular burghers seemed like to Noel that doomsday had approached. With his horse heading into one of the more crowded areas, he could hear the kerfuffle of footsteps steady in pace as he got closer. "Burghers of Baska, I am not here to harm you. I understand if you wish to leave the area regardless! Let's just do so in a more organized way. Pregnant women and old people out first." Noel drew the hair of Mustang, ordering him to come to a stop so these peaceful people could leave the area. "I'm looking for the lead merchant, Almond has send me. Can anyone assist me!?" He'd ask the crowd who were running away. Nobody seemed interested enough in assisting him. A street urchin who stuck around remained curious at the running crowd.

Noel noticed the street urchin in the corner of his eye. He was the only one who remained, a kid blind in both eyes. It suddenly made sense to Noel as to why they were still stuck around. Noel descended from his horse once more, hitching Mustang to a rail near the main square. He'd walk towards the street urchin somewhat cautious of his surrounding. If the merchant Almond was right, some of these citizens might consider throwing themselves on Noel to protect the urchin. With one hand on the hilt of his weapon, and the other loosely hanging in the air - Noel approached the urchin from the front. Making it no surprise to the kid that he was there. "Hello, my name is Noel. Can I ask you a question?" Noel begun talking before he had come to his stopping point, a few meters in front of the urchin.

The kid moved his head up, not recognizing the voice. "Sure, for the right coin." That was fair, Noel thought. He'd drop three golden coins in the basket of the urchin. The sound of their bounce made the kid known that they were golden too. Initially the urchin was happy, but then somewhat weary - something serious must have been following this request. "I'm looking for the head merchant about a proposition. Almond told me to look for him after explaining my proposition to him." The urchin nodded some. "He's probably hanging out in his shop, it's next to Madam Restarias flower stand." Noel looked across the street, where something like the urchin had described was visible. "Thanks, and good luck kid." Noel said before wandering towards said location. Of course, Madam Restaria had fled the scene already. Noel pushed the door open of the shop, and a bell rung. The merchant inside was reading the newspaper, unfazed by Noel entering his shop.

It was another old man, just like Noel - but maybe a bit more extreme. The man put his glasses down and looked up at Noel, "How much?" The man asked Noel, who begun picking goods off of their shelves and blowing the dust off of them. "Well, you know what they say. First line is free." The merchant was a bit confused, so he picked up his glasses back up to face Noel once again. "You? What?" The merchant initially thought that Noel was a bandit.

Noel scraped his throat. "Ah, well. My name is Noel - as you may know, I'm a wizard of Advent World. We're in the neighboring town, and ..." Noel begun explaining himself, providing more context to him being in this mans shop. "We've secured Oak. Haven't seen an incident report since a few weeks." Noel begun walking closer to the merchant and leaned against some strong furniture, continuing his practiced and rehearsed speech. "I take it bandits have more influence than you'd have liked. I could tell by how I was received." Maybe he had struck the right chord, Noel left a pause in the conversation for the merchant to respond to. He could see the opportunity as it presented it to him, and reacted somewhat positively. "Our security never has failed us." The merchant persisted - Noel knew this mans natural trait to be of commerce. He had to sell his product at a more valuable price than it seemed, he was programmed to do so. Noel had a cheeky response to that, lined up from the moment he entered his store. "Because you pay them off. So do they pretend to provide you some kind of security?"

Just as the Don was about to retort in his own witty manner, the doors of his shop loudly were opened by agressors. Noel identified them as some kind of lowly bandits, chief among which was a summoner that was accompanied by a powerful looking knight. "We heard you were under attack, Don!" The summoner shouted, giving orders to his men to start a ravage in the cobblestone warehouse of exotic goods. The merchant lost his temper and with a formed fist hit his table while the henchmen began destroying his goods in front of him. "You! Noel. If you are serious about taking over our protection, then prove yourself now!" He didn't like receiving orders like this, but the circumstance certainly seemed to call out for him to help this man. "I got this," Noel said, turning fully to the bandits that were knocking over shelves, hitting wares with bats. He'd unsheathe his blade and move forwards. "Let's do this outsi--" Before he could finish his sentence, the summoners knight begun lunging towards him.

On the balms of his heels, Noel moved back slightly as much as he could while anticipating the direction of the sword headed towards him. He countered this attack with his dagger, performing a violent upswing in which both edges clashed against each other. Noels proved to be way sturdier, and cleanly cut through the blade of his aggressor. "Gotcha" He'd quickly say, following the strike of his dagger which left it with half the endurance it had when he came into the shop. Lunging out with his demon-like arm, he'd knock the head off the summoned knight cleanly off with his fist. The henchmen focused themselves towards Noel, encircling him and closing in quick. Noel put his dagger back in its sheath, raising both palms as he four random items within the room were selected to be manipulated by Noel. Two were fencing swords, one axe and a spear was chosen as well. He'd direct these objects at the mundane aggressors while focusing his attention on the main summoner who conjured five knights in the time Noel fought off the henchmen.

Two of his knights went in first, Noel pointed his fist at the ceiling to start levitating off the ground, narrowly avoiding both strikes before he lowered himself, kicking one knight in the head while getting hit by the sword of another as a consequence. He'd want to limit the damage to this shop, so he opted to use no destructive magic. A fast sequence of actions followed, including Noel to be narrowly avoiding a couple of attacks while dishing out his own. After the kerfuffle had settled, Noels armor had been damaged to the point of it breaking as he apprehended the summoner, tying his wrists together after throwing him on the floor. Proud of his job, Noel clapped his palms against each other while directing his levitation to carry the unconscious henchmen outside, and trying to place the shelves and items back previously to where they were located.

The merchant was quite satisfied. "They were quite a bother, but there's others as well. My name is Don." As Noel was restoring the previous condition of his store, the merchant continued talking. "If you're willing to safeguard us, we can surely come to an agreement." Noel nodded at the merchants commentary. "Definitely. If you keep the spice flowing, we'll keep the worms off of it. Consider this territory under control of Advent World, and we shall keep you in your position as an autonomous autonomy." It wasn't the first time he proposed this idea, he had quite a lot of experience in this manner. Don closed the book he was previously reading, nodding at the proposition. "Consider it done. In the meantime, I'm sure everyone will appreciate it if you kept destruction at a minimum while here." Noel chuckled and agreed to his request, leaving the store and heading back to his horse. The burghers seemed less afraid of him, some witnessing his bout and coming to respect the figure. Noel headed out of the city center and onto his next location on the back of his horse.