Hello again.

This is the final chapter of this arc. Let's begin without further ado.

See you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


"What should we do, leader?"

"The hell should I know!?"

"This is really bad..."

Elize, Tibor, and Morian spoke to each other in low voice while the Adamantite Rank team they were accompanying got busy cleaning up one of their members. They had just heard a revelation which would compromise everything about the job.

Even though the three of them had believed from the beginning that Rose was not a demon and just simply happened to be a strong person, the fact still remained that a friend of Ryu, the Adamantite Rank team's leader, had been falsely accused and tortured by the subjugation party. None of the three wanted to imagine how Ryu would react if he learned the truth.

At this point, whatever the team would do was highly likely to produce bad outcome. Telling the truth would anger Ryu for sure, and he would at best forfeit the job. At worst, he might kill them out of rage or demand outrageous compensation from the guild for the false accusation against his friend. Being Adamantite Rank was essentially a free pass to get away with almost anything, so any of the two was still highly possible to happen.

Hiding the truth by telling lies or omit details was seemingly a safer option. However, the team had noticed that one member of the Adamantite Rank team, Alice, had been taking suspicious glances at them. The team had already been suspected from the moment they had heard the revelation.

The team needed more time to calm themselves and think, but suddenly...

"Watch out!"

CLANK!

Tibor jumped from where he stood and with his warhammer he blocked a projectile which had been aimed at Morian's head. The projectile turned out to be an ordinary stone, but if would have hurt quite a lot if it had hit.

Elize immediately sharpened her senses and Ranger skills to detect the hostiles which had attacked them from a blind spot. She also immediately drew her bow in anticipation.

"Undead! I see seven skeletons!"

As soon as Elize spoke, seven skeletons came into view from behind the bushes. They all came from the direction of the group's destination, so those were likely undead spawned by the dead bodies on the site.

[Lesser Leaf Shield]

Morian casted a defensive buff spell over the team in preparation for the imminent battle. For the team, the skeletons were still rather easy opponents as long as they had the information on what each of them was armed with.

But suddenly, something flashed in front of their eyes, and within seconds all the skeletons were slayed. A few had been impaled with spears of light, while the rest had been slashed by Lily, the warrior of the Adamantite Rank team.


[X][X][X]


"Are you three all right?"

Ryu asked as he walked to approach Tibor's team. He and Alice had quickly casted uncharged Grants photon tech to deal with some of the undead, while Lily slashed the rest. Her speed was simply inhuman, and Ryu couldn't tell whether it had come from her so-called 'lair-bellup' or the new equipment from Ainz, or a combination of both. In any case, she definitely would wipe the floor with that female kidnapper now if they fought again.

"Y-Yeah, we are all fine. Thank you"

Tibor answered nervously, perhaps because it was the first time he saw the power of Ryu's team.

"Good then. Let's move forward"

"R-Right! Let's move forward"

The entire group then proceeded to walk towards their destination. It took them just another five minutes until they arrived.

"Woah..."

Ryu expressed his astonishment about the scene. There were many dead bodies which had lost all their flesh, probably eaten by wildlife. Those remains were scattered all over the place in small pieces, so it was no longer possible to tell who was who. Some equipment and luggage still could be seen among the remains, but they all have been worn away by the elements. There were also small holes around, mostly near the bigger pieces of the remains.

"So, this is where the wipeout happened?"

Ryu asked while taking a look at one of the holes. The hole was as wide as his fist, and it was quite deep. This hole was probably the result of the demon's arrow rain attack, which also meant that each shot was very strong, being able to decapitate the target and then punch such a deep hole on the ground.

"Yes"

"And that means this place is also the place they tortured the second demon?"

"Y-Yes..."

"How did they do that exactly?"

"Well..."

Tibor then walked to one spot of the nearby cliff wall. At that spot, a few marks of damage could be noticed.

"They tied her up here with Ground Magic and violently unleashed all their attacks on her. Weapon attack, magic attack, you name it"

"Did they get anything from her?"

"Actually, no. She... insisted that she was not a demon"

"But the party confirmed that she really was, right?"

"Uhh, yeah"

Ryu thought about the answers he had heard so far. At this rate he was worried he would fail his first Adamantite Rank job. There was no clue at all about where both of the demons had gone to, and there was no news about their appearance sometime later either.

