Owari spent the next few days resting and recovering while sorting a few things out for the future. When he went to pick up his sword the next day he also ordered some weights and then bought some materials to remake his training equipment. After he had felt the massive difference in his maneuverability he had realized he should only wear it while in the city and that he should take it off when he left so he wouldn't be hampered. He also fixed the design to be more easily removable. Since his wounds needed time to heal, especially his arm, he couldn't risk going out right away anyway so he took some time to study his findings and to visit the local libraries. While he was there he researched some stuff including affinities and hive minds and confirmed some stuff.

Apparently the reason for the mana dip was because the hive mind was using ambient mana to supplement its own mana to create its soldiers. The thing that worried Owari was just how much it was using up. He doubted it was a simple silver level hive mind and it was almost certainly more dangerous. However he was an independent hunter, let alone his age, so nobody would believe him. He decided to tell Noel when she stopped by and let her sort it out. After all she had some actual sway around the city and so she could probably get something done, not that he cared much one way or the other. He wasn't under the impression that he was special and the people who were investigating were probably already aware of all this.

On the third day Owari went and got his new sword. It was just as standard as he had hoped, a simple grip and circular guard with a slightly curved steel blade that was neither too dull nor too sharp. With this he would be able to practice his finer control, and he wouldn't consider his new technique ready until he could use it without breaking a sword of this quality. He also picked up his new training weights and quickly placed them in his training gear which he started wearing around the city. The woman had been curious about what he had ordered so many bars of steel for and asked him about it out of passing interest. When he explained it to her she couldn't help but sweat a little bit. Even she wouldn't say she could handle walking around all day every day with what was essentially double her weight, it was after this that she realized why Owari was able to swing his sword with so much force.

He would spend a few hours a day working out and doing his typical training exercises before relaxing with some meditation, followed by studying. It was a very full few days, and the sixth day after he arrived was when he heard a knocking at his door indicating his break time would be over. He walked over and checked the peephole before opening the door to see Noel standing there in a light blue sundress with a black parasol in hand. Beside her was Morgana in her modified maid attire standing at attention. Owari had decided that he would begin working as a hunter after Noel showed up or after a week had passed, whichever occured first.

"So you really were staying here." Noel chuckled lightly as she saw Owari at the door. She seemed to be in an especially good mood for some reason.

"I didn't have any reason to lie. So I take it you managed to get everything sorted out on your side?" Owari didn't ask her what was making her so giddy, he wasn't nearly that good at reading and acting on social cues.

Noel nodded as she answered. "We have. I hope things have been going well for you as well."

"I managed to get everything done and I'm mostly healed up. I'd offer to let you in but as you can see there isn't much room in here or places to sit and I'm not sure how long you planned to stay." Owari motioned at his room as he spoke showing that it wasn't exactly a good place to accept guests.

"It's fine. Actually I don't have much to do today. I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a tour around town. I have yet to get the chance to do so since I've been busy." Noel casually asked.

"Sure just give me a bit to grab a few things. I had some stuff to talk to you about anyway." Owari easily agreed and walked over to his bed. He grabbed his haori and threw it on before grabbing the two swords next to his bed and placed them on his hip.

As he turned and walked back to the door Noel couldn't help but ask. "I see you fixed up your coat, but it looks a bit more patchy. Why didn't you just use the same color material?"

"I thought it would be ironic to patch the spots I couldn't clean with red. I've heard of travelers who like to create patchwork cloaks to catalog their journey. So I thought it would be interesting to show off the damage to my coat, kind of like scars." Owari thought the idea fit him, after all he himself had gained a few scars in that fight. His wounds had already sealed up but there were marks left over.

"Well it's certainly a unique look." Noel refrained from saying anything else on the matter. At the very least it was an interesting aspect of Owari she hadn't expected. "I noticed you have two swords now, did you get a new one?" As she asked this the three of them all began to leave and walk towards the city.

"The new one is for practicing some stuff. That reminds me though, I don't recommend going to the smith you told me about." Owari pulled the sword out a bit to show it was only an ordinary quality one as he answered her.

"Did something happen when you went to see them?" Noel asked with an eyebrow raised. It was her own family's servants who had done the research so she would be quite surprised if something bad had happened.

