-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

-Meeting the one who started it all-

The Dragon Sense was becoming more and more useful as time passes, which Kenshin starting to observe slowly. It was slowly transforming from a skill that would warn him of all dangers and predict the future to something more. In legends, it was told that Dragons could even read the heart of others, making them one fo the empathetic races to ever exist. And Kenshin discovered that this might not be a myth as he was slowly and surely gaining the ability to sense other’s emotions… in other words, their hearts.

The skill was still in its preliminary growing phase, and he wasn’t sure what length would it go or where was its absolute limit. Still, he was very much in anticipation to know the future of this skill… after all, it’s a passive skill.

After getting the directions from the security, Kenshin trod the path of the academy, feeling much awe at the premise. The academy was, for lack of better vocabulary, huge. It's so big that his eyes could barely see the end of it. But what amazed him wasn’t the sheer size of it, but the things he could see inside the school boundaries. There was many special artificially created environment which simulated various parts of dungeons, meant for students to get used to the unforgiving climate of dungeons.

This was the thing that blew his mind away.

“Indeed, a school meant to train hunters…” he couldn’t keep away his awe at the environment and felt happy that his sister is a part of such a university.

As he walked through the stone-paved path, he observed everything, committing them to his mind. Suddenly a figure came into his vision. It was a man around 40 years old, dressed from head to toe in what looked like expensive clothing. With his excellent eye, he saw the man’s face and recognized him instantly. Akari had shown him his picture once, and he had committed it to his memory at that time.

Narrowing his eyes, he walked towards the man with intentions unknown as of yet.

Saeki Kunitaro was once a very respectable person with a very high social standing. He was the class teacher of the brighter classes of Hunters’ Academy, a job envied by many. The most important aspect of being a teacher at Hunter’s Academy was the connections one could build. Each and every student of this academy is a potential high ranking member of society, given that they don’t die a premature death.

As their teacher, in future, if he asked any one of them for a small favor, would they say no to him? It could be said that Saeki Kunitaro’s head was up in the clouds. But everything came to an abrupt end due to just one mistake on his part. His greed got the better of him, making him blackmail a student’s guardian into giving him an advanced grade hunters equipment.

Fate was a real bitch… and the guy he was blackmailing turned out to be a DCB official. It could be said that the retaliation he received wasn’t anyway light. If not for his connections, he would still be inside some cell, passing his days as a criminal… like that other teacher of the school. That guy was still inside an isolation cell.

After exhausting every connection he had made in his term as a teacher, he finally able to reintroduce himself into the university as a teacher. Again, before he could even start his new term, disaster struck, making a mess out of everything. He still had some lingering fear towards those flying things that resembled the pictures of dragons.

And today, he was here, together with all the other staff of the academy. A meeting was supposed to happen about when the term would be restarting for students. Just as he was about to follow another teacher into the conference hall, he heard someone calling his name. Looking back, he saw a young man, quite good looking with his short black hair and black eyes. He had a good build, from what he could see. Aside from that, he could also feel an ‘aura,’ so to speak that he would often feel from those seasoned hunters.

“Yes?” he answered the call.

“Are you Mister Saeki?” the young man asked with knitted brows.

Feeling a bit weird at how a stranger, and possibly a powerful hunter at that knew his name, he answered honestly, “Yes. I am Saeki. Do I know you?”

“I see, so you are indeed Saeki…” hearing the young man muttering this, Saeki suddenly had a bad premonition. And his premonition was proven correct when he felt a heavy slap landing on his right cheek. The force of slap made him rotate around himself once before throwing him to the ground. For a second, he felt dizzy and nearly threw up blood. After stabilizing himself, he looked at his offender, the good looking young man who was looking down on him with his calm and cool eyes.

Anger flashed in his eyes, standing up with a little sway, he glared at the young man and shouted, “Who the hell are you? Attacking me like this in a place like this, do you know what you are doing?”

If beaten without reason, even the calmest person in the world would feel angry and indignant. In his vision, he was a respectable person with a very high social standing. Common masses couldn’t compare to him. Although he was a low leveled hunter, he could still boss around some of the high-level ones due to his status and connections during his heydays. How can he take this slap lying down?

After slapping him silly, Kenshin felt a lot better. He then looked at the man coldly and asked, “You should be inside a cell, paying for your crimes… what are you doing here?”

Saeki was struck speechless at that one line, he then squinted his eyes at Kenshin, trying to recall if he knew this man. Although it was no secret that he was imprisoned due to fraudulent case, it's still weird for someone to bring it directly upon him, to his face no less. After a long hard stare, he finally able to mark certain similarities of this man with a student of his class… previous class.

Like a ring going off in his head, he guessed Kenshin’s identity instantly. After all, though he had never seen him face to face, he still conversed with him for more than a month. Even still, his number was saved in his phone, named ‘Dumb-bro.’ and with the realization came fear. After going into jail and coming out, he finally understood the might of a magic skill user and a person who works for DCB. His connections, those people who had helped him to come out of his imprisonment, warned him, again and again, to never ever cross this man’s path.

After all, the government was prepared to do anything to keep a magic skill user under its banner… even if it meant sacrificing a few of its officials and a Hunter school teacher. In the government’s eyes, these guys are expendables anyway. Every year millions of people apply for government jobs. There was no shortage of candidates to take their role.

“You… you… Mr. Muto!!” Saeki couldn’t keep his voice down. His legs gave away as he fell down on his ass after realizing with whom he was dealing with.