"By the way, Tibor"

"Yes, Ryu-dono?"

"You seem awfully nervous after that undead ambush"

Right as Ryu said his remarks, all three of the Mithril Rank adventurers showed a reaction. At this point, Ryu could notice that those three were trying to hide something.

"Look, I am not as sharp as Alice here, but I have learned a thing or two about reading other people, and it is as clear as day that you are hiding something"

Ryu folded his arms with a stern look on his face.

"You can't expect us to do the job properly if you still hide pieces of information from us. Before I demand you to spill the beans, tell me your reason for doing this"

"I... We... I mean..."

Tibor, and both his partners, hung their head speechless. The silent scene continued for half a minute, and then Ryu sighed.

"Liz, do you know something I don't?"

"Well, I do have a guess, but I'm not sure if you can bear it if my guess turns out true"

"We aren't going anywhere at this rate, so go ahead"

Alice, after hearing Ryu's words, stepped forward. All three of the Mithril Rank adventurers were dripping cold sweat at this point.

"The so-called second demon was Rose, wasn't it?"

Alice's question felt like a lightning strike for everyone else, Ryu and Lily included.

"W-What!?"

Ryu couldn't hide his surprise and disbelief. He looked back and forth between Alice and Tibor's team.

"Tibor, is that true!?"

Tibor and his partners remained silent for a brief moment, and then Tibor fell into prostration. Morian and Elize followed after seeing their leader's action.

"I'm so sorry! Indeed, the subjugation party has falsely accused Rose as a demon!"

Ryu became confused hearing Tibor's words. He was quite upset on what had happened to Mel Rose, but more than that, he genuinely wondered how she had gotten into such mess.

"Okay, okay. Calm down and take a deep breath, then tell me what she did that made her get into that kind of situation. But first, let's move to a place we can sit down"

The whole group then moved to a nearby place where there were some rocks which they could use to sit down. After they were seated, Tibor took a deep breath and began speaking.

"We didn't see it for ourselves, but the party actually almost managed to subdue the demon. But Rose suddenly interfered and escaped with the demon. A-At least, that was according to the party leader, Rodell"

Elize then nervously spoke, adding to Tibor's information.

"I lent her a smoke bomb in case she got into danger, and it turned out she used that smoke bomb to escape with the demon"

"Then, how did she get captured?"

Tibor took another breath and began speaking.

"One aide of Rodell was a Scryer. He put a tracking magic on Rose, who knows since when. The entire party moved together and found her in that small cave, and then the other aide of Rodell subdued her with binding magic"

Tibor pointed at a small cave at the cliff wall, just a few meters from the spot where Rose had been tied up and tortured.

"Did she tell you her reason?"

"Well..."

Tibor hesitated and fell silent for a few seconds.

"She was about to, but she got silenced before she spoke any more words"

Ryu clenched his fist without changing his body posture. He tried to stay calm, but it was probably very visible to everyone else that he was upset.

"Okay... So... How did they falsely confirm that she was a demon?"

Once again, Tibor and his partners fell into silence. Ryu couldn't help getting even more upset by this wasteful use of time.

"Come on, do you really prefer to stall and waste more time?"

Right after Ryu said that, Alice spoke to Ryu.

"Ryu-san, you won't do any harm to them after learning the hard truth, right?"

"Huh? Why should I-... Oh..."

Ryu then realized the probable reason why they had been silent. It was pretty much the same as the times when he himself had been silent and speechless in front of Ainz.

"Don't worry. From what you told us back in town, you were never part of the harm which fell on her. I am indeed upset right now, but I won't harm any of you out of rage or such"

Hearing Ryu's words, Tibor took a deep breath and then he began speaking once again.

"Rodell kicked her hard in the face but she remained unharmed from that. There are no known enchantments giving that much protection to bare skin, so..."

"...That's it? That was how they confirmed it?"

"Y-Yes..."

Ryu let out an angry-sounding sigh. He then noticed a nearby small rock which could fit into one's palm and took it.

SMACK!

THUD!

He smashed his own face using the rock. That smash was visibly hard enough to break the nose of any normal man. However, he immediately put the rock away and his face was shown to be still pristine, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Look, my face still remains unharmed. Does that mean I'm a demon? Huh!?"

