As the three left a troop of guards walked towards the corpse of the man, From the stink that followed it was greatly apparent that they’d been partaking at local taverns. This solidifies Indra’s questionable methods of protecting its citizens. It’s hard to say if the soldiers are relaxed due to lack of beast attacks or just their own indifference to their duties.

“Sir, how long will it take to get to this eastern village?” Mia asked, she was quite impatient and semi-excited for her first actual mission. Her mind was focused on testing out her newfound abilities on a beast or two.

“I can’t imagine it’ll take too long, from what I noticed the man was wearing fairly modern clothes so he must’ve been able to visit larger settlements fairly regularly”. The Captain stopped, “Mia, Hikaru, I was debating on whether we should grab some supplies but… I have a bad feeling”.

“A bad feeling sir?” Both said in conjunction.

“Yeah, with this and us going to Seiren, I just have an odd feeling”, he scrunched his face and fidgeted with his fingers. “We must hurry”.

The three continued walking down the street, passing by men and women with no regard for anything else.

A few minutes passed and both Mia and Hikaru noticed the irregularity in the Captain's footsteps. From the laid back Captain to someone who was now hauling ass.

Over time as they neared the edge of Indra Mia took notice of the change of scenery. When they first left the tavern the buildings were fancy and well built, each house and establishment carried a quality of elegance and architectural complexity, now however, the buildings looked shabby, not as bad as the slums in Ako, but each house definitely looked lower than middle class. The doors looked old, window panels had cracks, even the roofs had missing tiles.

“I guess everywhere has its low-end housing”, Mia thought as she walked beside Hikaru. Eventually the thoughts she had about Indra and Ako left her mind, now, she and her other two companions had reached the edge of the town.

There was barely anyone around, you could occasionally hear the cough of a sick mother cradling a newborn, but that was it. It seems like most of the residents here had abandoned their homes.

“I know what you’re thinking Mia”.

“Sir?”

Why isn't anyone here… Why were the people in town weren’t shocked by the death of that man in the street… It’s because of this”, the Captain said as he came to a stop, he took a breath and looked around. “Most towns have places like these. You’d call them the slums or rock bottom, but other people call them another name… Beast-bait”. He turned to Mia and had a serious look on his face. “All towns have places like this, they use them to deter beasts from coming deep within the town. The thought is that if they sacrifice the rejects then the beasts will eat them and leave”.

“So… They’re sacrificing their own people to survive?” Mia had a disgusted and sad expression, her heart felt a bit as Captain Yakusuke further explained.

“Ah, that’s right. They sacrifice those they don’t care about to survive. It’s been like that for a long time. Even the capital has small settlements placed around it for the same reason… Humans are truly vile creatures. No matter, it’s not something the huntsman covenant can do about it, we’ve tried to appeal to the kings in the past but they never listen”. The Captain sighed, his disappointment in society was greatly apparent.

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“Sir, we better get going if we plan on saving that village”. Hikaru placed his hand on the Captain's shoulder, trying to give him an inkling of comfort.

“You’re right. You’ve been my lieutenant for over a hundred years so you always know what to say”, he smiled and began walking again, Hikaru quickly following behind.

A moment of silence passed.

“Mia? Are you coming?” Hikaru turned his head.

“Wait a minute… Over a hundred years?” She looked confused, Mia’s draw practically dropped. “But… At Alli’s you said-”

“Right… Um… Hmm. That kinda slipped out, shit”. Hikaru stopped and tapped his foot. “I’ll tell you while we walk… The one repercussion of being a huntsman”.

Suspicion and annoyance radiated from Mia, the air around her was suffocating.

The three exited the slums and began walking down a dirt path, “damn it I wish I had brought more Seshi’s with me”, Captain Yakusuke pouted.

“CAPTAIN!” Mia yelled, her face showing the peak of annoyance.

“Right right, the repercussions of becoming a huntsman. I’ll begin… When you go through the whole effigy process and first become a huntsman your body takes in the beast within the effigy right? In simpler terms it intertwines with your soul, which then you stop being human, basically the intake of the beast forces you to evolve. You could think of a huntsman as a separate species, yes we look the same as humans but once we become a huntsman our appearance is the only connection. Aside from the obvious powers we attain we also are granted one more thing, the ability to never age, simply, we can get super old but still look young. Now that can also fall into a gray area for reasons unknown. Let me tell you something that’ll rock your mind. I’m over three-hundred years old… Eh eh! I look pretty damn good for my age don’t I”. Captain Yakusuke donned a wide lecherous smile.

Mia stopped, “wait just a minute… you’re over three-hundred? That’s insane!” Her eyes began darting back and forth, trying to wrap her head around the sudden information. She thought to herself, “wait, if the Captain is over three-hundred then Alli must be significantly older than him… But then also Hikaru must be significantly older than me? I’m like an infant in their eyes”. She grasped her chin and rubbed it, her brain was scattered trying to understand it. She looked up, "Hikaru, how old are you?”

“I turn one-hundred and sixteen in June, which is about two months away”. He looked up, wondering if he got the numbers right.

Mia’s mouth dropped again, “so am I gonna get super old? Turn out to be a crotchety old hag?” Now she looked worried, it seems she partly accepted it.

“Nah, you’ll stay lookin’ like this… Heh, no sagging for those puppies…” Captain Yakusuke whispered the latter.

“AHEM!” Hikaru cleared his throat, signaling his annoyance at his captain. “Now that we got that out of the way we should really be hurrying up, I would like to quickly get this side mission done so we can go home”. He exhaled, “I WILL go on ahead without you two”.

They continued walking for a bit, the silence was awkward to say the least.

“Sir… why didn’t you tell me about the whole age thing before?”

“Well, It’s one hell of a minus, become a huntsman and practically lose your humanity. It’s a bad habit of mine to hold that information back from new huntsmen”. He shook his head, “I’m sorry, It’s just a big thing… A big minus”.

“It’s fine, I was prepared to sacrifice anything to hunt down that beast. If it’s my humanity that needs to be sacrificed then so be it”.

Hikaru piped up, “You’re taking this quite well Mia, I've seen some people blow their tops when hearing it. Hmm, there was a guy named Juha who completely fell apart when he heard it. I think he died on his first mission”. He looked at the sky in wonder.

The awkwardness in the air lifted and they continued walking, a slight breeze wafted past them.

Mia looked up at the sky, a beautiful shade of blue with a sprinkle of clouds.

She squinted, noting a black speck in the distance.

“Sir, I see something”.

“Captain Yakusuke reached into his coat and grabbed a pair of binoculars, he placed them to his eyes and zoned in on the unknown object in the sky… But it wasn't an object…

“I see, so that’s what it is”. He took the binoculars away from his eyes and handed them to Mia. “Take a look”.

With one look Mia clenched her teeth. The black speck was indeed… a beast. A legless beast with a long beak and bat-like wings. It seemed to be circling around above some structures.

“I think I see the village sir. The beast must be doing recon or something”.

She handed the binoculars to Hikaru who shared the same idea.

“Well then, perfect”. We’ll be there soon so psych yourselves up. All we can hope for is that there are some survivors… And maybe some ladies who’ll be really grateful”. The Captain licked his lips, imagining a plethora of lewd scenarios.

For the rest of the time the trio walked in both silence as well as casual conversation. They all seemed mentally prepared… but that wasn’t truly the case. This was a hunt, and in most cases, blood from both sides will be spilled…