Iya of the Empress Guild

In a vast ruin in the territory of Yokan City, a group of 6 female hunters were standing next to the gate of the Dungeon when suddenly a vehicle stopped in front of them.

"Oh! She's finally here too!" A woman spoke as her hand crossed her chest. "You came earlier than I expected."

Iya, who was driving the vehicle came out intensely while showing irritation on her face.

As Iya approached them, Mina greeted her while smiling as if she was eager to see her. "Yo ~! You were earlier than I expected."

Mina is a tall woman with dark black hair and a pixie cut, one of the executives of the Empress Guild and the one who guides Iya on the path of becoming a hunter. Although Iya called him an old hag, his personality was still young so Iya couldn't handle her.

"Don't you "Yo" me you old hag. And enough with that useless greetings and let us go down on our business."

"You look like you're in a bad mood, huh! What happened ?!"

As soon as Iya heard the question coming from Mina, her face became more irritated while the veins on her forehead showed.

"You!" Iya made a fist out of irritation but then sighed to calm down. "Why am I like this? It's because of you, I had to cancel my appointment just to be here because you said it is an urgent matter. Now that I'm here, I don't know if I still have the courage to approach him the next time we saw eachother."

Mina was very scratchy on the back of her head while showing a grin on her face. "Hee hee hee .. Is that so? Well I'm really sorry ..." She stopped for a moment and continued speaking with a sincere tone. "But most of all, this matter is something that can't be ignored."

"So, what is it?"

"Well ..." Mina called to one of her secretaries and let it explain the situation. "Nikie come here and explain to her everything."

"Okay Ms. Mina." Nikie approached Iya, with a tablet in her hand she started reading it infornt of her sincerely. "Well you see Ms Iya, this is not really a big problem and we already measured the mana emitting by this gate and it seems that this gate is a mid Rank C. So if there's a 2 or 3 Rank C in our group who will deal with the guardian we could clear this in mere 6 or 8 hours of raiding, but the problem is we lack a member. You're the only person Ms. Mina think of who can help. Hence we invited you here. "

"Because Mina and I are Rank C hunters, right?" She paused for a momnet and think. "Hm. But why did the association appoint the Empress guild to deal with this matter and not the others??"

"I don't really know why, I think because we are the closest and the only ones available now, but enough with that, this gate must be clear today or else a disaster might occur."

"How old is this gate? 5? 6 days old? And what kind of dungeon is this?"

"That's 7 days old and was recently discovered by the association and for its type, it's a Cave-type-Dungeon Ms. Iya. That's why we need to clear it as soon as possible."

Iya nodded in agreement and muttered, "A Cave-type-Dungeon, huh. Okay, then, let the raid begin. We don't have much time to spare."

****

March 30, 2022 at Cornello's store ....

A week has passed since Jin invited Iya to have lunch at their house, but since then Jin has not been able to contact Iya.

*Sigh.

"What could have happened to Iya? Was she really annoyed with me when I invited her?" Jin whispered to himself

While arranging products on the desk, Kaina entered the shop and immediately noticed Jin's very sad face.

To surprise Jin, Kaina jumped on his back which startled him.

"Ugh!"

"Yo, Jin. Hee hee ... Why the sad face, huh?" Kaina asked and laughed softly.

"Oh!" Jin exclaimed. "Is that really how I look now?"

Kaina grabbed Jin's face and forced him to face the mirror hanging on the store wall.

"Look now. See ?! Your face looks like a dying fish and it really bothers me."

She placed both of her index fingers on the tip of Jin's lip and made him smile. "Nice, you look better when you smile. Right?"

"Kaina, stop that and come here." Cornello said sitting in the counter seat while watching the latest news on his phone.

As Kaina left him alone, he realizes it's not the right time to worry about other things because the dungeon quest is about almost near.

'With the money I've saved so far, I really don't think that's enough to buy Rank F in the association.'

*Breathe deeply.

'Yosh! I will also know when the time comes. But for now all I have to do is do my job. '

"Hey old man what are you watching?" Kaina immediately asked Cornello when he arrived at the counter. "You called me here to help but look, you've just been streaming on your phone all day."

