A castle of sand

The world was changing, and it was changing more rapidly than ever. 

From the king's supposed betrayal to the rumors of war lingering in every dark alley of Mensch. No matter how much the media was trying to dispel these rumors and calm the people down, it was of no use. 

Because the wolf had already bared his fangs, more than eager to tear the throat of his former owner. And who could blame the wolf who bit the hand that fed it when it was the same hand that had tried to claim its life?

'A castle of sand, was it?'

Looking down at the city beneath my feet through the large windows in my office, Leonardo couldn't stop himself from sighing. 

I had long been aware that something was bubbling in the distance, knowing that something was happening in Kurat, but it would have been absolutely impossible for him to anticipate the fact that a third actor would suddenly join in. Worse yet was...

"Guild master! We have gotten another report!"

"Haa... report."

Turning around, I was met by the face of my son, strained and pale. It was inevitable that he felt more than a tinge of guilt when knowing about just how hard my son had to work for the sake of their people but he also knew that there wasn't much he could do about it. 

"Yes sir! There has been another attack, this time on the small city of Genua. From the information we have collected we..."

"Casualties?"

Interrupting my son I couldn't bear to pretend as if I cared about anything other than the essentials and, in turn, he quickly turned to the relevant page in the small paper pamphlet he had brought with him.

"All in all there were 38 casualties. Out of these, there were 25 hunters with ties to small and mid-size guilds, 10 security guards, and 3 politicians, which of one was the city representative."

My head involuntarily turned to the ceiling as I pondered and thought about the information I had received. This wasn't the first time I had gotten a report like this. No, this was already the fifth time that I had gotten news of a terrorist attack aimed at one of the smaller cities of Mensch. 

One attack every month, almost as if to say that we were currently on a timer. A timer that counted down until the bigger cities and ultimately the capital would be attacked. 

"Did anyone see the ones responsible?"

"Yes, sir! From the witnesses, we have gathered that the attack was caused by a small elite group led by a masked woman with dark hair, clad in a black leather uniform. We surmise that it's the same person who has led the previous attacks."

Each and every time the report had been very similar. Not a single time had any civilians lost their lives and the infrastructure of the cities had more or less remained undamaged. The only loss the nation had suffered had been politicians and the people who tried to repel the invaders.

The worst part of all was that everyone was already well aware of who was responsible for the attacks. The organization that called itself Midgard ruled and controlled by James Jackson, or, as most people knew him now, One. 

He had already turned this world upside down when he attacked Ainu, even causing many of the students to drop out after getting confirmation from the king that they would be allowed to act as hunters despite not graduating. 

But that was obviously not enough for him and when even putting the princess in a coma had not been enough for him it was apparent that he wasn't about to stop until he got what he wanted. 

The problem was that no one truly knew what he wanted. 

Not even...

*Click*

"Guild master. You wanted to see us?"

Turning my eyes from

Suddenly the door to my office had opened once again and from it, two young hunters arrived. One was a blonde, handsome, and quite tall man and the other was a curvy, pink-haired woman who somehow managed to make the man beside her look short. 

Both of them were clad in the gray uniforms that represented the Titan guild, proving the fact that they had decided to join them. Yes, both Arthur and Sophie had decided to join my guild after the incident at the academy and although he wasn't quite sure as to why that was, he wasn't about to complain. 

Both of them had already reached heights that most hunters could only dream of. Two B-rank hunters who hadn't even spent four years at the academy. Despite my best efforts to try and figure out why they made the decision to leave the academy early and join us, they had only given me vague answers. 

The one thing I was sure of was that James Jackson was a large part of their reasons. Because there had been a very specific condition that they requested for joining their guild. And that was also the reason I had called them here. They had requested for us to inform them of every incident that James was suspected of being part of.

"I did. There has been another attack, this time in Genua. Just like the other times, there were no civilians who got caught in the crossfire but the major seems to have lost his life."

Silence roamed the room as both me and Tom looked at the two younglings with discerning eyes, trying our best to gauge their reactions. And that reaction was the same as the times before. 

Arthur kept a stoic face and Sophie's demeanor crumpled up a bit, seemingly unable to understand her own emotions. Despite them having only been with us for a couple of months I had already gotten a feeling that Sophie might not entirely view James as an enemy, which was why she always had a split second of relief when she got to hear that no civilians got hurt. 

However, that relief was always quickly washed away as she remembered that reality wasn't so kind as to give us the breathing room to take that into consideration. Or at least that was my interpretation of it. 

'It must be tough...'

Both of them had already decided that they would try everything they could to stop their former classmate so it couldn't be helped that I pitied them. In my eyes, they were too young to carry such a responsibility. 

"... are we still not allowed to intervene?"

Sophie's soft voice reached out to me, asking the same question that she had asked so many times before, expressing her desire to get my permission to fight against Midgard. But I couldn't give her the answer she wanted. 

"I'm sorry. You are still not strong enough."

There was no hesitation within me to answer her, knowing that if she and Arthur were to try and fight the Wolf right now it would amount to absolutely nothing. They would simply die pitifully without being able to do any real damage to our enemy. 

"I understand..."

Ignoring her clenched fists, I switched my focus back to my son, allowing him to continue his report despite our newcomers being in the room. In most cases, I would never allow an ordinary field hunter who didn't carry any organizational position to be a part of a meeting like this but due to the promise I had made it wasn't wrong to do so. 

"Please continue, Tom."

"Yes, Guild Master. As I said before, their leader was the same as during the previous attacks. The attack force also consisted of the same green-haired fighters that wielded wind magic. One peculiar thing, however, was that there were sightings of a new person in Genua."

"A new person?"

"Yes. From the reports it seems like it was another woman, but no one seems to have been able to figure out what kind of Manual she was wielding. A description of her was, and I quote, 'Despite her innocent blue hair she looked like a devil, laughing like a crazy person as the hunters around her were simply pushed away, unable to do anything. It was almost like she had some sort of forcefield around her.'"

"Did we get any lead on what rank she is?"

"Only speculations, sir. They think she was at least C-rank but due to the overwhelming power of the other woman, it's hard to say. Because whenever a hunter managed to breach her forcefield, that woman instantly stepped in and slaughtered them."

Suddenly, the soft voice that had been silent since earlier rang out again, even if only in the form of a whisper.

"Stella..."

"What did you say?"

Surprised to see me react to her words, it didn't take long until she realized that she wouldn't have a choice but to explain. Even more so Arthur simply put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a light smile as if to say that it was okay.

Thus, we once again had to realize how insane this situation was. Because the woman who had been a menace on the battlefield was nothing more than a simple freshman. Barely an adult but already fighting with the power of an experienced hunter.

'What is going on...'