"His pricing is too high, it isn't worth the cost. Since you won't be receiving help from your family and have to manage your finances I'll say that his cost-effectiveness of going to him is not worth it." Owari gave a very lacking description of the events, but he managed to get his point across.

"How much did he try to charge you and for what?" Morgana was the one to ask this, as someone who lives in the city she knew the going rates for most things. On top of that it was her subordinates who had reported the information on the various shops in the city, so it was very important to get a clear picture.

"He wanted 200 credits to sharpen my sword." Owari didn't really think much of it as he answered.

"How much is it usually?" Noel asked Morgana since she wasn't really experienced in such things.

"About 70 to 80." She shrugged as she tried to recall who gave her the information on that shop. She would need to get some answers later.

"Why would he charge so much more?" Noel was actually just confused more than angry. After all overcharging was risky, you might scare off a potential customer or offend someone.

"Greed causes people to do foolish things." Morgana smiled as she witnessed Noel's naivety. Because of her unique education some things were easily and readily understood, but others were out of reach due to a lack of experience. It would be Morgana's job in the future to ensure Noel safely learned the lessons she needed for true independence.

"So he was just being greedy? How disappointing." She shook her head as if it was a shame. In fact she truly felt it was a shame, if the man had such good skills he should be able to make it quite easily in this city. However Noel had no intention of making use of his skills any further, and after a thought she decided to tell Lance and Rebecca about what happened. Over the last week or so she had actually met them and spoken to them again. After all she was the representative of the Silverblood family so she had gone and introduced herself to the various groups of interest in the city, for the Sapphire and Amber agencies they would of course use familiar people to make the meeting smoother. In the end Noel had befriended the two of them and they all got along well enough so they agreed to meet and work together on occasion in the future.

Owari of course had no way of knowing the waves he set in motion, nor would he care. "Either way I found a smith who is probably just as good. Now that I think about it I didn't get their name. Though she charges a bit more than standard, that's because she has her hands' full advising apprentices." Owari tossed out the address he memorized after that. "Of course she might be too busy to work on anything you might need so take it with a grain of salt." Owari had recalled that Noel wanted to get a pair of gauntlets made when she found a suitable material, so she would need a smith to do the work at some point.

"Oh them?" Morgana seemed to recognize the place. "If I recall she should be quite the skilled smith, but she doesn't like to work on stuff for just anyone. There are lots of craftsmen like her who won't make the time for you unless you impress them somehow." She then proceeded to list off another half dozen smiths who were similar.

"Then Noel should be able to get her to work on her gauntlets when she needs it." Owari wasn't worried that Noel wouldn't impress the woman. If even he could do it then of course Noel would manage to as well.

"It seems you have a lot of faith in my ability." Noel seemed quite happy to take the compliment as they continued to walk. By this point they had made their way out into the city and had started to walk the streets.

"I watched you fight after all." Owari responded to her without hesitation as he recalled that day. He had gained a lot that day and it was vividly burned into his mind. Of course he also knew that many people had died, however there was nothing he could do for them now. He just had to hope that next time he would be able to save more people.

"I suppose that makes sense." She didn't find it all that strange that others would view her as strong, it was natural for people from her family to be among the best in their generation. She was more impressed by Owari who had reached where he had without the kind of help she had received.

"Oh by the way, do you know how the investigation on that hive mind is going?" Owari asked as he recalled the other topic he had to talk about. He wasn't one to dance around the subject and decided to just get it out of the way early and enjoy the walk.

"Oh yeah there was that. It was going well enough, however it seems that it was much stronger then expected so the threat was taken far more seriously. However it isn't really something we will be getting involved in." Noel recalled that some people had apparently underestimated the hive mind and a few teams were lost before they had a chance to confirm it's threat level.

"That makes sense. I did some research after getting here because I noticed the mana level in the area was significantly lower. Based on what I found it should be a mid silver level threat at least." Owari was able to confirm that the investigation teams had figured out what he had discovered so he stopped worrying about it.

"That's about what the investigation team had determined." Noel had gotten used to Owari's surprises, so while she was impressed by his ability to determine the threat level with the information he had, she wasn't shocked. However Morgana who was to the side was very surprised. Although she had heard from Noel that Owari was knowledgeable about magical beasts, she hadn't really had the chance to see him show off his knowledge.

