Owari and Noel watched from the sidelines as Kent fought another magical beast. This time it was an acid-spitting frog. “I bet he loses his swords again.” Noel chimed in.

“I bet he loses his sleeve and burns his arm but that he is otherwise unharmed.” Owari countered.

“His arm?” Noel asked curiously. Only for Owari to raise his left arm and show off the arm guard she gave him. “Oh yeah I forgot.”

“For some reason the arm is always collateral damage.” As they talked Kent was currently struggling against his enemy, but was able to use wind to knock the acid away before it touched him. “You protect him in case he gets injured. I gotta deal with our insect problem.” Owari suddenly stood up on his branch and dusted himself off before disappearing.

“Why does he always get to act so cool?” Noel pouted, she always gets called cute by him unless she wears her combat gear. Though the fact that she chose not to wear today showed her preference.

Owari showed up in front of a group of four with five magical beasts behind them. Of them, all were at least gold rank. Three mid gold ranks and one high gold rank. Then three mid gold beasts and two low gold beasts. Owari showed up in front of a mid gold member and directly cut his head off with a steel fang. Then he instantly arrived at the most aggressive looking beast which was a golden-maned tiger, and cut its head off with a dark steel fang.

Then he used the spirit art version of dark steel fang, which he called dark steel bite, to create numerous blades in the air around him. When he did the hunters foolishly rushed him. Two passed through the dark blades and were bisected just like that, while the third only had his arm chopped off. Then Owari held his sword out and the blades coalesced. He swung the sword at a large white wolf nearby and the blade expanded turning into a long black blade. When it struck the wolf it all contracted in and cut the wolf in half.

That left a one-armed high gold rank hunter, one mid gold rank beast, and two low gold rank beasts. Owari used silver wave to split another large bird type magical beast’s head off. That was the other mid gold rank. The hunter tried to flee, but Owari instantly appeared behind him and cut his head off. Then he looked at the other two magical beasts. They looked the most miserable and submissive. One was a simple green panther, and the other an aqua colored lynx.

Owari walked over and tamed them really quick. Seeing their memories of the Howling Wulf Agency he nodded and gave them instructions through memory sharing and broke the contract. “Now shoo.” He waved them off and they ran out into the woods to be free.

Soon he returned to the battle of Kent. “How’d it go?” Noel asked bored.

“It was pretty easy. They weren’t able to react to my ambush properly. They panicked too much.” Owari chuckled. It would have been annoying had they been calmer and attacked him with mystic arts instantly.

“How disappointing.” Noel didn’t bother asking how many there were. With Owari’s speed it would take a platoon to give anyone the time to react if they failed to do so immediately. “By the way his swords and sleeves are fine.” Owari chuckled when he heard that. Of course she would remember the bet.

The two of them continued to push Kent to his limits that day. Soon enough the week was over and it was time to separate. Noel and Owari gave him the day to himself while they went on a date. The two of them walked around for a while wondering what to do as usual. They observed the various people around them when suddenly they saw a pair of people that caught Owari’s attention. Noel noticed and looked over as well.

“So are they the ones?” She asked already knowing the answer.

“Should be.” Owari just chuckled and looked away. The two prepared to go on their way.

However their peaceful date wasn’t meant to last as the two they were preparing to ignore noticed them. After a moment with some shock they recognized Owari. He had a new scar and his appearance had shifted a bit due to his new affinity. Despite this his sickly appearance and that haori still caught attention. Even if the haori also had a few scars of its own. What surprised them most however was the girl and the maid following along with him.

“Owari?” Lucas asked as he approached them.

“Yeah?” Owari turned and looked at Lucas curiously, wondering why he bothered to call out to him.

“It’s been a while since we saw you.” Lucas chuckled.

“Over a year now.” Owari smiled calmly.

“Who are these people?” Noel asked curiously as she casually looped her arm through Owari’s as if it was natural.

“Some people I used to know from my home town.” Owari played along. “He’s Lucas and that’s Milly.”

“It’s nice to meet a fine lady like you.” Lucas didn’t at all hide the glint in his eyes. “So what are you doing with Owari?”

“We’re engaged of course.” Noel said casually.

“Engaged?” Milly couldn’t help but say with clear shock on her face.

“Of course.” Noel nodded. “Isn’t it natural for people in love?”

“In love? There’s no way you could have known one another that long.” Lucas said dismissively.

“Actually, we met under quite special circumstances so we bonded over that. One thing led to another and here we are. We’re quite alike really.” Owari refuted.

“Is that so? Well I’m not sure what circumstances those might be, but they’d have to be pretty special for you to be with someone like him.” He completely ignored Owari directly.

