Black Bull Headquarters

[Bloodedge]

Leonis was relieved he didn't have to spend an exorbitant amount of time explaining another thing, but something was appealing about the green-haired lass' innocence and lack of worldliness as well. If this was what he had to look forward to, he wouldn't mind it. Besides, she was content to further his goals while completing her own, which meant they at least had their major aspirations in common... at least, close enough that they could get by as if they were one and the same. As both Hikage and Leonis got a feel for the room around them, Olivia took her leave. Hikage soon mentioned the presence of the merchant they were to meet, and she took the initiative in moving out of the room to go locate the man. Leonis followed, making sure he had the yul to pay the man when they arrived, and eventually, they would meet the man at the headquarters' entrance.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," the merchant spoke upon seeing two youngsters, one of whom carried a rather large sack of coin. His smile widened, becoming no less creepy at all in this moment. He could almost smell the money to be gained from these two. "You're Black Bulls. You have the yul for what we agreed on. Perhaps I can interest you in... something else to go with it," the older male said as he opened his trench coat, unveiling a great deal of jewelry and small magic tools to offer these youngsters. "Haven't seen you two before. Maybe you could make use of a wand, or something else to get by in the missions you have coming up?"

[Apollymi]

Hikage was left to wonder if other people required this level of explanation. But she didn't get that much of a chance to consider as they were soon heading out to find their merchant of choice. She didn't deal with these sorts often, but had been told before that she could be rather intimidating as she didn't really fall for the tricks of the trade. As this sleazy man spoke to them offering them their agreed upon stuff, whatever that happened to be, the girl looked at him with piercing golden eyes. Beyond this it seemed that he was interested in offering them extra merchandise. Hikage looked at the man's open trench coat but neither his words nor the items seemed to elicit much of a response from her. After all, she was quite used to seeing things she couldn't have, and as a teen they no longer got any reaction from her. "I use knives. Wands can't cut things..." she said this plainly not to be rude, but because she honestly had no idea what such an implement could possibly do for her. Aside from that, she didn't have the sort of money that would allow her to make unnecessary purchases. No she was content to let this transaction be exactly what it was supposed to be. "We're also grounded so no missions coming up," she said still there was something about this man she didn't like. He made her skin crawl in a strange way, and the more she looked at him, the more she wished to figure out why this was.

[Bloodedge]

Leonis stood beside Hikage as they encountered the traveling merchant. The green-haired lass took a front seat long enough to mention to the man that she had no interest or need to be found in whatever additional purchases he offered them. Leonis was in the same boat. He'd been taught by his elder sister, a Magic Knight who'd gone to become a legend even to this day, so something as simple as a wand was completely useless in the face of his control over mana. "Same. My magic control is way past what a wand can give me. Just give us whatever was in the agreement," he said to the man. This merchant didn't seem so keen on backing down, though. "Ah, but I don't just offer wands! There are a great many tools that might prove useful even to ones such as yourselves. How about something that'll amplify your already great abilities, young Magic Knights?" he asked.

With the second offer of the merchant on the proverbial table, Leonis looked stunned. This was in no way the fault of the offer itself, but instead because of something Leonis had seen in the man's trench coat. Upon more than one of the items, he saw insignias belonging to noble and royal families alike, including one which was very familiar to him despite not belonging to his own family. 'No... They wouldn't sell that or give it away,' he thought. As to not raise any undue suspicion though, Leonis offered up the sack of yul. "We only have enough for the agreement. There's no more money to be gotten from us," he claimed, despite having his own large sum of money on hand. "Hai hai. Well, no harm in trying to make an extra sale. Just one moment," the merchant said as he went through his things to gather that which the Black Bulls requested before their current meeting.

[Apollymi]

Whatever was up with this merchant, it seemed that Hikage wasn't the only one who found something about the man unduly suspicious. Leonis seemed to be taking a bit longer to look at some of the pieces that wouldn't encompass a simple dismissive act. And though Hikage had no idea why this was, she respected that he might have something to say outside of the earshot of this man in a bit. Even the offer to amplify their already existing power had no real appeal to Hikage, because if it wasn't her own power, she didn't much care to have it in the first place. Regardless this sale in particular seemed to be able to move on to a more apt ending. Though she had no idea what everyone had asked for in the first place or what the money they had was for, it was obvious that this merchant knew what the sale was all about. 'Ano there is something about this man that I really don't like...' Hikage thought while staring daggers into the back of this man's head as he gathered whatever the other Black Bulls had wanted. She still couldn't place it but something was off and the feeling of it was prickling along the back of her neck. She was always taught to trust her instincts and as such she was just waiting for the full shadiness of this moment to come to its conclusion.

