Owari immediately headed to the hospital. When he arrived he found it was a large white building with a red cross painted on. It gave off a feeling of cleanliness. The building was large enough to take up four times the space of most other buildings. There were people going in and out of it pretty much constantly. All of them were in varying states of health, some were hunters but a few were actually just sick civilians. Overall it seemed very reputable since so many used it, so Owari walked in and waited in line.

There were four separate lines, mostly for the sake of speeding up the process. There seemed to be a decent number of doctors employed here, likely thanks to how popular the place was. Soon enough it was Owari’s turn and the woman behind the counter looked up at him and gave him a once over.

“State your injuries.” She spoke calmly.

“A number of gashes, and possible broken bones.” Owari wasn’t sure exactly how much detail to give.

“How many gashes, where, and what bones?” She responded professionally.

“A few dozen, pretty much all over, and my arm and ribs.” Owari answered back quickly.

“Alright, to get a check-up will cost 10 credits. After that the doctor will tell you what the price of treatment is.” The woman handed him a card. “When your number is called go through those doors and a nurse will meet you to take you to the doctor.” She pointed at a set of double doors. “Go wait over there.” She pointed to a rest area.

Owari waited calmly while meditating waiting for his number to be called. Eventually after about ten minutes he was called up and he made his way to the doors. Once through a man was waiting who brought him to his doctor. It was a man in his middle ages with a sturdy build and greying hair.

“So gashes and broken bones eh? Show me your injuries.” He stood to the side of a patient's bed as he waited.

Owari took off his haori and shirt showing off his bandaged body. Then he removed the bandages slowly to prevent agitating his injuries. When he saw the stitchwork Owari had done his lips twitched but he showed no other reaction. “These are the gashes, this side is where the ribs that are injured are, and this is the spot in my arm that was injured.” He pointed to his ribs and arm as he spoke.

The doctor looked closely at the gashes and grabbed Owari’s arm. He lightly pressed his thumbs into his arm and blue light flashed dully. “You definitely broke your arm.” He then did the same to his ribs. “Same with the ribs.” Then he carefully inspected the cuts. “You really messed up your body. What even does this?” He seemed perplexed. “Oh, your stitches dug into some wounds. You shouldn’t move with stitches in. Who did these by the way?”

“I did them.” Owari answered after processing what the man said.

“Wonderful job. Professional level work there. As for the broken ribs you have three. I can recommend a treatment based on the length of time you’re willing to wait before being recovered. What’s the ideal timeframe for you?” The man was quick with his work.

“Ideally a week. Depending on the price I’d hope for a few days.” Owari answered back.

“A week would cost 50 credits. Three days is the lowest safe time, that would cost 150 credits.” The doctor answered.

“Three days it is.” His bonus had been 180 credits.

“Alright, I’ll write up the prescription. Go to the counter that’s on the way out and pay there.” The man wrote up some stuff and handed the slip to Owari.

“Thanks doc.” Owari took it over and nodded before making his way off.

The doctor shook his head at Owari, he could obviously tell Owari had moved around violently after he was injured. He had seen his type before, he would probably see him again. As for Owari, he made his way to the counter and paid for his medicine. He would have to take two different pills for the next three days. He shrugged and took one right away before making his way out the doors and off into town. He wondered what to do for the rest of the day. It wasn’t even noon yet. In the end he just walked back home and read some books on childcare until about four in the afternoon. By this point he had a general idea of how to deal with kids.

Since he was sick of reading for the day after reading about something he wasn’t too interested in, he decided to go see Lance. On his way he bought some sweets and ate them along the way. He wasn’t one for sweets, but he had been eating meat and plants for two weeks, he wanted some processed food. He bought some extra for Lance and quickly arrived at his destination. As usual the girl behind the counter was nervous as was the girl who went to check if Lance was available. Surprisingly this time Lance was busy, though maybe it wasn’t too surprising. That being the case he stuck around for about half an hour before he finally got a chance to meet with him.

When he arrived in the lounge Lance seemed somewhat amused. “You waited a while to be able to meet me. So how did your trip go?” Lance asked with curiosity.

Owari tossed him the sweets he had brought, they were gummies which was Owari’s favorite. “I had something to give you. As for my excursion, about as well as yours did. Actually better.”

“Oh hey, these are the good kind.” Lance seemed pleased with the gift. “If it really went better I’m happy for you. Mine helped me cement my position as an elite, not sure what would be better than that.”

“I could say but I’m under contract for now. Let’s just say I have a very lucrative deal with the Orion Tradecenter.” Owari sat down with a vague smile.

“Sounds impressive. I know them, they’re quite reputable and known for their neutral stance and fairness. Maybe not as much as the Gremory Tradecenter, but still up there. Though some of their managers are greedy bastards I hear.” Lance recalled some of the things he had found on them. He obviously kept up to date with the powers that be in town.

