(SHIRO'S POV)

The sunlight gave me one hell of a wake up slap. I was up bright and early in the morning and ready to get my quest on. I changed out of my hoodie and pants. I threw on my sleeveless leather padded under armour and slipped on my lightweight armor plating. It was pretty shitty gear but it was better than nothing. I opened my room door and headed down stairs. Hannah was cleaning up the place. She looked over her shoulder and waved.

"Good morning Shiro. How'd you sleep?" She asked.

"Best nights sleep I had in awhile. Thanks!" I replied.

"That's good." She then resumed her cleaning.

"Oh wait I thought I should ask you if you knew where the House of Mentors is." I told her.

"It's next to the big tower on the east side of town. Just head left from Gordon's Blacksmith." Hannah said.

"Ok, thanks. I'll see you around." I said as I made my departure.

As I stepped outside of the Inn, I noticed that Hannah's husband and a ginger haired man were speaking in front of the blacksmith place. I looked at my old worn out daggers.

"I could use an upgrade…" I muttered to myself.

I walked over to the two men and they took notice of my presence.

"Aye! Who be this young lad, Flint?" The ginger asked.

"Just some newbie in town. Was sleeping at the Inn." Flint said.

"I'm Shiro Tatsugami, and I'm a level 5 rogue!" I said grinning.

"Aye! So you be the sneaky type." Ginger guy said.

"Sure am!" I said.

"Well then you'd best watch ye'self boy. The people of Rai Town don't welcome thieves!" The man snapped.

"Chill out dude! I'm a hero!" I told him.

"You be no hero. You have yet to demonstrate that to me along with anyone else in the town." The ginger pressed on.

Flint nodded. "Gordon's right boy. You've got to prove yourself."

"Wait, you're Gordon?!" I said pointing to the redhead. "I need a favor from you." I brought out my daggers and showed them to Gordon. "I need a new set of daggers, dude." I told him.

"Aye! They do be a bit...worn…" He said.

"So you'll fix them?" I asked smiling.

"No." Gordon said

"No? What do you mean no? Why not?" I asked, dropping my smile.

"I only craft tools for heroes, not thieving, kids." He said.

"I am a hero!" I said back.

"Where be your proof?" Gordon asked.

"I...uh...damn…" I said snapping my fingers. "Fine, I'll be back! Have those daggers ready too because I'm gonna be a hero when I return." I took off to the east side of the town and ended up tripping over something.

"Watch it douchebag!" I heard a voice say to me.

"...Who said that?" I looked down and saw a wolf looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"I did jackass! You'd best watch yourself!" He growled.

"Damn, my bad." I got up and took off towards the House of Mentors. When I stepped inside, I saw seven people. Three looked my age and the other four were older. They all seemed to stop their conversations and looked at me.

"Who the hell is that?" Said a woman with a cloak, spinning her knife.

"I would like to know the answer to that question as well." Said a white haired woman with an angelic looking staff.

"My name is Shiro Tatsugami! I'm here to be a hero."

"Oh really now? What's your class and level, kid?" The well armoured man said. I took note of the scar on the side of his pale eye.

"Rogue, level 5, sir!" I said boldly.

Everyone in the room looked at the cloaked woman. She had stopped spinning her knife and stabbed it into the wall. "A rogue huh?" With lightning fast speed, she zipped right in front of me. "Interesting…What brings you here kid?" She asked.

"Like I said, I wanna be a hero. I came here to seek a mentor." I said.

"Well then it looks like we have a guest. I suppose introductions are in order." The brown skinned woman said. "I'm Xena, a level 40 mage."

"I'm Tazorac, level 40 warrior." The scar guy said.

"I am Amora, a level 40 Healer." The white haired woman said.

"And I'm Eliza, level 40 rogue." Eliza took off the hood of her cloak, showing her short black hair. If she wasn't so intimidating, I might've said she was hot as shit...but I like breathing so…

"These are our apprentices." Tazorac said as he gestured towards the three teens. Tazorac placed his hand on the girl next to him. "This is my apprentice, Gabriella Vasquez, level 8 warrior." I never thought a girl with that much armor could still look that good. She had long brown hair that went down to her back.

"Damn! What's up Gabby." I said smoothly. It was funny, her face had such soft features that contrast with her sharp, heavy looking armor. "Just so you know, I would love it if you taught me some things." Before I could finish my weak attempt at flirting, a large sword slammed down in front of me.

"She's also my niece?" Tazorac said, glaring. Gabriella scoffed at this and folded her arms.

"And I have officially been curbed…" I said lamely.

Next up was the mage lady, and her blonde haired apprentice. The blonde guy extended his hand out to me. "Clyde Yukio. Level 7 mage. Top of my class in terms of raw intelligence. I'm training to be a Grand Spellcaster!"

Not gonna lie, dude kinda creeped me out. Not sure why but I felt like he was somehow trying to size me up. I shook his hand firmly. "Right…" I said back.

"Judging by the intense look in your eyes, the hitch in your voice and the grip you have on my hand, I'd make a clean guess that you don't trust me." Clyde said.

"Wow, really? What gave it away?!" I asked sarcastically.

"I just told you." He responded.

"... Freaking smartass…" I muttered.

I turned to the last apprentice. She had her head down, avoiding my gaze on her. I noticed that she had neck length lavender colored hair.

"Hey." I said offering a friendly smile.

