Chapter 5

An hour and a half ago...

In a traditional Japanese house, a young girl woke up from her dreams inside her room. She yawned for a bit before getting up from her bed.

Standing up, she stretched her entire body and warmed up as she did her daily workout which consists of push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and a bit of yoga.

After completing her ten-minute workout, she breathed out and slightly smiled in satisfaction, feeling energized as she started heading toward the bathroom.

Creak~

Entering inside, the young girl walks up to a sink and turned it on as she splashed herself with water which made her feel refreshed from the coldness.

Raising her head, she looked straight into the mirror and saw her appearance.

On the mirror was a beautiful and youthful woman with long black hair, red blood eyes, and a calm expression as she formed a small smile on her face. She also has a toned physique along with some tattoos that could be seen on her arms.

It took her a full twenty minutes to finish cleaning herself up and applying a small makeup on her face.

Seeing herself in the mirror all tidied up, she nodded and smiled as she went back to her room to grab a pair of clean clothes. Only after a while did she walk out of her room and head to their dining room.

After a minute of walking, she heard a sharp whistle echo in the air. She recognized that as the sound of swinging something in the air.

"Hm?

Feeling curious, the young girl headed to where the noise was coming from and saw a small structure in the distance. It seems that was where the sound originated from, it was the Dojo from their house.

"Is someone practicing?"

The young girl saw the tatami door of the Dojo slightly open and wondered who was training this early in the morning.

She felt curious and sneakily peeked inside the Dojo and saw a middle-aged man in the middle of the room swinging a kendo stick continuously.

'Ah...'

The middle-aged man had glasses and wore a Keiko-gi on his upper body while a Hakama on his lower body which was the standard uniform for Kendo.

The young girl seeing this instantly recognized the man and opened the door wide, entering the room as she walked up toward him.

"I was wondering why the dojo was opened. So it was you, Dad"

"Oh? Kanae, you're here!"

Her dad halted his training when he heard a familiar voice and turned around just to see his daughter. He immediately beamed a bright smile and put down the kendo stick as he excitedly walked toward his daughter.

"Are you here to train?"

"Good morning to you as well, Dad"

"Ah! Cough... good morning to you too, Kanae"

His dad coughed heavily and brushed the back of his head, acting sheepish for forgetting to greet her beloved daughter.

Kanae slightly chuckled at his father, not minding it at all since she knew this was the kind of person he was.

"I've never seen you practice this early, is there something going on today?"

"Nothing really, I just felt like moving my body"

Kanae look at him in suspicion and raised her right eyebrow, expressing that she didn't believe him at all.

"Haha! You got me"

Her dad heartily laughed the moment his lie got found out.

"The truth is... I'm getting old"

Her dad sighed melancholy and stared at the Dojo with a hint of nostalgia.

"I used to be such an energetic man, always waking up so early and starting the day with my daily kendo training but..."

Kanae didn't say anything and stayed silent as she listened to his father's story attentively.

"As time passes by... I became weaker, no... I became old. I wasn't as energetic as I was back then and that made me realize that it might be time to retire"

"You're retiring...?!"

Kanae was shocked, she knew how much his father loved Kendo and it was always been his dream to make the Dojo the best in the Country.

She expected him to retire when he was already an old man but she never thought it'll be today.

"Have you talked to Mom about it?"

"Yes, I have..."

The two exited and strode together while talking over about what will happen to the Dojo from now on as they headed toward their dining room.

Creak~

Entering inside, they saw a middle-aged woman with short black hair, blood-red eyes, and a tattoo all over her right arm walking over the table and placing a variety of dishes.

It seems they arrived just after the woman finished cooking.

"Good morning, Mom"

Naturally, the woman was Kanae's mother, and she happened to see the two enter as she beamed them with a warm smile.

"Good morning, Kanae-chan... as well as to you, Isamu"

Isamu or Kanae's father walked over to his wife, hugged her from the front, and kissed her as he looked at her lovingly.

"It's always a great morning to see my beautiful wife, Yuki~"

"You always say that every morning, Isamu~"

"Of course, how can I not tease such a gorgeous and lovely wife"

Kanae who was on the sideline almost puke from seeing the two lovebird flirt.

'Yuck...'

She groaned and couldn't handle the sweetness that was coming off from the two as she just took a toasted bread and got out of the room immediately.