After that Owari didn't really have anything to talk about so he just listened as Noel started to talk about various things. She mostly talked about the things she had been doing over the week, which included meeting all kinds of people and introducing herself. Things had gone well enough and most people were respectful, however a few hiccups had occurred.

Some of the various people thought it was a joke that a child barely into adulthood would be one of the people with any sway in town and heavily implied that she should do her best to maintain a low profile or else some people might be unhappy. Of course they tried to be subtle about it but they had clearly indicated their feelings on the matter. Owari listened patiently to Noel's complaints, which had the effect of confirming his thoughts on high society and all that politicking he hated. However he didn't say that kind of stuff out loud, he just let Noel blow off some steam. After complaining about the older people who didn't respect her because of her age it had reached noon and it was about lunch time.

"How about we stop somewhere to eat?" Noel suddenly suggested this as she reached a stopping point for now.

"Sure." Owari naturally agreed seeing as he wasn't meditating he'd obviously have to eat. "Morgana, you should know about the local places. Is there anywhere that is cheap but has a good reputation for quality?" Owari just as naturally turned to Morgana and asked her opinion. Both his bearing and actions fit someone more around Noel's status than some country kid, but it didn't come off as being forced.

"Of course young sir. If it pleases the young miss I will lead you to a place nearby that fits your requirements." She had almost fallen into his pace and agreed right away before remembering who was actually her boss.

"I don't mind. I would like to add that I want somewhere private and quiet though." Noel added her own requirements to the equation, not batting an eye at Owari's attitude.

"Then I will bring you to a place right away." Morgana bowed respectfully and began leading them, about 10 minutes later and they were standing in front of a cafe in a place slightly out of the way of the main streets.

It was pretty small, being big enough for a dozen people at most separated into booths. Owari and Noel were slightly surprised by the place, not just because it looked far better than such a location really deserved, but because Morgana had been able to remember this seemingly out of the way cafe. She really seemed to be worthy of her title as head servant with this level of skill. Of course to her she felt it was only natural to remember the location of every shop and business possible in case her master required something of her regardless of what it is. This just showed not only how good the Silverblood family was at educating their servants, but how much respect they commanded seeing as how Morgana was not just any maid, she was also a powerful hunter and tamer.

The group entered the cafe and looked around, it was nicely decorated and clean. When they came in they saw a person behind a counter nearby, and lining the walls were a number of seats that seemed designed for a small family to sit at. As soon as they entered the person behind the counter looked up, it was a young lady that didn't seem to be out of her early twenties, and as soon as she saw Morgana in her maid uniform she froze slightly before speaking up.

"Are you here to eat?" She seemed a bit nervous as she asked this.

"I can't see why else we would come to a restaurant." Noel laughed lightly as the three approached the counter.

"Ah, you're right." The girl smiled in embarrassment before she continued. "You can sit anywhere you'd like, there are menus at the tables. When you are ready to order you can call me over and I'll come right away." She did her best to speak slowly and with confidence but it just came off as nervousness. Luckily Noel was understanding and Owari was socially awkward so neither pointed it out.

"Thank you for the information." Noel smiled and the three quickly walked over to a booth at the far corner of the restaurant. As for why the girl was so nervous, it was clear she recognized the group as being important. Luckily there were laws in place to protect common citizens from those with status or power, however one word from Noel could in theory cause the place to fall into ruin.

When the three arrived at the seats Noel sat down, and although she wanted Owari to sit next to her she was too shy to do something so forward and he ended up sitting across from her. Morgana stood off to the side, not daring to sit. She also wouldn't be joining them for lunch either. This was simply part of her job as a servant. Owari didn't bother to offer for her to sit down as it wasn't his place to do so. He also recognized Morgana as being rather traditional and stubborn so she would definitely refuse unless explicitly ordered to join them, so there was little point in forcing the matter. With that said, the two looked through the menu carefully to figure out what they wanted. Owari came to a decision in mere moments as he saw their claims of having the best burgers in the area right there in bold letters. He decided to test such a claim himself, and since he hadn't had a real meal in a while he decided to order a large salad on the side. He wasn't the biggest fan of salads, but it was decently filling and healthy which was more important to him then taste. As for Noel she looked through the menu with amusement, she was obviously used to higher class meals, but she wasn't all that much pickier than Owari given her training and upbringing. She quickly settled on her order and waved for Morgana to call over the service girl. Her voice was far too quiet to shout across the restaurant after all.

