Sayuri and Hoshi followed Homura as he led them to a nearby restaurant. They soon arrived at it. Its name was "Fire Flower". The three of them entered the restaurant and sat at a nearby table with a view of the street.
The waitress came up to them and asked them what they wanted to order. Hoshi ordered a salad with potatoes and chicken wings, Sayuri ordered something similar to Ramen called "Rymen" and Homura ordered a cup of tea since he had eaten already.
"So," Hoshi began a conversation while the three waited for their food, "Twins, you say? And blessing from the Fire Pheonix?"
"Aaaah, yes." Homura responded with a smile, "I really did think you would already know. You're not from around here are you."
"Yeah" Hoshi responded. Not only was he from nowhere near where they were he was from another world completely.
"I figured. As I told you Sayuri and I are twins. Our parents are the King of this Kingdom and our mother... Is unknown. At least to me or Sayuri."
Hoshi looked at the girl beside Homura and Sayuri nodded in conformation.
"We were born one after another," Homura continued, "but Sayuri was born with the Fire Phoenix's mark, except it was missing its right-wing. On the other hand, I was born with the Fire Phoenix's mark's right-wing on my right arm.as the years went on, Sayuri looked much younger than me. Not only that, but she was also proficient in magic. And not just fire magic. Several magic forms. It was quite impressive. It is as the legends say, as proven by me and Sayuri - the Pheonix's body and left-wing are the sources of its magic, while it's right-wing is the source of its magical physical power. Because of that, I have the same amount of magical strength, if not more like Sayuri. We kind of share the Pheonix's mark I suppose."
"That's amazing!" Hoshi exclaimed, "But why were you born with the mark?"
"That is a good question. Our father does have magical powers, but not related to the Pheonix in a special way. In the end, everyone who uses fire magic is connected with the Fire Pheonix." Homura claimed, "But us having the mark must mean that our mother was quite special. For some reason, our father will not reveal our mother no matter what we say."
"I see..." Hoshi replied, "That's strange but amazing."
"It truly is." Homura smiled, "But so is your power. Killing Aicre is a tremendous task and will surely improve the trades between this kingdom and the one over the mountain. But how did you do that?"
"Well..." Hoshi then continued to explain he was blessed by a Celestial and gifted great defences and weapons. He had to leave out the part of being reincarnated as it would make him sound insane.
"A Celestial." the blond man across from Hoshi replied, "That would explain it. Truly, it is a gift as great as the Mark of the Pheonix. And one as rare as it."
"Indeed." As they had ended the discussion about their powers, their food was delivered to them.
As Hoshi was eating, satisfying his hunger, he remembered the rampage the half-orc had gone on just a few minutes before.
"But... What about the rampage."
"Yes... The rampage..." Homura looked down as he replied, ashamed of what he was about to talk about, "It would seem... there is some sort of curse on the Kingdom."
"A curse?" Hoshi replied, shocked by the statement.
"Indeed. It is a vile curse that has slowly been tearing up the peace of the Kingdom for about the last two years. It causes people to lose all sense of self and be filled with anger and bloodlust."
"That's horrible!" Hoshi exclaimed, angered.
"Yes..." Homura once again looked to the ground, Sayuri looking just as ashamed as her brother, "And I fear the royal family may be part of the problem."
"The royal family?!" Hoshi let out a surprise-filled gasp. The people that should care for the safety and wellbeing of the Kingdom may be the ones causing it so much harm?
"Sadly yes." Sayuri joined the conversation, "We have noticed the council of elders and our father acting strange. Hiding something, perhaps. We fear for the worst. I believe there is no way they wouldn't send in guards to defend against the rampaging citizens. It would also appear that the curse may be being spread by a drug. If that's the case, people who have a clean record have suddenly become drug addicts. We don't believe that is the case."
"We believe," Homura continued, where his sister left off, "that the drug is being forcefully injected into citizens. The king is doing absolutely nothing about it. It disgusts me!"
Homura smacked his cup of tea down, breaking it, attracting some attention to them. "And so I and Sayuri, as well as a dozen other people, created a rogue guild to fight against the curse. We call it Burning Flower. My team along with me has been tracking down the people who have been using the drugs. For now, they haven't killed people, but we fear they will soon. Sayuri and I are investigating the King and the Councils as, being the children of the king, we have our connections."
"I want to help."
"What?!" Sayuri and Homura were both surprised at Hoshi's statement.
"Join the Guild?" Homura was dumbstruck, "But you've already done so much."
"That is true," Hoshi replied, "but if I can help, I have to. I'm on a journey to become stronger and to help people and clearly, this is a good path to take if I want to do so."
"We could use someone with your power in the team." Homura thought with a finger on his chin.
He then raised his finger with a smile on his face. "That would be great. You can join Burned Flower!"