“We’ve arrived in Nieve, although the trip took a bit longer due to a broken wheel and some wild animals—we still made it in time to sell our harvest.” Royce, an old farmer from the outskirts of the North, rexed as he rode his cart within the Castle Walls. “Tony! Hughie! Ready the goods for delivery!”

  He called behind him and a young kid stepped out into the city, a bright smile grinning sharply from ear to ear. “Whoaaa!” He gawked at the structures, the architecture, the people, and everything else. It was his first time in such a big pce.

  “Don't go running off now, Tony.” Hughie, a man rescued by their vilge during a blizzard, tied the excited kid down by grabbing the child’s shoulder with one arm and pulling him close.

  Hughie Monroe, the ex-captain of one of the Kingdom's squadrons, maintained his hidden identity in hopes of creating a new life away from the troubles of war.

  “Ya sure you're fine with helpin out, Hughie?” Royce was still uncertain. “Can't imagine it's easy for a one armed man like you to do some intensive bor work ain't it?”

  “Do not worry, Uncle Royce. “ He chuckled and lifted up a rge box from inside the cart up his shoulder. “My previous job as a work for hire had me doing much more strenuous work.”

  “If you say so.” The old man shrugged and faced towards the city. “I’ll let ya guys unpack the boxes and crates here, I’ll find that hag Ginny to get this lot here outta our hands.”

  “Can we go sightsee afterwards!?” The young Tony pleaded, his eyes sparkling like a puppy’s.

  The old man’s expression turned sour and he grunted. “We’ll stay for nuther tenner then we go back.”

  “YES!”

  “So excited aren't you?” The Adjudicator knelt down and patted the boy's head. “What’s got you so riled up anyways?”

  “I wanna go to the barracks! I want to see the Azaroln Knights!” Tony had always aspired to be one of them when he grew up, despite his ck of skills in any combat discipline. “They're always so cool!”

  “Really?”

  “They're like—super super strong!” The kid began to brag. “They’re a very powerful force that exists as the main defense against the demons! That's why they're all so cool!”

  Hughie felt a deep sense of satisfaction and nostalgia. Seeing this young kid be so animated for knighthood reminds him of himself back when he admired both his brother and father for their works.

  He could finally live the life taken from him by the te Azaroln Duke by ironically serving under his eldest daughter and successor as a common citizen. He could finally leave behind all the horrible memories and all the senseless fighting in search of vengeance and meaning.

  His leftover hand felt the pce where his good arm used to be. The pce it was cut off. Sometimes at night he would feel a splitting pain in that part of his body. Like his arm was still there and was being squeezed so tight it was gonna pop.

  He lost it during his fight with that Ramirez Princess, when she was controlled by the magic sword turning her into that monster.

  Facing actual death for the first time in his life made him see the pointlessness of it all. The chase he was chasing when everything’s already passed.

  The man he sought to kill has been damned to hell already and his daughters and family have no involvement in the suffering of his vilge. The only attachment he carries is the man who saved him from that hole in the tree, his master and mentor, Commander General Heinrich from the Kingdom.

  Yet, even so…

  He found himself unable to let go of this second wind. A change in tides where a normal countryside life awaits him.

  In the end there was no need for a chase.

  All he needed was quiet.

  “So this is what our first commission is going to be!” A familiar voice energetically sounded from a near distance.

  “You two!” Royce called from the same direction as the voice. “I got us a couple of Hunters to guide us through the forest ter! Apparently things have been unpredictable tely and every cart that goes out needs an escort.”

  “We’re still going to walk around right!?” Tony looked upset at the old man as he thought they were about to set off.

  “Rex, Young one.” The merchant sighed. “After we bring all this in and to that hag back there, these lovely people offered to walk around with us.”

  “SWEET!” Tony squealed.

  “I like this young d’s energy, very fittin’ for a tough boy lookin to grow ain't he?” A short stubbed orange haired man with a rge beard ughed heartily.

  “Yeah! What's your name, Kid?” The woman, who Hughie had been staring at for a while now spoke again. Her voice was truly familiar and he was so sure of it.

  “Tony!” The kid walked over and stared in awe at her blue bde. “What's your name miss! You're so cool!”

  The dy giggled and with her hands in her hips and a proud cheeky smirk she uttered her name in a pyful voice. “I am the great huntress, Alejandra Ramirez!”

  He was right.

  Hughie was right.

  As the ex-captain stared at the young boy fanatically raving all over the girl’s whole Hunting Party, all the Kingdom born man could feel…is dread.

