Following Hajime's departure from Ur, Zane decides to go back and talk to the mayor of Ur. His plan is to see if there is anything that he can do in order to help around the town. He also needs to stop by the Adventurer's Guild to report the completion of the quest to help Hajime locate the missing adventurers.
As Zane makes his way to the city hall building to go and talk to the mayor, he finds that his classmates are already in there. Mrs. Hatayama is currently talking to the mayor. Zane overhears her say, "Are you really sure that it is a good idea to bring everyone back so quickly?"
"This town is their home. I assure you that they all want to come back. Since the threat has been eliminated I see no reason for us to not allow everyone to return to their homes as soon as possible," the mayor replies.
Mrs. Hatayama says, "I understand that. However, I still think that we should wait for a little while before bringing everyone back."
"I can understand your concern. If you think it is best for us to let them stay where they are, then we can do that for now. However, I don't think that the nearby towns can support that many extra people for very long. Also the templar knights that are supposed to be guarding you are with them, meaning you are stuck here until the people get back. It would be rude of me to delay you here in Ur for very long," the mayor states.
Atsushi comments, "We could always just move on without them. We are more than capable of protecting Mrs. Hatayama ourselves."
"No, that won't do," Mrs. Hatayama says. She then says to herself, "I suppose that Nagumo did deal with all the monsters though. Also even though I don't think it was the right choice, he also killed Shimizu, who was behind it all. The town may actually be safe."
At this point Noburo Aikawa says, "Mrs. Hatayama, I suggest that we go and tell the villages about what is going on at least. We should really let them make the choice on what to do. If they want to come back then they should be given the chance."
Hearing this suggestion, Zane comments, "I can go and do that if you would like."
This draws everyone's attention towards Zane. Almost right after Zane has said this Mrs. Hatayama says, "No, I could not possibly ask you to do that."
Zane replies, "I was meaning that I could do it as a request put through the Adventurer's Guild."
The mayor says, "Actually, I would prefer you to stay here in Ur for a little while if you could. I am sure that knowing that the Bringer of Miracles is in town will bring some much needed relief to those that chose to stay behind now that The Goddess's Sword has left."
"I guess that I can do that. Since the people who are here know that Nagumo has left, they may be a little on edge," Zane replies.
"Precisely. However, you are well known in Ur for everything that you have done. While you may not be as skilled in combat as The Goddess's Sword, you being here will still provide comfort to the people," the mayor says.
At this point Atsushi comments, "So we need someone to go and tell the townspeople about the fight, but Zane cannot be the one to do it. If that is the case, why don't I go and do it?"
"It would be too dangerous to send you alone," Mrs. Hatayama states.
"Then I can take Noboru and Akito with me," Atsushi replies.
At this point Akito states, "Yeah, the three of us should be able to handle it no problem. Just tell us where we need to go."
"I still don't like the idea of sending you off on your own," Mrs. Hatayama says.
"But you were fine with letting Zane go on his own. I mean he is one of your students too, yet you didn't seem at all worried about him," Atsushi says. He then adds, "I guess you just don't believe that we can handle this."
"No, of course I believe you can do it. I just don't want you getting hurt," Mrs. Hatayama quickly says in a flustered voice.
Atsushi says, "We will be fine."
Mrs. Hatayama comments under her breath, "I suppose that I really should put more trust in my students. That may have been where I failed with Shimizu." She then states, "Alright, then. You can all go. Just be sure that you are careful."
"Don't worry, we will be," Atsushi says. He then says, "Well I guess that there is no time like the present, so let's get going."
At this point, Atsushi, Noboru, and Akito all walk out of the city hall building. Once they are gone, Zane says, "That was faster than I was expecting."
Nana comments, "I think they are trying to show that they can be helpful too, since they were totally useless in defending the town."
"Yeah, it has got to be a pride thing," Yuka says.
Zane then states, "Well moving on. Is there anything that I can help you with around town?" Zane asks the mayor.
The mayor replies, "Can you go around and see if anyone that is still in town needs any help? If you can help them with whatever it is that would be great too."
"I guess I can do that," Zane comments. He then walks out of the city hall building.
Zane proceeds to go around the town to see if anyone needs any help. At most of the houses, Zane finds that the people do not need anything, which makes it very easy to check up on them. The other students and Mrs. Hatayama also joined in checking on the people in town. For this reason, along with the fact that not many people chose to stay in town, they are able to take care of all the problems that people have in town.
Once all of the houses have been checked up on, it is starting to get dark. Seeing this the group decides to call it a day and head back to the Water Spirit Inn for the night. Zane choses to not go with them at first. He instead heads to the Adventurer's Guild to see if anyone is there for him to turn his latest quest in.
At the Adventurer's Guild, Zane finds that the branch chief is the only one that is there. He sees Zane enter the building and says, "I figured that you would be stopping by soon enough. I take it you want to be paid for helping out with the defense of Ur and the rescue of Will Cudeta."
"That is why I am here," Zane comments. He then adds, "Although, I don't need to be paid right now if you cannot afford to do it. I just wanted to come and touch base with the guild about it."
