The Case

Amaya replied to the man's question as she scratched the back of her head.

"N-No. There's no way I could've even hurt these things. I was about to be killed but an adventurer came and saved me."

She questioned herself if it was the right call to lie.

The man stepped closer and stared into her eyes.

"You're not lying, are you?"

Amaya looked at the ground.

"Why would I be lying?"

"Maybe there is a reason for you lying. What if you're a criminal,trying not to blow your cover."

Amaya then looked up and glared at him.

['Rage 2' has been activated]

"First you start bothering me, and now you're accusing me?"

A shiver ran down his spine and he felt himself suddenly grow weaker.

The other knight put his hand on the man's shoulder.

"That's enough."

He then turned to Amaya.

"I'm sorry for the accusation. You are free to go."

['Rage 2' has deactivated]

Amaya then walked off.

The knight then turned to the man.

"Why is it that everytime, the first thing you do is accuse people of being criminals?"

The man then replied with a somewhat frightened look on his face.

"...That girl was not normal."

As Amaya walked off, she thought to herself.

"I should go back and check on katsu."

After retracing her steps, Amaya Came across Katsu, who was sitting up against a wall with his eyes closed. His coat was torn and he had blood coming down from his forehead. Amaya quickly ran over to him and kneeled down.

"Are you okay?!"

Katsu opened his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just a little scratched up. While fighting those monsters, I got messed up pretty good. After that, I decided to take a quick nap to recover some energy."

Amaya wore a plain and disappointed look on her face.

"Worst timing to take a nap. Also, you made it look like you were dead."

Katsu slowly stood up and patted the dust of his pants.

"Sorry to worry you."

Amaya let out a sigh.

"Hurry up, let's head back to the sparring center."

She began walking away as Katsu followed.

"You're forgetting that I'm kinda injured."

Sparring Center…As Amaya and Katsu arrived, they noticed all the dead monsters outside. Standing against a wall was Jitsuko. Amaya approached her.

"You took out all those monsters by yourself?"

"Yeah, I was starting to tire out and they landed a couple good hits."

She then turned to face Amaya but stopped.

Jitsuko then thought to herself.

"Something's different about her. It's only been less than an hour since I saw her but did she change something about herself in that short of time?"

"What's wrong?" Amaya asked.

"Nothing. Anyway, I kept this place safe since you left, so Emi's alright."

"Thanks for that,I'm going to go check on her really quick." said Amaya.

She then Walked inside to see how Emi was doing.

Katsu turned and looked at Jitsuko.

"You noticed it too, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Something about her has changed in the short amount of time when we left from here."

"I didn't want to bring it up…. but, yea, I did notice it. Was it because of one of her skills."

"Honestly...I have no idea."

"Amaya, you're finally back." said Emi.

"Sorry, I took so long."

"It's okay. I know that you probably had to do something important."

"Remember when we talked about leaving to another town if I decided to? We might actually have to begin our trip today."

Amaya then recalled when she was outside she came across the Inn which was now in ruins.

"It's okay, I'm ready for anything," said Emi.

Amaya then patted Emi's head.

"That's the spirit."

Katsu stood against the wall of the sparring arena as he thought to himself.

"Something is strange about Amaya. Earlier her aura was only yellow compared to mine. Suddenly, her aura is showing up as red. What's going on? How does she increase her stats so much?"

The doors then opened as Amaya and Emi came walking out.

"Katsu, you ready to leave now?" Amaya asked.

"To where?"

"The town you told me about, Mareve."

"Right now? Well...now that I think about, there really is nowhere to stay now. Yeah, well, let's head out."

Emi helped her stomach asit growled.

"I'm...so hungry."

"Maybe we should get some food first. The restaurant is still intact." said Amaya.

They began walking off as Katsu followed.

Three Days Later... (Training Academy)

Atsuya followed his usual routine and stood by the gate, guarding the mansion.

Three people wearing silver armor and helmets that covered their faces approached the gate.

"What's your business here?" Atsuya asked.

One of the men slowly took off their helmets. Atsuya's eyes widened as he realized who he was. It was fis former party member, Daichi.

(Daichi Gold-Rank Adventurer Guild: Defender)

"What are you doing here?" Atsuya asked.

Daichi smiled.

"Is that any way to treat your old friend? Anyway, I didn't come here to catch up. The guild master wants you to investigate a strange occurrence."

Atsuya wore a confused but curious look on his face.

"Occurrence? Why me?"

"There was a monster attack on the town of Feaca. As you already know, the guild there had no adventurers higher than s-rank. But yet, three Flesh Eaters were defeated."

"Yes, that is strange." Atsuya replied.

"A couple of adventurers who claim to have come across the Flesh Eater say that they were saved by a white-haired girl. I didn't ask anymore questions since it will be your job to investigate."

Atsuya looked as if he knew who he had described, but was unsure.

He then thought to himself.

"That reminds me of one of the students that went here. I doubt it could've been Amaya. But she did survive that high level monster in time for me to save her. Also, there were reports of her going against A-rank monsters at the time. Maybe, it could be her."

