LogFAQs > #958791785

Control returns to the main gang, and we finally get to explore the town. Nearby at the inn, they mention some clumsy new student who's working there, but she's not around at the moment. I'd guess that would be Mint, except we've already met her at Nord. I'm not really sure which of the other students from the original was clumsy. I guess we'll find out soon, since Laura says "We should make a note of this for later." Outside the inn, there's a jeweler nearby where you can buy those broken accessories from all the Crossbell games - the ochre and the evergreen and all that stuff. I forget the exact names but you know what I mean. They only cost 50k Mira which isn't bad, normally in Crossbell I remember waiting forever to actually buy these. I have 65k on me so I buy one of them, I opt for the one that gives +100 strength and give it to Laura to make her OP. Also at this jeweler is Colette, who turns out to be the inn worker they were talking about before. That didn't take long. I genuinely don't remember her at all, and her design is completely generic. I was able to place the student in Legram to the sword club, I think, but this chick I couldn't even guess. She lets us know that Jusis is indeed in town, and that he has been overseeing the provincial army in the area. That's what I was saying before! Why do we need to worry about these army soldiers when we can just have Jusis order them to back off for us? These kids got no strategy man. Anyway, the gang then has to figure out how to actually get in tough with him, but I'm sure they'll figure that out soon. Sewer level in 3...2...1...

In the central area in town, there's an old lady who needs us to find her missing cat. Boring old bracer missions like these are the perfect contrast to the wartime atmosphere that has permeated the rest of the game. There's another quest from a nun at the chapel, who wants us to investigate why the statue in the middle of town is shedding black tears at night. That's...certainly a lot more interesting than finding a cat. At the weapon shop next door, there's another student who I don't recall at all, Theresia. Alisa seems to know her so maybe she was a lacrosse girl? She is having trouble with her dad telling her what to do, poor girl. Not much else to her though, but the gang wants to go into the waterways to investigate the water supply for this black tears on the statue thing. Not why I thought we'd be going into the sewers, but okay. You walk through and get to a boss at the end, who is some gigantic black slime thing. He's pretty tough, he has this huge AOE spell that one shots everyone that it touches, and can sometimes cast it instantly, so you don't get a chance to impede it. Whenever that happens your SOL. I was able to win on my third attempt which isn't too bad, but only after Laura and Sharon had died to that spell so no XP for them.

Luckily, the guide I'm loosely following advises you to go back to that boss after you win, since there is a black record on the ground. For those that forget, that was the weird book you could get in Celdic that has a bunch of censored text, so not much use now but I'm sure it's a missable that I'll need later. I never would've done that on my own, so shoutouts to guides. After getting back from that, I head north on some highway to find the missing kitten. You bring it back and there's a funny scene where Celine forgets him(her? I'm not sure)self and starts talking out loud to the cat's owner, and she blinks a few times and says she must be going senile. Nice. After that I wander around aimlessly until the plot finally advances, which is when you come out into the central area. The gang is out of leads on finding a way to get in contact with Jusis. We're given a message from a mysterious benefactor, telling us to meet them at the restaurant; we go there, but we're told to meet them at the airport. Not sure why Jusis is giving us this runaround, but okay.

Once you get there you board an airship and meet up with him on the third floor. You get to see him face to face for the first time, so let's talk about his design. It's pretty good! He's wearing a green smoking jacket with some standard noble frills underneath. Machias and Jusis have a touching reunion where they shit talk each other for 30 seconds, so that was reason enough to bring him along. Jusis notes that he hasn't the foggiest idea why Sharon is with us. Same, buddy. I have to imagine he'd say the same thing about Claire or Toval, but maybe not.

He goes on to say that he's been keeping tabs on us and is then the 23rd person to call Valimar the "ash-colored knight", which is definitely starting to mildly annoy me. He quickly gets to the real reason why he called us here though; he informs us that he won't be joining us on our mission. First of all, our mission up until now was to find you, so clearly you can't join us for that. We don't really have a clear goal in mind afterwards, but I suppose we'll get to that. Secondly and more importantly, as someone who has played a JRPG before I know he's going to come with us, so cut the bullshit buddy. Anyway, he apologizes for what happened in Ymir and seems very regretful, and says he would've done his best to stop it if he'd been in Bareahard when it all happened. I can definitely see how that would weigh on him and would make him want to stay at home, to at least try and keep a leash on the Duke best he can. I respect the intentions, even if they're a bit nave. The gang is upset with his decision of course, and Rean takes it upon himself once again to give a rousing speech. He basically tells Jusis point blank that he shouldn't consider it his responsibility to try and make amends to him, or feel the need to watch after this father. He then calls him a coward and not a true noble if he refuses to come with them, which is pretty great. To be honest I can see both points of view pretty equally here; Jusis could definitely do a lot of good as a man on the inside. His authority is limited compared to the all reaching powers of his father sure, but it's better than nothing. But I know he wants to hang out with his buds and assist them directly as anyone would, so I wouldn't be mad about either decision if this were a real world situation. If he had more ability to actually control things from the inside then I'd be pissed if he came with us, but in reality it seems like his authority isn't great. Anyway, like I said before it's an RPG so let's get a move on. Jusis agrees but, in a bid to keep some sort of control over the situation and not look like Rean's lapdog, he challenges Rean to a duel. It'd be pretty great if they actually let me 1v1 him, but I'd be kind of surprised.

The scene fades away to reveal someone watching their conversation from a good 50 feet away, outside of the airship. Through anime logic though, she can apparently hear everything that they're saying inside. Sure, whatever. I think it's the same girl we saw hanging out at the bar in Laura's hometown, but I'm not 100% sure. She apparently has a partner though, which the girl at the bar also did, so pretty likely. Her partner turns out to be the blue/pink haired Ouroboros member from the beginning of the game. She says he's the one with a the number, so I suppose that makes him an enforcer and her some sort of lackey. They look into the airship and say there's a familiar face inside while zooming in on Sharon, I guess telling you that these people are all Ouroboros if you weren't paying attention at all. I wonder if there's any kind of scene here if you don't have Sharon with you? Mzero, clue us in! Unless you brought Sharon too, which you probably did because who wouldn't, right? So we'll probably never know.

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