『A Thief, A Wizard』

"Is that a frog-leg...?" Kneeling down as he continued to hold the sack slung over his shoulder, he plucked the leg off the ground. It was fully cooked, something in which he found rather amusing. "Reminds me of a toad's actually..."

Letting out a chuckle as he stood up, he eyed the leg before bringing it towards his lips, parting them getting ready to take a bite. Jack then paused a few seconds before he could bite into it. He noticed everyone's eyes on him. Why was everyone staring at him so awkwardly? Food was food, wasn't it? That and he was rather curious of what it tasted like as the flesh itself felt rare and tender. He had frog legs before, so he was even more curious about the toad.

Fixating his gaze on a particular viewer, a young female with light skin and pretty short silver hair with a purplish hue at the ends. Her face was cute, despite the look of disapproval and the scar that brought out her other experienced qualities.

She wore a graphic black tube top with a strap that went over one shoulder, a pair of shorts with spats underneath. The girl was even wearing a pair of brown leather boots. From what he had seen so far, it seemed a lot of the female populace that took on adventuring wore eccentric gear, and she fit the bill. Judging by her green shoulder cape and athletic build, he could only assume she was some sort of rogue. Her choice of clothes was meant for speed and flexibility.

"Want some?" He proposed to share as he waved the toad leg over his head, a smug-looking simper across his lips. "There's enough for two?"

Chris raised a brow at him and smiled as she walked towards him, her movement energetic and childish nonetheless. From her overall appearance, he could assume she was around the same age as him.

Jack figured she'd be a nice catch.

As soon as she was within a few feet of him, she came to a stop, putting her hand on her hip as she leaned forward a bit. "You're going to eat it off the ground without washing it off?" A smirk of her own was across her lips, albeit, a rather pleasant looking one at that.

Seeing where her eyes were truly looking, he raised a brow. Her eyes were on the sack in which held, his magic items, the cloaks that he had made. "Hmm..."

"What's the matter?" She laughed friendly-like, correcting her posture as she did so, letting her head subtly lull to the side. Her eyes were back on him once again. "Cat got your--"

"You have luscious silver hair, beautiful bright eyes, which put even the purest of Amethysts to shame..." Jack cut her off as he complimented her looks with an almost poetic tone, but his eyes were as sly as a fox.

"W-what?" Blinking in astonishment, her cheeks blossomed with a rosy reddish pink complexion, "What is this all of a sudden?" She was smiling wide, though taken quite off guard by his declarations, she felt her face becoming hot.

"There's an innocence gleaming in those eyes of yours, a childish sense of mischief even, fitting for a rogue such as yourself." Yawning to himself, his eyes moved back towards the toad leg.

"S-seriously?" Her face continued to get more heated, all he had been doing was paying sweetening praises for her looks. That and it seemed he could read into her, be it by watching her eyes or just her movements. Did he know her intent? "Where are you going with this?"

Flickering his gaze back towards her as she spoke again, he snickered to himself. "Winter may be in a month, and a maiden such as yourself, shouldn't freeze..." Dropping the sack down in front of himself, he raised a brow at her. "You wanted to know what was in here, yes?"

Almost jumping when she heard the sack fall down, not noticing him drop it until it already hit the dusty street grounds, she looked down at the bag. Her face seemed to cool down, a sweatdrop forming over her brow in turn.

"I saw your eyes on my wares, not going to lie," his eyes traveled up and down her petite form. She was small compared to him as he was standing just about six feet tall in this Oni body.

"Ah... So the Kahjiit has wares..." Childishly she quipped.

Raising a brow at this, Jack looked her over for a split moment, "Pardon?" He knew exactly what that was from. For that reason be was beginning to think he was talking with another person who reincarnated into this fantasy world similar to his original one.

"Sorry," Chris laughed lightly at his expression, "My name is Chris. It's a pleasure to meet you, uh... What was your name again?" She asked whilst finally sharing a mischievous glance over.

Clearing his throat, he lightly shook his head as he opened the sack and pulled out a fur cloak made from one of the three Dire Wolf pelts. "Jack, you can call me Jack."

Chris's eyes stared at the item which now hung from his hand. It was made of pristine black fur, the hood attached to them was that of a stuffed dire wolf. It's exterior glistened from the afternoon sunlight that rained down from above and shined in the reflections of her eyes.

"You were the one that took the Dire Wolf job? Impressive..." Her eyes jumped up to look at his face, she had heard about the man who had apparently burned the wolves alive after discovering the dead adventurers.

"You weren't thinking of stealing one, were you?" A snicker left his lips as he held the cloak out towards her, thinking it would look rather good with her silvery hair, "I admit... It would look magnificent on you."

