As Jotaro and Kira walked towards the adventurer's guild, Jotaro asked:
-Kira, since when did you become so strong?
Kira stopped, looked at him curiously and answered:
-What do you mean?
-When you helped the adventurer trapped under the rock," said Jotaro. You hit it and smashed it to pieces. I wonder when you became that strong?
Kira smiled as she thought about it and said:
-I guess it must be from all these years hunting animals and lesser monsters. Surely over time, my strength slowly increased.
-That makes sense," Jotaro admitted. But do you think my strength has also increased?
Kira watched him carefully before answering:
-I don't know. I haven't seen you use your full strength, so why don't we try it when we leave the kingdom? You could hit a rock or take on some monster.
Jotaro nodded.
-Good idea. Though I have to ask you something else: why did you hit the rock instead of trying to lift it?
Kira shrugged, somewhat embarrassed.
-I don't know. Hitting it was the first thing that came to my mind.
Jotaro sighed.
-You're a hopeless case. If your strength hadn't increased, you would have made a fool of yourself.
Kira replied with a nervous laugh.
-Yeah, good thing it didn't happen.
They arrived at the adventurer's guild and headed for the assignment board. As they were choosing an assignment, Jotaro noticed some adventurers looking at them and muttering among themselves.
-Look, it's the girl who broke the rock into pieces. -And the boy who healed the adventurer. Surely he's a healer and she's the fighter.
Jotaro frowned and commented quietly:
-Do they really think I'm just a healer?
Kira, oblivious to the murmurs, took an assignment from the board and said:
-Let's see which of these quests gets us the most money.
Jotaro smiled.
-You only think about the money, don't you?
-Who knows, maybe yes or maybe no," said Kira with a smile.
Kira approached the counter where Azumi, the guild's receptionist, was standing.
-Hello, Azumi! We want to take this assignment.
Azumi stopped checking her papers and smiled at the sight of them.
-Hello, Kira! Of course!
When Jotaro approached, Azumi greeted him as well.
-Hi, Jotaro.
-Hi, Azumi.
-Can I ask you a question? -asked Azumi.
-Sure.
-Did they do anything to attract attention? Since they came in, all the adventurers have been watching them and whispering.
Jotaro pointed at Kira.
-I didn't, but Kira did. She broke a rock with a single blow.
Azumi opened her eyes in surprise.
-What, you broke a rock with one blow?!
-Don't shout it! -said Jotaro, holding a hand to his forehead.
Azumi, embarrassed, covered her mouth.
-I'm sorry.
-It's okay, I understand you were surprised.
-Hey Jotaro, how did Kira break that rock? -Azumi asked curiously.
-Well... you can say that since we were hunting monsters near our village since we were little, it made our strength increase.
-I see, so Kira was able to break that rock because you were hunting monsters since you were little?
-Yes," answered Jotaro.
-Hey, did you forget that I'm here," said Kira a little annoyed.
-I'm sorry, Kira.
-I'm sorry too," said Jotaro.
-It's okay.
Kira grabs the order that was on Azumi's counter. And says to her with a smile.
-I want to do this order, may I?
Azumi takes the order and starts inspecting it.
-I'm sorry Kira, but you can't do this order.
-Why? -Kira asked confused.
It's because this assignment is for A-rank adventurers, and you are E-rank.
-I understand," said Kira with her head down.
Wait, weren't we F-ranked adventurers? -asked Jotaro confused.
-Yes you were, but you moved up in rank.
-But how did we move up in rank?
-Well, when you brought me that huge amount of medicinal plants, you went from F rank to E rank," answered Azumi.
-I see, but why didn't you tell us that day that we went up in rank?
-To tell you the truth, I forgot.
-I understand.
-By the way, Jotaro, could you give me your adventurer card, you too, Kira?
-Why? -asked Jotaro confused.
-Yes, why? -asked Kira.
-It's just that, since I forgot to update your adventurer card rank the other day, I'm thinking of updating it right now.
-Okay," said Jotaro and Kira.
Jotaro and Kira hand Azumi their adventurer cards. Azumi grabs their cards and starts to look at them, Azumi places her finger on Jotaro's adventurer card, where it said his rank. Suddenly Jotaro's F rank starts to glow and changes to D rank.
-Wow!" said Azumi in surprise.
-Is something wrong? -asked Jotaro.
-Apparently I made a mistake, your current adventurer rank is D, not E.
-Really, and Kira's?
-I'll see.