Noel reached into Owari’s pocket and before he could do anything flashed his hunter’s license. “Why’d you have to do that?” Owari asked curiously.

“I don’t like the way this disgusting kid is looking at me, and I want him to know his place.” Noel smiled and pulled out her own card. “I should introduce myself. My name is Noel Silverblood.”

When he heard her name Lucas’ face froze a bit before going back to normal. What really caught his attention was those licenses. “You know it’s illegal to fake your rank right?” This was a law passed after people started to fake licenses to scare people off.

“Of course. You can go check at the local hunters outpost.” Noel said lazily.

“If you’re so confident then you’ll come with me.” Lucas tried to catch them in the act by forcing their hand. Refusing his request was basically admitting they were fake.

“Sure, but it’s bothersome that you had interrupted our date. Such a tactless child isn’t he?” Noel looked at him with half amusement and half disgust.

Lucas’ face darkened but he said nothing. The five people all made their way to the hunter’s outpost and soon enough they were there. Noel and Owari had checked in when they first arrived as is standard to allow them to know who was where. It was also a precaution for situations like this. When they arrived the girl behind the counter stood up to greet Owari specifically and bowed slightly before sitting back down. Platinum ranks deserved at least this much respect.

When the group arrived in front of her she spoke as professionally as her job demanded. “How may I help you today?”

“These two have accused us of faking our ranks, we normally would not care about such minor things but this is a bit of a special situation.” Noel spoke for the group.

“There’s no way he’s a platinum rank. He doesn’t even have any talent, and an average mana capacity.” Lucas denied it, completely ignoring the courtesy given to Owari a moment ago. Of course that was because his ego was too big and he thought it was for him.

“I can assure you of their ranks. It’s impossible to fake the material hunter's cards are made out of. Allow me to see them.” She took them over and inspected them. “As they were before, they are 100% real.”

“Not even a chance of being faked?” Lucas said with distrust.

“Are you questioning the hunters association? I am among one of the top appraisers in this branch. Even though I am not the best one everyone else is confident in my skill.” What she meant is the majority of people here would agree with her.

“Then get the best appraiser. I refuse to believe someone who was a copper rank one year ago is now platinum ranked.” Lucas said indignantly.

“I don’t care what you believe to be honest.” Owari laughed. “Why would I care about some random person’s opinion?”

“Then why did you come?” Milly tried to argue.

“Noel wanted me to.” Owari answered simply.

“So what, you do anything she tells you?” Lucas had given up any attempt to repair their relationship or even show Owari any kind of courtesy.

“Pretty much.” Owari shrugged.

“And I do as he says. So if he no longer wishes to bother with the children than we may leave.” Noel had done what she wanted. Now both Lucas and Milly would have to stew in their own thoughts and worry whether or not he really was platinum rank.

Owari and Noel left as they were and ignored Lucas’s protest and biting remarks as if it was nothing. They didn’t even put those two in their eyes. However when they left Owari smiled cruelly. “We should stay a bit longer.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but why?” Noel knew Owari couldn’t care less about Lucas and Milly. So she was wondering what about that encounter had caused him to suddenly change his mind.

“I want to help Kent get his revenge.” Owari chuckled.

“Why the sudden interest?” Noel asked curiously.

“I sensed murderous hostility from him. I don’t allow enemies to live to become problems later.” Owari answered with finality.

“Then let’s tell Kent the good news.” Noel said with a smile. If one believed in superstition they would believe Kent felt a cold chill at that moment.

“That’ll have to wait until tomorrow when we meet again.” Owari dampened her mood.

“Fine, he can keep his day off.” She seemed to quite enjoy the role of teacher, at least as much as Owari himself.

The two went back to their date almost completely forgetting the previous encounter. This was to be expected though, Owari had never really cared about the fact that he lost those friends, especially after he made new ones. So why would he suddenly gain an interest now? The only reason he humored them in the first place was Noel.

They both finished the date satisfied and went back to sleep, when they woke up and went to meet up with Kent. He was waiting by the gate as usual. Luckily they planned on buying the ticket today so they weren’t losing out on money. When they arrived Owari went over and began to talk.

“We’ll be staying to help you some more.” Owari informed him.

Kent shuddered. “Weren’t you in a hurry to leave?” He asked a little too hopefully.

Noel smiled and answered. “We want to help you take your revenge.”

Upon hearing the word revenge Kent finally stopped complaining and nodded. He still hadn’t forgotten. Originally when they were teaching him he had thought he would only be reaching this point. But if they were willing to train him to be strong enough to exact his revenge then it was a different story. There was no hesitation left in his eyes.

“Alright.” He nodded.

