A few hours passed since the figure wearing dark grey armour left with the beautiful lady.

Where a one sided battle occurred a few hours ago, a short figure stood. A long ponytail went on top of it’s cloak. A myriad of daggers were slightly visible, strapped tightly onto the leather armour. It was Eclair.

Everything in the area was mostly the same, The Drake was still in the exact same spot as it was before. The bones and corpses of the different adventurers still laid where they were. Though none of the other people that were with her earlier were present.

Looking closely, the pouches and other belongings of Ragna’s men were thoroughly searched. Any valuable item aside from coins were taken by Eclair and the scouts as spoils of war.

“...”

Eclair gazed at the lifeless Drake. Specifically, she stared at the gaping wound where something managed to pierce through the Drake’s extremely tough scales. Fragments were scattered around the area.

As she passed the time, a hooded man walked past the gates.

“...” Less than a few moments pass before the man loudly clicked his tongue.

Eclair slowly turned her head towards the man. “Ah, I was waiting for-”

“Is everything done here” the man asked, interrupting Eclair mid sentence.

The man wore simple clothes underneath. It wasn’t even armour. Everything about him seemed ordinary, except for the disdainful look on his face.

“... -Yes, Arke and Cyrille had already dealt with majority of the adventurer guild’s lackeys here. I’ve already finished my part of the work as well, all that’s left is-”

“I know. We just need to take care of the rest. You don’t need to tell me.” The man interrupted Eclair and sounded annoyed. “Is there anything else that we absolutely need to know?”

Eclair thought for a moment. In the back of her mind, there were a few things that she could’ve mentioned. Something to help the friend in front of her.

“...”

“...”

“Well?”

Instead, she shook her head. “No- None as far as I know of.”

That was the case. Eclair was a mercenary that works with the Thieves Guild. Though her loyalty in the end lies with herself and to whoever benefits her the most.

The man walked past Eclair without even glancing at her.

“Then our business is done for today.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

A few moment later, a handful of other people came by.

“-oi move it, we need to get these-”||”-the wench is still-”||”-ignore it you absolute-”||”-come on, we don’t have all night to-”||”-more containers should be-”

They chatted among themselves.

One by one, they checked the bodies of the adventurers. They grabbed any coin they could and placed it into containers. Though- as expected, some of them placed a few coins in their pockets.

The man that Eclair talked to earlier ordered the men as he held a piece of parchment, marking it for every container. He walked up to one of the men that pocketed a few coins. They stared at each other for a moment. It looked like the man was about to be reprimanded- but the opposite happened as they split the coin among themselves.

A few men scavenged other equipment off the dead adventurers. A few began to pick up the Moonlight Roses along with it’s roots and moved it to containers in it’s entirety. The ones that couldn’t fit they simply pulled it out of the ground.

“-oi be careful with that-”||”-keep it alive, it’ll bring in much more-”||”-more gold-”

As they hurried around, Eclair pulled her hood up and lowered her head. It seemed as if her very presence was shrinking. She past carriages that the others were loading the containers into.

“-finally she’s gone-”||“-that traitorous noble-”||“-why do we have to work with the likes of her-”||”-don’t stop moving-”||”-actually- she doesn’t seem half bad-”||”-into flat chested broads-”||”-hurry up you absolute-”

Eclair clenched her fist as she overheard their conversation.

Once outside the gates, she pulled her head up. Once again, it looked like as if she had become distorted for a fraction of a second. She activated her Catalyst With a deep breath, she crouched.

“-oi look at her- she bout to take a-”||”-think she’s asking for you-”||”-hurry up!”

Their voices couldn’t be heard.

In that instant, Eclair jumped with enough force to make the snow erupt from where she stood. She moved through the forest with speed to rival that of a galloping horse, though she easily changed directions and avoided obstacles around her.

That was her Catalyst. The simplest and most common kind.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Snow fell gently from the red sky. The sun was on the horizon, slowly climbing up into the sky.