[Bloodedge]

The merchant took roughly a minute to gather all the things he'd already agreed to bring to this squad's base, but in the end, he had everything in one concise package to slide along the ground toward Leonis. The sack was about the size of the young man's torso, and since he had no idea what was in the agreement, he tossed over the sack of yul in exchange, assuming everything was in order. "Cool. Ja," was all he said to the man. In this moment, Leonis seemed somewhat troubled. He was, but he couldn't vocalize anything, lest the merchant become aware of what Leonis knew to be suspicious on him. Soon enough, Leonis was walking back into the headquarters, and the merchant was bowing and walking away from it. 'Why does he have that?' Leonis thought. 'There's now way he should.'

[Apollymi]

Hikage continued to feel antsy while watching this man assemble what was eventually a package of materials for the Black Bulls. Regardless of this Leonis was obviously troubled, the look on his face was one which Hikage had not seen before and it made her left brow raise. But since they now had the package she supposed their business was done already. "Hai, ja." this was Hikage's confirmation as she intended to watch this man leave before delving deeper into the building to find Olivia and give her the things which they'd procured for her. As well as her wanting to figure out what was wrong with Leonis. It was a compromising position to be in, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the sketchy man who they'd just finished bartering with.

[Bloodedge]

As the dealer took his leave, Leonis carried the purchase into the building, where he figured Olivia would be very easily found by a simple method. "Senpai!" he called out. He was very bothered by what he'd seen this day, and even if there were no answers to be given... this was something that required attention. He was under the assumption that Olivia could be reached by a call from anywhere within the building, given her connection to it, and he hardly figured he'd be waiting long at all for her arrival. The question at hand though, was what would be done once his information was shared. "We've got the stuff... and some bad news to go with it."

[Apollymi]

Hikage waited as this merchant left and then was surprised that Leonis simply called out to the other woman in the building. Not much to her surprise soon the entire front room they were standing in moved to them being right in front of her bedroom door. This was complete with the door opening and the purple haired woman peeking out of it initially to make sure only the two she wished to see were in front of it. "Is he gone? Did you get the stuff?" she asked before her door fully opened. "What bad news?" she asked seeming to find it strange. She had a hope it was something simple like they'd just had an argument among themselves and it could be fixed by a simple explanation. Hikage didn't know what Leonis was upset about but she knew how she felt. "That merchant is sketchier than normal merchants..." Hikage murmured, waiting to see what Leonis had to input because she had a feeling he felt the same way. Olivia took this girl's words in stride because she seemed to formulate opinions very easily and her near constant use of mana skin likely let her feel other people through their mana.

[Bloodedge]

The method used for Olivia to meet with the two was what Leonis expected, though the execution was the exact opposite of how he expected it. Instead of moving her own room to meet them, she had instead moved the room at the entrance of the building to wherever her room was. This wasn't something of major importance at the time though, so Leonis didn't bother questioning it. "Here," he said as he tossed over the bag of unspecified wares. To follow up Hikage's mention of the merchant's sketchiness, he presented the visual evidence he'd gotten from the man's additional items. "That guy's a little more than a third party salesman. Black Market or not, he's got some stuff from noble families on him. I saw something with House Wisteria's symbol on it, and I know damn well he didn't get it by gift or trade."

[Apollymi]

Hikage's admittance that there had been sketchiness about that particular salesman led Olivia to raise a brow. When it was followed up by Leonis explaining that the man had merchandise on him from noble houses that he couldn't have gotten from trade or otherwise Olivia's eyes widened. "Hm, so he might be a thief... that guy doesn't look like he'd ever pass for being able to get to that spot though," she said as she rummaged through the sack of random items she'd asked for. As a shut in, she never really left this building, given that, she was always asking for items to help her with her communication skills, even though she didn't wish to communicate. "Hm, bet he didn't count on anything he had being recognized in a place like this... It probably doesn't get recognized in the Black Market either, since nobles don't go there," she thought aloud as she looked for something very specific. "Sou ka, but because that guy can't be a literal proper thief he has to be working with more people," murmured Hikage. She knew what happened when large groups of criminals put their minds together, and it was none too pleasant. The rummaging went on and on until finally Olivia looked up. "Found it. Use this and tell command about it. They might not do much immediate, but they'll at least increase patrols around those areas and maybe try and figure out what's going if they don't already know about it. Also keep that..." she said handing over a small communication device which looked a bit like a hand held mirror with a strange communciation magic inside of it. "I'd do it myself but... ya' know... strangers." she said closing her door and leaving the pair to their devices. Only to open it again quickly at the end. "Arigatou gouzaimasu, for getting my stuff though, and managing not to make a big scene. You two are surprisingly capable... just finish up your grounding and try not to get into any more trouble..." she said before she closed her door again, and the front room moved back to where it had been before.