The rays from a deep orange light beamed through the blinds as Lulu sat patiently on the bed of a furnished bedroom with a sundae in her hands. She dug her spoon into the sundae before slowly placing the spoon in her mouth. She savoured and gushed over the sundae's flavour as she struggled to control herself. Lulu's gushing was cut short when the sound of metal knocking on the door made her dart her head at it. She quickly placed the sundae on the nightstand and hurried over to the bedroom door. She pushed the gem in the centre of the door and it slid open revealing the one behind it was Zulcrestus.

"G-greetings Mr- Magistrate Zulcrestus, sir." Lulu stuttered.

"There's no need for formalities, that's only for important meetings and the such," Zulcrestus mentioned as he entered the room. Lulu walked back to her bed and sat on it with Zulcrestus continuing to stand as the bedroom door closed.

"Before I ask you anything, I'd like to apologise for taking so long to finish all the incident reports.". Lulu shook her head while stating it was fine.

"Is it ok if I eat the sundae while you're asking the questions?" Lulu asked.

"As long as you don't talk with your mouth full." Lulu happily grabbed the sundae with an ice magic sigil engraved in the glass bowl before she had another spoonful of ice cream.

"Now, about this staff," Zulcrestus asked as he used his telekinesis to float the staff into his hand. Lulu nervously gulped and quickly had a few spoonfuls of the sundae.

"T-that woman you fought earlier gave it to the head of the slave... traders. Well sort of.". Zulcrestus tilted his head slightly and glanced down at the staff.

"Slave traders? those bandits didn't seem like the type.". Lulu nodded her head.

"Those guys were more like hired guns, for the woman who's in charge of the slave trading.". Zulcrestus asked Lulu if she could tell him the story from the beginning. Lulu went on to explain that a few months ago her village was attacked by those bandits along with a few more of them and they kidnapped everyone under the age of fifteen aside from a few of the kids' mothers.

Five months ago, the bandits led Lulu and the other captive villagers, around twelve children and three women, through the narrow halls of the prison-like building. The group was led into a large barren light grey room with ancient-looking runes etched into the walls and a table in the middle of the room. The bandit leader ordered the children to, one at a time, place their hands on the half-black and half-azure coloured azure gem located on the table. One by one the children touched the azure gem and each time one did their eyes glowed and azure-coloured vein-like mana marks ran through their bodies, before quickly taking their hands off.

It was finally Lulu's turn and she apprehensively approached the table. She stared blankly at the azure gem until one of the bandits yelled at her to hurry up. She panicked and placed her hand on the azure gem. For a split second, Lulu watched as a blue wave raced up her left arm and covered it before she blacked out.

Later that day, Lulu disorientedly sat up from the bed she was laying on. She dazedly looked around the prison cell-like room with the only view of the outside room being the gaps in the bar of the cell door. Lulu's eyes widened and quickly darted her gaze at her left arm. She let out a relieved exhale, at seeing her arm wasn't glowing blue anymore. Lulu's face turned to a sickly green before she covered her mouth and rushed over to the toilet in the corner of the cell.

Over the next few months, Lulu was confined to her cell and she lazily mused about the room by herself, with her only form of social contact being the bandits who brought her food.

Thirteen days before she went to Humforth, Lulu let out a pessimistic and weak sigh as she lay on her bed while gazing up at the ceiling.

"My-my, this is quite the amoral organisation you got running here lady. You're almost on par with my paps for child endangerment." the voice of Majin playfully voiced as two sets of footsteps could be heard drawing nearer.

"Absurd! I'll have you know there haven't been any serious casualties." a snobbish female voice voiced.

"And that's why I said almost, and just so you know if they don't hold up to my expectations the agreement will fall through." Majin unamusedly remarked.