"No, it is not a problem. For someone like you, it is best that I settle up before you wander off again," the branch chief states. He then says, "I was actually hoping that you would be staying around for a little while."
Zane replies, "I may be. It just depends on what jobs I get."
"Well, I will let you know if any jobs come up around here. However, I cannot say that I know of any right now," the branch chief states. He then hands over Zane's pay for the rescue of Will as well as an additional 200,000 luta.
Seeing this additional 200,000, Zane asks, "What is that for? I didn't do anything to earn all this extra."
"Consider it your pay for the defense of Ur. I figured that you could always use some extra luta to have on hand. I am also going to recommend that you be promoted to silver rank. That may take some time to actually happen though. I will let you know when it does," the branch chief says.
"I appreciate it," Zane replies.
At this point, Zane makes his way out of the Adventurer's Guild. He then heads to Water Spirit Inn for the night. He is planning on just eating dinner and going to bed considering all the work that he put in the previous day.
Zane's plan is quickly dashed when he sees that Mrs. Hatayama, Nana, Taeko, and Yuka are all waiting for him inside of the inn. When he comes in Mrs. Hatayama says, "I thought that tonight would be a good chance for me to get to know you better."
"Why are you interested in knowing about me?" Zane asks.
"It is simple. After thinking about everything that you said, I am positive that you are one of my students. I regret that I don't remember you, but I still want to do what I can for you as your teacher. I figure that to start with I should get to know you better," Mrs. Hatayama replies.
Nana then adds, "All of us figured that since we forgot about you, that we should take this chance to get to know you again."
"You are probably better off not knowing all that much about me," Zane comments.
"You said that before too," Mrs. Hatayama comments. She then says, "There has to be a reason that you don't want to tell us more about you. Would you mind at least sharing that with us?"
"I can think of a few reasons. One of them being, that we are probably not going to be seeing much of each other in the future, so there is not much reason for you to get to know me," Zane says.
Mrs. Hatayama states, "Well I guess that answers one of the questions I had for you, which is if you would like to join us in returning to the capital."
"I don't plan on going back to the capital any time soon. I may never go back there," Zane replies.
"Why is that?" Yuka asks.
Zane says, "Think about it for a minute. I was teleported away from the capital and my existence was wiped from everyone's minds. Obviously, this was done by someone that is in the capital. It seems to me that someone wants me dead and forgotten about. Whoever that person is, tried to kill me once and I am sure if he or she learned I was alive, that person would try again."
"I guess you are right about that," Taeko states. She then asks, "Don't you want to see the rest of your classmates though?"
"Sure, I do. However, I am not willing to risk my life in going back to the capital to do it. Until I can figure out what exactly happened that night, it is better that I avoid the capital. Honestly, it is better that I avoid our entire class since a classmate could have done it," Zane says.
"Do you really think a classmate sent you away?" Nana asks.
Zane says, "No, I doubt it was a classmate. However, I cannot rule that out given how little I know about the culprit."
Mrs. Hatayama comments, "Let's move on then. I would rather not think about the possibility of a student doing something so horrible." She then says, "I still would like to get to know you. I can understand you needing to be careful, but I assure you that I will do everything I can for you. So please let me get to know you better."
"Fine," Zane states mostly because he knows that Mrs. Hatayama is not going to give up on this. Also he is not really against telling her about himself.
Hearing this Mrs. Hatayama asks, "So what did you like to do for fun before coming here?"
Zane states, "I would watch anime sometimes. I read a few manga and other books too. Other than that I spent most of my time either training or helping out at a neighborhood animal shelter."
"That is cool I guess," Yuka says. She then asks, "What kind of training did you do?"
"I trained in both karate and fencing," Zane replies. He then comments, "I probably only survived when I got teleported away because of all that training that I had before coming here."
Nana then asks, "I know this is a weird question, but were we close before we came here? I am just wondering since we were neighbors and in the same class, so I feel like we probably would have been pretty good friends."
Zane states, "No, we barely talked to each other. Your parents seemed to dislike my father for some reason, so I am guessing they told you to avoid me and him."
"I do remember my parents telling me to not go near Mr. Martin. Both of them claim that he raped a woman back in America, which is why he had to move to Japan," Nana says.
"Really? Is that true?" Yuka asks.
Zane replies, "I don't think so. Despite my father being a terrible dad, I never have gotten the impression that he would do something like that. However, my parent's marriage fell apart because of him cheating on her so I guess it is possible."
Mrs. Hatayama says, "I didn't realize your parents were divorced. That must have been hard for you to go through."
"Not really. Given all the tension and lying that was going on between them, the marriage ending was for the best. The marriage ended because my father was cheating on my mom. However, my mom was cheating on my dad too. Seems a little strange to me that she ended the marriage because of him cheating when she was doing it herself," Zane states.
"That sounds really awful," Taeko says. She then states, "I imagine you had a pretty rough home life based on that."
"I guess. I was pretty much ignored all the time, so I just found things to do on my own," Zane replies.
