Sigfire Castle

“Haha!” Carrot laughed loudly, with Garia laughing a little quieter, which ceased the moment Luna's ear pointed in their direction,

‘Maybe we beat too much sense out of him.’ Idalec studied Sato’s face. ‘The boys in camp would always solve their problems like this.’ Idalec placed his hand above Sato’s head and cast a spell that lessened head injuries, but Sato’s expression changed only slightly, with him closing his mouth a little. “Did you learn anything else?” Idalec asked. Sato opened his mouth before being interrupted by a whisper from Idalec, “Think about it carefully.” Sato paused to think,

“Uhhh…” Sato said as he kept thinking. He thought some more, with the only sound being Garia sipping her herbal tea. “I’m sorry, Luna.” Sato looked up apologetically at Luna. “I guess I’ll rename you,” Sato pouted, looking at Big Luna, who was still balled up on the floor. “How about Moo eh?”

“That’s acceptable,” Luna said, finally taking a sip of tea as Sato got up from the floor. The party of eight ate a quick breakfast before Carrot grabbed Sato’s tent, Idalec grabbed his tent and suitcase, and they all left this town for Sigfire Castle.

“Sigfire Castle is really close.” Prix lectured, pulling out her map and showing it to everyone. “I believe that Ofstein will already be fighting when we get there.” Prix pointed out Sigfire Castle and the field near it as she talked. “If Ofstein will be fighting, I think we should just sneak right into Sigfire Castle to defeat all the candidates before they’re able to choose one to become the calamity.”

“But didn’t we see the calamity a few days ago? Like the black figure with the red eyes?” Sato scratched his head,

“According to Ofstein, they haven’t. Also, since you two-” Prix started

“Me, it was just me.” Luna interrupted,

“Sure, since you, Luna, killed Greenwich, that means the candidates might still be waiting for him, which would-” Prix finally looked at Luna’s paw, and in Luna’s paw was Greenwich’s head.

“Yeah, it sounds like a plan. We’ll sneak into Sigfire Castle then...” Sato punched the air with excitement, “... and after that I’ll be known by everyone as the Hero Sato Sato dar-”

“What does everyone have in terms of weapons?” Prix asked, looking around,

“Sling-” Sato pointed to Carrot, who had a sling tied to her belt, “halberd, mace…” Sato pointed out Aka’s obvious halberd and his own mace,

“Master Sato, I too carry a weapon of sorts which I have previously lent to Prix for personal protection; however, it is now in my possession once more.”

“Whatever that is…” Sato waved at Garia. “And you three…” Sato looked at Prix, Idalec, and Luna.

“I…” Prix looked around,

“Don’t worry about Prix, Sato.” Idalec said, “We’ll give you magic support.”

Rain started to spit. “Damn it,” Sato said, what everyone was thinking. The canopy covered most of the light rain, but it wasn’t great. The rain started falling harder as they kept walking. Prix put her messenger bag above her head, with everyone starting to get wet except Idalec. “Idalec, why aren’t you getting wet?” Sato asked,

“Magic.”

“Don’t give me that,” Sato complained, looking down as Idalec was floating a few centimeters off the road so his shoes wouldn’t even get wet. “Can you also cast that spell on me so I don't get wet?” Sato looked up at Idalec’s face,

“Why?” Idalec asked, “Didn’t you say this morning that you wanted to be licked? Well, the rain is licking you now.”

“There’s a difference between being soaked with rain and when a cat girl is licking you!” Sato said angrily, “Like, this is so obvious!”

“Can you also cast an umbrella over the rest of us, Idalec?” Prix asked, her shoes getting muddy,

“Hmm.” Idalec looked around at everyone. “I could also make the road dry?” Idalec suggested, looking ahead at the road where water was piling into a giant puddle,

“Please,” Prix begged.

“Watch your step,” Idalec said a moment before casting one Pure shield on the road and one above it to act as a roof,

“Where is it?” Sato asked as he stumbled up onto the elevated shield.

“Oh, this is like what you used in the swamp,” Prix said, prodding the area around where Sato stumbled before getting up on it. Idalec confirmed with a small nod as the eight heroes started to race to Sigfire Castle, the rain picking up.

“There it is.” Prix pointed out a quaint stone castle; its walls were made of pink granite, with it perfectly fitting into the hilly landscape it stood alongside. A bit further away, people, demons, and beast folk were skirmishing; maybe a hundred lay dead, but most of the men had fallen back into camp to wait out the rain.

“Let’s go,” Sato said, pulling out his mace,

“No!” Prix said as Sato marched on with a care in the world, “We have to be sneaky! Did you already forget the plan?”

“The plan is that we…” Sato said, not really thinking, “uhh, like we win.”

“If you don’t have a plan, do you even know what winning is?” Prix demanded,

“Yeah, it’s when I say we won.” Sato shrugged as thunder strictly muffled their argument from the soldiers locked in light combat.

“That’s- That’s not how it works!” Prix said as they got closer to the gates where a single demon stood guard,

“Wh-” he started before being burned to a crisp by Luna, who didn’t even lift her paw

“Well then, when do we win, huh?” Sato mocked Prix as he walked right by the burnt demon body. The eight heroes crossed a small courtyard, walking through a pair of grand doors.

“You would have won when you have defeated every candidate and the calamity.” Prix stated calmly, following a very confident Sato, “Do you know where you're going?”

“No.” Sato said convincingly, “I bet you three coppers it’s right here.” Sato pointed with his mace to a pair of massive, ornately carved, and gold-laden birch doors which were as tall as Sato and Garia combined. “Light work, G,” Sato said as he pushed on the door with his whole weight, but they didn’t budge,

“Sato, why are you closing those doors?” Luna laughed as Sato started pulling on one of the doors,

“GREENWICH! Have you not been slow enough!” a low voice from inside asked, annoyed. “Push the door open!”

Sato paused and pushed on the left door, which smoothly flowed open. “I’m not even going to lie-” Sato walked in as Luna overhand threw Greenwich’s head at the table in the middle of the room. Idalec entered the room, shortly followed by Luna and the rest of the heroes' party.

Cling. The sound of a coin falling into a metal chalice rang around the room.

Everyone's eyes moved to the sound, which was a demon, his face covered by a white, semi-translucent veil, and in both his hands he held a roughly cut metal chalice. “That’s interesting.”