Hiroki joins Loup Garou on a double contract in the same location. A village, far away from this town, offered two contracts to hunt and kill two dangerous creatures that has been terrorising this small village. Sona asks the both of them to go together, as a means of working together to solve this issue and to ask Loup to watch Hiroki's back during this assignment. She was just trying to giving Hiroki a chance to interact and be friendly towards a fellow member of the guild. Loup is in the same ranking position as Yuuto, and happens to always do things solo. Sona is trying to prevent many of these adventurers to stop doing that.

"I expect the both of you to return, unharmed. I'm sure this will give you some experience, Hiroki, and a chance to finally interact with someone, Loup." Sona says to them before they depart.

Unfortunately, Loup has said nothing to Hiroki through this whole trip towards the village. Hiroki did try to make some small talk to him, but Loup only said a few words to him and that was it.

"Hmmmm, he definitely doesn't like this." Hiroki thought to himself and soon got an idea on a conversation to say to Loup. He asks "I forgot to thank you for saving me that day with that vampire. If you didn't save me, I'd be dead."

"You trusted a stranger and it almost got you killed." Loup replies while continue walking and facing forward with no emotions on his face.

"You're right. I thought she was a nice person."

"Hmmm."

"Umm… How did you know she was a vampire?" Hiroki asks

"I caught her scent."

"Her scent?"

"Yes."

"That's… Weird."

"It's my power." Loup replies

"And what kind of power do you have?"

"You'll find out. We're here."

They arrive at the southern entrance to the village. The place has wooden palisade walls that surrounds the main buildings while the farmlands are outside the walls in the east. The large forest surrounds only the north and western side of the village, while the farmlands in the east has a wide open area.

The two made it inside and learn from their chieftain about the dangerous threats inside the forest.

"Things were easy and quiet for this village. The forest was mostly populated by animals and beasts that we could easily subdue and kill. But this beast emerged from the shadows, defeated our best hunters and stealing our livestock. We decided to call for the adventurers to defeat this beat and help us replenish our food supply."

"So that's why you gave us two." Hiroki replies

"Yes." He nods "An adventurer like you could easily best a single boar. While the other monster is meant for someone higher than you." He turns his attention towards Loup "I assume that's you?"

"Yes." Loup nods while keeping his arms cross

"So where do we start?" Hiroki asks

"We found the boar in the east, but the monster is in the north of here. But you should be careful about that monster. This thing was five feet tall from what we've been told by the hunters."

"What does it look like?" Hiroki asks

"We'll know when we find it." Loup turns away and proceeds to make his way to the north of the village.

Hiroki follows and calls out to him "Hey, hold up."

"Your animal is in the east, while mine is in the north. You take care of that."

"Shouldn't we be doing this together? Sona wanted us to stay together as a team."

Loup looks back to Hiroki and asks "Do you want me to hold your hand while you kill the boar?"

"N-No. I wasn't asking you to kill it for me. I was just –"

Loup sighs and looks forward "I'm no good with people, so you kill the boar and join me when you're done." He walks away from Hiroki.

Hiroki sighs and remains where he is "These people… Maybe I could find it quickly and kill it. How hard can one boar be?"

The boar was much bigger than he thought it would be. When he found the boar, he collapse hard onto the ground when it came rushing straight towards him like a wild bull. This animal was twice the size than a regular boar and was much ferocious. Hiroki had to get out of the way and keep his distance and waiting for an opening to strike quickly. The moment the boar rushes towards him again, he got out of the way on time and made it slam its face into the tree he was standing in front of. This opening was enough for him to quickly rush in and ran his sword through the side of the boar. The animal screeches in pain and turns around to bite Hiroki, but he uses his shield to smack its face back and retreats again to watch it bleed. That was enough to eventually bring the boar down to the floor and have him deliver the final blow.

"And that's that…" Hiroki replies while pulling his sword out of the boar and sighs deeply "Sorry it had to come to this." He then looks at his bloody sword for a moment and then down to his body to examine himself to see if he sustain any damage to his clothing. Once he found nothing, he leaves the body of the boar and makes his way back to the village to report.