“Tristain is a pretty good guy. Easy to work with at least.” Owari was glad he had met the guy, it made doing deals easier.

“I hear he snatched you up into a trading deal. He was quite proud of that achievement. A few of the other people in town who don’t know you were naysayers, I bet this deal you made with him will make them eat their words.” Lance chuckled, he had a lot of faith in Owari’s ability.

“He bragged about that? Not like I am anyone impressive to these people. But I do think this deal will make them shocked.” Owari smiled. This deal was quite something, and he had a few other places to explore still.

“Well moving on, any reason you came to visit?” Lance changed the topic as this one was starting to slow down.

“No particular reason, though I did also get a new magical beast.” Owari mostly came to let Lance know he was back.

“What kind?” Lance seemed interested.

“An evolved metal affinity treant. It’s even an apple tree type.” Owari decided to just tell the truth. He was curious if Lance knew it’s value.

“I think I know what kind of deal you made.” Lance’s eyes shined with understanding. Owari only smiled, silently confirming his thoughts. “An apple tree though? If I recall that’s one of the most desirable variants.” Lance showed off his knowledge of magical beasts quite easily.

“Second only to the beautifying peaches. Even then I’d say this is better since it grants more affinity boosts than peaches. There is a reason apples are seen as the fruit of life after all.” Owari chuckled.

“Makes sense. So what are you gonna do with that metal affinity?” Lance wondered if Owari would start to practice a mystic art.

“Once I get back from the excursion to help Rebecca I plan to start developing my mystic art. My main affinity will be metal, but I plan to incorporate a few others.” Owari wasn’t afraid of explaining his plans.

“Metal affinity, known for being the most straightforward and offensive affinities. Fitting.” Lance weighed in his opinion.

“I agree, it was why I chose it.” Owari didn’t deny it.

“The date for the excursion still hasn’t been chosen.” Lance expertly moved the conversation along.

“Is that so? I plan to see Rebecca later so hopefully I can get her to set up a negotiation date.” He was a bit excited for this excursion.

“She should be able to do that much. So far both Noel and I have signed on to help out so it’s just you left.” Lance was also a bit excited to get back out in the field.

“I’ve made some steps in my skills so hopefully I won’t drag you guys down.” Owari chuckled.

“I doubt you will.” Lance was confident Owari had grown greatly if he could subdue a silver ranked beast. “It’s about that time though. I have a meeting with someone soon. I hate these things. It’s so bothersome to talk to these fake people.” Lance couldn’t help but complain. Speaking with the open Owari it was no wonder the fakeness of these people showed even more.

“Just think of it as a battle. All you need to do is win. What you consider winning though is up to you.” Owari chuckled as he stood up carefully. “Make sure not to overwork yourself.” After that he left with a wave while Lance watched him go with a sigh.

Owari made his way out of the building and walked to a nearby park where he laid in the grass. He waited there for a few hours, just meditating and enjoying the fresh air until it grew late. When the time came around he got up and made his way over to Rebecca’s place. When he knocked on the door the one to answer was the bigger boy. He scowled but didn’t say anything as he got Rebecca.

“Well look who it is. Back in time I see.” Rebecca chuckled when she saw Owari.

“I said I’d try didn’t I?” Owari smiled.

“I suppose you did. So what brings you here?” She was wondering if it was for a chat or something else.

“I just got back and was a bit bored so I’ve been visiting everyone. Plus I wanted to ask you to help me set up a negotiation with your agency.” Owari plainly laid it out.

“I can do that. What’s a good day for you? Negotiations start the 18th.” She easily gave out the date as she was an insider and would obviously know.

“Let’s set it up for the first day and get it over with.” It was currently the 14th so he would be fully healed by then.

“Alright, come on in then.” She turned around and made her way to the living room.

Owari followed her and sat down as he usually did. When Erica saw him she seemed to think about something before approaching him. “Did you need something?” He asked, she nodded. “What is it?”

“I practiced everything. I don’t know what to do next.” She held up the papers with a look of confusion.

“Do you guys have some more paper?” Owari looked over at Rebecca.

“Sure, let me go get it.” She left the room and came back a bit later handing over a stack of papers and something to write with.

“Thanks.” He said as he wrote down some instructions for the basics of swordsmanship as he had learned them. “Can you get her a practice sword?” Owari asked.

“Of course, what kind?” She asked just to be sure.

“Really it doesn’t matter, but one like mine would be best.” Owari gave a slightly surprising answer.

“I’ll just go with that then. What do you think of that Erica?” She asked with some hope.

“I’d like that.” She smiled at Rebecca.

Rebecca blinked in surprise for a second before she also smiled. “Then let’s do that. I’ll do my best to get it done quickly. What should I ask for specifically?”

