“So I think I know which side we should go to.” Owari said to Noel as they sat in the study. As for what he meant by side, the continent was an upside-down U, and the only two places unexplored and uninhabited were the two points of the U.
“Which one?” Noel was curious.
“The southeast. There are mostly mountains which block people from the area, but if we find the correct locations we can build in some valleys or into the mountains, not to mention the area is rich in ores. If not for the dangerous beasts it would have long ago been conquered. The various factions are watching each other closely, not permitting anyone to try and take the area in fear of upsetting the balance. But if we slip out while everyone is distracted on all this mess we can make it over there undetected and begin working.” Owari explained.
“Perfect, but we can’t be the only ones thinking this way.” Noel noted. It wasn’t a unique idea after all.
“But do they have someone like me who is both strong and a good surveyor? Unlike them who have to protect their surveyors and mapmakers, I can do it all.” Owari shrugged. “Plus we have all our beasts for extra protection in case we run into anything. I’m already full up on my allotted space for beasts after Hebi and Garm finish evolving.”
“Here I am with only Guillotine, and a lazy pangolin.” Noel pouted.
“You should have focused on catching more beasts.” Owari laughed.
“It’s not my fault Scythe is useless. I even gave him such a cool name.” She seemed disappointed.
“It’s fine, a white tiger is already an apex beast.” Owari comforted her.
“But you have Hebi.” She complained.
“Then catch a new one when we get to the mountains.” Owari finally said.
“Good idea.” She nodded. It was about time she got a new affinity to play with.
“You should get a speed affinity.” Owari advised her.
“Right. Something for extra speed. I’m not sure if lightspeed is my thing though.” Noel couldn’t imagine fighting at speeds like that. She had seen Garm and Owari ‘play’ at light speed. Or more specifically the lack of them despite them being right in front of her. She could sense the movements, but she couldn’t see them at all.
“That’s fair.” Owari chuckled.
A few days later both Hebi and Garm had finished evolving. Hebi had gained a new affinity. Its new affinity was quite a surprise. It was a sapphire affinity. Sapphire is just a single step behind diamond terms of durability and defense. Hebi had gained a head with a deep blue scale that shined like a sapphire. It was as dark as the depths of the ocean, almost black.
Owari clenched his fist and activated his defensive technique, instead of earth mana though he fueled it with sapphire mana. His body shimmered with dark blue light that covered his whole body. He held out his arm and swung his sword using moth wing strike to try and cut it but his strike bounced off. Even considering the odd attack angle it was a powerful defense. He would need at least dark steel fang to get through the initial defense, maybe even dark steel bite to deal some damage.
The next thing of interest was Garm. It turned out his evolution was more significant than Owari initially thought. He should have seen it coming considering how high quality a hellhound is. There are only a few wolf type beasts of greater level. Garm had managed to evolve into a fenrir, a legendary apex wolf. It has a powerful force affinity. The most dangerous part about fenrirs is their growth ability. They typically start weak, but unlike most beasts their speed of growth doesn’t slow down much as they keep getting stronger.
Owari pet his improved wolf who as always acted just like a dog, wagging its tail and happily barking. Of course with its new force affinity the bark was quite intense. Owari just chuckled. With this new force affinity he was close to a breakthrough with it. Garm had also enhanced its dark affinity making it close to a breakthrough as well. Of course Garm wouldn’t lose his dark affinity just from evolving into a fenrir. This one evolution had given him a lot.
Owari decided to spend the next week with Noel, he had spent a lot of time away and it was only right to give her his undivided attention for a while. They enjoyed the week to themselves and after the week was up they went on a week-long hunting session as an excuse to spend some more time together. They mostly just puttered around in the forest taking in the sights and scaring off the occasional lower-ranking beast that tried to mess with them due to them suppressing their ranks.
After the two weeks were up Owari wondered what to do, he didn’t know how long it would be before everything started so he couldn’t commit to anything heavily until it did. He mostly just trained and went to hang out with Lance for a while. When he and Lance hung out now they mostly spent their time at his place listening to music on the disk reader and talking about recent events. Things like how popular hunters were doing and who was getting the most attention in the media. Owari gained some interest in this after discovering he was famous and after bringing it up with Lance he found the other was fairly interested in such matters.
Sometimes when he wasn’t training or hanging out with Lance he would bring Erica on some low-level hunts and train her. Of course it was nothing dangerous. He mostly had her practice by taking out lower level enemies with only martial or mystic arts to solidify her foundation. He wanted to take his time training her so that she would have a solid foundation when she eventually reached platinum rank. This way she wouldn’t grow overconfident from the rapid rise in strength.
