From the psycho bird fight, the portal bringing him to a tutorial village, to fighting slimes for money and cash, and even encountering the most powerful magical using males in the world, Kinyuki tried not to think much about the circumstances that came straight from the classic formula for commonplace RPG system exploitation tales. Just because there were elements that have come up that seem a little familiar, despite being fantastical, didn't automatically mean that the whole world was working on those particular beats.
Kinyuki wasn't invincible, and he knew it, just as he knew that Tomi Tatami was going to be put to the test magic-wise eventually, whether he liked it or not. The three of them, Figaro included, were anomalies within the society of this magical world, and that's not considering the other people that had come along from Earth. Someone with higher authority and power would eventually come for them, or at the very least Tomi, and that would hopefully provide a little more clarity on what's happening here.
This was the case until the bookkeeper started laughing. It was a stilted, forced laugh, that tried to convey superiority towards others. Even Figaro wasn't convinced, believing that she was definitely grasping at straws at this point. Tomi, worried that the cloaked magician had finally gone hysterical, was the first to speak.
"Umm, Miss Bookkeeper, are you-" He began, but the bookkeeper had begun to rise grabbing her cloak.
"NOW! It's finally time to reveal my true form to you! My name is Clarice, and I am actually-"
"A secret member of a secret school, who's on a secret quest to give a secret test?"
Kinyuki hadn't even waited for her to finish before interrupting. She had even threw her cloak mid-air in a dramatic fashion, only for it to land on her stunned face shortly afterword. The clothes she was wearing under it were very similar to the ones that were on the slime girl, except that it was in all white and there was no pointy witch hat. Grace's facial features relaxes, and after taking a few sniffs she pulled away from the white witch.
"Correct, she even comes from the capital of the Aegis Kingdom."
"Hey! You c-can't tell that from just smelling me!" The bookkeeper wailed
"They have a particular scent of superiority. This is far too suspicious, and now with those two, we must have answers on many of the incidents going on."
"What incidents?"
"Don't try to play dumb, or I fry your boytoy." She raised a finger, crackling with energy.
"As you can PLAINLY SEE, my sand knight is defeated, turned to dust by these bozos!"
As if on a cue, the pile of black sand had started moving around on the grass like a shadow twisting in the light of a campfire. It didn't take a solid form, just quickly slithered away from everyone and into the forest. A moment later, a loud slam rang out from the direction the knight had left in, leaving everyone, Clarice included, apprehensive to what had transpired.
"So much for chivalry." Kinyuki began.
"So much for helping him get his body back." Grace added, "I knew that he'd be more trouble than your worth."
"Shut up, you stupid dog eared floozy!" Clarice shot back
"Hey! Enough out of your racist ass until we figure out where shadow knight went." Kinyuki growled.
Kinyuki's knife, covered in the putty he now called "Queen's Rattle", had grew into a one handed, pink club, which he pointed at Clarice. Thinking that this would be the perfect chance to get her hands on a similar weapon, and Tomi being too far away in order to get the axe, she had slipped away from Luna's loose grasp and reached for the weapon. Clarice had forgotten that the reason she didn't slip away was that the De Lune sister that held her had stupid amounts of strength, believing that she'd be just as slow to react physically as she was mentally.
Clarice was proven wrong, as Luna had effortlessly brought one hand down at rapid speed, making an indention where she had been swatted like a house fly. Tomi was quick to jump in, trying to heal Clarice, but she had been knocked out, and any spices that he had in order to wake her were already used. It seemed that he wasn't as much concerned about her involvement with the capital and a traitorous knight, and more about being slammed into the ground, irritating both Kinyuki and Grace. Figaro had his concerns on where the knight went, having a pretty good idea on where.
"Where could he have gone? If we leave, then we've got a lot more trouble on our hands." Kinyuki asked Grace
"Shouldn't you be more concerned about yourselves? This Clarice woman wants nothing to do with you." She replied
"Yes she does!" Tomi piped up, "She wanted men who do magic, and his counts, right? What if he gets in trouble?"
"Plus the tentacle beast," Luna chimed in, "If more like her come in, they'll believe that bad magic was being used here, and they may go for the town and burn it."
Grace frowned at this fact and so did Figaro; she was right. Considering how fervent and indiscriminate the Aegis Kingdom was with the unsuccessful hunt for the Fiend Lord, they would most likely burn the whole place down before getting to wherever the problem actually was. A lot of innocent people would be in danger, and Figaro didn't want that on his conscience. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd have to face the horrors once again, and this time there would be a powerful knight at the end of the search.
"It might be a little too late for that. I think I know where the guy went." Figaro interrupted, causing everyone's heads to turn towards him.
"Trust me," He continued gravely "That place isn't friendly, and I hope to the gods that sandy knight's got nothing to do with anything there other than using it as a place to rest up."