Chapter 123: - The Start of the Hunt
The wind roared from the mountain's peaks, winding itself down through the plains, brushing past the meadows and wide open land of clear and beautiful skies. The long and brightly colored green grass swayed in the wind like waves on an ocean current.
The air was full of fresh smells, the smell of the dirt, the mountains, the cool air, and the forest as they drew near, closer and closer towards the edge of the woods.
Seven pairs of boots fell to the ground, kicking up dirt in clouds of dry dust next tot their troubled horses. Since they had set off early in the morning they had made great time in reaching their destination, however, the for the last trek of their journey as they drew nearer to this place, their horses had begun to act up.
Stamping the ground, baying in the air, even occasionally trying to turn around and fight to go back towards their home in the town's stables.
But Lia had a mission, and with her standing by her side, Rian and Lukali watched the wind swaying on the clear and shining grass.
"Rain is on its way. I can see the clouds gathering near the mountain slope."
Lia could see the dark and looming clouds, commenting on their fast and steady approach.
"Do you think we'll have time to search?"
The knight who had ridden beside her on his own horse, paid little attention to her conversation, already walking off towards the large wooden barn and house before he turned over his shoulder to respond with little care.
"If we wait until the rain passes, we will lose the trail. I don't want to lose a trial if the only danger in this is getting a little wet."
He set off towards the barn, the farmer and his wife already existing their farmhouse to come out and meet him face to face. Though Lia cared little for this tone, his comrades seemed to disagree.
"Sorry about him. He's not normally like this when he's on a mission."
She turned to find the fourth member of the knights party - the archer - at her side watching the fleeing figure of his friend.
"I don't know what's gotten into him these days, but I'd like to apologize before it gets any worse."
"I can deal with it. So long as he does what he needs to do, I can keep my mouth shut long enough for him to calm down."
The archer shook his head at Lia's words, glancing at Abigail who stood behind him, raising her own voice to speak.
"You don't need to keep silent, Lia of Endless. He's just being difficult right now. This is the first mission he's been on where the captain left him in charge - given the circumstances. We'll makes sure he behaves, but if he doesn't-"
"Don't worry."
Lia smiled, not wanting these two to get through a hard time for her when they seemed like nice people, considering they were taking up her defense against their friend.
"The quicker we do this, the quicker we can all go home and enjoy some sleep."
The archer and Abigail looked at one another, wary of the future, but silently nodded their heads following in suit behind their friends who were already discussing the sightings of the monsters with the farmer and his wife.
The reports on the monster sightings had begun here at this very farm, and it was here that the Master had sent them to begin their investigation. He was afraid of the idea of monsters hiding in the forest and considering this farmland sat on the edge of the woods, the land just rising towards the mountain some miles away, the Master had reason to believe that.
Lia joined the knight and his team as they were questioning the farmer, who spun tales of the beast he had seen eating his chickens and destroying his crops. His tales of the beast having bright orange eyes that shone like lanterns in the night, as the monster tore through his chicken coop, biting chickens in half, while it stampeded over his crops was so realistic that Lia began to wonder if it was his fear that sold the story.
Even as he stood bordered on one side by seven strong Hunters known for slaying manners and man, the farmer would not stop glancing at the forest, his eyes filled with a lingering fear that would not leave.
His wife on several occasions, who Lia could guess had not seen the monster with her own eyes, tried to calm her husband down from his ranting, whispering words of kindness and soothing gestures. However, the man always exclaimed, "I know what I saw!" before he would continue with his rants.
Finally, after several minutes later, the tale finally ended leaving Lia surprised and a bit confused.
According to the farmer, the monster was tall, walked on all fours and had bright yellow eyes. He said its skin was covered in a warm and slimy liquid - he knew because he was drenched in the thing when he confronted the beast - and a wide smiling face.
'A smiling face? What kind of monster would have a smiling face?'
Lia never got to ask this question as the knight sent him back to his house, taking pity on the frightened farmer, who did not seem willing to stay out in the open much longer.