On her birthday he went and picked Erica up and decided that he wouldn’t bring her out to train that day. Instead he brought her around town. The two walked around talking, she had grown more talkative with him and Noel and would talk on her own initiative more often now. They spoke about their lives growing up and how similar they were.
As they walked around Owari picked out a butterfly hair ornament for her seeing as how she liked using hair clips to keep her bangs out of her face. She was quite pleased with it and seeing the look on her face Owari chuckled and ruffled her hair. Owari had never had a sibling but he imagined this was what it felt like to have a little sister. He knew Noel certainly treated Erica as family.
Life was quite peaceful for a while. It was to the point in which one could forget what was bubbling under the surface. Owari and Noel didn’t bother to worry about the future, especially since it was time for the culture festival. Today was a day of celebration and so they forgot their worries and decided to just enjoy the day.
Noel dressed up in furs and even used the fur coat Owari’s mother gifted her. She looked quite silly as it made her look bigger but due to her shortness it just came off as a child trying to make themselves look like an adult. When Owari said so she only had one thing to say.
“If I look like a child what does that make you who married such a person?” Noel smiled victoriously.
“Someone who loves you for you and not for what you look like.” Owari smiled back.
“Are you saying I look bad?” Noel asked with a pout.
“No, you’re very beautiful.” Owari decided to admit his loss. He lost no matter what he said this time. Noel smiled brightly and the two made their way to town to meet everyone.
When they arrived Rebecca, Lance, and Erica were all waiting for them. “Took you long enough.” Lance chuckled.
“We do live outside of town.” Owari shot back humorously.
“True, not everyone can be rich enough to build their own house.” Lance said offhandedly.
Owari shrugged. “If you and Rebecca want a house I can loan you some money.”
“Hey, it’s too early for talk like that.” Rebecca chuckled.
“Fair enough. Let’s all get going and enjoy the festivities.” Owari replied.
The group made their way through the city looking around at all the various stalls. As they were doing so they ran into a familiar face Owari and Noel hadn’t seen since the year prior. “Carter, looks like you’re still doing this whole cart thing.” Lance was the first one to talk.
“Yeah, I’d like to think I’m getting better. Though I was surprised not to see you guys during the day of black sun.” Carter didn’t just sell food for the culture festival. He also sets up stalls on the day of black sun.
“You must make quite a lot doing this.” Owari watched as Carter continued to serve people as they talked.
“Word spread of my good food and so I’ve got a few returning customers. It’s a good bonus to get twice a year.” Carter shrugged as he snuck in a few words between customers.
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“What’s on the menu this time?” Noel asked as she finally decided to order, getting impatient as everyone talked.
“Chilli is the main dish. But I also have sandwiches.” He shrugged, he went more simple this time.
“I’ll have some chili.” Noel decided. Everyone else ordered some sandwiches. Especially Owari who wasn’t a fan of spicy foods.
“Thanks.” Everyone thanked him before saying their goodbyes and heading off. They didn’t want to distract him anymore than they had.
As they walked around they ate food from various stalls. As always Owari, Noel, and Erica ate obscene amounts of food that made one wonder where they put it all. They continued to eat pretty much all day, only stopping to talk. Their reasoning for doing so was basically ‘it would be a shame not to try as much as possible’. They all seemed to unanimously agree on this point despite never having collaborated about it before.
Everyone continued their day like this, enjoying one another’s company and joking around. Lance and Rebecca were the target of many jokes from Noel and Owari. The two had yet to get too serious unlike Owari and Noel so it was easy for the comfortable and confident husband and wife to pick on the more recently established couple. Of course it was even more funny because Owari and Noel were the younger pair of the two. As for Erica, she merely sat off to the side watching the events unfold with a naive and innocent appearance.
“What do you guys think of all this?” Lance asked while gesturing to everything around them.
“Do you mean that as in a society thing or are you talking about the culture festival?” Owari asked half-jokingly.
“The festival of course. I’m not interested in debating about society.” Lance chuckled.
“Then that’s easy. I find it as a fun break from serious troubles and a chance for everyone to come together and share an interest in something.” Owari gave his answer.
“I find it to be an interesting day where people can show off their knowledge of their ancestry.” Rebecca answered next.
“I feel it is an enjoyable day filled with a lot of good food.” Noel said something so simpleminded in a dignified tone.
“Food.” Erica gave her opinion as well.
“Err, right.” Lance chuckled awkwardly. He hadn’t expected those last two answers.
