TtOW! - Chapter 39: Mission Report

Monster hunting? Hah! Monster hunting means monsters going hunting, not the other way around. Let me tell you: there's no one stupider than a rookie monster hunter! Sure, sounds good in theory, right? Go out, take on some big animal, and get rich overnight. They get it in their head that killing a few slimes in the outskirts of towns makes them some sort of expert. Well if it were that easy, everyone would do it!

What all those stupid young lads with delusions of grandeur don't think about is how few retired Exploratores there are, and how many retired Legionnaires there are. And you know why that is?

Monster hunting is bloody dangerous.

A monster is NOT just some big animal. Animals are predictable. They have common needs, habitats, and instincts. Any experienced hunter can take a look at an animal they've never seen before and make a reasonable guess as to what it is and how it will act. And most of all, animals prioritize their own survival. You can spook an animal off, even if it wants to eat you.

Not so with monsters.

Monsters are, by the very definition, magical. And that means they don't follow ANY common rules, whatsoever. Every type of monster is different, unique to itself. Monsters that look almost exactly alike might have entirely different abilities and behavior, and there's no way to tell what those are if you haven't encountered that exact monster before. Or if you got the Analyze ability but tell me, how many stupid young lads dreaming of becoming monster hunters have the Analyze ability of all things?

And most of all, monsters are unreasonably aggressive.

They will attack you, without provocation, the moment they know you're there. And they won't stop attacking you until it's clear they're about to die. Or more likely, when you're dead.

So all these stupid young lads run off into the forests and mountains and what happens? They get all surprised when the little rat shoots lighting at them. Or when the deer turns out to be a carnivore that isn't afraid of their little spear. Or that wolf they shot with an arrow turns and attacks them instead of running away and bleeding out. Or that bear turns out to be intelligent and simply avoids the obvious traps they set and then mauls their face.

This is why every village hunter knows to only hunt animals, and to run as fast as they can the moment they see something acting out of the norm.

And the only Exploratores that survive past their first year are the ones that do their bloody job. They scout things out quietly and carefully and report to the Legion what they saw. Then the Legion checks the records and figures out what's actually out there and how to kill it. It's only after they have years under the belt and have read more books than those pointy hats in the magic academies do the smart ones actually start killing a monster or two. And even they only have a fifty-fifty shot at best of surviving to retirement. Not least of all because the Empire barely pays them now.

And the idiots who go hunting monsters without even joining the Exploratores?

Well, how many professional monster hunters have you heard of?

You want to kill monsters? Hah, go and join the Legion like a good lad. That's where the real monster hunting happens.

-Retired Centurion Placus Appuleius Dexion, drunkenly ranting at the local tavern

***

Cassius was relaxing back in the house, sipping from a mug, when suddenly there was a knock at the door.  Cassius nearly fell from his seat, spilling his drink.  He swore as he got back up.

They weren’t scheduled to have any guests today, and the locals knew better than to knock on this door.  So who could it be?

He continued swearing as he peaked through a hole in the door.

And froze.

It was the knight.

She was back.

Cassius blinked.

Sure, he had expected she might get lost in the slums and that he would have to find and guide her out, but that was a day ago and none of his contacts had seen her since.

He opened the door and welcomed the knight in.

“Hello, Miss Knight, back so soon?  How can I help you?”

The knight stepped inside.

“Mission Report: This unit has successfully terminated the target.”

Cassius blinked again as he processed her words and closed the door.

“Wait…you’re saying…you killed the Felix Pluvia?”

“Affirmative.”

Cassius stared at her for a second before heaving a sigh and holding his brow.

There was no way she had done what she claimed.  It was a day’s trip for the average person just to reach the area he had sent her.  Then the time it would take her to actually locate and track down the target.  He knew knights were much more capable than the normal person but his man in the guard had said this one was a mere level 26.  She should still be operating under relatively normal rules at that level.

And there was another factor.

There was a reason that Felix Pluvia liver was worth so much.

And that was because Felix Pluvia were notoriously dangerous to hunt.

Especially alone.

Sure, this Felix Pluvia was known to be around level 20 and the knight around level 26.  On paper, that match-up was in the knight’s favor.  But it was still a level difference where the knight would need to be careful, as the Felix Pluvia could deal serious damage to her.  And the Felix Pluvia was an ambush predator, practically impossible to find when it blended into the rain.

Even an experienced group of Exploratores or Legionnaires would have hesitated to go after the beast, as they would have struggled to avoid injury.  It was almost certain the Felix Pluvia could get the first hit on at least one of them before their comrades came to their aid.  Or the beast would simply leave the area if it considered the fight out of its favor.

A lone knight with no support?

It was fifty-fifty at best that she would survive.  And even if she did, she should not have escaped serious injury.

So for her to show up a single day later without a scratch on her?

Oh, and to find her way back to this location with no assistance, given his every effort to throw off her sense of direction?

None of this added up.

There was no chance she had actually hunted down the Felix Pluvia.  She must have taken on some other cat monster on the way and gotten confused.  Admittedly, Cassius hadn’t given her a ton of detail to work with but she would have known when the Aesdes acknowledged the kill, right?  It looked like he would need to be significantly more detailed with this one.

“Look, Miss Knight, are you sure you hunted the Felix Pluvia? Forgive me, but that would be a remarkably fast hunt.”

“Response: Providing termination confirmation.”

The knight walked over to the table and reached into her cloak. She pulled something out and placed it on the table with a thud.

Cassius's jaw dropped.

It was a magic core and a blue organ.

A magic core that would have to come from a large monster around level 20 at minimum...and a blue organ that looked suspiciously like a Felix Pluvia liver.

“Requesting Confirmation: Mission objects have been achieved, correct?”

