A New Dawn Brings a Golden Sun

The katana-wielding girl rushed off and headed up above to the paralyzed cult members. She made mincemeat of the metal gates blocking the path along the way.

"Zanna, hold on...! Ah, whatever." The burly man looked up at the seemingly endless rows of cells. "This is some dungeon they had down here. I didn't know the church of old was into this kind of thing." Next to him was Emil Vanstaiff along with his party, except Lily. "Nice job back there, kid. That's some spell you have."

Emil bowed. "Thank you, Sir,"

The man smacked his back. "Stop being so uptight, kid. I already told you, just call me Clive. I stopped being a knight long ago."

"Yes, Sir Clive."

Clive sighed. "Well, you're getting there."

Earla struggled up. "E-Emil Vanstaiff?"

"Quite a surprise to see you all here," Emil said. He seemed saddened when he saw the condition Kamiro and his party were in. "I apologize we did not arrive sooner."

The light brown-haired woman looked over Kamiro. "This doesn't look too good. Rickon, I want you to focus on healing the three girls. I'll take care of this boy."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Rickon said.

Who is this mature beauty? Damn, did I blackout after all? Kamiro tried to talk but couldn't release any words.

"Shhh." The woman smiled. Her luminous hands hovered over Kamiro's injuries.

"H-Hey, wait. You three need more healing," Rickon said.

Earla, Fleur, and Ayu brushed him off and went to check on Kamiro.

"Is... he going to be okay?" Fleur said.

The woman chuckled while she looked at him. "Well, aren't you popular?" She sighed and faced the girls. "To be honest... he's taken quite a bit of damage. It is as if his body didn't know when to stop. And his mana drain... It was far from normal. It could've caused permanent damage."

"No..." Ayu's gaze was glued to the ground.

The woman gave a thumbs up. "He is lucky that one of the top healers in the kingdom arrived at the right time. He should be fine after a few days of treatment, but don't expect him to be using any magic for almost a month."

The girls smiled and thanked the woman.

Kamiro struggled to glance at Emil, who walked up to him. So, the hero came just in the nick of time. All he could muster was a smile to show his thanks and hoped that Emil understood.

"It seems you had quite a difficult battle. I'm still expecting to face you someday, so make sure to pull through," Emil said.

"How are you all here? Even New Dawn..." Ayu said.

Emil explained how they were shadowing the veteran Adventurer party, New Dawn, as a training quest. New Dawn was on a quest to investigate suspicious activity in the area, possibly related to a cult with ties to the Demon King. Eventually, they came across an old man and his grandson on a mule pulled carriage, with some cult members tied up in the hold. The two explained everything to the group.

"But I never expected that the party they were with had been you three." Emil glanced at Fleur. "And it seems there was more to your quest than initially presented."

Fleur looked away.

"Well, I'm sure the headmasters will take care of it," he said.

Kamiro was relieved to know everyone was safe. Was it a dream? It was almost too good to be true. Both, Emil's party, the Golden Sun, and the famous Adventurer party, New Dawn, were present.

"I-Is that really Zanna?" Earla said.

Up above, the black-haired girl, Zanna, yelled and violently shook the paralyzed cult leader like a rag doll.

"Do you know how many days we've been searching for you!?" she said.

"Ha! What a world! The Hero-King candidate Zanna, in the flesh," Lesorugus said. "I am—"

Zanna dropped him with a thud. "Don't care."

"Yep, that's our leader." Clive gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Hey, Zanna! Go easy on him. We need him alive." The man sighed. "I'm going to head up. You two, come along." Reina and Rickon from Emil's party followed him.

Castin continued healing Ayu, Earla, and Fleur.

"Thanks for the help," Ayu said with a appreciative smile.

Castin blushed slightly. "No problem..."

"Earla, do guys know all these people? And what is New Dawn?" Fleur said.

"Oh, Right. I'm sorry. You most likely wouldn't have heard of them considering the situation you were in..." Earla said.

"So, you heard about my past?"

Ayu and Earla nodded. "Kamiro told us a bit about how you ended up in that cage..." Ayu said.

"I was planning to tell everyone... I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Ayu shook her head.

"And thank you for trusting us," Earla said.

Fleur nodded.

Earla and Ayu told Fleur about Emil's student Adventurer party, the Golden Sun, and sang praises about the renowned Adventurer party, New Dawn.

The light-brown haired woman chuckled while she continued to heal Kamiro. "Oh my, you all are too kind."

"Thank you for all the help, ma'am," Fleur said.

"Please, call me Lana. 'Ma'am' is my mother." She gave a warm smile. "Hmm, I think an introduction is in order."

Lana told Fleur a bit more about the members of New Dawn. Kamiro had heard of them before but didn't know too many details. He did his best to listen in as well.

