In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
It was not often that Griswold went into the common realm just for the sake of personal business. Usually, he remained close to the castle and the compound of the Crimson Lions so he could see to his training routines while still being relatively within earshot in case there was a need for him. As a junior knight, there had never really been a need of him specifically, though that much was to be expected. On top of being just your average magic knight, the fact that he was both a commoner and an elf made things difficult at times. Luckily, most within his squad did not care much for such things, though many of the nobles that handed out the more well-paying jobs would rather see pure-blooded nobles being put on whatever tasks they required. That meant that Gris would need to make due with whatever came his way, and he was more than fine with that.
Truth be told, he’d spit in the general direction of most nobles if he didn’t think that would be a waste of good spit. So even though he usually did his pre-training shopping around the royal capital by visiting his regular butcher for a chunk of roasted or dried meat, the baker for a loaf of bread and the produce stand at the market for some fresh lettuce, today had been different. Deciding to do his training in the common realm for a change, he imagined that they would likely have similar men and women of the craft in the villages of that region. The town of Nairn served as the perfect place to visit and purchase his food due to its central placement in the region, allowing him to pass straight through it and onward to whatever secluded place he might be able to find.
Interestingly enough, his ears overheard some of the locals discussing how someone had been snatched up by a pair of trolls not too far from the main road leading to the north. Odd as it were, he had never really heard a whole lot about trolls aside from the stories his people told him back at the old settlement. Living in the neutral zone between realms, trolls were once a fairly common sight to behold as there was no real governing body there that wanted to get rid of them. While they encountered some troublemakers from time to time, the average troll could be reasoned with, a thing the elves preferred over having to fight them. Due to their skin being thick as stone and their stamina being something to fear, the strength behind their blows was enough to shatter your skull while the rocks they’d lob from a distance were incredibly accurate for such a seemingly dumb creature.
Having only seen one pass by their settlement after asking for “yummy shroomses” when he himself had been but a child, all he really knew about them was what he had heard from his teacher. While paying for his goods, he heard that the civilian that seemed somewhat out of breath was about to visit the local magic knight compound of the Azure Deer for help. Not knowing they were stationed in this village before now, that much at least had come as a surprise to him, though it did not really matter. Stuffing his food into his pack, he put it over his shoulder and walked towards the group of villagers. Believing that if this kind of job was left for your average knight, chances were that people could get injured, killed or that they would kill the trolls instead, he’d rather be the one that saw to things personally. Besides, there was no way of knowing what the guy they had taken had done to deserve this rough treatment to begin with.
“There’s no need to visit the compound, I’ll take care of your problems. Just be sure to put it in writing for when I return, and I won’t ask for compensation.”
Nodding at him as a means of thanks, Griswold could tell that the people had not failed to mention his ears being somewhat longer and pointier than those of his peers. Trying to shrug it off with a smile and a nod, he made his way out of the village, following the main road to where this man had apparently been taken in hopes of finding any kind of clue to work with.
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Last Edit: Mar 9, 2021 14:06:37 GMT -5 by Griswold
Post by Mikael Blake on Mar 10, 2021 3:33:19 GMT -5
There was a cloudy day outside. The sky was light grey, giving the impression that a rain may come pouring down soon. The temperature was a bit chilly, and the cold wind was blowing from time to time. On such a day, Mikael was traveling towards the Forsaken realm. His destination was the Hage Village, where the supposed Demon Skull is. He has heard the Legends of the First Wizard king, and the fact that the skull of the demon is still around in the Forsaken realm. As such, the man decided to pay a visit there and inspect the skull. It was pure curiosity and thirst for knowledge that made him do this trip. After all, being a noble, and unemployed, did give him a lot of free time. Of course he worked from time to time as hired help, worked together with magic knights and supported them, but most of the time he had nothing to do, so he constantly comes up with things to keep himself busy.
On his road towards the Hage Village, Mikael was passing through the town of Nairn. According to his garment and the way he was acting, he could easily be distinguished as a noble. Mikael was tall and slim, in the prime of his youth, with medium white hair of flawless purity, red ruby eyes that could pierce through any darkness, a light beige, but spotless skin, and a face of a fallen angel. He was quite fancily dressed into a white shirt, with a white tie over his neck. That shirt is being covered with a light grey vest, which has a low cut V neck. Simple light grey pants and black gloves. As for footwear, he was wearing black boots that went over the pants up to half of his calves. And over all that, he was wearing a blue with purple tints coat that had golden trims and details. Unlike the vest, the coat was open and was kept together by a golden chain at the chest region. On his left hip there was a black leather square bag which was sustained by his belt, under the blue coat, which was holding his grimoire. Due to this, Mikale did attract a few eyes toward himself. After all, Nobles rarely pass through here like this, alone, and on foot.