He then replied.

"I will check it out. I need to inform the man in charge here that I will be off duty for a day or two."

Daichi then put his helmet back on.

"Try your best to find that high ranker. I honestly feel like the guild master wants to recruit whoever beat those monsters because, after all, adventurers above s-rank are rare."

(Town of Mareve)… Amaya walked through the town and thought to herself.

"It's been about two days since we got here to this town. I haven't got a chance to join the Defenders guild yet but now I have time."

Amaya approached a giant building. It had shiny windows that would show the reflection of the sun. The walls were a shiny silver color and it was about ten stories high.

"Time to go in."

As Amaya walked in she noticed the amount of adventurers that sat at the tables in there.

"There's definitely more adventurers here than the other guild I was at."

She then scanned the room and saw a counter with a woman standing behind it. As Amaya got closer, she realized who the woman was.

It was Hana.

"What are you doing here?" Amaya asked.

Hana then replied.

"Well, as you know the guild over at Feaca got destroyed and most of the adventurers there quit. So I decided to quit my job and come and be a guild worker here instead. What about you, Amaya?"

"I actually came to register here as an adventurer."

"Aright, let me just get that paper work for you."

Hana then went down behind the counter. When she stood up, she handed two papers to Amaya and explained what they were.

"The first one, you just need to write down your information. On the second paper is a contact. It tells you the information you need to know and at the bottom you just sign your name.

Amaya reached her hand out as a pencil appeared.

"Good thing I keep a pencil on me nowadays." Amaya thought to herself.

She then leaned against the counter and wrote down her information.

(Name: Amaya Age: 25 Class: Fighter)

She then turned to the second paper and read the information.

( Each rank will receive a difference of honor in their pay.

D rank= 100 Honor C-rank= 500 Honor B-rank=1,000 Honor

A-rank=2,000 Honor S-rank=5,000 Honor Silver-rank= 10,000

Gold-rank=15,000 Honor Platinum= 20,000 Honor

Legendary= 100,000 honor)

Those who sigh up as adventurers at this guild must stay registered at this guild for a 3 year time period before quitting.

Signature here: )

"How can they even afford to pay this many adventurers this much?" Amaya thought to herself.

She then signed her name and handed the papers to Hana.

Hana stared at Amaya.

"Okay, I'm just going to scan your overall."

(Amaya: Overall: 38,424)

As she looked at Amaya she wore a surprised look on her face as she thought to herself.

'It wasn't that long ago since the last time I scanned her overall, there was a major change in her power levels compared to last time.'

"What's wrong?" Amaya asked.

Hana shook her head.

"Nothing, you will be S-rank at number three-hundred-fifty-five."

"I'm already on the level of an s-rank?" Amaya thought to herself.

"What quest do you plan on accepting today?" Hana asked.

"I'm actually gonna head back to the Inn. I'll come by and take a look at the quests tomorrow. I'm going to leave now, see you tomorrow."

Amaya then turned around and walked out of the entrance as Hana waved her goodbye

Next Day….(Town: Feaca) Atsuya walked up to a small house and knocked on the door. As it opened, a man peeked his head outas Atsuya spoke.

"My name is Atsuya. I am here from the Defender's guild. Is it okay If I ask you a few questions?"

The man then held the door open.

"Yeah, come on in."

Atsuya went in and sat on a chair across from the four other adventurers that Amaya had saved.

"So, do you mind explaining what happened one more time?" Atsuya asked.

One of the men replied.

"No problem, we were fighting off that huge monster but it just stood there as if our attack didn't really affect it. After that, it attacked us and two of our party members were killed. A white haired girl showed up and told us that she could handle it. After that, we all escaped. That's all that we know, sorry."

Atsuya then stood up.

"Thank you for your time."

He walked out of the house as he thought to himself.

"That just leaves one more place to check. The Sparring center."

Sparring Center….Atsuya walked inside and approached Jitsuko, the lady at the counter.

"It's been awhile, Jitsuko."

Her face was priceless. Atsuya was a good friend of hers that she had not seen in ages.

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here asking around to find out information about someone."

"About who?"

"When this town was attacked, someone was able to beat three Flesh Eaters. I was given an assignment by the guild master to figure out who?"

Thoughts rushed through Jitsuko's head.

"Could it have been Amaya? When she left to see if anyone needed help she wasn't as strong as when she came back. Maybe she had the boost in power from beating the Flesh Eaters?"

Atsuya then asked.

"Do you know of a white-haired girl that was in this town?"

"Actually, there was one. She won that small tournament that was here a couple months back. Her name is Amaya."

Atsuya began thinking to himself as he realized who it was.

"That solves it. All the proof says it was Amaya. Could she really have gotten that much stronger since the last time I saw her?"

He then replied.

"Thank you for the help. I'll probably stop by and visit you some other time. Until then, stay safe."

He then walked out of the building.

"I need to contact the guild master and tell him that I have found out who it was. From there on, it's his job to find the actual person."