The girl came running over and stood beside the table. "May I know your orders?" She held a pencil and paper in her hands in a vice grip as she asked.

"I'd like one of your rare steaks, with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy." Noel made her order and sat the menu down with a calm smile.

"Rare steak, mashed potatoes, gravy." The girl repeated as she wrote it down and looked at Noel to confirm, showing no opinion on her order. Clearly her service skills were quite decent.

"I'd like a hamburger with all the toppings you offer, and a large vegetable salad on the side." Owari made his order next which the girl also repeated and confirmed.

"My maid shall not be ordering with us. Thank you for your service." Noel quickly cut in before the girl asked and she ran off to have their orders prepared.

After that Noel went back to talking about this and that as they waited for their meals to be prepared. Seeing that they would be eating soon she decided not to jump back into her previous topic since it might sour their meal and because she would need to stop soon enough anyway. Instead she talked about how she had met up with Lance and Rebecca again as well as some of the other train crash survivors both combatant and non-combatant. Lance and Rebecca expressed a desire to talk with Owari again so Noel reminded him to go see them at some point and not to just ignore them. After all they were quite important people and it would be better for him to have more connections not to mention they were decent people and would make good friends. She still hadn't forgotten Owari mentioning how he had lost his only friends from his hometown.

Other than those two a number of the other people there expressed an interest in meeting him, including the man whose clothes he borrowed. Apparently that man was actually a manager for one of the local exchange centers and when Noel mentioned that Owari was an independent hunter he showed an interest in meeting him to discuss things. Most materials that such exchange centers obtain come from independent hunters, and they also tend to look for independent hunters to contract similarly to agencies but with more of a focus on material gathering than in fully hiring them as exclusive members. Owari was a bit surprised by all this stuff, while he had been sitting in his room doing basically nothing Noel had been setting up all kinds of stuff for him. At the moment it seemed like she cared more about his success and social network then he did.

"Well thank you for the heads up, I'll go deal with all of that stuff soon. I've never been good at this stuff so I just kind of blocked it out. I should probably learn that stuff in the future." Owari reflected a bit on his negligence, though not that much. In the end his only real goals were to grow stronger and make some money, and while connections would help with that they also weren't necessary. The main reason he reflected was the realization he had ignored Lance and Rebecca. He had figured they'd be too busy and he didn't bother going to see them, however he should probably try to be less indecisive about these things in the future.

"It's no problem at all." Noel happily accepted his thanks and soon after their food arrived.

The same girl who took their order delivered it to them. She skillfully carried the two large platters and set their food down with ease. The two of them stopped talking and began to eat their food. Owari lifted his burger and ate it without bothering to practice any manners. After all even if he did know how he didn't care enough to bother, he was just hungry and wanted to enjoy his meal. However he didn't really need to worry about it, Noel also picked up a fork and knife and tore into her steak which was practically still bleeding before eating it with an equal lack of manners. The two of them were more like starving predators as they ate then high-class youths. It was to the point that the young lady behind the counter who had noticed this felt unsure if they really were anyone of note.

Noel was especially unnerving as her albinism makes her slightly off-putting to begin with let alone watching her tear into a rare chunk of steak like she was. Neither Owari nor Noel seemed to care about each other's manners, however Morgana to the side couldn't help but to smile awkwardly. Although she knew of the Silverbloods' typically aggressive personalities, she had hoped when she had heard about Noel that such a young lady with a frail countenance would be somewhat ladylike. However seeing how she acted, Noel had seemingly inherited the Silverblood genes quite strongly. Though Morgana could at least take Solace that Noel acted properly in the presence of family guests and important representatives.

After the two finished eating they each paid for their meals separately, something they had talked about before coming. Though Noel offered to pay for his meal, Owari had refused. He also hadn't offered to pay her as he was sure she would do the same, and he was right. So they both compromised and paid for their own meals. The food really was quite good, especially for the prices. After that they went back to walking to work off the meals as they were both quite full. As they walked off their meals Noel went back to talking about her week. She started by going over a few of the better meetings. However it didn't take long before she started complaining about stuff again, things like the paperwork which she hadn't expected, the numerous offers for collaboration efforts or to meet with family members of hers back home, and the many independent hunters who flocked to her workplace asking about signing on with her family.

