Chard

Master Chard (ルーブー・ソラキュー, Rūbū Sorakyū, Leub Çaoracu) is the masked leader of the Astro Pirates in Magical Starsign, and is also a user of the Dark element.

Personality
Chard is very arrogant and uses strange similes to belittle his foes. The only person he does not talk down to is his superior, Master Kale.

Appearance
Chard has curly white hair with pink tips, and the rest of his head is mostly obscured by a mask. This mask is oddly bird-shaped with a red beak, colorful sphere-shaped lenses, four symmetrical tusks, blue eyelash pieces, several yellow arrows, and five triangular parts around the base. The only distinguishable part of Chard's face is his fair-skinned jaw and pink lips.

For clothing, he wears a green sleeveless vest with a big collar and yellow fabric lined around every opening. His torso consists of a purple shirt wrapped in red cloth which loops over his shoulders, and a second purple cloth is tied over his abdomen. Below the purple cloth is eight long strips of green fabric made from the same material as his vest. The fabric strips are topped with purple triangles, and below his abdomen is a yellow straw-like covering. His pants are purple like his shirt, and he wears green boots with red frills on the insteps. Finally, he is equipped with green gloves that have red cuffs.

Frozen Cassia
Chard is introduced shortly after the protagonist and Lassi sail Neumann through the frigid waters of Cassia, as he and a handful of pirate otters operate a strange machine within a cave glazed in ice. Another otter runs in to alert his master of the magic rocket's arrival, assuming it may cause trouble for them. The masked wizard asks if it is a Space Police rocket, but the otter tells him that it does not look like one of their units. Believing the rocket may just be carrying mere tourists, Chard turns back to the machine as the students of Will-o'-Wisp exit Neumann, struggling to stay warm on the Water Planet's bitter cold surface.

When the kids arrive in the town of Pescato, most of the residents seem to blame the abrupt drop in temperature on a shelled dog named Hermit Lab, who apparently works with an ice monster in Lover's Cove. They continuously ask Detective Beignet to deal with Hermit Lab, but the Space Policeman says his responsibility is dealing with monsters on Mandarin Beach. The protagonist and Lassi go to investigate the supposed ice monster, hoping it may bring them one step closer to repairing Mokka, whose head was stolen to power a heat generator. This is because the owner of the generator could not find the key to unlock his toolbox, which contains a battery for it. Luckily, the pair of students find out that the ice monster is really a tree veiled in thick fog.

The Hermit Lab drops the toolbox key, and the otter who took Mokka's head gives it back. The kids return to the headless body of Mokka and put him back together, successfully bringing their mechanical friend back to life. They introduce him to the Neumann ship, but the ancient robot finds out it lacks a proper navicontrol system, meaning space travel will be significantly harder. Lassi recalls seeing dwarven engineers in Pescato, believing they may be able to help upgrade the ship so it can fly straight to Puffoon.

Outside of the port town, the trio of students cross paths with Caldarroste, who reveals that the Astro Pirates are why Cassia is frozen over. According to the shady otter, the pirates constructed a freezing machine in the depths of Dragon God Cave, and destroying it may restore Cassia to its liquid state.

The entrance to Dragon God Cave is sealed shut with ice; however, Mokka is able to shake it open with his Earth Wild Magic. The students enter and fend off against hordes of pirate otters in Great Dragon Road, eventually arriving in the chamber where Chard and his freezing machine are located. When they see him perched atop the machine, he claims to sense great magical energy within them before dramatically leaping into battle.

Once Chard is defeated, Caldarroste proudly enters the scene and asks if he can join the pirates' ranks, as he tricked the kids into infiltrating Dragon God Cave back in Pescato. Before the masked wizard can utter a word, he collapses from a sharp pain in his chest. It turns out that before the students arrived, Chard clashed with Madeleine in a magic duel and lost. He commands the otters to flee the cave, leaving Caldarroste with the protagonist, Mokka, and Lassi.