“Here.” Owari wrote some stuff down on a page. “Give the one making it this, it has all the dimensions to fit her body for the style she will be practicing.”

“Perfect, how much of your style are you teaching her? Or is it just basics?” She was curious.

“It’s just the basics for now. Plus I don’t think my style fits her. It relies too much on my physical strength. Even if she started training today it would take her years to reach a level of strength capable of using my techniques. Instead I’ll teach her how to build a solid foundation for developing her own martial arts, or give her a good base to build upon when she learns a mystic art.” Owari explained.

“That should do her some good.” Rebecca was just glad she finally had a chance of learning a martial art at all.

“It will.” Owari was sure Erica would succeed. She was a lot like him after all.

“So how was your excursion, find anything of use?” Rebecca felt like the conversation was hitting a dead end and changed the subject.

“Yeah, it went quite wonderfully. Perfect even. I got a magical beast as well. A metal affinity treant.” Owari had already explained it that day so he decided to be a bit more concise about it.

“That should be good, I know a bit about treants since they can have good water affinity. If I remember only a few dozen have been tamed. Among those there are four fruit trees, with only one being peaches.” Owari felt it was a bit suspicious that she had specifically mentioned peaches.

“Mine is an apple tree.” Owari mentioned offhandedly.

“Well that makes it one of the rarest treants, and among one of the rarest magical beasts. It might not be powerful but it is desirable. Just make sure to keep your life with something so rare.” Rebecca warned him seriously.

“I’m not worried. Even if they kill me it will just cause the treant to hate them so it’s pointless. As long as I’m in the city I’m safe, and out of the city I’m confident in my ability to stay safe.” Owari wasn’t at all scared, he welcomed the challenge in fact.

“Unless someone sends a gold level hunter after you.” Rebecca warned again.

“A gold rank wouldn’t waste their time on a mere silver rank. Even a treant wouldn’t be worth their time unless they were paid a hefty price. Even then my treant is an upper silver rank threat. It could hold a gold rank off long enough for me to escape. Since it would be the target of acquisition they wouldn’t dare kill it easily. Though I probably wouldn’t be willing to abandon it based on chance.” Owari was aware that he was too attached to his magical beasts to use them as sacrifices.

“Well that’s a good way to view your beasts. I know I would never sacrifice Fluffy.” Fluffy was obviously her magical beast’s name.

“What type of magical beast is it?” Owari asked curiously.

“He’s a frigid bear. He has also evolved to have a stronger frost affinity.” Rebecca seemed very proud of her magical beast.

“Impressive. My moth is on the cusp of a powerful evolution but it’s taking a while. It’s evolved a few times but none of them accomplished as much as this next one will.” Owari was also proud of his own magical beasts.

“That’s good news. I hope it has a fruitful evolution.” Rebecca was happy for him, she knew what it was like to have a magical beast evolve.

“Hopefully it does. I’ve been waiting a while for this one.” Owari chuckled.

“Who doesn’t await the evolution of their magical beasts?” Rebecca also chuckled.

Soon the two fell into a pleasant but relatively aimless conversation. This is how most people interacted, and Owari was getting more proactive in his way of interacting with people. He had read some books on interactions and social skills on his off time. It was going to be important going forward to at least be able to talk to people based on the route he was going for with his business ventures. Not to mention he was finding it hard to just sit on the sidelines and watch other people have fun interacting. It was odd that he finally felt a desire to talk and interact with people, but he didn’t hate it.

It didn’t take long for it to get late and for Owari to leave, after all he had come quite late. When he got home he laid down and went to sleep, it was important to rest when he was healing so he didn’t make a big deal out of it or force himself. When he woke up the next morning it was quite early so he got some light reading in before he got dressed and made his way to Noel’s place. It was an uneventful journey, and when he arrived he was surprised to see Noel standing in his usual spot leaning against a wall. She was wearing her normal work clothes which surprised him even more.

“You stole my spot.” Owari chuckled as he approached.

“I wanted to give it a try.” She smiled.

“So what’s with the clothes?” He wondered if she had some emergency at work.

“Do you expect me to leave my home wearing something like what I wear casually around the house? I do have an image to uphold you know?” She smiled as she turned to walk inside.

“Makes sense.” He naturally followed alongside her.

“Of course it does. So how are your wounds?” She was curious after he had gone to the hospital how bad it was.

“I’ll be healed up in three days or so. It’s nothing too serious.” Of course he didn’t see a reason to explain all his wounds.

“That’s good. Should be in time to start negotiations. I have a feeling the Sapphire Agency is about to release a date since the news is leaking out that they are looking for hires.” Noel was much more informed about this than Owari. If not for him being told the date he would have never figured it out.

“It’s supposed to be the 18th.” Owari trusted Noel so of course he wouldn’t hide it.