Azumi put Jotaro's card aside and grabbed Kira's adventurer card and placed her finger on Kira's adventurer rank. And it appeared that Kira was rank D.
-It also says that she is rank D," said Azumi in surprise.
-So does that mean I'm strong? -asked Kira.
-Well, practically, if you're stronger.
-Great!
-Hey Azumi, do you know why we are rank D and not E like you said? -asked Jotaro.
-Most likely you did something that made you increase your rank, did you go to the forest to hunt weak monsters?
-No.
-Then, did they go to collect more medicinal plants?
-No.
-Then what did they do? -asked Azumi.
Jotaro remembered that when he was helping the adventurer from a goblin attack, he killed the goblin and also Kira had killed some.
-Well, we killed some goblins.
-So, did you encounter goblins when you were in the forest?
-Not exactly.
-What do you mean?
Jotaro seeing that Azumi didn't know about the goblin attack, decided to ask her.
-Hey Azumi, do you know what happened in the kingdom?
-What happened?
Jotaro starts telling Azumi everything that happened in the kingdom. After a while, Jotaro finished telling Azumi what had happened.
-A group of goblins and a fire orc attacked the kingdom and a hooded person with a cat mask that covered his entire face killed the orc.
-Yes.
-I see, so all that happened while I was here? -asked Azumi.
Jotaro nods his head.
-No wonder, all the adventurers were hurt.
-Really, you didn't think about why everyone was hurt?
-Honestly, I thought they had all chosen difficult assignments," said Azumi with an embarrassed smile. -Especially for that assignment from that ogre," said Azumi whispering.
-What assignment? -Jotaro thought curiously.
-Oh, that's right, I wanted to ask you something.
-What did you want to ask?
-I wanted to ask you, do you know if the person who killed the fire orc was an adventurer?
-Now that you mention it, some time ago there was a person coming, a hooded person, but he didn't have a cat mask.
-I thought so," said Jotaro in section.
-Why do you want to know if he is an adventurer?
-To find him.
-And why do you want to find him? -asked Azumi.
-It's to thank him for killing the orc, because if he hadn't shown up we would have died for sure.
-But you have a sword, don't you, you could have fought the orc?
-The truth is that I'm no good with a sword, so if I had fought him I would have died anyway.
-I understand.
Suddenly Jotaro noticed that Kira wasn't by his side, and he couldn't see her anywhere else.
-What about Kira?
-There she is... -said Azumi pointing to where Kira used to be, "She's not there! -shouted Azumi worried.
- Azumi, can you look for her inside the guild? I'm going to look outside," said Jotaro worried.
-Yes, but first take her adventurer cards.
Jotaro takes his and Kira's adventurer cards and goes outside Asia. Already outside the guild, Jotaro looked for Kira worriedly, until he heard her voice calling him.
-Jotaro!
Jotaro turned around and saw her with a huge piece of meat in her hand.
-What are you doing out here?
-I got hungry, so I told you I was going out to buy something to eat.
-That's not true, I didn't hear anything," said Jotaro half annoyed.
-That's because you were talking to Azumi.
Jotaro remembered that when he was explaining to Azumi what had happened in the kingdom, Kira had told him that she was going out to buy something to eat.
-It's true, you had warned me.
-You see, I had told you, but you didn't listen.
-I'm sorry I didn't pay attention to you.
Suddenly Jotaro noticed that Kira was holding a piece of meat in her right hand.
Where did you get that?
Kira bit into the meat before answering:
-I bought it -said Kira nervously.
Jotaro frowned.
-You bought it? With what money?
Kira looked away, nervous.
-Well... I took it from a carriage that passed by. It was left behind, so... I picked it up.
-You stole it?! -Jotaro exclaimed.
-I didn't steal it! I just took it so it wouldn't go to waste.
Jotaro sighed, he took the piece of meat from Kira. Kira seeing how Jotaro takes the piece of meat from him tried to take it from his hands, but Jotaro wouldn't let him.
-Give it to me.
-No!
-Why? -asked Kira.
-Because it's not right for you to steal things.
-But I didn't steal it.
-You didn't, then what do you call what you just did? -asked Jotaro.
-It's called not wasting food," answered Kira proudly.
Jotaro stares at Kira and starts to go inside the guild. Kira seeing Jotaro walking away with his piece of meat throws herself on his waist while begging him.
-Wait!
-Let go of me.
-I promise I won't do it anymore, but give me the meat," said Kira begging Jotaro.
-You promise?
-Yes.
