As always something that begins will eventually end. The reception ended shortly after Noel and Owari stopped dancing. They had done so for a long time, taking the chance to talk amongst themselves and enjoy one another's company without others interrupting them. When everything was done they made their way home. As night fell they entered their room. When they were about to do the usual and prepare for bed Noel looked at Owari oddly.

“What is it?” He couldn’t help but get a weird feeling from the way she looked at him.

“Don’t you know? Now that we’re married there is one last thing to do to make it official.” She smiled hungrily.

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Owari backed up a step.

Noel walked over and grabbed his collar bringing his face close to hers. “We still have to consummate the marriage.”

“I see.” Owari wasn’t sure how to react.

“You aren’t getting much sleep tonight.” Noel smiled at him sweetly.

She was right. When Owari woke up the next day it was quite late. Much later than he would usually awaken. Noel was already up. She was looking quite refreshed as she laid across Owari’s chest snuggling up to him. She still had some lingering pain, but she was far more satisfied than anything.

“So?” Owari asked as he laid under Noel.

“So what?” She asked innocently.

“When are you gonna get dressed?” Owari asked with a chuckle.

“I wasn’t planning on doing so until you were done pretending to be asleep.” Noel laughed and stood up. She quickly went to take a shower to clean up.

Owari just shook his head and waited for her to finish. When she was done they switched out and she got dressed while he cleaned up. After he got done he finally got dressed as well and they both made their way to the living room. Noel went straight to the kitchen to make breakfast. She was still somewhat sore, but she wasn’t the type to let something like that bother her. She made some eggs and the two ate comfortably as they snuggled on the couch.

They talk about what to do for a little while. “I’m taking the week off.” Noel said as they were considering things.

“That’s fair. Let’s just spend the week relaxing and doing whatever.” Owari decided it would be best not to plan ahead. They could just do whatever they wanted at any given moment.

“Alright. No need to overcomplicate things.” Noel agreed. “You know, what Lance said last night got me thinking.”

“About what?” Owari asked curiously.

“About how different things are from back then when we all first met.” She smiled as she crawled up onto Owari’s lap and stared at him up close. “I still remember those days when we wouldn’t even dare to sit next to one another in public, but look at us now.”

“I still remember when you couldn’t even stand being held by me, yet look at you now.” Owari chuckled.

“You’ve already used that one, it won’t work again.” She smiled triumphantly.

“Still we are much different. We seemed so mature back then, but really we were quite naive weren’t we?” He laughed when he thought about it.

“I was just a sheltered girl with a good education.” Noel sighed.

“And I was too simpleminded despite my education. I didn’t want to admit how important it would be to get involved with various businesses and stuff.” Owari leaned back to relax as he reminisced.

“I remember when we first met, you were quite weak back then. But you grew so rapidly you caught up to us in no time and started to overcome us. It took a lot of effort to catch up to you. You really are quite the freak.” Noel joked.

“Who’s worse, me who devotes the majority of my time to this, or you who can catch up with a fraction of the time?” Owari shot back.

“You do often say I’m more talented than you. I suppose that’s true. I can’t really refute it anymore.” Noel admitted.

“See? I’m not that much of a freak.” Owari smiled triumphantly.

“You’re still a freak. Just not as much as me. But then again I am albino with a powerful inborn affinity and a lifetime of training to become self-sufficient by one of the most powerful families on the continent.” Noel smiled.

“When you put it like that…” Owari felt much less sure of himself after that.

“See?” Noel chuckled.

Owari nodded. He looked down at her for a long moment. He was in deep thought as he considered everything they had been through. It was a long journey to this point. Two years of growth and effort all put in to reach this moment. They were now happily married, had a house, were soon to get a couple of cars, and were two of the greatest talents the world over. Owari was even making plans to overthrow an entire family with a history dozens of generations long. Nobody would blame them for growing arrogant and full of themselves. Yet they stayed humble and unassuming when they could.

Noel also looked back up at him as she considered her own things. She thought about all of the meetings and paperwork she had filled out. The countless days wasted sitting at a desk or in a meeting room talking to snobbish elitists or overly humble fools. She also thought of how the one thing she had to look forward to was seeing Owari when he finished his expeditions and would come to see her. She was glad she had originally asked him to come see her so often.

The two stared at one another for a long moment before Owari used his hand to brush through her hair. “You take good care of your hair don’t you?” He smiled as he felt the silky softness.

“Why don’t you join me next time and see how well I take care of it?” Noel smiled mischievously.

“I have a feeling there wouldn’t be much cleaning getting done.” Owari laughed.

