A/N: Welcome to my latest work! This story will be a bit different in the fact that it will be a multi-chapter epic rather than just a one-shot. Because we honestly do need more stories in these categories. My one and only hope is that I can do these characters justice. With that said, please enjoy.

Fortune Summoners: Journey of the Elementals

By: Snidne

Fortune Summoners © Lizsoft

Recettear, Chantelise © EasyGameStation

Standard Disclaimer:

All characters are copyrighted to their respective owners and do not in any way, shape, or form reflects the nature of said owners (Unless, of course, they actually do).

This story is a work of fiction and is not meant to resemble any person, place, or situation outside of sheer coincidence.

Due to the nature of this story, it is intent for Mature Audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

You have been warned.

We now present you our Feature Presentation with no commercial interruptions. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: The Wandering Demon

Arche Plumfield was having a rather pleasant day if one asked her. She had actually managed not fall asleep in math class, was able to answer a question in history and was currently watching her two friends Sana and Stella practicing their magic against one another. Sana seemed reluctant to even try against Stella, who had no reservations in kind.

Roughly one week ago, her school had been attacked by the one who had been known throughout the land as the 'Dark Witch Selene' a mysterious being capable of powerful magicks. She had been on the hunt for rare and powerful elemental stones, the purpose of which was still unknown. Dragging the school into another dimension known as the Dark World had turned the students and teachers alike into stone and it was only thanks to the efforts of Arche and her friends that they had been saved, even though the Dark Witch had managed to escape.

"Come ON! I expect some kind of challenge after everything we went through!" The one yelling was Stella, heir to the Mayberk fortune and company. She was dressed in a fancy dress, her blonde hair done up in pigtails and held in place by ribbons. On her wrist was a bracelet, embedded in which her elemental stone known as Royal Scarlet, an ancient stone with ties to the great Minasa-Ratis herself.

"I'm not really sure about this though," came the rather timid reply of Sana, wearing a blue smock and matching beret. Her elemental stone, called Eolamest, was attached to her staff, as she clutched it to her chest. She had a look of worry on her face.

"Don't be ridiculous," Stella said, giving a small 'tut'. "We can always use the practice, and how else can Arche learn if she doesn't get to witness this?"

"Come on Sana, you can do it," Arche said encouragingly. "I can't really practice you know. I really wish I could though."

"Foo, its ok Arche!" The cheerful voice came from the white-furred creature currently resting on her head, dressed in a festive-looking hat and vest. It had large ears and a long tail that seemed to dance in the wind. Which made sense as the creature was known as the Wind Elemental Chiffon, Arche's partner who was once sealed within her elemental stone known as Silpheed. Chiffon could not remember much of his past, despite the fact that the seal that had been placed on the elemental stone had been lifted for some time. But his new friends were patient with him, assuring that they would be there for if and when his memories returned.

"Yes, yes. What Arche said," Stella said impatiently. "Come now, we won't get any stronger if you don't practice! Now, once more!"

"Eep!"

Mr. Plumfield was having a rather normal day. Running an item shop was harder work than what most people might imagine, but it had its charm all the same. The sun was slowly starting to set, and most people in Tonkiness had already finished shopping for the day. He expected his daughter was coming home soon, so it seemed a good time to close up shop. As he was about to close the register for the day, the bell on the door rung as a person entered.

The person was rather unique in appearance, if one could put it politely. It was clearly a man, with dark tanned skin and coal-colored hair. He wore a dark cape with a high collar and red trims, covering a maroon and grey colored shirt and dark pants. He wore square specs over his blood-colored eyes. But easily his most noticeable features were the pointed ears and metal claw-like gauntlets that were clearly his weapons of choice.

Still, despite his appearance, he couldn't just turn him away. "Good evening. Welcome to our humble shop. Can I get you anything?"

"Yes," he said in a deep, smooth voice. "I just need some herbs. About a dozen batches, the best you have." He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a handful of gold coins and placed them on the counter. Mr. Plumfield looked at the amount in wide-eyed wonder.

"This… seems a bit much just for some herbs," he said, though he reached for several bundles of them all the same.

"Yes well… I'm used to a different form of currency than the local kind. I've traveled a long way so I'd like to get some rest soon. Just keep it all."

"No, no, I couldn't do that," he said, taking only what was needed and pushing the rest back to the mysterious traveler. The man looked at the pile of coins and back to the shopkeeper. He couldn't help but feel like the traveler was judging him for something. But without a word, he took the herbs and coins and placed them into his pack.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Both men turned to see the young girl Arche walking through the door, along with her friend Stella.