Ryu then took another rock nearby which had a quite pointy end. Without warning, he used that rock to stab Lily's bare thigh.

CRACK!

Instead, it was the rock itself which broke upon striking the target. Lily's thigh remained unharmed at all thanks to the armor's enchantments.

"Now does that mean Lily is a demon too, huh!? YOU AGREED WITH THAT KIND OF BULLSHIT!?"

Nobody else dared to speak. It was a complete surprise for them all, Alice and Lily included, to see Ryu this angry. He had been having the image of a calm, kind-hearted man, but what he had just done was the opposite of that image.

Ryu panted quite heavily, his expression was full of fury. He then took a deep breath and let out a big sigh while standing.

"I quit"

"W-what..?"

Tibor and Elize blurted out their reaction at the same time. They had somewhat expected this outcome, but they still couldn't help getting surprised.

"I'm aborting this job. I refuse to work for a place filled with prejudice like this"

"R-Ryu-dono! I know that our party leader back then has made a grave mistake, but I beg you to reconsider!"

Tibor dropped into prostration as he said that. Both Morian and Elize followed suit, and Morian spoke his mind next.

"Yes, Ryu-dono. You don't need to forgive, but please reconsider. If the real demon eventually rampages, nobody in the Empire other than maybe the Archmage would be able to stop it"

Ryu didn't say anything, but his face expression now showed that he was confused. Once again, he let out an angry-sounding sigh.

"Ryu-san, may I tell you something?"

Alice spoke, asking for permission. Ryu had no idea what this would be about, but his state of mind was too agitated right now.

"Go ahead... and you three, sit down normally. Prostrating won't change anything"

Once again, everyone of the group were all seated.

"Ryu-san, you are not from around here so you probably don't know yet. Are you aware that most nations here are no older than 200 years?"

"Well, no"

"This is because 200 years ago, a Demon God and his Evil Deities rampaged through the land and destroyed nations without any care before they were defeated by Thirteen Heroes. Ever since then, a fear of demons has been deeply rooted into the mind of every human being. No, I don't support what their party leader has done. My point is that some people take this fear into irrational levels, and Rose was simply unfortunate to meet such person in an unfortunate chain of events. Is that right, Tibor-san?"

Alice looked at Tibor as she spoke the last sentence.

"Y-Yeah. If we weren't in the middle of hunting an actual demon, or if she has not rescued the demon with the smoke bomb for whatever reason she had, it would have been likely that they would have just dismissed her as merely a strong person"

"Let's put it this way, Ryu-san. Won't you be skeptical if a Dark Falz suddenly claims that they have seen the light and want to atone?"

Ryu wanted to point out that Alice's analogy was off since a better one would be if there was a Dark Falz capable of perfect shapeshifting into any ARKS, but he still could grasp the message she was trying to convey.

"Just... give me a minute"

Ryu then stood up and walked a stone's throw distance away. He then leaned onto a tree with his arms folded as he took a deep breath.

I got emotional again... this is so embarrassing...

A feeling of shame crept up Ryu's mind. It had been his weakness for a long time to lose his logical sense and act according to emotion whenever something got him triggered. With the powers he had, it would be just a matter of time until he did something irreversible and regret it later, like the genocide he had done to the foxman tribe.

Now that he has regained his calm, he could think logically again. Based on the story he has heard so far, the subjugation party's situation had been like this; They had managed to subdue the demon, but an outsider who had been tagging along had helped the demon escape. Moreover, the outsider was stronger than average human. Even rational people would be skeptical against the outsider in that kind of situation.

Deciding to make amends and not wasting any more time, Ryu went back to where the others were still sitting.

"Alright, I take back my words. I won't abort the job. But you have to tell me every truth you know"

Tibor's group looked very relieved and delighted hearing those words. They all immediately stood up and bowed in front of Ryu. Alice and Lily just smiled, seemingly delighted at Ryu's decision.

"Thank you, Ryu-dono!"

The group then walked back to the scene of the massacre and stopped near the torture spot. At this point, Ryu remembered something.

"By the way, you mentioned about pained scream. What did they use to put her in pain?"

Morian then spoke to answer.

