Soon enough Hebi woke up and the two made their way back. Hebi carried the antlers while Owari carried the pack. It took them six days to get back to the edge of the forest. After loading up the cart Owari headed back to the city, this took another day due to the cart being heavy. He checked up on Hebi and found he had gained the earth affinity, its new head had a brown scale on its forehead. Owari had an idea of what to do with that but for now he shelved it.

When he got back to town he brought Hebi and Fang back to their places to rest. Then he looked at his newest beast. “You’re gonna need a name.” He spoke as he pet it. “I have a good name. How about Garm? Like the northern myth about the hellhound.” Owari liked the northern mythology from before modernization phased out old beliefs. They were always about stories of brave warriors after all.

After deciding on a name he went to the counter at the same place he keeps Hebi. He ensured he could keep more than one beast in a padding before allowing Garm and Hebi to share for now. He didn’t exactly have much money after being cleaned out by the hospital. This was pretty much his only option for now.

He went back to his place immediately after, it was only the next day that he made his way to the Orion Tradecenter. Since the materials he was trading were of superior quality he would have to negotiate with the higher-ups to sell it. When he arrived he put in a request to meet Tristain. He ended up having an hour of free time to kill so he sat around in his cart meditating until the appointed time.

“So what is it this time?” Tristain asked with a smile as he saw Owari’s serious face.

“I killed a platinum ranked beast.” Owari said as he sat down.

Tristain sat in silence for a moment. “Really?” He finally asked.

“Yes. I have materials as proof. I need to sell them.” Owari nodded.

“Take me to them.” Tristain didn’t mince words and the two made their way out. After appraising them his eyes shined. “A behemoth type. Its hide is absurdly tough and it’s in such good condition too. These antlers could make a few hammer type weapons of insane durability. With their natural earth and kinetic affinities this would make a great weapon for a lot of hammer users. This is a great find.” Tristain didn’t bother hiding his excitement. It really was just that good of a find.

“I figured as much. Let’s talk price.” Owari smiled.

“Right.” Tristain smiled a bit awkwardly. Now was the negotiations.

The two went back upstairs and started to do the usual back and forth trying to get a price both were satisfied with. In the end Owari made out with a few dozen thousand credits. His new total credits was 26,000 and he owed about 21,000 to the hospital. With about 5,000 credits he would be able to live a while. Considering that was close to a year of stay at his current place he was quite satisfied. Though if the inn lady knew one of her customers was so rich yet decided to stay at her humble inn she would be shocked.

As for the price of such materials, it was easy to see why high ranked hunters were rich. All it would take is a few beasts and you would be able to live comfortably for a few months. If Owari didn’t owe the hospital he would be able to live in a place like Noel’s for the same amount of time as he could stay at his current place. That isn’t even mentioning that gold-ranked beasts can earn a few thousand credits per kill. Yet copper and silver beasts earn tens or hundreds of credits. It was a pretty big jump, but that just showed how much stronger the gold ranks were from silver.

Owari immediately went and bulk paid for his hospital fees. Luckily they didn’t make a huge fuss about it, after all who wouldn’t want to be paid all at once? As fo why he did that, he wanted to do some travelling soon. You can’t pay for fees remotely since your funds are stored in your card and therefore require your presence to pay. As for his desire to travel, he wanted to see the world a bit and hunt some stronger beasts. Some beasts were known to live in some places but were mostly ignored if possible. After all most platinum ranked hunters worked for agencies or their families. There was no reason to go hunt if they didn’t need to unless they were looking for some pocket change.

It was much more profitable to work for an organization looking for powerful people than to hunt beasts after all. Who wouldn’t want a city level threat in their pockets? Owari however was one of the few platinum-ranked independent hunters who made their way in life by hunting. To do so he needed something to hunt. Because of that he would need to travel to ensure he could find those beasts.

When he came to that conclusion he figured he would need to do a little more hunting to increase his funds for traveling. However he decided to start planning right away. However the next day was the second of July so instead of going home he went over to Noel’s place. She would probably be home today to prepare for the next day. When he arrived the man behind the counter called for Noel who made her way down shortly after.

“Look who it is. You arrived on time after all.” Noel smiled when she saw Owari was actually able to get back in time.

“I said I’d be here.” Owari shrugged.

“So you did. Are you staying?” Noel laughed when she heard Owari speak so matter of factly.

“If you want.” Owari didn’t have anything in particular to do.

“When would I ever turn down a chance to see you?” Noel waved him up.

Owari followed after her. As soon as they were alone in her home Owari spoke again. “Have you decided on what you’ll be wearing tomorrow?” He asked curiously.

“Yes. Would you like to see?” She looked at him with a smile that had some deeper meaning to it.

