Crck!

A branch breaks causing me to flinch alarmedly,

….!?

A bird continues trotting about it minding its own business,

(Thought someone made a move there)

I can’t help but feel alarmed as tension builds between us and the Hunters,

Though the numbers are effectively two to seven, I still remain wary of what our potential attackers might have up their sleeves….

“Do you know these people?” Pinoki is asking Claude,

“You could say that” he replies,

“They were once members of the guild,

Adrik and Marisha,

How do you guys know them?”

“We don’t actually, just happened to, er, run into them, on our way to Furlheim,” Pinoki explains,

“Ahh yes!” Marisha chirps,

A woman with long dark violet hair, wrapped neatly in a bun, some wild hairs fall down on her fine but menacing face, her expressive pale brown eyes stare intimidatingly at us, and if that was her intention,

It’s working.

“They got to witness me eradicate Samo firsthand,” she recounts,

“So, he isn’t missing?

You killed him?” Claude growls,

“Is there a problem with that?” Adrik jeers

Unlike his standoffish partner, Adrik boasts a more flamboyant appearance, though his head is shaved, it is still dyed purple to match Marisha’s, a tattoo of a dagger covers a scar on his right cheek, that, accompanied by his left, spreads into a wide passive-aggressive smile, even his hollow blue eyes gleams at us, but still threatens us at the same time,

This pair makes me feel uneasy,

(I should let Claude do the talking, since he apparently knows them)

…

“You know killing isn’t allowed.” Claude argues,

“Inside the city, it isn’t,” Adrik counters,

“The rules don’t apply out here,

No formal battles,

No sweeps,

We can just kill you without anyone knowing or finding your bodies.”

“Hah!

You can try,” Apollo snorts, brandishing his greatsword,

“Easy there, big boy,” Marisha coos,

“You are a brand-new member, yes?

There isn’t anything for you to gain throwing your life away to such a beautiful being such as myself,”

“The same goes for your sister and you Claude,” Adrik agrees,

“You are awfully young, it would be a shame to put your lives to waste,”

“You turned your back on us, and now you feel like you can threaten our lives,

Challenge the guilds influence!?” Claude fumes,

“Don’t be so dramatic, we merely just chose to be on the right side of history,

The way that old fool ran things were becoming outdated,” Marisha spats,

“Help people?

Stay neutral??

Truly awful concepts,” Adrik concurs

“And because of that you think you have a valid reason to get rid of us,

Replace us?

That’s borderline evil”

“Hhhhhhh” Adrik sighs,

“Look, boy, every adventurer we killed was given the choice to join us,”

“Exactly, how are we the bad guys?” Marisha agrees

(These two are delusional,

Are all the Hunters like this?)

“Why can’t you just leave us then?” Amelia speaks up,

“We get it, you have different views than Giichi sir, that does not mean you have to take our place in the city when you can clearly build up your own without taking anyone else’s place,”

“You obviously don’t know anything about our real goal,” Adrik says tiredly,

“Ask that old man, why is it that if he wanted, he could be the mayor of Sweepstake,

If he wanted, he could even be the ruler of the ring!

Yet he locks those requiems away never to be seen, never to be used,”

“What are you talking about?” Claude looks puzzled,

“What I am saying is that the only way forward for us is through you,” Adrik rubbing his forehead

“Consider this your first and only offer/warning,” Marisha cackles,

“And another thing,” Adrik picks up a rock,

“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?”

He chucks the stone with incredulous force into the air, Marsha simultaneously ignites a purple flame around it,

The rock zips off like a little meteorite,

Thwock!

It collides with Mr. Godfrey’s carriage a good distance up the trail, the carriage topples over, immediately setting ablaze,

“Apollo, grab Amelia!” Karina orders at once-

The two hunters take the opportunity to slip away.

-Amelia looks confused but concedes letting Apollo sweep her up,

A surge of lighting emits from him as he sprints with great speed ahead to carriage,

Amelia promptly conjures a stream of water douse the flames before any significant damage is caused,

…

“Mr. Godfrey, are you ok!?” Claude calls as the rest of us reach to the magic ‘vehicle’

“Eckh! Eckh! Eckh”! The old man coughs crawling out

“Was that thieves?

Were we attacked?”

“It was some enemies of us, you can say, but they are gone now,” Claude reassures

“Then let us not stick around, get my carriage back up, it’s only been charred, no use wasting time out here,” The old man says uneasily

……

……

“I’m surprised you didn’t say anything back there Lyra,” Karina comments,

“Were you scared?

You don’t usually accept threats like that lightly,”

“I didn’t see any of you saying anything either,” the girl retorts

“I was preparing my magic just in case they tried something,

You know it takes a while for my magic,”

“What exactly would your snow do against two fire users,” Claude reasons

“Marisha’s flames can reduce anything to ashes, and Adrik has internal fire which he uses to enhance his physical strength greatly,”

“My gut told me not to be rash with them,” Apollo inputs

“Their magic felt somewhat different plus training using your battle formula has really made me think more before I attack,”

“There is a rumour that they use ‘requiems’ to become stronger,” Amelia reveals,

“Huh, requiems?” I interrupt-

(From what I’ve learned, requiem is the last will someone leaves behind if they die with full conviction in whatever they wanted in that moment

Is there more to requiems I don’t know?)

-Even her brother Claude looks confused

“They did mention something about requiems, but I didn’t understand what they meant,” he says

”That’s because you’re always lost in your own mind,

Everyone’s heard that rumour,” his sister retorts

“Amelia how much do you know about requiems?” I ask,

“Not much, only the rumours,

It has been going around that the hunters are using beastmen requiems to increase their own strength,”

(Beastmen requiems?

I haven’t heard about beastmen since the desert…)

“You are quite an observant young lady,” Mr. Godfrey poking his head out of the now again, moving carriage,

Though slightly charred it still travels along normally.

The pair of Hunters had used damaging it as a distraction to escape,

(Or maybe they are still spying on us)

Up ahead we near the town of Gate now fully in view, a modest sized river flows directly through the town, two large glass-like arcs loom over the town, on opposite sides of the river, from what I can make out….

…….“This is the reason I’m retiring from being in a faction,” Mr. Godfrey is talking,

“The constant battling for who gets the most control of the city,

It is awfully tiresome,

Especially if I was a member of your faction,

I would have retired even sooner,”

“What’s wrong with the adventurer’s guild Mr. Godfrey?” Claude questions,

“Nothing’s wrong with the guild itself,

But,

The power it holds,

That’s a different story.”