Ace has spent the majority of his day exercising around the training grounds of the Rune Knights headquarters. It wasn't quite an off day for the mage as he planned to get some training done instead of just lying around being lazy all day. He was on and off while taking breaks in between to read his book and enjoy the fresh air. The sun was partially hid behind the clouds today but peeked out every now and then to bless the people of Era. The fresh spring breeze was officially settling in now with almost every day getting a fair bit warmer.

Ace's exercise session came to an end with the sun starting to dip behind the horizon. As he was walking out he heard a couple pages murmuring about a lieutenant putting up a request on board for a mage to take. It peeked his interest and called them over to ask what that was about. "Hey page, what was that about the lieutenant?" he asked as he looked up at the older knights. They knew who Ace was. Then again who didn't. He was of the youngest pages to ever get promoted to an apprentice. Almost all the pages, even those who weren't of his batch had heard of the afroed mage who was starting to make a come up. They gathered in front of him and replied, "Lieutenant Marwin has been asking for a mage to confirm the sightings of zombies being summoned for the past couple of days". "I see. If he's asking a mage to do it and not just any knight then it could be serious..." the gas mage said almost as if he was thinking out loud. "Alright thanks guys" he said. No problem... You guys know who that is, right?" one of them said as Ace walked away actually considering taking the request that the lieutenant had set up.

The mumbling slowly faded away as thoughts of taking the request shrouded his mind. This might as well be the most interesting request he was about to take yet. A D-rank interesting quest? It was too good to be true. He was psyched just thinking that this quest might actually require him to fight off a horde of zombies. The clueless gas mage hasn't even looked at the request yet and he's already assuming it was far more superior than the other D-ranks.

He had no intentions of wasting time to walk all the way to town to get the piece of paper and all the way back. So the gas mage just headed to lieutenant Marwin's office in hopes that he was still there. Surprisingly enough, Marwin was still there  looking over reports of the sightings. Ace saluted the man as soon as he stepped foot in the office. "Lieutenant Marwin, I'm Ace Brookes, I've heard you had a request up on the boards... May I take it?". The old white haired man nodded at Ace to greet him. "Hey Ace. Well I actually did put a request up but it's for a mage to take. Are you a page?" the old man stated as he looked at the boy. "No sir. I'm an apprentice here" the gas mage said. He was showing more respect than he usually did. He wasn't the type to greatly respect his elders because of all he's gone through. Countless times he'd been insulted by adults just due to the fact that he was a kid, which he found horrendous. However, he had great respect for the elders and the ranked members of the Rune Knights. The old man's eyes widened up as he stared the boy down quickly, "So you're the youngest page to ever get promoted huh? It's nice to meet you Ace... Take this from me young man, you've got potential" he said as he whispered the last part loudly. The old man reached for his lacrima, "I'll contact someone and tell them to take the quest off the boards, it's in your hands now Brookes". Ace peeped a smile from one corner of his mouth and quickly adjusted back to his serious face. "Thanks sir!" he said as he saluted the higher ranked lieutenant. Marwin then went over the basic reports that he'd gotten from the guards. He briefly explained that they witnessed the summoning of zombies and Ace's job was to merely confirm the sightings. He wasn't allowed to intervene as that would ruin the investigation. That last part killed Ace's buzz yet somehow he was still excited after meeting the lieutenant. He once again saluted the man boldly and left the office.

He had been told that the sightings were in the woods just outside the gates of Era. The gas mage arrived there just as the sky fully turned dark. It was pitch black which made it harder to find his way around the woods. He'd tripped a couple times and it wasn't looking like it was going to be an easy night for the apprentice. After a while it seemed like the reports were false but then again that could just be due to his extra slow pace in the dark. Lieutenant Marwin's words rang in Ace's ears as he thought of coming back to him. "I can't go back to him with nothing... Unless I'm 100% sure there was nothing..." the gas mage thought to himself. He decided to roam around until he was positive nothing was going on. After around half an hour Ace stumbled across a bright light. He slowly approached it only to realize it was from a fire lit next to a statue of a pagan god. Numerous undead beings were being resurrected back to life. It was the first time the gas mage had witnessed such a thing and he had to stay as quiet and focused as he probably can. This was all to help the progress of the investigation.

Ace returned back to the lieutenant's office as he was still looking over reports. The gas mage confirmed the sightings and gave the man the extra details of what he'd witnessed. Marwin handed Ace his reward and said that he hoped he'd see the mage sometime soon. Ace graciously thanked the man as he walked off to relax for the night.