-Restless-

[Shorthand for Restless Spirit, usually refers

to ghosts and spirits haunting the waking world.

They are one of the Tsumi Clan’s primary targets.]

“Kuro!” My name was called by Danfis from the stage that had been erected in the central plaza. I had been instructed to stand at the side of the stage until my name was called. Ari had been called up just before me, so I was following her.

On the stage, Danfis handed us each a blue bundle of cloth, and began his speech.

“Today, you two formally join the ranks of the Hunters. While you are only Navy Cloaks, and therefore novices, you still have an important place in this Clan. You are still young, and there is still much for you to learn. Much like my father before me, I believe you, the youth of Tsumi, are our future. I look forward to seeing all that you two achieve. Now, don your new cloaks, and make your family proud!”

I watched Ari as she unfolded her cloak, and put it on dramatically, flipping it over her shoulders, flowing behind her before it fell to rest at her waist. She had opted for a cloak similar to Jarou’s, where it looked more like a suit jacket. I followed suit, copying the motion in an attempt to look cool for the crowd.

My cloak was functionally identical to how it had been in the past, but I did opt for a few changes. The first one was having the chainmail detachable, in favor of being able to lighten the load and have my cloak be more comfortable to wear. It also now went down to my knees, whereas before it went down to around my mid-thigh area.

Before, the only design my cloak had was the Tsumi Clan emblem on the shoulder and a basic white trim along the bottom. It took Venn and I a lot of discussion, but we did find a way to make it a little more personal. To someone who’d only seen my original cloak a few times they probably wouldn’t notice it, but the keen eye would see the Clan emblem was now framed by another simple design.

I really wanted to have my name present somewhere, somehow in the design, so I was a little disheartened when Venn told me the name Kuro didn’t really have any sort of symbol or design associated with it. My mood brightened, however, when she said that meant I got to design it myself. So, during the week or so between my exam and the ceremony, I frequently went to HQ and chatted with her and the design team to figure something out. In the end, we decided on a simple bracket style around the Clan emblem. So you had the main emblem, then on opposing corners of the circle you had two lines that hugged the circle, and followed the center line outward, stretching out past where that line ended. It was a simple design, and quite abstract, but Venn assured me it was fine, saying “With symbols like these, the looks and meaning don’t have to match up exactly, and the one who creates them ultimately decides their meaning.”

As my cloak fell to my legs, the backs of my knees got slapped by the heavy chainmail, breaking my balance slightly. The crowd laughed, seeing me almost fall down from my attempt to look cool. How embarrassing…

With our cloaks donned, we turned around to face Danfis again, who had his usual soft smile. He summoned two scythes out of his Demon Sheath, and began speaking again, “Scythes are the customary weapon of our people. Once, they were used to assist in farming and other agricultural endeavors. Since then, they have become symbols of death, from our use of them in combat. Wield these scythes with honor, as befits the Hunters of our Clan.” He handed us our new scythes, which we both quickly withdrew into our Demon Sheaths. He then shook our hands, offering another round of congratulations, and gestured for us to leave the stage. At the bottom of the stairs, our mentors awaited us.

“Congratulations, Ari!” Xeron greeted her with a hug, “Now you can finally go on proper hunts with the others.” She nodded with a smile as they walked towards the crowd to watch the rest of the ceremony.

“Welcome back, Kuro,” Oroske said, a small, proud smile on his face, his hand held out as though offering a handshake. I returned the smile and went to grab his hand, but before I could he suddenly lunged forward and hugged me. “Now we can start focusing on getting your memories back, and get you going on proper hunts again,” he said, revealing watery eyes as he pulled back from the hug, “Now don’t go dying on me again, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” I said with a chuckle.

“Shall we go watch the rest of the ceremony?”

I agreed and we went and joined the crowd in front of the stage. I felt several eyes watching me, and I had more than a few people pat my shoulder and welcome me back, none of whom looked familiar. More people I forgot… I thought to myself, regaining my motivation to get my memory back. I felt so bad seeing so many people who called me by name and addressed me with familiarity but I had no clue who they were.

I decided to focus my attention on the ceremony, rather than dwell on that. It lasted about another thirty minutes, and consisted mostly of awarding Hunters with new cloaks. Six Hunters received their Black Cloaks, and three received white cloaks. “A low Black Cloak count, with a high White Cloak count, I’m a bit surprised,” Oroske muttered.

“What about Red Cloaks?” I asked him, interested in how often new Red Cloaks were awarded.

“Aside from when a new Danfis is appointed, even having a single Red Cloak is a lot,” he explained, “A new Red Cloak gets appointed every other year, on average.”

“Why does having a new Danfis appointed affect having new Red Cloaks awarded?”

“I think I’ve explained before that Red Cloaks are like Danfis’s inner circle, right? Well, when a new Danfis takes up the position, it’s pretty common they’ll name an entire new set of Red Cloaks, which is usually about eight or nine members. Sometimes, like with our current Danfis, they keep the old Reds, but oftentimes their time as Reds ends when the Danfis that appointed them passes on. So naturally, when a new Danfis gets named, that award ceremony has a large influx of Red Cloaks.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

After the cloaks were all awarded, the ceremony transitioned to being more like a meeting, and Danfis talked a bit about recent happenings. I had no real idea what he was talking about, as most of it seemed to be major events from outside the Clan.

