Chapter 23 - Mission Start

When Reginleif and Tosca arrived in Kuoh Town the two immediately began making their way through the market of the central square when suddenly the two smelled something good in the air.

It smelled like something cooking but because it was so early in the morning none of the shops should really be open.

Tosca couldn't help her stomach rumbling in hunger from the smell. Due to the irregular meal times in Heaven, since Cebrail only ate when she felt like it around once or twice a day unless she had access to some form of a sugary snack, Tosca hadn't actually eaten breakfast as of yet. Those snacks weren't something Tosca could eat either. Not because Cebrail didn't want to share but because they were way too sweet! After having tried one it quite literally tasted as if she were taking a bite out of a block of sugar.

"Sorry…" Tosca apologized to Reginleif who waved it off without much care.

Angels and Valkyries didn't exactly need to eat, at least not as much as humans, so it was only a given that staying in Heaven would have Tosca hungry for more interesting foods. Reginleif herself was actually feeling similarly after smelling the good food in the air.

"Let's stop and eat since you're hungry." Reginleif says turning towards the direction from which the smell was flowing from.

"W-Wait! Shouldn't we do what Cebrail asked of us before playing around?" Tosca questioned frantically but Reginleif didn't even falter in her steps forcing her to follow.

"Cebrail didn't give us a time limit." Reginleif said this simply. She felt that if it was Cebrail she would give at least some vague time limit if it was especially important. Cebrail had even given them her joker card from her deck casually, honestly if Reginleif had to guess based on this she was expecting them to be gone for at least a day or two, or she herself wouldn't be back for that amount of time. That left them with a lot of wiggle room to buy weapons and find a new member.

Tosca however was still very conflicted but since Reginleif was her senior in the group she felt the young Valkyrie would probably know best.

Soon the two girls arrived at a small broken down food stand which was more like a very large grill.

Sitting at it was a young girl fanning a set of shish kabobs cooking on the grill. She had a dark expression on her face and even her glasses were cracked and had short blue hair and matching blue eyes.

"Oh, hello." Reginleif greeted the girl with a small bit of familiarity; this is because the girl was actually the one that had helped her find her way to Sis Cross Kiss.

"Huh? Hi?" The girl greeted back in confusion, she had no memory of meeting Reginleif but she tried to be polite anyway.

"What exactly do you sell here?" Reginleif asked looking at the food cooking on the grill.

"Err… mystery meat shish kabobs with a mystery sauce and a few pieces of lettuce and peppers." The blue haired girl explained, visibly a bit happier than her previous downtrodden appearance. She also somehow seemed confused as if she had never gotten any customers before.

"Tosca, how much do you want?" Reginleif questioned the girl beside her, looking at her from the corner of her eyes.

"Umm… 3?" Tosca was clearly a bit shy and didn't want to spend too much of Cebrail's money when it was meant to be used to buy weapons.

"You really shouldn't worry so much!" Reginleif scolded her little junior before turning back to the blue haired girl with a confident grin. "We'll take ten of them!"

For the first time in her life, Reginleif was the senior so she was trying her hardest to look cool and dazzling like Brunhilde the leader of the Valkyries. Though perhaps she was getting ahead of herself a little bit.

"That'll be 6800 yen please."

Reginleif looked at the money in her hand which she had taken out. It was indeed a large stack of money however…

"How much is that in USD?" Reginleif asked sheepishly.

"I'm not all that familiar with the exchange rates… if I had to guess it would be around 55 dollars?"

Reginleif nodded but realized quickly that all of the bills in the stack were 100 dollars. The blue haired girl definitely wouldn't have change for USD so the only option was grossly overpaying her for the food.

(Does Cebrail just not understand how much things cost??? Why would she use ONLY 100 dollar bills!?!?!) Reginleif questioned agonizingly in her head as she unhappily handed over an entire 100-dollar bill.

"Huh? Are you sure? You know I don't have any change right?" The blue haired questioned in disbelief and looked at Reginleif with wide eyes.

"Yeah, you can keep the change. Consider it thanks for helping me with directions the other day."

"Thank you!" The blue haired girl quickly pocketed the money before handing the kabobs over to Reginleif and Tosca.

