“Well I guess now's a better time than any. Mia, i’ll tell you the origins of beasts, as well as they’re various mannerisms”. He looked up, hey barkeep, can I get a couple more shots? And a drink for the lady here”. He put his hand up and waved the barkeep, the bartender responded and filled two shot glasses with high shelf bourbon. “Alright Mia, let’s begin, this is something that all huntsmen learn”. He began.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Thousand years ago there was a land bountiful with resources. They had farmable land, mining operations, and so much more. The residents of the land lived lavishly. One day a Visitor came to their land, to their capital to be exact. This Visitor was a being with no facial features nor anything rather special about its appearance or presence, but they felt that this visitor held tremendous power. The Visitor came to determine whether the people were worthy of the land's bountiful splendor. For the time it was there it ventured throughout the land, it explored and took note of everything that would weigh its decision. The Visitor took notice of the caste system the people had. While the rich and well off citizens lived in comfort, they held a dark secret. For the rich to stay rich they forced the lesser off to tend to them. Make their food, do menial tasks, go on dangerous hunts. The poor were forced to do anything the rich requested”. He sighed, “Everywhere it’s the same, rich versus poor”.
Mia listened quietly, an unease fell over her as Captain Yakusuke continued.
“In short their society was rotten, above, basking in the sun were the rich bastards who ruled from their high horses. Below however, down deep, where no one would watch, were the slums. These slums were filled with crime, prostitution, theft, murder, everything. As the Visitor visited the slums it watched as children starved to death and adults disregard them entirely. He was disgusted by the sight and returned to the land of riches. At the highest peak of the land was a glorious palace. The palace screamed elegance, from its expensive stain-glass windows to the golden adornments scattered across its premises. The Visitor confronted the seven kings who lived in the palace and who ruled across the land. It spoke about the state of the land but they did not listen. The kings were absorbed in their arrogance and had little interest in the lives of the poor and weak. But, before he exited he told the kings one last thing, it said they had three days. Three days to fix their land or calamity would begin. The kings laughed and the Visitor became angry and left, it knew that, just like they’re society, the kings were rotten as well”.
Captain Yakusuke stopped and took a shot of his drink, “Those three days came and the kings did nothing. Their arrogance led to their accursed fate. The people of the land fell ill, men, women, children, none were spared. Each person collapsed, foam came from their mouths and their bodies began to shake. One after another they transformed, each became a hideous beast, each more terrifying than the one before. At that point their society collapsed entirely, for no land could be run by beasts. Over the course of time the land became dry, the curse that ravaged people also destroyed their very own country, or rather, continent. With the lack of food the beasts grew cannibalistic, it came down to two options, consume, or be subjugated. The beasts who consumed their kin became vastly stronger, from then on those beasts would gain a pack mentality and command smaller, weaker beasts”.
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“So then because of the seven kings' arrogance and selfishness, the Visitor condemned them to become the beasts they already were?” Mia asked.
“Indeed. We call the land where the beats dwell the “Dread Continent”. Now, only a few years after all of that, a king from our country sent a scouting party to the Dread Continent to plunder its valuable resources. He had a boat of scouts sent to the land, the scouts found the land to be nothing they ever imagined, in fact, it was described as a waste land, a land of nothing. Everything was dead, the ground, the trees, everything. The scouts found nothing of value, and decided to come back home, but when they went to return, the sea had other ideas. A massive storm hit, there was no chance they could sail in such conditions, and so they had no other option, than to stay on the Dread Continent until the storm passed. It didn’t take long for them to be confronted by beasts, to be confronted by such monstrosities. The scouts barely stood a chance, only a few were trained in swordsmanship. Even those with the means to fight didn’t stand much of a chance. Over the course of a few minutes the scouts were annihilated… Except one, he was a researcher sent along with the scouting party. After seeing the carnage unfold he hid and waited out the attack of beasts and the roar of the storm. Weeks later he returned home, but not as the same man. He rambled about beasts and was near insane. He reported to the king everything he saw. The king believed him and then banned anyone from going to the Dread Continent. Soon after, the Huntsman Covenant was established to defend against the beasts that would attack and make appearances in Azael. We aren’t sure how they’re able to travel here though”.
He downed the rest of his alcohol and looked over to Mia, “now you know. Mia, the beasts hold great hostility to any humans, they cannot be reasoned with. If we encounter them we have to kill them, no matter what”.
“Well sir, now that Mia is completely caught up on the history of beasts, I believe it is time for us to depart. We should look into that village as well on our way to Seiren”, Hikaru said as he headed to the door.
“Let me just pay for the drinks and we can go. Ah, it’s always a good idea to head to a bar for information. Drunkards always speak loosely”. Captain Yakusuke stood up and reached into his coat. “Here ya go barkeep”, he dropped several coins onto the bar and began to leave. “Hikaru, Mi-”
“EEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
Suddenly, a scream came from outside.