Ace and Anax were back at it again in Magnolia. They were at the local Rune Knights office meeting up with their superiors. There was loads of work to be done at all times regarding the Rune Knights. They were a very busy faction as they had way more to do than just ordinary guilds. Not to mention that its their duty to watch out for any plots set out by dark guilds. Other than all that though, the Rune Knights is a huge faction with members from all over Fiore. Mages and non mages form the task force and they all differ in rankings based on their skill, judgement, and experience. For such a young boy, Ace sure has accomplished much for the knights. He's already ranked up as the youngest member ever to move ranks and he's fought against a dark guild attack in Era which he knows is bound to stir up more trouble in the future. Part of the reason he's growing with his companion Anax is to be more ready for such surprises. The last time he wasn't in his best shape for sure, and he barely did any damage to his opposition yet he still played a crucial role in just being there.

Anyway, today Ace and Anax were just helping out with random chunks of paper work around the rather smaller office in Magnolia. It was definitely nothing size wise compared to the headquarters in Era. The office was a mess with a lack of members in the office so it was nothing more than a simple organizational task that they took out of the sole purpose of helping the Knights. It wasn't that much work and barely took a few hours. After they were done with the task, Ace and his orange furred companion, Anax, didn't want to see another single paper, so they decided to grab a quick bite and get to either training or taking a request to get raise more jewels. They were definitely eating a lot more with all of this intensified training they've been at for the past couple of weeks. The hard work really kicked in after they're meeting with that noble and captain Devon of the Rune Knights. It was a kick of motivation for the young dark skinned gas mage. The words of the captain resonated in his head as he aimed for higher every day. He knew that the captain saw something in him, just like his grandad did, and he somehow felt like it wasn't just talk at all. Well either ways he was about to find out soon. All he needed was the necessary work. However, he was willing to work twice as hard just for himself anyway, so this was just a huge motivational boost for the young afroed boy.

The dark skinned mage strolled around the city in search of a restaurant to fill him up. He was in need of a big feed so he can get that energy for the training. Him and his young companion stumbled upon a fancy restaurant that was said to have discounts just for the day. They were serving food off an open buffet. Ace and Anax were tempted rather easily and walked in with no hesitation. They threw their money at the cashier and barged right in as if it were one of the lower class restaurants Ace was used to. He grabbed two plates and scooped up two of whatever dish was in front of him. One for himself and one for his orange furred partner. He walked to a table carrying two fully crammed plates and set one down on the floor next to him and said "Go on Anax... Eat as much as you can, we've already paid." He then took a seat for himself and started stuffing his mouth with the variety of foods on his plate.

Around half an hour of them walking into the restaurant they were both properly stuffed and ready to walk out... If only they were able to stand up. Somehow the two of them stumbled up out of their seats and made their way for the exit. The young gas mage and his companion found a bench to relax on for a while before they went job hunting. They had to get a breather after that huge feed.

"Whoah... That was some good food. Hadn't had that much in a really long while. It'll have to be more like this as we use more magic King... The harder the training, the bigger the reward."

The gas mage said as he looked at his partner.

"So we'll say five minutes on the clock then we'll go looking for a job, yeah?"

His companion barked loudly with excitement since they hadn't done a job in a while. Its mostly been training for the two of them. Anax witnessed how hard Ace has been working and so he felt as if he needed to pick the pace up as well. Ace had plans for widening his use of his magic and he was just waiting for the right time to do so after this intensified month of hard work.

A few minutes passed by after which Anax bolted up and tugged on the afroed headed boy's leg. The growlithe was ready to go and was just waiting on the okay from his partner Ace. The young gas mage got up knowing that it must have been a bit more than five minutes, but they had to get to work. They walked through the paved streets of Magnolia as they made their way to the request board located in the heart of the city. It was more crowded than usual as the weather was gorgeously warm. He stopped next to the wooden board as his eyes stared at the request papers from under his pointed brows. The scorching heat from the sun continued to bake the young gas mage's dark skin as he read the details of the request in front of him. One of the requests stood out more than the rest as it messed with Ace's morals. It was about a boy who was drawing away customers from none other than the Magnolia Bathhouse run by Bella Missandra. Both Ace and Anax have met the older lady before and even done a couple of jobs for her. She wrote in the request that this boy was peeping into the her store to stalk the female customers that were roaming in and out the bathhouse. That just seemed sick and perverted to Ace and he felt like he'd rather take care of it himself than just leave it to someone else.

