Owari and Noel made their way away from the Silverblood estate, they had no real reason to stick around. They ended up sharing a room at a hotel that night using the excuse of saving money. The very next day they were on a train back to Leviathan city. Neither of them were inclined to stay after yesterday and Owari was itching to get back to work. Unfortunately he got back around March 11th. That meant he had nine days before the week of blooming. The first week of spring every year there would be seven free days where people tended to spend with their sweethearts. It was mostly because people would be emboldened to ask their crushes out in school because they would then have a week off to dispel any embarrassment.

As for Owari he would of course spend at least one day with Noel. He decided to bring it up when they got back. “About the week of blooming, what do you think?” He asked her directly.

“It would be a bit much to spend another week together after everything lately. How about we go on a date one day and leave the rest as normal?” Noel was far from tired of spending time with Owari, but she figured it would be good for them to go off on their own for a bit.

“Let’s set it up for the last day then. That way when we meet up again it’ll be that much better.” Owari suggested.

“That sounds good to me.” Noel nodded along.

“Then for now I have some business to attend, I’m sure you’re the same.” Owari knew Noel had to deal with a lot of stuff after being gone for nearly a month again.

“Alright then.” Noel was reluctant to part but that was just how it had to be.

“Wait a second.” Owari suddenly thought of something and interrupted her before she left.

“What is it?” She asked curiously. However Owari didn’t say anything, instead he leaned over and gave her a peck on the lips. She blinked in surprise before growing slightly red. It was the first time they ever did something like that in public, and he did it without warning too.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Owari chuckled and left Noel to stew in her embarrassment.

After separating from Noel Owari went to the Orion Tradecenter to visit Tristain and see how things went. When he arrived he saw Tristain waiting in his overly showy seat as always. “You seem really comfortable in that chair. I have no idea how you do it.” Owari opened with this as he sat in the overly comfortable chair.

“You’re just weird being unable to enjoy such a comfortable chair. So I take it you’re here about the investment?” Tristain got straight to business.

“Of course. I’ve been itching to go back out and do something so unless you are free for lunch today there isn’t any reason for me to make a personal visit while you’re so busy.” Owari laughed a bit.

“I figured. I am available for lunch though if you do want to go eat. I know a good place I recently found that you may like. But to get down to business, it went very well. Because of our gem mine here you and I had a lot of potential for business deals. Because you, I, and Noel share majority ownership of the mine we get to make some of the more important decisions and the board has to listen to us. So we are going to be exclusively trading gems to them. In exchange we got a good rate for profits. On top of that you and I now own some stock in the company that made the device. They had recently opened themselves to investment so I used the yearly salary you would get this year from all your business’ to pay for the stocks. Overall you’re 35% owner now and I’m 12% owner. I still can’t believe how much you make from us a year now.” Tristain launched into a massive expositional tirade.

“That’s a lot to take in. I’m glad you managed to secure so many benefits.” Owari just chuckled hearing the bitterness in Tristain’s voice. Obviously Tristain held no ill will towards Owari. He was just shocked by how much more Owari made than him.

“This is my job after all. When I have the cards in my hands it’s much easier to land certain deals. They were also quite shocked by how much capital you were willing to give them. It seemed even they didn’t think too highly of their invention. However ever since they started selling prototypes to the rich they’ve turned around their thoughts.” Tristain was gratified in joining Owari on this trade deal.

“People don’t have a lot to do at home. So having some form of entertainment is almost certainly going to be welcome.” Owari knew that entertainment was one of the things people would spend the most money on. After all he himself bought so many books even with how thrifty he usually was.

“That does make sense. I actually managed to get a prototype. They are quite expensive but definitely worth it.” Tristain only had a few songs to listen to but it was worth the investment as it allowed him and his wife to relax in the evenings while eating or going to bed.

“I’m glad to hear they’re doing well. Now onto my other business. I want to hire myself out to the Orion Tradecenter to work on more maps surrounding the mine. If they still need it of course. As well as helping to clear out the area of potential dangers.” Owari got to his main business. The other was mostly a preface, this was what he actually cared about.

“We could always use the help. It’s hard to get a mapmaker as good as you who is willing to risk the dangers of going so deep into unexplored territory, not to mention your payment. Let’s talk prices and time tables then.” The two got to work hammering out the details.