“What about you?” Owari asked curiously.
“I feel pretty much the same as you. It’s a good day to unwind.” He stretched to emphasize his point.
“And spend the day with your partner.” Owari reached over and pulled Noel close.
“And friends.” Erica piped up.
“Of course.” Owari chuckled.
“You can only make fun of us so much before we get used to it.” Rebecca stated defiantly.
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s all about finding the weaknesses and exploiting them in such a way as to leave more.” Owari obviously equated it to a battle as he usually did when he wanted to succeed at something.
“And what weakness do we have now?” Lance asked with a confident smile.
“I bet you two have yet to kiss in public.” Noel suddenly said.
“What?” Lance couldn’t help but be surprised to hear Noel say that, he hadn’t expected it at all.
“That shows you lack confidence in your relationship and how you feel about one another.” Noel smiled calmly.
“What about you two?” Rebecca tried to deflect.
“We’ve kissed in front of a crowd of some of the most influential people on the continent.” Owari answered.
“Oh right.” Rebecca then recalled their wedding. There was no hesitation or discomfort felt from the two when they kissed in front of such a crowd. It was as if they were in their own world.
“See? We’re confident. You two need to sort that out soon. Your relationship is all rocky and filled with bumps. Smooth things out a bit in private the next time you get a chance. Maybe then you won’t get so flustered by us.” Noel advised them.
“Right.” Lance said awkwardly. He hadn’t expected love advice from a couple of battle maniacs, but in truth Noel and Owari had one of the most successful relationships one could find.
“Good. Now back to eating.” Noel nodded before pulling up a skewer and devouring the meat and vegetables pierced through.
“You and your food.” Rebecca said exasperated. How much money had they spent on food anyway?
“She spoiled herself by learning how to cook. We spend a lot of money on ingredients these days.” Owari said nonchalantly.
“How much is a lot for you?” Lance asked with some trepidation. He knew Owari threw around money randomly, sometimes seeing a lot of money as nothing and a little money as being as valuable as gold. It all depended on what he was spending it on.
“Not too much but more than a little.” Unfortunately Owari was being uncooperative and gave a vague answer. Everyone present knew that it would be impossible to get him to give a straight answer and gave up. Even he probably had no idea just how much they spent.
The group enjoyed their day after that until it inevitably reached its end. Noel dragged Erica home and the three settled into their respective places in the house to sleep. After that day time seemed to pass swiftly once again. Even Appreciation day came and went without much of note happening. Owari and Noel visited her father’s place and met with her grandfather, but it was all very standard. As if they were simply trying to make things appear as normal as possible so they could enjoy the memories.
Soon the time for the geniuses gathering was approaching. This time it was being held by Howling Wulf, however Owari and Noel were too old to go so it didn’t matter much to them. However it was an important day in the grand scheme of things so they paid close attention. It would be this day when members of every faction would gather. The question was what would happen when this occurred. To be on the safe side, high ranking members of each family and agency even went to ensure nothing bad happened to their rising stars.
After the party was over things finally started to change. Owari and Noel were able to find out why when they heard about what happened. There were over a dozen 16-17 year old gold ranks from both the Osiris family and Howling Wulf Agency. After some digging it was discovered they had copied Noel and Owari’s method by sacrificing 50 plus younger generation members. Only the strongest survived. It was one of the reasons nobody ever copied Noel and Owari’s method, it had high mortality rates. Owari and Noel were just more experienced at telling when to save someone because they were able to sense it after experiencing the training themselves.
The problem wasn’t just that though. What this meant was they were willing to sacrifice large numbers of people to gain more elites. Meanwhile the other families and agencies of their faction had noticeably less gold ranks than normal. Based on the inside information they had for this it was likely they were either hiding it or they had been mass gathering weaker independent hunters to make up numbers. Either could be possible.
As for Owari and Noel’s allies, they were taking a more cautious approach. They didn’t resort to drastic measures and trusted the resources they already had to deal with the situation. This came from their confidence in themselves and their allies. It also didn’t needlessly risk lives. Some people who had an idea of what was coming might choose to take risks to develop their abilities, but that was their individual choice. Nothing was forced on them.
After the party tensions were rising rapidly. The allies and government couldn’t easily stand for what the Osiris family and Howling Wulf agency did. After all they basically killed off a number of young men and women to satisfy their own agendas. Even the neutral faction was displeased. However it wasn’t any of them that acted first, it was the Osiris family’s faction. They stormed the local government offices and forced them out, then they posted up members of their groups all around the outer walls of the cities to guard from any attempts to retake the cities.
