It turned out, despite his new body, Raze was more exhausted than he thought, and that was just in general due to the lack of sleep he had been going through the last few nights. From what he had heard from the others, the higher the stage a Pagna warrior was, the less sleep one would need. Hopefully in the future, if he could continue to grow the way he had been doing, then it was something he didn't have to worry about. After a good night's sleep, Raze had been called into a meeting with Kron in his office once again.

"You should be careful calling me in for one-on-ones so often; otherwise, people will think you might be grooming me," Raze joked as he sat down.

"Grooming?" Kron replied, not understanding the context of it all.

"The other kids might get jealous," Raze said, trying to go past the joke he had made.

"Ah, I see, jealousy is natural in all nature," Kron replied. "In fact, I would say when children are jealous, it's more a form of honesty, but adults get far more jealous than children, and their actions for attempting to deal with such a thing can be far more severe."

Kron didn't have to tell Raze twice. He knew how strong of an emotion jealousy was, especially when that emotion was placed within a person who had never been told no in his life; that was a dangerous combination.

"I have no doubt, after your display of strength on the pillar, that you are a stage 1 warrior now," Kron declared. "And honestly, you are talented to the point that if you stay here, your progress will stagnate. Which is why I wanted to ask you, before attempting for the academy, would you like to join the disciples of the Red Brigade Clan?"

Thinking back, Raze remembered when he had walked past. He saw the disciples there and how skilled they were. They were also already learning a lot more than just the two-step shift.

Joining the Clan also meant that one would be allowed access to the skills of the clan that could only be taught to clan members. It also meant loyalty to that group of people as well.

'Although it would be nice to learn more martial arts techniques, the Red Brigade Clan is small, and it would limit me,' Raze thought, and a picture of Dame appeared in his head as well as Beatrix. These two had to have come from far greater clans than the Red Brigade.

'Through my relationship with Dame, I have the chance of obtaining better and more powerful skills. Besides, there are more people there that would keep me under greater watch than here.'

The answer was clear for Raze.

"I'm sorry, but I don't wish to join the Red Brigade Clan," Raze answered. "If I was to join, being the only stage 1 in the temple, then I would have to go by myself, which means my sister wouldn't be able to join me, and I wish to stay by my sister's side, wherever she is."

This answer was an excuse, but a believable one to put across, and judging by Kron's nod, he seemed to buy it.

"I understand, but if you ever change your mind, then feel free to speak to me," Kron said.

Just before he was about to get up, Raze did have a question he wanted to ask. "Sir, is it possible, can I head into town? There is no need for you to come with me, but I would like to explore a bit more. With my body the way it is now, I might even wish to get a job to earn some coin for myself. Things should be fine that I'm now a rank 1 warrior, right?"

Things certainly wouldn't be fine, considering the people after him might be higher-ranked than that, but the situation would be the same regardless if he was to leave him for another year, and Kron still remembered the words that Raze had spoken to him before.

"I have already agreed that I won't stop you from doing as you wish while you stay here," Kron answered. "You can treat this as your home until you turn 16, and as long as you earn your keep around the temple, I have no objections to what you do."

Raze bowed down, as he was ready to leave. With the six crystals he had, it was time for him to make a few more items and potions for himself as well. He needed to be ready for his next hunt, now that he was a 2-star mage.

'I'm starting to like you a bit, Kron; you have a good nature,' Raze thought as he left the room. 'Just don't betray my trust.'

---

At the same time, in the town itself, at the Red Brigade base, a meeting was taking place in the head Elder's room.

The head Elder, Yon, was sitting at his desk, looking at the two newcomers inside. He had just received a report from the two of them, and it wasn't the news he had been expecting.

"Your group, the Alters, was recommended by a dear friend of mine, so I had put my trust in you to find out the root of our problem," Yon said. "However, none of the cases of the dead families have yet to be resolved, and there have been sightings of portals… although no sign of a portal break."

The large man stepped forward, bowing down. He moved his overcoat to the side as it dragged on the floor a bit before lifting his head back up, and then gave the side eye to his orange-haired companion by his side. 𝚋𝚎ｄｎｏｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ

She bowed down after placing her hands on her beret hat, so it wouldn't fall down. "I apologize for that. The case is far more tricky than we thought," Himmy answered. "If a portal break did occur, then we would know about it, but we have searched and have found no open portals in the area."

"As for the other problem, we recently heard that there was a survivor in one of the cases. If we could speak to him about what he knew, then maybe that would help us."