“So you went to see Rebecca?” Noel chuckled. She knew that was the only way he’d find out.

“Yeah, she’s setting me up a meeting date for the first day, I’m hoping to just get it out of the way.” Owari and Noel had finally made it to her room by this point and went in.

“It seems we will probably still be in town around the time of the culture festival.” Noel said offhandedly.

“Seems like it, though where I’m from it’s called the farmer festival since I lived in a small town. People would bring their best-grown goods to town and we would do all kinds of stuff with the food.” Owari sat on the couch and stretched lightly being careful to avoid aggravating his wounds which were noticeably better today.

“In the cities it’s more of a celebration of culture and such because there isn’t any farming done here. I’ll be back in a second after I change. No peeking.” She made her way into her room and changed while Owari got comfortable.

Soon enough she made her way out wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. “I don’t know why you tell me not to peek. It’s not like I can see through doors.” Owari laughed lightly.

“It’s just a point I feel is important to make.” Noel smiled as she flopped on the couch.

“You really are quite relaxed around me huh?” Owari joked as Noel threw her legs across his lap.

“Sure, why not? You have yet to betray my trust. Besides you’ve already seen me at my worst.” Noel saw no reason to hide this side of her from him.

Owari looked at her legs for a moment lost in thought. “So I take it this isn’t something you’d do with any person right?”

“Of course not.” Noel confirmed.

“Interesting.” Owari didn’t say anything else about the subject. “By the way we should spend the 21st together.”

“So you really do want to spend the holiday together? I was waiting for you to ask, otherwise I’d have had to do it.” Noel preferred to let Owari take the lead in this type of thing, she felt like it gave her the initiative to reject. Though his way of wording it implied she had no choice which she felt fit their competitive nature.

“I figured it was a given, but I decided to say it anyway.” Owari chuckled.

“A given huh?” Noel looked at the ceiling as she considered some things. “I don’t think we can keep pretending much longer that we aren’t treating each other as more than friends.”

“True, but it was never really about whether we really were. It was about how we displayed ourselves in public. I’m not so naive as to believe you being in a relationship is as easy as just saying so.” Owari was aware of the politics that go on in the big hunter families in regards to relationships.

“How sharp of you to notice. So what about that other girl you had feelings for?” Noel also decided to openly ask about what worried her.

“I don’t really even think about her these days outside of wondering what happened to my old friends. It was less that I had feelings for her and more that I felt I had to take responsibility for all those years of effort I put in. Maybe when I was younger I liked her, but as the years dragged on she became someone who I barely recognized. That’s how it usually is with young crushes though, probably.” Owari shrugged, he didn’t even have any lingering attachment to those people now. Not since Lance’s celebration party.

“So where does that put us?” Noel couldn’t help but wonder.

“A good question.” Owari chuckled. “What is the point of giving it a name or term? We’re just us.” Owari never bothered with that stuff before so why bother now?

“That’s a very you response.” Noel smiled. “Alright, let’s just be us.”

“I’d like to think I act like myself a lot.” Owari joked.

“Look who’s learning.” Noel joked back. Obviously Owari was getting better at talking with people. Normally he would just listen to others instead of talking himself.

“Since I plan to do a lot of things from now on I need to learn. Plus it’s not like I can’t interact with other people. Just that I saw no point. Now I do.” He looked at Noel as he said this causing her to blush lightly.

“You really are good at talking.” She smiled trying to appear calm.

“Unfortunately for you your condition makes it easy to tell when you’re blushing.” Owari called her out mercilessly.

“You can’t even give me this much?” Noel kicked him lightly. “Let me stew in my own embarrassment please.”

“That wouldn’t be any fun.” Owari didn’t show any discomfort from the kick. It was more of a light tap.

“Of course it wouldn’t.” She chuckled. “I’ll get a win in by the end of the day.” She declared confidently.

“It would be boring to never lose. A challenge is always the most fun.” Owari gladly accepted the challenge.

The two talked some more after that, it was mostly about this or that with no aim to it. Noel went over some of her frustrations as she was getting antsy about not being able to go back out. She was quite excited for the expedition and couldn’t wait. Meanwhile Owari openly shared his deal with the Orion Tradecenter, even going so far as to directly state how he found a track of treant fertile land and a massive ore vein and how he would be getting a share of the profits for anything that was farmed or mined on the property. He also made sure to tell her that technically he was under contract not to say anything, but he trusted her not to go around talking about it. She was shocked to say the least when she heard how much he could potentially make off of this discovery. But the real shocking thing was that he had other ideas of where to look for other resources. She was quite impressed by his dedication to his work. With this discovery he could probably coast by for a long time on the dividends he would make alone. Considering his chose to keep working he was quite dedicated to his original goal of being a hunter.