“Why are you running? We just wanted to party.” The man in the center said seriously. Owari could feel hostility coming from all of the men, and his aura reading had improved enough to sense fear from the young lady. To be fair this should have told him everything he needed to know to act. But for all he knew she antagonized them first.

“I told you. I don’t party with men.” The young lady said defiantly despite her situation.

“Why not? It isn’t like we bite?” Another man said from the side with a laugh. Owari was barely able to tell, but they were definitely acting. They looked like common enough people, not too well kept or too sleazy. They looked ordinary in every way.

“Well not yet.” Laughed another one, trying to play it off as a joke. Owari could see that it wasn’t. They were clearly predators, and not for magical beasts. He smiled lightly. It had been a while since he killed someone.

“I don’t want to party with you so let me go.” She continued to be defiant. However the three beasts near the men closed in on her. It was a pack of three wolves with silver fur. They all snarled at her.

“Since you aren’t being cooperative we have no choice. Clearly you’re a criminal of some sort to be running from someone out here. Did we catch you in the act of hiding the body?” The lead man said ‘righteously’.

Owari suddenly disappeared from his perch on a tree and appeared between the girl and the wolves. “Hello there.” He smiled calmly. His sudden appearance shocked everyone.

“Who are you?” The lead man said guardedly.

“None of your business. Leave now. The girl obviously doesn’t like you.” Owari maintained his smile which left the lead man wary.

“Boss, what do we do?” One of the men asked.

The boss seemed to think for a little bit. “We’re not leaving without the girl.” He stated firmly.

“Why?” Owari asked casually.

“None of your business.” The man threw back at him.

“Did you know it’s illegal to kidnap people? Now leave, I won’t ask a third time.” Owari starred the man down.

“What are you gonna do if we don’t wanna leave?” One of the men asked.

“Until you try to take her I won’t do anything, even if I have to stand here for days.” Owari shrugged.

“Forget it, let’s just drop the act boss. This guy’s a pain.” One of the men pulled out his sword.

“Fine.” The boss sighed and went to pull out a hand axe from his belt. However he caught a glimpse of a smile on Owari’s face and froze. Suddenly everyone present felt like they were thrown into a bog. Nobody understood what was happening except the boss who was a mid gold hunter. “We…” He didn’t get out his sentence before his subordinates head went flying. It was the one who pulled out his sword.

“What’s that? Something to say?” Owari stood in place, not seeming to have moved. In truth he had flashed over with dark speed step and all the way back after slashing faster than they could perceive.

“Murder is illegal you know.” He said with a smile filled with false bravado.

“Looks like I have to kill everyone here to make sure nobody turns me in then.” Owari quit wasting words and an instant later the remaining men lost their heads. Their beasts panicked but dared not move under Owari’s mid platinum rank presence. He turned to look at the girl who was shaking. Owari reigned in his aura. “Hey there.”

“H- hi.” She stuttered.

“They weren’t just looking to party.” Owari stated simply.

“Of course not. All men are the same.” She spat.

“What about me?” Owari asked her curiously.

“You only saved me to have me to yourself.” She looked at him as if she was a cornered rat.

“I’m not interested. I have a wife at home for company.” Owari waved it off. “Speaking of which I’m off now. Beat it.” He shooed the wolves away which scattered into the woods.

“You’re married?” The girl suddenly asked.

Owari raised his left hand. “Duh, why else would I wear this?”

“But you’re so young.” She was shocked.

“Some people just happen to meet their partner young and get married. Not everyone gets married in their thirties.” Owari laughed.

“That’s fair.” She nodded, her parents had her when they were young after all.

“Alright, well see ya.” Owari waved and prepared to leave.

“Wait! Can you help me get home?” She asked awkwardly.

“Why? So you can accuse me of more things?” Owari chuckled.

“No, I’m afraid to go alone.” She answered meekly.

“Fine. But we have to wait for my beast to arrive.” Owari sighed. He didn’t want to babysit but he had to take responsibility for his actions. “You stay at Leviathan city right?”

“Of course.” She nodded.

“Alright, that’s about nine hours from here if you run without stopping.” Owari calculated.

“I can’t run without stopping, are you crazy?” She looked at him wide-eyed.

“Am I supposed to take a few day long journey with you? You know what nevermind, we’ll stop by my house and use my car.” Owari sighed.

“Stop by your house? Wouldn’t we have to go all the way to the city anyway?” She asked in confusion.

“I don’t live in the city, now let’s go.” Owari stood up and a moment later Feng walked out from nearby, frightening the girl.

“What’s that?” She asked with some fear, her tiger was warning her that it was powerful.

“My tamed beast Feng. Feng, meet random girl. Random girl, meet Feng.” Owari then turned and started to walk away.

