‘There are so many questions to ask them, I have no idea where to start from, and what is with this dude? He has been constantly staring at me since we sat down. It’s putting me off.’

Kibo looked Ryzeu in his eyes and asked, “Can you stop.”

Ryzeu looked confused and innocently asked, “Stop what?”.

Kibo became agitated knowing why they wanted to talk with him along with wasting his valuable time. He recalled hearing someone shouting they are Gold-ranked adventurers, but to him, Gold means nothing since he comes from a world with a different ranking for power. Kibo dismissed his earlier comment and questioned, “You may be Gold-ranked but that rank is meaningless to me. So, why don’t you tell me what these rankings are?”

Ayano became irritated that someone had called their rank meaningless. To her, it was countless hours of work with her life on the line, in dungeons and other dangerous areas. Only for some lucky kid to come along and say their Gold rank meant nothing to them. She was about to open her mouth to rebuke him, however, her leader put his arm in front of her to stop her.

He didn’t even look towards her to know how she was feeling but he instantly knew Kibo’s comment would have made her upset, Ayano became a little embarrassed at how well Ryzeu had come to know her.

“It’s alright, you must have truly lived in a village if you don’t even know about the ranking system, it’s also a universal measurement on how strong somebody is.”

Kibo looked on with intrigue.

“We have six ranks to determine our strength, which are:

Bronze Iron Silver Gold Platinum Palladium

As you can see we have reached the Gold Rank which is pretty far up the ranking.”

Kibo curiosity was piqued and asked, “Oh, are there any Palladium ranked adventurers in the Kingdom?”

“Yes. but only one remains, unfortunately, and he is the King’s guard.”

“Unfortunately?”

Ryzeu tightens his fist at the unpleasant memories it brings but continued, “It was six years ago…”

Ayano and Ayane became uncomfortable hearing those words, knowing where the story would lead, however, they regained their composure when Ryzeu nodded his head.

“..It was something called The Reckoning, we had lost a large portion of our military power along with three other Palladium ranked adventurers in a portal. Both the sisters had lost their father in that battle so it’s an unpleasant topic to bring up for them.”

Kibo, who was only interested in the event, continued his questioning. “I see, did we lose the military to some war with a civilisation across the portal?”

“No, before the expedition we had sent many adventurer’s and stronger groups of the Kingdom’s soldiers, but they all died like the ones that went in before them. We have no idea what lies on the other side of the portal, and to save face a lot of the military leaders had worked together to send in a large invasion force. They sent in the entire summoners branch along with other powerful and elite forces to protect them.”

“This was because summoners could easily multiply their forces and outnumber any enemy which could have arrived to stop them, but no one returned, not a single soldier. And no one knows why. Is the land on the other side too good for them to ever return, or were they all killed? No one knows anything about the other side.”

“For a while now it has been heavily protected by a bunker and an elite force. And till this day no one from the other side has ever crossed over, but if they did many believe it will be the end of times.”

A large smirk took over Kibo’s mouth. If he could get his hands on the people who could wipe out a portion of this kingdom's army and make them his summons, he wondered how powerful he would become?

Kibo's smile didn’t stop and Ryzeu became concerned on what part of his story would put a smile on his face.

Kibo started to think, ‘One day once I have gathered up enough strength, I will need to visit that place and see what’s on the other side.’

Ryzeu, seeing the smile disappear from Kibo’s face, suggested, “Well, now that I have answered your question, are you interested in joining our team? We have four members, three are in front of you and we have recruited a new member not too long ago, but she has been too busy to join us on any missions.”

Kibo realised that it was time for the negotiations and he needed to get the most favourable treatment he could get. “What would I get out of joining your team?”

“We will be doing a dungeon tomorrow because you're a new adventurer and we want to test out your summoning skills. Testing out your power in a weak dungeon is the best way. Of course, we can split the rewards, and you will have protection from Gold-ranked adventurers.”

“Hmmm…” Kibo thought, ‘The rewards do seem promising but it’s not what I want, I want more summons. It would be a nice idea to check out what dungeons look like with powerful allies so If I’m in danger they can protect me. But I just don’t want to be tied with this team for a long time. I have to keep growing stronger and being forced to do missions with the team every other day will be bothersome.’

He had finally decided what he wanted his terms to be and replied, “Alright, here’s my condition.”

Ryzeu interlocked his fingers and looked on with a serious expression.

“First of all, I would like to be able to leave your team anytime, because I don’t want to be tied to any bothersome quotas your team has to fill for being adventurers.”

Ayano became angry and slammed her fist onto the table. “You’re not in any position to be making dema-”

“Silence, go on Kibo.”

“Hmpf.”

“In return, I will not ask for a single reward from any dungeon. That is all, you can take it or leave it.”

Ryzeu was surprised by the request, however, he slowly realised Kibo might not be planning on staying for long if he’s not asking for rewards.

Ryzeu thought, ‘Unless he is confident in his ability to gather rewards elsewhere. There’s just too much I don’t know about him, however, If I can score a summoner onto my team it will increase our teams offensive and defensive prowess significantly. This will allow us to take on higher difficulty related quests. I’ll take him on board and hope I can persuade him to stay during our missions together.’

“Sounds good, welcome to the Crimson Hunters. Let’s meet up back here tomorrow morning before we head out to your first dungeon.”

“Thank you, I will be taking my leave.” Kibo stood up from his seat and was about to walk away.

“Hold on, the food is just about to be served, don’t you want to eat any?”

He turned around hearing Ayano speak. He had not expected her to speak, knowing how she had felt about him, but out of the little kindness he still had within him he replied, “No, I’m good, I have to find a place to stay tonight so it could take a while.”

Kibo was about to take his leave once again until he heard the shy Ayane speak up.

“If you follow the main road down and take the second right you will see a large tavern called Misty’s Inn, it’s on the expensive side but if you mention my name they might give you a discount.”

Kibo smiled hearing Ayane’s cute voice.

“I see, thank you Ayane.”

Ayane smiled, happy that her advice was useful and watched Kibo exit the building.

Ayano was bewildered by Kibo’s previous response, how is finding a place to sleep more important than the Guild’s best meal?

“Oh well it’s his loss, I will take his meal”, Ayano mentioned as she licked her lips at the thought of mouth-watering food entering her mouth.

“Hold on, you already ate at this rate you’re going to become fa-”

Ryzeu is interrupted by a swift strike to his head and tried to laugh it off as she sees Ayano continuing to give him a fierce glare.

Sigh.