Chapter 8: First Quest

Things did not get easier; her mentorship with Ferno began the first day of her break, and he started by sparring with her. He had allowed her to use both her weapons, but she stuck with irakami. Much like Gramps, Ferno was quick; he was able to evade all her strikes and countered whenever he chose to. This went on for the rest of the week, on top of her dual Ego class; her entire body was dead by Friday. "A what?" She lay on the ground, sweat clung annoyingly to her body as she stared at her mentor, confused. "A quest, it'll be a good experience. We leave early tomorrow, and we should be back by Sunday night. It's nothing too complex, I'll give you more information on the way there, so for now, get some rest." She was dismissed. Gramps let her have the day off to rest and prepare for her first quest tomorrow. Irakami lay on her bed unsheathed; below it, Irokomi sat in its sheath. She wanted to leave it in her dorm, since she won't need it and won't be able to use it, but she was afraid someone might try to steal it, not her roommate, though. Who wasn't here? Perhaps she had gone home for the break? Eh, Elisa made sure her bag was ready, even though she had nothing to pack aside from a change of clothes. Elisa lies in bed, waiting to fall asleep. A couple of minutes later, she could hear the door open; her roommate had returned. She had her back to the door so that she couldn't see, plus it was dark, so it wouldn't have made a difference. She falls asleep eventually.

Elisa met up with Ferno at the Academy gates at the crack of dawn; the sun was barely up, so it was still dark out. " We'll be headed to Vernin. The Association has received word that the local gang has begun acting as warlords, taxing the people for money and other goods. Our job is to go in and negotiate, see if we can get them to back down." That did sound simple, "If it's a city, why hasn't the local government done anything? Or someone else, this sounds like it could be handled by just about any competent Hunter?" Ferno nodded his head in agreement,

"That would be the case, but this gang suddenly gained some heavy hitters. They've seemingly got the local government in their grasp already, and all previous negotiators have been beaten within an inch of their lives." Now she understood why he was sent. If things go south, we'll just have to prove who's stronger. They were fortunate enough to hitch a ride with a merchant who was heading in the direction of Vernin. The sun was halfway through the sky by the time they arrived; today was a relatively cloudless day. But by the time they arrived, the sun was beginning to set. They would've arrived much earlier, but the merchant made a few stops along the way.

Vernin was one of the older cities. Many of the buildings were constructed during the time of the first Empire, but over the years, the people have rebuilt them to such an extent that they can be considered new. One thing that's stayed the same is that this city has no roads, and the ground remains dirt. The place seemed deserted, with few people visible on the street. "They're afraid," Ferno whispers to her. They reached the government building, which was near the back of the city. It stands tall, made from a white stone, though it was pretty dirty. The inside of the mayor's office was trashed, and the mayor himself looked no better. Dark circles sat under his eyes, and his entire body was shaking ever so slightly.

"Thank you for coming, Hunter Ferno." The mayor took Fernos's hand with both of his, "It's nothing. How exactly did this happen? I thought there was an agreement in place between the gangs and the city?" Upon mention of the gang, the mayor flinched; the more Elsia examined him, the more she understood. He was skinny; she could only assume he'd been eating very little. A glass sat on his desk. She made a small movement forward to get a look behind his desk to see a few empty bottles of alcohol; he had been drinking heavily. "It happened suddenly, the leader of the Blue Oni and his two closest became stronger, they were able to overpower the city's hunters and took over with no problems..." The mayor gripped his arm as he spoke; his eyes wandered around the room, refusing to stay still. "What else?" Ferno asked, the Mayor looked worried, "If you want our cooperation, you need to trust us. Please tell us anything you know about this sudden power increase." The mayor was hesitant but gave in.

"Dual Egos, they all have Dual egos now." Now, Elisa understood why the Mayor was so afraid, but what he said was impossible. "As you already know, the leader of Ego was Energy control, but now he has a strong regeneration Ego. The limits he once had when using his first Ego are gone now, thanks to his second, and it's the same for the others." Ferno thanked the Mayor, and they left. He seemed to be deep in thought as he hadn't said a single thing since they left. "Obtaining a second Ego is impossible," Ferno nodded in agreement. "Get some rest for now, we'll talk again with the Mayor before deciding what we're going to do."