Just outside Langite- two silhouettes walked side by side. A lady wearing a white armoured coat with a bloodstained sleeve and a figure wearing a dark grey armoured coat and a furious mask with glowing eyes.

It was Arke and Cyrille.

Langite, a merchant hub near the border between two countries, was about as normal as a town could get. At least as far as this world is concerned. A thing in the center of Langite towered over everything else in the town. It was called an Ancient Construct by most people.

Aside from it’s height, even it’s construction was far different from the rest of the buildings in the town.

“I wonder what the world was like before.”

“...”

“Haven’t you ever wonder what it was like back when ancients were still around? Back when our ancestors lived?”

Cyrille pointed towards the tall structure in the middle of Langite.

“I doubt that their base nature was that much different than ours today. Though, I won’t lie, I do wonder what kind of world it was-”

“I guess so.”

“...”

“...”

Arke nodded as they kept walking. Every now and then, a few carriages carrying supplies of all sorts and ware passed them by. Merchants. All of them seemed to be in a rush.

“...”

“...”

“So, what’s the plan this time” Cyrille nonchalantly asked, not even turning her head.

“Plan?”

“Yeah, you seem to be scheming something again. Might as well tell me~”

Arke tapped his mask. “I’m not scheming anything.”

“Ohhhhh~ then what’re we going to do once we get back to town? Hub? Store? More killing?”

Killing- a weird response. Though- considering what they did, it wasn’t exactly a response that had no merit.

“First, we need to deal with these.” Arke briefly pulled out a small pouch. “After that we can deal with everything else.”

Cyrille yawned, covering her mouth with her sleeve. “Are the shops even open by now?”

“It’s past dawn- I’m sure that at least some are open.”

“

The two make their way into the town. When they first arrived, the streets were still fairly quiet. Until one by one, the residents and the traders come out of their homes and shops. The streets that were almost empty mere minutes ago had slowly come to life as the early morning traders rush around.

“-move out of the way! Fragile-”||”-to get some fish first, maybe some apples-”||”-my sword should be done by today! I can’t wait to show you-”||”-looking for a nice necklace for your-”||”-see your sword, I hope they-”

As the two walked, Cyrille kept glancing at the stores they pass by. Jewelry, armour, weapons, antique shops. A myriad of different stores. Each one had a dazzling display on show- of course, that was the minimum needed if they wanted to survive.

“So- you plan to sell both of the Catalysts? I doubt anyone here could afford buying two Catalysts” Cyrille commented as she looked at the stores. “I guess we could find two shops-”

Indeed, even if Langite was a merchant hub, the shops’ displays were fairly mediocre. Nothing like you’d see in extremely large merchant hubs near the sea or near the capital. Though it was still a cut above non merchant hubs.

“I don’t plan on selling both here- it’d be better if we keep one on hand just in case we need it.”

“Oh? Don’t we already have another one on hand?”

“You mean this?” Arke pulled out a pouch containing what looked like fragments. “This broken thing?” He shook the pouch.

“Oh, yeah…”

“Either way, we don’t need to sell both of the Catalysts. It’s easier to carry one around and keep it safe as opposed to it’s worth in gold.”

“Mmm- true enough.”

Cyrille’s silky hair swayed left and right as she walked beside Arke. And it was attracting quite a lot of gazes. Though, part of it is her beauty.

“-at that beauty-”||”-what’s with that mask-”||”-out of the way! Heavy goods coming-”||”-finest jewelry you’ll see today-”||”-can’t find a better deal anywhere else-”||”-whoa that lady- wait her arm-”||”-abuse huh… well, none of my business-”

As the two walked, voices of the people around them chattered. They came to an intersection. Carriages full of supplies and other goods passed every so often. As well as men who glanced at Cyrille.

Arke pulled out a pouch containing two Catalysts and handed one of them to Cyrille, keeping the other.

“Here, if we’re selling it, it’s much better if you do the talking. I don’t particularly like-...”

“So- same as always?”

Arke nodded. “Quite. I’ll be waiting by the town center this time. I’ll keep watch on you though, just in case.”