"If I remember correctly, the aide said that it was an illusion spell to make the target feel pain without actually harming the body. I have no knowledge about such spell, though"

"Liz, do you know that spell?"

Alice thought for a moment, and then she spoke.

"Likely [Pain]. It is a third tier spell, and it can only be learned by being experienced in torturing people. It seems like your party leader was not really a good guy after all"

Ryu let out a small sigh hearing that. Of course it would have been a weird spell like that which could affect Rose so effectively.

"Figures. Anyway, did any of you see where the demon and Rose went after that?"

Elize was then the one to answer Ryu's question.

"Unfortunately no. We ran away as far as we could. Although..."

"You remember something?"

"Actually, before this event, the three of us went into a different cave. We didn't know that Rose was strong, so we asked her to wait outside with one smoke bomb I lent her just in case. We never had any chance to tell the party leader that we actually found traces of camping inside. Since it seemed the demon was found right outside when we were inside..."

"The demon might have been camping there"

Everyone nodded hearing Ryu's guess.

"So, did you find anything interesting there?"

"Unfortunately no, other than a makeshift bed and burnt wood from campfire, we found nothing else"

Ryu and Alice let out a sigh. At this rate, it would be difficult to complete the job because the demon had left no clue on its whereabouts. At this point, Ryu felt a little thirsty so he reached into his photon inventory behind his coat and took out a Mate Drink. He just felt like drinking something from home for this occasion, even though this medicinal photon drink was just the same as plain water without any injury to heal.

"Ah!"

Tibor suddenly shouted pointing at Ryu as he was drinking.

"That's the thing I saw!"

Ryu was confused hearing Tibor's words.

"What? This drink?"

"Yes, I think I saw a bottle like that near the campfire remains. But when I got close it suddenly just disappeared. What is that?"

"Well, this is a drink usually carried by ARKS people like me. After I drink it, the empty container can be thrown away anywhere and it will just disappear after a short while"

Ryu thought that there was nothing special since Rose was an ARKS too, so she should have some Mate Drinks in her photon inventory. But it seemed that Tibor's group showed an expression of surprise upon hearing his answer. They then looked at each other with worried looks.

"Hey, Ryu-san. Don't you get it?"

Alice asked him a question which Ryu didn't understand.

"What? Rose is an ARKS, so she should have some too"

Alice sighed hearing Ryu's reply.

"You didn't get it.."

Before Alice could begin explaining, Lily spoke out.

"Ryu-san! Rose-san never entered that cave!"

Hearing Lily's words, a feeling of revelation surged through Ryu's mind. He then asked some questions just to make sure.

"Are you sure that Rose never entered the cave? And are you really sure this was the thing you found there?"

"Yes, we are sure of it, and I'm pretty sure about the bottle. It looked peculiar to me, so I don't think I was mistaken"

Hearing Tibor's answer, Ryu came into a conclusion which would entirely change the objective of the job.

"The so-called demon is also an ARKS... That explains why Rose rescued them and the other way around as well"

Everyone else nodded as Ryu said the words. However, they all didn't look delighted in the slightest and Ryu could guess why. No matter what the so-called demon actually was, the fact still remained that they had killed dozens of adventurers. It was a fact which nobody could just merely shrug off.

"Frankly speaking, I'm now at loss on what to do next. Any ideas?"

"They are not demons and not dangerous, job's over! Right, Ryu-san?"

"Lily, it's not that simple"

"I know, but I wish it was..."

Lily made a sulking gesture as she said that.

"By the way, I forgot to ask how the supposed demon looks like. Have you seen them?"

"It's a shame but no. We turned tail and ran the moment we saw the energy bolts raining upon our party leader. But there was a description of them having horns and red left eye"

"Horns? One red eye? Definitely an ARKS, and a girl while at it"

Ryu knew for sure the moment Tibor mentioned the traits. Horns and heterochromia are the distinct traits of a race within ARKS operatives, namely Deuman. Deumans were born from some questionable human experimentation performed by ARKS Central Research Division, mainly by fusing a human with the genes of a certain dragon. Nobody could guess how much pain and suffering each Deuman has gone through before they became what they were.

This matter about Deumans had been a perpetual feeling of guilt for Ryu, because it had been him who had slain that dragon, enabling ARKS to perform research on the dragon's remains. If he had not done it, maybe Deumans would have never existed. And maybe...