"Be safe, Kanae-chan!"

Kanae who heard her mother wish her well, smiled and waved her hand at them without looking back as she left.

After a while, she arrived at the gate of their house and opened it.

Creak~

Stepping out, she saw a sport bike parked just right outside beside the gate which was painted purple, matching the color scheme of her lipstick and clothing.

Just as she was about to ride on it, the phone in her right pocket vibrated and took it out as she saw that it was a text sent by someone.

[Kaminari's Mom: Kanae dear~ are you going to your high school reunion party?]

[Kanae: Ah, no... Suzuki-san]

[Kaminari's Mom: Is that so, that's a pity...]

Kanae had a curious expression when she felt the disappointment in her words.

[Kanae: Should I go...?]

[Kaminari's Mom: There's no need, dear~ I was just hoping that you could accompany Kaminari]

This time, Kanae was confused after reading the text. Knowing Kaminari, she knew he would rather stay in his room and do some secret training than go to a troublesome social party like this.

'Was he somehow forced to go?'

Kanae felt that was likely the case and had an interested look on her face, imagining what kind of expression his making right now when her phone vibrated, snapping her out of her thoughts.

[Kaminari's Mom: Sorry to bother you then, Kanae dear~]

[Kanae: No, no, you didn't bother me at all, Suzuki-san]

[Kaminari's Mom: Haha! What a thoughtful child. Well, I'll be going now dear~]

With that last text, Kaminari's mom or Suzuki logged out and went offline. As for Kanae, she had other thoughts and didn't turn off her phone yet as she sent a text message to someone else.

[Edgy Tsundere: Hey! I heard that you're going to the reunion party. I thought you said you wouldn't go?]

[Annoying Otaku: Where did you hear that from?]

It was at this time that Kanae wasted a full 7 minutes bickering with her friend before she got annoyed and decided to go to the reunion party to beat him up.

'That guy is just as annoying as ever'

Kanae scoffed and rolled her eyes at his friend's antics when she remember a certain information she was told yesterday by her guild.

It was about the data on the frequency of the dungeon break occurring in the country.

The Japan Association usually gives out a monthly report for every guild in the nation, detailing the data and information of the gates located all over the country.

And what she read slightly made her sense a foreboding feeling.

She smiled when she found out the number of gates appearing has increased and that was good for the country but it was also worrying at the same time.

With the gates increasing so do the number of dungeon breaks occurring which puts the civilians in danger.

"Hmmm..."

Kanae happened to remember that she has a friend who is a civilian, particularly an unawakened human.

She was a bit worried that he'll unlucky encounter one and decided to warn him through a text message.

[Kanae: Btw there has been an increase in dungeon breaks lately, try not to die on the way or I won't be able to beat you up]

[Annoying Otaku: You act like my mom, it's disgusting]

[Kanae: Shut up!]

[Annoying Otaku: Hahaha... don't worry, there's no way I'll be unlucky enough to encounter one]

[Kanae: Famous last words...]

[Annoying Otaku: Don't jinx me!]

After that, Kaminari logged out and his status went offline. As for Kanae, she was chuckling for a few seconds before she stopped and calmed down.

Knowing him, he probably wanted to arrive first as fast as possible before she gets there. She grinned and shortly rode the bike as she started the engine and clutched the handle.

Vroom! Vroom!

The sport bike accelerated at an incredible speed, leaving behind a gust of wind on her trail.

'A pity, but I'll be the one who'll get there first'

It didn't take long for Kanae to leave Saitama City as she maneuver and weave multiple vehicles on the way.

Brrrrr~

Just as Kanae was focusing on driving, she felt her phone vibrate and took it out, thinking it was Kaminari when she realized it was about an emergency alert.

[Warning! A Dungeon Break Has Occurred in Warabi City! Please Avoid Any Route Leading There Unless You're a High-Rank Hunter]

[We Repeat! Please Avoid Warabi City as It Has Already Become A Red Zone...]

The moment Kanae read the alert, she flinched in surprise and almost tumbled the bike, luckily she managed to get it back on track.

"Warabi City!? Kaminari is there!"

Kanae bit her lip and felt worried, she started to regret writing that last text and thought that she might have jinxed him.