“It’ll be harder from now on.” Owari’s words caused Kent’s eyes to waver but his will wasn’t shaken.

“He’s improved, maybe we should have started with that.” Noel didn’t really feel that way. She enjoyed watching his struggle and complaints before. It was amusing, especially since no matter how complained he still came back every day.

“Right. Let’s go then. Today should be a mana expanding day. Is what I would say if it was useful anymore. Your mana reserves are now at a point where the boost from that wouldn’t matter anymore compared to simply meditating. The better you get at that the more mana you’ll be able to expand your mana.” Owari informed him.

“So it’s just beast hunting today?” Kent asked with a sigh. He wasn’t sure which was better between the pain of mana expansion and fear of beast hunting.

Owari looked at Kent with a hint of nostalgia. Kent was a simple country boy similar to how Owari had been a year ago. Though their way of acting was different they were both driven to extreme lengths to grow stronger. What made Owari nostalgic though was just how simple Kent was. It reminded him of himself a year ago, he wanted to chase his dream of growing stronger and nothing more. He didn’t care about politics or business. Yet he got dragged into it anyway and at some point lost his original desire for simplicity.

When he was feeling a bit regretful he felt Noel reach down and squeeze his hand silently. When he looked over she was just smiling at him. He recalled why he went through all the trouble and sighed. This whole trip was one of his ways of going back to his original self and just enjoying the simplicity of life. Kent helped remind him of that which was one reason he was so happy to teach him. Perhaps Noel was the same. Owari smiled back and the group went off to continue Kent’s training.

It was pretty much more of the same. Owari and Noel would sense for silver ranked beasts deep in the forest and lead the group that way. Then they would leave Kent to deal with it. The first two days they had him increase his confidence and stabilized his ability by having him fight high silver ranked beasts. Then on the third day it was time for his first gold rank beast.

“So what you want to keep in mind is that if you don’t win, you’re probably dead.” Noel acted as though she was giving him useful advice.

“Thanks.” Kent had already grown used to her teaching style.

“The beast you’ll be fighting today is a bit special, see over there? That bird.” He pointed to a bird the size of Kent’s torso.

“It looks cool.” Kent replied. The bird had beautiful brown and black feathers, and green piercing eyes. It was an eagle type of bird.

“It’s an aquilla. Before you ask, yes this is the same bird the family was named after. It’s quite uncommon. This one is only a child too.” Owari smiled when he saw it and got an idea. “Beat it but don’t kill it. I want you to tame it. As long as it isn’t fatally injured it’s fine to hurt it as much as you want. I’ll cover any fees to restore it.”

“Why would you do that? How special is this bird? That’s only a child?” Kent had a lot of questions.

“Because it’s very rare and has an excellent wind affinity, yes it’s special, and yes that it’s just a child. It doesn’t get as big as a roc, but it does grow to be the size of a house. They are powerful beasts who can easily reach platinum rank. This one is probably a hatchling from phoenix mountain.” Owari explained. This territory was one of the main cities of the Aquila family. Though their family compound’s main location was only known to members of the family.

“Why would it just be hanging out around here?” Kent was surprised such a powerful beast would come here.

“It has to grow up somewhere, and I doubt the older more powerful aquila would allow one to stay in their territory even if it was their child. Plus it’s not like we’re in some random place, we’re pretty deep into the forest. We were bound to run into something.” Owari explained.

“So I have to tame it?” Kent looked at it warily. Killing a gold rank was one thing. Beasting it into submission was another.

“Yep. Now get to work.” Owari and Noel jumped up into the trees and disappeared somewhere to watch.

Kent took out his daggers and sighed. Now that he had been told what to do there was no use complaining. His eyes sharpened and he looked at the bird. It seemed to sense his eyes on it and looked his way with equally sharp eyes. It lifted off the branch with its powerful wings and rushed into the air above the tree line. Kent stayed wary of his surroundings as he waited, there was no way it would run from him after he challenged its authority like that.

Kent heard a rustle in the trees and the sound of wind and rolled forward on the ground barely dodging a set of claws. As he rolled he swung his dagger in a reverse grip and heard a squawk as he reoriented himself and saw blood dripping to the ground. The aquila was flying out of the tree but its chest clearly had a cut on it. Kent clicked his tongue, he wanted to get the wing.

The aquila circled around and came from directly behind him, Kent had predicted this and confirmed it with his hearing. He jumped to the side instead of rolling. As he did he swung his daggers in an X shape firing off his dual-bladed wind. The aquila spun mid-air and feathers flew into the air as it nearly dodged the attack, only losing a few feathers.