Tosca took six of the kabobs with a bit of drool coming out of her mouth leaving Reginleif with four and the two left while eating in satisfaction.

By the time the two finished they had arrived at Sis Cross Kiss. It was Tosca's first time and despite the trauma, she's suffered at the hands of the Church she was still very much a child so she didn't really think much of the horribly provocative sign.

Reginleif however despite having been to the store multiple times by now still cringed at the flashing neon lights.

"Ah! Just the couple of kids I wanted to see!" Anna the store owner exclaimed the moment the door stepped through the doorway. "Hey wait, where's the princess?"

"Cebrail had things to do so we're here in her stead!"

"Y-Yes Ms. Cebrail asked us to buy weapons since I'm not very good with swords…"

"Why are you calling her Miss? I'm pretty sure you're the same age, at least in Human years." Anna questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"She's my benefactor! Of course I have to treat her with respect!"

"Hmm~ well I won't tell you how to live your life." Anna shrugged it off and turned to Reginleif who she could tell was more mature due to being used to the supernatural world but still quite gullible. Without Cebrail around she felt that it should be easier to get Reginleif to buy more than she actually needs. "What weapons are you looking for?"

"A side arm like a short sword and probably a spear. Not the kind with the huge point at the end though." Reginleif pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose confidently. After she was fooled a few times she understood now that this woman was looking down on her! Every time she tried buying something from the store she'd always leave with a bunch of junk! Not today, however, she clearly stated what she wanted and nothing could move her from her path. She had to look impressive for her junior.

"A spear you say? Well, I think you might just be in luck…" Anna stepped from behind her counter and walked towards the spear section of the store with the two girls following her. "Just recently I got a pretty good demon spear, though I can't tell you its name if you're going to buy it."

"Why?" Tosca asked aloud clearly curious. A lot of the supernatural stuff was pretty new to her after all.

"It's meant to get stronger with you so it'll tell you its name when it's ready… I'm sure Reginleif knows how fickle magic weapons can be~" Anna explained and while it made little sense to Tosca seeing that her senior Reginleif nodded with understanding thought that it must be a normal thing.

"Oh, here it is!" Anna stopped in front of a long spear with a blade that could perhaps be considered fat enough to cut and cleave and a point that seemed excellent for piercing. It looked like a good spear but it was clearly too much for little Tosca.

"I don't think Tosca is ready for something like that."

"Hmm you're right but it's better to buy this now before it's bought up by someone else like that Caladwich your princess friend was looking at before."

"Caladwich! You mean you had THE Caladwich in this store!" Reginleif exclaimed, the weapon was a demon sword that was considered the polar opposite to Excalibur and one of the few weapons that were its equal if someone were to get their hands on it, amateur or not they would be almost unstoppable. "Who bought it?!? Why would you even have a weapon like that!?!? How'd you get it!?!"

"I could tell you but~ the word 'free' isn't even in my dictionary."

"Urk! What do you want?" Reginleif felt the information was simply that important, such a sword, she'd have to inform lord Odin upon acquiring its location!

"A group of Stray Devils seem to be looking for something in town. They arrived recently and look like trouble."

"T-They just 'look' like trouble?" Tosca asked skeptically with slightly wavering eyes.

Anna looks at Tosca and frowns slightly. The girl was no doubt not combat ready at all so she was a bit reluctant to send her but she also felt like keeping the girl away from combat for too long would be detrimental to her growth.

"I have reason to believe that they are members of the Stray Devil Faction meaning whatever they're here for it can't be good. A poor little restaurant in the main shopping center had its owners brutally slaughtered in fact." Anna took the spear from the shelf then took a small short sword from another section and handed them to Tosca. The spear shrunk in her hand to a length that would be far easier to handle.

"I told you, It likes to grow with its partner~" Anna winked at the child who was staring with wonder. "What I need you to do is simple. Get rid of the Stray Devils."

"You mean kill them don't you?"

Hearing Reginleif ask this question Tosca flinched and her eyes widened with shock.

"Technically that would in fact be the easiest way. Though you can always capture them or something." Anna shrugged and Reginleif herself already seemed set on what she was going to do without so much as batting an eye. It was only Tosca who felt a certain dread creeping into her heart at the prospects of the future.