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.
In the northeastern portion of the forsaken realm, many of the people live off of the land. Whether it is from the food they grow by themselves on their farms, the stag and boar they manage to hunt down in the northern forests, somehow, they manage to make it work. Recently, however, there have been reports about something descending from the north that spooks the local wildlife and takes livestock from the local farmlands. While no residents have gone missing, people say that it is only a matter of time before “The Beast” strikes again. This is why they called it in with the magic knight squads, hoping they can settle the matter once and for all.
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[attr="class","shadowsSub"]Details
Maximum Number of Players: 2 [break]Minimum Word Count: 1500 [break]Location: The Forsaken Realm [break]Special Requirements: For starters, you are to discuss with the locals what they have seen, heard and tried to do to keep the beast out. Naturally, none of what they tried helped, and all of their “information” in terms of how the beast might look is based on hearsay. The only bit of useful information they might be able to provide is where the last attack, or rather, livestock theft took place, as there have been no signs of any animals being killed, just disappearing. Go there, look for tracks, and get ready to track it north.
[attr="class","shadowsSub"]NPC Information
What NPCs are in this mission? Please fill out the template for any notable NPCs. While those you have to socially interact with during the mission are not required, any enemy that is presented in the mission must be listed here.
It was strange how one fight could have changed so much, yet so little. A few days ago, Griswold had tried out for the royal knights, believing that he might be able to make a difference for those living in the forsaken realm, the slums and even for the country as a whole, albeit only a little. For even though he was a royal knight, he was still but a civilian wandering the realm, looking for issues that needed to be handled that the townsfolk themselves could not take care of. In that regard, not a whole lot had changed for him, because he was still quite capable of doing the same old thing that he always did. That said, the amount of yul he made in a month just by holding the title of royal knight was far more than he made as a knight of the Crimson Lion squad, and much more than he made now, as a wandering sword for hire had no precise salary. And a salary was more or less why he had become a magic knight at some point.
Up until a few days ago, he made barely enough money to pay for some food, something to drink and a warm bed to spend the night in, this of course being because the average peasant could not pay as much for his services as those that typically put up a job request from a magic knight. But Griswold wasn’t complaining. After all, he had chosen this life when he had stepped down as a Crimson Lion, allowing him the time he needed to really think about what it was that he wanted in life. For him, the change from magic knight to wanderer had not been a big one for obvious reasons, though that was exactly the problem. He had always been doing his “work” in a rather specific area that was usually under the wing of the Black Bulls and the Green Mantises. While it was really just a bunch of semantics at work, Griswold always felt like he wasn’t doing what was in the best interests of the squad, just doing what was best for him and the people he specifically chose to want to protect.
The forsaken region, followed up directly by the common region, were the two places Griswold wished to look after the most, knowing that the royal capital and the various magic squads located there would be more than capable enough to look after the smallest and wealthiest part of the country. That said, he often considered the place to be overcrowded in terms of protective staff, what with there being at least three magic squads stationed there that had some of the strongest captains around, not to mention the wizard king himself. Given how large the forsaken realm alone was, they simply did not possess the luxury of having “Too many magic knights” in the field, nor did they have the luxury to just throw money at a problem and make it go away, money being about as scarce as the magic knights out here. And that was why he was there too, doing what he did for little to no reward whatsoever, as “Free of charge” was one of the only ways in which people would even share their troubles with someone as opposed to just keeping it locked inside.
Being a headstrong, hardy and proud people, many of the peasants faced problems they wished to solve by themselves, even if they knew that they might not be able to do so. So when word reached Griswold of livestock straight up disappearing from their pens and strange, large footprints being found around the farmlands to the northeast, he changed his plans and went there as soon as he could without taking too many detours. Aside from the occasional highwaymen trying to rob people along the main roads that needed a proper stomping, the former magic knight reached the farming community in very little time. Deciding that it would be best to stop by the inhabitants before he just went straight into looking for tracks and try to determine exactly who or what it was that might have taken the livestock from their pens, he went straight for the nearest homestead. After all, if he went straight into wandering around the fields and looking for tracks, they might just take him for a cattle thief, in which case they’d really start off on the wrong foot.