“What’s there to worry about? We’re in town- I doubt they’d do anything too bold. Well, not like they could if they wanted to either way.”

“It pays to be safe” Arke said as he glanced at Cyrille’s bloodied sleeve.

Cyrille hid her arm behind her back in response. “Okay okay, I get it~”

Cyrille left as Arke watched for a few moments before heading in a different direction from her.

Not like I can stop you- Cyrille probably thought to herself as she walked away.

Even though Cyrille’s sleeve was bloodied, it garnered far less attention or concern from most people as one would normally expect. That was simply because she was an adventurer. Or- that’s what most people probably thought she was considering her armoured white coat.

Even the way she moved and carried herself made her seem much less approachable and more powerful than most others.

“...”

She passed by stores one after the other, ignoring most of them after simply glancing at the items on display. Odd. One would think that if you wanted to sell an item, you’d check out every store and at the very least go inside to ask.

“...”

This continued on for a while until she walked up to what looked like an antique shop. The window was obscured from the inside by the back of a shelf. Odd. The sign for it was simply Catalyste.

Entering the store, the inside was actually quite spacious. Dozens of books lined the shelves. The atmosphere felt- old- for lack of better word. The middle of the room was fairly empty aside from what looked like a few collector’s items in the middle.

“Ah- Welcome to this humble store. Is there anything I can interest you in? Or any questions you may have?”

A dignified voice came from a fairly old man behind the counter.

“Hmm- miss is it?” The man adjusted his glasses.

Cyrille took out the pouch from her coat and placed it on the counter.

“I’d like to sell this, if you’d be so kind” she said. Her tone was much more cordial and friendly. Paired with what looked like a genuine smile on her face. Looked like.

The man pulled out the Catalyst. A small object less than half the size of his palm. It had what looked like Ancient script, runes, engravings, what have you- on it.

It looked like small rectangular thing. It had no moving parts and seemed extremely fragile. Though, in fact Catalysts were extremely durable and could withstand being hammered a couple of times before it shattered.

“A Catalyst” the man pondered as he inspected the Catalyst. “What ability does it provide?”

“The common strength and speed augmentation.”

“Hmmm. Would you mind if I tried it out then?”

Cyrille shook her head. “Not at all, please test it out yourself.”

The man moved to the center of the room. He clutched the Catalyst on his hand. Looking closely, his mouth moved. A whisper so soft that nobody but he could hear it.

Isaaktibo

Nothing happened.

Aktivieren Sie

Again, nothing happened.

Kidou

At the moment he said those words, the man looked as if he distorted. As if reality had broken for that tiny single moment accompanied by a low pulse-like sound. The Catalyst activated.

“Hm- seems to activate properly. You said this one increased the strength of the magus?”

Magus, a fancy way of saying Catalyst User to be blunt.

Cyrille let out a sigh of relief. ”Yes, though I haven’t actually used it myself, so I can’t truly be sure.”

“You haven’t? Well- if that’s the case, we might as well test it’s ability out. You don’t mind, do you?”

Cyrille simply shook her head followed by a smile.

The man walked over to what looked like a weight. It felt out of place in an antique shop. In fact, the floor in the middle of the room wasn’t wood, but stone.

With a single hand, he lifted the weight with ease. Moving it around like it weighed almost nothing. Though- it was still evident that it weighed a fair amount as everytime he moved it quickly, it’s momentum pulled him in the same direction.

After a few moments, he placed the weight back and put the Catalyst onto the counter before walking back up to the weight. This time he struggled to lift it with two hands.

“It is as you say young miss- it’s magus has increased strength. It’s about as common and standard as it goes for Catalysts.”

Unlike when the Catalyst activated, nothing happens when a Catalyst deactivates in most cases.

“Yes- though, I’d still like to sell it.”

The man walked to the back of the counter once again as he examined the Catalyst.

“Hmm- Even though it’s standard young miss-”

These still go for a small fortune- is what the man probably wanted to say. At least, until he looked at a small part of the bloodied sleeve that Cyrille seemed to hide behind her back.