Cassius shook his head. He had no idea how this was possible. Maybe she happened to find and purchase one, as unlikely and expensive as that would be. Or maybe she had some tricks that made this hunt easier for her. She did have that fancy armor of a type he had never seen before, so maybe she had an artifact or two.

In any case, this was not a business where he could demand details, so he had to accept things as they were presented to him.

“W-Well done, that was surprising.”

Cassius went ahead and reached into his pocket, pulling out a bag of coins. He counted out the money and handed it to the knight.

There were ways to take advantage of knights, but complaining about the end product or trying to short change them on the payment was a good way to lose one's head. One should always act a bit more subtly around knights.

Besides, he had already short-changed her on the proposal. A Felix Pluvia core and liver for five hundred Idrint was a steal, practically robbery. But she had agreed to that so it was fine.

Well, ideally he wouldn't have to keep dealing with this knight at all, but here she was.

“Here's your payment, Miss Knight.”

She took the money. Cassius held back a curse as one of her eyes spun in its socket once again.

More and more, he had a bad feeling about this knight.

“Acknowledged. Query: Will third party Cassius now provide assistance with this unit's primary directive?”

Cassius tilted his head for a moment, but from context he figured she was asking if they were done with the monster hunting.

“Now now, please be patient. This was just a single transaction, proof that you could deliver and that I could pay. But I don't think we can trust each other just yet. Why don't we run through a couple more of these?”

He held in the urge to gulp as her eye flickered. He hadn't dealt with all that many knights but he was pretty sure eyes weren't supposed to glow. Still, his contact had confirmed she was, in fact, human.

“Acknowledgement: This unit finds that reasoning acceptable for the moment. Please provide next mission details so this unit may analyze the efficacy of this arrangement.”

“S-Sure, let me see...”

Cassius pulled out the map again. He did, in fact, have a target in mind, should this knight have gotten a lucky kill on the Felix Pluvia.

“Here it is, there's a Giant Toad in this swamp. It has some glands right under its skin that are in very high demand. Should be a bit above level twenty, I think. We'll pay you 800 Idrint for this one.”

“Acknowledgment: Mission details recorded. Engaging search-and-destroy protocols.”

The knight turned and walked out the door without another word. Cassius exhaled his breath and sat in his chair once he was sure she had left.

Just then one of the men in the other room came out the door. He was large, muscular, and scarred. And he had wicked daggers strapped to his arms and legs.

“I don't like this, Cassius.”

“You don't like anything, Spurius.”

Spurius frowned, crossing his arms.

“She knows how to get to and from here. She would need to be dealt with for that alone.”

Cassius shrugged.

“I don't like it anymore than you but this place is our greeting hall. It's not like she knows where our actual operations take place.”

Spurius scowled.

“She knows too much if you ask me. And she's dangerous. We need to deal with her, pronto.”

Cassius shook his head.

“It's because she's dangerous that we approached her. And that would be a reason not to deal with her, if you ask me.”

Spurius narrowed his eyes at Cassius.

“You saying we can't take her?”

“Nothing of the sort, but look at it this way: she's fulfilling our requests and not asking any questions.”

He pointed at the magic core and blue liver lying on the table.

“And that means opportunity. Opportunity too good to waste. Besides, dangerous folk like that tend to get...overconfident, and solo monster hunting is very dangerous. She'll probably end up biting off more than she can chew soon enough. So why shouldn't we reap some profits until she does?”

Spurius grunted.

“And if she doesn't? If she keeps coming back?”

Cassius shrugged.

“Then she probably is too dangerous for us to deal with, and we'll have to take that into account. But the last thing we should do right now is pick a fight with someone like that. At least, not until we know exactly what she's capable of.”

As NSLICE-00P left the area, she reached out to Lilussees.

“Command: Friendly Lilussees, please provide intelligence report.”

She watched as Lilussees yawned, and turned over in the silk hammock she had set up in the attic of the house.

“Like, they're surprised you're alive, or something. Guess they, like, thought the monster would get you.”

“Analysis: This unit has kept her full capabilities confidential from third parties, as per standard procedure, so a miscalculation of this unit's capabilities is understandable.”

“And, like, they don't like you knowing where they live, or something. They, like, might try something, if they think you're a threat, or something.”

“Query: Is hostile intent confirmed?”

Lilussees tilted her head and put a leg on her mandibles.

“Um, like, not sure? They sound pretty sketchy and they, like, definitely expect you to die to these monsters, though.”

“Acknowledged. Command: Please continue observing and inform this unit if hostile intent is confirmed.”

Lilussees yawned again.

“Ok, like, will do, boss.”

And so NSLICE-00P continued onward. Working with Cassius grew increasingly risky...but she had already predicted criminal connections from their initial meeting in the slums. For the moment, he was providing useful targets to acquire combat data on her newest upgrades, and had not directly acted hostile towards her. As long as she could use her sensors to analyze the targets from a safe distance, she could analyze those targets herself and determine if the risk was reasonable. And as long as it was, receiving monetary compensation for live-fire experimentation was desirable. Cassius sending her off on dangerous missions with no regards to her chance of survival was simply to be expected, as the two of them had no affiliation or obligation to one another.

But should Cassius have other plans, regarding her directly?

Well...NSLICE-00P had protocols detailing her response to that scenario.

Author's Note:

Been a while since I did a start of chapter tidbit, huh?  I blame the packing and jet leg haha.

Well I’m sure this will all work out find and no one will end up getting hurt!

Anyways!

Will NSLICE-00P continue to terminate the monsters successfully?  What is Cassius’s ultimate goal here?  Will hostile intent be confirmed?  Tune in next time, to find out!