"No, this is the latest news about another Empress Guild victory they got recently."

"Empress Guild? Isn't that the only women's guild?"

Cornello nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. They cleared a mid Rank C dungeon in just 4 hours, this is the fastest raid in history and not just that, their executive name is Iya, she is the youngest hunter out there."

"Fastest raid you say? Did they really clear the mid Rank C dungeon? Or did they just fail to measure the true level of the mana gate and just state it was mid Rank C?" Kaina asked while doubting the result of the raid.

While Kaina was still asking with a clear answer, Cornello paused the video on his phone and once looked at her with a questioning face and asked, "Are you jealous of what they've achieve? The way you ask, you seem to envy them. "

"Why would I envy them?" Kaina pouted and muttered, "If I get serious, I can easily reach their level without sweating."

Before answering Kaina, he laughed inadvertently to what his daughter just said.

"Hahahaha!! Kaina, are you serious now? Will you reach Iya's level?" He tapped Kaina on the shoulder and whispered, "Well good luck with that. I hope you're serious. Pfft ..."

She looked at his father with a serious face and then uttered angrily. "From now on, take care of yourself. huh. No, Ms. Nita will take care of you because I will straight to her house and deliver a marriage proposal letter!! I will enhance my ability harder than anyone so that you can eat your word after you see me on top."

"Ah .. um .. K-Kaina ... I'm just teasing you so please ... Don't take it seriously, okay?"

"I already decided, so don't bother me anymore."

While the two were arguing on the counter, Jin approached them because the customer in the queue was helpless due to their intense argument.

"Uh ... Mr. Cornello?"

Cornello shifted his gaze to Jin with a serious face and exclaimed. "What?!"

"Well, the thing is, we have a customer here who wants to purchase this product, he's here for about 20 minutes now. So if you don't mind, would you please take care of him?" Jin spoke respectfully.

"Oh, sorry sorry." He looked at Cain again and pointed a finger at her. "Wait a minute Kaina, I'll take care of this first and we'll talk later."

"No! I've already made up my mind, so we have no reason to talk anymore. I'm leaving."

Kaina angrily left the counter with annoyed expression because of her father. But even before she reached the door of the shop Jin suddenly shouted after he saw the news on Cornello's phone. And so Kaina paused.

"Oh! Is that Iya?" Jin asked curiously. "Why is she in the news?"

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Why are you asking like that? You seem to be just like Kaina before."

"Huh why?"

"Why you ask?? Of course she will be notified because of what she did in the last raid of their Guild. She played a big role in everyone involved in their raid and maybe she's just your age." Cornello said smiling as he bragged to Iya.

"Okay, 350 oni is your exchange." He said while counting the money for change.

"Wait. Hunter is Iya? For real?"

Cornello frowned and looked at him again with a questioning face as he handed the change to the customer in front of him.

"Hey Jin, what do you mean? Do you know him? Do you know him?" He wondered the question.

"Um. Yeah I know her, but I didn't know that she's a hunter. I thought she's just a girl from the rich family."

When he heard what Jin said, a serious expression flashed on Cornello's face and simultaneously held both of his shoulders.

"How did you meet her?"

"How did I meet her? Well, she was the one who interviewed me then at my new job ... And yeah, last week I was with her at the park last time and gave me a bottle of water."

'Wait, Is it okay to tell them that? but apparently not? '

Cornello's jaw dropped and he was stunned after hearing those words.

"Oh. Not really with her, but, while I was resting, she came up to me and insisted on giving me a bottle of water." Jin paused for a moment and continued naively uttering a word. "I invited her to eat at our but she rejected me after she had a phone call. So that's the reason why. What a relief. I thought she find me creep after that."

"Hmmp! You invited her to eat at your house after just few meetings, me what about me? We already been friend for about a month but you never invite me to your house!"

When she heard what Jin said, Kaia's anger and jealousy towards Iya increased, she left the shop angrily and then slapped the door after.

"Iya Iya Iya Iya. All of you! You will also admire me after I climb to the top. Just wait." He said angrily infront of the shop.

Cornello face-palmed and muttered, "Jin your naivety is much more ferocious than you are."