“True enough.” Noel smiled. “I don’t say it often enough but you’re quite handsome.”

“That’s because you’re not a liar.” Owari chuckled. “I won’t say I’m ugly but I’m far from handsome.”

“No need to be modest. You’re handsome to me, and that’s all that matters isn’t it?” She looked at him with an innocent and naive smile.

“Of course.” Owari leaned down and kissed her. “You look quite cute when you do that. Too bad you can’t fool me anymore.”

“I’ll just have to learn how.” Noel pouted.

“I’m sure you’ll do it one day.” Owari kissed her on the cheek. “Let’s go out on a date. I’m in the mood for noodles tonight and I want to visit that restaurant.”

“We should tell them the good news. It’s too bad we couldn’t invite them.” Noel lamented.

“It is a shame. But if they had come they would have probably spent the whole night freaking out and trying to stay out of the way.” Owari also lamented.

“That’s true.” Noel agreed. “Let’s head out then.”

The two got dressed and made their way out and towards the city. When they arrived they began walking around casually, burning the day away doing whatever they pleased. They reminisced as they followed their normal date routine. Despite being married now there weren't really any changes that occurred. It was a very smooth transition. Owari did feel a little bad about leaving the inn he had been staying at. The lady at the desk was a professional at her job and always kept his mail secure.

Eventually they finished their date and went home. When they woke up the next morning it was business as usual. Noel went back to doing meetings and Owari did some light hunting in the forest to earn some money, doing his best not to over hunt. Soon enough the second of July arrived. As expected, it would be a shame to miss the fireworks, especially sa this is Owari’s second time experiencing it.

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The group all met up near Rebecca’s house and started to make their way around the city enjoying the festive atmosphere. They all ate food and made jokes. At some point the moon started to inch ever closer to the sun. Soon it would be time for the eclipse. As this occurred Owari spoke to Noel, speaking up so everyone could hear.

“I have a surprise.” He chuckled when he saw everyone show interest. “We have to go outside of the city.” He led them along to the outskirts of the city and followed him for about ten minutes. Just as the eclipse was occurring they reached their destination. Mirra was standing by ready to pick them up. Owari and the rest got on its root and were brought up to the platform like leaves.

“Why did we come all the way out here?” Rebecca asked.

“Look above the city.” Owari motioned to the wide-open sky. Soon the fireworks started to go off. They reach way up into the sky giving the group a wide-open view of the entire show. Everyone was obviously excited about this. If they had just been standing on the ground things might have been different. But from the platform it looked very clear.

“Wow, it’s so much better from out here.” Lance looked on with interest.

“Much better than usual. It’s also nice and quiet. No shouting.” Rebecca also seemed to be enjoying the show.

While those two were doing their own thing, Noel and Owari were also doing theirs. “So what made you think of this?” Noel asked.

Owari shrugged. “I just thought it would be nice to do something different. After all it’s a rare day when the sun loses.”

“What do you mean lose?” Erica who was off to the side asked.

“Noel doesn’t like the sun. This is the day the sun is blocked by the moon. Obviously that means the moon wins.” Owari chuckled. It was a very odd way of seeing it, but it was more fun.

“Indeed. I dislike the sun.” Noel agreed with Owari. Seeing that Erica nodded as well.

After the fireworks ended everyone got down and made their way back to town to enjoy the festivities. Owari and Noel ate a lot as usual, followed by Erica who also seemed to eat a lot more than Rebecca or Lance. When asked about it, Owari just said they burn a lot more calories.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rebecca asked in confusion.

“It means the way we train is more intense. As for myself, I’m pretty much always training.” Owari explained with a shrug.

“How can you always be training?” Lance was just as confused.

“Micromanaging my muscular movement to make use of the weaker muscles which usually only act as supports.” Owari chuckled.

“Is that even possible?” Rebecca asked in disbelief.

“If you know your body well enough.” Owari said vaguely. “Also my breathing techniques require a lot of energy and are physically taxing.”

“That sounds more realistic.” Lance nodded as if he found the real reason. Owari just shrugged.

“As for myself, I infuse my body with kinetic energy to burn away energy and work my muscles.” Noel gave her reasoning.

When the two looked at Erica she fidgeted a bit nervously. “I’m the same as teacher.” She said shyly, causing Noel to hug her and gush over her.

“You two should figure out a method of working your bodies better or you’ll fall behind again.” Owari laughed.

“I’ll try my best.” Lance said with a forced smile.

“No promises.” Rebecca said noncommittally.

