The shop had undergone a bit of changes since his last visit. There was even an expansive library, one that he did not expect. Perhaps in his off time this would be a nice place for him to relax when the job was done. But of course such things would need to wait. After all, they were on the job, but that didn't mean he couldn't muse about it for a moment. What would it be like to spend all day in such a place. Maybe with a nice cup of sake and a fantasy novel, seems this place had a lot more to offer than what he initially expected.
It was then he heard Esperia begin to identify their targets. Daemons, men, and a demon. Interesting he thought to himself. That means the shop keep has some kind of occult item there they were looking for. Given his recent interaction with alternate espy, it made sense that she would be sending her minions out on retrieval missions such as this, anything to grow her power and army. Which made sense, he did tell her to bring everything she had. I guess that also meant bring what everyone else had too.
No matter, demons or not, no one was going to be taking anything from this place, he wouldn't allow it. Not now, not ever, he had never failed a mission and wasn't going to start now. He pulled his pack from his back and took out a large container of salt, the ashes of a priest, and holy water. It was time to sure of the defenses. Which he would, no matter what. Being a hunter meant he had to be prepared for everything, and demons were far more common now than they were previously. Which was good fortune for him.
Seeing as demons were the creatures, he had the most time spent with, in terms of killing them at least. He began to open the salt jar, walking around to the window seals and entrances placing down lines of salt to keep them at bay for as long as he could. At least so they could set up the rest of the defenses. With the salt layers down it was time to move on to the ashes of the dead saint. He took out a bottle of water and began to stir the ashes into it until they were completely dissolved.
He threw one of the bottles over to Esperia for her to drink as well. "This will keep them from being able to possess us." Manzo said as he downed his entire bottle, making a sour face in response to how badly it tasted. Which if he had to describe it, was something along the lines of sulfur and rotten fish. Which considering it was the ashes of saint was almost comical to say the least. But it should work out just fine for them, as long as they weren't dealing a hell knight class demon, that would be troublesome.
Now it was on to the holy water. He went into the back room of the store and grabbed a bucket. He poured an entire container of holy water into it, walking back into the room he found himself singing one of his favorite tunes to himself. "Carry on my wayward son, they'll be peace when you are done." He sang as he rigged a hook above the door with a leverage point for the bucket to drop on the demons as they entered. Odds are they wouldn't be expecting him to be this prepared. Unless they knew he was there, but those were very low odds.
Back to the bag of tricks, a container of lambs blood. "Lay your weary head to rest." He began to paint a demon snare onto the floor, this was the last line of defense of course, on the off chance everything failed, low odds, but with a disguised demon in their midst it would behoove them to at least thing of every possibility, it was his job after all. Upon completing the demon snare he let out one last line from his favorite song. "Don't you cry no more." With that it was back to the group with some small trinkets to ward off curses.
He threw a crucifix over to Nyancelot, it was talisman of his homeland, he was sure to appreciate being thought of in that way. Manzo tried to be respectful of everyone's personal beliefs, it was important to him. He didn't believe in division based on differences. He truly believed in his heart there were more similarities between peoples that focusing on differences was pointless and a waste of time. "Wear that at all times comrade cat, if anything happened to you I'd never forgive myself."
"Now Esperia, this one is for you." He said as he pulled out rosary beads from the priest who closed one of the portals in Asteria during the incursions. "This will amplify your good feelings to most your magic when fighting the abominations of the night." Manzo said with a smile as he placed it in her hand gently. Somethings never changed, he knew she could handle herself, but he refused to allow any more harm to come to her than already had. There will be no more lost loved ones on this day, not without one hell of a fight.
"Alright now for the final touch." He said as he walked over to the closet again and dragged out a massive rug to cover the demon snare. Had to be just a bit sneaky sneaky in these moments, demons were cunning creatures, so you have to out think them before you can out brute force them. Hard to believe that infernal beings such as them possessed such wit. But they did, and that had to be respected above all other things. "Alright, we are ready, let's snuff out their light." Manzo said as he crossed his arms and simply waited to see if the traps would be enough to do the trick.
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