And seeing as how he truly believed that the best thing he could do right now was to check up on all the individuals that were somehow involved with this curious case of the disappearing cattle, Griswold asked around all of the families that had their lands and livestock in the area. While some had not been struck, others complained about having lost anything ranging from cows to pigs and from sheep to chicken and geese. Finding it quite odd how these supposed thieves were not exactly being selective about what kind of animal they took, the elven mage began to wonder as to the reasoning behind the thefts. Back when he was still but a farmhand on the Cromwell farm, people were usually after something in particular because they had more meat, were worth more on the market or because they had lost one of their own that they wished to replace without spending the cash.
Asking around with regards to the supposed tracks that had been found in the area surrounding the farmlands, most importantly near places where animals had been snatched up from, he knew that such a thing was difficult in a lot of cases. After all, cows and sheep did not exactly stand in the same spot of the field all day as they moved around to graze, went back and forth to the barn when the farmer came to feed them their special food and had to milk them, meaning it was hard to tell exactly where they had been taken from. At least being capable of pointing him into the general direction, Griswold made sure not to get their hopes up. If it was really some kind of animal that had taken the livestock, getting it back alive rarely if ever happened, being about a one in a hundred shot. Animals took other animals because they were looking for food, and something that was big enough to steal a whole cow without leaving a bloodbath on site could likely gobble up a whole sheep in one bite.
So with the questioning round being over and done, he left the homesteads and made his way into the farmlands themselves. Walking through rows of potatoes and corn, it seemed like there had not exactly been any takers there, which wasn’t altogether strange. Animal stealing folk usually did not need vegetables plants because they made less money on the market, took more time to grow and required more care, attention and protection from the elements and from pests. When one stole a cow or two, they could just pop them off at a market somewhere for a relatively low price, thus ensuring that they’d get rid of their stolen “merchandise” before claiming the coin and being on their way. It was one of those things he had learned in his time as a magic knight, it let him know what to look for when dealing with potential thieves on a market.
Though clearly not being the kind of thing the average Crimson Lion would involve himself with, what with them generally being busy with the affairs of nobles, the goings on of the noble region and dealing with threats that could be considered more… global, Griswold had never really been able to get into all of that a whole lot. Sure, some exceptions had been made because he wanted to throw the higher ups a bone every once in a while, though the fact of the matter was that he just wanted to look after those that were generally overlooked. In that sense, he had always been more Black Bull or Green Mantis material, but that wasn’t something he knew at the time. He hadn’t been in the country for very long after all, and what time he had spent there had all been spent within the confines of the Cromwell farm itself.
But now that he did know, there was the option for him to become a member of either of the two squads in the near future, what with the magic knight exams being right around the corner. Having already gone through one some months ago, he knew more or less what it entailed, so he wasn’t exactly afraid of what it might bring him, not like when he had been extremely on edge with regards to the whole royal knights exam. In a way, he had imagined that it would have been harder than just a single one on one fight between himself and another mage that fell roughly within the same category as him. He figured there would have been multiple battles or some kind of team based match against another team to really let people showcase what they were truly capable of to the judging captains up in the spectator seats.
Right now, the group he had been chosen to join was that of the Crimson Lions captain, his former magic squad leader, though he had been chosen solely because he had been capable of protecting himself against a whole taskforce of golems. Judging by that, Ardere knew that he was fairly handy with a sword and could use some pretty powerful solar magic to either bombard a small area or fire a destructive ray at a specific target. In truth, that was most of what he could do, though he still felt like there was more that he could have offered to a team if people had given him a chance to really show off what he could do. As he thought about it all, he hoped Verena was going to be okay as he was still trying to wrap his head around what he had seen, the thing that made her organs look all strange and glowy.
If it were to be some sort of curse, he hoped that those that treated her after the fight might have done something about it. But with that, he shook his head so as to get himself back into the game, there was work that needed doing after all. Finding the first of the tracks between the vegetable plants, he put his own foot inside of it by means of making a comparison, finding that his own foot could easily fit inside of this track about five times. Judging by this, he could rule out quite a lot of the local creatures if not all of them, as no bear or wolf grew to such sizes even on their best day. As to what it might be though, he really had no idea, imagining that it was likely some beast that had grown to humongous levels while inside of some strong magic region where it had been infused by its magics.