"Hey, Ryu-san. You're spacing out"

"Huh? Oh, sorry"

It was Alice who snapped him out of his own musing.

"So, could you now tell everyone else what you know?"

"The other ARKS is a deuman, a race with the distinct trait of having one or two horns on their head depending on gender, and also differently colored eyes, usually one normal and one a lot brighter with unusual pattern"

"I have never heard of such race"

Everyone else seemed to be confused, agreeing with Alice's remark.

"Of course you haven't. It is a race born... from human experimentation"

The others were naturally surprised hearing Ryu's words. He didn't want to talk about it further, so he spoke to put the topic aside.

"Let's go back into the matter of this job. Now that we know that both demons are actually not demons, what should we do? I suppose reporting it as is will just turn them into fugitives, which will complicate matters in the future"

In order to function optimally as exterminator of Darkers, ARKS would need to have high standing among the locals of this planet. Having members branded as fugitives would drag down the standing of ARKS as a whole, hampering the cooperation of the locals. Ryu wanted to avoid this scenario in any possible way.

"Ryu-san. I have an idea, but it highly depends on their cooperation"

Alice looked at Tibor's group as she spoke.

"Let's hear it"

"Darkers can infect people's mind, right? We can report that the adventurers have been irreversibly infected by Darkers, so the ARKS killed them as an act of mercy"

Ryu looked at Tibor's group after hearing Alice's words.

"W-We didn't like Rodell and his aides to begin with. We will be fine to just go with that"

Morian and Elize nodded right after Tibor spoke. Ryu then looked back at Alice.

"Could work, but I'm not really a fan of false report..."

"Well, your options are clear. Unless you can think of another brilliant option, you have to make a decision"

"Hmm..."

Ryu took half a minute to think about his options. In the end, he decided that Alice's idea would be the best in the long term.

"Alright, we will go with that. But first, we need to sync the information we are going to report"

After a brief discussion to make sure nobody would contradict another, the group began walking back towards the carriage they had rented. They were going to return to Rothar and report the result of their investigation, with some made up info to protect the two other ARKS from further persecution by the locals. Ryu didn't feel well about this, but it was necessary to make things easier in the future.

During the walk, Alice spoke to Ryu.

"Ryu-san. I want to ask something, if you don't mind"

"Sure, Liz. What is it?"

"I'm... just wondering. You seemed to get upset hearing that Rose was tortured, but you didn't get really mad until you knew their reasoning and method for confirming her identity. Why is that?"

"I just simply hate prejudice and how they jumped into conclusion without enough proof. My sister, Hikaru, won't be able to freely stroll around those kind of people"

"Huh? Why?"

"Oh yeah... I haven't told you yet..."

Ryu took a deep breath before continuing.

"Hikaru is a Deuman, with more horns than normal Deuman while at it. She will definitely be branded demon on sight in this kind of place"

"Oh, I see... Sorry about that"

"It's alright. I just hope that she won't have to face this kind of treatment"

"If it makes you feel any better, I can understand how that feels. I have faced prejudice myself"

"Huh? What kind of prejudice?"

"I have never told you this, but in my early childhood I was raised by a vampire"

"What?"

"I don't know who my real parents were, and I probably will never know. All I know is that I spent my first four years under the care of a vampire whom I never knew what his name was. It all ended when a subjugation party raided the vampire's home and forced him to run away without me. I was then put into an orphanage where other kids often bullied me, shouting 'vampire child' over and over"

Alice let out a little sigh after saying that.

"Oh, sorry to hear that"

"It's all in the past. And there's a silver lining, which might have been also the main reason of their prejudice against me. I already could cast first tier spells and use a Martial Art by that time, probably because the vampire, whoever he was, has taught me during those days"

"Was that why you became an adventurer?"

"Pretty much, yes. I feel that I should make use of what I got. And who knows, maybe someday I will find out who my first foster father was"

"I sure hope you will. Let me know if you think I can help with something in your quest"

"Me too, Liz-san!"

"Heh, thanks..."

Alice smiled a little hearing the words from Ryu and Lily. The group continued walking without talking for a while, until Ryu broke the silence.

"By the way, I have heard about it a few times but I still don't know anything about it. What is Martial Art?"

