A disheveled Thomas, with disbelief etched on his face, muttered out loud, "Who would have thought the wolf would attempt to overcome my spell." Before Thomas was a cracked orb showing a wolf breathing rapidly as if trying to forcefully wake itself up. A smile crept up Thomas's face in glee he cooed, "you will be a fine specimen. I will have you remain asleep until I get there. Do not worry, you will only have beautiful dreams." Thomas began gathering supplies necessary for invading the wolf's cave. It was time to capture his well-deserved prize. He then picked up a golden ring shoving some magical nets into it, a few extra flying eyeballs, a black collar, and finally, his staff. With all these items put away, Thomas pondered the most dire of situations.

He turned towards a white door. Within, Haruto remained in his slumber. Ah, I'm sure the brat will be fine. If he can't stop an intruder, no one can. If he can't stop an intruder, no one can.  Thomas repeated the phrase to himself a few times. Then briskly walked out of the cave. Only stopping to cast an illusion spell to safeguard against any intruders. Now. he can't say I didn't try.

Back at the village, Requis swiftly ran into the adventurer's guild with a massive smile on his face and dried blood around his mouth. Inside, Maria was hard at work, mopping the floors and cleaning the tables. Though not much traffic came through the building, the ones who did were quite rambunctious. Seeing Requis's return, a relieved expression formed on her face. She stopped the mopping. Without saying a word she led Requis to the kitchen. In Requis's mind, she was trying to serve him an afternoon meal. Requis, who was being forcefully shepherded to the kitchen, dug into his pocket and tossed Maria a gold coin. Even though she was surprised, she still caught the coin with ease.

Requis shot her a wink as he teased, "Now what has the great Maria so riled up that she must drag me to the kitchen before my cane could get put up. If you are that curious about my adventure, you should have just come along."

Maria ignored the senseless dribble and continued pushing Requis forward without saying a word in reply. 

Inside the kitchen, a war appeared to have taken place. Pots and pans were littered about, with some being burned beyond repair. An open fire stirred about. Definitely putting the entire building at risk of being burned to a crisp, which would not be a good thing for the guild leader, which was him, he was the guild leader.

But, fine. A few broken pots and pans with a raging fire threatening to consume everything Requis could handle. However, what he could not handle was the true-crime at hand. Half cooked meals littered the kitchen with a large portion of Requis's personal steaks being among them. His personal steaks were not ordered from this run-down village, but one of the most expensive meat providers in the kingdom. Just ordering 10 steaks a month could ruin a middle-class family. 70% of Requis's earnings went into procuring these steaks.

Anger became evident on Requis's face overshadowing the joy of finding a worthy disciple. In a flash, he appeared in the mess hall searching for the dogs who needed to be put down. He had a feeling who the culprits might be.

 The hall was currently divided into two groups. One side was the local adventurers who were deathly pale. They sat in silence, gawking at their silver ranked self-proclaimed leaders who laid unconscious on the floor. 

On the other side, three behemoths tore through pound after pound of meat. The three giants stood more than 5 feet taller than the tallest man, any of the frightened adventures had ever seen in their entire lives. (The average Titan male is 6’0. The average Titan human female is 5’11. Poor short Haruto.) Their skin was tanned as if they were dipped in olive oil and left out in the sun. (Think mediterranean) All three had red fiery hair common for those from the northern kingdom of Briton. Their forearms were thick as most of the men’s waist. Their weapons made the adventurer’s weapons look like toys.

Turning his attention away from the three Requis’s eyes turned red when he saw his prized steaks. Some pieces were uncooked, some half-cooked, others over-cooked, but none were just regular ole cooked. 

Requis flashed behind the three giants. Without saying a word, he unleashed three consecutive punches to the back of their heads. 

The three continued eating the "meals" without a care in the world, completely unaware of their folly. Finally, the densest of the three people noticed that the weaklings were rubbernecking towards their direction for some reason. 

He nudged his companion while peeking towards the crowd. In a deep, baring tone, he whispered, "hey big sis, why they all starin? I thought you said day would stop after a punch or two." 

His big sis, the largest of the three, ignored the man and continued scarfing down the last helpings of Requis's steak. 

Right as she was about to bite down, she sensed an attack, but it was way too late. Before she knew it, she was flying across the hall. The other two watched dumbly as their sister flew away. Thankfully Requis was considerate enough in his punches that they joined after her soon enough. 

As the three zoomed away, Requis could only look on with sadness in his heart at the total destruction of his steaks. Ahh, they could have at the very least cooked them properly. Don't touch my babies. But if you are gonna touch them, cook em. And if you are gonna cook em, cook em right. Requis poked around the pile of meat, attempting to find at least one well-prepared steak. 

While he was doing that, all the local adventurers began cheering. Even the silver-ranked adventurers who were now missing teeth joined in on the triumphant return of their guild leader. They couldn't wait till Requis stomped these invaders silly, and when he was done, they'd be sure to get a few of their own stomps in.

With a loud boom, the three giants finally ended their air vacation, crashing into a table. 

To the shock of all the adventurers, the three giants were seemingly unharmed. The adventures began cowering again, wondering if even the guild leader was too weak to stop these monsters. 

Anger was evident in the giants' eyes as they quickly eyed down the bastard who attacked them. Upon seeing it was Requis, big dumb smiles became etched on their faces. They promptly ran towards him. 

However, in the adventures' eyes, these smiles were sadistic ones bent on playing with their leader like a toy. They feared their old guild master would be stampeded on. 

