Having cleaned the blood off myself, I pulled my hood up and continued on to Lira's smithy. I couldn't hear the sound of metal being hammered at the moment, so I knocked on the sturdy front door of the smithy and called out to her.

Iris: "Hey, Lira, are you home? It's Iris, here to pick up my order."

After a moment, I heard heavy steps on the other side of the door, before it swung open to reveal Lira, showing a toothy smile.

Lira: "Yo, Iris- Wait, who the heck're ya?!" she said, looking shocked upon getting a good look at me. Well, I did look very different from yesterday. I stepped in past her and pulled my hood and mask off, hanging the mask from my neck.

Iris: "I really am Iris, you know. My new equipment came in today, so I changed. Anyway, is my weapon ready yet? If it isn't, I can hang around to help."

Lira shut the door and cleared her throat, recomposing herself. "Ah, yeah, 'is ready. I just finished on the finishing touches, take a look." she said as she returned to the counter at the back, and took out a bundle of cloth from under the table and placing it on the counter with a thunk. Unwrapping the cloth revealed a long, reinforced leather strap with a pair of parallel sheathes on one side. In the sheathes were two short swords similar to Ninjato, but a couple inches shorter. One of the swords had some kind of modified guard, while the other one missed a guard entirely in favor of a pair of rivets. Lira pulled then out the blades.

Lira: "I added a special feature that should come in handy for you. If you press the button in the hilt here, and clip in the rivets..." As she explained, she clicked in a hidden button on the hilt and clipped the rivets on the second blad into the modified guard of the first blade, and pulled down. The riveted blade pulled back, and the hilt slipped off and the blade sprung forward as the modified guard telescoped forward, connecting the two blades to form a full-length sword. Then she clicked the spare hilt into the bottom of the first. She then handed then handed the connected swords to me.

Lira: "When ya wanna disconnect them, click the button in the first hilt and the pistons will retract with the blade. How about giving it a name? If ya do, I'll give ya a discount."

A name huh? I disconnected the two blades and reattached the hilt. Then I put on the sheathes as i thought hard about it. "...Past and Future. That's their names."

Lira: "haaah~ Past & Future huh? Weird names for swords. Does It have some significance?" she said, leaning in curiously.

Iris: "...No, not especially. It just sounded cool to me." I said, sheathing the blades on my waist. It did have some...  It represented mine & Licht's relationship. Having our souls connected together, then growing together as one.

Licht: God, I hope we never have to talk about that. How embarrassing.

Iris: That's rude, I thought you'd appreciate the gesture

Licht: Well, I do, but its still embarrassing

I pouted in my head before looking up at Lira. "So, how much for the blades?" I asked. She leaned back and crossed her arms for a moment before raising up 3 fingers. "3 Brass, that's all. And if the damage ain't too severe, I'll maintenance your blades free uh charge too. Take good care of 'em."

Iris: "I will, thanks Lira. Ah, and I would like a set of throwing knives. I don't need a strap for them. How much?"

Lira: "I've got a set of 6 here for 1600. How about it?"

She took out a set of throwing knives from under the counter, also wrapped up in cloth. She spread them out side-by-side and I took one in my hands. It was small and light, I was concerned with the fact I had never used any, but they would come in useful. I put forward the 10 lead and strapped them to my thigh under my dress. I was now fully equipped. The thought made me let out a slight, confident smile. Lira spoke up while watching me.

Lira: "You're becoming a real Femme Fatale, at this rate. Drop-dead beauty and style, on top of skills that could kill a man in seconds. I pity yer future husband~" she said teasingly.

I scoffed before replying "A husband? no way that'll ever happen." I shook my head, I was too busy getting stronger to care about romance.

Lira: "Ohh, not interested in a husband eh~? All the poor guys. Maybe the women have a chance then? You certainly give off a cool, sharp aura the ladies like."

Iris: "Huh? Women...? Stop joking around already, Lira. I'll be off to the guild now, since I've been racking up expenses."

Lira chuckled and sent me off. I left the shop and put on my hood and mask, leaving towards the guild. Seriously, why all the romance talk? I shook my head at it. Several minutes later I arrived at the guild and walked in. I would keep my equipment on in here, since there are a lot of untrustworthy people. There were some curious murmurs and looks from the hunters this time around, and I approached the request board, looking at what was posted. Material hunts, Goblin Investigation, monster subjugation... Goblin investigation? The details were to hunt for goblins in the vicinity of the city. I guess my report triggered a request from the guild to appear. There was also a request to patrol the outer walls and subjugate any monsters in the area.

Seems like monster attacks have been increasing. Then a thought came to me... I grabbed both the patrol request and Goblin investigation request, and brought them to the counter.

Iris: "Hello, I'd like to take on these two requests please." The receptionist this time was a woman, she looked familiar.

Recep F: "Hello. Patrol and the investigation right? ...Wait, Miss Iris? Is that you?" She said, leaning in and looked surprised. Was this Herra? 

Iris: "Herra, right? Sorry I was late on the report. Thanks for telling the staff about me."