Following it from the vegetable patches, he made his way to the borders of the farmland. Hopping over a fence, he was greeted by a few cows while others were still reeling from what happened when one of their own had been taken from this very field. Petting one of them on the snout, he did not wish to spend too much time with them at this moment as he was here to make sure they would all still be here about a week from now. And so, he kept following the tracks until he reached several deeper tracks, showing that the creature accelerated here, likely to build up the speed it needed to catch up with the fleeing bovine in an attempt at snatching it up and seemingly leaping over the fence and into the nearby forest to the north. It showed that the creature was at the very least capable of planning out his moves and know its escape route beforehand.
This did not promise a whole lot of good for him, as there was really no telling what Griswold would be walking into if he followed it. But on the positive side of the spectrum, it would not be hard to follow it to where it resided. For now though, it was time to head back to the homesteads and let the farmers know that the animal they lost here would not be coming back. Explaining once he got there that something so large would leave nothing but bones in a matter of minutes since it could likely fit a whole sheep in its mouth in one go, a cow would likely take just a little bit longer. As much as it pained them to know that they would not get their animal back, Griswold left a small amount of yul so as to cover a small fraction of their losses. Making it clear that he hoped they would have plenty of young calves come spring, he would go out to make sure that this beast would not take a single animal of theirs ever again.
As that was really the only promise he could make to them that he could actually keep, he said his goodbyes and went on his way through the farmland and all the way up to the edge of the forest where the tracks disappeared into the tree line. Not really having a damn clue as to what to expect, he wondered if maybe there were more people that had been called in for help during the period Griswold spent just getting here from where he was coming from. It made sense. After all, even a courier pidgeon could make its way back and forth from the capital in a matter of hours. But now that he at least had done his part for these people here, the only thing he could do was to carry on and hopefully catch the culprit, thus putting an end to the troubles of these poor people.
Post by Charles Constantine✾ on Jun 24, 2021 23:41:11 GMT -5
[NOSPACES]
"I'm no g e n i u s, I'm just a fool who keeps going forward."
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@tagme
word count 1255
total word count 1255
[attr="class","glentext"] A lot of things had been happening recently, from his preparation for his Vice-Captain test to the invitation to join the Royal Knights to fight against the daemon threat and finally put an end to it. That however didn't stop him from doing his job as a Magic Knights while the time for fight began. It was going to be the toughest battle in his entire life, especially for his young age. However, it didn't mean lacked experience, despite the young age he already had experience in fighting daemons and after Kikka occurred he was familiar with their powers. Although, it was clear that Aamon was much stronger than Sven and had a different personality, followed by different magic. It was going to be a tough battle, but it was also the opportunity for him to settle the score with the daemons and be one of the ones responsible for finishing them off. He didn't particularly care about the fame or glory he would get from it. This was personal for him and he believed that defeating them would be a way to atone for his failures and sins back in Kikka. Born in the Common Region, but living in the Forsaken Region, the silver mage had already grown used to living what most would consider being the poorest region in the entire Kingdom. Despite his lazy attitude and unwillingness to work at times, he still did his job as a Magic Knight. [break][break] There have been multiple reports coming from the northeastern section of the Forsaken Region. Not necessarily from one of the main towns that were in it, but rather from people who lived separately from those times. There little to no Magic Knights being present. The bases for the squads stationed in the Forsaken Region were in Sosshi and Hage respectively so there was a lack of presence of the places in between those towns. It could be said that out of all the regions in the Kingdom, the Forsaken Region had the most issues, most of his missions had taken place in the Forsaken Region or places beyond it. This was followed by the Common Region. Charles rarely went to the Noble Region, unless it was for a mission which was rare by itself or he was requested there. Personally, the silver mage preferred to avoid it as to not come across any entitled nobles. A part of him would never truly comprehend to thought processing the nobles that considered themselves to be more powerful in terms of magic, but some of them just sat their asses off doing nothing. They were recent reports of farmers around the area saying that the wildlife continued to steal their livestock from their farmlands. Fortunately, no person had gone missing, just livestock. Regardless of that, it was still an issue as it meant that the farmers lost profit from that and it's possible that once they run out of livestock they may begin targeting civilians. Either way, he was sent to investigate and talk about the civilians in the place about any significant information they could have in regards to the thing responsible for this. [break][break] Charles arrived at the place and one of the first things he did was to ask the civilians around the place about any significant information they could