"Pardon the intrusion," Stella said. "Good evening Mr. Plumfield."

"Ah, welcome home Arche. Good evening Stella. What can I do for you?"

"Dad, dad, Stella invited me over to her house tomorrow! Can I go, please, please, please?"

"Plwease," Chiffon added cutely.

"Haha, ok, ok. I'm sure your mother won't mind so it's fine. Make sure you behave yourself, ok?"

"Of course!"

"Well, that settles that," Stella said. "By the way, who are you? And do I have something on my face?" It was then that Arche realized that the man before them had been staring at them during the entire exchange. Chiffon nervously hid behind Arche as he watched the stranger.

"Hpmh. As if I have time to waste on people like you. Thank you for the items." With that, the man walked out the door without a backwards glance.

"Wha-? How dare he! What a rude person," Stella exclaimed, offended by the man's attitude. Never before had she been so glaringly and blatantly disrespected.

"Calm down Stella, I'm sure he didn't mean it," Arche said trying to pacify her friend. "Who was that dad?"

"Oh just a traveler. His appearance would suggest that much."

"Well, in any case, I should be getting back to the manor. I can't have Rowen getting worried about me. I shall be here tomorrow meet with you and Sana, so be ready. That means no sleeping in, got that?"

"No problem!"

"Yup! I'll wake up Arche myself!"

"Chiffon!"

After the exchange, Stella left the shop to which she immediately frowned and started thinking. That man from before was strange, and not in the good way. He definitely seemed like the type that would be up to something.

Unknown to them, though, the man was also thinking about their encounter as he rented a room at the local inn. That was definitely an Elemental, he thought to himself as he rested in bed. More importantly, he realized one that wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It was only a secondary goal, considering that he didn't expect to find one way out in this middle of nowhere town such as this. He was here for an entirely different reason after all, but he wouldn't question his luck all the same. Still…

Knowing his own, as some would put it, lack of delicacy in these situations, things would likely escalate quickly. While he was getting better with interacting with others, he still couldn't fully trust many people. And he knew that he couldn't let that girl, whom the Elemental seemed attached to, get in his way. If worse came to worse he would have to fight. He gave a deep sigh. He doubted she would ever find out, but he hoped all the same that Recette would forgive him…

Arche hummed to herself as she set her headband on. She was dressed in her usual clothes and strapped her sword to her back as always. She never went anywhere without it. What good was a magical swordswoman without her sword? "Morning Chiffon! Are you ready to go?"

"Good morning Arche! Foo, let's go!"

Rushing downstairs and with a quick goodbye to her parents, Arche headed to the town square to meet with her friends. She was excited to see Stella and Sana waiting for her in front of the inn, apparently talking about something. "Hey guys! This is so exciting! So are we gonna head to Stella's house right away? Cause I was thinking we could-."

"Arche for the love of all things holy can you not ramble," Stella interjected. "And we do have a plan. We're going to school."

"Wha-! But I thought we had today off…"

"We do. But um… Stella said that she saw something kind of shady…"

"Yes. Arche, do you remember that horribly rude person from yesterday?" Arche tried to think back to yesterday, but was drawing a blank. After a few minutes passed, Stella yelled out, "From your shop! The man there!"

"Oh, you mean that traveler guy?" Stella resisted the urge to slap her hand over her face. Sometimes she was really frustrated on how dense her classmate could be at times. "What about him?"

"Stella said that she saw him head to the school this morning," Sana explained.

"Right and that just screams suspiciousness!"

"But isn't our school supposed to be kinda famous or something? Maybe he just wants to see the sights?"

"Think about it," Stella said, frustration creeping into her voice. "Not that long ago that Dark Witch showed up and now some suspicious foreigner is heading to the school on a day no one is supposed to be there. We must investigate," she finished with zeal.

"Muu… well I don't really get it, but it sounds like a fun adventure! I'm in!"

With that, the three turned to the path leading to Minasa-Ratis. The path was normally littered with minor monsters, mostly slimes that could easily be outrun by the students and even defeated with some minor effort. Arche and her friends were able to bypass them all easily, making haste towards their school.

Once they reached it, Arche and Stella recognized the man from the item shop looking over the entrance to the school, studying it but not entering. The three of them quickly hid behind some trees to try figure out what he was doing here. Soon enough the man began to talk to himself. "I see… so I was right. Even though it's been awhile, there are definitely traces of dimensional nexus magic being used. And this signature… it's definitely hers. Just what in the world was Selene doing?"

"I knew it," Stella said keeping her voice down. "He's definitely up to something."

