“FASTER!” Yuki barked as the three ran through the rain. It had been this same routine for five days. Train, eat, sleep, and repeat. It seemed that Yuki did not understand the word “rest” or she simply forgot its meaning. Either way, the three subjected to her draconian methods did not find it helpful or amusing in the slightest.

“Yuki… can we get some rest? We’ve been at this for five days straight… We ran the equivalent of the distance between the Hinterlands and Yggdrasil,” Embla said, collapsing to her hands and knees.

“If you want to beat Kaguya and Celestial Force, do you think that this current level of skill and strength is enough? Kaguya was the personal retainer of the Princess of Alfheim and therefore, strong enough to beat all of you with her hands tied behind her back!” Yuki said.

“Yeah, your retainer,” Pandora mumbled.

“She’s doing it again,” Embla whispered.

It was one thing that they all noticed. Every time Yuki talked about the Princess, she always talked about it as if it were a different person.

“Lazy, all of you!” she said, turning away.

Red sighed and watched as his best friend stomped back into the house.

“Her mood’s become really bad in the last couple of days,” Cal said.

“Like I said, Yuki and her parents didn’t leave off on a good note. They wanted one thing for Yuki and she wanted something else,” Red said.

“Ahhhh! Let’s go inside before we get sick!” Embla said, getting up.

“You have mud everywhere,” Cal said.

“And?” she looked at him confused.

“Right… I forgot you’re used to this,” he said.

“Doesn’t mean that I don’t know that I have to wash up. Look at this!” she held her hands out.

Cal leaned back and pushed her arms down. “I get it! I get it! You don’t need to shove it in my face!”

“Stop stalling you two and let’s go inside already,” Pandora said, standing on the porch with Red.

“Annalise, give us the hardest mission on your board,” Yuki said, standing in front of the counter.

“Um… define hardest,” she replied.

“The most difficult quest that we can get that’s not already taken,” Yuki said.

“Um, there’s this. I haven’t put it up on the notice board yet,” Annalise said, handing her a paper.

“Sabyrs? This close to Yggdrasil?” Embla asked.

“They escaped from a circus on its way to one of the villages. The locals are calling for a party to wipe them out because the Circus Master is refusing to recapture them. This request was supposed to go on the board but if you want, I can ring it up for you,” Annalise said.

“Is… Is this the most difficult quest you have on you?” Pandora asked.

“It’s this or another search and return quest,” the clerk replied.

“We’ll just take this quest,” Yuki said, grabbing the paper.

“I’ll register it and you can be off. It’s in a small farming town outside of Yggdrasil.” Annalise registered the party for the quest.

“Let’s go.” Yuki turned around and quietly walked out of the Guildhouse, leaving her team standing there for a few minutes.

“Yuki, can’t we take a short break? You’ve been running us into the ground all morning,” Pandora said, panting as they walked along the path towards the village. It had been approximately two hours since they left and Pandora was beginning to feel the pain.

The location of their quest was not so far from Yggdrasil that it required them to take a train to their destination. It was a mere three hour walk towards the town and half an hour by carriage ride going at full speed. Embla pulled a water bottle from her pack and handed it to Pandora.

“Thanks.” She grabbed the bottle and drank half of it in an instant.

“It’s just a quick animal control quest. We’ll be back and you four can go rest or whatever,” Yuki said.

Pandora sighed and placed the bottle in her pack.

“So let’s talk about the quest,” Red said, steering the conversation away from Yuki. “Embla, you’ve killed Sabyrs lots of times before where do they usually hang out once they’re free?”

“Free? You act like I’ve been dealing with these things my entire life. But to answer your question, they typically hide in places like caves or ruins. Sabyrs typically hunt in packs too. And since the circus has about… five sabyrs in their inventory, right Yuki?” Embla looked towards her silent white haired leader.

“There are five.” was the response that Embla got.

“Right, there are five so we need to be careful. Sabyrs are ambush hunters and have multiple hearts. If you get bit, we need to apply healing magic on you immediately or else you’ll bleed out,” she explained.

The gravel path crunched under their feet as they approached the village. The village in question was located in a nondescript place outside of Yggdrasil. It was one of the farming villages that sustained itself and the entire metropolis just mere kilometers away with food. Surrounding the village were large stone structures that have stood there seemingly since the beginning of eternity. The presence of moss and plant life further conveyed their age as the nature fought to reclaim what was once theirs.