have. An appearance of how the beast looked like if they were multiple of them or just one. Something that may give him a clue as to how it looks like or maybe research what type of mana beast it could be based on the information that was given to him. At times it was slightly hard to get people to give him information due to the insignia of the Black Bulls being present on his outfit. Which made it clear to the people around the place that he was a member of the infamous squad of misfits. Although, different from the rest of his colleagues who were most aggressive, brash, and irrational. The silver mage had a more centered, laid-back, and lazy personality. Which was normally present in him speaking as if he was tired or with not much excitement in general. Missions like this were extremely common for him, as he just treated them as just another day on the job. This gave the farmers a lot more confidence, as some of them would be concerned that a Black Bull may just end up destroying the entire surrounding and just cause them more problems. He sometimes found it a a bit funny that the squads with the worst reputation were the ones in the Forsaken Region. Even though he personally didn't think the Black Bulls were that bad. Just like everyone else they had their good and bad traits, part of their reputation probably had to do with the fact that not a lot of members were from the nobility. Unlike squads like the Golden Dawn or Silver Eagles were members of the noble families were present. The Black Bulls was filled with people strange personalities and outsiders who were not originally from the Kingdom. Followed by the Green Mantis that consisted of people who used to the criminals or rob. He didn't knew much about Green Mantis, but he held the same thoughts of it just like the Black Bulls. People over-exaggerated whatever they did which resulted in making people think they were worst than they actually are. Charles knew Valo and he seemed like a fairly nice guy with a desire to help out. He's reckless and aggressive, as expected from a mage who wielded the element of fire but still had good intentions. [break][break] As he carried on walking around from farm to farm to get any valuable information. Nothing really came from it, aside from being pointed to a general location where they thought it came from. Only to detect several tracks that lead towards the north, the tracks were the only lead he had which gave him no other choice aside from following them. This lead to the forest area, where he was confident he would find the one responsible there. Most beasts hid in the forest and only left it when they needed to go hunting. Charles concentrated in an attempt to find any Ki signatures around the place and continued walking. After walking for a bit, the silver mage felt a familiar signature around the area. It was that of Griswold and he wondered as to what he was doing him. The only thought that came to his mind is that he might be looking for the same thing as he was. He wasn't sure of it, but there was a high chance of it being the case. It seemed quite coincidental and it wouldn't surprise him at all if the man had caught word of the reports coming from the farmers around the place. The Black Bull eventually moved closer to where he was, only to encounter him in the middle of the forest. He raised his hand up for a second and greeted him casually as he was already acquainted with him as the two were in the same team in the Royal Knights. "Yo... Griswold was it? I sensed you in the distance as I was searching for something here. You looking for some sort of beast around this place by any chance?" He asked just to make sure, if that was the case then working together to get the job done much faster was a better choice than doing it alone. [break]
Not really expecting anyone calling out to him by name out here, Griswold turned around to face the new arrival, finding that it was one of the people that was assigned to the same royal knights team as him. What a small world it was. In a way, it was to be expected, what with the guy being a member of the black bulls, and him currently being active within the territory he was attempting to protect. They were the protectors of the forsaken realm after all, handling the issues within it along with the green mantis squad. As a former crimson lion, Griswold had a fair deal of respect for these two groups because they looked after the region that was most important to him, even if they seemed understaffed when it came to actually having to do things. But that was to be expected when two squads had to take on the biggest of the three regions. This was especially true when one took into account the fact that there were three far larger squads taking care of basically the royal capital, which seemed like overkill to someone like Griswold.
He imagined there were plenty of people running about there that could handle a city, while one would reasonably be needing more people to cover a larger area where more people could hide out and plot criminal activities. But that was just the kind of person Griswold was, someone who overthought things when it came to the protection of the people in the forsaken region. It was also one of the reasons why he aspired to become a member of the black bulls at some point. But he had greater ambitions than that, as he wished to fully take over as captain as that would allow him to revise how things were being handled in the countryside in a way he saw fit. While he had never actually spoken to a single living or dead soul about this, maybe if things went well here, he just might bring it up. For now though, there were more important things to take care of.
“I am indeed. It seems there is something skulking about in the area, something big enough to pick up an entire cow without effort. Judging by the tracks, it seems to be headed towards the fringe, so I’m thinking it’ll have its lair out there.”
