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"This one isn't too hard," Nasha said, waving the flyer in front of her teammates.
Justin took the piece of paper. The job is to catch robbers that have been stealing precious and valuable items from the citizens of the town of Cirencester.
"It's not bad and the payment can be easily split between the three of us," Greige commented, leaning in to take a good look at the flyer.
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Nasha cheered.
The town is incredibly lively and the people are really nice as well, the group started investigating to simply collect some information about the robberies to figure out if there is a pattern of some sort. Everything is going smoothly until they enter a specific house.
The house is a small cabin and an elderly couple lives in it. The group greeted the couple before being invited inside. Greige noticed a small teru teru bozu doll hanging by the doorframe he smiled and gave it a little nudge.
"So, the items that are stolen from you, what are they?" Justin asked.
"My spellbook, my wife's jewelry box, and a box filled with junk, to be honest, that last item really doesn't matter." The old man said, however, his wife seems rather hurt by his words.
"A spellbook you say," Nasha said.
The old man nodded, "When I was your age I too am a Wizard, I was planning on selling the spellbook to an auction of some sort."
"The robbery happened at night, I heard some rustling, I went back to check but there was nobody inside and all of our stuff are gone."
"I see." Justin nodded. "No need to worry, we'll get your items back."
"That would be very much appreciated." The old man nodded.
The group was about to leave when it suddenly started raining heavily.
The old man grumbled a bit, seemingly not liking the rain one bit before going over to the kitchen to brew some tea.
"The box my husband talked about." The old lady suddenly spoke.
"The one filled with junk," Nasha said. "I was actually curious why the robbers even took it."
"That box was my daughter's that box is the only thing I have of her. I need it back."
"Well, calling it junk is a bit harsh." Nasha huffed.
"My husband, he never viewed her as his own." The old lady lowered her head.
"Damn, and here I thought that the old man is really sweet," Greige said.
"But, where is she now?" Nasha asked.
"She's dead." The old man's voice suddenly returned.
"That girl is a disgrace to all water mages everywhere."
"Hey, Greige you're a water mage maybe you know her." Nasha giggled.
"That's not how it works." Greige rolled his eyes.
"Water mages are rare." The old man said. "Because with water magic one must have full control over it while giving the element its freedom. Not everyone has that ability."
"Huh?" Nasha tilted her head in confusion.
"My mother actually says the same thing," Greige said.
"Well, your mother sounds like she's quite an impeccable wizard." The old man said.
Greige giggled. "I don't mean to brag but she's the greatest one out there."
Nasha rolled her eyes. "Mama's boy."
"You kids, stay here for a bit until the rain stops." The old man said.
"No need, Greige can fix it." Nasha said proudly.
"No, I can't." Greige retorted. "Way too advanced for me."
"But you can make it rain, surely you can stop it."
"Making it rain and stopping the rain are two different things." Greige pointed out. "Granted I can stop the rain that I created but stopping a natural downpour is really difficult."
"You kids are welcome to stay here for the time being, we don't mind." The old lady said.
"Thank you... Mrs..." Greige smiled.
"Vivian and this is my husband Rafael."
The group stayed indoors for a while waiting for the rain to end, once its time to leave the group bid the old couple goodbye and continued with their investigation and ended up pinpointing a specific time when the robberies were taking place, they scouted the area and just as predicted the robbers came right on schedule. The group beat them up easily and demanded to take them to their base.
Once they reached the location the group tied up the robbers and grabbed all the stolen goods and brought it all back to the city where the robbers are rightfully punished.
The group also helped the citizens separate the goods to give back to their rightful owners, however, one item, in particular, took Justin's interest.
"Greige, I think you need to see this." Justin gave the box over to his friend.
Greige looked at the box and traced his fingers at the words engraved in it.
Property of Juvia Lockser
Greige felt like he stopped breathing for a second. Nasha and Justin looked at him with worried eyes. He looked back at the box, he needed clarification on why this item was there.
"I asked around and apparently this box belongs to Mrs. Vivian," Justin said.
"Does that mean?" Nasha turned over to Greige who looked like he was in deep shock.
"I believe so." Justin nodded.
Greige took and deep breath and stepped back a bit.
"Are you okay?" The old lady asked.
"Yeah." Greige licked his dried lips.
His brain is filled with thoughts that he can barely explain, his mind is a wreck, and he doesn't know what to think or feel about the situation.
He has always thought that his mother was an orphan as a child, but now, here he is faced with the fact that he just met his grandparents. He doesn't want to believe it, he really doesn't but it seems like he doesn't have a choice but to accept it.
Negative emotions stirred within him, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the old man hated his mother for the same reason as everybody else.
"So, what now?" Nasha asked.
"We'll just bring this back to them, there's a reason Mom left this thing behind," Greige spoke with an unusually cold tone.
"Aren't you even a little bit curious about what's inside?" Justin asked.
"A little," Greige answered honestly.
"Let's take a peek then." Nasha unlocked the box and opened it. "The contents are just a bunch of letters and a family picture.
"Awww, she's so cute with that little hairstyle." Nasha giggled.
Greige rummaged through the letters, and upon observation, he noticed that these letters were written by his mother to herself, through these she expressed her deepest thoughts. He learned that through time because of how the people around her treated her and her own father as well, she decided to leave everything behind and swore to never come back.
"Okay, Mr. Rafael isn't that nice of an old man after all," Nasha commented.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" Nasha asked Greige.
"Are you gonna tell them?" Justin asked.
"I don't think so?" Greige sighed. "Mom wants to leave all of this behind her, to rot in history forever."
"Damn, I never expected your mom to hold this much of a grudge," Nasha said.
"It best if we don't tell them anything."
"Thank you so much for bringing this back." Vivian smiled, holding the box in her hand.
Rafael completely ignored this and approached Greige.
"Young man, I would like you to have this."
Greige tilted his head in confusion.
"You're an exceptional wizard it seems, at my age, this spellbook is useless to me, for a wizard such as yourself, please take it, it'll be an honor."
Greige sighed. "I apologize but I must decline as I said before, my mother is the greatest water mage I've met, I might be biased since I'm her son but I assure you that she has already mastered everything inside that spellbook so I won't need it."
"Young man, this spellbook is written by my own hands, I doubt she has mastered everything in this, no matter how talented she is," Rafael said.
"I've looked through that spellbook myself when we retrieved it and I can assure you that my mother has knowledge of it."
"But how is that possible?"
"Maybe you've met her before, Lockser is a pretty familiar name to me." Greige smiled before leaving.
"But, the only person I taught magic to was my daughter," Rafael whispered.
"What happened to not saying anything?"
"Sorry, I can't help myself," Greige smirked.