“Hm?”

“Oh- nothing. I’m sure you already know how Catalysts work and how much they cost. I apologize, I didn’t know you were an adventurer.”

Cyrille moved her bloodied sleeve in front of her, gently holding it with her hand. “Ah- think nothing of it!”

The man looked closely and adjusted his glasses. It seemed that only now did her realize that Cyrille’s coat was also armoured. That and Cyrille’s sleeve was enough to show that she’s not a simple young lady.

“Well, how much would you like for this one then?”

A sly smile erupted on Cyrille’s face. Her silver eyes narrowed for a split second.

“...”

“...”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Outside, Arke made his way towards the center of the town. Towards where the towering structure loomed over everything else.

“-that mask is eerie-”||”-is he part of the royal-”||”-best deals you’ll ever see this fine day-”||”-oi, that’s the guy from before, his wench isn’t-”||”-could you spare a coin-”||”-those eyes… so furious…”

The voices around him were far different from when Cyrille was around. No praises of beauty. No eyes glanced in his direction. In fact, people seemed to avoid him as he walked through.

Though, this didn’t seem to bother him. He made his way towards the center without any delay. Unlike Cyrille who spent some time trying to find a store, Arke simply walked in what looked like the most direct path. Though, it could be because he was simply following the tall structure.

Before long, Arke had reached the center.

In the middle, it looked like a small park. A memorial. The entire center was barren of buildings, instead small pathways and tiny ponds dotted the area.

Where the base of the Ancient Construct was, a small moat was built. Or, rather, it’s been there since a long time ago. Looking at the walls of the moat, it was built in a similar aesthetic as the tower. Even more baffling was that the moat seemed to be endlessly deep.

Around the moat, paved stone pathways. Everything seemed normal, or so it seemed.

On the pathways, three unnatural beings stood silently.

They looked like golems made of the same material that Cyrille’s black armour was made from. It’s limbs weren’t connected to it’s body. Instead of joints, there was nothing. It simply floated from each other. What looked like small fragments constantly fell off.

“...”

These were Guardians. Each of them looked exactly the same as the other. Their heads, or what was supposed to be their heads, had glowing eyes similar to Arke’s mask. Simple glowing circles. It was partially concealed by what looked like a visor. Akin to a knight’s helmet.

“...”

They simply stood- or rather floated- there. Each facing a different direction away from the tower. Though, they didn’t seem to pose any harm.

People walked up to them as if it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Children passed by unassumingly, even making fun of them, yet they didn’t react.

Until a child touched one.

Suddenly, the Guardian jolted, kneeling in front of the child. It raised it’s hand and gently patted the child’s head as a distorted voice spoke in a long dead ancient language.

“Kono yuh ni toh ni fureru koto wa kiken des. Soh shinai yoh ni shi-te kudasai”

Of course, the little child didn’t understand and simply continued playing around the Guardian. And this wasn’t the only occurrence. Other people also walked up to the other Guardians and either touched them of simply looked. Most likely out of curiosity.

“...”

Arke walked up to one of the Guardians and simply stood in front of it. His mask’s glowing eyes stared right into the Guardian. As if he was inspecting the very essence of the Guardian in front of him.

The people around didn’t really seem to mind and just kept doing their own business. It wasn’t unusual for people to be intrigued by the Guardians after all.

A few moments pass by.

A few minutes pass by.

Before long, it felt as if almost half an hour passed by. Arke was staring at a different part of the same Guardian.

“...”

It was around then that Cyrille walked up to him.

“I see that you managed to sell it for a nice margin too” Arke said as he kept looking at the Guardian.

Cyrille held a fairly small pouch of coin. Though, inside it were gold coins. Unassuming enough from first glance. Which was exactly what they had both wanted.

She nodded. “Mhm- should we head over to the hub now then?”

Arke stood up and walked to Cyrille as she tried to hand over the pouch to him, but he simply pushed it back to her.

“Yeah, we’re heading to the hub” Arke began to walk towards the guild hub. “You can hold onto the pouch for now. You can buy something you want to as well.”

