Book 1: Chapter 6: The investigation begins

The next morning, Sophie wakes up.

"Hmmm, why's it so bright right now?" She sits up in the bed she shared with Ruby. She looks down and sees that she was out of the clothes that she was wearing and in a white nightgown. 'When did I get dressed, also where's Ruby?' She scans the area of the room she's in and sees me sitting in the middle of the room meditating with three orbs of fire surrounding me. I had yet to notice she was there. The amount of practice I had ignoring Amaterasu had grown from when she would try and get my attention.

Sophie sat there and watched me for a while, entranced by the magic that was swirling around me when Ruby walked through the door quietly and saw Sophie awake. She was wearing new clothes not too dissimilar from what she wore before and had come in with new clothes for Sophie. Earlier that morning I had sent Ruby off to go buy clothes for the pair of them. I was fine with my clothes from Earth but Ruby insisted that I get new clothes to keep a low profile. Amaterasu agreed to her suggestion so I had given her the go ahead. Ruby and Sophie didn't move while they watched me Meditate, the balls of fire were smooth, growing and shrinking in size while they rotated around me. I could feel their focused gaze so I stopped short, the room got darker and I opened my eyes to meet them. It was then that Sophie piped up.

"Who are you and what were you doing? Where am I and why does Ruby have new clothes?" The questions were spitting out of her at rapid speeds, she didn't know what to make of all of this. I took out a document from my bag and showed it to her. "I'm sorry I can't read, I could never figure it out unlike my sister." I turned the paper back to myself and read it out loud.

"This is a documentation of proof that I'm now your Guardian. I saved you from the Tsukuyomi followers who were trying to kidnap you yesterday, I had found you two when your sister Ruby called out for help. To answer your question about where you are. We're in an inn, in the Town of Esta. Finally my name is Gaël Brand, you two are now Ruby Brand and Sophie Brand as it says on this documentation given to me by the Captain of the Guard William." Sophie was shocked to hear all of this. This was far too much information to process, she cursed herself for asking too many questions at once. I interjected her thoughts with: "Oh and the clothes Sophie has there are for all of us. I look too conspicuous with the clothes I'm wearing now, so I asked her to buy more clothes for the three of us. Ruby and I agreed that we couldn't go around with the clothes we have on now. I'll leave the room to let you get changed. Though Ruby looks like she doesn't need it. Was there a changing room at the clothes shop there?"

"Indeed there was, it was super handy. That way I didn't have to carry so much back. Thank you again for buying these clothes for us" She replied with a big smile on her face.

I laughed softly at the sight of her smile. "Don't worry about it, it looks great on you. The colour suits you. Did you get something similar for Sophie?"

"I hope not." She barked. I think I touched a sore spot there. "Wait, wasn't I stabbed by one of those men, how am I alive right now?" She revealed her stomach to see the scar there.

"Gaël here healed you with his magic." Sophie lowered her top and looked at me again.

"Magic, are you talking about those flaming balls of fire that were circling you? You healed me with fire? Are you a priest?" Again the questions came flying out of her at rapid speeds again. I just smiled and laughed. Since her sister knows who I am I then recalled the events to what happened to this point to bring her up to speed. I even showed them the backs of my hands to reveal the Blessing Amaterasu gave me. Amaterasu at this point just adored these girls and couldn't help but grin happily at the reactions they gave. Not minding at all that I told them everything. When I had finished, Sophie sat back in surprise but she still had one question left on her mind.

"So what are you then? A God, or a Human? Are you a Priest or something else?" Though her idea of one last question was a bit different from my own definition. I didn't mind though. I answered patiently.

"I'm not a God, I am just a Human so Amaterasu tells me. I'm not a Priest either, I still want to get married and have children of my own some day. From my combat style I'm a Dragoon, a spear man that specialises in aerial combat, the fire magic you see is a gift that I was born with but my own world I come from doesn't have any mana in the air so I was never able to use it until I came to this world."

"A Dragoon, huh, so you fight dragons? Have you fought one yet? If you have fought one, was it super big and strong?" Sophie had stars in her eyes by this point. Ruby was laughing at her childlike behaviour, Ruby told me that Sophie was only 14 and she herself was 18 like me at this point.

"No, I haven't fought a Dragon yet. The closest to a Dragon I fought was a huge monster with a really long neck and it had armour all over its body. Amaterasu had forbidden me from using my magic at the time because she didn't know whether I could control my magic and potentially burned down the forest of Saisei by accident. Do you guys want to see my Spear?" The pair of them now had stars in their eyes as they nodded in excitement.