It took forever before she managed to show her firmness on enough matters before everyone in town got the hint that she wasn't a pushover just because she was young. In fact she still had some more work to do in this regard, in order to make everyone in town see that she wasn't here to play around and be used by the various people she had to send a message. A lot of that came in the rare moments people overstepped their bounds which she punished without any mercy. For instance there was one event of note where a middle-aged man from the Howling Wulf agency tried to get grabby with her. It was in front of quite a few people too so she used the fact that there were many witnesses to break his arm and crack a few ribs before leaving him on the ground writhing in agony without a hint of calling for medical aid. Since it was at her office this sent quite the powerful message.

As for the Howling Wulf Agency they were both angry and embarrassed. Angry at her for injuring their representative, and embarrassed that she had put them in their place. Meanwhile they were also angry at the guy who did it for being so stupid and embarrassed that their own representative would be so foolish. They might have been able to sweep this under the rug if it was a private affair, but the guy did it so openly that they couldn't hope to keep the news contained. They were actually a decently reputable agency who were known to be skilled at finding people with good potential from seemingly nowhere. However they were also known to have quite the problem with their members being of the more promiscuous and scandalous of their generation.

However it had been a while since they had so openly displayed this flaw of theirs in front of others and even longer since they received such a swift punishment for it. Noel on the other hand had gained a bit of the reputation she had wanted and people knew now not to underestimate her. A lot of why that guy was so bold was that Noel was small and frail-looking, so it can be imagined the shock he and everyone else received was a single punch broke the man's arm and ribs all at once. Apparently the crack was audible, and Morgana added from the side that she had witnessed many of the men there flinch as they realized that it could have been them.

Owari didn't show too much surprise hearing about this, after hearing the name of the agency behind the situation he was prepared. It should be noted that this was the same agency who had contracted Lucas from his hometown. They were even well aware of Lucas' nature as a playboy and even encouraged it, something he was proud of as he bragged to Owari about it for months after the fact. It was also because of this that Lucas even accepted their contract as they were one of the few who didn't ask him to limit such activities and actions and that he only needed to maintain discretion.

Because of this Owari had figured out one of the reasons they were able to bring in so many people with decent potential. After all, for many of these people they would be like Lucas and being told to control themselves would leave a bad taste in their mouths, so being told they could do as they like under this other agency was too tempting. Owari of course shared this with Noel, after all he didn't care if this was supposed to be some secret or not. He also didn't care if it came back to bite Lucas. He just decided to explain why he wasn't surprised when he noticed that Noel was disappointed by his lackluster reaction. Though he didn't know that Noel had also been testing his reaction for other reasons.

Noel was quite interested in this bit of information, in truth everyone who signs the contract for the Howling Wulf agency has to agree to keep the contents of the contract secret. However Lucas was never a very smart person and Owari was at the time a trusted friend, not to mention Lucas never would have guessed Owari would have made a friend like Noel. Either way this was a secret of sorts and it would certainly help Noel in the future. She could use such information in at least a dozen different ways, and she certainly didn't expect that it would be Owari who gave her such valuable intel. She was beginning to think he was a luck magnet for her and she was very tempted to try and hire him even though she knew he would say no.

In the end she controlled herself and just laughed off this bit of info as if it was just a funny bit of trivia, while she memorized the details for future use. She was obviously well versed in deception and was quite a cunning girl, otherwise her family wouldn't trust her to lead their Leviathan city branch. The two continued to go about their day conversing, though it was mostly Noel who spoke. Owari listened and would occasionally respond, and eventually they stopped at a restaurant and ate some dinner before finally separating under Morgana's insistence that Noel go home and rest early after a day in the sun. Even if she used a parasol and sunhat she would still feel some effect of the sun after a day out and about. Of course that was mostly an excuse since Morgana slowly began to realize that Noel had no interest in ending the outing herself and Owari had gotten used to just letting her talk until she exhausted herself so he didn't bother to stop it himself.