A smile showed on Cyrille’s face as she hid the pouch away. “That’s rare of you to not want to hold onto the money immediately.”

“I hold onto it because your spending habits can sometimes get out of hand.”

“Not because you’re greedy!?”

“I’m not as greedy as you think I am.”

“Your face says otherwise.”

Arke tapped on his mask.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Inside the guild hub, the atmosphere hasn’t changed even in the slightest. Adventurers still drank their alcohol, some maintained their weapons, some were at the receptionist’s area, some were at the quest board. The only thing that changed was that the three armour plated adventurers were nowhere to be seen.

“-oh, they’re not here today? That’s odd-”||”-oi give me another round of beers aye-”||”-I wonder if that lady from yesterday-”||”-they haven’t-”||”-finally I managed to finish that quest-”||”-I should level up my-”||”-thanks for the advice-”

The receptionist that Arke and Cyrille had talked to was talking to a lady. She wore light leather armour, only the minimum amount at that. Covering only her chest and arms. Her weapon was a simple short sword.

“What do you mean you haven’t heard from him!? You were the one who told us about that quest!”

The lady slammed her fist onto the counter. Upon closer look, tears looked as if they were about to overflow from her eyes.

“That stupid quest! You told us that it was an easy quest to investigate the ruins! Why is it he hasn’t come back yet!?”

Quest-

“I- I apologize, but I don’t know either. But even if something did happen, there’s not much we can do about it miss. He had accepted the quest as an adventurer and surely knew the risks-”

“Risks!? You told us that there wasn’t much of a risk!” The lady clenched her fist as tears flowed down her cheek. “W- No- You said…”

Her words slowly disappeared.

“-oi, is that lady that newbie’s-”||”-why don’t we do an easy quest, the receptionist told me-”||”-probably lost her lover to that quest, I warned-”||”-looks like she’s alone, why don’t you comfort her, she might repay you, if you know-”||”-don’t bother with her-”||”-I need another beer milady-”

Behind her, a few adventurers glanced at the lady. Of course, that was to be expected. As an adventurer, it was normal to take a quest and expect the worst. Death was a possibility… a possibility, not a certainty.

The lady kept creating a small commotion, yelling at the receptionist who did her best to keep a straight and calm face. Until a young man walked up to her. Ragna’s younger brother.

Slap.

The man slapped the lady’s cheek hard enough to make her lose balance.

“What are you causing a commotion about? If your weak lover couldn’t even do a simple quest like that, then why even become an adventurer?”

The lady turned towards the man as she stayed on the ground. Her tears flowed down her red cheek.

“W- What are you!? How dare you! He was-”

“A great man, huh? A wonderful man? Don’t spout such nonsense. If he was as great as you think then he would’ve come back by now?”

“That’s not it! This woman set us up! She knew that we were new here and said that she had a quest that we could easily do!”

“If the quest was so easy, why hasn’t your beloved come back yet? Could it be that he actually abandoned you?”

The lady immediately stood up. “Abandoned? He would-”

“Didn’t he just leave you for some other wench? If I’m right, I think I saw him talking to another lass before he left.”

“...”

“So- why don’t you just go on along with your pitiful life and stop causing a scene here.” The man lifted the lady’s chin up. “Or- you could always just go with me.” The man’s eyes looked up and down at the lady.

“...”

The man clicked his tongue. “Okay- fine, have it your way and keep hoping that your worthless man comes back. Maybe he’ll-”

Before the man could finish his words, the lady grabbed a drink from a nearby adventurer and threw it at the man, soaking him.

“...”

“Don’t you dare talk about- Hiih!?”

The man grabbed her by the hair and pulled her head to the floor. A thud resounded as she fell.

“Don’t you dare try to act like your actions don’t have consequences.”

At that moment, the area around the two began to distort. Unlike when a Catalyst was about to activate, the distortions lasted longer and were in small different areas around the two as opposed to exactly on them.

The man clicked his tongue. “Don’t test your luck any further” he added as he turned and walked away from the lady.