With their affirmation I shifted over so I was parallel to the sister duo, clapped my hands together, Poured my mana into my hands and outstretched my reach. From the centre a black metal shaft was born, as my arm span outstretched the spear manifested. It wasn't the double ended spear with the blades on both ends though. There was only a double edged blade on one end, it had a Red Jewel at the base of the shaft and another smaller red jewel at the base of the double edged blade. My curiosity got the better of me when I saw these jewels.

'Amat, what are the jewels for, they weren't there last time?' Amaterasu was curious herself as this was a first for her too, She looked into the jewels by reaching out to them with her aura. Her shocked look revealed to me what they were.

'It appears these jewels are a form of permission given to you to pass on your powers as a gift, these were created when you had given Sophie and Ruby your family name. Hand the spear to Ruby and see what happens.'

"Hey Ruby, would you like to try holding this?" She got nervous when I offered her to hold the Spear but it didn't take long to make the decision. She took the spear and as she was holding it, the spear started glowing beautifully. The glow took up a rainbow of colours and it didn't take long for it to settle on an aura of a deep red. The spear had changed form as well. One that fits her character and figure too. Once the glow faded, a form of a sword had come into view, it was a chinese sword, the blade was thin and straight, it was a sparkling steel with a red vein coming from the hilt out stretching to the tip, The hilt it self was red and the pommel had the Blood red jewel that was on the end of my spear shaft. We were all speechless, Sophie, myself and Amaterasu got curious as to what would happen when Sophie held the sword.

"Okay, now it's your turn Sophie. I want to see what will happen when you hold the Sword. I wonder if it will change for you too." Ruby handed the Sword over to Sophie and just like how it happened for Ruby, it started Glowing. Flashing rainbow-like colours had appeared for a moment before it settled on a Violet colour for her and when the form had finished changing. The aura died down and what appeared in our sights was a bow. The bow itself was a Violet colour, it had a very intricate design that reminded me of Elven blows back in the day when I played my fantasy games. That was when Amaterasu's theory began.

'What I think has just happened, was that my divine power was also passed onto these girls when you gave them our name. If you take back the bow there, it will change back into a spear and the jewels will be gone, but now they have my power as well. To what extent. I don't know as of yet, but these two can now use the magic of fire and can now create their own weapon. It looks like we will have to teach them how to control their magic. I will now give them my blessing.' That last statement was said in excitement, she sounded like a mad scientist who was excited about their own works and theories coming to fruition.

Not a moment later two circular marks appeared on the backs of their hands. As this happened their eye colour had changed to Gold for a moment before changing back to their usual red colour. Which I had only just noticed, it appears I hadn't looked at them so intently before until now with the events that unfolded before me.

"Gaël, what are these marks on our hands?" They both asked me at the same time.

"With the discovery of your power to use fire like myself. Amaterasu has granted you her blessing, it works like a lock and key, the more you train, the more the lock weakens allowing you to use stronger and stronger magic. Unlike myself though who will eventually be able to use the full extent of Amaterasu's power, we don't know how much of her power you can use as of yet. This was done when I became your Guardian and you obtained my family name."

When I finished, I had been tackled to the floor by the pair of them, they both hugged me and thanked me with all of their hearts for giving them such a power to defend themselves with.

After a short while of them both crying of happiness, they lifted themselves from me, good thing too, if they had stayed for much longer I would have started crying myself. Before I knew it, I had just gained two precious family members I knew I had to protect and couldn't live without.

Ruby and Sophie wanted to know something and had to ask the difficult question.

"So what are we to you now then, you're clearly more than just a guardian to us now." That was a difficult question, they were right of course. I could only think of one thing.

"We'll create the Brand Clan. In a manner of speaking, we are now family. Legally through documentation of course, so if I were to die at any point. Ruby would take my mantle and carry out my mission that Amaterasu has set for me. I don't want you two to call me father as you are not my children, and I'm not your brother as we do not share parents, Ruby has just started working for me as my Maid. So with us sharing the family name. We will be Clan Members that support the Goddess Amaterasu. How does that sound for you both?"

They both nodded their heads in acceptance and with that we decided to head out to the Guard house just outside the walls after getting dressed. I had to meet William as he was going to introduce me to my partner.

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On our way to the guard house in the middle of the day, we could see the miserable state of the town. It made me want to be sick from how it stank. The people loitering around the town looked lifeless. I turned to the two girls.