One of the hunters approach Hiroki and asks for proof of the death of the boar. He had to return to the forest and show him the dead boar, which was enough for his contract to be complete and thanks him for his success on killing it. Both of them return to the village, but Hiroki leaves straight away to go find Loup to see if he is alright fighting his opponent. By the time he found Loup, the fight was already over and found him sitting down against the decease opponent, which was a large Minotaur. Minotaur is a large humanoid monster with the head of a bull and range from five meters in height, have thick chest and arms and sharp fangs.

Loup was busy drinking a bottle of water and shows he sustain no damage to himself. The area around him was a battlefield with so many holes and cuts through the floor.

"No way, you've defeated it." Hiroki replies while looking astonish at the scene in front of him. He got closer to the dead Minotaur and asks "What is it?"

"Minotaur."

"I've never seen anything like this…."

"You do now." Loup finishes drinking and stands up "Now we leave."

But just as they plan to leave, Loup stops and looks out into the forest. Hiroki notices this and asks "Is something wrong?" But he got no response from Loup. He looks out through the forest to see where he is looking and notice something was coming towards them. The ground starts to shake as three more Minotaur's would suddenly show up into the scene, all appearing as the same five meters in height.

"No way….." Hiroki was shock to see more than one Minotaur coming out of the forest.

"Reinforcements." Loup finishes his bottle of water and takes a few steps ready while getting into a battle stance.

"You seriously going to fight all three of them?" Hiroki asks

"Yes. You need to run."

"I can't let you fight them by yourself…." Hiroki looks back to one of the Minotaur's approaching and was glaring back at him. He exhales deeply and causing his body to shake with fear of seeing these three approaching them.

"This is my fight." Loup replies while taking off his coat and throwing it to the side. "Run."

In the end, Hiroki decides to run the moment the one glaring at him tries to attack him. Loup springs into action by aiming the palm of his hand and unleashes a fireball towards that Minotaur to blind it. The other two quickly attack and the fight begins.

Hiroki kept running, but he stops and asks himself "What am I doing? Why am I running away from this? I've worked hard for this, bled for this, and I'm just going to cower and hide? My brother would laugh at me for this…."

The moment he mentions his brother, he had a slight image of his brother looking down at him and glaring at him with a cold expression on his face while aiming that bloody spear towards him. This made him tighten his sword tightly, turns around to face the battle and rush straight into the fight.

Meanwhile, Loup was performing well with his incredible speed and jumping over many punching attacks from the Minotaur's. He continues to demonstrate his magic by creating fireballs to target the eyes of the Minotaur's to leave them blind. However, after blinding a second one and jumping back to avoid an incoming stomp from the third one, he feels another presence behind him and finds out a fourth Minotaur has shown up. This one was carrying a large axe in both hands and swings horizontally through the air to attempt of slicing Loup into two. He jumps high in the air to avoid the hit, but the other Minotaur steps in with a perfect punch to send Loup crashing hard against a tree.

With two of them still blind by the fireballs, only two of them approaches Loup and try to teamwork on taking him out. However, Hiroki decides to rush straight into the fight and rams his sword through the back of the leg of one of the Minotaur's. That Minotaur cries out in pain over the stab, while Hiroki was struggling to pull the sword out of it. It turns around to see him, forced Hiroki to let go of the sword and takes a hit against his shield and knocks him hard onto the floor. The distraction was enough for Loup to avoid the swing from the axe from the other one and rushes over to protect Hiroki.

"You shouldn't have been here." Loup replies while keeping his back towards Hiroki and keeping an eye on the enemy in front of him.

Hiroki sighs while getting up off the ground and replies "I can't abandon a teammate. I know I don't stand a chance, but if I can at least do something to distract them, then it's enough for you to kill them."

"You'll regret coming here, because you're going to have to see something you shouldn't see."

"What does that mean?"

"I have to make this quick. Whatever you do, don't attack me." Loup replies and starts undergoing a transformation in front of him.

Hiroki steps back when noticing Loup beginning to change. Loup lowers his upper body forward, stretches his arms out groaning over the sudden transformation. He covers his body with ash-coloured fur and taking the form of an actual werewolf. The moment he is complete, he is much bigger and lets out a howl towards the Minotaur's.