“Sure, I’d love to.” Owari said as he sat down to wait.

“Then I’ll go get changed.” As she walked over to her room she was already taking off her shirt leaving her nearly bare back exposed. She looked behind her and smiled mischievously before ducking into her room.

Owari shook his head. She was getting more and more bold. He was seriously worried how long it was before she decided to take it all the way. In the end he stopped bothering to think about it. He’d deal with it as things came. No need to worry over the inevitable after all. He sat in silence for a short while before the door to Noel’s room opened.

She walked out wearing a blue yukata with a green floral pattern. “So what do you think? Authentic enough?” She did a twirl.

“It looks fitting.” Owari was impressed. “I like it.”

“Good. I went through a lot of trouble to get it custom fit. My body size is a bit weird after all.” Noel was quite short and small. She was a very petite girl and it made it hard to get clothes fitted for her that weren’t just kids clothing.

“I think I recall this being a rather popular outfit for the day of black sun, though usually it’s for easterners.” Owari chuckled.

“I thought you’d like this more than a more normal outfit.” Usually people would wear casual clothing, hence why she was wearing a yukata and not a kimono.

“I do like it. But I think you look great in anything.” Owari smiled.

“A good talker as always.” Noel blushed ever so slightly. She was confident in her body but it was always nice to be complimented so directly.

“But only for you.” Owari stood up and walked over to kiss her on the head.

“I’d hope so.” She hugged him and the two enjoyed a moment together before she separated to go change.

The two spent the rest of the day lazing around and enjoying their normal conversations. Noel did bring something up that Owari forgot though. “What happened to your eye?”

“I got injured fighting some people from Howling Wulf.” Owari explained simply.

“What rank were they?” Noel was surprised the Howling Wulf Agency would put so much effort into killing him.

“One mid gold, and two low gold.” Owari answered.

“Three people at once? All gold rank?” Noel was shocked, the fact that he lived was a miracle.

“Yeah, they helped me get stronger. But they really did get me good.” Owari lifted his shirt to show off the gut scar he had from being pierced.

“That looks bad. What happened?” The scar was a bit jagged due to him moving around after leaving the shaft in.

“I got impaled.” Owari shrugged, of course he wouldn’t hide it.

“Impaled? As in something pierced through your gut?” She quickly looked at his back and found a similar scar. “How did you live?”

“Skill and luck. I used a blood-clotting medicine to keep the bleeding down until I reached an emergency hospital.” Owari replied.

Noel looked at him seriously before crawling over to him and holding his shirt while inspecting him. She hadn’t really seen what his body looked like under all of his clothing as he normally wore a full outfit. She took this chance to really look at him. He had scars practically everywhere. He had received a number of cuts across his body as he fought so most of his body had cuts on it. Then there was the slash going from his shoulder to his hip. He also had two burn scars, one on his chest and the other on his stomach.

“Wow, you really get hurt a lot.” Noel was shocked and more than a little scared. She knew he fought a lot and especially that he fought dangerous enemies, but she hadn’t expected him to get hurt so much.

“If you want I can get them treated. It’s not like it’s all that expensive to remove scars.” Owari shrugged.

“It’s fine. You can do whatever you want about them.” Noel let go of his shirt. She was satisfied with her peak under the hood. As for the scars, she had no opinion on them.

“No point wasting the money then.” Owari shrugged. “Oh yeah I almost forgot. I killed a low platinum beast. I think it was called a behemoth type or something. I need to look into it. I’ve heard of behemoths but it didn’t look like the typical description of one.” Owari dropped a bombshell.

“You’re already low platinum rank? How old are you really?” Noel was more inclined to believe he was someone old who was pretending to be young than someone who grew so fast.

“17 like you. Yeah it looks like I am. Though you shouldn’t be so surprised. I went from low to mid copper all the way up to low silver in one fight. My growth is actually pretty fast since my life is on the line when I fight. I wonder why nobody else does this.” Owari couldn’t help but be curious.

“Most who do die. Those who live become that generation’s top fighters. Even then that doesn’t explain your growth speed.” Noel thought it was ridiculous.

“I did get a bit lucky since it was underestimating me. But I think I can explain why I grow so fast. It’s simple, my father always beat one lesson into me, which was to be adaptable. He made me learn all those breathing techniques, and forced me to fight him over and over with my own style. Each time he would knock me down and tell me to try again. Each time I would get back up and if I didn’t improve from the previous bout he would be even tougher on me. He raised me to grow through strife.” Owari described his father’s hellish training quite simply. He had been wielding a sword and fighting as if his life depended on it since he was about three or four.

“Even still.” Noel didn’t want to believe she was in the same generation as Owari. She herself only just reached mid gold through extensive training and fighting.