Suddenly, the freezing machine begins to blow dangerous amounts of snow, so Mokka steps in and furiously rams himself into it after typing several incorrect passwords. A remote control falls onto the ground, and the ancient robot accidentally breaks it, causing the freezing machine to break down. Every jet on the planet that was installed by the Astro Pirates is rid of ice, and Cassia's waters are liquid once more. The protagonist, Mokka, and Lassi are found washed up on Mandarin Beach, to which Beignet flies in and brings them to Pescato.

Search for the sacred water
Later on Gren, the party confronts more of Chard's Astro Pirates in Assam, this time with Chai and Pico on the team. Just as the otters and Lord Persimmon are about to fly off with Semolina (disguised as Farina), Sorbet jumps on board and joins them on a one-way flight to Razen. Unfortunately, Neumann is not equipped to enter the Fire Planet's scorching atmosphere, meaning the group must find a way to pass through it without burning the ship. They fly over to Cassia and ask a nearby dwarf if he can make Neumann resistant to fire, to which he answers by saying they need aquarino. This special water will always stay liquid regardless of temperature, and if it were applied to Neumann, they could fly through Razen's atmosphere.

The students are told that the aquarino is somewhere in Pescato, but all entrances to the town are blocked off by Space Police. Beignet, unaware of why the troops are suddenly so strict, lets the kids through and talks with them in a house. According to him, the pirates have migrated to the rock gate of Nata de Coco and should be investigated. Detective Beignet distracts the other Space Police while the students deal with the otters at Nata de Coco.

Arriving at the rock gate, the group finds a trio of otters slashing at thick strands of seaweed blocking the cave's entrance. Chard is there too, once again making a grand entrance by jumping down, then tells his enemies of how Kale predicted they would also be after the aquarino. He challenges them to battle once again, though he is still not strong enough to defeat Will-o'-Wisp's students.

After fighting the masked wizard for a second time, Beignet returns with a few Space Police troops. One of them suspiciously calls him "Master Chard", which the others play off by also referring to him as such. He is taken away by an armored cruiser and everyone else leaves, allowing Pico to burn the seaweed blocking Nata de Coco's entrance. The kids finally get a hold of the legendary aquarino, beginning the next step of their quest to find Madeleine and Sorbet.

Chard's devotion
The final encounter with Chard takes place on Shadra, where he and Caldarroste wait for the kids in front of Chromagar Cave’s entrance. Chard introduces himself yet again as the Pirate King and Kale’s second-in-command, burning with power through his magical alignment with the Dark Planet. He challenges the six students to one last duel, but like the two previous times, he does not win.

Chard collapses to the ground, proclaiming his loyalty to Master Kale and his goals, then tells the kids how Kale’s predictions are all coming true; their arrival, his defeat, and the imminent intervention of General Knucklestorm. Before Knucklestorm flies in, Chard ends his own life by blowing himself up, nearly knocking the group and Caldarroste unconscious.

Battle
The party fights Chard on three separate occasions.

First time
The first fight with Chard takes place in the freezer room of Great Dragon Road. In this battle, he takes advantage of an icicle that continuously forms above the party's side of the field, which he targets with Finger Point. Chard will then use Icicle Fall, causing it to land on every party member. He also casts Celestial Swap to try and perfectly align the planets, activating Orbit End if successful.

Second time
Chard is battled at the Nata de Coco Door, assisted by three pirate otters with swords. Strangely, when using Shadow Die, it only hits one party member when he is clearly standing in the back row.

Third time
Chard is fought for the final time outside of Chromagar Cave.

Name origin
Chard comes from Swiss Chard, which is a leafy plant with pink veins.

His Japanese name, Leub Çaoracu (ルーブー・ソラキュー, Rūbū Sorakyū), is the altered spelling of "blue curaçao" (ブルーキュラソー, Burū Kyurasō). Curaçao is a sweet liqueur flavored with orange peel, originating from the Netherlandic island of Curaçao.

In other languages
His French name, Cassoulet, is a casserole made with pork and white beans.

His German name, Nougat, is a chewy confection prepared with honey, roasted nuts, whipped egg whites, and candied fruit,.MS undefined