Owari ended up agreeing to work for three months on this and was paid a large price for doing so. That was mostly because he showed off his status as a mid gold rank hunter which meant he was worth a lot to hire. Tristain’s heart bled as he signed the contract but it was worth it. After all the more they know about the area the larger the mine can be and the more safe and thus willing workers would be to work the mines.

Owari got to work immediately by leaving. He wanted to go fight something. Unfortunately for him not everything can go his way. During his time over the next nine days he only found one thing worth fighting and it was only mid gold rank. It was when he was mapping something while up in a tree that he was attacked.

He suddenly jumped back as a rock was hurled through the tree branch and even the tree he was standing on. It snapped hard and fell over. Owari looked over to see an ape a few meters tall standing there. It had steel-colored fur, and it suddenly picked up a lump of soil which flashed silver as it threw it at the airborne Owari thinking he was vulnerable. However Owari tapped his foot on the air infusing his legs with wind mana and his body with phantom mana allowing him to sidestep the attack.

Then as a test he kept his legs and body infused with mana and stood on the air. It only required some micromanaging of his muscles and he was able to stand mid air. It was quite the feeling. He hadn’t really even known he would be able to step on the air a moment ago. He had just tested it for fun as he still had time to twist his body and dodge the attack if he wanted.

The ape seemed utterly blown away by Owari’s display of standing on air. However before it could recover Owari already shot forward towards it forcing it to come out of its stupor. It kicked up a load of dirt which flashed silver and flew at Owari in a group like shrapnel. Owari used the screeching wing to not only cut through the wall of shrapnel, but to also cut the ape who barely dodged. It still nicked the ape’s shoulder.

The ape roared and sent a roiling ball of silver air at Owari shocking him somewhat. This was similar to his own screeching wing. Owari jumped off the air and dodged it, however the ape shot out another two which he also had to dodge quickly. He finally landed on the ground at this point. As the ape shot another one Owari stood his ground and used the steel fang to split the ball of silver wind clean in half and dissipating the energy around him.

The ape was once again enraged and picked up some dirt and threw it at Owari. However Owari sidestepped this simplistic attack easily. Realizing range wasn’t working, the ape rushed at Owari and tried to punch him. It was shockingly fast, but not as fast as Owari who swung his sword planning to chop the apes arm clean off. The arm of the ape flashed silver and was merely knocked away instead of cut. The ape then punched with its other hand which Owari intercepted with a steel wing hoping to chop this one-off for real.

However the ape’s arm flashed silver again and although it was cut about a third of the way through the attack didn’t actually cut clean through. There wasn’t enough momentum to carry it through both the metal defense and thick muscle of the ape. The ape yowled in pain as its arm was cut. It then tried to headbutt Owari who pulled back and dodged.

Owari then infused his legs with dark mana and his body with phantom mana and did a V maneuver to arrive behind it in nearly an instant. Then he rushed the ape and used a dark steel wing and cut straight through its neck. The ape’s head flew through the air as Owari arrived back at his original location within three seconds of having left it. It took him only a single second per step to cover five meters. By the time the Ape had looked over to his first destination he had already circled behind it and attacked a moment later.

Owari was very satisfied with his new movement technique which was an upgraded version of his phantom step. Unlike the floaty version of before this one was super fast, far faster than he could achieve with either dark or phantom mana alone. After that he fed all of the meat to his hydra who had decided to name Hebi, which means serpent. He thought it was fitting and also funny.

Hebi seemed to like its name as it sounded exotic compared to all the other human words it has heard. Plus once it found out the meaning it seemed to be proud as if holding the name meant it was the king of serpents. Owari didn’t disagree, hydras are to snakes what dragons are to lizards. They are the kings. Though to be fair a lizard could become a hydra and a snake could become a dragon. It was all about how they evolved.

After feeding the ape to Hebi not much else really happened. Soon enough it was the final day of the week of blossoming. Owari picked up Noel and the two began their trip around the town. Honestly it wasn’t anything special compared to previous dates. They visited the same restaurant for lunch, sitting next to one another instead of across of course, then visited the same noodle stand for dinner. Owari paid for lunch and Noel paid for dinner. Of course lunch was more expensive but Owari argued that he should pay the bigger bill since he made more money on average. Noel reluctantly agreed since it did make sense.

After they finished up though they didn’t separate. Instead Noel said something that surprised Owari. “I want you to come home with me tonight.” She seemed to be embarrassed to say it.

