The sun rose over the town of Oak, as the sound of birds and insects alike began their morning song. Somewhere in an old inn, Shichiro was rising from his slumber due to the natural alarm outside causing him a ruckus. Even though he had something he had to do today, it was still quite annoying to be woken up that way but he supposed it was better than oversleeping. Getting out of a wooden creaky bed, the dark skinned male went to the bathroom to wash up, get dressed in his normal attire. This consisted of his yellow button down shirt, navy blue pants and black shoes he was often seen wearing. He had a pair of magical earrings fastened to his earlobes and a heavy, chainmail helmet that was covered by hard leather, decorated in gray and white fur that he wore on his head. It was a little tacky but he wasn’t using it to set a fashion statement so he ignored the weird glances he got every once in a while. Leaving his room, he went down a flight of steps to where the inn was serving free breakfast for their paying guests.

He assumed it would double as a kind of diner since the food wasn’t bad. Grabbing a quick bite to eat of eggs, sausage and toast, he hurried out towards the church where his next mission would take place. It only took him a few minutes from where he was staying to reach his destination. At first glance from the outside, all he could see was a normal church next to a cemetery. Scanning the area, he would try and see if he could spot anybody nearby that would look like a mage or an adventurer that would resemble his partner but alas, he found nothing. He can definitely tell somebody was around the area though as he can smell their distinct scent. As he could currently see nothing of interest outside, his next course of action was to enter the church to see if his partner happened to be there. Taking a step inside, he could immediately see the church podium and two rows of long, wooden church chairs. Placing his hands into his pockets, he turned his to look from left to right, spotting a person just sitting in one of them at the very front of the podium.

Ths was definitely the same scent he had picked up from outside of the church and figured this must be the person he was supposed to meet, or potential competition for the job he and another was given. Traversing through the room of whtie walls and tan floors, shichiro made his way to the stranger until he stood beside him, continuing to eye the area the podium was standing. Glancing over the decorations of the church and whatever deity they were worshipping, Shichiro decided he’d speak to the stranger. “Mm, hey. Are the one I’m supposed to be paired up with today, the one called Erebus? I’m shichiro,” he said rather quietly. Waiting for a response, shichiro continued to scan the room in order to determine if there are any other people around for them to be worried about or talk too. Sniffing the air, he masked the action as if he was constantly sniffing the air as he didn’t feel like discerning his true nature to strangers right away. Although finding them was a common occurrence, he still didn’t like the negativity that followed after the discovery. For now, he’d just play along as a common mage looking for work to get by.

602/2,500

Now turning his head towards the person sitting next to him, shichiro noticed he was smoking inside the church as if it was a casual hangout spot. Normal people would have probably taken offense to this but for shichiro here, this didn't bother him at all and he thought it was amusing for somebody to nonchalantly do so. Returning his mind to the task at hand, the person next to him was indeed his partner for the request they were about to perform. He was now being asked if he had done this job in particular before and he briefly pondered on how to answer that. It was complicated as he's never exorcised spirits before only stood guard while they were being performed. He decided he'd just tell his partner for the time being he's never done this before. "Nope, never done it myself before. This would be the first time, give me the run down real quick and I guess we can head on out to our destination, wherever that might be. All I know is, something smells funny in here," shichiro retorted, his facial expression twisting with a tinge of disgust from a certain stench, as he waited for an explanation.

He wasn't sure how hard this task would be but he's heard the payout for doing so would be worth his while. The adventurer then began to walk towards the podium as if he had already scooped out the area. He probably did a far better and more efficiently than shichiro did in the last few seconds. Following his lead, he decided to also walk towards the podium in hopes of seeing what shenanigans entail. When shichiro arrived a few moments after Erebus, he had watched him squat down to slide a hand against a carpet rug on the hard-top flooring. Shichiro then noticed the carpet here didn't match the carpet that was currently sprawled out through the rest of the church building. Continuing to take note of his actions, he watched as he uncovered a cellar door from underneath the rug, forcing it open revealing a large set of stairs and stepping inside of it. Well, that's one way of getting things done, shichiro thought to himself. Deciding not to waste any more time himself, he also decided to climb into the underbelly of the church so they could hurry and proceed with their request. He had hoped this wouldn't take too long but things never went the way he'd like to hope.