Not trying to make things sound like more than they were, he also did not wish to undersell the issue at hand, as it was very possible that the creature would be back here if not located sooner rather than later. When that happened, he imagined that would be just as much the problem of the black bulls and green mantis squads as it would be for the locals here. If things went badly, it fell on their shoulders, meaning they would have to explain themselves before the wizard king, which was not something Griswold had to suffer. He was after all but a mercenary, if not a bad one at that. If he were to truly have done all of the things he had done about the money, he would not have been able to do nearly as much as he had done up until now as there were not a whole lot of people that could actually pay his regular fees this far out north near the fringe.
After all, the further one got from the royal capital, the tighter money seemed to be, so there was not a whole lot he was capable of earning out here. As such, he would take the little things after a job well done, such as a good meal or a bed to spend the night in so he could go back out into the world the next morning feeling revitalized, which was a hard state of being to achieve when spending the night on the floor in a sleeping bag. In terms of the work he actually did under the guise of being a “mercenary”, he actually did a really good job though. Taking care of the issues people faced, chasing what needed chasing, killing what needed killing, all the things he realistically needed to do in order to leave the forsaken realm a bit better than it had been before. That said, he imagined the wise thing to do here would be to check whether or not the black bull could be of some assistance here.
“While I don’t know how well acquainted you are in that area, I imagine I could use some help. I’ve not yet determined the kind of animal, or rather creature that’s done this, so there is a chance it will be done feeding sooner than expected, at which point it might come back here looking for more food. And honestly, I fear what it might do should it encounter any of the locals, who are under your jurisdiction.”
Post by Charles Constantine✾ on Jun 29, 2021 22:01:49 GMT -5
[NOSPACES]
"I'm no g e n i u s, I'm just a fool who keeps going forward."
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@tagme
word count 869
total word count 2124
[attr="class","glentext"] A rather unexpected encounter, Charles knew Griswold from the fact that the two were Royal Knights. Although, he didn't know the man for more than just the training they had together a few weeks back. The Black Bulls were the ones in charge of handling the issues within the Forsaken Region, one of the more rowdy places compared to the rest. While some people would look down on the commoners the lived there. Although he was born in the Common Region, the Forsaken Region had its good things and was quite enjoyable. Better than having to deal constantly with spoiled nobles that were a lot less productive than the lazy Black Bull himself. The silver mage had his own fair of experiences with the nobles and he knew not all of them were that bad. Good examples of that were Captain Zaven who he got along with. There was still division in the Kingdom, the only time he ever remembered hearing about all people working together regardless of social status was during the war against the Diamond Kingdom but after that, it seemed like people forgot about the times they fought together to protect the Kingdom. The Daemon threat was different from the Diamond Kingdom, he didn't know the full details of the war because he never participated in it, but most of the Magic Knight Captains participated in it. He was a kid around the time the war occurred so he didn't know much about its events. [break][break] Although he didn't talk about it often, Charles had his own set of personal goals. One of them was to settle the score of the daemons and ensure they get wiped out as part of the Royal Knights. Normally, most people wouldn't believe someone like him had nothing else in mind aside from eating, sleeping, and doing his job just so he could go rest again. They were partially right but after Kikka. The silver mage felt that he had to finish the job and ensure the defeat of the remaining Archmage. For him, that was the only way for him to atone for his sins and failure, even if the town was retaken by the rest of the Magic Knights. It didn't change the fact that mistakes were made and his mistake cost the lives of civilians, deaths that could've been avoided if he didn't make any mistakes. If he helped put an end to the war then maybe he would forgive himself fully for what he did. It wasn't about glory or fame for him, nor money, it was about making the right thing for once in his life. He was aware that the battle was going to a hard one, harder than how it was against Sven. Having heard that the three remaining Archdaemons were much stronger than the likes of Sven it meant that he would become much stronger if he wanted to be of any help. [break][break] "Hmm... I see, sounds about right. I don't sense any other Ki aside from yours in the area..." He said, it was clear that they were given the same information from the farmers in the area. It leads them to the same place since that's how they encountered each other in the first place. The most logical place where the one responsible for this was the Fringe, as that's towards where it was headed. A wasteland that was considered to be neutral territory between the Clover Kingdom and the rest of the Kingdoms. Charles agreed with Griswold's comment about it being headed to the Fringe, they were no signs of it being around any other place. They were no other clues, so going to the Fringe seemed to be the best option available for them. Even if they didn't find the one responsible there, maybe they could find more information. Anyway, after it was concluded