“Wow, what a scenic place for a circus!” Embla clapped her hands together silently.

“Reminds us of home. Lots of wood. Lots of ruins. Everyone knowing everyone,” Cal said. His voice oozed with nostalgia.

“Yeahhh, they have that small stone arch sticking out of the ground too over there. Look Cal!” Pandora pointed towards a ruined arch.

“Yeah, yeah, I see it,” he said, smiling at his sister.

“Look, I can see the circus tent,” Red said, looking at a large tent in the distance.

The large red tent with white stripes was the most outlandish structure within this homely setting. It was so foreign that they had no difficulty in locating it. The festive flags and decorations could be seen across the entire village.

“We should stay here for a few days and enjoy the circus. I haven’t been to one since I was a child,” Embla said.

“No. We don’t have time. We still have to prepare for the tournament or did you forget? You three were the ones that called for this,” Yuki said, not even bothering to glance at them.

The three she mentioned indirectly remained silent, opting to look out instead at the endless fields of gold. How much wheat was harvested could only be imagined.

“How much longer until we reach the village?” Pandora asked.

“Half an hour.”

And so thirty minutes came and went. By the time they arrived, most of the party wanted to collapse on the ground due to sore feet. Yuki kept walking down the dirt road that ran through the village, talking to the locals.

Red stayed behind, looking down at his collapsed party mates with some worry.

“I’ve walked for long periods of time but I’ve never ever not rested before.” The black haired girl sat on one of the public benches in the village. Her weary red eyes looked out at the children running around with balloons.

“I envy their youth,” Pandora said with her hands on her chin.

“You’re only seventeen,” Cal said.

“The locals told me about the problem,” Yuki said, walking back towards them. “They told us that the Sabyrs are causing lots of problems and killing off a lot of their livestock. We need to talk to the Ringmaster to see if the circus wants them dead or alive. Embla, are you good at capturing animals?”

“I have some experience but I’m better at killing them than I am catching them,” she replied.

“That’s good enough. Let’s go.”

“Wait, we just got here. Can’t we get something to eat?” Pandora asked.

“... Fine.” Yuki sighed. “I’ll go ask around to see where their tavern is and we can grab a bite.”

“We need to do something about this before she kills us from exhaustion,” Cal said.

“Excuse me but do you know where we can find the ringmaster?” Yuki asked, talking to one of the booth operators. It was just her and Red now. The others stayed behind at the tavern to get some much needed food and Red was the only one who opted to go with her.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t have waited for them?” Red asked.

“We’ll tell them when we get back okay? For now, let’s just focus on the quest.” Yuki followed after the booth operator as she beckoned for the two to follow.

“You know that eventually, you’ll have to confront your mother right? This won’t end until you two talk. Like it or not, you’re still the Pr-”

“Drop it. I’m not in the mood to talk about my grievances with Mom. Mom and I have different views on what I should be. I don’t want to live in her shadow anymore than I have to and be doomed to just be her copy,” Yuki said, sending Red a sideways glance.

If Red were any of the other party members, he would’ve cowed underneath that stare and remained quiet. However, Red was not them. He had known Yuki far longer than any of them had.

“I’m just saying this because you’re taking out your frustrations on them. Why are you training them so hard to the point of collapse?” Red asked.

Yuki chose not to answer his question. Instead, she focused on the path ahead, not wishing to continue the conversation. Red sighed.

She’s going to ignore any question I ask now. He walked after her, hands in his pocket. His red reptilian eyes scanned his surroundings. It was rather busy and it brought back memories. Images of him and Yuki running around the Summer Festival and the Feast of Rebirth came to the forefront of his mind.

“We should really stay for the circus after this. It’d be nice to get a break, don’t you think?” Red asked.

Yuki’s shoulders tensed at his words. He reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s just the two of us. Don’t act so stiff.”

“I… I’ll think about it,” she said. Her face had a slight red hue to it. Yuki dared not show Red this face. It was too embarrassing for her.

“Ma’am. The Ringmaster is just inside this tent,” the booth operator called out to them. She opened the tent flap.

The two walked inside. This tent wasn’t the main tent from the looks of it. This was the tent where they held the show animals. It was large, far larger than the other tents they had passed. It had to be to house some of the large beasts they had inside. Yuki and Red looked to their right and saw a direwolf.