Herra: "No worries. I see you've gotten an upgrade with your equipment, It looks great on you? Now, the requests right?... Here, approved. The patrol time is for 4 hours, so once you complete the required time you can come back for the reward, which is 4 coppers at base. Every hour more than required gets you an extra copper, and monsters you kill earn you a bonus lead for every head you collect. As for the goblin investigation, we'll pay 5 brass if you come back with new information. That's all for the details."

Iris: "Thank you for the hard work, I'll be heading out now." I said, turning to leave before I was stopped by Herra. "Alone? I know what happened last time, but going out in a party will be much safer for you, Iris. Would you like to request a party to join?"

Iris: "I appreciate the concern, but I'll be more comfortable solo. Don't worry, I'll be alright"

She looked concerned but sighed and nodded. "Have a safe hunt then, Iris."

"I will." I responded, and left the building. Then I went further north following the Main Thoroughfare and arrived at the main gate soon enough. I showed them my tag and I was let through, this time on my own. I stepped through the gate, peering out into the smoky blackness of the Frontier. The gates slowly closed behind me. It really was a different experience, going out on your own as opposed to with a party. But it was better this way. I wouldn't bring other people down with me.

I walked up to one of the guards stationed here. The guards here had grey and red uniforms on with a grey bowl helmet and a steel breastplate. The ones here were also armed with a longsword and a steamrifle. Longer variants of Steamguns that propelled larger bullets with more force, extending range and power at the cost of size. They also wore half-face gasmasks.

Iris: "Hey, mister. How many people are patrolling the walls right now? And, which side did the last hunters go to?"

Guard: "You're a hunter? Last group went left about an hour ago. As for how many, I think 3 groups went left and 2 went right."

Iris: "Thanks, good luck out here mister."

Guard: "You too, take care of yourself out there little lady."

I departed for the right side then, going east. I kept my hand on my steamgun, which hung from a holster on my left waist. Past & Future were sheathed on my Right, while I had my bag on my back left. I felt weighed down from all the luggage, but I also felt prepared.

Soon I left the light of the gate and was walking through the dark wasteland of stone, the only light coming from the light pollution of the city. That said, I could actually see quite well in the dark now thanks to my Nightvision skill.

Occasionally I would here the skittling and scuttling of things in the rocks, and would spot small animals or creatures. I saw plenty of those centipede things I saw getting roasted in that eatery I found the other day. So far though, no monsters.

It had been close to an hour since I started my patrol, and I stopped in my tracks, looking out into the darkness. I could see mana shapes moving in the distance. Close to 10. They looked like goblins. They sure were plentiful, much like scumbag adults.

???: "Hey missy, you alright out here all on your own?"

I looked toward the voice with a cold gaze. Thankfully the darkness would hide my expression. There was a group of 4 rookie hunters following me from before. I guess they saw me as an easy target and followed me until they were sure there was nobody to interrupt them.

D-rank Swordsman: "If you pay us a fee of all your money, we'll protect you till you get back~"

There was the swordsman who seemed to be the leader, a warrior using half-plate with a heavy shield and axe, an engineer, and a ranger. The ranger had an Arbalest on his back. 

Iris: "...If you keep fooling around, you'll die, you know?"

The goblins carefully and quietly approached as I masked my presence slightly. As a result, they focused more on the party instead of me.

D-rank Swordsman: "Hah~? We'll die, you say? Sounds like the little miss here doesn't understand her position-!" he pulled out his sword and slowly walked closer to me while making a racket. His friends in turn also equipped their weapons. I removed my gun and rested my hand on Future, the second blade and the one that rested on top of Past. I could now hear the whispers in the dark, but it seemed they weren't paying attention in the slightest. The man kept babbling and making threats, and when they were about several meters away, they struck. The engineer at the back of their formation was pounced on by a pair of goblins and screamed in pain as they ripped into him.

The party whipped around in shock as they tried to fight off the goblins that started ambushing the party of bandits. Three goblins saw through my presence concealment and charged at me. I whipped my gun up and instantly blew a hole through the first goblin, drawing my blade quickly and decapitating the next. The third goblin couldn't realize what happened and froze, so I also shot it in the head. The hunter party already killed 4 of the other 7 that ambushed them so I concealed my presence and rushed behind them, shooting the heavy warrior in the back of the head as i stab the ranger in the back, dropping them both. Now the Swordsman was all that was left as he fought 4 goblins. He bellowed in rage when he saw me kill his comrades, but I backed away and let him get taken down by the goblins. 

When I judged him to be incapacitated, I swiftly dispatched the remaining goblins and holstered my gun, standing over the man who was looking up at me with rage, bleeding out.

Iris: "I told you you would die." I said, flicking off the blood from my shortsword and sheathing it.

Swordsman: "...Go... Fuck y-...Yourself..." He managed to hiss that out despite hacking up blood. I got down and dug my claws into his neck.

Iris: "Die, and become my nourishment." I empowered my claws and tore his throat out, the blood spraying everywhere. Maybe something was becoming twisted inside me, as the bloodspray became refreshing for me.

I discarded the flesh and cleaned the blood off my new equipment. After looting the enemies and collecting some data on the goblins that had black spots on them, I left, continuing my patrol.