ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

A downpour of rain engulfs the city, the midday sky like dusk but with cold, strong gusts of wind, the wet atmosphere makes everything feel all sticky and uncomfortable,

Though its only midday, most people are fast asleep due to the cold weather.

I sit comfortably wrapped in blanket, by myself in the institute’s library, a book in hand called the Strats for War, by a famous military general of the Bakufu nation by the name of Moon Gyu,

Though he has long since died his knowledge left behind on artful military strategies has been very insightful to me…

……

“Kage!” A familiar voice calls,

“Apollo?” I look up from my book,

“I thought you would be in here,

You need to get out more often Kage,

We have been here for a month now, and you have only been on three jobs,”

“I’ve been taking my time to understand everything, I can’t just rush out into things like Lyra and you,”

“That’s what I came to ask you about Kage,

Have you seen Lyra? I wanted to go somewhere with her,”

“I think she’s out with Amelia and Claude right now,”

“Well then can you come with me Kage?”

“Where, do you see this weather?”

“Somewhere”

“Somewhere isn’t a location Apollo,”

“Will you come or not?”

“Hhhhh” I sigh putting my book,

“Where’s my rain-cloak?”

****

Splash!

Splash!

Splash!

Dozens of footsteps trample along the wet streets,

People going about their days like normal….

From spending a fair amount of time in this city, I could now easily identify what faction any person belonged just by seeing their outfit or mannerisms,

Merchants were of course the easiest ones to pinpoint solely based off their insistence of always loudly promoting their products in the crowded streets,

Order members were commonly the only people hat didn’t travel in groups,

In dark shadow-camouflage cloaks, they would walk in much slower paces than regular people, not heading anywhere but stalking the streets, ‘patrolling’

“This way,” Apollo directs moving off the primary street, a path that flows directly through the city from north end to south it intersects at the center with the secondary street that goes east to west,

Other minor streets converge with the two main ones at other points leading to different subsections of the divided city, the guild being in the northeast end, north being one large field complex where only an imposing mansion stands, the apparent home of the infamous mayoral mafia, the only faction that lacks much, or any physical presence in the city at all.

…We step onto a busy street filled with travelers, which I can now identify just by the fact that most have awestruck expressions walking through the city, similar to us when we first arrived,

The street we are on is to the southwest of Sweepstake, more ‘magic-crystal carriages’ drive to-and-from here, this being the service faction’s section of Sweepstake, more bars, inns, pubs, brothels, mail services, things of that sort are commonly found here,

I remember this street good as it was where we got beat up by those maids…

“Don’t tell me you brought me here for food?” I complain to Apollo,

“…...” He doesn’t hear me, the rain still falling heavily,

It is only because of these rain-cloaks that we both aren’t soaked right now,

If Lyra were here, she’d roll her eyes at me if I said I found the concept behind these cloaks fascinating,

They’re made by crushing larger wind magic-crystals into much smaller rhinestone-like pieces which are then woven into bearskin cloaks, when worn, the wind magic flows constantly deflecting the rain pellets,

Though it doesn’t last forever, since they were made to eventually run out of magic, ensuring these are in constant demand,

(Good for business I guess)

“Apollo!

Are you hearing me!?”

“What, don’t yell in my ear Kage!

What is it!?”

“I said you better not have brought me here because of food,”

“Not exactly,

We are going to a teahouse,

But it is for personal reasons,

I didn’t want to go by myself,”

“Personal, meaning?”

“This is the place,” Apollo pulls into the yard of a quaint wooden house, the yard is filled with colorful flowers of many kinds as a sweet aroma wafts out of the house’s windows,

The sight is somewhat jarring, in stark contrast to the rest this street which is lined by a row of inns and more common ‘sweepstake-like’ looking restaurants,

This being the only place with flowers and a more old-timey look, stands out.

……

“Good day!” Apollo greets as we both step inside, what looks like just someone’s living room, furnished with stylish tables and chairs, floral pattern tablecloths and curtains give the place welcoming feel,

Besides us, the only other person here is a man sat at the back of the room wearing a fedora, with a stack of papers next to him

The man does not acknowledge Apollo’s greeting as he’s studiously engrossed in his work...

“Hello?’ A plump old woman with rosy cheeks and kind eyes, emerges form the back,

“Hi, Miss Maria, I hope you remember me from last time,” Apollo says

“Of course, I wouldn’t forget a handsome face like yours,” Miss Maria smiles,

“I was hoping you could tell me about ‘them’,” Apollo asks

“Indeed, will you and your cousin? have a seat, make yourselves comfortable,

I’ll be right over with some tea and treats,”

“Is this a date, Cousin Apollo?” I joke as we take our seats,

“That is sentence I never want hear uttered again Kage,” he retorts,

“So, what is all this about?” I question

“My parents obviously, I know you might not care that much, but since we settled down in the guild, I’ve been investigating them, you could say, trying to find out from everyone who knew them, well besides Giichi sir,

He is uh, hard to talk to,”

(Agreed)

“And those investigations lead you here?”