The large beast appeared to look like any regular wolf. However, there were key differences. Its fur was the purest of silver, gleaming like the full moon. It stood at least half of Red’s height. Considering that Red’s height was at least 2 meters, the wolf before them was extremely imposing.

The wolf glowered at them as they passed by, displaying its rows of bone-crushing teeth and serrated claws that it unsheathed from its paws. It made no growl but sought to intimidate them with sheer majesty.

“I think that’s him,” Red said.

Yuki turned to look at the pot-bellied man dressed in an annoying shade of red. His beard extended to his mid-chest. He wore a monocle on his left eye. His eyes appeared weary as did the rest of his person. The ringmaster turned to look at them, showing his slightly aged skin and graying hair. Yet despite the obvious signs of physical aging, the man displayed an exuberant amount of youth with each step he took.

Upon reaching them, the man politely held his hand out. Yuki reached out and shook it firmly, earning a jovial laugh from the man. It was a laugh that came from the belly she could tell.

“Ye must be the adventurers who accepted me commission. Is it just the two of you? I specifically requested at least three for this job,” the man said.

“Um, no. The rest of our party went to gather supplies Mister…”

“Oh Freya in Heaven, I forgot. I am Egil. But people around here call me Old Egil One-Hand since…” he held up the hand that Yuki shook. The hand immediately dissolved into water before reforming back into a hand. “Lost me hand in a fishing accident.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. My name is Shirayuki Honokami. This is my fellow party member, Red Magdaros. We’ll introduce our other party members later if that’s alright with you,” Yuki said.

“Tis fine. If the laddies need to get their supplies, then this old man can understand. Twas once an adventurer me-self til I got into the circus business.”

“About that, you said that you had an entire pack of sabyrs break out?” Red asked.

“Aye. Nasty little buggers. Damn cats were new too. Got them shipped in from the north. Some animal training facility in Svartalheimr. Got scammed out of me money. I’m down almost a million bullions and no cats.” Egil stroked his beard.

“The quest doesn’t ask if you wanted them dead or alive specifically. Did you want them captured and returned?” Yuki asked.

“To be honest, while I’m mad about me money, there’s something off ‘bout them kitties,” Egil replied. “I think it be best if ye put them out of their misery.”

“Misery?” Red arched an eyebrow.

“Aye. A normal sabyr is bout up to here.” He held his hand out. The height he indicated was slightly above Yuki’s waist. “The sabyrs I bought were bigger. I think they were as big as you lass. Their fangs were longer too. A normal sabyr’s two front fangs are about half the size of me forearm but these beasts had two front fangs as big as me forearm.”

“That’s… not normal,” Yuki said. She had very limited knowledge of ecology. This was more Embla’s area of expertise as the hunter of the party.

“Aye so be careful when hunting them. If you can get them back here alive, then all’s well but, I’ll understand if ye have to kill them. I almost considered doing it me-self at some point.”

“Huh?” the two looked at him confused.

“Wait, wouldn’t that be a waste of money?” Red asked.

“I thought bout it. Them cats ain’t normal. I just had a gut feeling ya know. And now that they’re out, I don’t want them to come back and attack one of me performers. These people are like family to me,” Egil said.

Yuki and Red looked at each other before nodding. “We’ll exterminate them as asked. Now to clarify, there are five sabyrs in this pack right?” she asked.

“Aye but that number might change soon,” the ringmaster replied.

“Huh?” they both looked at the man. Change?

“The alpha is a female. She’s pregnant and almost to term. Of the five you will hunt, she’s the most aggressive. I kept her in a large space in expectation for birth but…” he pointed his thumb towards a cage.

It was their first time noticing this cage since they walked in. The cage was massive. It was almost as tall as some of the bookshelves in the Imperial Library at the Summit and was large enough to possibly contain an entire room, complete with fixtures. But that was not what drew their attention. What drew their attention were the metal bars that kept the beast it contained. They were mangled and chewed through, as if someone hacked away at it with a sword.

“It broke that?” Red asked.

“Mmm. The cage is pure reinforced steel. Yer gonna need to be as strong as a Nifelheim bear to bend that or at least be an adventurer.” Egil’s voice was no longer jovial. His voice was serious. “So I implore you two and your party. Kill it. If you can capture it, that’s good but I prefer that you kill it. For the safety of me crew.”

Yuki and Red kept staring at the mangled cage and nodded.