The five continued along like this until the festivities ended and everyone went back home. Well almost everyone, Noel dragged Erica back home to stay over the night to show off her new house. She also wanted to talk to her and just hang out in general. It might be easy to forget, but Erica was only a few years younger than Noel. She was even close to becoming an adult. She would turn 16 later that year. Her birthday is the day before the culture festival.

“We should catch her a tamed beast.” Noel said to Owari as they made their way home.

“What kind?” Owari didn’t refuse. It was his job as a teacher after all.

“Obviously it has to have a water affinity. Should we stop by that lake Lance got his cloudfish from?” Noel asked.

“How about I do some digging around deeper in the forest and see what I can find on my hunts and hold it for her? After all that lake is private property and while we could get in if we wanted, it’s best if we don’t abuse our authority like that.” Owari recommended.

“Good point.” Noel nodded.

Erica sat off to the side awkwardly as she wasn’t sure if she should be grateful or refuse. In the end she chose to stay silent and do neither. Soon enough they were home and Noel showed Erica the rather ordinary guest room she would be staying in. It was still very nice but it had the bare minimum. After that Noel went around showing off the whole house except for the master bedroom. For some reason she purposefully avoided it as if there was some massive secret in there.

Once the day came to an end the next day would obviously come in short order. After having confirmed that they liked the house, Noel and Owari began moving their tamed beasts over. They bought a ton of feed for them as well for keeping them well fed since they no longer had people to look after that. They decided once they had the guest house done for Morgana to build another place so they could hire some people to tend to their beasts while they were gone. For now Morgana gladly offered to keep the beasts fed. Owari and Noel raised her pay quite a bit considering this wasn’t part of her normal duties. She didn’t dare refuse. It wasn’t her place to question their decisions as their maid. Whether she felt she deserved it was irrelevant.

After that was done life fell into a routine again. This time however Owari had a new routine. He would fly with Draco deep into the woods to hunt. Draco could move rapidly unimpeded by the forest and all its trappings. It was also very fast, using its force affinity to propel it forward at Mach speed. As he explored he mapped out large swaths of lands and kept an eye on the ecology of the area. He would occasionally land and do surveys.

Like this he made some extra pocket money on top of what he got from hunting. Even once the culture festival neared he still had yet to find a mid platinum. He found one low platinum and sold it’s materials for a decent amount, but that was it. These woods were too diverse and balanced to give rise to truly powerful beasts without overextending into their territory. He didn’t want to go too far from home, especially since on occasion Noel would come with him and she had other responsibilities to attend to.

When the festival came around it was also time for Erica’s birthday. They decided not to have a party for her though. It wasn’t really her style to do so, nor was it Noel or Owari’s and Rebecca or Lance wouldn’t think of doing it as they weren’t even really aware of when her birthday was. Because of that Noel resolved to buy Erica the most delicious meals the day of the celebration.

When the day came everyone gathered together to hang out for the beginning. They went around eating and talking. “You know I got a promotion.” Lance brought up.

“Is that so? It was about time.” Owari chuckled.

“Yeah, now I’m a regional manager instead of a branch manager. I decided to take the job since it would allow me to stick to the area. Any higher and I have to move away.” Lance was actually offered a level above that but he turned it down for now.

“So you’re being held back by sentimentality?” Noel asked curiously.

“I just prefer it here.” Lance shrugged. “It’s familiar and so are the people. For now that’s all I need. I’m still young. Maybe when I have a family to look after I will accept a higher position.”

“Speaking of which, how has that been going?” Rebecca asked offhandedly.

“Still nothing.” Lance said helplessly.

“I see.” Rebecca nodded as if she expected it.

“What’s that look supposed to mean?” Lance asked in confusion.

Owari and Noel looked at one another and sneakily ran off with Erica leaving those two alone. They wanted no part of the quarrel that would follow and it was getting about time to split up. The three of them quickly built up a reputation for being big eaters and by the time they were a quarter of the way through the stalls, everyone knew who they were. Rumors always travel faster than feet as they say.

As the festival drew to a close Noel and Owari met back up with Lance and Rebecca. However they were given a slight surprise when they saw Rebecca dragging Lance around with a big smile on her face. When she saw Owari and Noel she smiled widely. She dragged an awkward Lance along towards them.

“I finally caught him.” She announced proudly.

“What is he, a fish?” Owari asked with amusement.

“Yes, and now he’s my fish.” Rebecca pulled him closer.

“So how did that happen?” Noel asked curiously.

“I finally decided to be direct and told him how I feel.” Rebecca answered. “The subtle approach was having the opposite effect.”

“Well good for you.” Owari patted Lance on the shoulder.

