The bright midmorning sun rose over Istoria, delivering a warm golden glow to the city. The low walls of the city cast an ever-moving shadow over buildings as time moved on.

The ASH building was lined with frantic commotions and unnerved adventurers. Both low and high-ranked individuals were storming the stairs up to the entrance, ready to voice complaints and concerns.

“Why are the monsters acting so weird lately?”

“It’s as if they’re going on a rampage!” “I found a goblin right outside the fifth-floor doors! It was waiting for us to come through the staircase!”

After a full morning of those, complaints all seemed to merge. However, these concerned cries needed to fall on someone’s ears.

It was ASH’s job to deal with concerns and complaints regarding the Tower, whether it was about monsters or the people who enter—everything fell to them.

“I understand your concerns and we are in the process of investigating—”

“That doesn’t help me now!”

Kana stood at the front reception, holding a clipboard of notes at the head of a large group of adventures. They continued to moan and yell out their worries to her, holding back nothing.

“I understand…I am very sorry everyone. We will do our best to sort this all out as fast as possible!” Kana lowered her head with a large bow and the group subsided.

Most of the front runners were men and were blushing by the end of her apology. They must have felt bad for making a girl upset and decided to quit since they said all they could.

“Just do your job lady!” One last armoured individual mentioned before leaving.

With the last of them gone she let out a relieved sigh and collapsed to her knees.

“What’s up with that—leaving me to deal with the apologies just because I have the least amount of clients in my department? This isn't fair…” Kana muttered under her breath.

A tall man stood behind her, watching her with disapproving eyes.

“Ahem.”

He cleared his throat and Kana glanced over her shoulder, when she realised who it was, she jumped to her feet and bowed twice in apologies.

“Sorry mister Cluad, I didn’t see you there!”

“Yes well, I too am sorry. I didn’t realise I was putting you into such an inconvenience just now, should I consider someone else to do your work for you?” He said, with one eyebrow raised much higher than the other.

“No—I didn’t mean anything by it! I was just talking out loud…ha-ha.” Her words fumbled and a nervous laugh left her mouth. Her boss, the tall man dressed in a tailored black suit in front of her was not amused.

It was no secret to Kana that he didn’t like her but today of all days it seemed as though he couldn't stand her. He was exuding an intimidating presence that Kana couldn't get past.

She didn’t like people not liking her, it made her feel like trying even harder to prove them wrong. So for her boss to be the way he was with her…it kept her up some nights.

“I’ll get back to work right away sir!” She rushed off.

The well-dressed man glanced back at her and stopped her with a single line.

Stolen story; please report.

“Miss Mill.”

Kana froze on the spot, her head turned back but her body remained stiff, unable to move.

“Y-yes…sir?”

“If things feel unfair in any way, I ask that you open your eyes. We work with adventurers after all, you should know by now that the weak stay at the bottom, if you are not weak then you wouldn’t be there.”

Her chest crumbled into a tight ball.

It felt as though a steak had been driven into her chest and straight out of her back, each word delivered another blow. She remained silent and watched his back grow smaller, leaving nothing but a sour taste behind in her mouth.

“Weak huh…”

Her eyes widened.

Wait a minute, was he trying to encourage me? She wondered and turned back to see if he had left already.

Kana slowly raised her hands to her face and delivered a painful slap to each cheek, leaving red hand marks on each side of her face.

“I’ll do my best!” She repeated quietly to herself.

-

“I wonder what I should do so long, I have about three hours before I need to go see Arga.” I looked over to the large clock centred on the tip of a metal pole. One of the many clock stations scattered around Istoria’s streets.

After she got an idea for a new piece, she practically forced me into gathering all the shards and Makrum I could find. We stashed it into a travel bag she unfolded and hauled it back to the smithy where she locked herself up. Not even so much as a thank you or goodbye—all she told me was to come back today.

I put my hands against my lower back only to feel the empty slot where my Chakram blades would rest.

A sigh left my mouth.

“What did she need with my blades? I feel weird not having them on me…”

That leaves me with some time to kill. I wonder if Kana is busy today, maybe I could go see her? Probably not, she usually has a lot of work to do. She wouldn’t like the fact that I was there just because I’m bored either.

I slouched my shoulders and trudged across Cobble Way, keeping my gaze at my feet at all times. It wasn’t that I was sad but something was weighing on my mind. Being alone with my thoughts for the first time in who knows how long must have been something I wasn’t ready for. My thoughts ran wild as if I were no match for them.

While wondering where to wait until Arga was ready, another thought took the stage and caused my cogitabund state.

Where am I going?

Not just literally but with everything. I decided I wanted to explore more about Ellios’ past and where he came from. I thought that might help me get some idea of why he was there that day…and why he gave me this power.

I wouldn’t know where to look for those kinds of facts even if I tried. Even though I felt so cool saying I would…

I shook my head to clear up the embarrassment, still red in both cheeks.

I closed my eyes and covered my cheeks, hoping the embarrassment would subside through force. Only then did my mind seem to settle—

“Oh~ Red!” A booming voice announced from my left.

It was a female’s voice for sure but it had a somewhat commanding presence to it, the same kind of register I imagine a general would have.

I glanced over my sulked shoulder to see the origin of the voice, to my surprise I was introduced to a golden beauty. A slender figure with bright golden-orange hair stood there with a large box in her hands. She looked to be in full worker mode because her hair was tied up in a messy bun with an apron tied around her waist.

The Box was open at the top, with some fruits and vegetables packed neatly to the brim.

Her ocean-blue eyes looked at me openly before but turned pretty sour after a few moments. She looked mad, I wondered why but felt that she would soon tell me…

“Red?”

I wondered about the strange nickname she called me and thought she might have called the wrong person. Only after her second glance at my hair did I remember the red streaks flowing out from my bangs. It hadn’t even been a week since they appeared so I often forgot I had them at all.

“You caused a pretty big commotion in my bar the other night you know. I hope you’re planning on apologising for that.” She turned towards me with a violent stance.

What commotion is she talking about, isn't this the first that we’re meeting? She mentioned a bar before, I don’t even drink. The only bar I’ve ever been to was…?!

My eyes shot open and I stumbled back.

She’s the violent owner we saw that night!! I almost didn’t recognise her with her hair tied up—I can’t believe I forgot!

The image of her taking down those two mountains flashed through my mind. A bead of sweat formed on the side of my head.

I bowed my head a few times and apologised with a high-pitched repeat. I don’t know why my voice went so high but it didn’t seem like it was going back anytime soon.

She didn’t seem interested at all in my apology and turned even angrier. Afraid that she might hit me, I stopped.

“That’s not how you apologise to someone!” She yelled.

Even after every monster I had nearly died too—I would gladly have them in front of me rather than her.

“I don’t understand…”

“Tsk! Aren’t you a man? A man should make a gesture when apologising, it’s common knowledge kid.”

A gesture? Like a gift or something?

“If you’re serious about apologising then come to my restaurant. You can make it up to me there!” She spoke firmly and my body responded with another bow and a prominent “Yes!”