The three men soon entered a toll road that led away from Irien and towards Stoll.

Rowan crossed his arms in front of his chest before he leaned further back. He looked at Edin. "You know, it's quite cool that we picked you up from Arden Mægenstern's castle," he remarked. "What were you doing there?"

Edin gave a bewildered look. "Sorry, what do you mean by that?"

"What were you doing at Arden Mægenstern's castle? Did you have an appointment with her or was it just a pick-up spot?"

"Oh. I live there."

Rowan dropped his jaw. "You live in the same house as Arden Mægenstern?"

"Uh, yes."

Rowan paused, still breathless from disbelief. He then asked, "So do you just stay there the whole time, or do you only go there when you're not at the academy?"

"What academy?"

"All guardians go to an academy before they're recruited. I went to the one in Ellum."

"Oh, I didn't go to any academy."

"You didn't?"

Edin shook his head.

"Why?"

"Arden said that I was too old to enter one, something along those lines, so she mentored me instead."

"She mentored you too?" Rowan exclaimed. "I didn't know she'd have time to mentor anyone. I didn't even know she lived with anyone."

"Arden told me that it was because Edin lost his memories," Norman interjected. "She said that she found Edin lying almost dead in the middle of nowhere and rescued him. After she found out that he lost his memories, she took him in and spent the next few years trying to bring them back. She also started mentoring him once she found out that he was a gifted. Is that true, Edin?"

"It is true," Edin confirmed.

Rowan eyed him curiously. "So, you don't remember anything before she found you?"

"Nothing."

"As in, nothing?"

"Well, I do remember my name and age, but that's the only thing I remember. Everything else is... foggy."

"D'you remember your family name?"

Edin shook his head. "I don't remember if I even have a surname."

"So people just call you Edin? That's it?"

"That's it."

Rowan tilted his head in curiosity. Edin was not like anyone else he had encountered. Edin had no surname, no memories, no formal schooling—probably no friends or family as well. Although Edin might be friends with Arden, Rowan thought it to be unlikely. Mentor, yes. Friend? Perhaps not. Arden was the kind of person one would be hesitant to befriend, not because she was immoral or disagreeable, but because she was aloof and frigid. The fact that she was more powerful than anyone in the realm also gave her an air of superiority—not the snobbish kind, but the kind that diffused from every figure from a higher stratum. Even her fellow seniors held her in higher regard despite being of the same rank as her. He could only imagine what kind of life Edin had lived under Arden's care.

"So, what's Senior Arden's castle like?" Rowan inquired. "What's it like living in there?"

"It's quite big. There are a lot of rooms inside—"

"I heard that she has rooms overflowing with gold and diamonds. Is it true?"

"Uh, I didn't see any rooms overflowing with gold or diamonds. Maybe she has in her private quarters."

"Have you been there? To her private quarters?"

Edin shook his head. "She doesn't let me in there."

"So where did you live—I mean, in her castle, like which specific part? How big was your room?"

"It's pretty big. So her castle has five towers, and three of them each have a bedroom, bathroom, study, and a couple of other rooms. One of them's my quarters."

"You have a whole tower to yourself?"

"Yeah—"

"Wait, what's she like as a mentor? Is she strict?"

"I wouldn't say strict, but you wouldn't want to mess with her."

And they spent the next hour or so in a similar fashion: Rowan bombarding Edin with questions and Edin answering every one of them, with the former sometimes interrupting the latter. Though Edin spoke far less than Rowan, he was far more fatigued. He had never spoken to anyone as chatty as him. To be fair, he had never really spoken to anyone. His conversations with Arden were often brief and out of obligation, and nearly everything she had told him was either informative or instructional.

As for his interactions with other human beings, those, too, were less on the social side. The longest time he had spoken to anyone other than Arden was when he was dining at a restaurant and a coquettish waitress tried to appeal to his venereal appetite. It did not work. He was oblivious to flirtations, and as such, did not see her advances as advances—rather, as creepy instances. Long and leisurely conversations were foreign to him, and he was certainly not prepared for them.

He wondered if everyone else was as talkative as the man sitting next to him and if his taciturn mentor was simply an outlier. Edin soon understood why Arden spent the majority of her time alone—replying to Rowan was wearing him out faster than he liked.

At last, Norman intervened. "Rowan, don't you think you might be tiring out your partner? You've been asking him questions since we left nearly thirty minutes ago."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Rowan shifted in his seat. "Anyway, why not you ask me questions?"

Edin contemplated whether he could ask him to zip his mouth shut, but knew better than to tell him that. Instead, he asked, "So what's your power?"

"Oh, me? I have two powers. I can heal people and I can control metal. How cool's that?"

"Very cool."

An awkward silence filled the air between them, and Edin had no intention of clearing it. The last thing he wanted was another half-hour of interrogation.

"We're near," Norman announced.

Edin leaned to his right and looked out the window. The area around them was a dull and dry desert, void of moisture and vegetation. Stoll loomed up ahead, encircled by a thin wire fence. Edin frowned from pity—though he thought Irien to be rather plain, at least its heart was bright and beautiful. Stoll appeared to have no such thing. Stoll was much smaller, much plainer, and had no grand buildings clustered in its center.

A short distance from Stoll was their workplace: a plain, cube-shaped post. It had windows on three of four sides, with the windowless wall facing the village. A gravel path looped around the post before it diverged into two paths: one towards Stoll and one going the opposite way. It was not the most attractive workplace, but beauty was unnecessary. Prettying a post would be pointless since it was always at risk of being wrecked by a horde of beasts.

The car slowed before halting next to the post. Norman unlocked the doors. After the three of them had gotten out of the car, Norman led the two to their station.