“And finally, it’s that time again, the Human-Demon Peace Party will be held soon. I have some people in mind for each party already, and sign-ups will be posted in the next couple days. Mentors, this is a great opportunity if your Navy Cloak is interested in going on one, and that goes to any Black Cloaks that haven’t gone either. That’s all for today, thank you all for attending,” He finished with a bow, and walked off the stage.

“What’s the Human-Demon Peace Party?” I asked Oroske as we headed over to the Hunt Board.

“Ah, that,” He started, “Have you been told about the Grand War? I can’t remember if we’ve talked about it since you woke up.

“I believe so, I still don’t know much about it though.”

“Gotcha, well, the short version is that it’s probably the most bloody war in our history, waged between the Humans and Demons, for around 100 years or so. At that time, the Realm Rift hadn’t been formed, and the Demon Empire controlled most of the continent, save for a few Human cities that managed to fend them off. It went back and forth and back and forth for several decades, until finally the Guardians stepped in. That was in 1103, over five hundred years ago. Five years later, in 1108, the first Human-Demon Peace Party was held, though at that time it was just called the Peace Conference. Since then, every four years, another one of these conferences is held, incorporating members from every race and major group. The first several were focused on figuring out how to have the Humans and Demons live peacefully with each other, and I guess it still is that way, but it’s more focused on general peacekeeping. Neither side wants another war.

“Danfis wants me to go this year, so I’m gonna drag you along with me. So you’ll get to see what it’s like first-hand,” he finished his lengthy explanation as we approached the board, where Nadred and Jarou were waiting for us.

We had met up with them the night before, and discussed plans for my first proper Hunt. “So you said as long as it’s in the City of Towers, we can pick any?” Nadred asked to verify.

Oroske nodded, “Yep, Danfis told me there’s a fifth person that he wants us to meet up with there.”

“Gotcha, gotcha,” Nadred affirmed while poring over the postings. He suddenly perked up and grabbed one, “How about this one? Strong restless activity, moderate chance of Necromancer, and an interesting story behind it to boot.”

“Oh? Do tell,” Oroske voiced his interest.

“Alright, from what it says here, sounds like the area surrounding the old city library has had a lot of strange occurrences happening lately; things going missing, buildings that have only been abandoned for a few weeks collapsing, extra-fast plant growth, and last but certainly not least: a strange, threatening aura that most people can’t stand, leaving the area mostly uninvestigated.”

“Hmm, sounds promising,” Oroske pondered the information for a bit, “I take it it’s a full investigation Hunt?”

“Yep, ‘investigate and eliminate the target,’” Nadred recited, “So, we wanna do this one?”

“Sure, how about you two? What do you think?” Oroske asked me and Jarou.

We both agreed to it, voicing our interest happily. “Very well, Kuro and I will go procure our supplies, if you and Jarou wouldn’t mind getting us signed up properly. Venn is already aware of the fifth person who’ll be joining, though I’m sure you can guess who it is.” Oroske laid out the plan to Nadred, who nodded in agreement.

We split up, Nadred and Jarou going inside the HQ building, or rather, getting in line to go inside, as there were many Hunters waiting to sign up for their respective Hunts. Meanwhile, Oroske and I ventured across the plaza to Lyen’s shop.

Inside, we went over to the wall where we purchased the Return to Dust scrolls during the Training Hunt. “We probably want at least two Return to Dust for each of us, for a total of ten,” Oroske muttered to himself, looking over the selection while deep in thought, “Maybe add a couple? Just in case? Eh, yeah I’ll just grab twelve total. Any spells here sound interesting, Kuro?”

I was a little caught off guard when he asked me, “Uhh,” I started looking around the shelf frantically. To be honest, I had no idea what I was looking at, or for. There was almost an entire bookcase dedicated to just Return to Dust scrolls, but for the rest of the bookcases, there were smaller compartments, each with different spell scrolls, and quite a few books. “What’s the difference between a scroll and a book?” I really had no idea.

“Ah, tomes vs scrolls,” Oroske started, “The way that scrolls are made they only last one use each. Nadred could explain it more thoroughly, but my understanding is that the parchment is infused with aether, and the designs drawn inside the scroll are essentially a recipe for the spell. Then when the scroll gets used, it burns up all that aether, which also results in the paper burning. Tomes, on the other hand, have several dozen pages, not always of the same spell, but you end up only using one page any time you use a spell from them. Most are designed in such a way that by the time you run out of pages, you should have a pretty good idea how to use the spell yourself. They’re a very effective learning method for more complex spells.”

“I see,” armed with my new knowledge, I began looking for any spell that interested me. Eventually, I found a set of scrolls and a couple of tomes for a spell called ‘Lightning Blade.’ I pointed to it, and Oroske grabbed a couple scrolls for it. “An interesting choice. You probably don't need a full tome to learn how this one works. Let’s see…” He went back to muttering and thinking as he looked over the selection again. After a few minutes he stood up and shrugged, saying “Eh, we have the essential spells at least. Now then, what other supplies might we need?” I figured he was talking to himself as he started walking around the store.