While walking though the town he stopped at a bakery and purchased some pastry to eat. Thus, Mikael was now strolling through the town while eating pastry. But then, while enjoying the walk and the taste of his food, he saw people gathering to a place. The curiosity got the better of him, and Mikael approached to see what was happening. There he was a middle aged man talking with a Crimson Lion Magic knight. The most striking feature that Mikael saw was his elongated ears: "Ooh, an elf?" It was interesting to say the least. Well, Mikael was an elf too, but it seems that even though he has quite alot elf blood, his physical features still remained human. The only feature that would be elvish, would be his white hair and his red eyes. "What is going on?" asked Mikael the other people around him. They informed him that trolls were seen near and that a person was kidnapped by them. And of course the normal things like sympathizing with the victim's friends and relatives. "Hmm, trolls kidnapping people? That is interesting." Mikael kept a neutral attitude towards all of this until now.
He saw the elf magic knight accepting to go after the trolls and resolve the problem. Not to mention that this whole topic and those circumstances made Mikael very curious. From his knowledge of the Trolls, reading the legends and his studies from the Heart Kingdom, they mostly live away from humans, rarely interact with them, and if they are hostile, they usually kill humans on the spot. Why would a troll kidnap a human? That was the question that bothered Mikael. He wanted to learn more about this anomaly. The magic knight has left the place, and Mikael decided to discretely follow him. Given that he was a sensory mage, he could easily hide his magic presence. They have left the village, Mikael was sure to have quite a bit distance between them, since he doesn't really need to see the Magic Knight to feel him. And soon they reached the place where the man allegedly disappeared. Looking around at the scene of the kidnap, Mikael finally talks and asks the Magic Knight, while still eating his pastry: "So, what do you think really happened?"
Turning around to get a better look at the person that had followed him out here, Griswold did not immediately respond to his question as he did not really have an answer yet. Due to the way the man had been skulking behind him, he had at first believed that the guy was an accomplice to the one that had gotten snatched up by the trolls. However, since he had more or less made himself known by asking him what he believed had happened, it seemed unlikely, but not impossible. Bending through his knees to get a better look at the terrain, his keen nose picked up a rather potent scent along with some deep tracks in the grass by the side of the road. Not really noticing a sign of a struggle, it was clear that there were two sets of tracks moving away from the road and towards the wilderness.
“I can’t be sure just by checking footprints, though it’s quite clear that there were in fact two trolls here, moving back the way they came. Due to the lack of other prints, I’d say one of the two is carrying our missing person rather than dragging him behind them. There seem to be no signs of struggle, so he’s probably either unconscious or dead.”
Doing a bit of thinking out loud and answering the question at the same time, his gaze remained fixated on the tracks even while speaking to this new arrival. With the way he said it being rather dry and devoid of emotion, it was not so much something he said to get a rise out of the man. It was because he was still somewhat lost in thought, trying to piece together what might have happened here and determining whether it was worth the trouble of following the trail. The thing about wet grass was that the prints left by the heavy trolls had tramped the green blades down and into the dirt, though they would soon perk back up and conceal the tracks from all but those who had some skill at tracking. Rising back on his feet, he let go of his brooding and returned to what had more or less become somewhat of a conversation.
“Excuse me, where are my manners. Griswold. Griswold Cromwell, junior knight of the Crimson Lions.”
Post by Mikael Blake on Mar 11, 2021 12:40:53 GMT -5
Mikael waited for the man to finish his inspection of the ground, and then listened to his explanation. Hearing that, confirmed that the man was indeed kidnapped. "So it is true then. He was really kidnapped. Interesting..." said the man with an contemplating voice. While doing a quick scan of the ground, he didn't detect any traces of blood or marks made by clubs or fists, the trolls favorite weapons. This confirm the theory further, and Mikael continues talking: "This is not like the trolls at all. They usually avoid the humans, and the hostile ones would kill you on spot. Why would a simple minded troll bother taking prisoners?". This was truly baffling the young wizard. For a moment it made Mikael wonder it the man was really abducted by Trolls and not something else.
