"Where did he hide it? 'growl'." Ken's stomach started to growl louder by the minute.
"We did find his footsteps till this point but where did he go from here?" Izumi looked around in a hope that they could have their lunch soon.
"Hey Izumi, look at this." A trail of sticks were found on the ground. The two looked up towards the top of the trees.
"I guess he jumped from one tree to another and some branches broke down and fell on the ground. Good work, let's go Ken." The two followed the trail only to be lead to a spot that had foot prints all around the place.
"Curse you Shin!" Ken shouted these words as loud as he could. Shin who was watching from a distance chuckled as he said slowly "Last puzzle to crack, c'mon don't disappoint your stomachs you both."
The different footprints led them to random locations, but they couldn't find anything. They searched for thirty minutes before Izumi found out something.
"Ken…look at the foot prints closely. Only one trail of the foot prints are a bit more deeper into the ground, can you see it. If I am not wrong Shin walked back stepping right on the same foot prints to make sure that we don't find what are the actual footprints." Ken's eyes were filled with hope as he realized what Izumi said was true.
The two followed the trail only to find themselves at a ground which looked as if it was ploughed a while ago. The two anxiously dug up the ground as Ken's stomach growled in hope of food.
Izumi and Ken's eyes sparkled as they found a box inside the ploughed ground. They pulled out the box from the ground with a watery mouth expecting to have lunch soon enough.
"And that ends the hunt guys!" Shin appeared out of nowhere before the two and smiled as if saying 'not bad'.
"Well then, time for you to eat." Shin took the box from Ken's hand and put it in his shelt.
"Why did you put it in your shelt?" Izumi immediately questioned Shin with an angry face as if she was expecting Shin to pull another surprise for them.
"Whoa, cool it. The box is actually empty. The meat would taste and smell terrible if I left it in the ground for that long. I didn't put any meat in the box at all, it was all in my shelt. Let's go, I hunted a little extra for you both as a bonus." Ken and Izumi's faces darkened as they heard that the box they searched for 2 hours was actually empty but immediately lit up as soon as they heard Shin saying he hunted something extra for them.
The trio made their way back to the camp and started roasting the meat from the morning and the extra deer meat Shin just hunted.
"Finally…mmm" Ken's eyes sparkled as if they have see a glimpse of heaven. Izumi and Ken started eating as if there was no yesterday. Shin didn't hold anything against the two even after eating so barbarically in front of him because he thought they deserved it.
"I will let you rest for another thirty minutes, then we are back on training, got it?" Shin got up and walked over to see the flickering grass as wind blew it constantly towards a direction.
"He sure does enjoy watching the nature." Izumi said in a slow tone as she fixed her gaze on Shin.
"I myself, never thought that the Shadows were the type to enjoy little things like this." Ken backed up her statement as he massaged his stomach which was satisfied after a hefty meal.
"It's funny that the only reason he is training us is to preserve world peace and then live peacefully with his girlfriend." Izumi looked down towards the ground as she said those words with a forced smile.
"Actually, that's not the only reason." Shin suddenly appeared in front of him and said in all seriousness.
"Would you stop doing that? Can't you walk over normally, Shin?" A startled Izumi cried out loudly with an embarrassed face.
"Do you remember me telling you that I have a responsibility, even if I wasn't a guardian or a protector. Well, that includes looking after the world too. I totally ignored my responsibilities as my emotions shrouded my judgement, but everything is fine now. That said, my girlfriend isn't the only reason anymore Izumi." A corner of Shin's mouth lifted up making her feel more awkward.
"Shin even without the guardian spirit, you are still a Z-Rank, right. So, why do you even need us?" Ken asked in all seriousness as he voiced a question that he held in his mind, since the day they departed from Areon.
"I am stripped of most of my powers by the 'Shadow Blood Seal' that I placed on the 2nd Demon King and his army. The only powers I am left with is my speed. If I come by even one S - Rank or three to four A-Rankers all of a sudden, it's going to be hard for even me." Shin looked towards Ken who looked like he still had one more question on his mind.
"Is there a way for you to get back all that once belonged to you? All your powers and the Shadow dragon spirit?" Ken looked at Shin as if he was looking at a person who lost his identity.
"I don't know Ken. I am the first one who used the 'Shadow Blood Seal'. I guess I can get it back if I can sneak into the 'depths of tartarus' again." Shin laughed awkwardly as he faced Ken.
"That's it you both, time to train." Shin suddenly looked at the both and said with a fierce look.
"What are we going to do now?" Izumi readied herself to whatever Shin was going to throw at them.
"Running, that's what you will do."
"Wait, running? Why?" Ken looked at Shin with a perplexed face as if he had already mastered the art of running.
"You are going to push through and reach a speed of 35 mph. That's your task for the rest of the day." Shin took out a small hand clock and saw the time.
"Oh, by the way you have to run in the forest not on plain ground." Shin added one more hurdle to the task as if it was a given.
"But it would be hard to run with all the trees. It's not going to be easy Shin." Ken complained as his eyebrows knitted together in disapproval.
"If it was easy, then everyone would have achieved it. It isn't easy and that is the reason you are going to train." Shin stated as he walked towards the forest.
"If you even have second thoughts or don't try hard enough, then just remember that you can forget about your dinner. I will be seeing how much fast you guys could go all along the way, so get on it." Shin held out the hand clock in his hands as he said those words sternly.
"I am not going to miss my dinner under any circumstances." Ken suddenly sped into the forest with a newly found motivation for his dinner and was immediately followed by an Izumi who had similar thoughts.