1,018/2,500

Following behind Erebus, shichiro continued to leave his hands tucked into his pockets as he walked down the deep stairwell they had entered. It was pretty dark, or would be for most people. Luckily for shichiro, his night vision worked just fine and he could determine at what point of the stairwell he was at all times. As they walked, it seems like Erebus was beginning to give him the run down to hunting ghosts and the history of this crypt. According to him, people who have died in wars through the ages and ancient civilizations which settled this region were buried here, even before our Oak Town was even founded. The history lesson was nice and all but that's not the part he was really looking forward to. He more or less wanted to know how to take down evil spirits, possibly without the use of magic, trying to find whatever item it was tied to or fulfilling its last rites. Well, maybe he was being a bit too hopeful so he just continued to listen to the drivel coming from his partner's mouth. This was apparently one of the biggest graveyards in all of Fiore, or speculated to be.

Which drives another question, why would anybody want to settle over a massive graveyard anyway? Maybe it was just a town secret only the highest of officials and mages could know about in Oak town. Well, he probably meets one of those requirements considering he was sent on this mission as one of the participants. Thinking back, shichiro remembers an area in the sieghart mountains called No Man's Land which was basically an arid, desert-like region. The desert consists of red sand and large chunks of wine red earth. Not only was the terrain difficult to traverse, but it also gave the feeling of exhaustion. The real truth behind the lands however was where werewolf and werewolf kin buried their fallen after a hunt goes wrong or when skirmishes with humans went wayward. He sort of feels for them but alas, now wasn't the time to think of such thoughts. Around ten in depth, the pair had reached solid ground to which Erebus had pulled out a torch to light their way. shichiro was almost convinced the man might have been a creature himself with how long they've been walking in the dark. Either way, they now both can see better with the aid of light from the torch.

There was an old, wooden door in front of the two and they proceeded to open it, peering inside of what could possibly be lying in wait. A few rows of corpses could be seen, with yet another stairwell at the epicenter of the room, with a large sarcophagus pushed over to reveal an even deeper stairwell. Shrugging his shoulders, Shichiro let out a, 'Meh' sounding sigh as the two of them walked further into the graveyard. Being led by Erebus, he could now pick up on the sounds of whispering. As they traversed further and further, the whispering had soon quickly become wailing of sorts, angry shouting and screaming. At first it was off putting but later on it just became mildly annoying as they continued to travel downward. The surroundings had also begun to change as they walked, no longer being a flat, dirt path but now a more rocky and cavernous like appearance had begun to take form. This wouldn't be a bad place to hang out if it wasn't for the stench of rot and the fact this was a graveyard.

Around this point in time, Erebus had begun to tell a story. A story about something called the tree life. Listening to it, he was told about three worlds, one guarded by a bird which was presumably a god. The earth land which he assumed was the realm the pair are currently inhabiting and the underworld where a serpent had managed entities that do not belong in the earth land. According to him, souls needed proper burial and stuffing people into walls or lumping them with other corpses isn't considered proper burial, getting lost on their way to the after life. Pondering on the story, shichiro had formed a neutral opinion of it seeing as he didn't exactly relish in needless suffering so he could be coerced or paid to help people out, even if it was cheap. Without these 'lost souls', he probably has less opportunities to get paid for dealing with it. After listening to the story, all shichiro could do was respond with, "Interesting," before they continued on their way.

1,786/2,500

Continuing to follow behind Erebus, shichiro couldn't help but ponder on what Erebus had told him. He was much of a history man but getting to know about details most other common folk aren't privy always came with a sense of superiority. He couldn't help but think about it himself. It was quite a petty thought but, it was his honest feeling. Continuing his walk behind Erebus, he had noticed there was just more than rock and corpses. They started to see things that would resemble being in a child's bedroom such as little rocking chairs, stuff animals and kid's toys. Witnessing the sight of these things made shichiro's face twist in disgust once more as if he was still smelling something foul. He began to hope whatever they were suppose to be dealing with didn't have a taste for small children or babies. After making an audible grunt at this site, Erebus had began to ask him about his person. He wasn't sure what to say to be honest to be honest. Nobody's been interested in him before so he guess he'd be as blunt about it as possible in a twisted form of sincerity.

