"Alright, alright – you win ," Boros groaned, rolling his eyes. "We'll join a guild."
"Yay!" Akeno cheered, throwing her arms around him in excitement.
"But seriously," Boros added, prying her off, "if we're gonna join a guild, which one are we gonna join, aren't there like a hundred guilds out there?"
"Hmm…good point," Akeno said, tapping her chin.
"Let's leave it up to fate," Kinuko chimed in with a sly smile. "We'll join the closest one from here."
"Fate, huh?" Boros muttered, scratching the back of his neck.
"But before we go," Kinuko said, "we'll need to get gear."
"Gear?" Boros raised a brow. "I thought the guilds provided stuff like that for the adventurers?"
"They do," Kinuko nodded, "but you don't want to rely entirely on their handouts. Trust me."
"Yeah!" Akeno grinned. "Who needs gear when I've got my trusty–" She pulled out a Kunai with flair…. which immediately snapped in half.
"…..we need gear," she finished laughing, nervously.
"Alright, looks like we do need gear after all," Boros admitted, crossing his arms.
"So….where are we getting it?"
"I remember seeing some blacksmiths and merchants in the market last night," Akeno said, tapping her chin.
"Tch... the market, huh?" Boros muttered, his expression darkening as he clenched his fists.
Akeno's smile faded. She hugged her arms, eyes dropping.
"Yeah….. after what happened last night, I'm not exactly in a rush to go back either."
"It's fine, Akeno," Boros said firmly, voice low.
"I handled it. And I'm with you this time. Nothing like that's gonna happen again. Not on my watch."
Akeno glanced at him, noticing the storm behind his eyes. She gently reached for his arm.
"S-shiro… it's fine okay. I'll listen next time, alright? So… please stop making that face."
He exhaled sharply and stood, cracking his neck like he was trying to shake off weight. "Alright, let's move."
"To…. The market?" Kinuko asked cautiously.
"Where else?" Boros said over his shoulder, already walking.
As they made their way through the streets. It didn't take long to notice how empty everything felt.
"Is it just me, or is this place way too quiet?" Akeno asked, glancing around.
"No clue," Kinuko said, her eyes scanning the vacant stalls.
"Feels off, though."A few more steps, and the silence cracked – distant voice, murmurs...a crowd.
They rounded a corner and found the market square packed with people, all gathered in tense silence.
"Guess we found where everyone went," Kinuko muttered.
"Yeah," Akeno nodded.
"Let's go see what going on – Shiro? ….Shiro?"
Boros stood still, his gaze fixed ahead, his head tilted high with a cold remorseless look.
"Come on," Kinuko whispered, tugging Akeno's sleeve and pulling her toward the crowd. She approached a bystander near the edge.
"Excuse me, sir. What's going on?"
The man let out a long, heavy breath. Then, with a grim expression, he said quietly, "Have a look for yourselves."
They pushed through the crowd, the noise fading into a tense hush as they neared the center of the square.
What they saw stopped them cold. Massive spears of jagged ice jutted from the ground – tall, glistening, and razor sharp at the tips.
Skewered at the top, like grotesque trophies, were Davis and his men, impaled clean through their torsos.
Kinuko gasped, stumbling back with a hand over her mouth.
"Wait…. are those – are those made of ice?" Akeno asked, eyes wide.
Kinuko didn't answer at first. Her gaze drifted to Boros standing far behind the crowd, his expression unreadable.
"Ice….if I remember correctly Shiro is the Ice Longinus User, she realized. No way…. don't tell me he –"
Her thoughts cut off as Akeno gagged. The ground was littered with bodies – Davis's party…..or what was left of them. Torn apart like paper dolls.
Boros hadn't just killed them. He'd arranged them.
"We need to go," Akeno chocked out, turning away.
They approached Boros slowly, heads down, silence stretching between them.
He turned as they got close, his eyes cold, his tone flat.
"S-shiro…. was this –?"
"Yeah," he cut in, glancing over his shoulder. "It was me."
Kinuko swallowed hard.
"That bastard deserved worse," Boros added. "But then I remembered you two were waiting for me back at the inn, so I had to settle for this."
Without another word, he started walking."Come on," he called back. "We came to buy gear didn't we?"
"Y-yeah…" Kinuko and Akeno mumbled, hurrying to catch up.
They strolled up to the blacksmith's shop, the scent of smoke and steel hanging in the air.
"Yo, we're looking to gear up," Boros said, nodding at the man hammering away.
The blacksmith glanced up, wiping sweat from his brow. "Ah, gotcha – but there's a bit of a mix – up. I forge the blades, yeah, but I don't do the selling. You'll need a merchant for that."
Boros raised an eyebrow. "Where's the merchant?"
"Down at the market square," the smith replied. "But last I checked, they were caught up in something. Might be a while."
Akeno sighed. "Well, that's a bummer."
The blacksmith jerked his head toward a wooden bench outside. "You can wait there till things clear up."
"Let's move," Boros said, already heading over, his thumb flicked back at the bench.
They waited on the bench outside the blacksmith's shop. Akeno swung her legs back and forth, quietly humming as she looked around the market.
Kinuko stayed silent, her arm looped through Boros's, her eyes scanning the market.
Hours passed. Then, a group of men jogged over, panting and sweat – soaked. One of them stopped short in front of them.
"Hey, sorry to bother you. Do you know which way the town square is?" he asked between breaths.
Kinuko pointed without hesitation. "Straight down that road, past the fountain." Just as they were about to take off, Boros leaned forward, fingers clasped, gaze sharp.
"Who are you guys, and why are you looking for the square?"
The man hesitated, then straightened. "We're with the Stellaluna Circle Guild. Got word some of our people were killed here. We're here to collect their bodies….. and find whoever did it."
Boros tilted his head, a slow grin spreading across his face. "And when you find the one responsible?"
"We'll kill him," he said flatly.
"Oh?" Boros muttered under his breath, grin widening.
"I'll be waiting."
Without another word, the group turned and headed toward the square, the air behind them thick with tension.
"Captain!" one of the men called out as they jogged into the square. The captain turned slightly.
"What is it, Seth?"
"You think that guy back there had anything to do with the deaths?" Seth asked, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah," another added. "There was something off about him. His energy was….weird."
The Captain shook his head.
"Drop it. Davis led an A-rank Party. Some random isn't wiping out a team like that."
"It's probably those 'S-rank Killers' they mentioned in the briefing?" he continued.
"You really think it's them?" Seth pressed. The captain's expression darkened.
"Yeah. Feels more like their style." He glanced toward the center of the square.
"Now move. We're burning daylight."
"Yes Captain!" they echoed, picking up the pace.