"Well, to put it simply, magic casters have spells while warriors and other physical fighters have Martial Arts. They are fighting skills which can make you perform feats normally very difficult or outright impossible to do, at the cost of physical and mental fatigue. I can demonstrate one now if you want"

"Please do"

[Evasion]

Alice let out a red aura as she used her Martial Art.

"Try smacking my head with your bare hand"

Ryu hesitated for a bit, but he did what Alice had told him to do anyway. He fisted his hand and moved it to smack at Alice's head, but she dodged his attack smoothly.

"Wow"

The red aura dissipated as Ryu expressed his astonishment.

"That was a common Martial Art to heighten my senses against incoming attacks, so I can evade them easier. I believe Tibor over there can do a lot more Martial Arts. It is very rare for adventurers of physical class to climb above Gold Rank without at least one Martial Arts"

Alice looked at Tibor's group, who had been walking in front of Ryu's group. Tibor glanced back and gave his answer.

"Yeah, indeed. I can perform several"

"I see. Come to think of it..."

The conversation brought back a memory in Ryu's mind. The time when he had fought the two kidnappers with Swords of Darkness team. The female one had demonstrated incredible speed, and that probably had been Martial Arts.

"Lily and I once fought someone who was really fast. Her speed could have been Martial Arts. Kinda wish I could use those"

"What were those?"

"I think one was named-"

[Pace of The Wind]

Ryu's body suddenly let out a blue glow and his walking pace dramatically increased, making him overtake Tibor's group. Both Alice and Lily were surprised seeing that, and the same applied to Tibor's group. Ryu stopped his steps out of surprise.

"Wha-? What just happened?"

Ryu looked at himself, fully in bewilderment. His body glowed the same way as the female kidnapper back then, but it soon dissipated.

"Call me shocked. I think you just did a Martial Art"

"What? How? Why?"

"Don't ask me. But... try telling us the name of another Martial Art you remember"

"Uhh, okay. The other one I saw back then was-"

[Flow Acceleration]

Ryu's body then let out red aura. Alice immediately readied her staff weapon and cast a spell on Ryu.

[Magic Arrow]

An energy bolt was shot from Alice's staff right towards Ryu, who quickly evaded with incredible speed. Ryu was very surprised, not because of Alice's sudden attack but because of his own speed. His glow soon dissipated and he returned to his normal self.

"Alright, can someone tell me how and why I suddenly could do Martial Arts?"

There was a silence for a brief moment because nobody knows the answer. Alice was then the one who broke the silence.

"Tibor, can you name the Martial Arts you can do? Just mention the name without doing any"

"Oh, Alright. I can do Fortress, Smash, and Ability Boost"

"Ryu-san. Try doing those"

Ryu then tried as Alice had just instructed, but nothing happened. He then shrugged and shook his head as a gesture to signal that he couldn't do any of them.

"Now try doing the one I showed you"

"You mean-"

[Evasion]

Ryu's body let out red aura, which then dissipated after a few seconds.

"Ryu-san. I don't know how and why you have this trait, but you have the ability to learn Martial Arts just by having them performed near you, though it seems the effect doesn't last as long when you perform one"

"Whoa! That's incredible! Is that your Talent!?"

Tibor was surprised and excited as he said that. Ryu had no idea at all, but the sensation he had felt when Alice had demonstrated her Martial Art had been similar to using a photon disc to learn a new Photon Art or Photon Tech.

Could this be the same as the way locals on this planet can learn Photon Arts and Photon Techs by casting magic on the disks?

"Beats me, really"

Ryu shrugged as he gave that answer. He didn't feel like revealing too much information to more locals than his own team and maybe Ainz for now. There were still too many unknown points and he didn't want incomplete information to spread too widely.


[X][X][X]


Singing Apple Pavilion, Fourth Day, 15:07

"Ah, finally home!"

Hekkeran stretched his arms, feeling relieved after arriving at their home base. Indeed, as told by Rossaur, the guildmaster had sent them home free on a good note after reading the letter. He even had offered the group to make their temporary plates officially genuine, but they had decided to refuse the offer. All in all, their mission had been successfully accomplished, granting them a hefty sum of money.