They even gave themselves a name, they called themselves ‘The New Order’. They preached about how the old system was flawed and favored the older families and agencies, and how the government was too weak to uphold justice against lawless hunters. However this was all false information. The newer families and agencies were just as popular as some older ones. As for the government, there had never been any problems with punishing hunters. They had hunters in their employ and any they couldn’t handle they would make deals with the Aquila or Silverblood families to deal with as both families were known for their strict adherence to law.
Owari and Noel sighed when they finally received the notice for the creation of this new order. “Looks like it’s time for us to move.” Owari spoke up as he read the letter.
“Indeed. What is our goal exactly?” Noel knew where they were going and what they were doing. But now exactly why.
“Our goal is to find places with potentially useful resources or defendable locations for our allies to take advantage of. The real question though is whether we are allying with the government or not.” Owari needed to know that or else he wouldn’t know whether to work with them or against them.
“This should answer that. It’s a list of our allies.” Noel handed over a letter from her grandfather addressed to them.
Owari opened the letter and read over it. When he was done he sighed in relief. “It looks like we’ll be working on the side of the law then. That’s a relief.”
“Indeed, it would have been a hassle to hide out from authorities.” Noel nodded.
“And this means we can do things otherwise impossible if we were working against them. Such as legally acquiring land and having our rights protected.” Owari looked around at their house. “If we were against them they might even take away our home.”
“True. It’s good we are allies then.” Noel also looked around their very expensive home which she had grown to love.
“So now we should start making our way to our goal. Now that the enemy is focusing on setting themselves up it’s important we move out when they are too distracted to notice.” Owari stood up and made his way to their room alongside Noel.
“What should we bring?” Noel asked as she looked through her stuff.
“Everything important to us. We should expect the enemy might ransack our house while we’re gone. Luckily we have insurance in case our house is destroyed.” Owari grabbed his display sword which was the only really important item in the house.
“Luckily we don’t put much value in items huh?” Noel said casually as she packed up some of her favorite clothing.
“Yeah.” Owari agreed with her and the two made their way over to Morgana’s guest house to pick up the loyal maid.
“We are going to be going out to do some work. We would be quite relieved if you came with us as we shall be gone a long while.” Noel spoke to Morgana.
“I go where the young masters need me to.” She said with a kind smile.
“That’s wonderful.” Noel smiled.
“We should give you a raise.” Owari chuckled. “In fact that’s what we’ll do.”
“I gratefully accept.” Morgana didn’t question the decisions of her masters.
“We might need you to do some fighting.” Noel notified her surprising the maid.
“Is there a reason why?” She couldn’t help but be shocked. Her masters had never once asked her to fight. They had always done everything themselves.
“This should answer a lot of questions you may have.” Owari handed her a letter which she read. The more she read the more shocked she became.
“To think such things were happening at this time.” She hadn’t been very aware of the things boiling beneath the surface. She only paid attention to her masters, and dared not intervene in their personal affairs. She knew they had been tense this last year or so, but she didn’t ask them about it.
“Right. So our goal is to find and clear out some places for expansion. Which may mean fighting against enemies above our rank. You’re the only one we can rely on when it comes to that.” Owari was happy they had someone so strong in their employ who was so loyal.
“I will do as asked.” She merely smiled. She was happy they would rely on her so much.
“That’s good to hear. We leave tomorrow. We hope that gives you enough time to prepare.” Owari notified her.
“Of course.” Morgana nodded and they all separated to give her time to get ready.
When the next day came they got on a train and made their way to the Nix territory. It was a territory on the edge of the uninhabited region and was directly west of the Leviathan territory. It took over two weeks to reach the border of the Nix territory and the uninhabited region. They traveled incredibly light, they could always buy things at their new location. They had a lot of money after Owari got paid his yearly salary. He also had it so his monthly salary would be sent over to the nearest city to where he would be staying so he could pick it up from there. He planned to be gone a while after all.
After ensuring everything was set up and arriving at their destination Owari and Noel unloaded all of their beasts. They were currently located in a town on the very edge of the Nix territory. It was a sleepy town without much going on which was perfect for them. This meant they would be off the radar. The town was a farming town, and there weren't many hunter families here. When they saw all the beasts Owari and Noel had they were quite terrified. Especially seeing Hebi and Draco. Everyone knew about hydras and dragons. Even if they were lesser versions. Owari and Noel looked around for a while before making their way out of town. They set up a tent about a kilometer away from the city and started to make their plans. They had a lot of work to do.