At once, the knight turned to face them all, ushering out orders before Lia could ask him the full story of what he believed the issue at hand to be.
"Becka, Rian. You two go and search the garden and pen areas. The monster might have attacked more animals on the farm. Shawl and Lukali will go search around the house while Abigail and I will look around the chicken coop."
Without another word he turned swiftly and left, leaving Lia frowning at his orders.
'Did he just…he knows he's not the only one in charge here, right?'
Lia never got an answer as Becka immediately set out for the garden and pen areas, leaving Rian behind to look between Lia and Becka's fleeing figure, confusion written on his gaze. Shawl and Abigail each gave her an apologetic look before setting off towards their own areas to search respectively.
Soon it was just Rian and Lukali left watching Lia with question and anger in their gazes.
"Just go. The faster we get this done the faster we won't have to deal with them any longer. Please."
Taking her order to heart, the tow silently nodded, setting after their partners in the search for clues while Lia silently cursed the knight and herself.
'He's really starting to piss me off. The last thing I need right now is another mystery to solve and he's not helping one bit!'
'Keep your head up. Focus on the task and your mind will blank him out.'
Lia sighed, taking heed to Cain's advice and turned to face the woods and their expansive and immersive environment.
'Then let's start with the woods. All good mysteries start in the forest.'
'Congratulations. You're learning from my sarcasm.'
'Be quiet.'
Lia shook her head though a smile formed on her face as she set off towards the woods. The knight never mentioned her in his 'orders,' so she saw no reason she had to listen to him. Though, take it to her personality, she wouldn't have listened to him if he had.
In the distance she could see Becka speaking with Rian, though he simply frowned with his arms crossed, the words going in one ear out the other. He didn't seem to care much for Becka, nor did he seem to have forgiven her for what she had said last night.
Lukali on the other hand seemed quite at odds being so close to Shawl, who appeared to be more focused on ingesting in a conversation than he did in searching the ground and the house for clues. There was little Luklai could do though so he mostly kept quiet, taking keen interest in the ground and the wooden walls of the farm house.
With her eyes held steady on the forest before her, Lia walked directly past the knight and Abigail, through the chicken coop and down a dirt path into the forest.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She knew the owner of the voice before she even stopped, turning swiftly around to face the knight who stood with his hands on his hips, a scornful look on his face.
"We're searching for clues here and we could use your help."
"I am helping. I want to search the edge of the forest for any footprints. If the farmer was correct, the monster should be nearly as tall as his barn. They would leave pretty big prints when they're walking away."
"But there aren't any footprints around the garden or the chicken coop - which, mind you, has been torn to shreds by this beast."
Lia had only a limited patience when dealing with the knight and after his actions and town from earlier, that patience had already largely decreased into a thin line between it and her temper.
"That doesn't mean the beast couldn't have left footprints in the woods. I have as much reason to search the woods as you have to search the land the beast has torn through. The woods are my home as much as they are the monsters."
With that Lia turned to leave, not taking any care to notice the knight's harsh words as she walked deeper into the forest .
"If you want to slack off, so be it. Don't blame us when the master finds out!"
Deeper into the forest Lia went, careful to keep on her toes and be as silent as she could be, searching for any signs of the monsters escape into the wooden environment.
'How far into the woods do you think this monster went?'
'Let's state the facts first. When you state the facts first, your mind will be able to piece everything together faster than it normally would.'
'Alright. I know the monster has yellow eyes, a taste for livestock - so it can't be an herbivore type creature. There's also its size.'
'Good. Now what does its size tell you?'
'...it would have to have a large area for it to hide in. the woods can offer it that?'
'Yes, but what type of area? The woods house a number of habitats for animals and monsters alike. You have to think hard about this Lia.'
Lia activated her third skill [Hunter's Eyes] to which she owed thanks to Rian for naming it. The ground and its dirty brown and green color vanished into a pale gray, as did the rest of the world around her, the faint traces of footprints highlighted in yellow appeared in her vision.