"I can't be any happier now"

Imina said it with delighted face. The rest of the group followed, putting their luggage in one corner and then taking seats on the nearest chair available. At this moment, Hekkeran looked at Rose and Sheep and he began to hesitate if he should ask the questions or not. Right now, it just happened that there were no other people at close distance, so nobody else would overhear them.

"Alright, now that we're home, let's have a short meeting for job closure"

Hekkeran decided to hold a meeting instead. The others of the team nodded. The entire group then sat around their usual meeting table in a rather relaxed manner. Hekkeran was then the one to speak first as the leader of the group.

"First, on behalf of the team, I would like to thank both of you, Sheep and Rose. If any of you had not been there, this job would have ended in failure, and killed us all even"

"Right out of my mouth"

Imina added to Hekkeran's words.

"In total, we hauled 300 gold coins and 50 platinum coins from this job. As for how we divide this, I would like to let you two take the majority of it as gratitude for saving our lives"

Sheep looked at Rose after Hekkeran said those. Rose shook her head in response.

"You will make a better use of them than me"

"Same with me"

Sheep and Rose had made their decision of not taking any of the money reward, which didn't feel right for Hekkeran and the others of the team. They owed Sheep and Rose their lives, and they wouldn't feel right to give nothing in exchange.

"If that is your decision, then alright. Also, Sheep"

"Hmm?"

"I heard from Arche that you were looking for your lost brother. If you need us to look for information, don't hesitate to ask"

Sheep smiled hearing Hekkeran's genuine offer.

"Thanks"

"Hey, it's the least we can do. You saved our lives. The same applies to you too, Rose"

The rest of the team nodded in agreement. Rose just smiled with blushing face while averting her eyes from Hekkeran.

"The reward money then will be divided evenly between the four of us. I believe we are all tired, so let's rest up for now. Meeting will resume after dinner"

And with that, the meeting dismissed. Hekkeran felt that it was not right to directly question them during a meeting right after expressing gratitude and offer to help. He believed it would be better to ask the questions lightly during friendly idle chat or such, and he would just wait for the right time to ask.


[X][X][X]


Singing Apple Pavilion, Fourth Day, 15:18

Sheep and Meru, who was still taking the role of Rose, returned to their bedroom feeling quite exhausted. For Meru in particular, her exhaustion was more mental than physical. She had done a good number of missions for ARKS, but this was the first time she had experienced such a job. She stretched her arms and sat down on her bed.

"Uhh, Sheep..."

"Yes?"

"So, your shepperd... is your brother?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure, to be stuck with me all this time?"

"I told you, right? But one thing I wonder..."

Sheep smiled a little.

"What did you do to slay the doll?"

"Ah, it was a... Light element spell"

"Hmm, strange. The spell sounded familiar to me"

"Huh...?"

"Back in my place, there is a... spell, which makes a very distinct sound whenever cast. The sound was like the spell I heard back then when you cast it"

Meru couldn't say anything in response since she still didn't get what Sheep meant.

"The spell's name is... Grants"

"WHAT!?"

Rose suddenly shouted inside Meru's mind. Meru got shocked, both from Rose's shout and also the fact that had just been presented in front of her.

"S-Sheep... You're ARKS...?"

Sheep was silent for a few seconds, then she giggled.

"Took you long enough"

"Seriously?"

"Since when...?"

"Since the time I saw you casting some techs back then"

"Meru! Scan!"

Meru caught what Rose meant immediately activated her photon interface. But she felt that she need Sheep's consent for this.

"Sheep... May I?"

"Go ahead"

Every ARKS operative had the ability to scan the profile of other ARKS operatives. At the same time, each ARKS operative could choose which info in their profile they wanted to either open to public or keep private. Rose probably felt that doing this would be much faster than just conversing like how she had done with Ryu Seika, the operative she had met before. That was why she had asked Meru to use this method.

"W-WHAT THE HELL!?"

Meru was once again shocked by Rose's loud shout inside her head, and also by the first line of Sheep's profile she saw.

Name: Hikaru Seika


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

And with the revelation of Sheep being Ryu's sister, the arc is concluded. Coming up next is an intermission chapter before proceeding into Vol 7. The intermission chapter will hopefully be posted in one week, and the chapters afterwards will be posted every two weeks like it always been.

See you again later.