"You two really lived in this town? Was it always like this?" They looked down and depressed from the state of their home. Ruby spoke up in the end to answer my questions.

"It wasn't always like this, when Amaterasu was in power here and when the previous Lord's father was in power, this Town prospered quite gracefully, the floors were filled with cobble-stone, now removed to build the walls you see. The new lord was paranoid about monsters attacking the town. The people you see loitering the streets had their money taken away from them to stop any kind of uprising. That way they wouldn't be able to acquire any weaponry and armour to cause a revolt." My face distorted in revulsion when I heard that. I had to stop myself from getting angry though. I knew for a fact we would stop this Lord in the end. I swore to myself that I would put a stop to it. Then Ruby carried on as we started walking again.

"As you can see the people here are starving with no way to earn even a copper piece to themselves so they can live on. They can't even move away to start a new life for themselves as they don't have the money to do so." This pretty much confirmed that besides the guards, the Lord. I was pretty much the richest person here.

"Would you two oppose it if I donated some of my money to the town to help them out?" They had a gentle smile on their face for a moment before they became serious.

"As noble as your intention may be, that is only a short term solution. You'd only be turning your donation into the Lord's profit and Winston Jr. Is still the Lord ruling this town, you will only be leaving yourself short. I believe the only real change that could possibly save this town is if you came into power instead." Ruby's adamant tone shook me as she said that. My resolve had strengthened with those words alone.

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It didn't take us long to reach the Guard house. William was outside waiting for us with someone I could only describe as a Ninja with many tails. The bottom half of her face including her nose was covered in a mask.

"Ahh Gaël, right on time." William had a smile on his face as he saw the three of us approaching. "This here is Yuna, the descendant to Tsukuyomi who has been tasked by the God himself to investigate these lands. Come inside, we will debrief you, though the girls will have to stay out of this."

The timing was perfect, this was a chance to teach them how to fight and fend for themselves.

"That's fine, is it okay if you have two of your trainers, one for each girl to train them how to fight and fend for themselves. They have recently been blessed by our Goddess Amaterasu and are now able to conjure weapons for themselves." William didn't look convinced at all. I turned back to the girls: "Ruby, Sophie. Show them your new skill you obtained?" At that moment the pair of them clapped their hands together, their aura on their hands shining and their eyes glowed gold. They mimicked my actions earlier and their respective weapons formed. William watching this was now astounded at seeing this.

"Very well then, I'll call over the guards to teach them how to fight with their respective weapons though the Chinese Sword may be difficult to teach her. We don't have any specialists in her weapon of choice. Will you be okay with this Ruby?" Ruby's determined look on her face had convinced him.

It didn't take long for them to be taken away to the training halls and I had Followed Yuna and William to his office to officially begin the discussion. Yuna then stood in the middle of the room, closed her eyes and waved her hand in the air, muttering a chant that I could barely hear. A veil had covered the room glowing a teal cover. She then explained:

"This is a veil of silence, nobody outside will be able to eavesdrop on our conversation. With that being said. It's a pleasure to meet you Protector and Guardian of Amaterasu, I have awaited you here in this town for the past month or so. What took you so damn long to get here?" I didn't like her tone one bit, for one it took me off guard as she momentarily exchanged pleasantries at one moment and then started to berate me the next.

"Hey, Amaterasu kept me in her small domain to train me to an extent that she felt comfortable letting me leave. It wasn't my fault that I had just arrived last night."

"Training you, so to be held up in that small forest on your own with the Goddess the past weeks, you better be damn impressive in controlling your abilities." With her accusation I held up my hands and showed off my blessing marks to reveal two suns on my hands with 4 rays of light each.

"Is this enough for you? According to Amaterasu this is 8% of her power in 7 weeks, I also learned three styles of martial arts from her." Yuna didn't know what to say. She had been training under Tsukuyomi for a year now and she could only use 15% of his powers.

"This is satisfactory for the time you have been training for. Our power together will be enough to end the reign of the corrupt Lord's hold on this city. William and I will now share everything about what's been going on in this city." At this moment, William sat in his chair behind his desk and I sat on the two seater while Yuna presented her findings to us. With neither of us saying anything Yuna began.

"While there has been no word nor sight of the Lord over the past month that I've been scouting the area. What I've been able to uncover were the misdeeds of the town people at night. Just the other night a group had gathered to try and burn down the Temple of Amaterasu in the town." Me and William narrowed our eyes at this information but didn't say anything.

