'Good morning, Akiko.'
I open my eyes to see my dragon sitting by my bedside waiting for me to get up.
'Morning to you too.'
I stand up and stretch myself, thinking about the day ahead of us.
Ramen Noodles flies towards me and asks with an excited tone.
'What's for breakfast?'
I let out a yawn.
'I don't know. What do you feel like eating?'
I walk out of my small room and into the hallway, shuffling my feet on the ground as I wakeld.
'I am not sure. We had noodles for breakfast yesterday at a place nearby. I was hoping that you could cook breakfast today.'
'Really? You trust me to cook something other than your salmon dinner?'
I stopped walking and looked around to see her staring at my messy hair.
She nods in reply.
I shake up my hair and continued to walk.
'Well. I guess I can make a fairly decent omelette. Let's go see what we have left.'
I stepped foot into our living room, so small that it is in the same room as our even smaller kitchen.
I open up the fridge to see that we have completely run out of ingredients.
'Ah… I forgot to go grocery shopping again this week…'
4 eggs suddenly float up towards my face.
'We have these.'
'Where'd you get that?'
'The fridge.'
'Where was it?'
She points.
'At the corner.'
I shake my head.
'I must be blind then.'
I pull out the frying pan from a cabinet above.
'Omelette? Or something sofisticated like the dishes Sejuro makes?'
Please say omelette.
'Anything.'
YES. Now I can be a lazy asshole.
She added on.
'I just wanna see you cook.'
'But you see me cook everyday.'
'Just cook the damn eggs Akiko.'
I laugh as take out a bowl from another cabinet.
I crack open the eggs into the bowl one by one, the egg yolk hitting each other as it lands next to each other.
I take out a fork from the drawer and start beating the eggs, the yolk of the eggs mixing with each other.
I grab a spatula from the same drawer as I mix the eggs up.
I was feeling extremely lazy so I just put it on high heat and cooked it for about ten seconds.
I folded the eggs in half and it was ready.
As I yawned and rubbed my eye, a bit of the butter popped due to the high heat and hit my skin.
'Ow. Goddamn.'
Ramen Noodles passed me a plate and I set the omelette down on it.
'It's ready?'
I reply, nodding my head, giving her a 'yeah' to verbally give her confirmation.
Sitting down at the table, I take one of the two forks Ramen Noodles has placed onto the table and direct her attention towards my dish.
I decide to do what Sejuor always does when he makes a dish for me.
Which was to make himself sound like a GOD.
'I am going to show you the money maker here.'
I run my fork gently down the omelette as it spreads apart, the insides still a little watery slowly flowing out.
'Wow… That looks delicious…'
I giggle. I literally put zero effort into it .
'If you can see from the side, there are layers to it. One fully solid and one still watery not so solid. It gives off two kinds of different feels and flavor'
I grab a big chunk and place it into my mouth.
'Isn't it hot?'
She's right. It was hot.
I was bullshitting my dish so much I had forgotten.
I fan my hands at my open mouth with the eggs alkost rodoping out, trying to reduce the contact between my mouth and the sizzling hot omellete.
She slides a glass of water with ice to me.
'Twank youu..'
She smiles.
She puts a small piece of omelette into her mouth.
'This is some good shit dude.'
Mouth still burning, I give her a thumbs up.
Finishing up my half-assed breakfast fairly fast, we wash up and get ready to go to the nearby Capital Building.
I put on my white coat taloned with crimson red finishings and put on my black boots laced with silver linings. I then strap over my little pouch and Ramen Noodles places my white witch hat on me
I made my way out of my apartment located near the big abandoned mansion in towns square and make my way to the Capital Building which was right down stairs.
There are bounty centres located at all three factions but the main building is in the Wizard faction.
On a normal day I would be able to complete a decent amount of contracts. Maybe about 8. Most of them are for petty crime and what's not. I don't usually go for dangerous convicts.
But today was different.
I have connections to the High Council and many of the members are good friends of mine and would always vote to give juvenile criminals a lighter sentence in their monthly meetings.