The leader was the 20-year-old, black-haired girl, Zanna De Lacantoure, which Kamiro remembered Earla having mentioned in the past. She was already a Hero ranked Adventurer and amongst the few in the kingdom being considered a candidate to be Hero-King. The brown skin, burly man was Clive Warricke. At 40 years old, he was a well-established veteran Adventurer.

"Hey, don't go around telling people their age!" Clive said from up above.

Lana chuckled and gave him a teasing wink, which made him blush.

"Also, where's Brin? We need help moving these unconscious cult members. Or are they dead?" Clive muttered.

"That fool ran ahead with the little blondie from Emil's party. They're probably lost somewhere in the church." Zanna pouted. "Serves him right! How dare he exclude me from the challenge of 'who could find the enemy first.'"

Clive sighed. "That's what you're mad about? Come on, help us finish tying the rest of these guys."

The missing guy, Brin Reede, was a 25-year old martial artist who seemed to annoy his party members. He was probably in some corner of the church sneezing with Lily. And the frail-looking old man with the large white beard and wizard hat was Marly.

He stood silent and stared at Ayu. His eyes appeared as if they were closed. "Hmm... Are you a Wizard, girl?"

"Um, I guess...? I mostly use ice magic," Ayu said.

Marly's eyes widened, and he stared at her intensely. "Hmm. I see." He stroked his beard, and his eyes returned to their normal sleepy-looking state. "Interesting..." The old man continued to stare at Ayu. He slowly began to blush while a smirk crept upon his face.

Ayu seemed uneasy. "W-What is it?"

"Marly, stop being creepy." Lana's tone deceived her gentle smile.

The old man scratched the back of his head. "Ah-ha-ha. Please, excuse my foolishness."

Marly was one of the most powerful mages in the kingdom. Age; unknown apparently. And also, a pervert.

"As for me, I'm the party's healer. But my age is a—se—cret." Lana placed her finger vertically in front of her lips.

"She's 34," Clive called out.

"H-Hey!" Lana pouted.

That's some characters. Kamiro's soft chuckle was barely noticeable.

"Oh? I'm glad to see my healing is beginning to work on you, boy." Lana smiled. "You can rest now. Everyone is safe."

Her calming voice and words almost made him cry. It was what he wanted to hear all along. Kamiro finally gave in and listened to his body; as soon as he let his eyelids close for good, he lost consciousness.

***

It was unusual for Kamiro to not have any dreams. He dreamed every night, even if he didn't remember them the next morning. Yet, this time there was nothing—just blackness.

This must be what being dead is like.

That couldn't be right? The more his awareness grew, the more he came to realize that actual death would be seizing to exist altogether. Having thoughts was proof that he was alive in some form or another. Preferably the human kind. And hearing Ayu's and Earla's distant voices become clear proved that he was not yet in the afterlife.

"Ayu, you will awaken him," Earla said.

"Just a little peak."

"L-Let me see too."

When Kamiro began to wake, the first thing he noticed was his two party mates rummaging their heads beneath the blanket he found himself under.

"Huh? W-What are you two doing?" He sat up on the bed and snatched off the wooly cover.

Earla and Ayu looked like they'd seen a ghost.

"K-Kamiro, you're awake?" Ayu bit her tongue.

"Ayu I can understand, but you too, Earla? You'd defile a defenseless person?" He was pretty sure whatever they were doing wasn't anything bad, but just wanted to tease them.

"N-No, please, believe me. I-It is not how it appears," Earla said.

"Hey, wait... I feel like I should be offended by that comment," Ayu said. "But Earla's right. We were just checking to see how your injuries had healed."

Kamiro gave them an unconvincing look. "Riiiight..."

"No, really! We weren't doing... whatever dirty things you think we were doing." Ayu blushed and turned her gaze.

"I didn't think that at all." Kamiro smirked. "Hmm... so those are the kind of thoughts you were having?"

"Idiot, of course not!"

The girls told him everything that happened after he lost consciousness. He was brought to the infirmary in Petram, where Ms. Lana Romano continued to heal him for the remainder of that day and night until he was stable. Apparently, the girls didn't like the playful face she made while she examined his body, so they refused to leave her alone with him at night.

I'm gonna have to thank her properly... All of them, actually. I owe them my life. Kamiro sighed before he smiled. "I'm glad to see that you guys are okay. How long was I out?"

"About three days," Earla said.

Ayu opened the curtain, the morning light flooded the room with a pleasant warmth. "The people here have been very kind. It seems the cult had been causing issues in the town, so they are very thankful."

"I see." Kamiro looked around the humble wooden infirmary. "Has everyone else left?"

Ayu nodded. "Once you were stable, Ms. Romano left you in the care of the infirmary staff. Oh, and Zanna said to pass along a message. She said: 'I look forward to battling you in the future.' New Dawn took care of the rest as far the cult goes."

Kamiro chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that someone who is a Hero-King candidate would kill me... What about Emil?"