“I have a name.” She huffed.

“Yeah well I don’t know it nor do I care to know it.” Owari sighed.

“Shouldn’t you at least ask for my name?” She thought that Owari had saved her for a reason but it seemed like he didn’t care about her anymore.

“Why? We won’t ever meet again anyway.” Owari shrugged.

“Well I’ll tell you anyway. My name is Erastil Luna.” She said proudly.

“Okay?” Owari replied back unimpressed.

“Don’t you know who the Luna family is?” She was shocked.

“Of course. What does that change?” Owari continued to walk unbothered.

“My family will reward you for bringing me back.” She said confidently.

“Sure.” Owari waved as if shooing a fly.

The conversation continued like this all the way until Owari reached his house, she would say something to brag and he would ignore it for the most part. He did however find out that her tiger has the bloodline of a white tiger so if it was trained right it would keep its mutant metal affinity and be able to evolve into a white tiger making it even stronger.

When he got home he told her to wait outside and went in. She seemed entirely unimpressed despite the fact that Owari had such a large house and two guest houses out in the middle of the wilderness. Owari went in and found Noel on the couch thankfully. “Thank goodness you’re here.” He sighed.

“You look exhausted, what happened?” Noel smiled as she saw Owari so worn out.

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“I saved this random girl in the woods and she turned out to be a talker.” Owari stretched as he walked over to the kitchen to grab the car keys. They had two cars now including Noel’s family car, obviously he wasn’t taking that one.

“A girl? Who?” Noel was more curious than anything. She crawled across the couch and propped her head up on her arms.

“Some girl from the Luna family. She asked me to help her get home and hasn’t stopped bragging since I met her.” Owari shook the keys. “Wanna come with me?”

“Hm…” Noel thought about it.

“Please.” He pleaded.

“Very well, I shall get dressed.” She stood up and walked over to their room. Before she went up the stairs however she looked over at Owari. “I changed my mind. You help me get dressed.

“What are you a child?” Owari chuckled and followed after her anyway.

“I’m often told I look like one.” Noel smiled mischievously.

“Let’s just hurry before she tries to break in.” Owari rushed her up the stairs.

“No fun, I wanted to pick on you.” Noel pouted.

“I know, that’s why I’m rushing you.” Soon enough he managed to get her into her clothes and the two exited the house to see the girl on the steps looking bored.

She turned when she heard the door and shook her head in disapproval “What took so lon-” She stopped mid-sentence as she saw Noel. She blinked a few times in surprise. “Who is this?”

“I’m his wife. My name is Noel Silverblood, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled and bowed gracefully.

“Silverblood? Wait, Noel? I recognize that name from somewhere…” She seemed lost in thought.

“Are we going?” Owari shook the keys and he and Noel made their way to the car. It was rather ordinary, they didn’t splurge and bought a standard-issue car that was marked down due to being a previous model.

“Wait!” She suddenly shouted, getting both Owari and Noel’s attention. “If you’re Noel that makes you Owari!”

“You didn’t tell her your name?” Noel asked, surprised.

“She talked so much I forgot to say it.” Owari shrugged.

“Can I have your autograph?” She asked both of them with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Why?” Owari was surprised.

“Don’t you know?” She asked with some confusion. “You two are famous among hunters. Especially younger ones like me. You’re two of the youngest people to reach platinum rank and you're a couple too! It’s so romantic.” She smiled widely.

“Didn’t you hate men?” Owari was confused.

“I don’t hate men. My father warned me to be wary of them when I’m out hunting.” She said seriously.

“You sure took that to heart.” Owari sighed.

“So we are popular huh?” Noel was curious about this supposed fame.

“Yes.” She nodded. “All the younger geniuses always brag about how they met you at the party.” She grumbled.

“Not that it matters to me.” Owari shrugged.

“I’ll sign something for you.” Noel said graciously.

“Yes! Now I can brag to all my friends.” She smiled happily. Then she looked at Owari timidly. “Can you do it too?”

Owari looked at Noel who just smiled. “Fine.” He sighed.

The two of them signed a paper together for her before they got in the car and made their way to the Luna estate, of course they used a trailer for her tiger. They easily got access to the Luna estate and drove the girl to her home. She hadn’t stopped talking the entire ride. She was gushing over every publicly known accomplishment they had like a narrator of their life story. People apparently even knew that Owari once saved Noel back when the train crashed down to the detail that she even broke from his grip and made things difficult for him.

“That was an interesting experience.” Owari said as he drove away. They left immediately to escape any attempts of the Luna family to contact them. If they wanted a meeting they’d send a letter first like anyone else. No freebies.

“Indeed. It was truly a wonderful experience.” Noel seemed to enjoy the attention which was odd.

“I didn’t take you for the fame loving type.” Owari chuckled.

