It was a quiet ride as Yakeru was stuck in his thoughts. He couldn't see himself fully processing the grueso scenes he had to endure down in that mineshaft anyti soon. The thought of early retirent crossed his mind several tis after waking up in the hospital.
He was ignorant to believe he'd seen it all—a steel-quilled bear, vamp-crawlers, infected humans, a serial killer, a bloodhound, nurous near-death experiences—but he was reminded just how cruel life can be as it casually threw a behemoth at him like so sick joke.
As their carriage ca to a stop in front of a blacksmith shop, Yakeru got off.
"I'll be back," he inford his sister as she nodded.
Walking into the shop, he saw a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard sitting behind the counter. The shop had an assortnt of weapons and armor all forged from various materials and alloys.
"What can I do for you young man?" The middle-aged man asked, setting aside a gauntlet he was just polishing.
"I wanted to know if you could forge sothing out of a monster's armor plate."
"Pfft. Of course," The man chortled. "Though the quality will depend on the material you're referring to."
"It's in my carriage. I'll show you what you'll be working with and you can tell what you think."
The man agreed as they walked out to the carriage. As he looked inside, he acknowledged the red-haired woman with a nod but upon looking over at the large plate in the corner, he stumbled backwards with his mouth agape.
"Th...that's...not a behemoth's plate, is it?"
"It is." Yakeru nodded.
The smith looked the young swordsman up and down, studying him. Rangers passed through his shop quite frequently and judging from their stories, he knew defeating a behemoth was no easy task—only the elite have managed to do it—but the kid didn't look like much.
"H...How did you manage to get your hands on this?"
"By fighting one," Yakeru answered curtly.
Even with his answer, the man couldn't believe it. He assud his party must've had strong rangers to pull off such a feat.
"I was hoping you could make armor out of it," Yakeru said to get back on topic. "Would that be possible?"
"Well...to make wearable armor out of this is going to take a while. First, I'd have to remove the flesh still stuck to the thing which is a long and thodical process. That itself will take around 12 hours at the very least. Then, I'd have to heat the alloy to thousands of degrees just to mold it. Afterwards, I'd have to carefully forge the armor you'd like but it'll take a while for it to cool down as well. Then, I've gotta get the leather and padding to put under the armor to make it wearable. The whole process will take around a week to finish. Then there's cost."
"Money won't be a problem," Yakeru said dismissively.
After discussing paynt, the two heaved the slab of armor off the carriage and carried it into the shop. Climbing back into the carriage, he and his sister set off back ho.
Returning ho, Akari tipped the coachman as Yakeru wordlessly walked inside. Following him, he'd already made his way to his room.
Day turned into night and the house was eerily quiet. Whether they were conversing, doing chores, or training, the house would normally be filled with activity. But she hadn't heard anything from her brother's room.
After removing his worn-out armor and tossing aside his sword, Yakeru lay in bed pondering. If it weren't for that gem, Akari would've been grieving at a tombstone by now. However, that wasn't to say he could rely solely on artifacts and external factors to bail him out of sticky situations. He needed to grow stronger to beco more self-sufficient. Not just for himself, but to ensure his safe return ho to his sister.
The following day, Yakeru was stirred awake. He groaned, hearing the muffled voice of his sister and her blurry figure looming over his bedside.
"Ti to get up, kid."
"But it's still early." He groggled, tossing and turning.
"It's noon. Now get up. We have visitors who want to speak with you. And make yourself decent." She said, making her way out.
He lay there, grumbling until he gathered the willpower to lift himself off of his comfortable mattress. He splashed water on his face and tidied himself up before following after Akari.
He wasn't expecting company but if there was, he expected to see his party mbers checking up on him. As he rounded the corner to the living room, however, he nearly stumbled back.
A man and woman both dressed in pristine white uniforms turned their heads to him. The man's short dark brown hair glead as the light struck his head and his brown eyes held a gentle gaze. He had a sword sheathed inside an intricately designed scabbard strapped to his hip with a shield on his back.
The woman on the other hand had a more neutral expression as she sipped her mug. The thick earth-toned scarf wrapped comfortably around her neck complinted her braided blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulder. Her rolled-up sleeves exposed the small tattoos of various beasts running down the insides of her forearms.
A leather belt lined with what looked to be tal cartridges wrapped loosely around her hips but what struck Yakeru as the most strange was her conduit slung across her back. It was around 4 feet long and at first glance, he almost mistook it for a staff but the ticulous and bulky design pointed to sothing else entirely.
