“The hell was that?” They all said in conjunction, their heads turning sharply towards the door.

Everyone in the bar turned their heads, every drink was set down, nervousness filled the room.

Murmurs erupted from various tables, “are there beasts? Is there a fight? Bandits?” Many conclusions and queries came from the bar-folk. Indra, like most large cities, had its history with bandits, but with the threat of a beast attack looming, each citizen was in a state of unrest.

A voice shot up, “those are huntsmen right? Maybe they led a beast here or something. Fucking bastards, everywhere they go blood and death follows”.

Mia turned around, eyes of resentment shot towards her and her companions.

“Ignore them Mia, it’s common knowledge that if there's a huntsman then there must be trouble. It's a fact ingrained in the common folks mind, but we’ll ignore that. Let’s go see what the screaming is about”.

The three of them stood up, leaving semi-consumed liquor at the bar.

“Hey! Where are you going?” The barkeep looked agitated.

Captain Yakusuke turned and tossed several coins at the counter, “Here’s a tip for the tasty drinks”.

The three proceeded to leave the establishment, their curiosity fell into mortification as they closed the door behind them.

Mia looked down the street, a crowd had appeared and the screams of pain continued.

AGHHHHHHHH! “SOMEONE HELP! ANYONE!” The voice sounded hoarse, each screaming reminded Mia of the sounds of a dying animal. With each screech she remembered a bit of her past, and a dark feeling crept over her soul.

She thought back to a time long ago, a time that brought her a sliver of happiness. At one time, when she was alone in the slums within Ako, she found a small cat, a black cat to be exact. You’d assume it’d be a sign of bad luck, but to Mia it seemed hopeful. Mia found it lying on the side of the street. It seemed motionless, perhaps dead. Mia found herself to be similar to the cat, maybe even finding herself drawn to hit emotionally. She spent a few days taking care of it, giving it water, and sharing her own food scraps. Mia truly cared for it, enough so that she’d smile when she was with it. Eventually the cat regained some strength, enough to play and enough to frolic. Not too long after the cat got its spirits, Mia went to scrounge for food. She wasn’t picky, bread scraps, apple cores, anything that someone would consider waste. She smiled as she left out, knowing that the cute kitty would be waiting for her to return, and she did. That day’s spoils were plenty, she walked down the uneven streets littered with muck gleefully, excited to return home to her new friend. It only took her moments to realize, a feeling of foreboding fell over her. One more turn and she’d be there, one more step, one more second… She arrived, the sight was horrendous, she fell to the ground and broke down crying, tears rolling down her face. The cat laid in front of her, practically crushed, it sat there, laying in its own blood, devoid of life.

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Mia shook herself out of it, disregarding that horrible memory.

The three of them ran over to the crowd, their hearts racing. Mia shot out first, squirming her way through the sea of townsfolk surrounding the origin of the screams. As she shuffled past them she heard them whisper comments and thoughts amongst themselves.

“Must’ve been beasts. That's horrible. Is he just gonna die on the street?” These and many more comments similar echoed throughout the crowd.

Mia finally made it to the middle, a man laid in front of her, he continued screaming, asking for help. He held his stomach tightly, and coughed up blood. The man looked as if he had been beaten, black eye, blood falling down his face, and a few missing teeth, Even his brown hair seemed to have tufts ripped out.

In the back Captain Yakusuke were trying to herd the crowd elsewhere, moving people along away from the scene.

“Damn where is the town guard? You’d think they would be on top of this already”. Hikaru said as he hurried and shooed people away.

“I imagine that they’re drunk somewhere or out at a brothel. You can’t expect the soldiers of this city to lift a finger for someone who doesn’t even live here. Trust me Hikaru, I’ve seen situations similar to this”. Captain Yakusuke said as she stood there.

After a few moments most of the crowd had dispersed, people lost interest quickly and went back to their daily lives. All of them seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal.

The Captain and Hikaru walked to Mia and the heavily injured man.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Mia held him up as she berated him with questions. Concern and frustration screaming from her.

“Y-ou Have t-o hel-p the-m. Please… He-lp th-em”, the man said, COFF! COFF! The man coughed, a spurt of blood shot out and splashed on the ground. “The vil-lage, it-s bea-sts, he-lp ple-ase”. As he spoke his words became quieter and quieter. Soon enough his eyes began to haze over. The man’s breathing began to slow down and eventually stopped. his dimmed eyes, becoming lifeless orbs embedded into his skull.

“No no no, please wake up!” Mia yelled as she shook him. Blood continued pouring out of his stomach, she reached down to the end of his shirt and pulled it up. A wide gash was across his stomach, it’s truly a miracle on how he even managed to get into the city.

“Shit”.

“Captain? What do we do? What can we do?”

The Captain looked down at Mia, “He said, beasts didn’t he, that means it’s in our jurisdiction. I have a feeling it has to do with that rumor we heard in the bar”. He adjusted his coat, “well, now the town guard won’t be able to ignore this. No one can ignore a dead dude in the street”. He sighed, “Hikaru! Mia! We’re departing immediately, to the village east. Let’s go hunt some beasts”.

Mia stood up, still shaken, “alright, beasts”.

A hand gripped her shoulder. Hikaru popped up beside her, “don’t worry, it’s unusual for a huntsman’s first hunt to be with their Captain and Lieutenant, so consider yourself lucky”. He paused. “We’ll solve the mystery behind the village, save everyone, and then continue on to Seiren. Ain’t that right Captain?”.

“Damn right it is, now let’s go”.