  Hughie gnced at the people around that woman. There was an Elf with orange hair tied to a ponytail next to her who seemed a bit impatient and her face scrunched up grumpily. There were also two more humans at the back who were pretty reserved and remained quiet but he could faintly recognize one of them. The girl with the bow and arrow.

  The Lady knelt down and gave Young Tony a cool story to listen to. She hasn't seemed to have noticed or realized who Hughie was yet, thankfully.

  His hand drifted off once more to his lost arm. A fear crept up inside his throat.

  Is the world pying tricks on him?

  The arm that was chopped off—

  He was now staring at the girl who did it.

  …

  “Sir, there's more over here.” A rge Knight in bck armor pointed to what seemed to be the Promethean trees knocked down and torn apart.

  “By the Goddess.” Another Knight excimed, a horrified expression formed on his face as they all witnessed the absolute devastation that occurred in the forest. “When the locals said there were rumbles happening near here, I thought it’d be a few or so trees knocked down from a fight but—”

  An entire section of the southern forest was decimated. The size of which was equal to a small vilge.

  “Calm yourselves.” A Knight whose armor stood out from the others for it contained a rge cape that had the Silver Wolf emblem crafted into it. His white hair and blue eyes made him look less of a knight and more like a high ranking noble. “We must report this to the Duchess at once.”

  “Captain Arthur, I’m afraid there's more to see.” One of his men ran down to him and gestured towards him. It seemed to be where the devastation originated. “There's—” The man’s face frowned and looked hurt.

  The Captain of the Azaroln Bck Knights prepared himself. His close aids were experienced in even the most grueling of battles and gore…what could've gotten them so sullen.

  He stepped out of the forest and into a clearing in the middle of it. Inside was a cave that he was unfamiliar with and around it was…a bunch of dead bodies.

  Kingdom Knight corpses strewn about, killed and defeated by what seemed to be a mix of weaponry and magic. There was also a man who seemed like their leader, had his arm cut off and his body charred and tossed aside like it didn't matter.

  This scene was already horrifying in its own right. This had meant the Kingdom had already infiltrated themselves within the North’s borders and had settled a base for themselves within the Southern Promethean Forest however…

  “Sir, this is—” One of the Knight’s picked up a familiar looking badge. “..one of the Hunter’s Guild members’.” His face was scarred.

  “That's a high rank party badge right?” Arthur noticed the silver markings on the badge, indicating the skill of the Hunter. He felt a massive remorse and frustration creep up from within his gut. Such skilled fighters couldn't have fallen from battle so easily, judging from the rank of their badge they should be powerful enough to take down Css B Demonic beasts on their own.

  “Sir—” A Knight picked up a body…what's left of it at least. “This is—one of the Hunter's.” He also picked up a broken staff beside the body.

  Her body was split in half, the upper portion, nowhere to be found. It didn't seem like a clean separation as well. It was more like a beast had bitten it off and torn it away.

  They scoured around and found the body of a beastwoman, underneath some rubble from a colpsed portion of the caveside. Her body was horribly disfigured due to being crushed and squashed between the rocks and the boulders. It would've been impossible to tell who this originally was.

  Not only that, the corpse smelled foul.

  No, the whole pce reeked of rotten flesh due to how aged these corpses have become.

  “Are there signs of the rest of the Hunting party?” Arthur immediately asked after locating the second body. “There should be, at minimum, three more of them because of the Guild’s rules.”

  “No more of the group seemed to be found, Sir, but…” One of the Knights that came from within the cave looked close to vomiting.

  Arthur gulped as he stepped inside. It was horrible. Females of different species were hanged and tied to the wall, their bodies completely naked, and their—lower parts bruised and battered. On the cavern floor was a bunch of alchemical tools, magical devices, and medical items that he didn't wish to understand their use for.

  It seemed like a torture house that mutited and carved into these poor women.

  “They're all dead, Sir.” The Knight who checked on each of the chained and locked up women shook his head.

  “Don't let the female knights go in here.” Arthur ordered. “One of you, get back up from the barracks, there's a lot of bodies to be buried here.”

  “Understood.”

  He stared once again inside the cavern. There was a massive empty space within that seemed to have been completely stainless and no blood or any disgusting fluid had reached that point.

  It was odd.

  Arthur knelt down and began to pray. He had wished the fallen victims of this invasion be taken into the Goddess’ arms and be freed from the chains that bind them to the evil of this world. “I hope you all find your peace,” he closed his prayer as such.