“Well it’s not like I can explain it. How about you come with me and give it a try. You’ll be surprised by the results I bet.” Owari knew Noel mostly trained and only fought foes of the same or lower level to perfect her techniques. This was how most people did it. Why risk dying against a threat greater than you can handle? However Owari was different. He enjoyed the thrill of walking on that edge between life and death.

“Maybe if it’ll let me catch up to you.” Noel seriously considered it. She wasn’t actually entirely sure how Owari trained, she only knew that he fought powerful enemies and risked his life.

“I plan on going travelling soon. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.” Owari suddenly seemed to change the subject.

“I’d love to, but how long will it be?” She couldn’t be away for too long unless she put in a request.

“How long can you afford to come with me?” Owari smiled.

“I’ll send a letter to father and grandfather to ask. We’ll know by the end of the week.” She felt quite warm inside knowing he was so considerate of her timetable.

“Then we can discuss this again then. If you do come with me I was planning on doing some hunting in new locations to broaden my horizons.” Owari revealed why he seemed to change topics. In truth it was just a continuation of the previous one.

“It wouldn’t be a vacation for us if we didn’t do some fighting.” Noel smiled broadly. She was also someone who enjoyed a good fight after all.

After that the two continued to chat for the rest of the day. Owari got lazy and ended up sleeping over since he would be meeting her here the next day anyway. When they woke up Owari left Noel to get dressed while he hung out in the living room. Eventually she came out and the two chatted as they waited for it to let everything kick-off before they left. They met up with Lance and Rebecca at the central square of the market district.

“So what now?” Lance asked at a loss. He wasn’t usually one for celebrating holidays like this.

“Good question.” Owari was also unsure what next. Usually he just watched the eclipse with his mother because small towns like his didn’t do anything special.

“Why don’t we get breakfast first?” Rebecca suggested.

“Where to then?” Lance immediately jumped on the chance to do anything.

“Noel and I know a good place to eat. It’ll probably be closed for lunch so why not go for breakfast?” Owari was referring to their usual date spot.

“We’ve never eaten breakfast there before. I hope it’s as good as lunch.” Noel grabbed Owari and the two of them took the lead in guiding the group.

Soon they arrived at the eatery and went inside. When they showed up with extra people the girl behind the counter showed surprise. “A double date?” She asked curiously. She hadn’t directly talked to Owari and Noel outside of taking their order, but she could tell they weren’t the standoffish types.

“Not really. Those two happen to just be friends.” Noel answered.

“I see. Well it’s always good to have new customers.” She seemed a bit disappointed. It seemed she was the type to find interest in the romantic affairs of others.

“That’s right. Just friends.” Rebecca chuckled as she looked at Lance with interest. Lance however just smiled calmly. He might have been flustered if she implied they were together, but confirming they weren’t wasn’t a problem for him. Rebecca showed some disappointment that her teasing failed and the four found some seats.

“So how have things been for you two? I never really got the chance to ask how your trip to see Noel’s family went.” Rebecca asked as she sat down.

“Owari was quite skilled at negotiating. He was able to stay in control the whole time. He didn’t give grandfather or father an inch. However he did have some small trouble with trying to get along with father.” Noel said with some disappointment.

“Maybe he’ll calm down and come around one day. We have a long time to make up in the future.” Owari reassured her.

“So it went well?” Lance was surprised.

“In the first place it isn’t my family’s decision whom I choose to be with. Of course they can disapprove and harass those they don’t like, but none of them have the power or means to cause Owari problems.” Noel explained.

“How so? Isn’t your family really rich and powerful?” Rebecca was confused.

“My family is. But not the individual members. They can only use their own resources to do such a petty thing. Grandfather would never use the family’s connections or funds for such a reason. Especially since it goes against our family creed.” Noel replied calmly.

“That makes sense.” Rebecca nodded as she finally understood. “But how did Owari take the superior position?”

“Don’t forget all of those new mines he has stock in. He is a board member and with as much stock as he has he holds a lot of sway. Especially since the Orion company wants to stay in his good books knowing he is a golden goose.” Lance jumped in to explain.

“One reason they give me such freedom and sway is because of how much profit I’ve brought them. I’m one of their most profitable contracted hunters.” Owari gave his own part of the explanation.

“I always forget that you have so much backing you. Doesn’t this just make you a member of the Orion Tradecenter though?” Rebecca knew he preferred his freedom.

“As long as they don’t restrict me or force me to do anything then I’m okay with it. After all, my contract is optional. I can always wait until it expires to change over to a new tradecenter.” Owari didn’t feel it was bad having someone at his back. What he didn’t want was to be bound to another groups interests without being able to look out for his own.

“I think I get it.” Rebecca finally understood. “It’s more like a business partnership than a contractual obligation.”