Curling in her lower lip and biting down on it hearing the question, he had most definitely seen right through her intentions. Yet as he held the item out for her to take, she reached out slowly with both hands and grasped the item. Almost instantly she felt that they weren't normal cloaks, what she was holding in her hands was a magical item, imbued with a strange kind of magic she never encountered before in this world, but its effect was clear to her.

"This cloak... It's worth at least half a mithril coin..." The type of magic was unknown, which made it rare from educated speculation, and a Dire Wolf was a rare beast. On top of that, the effect increased the very price of the item even more. He could sell it for quite a few mithril if he wanted due to its unique premise... Her eyes dropped to the sack seeing at least two more in the bag.

"What is your profession?"

"ArchMage," Jack narrowed his gaze on her.

Chris was surprised to hear the term and asked a question out of clarification, "Not an ArchWizard?" If he was an Archmage, it explained his magic being unique compared to that of a Wizard's.

Pursing his lips from the question, he soon rolled his jaw, "ArchMage." The difference between a Mage and a Wizard is that a Mage is a Scholar and creator of spells. On the other hand, a Wizard is simply a user of spells that use the same source material.

"How old are you?" Interested in how he was so powerful and about her 'age' in youth, she was now thinking he was probably on the same level as a Crimson Demon Clansman.

Jack's gaze simply stared through her as if she was some sort of billboard on the side of a road. Reaching into his kimono, he drew his registration card and held it out for her to see, whilst covering the other stats with his fingers.

Chris stared at the card, her eyes narrowing on the age and level. It appeared he was only a level four, but his job classification was nearly unheard of in Axel of all places. "You're sixteen?"

She was clearly bewildered by the facts written out on his card, looking up at him as she hugged the cloak to her chest. Then she paused and looked back down at the card, staring at his race.

"Oni?" She murmured under her breath before letting her eyes trail back up. On his forehead were a pair of emerald greenhorns that hadn't been there mere moments ago, her eyes widened.

"You have a problem with Ogres?"

"O-ogre?" Confused as to why he called himself an ogre, she looked over him several times. "You don't look like any Ogre I've seen," Chris laughed a bit as she waved her hand.

"Higher-class," Closing one eye he brought the toad's leg to his mouth.

His teeth ripped into the flash cooked flesh of a giant toad leg in which he held in his free hand. It was large, but it didn't seem to bother him all that much. It was about half the length of his arm, as most of it had been blown apart from the mysterious explosion.

Watching him eat the leg, she squinted her eyes at him a couple of times. "Are you a member of a church by any chance?" A smile walked across her face without any probable delay.

"No," Jack tore a larger chunk of meat off of the bone.

"Why don't you join the Order of Eris?"

"Goddess of Fortune? The name of the currency of this world...? Hmmm," his eyes stared through her face for a few seconds before traveling down to her meager bust that she kept covered with the cloak. "I don't have to pay for a pew, do I?" It was a joke related to capitalism, though he doubted she would actually understand it.

'Hah! No, why would you have to pay for a seat...?" Chris, the would've been thief, grinned at the taller male as he seemed to be a smartass of sorts. She had noticed his gaze and was intrigued by his interest, though she couldn't help but try and hide the fact that she was self-conscious about her breast size.

"Then perhaps if you want me to join your 'Order of Eris,' how about you show me some of your skills later, and maybe create some spells based on them?" Jack grinned back at her, it was clear he wanted to get his hands on some unique spells of his own.

She didn't know how to make of the request, Jack had willingly handed over one of his cloaks and ultimately eliminating her urge to steal one, now he was asking for something in return.

"What are you doing now? Going somewhere maybe?" Chris studied him playfully as she witnessed him setting his card away into his clothes and picking the sack back up.

"Checking out the explosion from earlier..." His eyes drifted to the toad leg again, which he had mistaken for a frog leg just prior, as he continued to speak smoothly. "You can accompany me if you'd like, either way, I'm staying at the Inn down the road. Care to visit at any time."

"I'll join you later then," Chris looked over the wolf pelt cloak before swinging it over and fastening it around her shoulders. "It's so... Fluffy..." She pulled the cloak closed and continued to grin up at him, even though her eyes were hidden beneath the wolf head-shaped hood.

Immediately after her answer was confirmed, Jack began his walk towards the general direction of the Eastern Wall. He knew he could fly over it, so there was no real reason to go to the main gate. It would obviously take too long, as he had already wasted enough time.

Taking a brief second, he glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see Chris vanish from sight.

A small chuckle escaped his lips before he picked up the pace, going to a jog before speeding up a bit more as he reinforced his body with yang-based magic energy converted from mana.

The moment he reached the edge of Axel City, he launched himself into the air as he kicked off the ground, people stared in awe at the man who wielded a half-eaten leg and a near-full sack.

A few feet above the wall, he was now hovering with the use of yang magic that coated his body. His eyes were locked onto a black charred looking area some klicks away from the outer walls.