“Yes and no, I kind of stumbled upon here by accident,

I was coming back from a job and smelt the food, so I had to you know, try some,

But miss Maria recognised me as Emma’s son , she said my parents were regular customers of her, so I told her I’d pass back to discuss it more,

“I thought you didn’t care, about who your father was?”

“I didn’t but everyone I heard about him from, said he was such a good person

I am sort of curious now,”

…..

“Ahh there we are,” Miss Maria beams as she sets the table with coconut shortcakes, black tea and salted crackers,

“I’m assuming you brought your cousin along for this,” Miss Maria says pulling a chair in front of us,

“No, Kage and I aren’t related, I would hope,

I was planning to bring my best friend, Lyra with me, but she wasn’t available,” Apollo clarifies,

“Well, I apologizes for assuming, Raguel used to talk a lot about his many siblings…,”

“How much do you know about them?”

“Not a great deal, only the little bits I heard from when they would visit,

Emma was always so upfront with her feelings to him,

I don’t know what it was, but Raguel always acted like he couldn’t be with her, not because of himself, but because of his family,”

“Ehh— things like that don’t interest me,” Apollo munching on some cake,

“I want to know about his family, did ever talk about them?”

“Only that he had plenty siblings some of which tragically passed away,

He was apparently searching for one of them,

That’s all I know besides romantic stuff, I’m sorry if I don’t know as much as you’d hoped, these are only things I happened to hear him say, while being here,

I was never one to pry into others’ conversation,”

“No, it’s ok miss Maria, I’m not looking for him or anything,

I’m just curious as to what kind of person he was,

Any little information helps”

“Was there anything suspicious or out of place you heard him say?” I say interrogatingly

“Suspicious?

I don’t think so,” Miss Maria thinks

“Although I did have my suspicions of Emma being someone of great importance, she always talked unintentionally condescending a times,”

“Sounds like she was the sister of a queen or something,” I jab at Apollo,

“She very well may have been,” Miss Maria agrees, not getting the meaning of my joke,

“Now that I think about it” she continues,

“Raguel always had a weird way of referring to regular concepts,

He would say things like third ring instead of ring or mana instead of magic,

Besides that there isn’t much else I can tell you,”

“Thanks anyway miss Maria, I’ve learned a good bit more, and got to enjoy your food,” Apollo says standing up to leave already,

(Bro we just got here)

“I-” Apollo starts

“-You really do look like a mix both of them hmm?”

A gruff voice from the back of the room ponders looking at Apollo

“Huh?” Apollo and I turn to the man dressed formally, a fedora on head which he tips, revealing a receded hairline, but what’s left of his hair is jet black.

His stern serious eyes set into sharp well-built face tries its hardest to look pleasant…,

“Do you know them?” Apollo questions

“Sorry I just happened to overhear,” His thin crusty lips forces a smile,

“My name is Ginobelucci, you can say I know them from working together in the past,”

(Something about this man doesn’t feel right)

“How exactly is that?” Apollo demands, presumably feeling the same as I

“I wouldn’t speak to Mr. Ginobelucci like that,” Miss Maria whispers,

“He is-”

“-I’ll tell you everything I know about him; the only catch is you two battle me of course.” He cuts miss Maria off,

“… Battle?

Two on one you say?

Kage,

You up for it?”

(Is he not going to put any thought into it before answering?)

“No.” I reply dryly

“….”

“I’m joking, of course,” I say noticing his expression,

(I am not joking)

“Great~ “ the man smiles………...

Flash!

The light transports us,

…….

“Ok Kage, here is the plan, you fire arrows at him as a decoy and I’ll use my lighting to boost my speed, striking him the sword, instant win,”

I nod forming the prototype in my hand,

(This plan does not sound good; I have to think of something on my own)

“Interesting artifact you have there,” Ginobelucci spies,

“But I have one better,”

He pulls out what seem to be, fangs? Putting it in his mouth.

(Is that?)

“Apollo, I think we need a better plan” I say

“What do you mea-

-I think your right Kage.”

“Let the hunt begin

Grauhh!”

……….

……….

……….

Thud!

Two bodies reappear on the floor of the teahouse, both with claw marks ripped into them,

“Oh my!” Miss Maria exclaims

“You didn’t have to go that far,” the woman scolds the third figure to reappear,

“I get carried away sometimes,

Well I guess I’ll be taking my leave now he looks down at the two,

As per my rule I won’t be telling you anything I know,

I only challenged you because of who your mother was, she was really adept at magic,

I see that you have similar potential,”

“W…w..who are you?” Apollo stumbles to his feet,

“Nice meeting you two,” Ginobelucci with his back turned to us, walking away,

“I told you already what my name is,

But if you must know,

Some also call me the leader of the Hunter coalition,”