"He mentioned this Selene though. Who's that," Arche questioned.

"That's the Dark Witch," Stella said trying to keep from yelling.

"But... but why would this person know her," Sana asked.

"Shhh… keep quiet."

The man gave a sigh. "Damn… well, there is nothing left here. No way to reaching her now. Well, not that it matters in the end. For now though…" The man turned around and shouted out, "You three can come out now! I know your there!"

"Wha-? How did he?"

"Looks like there is no use hiding it anymore," Stella said, as they made themselves visible. "Alright, who are you? And why are you here?"

"Hmph. Who I am, and my business, are none of your concern." He recognized the two girls from the shop yesterday but the third one was a new face. "However, this does lead me to a pressing matter at hand." He pointed to Arche. "Surrender the Elemental to me."

"What? Why do you want Chiffon," Sana asked surprised as the young Wind Elemental hid behind Arche.

"That is none of your concern. If you let me have him, I promise no harm shall come to him or you."

"Arche… I'm scared. Something about him fweels… wrong."

"Chiffon…" Arche steeled her resolved and drew her weapon. "Hey! Leave Chiffon alone!"

"If you want an Elemental so badly go and find one yourself," Stella added, raising her dagger and preparing her magic. Sana held up her staff as well.

"I'd rather this not end in violence. But don't think I'm not above it!" With that, he charged forwards, extending his claws to strike. The three were surprised at his speed, but Stella reacted first.

"Fire Wall!" A wall of flames appeared between Arche and the man, though to the three's surprise, he was able to stop himself and put back some distance between them. Arche pressed forwards, passing through her ally's flames unharmed with a fierce battle cry as she attacked with her sword. The man was able to parry the strikes almost effortlessly. "Chaser!" Arche pulled back just as four fireballs emerged heading straight for the man.

"Hmph." Drawing upon his own magic, he quickly summoned four, one-eyed bat-like creatures who each took a single fireball before being defeated, protecting their master. "Pesky annoyance. Dark Swarm!" He raised his hand to them and immediately a swarm of shadowy bats launched out at them. Sana quickly took to the front.

"Shield!" A transparent barrier surrounded her as the bats collided with it, dispersing afterwards. The blow was weakened, but it still managed to take a lot out of her and the shield was down at the end. "He's… strong!"

"I know. Arche, distract him! I have an idea!"

"Got it!" The swords girl charged, but this time the man was ready to meet her halfway. Both struck, with Arche using every last bit of her strength to parry the blows that came her way. Throughout the exchange though, she couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Having gone on many adventures and learning the way of the sword, Arche was able to feel certain things about fighting her opponents. And while this was clearly an opponent that would take everything she had to beat, she couldn't help but feel there was something off about him.

Instinct and synchronized movements through their many adventures together was what pushed Arche away, as Stella had finished preparing, managing to get close. "Eat this! Explosion!" The man looked surprised, letting out a startled cry of pain as his body was engulfed by the blast of Fire Magic. The blast had singed some of his clothes, arms crossed over his face as he glared at the two. But before he could say or do anything, a torrent of water came rushing at him, knocking him back and off his feet.

"Alright! Nice work Sana," Arche praised. The young water mage smiled, clearly embarrassed. "Did we get him?"

"I think so. Alright, see here," Stella exclaimed, "You're going to talk about what you know of the Dark Witch. Unless of course, you still need more persuading. To which my sword-happy friend here will oblige."

The man said nothing, simply still lying on his back. "Uh, Stella, I think we might have hit him too hard," Arche said.

"I must retract my earlier observations." The three looked surprised to see the man casually getting up, brushing dust off his clothes. "Congratulations, the three of you have succeeded in angering me." He focused for a moment before letting out a fierce cry, dark energies swirling around him. Even from a distance, the power spike was enough to push the three girls back slightly.

"What power! This isn't normal at all!"

"It seems like I can no longer hold back. Fret not though, I won't kill you." He dashed forwards, even faster than before, and instinct had Arche bring her sword up to defend mere seconds before impact. It wasn't nearly enough though, as she was sent flying back, her sword knocked from her grip as she let out a cry of pain.

"Arche!" The man gave no quarter, directing his gaze to Sana. "Shield!" The man raised his hand and several bursts of fire shot out, destroying her shield and striking her back. Stella could only look in shock. She stepped back fearfully, trying to focus her magic. But the terror that the man was inspiring right now made it impossible to concentrate.

"You asked for my name, didn't you?" He rose up his claw, his entire body still pulsing with dark energies. "I am the Half-Demon Griff. Remember it… and tremble."

He brought his claw down.