Depressing Hunts

The beasts that the farmer was talking about... Kies wondered what they looked like. He moved away from the fence, deciding to take a walk around the farm like the farmer recommended. Unsurprisingly, the farm was practically empty. Other than the birds and two patches of crops, there was nothing of interest on the farm.

After exploring for a bit, Kies heard the farmer call out to him. Kies went back to the house and the two of them had dinner together. Kies felt a little guilty eating his food, especially when he himself didn't even need to but he had to accept the hostility for the farmer's sake. They talked about a few things, mostly matters regarding Otane and the war against the demons. After finishing the food, Kies thanked the farmer and left the house. He saw that the sun was close to setting and decided to help out the farmer.

It was strange. Kies normally never helped people unless he had something to gain from it. If it was anything he learned from traveling alone all these years, it was that helping random people will get you tied up with them and he didn't want that. So why did he want to help the farmer? In fact, why did he even agree to help out Iris and the other two... Had he been alone for too long that he was starting to feel lonely himself? No... That shouldn't be the case. He couldn't feel anything... He shouldn't feel anything.

After contemplating whether or not he should really help the farmer, he decided that it was best if he didn't. He couldn't break the promise he made to himself, not now. Kies apologized to the farmer in his head and walked away but the winds suddenly sped up, warning Kies that something was wrong.

Kies closed his eyes and followed the winds and sensed that they had picked up the over ten individual presences running Kies way. Bandits? No, they were moving far too fast for that. It was the beasts that the farmer had been talking about. They've come to harass the poor farmer and destroy the little things he had left of the farm.

Should he leave before they arrive? Kids thought about it for a moment again. He could choose either to abandon the farmer or to help him. "D*mn it..." His head was telling him to leave but his body refused to listen. Part of him wanted to stay here and defend the place. The farmer didn't deserve something like this. He is only trying to make a living and survive this harsh desert but the beasts were not allowing him to do that.

Kies stood there arguing with himself for a minute. But before he could make a decision, the winds quickened again. The beasts were only seconds away from the farm. He could hear their growls and the patter of sand as their footsteps approached him.

Screw it. Kies gave up the fight against himself. In times like these when he had difficulty deciding what he should do, he always had a single solution that worked for everything. It was to stop thinking. Kies let his body do all the work. His mind blanked out and he felt himself lifting his right arm and the black sword appeared in his hand. He heard the farmer's birds croaking in alarm as they ran to the opposite side of the pen to get away from the predators. He couldn't see them yet but he could feel their presence with the winds and it seemed that the birds could sense them too.

Kies heard a loud ferocious roar and turned to see several pairs of yellow eyes at the other side of the fence. It was hard to see their bodies since their furs were the same color as the sand but Kies identified the beasts as either wolves or something close. But it didn't matter to him what they were. Either way, he knew what he needed to do.

Kies watched as the beasts hopped over the wall and into the pen. The birds tried to get out but it was too high for their legs. They couldn't squeeze through the crack either as they were too big for that. The hunters closed in on the birds and they began to croak even more. They tunneled visioned on the birds and didn't notice that Kies was behind them until it was too late.

Before the beasts had the chance to even react, Kies killed the one furthest in the back and made his way up from there to the front of the pack. He skillfully cut them all down with one swing each and eliminated them all in under one second. Kies could hear the birds still panicking and the door to the farmer's house open. He needed to act quickly.

Kies grabbed one of the slain beasts and tossed it over his soldier. Despite the size, it was a lot lighter than he expected. He called the winds to surround him and blend the air around his body, turning him invisible. He then sped off into the desert back to Otane before the farmer could find that there were over ten wolves lying lifeless in the pen. This was Kies' repayment to the farmer for sharing some of his food with him despite not having much to feed himself. If he sells those bodies, he would have enough money to start rebuilding his farm and ultimately rebuild his life.

Kies stopped behind a tree next to the river not too far away from Otane. He dispelled his wind magic and began to walk to the gate with the wolf on his shoulder. Actually, was it even a wolf? It seemed more like a cat now that Kies had the chance to look at it closely. Well, it didn't matter. All that mattered is that it would sell for something. Iris and the others would probably not be happy to hear that he didn't receive a payment from the farmer but at least he received something from the task. It was better than coming back empty-handed.

Kies made it to the city gate and was stopped by the guards. They immediately noticed the animal sling over his shoulder. One of the guards whistled and complimented his catch. "A sand hound? These things are harmless and tend to avoid us people and go after smaller prey, but they're not easy to take down at all. Not bad if I say so myself."

