Chapter 38 - Pungent

Early the next morning, long before the sun rose in the sky, Fenrir woke up with a loud yawn. Rubbing her eyes, she smelled a strong odor of burning, comprised of everything from building materials to human flesh. Snorting, Fenrir jumped down from the tree and began walking towards the center of the city, knowing that the Mercenaries Guild could be found there. Along the way, she passed by the area where her ice pillar had been the previous night, now having dissipated away with an almost perfect circle on the ground.

It was obvious that several people had tried to melt her ice, causing the ground around the pillar to become scorched. Unfortunately for them, until the Ice Elemental energy had lost its form naturally, it wasn't going anywhere with their weak flames. As for the secondary smells, there were several charred corpses around the area and Fenrir could see that the Inn she had been in the previous night had been burned to the ground. This annoyed her a little bit, as it meant they were likely looking for her again and she would probably have to deal with them soon.

As if on cue, a group of three people flew towards her position atop three medium length straight swords. Fenrir noticed the man at the front was the same old man that had been so talkative the previous night, practically giving away information for free. Since they didn't seem to be hostile yet, Fenrir allowed them to land, only to be taken aback when the old man bowed to her, saying, "This Lee greets Senior..."

Feeling the hairs on her back stand on end, Fenrir glared towards the man and said, "Do not call me Senior...I'm not old. Tell me what you want and then leave me alone. I don't have time to waste with you." The old man, who had introduced himself as Lee, awkwardly smoothed out invisible wrinkles from his robe as he said, "Ah, it was not my intention to disrupt Se...your plans. I just wanted to give you a warning, as you seemed to match the description of the person wanted by the Flame Jade Sect..."

This news wasn't surprising to Fenrir at all, so she asked, "And, what does that have to do with you? If the Flame Jade Sect wants to find trouble with me, that is their business. I will deal with them my own way, so butt out of my business..." Turning away from the old man, Fenir went on her way, ignoring his attempt to call out to her again. She had already been able to tell since the previous night that the old man wasn't any good, as the smell of blood was very thick on his body. She also didn't like the look in his eyes and, even though he didn't gawk at her, there was a glimmer contained within that made her feel disgusted...

Seeing the unknown girl walking away, the 'old man', surnamed Fen, turned to his two students and said, "Try to follow her in secret, but don't interfere with her business. See if you can find out the reason why she has come to the city. If anyone from the other Sects tries to scout her, inform me at once. We can't let such a precious raw material fall into the hands of the other Sects..." Hearing their orders, both of the young men gave a chest salute before taking to the skies on their swords once again. As for the Fen Lee, his eyes glimmered with intrigue as he lightly commented, "Such a strange girl...and that Yin energy coming from her body...she would make an excellent furnace for my grandson..."

(Fenrir's Commentary: 'The smell of burned flesh...*snort*...putrid...')