Chapter 7

Third person POV

Eric Bergad sat down and looked with a grim face at his advisor as the courier read the letter. One hundred and fifty six civilians dead, bringing up the tally to a total to four hundred and thirty six within the last two months. As the Baron of the region known as Mekt, this was a very serious problem indeed. 

As a member minor nobility with little political power, his connection to the citizens was, for all intents and purposes, a vital piece of his power. This was specially true in his case, as the ruler of most northern territory in the entirety of the Berka kingdom, were the population was small and scattered, and every single person alive was a valuable resource.

Which is why the loss of so many people in two lone months was nothing short of unacceptable. It accounted for an entire 3% of his territory's population, a number that would go if the situation was not remedied with haste. The problem, however, lied in the in the source of this issue.

"So... that... beast has vanished again?" Eric asked as he stroked his short beard slowly.

"Yes my lord, the scouts have confirmed it took off towards the northern forest again." The courier replied, "They dared not track her past the ravine that cuts across the south of the forest near the Marki village."

"I see..." Eric wrestled with the information provided. This was the third village to be attacked, and the seventh attack over the past 2 months. Their information was scarce, given that the attacks were all conducted at night.

"Gazef, your assessment." Eric ordered, his eyes flicking towards his elderly advisor. The man was in his late-fifties and had a bald spot at the top of his head, but his cunning mind was worth a small fortune when it came to analysis. Eric was lucky to have such a fellow under his wing.

Gazef tapped his bonny cheek in thought, and after a few seconds, his hawkish nose flared for a moment as he released a blast of air through his nostrils. "My lord, we are certainly dealing with a rare beast here. I have a few suspicions, but with this, I am almost certain. We are almost certainly dealing with an aswang."

The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment, the only sound in the room was provided by the soft patterning of rain against the windows.  

"How did you arrive to that conclusion?" Eric asked with guarded curiosity. He had to ascertain the probability of this claim.  An aswang was asked certain terrible monster with very high stealth and speed, not to mention it was strong enough to manhandled a grown man with ease. In addition, it had some shape-shifting abilities that gave this creature a terrifying advantage when it was at ware that it was being pursued. It could easily hide and dispatch its enemies one at the time.

Gazef nodded his head dutifully and began his explanation. "Three reasons. First, the victims. A large portion of the victims are recently born children who have had their hearts and livers consumed. The rest of the victims have been men or women, who have disappeared for a brief period of time only to return home and die within one day from and unknown sickness. The second reason is actually due to our dear courier here, whose report includes the mention of a certain noise during the attacks. This "tik-tik" sound is present almost always in any attacks that are caused by aswangs. 

Lastly..." He said as he pulled out a parchment from a nearby shelf, and extended it on the table before Eric. "The attacks are in three separate villages, but you see, they are all fairly next to each other, perhaps 2 days away by foot. Aswangs tend to hunt relatively far from their nests to avoid suspicion, so it’s a fair guess that this villages fall within her hunting range. There are a few more hints here and there, but the fact that no one has seen the monster after so many deaths gives further credibility to my claim, as aswangs are known for their stealth and trickery. The people that are dying mysteriously from an unknown sickness is probably due to the aswang’s curse too. If one has enough of their blood drained by an aswang, the aswang will leave them be, only to syphon off their life force over the span of a day, killing the person slowly."

Eric grit his teeth slightly as he listened to Gazef explain the clues he had used to unravel this mystery. To have sorted through this mess of murders to narrow it down to these key clues would not have been a simple matter for most people, and it wouldn't have been possible with a broad understanding of several the characteristics of monsters. Gazef once again had proved his usefulness to Eric, and not for the first time, Eric was glad to have the him as his advisor.

"I see... the facts certainly do point towards a aswang, don't they?" He muttered to himself, grimacing at the thought. Aswangs were a high B rank monster, capable of single handedly whipping out entire villages in a single night if they felt like it. Fast, cunning, stealthy, and able to change their form, aswangs were creatures that were difficult to find and even more difficult to eliminate. To take down a single aswang they needed aswangs least two full teams of gold rank adventurers, if you didn't mind a few casualties in the process.

