A month later.
Team 11 had gained a significant amount of fame in the meantime.
They joined the Dark Hall Tower, and completed 12 D-rank missions, 7 C-rank mission, and even one classified B-rank mission. Even based on the Dark Hall's standards, this was unprecedented.
To celebrate their 20th successful missions, a perfect record, team 11 had decided to gather in Ishikawa District, located near the eastern watergate of the village. It was not the slums, but it was definitely not a very residential or well-off area.
It was Mumei's restaurant, or rather, the one he had bought for his parents. He originally came from the slums, but after years of mission payouts, he had managed to move out and even pay a restaurant. His parents were excellent cooks, and were pretty popular. By coincidence, it also happened to be a restaurant specialised in Ramen
"One more bowl, please!", Ryugo, his infinite greed loyal to his character
Mumei had invited them, so it meant the meal was free. Ryugo starved himself in the morning, just to make sure he could eat as much as possible.
Kaoru, Mumei's father, had a cold sweat: "That's your sixth bowl..."
Tetsu laughed: "Ryugo, the sage of the six bowls, puhahaha"
Ameruyi esquissed a rare smile. Her clan's hidden art, Sora no Kokoro, made her increasingly colder, but for some reason, joining team 11 had made her feel emotions that she had not felt for years. Happiness, joy, and even...frustrations. Emotions that she thought forsaken for the promise of strength, but came back.
Mumei's stern and impeccable rule-abiding mindset.
Tetsu's jokes.
And more importantly, Ryugo's bottomless greed that drew people in. He would conquer the world if he could.
As they ate, Mumei revealed a genuine smile: "I have some good news"
Tetsu titled his head: "What are they? Did you finally find someone, Mumei-sensei? I remember hearing you say that you were lonely-"
"Nonsense", Mumei blushed, and cut him off by showing a scroll with the Dark Hall sigil -a droplet of rain surrounded by a black iron circle- on top of it, "Inspector Kosuke has recommended our team to the Dark Hall Commander Subaru Shizuku. Our next assignment will be challenging, but very rewarding"
Ameruyi spoke: "A challenging assignment? I am in"
Ryugo followed: "Rewarding? I am broke, this might be good for my finances"
Mumei felt helpless. His students were strong, unbelievably so. He never proposed a team spar like he did before the B-rank mission. He knew that he would not last long, even if they did not employ any weird, lethal tactic.
But despite their strength, they were very...intense.
Ryugo, especially, practically blackmailed the team into going out on a frenetic hunt of missions. D-rank, C-rank...As long as it was quick to complete and high-paying, he would use any emotional argument in his arsenal to convince them to take it. Days off or not, he would go. Even when he had gotten injured in the B-rank mission against the Jotaki monk, he had taken the team to complete two D-rank missions behind his back.
"What do you mean, broke? You basically used up the team funds from the Jotaki monk's missing nin bounty for yourself, and you call yourself broke?", Tetsu could not help but cry out
"My experiments, as you say, were not very conclusive...But think about the payout...If I make a huge discovery, you would be the first to benefit from it"
Ameruyi squinted. She could not care any less for the money. As the fifth heiress of the Takeda clan, her account had hundreds of thousands of Ryô, more than she could hope to spend at her rank. But she was curious.
"But Tetsu has a point. You said that you were planning to make experiments, but you never told us what it was"
Ryugo said: "Koaru! A seventh bowl please-"
Mumei stopped him, partly because he did not want his parents' restaurant to go brankrupt, partly because he was curious: "Ameruyi is right. You are changing the subject again. That's suspicious"
Ryugo sighed: "You remember Doki, the JITE captain who talked to us after the B-rank Jotaki monk incident?"
"Yes...What about him?"
"He gave me a salamander toxin sack. That's what I have been experimenting on"
"That's weird, I have never seen you use poison in combat?", Ameruyi said, "Could it be..."
Ryugo let out a wry smile: "Well, I am not exactly trying to use poison. Thunder and poison are a bad match. No, I was actually trying to find ways of eating it..."
Mumei face palmed.
Tetsu was probably mouth agape behind his smiling and weeping mask.
Ameruyi fumed with anger.
"Are you saying...you wasted 120 000 Ryô to eat a salamander toxin sack? Do you want to die? I will kill you before you died from that toxin sack!!"
'They still don't know the content of the mission assignment...', Mumei thought inwardly, 'Kids remain kids after all...'