Walking on the wooden bridges and elevated platforms to transverse through the city was not very serene for both Hoshi and Xiang. The former's hair, clothing and physique while the latter's large brown hood and burnt up forearms visible outside his armor made the locals quite cynical. Both were greeted by doubtful stares of people dressed mostly in clothing made up of animal fur and leather.

"These people, they seem more cautious of us than those back at the marketplace," whispered Hoshi.

"Maybe they have a bad history with oddities like us. Just act natural and follow me," Xiang replied in a low tone.

After walking through half of the city and passing many different markets, residential areas and open spaces the duo reached the main gate of the guildhouse.

"You go on ahead and take that contract. I will wait there."

Xiang pointed towards a wooden bench beyond the fountain overlooking the mountains close to the wooden fence.

"Have people in there you want to hide from?" questioned Hoshi.

"Pretty much. If I come with you, things might get dicey and we will lose the reward."

"Fine."

Hoshi and Xiang went opposite directions as the former opened the green front door to enter the guildhouse.

The interior was pretty simple, it consisted of one main hall containing single piece wooden dining sets and a main reception area where two millennial girls wearing white and green kimonos stood to consider hunter's requests. In addition to them, a few female waiters wearing white and green maid dresses served food and alcohol to the hunters. On the right there was a separate open room for a craftsman specialised in armor and weapon smithing. A fair young girl wearing casual robes stood behind a counter which took requests from the hunters and forwarded it to her father who worked at his forge just outside and right of the guildhouse.

On the far left, there were two wooden doors. One only for those running this guildhouse, containing the owner's, manager's and the highest ranked hunter's offices. The second was for the universal restroom. On the hall's left wall, a large notice board resided, on which contracts and quests of various difficulties were posted. Finally, the far right possessed a sizable fireplace with a couple sharpening machines.

Hoshi walked on the green carpeted floor towards the notice board on the left between people of both genders either sitting or standing randomly in the hall. They were wearing armor ranging from low tier materials such as chainmail or leather to high such as steel, stone and even bone. They wielded weapons of all varieties, including small daggers, simple quick bows, colossal greatswords, halberds, axes and daikyus (longbows). The physique and overall build of these people ranged from short and thin to large and muscular.

They didn't seem to be quite bothered by Hoshi's presence as they were busy in their own activities and conversations. Some were fully concentrated on eating large cuts of meat and drinking from massive booze mugs while others were fully invested in planning, using maps and written material.

The notice board had a plethora of quests and contracts scaled by their difficulty or reward.

Hoshi went ahead and read a quest on a paper attached right in front of him.

"Someone stole the balls of this statue I sculptured. Find him and retrieve them for me. Please, he looks quite odd and people suspect me for using them to mask my own weakness. Difficulty, low. What in the world is this quest about?"

"This girl is offering a hefty reward to retrieve her necklace that some thugs stole from her!" A young boy with brown hair wearing a leather torso armor piece conversed with a young girl of similar age wearing the same armor.

"Let's take it! This should be easy enough."

The girl who replied had short black hair.

On the right a party of four people consisting of two tall muscular men wearing heavy metal armor and two moderately built men wearing lighter aluminum armor conversed.

"This contract requires us to kill some kuro pansā (panthers). Sounds easy enough."

"Right, let's accept it."

Hoshi searched for a contract on the Ao Fenikkusu. Even after scouring through the entire board, he failed to locate such a contract so he decided to ask the receptionists.

"Greetings, my name is Hoshi. Do you have a contract on-"

"Look at this one sis, he is out and about using his real name.

"Yes, odd indeed. But he sure is good looking." The two girls at the reception interrupted Hoshi.

The girls were fair young adults with blue and purple hair respectively, both cut short while their bangs covered the extreme sides of their faces. Both had similar slender figures with moderate chest sizes. They were wearing white kimonos with green straps and had mild makeup on including blusher, purple eye shadows and red lipstick.

"Umm I was looking for a contract on the Ao Fenikkusu," Hoshi quickly spoke before they could interrupt again.

"Hey sis sis. Not only does he use his real name, he is also an idiot," the blue haired girl mumbled.

"Indeed, but maybe he is strong." The purple haired girl chuckled.

