April 11th, 1798 13:48

After killing one of the Shades, Victor forced the whole party to return to the town, he was silent the whole way back carrying the dead body of the Shade with him, Rory and Natasha were walking behind him, the body of the Shade was dripping blood painting a scarlet thin line from the path of Victor, Natasha was looking at the corpse with joy, she had finally exacted revenge on them, Rory wasn't a stranger to the view of dead monsters but he also looked at the dead body and tried to figure out what has caused so much panic to Victor, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him, just another dead creature, he also spent a couple of minutes thinking about where to spend the reward, 20 gold pieces wasn't an amount to scoff at after all.

Victor, Rory and Natasha approached the northern gate of Magnus and there they saw the same guard, he was shocked to see Victor carrying back a dead Shade, even though that he saw them, he didn't ask any questions, Natasha flipped him a coin for turning a blind eye earlier, he took the coin and put it in his pocket, Victor and Rory were a bit surprised, they heard rumors of Magnus being a wealthy city, that all contradicted with the fact that Lazar claimed he was unable to compensate for the deaths of his citizens, that though crossed both Victor's and Rory's mind the moment they saw Natasha so casually giving away money. Then came the matter of their reward, what is Lazar's plan if they manage to bring back a number of dead monsters, how is he supposed to reward them if he claims that he has no money? For good or worse they decided to not discuss that while Natasha was with them. They made their way to Lazar's office.

The party arrived outside of the city hall, there stood Lazar who had heard of his niece's exploits from a couple of the people who saw her with the monster hunters.

"Is your whole purpose to drive me insane? What is the matter with you two? How dare you take my niece along with you to that God-forsaken place?"

Lazar was fuming with anger as he spoke, Rory's first thought was that he might deny them a reward at this point, Victor, on the other hand, ignored everything and asked the mayor to walk inside his office with them. Despite the fact that he was enraged with Victor, he complied for now and turned to speak to Natasha,

"I know this is your doing! I have told you repeatedly not to leave the village. How did you manage to trick them into taking you with them anyway?"

Natasha was shocked, she had an entirely different idea of what would happen when she came back, she thought that her uncle would for once recognize her desire to protect others and would actually be happy to find out that she came back with a slain Shade. He gave her a look filled with both anger and disappointment, Rory then decided to explain the situation to Lazar while they were walking to his office.

"You see, Mr.Barnes, it's not that she tricked us. Victor isn't the kind of man to keep others from harm's way, he simply doesn't care and I... well I also support his thinking... and Natasha's."

Natasha's face sparkled with joy again as she heard those words, she gave Rory a sincere smile as she heard him spout these words and defending her against Lazar. As of now, Lazar has no way of replying to that, he simply followed Victor into his office, as soon as the door opened they saw two other men waiting inside along with Lazar's secretary, when Victor was the one who entered the room first, the two men identified themselves,

"Hello, you must be Mr.Hill and Mr.Grant, I am the priest in charge of the town's church, F.Lucian White. Nice to meet you."

Father Lucian was the priest in charge of the town's church, he was the one who along with Lazar counted the victims of every attack, lately he has had much work performing the ceremonies for all those who have died, he didn't have time to actually leave the church and his office in a while since all the trouble began. As soon as Father Lucian finished with his introduction, the other man stood up and began to speak,

"Nice to meet you as well, my name is Diego Pearson, I am the sheriff of this town and the captain of the town's guards. I must say I am surprised to see that you have actually killed one of them in the couple days that you have spent here."

Diego Pearson, he was a tall man with long ginger hair and a big mustache, he wore a very fine uniform that was clearly hand-made and looked very expensive, he also carried a very nice blade in his belt, a cutlass with an ornate handle decorated with various carvings. As they informed Lazar, they waited in his office for him to return, it was time of a scheduled council meeting but when Lazar heard that Natasha was absent, he didn't go to his office at all, he just ran to the north gate and waited outside the town hall, he forgot about the meeting and thus he never really went inside to check on anything.

After the two men greeted them, Victor threw the dead body of the Shade on the floor, the blood dripping from it made a very big stain on the fine carpet that Lazar had in his office, he raised his finger and pointed at Victor ready to give him another lecture, he missed his chance though as soon as Victor addressed the sheriff with a question,

"What do you have to say about this? Mr.Pearson."

Victor asked Diego while pointing at the dead creature.

He got kind off confused by Victor's question and his facial expression gave it away, Victor then decided to be more clear,

"Is this one of your monsters? If so then why? Why was it so easy to kill?"

Everyone in the room looked at Victor and had the same question,

"Easy?"

They all asked and Victor then proceeded to answer,

"Let me tell you, one of them individually isn't that much of a threat, what makes these creatures deadly is the fact that they operate in a pack, they attack at night and the little lighting in the town's streets makes it hard for anyone to fight back, my question is, why? Why haven't you already sent out a squad to clear them all out during the day? Are your guards just a couple of untrained idiots, Mr.Pearson?"

Diego was clearly offended by Victor's remark, quite a logical observation but something was strange, Diego replied with sadness and anger in his voice,

"You think we didn't try? What do you get by spouting such nonsense Mr.Hill? Do you have any idea how many brave men lost their lives!? You know nothing of our struggles, Victor Hill, I didn't expect a person of your status to be able to understand but let me tell you this. Don't mock my men or me again or I will be forced to kill you where you stand. Consider it a reward for your achievement today that my blade remained sheathed."