“Of course I can. But I’m going to need more clarification as to why.” Owari smiled.

“Because I want you to stay the night.” Despite having slept together before she still felt embarrassed to ask. It felt different because it was her room at her home.

“Alright. I would be happy to.” Owari chuckled and the two made their way to her home.

The man behind the counter seemed confused to see Owari here so late but he didn’t say anything, as professional as always. After going inside Noel stopped and looked at Owari after the door was closed. “Wait here while I get changed.” Then she went into her room.

Owari didn’t really go sit down, he stood around and looked at the room more closely. As he was doing so he heard Noel’s door open and saw her peeking out. “Why are you hiding?” Owari asked amused.

“Why don’t you come find out.” Noel chuckled and walked further into the room.

Intrigued, Owari walked over and opened her door. Her room was quite small, but it seemed functional. There was a dresser, a closet, and a nightstand next to the bed. However Owari paid no attention to these things. Instead he was looking at Noel who was dressed oddly. She was wearing practically nonexistent shorts and a belly shirt. “I feel like every time I come here you’re wearing less and less.” He did his best to appear calm.

“That’s because I am.” Noel smiled mischievously. She had indeed been slowly wearing smaller and smaller clothing every time he came. However she hadn’t jumped so suddenly all at once before.

“You know, even though I seem aloof and all that I’m still a guy.” Owari looked at her curiously to see how she would react.

Noel lifted her shirt ever so slightly. “Then I invite you to try your best. However I have a feeling you won’t.” If there was any one thing Noel was confident about it was her body. She may get flustered by other things, but she felt safe enough around Owari that a little skin was nothing to her. It was an odd contradiction, but Noel just trusted him that much. It helped that it was in the privacy of her own home of course.

Owari walked over to her and kissed her on the head. “Let’s get some sleep.” He smiled as he saw Noel pouting as if she had lost somehow.

The two of them laid down and got some sleep and soon morning came. As always Owari woke up first and had to wait for Noel to wake up and get off. It was especially grating today given her attire. When he left Owari felt like he was fried like an egg. His face was red with embarrassment and he was very flustered. Though only Noel and Morgana could tell given his usual calm attitude. Only those two could see the slight changes to his countenance. Noel just smiled and enjoyed her victory.

Soon though Owari went back to normal and focused on work once again. The next few months would be his most important yet. He wanted to reach high gold before he turned 17. His birthday would be a few days before he finished this work. As he worked Owari would feed the beast meats he obtained to his three beasts. Owari was annoyed at how hard it was to find a high gold rank beast. Though if any normal person heard him they would be scared out of their wits by the thought. Even a low gold rank could wipe out a whole village or town.

While even a high gold couldn’t destroy a city it would still be able to kill a large amount of people before being brought down unless a gold rank was in the area. Not everyone was like Owari either, most people of mid gold would die to a high gold. Of course Owari would die as he is, he uses that fear to push himself forward where others would shrink back.

The point is that high gold rank beasts were city level threats not to be taken lightly and yet Owari wanted them to be more common. He was slowly searching out in the wilderness as he made his maps when he ran into his next enemy of note. It was a group of orcs led by an evolved orc. It was the first time Owari had found a humanoid monster. Of course orcs could be as smart or scholarly as any human if they tried, but from the few that have been tamed it was discovered they have an inherent affinity for horrible acts. They revel in depravity, it’s one of their greatest pleasures.

Owari decided not to judge a book by its cover though, he walked out openly and allowed the orcs to see him. They immediately shouted something and rushed him with glee on their face as if seeing a long lost lover. Owari laughed and felt gratified. Now he could kill them without guilt. As the first of the five normal orcs reached him Owari pulled out his sword and decapitated him in one swift motion.

The other orcs were going too fast to stop right away so Owari merely stepped forward and decapitated another orc. Then another, and another, and another. This left only the evolved orc alive. It was shaking in fear at this point. Owari had killed all five orcs so casually it was like a literal walk in the park for him. He only took five steps and left five dead bodies. This is the terror of a gold rank threat. If he attacked a city he could leave countless dead bodies behind before he was stopped. In fact each orc was at least mid copper level whereas ordinary humans aren’t even copper.

