บท 12: Preparations
"Listen young elf. There are a great many things to take into consideration when going on a hunt. The first is quite obvious: the monster. I trust you are smart enough to know about the Bes Rap though."
Shuzen raised his eyebrow slightly, already anticipating the fervent nod from Kai.
"Good. Then I won't go into too many details about that. However, there are 2 other very important things we have to consider. The first would be other hunters. In this world where we hunt beasts for power, it only stands to reason that others would do the same. If it comes to it, be ready to kill."
'Yeah, obviously.' Kai thought, already bored of Shuzen's lecture. He knew all of this already, having spent his entire life waiting to be able to tame beasts. He didn't care about any other hunter who would try to steal his beasts.
They would just have to be corrupted.
'If it works the way I think it should, anyway.'
Kai had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as Shuzen smiled. He flashed his own instead, feigning interest in this little ramble. Truthfully, he was only fixated on the hunt itself. These preparations didn't mean much.
"The other thing we have to worry about is other beasts. Even though only the Bes Rap was reported as sighted, that doesn't mean there aren't other beasts out there. This is your first hunt so you wouldn't know, but trust me. Sometimes another beast comes out of nowhere, and if you don't keep your wits you'll die. Understand?"
He stared at Kai attentively, looking for any break in the kid's indifferent posture. He had just told the kid he would die in multiple ways. If that didn't perplex him...
It didn't.
Unbeknownst to Kai, the grasp of poison, of Jideva's will, clasped around his neck. Shuzen knew better than to keep such a dangerous weapon on anything but a short leash. All the same, he was going to use Kai to his fullest.
If the elf died, his mother would just make a new son as that was the duty of a girl like her- even if she was intelligent.
However, Shuzen had both hope and certainty that Kai wouldn't die. The young elf had far too many dreams to allow something like that to happen. So as long as he kept the carrot just out of reach, Shuzen knew the elf would forever be his.
'Why wouldn't he allow me to see my mom before we left? He tried to pass it off as hurry, but it wouldn't have taken too long either way. It- it probably has something to do with the poison.' Kai thought as he felt the poison tighten around his neck.
He gave no outward tell of this knowledge: it was absolutely imperative that Shuzen would think Kai was ignorant of the situation. But not too ignorant, as Shuzen knew Kai was very intelligent. If he just feigned ignorance of anything, then that would raise even more suspicion in his direction.
So while he hid his awareness of the poison, Kai decided it would be safe to question it.
"Why wouldn't you let me say goodbye to Mom?"
"Well, we were-"
"And don't lie about being in a hurry."
At first, Shuzen's eyes held a glint of rage as he restrained himself from slapping the impudent elf. The next second they lit up as his lips curled upwards ever so slightly. Although the shape resembled a smile, its cunning and evil didn't fit the description.
"Already comfortable with your situation? As I expected, if I may speak the truth. It is both a blessing and a curse, is it not? Your crudeness: it either opens a locked door for you, or it loses your head. Unfortunately for you, young elf, this is one of those times it will lose your head. Figuratively, of course."
Shuzen smiled as he saw real fear enter Kai's eyes, knowing he had caught him in his act. No part of Shuzen was going to follow through with the threat, but it served its job. The elf would fall more under his control.
'He didn't increase the effects of his poison at all. That must mean there's a limit he will go to. Additionally, he made a false threat at the mention of my Mom. There's something about that moment that's important to this poison.' Kai thought as he maintained the fake fear in his eyes.
...
The carriage they were riding to the city of Mardialago was rather large; enough to have 2 master bedrooms and a bedroom for the servants. As well as a kitchen and living quarters.
That was why they needed strong beasts such as the A-rank Chicos, gargantuan ape-like creatures whose arms were made of steel instead of flesh. Their body's constitution consisted of nothing more than muscle fiber on muscle fiber, making them abnormally strong physically even among the dominant aspects of their rank.
Somehow, Shuzen had caught 4 of them.
As Kai lay on his bed, staring out his window and watching the vibrant moon, he hummed to the rhythmic stomps of the beasts' feet. Up, down. Up, down.
He became keenly aware of his own heartbeat, his breathing, the blinking of his eyes. In mere moments, all of these movements were in perfect sync, perfect equilibrium. Soon the image of his mom and Est entered his mind, furthering the feeling of tranquility.
His mind grew more and more clear as his entire being was in sync. For the briefest of moments, the moon itself joined him, flashing between red and purple hues with the same rhythm as everything else.
Then he fell asleep.
...
Kai awoke to a loud thud as the impact threw him off his bed and into the air. As he landed on the bed his arm banged into his stomach. Groaning, Kai rolled over so that he was on his back again, wondering when the roof had become painted with black spots.
'It wasn't painted, you idiot. You're just passing out.'
Chuckling to himself, Kai grimaced as he instantly regretted doing so. He really got himself good.
'Why the hell did we stop anyway? We weren't supposed to be in the city until tomorrow!' Kai thought as he imagined slamming his fist into the wall. His real body was far too tired to do so.
After a few seconds, Kai groaned again before stretching his arms. Forcing grogginess to the backseat, Kai jumped out of his bed in one quick moment of adrenaline.
As he landed on the floor the carriage shook again, almost sending him flying off of his feet and earning another concussion. This time he was awake though, so he was able to simply spread his legs and maintain balance. Then the floor jerked again, and again.
'An Earthquake?'
The ground shook. And shook. Then waited before shaking again. It was irregular intervals of a massive shaking that permeated through the entire carriage.
Understanding passed through Kai's mind as he realized this wasn't any sort of earthquake. No, somehow they had found themselves in the path of a B-rank beast.
Judging by the intervals of the shaking, Kai knew the beast was still a few hundred yards away. He also knew that this distance wouldn't be difficult to cross at all.
The giant lizard, at least 8 meters in height, was also very fast. It had 3 legs, 2 in the back and one huge leg in the front. When its front leg hit the ground, it created such a huge shockwave that you could feel it from miles away.
Kai knew that the B-rank lizard beast known as the Maka-Mako was barreling in his direction, looking for its next meal.
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