It was made up of wood and tal. His curious eyes traced its contours from the bottom which was curved, to the trigger, and up to the hollowed-out tip.
"Good afternoon," he greeted politely. "You must be Yakeru."
"Uhm, yes." Yakeru blinked, unsure if his eyes were deceiving him.
The man got up from his seat and extended his hand which Yakeru subconsciously accepted, still staring at him in disbelief.
"I'm Sentinel Kiyoshi and this is my partner, Sentinel Haruka."
"It's an honor to et you both."
"The pleasure's mine. I apologize if this is a bad ti but we're currently investigating a recent case. The guild inford us of your party's return from a mission. If it's not too much trouble, we'd like to ask you a few questions regarding your stay in Yama Village."
"Oh, yes. That's fine."
Sitting beside his sister and across from the Sentinels, they began the interview. Since this took place months ago, Yakeru answered as best as he could rember. Haruka jotted in a small notepad as he recounted the events from their arrival until their departure from the village.
Throughout the interaction, he tried his best to keep his cool. He still couldn't believe there was not one, but two Sentinels in his dining room.
After the interview, the two of them got up, Haruka slipping her notepad in her back pocket as she turned to Akari.
"Thank you for the tea, ma'am," Haruka spoke for the first ti, bowing slightly.
"It was my pleasure," Akari responded, trying to remain composed when noticing the empty mug. She may have fooled her guests but Yakeru could tell that his sister was struggling to contain her elation knowing that a Sentinel enjoyed her tea.
"Thank you for your ti. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience we've caused. You folks enjoy the rest of your day." Kiyoshi waved as the two left their ho.
"Right. You too," Yakeru replied awkwardly.
The two Sentinels made their way down the trail. Kiyoshi gave a warm wave to the curious children who loosely followed behind them as they made their way back to the main road. Parents either lounging around or tending to the fields watched, murmuring to one another with surprised stares.
"So what do you think?" Haruka asked her partner.
"His story lines up with the other mbers of his party and the guild's official report. But there's one thing I'm quite curious about."
"You an the supposed clan they t during their stay?"
"Exactly." He tapped his chin. "So far, they were the only two parties that were in Yama the day the elixir was found. Let's stop by the guild."
Taking a carriage back to the capital, they walked inside the guild. Upon entering, the once rowdy lobby plunged into near silence in an instant. Conversations quieted and boasting was replaced with whispers of admiration and envy. Drunks in the bar section sobered up quickly, the Sentinels' presence alone seeming to wash away the red in their cheeks.
"Woah. You seeing what I'm seeing?"
"Yeah, man. That's them."
"What are the council's lapdogs doing here?"
"Sothing big must've happened."
Murmurs continued to trickle through the lobby as rangers found themselves making a path for them to approach the front desk. The receptionist straightened up, subconsciously tucking her hands behind her back in response to the respect their status commanded.
"Welco, how may I be of assistance?" She asked either one of them.
Kiyoshi explained the matter to her, asking to see records of any parties that stayed in Yama Village around the ti when the elixir was found. After fetching docunts from the back room she handed them over to the Sentinels. Haruka reviewed the papers and confird there was another party in Yama, a clan to be exact.
"Where is this clan now?" He asked.
"They should be in one of the eting rooms they rented upstairs. Did sothing happen?"
"We just need to ask them a few questions. Which room are they in?"
She gave them the room number before they started making their way there. The guild had two stories—the first being a public space and the second operating as more of an office space reserved for the Guild Master, clans, and general etings.
The upstairs was noticeably more tidy than the first floor and the stench of alcohol didn't follow them. The walls, decorated with various old paintings that looked like they should've been in a museum, remained spotless as they kept walking. A red rug lined with gold was laid out over the floor. Walking down the hall, they passed by nurous doors with different insignias on them. One door had a grim reaper representing the Fiends Clan while the door across from it had four red claw marks tearing through fabric, representing the Saberclaw Clan.
Eventually, they arrived at the clan's eting room. There was a generic spider web insignia painted on the door and they could hear muffled voices on the other side. The voices went quiet after knocking a few tis, replaced with approaching footsteps. With a click, the door opened to reveal a man with his bottom half in flashy leg armor while his top half consisted of only a plain grey shirt.
The man's eyes widened when he realized who was standing outside, nearly shutting the door on them but his hesitation stopped him. Figuring that would only cause them trouble, he reluctantly asked, "Uhm, can I help you?"