Loup attacks first with quick speed and better strength by piercing his right claw through the chest of the Minotaur. Another one attempts to attack him, but he pulls his arm out and jumps backwards to avoid the attack. He jumps up and claws the face of the second Minotaur and strikes one of the knees to bring it down on one knee. Next he turns to the one with the sword still lodge through the back of the leg and sprints towards it to easily pull it out, then throws it across the area towards Hiroki to have it land nearby for him to use it. Hiroki grabs onto the sword and rushes straight towards the Minotaur with the broken knee and slashes it to make it worse. As soon as it lowers its head further down, Hiroki was close enough to plunge his sword through the neck of the Minotaur and killing his first one in combat.

"I actually killed one…." Hiroki said while watching the Minotaur collapsing on the ground in front of him. He then turn his attention to the others, who are busy dealing with Loup in his new werewolf form. Hiroki was having a hard time keeping track of him, as he was sprinting around with better speed than before and slashing against the legs of his enemies around him.

One by one, Loup slashes the legs and brings each Minotaur down for him to return to deliver a perfect strike to the face. As one goes down on one knee, Hiroki rushes in and support on delivering the final blow, while Loup injures them enough for them to be unable to continue. One did manage to catch Loup and grab a hold of him, but Hiroki saves him by slashing the wrist and forcing it to let go and give Loup a chance to strike back. In the end, Hiroki remains keeping his distance and only allowing Loup to keep them focus on him alone so he could support. All that is left in the end is the both of them standing over the many bodies.

After it was over, Loup starts returning back to his humanoid form and was groaning during the transformation back to human. He looks back to Hiroki, who approaches him and looking down at his sword for a moment, thinking he was going to use it against him. However, Hiroki sheathes his sword and asks him "What happened to you?"

"I was born with this." Loup walks past Hiroki and goes to pick up his coat to put it back on. He looks back to Hiroki to see him just standing there, looking back at him and still surprise at what he just witness here. He asks "You going to attack me?"

"What would I do that?" Hiroki asks him "We're teammates, right? And you're on my side, right?"

". . . ." Loup was a little surprise and was expecting Hiroki to turn on him the moment the fight was over. He was unsure what Hiroki was thinking or see any of his expressions under that helmet of his, but the only thing he knows is that Hiroki is only surprise and not afraid of him.

"I see…" Loup turns away and proceeds to leave the area.

Hiroki looks back at the dead bodies around him and quickly rushes over to join Loup. Together, both return to the village and told them about the number of dead Minotaur's inside the forest and shows proof of that when showing them the horn of one of them. The village realise they made an error on their part and decide to apologise to the both of them for not asking for more people to assist on dealing with the bigger horde of Minotaur's. In the end, they ask for them to stay at the village and allow them to cook them a perfect meal with the dead boar they brought inside. They also sent hunters to check on the Minotaur bodies and try to drag the bodies to the village to begin the process of cutting them up for food. They said the meat is just as perfect as the boar.

The celebration went with success as the villagers set up a large bonfire and eat together around the fire. Hiroki prefer to eat boar and not the food from the enemy that was trying to kill them. During this time of celebration, Hiroki and Loup has said nothing to one another and only focus on enjoying this wonderful meal brought to them by the villagers. One hunter also offers Hiroki a good bottle of ale and offers him a bag of the horns as an offering to increase the price they got from this quest. While he was trying to offer it to Loup, because this was his quest, Loup rejects the offer and gives the loot to Hiroki instead.

After two hours of staying inside the village, both of them said their farewell to the villagers and walk together out of the village. During the walk, Hiroki was anxious to ask some questions to Loup about what he just witness, but was concern about these questions and wishing not to get involve in his private life.

"You have something on your mind." Loup replies while continue facing forward and continues walking.

"I just wanted to know if anyone knows about this." Hiroki replies

"Sona and all the workers of the guild. They know what I am and they don't care."

"Am I allowed to talk about it? Or would you prefer I keep my mouth shut?"

"I have a question of my own; how is it you're not afraid of me?" Loup turns his head towards Hiroki and looks with serious towards him.

Hiroki looks back at him and replies "To be honest, while I was surprised, I didn't see you as an enemy in front of me. I saw you as a friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah." Hiroki looks forward while walking

Loup faces forward and thought back of when Sona almost said the same thing back to him. When he reveal to her what he truly was capable of and his transformation, Sona still offers her hand out to him and calls him a friend.

"Hey. Care to explain to me how you learn to use magic?" Hiroki asks him "You don't look like a magic type."

