The guild was now separated but unaware of the fact that the two hunters were just an hour ahead of Bave. Therefore, once they reached Shimeo, a major city that was half-way to Luse, where the hunters had planned to rest for three hours during the early evening, inevitably Bave would catch up to them.

Upon arriving Kal and Koh were visibly exhausted, the men had been in a gallop ever since the woodland in distress that they could have been trailed.

Several times they had stopped to discuss whether it was wise to stay at Shimeo but as it was the original plan – it was one of the possible places they could reunite with Bave. Therefore, they did make the stop.

The city was already decorated for the upcoming Rose Fest. Street stands were in place, ready to offer, in a day and a half, stocks from all over the Kingdom.

Some stands were prepared to sell food, others were for attraction with crafted goods like wooden totems and beautiful jewelry for women. After all, it was a festival that united couples together – future husband-candidates were willing to buy souvenirs for their pretty women.

Other street stands, on the other hand, offered fortune-telling – who wouldn't like to know what the future held for their possible marriage!

The gates and major parts of the city were made over to fit the atmosphere of the roses season, and big wreaths were hanging around.

Although the colors of the roses varied, the most preferred color, which, by the way, Shimeo had voted for this year, was pink.

The hunters paced on the horses slowly, looking for side to side – it was hard to ignore the beauty of the streets. Besides, they missed their wives and children. Pictures of imaginary gather-together made them feel nostalgic.

They had planed since the beginning of May their good time with the family at the Rose Festival. Especially that Kal planned to see his daughter, Lena, at the rose-gathering.

A sigh escaped him, he really wanted to see how beautiful she would look with the traditional clothing for the event. White dress with ancient-old symbols as embroidery on the hem of her sleeves. What a pity, he thought.

Koh was no different. He also had plans to spend this annual event with his wife – Kalina. She was a gentle and beautiful woman that looked after their boys. Unlike Kal, Koh's household had only boys.

So, Koh would have experienced the festival from a different perspective as he did not have a daughter for the rose-gathering but had a boy for the water-battle where husband-candidates went through a trial to win the heart of their chosen woman.

He wondered who his youngest son would pick for a future wife. Although having Kalina by his side, he was sure the boy would not do any rash decisions, so he could rest assured.

The men passed through the central part of the city before they headed to the more secluded parts where they could find guesthouses on cheap rates. It was truly pointless to pay a lot given the fact they'd stay just for a few hours.

The pathway took them to the eastern part of the city which was more or less voided off of the merry atmosphere one could easily experience in the central parts. In fact, the eastern side of the city was somewhat poor, so people did not bother to decorate their alleys and stores.

From left to right, and from right to left, one could see stores and buildings darkened by the harsh effect poverty had scarred the neighborhoods with. Kal tugged the bridle to force he stallion with a command to cease walking.

Soon the column of horses followed and the men observed a humble-looking guesthouse. Its sign was slightly crooked from the edges but one could clearly read 'Ora's Guesthouse'.

The sign was dusty though, the letters were carved into the metal otherwise if painted, they'd probably spend more on maintenance than simple permanent metalwork.

Kal hopped off his horse and instructed Koh to shelter their horses whilst Kal was dealing with the administrative matters. He hoped that they had at least one room though, from the look of it, no one would rather stay at such inn. It just looked off-putting.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The hunters separated for a short while, and Kal walked into the guesthouse. The door creaked and from the corner of the dim inn, he saw a woman sitting on something like a reception-desk.

The candles around were scarce, so Kal couldn't really make out the full capacity and interior of the hall. He slowly made his way to her and nodded his head as a friendly gesture to greet.

"Good afternoon. I would like to book a room.",  said he.

His voice quiet to fit the dim atmosphere. Somewhat he felt awkward raising his voice in such a quiet room.

"Aha.", the lady couldn't have been younger than fifty or fifty-five years of age however, her attitude was rude, "One silver coin."