Diego walked outside the room and before he closed the door he turned to face Lazar and tell him,

"I didn't think you would be associated with such people, Lazar, I hope our next meeting will be held without this man."

He closed the door and left, now with the still bleeding corpse on the floor, Rory turned his head and extended his hand, expressing his desire to be paid. Lazar walked to his desk and pulled a pouch with gold from one of the drawers, he tossed the pouch to Rory and then sat down at his desk. Since Victor angered the sheriff with his first impression, the priest took it as a sign to also bid his farewell and return later, he placed his hand on Victor's shoulder and told him,

"You have angered Mr.Pearson very much, I would advise you not to do it again, he is a man with a lot of power and you wouldn't want to have him against you, also there have been multiple people who went to the forest before you, Mr.Hill, sadly they all met the same fate, congratulations on killing one of them but don't get overconfident or you might find yourself in a dire situation, my blessings."

After the priest also left, Lazar placed both his hands on the desk, he lit a smoke and raised his head to face Victor and Rory,

"You have been paid for your services, leave my office. As for you, Natasha, go home and we will talk in private."

Victor and Rory left with their payment in hand and decided to head back to the pub where they were prior to their trip, they both sat down and ordered a steak meal, since the hunting didn't go so well and there was a shortage of meat in the market, the prices for steak were also high, the staff was delighted to prepare them a meal like that cause for them it meant good money.

April 11th, 14:58

Victor and Rory were eating their food at the local pub, the place was a bit empty since most people would rather eat at their own homes, there weren't many people around, they have some quiet time now and Rory decided to ask Victor what was on his mind.

"What's going on?"

Victor raised his head from eating and shared his thoughts with Rory,

"I figured as soon as that man introduced himself as the guard's captain, a creature like that would pose a threat to a normal guard, the one that I killed was wounded, that's why it was alone."

Rory then got onto something,

"I see, do you think the rest of the pack abandoned it because it was wounded?"

Victor replied,

"Yes, there is another thing, remember what we were told? We were told that there was no man who ever fought them, no one could give us actual information about them, why would they keep it a secret that a whole squad got killed? Something like that would bring honor to their families, as such, why is Pearson keeping it a secret from the public? I couldn't get that out of him."

Rory's eyes widened then,

"That's why you provoked him? To get information? I thought you were being your usual shitty self."

Victor didn't really care about Rory's remark, instead, he continued,

"There is also another thing. Even at perfect shape, one of these Shades wouldn't pose a threat. I cannot fathom the thought that so many monster hunters lost to them, the guard we met said that they also tried to hunt them during the day, yet the only one we saw was a deserted one, I first thought that it might have been a trap, then again it couldn't, if these things are active during the daylight they would have attacked us yesterday when we were laying down the branches and were defenseless, there is a pattern with them, they are being led by something, and that thing leading them has close if not comparable intelligence with that of a human."

Rory took a bite from his meal and asked with his mouth full,

"Do you think they are just some kind of minions? Maybe a witch or a sorcerer?"

Victor checked around to see if there is someone nearby and as soon as he was certain that no one would hear, he replied to Rory's question,

"We can't rule out that possibility, now the question is, what did these people do to piss off a witch? Even if they are just some witches puppets, it doesn't make sense, I know for a fact that magic users and talisman wielders lost their lives in that forest, there have also been strong monster hunters who failed, if there is a witch, she must be the most powerful I have ever heard off."

Rory still munching on offered an idea,

"Do you think we should look for a sacrificial tree next time? Should I bring the oil with me?

A sacrificial tree is basically a witch's safety switch, even if her body is destroyed, if the sacrificial tree still stands then her body would just reform, the only way to kill a witch is to burn her sacrificial tree first, since the witch can feel it when her tree is under attack, she will come to defend it and show herself, for a monster hunter that means two birds with one stone. It is a known fact amongst the monster hunters and one cannot be careful enough. The tree itself is an easy target and can be recognized by specific carvings around its bark, the only problem is that it is usually guarded by the witch herself and her minions. Since Victor knows that there have been others before him who tried, he doesn't really want to implement conventional tactics to this case, he has to gather more information and come up with a better plan.

Victor told Rory his theory that normal tactics may have been how the other hunters died and decided to abandon that idea, Rory then couldn't help but ask,

"What should we do then? I mean, if there is a way to stop all of the monsters at once, imagine the reward we would get, we could even kill the Shades, bring them back to get the gold from each kill and then reveal the way to stop them for good and get an even better reward, we are going to be rich, Victor."

Victor sighed at Rory's idea and replied,

"Why would you want to be rich?"

Rory clearly confused by that question said,

"What do you mean? I could finally build my own farm, get a beautiful woman to marry me and never have to fight again, just imagine the bliss of knowing that your future is secure, you could even buy land and become a lord or open your own shop or hotel and make even more money."

Victor then said with a straight face as he usually does,

"I am not a lord, I am a monster hunter, that's what I do."

Rory exhaled and replied,

'I guess you never change, we should figure out where to stay during the night, I don't want to be killed in my sleep by one of those ugly things, we don't know if there is going to be an attack tonight."

Victor and Rory managed to get their reward finally, they spend the first of their earnings on a luxurious meal and they plan to use the rest of the money for accommodation for the night, without figuring their next step they decided to wait until next morning to make another move. They know very little as of now and Victor's intuition tells him to be careful of what lies ahead.