"Mother was a witch and my father was a werewolf." Loup replies

"Oh. That explains quite a lot."

"Do you still wish to work with me, despite knowing what I am?" Loup asks while looking back at Hiroki.

"You don't have to worry about anything. I've faced a monster before I became an adventurer, and you're nothing like him. So I still want to work with you."

"Hmmm that's surprising."

"Is it? You said the others don't care what you are, so I trust them and I trust you. After all, you did rescue me from that vampire, so I can't complain about who you are."

"I see."

And so the two make their way back home and report about the quest being much bigger than they thought. They arrive during the night, noticed the building still has some lights with someone still inside with candles showing some light in the interior. Sona was still present with another woman by the desk, along with another adventurer who is probably the same age as Hiroki, but has some issues about teaming up with others.

The two arrive inside the interior to find Sona having a discussing about this particular adventurer. His name is Genshirou Saji. Everyone calls him Saji. He is a typical rookie adventure that came the same time as Karlamine [Karla]. Saji wears a blue leather jacket and a red scarf around it, and under is a white shirt with a single blue line down the middle. His lower clothing is a pair of grey jeans with dark leather boots and a leather belt. On his right arm is a small black bracer in the form of a black chameleon-like lizard face with violate eyes

"Everytime we do this, I always go out there and come back safe and sound. This argument we do everytime is pointless." Saji says to Sona

Sona leans back against the desk and crosses her arms. She sighs and looking annoyed at this discussing "This is going nowhere. I am looking out for you, Saji." She then turns her attention behind her to see Hiroki entering the room with Loup beside him. "You've returned."

The woman by the counter is Momo. She was busy leaning down and reading her book while this discussing was happening, but quickly stands attention the moment she notice the two adventurers have come to deliver their report.

"It was a success." Hiroki replies

"Payment has been filled." Loup replies while walking towards the counter and ignoring Saji and Sona.

Hiroki approaches the two and asks "I'm surprise anyone is here at this time."

"Some people haven't returned yet from their jobs. I figured they'd want to come here first to get the payment and then return to the hotel to sleep." Sona replies

"I get it." Hiroki looks towards Momo and comes over to get his payment.

"So, you going to let me go or do –"

"Do whatever you want, Saji. But if you die out there then you failed to take care of your family." Sona says to him.

". . . ." Saji turns away and starts walking out of there.

Hiroki watches him leave and asks Sona "Should I get involved in this?"

Sona sighs and turns away "There's a new quest he wanted to do by himself. It's a retrieval quest. The client wants someone to travel to this abandoned building to collect valuable items for the client. We just got it a few hours ago and they'll pay quite a lot of money for this."

"What's the big deal with that?"

Sona looks back to Hiroki "The ones that went there came under attack by a dangerous beast. It killed them all, while only a survivor escaped and said little details on who attacked them. The package is still there, but I'm worried about sending only one adventurer to do this, and Saji isn't a person who wants to make friends with others."

"Do you want us to go help him?" Hiroki asks her

"You've just got back from a quest. You up for another?"

"I can go for another round for the night. Just as long as I have time to go to the bathroom."

Sona laughs "Alright. I'll stop Saji from leaving while you do your business."

Hiroki looks to Loup and asks "You want to join?"

"To the bathroom?" Loup looks back to Hiroki

"N-No! I meant the quest!"

"Well… I still have enough stamina for one more job."

"Guess we're back for another quest then."

And so Hiroki had to leave the room so he could use the restroom, while Sona makes her way outside to catch up with Saji to tell him about two new companions are about to join. However, another member just came back from her quest and decides to volunteer as the fourth member, which annoys Saji as he does not wish to share any of the rewards to anyone.

"This is my contract, so that means all of the payments belongs to me." Saji says to them

Karla the fourth candidate for this team and was looking unhappy when he said this to her. She places her hands on her hips and replies "Don't be greedy bastard, or you'll die alone."

"I'll agree to these terms." Loup replies

"Just let me report this at the guild first." Karla walks past them and goes straight to the guild.

"I wish you all good luck." Sona says to them and walks with Karla back to the guild to help with the contract.

Hiroki comes running towards them, placed his helmet back on and replies "I'm ready to go."

"We're going to have to wait. Karla is joining us." Saji replies and turns away while crossing his arms.

"Really? The more the merrier."