"Let's see, my name is Shichiro Uchida, I'm five feet, eleven inches tall of Sevese and Fiorian descent. For a short period of time in my life, I've worked as a blacksmith's apprentice. I'd like to say I've gotten good at the craft, even if others don't think so. I like quiet, scenic areas and routes. My mind often sometimes wanders to pass the time, like currently when you were telling your story. I don't like large crowds as it gives me anxiety and I feel trapped. I also don't like being glued to a book for long periods of time, it's why I decided to be an adventure mage in the first place. I learn better by doing than reading about it in a book. I aspire to be the best mercenary in the lands no matter where that takes me so I'll frequently move form guild to guild. Currently I'm back in Blue Pegasus after my last guild fell through and I took a 'vacation' but hopefully, I get to move onto somethin better. That about sums me up in a nutshell. As you can probably tell, I specialize in magma magic though it first started out that I could only move fire rocks. That's all there is to it, I guess."


After shichiro was done with his response, he wondered if that would suffice as an answer to his question. Though he wasn't very good at using his words, he still knew there were times he would need to, even if just to pass the time. Continuing on their path, shichiro felt as if this journey was long enough to travel to an entirely different region itself. He knew that much time hadn't passed but he still couldn't help but feel that way. Wondering why, he couldn't discern the nature of the place they happened to be in but nonetheless, he couldn't to press on until the job was done. He had only hoped there was an easier way of getting out of here after all was said and done.

2,325/2,500

It seems as if the response to the question Erebus had presented was sufficient enough to sate his curiosity, in which case, shichiro was also satisfied. Erebus had given him a tidbit about himself which was also nice. Now that the verbal exchange was out of the way, he decided it was best to focus on the task at hand. Exiting into a spacious chamber, shichiro had seen Erebus being repelled backwards by an unknown force. This caused him to instinctively shield his face with his arms as he was also within range of whatever the force was. Being pushed back slightly, shichiro found himself out of breath briefly before scanning the room of the cause of all of that force. In front of him, seemed to be a creature of unimaginable horrors as one would normally describe it. He's heard about these beings before but only thought them to be in people's wild stories. Jibbering mouths, he think they were called. Well, whatever it was, he knew what he had to do as his presumed target happened to be right in front of him. He would have liked to check on Erebus to see if he was alright but he wouldn't have the time to do so.

Connecting his hands together, shichiro clapped coating his arms in flowing mana from the pores of his skin. He needed some cover before charging in mindless so he can deliver a powerful blow, despite its legs being locked up. He was more confident in his physical strength than his magical prowess but a little boost didn't hurt. Stomping the ground in front of him, shichiro created and shot an earthen spike of magma towards the creature before running towards it in order to deliver a powerful blow with his right hand.

2,625/2,500

After delivering the blow towards the abomination of a creature, Erebus had followed up with a blow of his own in order to finish the creature off. The battle had raged on for a little while but eventually, they had both come out on top. After a job well, Erebus had invited shichiro out for another adventure to which shichiro had obliged. Afterwards, they had began their long trek back through the crypt where the baby toys were. The place was still a bit eerie but regardless, they had to make it through. He doesn't know what horrors would await them in the next adventure but shichiro would deal with that when the time comes. Parting ways with Erebus, he went back to his room to clean himself up, check himself for wounds and grab a bite to eat from the diner right under the inn he was staying in. He decided to get something cheap but filling so he can feel full without breaking his wallet. He would also liked to have something along the lines of soup with a lot of meat in it. He knew what he wanted now, he decided to order a large pork cutlet bowl of ramen with extra cutlets in it and enjoy it.

[Exit.]