  He turned back as a heavy feeling settled deep in his gut. The Kingdom has invaded the North, kidnapped and vioted women from different races. Several Hunters had noticed and tried to intervene yet fell to their demise in the process. Two were confirmed dead and three of the party were missing. It seems whoever was the mastermind behind this horrific experiment had managed to escape and—

  Arthur couldn't escape a twisted feeling inside him—like there was a piece of the puzzle he was missing.

  Arthur clenched his fist and looked back towards Nieve. No matter. Right now he should focus on handling all the unfortunate deaths before him and report it to the Duchess. The Kingdom’s judgement for all of these deaths will come in the near future.

  “Sir Arthur, what do we do with the bodies?” They were all down from seeing such experienced and powerful allies within the Hunter's Guild dead as well as witnessing a disgusting scene of human experimentation within the cave.

  “Take the bodies inside the cave as well as the two Hunters. See if you can identify any of them along with the bodies inside…afterwards—find a priest from the church to help us bury them.” He ordered.

  “And what of The Kingdom Knights sir?” One of his men asked.

  “Burn them.”

  …

  “Are you ready?” Daniel leaned on one of the railings by the small rope bridge that ties the border of the Northern Duchy to the start of the Barren Outnds further North. The home of the elusive barbarian people, and the old dipidated Country of Exal, the old king of demons. “You'll be facing everything without any help but from your expedition team starting from here.”

  “I know.” Ben stared at the deep fog up ahead. It was hard to see what was at the end of the bridge as there seemed to be a cloud of mist that prevented much of any view from being made.

  “I wish you luck.” Daniel said. “I hope you know what you're doing, from here on, you’ll be leaving the Empire’s borders.”

  “I hope so too.” The Crown Prince grinned. “Don't worry, I have her by my side.” Ben pulled the barbarian girl close to him and patted her head. “She knows how to lead us through the snow.”

  “R-right.” The girl panicked.

  The young Autumn blushed after being pulled like that by such a handsome boy. Julian simply rolled his eyes at the two as he gnced deep at the small crack of a chasm under the bridge and between the two mountains. The distance between the two mountains would be close enough that a running start jump would get you there but…

  The blizzard and cold winds are way too harsh to risk falling into certain death.

  “I’m off now, Your Highness.” Daniel smiled with a reserved look in his eye. “I’ll see you soon.” And just like that, the carefree barista had left them to cross to the beyond.

  “Well now we head to the other side.” Julian blew into his gloved palms to keep some warmth. “They should already be there by now right?”

  “And waiting.” Ben added as the three of them made their way over the chasm below and through the creaming and swaying rope bridge.

  “Scary.” Autumn blurted as she skillfully maintained bance by holding onto Julian’s hand. “Falling scary.”

  “Yeah, so don't you dare let go or I won't be jumping down to save you.” Julian threatened and the girl simply gred at him as they crossed to the other side.

  “Now where could they be?” Ben tried to peer through the snow but it was very hard to see through the thick of it all.

  Autumn sniffs the air. “Fire. Burned wood “ she announced and the three of them nodded, deciding that that must be the rest of the expedition team and in the worst case scenario that it's a trap well…they'll just deal with it when the time comes.

  The howling blizzard made it hard to move as every crunching step in the snow sunk their feet up to half of their calves. It was extremely hard to move around and added to everything is the extreme cold. There's a reason this was called a barren wastend. Barely anything would survive here.

  Although they weren't given any time to think about it as thunderous footsteps shook the snow. A rge looming figure emerged from behind the snowy mist, its red eyes glowing furiously, and a rge appendage in its front bearing a horrific noise.

  It was a familiar sight for the three of them. It was the same beast they had sin in the Promethean forests many days ago.

  “I–I’m sorry.” Julian immediately apologized and drew arms. “The snow makes it very hard to sense vibrations in the earth. It's muffling it to an extreme extent.”

  “S-Stonehide—wait—much bigger. Can't be!” Autumn panicked seeing what looked to be a Stonehide yet, it's much rger. Much much much rger.

  Its tusks were twice as long and its groan was a deep rumbling, like a resonance of fear snuck its way directly into her chest. Autumn had not seen such a beast before.

  “New. Never seen before.” Her voice cracked. “Stonehide never this big.”

  Ben clicked his tongue and he drew a small knife to cut his palm and draw out a bde of blood. It raised its massive trunk and smmed it down at astonishing speed.

  The crown prince leapt out of the way but the snow made it hard to properly move so he barely managed to avoid the strike but was caught up in the shockwave it created, unching him slighter farther from the other two.

  “YOUR HIGHNESS!” Julian yelled as the beast raised its trunk again. The Knight clenched his teeth and readied his shield.

  This was going to be one hell of a fight wasn't it?