Kent rushed forward using his wind movement and prepared to swing his dagger with wind mana infused, but the aquila flapped its wings sending a number of wind bullets at him. Kent reversed his grip on the dagger and swung it sending a wind blade to intercept the bullets. The bullets shredded his blade, but the blade sent them off course.

Kent stopped in place and considered something. He held his daggers across his chest and swung them horizontally. When they crossed paths he scratched them against one another. When they passed by they fired off dozens of wind bullets cutting off all the paths of the aquila. It tried to spin mid-air but only managed to save one wing and its chest. One wing still got hit even if only a little.

Kent didn’t stop there and he immediately swung his daggers again in an X right into the path of the aquila who flapped its wings killing its own momentum with a wind-infused movement. Kent continued his assault with a reversed grip wind blade before he rushed forward right behind it. The aquila flapped its wings and tore the wind blade with wind bullets. However Kent arrived a moment later.

A wing and a dagger clashed while infused with wind. Of course the metal blade won over the flesh and bone wing and blood sprayed into the air as the wing was split and torn open. Kent sheathed one dagger and placed his hand onto the aquila and marked it before it could escape. He felt resistance in the bond, but he spun in place and slashed the aquila across the chest before kicking it away causing more blood to spray.

The bonding mark which had yet to disappear flashed and a bond was formed as the aquila admitted defeat. It laid on the ground a few meters away in a heap. Owari and Noel jumped down next to it and each took out a medicine. “Tell it to take the medicine.” Owari ordered, and Kent complied.

Each gave it their own medicine and soon the bleeding stopped and the wounds started to itch and seal up slowly. “That should do it for now. Carry it back. If anyone asks, it belongs to me for now.” Noel was the one to order him this time.

“Huh? Why?” He was obviously confused.

“We don’t want Lucas to know you have a gold rank on your side. We want you to act as bait to draw him out later obviously.” Owari explained. “If he thinks you’re only silver rank he will come himself. He doesn’t trust others easily, even allies.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

The group made their way back with Kent carrying the injured bird on his back. When they arrived in the city the first thing they did was bring the aquila to a beast care center where Owari paid the hefty fee of 10,000 credits to have it healed within the week. Kent couldn’t help but sweat at how casually both Owari and Noel reacted to that price. It almost seemed like it wasn’t a big deal to them. He was shocked to say the least. He expected it from Noel, but not Owari who was supposed to be an independent hunter.

When they were done with all that Kent left its care to the care center and walked with Owari and Noel as they made their plan. “You need to find Lucas and challenge him openly. Call him a womanizing scumbag and do your best to injure his ego, tell him he only takes advantage of his talent because he can’t get a woman any other way.” Owari knew Lucas hated to have his pride stepped on. “Make sure to state your rank, say ‘I may only be a silver rank for now’ or something like that implying you’ll rise up to overcome him. After he saw how fast I’ve progressed he won’t leave this to chance. Especially once he knows you’re with us. We can stay in town the day after while you go out. Once I notice Lucas leave we will follow after.”

“Sounds like you thought this all through.” Kent was shocked. “Weren’t you friends with this guy?”

“Keyword is were. I’m not anymore. Now we’re enemies.” Owari said simply. No need to make it complicated.

Noel smiled as she watched Owari revert back to his original simplistic mindset. No need to make things more complicated than they already were. Just treat it all with simple logic. Nothing more and nothing less. Owari had always been one to overthink things, it was only when he reigned in his thoughts and forced himself to calm down that he could act in a way that makes him happy. However he had been stressing over so many details these days back in Leviathan city that he never had a chance.

“This really is a good vacation.” Noel chuckled.

“Planning a person’s murder is a vacation to you?” Kent became a bit wary.

“Well there is that. I just meant that Owari looked like he was having fun for the first time in a while.” Noel pulled herself closer to Owari.

“That still means you enjoy killing people.” Kent sighed.

“Only my enemies. Don’t you enjoy fighting?” Owari asked curiously.

“Not really, it’s scary. I don’t hate it, but saying I enjoy it is a stretch.” Kent was more neutral when it came to this stuff.

“Well maybe one day you’ll acquire the taste for it.” Owari didn’t blame him for not liking this stuff. It was him and Noel who were abnormal. It was mostly low-rank hunters who feared combat. All the higher ranking ones are typically combat lovers.

The group shored up their plan and went to do it. It was going to take a few days for Kent to find Lucas, or so they thought. He actually found him that very day. Lucas was a very inconspicuous person. He didn’t ever try to hide his presence, and Kent had a network of people who could help him find members of the Howling Wulf Agency so it was a cinch to find him. Noel and Owari were quite impressed. Now it was their turn to lay the trap.