Given the fact that most adventurer teams had about five people, it was possible to appreciate how strong even one of these creatures was. Each gold rank adventurer was an imposing figure, worth more than thirty trained men on the battle field. As such, the price for hiring such adventurers was quite high. On the other hand, he could hire a team of platinum ranked adventurers for an even higher fee, but they would have a better chance of success.

Platinum level adventurers were rare, accounting for only about 2% of all adventurers in the guild, but their power was extraordinary, and their teamwork was even more so. To become a platinum ranked adventurer was a goal that most adventurers could only dream of reaching.

Of course, there was a third option: he could use his own army to fight the aswang. But all things considered, he probably would not be able to gather more than 200 soldiers under his flag for that expedition. And fighting a cunning creature that specialized in stealth and speed to kill its prey with a large group of people with low mobility did not sound like a great idea. The aswang would probably pick off half of his troops in the first night they spent within its hunting range.

Eric weighed his options, deliberating carefully. He concluded that it would be difficult to acquire a team of platinum ranked adventurers this far to the north, so far removed from the main land or popular dungeons. It was doable, but the length of time needed to get them here would be too much if they weren't near already. It was worth looking into however, even if it would hurt his personal reserves of gold.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You there," Eric spoke up, pointing at the courier," contact the adventurers’ guild, request information of all nearby gold and platinum ranked explorers. This is a top priority request, I need that information as soon as possible. Go!"

The courier saluted and bolted out of the studio faster than a scared rabbit. Even Eric was mildly impressed by the man's speed. He made a mental note of asking for his name at a later date. 

"Gazef." Eric spoke up again, his eyes focusing now on the older man. "Let us start decrypting the probable location of the nest of this beast, and start calculating the rewards of its defeat." 

Gazef bowed his head solemnly in acknowledgement. "As you will it, my lord."

0-0-0-0-0

Terra’s POV

It has been three weeks since Luna was rescued, and about four months since I have awoken to this world.  Luna has decided to stay with us for the time being, acting as our resident chef. As luck would have it, she was a house keeping slave mostly, in charged of cooking and cleaning. Her slave crest has burned away now, but her memories of servitude are ingrained into her. She keeps busy at all times by either cleaning or cooking despite my protests, claiming that the familiarity of the tasks is comforting.

I suspect that she also wants to make herself useful, perhaps in fear that I might decide to throw her out, even though I have reassured her that she is very welcome to stay. However, I have to admit that I am secretly glad she chooses to clean and cook. My new home certainly is better off for it.

Also, my strength has consolidated fairly well, settling at a physical prowess that can allow me to match a strong ravine bear in raw power, while retaining the speed and stamina that could match a dire wolf, which is considered a high C rank beast. Alfred tells me that this is a far more impressive achievement than he expected, seeing as my age was just approaching 16. He has finally labeled me as ‘just passable’ for travelling, but he warns me that this bench mark is simply the first of what he has in store for me. Ultimately, for me to truly travel the world, he says that I must be able to defeat him in single combat.

Frankly, that is a terrifying goal from my point of view. 

While I can fight toe to toe with a ravine bear in a fair fight and win with some light injuries after some struggling, I have seen Alfred literally kill one with a single punch. ONE punch was all it took for him to break the thick neck of a low B ranked monster. In other words, one punch has the same strength as a rampaging bull charging forwards. What the actual hell?! How am I supposed to fight that?

I shiver at the thought of it. I am sure if Alfred got serious, I would lose right now in a matter of seconds. Despite my enhanced body, I doubt my bones could take more than one head-on attack without cracking. Two hits would probably start breaking my bones.  Anymore than that would cause them to shatter into multiple fragments. 

Perhaps it’s better to not think of that right now. There is more to accomplish anyways.

I focus back on the task at hand. I have to prepare for my test. Which is why I was pilling supplies and equipment into a leather sack with straps which would act as my backpack.  