"Excuse our intrusion," Kiyoshi pardoned himself and his partner. "But there's sothing we'd like to discuss with this clan."
"Sorry, but we're busy. Perhaps another ti." Thinking this flimsy explanation would suffice, the man began closing the door when Kiyoshi stopped it with his hand.
"I don't think you understand. The council has sent us to conduct an investigation. Need I remind you, that the guild is now under our supervision so it's in your best interest to cooperate. Surely you have a general idea of the consequences should you choose not to." Kiyoshi's voice grew more stern.
The man glanced down, appearing to weigh his options before opening the door all the way.
"Okay. Co on in. Make yourselves comfortable."
"Thank you. Rest assured, once we finish here, we'll be on our way."
He and his partner strolled inside and got a better view of the interior. It was a rather plain-looking room with barely any personalized decorations. A single window in the back of the room allowed natural light to pour in and two lamps on either side of the room sat on top of small countertops. There was a coffee table in the center of the room between two couches with three other mbers sitting down. All of them had half of their armor on as well.
They stared at the Sentinels as they entered and sat on the opposite side of them.
"To what do we owe the pleasure?" The man sneered as he sat with his clan mbers, the Sentinels ignoring his sarcasm.
"We'd like to ask you about your visit to Yama Village."
The n looked at each other then back at the Sentinels.
"What would you like to know?"
As the Sentinels asked them questions about their stay in Yama, the n answered. So far, it'd been a normal interview aside from the subtle rudeness of the clan mbers.
"Approximately, how long ago did you go there?" Kiyoshi asked.
"About two months ago." One of them sighed impatiently.
"And what was the reason for being there?"
"We just needed to exterminate a nest on the mountain."
Kiyoshi looked over at Haruka who gave him a nod of affirmation.
"I see," Kiyoshi continued. "And how many of you went on this mission?"
"There were only three of us." The man in the grey shirt claid.
"And what happened after you'd completed the mission."
"What else? We imdiately went back to claim our reward." The sa man crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow as if that information should've been obvious.
The twitching of Haruka's brow told Kiyoshi she was losing her patience. The feeling was mutual for Kiyoshi but the clan was open with their answers so he couldn't complain. As the interview concluded, Kiyoshi and Haruka glanced at each other. He knew just from the look in her eyes.
They looked back at the group of n before them.
"'Thank you for your ti. We'll be on our way now'." Haruka said.
"Right. Go ahead and see yourselves ou-"
"Is what I would've said had you not lied to us." She cut in, her eyes narrowed.
The tone in the room suddenly shifted, the clan's sense of control fading as Kiyoshi and Haruka's gazes bored into them.
"W-What do you an? What we've said was true." The man in grey stuttered.
"Really now?" She questioned, pulling out the docunts from earlier making the n gulp. "You said there were only three of you on that mission. However, it was stated in the report that you left with four."
"O-Oh, yeah. Well, you see, he got injured, leaving only three of us to deal with the nest. We were attacked by lurkers on our way to Scar Peak."
"Your clan mber was injured despite the lowest rank in your clan being C? I find it insulting that you expect us to be convinced that re inner rim monsters were responsible." Kiyoshi said as his eyes narrowed into a piercing gaze, sending shivers down their spines.
The n's overconfidence in the situation had disappeared at this point.
"What really happened to your fourth?" He interrogated.
Beads of sweat slid down the n's faces as they looked at each other, hoping one of them could nd their lie. However, they all hesitated. Haruka looked over the report once more.
"How is it possible that a capable B-rank ranger was put out of commission after making contact with D-tier monsters?" She pressed.
Silence filled the room as the pressure on the n beca too much to bear. Eventually, one of them cracked, spilling the truth about what actually happened. Though his teammates tried to cut in with another coverup story as a last-ditch effort, they were quickly shut down by Haruka reading off from the report.
"And where is this ranger now?" Kiyoshi asked.
"He's...gone..."
"I see...and the elixir, who's the distributor and where are they located?"
"...he got it from River Town. But I swear we don't know who the distributor is because we weren't there when he bought it." For a split second, Kiyoshi's jaw went slack as the man in grey ntioned what village the elixir ca from but he quickly regained composure. "We had no idea that elixir would do that to him. We were afraid so...we tried to cover it up..."
Kiyoshi stared at him, his gaze unrelenting.
"Regardless, you still intentionally provided us with false information during an investigation which is a cri." Kiyoshi rose from his seat, pulling out an artifact; translucent cuffs. "I have no choice but to place you all under arrest."
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