“Oh I don’t care what people think of me. But it was fun hearing about our lives from the perspective of others. Just like how we observe others lives when we are on our dates. It’s a fresh perspective.” Noel explained.

“I guess you’re right. I did say it was interesting after all.” Owari smiled lightly.

“So what happened?” She was obviously referring to the encounter with the girl which Owari explained in detail.

“So you helped because you were bored?” Noel chuckled.

“Sounds about right. Though even if I wasn’t and I came upon that scene I would have helped.” Owari admitted.

“I know. You’re quite kind despite appearances.” Noel reached over and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Despite appearances?” He glanced at her.

“You always look like the world owes you something. And you rarely show your emotions clearly.” Noel laughed.

“The world does owe me. A good fight that is.” Owari also laughed.

“I bet nothing would make you happier.” Noel smiled.

“I can think of a few things that might.” Owari looked at her.

“What’s that?” She looked back.

“Being with you.” Owari turned his eyes back to the road.

“No fun.” Noel also put her eyes on the road. She knew Owari could easily react to anything occurring on the road even if it was only in the corner of his vision. But it was still exciting to watch him drive without looking. Noel was obviously the type to like such experiences given her love for battle.

“It’s all about legality. If I got caught no amount of ranking or talent or whatever would get me out of a ticket.” Owari laughed.

“We can pay a ticket.” Noel sighed. “You said a few things though. What are the others?”

“It seems I can’t think of anything else.” Owari shook his head.

“Well I’m glad you value your time with me that highly.” Noel smiled. The two continued to talk until they reached home. When they arrived they immediately made their way to the couch and laid down casually.

“Sometimes I wonder where the time went.” Owari suddenly said.

“You sound like an old man.” Noel chuckled.

“It’s been four years since we met each other. But it feels like just yesterday that we met.” Owari felt like time was sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

“You always talk like that when you and I relax.” Noel looked down at him from above.

“It’s because I’m always so busy that when I slow down I notice how much time has passed. Not that it’s a bad thing.” Owari leaned up and kissed her forehead. “It just means I’m having fun.”

“You should have gone lower.” Noel leaned down and kissed him. “We’re proper married now. No need to be so conservative.”

“It’s called moderation.” Owari laughed.

“Moderation is for boring people now come here.” After that Owari wasn’t really allowed to talk anymore.

The next day came quickly and it was Draco’s turn to go for a trip. Owari hopped on the drake’s back and it lifted up and flew off over the forest. Even faster than Garm and Owari it moved across the forest. Unlike those two who had to watch their step and change paths constantly, the drake ignored all of that and flew at Mach speeds through the sky. It was very fast for a drake, owing to its powerful body and force affinity.

They flew through the sky like that for a day straight without rest before landing. They were very far from Owari’s home now, and it was time to look for some platinum rank beasts. Owari had Draco release its aura looking for a challenger but shook his head shortly after. It was devoid of any platinum ranks. They decided to leave and try a new spot.

After another day of searching they found one. It was a behemoth not so different from the one Owari once fought. It had a bigger body but it was still only a low platinum rank. “This is for you.” Owari jumped off Draco and stepped onto the air watching over the proceedings.

Draco launched down towards the behemoth at breakneck speeds. He tucked his body in and slammed straight into the unsuspecting behemoth at full speed. The behemoth was sent rolling across the forest floor, smashing up trees and gouging out a trench in the ground as it dragged across the ground. For his part Draco countered the recoil with his force affinity and was standing on the ground perfectly fine.

The behemoth stood up and wiped its mouth where blood had come out. It was clearly only superficially injured from such an attack. It also had a force affinity after all. It raised its head and suddenly a brown ball formed between its horns and countless needle-like rocks fired out towards Draco. Draco stomped the ground and shook his wings flying into the air and out of their path. The needle shards sliced through the trees tearing them apart.

Draco rushed into the sky before shaking its wings and firing out a number of force bullets at the behemoth. The behemoth put up its armored arms and blocked them all. However the real attack came after, It pulled its arms back to get a view of Draco only to find the drake had already dive-bombed it again. The behemoth was again sent smashing across the forest floor. This time however Draco didn’t wait for it to stand up, he immediately launched himself towards the behemoth.

As he flew towards it the behemoth suddenly kicked out smashing Draco in the chest and sending the drake careening into the sky. He quickly used his force affinity to stabilize himself, however the behemoth suddenly grabbed a clump of dirt which flashed brown and threw it at Draco. Draco flapped his wings and dodged to the side. Next though the behemoth grabbed another clump of dirt with its other hand and threw it, this time however numerous earth bullets fired off at Draco.

