Asuna settled in quickly. With a professional moving company helping her, the process was naturally very efficient.
"Alright, you can all head back now."
After the room had been arranged, Asuna looked around at the neatly furnished space with satisfaction and waved to the bodyguards who had accompanied her.
"Yes, Miss."
The bodyguard nodded respectfully before adding,
"Oh, Miss, there's one more thing. Madam said that once you've settled in, she hopes you'll give her a call."
"I understand."
"Then we'll be leaving. If anything comes up, please don't hesitate to call us. We'll be renting a place nearby."
"Mhm."
Once everyone had left the room, Asuna looked around again before smiling at Sato.
"Master, I'll be in your care from now on."
"Ah? Right."
Sato snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. Then, somewhat curiously, he asked,
"To be honest, I'm a little curious. How did you convince your parents to let you come here by yourself?"
"That..."
Asuna sat down on the sofa and smiled at him.
"Master, why don't you sit down first?"
After Sato took a seat, Asuna said helplessly,
"Master, you didn't actually think my parents knew nothing about this, did you?"
This? What did she mean?
Sato was momentarily stunned, but a flash of realization quickly crossed his mind. He finally noticed the point he had been overlooking all this time.
"You mean... your parents have always known about the Hero Association and abilities?"
"Mhm."
Asuna nodded gently, a complicated expression appearing on her beautiful face.
Sato immediately understood.
That had been the piece he had kept overlooking.
The Hero Association was an enormous organization, with branches of all sizes spread across the world.
Asuna's family owned one of Japan's leading electronics companies, a major corporation that ranked among the country's top businesses. It was impossible for the people running such a company to know absolutely nothing about the Hero Association.
Sitting on the sofa, Asuna let out a soft sigh.
"Actually, they knew everything from the moment I awakened. I was the only one who had been kept in the dark."
"Yesterday, while I was still trying to figure out how to tell them, they exposed it immediately. In fact, they knew far more than I did."
"Master, you probably don't know this."
Suddenly, Asuna looked up at Sato with a smile.
"Our family's company is actually the one that manufactures all of this equipment. The designs come from one of the Hero Association's scientists."
"Then your family has quite a deep connection with them."
Sato nodded thoughtfully before asking,
"So... they know about me too?"
"Mhm."
Asuna nodded without trying to hide it. She looked at Sato with obvious surprise.
"But I never imagined you were this incredible, Master. You're actually one of the S-rank powerhouses!"
"Those are super experts who are rare even on a global scale. Excluding those in secluded cultivation and those who have left Earth to explore other worlds, there are fewer than thirty S-rank powerhouses still active on Earth."
"Well..."
Sato's expression suddenly became rather subtle. He coughed twice.
"Actually... there are quite a lot of powerful people around here."
"Hm?"
Asuna looked at him in confusion.
"I won't go into it now. You'll understand these things when the time comes."
Sato sighed inwardly.
To the outside world, S-rank and even A-rank experts were incredibly rare.
Around here, however, they were practically everywhere. There was nothing unusual about them.
"By the way, do you know what your ability is now?"
"Mhm. After I went to the Hero Association for testing, they said it's Light Element Manipulation."
"Light?"
Sato looked at Asuna in surprise.
Seeing his reaction, Asuna asked somewhat nervously,
"Is... there something wrong with it?"
"Not at all. On the contrary, it's an excellent ability."
Sato put away his surprised expression and spoke seriously.
More importantly, he happened to be extremely proficient in using the light element.
After all, the ability he used most often was the Glint-Glint Fruit. Its applications were very similar to Asuna's power.
Sato pulled up Asuna's status card.
Name: Asuna
Job: Light Elementalist
Race: Human
Age: 17
Threat Level: C
After reading through her status card, Sato nodded silently.
As expected, the Hero Association's assessment had been correct.
However, Asuna's initial rating was surprisingly high.
Normally, most people started at F-rank. Those with better talent usually started at E-rank.
Yet Asuna had begun at C-rank.
"Can you use elementalization yet?"
He asked Asuna.
She looked completely puzzled.
"Elementalization? What's that?"
"Looks like you can't yet. Then that's the first thing I'll teach you. Once you've mastered it, your rating should rise to at least B+, maybe even A-."
"It's that amazing?"
Asuna's face showed just the right amount of surprise.
Sato merely smiled.
Elementalization was an extremely practical ability. It granted near immunity to ordinary physical attacks.
However, this world's supernatural system was vast and incredibly complex, with countless strange abilities and classes.
Because of that, elementalization alone couldn't provide an overwhelming advantage. At most, it could raise someone to around A-rank.
But if Asuna also mastered other offensive techniques, she would undoubtedly be able to establish herself firmly among the A-ranks.
"Then it's settled. I'll start teaching you from now on."
"Yes, Master."
Sato: "..."
He shifted awkwardly in his seat.
"You should really stop calling me Master. It still feels pretty strange to hear."
"I see..."
A trace of disappointment flashed deep within Asuna's eyes before she smiled softly again.
"Then I'll call you Senpai."
"Mhm."