Chapter 9: Feathers of Crows

The Crow masked woman was sitting with her back on the wall, blood flowed from her wounds , her musket already destroyed from the initial fight she looked at the monster infront of her and let out a gasp as she gripped her stomach tightly, the Ichor Syphon had already started doing its magic but she needed a few seconds of time to recover before going back to the fight.

She looked at the old man and thought, 'I doubt Klein Hielms would let me go, considering his target is one of the infamous Red Hunters…. I cannot let him get involved in this, but I also cannot let the children get hurt just because of this. He should somewhere be in the West District of Arkvem…. Why is he trying to find him here for? In the outskirts of the Arkvem city…'

She grunted and looked around for her blades, the orphanage was slightly destroyed, thankfully, the children were safe in the basement. She managed to evacuate them before the fight happened. She remembered what happened during the fight and squinted her eyes, "I thought I was in your level by now, turns out im still waaaaay behind… You did not become stronger by using God's Blood, where did you get such power from?"

She then chuckled and said, "Though I doubt you will answer me, seeing your current state. First Hunter."

Klein Hielms let out a chuckle as he got out of the smoke that she entrapped him in. He gave her a few seconds to breathe as it was getting stuffy inside, looking at her mangled mess of a body that he knew he was the culprit who did it to her, he gave her a smile and said, "Nothing much. Hunter Crow. If you can control the "Beast" inside you well, it can help you in many ways than one. For example, like doing this!!!"

He reached his hand towards her and it grew in length, the crow masked woman clicked her tongue and grabbed a stick before accurately throwing it into one of his eyes before dashing away from the hand by rolling forward. Klein grabbed the stick and threw it away, 'That one almost hit me. She is a formidable foe indeed. As expected of the new generation, she could probably match toe to toe against my youngest disciple…. I wonder what that brat is doing now…'

His hand returned to normal as crow masked woman took this time to breathe, seeing that he didn't have any intentions of attacking anymore. He was even wearing his coat back and looked like he was about to leave after fighting with her for no reason. Though, she remembered what he had said and asked, "May I ask a question?"

Klein grabbed his pistol as well as his lance and looked back, "Hmm?", he put his hand on his chin and thought for a while, he then smiled and said, "Are you asking about why im hunting down Frederick Enrico or are you asking about how I was able to control the beast?"

"….A bit of both, may I ask?"

Klein looked at the masked woman speechlessly and gave out a chuckle, he strapped his lance behind him and walked towards her while holding a bottle of wine that he took from the destroyed kitchen of the orphanage. He looked at the children hiding from him and sat down beside the masked woman and opened the wine bottle.

He then looked at one of the children, the ones who were older and said, "Hello, child. Can uncle borrow two glass cups? Your auntie-"

The kid then said, unphased, "Mother."

"…" He looked at the oldest looking child and looked at how he was hiding the other children younger than him behind his back, beside him were two other children that looked as old as him. He pursed his lips and said, "…mother and I just finished fighting and we would like to talk with some drinks. Can you bring me two glass cups?"

The child looked at him, then to the masked woman and nodded his head, he then softly opened some cabinets and drawers before looking at him, dead in the eyes, cold and emotionless, he let out only 4 words, "You broke them all."

"…"

"…"

The two locked in a death stare before Klein sighed and facepalmed, he then looked at the wine and said, "Well, any other cups we can use to drink this?"

The child then said, "Yes. But mother said that its bad for old people to drink wine, as bad as kids. Old people could die, so I won't give you anything. Also, you hurt mother, all the more reason not to comply to your wishes."

Klein looked at the child and looked at the masked woman, who only shrugged her shoulders as she held herself from laughing. He looked at the kid and said, "You have guts kid, what's your name?"

The kid closed his eyes and said, "Why should I tell you?"

"Because I asked."

"And I have the right not to answer."

"…"

"…"

The masked woman looked at Klein, who was about to explode in fury and chuckled and sat down infront of Klein, she then looked at the child and said, "Vergi, can you get me 2 cups, please?"

The child, Vergi looked at her and said, "I can, but mother.. Old people cannot drink, that's what you told me."

The masked woman then said back, "And I remember that i said that I can also take anything that I say, back."

"…But he hurt you…"

"Don't worry, mother is fine."

Vergi frowned, he looked at her for a while before nodding his head and went to the kitchen again and took out stone cups. He then walked towards them, gently placing one cup infront of the masked woman and throwing the other one to Klein, he looked at the old man and clicked his tongue and walked away.

Not before whispering, "Touch her again and I'll take away your wine."

A childish threat but Klein could hear the danger hidden in those words. He smiled and nodded his head before letting out an exhausted sigh, he turned his head and looked at the masked woman and asked, "How did you managed to get used to these type of kids?"

The masked woman poured a wine for herself, before grabbing her mask's beak and pulled it upwards, letting him see her mouth which had a large burn from her right cheek to her chin and gulped down the wine. "After living with them for so long, you'll get used to it."

She said nonchantly and poured wine to Klein, who shrugged his shoulders and drank it. The two looked like old friends and both ignored that they fought to death just a moment ago.

"So, what is your true reason for finding me?" She sipped her cup and looked at Klein, who chuckled and said out loud, "Wow, today must be a happy day. Im laughing way too much today, I wonder something good is happening?"

She looked at him and frowned but Klein didn't see it, he then gulped the entire cup before putting it down and throwing a photo infront of her. "I want you to hunt this kid down. He's famous in the parts of the East district, he has hunted quite a lot of monsters and beasts too."

She grabbed the photo with two fingers and looked at the man in the photo, a bearded man with an eyepatch on his right eye, 'Why wear an eyepatch? He is a hunter after all so he must've used God's Blood atleast once in his Hunting career, and the thing could regenerate limbs, much less an eyeball. Is he doing it for fashion?'

Crows started flying up, some landing on some decaying trees, some on the roof of the somewhat destroyed orphanage.

Looking at the masked woman, he continued, knowing that the woman was interested, "His name is Fic Humb, a Rank A Hunter borderlining Rank S. Though his achievements are solid, we had found an information that he is seeing someone from the outside. You have to make sure that he dies, there is a chance that he is innocent but we cannot risk the safety of the city just for a tiny chance."

The masked woman looked at the man and let out a smile, 'Seeing someone from the outside? He must have a lot of courage to do that. Its illegal to even meet someone from the outside, much less talk to them regularly. Though Klein gave me small amounts of information to work with, atleast i have something to work with.'

She gave it a thought for a few seconds before saying, "What's in it for me?"

Klein saw that she was about to accept and leaned closer to her and said, "Citizenship for your children and any children that you adopt in the future."

Crows started flying up and landed infront of the masked woman, their red eyes looking at Klein chillingly, there was hundreds, no, thousands of crows flying around, sitting on branches and such, all looking at Klein as if they were ordered to do so.

The woman looked at Klein and took off her mask, revealing chilling red eyes, a burn mark as well as three eyes on her left side of her face. She opened her mouth while looking at him threateningly, she observed him for a moment before looking at the children and said, "I accept. Anything for my children."