"All witches are welcome to play my game!" a masked man announced, shuffling cards in front of a table, "If I can guess your coven, you pay me, if I'm wrong, I'll pay you! No tricks, no lies here!" the man continued.
The mask covered his full face; with yellow lips and three eyes it was a sight to behold.
'It's showtime!"
Axel's plan was simple, lure in witches with the prospect of earning money. And if any of them seemed to be suspicious, get the other scouts to check the witch out, and if they were a wild witch the other five scouts would grab them.
"There is no way this is going to work," the captain said from his hiding place.
"No, no let him fail, it'll be funny," Apple giggled.
"I think it could work," Grape replied to the captain.
After a short time of waiting and yelling, a witch eventually came up to where Axel was shuffling.
"How much for this game?" the witch asked with a smile, slamming a large bag of snails on the table, but Axel couldn't hear any snails shaking around in the bag.
The witch was a large muscular man with a goatee and a shirt with the words, "My Wife and my Apple Blood is all that I need!" on it.
"Five snails my good sir!" Axel said holding his hand out with five fingers outstretched.
"Now there's something I can bet on!" he laughed pulling five snails from his bag and putting them on the table, "So tell me, what am I?" he asked.
"We shall see!" Axel said starting to shuffle his cards in a different way.
The cards were just Axel's normal cards, and the shuffling he did was just to look fancy. Even so, the way that the man's eyes locked onto Axel's cards were impressive.
It was as if the man knew everything that Axel was doing, and he watched it all with a smile on his face.
"I know what you are," Axel suddenly said, putting his cards on the table, "You're an illusionist!" he pointed out.
The man held his head and laughed.
"I've been caught!" he hollered, showing the illusionist mark on his wrist, "I thought these things would have thrown you off," the man said patting his muscles.
"I know an illusionist when I see one, and those are fake," Axel pointed out.
"The bag was fake," the man replied make the bag return to its normal size, "But these are real!' he said flexing, "I may be an illusionist, but when push comes to shove, I want to shove!" the man boasted
"Thanks for the snails and maybe come again so I can get some more snails off you!" Axel said, taking the five snails that the man laid out.
"Maybe I'll bring a friend next time!" the man replied with a smile.
"I hope you do!" Axel replied.
The man left, with some pep in his step and a smile on his face.
"Who else who else?" Axel said, "Who's coven shall I guess next?" he asked.
"I'll go," a voice from his side sounded out.
It was another man, this one much smaller than the last witch that came by, he was also a measure less confidante. He had a satchel hanging from his side, and long sleeves to keep him warm.
"Ah! Another for me to guess, come on then! Allow me to show off my tricks!" Axel boasted.
'This one seems odd'
Axel kept his eyes on the man, while the man could only see Axel's odd mask.
"Yes, sure," the witch said placing five snails from his pocket onto the table.
"Let us see, let us see," Axel said shuffling his cards once more.
Axel then turned his eyes to the man while shuffling his cards.
'He doesn't seem to have anything obvious on him that screams a coven'
The man's eyes didn't linger on the cards as long as the other man, and he didn't look strong enough to be part of the Construction Coven.
"I know your coven," Axel said putting his cards down, "You're a part of the Potions Coven!" Axel called out pointing at the man.
"Nope." the man replied, "I'm a part of the Beast Keeping Coven," he said, "It seems you owe me five snails," he told Axel while reaching towards his snails.
"Now hold on just one second!" Axel said, stopping the man, "I just need to see your coven sigil, so I know you're not trying to cheat me," Axel explained.
"My sigil!" the man exclaimed, "Why of course," he murmured.
He pulled back his long sleeves to show Axel his coven sigil. It was obviously looked like the Beast Keeping Coven's sigil.
But Axel looked at the edges of the sigil and saw that it was slightly fading.
'Can't even get a real tattoo'
"I'm sorry sir but I'm going to ask you to leave," Axel said pulling the snails the man laid down towards himself, "Associating with wild witches isn't good for business you know?" he asked in a hushed tone.
Eyes widening, the man pulled back up his sleeve and left quickly without a word.
Watching him leave, Axel knocked on the table three times.
Seeing the signal, the captain nudged the other scouts and began to follow the man silently.
Well, at least the captain and Lettuce were silent.
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The long-sleeved man kept his head low, and his satchel was kept close to his side, keeping his eyes everything that moved.
But as he walked, a hand reached out to grab his shoulder from behind him.
"You have been selected for random sigil screening, do not resist," the guard captain told the man.
Infront and behind the man were two other scouts, making five scouts in total surrounding the man.
In fright, the man reached into his satchel and grabbed a blue potion and threw it on the ground.
"Poison gas!" Artichoke yelled out.
Making a circle and slamming his hand into the ground, the captain made a platform that raised the five scouts into the air.
"I'll make sure the civilians are fine," Grape said leaping off the tower and into the dissipating gas.
"Does anyone know where the wild witch is going?" the captain asked.
"Bell tower, main entrance," Lettuce called out their eyes slightly purple.
"Understood, I'll provide front pressure, I want a group of one on the left side and two on the right in case he takes a different route, or something goes wrong," the captain ordered.
The captain knew how much of a mistake it was to rely on oracle magic.
After giving out his order, the captain drew a circle and jumped off the tower, he then put his hands on the side of the tower, causing the tower to shoot off in the direction of the wild witch, with the captain going along for the ride.
"You know, he should really start calling us something, so we know who they're talking too," Apple said, before whistling.
"Agreed, mind if I ride with you on the right side?" Artichoke asked.
"What about the other scout?" Apple asked.
"He already left a few minutes ago," Artichoke replied pointing in the direction of Lettuce, who was swinging away on vines.
"It hasn't been," Apple began to say, "Forget it, we can't be behind," Apple said.
Apple then leaped over to Artichoke grabbed them, causing them both to fall of the towers that the captain built.
But before the two could fall two feet, a pigeon headed griffin grabbed them and took off in the direction that the captain told them to go.
"Some warning would have been nice!" Artichoke yelled, holding onto the griffin.
"Where's' the fun in that?" Apple replied, standing up on his mount.
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The man kept throwing down random potions, some on his left, some on his right, and some behind him.
He was trying to distract the guard captain that was charging after him and getting closer.
He reached deep into his satchel, slowing down for a moment as he did so, and he found the potion he was looking for.
With a smile, the man turned around and was about to throw the potion at the captain. But the captain was much closer than the man expected.
Grabbing the man's arm, the captain jumped on top of the man, pushing him to the ground while putting a knee in his chest.
"Have mercy," the man spat out, the potion he held falling out of his hand.
"Those who disrespect the titan deserve no mercy," the captain said while the other scouts started to surround him.
"Heh," the man choked out, "At least I'm not foolish enough to believe the Emperor can talk to the Titan," he said closing his eyes with a smile.