"...H-hi...my n-name is... Isabel Yang…" She said with a bow. "L-level 4 healer…"

"Heheh, no need to be so tensed up. I'm a cool guy once you get to know me." I said with my usual grin.

"...R-really?" She asked as she looked up. Her wide golden eyes made me lose myself for a moment. She was cute as hell. WHAT'S WITH THIS GODDAMN TOWN?!

"Yeah! I could use some friends and having a healer would be awesome!" I shouted. I noticed her perk up at that.

"O-ok...Sh-Shiro...I...wouldn't mind th-that." She said as she nodded.

I smiled as I stared at her. She blushed heavily and looked away. As I looked at her, something caught me off guard. I couldn't believe I didn't notice. "HOLY SHIT!!! OH MY GOD!!!" I screamed.

"What is it Shi-" Tazorac started.

"THOSE ARE THE BIGGEST BOOBS I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! JESUS CHRISTMAS!" I yelled with glee. I didn't notice the deadly silence of the room or the complete redness of Isabel's face. "Damn Izzy, why didn't you tell me you were packing heat like that?!" I asked the poor girl as I gave one a quick squeeze. "They're so soft too!"

-WHAAAAAAM!!!-

I was sent crashing into a wall due to the harsh punch that Gabby sent me. My head was spinning all over the place.

"What kinda sick pervert are you?!" Gabby asked.

I stood up regaining my composure. "It was a compliment! She's not just cute, she's freaking amazing with that rack of hers." I said back to her.

"Alright alright, cut it out. The meet and greet is over. Shiro you're coming with me." Eliza said to me.

"Where to?" I asked.

"To the hunting grounds. You're gonna learn what it is to be a rogue." She continued.

"Yes! Finally!" I said. I looked back at the other three teens. "Screw you Clyde." I told him while giving him the finger. "Gabby... I'd still smash…" Tazorac looked like he wanted to rip my head off. "And Izzy…I think I love you-" I was stopped mid sentence by Eliza yanking my collar and dragging me out.

-TWENTY FIVE MINUTES LATER-

"Well, here we are. The old hunting grounds. This is where your gonna be trained to fight like the stealthiest of rogues. In order to understand the concept, I'm going to have to do one thing to kick of your training." Eliza spoke.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"To come back to this spot, and bring back a rabbit, a deer and finally, a bear." She told me.

"...Like to eat?!" I asked.

"Yep." She said, nonchalantly.

"Ok rabbit, light work. Deer, tough but manageable. BUT A FREAKING BEAR! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!" I asked frantically.

"Not sure...Good luck though." She then vanished from sight, leaving me with my unfortunate task.

"Damn it!" I muttered angrily as I ran off into the deep woods of the hunting grounds.

As I ran, I saw my first target. It was a white rabbit minding its own business. It was cutely nibbling on a carrot stick. I dropped my breathing and silently creeped up to the poor creature. I brought out one of my daggers. Sorry about this…

-STAAAABBB!!!-

I had thought about what I had just done. I just murdered an animal for no reason. How is this being a hero?! As I went to go pick up the dead animal, a shadow had ran past me, snatching away the one rabbit that I saw.

"What the hell!" I said startled.

I had decided to give up on my first objective and go on the hunt for my second one. I decided to take the high ground this time in order to find a deer to kill. I searched throughout the dense ass forest. My eyes landed on a deer getting his drink on by a stream. It still seemed occupied by its need for a drink. I slowly climbed to the edge of the branch. I flung one of my daggers at the stream. The dagger splashed the water onto the deer, frightening it into running towards me. When it was at a good distance, I lept off of the tree a sunk my corny ass dagger into its neck, bringing it down. I yanked my blade out and sheathed it. "Sorry dude, I had to do it." I was starting to feel really remorseful about all this. I went up to the nearby stream and dived in. The water actually felt kinda good. I looked for a bit until I had finally found my other dagger. I resurfaced and swam back to land. When I had walked up to where the deer was, I was confused. The deer was gone but in its place was and arrow in the dirt, pointing north. I decided to follow the arrow north in hopes of finding my thief.

I had stumbled upon a forest clearing, with three fallen trees, but that wasn't the weird part. There was a big grizzly bear stuck underneath the three trees. Two cubs scratching at the back of the trees in hopes of freeing what I assumed was their mama. The mama bear continued to roar for help and the cubs mimicked her crys.

"...Damn it!" I muttered to myself as I ran over to the bear with my daggers out.

As much as I wanted to pass my training, I couldn't leave the bear family to struggle like this. I ran up to the first tree and slammed my dull daggers into it. I gave a hefty push but it wouldn't budge. I tried to punch it but that didn't help either. Ok time to try a special move. I yanked out my daggers and backflipped away from the tree. I ran over to it as I crossed my arms.

"CROSS-CUT!!!" I shouted as I shattered the first tree. I ran up to the second and third tree and repeat the same process. The trees were destroyed but I at least freed the bear. The three bears tackled me and gave me a series of licks. It was both adorable and horrifying. Once they got off I waved them goodbye.

"Not bad...not bad at all." Said a familiar voice.

I turned around and saw the talking wolf from earlier. "What are you doing here?!"

"Just came by to help the bears but you seemed to handle it pretty well yourself." He replied.

"Yeah... I guess I did!" I said proudly.

"What you did was a good thing. Don't ever forget how that felt." The wolf said as he turned away. "Oh and thanks for the food." With that, he lunged into the air leaving me both confused, proud, and salty.