'I don't know. Maybe some clearing deeper in? Or maybe the steep slopes of the mountains? The land around heir often rises higher with less trees doesn't it?'
She knelt to the ground, tracing a hand over the large and wide footprint, too large to be a normal creature's print. The living in this forest didn't have feet this large, nor did they have ones with such an odd shape.
'Your thinking a little too hard Lia. Remind yourself, what color do its eyes look like?'
'Yellow?'
'Right. Now what does that remind you of?'
'...reptiles.'
'Wrong. Think something closer.'
'...amphibians?'
Lia followed the tracks deeper into the woods, armed with this new information, she was determined to find the owner of the prints.
'Now, what type of habitat do these creatures like?'
Lia thought for a moment, her mind passing back to the many school classes she took in the palace, being fed a constant flow of knowledge she as a child would never understand.
'Lizards are warm blooded aren't they? So-'
'Yes, but this is an amphibian we're talking about. Reptiles and amphibians live in different environments.'
'Wait, how do you know that?'
'Reptiles are warmblooded, so they live in areas that can keep them cool. Amphibians are cold blooded, so they can keep themselves warm without needing a place to keep them that way.'
'So what's the difference in their living spaces?'
'...did you never take a science class?'
'Just tell me!'
Lia shook her head, traveling deeper into the woods, passing by trees covered in moss, the rocks slick with mud and water. The forest reeked of a musky, soaking smell, the type of smell the forest would give off when the rains from the south and from the north would travel high and mighty, quickly over the peak of mountains and hills.
'Fine. Antsy little thing. Reptiles will live in places with high humidity, places that can keep them warm. If they live in a place that is too cool, they'll freeze to death. Now, being warm blooded, where do you think an amphibian will live?'
Lia didn't need to answer, the sounds of rushing water and roaring winds deafening her ears as she gained more ground on the tracks, following them deeper and deeper into the woods.
The farther she went, the fewer trees there were surrounding her, the density of the woods gradually decreasing the closer she got to the water's edge.
And then suddenly, like she had just appeared on the edge of a cliff dropping down miles into the ground, Lia found herself staring out over a large and vastly rushing water scape. But what caught her eyes was something much more gruesome than the beauty of the white water rushing and slamming against the river's edge and rocks.
Blood.
Red blood and mangled pieces of flesh floated in the waters edge near the sandy bank. She could see small bits of heads - chicken heads, thank the gods - flesh and fresh drops of blood that stained the sandy shores.
'And thus, Lia, we have answered the question; "how far do you think the monster went in?" with…?'
Lia stared deeply at the vast and wide waters that crashed against a mountain side, the sheer rocks and jutting edges of the cliff's face dyed black in the depths of the deep water.
"As far as the nearest river."
Lia smiled, thanking Cain greatly for showing her the way, as she began rushing into the knee deep waters. She wasn't thinking, wasn't worried, nor was she scared.
She was happy. Perhaps it was because she could finally rub it in the face of that pompous knight that she had been the one to find the monster, not him.
Or perhaps, in the less greedy and selfish manner, she was just happy that this investigation could be done for the day.
'Lia, look.'
But, once again, the nice things in this world never last.
It only took a moment for Lia to catch sight of the thing which had garnered Cain's attention and voice. Her skill [Hunter's Eyes] was still active, and thus she peered over towards the sandy bank where a separate area of the trees and brush had been pushed aside to reveal a second path that led deeper into the woods.
A second trail of brightly colored footprints lead down the path, deeper into the woods.
The monster wasn't there. The creature wasn't in the waters.
But then, to Lia, it begged the question.
Where was it?
It was several minutes later, as Lia stared deeply at the bank, watching the brightly glowing footprints lead on into the woods, traveling back the ways she had come, that her mind finally began to turn the gears inside.
The fear set in there as a horrid realization came over him quickly as the rushing cool waters that slammed against her side.
It was on her lips before she could realize she was already rushing towards the bank, throwing water around as she splashed onto the path, down the trail and back the way she had come.
"The farm!"
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