Yuki's feet were starting to burn. They had been walking non-stop for hours. She occasionally created a fire in her hand or practiced coating a knife in fire without melting it. She had gone through many knives in the past month, but constantly improved and only ended up melting one knife during the time of the trip. The forest was starting to thin, which meant they were probably almost to the small village where the contractor was. Their mission was to find a lost ruin left behind by the contractor's ancestors.
Yuki quickly put together why this was the team that was put together before they had left. Yuna was great at navigation, Kira was good at finding things based off of small clues and signs, Shu and Yuki were strong enough to make sure nothing went wrong, and the police chief was there as a last resort for if anything went severely wrong.
She knew nothing of him. The man still hadn't told them his name, yet acted really friendly, almost as if he had been friends with all of them for years. It was hard to imagine him in a high position, because he acted as if they were all equals, rather than him being an important figure and being above them. There was even a sense of familiarity to him. He also appeared to be a bit older than them, but not by too much. She had never paid any attention to her upperclassmen in her academy days. Except for eleven of them. They were the eleven in the history of the academy who had passed the graduation exams with higher scores than she did. She never saw most of them, but remembered their names. If he was chief of police at such a young age, surely he was one of them. There were likely eight possible graduates he could be since she knew who three of them were. Aiko, Ryu, and her mother.
"Ah. We're here," Kira was looking at the various structures around the village, noticing that their composition was different than that of their home village.
"Let's find the guy who commissioned us," Yuki was already breaking away from the group to find the man.
They came across an elderly man who fit the description after about ten minutes of searching. He was wearing an elegant robe and had long pure white hair, and a long beard to match. His face was wrinkly, and there were large smile creases by his eyes. He seemed to be a very friendly old man.
"Hello. Are you Mr. Hiroshi?" Yuki asked the old man.
"Yes, I am! I take it you are the young ones that I commissioned?" The old man was very enthusiastic. His happiness was contagious.
"All right then. Are you ready to get started, mister?" Kira asked politely.
"Yes, yes! Follow me!"
They followed the old man out of the village toward the east for about five minutes until they came across a house matching the elegance of the old man.
"Here we are! My home! I will lead you to the basement where I believe the first clue lies!" Hiroshi opened the front door and went over to a staircase that spiraled downward. "This way!" He lit a candle with his finger and started downward.
At the bottom of the stairs was a single room. The west wall was crumbled. The pieces appeared to have some sort of paint on them. Yuki thought it must have been a picture of sorts.
"According to my late great-grandfather, this used to be a picture of an important place that was the start to finding the ancient ruins of my ancestors' home. In my old age, my hands don't quite work like they used to, and I'm not exactly the best at treasure hunts, so that's why I contracted you youngsters! Most people my age complain about people your age, but I have high hopes for you youngsters! Your generation has more determination than any that I've seen before! Would you be able to piece these together?"
Yuki immediately started going through the rubble. She started by separating the edge pieces from the rest, and put those together. Shu and Kira joined in, and before long, they had the picture put back together. The picture was of a surprisingly elegant hut in front of a lake.
"Ah! I know where that lake is! Follow me, youngsters!" The old man hobbled up the stairs and to a nearby lake.
Inside the hut was a box on a table by the window looking toward the lake.
"Do you mind if I melt the lock on this?" Yuki tilted her head at Hiroshi.
"Hmm. Go right ahead!" He was still overflowing with positive energy.
Yuki made a super hot flame come out of the tip of her finger, which she used to melt through the ring of the lock.
When she opened the box, she saw a rolled up scroll. She took it out and unraveled it. Inside was a picture of a very tall tree with a box nestled in between the roots.
This process continued on again and again, until they finally came across a small stone castle. It was a very elegant castle. His whole bloodline must have been very elegant.
"Thank you very much! You may be off now! Here is your payment!" He plopped a big bag of coins into Yuna's hands and waved, smiling with his eyes closed as the group went away.
"How was your first group mission?" The police chief asked as they started home.
"I enjoyed it!" Yuna was teeming with excitement.
"The old man was nice," Yuki replied. "What is your name? Could you be Itsuki? Or Akira? Or possibly Haru?"
"Oh? My name? Good guesses, but no. I am Kiyoshi."