"What are you two whispering about?" asked Hoshi.

"Hey, are you free tonight? I would love to get a drink with you," the latter girl offered while blushing.

"Huh?" Hoshi was puzzled.

"Hey Chika, are you that desperate? He may be someone who likes to humiliate girls, having orange hair and all," the blue haired girl addressed.

"What if he is not? Come on, let me at least talk to him, Sakura." Chika pouted.

"What does orange hair have to do with humiliating girls?" Hoshi forgot what he was here for and questioned.

"Looks like bakashi here doesn't know the story of a molester who humiliated helpless girls with oranges," Sakura spoke.

"That proves he is innocent. So what did you want again, love?" Chika conversed in a soft manner.

"Ao Fenikkusu. Is there a contract on it?"

"We just removed this from the board. Here." Chika went through a couple drawers and handed over a paper she found.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Yup this is the one," said Hoshi before reading the details out loud, "Ao Fenikkusu, the guardian of the Cave of Fenikkusu, is the most ferocious creature on the lower mountains. It is bigger than an average house and possesses razor sharp wings and talons. In addition to that, it can generate fire and control the rocks nearby as it wishes. Its speed is unmatched and will kill anyone it wants in an instant. It has no known weaknesses and the difficulty of hunting it is pretty much impossible."

"This contract has the highest difficulty of all time and since no one was accepting it for a very long time, we removed it just recently," Sakura explained.

"It also has some serious requirements and many can't even take it, including you," Chika stated.

"What's the requirements?" inquired Hoshi.

"You need a party of four hunters of the highest rank and all of them need to be wearing Adamantine armor," answered Sakura.

"What? How does one reach the highest rank? Or get Adamantine armor?" Hoshi swiftly questioned.

"Wanna have dinner together? I will explain everything to you in detail-"

"Ehem, pardon my little sister's behavior. Although as dense as you are you wouldn't have gotten what she meant anyways. Well, to reach the highest hunter rank you have to complete hundreds of quests and contracts of higher difficulties, get three recommendations from the current top ranked hunters and reach highest proficiency with at least two weapon types. As far as adamantine armor goes you can either find enough of that material to have your own armor made which is insanely difficult or buy a ready made one for a huge sum of money," Sakura interrupted her sister and stated.

"And I need four of them? You can't be serious! Isn't it possible to accept this without all those requirements?" Hoshi raised his voice.

"Ask.. Sir.. Sir… I can't take his name that casually." Sakura suddenly became very flustered.

Hoshi's confusion was countered by Chika who continued, "Sir Kazan Takahashi, he is the one who put out this contract and set its requirements. You see my sis here has a bit of a crush on him."

"Don't tell him that!" Sakura yelled, embarrassed.

"Crush? Never mind, where can I find him?" Hoshi solemnly asked.

"You have to book an appointment as he is really popular among the hunter community. As far as I can see you have to wait a month till your number comes up. Sorry love," stated Chika.

"Wait a minute. Let me discuss this with someone else. I'll be back." Hoshi hurried back outside.

"Sure thing love, I'll be waiting." Chika blushed and waved her right hand.

"(Well those two were weirder than I thought. Maybe Xiang knows this Kazan guy)."

Pondered Hoshi as he ran towards the man in brown hood sitting on a bench overlooking the mountains from the edge of the platform.

"What!? Who the hell placed those stupendous requirements?" Xiang got up once Hoshi told him about the contract.

"This 'Sir Kazan Takahashi' did. Do you know him?"

"I have heard of him. Apparently he is the most skilled hunter in this city and even has his own huge fan following. Many girls here want to sleep with him as he has them looks as well. Damn, I hate him!" cursed Xiang.

"We don't have to go talk to him if you don't want to. We just have to think of something else," said Hoshi.

"No! If that's what it takes to get that contract, we will do it! Let's go Hoshi!" Xiang got fired up and marched towards the guildhouse.

The addressed followed and both approached the two receptionists inside.

"Hey sis sis, look your bakashi is back." Sakura poked her sister.

"That was quicker than I thought. Hey sis, who is that man in the hood?" Chika asked.

"Looks like…. Xiang? He visited here a couple of times and every time he got into a fight. Be careful, he is very short tempered," warned Sakura.