At this point, the group continues to talk to Zane. They are able to learn a little more about him, including the anime that he likes as well as some of the books that he has read. Since Zane already knows the others pretty well, he does not ask them many questions.
The five of them keep talking until it is quite late at night. At this point Mrs. Hatayama says, "I think it is about time that we all went to bed. We are going to have another busy day tomorrow."
"I guess you are right," Nana says with a big yawn. She then says, "See you tomorrow Zane."
"Yeah, see you then," Zane replies. He then makes his way to this room in the inn. The others do the same.
Upon the three girls making it to their room, Nana asks, "So what do you all think of Zane?"
"What do you mean?" Yuka asks.
Nana states, "I mean he is a classmate of ours that we all forgot about. Yet, he seems to be super nice despite that. Nagumo was totally hostile to us when we met him again, but Zane seems to not be mad at us for forgetting him. Zane has ever reason to be mad at us, but other than being hostile to Mrs. Hatayama at first he does not seem to be mad at us."
Yuka says, "It is not fair for us to compare Nagumo and Zane like that. I am sure that Nagumo went through a lot, which is why he is how he is now. We cannot blame him for how he is now."
"Zane seems to have been through a lot too though. Yet that has not changed him," Taeko states.
"How do we know that?" Yuka comments. She then adds, "We have no idea what he was like before. For all we know he could be someone that abducted one of our classmates and has made all of this up."
"Do you really believe that?" Nana asks.
"No, I really doubt that. But we don't know for sure," Yuka states.
Taeko says, "I don't think it matters how he was before. He seems to be a really great guy now. As far as we need to know this is the real Zane Martin. Even if he is not really our classmate, I don't think that matters."
"I guess that is true," Nana says. She then says, "I do feel bad for him though. He seems to have had a pretty awful home life. Then when he got to Tortus, he was completely forgotten about. That has to have been really hard to go through."
"He seems to be doing just fine though," Taeko states. She then comments, "I wonder if he is trying to keep his distance from all of us, because of his home life."
Nana says, "You could be right." She then asks, "What do you all think about the way that Nagumo has changed?"
"I think that he is way hotter the way he is now. He is also a little scary though," Taeko states.
Yuka says, "I agree that he is really scary now. But he is also super strong. However, I don't think he has changed completely. He still seems to be the same guy deep down. It is just harder to see it now."
"What makes you say that?" Takeo asks.
"Well for starters, he saved my life in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. He showed that same kind of caring when he decided to help protect Ur today. In both cases he put his life on the line to protect others," Yuka states.
"I guess that is true," Nana says.
The three of them then keep talking for the rest of the night. During this time, Takeo realizes that Yuka has a huge crush on Nagumo. She decides to not mention this to Yuka though, as that would just make her mad. Eventually, all three of them fall asleep.
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Zane's Status Panel
Job: Pactmaster
Occupation: Adventurer (Black Rank)
Strength= 473
Vitality= 650
Defense= 717
Agility= 841
Magic= 757
Magic Defense= 976
Skills
Language Comprehension (Can understand any language)
Pactmaker (Able to form up to five pacts. Receive small stats boost based stats of monster pact is formed with.)
Improved pactmaking (Allows up to ten pacts to be formed. Increases the stat boost obtained from formed pacts.)
Pact Telepathy (Allows pactmaster to communicate telepathically with creatures pacts are formed with.)
Will of the master (Boosts stats of all monsters pacts are formed with when near the pactmaster.)
Kinship (Grants one skill from each monster a pact is formed with.)
Fire Immunity- Immune to damage from fire. Can still feel heat. (Grand Phoenix)
Underwater breathing- Can breathe underwater. (Merlion)
Physical Resistance- Increases the physical resistance and recovery rate of the user. The degree of impact is reduced as well. (Mythril Golem)
Hypersensitive Hearing- Enhances hearing. (Imperial Bat)
Ice Shell- Creates a wall of ice that protects users from physical attacks and deals ice damage to those that attack it. (Glacial Tortoise)
Air Purification- Automatically purifies any air that the user breathes in making them immune to airborne toxins. (Master Sylph)
Storm Summon- Allows the user to cause a rain storm in his or her vicinity. (Celestial Thunderbird)
Spatial Magic
Metamorphosis Magic
Formed Pacts
Grand Phoenix (Agility +180 and Magic Defense +180)
Merlion (Strength + 50 and Agility +100)
Mythril Golem (Strength +150, Vitality +220, and Defense +220)
Imperial Bat (Vitality +180 and Agility +180)
Glacial Tortoise (Defense +250 and Magic Defense +250)
Master Sylph (Agility +125 and Magic +250)
Celestial Thunderbird (Magic +300 and Magic Defense +300)
Artifacts
Treasure Trove (Allows user to store items in another dimension)
Ring of Mana (Grants user the skill mana manipulation)
Divine Amulet (Dramatically increases the mana of the user. Dramatically increases mana recovery rate. Also grants the user the ability to see the mana of other living beings)
Ring of Resistance (Grants user the skills poison, paralysis, petrification, and fear resistance)
Magical Cloak (Grants the user the skill all elements resistance)