-All right, here," said Jotaro while holding out his hand.
Kira without thinking snatches the meat from Jotaro's hands and starts eating it on the floor as if it was the last time he would ever eat. Jotaro stares at Kira and says, when you finish come to Azumi, I'll be there.
Kira gets up quickly from the floor and says.
-I'm done!
-So fast?!
Back in the guild, Jotaro and Kira go to Asia Azumi, Azumi seeing Jotaro approaches him and asks.
-Jotaro, did you find Kira yet?
-Yes, I found her.
-Hello again, Azumi," said Kira coming out from behind Jotaro.
-Thank goodness, you're okay, where was Kira?
-Kira had gone to get some food, because she was hungry.
-But why didn't you warn us?
-I did warn you, but you two were too focused on talking and didn't hear me," said Kira while turning her head.
Kira turned her head and noticed a familiar face: Aiko, who was checking an order on the board. Kira approached excitedly.
-Isn't that Aiko?
-Really? Where?
-There, look," said Kira pointing her hand to where Aiko was.
Jotaro turns to look where Kira is pointing and sees Aiko looking at an order she had in her hand.
-It's true, she's there.
-Shall we go say hello to him? -asked Kira.
-I don't see why not.
Jotaro says goodbye to Azumi and thanks her for helping him look for Kira.
-You're welcome," said Azumi with a smile.
Kira approached Asia Aiko excitedly. While Aiko looked carefully at the order in her hand and said.
-I don't think I can do this order alone.
Suddenly Aiko hears a familiar voice calling her, so she decides to turn around to see who it is.
-Hey Aiko! Hi! What are you doing here?
-Hi Aiko," said Jotaro with a smile.
Aiko looked up and smiled.
-Hi Kira, and you too Jotaro.
-What are you doing? -asked Kira.
-I'm reading this assignment to see if I can do it, but unfortunately I don't think I can.
-Why not, do you need to rank up?
-It's not that I have the necessary rank, but the problem is that I need a group to be able to do it and I don't have one.
-Do you need a group for some assignments? -asked Jotaro with curiosity.
-Yes, but only for the ones that are complicated to do alone, like this one," said Aiko while showing the assignment to Jotaro and Kira.
Jotaro and Kira saw Aiko's order and started to read it. Jotaro decides to read out loud for Kira to hear.
-Smart Ogre, he is much more aggressive and his appetite is too much, be very careful with him because if he sees you he won't think twice to attack you just to eat the human flesh.
-Human flesh?! Aiko, do you want to commit suicide? -
-Of course not.
-Then why do you want to do such a dangerous job? -asked Kira.
-Well... for his reward.
-His reward? Well, how much do you get for such a dangerous assignment?
Jotaro grabs the order and starts to look at it.
-10 gold coins?! -said Jotaro in surprise.
Kira hearing this comes closer to Jotaro, and sees the order. And she is also surprised to see that they offered 10 gold coins to kill the ogre.
-Hey, what does this ogre have, is it gold or what? So that they give 10 gold coins for it," exclaimed Kira.
-It's not that it's covered with gold, it's that this ogre, as it says in the order, is intelligent and that makes it more dangerous than the other ogres.
-Is he really dangerous because he has intelligence? -asked Jotaro.
-Yes, as you know normally ogres don't have intelligence like other monsters, so they are very easy to kill, but there are some monsters that are born with the ability to think.
-Are there really monsters that can think?
-Yes, but they are very few.
-So that's why they give you a lot of money for killing them?
-Exactly, and since they give a lot of money for killing them I wanted to do the order, but unfortunately I need a group and I don't have one.
-And what if we are your group? -asked Jotaro.
-Really? Are you sure? It's very dangerous to do missions of higher ranks," said Aiko a little worried.
-Don't worry, Kira has enormous strength," said Jotaro.
-Really? -asked Aiko looking at Kira.
-Yes," said Kira.
-Then let's register us as a group.
-Yes, by the way, Aiko, what rank are you?
-I'm rank A," said Aiko with a smile.
-Rank A?!
-Yes, is something wrong?
-Nothing, I just didn't think you were such a high rank.
-Really, what rank are you? -Aiko asked.
-I'm rank D and so is Kira.
-Hey, really? then it would be too dangerous to do the order.
-Don't worry, I remind you that there's Kira, and she has enormous strength.
-Really? -asked Aiko.
-Yes.
-Well, if you say so, it's okay.
With the decision made, the three went to the counter to register as an official group. But before they could leave they heard someone calling out to them.