"Hey you two! Where is Kazan Takahashi right now?" Xiang directly asked.

"You forgot to add Sir before his name!" angered Sakura.

"You need to book an appointment. Let me take out the papers." Chika nervously began searching the drawers in front of her.

"I am not waiting to meet that narcissistic bastard. Just tell me where he is right now." Xiang grew impatient.

"How dare you call him that!" Sakura lashed out.

"You have a problem with me?"

"Yes! You are rude and don't know how to talk to women!" Argued Sakura.

"Says the girl who made fun of me the exact moment I took off this hood." Xiang removed his hood to reveal his agitated expression on his burnt up face.

"Xiang calm down! Sorry miss, it's just we really need to meet him as soon as possible. Apologies for the trouble," Hoshi requested, politely.

Before the two receptionists could react to Hoshi's request, a short haired burly man wearing a half leather armor tapped Xiang's shoulder.

"Well well if it isn't the turd face. I still haven't forgotten the punch you landed on me before you ran away like a coward."

"So what? Buzz off before I leave more souvenirs on your face." Xiang didn't falter.

"Oh yeah? How about you repeat what you just said, facing me."

Xiang did as he was told and noticed five more men with the same figure and armor cracking their hands while glaring at him.

"Oh shit. Let's get out of here Hoshi!" Xiang grabbed Hoshi's hand.

"You are going nowhere!" The first man used his upper arm to grapple on Xiang's neck and swung him right on the front wooden plate of the reception table.

"Hey! Stop that you brute! No fighting inside the guildhouse!" Sakura yelled.

"Look man, I get it why you are so pissed but don't you remember? Last time, you insulted my mother and that made me punch you. How about we let bygones be bygones and forget all this?" Xiang dusted himself and rubbed his back.

"As if! I said nothing wrong! Your mother deserved all that bad mouthing as she is that grotty whore who gave birth to a piece of shit like you!" the man jeered.

"What did you just call her?" Xiang immediately got up.

"Xiang, don't listen to him. Come on, let's get out of here," Hoshi advised.

"Yeah run away back to your cheap tart!" The man mocked.

"Get out of my way Hoshi!" Xiang pushed the addressed away and landed a punch on the man's face that launched him back on a table behind, breaking it.

The five men standing besides the downed brute were shocked to see the power of that punch.

"Get him! Tear him apart!" On the brute's orders the backup jumped on Xiang and initiated a savage assault on him.

The hooded fighter used all his instincts and prowess to avoid much of the blunt strength based attacks but also took a few here and there, wearing him down at a fast rate.

"Sis, what should we do? They will destroy father's property," worried Chika.

"Someone! Please stop them!" Sakura's yelling was useless as the people there including hunters just sat on their seats and watched the fight. Some even stood up and gathered around for a better view.

"(What is wrong with these people?)"

Frowned Hoshi.

"(Dammit! They are more skilled than I thought. Must be hunters for hire.)"

Xiang avoided the punch of one of the brutes in such a manner that it hit his ally while kicking the third in the abdomen before the fourth grabbed his torso and pinned him down. Luckily, he found an empty wine bottle on the floor and threw it at his oppressor's face. A few fragments of the shattered glass lodging in his face caused the attacker to move back slightly during which Xiang used a sweeping kick to make him trip over.

It had seemed as if Xiang had won this fight as he finished by throwing a punch of his own on the first brute's flank causing him to fall on his knees before the first man who he had spoken with hit him on the back with a metal rod, causing him to fall on the floor. The rest of the men who were on the floor also got up and grinned at him.

"They will kill him. Everyone is just standing there treating it as entertainment," stated Sakura.

"(This is bad. I have got to do something about this now! I know, this is the perfect time to test the second transcripts' teachings about my first state!) Hey, Chika was it? Do you have any wooden weapons back there?" asked Hoshi.

"Oh, yes we have this broken wooden stick from an old broom." Chika quickly grabbed the stick and handed it over to Hoshi.

"Thank you, Chika." Hoshi took the stick and began walking towards the fight.

"He took my name, twice! Sis!" Chika excitedly said while her sister sighed.

End of chapter thirty-one.