“Right.” Owari nodded.

“Thinking about it that way makes understanding your stance on this easier.” Lance also had been wondering about Owari’s feelings in regards to the Orion Tradecenter.

“He certainly has a unique view on things.” Noel noted

“I hope that was a compliment.” Owari chuckled.

“Perhaps.” Noel only smiled.

Soon they were asked to order. They all got some breakfast foods, Rebecca got eggs, Lance got pancakes, while Noel and Owari both ended up ordering french toast. The group of four idly chatted as they waited for their meal before eating it. It really was quite good and they all praised the chef much to the girls delight. It was her father who did the cooking so she was quite proud of him. It seemed they had a good relationship.

“Oh yeah.” As they left Rebecca seemed to recall something. “Erica was wondering if she could join us.”

“I don’t mind. What about you two?” Owari threw the question to the others.

“It doesn’t matter to me.” Lance shrugged with a smile. As long as she didn’t whine or complain it didn’t matter to him.

“I’ve always wanted to meet her.” Noel had of course heard about her, but she had yet to meet her. She simply hadn’t been lucky enough to run into her after all this time.

“Alright. I’ll go get her.” Rebecca waved and left right after.

The group waited for a bit before Rebecca came back. Erica was wearing an eastern hanfu dress. It was an informal version and wasn’t too elaborate or hard to walk in. As soon as she saw Owari she rushed over and bowed respectfully. “Hello teacher.”

“Hello. Is your training going well?” Owari asked curiously.

“Yes. I can do the exercises you told me to do easily now.” She smiled somewhat smugly.

“Then later I’ll write up some harder ones.” Owari chuckled when he saw Erica’s smile falter ever so slightly.

“So this is your fabled student? I almost thought she wasn’t real.” Noel chuckled and walked over to Erica, only to find she was only a few centimeters taller than the girl. Considering Erica was only 14 this year while Noel was 17 it was clear who would be taller going forward.

“Hello.” Erica bowed respectfully.

“Isn’t she cute.” Noel chuckled. It had been a long time since people acted in such a manner in this world.

Owari shook his head. “Don’t get too attached now.”

“Maybe I will. She is your student after all. That means she’s got a little of you in her.” Noel smiled and patted Erica’s head.

“That’s one way of looking at it.” Lance smiled oddly off to one side.

“Well whatever makes you happy. Just don’t make the girl uncomfortable.” Owari chuckled.

“She doesn’t mind. Right?” She looked at Erica who was just standing there absentmindedly, seeming to be thinking of something else.

“You’re special.” Erica said simply.

“What do you mean?” Noel wondered.

“Your eyes. They’re special.” Erica noted.

“Yes, they were like this when I was born.” Noel nodded. It wasn’t due to her albinism either, otherwise they would be red.

“The books I read all said people with purple eyes are all special. They always do something amazing.” Erica seemed somewhat excited.

“Isn’t that just superstition?” Noel chuckled at Erica’s childishness.

“Actually, it’s been proven that those with purple eyes are always born with inherent affinities that are oddly powerful and grow more quickly than those around them.” Owari noted from the side.

“But you have grown faster than me.” Noel fired back.

“Because of my training method. If you used the same method you’d have grown faster.” Owari shook his head. “After all look how far you’ve reached even without doing so.”

“Fine, but that doesn’t mean I have some grand destiny.” Noel laughed it off.

“True, but it does mean you are predisposed towards success.” Owari didn’t push it. Erica meanwhile just stared at Noel in awe.

After that the group started walking around observing the sights. There were plenty of stalls opened up already, some were serving foods, some were selling novelty items, and some were games meant to win prizes. Of course any hunter could easily beat any of said games, but most wouldn’t bother playing such games.

Noel however noticed Erica looking at the various games curiously. She leaned in and whispered. “Do you want to play some of those games?”

“No, games are for kids.” Erica answered seriously.

“Then that’s perfect for you. After all until you turn 16 you’re technically a child. No need to overthink it.” Noel continued to push.

“I don’t wanna.” Erica refused.

“Then I’ll go play by myself.” Noel shrugged and walked over to a game stall surprising everyone. Erica seemed conflicted before following after her. The stall was one where you have to toss rings onto some bottles. “Two please.” Noel glanced at the slightly unwilling Erica.

“Alright.” The man behind the stall was somewhat intimidated by Noel. She had quite the presence.

Noel handed over the money and he gave them each three rings. Noel tossed them lazily all at once and two landed on the bottles. Erica was surprised and seriously tried her best to try and outdo Noel. However she also only got two. The two of them won a medium prize, Noel picked out a random stuffed teddy bear while Erica chose a stuffed fish. The two seemed satisfied with their prizes and quickly rejoined the group.