Once again it had been a good while since the gas mage went on his last request. He had started using up some of his stashed jewels for food and rent which wasn't a good sign at all, especially for someone saving up for a trip to Crocus to surprise the old man. He still had a good amount saved up so really all he needed was a chore-like D-rank quest to take care of his petty expenses.

It was only around nine in the morning just after Ace had his breakfast at a local restaurant. It was a Saturday, most people getting off from work today and school's were out as well. The positive wave of energy carried the town to a bright sunny weekend. The gas mage didn't mind working though. His job was fun to him and that was what really mattered. He wouldn't even be dabbling this far into his rather complex gas magic if he wasn't truly passionate about it. Passion truly mattered to the young mage, and as he learned from his grandad, if you love what you do then you'll get good at it. The young apprentice was slowly getting there.

Ace sauntered down to the request board on a lovely warm Era day. Most of the city's people had been sleeping in as most of the shops and stalls opened a bit later on a Saturday. The gas mage leaned down to take a closer look at the request board and what it had to offer today. He was wondering if his next quest will be a last minute job like most of the recent ones he's taken. He brushed up his afro with one had as the other hovered over the pinned papers of the wooden request board.

"What's it going to be..." he thought to himself.

His eyes showed interest as they lingered a tad bit linger over a certain request. It had been from one of the Seated Knights. Ace wondered why he didn't just request the job internally through the Rune Knights but that soon became apparent to him as he read the details of the request. It stated that Joachim Messer, the requestor, was going on a raid in some unspecified dungeon. That made more sense as to why he hadn't requested the job internally. His batch of the knights and a whole other lot could be scheduled for the same raid. Without further hesitation the gas mage snatched the request of the board as he thought to himself, "Alright Messer, let's get your family's crest back". This request seemed like a bit more of a challenge to Ace rather than a chore. He couldn't judge it solely based on the details though and had to wait till he actually started.

Ace was a bit lost at the start. How was he to know how the crest looked like. It just stated 'when found return to the Messer's mansion'. The afroed twelve year old then shortly realized that the drawing was on the back of the request paper, which only allowed people who took the request to lay eyes on it. He scrutinized the drawing for a while before heading off into the streets of Era in attempt of gathering any information. It seemed like it consisted of two swans entangling their necks together with a side note that said the the swans were made of rare material.

Ace walked around the market street in Era in attempt of finding a merchant he ask who will hopefully be able to guide him in the right direction or maybe even exactly pin point where the crest is. That would have saved Ace the hassle but then again it wouldn't make the request any more interesting than the others to the young mage. He walked up to a young slender man not much older than himself and flashed the drawing of the crest. "Have you seen this crest anywhere?" he asked blatantly. The blonde haired man barely got a glimpse of the crest and said "It's the Messer family's crest, what about it?". Ace's face showed no reaction as he replied saying "Yeah I mean the actual crest has gone missing, have you seen it?". "Ohh... That's some bad news to hear on a Saturday morning. They must really be in a bad m..." The man was saying before getting interrupted by the young mage, "Alright, thanks...". Ace turned his back to the man and went on to ask another merchant who hopefully didn't have much time to waste. Ace didn't really have much to do, but he surely didn't want this job hanging over his back for the next couple of days. The sooner the better and the quicker he acted the quicker he'd get to the next quest.

After two more failed attempts with merchants just blabbering on about nonsense, Ace finally stumbled upon a lady who was able to tell him where to go from there. She said that a thief attempted to sell her the crest but she refused. She said she was about to inform the Rune Knights about him but that she'd just get herself in loads of trouble when the man hadn't even shown himself. Ace was starting to feel the issue was getting way out of hand at this stage. The woman quickly replied telling the young dark skinned mage about a merchant that goes by the name of Gaud. He buys anything that'll get him a guaranteed profit no matter what it was. She even told Ace where he might be able to find this so called Gaud. It wasn't looking as complicated as he thought it was after all.

Ten minutes later Ace showed up at an oversized man's tent where he sold all kinds of weird antiques. "You Gaud?" he boldly asked the man as his eyes pierced through the man's rough appearance. "Yeah. What're you looking for?" The man replied with a thick accent. "I'm looking for something that's not yours" Ace said mockingly as he looked over to his right and flashed the Messer's crest drawing. His Rune Knights insignia was clearly visible to the man. "Uhh right, just a second..." he said as his deep voice showed less confidence than the first time. Once again it was easier than Ace had anticipated. It turns out Gaud wanted no problems to do with the Rune Knights, probably because he'd already had a bad experience with them and wasn't willing on taking the same road especially with the crest of one of the Rune Knight's respected members. He handed Ace the crest with a fake smile and carried on by aiding the next customer in making their decision.

The gas mage brought the crest back to the mansion where the guards at the gate chatted with Ace for a few minutes. They thanked him and gave him his reward for retrieving the valuable family crest. Ace made sure they mentioned his name and regards to Joachim although he'd probably never heard of Ace before, but it was a good start to linking up with the higher ranked Knights as he made his way up the ranks as well.