"You don't need to worry miss Majin, this one's ability is definitely worth it.". Lulu intently listened to the footsteps until her cell door swung open, snapping the door's lock into pieces from the force of Majin kicking the door open. Lulu frantically cowered into the corner of her bed. The door became indented into the wall as a hooded Majin entered the room with the super curly long blond-haired woman in a large red fur cloak and white fox mask waiting outside the cell. Majin, with the staff that Lulu would have in the future on her back, casually walked up to Lulu.

"Sup kid?" Majin chirpily said as she raised her hand for a high-five. Lulu cautiously looked Majin in the eyes before Lulu slowly gave Majin an apprehensive high-five. Majin chortled and stood up as she reached for the staff on her back. Lulu flinched as Majin placed the staff on Lulu's legs. Majin whispered something in Lulu's ear that made her let out a confused noise.

Back in the present, Zulcrestus nodded his head as the upset Lulu placed the empty sundae bowl on her nightstand.

"I see, so this fox masked slave trafficker had bandits destroy and kidnapped you, and your fellow villagers, from your village, triggered a forced awakening of all the children's unique azure abilities with an azure core and then they made a deal with that Majin woman.". Lulu sombrely nodded her head. Zulcrestus placed his hand on the chin of his mask and cleared his throat.

"There are two more other things I'd like to know," Zulcrestus stated making Lulu look up at him.

"First what did that Majin say to you?". Lulu placed her index finger on her cheek and tried to recall.

"I... think she said... try not to commit any crimes.". Zulcrestus became perplexed by this, given that Majin tried to attack Prima, Yumi and even Lulu; however, he started to wonder if she was only trying to agitate him since her mana strings moved faster when she used them to kill the bandit leader.

"So... umm," Lulu muttered, managing to get Zulcrestus' attention.

"What is the other question?".

"Right, you don't mind me confiscating this?". Lulu shook her head in response to Zulcrestus' question.

"Not at all, you said it was illegal for me to have it anyway.". Zulcrestus thanked Lulu for her cooperation before he placed his hand on the staff's spherical gem. He crushed the gem with his hand and grabbed the azure gem that was hidden inside while using his telekinesis to crush all the gem fragments into dust. Zulcrestus inspected the dark wooden two-pronged tree staff before handing it to the stunned Lulu.

"You can keep the staff.". Lulu tiled her head as she looked at the staff.

"Y-you sure?" Lulu nervously asked.

"Indeed, without the gem or azure... coloured gem it's only an E-grade staff.". Lulu nodded her head and leaned the staff on the end of the bed.

"If you don't have any questions of your own, you should try to get some sleep since Callie will want to do some health checks on you tomorrow.". Lulu nodded her head and got into bed. Zulcrestus opened the bedroom door and turned the bedroom light off as he started to walk out.

"Goodnight-" Lulu mumbled before realising what she had just said to Zulcrestus and embarrassingly blushed. Zulcrestus paused after hearing what Lulu said, making Lulu blush even more.

"Right, that is the appropriate thing to say... goodnight," Zulcrestus replied before completely leaving the room. Lulu's face became super red and she covered her face with the bedsheet.

The door closed behind Zulcrestus and he was greeted by Prima and Yumi both wearing matching blue onesies with yellow bear paw prints all over them.

"Is Lulu doing ok?" Prima asked.

"She'll be fine," Zulcrestus replied. Prima smiled and relievedly exhaled. Zulcrestus noticed that Yumi was intently staring him in the eyes. Zulcrestus stared back at her with equal intensity while a perplexed Prima looked between the two.

"Put us to bed too." Yumi monotonously demanded. Zulcrestus sighed and gestured he would be there in a minute. Prima and Yumi, although Yumi was very subdued, giddily hurried off to their room. Zulcrestus glanced at the azure gem in his hand before calling to the zelkio knight that Prima and Yumi rushed past.

"Yes, sir?" the knight asked while saluting. Zulcrestus handed the knight the azure gem and requested them to give it to Callie. The knight accepted and hurried off. Zulcrestus let out a short yawn, catching him off guard, but paid it no mind before marching off after Prima and Yumi.