"Emil and his party left yesterday. He said he would explain what happened to the guild masters upon his return," Earla said.

"Hmph. If they didn't drag away that little blonde girl, they would've never left," Ayu said. "She kept babbling on about having to make sure her rival would be okay so that she could beat him herself."

Oh, I guess she's talking about Lily. But seriously, why does everyone wanna fight me?

"Wait a minute... Where is Fleur!?"

Ayu gave a soft smile and pointed down to the side of the bed. Kamiro peeked over and found Fleur asleep, curled up in some blankets. She looked at peace and gave off gentle whispers from her breathing.

Kamiro felt relieved to see that her hands were all healed up for the most part. Her sleeping face was too irresistible; he gently poked her cheek. She murmured a bit but didn't awaken.

"She has been there this whole time," Earla said.

Kamiro caressed her soft cheek until she began to awaken.

"Hmm?" Fleur sat up and rubbed her eyes before looking at Kamiro. Her innocent drowsy expression was too cute.

"Good morning," Kamiro said.

She blinked a few times. "You're awake? I was beginning to like the look of your sleeping face."

"Really? I just thought the same of you."

Fleur tried to hide her reaction. "Anyway, you shouldn't have been pretending to be asleep for so long. Ayu and Earla were getting restless."

"W-What? You're one to talk!" Ayu turned to Kamiro. "We agreed to take turns watching over you, but she didn't want to leave your side."

Earla chuckled. "She's actually a sweet girl. You should have seen her sobbing and reprimanding us for going after her. Right before thanking us for not abandoning her."

"H-Hey..." Fleur covered herself under her blanket. Her voice was muffled. "You too, Kamiro. Thank you..."

Once Kamiro was good to go, the group thanked the infirmary staff for the hospitality. It was a humble town, but everyone they met had been kind, and the food was delicious. It also didn't hurt that New Dawn had given most of the credit for defeating the cult to Kamiro and his party, so the townspeople had been more than glad to accommodate them.

Ayu and Kamiro waited near the town entrance.

"I can't believe I'm still sore after all that healing and rest," Kamiro said.

"Well, you did take some hard hits. I was beginning to feel bad for that stone wall you kept crashing into."

"Don't remind me."

"We really were lucky, though..." Ayu stared at the sky.

"Yeah..." Kamiro tried not to think about the events too much. It'd bring up that uneasy feeling he had about that power. He was curious, but the deeper he thought about it, the more he contemplated about dumb things, like existence, and the true nature of the world.

"Hey!" Earla walked toward the two with an Equus-pulled carriage and its driver. Fleur followed a bit further back in a slow walk.

Earla was able to find a merchant that headed to Lucerna and was happy to give them a ride. For the right price. Luckily, she was able to negotiate with some insider information she apparently had about some of the city market vendors.

"Oh, thank god it's not a mule." No offense Old Bill. It was nice knowing you.

The Equus was a quadruped, flightless bird-like animal commonly used for transportation in the kingdom, and unlike Old Bill, it was much faster. They'd be able to ride in the carriage this time and would make it back in four days tops.

Fleur stood outside the carriage and faced the ground while the party boarded. "..."

She had nowhere to go. When the party had told her that she could go with them to the academy and join, it almost brought her to tears, but Fleur was hesitant. After her confession about the discrimination she'd faced in the past, the three understood why.

"Don't worry, we'll all be with you." Kamiro offered a hand.

Fleur gave a saddened smile but grabbed it. Her soft hand slightly trembled, and still showed a tint of red from the burn.

Kamiro tightened his grasp and pulled her in. "Welcome to The Rank-less Party."

"...One last thing before we go." Fleur took a deep breath and released it.

Kamiro was caught entirely off guard. He felt the warmth of Fleur's soft lips against his own.

"W-W-What are you doing!?" Ayu said with wide eyes and a reddened face.

Earla hid her face behind her hands but still peeked through the fingers.

"..." Kamiro stood without words. He wasn't as embarrassed as he'd imagined he would be during his first kiss.

Fleur's face was flushed. "Don't look too into it... That was just my final thanks." She cleared her throat and turned to Earla and Ayu. "You two need to take the initiative. ...It seems this guy is useless with this kind of stuff."

Hey... I admit I lack experience, but that doesn't mean I'm oblivious.

Ayu was flustered. "No... I was just surprised is all, but I don't..."

"M-Me too!" Earla's voice cracked.

Fleur chuckled. "You two are way too innocent. Hmm, now that I think of it..." She peered into both girl's eyes.

"What is it—?" Ayu's sentence was cut short by Fleur's sudden kiss, and Earla was a victim right after.

Kamiro stood with a gaping mouth. And they get tongue, too? Mine was just lips...

"That was my final thanks to you two, as well," Fleur said with a teasing grin while the two girls stood flustered. "I look forward to working with you all."