"This lead to people being kidnapped not too long afterwards, a few people have been murdered and kidnapped to be presented at sacrifices as you already know. The current evidence is being held in the training courtyard as we speak. As far as I know the town's people are being brainwashed to believe that it's Amaterasu's doing that the town ended up like this. They believe that my God Tsukuyomi will protect them, blinding their judgement. I don't even believe the town's people here think that the true culprit is currently sitting in his mansion completely ignoring everything that's going on in his town." This was completely new information to me but William seems to already have known this. The man sat there silently but his fists were balled in frustration having to hear this again for my sake. I decided to speak up at this point.

"I had heard from Ruby that the Lord of the town is currently paranoid and is in total belief that this town will be attacked by monsters. Is there any truth to this claim?" They were both confused by my statement. This appears to be new information for them. William interjected this time.

"Ruby told you this? Did she tell you where she got this information from?"

"I didn't ask but when I saw the bare roads that were stacked on top of the town wall. That was enough information for me to believe what she was saying was true. What was your belief in the reinforcement of the walls?"

"I was commanded to reinforce the walls in case there were any attacks by neighbouring towns who wanted to take away the power from the Lord. Could it be possible that the Lord is also being controlled or brainwashed?" Yuna and I didn't seem to disagree with the possibility. I turned back to Yuna at this point to ask for more information. Her response was grim.

"I have investigated all the merchants in the area and their stock is at an all time low. It appears any kind of trade has been halted, the town is currently isolated from the rest of the world. Not just that but all runic items and weapons have been cleared out from the traders guild, stopping anyone from using magic for combat or even menial tasks for everyday life." I leaned forward to weigh in my thoughts.

"Trade being halted, no one able to leave the town once entered as they fall under the control of whatever is going on in the town. No one is able to use any magic either. It seems something of a greater power is at fault here and could be controlling the foolish Lord piecing all of this together. To the point that the citizens are begging to Tsukuyomi for help and forcing their hands for drastic action due to Amaterasu not being around. The evidence we need to bring the Lord down from his throne for the crimes of negligence leading to his weak mind to be controlled by some higher power. Are the runes that allow the citizens and warriors to use magic and proof that Winston Jr. is currently being manipulated by a higher power."

"Either that or get Winston Jr. himself to come out and abuse his authority on the citizens." Yuna added. William agreed to this notion.

"What are the chances that the citizens will attack me if I show the citizens my power to prove Amaterasu's return?" The pair of them answered instantaneously.

"Almost certain."

"Most certain"

With those responses I sighed deeply and laid back. "So what do we do then? Do you have a plan of action? At this point most of the Citizens here are not fond of the Goddess for what they believe was abandonment." Yuna got angry at my statement but William stopped her with a firm look. I ignored the death glare because she was well within her right to be angry with Amaterasu. No one knew that she was waiting for the right time for me to come to this world so that she could bring peace to her lands and maintain her control of her domain. She hadn't explained to me about what happened to her followers but at this point after having time to think about it. I've come to the conclusion that someone has killed them all off and wiped them out for their own gain. With further evidence of what Yuna has presented, they seem to be using Tsukuyomi's name to try and protect themselves from monsters in the land. William decided to drag me out of his thoughts with the plan he had thought of himself.

"The plan is that tonight, you two are going to infiltrate the Lord's mansion. You are both going to work together to find out what's going on and to try and put a stop to it. I want the Lord alive if possible and to bring in any conspirators alive or dead. Try and put a stop to our town's impoverished state that it's in. Do that and you can have your adventurers licence to help Esta prosper again. Any objections between you two?"

We both agreed to the mission we were given.

"Gaël, your task is going to be the most difficult of all. Even with the Lord's downfall and you rising as the new Lord. You're going to be treated harshly by the people with their expectations after having been neglected for so long. Do you have any second thoughts of taking up the mantle?" My gaze grew fierce, I was more prepared than ever.

"I want to implement some secret actions as the new Lord to start up trade with the other towns close to here again. Send out the merchants again as soon as I can reimburse them with the money that Winston Jr. had taken from them." With this reaction, William liked the look in my eyes. My golden gaze had given him the confidence he needed. Yuna also had a small smile on her face, her mood shifting from my statement earlier and her expectations and respect grew for me a little.

With everything being said Yuna and I were dismissed and I went to meet the girls to give them the news and to tell them what's going on. I had a mission for Ruby and I hoped the people of the town liked gossip.