He walked out to the Magnolia Bathhouse with the request paper clenched in his right and his companion walking to his left. As usual, Ace walked in with an annoyed look on his face but this time he showed more anger than usual. He was actually irritated. Upon seeing Bella on the phone just way behind the counter, he asked the receptionist to call for Bella immediately. The receptionist asked if he had his membership card with him as he just stared her dead in the eyes and slammed the request paper on the counter. "Get Bella... I'm here to do a job." The woman looked frightened by Ace's intimidating presence although he was just a kid. "Ohh oh, right away..." She ran to call for Bella. Ace and Anax knew a bit about Bella's personality from previous jobs and it was pretty clear that she was cocky and arrogant. She just shooed the lady away and continued chatting on the phone. The lady seemed fairly nervous at this stage and just turned to Ace as she signaled Bella that it was important. Mrs Missandra put the phone down for a while as she asked the lady about whats going on. She seemed pretty annoyed herself. She hung up and walked over to Ace with a facial expression similar to his own. She plainly stared at the boy until she realized that he had a request paper under his hand slammed against the counter. "Oh so you're here for the peeping boy..." She asked as she calmed down a bit after knowing it wasn't nonsense he was here for. Ace kept his expression and replied saying "Yeah... Where should I look for him?" Bella looked at Ace and shrugged, "I thought you were the mage, I can't tell you where he'll be and when but from the reports we've gotten he is said to lurk around the rear entrance with binoculars. Its up to you to get the whole story. I'll be around here when you get the job done." She followed he last sentence with a brief smile and walked away from Ace back to her chair. The receptionist smiled at the young boy as well as she sat back down at the counter. Both Ace and his companion had very little to work with, but thats what they get for going with a vague job request. Ace even thought this might take more than just the day, but he hoped not since the reports stated he was around almost every day.

The dark skinned boy and his companion walked out the front entrance and decided to walk back around the bathhouse. He was well disguised just being a kid. No one would really think that a little boy around the age of twelve was actually hired to protect the bathhouse. Ace sat down on the steps of a nearby shop and scanned the area with his brown eyes briefly. Luckily enough, he spotted a man with blue hair that stood out more than the rest. However, he saw Ace looking at him a couple times which might get the man suspicious. The young gas mage decided to get up and walk towards the man's general direction with his growlithe. The man kept eying Ace and Anax as they got closer to him. As soon as Ace got close enough he shouted out to the man saying "Are you waiting for your mum as well?" The gas mage tried playing the innocent role of the twelve year old in front of the man. The man stuttered for a second and replied saying "Uhh its actually my sister... She's somewhere in the bathhouse and I'm just waiting for her to finish." He then smiled at the boy and continued by saying, "My vision isn't that good though so I always need these tiny magnifiers to see across distances." Ace kept his straight face as he thought to himself, "What a fucking idiot, you think I'm that stupid not to know what binoculars look like..." The young gas mage looked at his companion and then back at the man who had his binoculars planted to his face as he looked at the bathhouse. Ace could have toyed around more with the man by asking him if he could get a look through his magnifiers, but he was so sickened by the perverted man that he decided to take him out by surprise. With him being shorter than the man and while he had his binoculars on his face to stalk the bathhouse, Ace stood just about a meter from the man. He formed a thin layer of krypton gas around his left foot and kicked up on the air forcefully as the condensed gas bursted outwards. The shot curled upwards in an arc motion and barely covered half a meter in distance before striking the man's face and upper chest. The force from such a blast pushed Ace back around half a meter and tossed the man with his broken binoculars around five meters back. Ace and Anax took a closer look as the man's nose, mouth, and generally his face were covered in blood. Such a close blow must have broken the man's nose and fractured his ribs if not his skull as well. Ace couldn't give a damn fuck about what it did to the man at this stage. A peeping scum like him had to get the punishment he deserved.

The man was passed out, and Ace was able to call the some of the knights from earlier today to help him out with tying and carrying the man to Bella. He handed the man to the lady and she offered him a special bath to rejuvenate his magical energy. He then collected his reward with Anax and left the scene.

~EXIT~
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