"Except he doesn't like the more the merrier." Loup replies and looks towards Saji

"Actually this is a perfect opportunity for all of us. We're all freelancers, aren't we?" Hiroki asks the both of them and they both look back at him with no words to say because it was true.

Once Karla returns to the group, everyone was ready to go. They all left this place and travel together outside the town during the night. Thankfully, Loup has magic to help as a torch guide by lighting his hand on fire while they walk together.

The group stays silent towards one another through the trip towards their destination. At halfway, Hiroki thought of taking a break and decide to make a campfire and rest for the night. Saji was the only one who desires to continue, while Loup has no problem staying up late enough and decides to patrol the area around them to avoid any chances of finding any dangerous animals or creatures in the wilderness. Karla and Hiroki sit down next to each other and try to make a campfire, which forces Saji to sit down on the other side to face the two of them and relax by the campfire.

"So your quest was a success?" Karla asks Hiroki

"Yeah. Me and Loup took care of the monsters and saved a village. We got more payment than before, thanks to the increase of more enemies."

"That usually happens. If the enemy is much bigger than we were told, you get more experience from that."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You still got a lot to learn about the adventures guild." Saji says to him

Hiroki looks to Saji and replies "I'm still a rookie. I'll be alright."

"I think you've done quite well out there." Karla replies "I heard you slain a powerful monster and saved a unicorn."

Hiroki laughs and responds "Well… Actually, I got help from a friend who did all of the work. It was Akeno."

"That girl is a troublemaker." Saji replies "But she's always so joyful when being with friends."

"I'm well aware of that."

"By the way, I've been meaning to want to ask this about you." Hiroki asks Saji "What exactly are you so keen on collecting all that money?"

". . . ."

"Yeah. I've been meaning to want to know." Karla replies and leans forward while looking back at Saji with serious "If we do most of the work here, I'm expecting to get a discount from all this."

"I just…." Saji pauses for a moment and lowers his tone to them "I need that money to take care of things."

"You've got debt?" Hiroki asks

"Just payments."

"Well if that's the case, then you don't have to be a total asshole to everyone." Hiroki replies and causes Karla to laugh.

"H-Hey! All I want is to get the full payment, which requires that I do the contracts by myself. I don't need anyone by my side."

"It's no good going out and dying by yourself with no one around to find you." Hiroki says to him

"Hmmmm."

Meanwhile, as soon as the sun rises, the team sets out together towards their destination and found this place to be abandon with broken down buildings. They were told the package was inside the broken down church, which appears to be in a much terrible state than the others. The front entrance was completely blown open and the ceiling was completely gone. All the debris is inside the building, meaning something big from the outside came through and could be the same one that made the hole in the roof.

"I don't like the look of this." Hiroki replies while keeping his sword out and keeping his shield in front of him.

Saji moves in with caution and takes the lead, while Loup stays back and looks around the area and Karla stays behind Hiroki.

The inside of this church was completely broken apart as only the broken walls around them are the only thing keeping this intact. They found no sign of any dangerous beast, but they found the bodies of four people, who are completely torn apart by a dangerous predator.

"Who could've done this?"

"I've fought many monsters. I'm not sure which one could've done something like this." Karla replies

"Hey. I found something." Saji saw something on his left and runs towards one of the dead bodies. This man was sitting against the wall with no legs and holding onto a large open chest.

Hiroki and Karla came over to inspect the chest and the broken pieces around the dead body. The chest was open and contains several broken eggs that surrounds the dead body. These eggs are the size of a football and all of them are broken.

"These eggs… Are they…" Karla replies while Saji picks up one of the broken eggs

Loup was still looking around the area and getting the feeling someone was watching them. While looking around, his eyes stop towards one of the nearby buildings to find someone standing by the window, looking back at him with a cold expression. This felt like a weird horror, but it was about to get much worse for everyone here.

A blast of red flame erupts from that building, incinerated the whole area into a firestorm and causing an alarm for the whole party when they heard the explosion. Loup was in shock to witness the sight of a massive red dragon, arising out of the flames when it was slowly dying down to reveal itself.

"Dragon…."

Everyone else inside the building came outside and left surprise to witness this large fire breathing dragon, especially when Hiroki has never encounter such a dangerous beast before. He was more surprise than the others and starts to worry of what could happen to everyone.