The final orc turned and fled. Owari didn’t stop it, instead he followed it carefully and silently from the air using his phantom and wind affinity to jump on air. Orcs live in villages, if there were orcs here that meant there was a village of orcs nearby. Unlike other magical beasts, orcs could be organized and they would attack cities indiscriminately. They may rarely ever achieve anything of note, but they still kill countless people. Owari would prefer to avoid a situation where men are killed and women taken back to be breeding stock.

Owari eventually reached the village, or more accurately it would be called a town. It was as big as any town he had seen, and had countless houses filled with a few orcs each. There was one big house in the center which the evolved orc ran towards. Owari didn’t attack immediately. He hadn’t expected there to be so many already. They even had a wall, but looking at that wall gave Owari an idea. He cut down some trees and stripped them of their branches.

Then he grabbed a few logs he cut down and went over to one entrance while Fang went to the back entrance with more logs. He also had Hebi bring some logs to his entrance just in case. When he arrived the orcs standing guard tried to call a warning only to be shut up by a water and wind bullet from Hebi. Owari placed the logs down and shut the entrance up. Once he and Fang had finished blocking both entrances he jumped onto the wall.

Looking at all the orcs who had slowly realized something was wrong, Owari pulled out his sword and chuckled. It was time to start killing. Owari jumped down from the wall and without even using mystical arts started to slaughter his way through the orcs. He cut, stabbed, and crushed the orcs in his path with numerous martial arts or brute force. He spared none. As he killed the 50th or so orc he suddenly turned to see an Orc who was three meters tall standing there with a massive axe.

“Human. You dare come here and kill my people?” He spoke the common language somewhat surprisingly.

“Don’t play moral high ground with me. I saw the ‘breeding pens’ you have. If you want to die, hurry up and attack, otherwise shut up and watch.” Owari used screeching wing to attack one of the orcs guards only for the bigger orc to use brute force to smash the technique apart.

“I never said I was morally just. I was only saying it was suicide to come alone.” The orc smiled viciously, however he saw Owari was smiling just as viciously.

A moment later Owari was in front of the orc who barely pulled his axe up in time only to feel a force so powerful strike his axe that his arms went numb. Even though all orcs had the force affinity it was unable to fight back against this power with brute strength. He was knocked back a few steps, and as he recovered he lifted his ace again only to be knocked flat on his back by Owari’s second strike. Then as he stood up he rolled to the side only to see a massive amount of dirt to be blasted to the side from Owari’s third strike. The orc knew he’d be dead if he was hit by that attack.

The orc lifted his axe and rolled once again as Owari swung a fourth time blasting up more dirt. The orc swung his axe as soon as he finished his roll, only for Owari to duck under it. The orc pulled his axe back using his force affinity to cancel any negative effects from the sudden shift in direction. He managed to pull his axe in front of him in time to block Owari’s fifth strike, however he was sent stumbling back again.

Again he was sent flying onto his back as he blocked another strike. Then he rolled to the side to dodge the next strike. However this time as the orc rolled to the side the dirt wasn’t smashed to the side. Instead Owari landed and turned directly to the orc and attacked. The orc ducked under Owari’s slash and punched out towards him, sending him flying due to him being airborne. Or so the orc thought.

Owari stepped mid-air dodging the punch and spinning at the same time, the next moment the orcs vision spun as its head was separated from its neck. All it could think of was why had Owari been so strong, and why could it do nothing to harm a pitiful human. Had it known that Owari wasn’t even the strongest in the city he lived in the orc would have never entertained the idea of attacking such a fortress.

Owari swung his blade to remove the blood and sheathed his blade in one swift motion. After he killed the chieftain he went around killing the rest of the orcs. When he finished that he went to the so-called breeding pen. The details are unpleasant but in the end Owari was able to save three women from this place all in differing states of mind. Two were catatonic and one was just babbling to herself. Owari gave the order and Hebi cleaned them off by spraying them down, then it and Fang took them back to the edge of the forest.

He planned to stay here for a few days and eat the orcs and catch up later. Orc meat was basically the same as pork save for the fact that it came from humanoids. Most people would balk at the idea of eating potentially sentient creatures, and while Owari wasn’t a fan of the idea he did want their force affinity. With this many orcs he could easily gain an affinity stronger than his earth affinity. He spent the next three days eating orcs until he was sick of it. Then he rushed out of the forest by running through the air or treetops. It took him two days to catch up and by that point his beasts were almost to the exit of the forest.