So it was a wolf. Or at least it was a dog. If not, they at least belonged to the same species. "How much can I get for this?" Kies asked the guard since he seemed knowledgeable about the animal.

"How much? It depends on the quality of their fur. The one you have doesn't look too bad..." The guard patted the fur of the sand hound and scratched his chin. "Yeah, it'll fetch something. Strange... Why is this sand hound so skinny? It looks like it has been starving for days," the guard observed.

"It does?"

"Yes. They're usually a lot bigger than this. I mean, the bones are literally poking out," the guard pointed at the hound's stomach, where the skin had receded so much that the ribs were visible. So the wolves were just trying to survive just like the farmer. They weren't harassing him for the fun of it. Kies felt pity for the wolves now that he learned this but at the same time, he was putting them out of their misery along with the farmer. If he didn't do anything, both the farmer and the wolves would starve to death in the future.

"I can't say you'll get much for the meat since it barely has anything, but at least the fur is still there. Anyway, that's enough of me blabbering. You want to enter the city, yes?"

Kies reached into his pocket and pulled out the card that the mercenary guild gave him after passing the entrance test.

"A mercenary? A young one at that. Tougher than you look, aren't you? You're free to enter."

Kies nodded his head and walked past the guards and into the city. Even though it was pretty late now, the streets were still bustling with activity. The stalls and shops have yet to close and there were actually more people outside now. It made sense. The temperature was a lot lower now and more tolerable. This was the prime time to be outside and do whatever it is that one needed to do before the sun sets and the temperature drops to freezing numbers.

Kies felt the fragment not too far away from his current location. Judging from the direction it was in, he guessed that the others might've just finished their request as well and were returning back to the mercenary guild. Looks like he made it back just in time. Kies made this way through the city and towards the mercenary guild. When he got there, he found that the other three had made it there first and were waiting for him.

"What's that on your back?" Iris asked him when she spotted him.

"A sand hound," Kies answered, remembering what the guard called it.

"Wait, it is?" Iris hopped over and took a look for herself and saw that it was indeed a sand hound. "Why is it so small?"

"It was starving."

"Oh, was that what was bothering the farmer? A single hungry sand hound that was on the verge of death? Huh, definitely not what I expected..." Iris said in a disappointed tone. "I expected something more exciting."

"Anyway, I take it that the payment wasn't that good either?" Sirks asked.

"No, I didn't actually get anything," Kies told them.

"What? Nothing? Isn't that against the rules?" It was mandatory that the person who put up the commission pay the fee once the request was completed. The only time when this rule didn't apply would be when the request wasn't fulfilled. Failure to follow this simple rule would result in trouble with the mercenary guild. And believe it or not, but the last thing that most people would want is a bunch of angry mercenaries outside their houses demanding payment.

Kies pursed his lips. It was going to be hard to explain to the three why the farmer couldn't pay him so he instead told them, "The farmer offered me payment in crops. But it was too much to carry so I refused." The rules stated that the payment didn't have to be money and it could be something of equivalent value but most mercenaries hated it because it meant that they had to go out of their way to sell the items themselves. And because of this, mercenaries had the option to refuse payments, meaning that there wouldn't be any problems if the commissioner tried to pay and the payment wasn't accepted.

"Crops? Oh, so it's one of those people huh?" Sirks said with a sour face. Since paying with items was a thing, there were some people who abused this and purposely tried to pay with things that mercenaries didn't want. This way, if the payment was refused then the commissioner could use that as a reason to not pay the mercenary anything, meaning that they can hire the mercenaries for free and they couldn't do anything about it.

"No, he really didn't have any money on him," Kies explained. "The only thing he could pay in is crops."

"I see... Well, that sucks then," Sirks sighed. "We'll just have to see how much this sand hound is worth then." Even though Sirks said that, he didn't look like he even wanted to know since it was a rather disappointing catch.

"How much did you guys make?" Kies asked, seeing how they didn't look very happy before he told them the news.

"Us... We didn't get the full payment."

"Why?"

"We didn't find enough of the herbs that he was looking for."

"Wait... herbs? Wait, doesn't that mean that he is a herbalist?" Kies just realized. What other reason would someone want herbs? This meant that they didn't even need to do all this.

"No, he was a chef. The herbs he was looking for were for cooking."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, we got excited as well."

After telling each what happened, Kies went and sold the body of the animal. Since it was so skinny, it didn't fetch for much, but it was better than nothing. And with that, they ended their first day on the job, and not on a good note either. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

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