I followed behind him as he looked at various items, eventually saying either “Nah, we have plenty of these,” or “We don’t really need these.” We went throughout the entire store before he finally decided he was satisfied and we went up to the front counter.

“Hey guys, what’re you buying today?” Lyen asked as she turned around, having just finished stocking the back shelf.

“Just some RTD scrolls and a couple Lightning Blade scrolls. Nothing crazy,” Oroske said while placing the scrolls on the counter.

“Gotcha gotcha,” Lyen counted out the scrolls, totalling up their price, “Hunting more Restless, eh?”

“Yep, there’s always some roaming around, right?”

Lyen chuckled, “I suppose so, huh. Oh yeah, congratulations on getting your Navy Cloak again, Kuro! Feels like yesterday you just got it for the first time.”

“Ah, uh, thank you,” I said, caught off guard that she was talking to me.

She told Oroske the total price was going to be 160 Venn. He pulled out two small, golden coins instead of a bunch of silver ones. After receiving them, she handed him back a handful of silver Venn coins. Oroske would go on to explain later that it’s because one of these small gold coins is worth one hundred of the silver. He also explained there are two sizes of silver coins, the smaller being worth only one, the larger being worth ten. Apparently in the old days, there was only the smaller size, but as they became more and more available, and prices got higher and higher, they needed to find a way to have the same value, but in a smaller size.

We waved goodbye on our way out, which Lyen returned.

“Alright, they should be done by now…” Oroske muttered to himself, scanning the plaza for our comrades. Turns out they’d find us first.

“Kuro, Oroske!” Jarou’s voice rang out as he ran towards us, followed by a walking Nadred.

“Wonderful, we all set then?” Oroske asked.

After receiving confirmation from our allies, we began heading down the East path of Main Street. We made plenty of small talk until we eventually reached the small plaza that led out to the bridge.

Oroske flagged one of the several Aeth’Mobiles, many of which had Hunters already piling into them. Nadred explained as he did, that you would usually hold your hand out, with as many fingers held up as you had members. So in this case, Oroske was holding up four fingers, which quickly got us a ride.

We all piled into the small black vehicle, Oroske sitting up front, and Nadred and Jarou got the window seats in the back, while I was forced in the middle because, in Jarou’s words, “The shortest always takes the middle.”

Oroske informed the driver our destination was the City of Towers, and told them the Black Tower Inn & Cafe is where he’d prefer us to be taken. The vehicle started with a loud growling sound, and maintained a low purring sound while it ran. We had to wait for the people in front of us to move, but we were on our way soon after, crossing the bridge into the forest of the Human Realm.

From my middle seat, I was able to get a pretty nice view straight ahead, and of the driver. He was a plain man, with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a simple yet very nice black suit with a blue tie. He had a pin on the lapel of his suit that featured the Tsumi Clan emblem, the circle framed in a downward triangle. Nadred would tell me on the drive to our destination that the pin was a symbol of people who work with the Clan, but aren’t a member. He also explained that Clan members like Lyen were considered Support Cloaks, and were denoted by pins rather than cloaks, being a small, green shield with the Clan emblem. I would have to try to remember to look for it next time I saw her.

The road in the forest was a much smoother, simple path with red lines drawn on the black pavement, contrasting with the somewhat bumpy brick paving featured on the bridge that led into Tsumi’Din. Immediately after said bridge, the path diverged in three other directions, straight ahead, to the right, and the path we took to the left. Of the four other vehicles that were in front of us as we left, only one took the same path we did, two went down the center, and one went down the right. I knew there were other vehicles behind us, but I didn’t pay attention to where they were going.

We were surrounded by mostly nothing but trees for nearly forty minutes, with the occasional break where you could see the Realm Rift to the left, or some rocks to the right. There was one small section where you could vaguely make out a city, and had a good view of the old Royal Palace right above it. “That’s Royal City, the capital of the Human Realm,” Nadred explained when he saw me looking at it, squinting to try and see it more clearly, “It’s pretty far away, though with all the shenanigans that go on there, you’ll no doubt go there for a Hunt someday.”

“Or the Human-Demon Peace Party,” Jarou cut in excitedly, “Though I guess you might also end up going to Ish’din first, huh?”

“That’s true,” Nadred said, “Either way, still a very cool opportunity. You end up passing through many different cities on your journey there. I’d definitely recommend trying to go both ways someday. By the way, Ish’din is the Demon Realm’s capital, in case you hadn’t guessed.” He finished with a small chuckle.

I had guessed that was the case, but knowing for sure is always nice, so that I’m not relying purely on a guess.

Shortly after that conversation, we turned around a curve, and the City of Towers was in plain view. It was a blindly bright sight, with all the white buildings. However, it was also incredible, the vast majority of the buildings were very tall towers, the smallest of which was taller than the tallest building in Tsumi’Din. And at the very center were a cluster of several towers - all varying heights, connected by bridges at various levels - sat at the top of a hill.

From there, it was only a few minutes before we entered the city. It felt as though a whole new world had opened up to me.