The crimson lion man seemed almost robotic in his interaction. It didn't take long for Mikael to understand that he was focusing intensely on investigation. After all, Mikael also tends to be robotic in his interactions when he is very focused on something. After a few minutes, the man rises up and introduces himself quite politely as Griswold Cromwell, a junior knight in the Crimson Lions. That would mean he could be one of the newer members of the order. Mikael smiles, and returns the courtesy shown: "Mikael Blake. Freelancer Wizard. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Well, given that he just said his full name, this interaction could go in different directions. The Blake family is quite a well known Noble family. Especially, since one of them is the Captain of the Golden Dawn. They are quite a resourceful family. Of course, Mikael did this on purpose. After all, he wanted to see what is the popular opinion of others about the family he abandoned 3 years ago.
You could say that this is a kind of a psychological test, a statistic to see how would his family reputation would affect other people of different social classes, and factions. This would help him understand his family better and when it would be best to use this name and when it wouldn't be a good idea. The fact that the man is a junior, makes it perfect to test this. It is, after all, best to start the tests with the least influential people and build this statistic up. After the introduction was done, Mikael continues: "So I guess you are already on their trail, right? What do you plan to do next?" The psychological analyst came out of Mikael in this interaction. It seems that at this point he wants to learn more about this person he is interacting with, and tries to psychologically analyze him, his gestures, reactions and everything. All in order to create a Psychological profile of the crimson mage.
“They wouldn’t, that’s the thing. If they were to take someone with them after being wronged, it wouldn’t be to punish them, but something far simpler. I’m imagining something along the lines of diner.”
Given the general size of a single troll, two of them feasting on a human body would likely not even leave much of the bones at the end of the session. They were big eaters, so he would not be all that shocked if they would have already started cooking him as soon as they returned to their lair, meaning he would be far too late if he had to still go there now. But he had given his word that he would be checking in and see if there was still anything he could do to fix the situation. If he were to encounter the two of them in an enraged state, there was also the chance that he was going to be added to the list of ingredients they would get to make their dinner with. As that was not quite what he had in mind for himself and his career, Griswold wanted to go there as prepared as humanly possible.
“As for what I’m planning on doing next, well, that would be to follow the trail and see what awaits at the end. There will either be two trolls that can be reasoned with, or two rabid trolls that would see us roasting over a fire as well. Not to mention that in either of those situations, the man we’re after might already be prepped for dinner, making all of this a rather pointless endeavor.”
Not sugarcoating what they might encounter at the end of the trail of footprints at all, he himself had already seen what the magical world might do to people that were not equipped to handle it. People put into the ground and used as fertilizer for magical plant creatures, some still being alive throughout this process. Though the lair of a pair of trolls could not be nearly as bad as that place, Griswold was prepared to deal with some odors, poor hygiene and things of the similar unwanted category. That, and they likely had a pile of rocks they could use to bombard any trespassers with if they got too close and ignored whatever warning signs they might have put up. Often using crude totems made from rocks, twigs, sticks and animal “parts”, those that paid attention would be well aware of when they were to venture into their territory.
“That leaves you with a decision to make, mister Blake the freelance wizard. See for yourself, or wait in the village with the other civilians until I come back with the news. Either way, it’s up to you.”
With that, he began following the tracks while they were still easy to follow up on. Hoping they would lead him to an area that had one of these totems set up around it, it would at least let him know when he had ventured into what they considered to be their land. Knowing better than to think that the whole way there would just be clearly marked with easy to follow footprints and things of similar nature, he would have to rely on all of his senses to find them. As such, it would be quite useful if their abductee managed to scream at the top of his lungs a couple of times, just to help him be found and make it known that he was still alive.
And so began the start of Griswold’s quest to find the man that had been, supposedly, snatched up by two trolls. For the first thirty minutes, tracking the deep footprints had not been all that hard as even a blind person could clearly see them in the damp soil. In many cases, the prints filled with a small amount of water, making it that much easier for the elven mage to just follow them. After a while, the tracks started moving out of the soggy and tall grass, making way for the more rocky terrain of the foothills. Removed fairly far from town and the main road, it seemed like the best place for a troll to make a home for themselves. Plenty of wildlife to choose from, a lot of space in which to move freely without being seen or bothered by humans. In fact, it seemed that the general space in which they had chosen to reside was so big and secluded that even Griswold had a hard time finding it.