“I’m not sure what’s good about it. I just accepted in the heat of the moment. She’s been dragging me around the city ever since.” Lance smiled forcefully.

“I finally got the chance to do so without you fighting me tooth and nail. Of course I would want to walk with you.” Rebecca said with mock offense.

“Yeah, but I always fought you before because you were just being flirty. That really isn’t my type.” Lance said honestly.

“I was only flirty with you genius.” Rebecca laughed at him.

“Well I know that now.” Lance shrugged helplessly.

“I tried to tell you.” Noel jumped in.

“When?” Lance was confused.

“When she told you that Rebecca doesn’t have many options for dating. She told you twice actually.” Owari answered.

“Well I just thought you were exaggerating.” Lance defended himself.

“Just accept defeat here. You messed up.” Owari laughed. “Just be happy things didn’t turn out awkward due to the building tension.” Owari and Noel both knew about the increasing tension between the two. Rebecca constantly tried to throw herself at Lance only for him to turn her down thinking she was just messing with him.

“Not like I have a choice.” Lance shrugged. “It would be rather uncool of me to pretend I was right.”

“Of course it would.” Rebecca was in a rather good mood so she didn’t make fun of him.

The group talked about how their days went after splitting up and soon enough the day was coming to a close. Each of them went home, with the exception of Erica who Noel somehow coerced into coming over to their home again. Something she had done a few times already. Owari just shook his head. Whenever she came over Owari would give her some tips so it wasn’t all bad.

After that everyone fell into routine once again. That was until late November came around. Owari had found what he was looking for, a mid platinum to fight against. So far he had only found three low platinums and while they weren’t easy to defeat, there was little risk involved, not to mention he gave one to Draco. Owari looked at his target from the air. It was a rabbit the size of a dog. It was quite small, but it was fast as lightning. Owari had to leave Draco behind and chase it on foot using dark speed step. It took three steps to reach it.

When he reached it Owari pulled his sword out and swung using dark steel fang, he wasn’t giving it any chances. Now that he was closer he identified it as a flash rabbit. They have both the light affinity and steel affinity. The rabbit flashed white and dodged forward away from Owari, only to find him right behind it still. It had been too late and Owari was going light speed. He only had to slow down his swing a split second to hit it.

Suddenly a metallic barrier of mana sprung between Owari’s sword and the rabbit. A screeching sound was heard like metal scratching metal as the rabbit went flying as the barrier was split. The rabbit wasn’t unscathed as it had a small wound a few centimeters deep in its leg. However Owari looked at his sword finding the blade had dulled a lot. That barrier was clearly powerful. It was definitely deserving of being mid platinum to ruin a sword Owari was using. It was rare for his swords to wear out. He threw that one to the side and unsheathed another. He always carried three.

The one to attack this time was the rabbit. It launched itself at Owari at light speed. Its body was encased in the metal barrier turning itself into a spear to pierce Owari. However Owari jumped aside and dodged it, only for the rabbit to land on the ground and shoot off towards a tree using a triangle maneuver to redirect itself at Owari again.

Owari sidestepped again as the rabbit pierced through his previous location. The rabbit did this three more times before learning and canceling this technique. The rabbit realized it would have to go about this differently and suddenly its fur turned silvery as it shot at Owari. Its fur grew long and sharp and took up a wide space trying to cut Owari off from dodging. Owari realized this and used earth breaker to clash with the rabbit. The two forces canceled one another out and sent the rabbit reeling back. Owari however was obviously fine and he rushed forward. He used dark steel fang to attack again only for the metal barrier to pop up again. The rabbit learned its lesson last time and sidestepped the attack, not trusting its barrier to hold.

Owari split the barrier and cut into the ground, but missed the rabbit. It was definitely a defensive type beast. Attacking was its weak point, but it seemed enraged that someone would challenge it and it wasn’t planning on running. It used a triangle maneuver to get behind Owari and attack him. However Owari was used to lightspeed and it would be impossible to escape his detection just because you were fast.

He turned and used dark steel wing one more time to intercept the rabbit. His blade collided with the barrier it surround itself with and sent the rabbit flying, but didn’t cut it. His sword was too dull to do so. He threw the ruined blade to the ground. He didn’t pull out his third sword. Instead he activated his latest spirit art that he got from his metal affinity. Metal mana flowed from his hand and took the form of a blade. At first the mana started to disperse threatening to drain him of mana as it was active, but Owari used his phantom affinity art to surround the mana formed blade with phantom mana to hold it together like glue. This gave him a blade made of pure mana. With this he wouldn’t have to worry about his blade dulling anymore.