Kal did not pay much attention to her rudeness as not everyone liked strangers. Especially as he was armed with blades around his waist. Moreover, he wasn't the prince-type.

He probably looked like a hunter even though in casual clothing. Scars decorated his hands and his face had adopted the toughness in the form of wrinkles. So, he was okay if the lady did not want to greet him with a smile.

He took out a silver coin and slid it against the wooden surface, in turn, she slid his way a rusty key and only directed him to room number '12' on the second floor.

The hunter picked the key and made his way out the inn. He thought he'd rather go help Koh with the horses than spend the time alone in such a dark place. The inn really creeped him out despite his age and experience.

He had seen horrible things during different missions but that place felt just so off.

He stuffed the key in the inside pocket of his upper clothing and looked around. If he remembered right, Koh headed two streets down the pathway and turned to left.

The hunter paced slowly, observing the area they were planning to rest at. That inn was not the only creepy place though. He spotted some weird-looking doors that had carved wolf heads with tongues reaching out to take on the shape of door handles.

The male cocked a brow, how come such a poor area could even have a building with that type of massive door. Moreover, the ironwork looked fantastic. Kal reached his hand up and rubbed the edge of his chin.

He was quite interested in forging and even had started to build his own smithy where he could work in his free time, and who knew – one day he could make it into an official business after he retired from the Association of Hunters Bar.

The male resumed walking still impressed by the metalwork he just saw. He wondered how old that door was? It did not look like anything forged in recent years. Many great blacksmiths have left Balhkara after Tulo's annihilation.

Besides, the pattern of these wolves seemed to follow truly ancient motifs. He made it a task in his 'to-do' list once they were done with this mission. He would visit this place again and ask around about that door. It mesmerized him completely.

Kal finally reached the horse shelters of the area, Koh was chatting with a local man, who seemed like in his early thirties and was one of the few people they met on the streets. In fact, Kal just realized it but the eastern neighborhood was rather quiet and deserted.

Once he approached close enough, he heard the man discuss something intriguing.

"…Yeah! And I thought that the guild was truly unlucky to meet such an end. I don't know much about it but it happened like a few days ago."

Kal wasn't quite sure what he walked into and his brows locked in a frown. A guild? Unlucky? What has happened? He looked to Koh in search for answers but his friend was calmly discussing along,

"Indeed. Anyway, thank you for telling me. Once I have the chance to look into it, I will make sure to see what had happened.", he sounded rather professional as not to let the man down.

Kal quickly caught on that Koh had probably introduced himself as a hunter and somewhat the conversation had rolled in.

The hunter stayed quiet as the chit-chat was gradually brought to an end, and Koh excused himself before he gestured for Kal to leave along. As soon as they were far enough, Kal hurried to ask, as the impatient man he was himself, what was going on.

"What was that?"

"Hmmm, a weird story going around that hunters from all over the Kingdom are disappearing. The man told me that last week a guild had made it to this area but vanished on the next day upon arrival. Their horses were left behind, so he offered to make some exchange. I guess he liked our stallions."

Koh laughed although the conversation wasn't meant to start if it weren't for the horses.

"That's weird…Do you think that Bave is okay?", Kal was sure that Koh also would associate the story with their captain not being around but they couldn't do much as of now.

"Honestly? I have no idea…I am not sure whether the ambush and this story are related. If they are…that's going to be a problem."

"I hope he is okay…", Kal slowed down as they approached the inn which he booked them in for the night but his expression revealed his worries.

"Come on man…he is fine, I am sure. Don't forget how he acquired his nickname, 'The Inviolable One'.", Koh tried to cheer him up with an old story from five years ago.

One could say it was one of the wonders of the Association of Hunters Bar. Whoever heard that nickname knew that the man who was standing before was no other but the man who fought the bloody battle of Hoiran.

The one who was attacked from four cardinal guilds at once and none managed to bring him down. 'The Inviolable One' was Baht Ver, the youngest captain of the Association Hunters Bar.