At first, he had hoped that there would be a scream of some sorts that might guide him to their location, though screaming meant the man they took had to be both awake and alive, which did not seem to be the case. Judging by the strength of your average troll, knocking out a single human would not be all that much of a challenge. In fact, striking a peasant without killing them actually required a bit of skill from one packing so much brute strength. And had they killed him, there would have been blood along the road where he had been knocked out as a result of the blunt force trauma. But as there was no blood, Griswold chose to believe that these trolls were not inherently evil, they were just angry because of something. Whether they had been wronged or tricked, something had certainly triggered them. And when a troll was angry, it was quite hard to figure out how best to handle them for several reasons.
The main reason being that they possessed a mind roughly similar to that of a child that has yet to go through puberty, meaning they believed themselves to be quite smart, but really were not all that bright. That, mixed in with the fact that they were incredibly strong and durable, getting into a fight with them was not the best course of action, or so he believed. Besides, as an elf that had grown up in the Shadesinger refuge, he had been filled up with talk that all life was sacred to some extent. If the shedding of blood and the loss of life was something that could be avoided, than that was something someone should strive for. After all, fighting and killing one another was arguably the easy way out as it did not require one to understand the other, or to make a real effort towards fixing the situation in a non-violent manner. But as their track record would show, humanity had a bit of a mean streak when it came to using violence where words would have sufficed.
At times, it was hard to believe that most modern elves were for the most part human due to their line having thinned out at some point and eventually watering down due to marrying humans and integrating themselves into society. Thinking about some of the people he had been working with as a magic knight so far, he had noticed a lot of how they had taken the whole caste system to hard and almost worked it into their very personalities. Some people were so incredibly fixated on their rank or their noble blood that it took over everything else, which was quite the sad thing to see. People that couldn’t take a joke, people that failed to rely on the strengths of others because they were overconfident in their own, people with inferior skills believing a commoner could not possibly do any better than they could, and the list went on. It also explained exactly why he preferred to work alone and remained clear of the royal capital if he could help it.
Even here, in a place that was likely going to have a goblin burrow or two, as well as at least a single trolls lair, Griswold felt more at home than he did in the royal capital. Sure, sleeping in an actual bed was quite a lot nicer than sleeping under the stars in some sleeping bag, though there was something about the freedom and not feeling like he was being watched by everyone for being a commoner and an elf that made a bed seem like unneeded luxury. That said, if he could have both, he would have both. Trying his best to find the trail of the trolls, at this point, his nose seemed to be the more reliable one as the heavy weights no longer left any deep tracks on the rocky soil. But due to their lack of bathing, the scent they left in their wake was not all that hard for him to follow, even if he would rather keep his nose closed as opposed to relying on it as a means of tracking.
But that was the price he paid for doing the right thing. At the end of the day, he was a magic knight, even though he truly hated a lot of the inner workings of the magic knights, the royal capital, the caste system and even the clover kingdom as a whole. For him to ever truly feel at home in such a place, a lot would need to change for the better, especially for those dwelling in the common and forsaken regions of the country. In time, that was something he strived to achieve, though it was not going to be an easy thing to do. With so many of those he had met being nobility themselves and not having a lot of sentiment towards commoners such as himself, he could only imagine how outraged they’d be if he even mentioned making a change. Deep down, he knew something along the lines of what he wanted would never happen, though he was not fine with that.
In time, he wanted to make sure that his job as a magic knight would bring about a level of change for the commoners and those who were too poor to even be called that. One such plan was to invest the money he made as a knight into a farmland in the forsaken realm, allowing it to grow and hopefully flourish so the people living nearby would be able to get jobs there and make money for their own households and families. The way he saw it, that was going to be the best way to tackle the wealth issue in a country where those who held the actual wealth were content with keeping it all for themselves and those who shared their last name. At this moment, he took another step towards realizing that goal by finding the person that had been dragged away by these trolls, bring him back and get the compensation he deserved. Once that goal had been achieved, it meant there was yet another bag of yul headed towards the Cromwell farm.
And with that thought in mind, he kept searching with the other mage in tow. Hopefully by the time the two managed to track the trolls down to their lair, they would not yet be too late to actually help him out of his rather peculiar predicament. But only time would tell whether the two of them would succeed in their charge.
[Exit]
1288 (3009)
Since it's been quite some time since there's been a post, and i've been informed that we wouldn't be able to turn the mission in due to a mistake that was made, i'm ending the thread on my terms so we can maybe continue the storyline in the future!