that the tracks headed all the way towards the north. It was best to get going as soon as possible, the silver mage wasn't the type of person who liked wasting time. Although, the reasons behind that were a lot different than most people would think. No matter how it was seen, time was an important factor in this mission. If this continued happening then it could cause a lot more issues for the farmers in the area. Something both Griswold and Charles could agree on. "I've been there before... Eh, better have two people tracking down this thing than one, at least that's how I see it. Yeah... It's better to handle it before it gets out of hand and creates more problems." [break][break] Following his reply to Griswold. He believed it was best to start heading there now. If necessary they could talk more on their way there, but for the time being the more information they obtained the better. The two were members of the Royal Knights, so a mana beast gone rampant probably wouldn't prove to be much of a problem for them. That didn't mean he would lower his guard, but it was definitely something inside the ability of both Charles and Griswold. "Alright then... Let's get going." He said, making his way towards the north following the tracks left behind. [break][break] [Exit Thread] [break]
Finding themselves in agreement, it would seem that Charles was to be heading after whatever this beast was along with him. While some might consider it overkill, there was really no telling exactly what they were facing, how tall and strong it really was, the exact level of its intelligence and whether or not the creature possessed any kind of magic. Due to the amount of strong mana regions scattered throughout the fringe, there was really no telling what kind of mutations one could expect, or the ways in which they impacted the creature itself. In some cases, it was entirely behavioral, at other times it was both in behavior and in a physical sense. One could expect a bunny to turn entirely feral and a mountain lion to wander in and one day come out as meek as a lamb. But those were just the changes that were below the surface, it was the stuff that was the opposite of that that had always bothered him and his people.
Creatures growing to gargantuan sizes, growing additional limbs or growing chitinous plating where there was once fur. Growing claws and fangs on creatures that were originally considered to be herbivores. In some more extreme cases, one could even see clear signs of hybridism, as if two animals had either been fused together, or the DNA of two creatures had somehow been merged into an unborn fetus or an egg, leading it to grow up into an entirely new species. While Griswold himself could only begin to speculate about why such things happened, it seemed clear that there was no intelligent design behind these actions, as it was usually a kickstarted evolution cranked up to extremes. Unfortunately, many of these creatures became unstable because of it, leading them to go out and seek others to fight and kill. And in several cases, this brought creatures to the Shadesinger Enclave Griswold had grown up in, back when he was still called Solarian.
Because he had grown up in the fringe, Griswold was all too familiar with these kinds of creatures, as well as the ways in which they impacted those living near them. Particularly for this problem, his tribe of people had always trained a group of warriors called simply “Hunters”. Now when one heard the name hunter, one often imagined a group of people that kept the numbers of animals in check by culling them when they became over-represented, or simply hunted down creatures for their meat and hides, but that was not what these guys were. These particular Hunters were incredibly skilled men and women who worked together, attuning themselves and their spells to one another in an attempt at creating a task force that supplemented one another and allowed them to keep their section of the forest in pristine shape, especially when fighting against mana-warped intruders from these strong magic regions.
Because of their tight bonds, they could utilize their magic to an extent where they could contain the damage to the creature in question, rather than dealing damage to the surrounding forest. This was, by all means, something for the Magic Knights of literally every squad to aspire to. While he himself was to be blamed for the same issues, he knew for a fact that the knights caused a lot of collateral damage, which was very often due to the fact that people were simply not aware of the person standing next to them in the sense of what they were capable of. Because of it, a lot of people felt like they had to put out all of their power in order to handle a threat rather than relying on teamwork. But that wasn’t even really their fault, as it was also up to the squad leaders and the wizard king’s office to better structure these team-ups, rather than just putting anyone who wanted to partake in something to just team up and take a crack at it.
When it came to the royal knights, Griswold honestly hoped things would not go down the same unorganized path as the magic knights did, even though the amount of damage they would be doing on their assignment wouldn’t matter all that much. They were to fight Aamon in the remains of an old dungeon, meaning there wouldn’t be anything that couldn’t be destroyed and no one around that they could not hurt, as everyone in that place was supposed to be a follower of the archdemon. In which case, Griswold would not care if people ended up leveling the entire place, clearly. So if nothing else, the Black Bull coming with him on this mission might help him in figuring out more of what the guy was capable of, how he behaved when under pressure and what he was worth in a fight. Training together was all fine and dandy, but nothing truly showed once worth and colors like an actual fight in which someone might end up dying.