"Hm..." Reaching out his hand, he cast the spell Arcane Eye. It was disorienting at first, but it felt as if he had a third eye and sent it out towards the determined location of the impressive explosion.

The first thing he noticed as the eye was closing in, was a pair of adventurers walking off with grins on their faces. Why? He had no real idea, not until the eye got closer to their origin.

Toad parts were sewn across the ground, slime coated the grass outside of the charred zone. Meters away from there however, there was a young girl lying face down, a magic stave beside her. She wore some sort of short red robe with yellow trim. A bandage on one leg and a thigh-high sock on the other.

Jack raised a brow before he narrowed on a large masculine figure he was dropping to his knees behind her. "... You've got to be kidding me," he watched as the man began to reposition her backside into the air. By witnessing this, the Oni wasn't going to sit still and used his ability of flight to charge forward in their direction.

He kept using the eye, increasing his own speed as much as he could.

The Adventurers who were making their way back towards Axel paused seeing him rocket on over them in the direction they had come from. "What in the hell!?" One of them shouted.

"If anything happened over there, we're not involved. Let's get going!" Another announced as the three sped up towards Axel, not wanting to get involved any more than they already were. They had left the girl behind, not wanting to carry her, but one of their other party members decided to remain behind with her.

Jack could hear them, though only slightly as the wind filled his ears. Through the third eye, he could see the girl started shouting, but she was completely immobilized for some reason.

Perhaps mana drain? He wouldn't be able to use Mana Bond unless he was within twenty meters of her, so he could circulate any from her until he was a lot closer. So, his only choice was to move vaster.

Moving the sack in front of him and holding it in both arms, he increased his speed the best he could, keeping only one eye open as he did so. The yang energy surrounding him ultimately protecting him from airborne particles or flying bugs from hurting him.

"Noooo! Don't touch me there you foul fiend! Get off of me!" The girl yelled out, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried her damnedest to move, but faltered due to the lack of energy.

Things were looking bleak for her, but the man was moving slowly, savoring her struggle. His hands combed over her legs, slowly feeling her slender feeling. "Heh... And they thought I'd just carry you back to the Guild. At least you'll have some use." The stranger scoffed down at her, pushing her robe up to reveal her solid black panties. "Oh?"

"I will blow you asunder with my explosion magic, you will see! I will unleash my full power upon you, and you'll have no choice but the crumble beneath my might, foul fiend!"

"Pft..." Shaking his head, he was about to pinch at her thighs but then all of a sudden he recognized the sound of grass crunching. So, from the sound of a bag dropping on the hard autumn grass and he paused. "What's this?" Turning to see the source, he raised a brow seeing a man dressed in black and sporting emerald horns on his head.

Jack grinned seeing the man standing away from the girl.

"This is my catch, wizard! You've seen nothing here, now scram!" A threat hissed out of the man's lips as he placed his hand on his hilt. "If you leave now, I won't cut out your tongue!"

The oni's grin faded hearing these words, before his eyes locked with the girl's. She was shaken, but she wasn't out. All she needed was a little boost and she would be back on her feet in no time.

"What do you think you're looking at pal?! I gave you a choice!"

Jack's gaze traveled over the man, noting his muscular structure and light armor that covered his torso and legs, leaving his arms bare except for his armored shoulders and elbows.

"Hmm..." Refocusing the yang energy from around his body, he concentrated it to the fingertips of his right hand. Jack then folded his left hand behind his back as he took on a more martial and radical stance, facing him with the side of his body. Those fingertips then began to shine in a bright white glow.

"Oh? Some sort of horned monk? You a demon of some sort?" The man laughed lightly, "You think your shaman magic can best my sword? Heh, we'll see about that."

The girl stared at him from the ground as her limp legs slumped back onto the grass, her eyes were red, her hair short and black. She had a funny-looking hat that reminded him of a beast, or a Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

From a simple glance, he reminded her of a small doll, a slender one at that. He couldn't tell how old she was from his glance however, seeing as too many people didn't look their age.

"I'll give you one warning, and one warning alone. Walk away, and I won't remove your head from those dastardly shoulders of yours." Jack saw the idea of sexual assault as a grave evil, worse than actually murdering or enslaving someone, or leaving them to die by their own means. "And for your information, I'm an Archmage, not a shaman."

His words seemed to cause the girl to grin all cocky, but he simply ignored this in swift dismissal.

"Oh... That's even worse, if you were at least a cleric, you'd be able to stand against me with martial might! Hah, you mages are useless." It was clear this stranger was rather arrogant towards magic users, seeing them as useless or even disposable despite the fact that the girl's firepower had wiped out probably more than one toad from what Jack could see.

"Suit yourself," Jack rolled his eyes but never broke contact with the man, even as the warrior charged drawing his sword to his hand. This Oni stepped around his sack, now holding his hand out from the right of himself at a low pointing diagonal angle. "I'll make it painless."