She rapidly skimmed every word from the alert message, trying to find any sort of useful information when she happened to read a sentence.

[The Estimated Danger Level of The Dungeon Break is...]

Kanae immediately twisted the throttle as the bike engine roared loudly and instantly speeded up toward Warabi City with an anxious look on her face.

•••

In the present time...

"Fireball"

A woman in a mage-style outfit raised her hand as a ball of fire manifested and whizzed in the air, burning a multitude of goblins.

Keukeekee!?

Keukkkeuk!!

After the massacre of the goblins, the woman turned around and brushed her long hair as she sent a wink at a young man within the group.

Naturally, that young man was Kaminari who was saved earlier and is now being eyed by one of the hunters with an intense look.

'Ugh...'

Kaminari shivered, feeling the excessive interest of the woman. If it weren't for the fact that there were a lot of monsters roaming then he would have already left.

To begin with, how come there are a lot of these little vermins?

Shouldn't these be just a C-rank dungeon break?

From what he knows, goblins only appear from the C-rank goblin dungeon and nothing else and there shouldn't even be a lot of them in the first place.

"I'm getting a headache"

Kaminari sighed as he massages his head out of annoyance.

"Y-Young master, are you okay!? Do you need any help, are you thirsty or hungry? Could it be that you weren't still fully healed?"

Wataru walked toward his young master worriedly as he grab a medkit and took out a bunch of medical stuff.

"I'm fine, don't bother me"

"B-But, the healer said it was already a miracle that you were still alive after all those injuries. W-What if there are still some that weren't healed"

Kaminari looked as if he wasn't bothered by his words and acted nonchalantly but was actually feeling bewildered on the inside.

It happened earlier when he was being restored by the healer from the Mochi Guild Hunters. He still recalls the surprised look the moment the healer saw the injuries he had on his body.

The healer told him that he should have already died with all those wounds as the amount of blood loss would have killed him by now for an ordinary human.

It was a miracle that he was still alive, Kaminari even saw the others look at him pitifully. They assumed that he endured all the pain just to stay conscious in order to live.

Which made him gain the respect of the Hunters but only he, Kaminari knew that he actually didn't endure anything. He didn't even feel that much pain from the bloody injuries.

And that got him worried, he started to think that there might be something wrong with his body.

"Y-Young master? Are you really okay?"

Kaminari snapped out of his thoughts the moment he heard Wataru call for him.

"Hm? Ah, Of course, I'm fine. Stop being such a worrywart"

"T-That... I'm sorry, young master. I'm just really tense with the monsters and all of this"

Kaminari peeked at him from the corner of his eyes and sighed as he saw the uneasy look Wataru had on his face.

Speaking about monsters, this should be a good time to talk about it.

"Hey! Uhh... Hiroshi? No... Hiroto? Wait, it was... uhh..."

"It's Hiromoto"

"Right..."

Kaminari shrugged and didn't care too much about it.

"So, I was wondering since you're a Guild Hunter then you must know the danger level of this dungeon break, right?"

"Uhhh..."

The Hunter or Hiromoto was stupified and didn't know how to reply to that.

"You do know the rank of the dungeon that broke, right...?"

"Well, you see... the moment we heard the siren, we immediately got out to help and weren't informed by the Guild in time..."

Kaminari sighed and massages his head again as he stared at him annoyingly.

"Did you at least bring some communication device to contact your Guild"

"Uhh...."

Kaminari was starting to get frustrated and tried calming himself down as he breathe out a long sigh.

"Hoh... what about your phone or anyone?"

"...we forgot to bring it"

"I see..."

Kaminari really wanted to punch this guy, if it weren't because this guy was a hunter then he would have already gotten a beating from him.

Not deciding to bother him anymore, he shoves his hand into his pocket, trying to take out his phone when he realizes he left it behind the car.

'Shit!'

Kaminari face palmed himself and felt mad that he was the same as these people.

He was so busy worrying about his sore nose at that time that he forgot to take back his phone with him.

"Ugh... Wataru, let me borrow your phone"

"Ah! Of course, young master"

Wataru immediately complied and started searching for his phone all over his body but the more he searched, the more he sweated and became pale.

"T-That, y-young master... uhh, my phone seems to have fallen somewhere. It must have been that time when I was running, it must have slipped off my pocket"

"..."