Draco again nimbly dodged the attack, and the behemoth stood in shock at this scene. Its aerial practice with Owari did wonders for its maneuverability. The behemoth seemed to have failed in its attack and was left wide open for Draco to launch a sphere of force directly into the beasts chest sending it stumbling back. Then he flew down and gripped the behemoth’s shoulders with its claws before biting down on its neck.

Draco infused its whole body with force affinity and used the trick Owari taught it to move all the force in its body into one motion which it used to snap its jaws shut decapitating the behemoth. It then pushed the behemoth’s body into the ground and roared as it stood over its kill. It was declaring its superiority. Owari watched with a smile on his face. Draco had done well. He gave it permission to eat its fill.

When it was done Owari felt it falling into slumber, however he ordered it to focus on its dragon blood and it suddenly seemed to wake up. It had been evolving as a drake so far, but from now on Owari planned to have it feed its dragon-blooded ancestry to become a true dragon. Just the thought of becoming a dragon made Draco roar in anticipation. It knew it had a chance with this master of his, especially if he kept being fed as he has been. After all a few years is nothing to a drake. If it even takes that long.

Owari and Draco made their way back shortly after and Draco was given some time to rest. Owari went inside and made his way to his study. After arriving he pulled out every letter he had been given on the situation with the Osiris family and their allies. That meant even the old ones. He slowly went over all of the information. Then he pulled out what he had on the neutral factions movements and went over that. After that he did the same with the information he had on the government. Finally he went over the updates he had been given on his allies movements.

Looking at it as a whole did not paint a pretty picture. As he was worrying over this Noel came into the study and walked over to him. She sat down on his lap and grabbed his face. “It’s not like you to worry over matters like this. What are you thinking really?” She squinted her eyes.

“Something big is happening.” He said vaguely.

“You say that, but what exactly?” Noel became uneasy.

“From the looks of things? War.” Owari pulled out the latest information he had compiled.

“War?” Noel felt it was impossible. Humanity hadn’t warred for hundreds of years. Not with itself at least.

“Take a look.” He handed the information to her. “The Osiris faction as we’ll call them due to the Osiris family being the main instigator, is slowly but surely convincing the local law enforcement to go to their side through any means necessary. They are slowly corrupting the local government.”

“So?” Noel didn’t catch on. Until she read some information on the page. “The plan they have can be one of two things, either they wish to take down the local government when it becomes decadent and lazy, or they wish to slowly convince the local government to secede the city to them. This is happening not just in the Osiris territory, but all of their allies as well.” Noel was shocked.

“The first was your grandfather's opinion, the second is the head of the Vermillion family.” Owari drummed his fingers against the chair arm. “But either way the end result is them owning the cities. Their plans extend beyond that though. They have been contracting with various companies to get resources from them. The various businesses are staying neutral and supplying to all sides. Except the Orion Tradecenter which is on our side. Of course they likely have unknown allies as well.”

“It’s a mess.” Noel sighed. “To think it all started because some guy wanted to ‘own’ me.” She shuddered.

“This has been generations in the making. Our involvement was just an excuse to finally enact the plan. We were the domino that tipped over and knocked everything else down. If it wasn’t us it would have been someone else.” Owari sighed.

“So what do we do?” Noel asked uncertainly.

“What can we do? This is a fight that will involve electrum ranks. What can platinum ranks like us do?” He waved it off, other than advice on what to do he would serve no role in the fighting in the initial stages when the electrum rank were looking for excuses to fight. Each side would be at a standstill, unsure of what the enemy electrum ranks would do.

“So the war would immediately come to a standstill.” Noel could tell how bad it was. If the war was at a standstill then it would make life difficult for the common people and independent hunters. After all they would find it difficult to receive everything they need. It isn’t like the regions each of their enemies had were connected. One lived in territories two spaces over from their allies. This would leave the continent fractured and without a good infrastructure.

“It’s useless for us to worry about this. It isn’t our war for now. Not until your family calls for us.” Owari grabbed the stack of papers from her hands and tossed them onto the desk.

“Who says we’re useless? Nobody ever said we only needed to fight directly.” She smirked.

“What are you thinking beautiful?” Owari asked with a grin.

“The unexplored territories. The few places which have yet to be mapped or settled. What if we went out and did some work there?” Noel pressed her forehead to Owari’s and stared at him with her deep amethyst eyes.

“What kind of work?” Owari asked despite knowing the answer.

“Mapping, discovering, and clearing. We can just make new territory if the enemy wants to take some from us.” She giggled.

“Good plan. Let’s only tell your grandfather about this. When do we get to work?” Owari smiled.

“As soon as he gets me a replacement.” Noel leaned in and kissed Owari. “Now we need to prepare.” She stood up and rushed off to their room. Owari shook his head, she was quite excited. Owari looked down at the papers with a sigh. Then he took out a map of the continent and began to study.