I arrived at the foot of the Capital Building and stepped foot into the enormous structure. It was like most buildings, except it was bedazzled with all sorts of rare gems and its walls were plated with gold, giving it a pristine look.
The Capital was not always like this. It used to look old and mundane. The old Monarchy did not care much about the people or how the buildings looked.
The High Council of the Capital has had its fair share of corrupt officials, mishaps and even cult leaders.
The High Council is basically the only government we have for the entire world. It is run by a group of other high ranking officials and the Monarchy.
The High Council and Monarchy are the ones pulling all the strings and keeping the Capital safe from the cult worshippers and other threats. The previous Monarchy was corrupt and thus had forsaken the people in the Capital and lead to crime rates being sky high.
One day a powerful wizard charged into the Capital Building , killed every single official (I think all of them were corrupt) and dethroned the Monarchy, executing him on the spot.
The wizard is a mysterious figure. No one knows his real name or his intentions. Though I do believe that his intentions are all for the betterment of the Capital and the world.
He wiped out all of the corruption in the Capital and introduced the 'Bounty Hunter' and 'Weapons and Conflict' acts.
This wiped out widespread death and crime due to weapons being banned and only obtainable by taking part in bounty hunting for the government. This ensured that not only is there an order to prevent crimes from happening but also anyone could be a bounty hunter for the law which caused even more people to not break the law.
I proceeded to walk and glanced around the towering golden walls of the Capital building.
I spotted a familiar face at the counter of the bounty hunter's section.
'Akiko! Good morning. And good morning to you too, Ramen Noodles. I have a really special contract for you two today.'
That's Rieri. She is in charge of the daily selection of bounties that us Bounty Hunters can choose from. She's also a good friend of mine and a high council member.
Ramen Noodles greets her.
Adjusting my pouch, I reply.
'Good morning to you as well, Rieri. Let's take a look at the contract that you mentioned.'
'Well you see it's an 'Alive' contract which is right up your alley. There's this um… weird guy in the town square, Wizard faction. People were saying he freaked out over seeing … magic? And that he was wearing funny clothes... I don't know its a bit of a weird one today. Maybe you could go give it a look and bring him back for questioning? It could the Cult's doing.'
Scratching my head, I inquired.
'Sure sure anything is fine with me. Did Sejuro arrive yet?'
Pushing up her spectacles she responds nicely.
'Of course he did. He is the one that reported the weird guy. He supposedly bumped into him. Also, he took all of the 'Dead' contracts as usual.'
Sejuro… My dad. He took care of me since I was young, after my parents were killed by Cultists.
He has really high clearance for bounty hunting. As noble and well spoken this man is, he wont hold himself back when it comes to the Cult or Mafia members.
He was once a fugitive as well but Karitoru, a member of the high council saw potential in him and gave him a second shot and became a Knight and then afterwards a Kensei.
He follows orders under Karitor who is also a Kensei and also does bounty hunting work occasionally. He is always busy with High Council stuff so he usually prefers being on his own.
Sejuro is now an honorable warrior and everyone knows he is second to none with his blade and magic castings. Like me, he kills not for fun or for the money. He does it so our people can walk safely in our streets. Free from the danger of the Cult, Mafia and other unknown, malicious threats.
'Akiko, tomorrow's the seasonal meeting where the best performing bounty hunters recognised by the High Council get to meet up.'
I nod my head.
'Yes I am aware. Will you be attending?'
'Of course.'
'Do you know who's attending?'
She relaxes her shoulders.
'Hmm. I heard that the Wanderer is invited to attend, Black Swordsman as well. As for High Council members, it's just going to be me, Karitoru and Neo. I am not sure if Sejuro is coming.'
Oo… the Wanderer is invited. I would love to meet him. The Black Swordsman as well.
Ramen Noodles asks.
'Will there be food?'
I look at her and she defends herself.
'Hey I am just wondering…'
Me and Rieri laughed.
'Yes, Ramen Noodles. There will be food. The location is on the third story of this building.'
We continue discussing about the contracts, traded goodbyes and exited the Capital Building.