Poor ole Requis, who always shared his drinks with them. Who always told stories of his past adventures, though no one believed his tales. If he were as grand as he wanted them to believe, then why was he trapped here. No, he was like them, a weakling who told stories of grandeur to satiate their dreams. But he was their weakling, and they'd be damn if their old man got trampled. Steeling their resolve, the local adventurers charged head-on to prevent the killing of their beloved guild master. 

With ease, the three behemoths charged through the crowd, not even being slowed down in the slightest. Requis, on the other hand, was still futilely searching for just one steak. Just one well-prepared steak was all he asked for. Seeing their guild master was making no attempt to dodge, the adventurers believed he had accepted his fate. They began to cry, for once he was exterminated, they would likely follow suit.

Right before crashing into Requis, the three giants came to an immediate stop and did a respectful bow to him. All three chanted in unison, "master Requis today is the day you accept us as worthy disciples."

The adventurers couldn't believe the scene. Some had already made peace with Zeyana. Others had released the flood gates one last time thinking, better to die in comfort than a bladder full of regret.

Requis said nothing to them and continued his search.

The two men turned towards their sister with eyes that said, "We have a feeling something isn't right. As the person who persuaded us into doing this. Hurry and say something."

She cleared her throat and probed the silent Requis, "Master Requis, how do you like the meals we prepared?" 

Silence

The youngest of the two men got annoyed by Requis ignoring his sister, "Hey old man, you hear big sis, or have you gone senile."

A hand shot out, grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him off the ground. A growl that shook the wind echoed, "I should skin all three of you. Not one. Not one steak was medium-rare. How could I possibly accept you idiots as disciples when you can't even make a steak? You should hope I go senile. That would be the only scenario in which I accept you ingrates."

In between gags, the man stuttered out in defense, "I like my steaks fully cooked. But big sis cooked her's extra rare just for you."

IDIOTS! Requis tightened his grip to shut this fool up. "When I say rare, I don't mean uncooked. And that doesn't explain why the kitchen is ruined. If this place is burned down, I have to pay out of pocket. Do you, children, have any spare gold for this old man, or would you have me spend the rest of my life in debt."

The other man cautiously stepped forward, recounting what happened, "We asked the adventurers for help, but they treated us like bumpkins, so we taught them a lesson. Then we tried to figure it out on our own since you weren't here. Once we were done cooking, that old lady over there had come into the kitchen saying she would help clean. So we thought she was going to clean everything up. I am very sorry for my younger siblings' mess. Please forgive them, master Requis."

Requis looked towards Maria but did not slacken his grip. "Is that true, Maria?"

Maria, who was sweeping up the broken table, confirmed, "Yes, it is true, but I never would have agreed if I had known how much of a mess they would cause." 

Requis finally calmed down. No matter. As long as I do not have to clean anything up, whew. Thank Zyana for Maria. Dropping the giant back on his feet, Requis revealed, "Well no matter you three being here is perfect. I have finally found a worthy disciple."

Everyone gasped in shock upon hearing this. Though Requis never showed his prowess, he had to be above silver-ranked to be the local guild leader. Many adventurers had begged, bribed, and kissed ass to become his disciple to no avail. Even Maria was stunned that Requis had actually found someone he wanted to train. The face of the three giants turned sour upon hearing this.

Seeing everyone's response, Requis chuckled, "Even I am surprised to have found him. He is perfect in all ways but one, and that is where you three shall come into play. I am about to post a special quest open to all ranks for the defeat and capture of the boy alive with an optional mission to kill the lich within the cave."

The sour look disappeared off the older of the two men's faces. As if pondering, he asked, "Ah, so what is the reward for capturing him?"

Requis shot him a wink, "Kentaro, you were always the brightest of the three. The rewards for completing the quest are 1,000,000 gold coins paid for by the king, an increase of rate by four places, titles with some lands, and the right to study under me."

The sister scratched her head thinking through the meaning of titles with land and rate skips but ultimately decided to ignore them. She was in glee over the final reward. "Forget the other stuff. If we catch this boy, you will accept us as your disciples. Too easy."

Requis began to beam, "Not just catch him, you have to defeat him in battle and make him admit he has been bested. But you would be a fool to underestimate the boy I have chosen as my first disciple. If I were you, I would set out immediately. Once I message this quest to the main HQ, adventurers from across the continent will flood here and try to gain these rewards. Especially those who wish to reach the mythical rank of world-ending."

Upon hearing this, the more reckless of the local adventurers who wanted to try their luck tossed away all hopes of completing this quest and headed back to their rooms.

Requis quite liked these adventurers who were weak but good kids at heart, so he was glad none were foolish enough to try. Sending them would only increase the arrogance of that boy. "Ok, everyone help Maria clean up this mess. I'm sure you three want to try your luck. So I'll tell you the crucial details. He is in the forbidden forest...  

The girl laughed out triumphantly, cutting off Requis. She was completely enamored by the opportunity to finally be accepted by Requis. "Haha, only we are worthy of being your disciples. Not only will we defeat the boy, but we will also make him our junior. We have already had our fill of meat. We are off master." The girl broke into a sprint jumping through a window running gods know where. With a bang, shattered glass flew everywhere.

 The youngest of the three siblings quickly followed her while waving and yelling, "Bye, old man." 

Kentaro, on the other hand, remained. Asking the most needed information, "Where is the boy located, and what does he look like?"

Requis, who had a headache coming on, told which cave to find Haruto and gave a short description of his characteristics.

Kentaro bowed in apology twice, once for his sister and another for the brother. He ran out through a door, making sure to close it behind himself.