"Don't lose these." He gave each of them a key. "That's your key to work. Always remember to lock the door before you leave."

Edin pocketed his key while Norman used his own to unlock the door. He swung it open. "After you two."

Rowan strode through the door, and Edin followed him soon after. He looked around. The windowless wall was covered in screens and panels from top to bottom, while the windows on the three other walls stretched from the ceiling to the floor. There was not much furniture: there was a water dispenser in one corner, a narrow storage cabinet next to it, and a pair of rolling chairs in front of the panels. At the center was a small storage room, and attached to its side was a staircase to the second floor.

"Before we start, I'll need you two to go into the storage room and change into your work clothes."

Edin looked at Rowan and gestured. "You can go ahead."

Rowan then entered the room while Edin waited outside. He stood still across from his superior.

"Edin?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I know Rowan might've bothered you with a million questions on the way here, but mind if I ask one?"

"I don't mind."

"You were the non-guardian who slew a glæsseling on the outskirts of Irien a few weeks ago, correct?"

Edin nodded. "It was me."

"Hmph. Remarkable."

"Should I have left it to the guardians—"

"No, no, it's completely fine. The one who told me about the incident described the person as being blond, blue-eyed, and pale. The moment I saw you and found out you were living in Irien, I started wondering if you were the same person."

Edin gave a slow nod, unsure of how to respond.

"He described you as potentially very powerful, and also rather... bloodthirsty."

Edin flinched upon hearing the last word. The image of a red liquid reappeared in his head, and the insides of his mouth moistened. He kept a straight face.

Rowan emerged from the storage room, wearing the same uniform as the guardians Edin met in Irien: a form-flattering shirt, slim-fit pants, and black combat boots. However, Rowan's shoes had an iron band instead of a ribbon of gold.

Edin went inside the room and changed. He returned a minute later, sporting the same outfit.

Norman then produced two devices and held one of them up. "This is your work phone," he explained, showing them the screen. He unlocked it with a single swipe. "You can set up the password later. Don't think you can use this to slack off on duty; all the apps installed on this device are work-related. You'll probably use this one the most often"—he tapped an application—"it's called 'The Database' or simply 'The Base.' It lists every single beast species in existence, and every time you slay or encounter one, you'll record it here. Our pay's partially calculated on our records here since we're also paid for each kill, in addition to our monthly salary. Since you two chose to be paid immediately after every kill, it'll take up to three days for the money to appear in your bank account.

"The phone app"—he opened another application—"has shortcuts for important numbers. There's a button for calling backup just in case you two face more beasts than you can handle, there's one for medical emergencies, and one for HQ. You can still use the keypad to call other numbers for free, but don't use this as an excuse to talk to your girlfriend for three hours instead of doing your job. We know. Same thing goes for text messages.

"There are other features, but I won't explain them. You can find out on your own."

A soft click sounded as he pressed the lock button. He passed the phones to Edin and Rowan, who both pocketed their devices, and then toured them around the post. They first ascended to the upper floor. Unlike the lower floor, it had windows on all four sides, though those windows were far smaller—they reached from the ceiling to Edin's chest. Laundry machines leaned against the wall facing Stoll, and on its right was an open pantry and kitchenette. In the middle, directly above the storage room, was a small bathroom that contained a compact shower cubicle.

"Let's say you've just fought an intense battle, and now you have blood and filth all over you. You can clean yourself up in the bathroom." Norman gestured to the room. "That's also why we have the laundry machines there, to wash all your clothes when they get dirty. Speaking of clothes, do not go home in your work clothes. The last thing we want is for a beast to follow you home because it smelled its brother's scent on your shirt. Happened to a cadet recently."

"What if they're still clean?" Rowan asked.

"Even then. Whatever's for work stays at work. Your work phones, your work clothes, your work anything must remain in this post, and you can't bring them home or anywhere else except HQ or another station. It's a policy."

The three of them then toured the massive control panel, with its many screens, switches, buttons, and knobs.

"Each screen here shows a different area surrounding Stoll. Not just this side"—Norman gestured to the nearest window—"but on the other side of town, too. All sides of it. Luckily for you two, most beasts end up going near this side—that's why we built the post here—but there might be one lurking near the eastern side, about a twenty-minute run from here. Just so you don't rely too much on looking out the window.

"Alerts will ring every time the cameras detect a beast nearby, but don't rely solely on that. It's a warning, not an alarm to wake you up from your nap—yes, we've had recruits nap on the job. You still need to be alert at all times.

"You can zoom in to get a clearer picture of whatever's coming. See these?" Norman held one of the panel's joysticks and knobs. "You twist the knob to zoom in and out, and the joystick to direct the camera. Each screen has its own so take the time to be familiar with them."

After Norman explained the panel's main functions, he reached for the bottom compartment and opened it. Bags of brown powder were kept inside.

"That's for decomposing dead beasts." Norman pointed at the bags. "Most of it's packaged into packets. After you're done slaying, just rip one of these and sprinkle the powder all over the corpse. It'll turn into dust in a few seconds. Pro tip: try keeping at least one packet in your pocket. That way, you don't have to run inside to fetch some powder every time."

"After the body's decomposed, do we just leave it?" Rowan asked.

"Eh. Just leave it there."

Rowan nodded as he made a mental note.

Norman closed the compartment, strode towards the two, and patted them on the shoulder. "That's all you need to know. Good luck."

"Thanks, sir," Rowan said.

"Thank you, Senior Norman," Edin said at the same time.

Norman smiled. "If anything becomes too much to handle for you two, remember that you can always call for backup. Don't ever forget that."

And with that, he marched out the door and left the two recruits.