 Alfred considered that I had reached a rudimentary level of strength that would allow for survival. However, he still wanted to test my current level of skill. He and Gerbera had resolved to create a trial for me which would serve to further asses my abilities. It was quite simple really: Travel alone from home to a designated location, and hunt down the target that Alfred had scouted ahead of time. It was a simple test that managed to test a at least two things from my point of view: My fighting ability and my ability to sustain myself in the wild.

Thus, I had to prepare. Who knew what creature Alfred had chosen for me to hunt down after all. But whatever it was, I was mighty sure that it wouldn’t be something as simple as a common ravine bear (which already were a decent enough fight as is for the current me). I hope Alfred doesn’t go overboard and make me fight something like an A rank beast, or I am seriously dead.

The difference between each letter grade in the ranking of monsters is huge. For example, a single ogre, which is ranked as B rank monster, could probably fight eight C ranked carnivorous red boars on its own and win. Hell, an ogre could probably fight two ravine bears on equal footing, despite them being low B ranked beasts. On the other hand, even two ogres would struggle against a minotaur, which is a high B rank monster.

“Young master.” A feminine voice awakens me from my thoughts, and I turn to find Gerbera waiting on my reply.

“Yes?”

“Alfred has returned. He has requested that you join us downstairs to discuss the target.”

I sighed and stood up, hefting my leather bag over my shoulder before turning to face Gerbera.

“Alright. Lead the way.”

We moved quickly down to one of the larger rooms in the main floor of the building. The room had once been a magnificent waiting room, decorated with armchairs, tables, vases, and paintings. Now it was decorated with little more than a crudely crafted table and a few stools that Alfred had managed scrounge up during our search when we first met.

Alfred bowed towards me as I stepped into the room, and waited for me to sit at a stool before he started to speak.

 “Young master,” He said, “I have found a suitable target for your hunt.”

I eyed him with mild suspicion, still unsure if I wanted to know what kind of creature I have to wage war against. Sighing inwardly, I nodded my head at him. “Alright, I am all ears. Tell me about this monster.”

“Certainly.” Alfred replied. “The creature in question is am aswang, a creature loosely related to vampires and ghouls. It’s a high B rank creature that specializes in sped and stealth, though it does have a moderately high strength.”

Moderately high, huh… you said the same thing about the Ravine bear the first time I fought one. I thought to myself wearily, but continued to listen to his explanation.

“It is almost humanlike in its disguised appearance, but in truth it is no more than a front for the vile creature that it truly is. Master must be weary of its intellect and shape-shifting ability. Unlike ravine bears, the intellect of an aswang is very close to human level, making them significantly more dangerous. Their ability to shape shift is particularly dangerous when they want to hide, as they can ambush people.”

“Master must not forget,” Gerbera quipped, “That aswangs are dangerous in their home turf, as they know all the little places were they can hide. They tend to be quite thin by human standards, allowing them to hide behind trees or wedge themselves between tight spaces easily.”

I nodded at both of them, carefully taking note of their words. “Anything else I should know?”

Alfred smiled knowingly and shook his head. “I apologize, but I can not give you further information such as tactics or efficient counter measures to their attacks, as that would defeat the purpose of seeing how the young master handles himself against a new danger without help. I am fully confident that the young master has the required skill set to take down this enemy however.”

Great. No pressure or anything, right Albert? I chuckle at my own thought, and nod at Alfred. Indeed, he is correct. “Alright, then were do I find this critter?”

Alfred’s smile broadens, and he spreads a map on the table. Its old, but it’s well crafted. It shows the entirety of the forest, and the three nations surrounding it. Alfred’s finger moves down, and he points at the south of the forest, about eleven days from their current location, if he moved quickly. The spot was actually near a place that was landmarked with a small rocky hill, which made it easier to find.

“I see… Are you certain that the creature is there?” I asked curiously. Alfred had pinpointed its location to a very precise area. How had he identified the spot so well without being found by this supposedly cunning monster?

Chuckling, Alfred tapped the side of his nose. “My nose is never wrong. One of the advantages of being a descendant from Managarm.”

I looked at him curiously for a second, committing that name to memory, before nodding at him. There would be a time for questions later. For now, I had to get ready to hunt.