"Good morning, Headmaster" Standing now in front of the desk, Das hands him over the closed parchment.
He grabs it and opens it, taking one glance at its contents and seemingly reading it all before letting the paper rest on the clean desk.
"Impossible" It's all he says, resting comfortably on his chair.
"Never before has anyone in the Hunter's gone against the Agreement?"
The Headmaster takes a hand to his mask and gently taps on its side with a finger "No, as it is with every order, there have been those that break their Agreements" He then raises his head a little bit, his eyes are hidden behind a pair of circular glass openings that can't be seen through "But never, in the thirty-five years exercising my duty, we've had a breach of such magnitude. Do you know what makes a Hunter, a Hunter?"
"Well, no"
"Mages have mana, with it they can bend the will of the world, however, humans have Willpower, the strongest your Willpower, the stronger the human. And there are few humans that possess more Willpower than us Hunters, we train all our lives and put ourselves in the most horrible situations to grow our Willpower and Hunt the creatures that prey on us" He makes a pause, making sure Das has understood everything he said "We offered the strongest of our Hunters, the elite, to guard the princess. This means their Willpower was so great, that the possibility of treason was almost nonexistent"
Das knew about Willpower, the supposed "Gift" of The Lightbringer. Forged through hardship and struggle, men could match the strength of Minotaurs or the speed of Windslicers through their own spirit. Naturally, the greater the Willpower, the harder it was for them to be mentally broken or led astray, so the Headmaster made sense.
"What do you think could had happened then? The guard had a heathen symbol on her"
"To begin with, Hunter's are not forced to follow any religion and are free to practice whatever they like, so long as it doesn't negatively affect us or our employers, if the Hunter had something you consider a heathen symbol it means nothing. Your higher-ups should be aware of this" He then stops his finger, coming to a realization" Unless there is a reason why that specific symbol would mean treason" Seeing the slightest movement in Das's face, he goes on "How did it look?"
"I-I'm sorry, I've been ordered to not share that knowledge" Das realizes how perceptive the Headmaster is, and knows he will have to be careful or risk spill the secret that has become the whole matter with the Phantom.
"I supposed as much" The Headmaster immediately replies "You can keep your secrets all you want, but don't expect me to doubt the loyalty of my Hunters" Crossing one leg on top of the other, the Headmaster brushes him to leave "You may leave us now"
Das awkwardly turns around and takes a few steps, before stopping, knowing full well that he can't return to Edel and tell him the Headmaster simply won't do what he DEMANDS, so scrambling for ideas, he thinks of something "The High General had signed that message, right?" He asks, turning tentatively around.
"Yes, I suppose the King is too busy torching villages and massacring green skins to worry about Kingdom matters. Always sounded more like a bandit than a king to me"
"Well, it was the King's daughter who could have been harmed by this, dangerous heathen"
"Please, if you really think the King cares about his daughter you are too young to be at court"
"Then I will return, and tell the High General that nothing will be done about this. He will have to answer back to the King" Das stares down the Headmaster " the King, who is widely known for taking matters into his own hands and looks unkindly to those that fail him"
He lets his words hang in the air that quickly thickens, he struggles to maintain an even heartbeat fully aware that the Headmaster must be able to listen to it. And to make matters worse, the silence drags on for what seems like an eternity.
"Fine, I will order one look through my Hunter's belongings and search for any suspicious objects they may own, so don't bother the King with this" Angrily, the Headmaster opens a drawer on his desks and pulls out a parchment, hastily writing on it with a quill and ink.
Taking a calming breath, Das lets himself relax now that he can return with good news.
"However, I still believe there is no way one of my elite Hunter's would betray the Agreement," He says signing the parchment and whistling, a Hunter walks into the room to take the orders away.
"What other explanation do you have?"
"She was replaced, that's what I believe" Seeing Das's confusion, he goes on " Jagerwald is a rather, unsavory place" He stands up from his chair "Your kind was rather fond of tampering with anything they could, like a horny noble sticking his rod on whatever hole they find, this created a plethora of unwanted offspring. Lately, on the border town of Blackwood, we've had a rather peculiar problem that may pick your interest" He moves away from the desk and presses a brick on the wall, opening a secret compartment in it, and from it, he pulls out a thick, leather book.
"What is it?" Das asks, eyes fixated on what he recognizes in one of the famous, Hunter's bestiary. The Headmaster seats back on his chair and loudly rests the book on the desk.
"With many of our men employed here, all around Wiesenland, we are rather short when dealing with more local problems" He opens the thick book and moves quickly through its pages.
Das catches only glimpses of its contents, detailed figure drawings of creatures and monsters that plague the lands outside of the human grasslands, Wisenland, with the exception of isolated woodlands or the few mountains inside the land.
"It begins with a man that returns one night from hunting, he greets a nearby neighbor as he walks inside his home. The next morning, the house of the hunter is invaded by the town guards as there is blood staining the walls, inside, a macabre spectacle of dismembered bodies litter the rooms. The wife and three children had been murdered, no trace of the husband anywhere since"
He stops going through the pages when he is near the end of the book, turns it around, and pushes it gently so Das gets a better view. It's a mostly white page, with only a few words written on it.
"Strong enough to tear a body yet inconspicuous to leave a heavily populated area without being noticed. Capable of shapeshifting or a similar skill to passing for the husband flawlessly, and leaving bite marks near armpits, on the navel of the bodies, and on the neck" the Headmaster says out loud as Das reads the words on the book "It's what we have gathered thus far, we would take it for a rather mad murderer, but it wasn't an isolated case. It has happened four other times in the span of three months, each time closer to each other as if either their numbers grow or their urgency does"
"You think something like that could take down an elite Hunter?"
"Absolutely not! Don't insult me in my home like that, my elite Hunters can singlehandedly take down the eldest of trolls and the mightiest of other monsters. But, if they are intelligent enough, they could find a way to use their unknown capabilities to trick or overpower the most seasoned or Hunter's, after all, there is no greater threat than that which you don't comprehend"
"You want me to go take a look at houses where those accidents occurred?"
"Precisely, and hopeful you feel compelled to do a little more. You see, with your magic you may be able to see something and do something the rest of my Hunters can't"
"Are you implying you could?"
"Well, I am the Headmaster for a reason. But I'm afraid my duties are far too many to leave, at the very least until this situation becomes a real threat, by then, I imagine you will be tasked to deal with it anyway, as the Royal Archmage you are"
Das wasn't thrilled at being placed in a dangerous situation, much less by someone with so little authority over him, yet he spoke the truth, so begrudgingly he replies" What exactly is it you want me to do then?"
"Observed the leftover of the rampages and get to a conclusion, afterward, try to track where those monsters could've gone and end their threat. It could be useful if you managed to figure out what they are and if you brought one of them alive or at least, one of their bodies with you" the Headmaster says as he pulls out a rather small piece of paper and writes something on it, stamping it with the black wax of the Hunters "Take this with you, no one will question your actions, do try to not do anything crazy, the Hunter's are losing trust with the surrounding towns due to this and other, unfortunate incidents"
Das takes the small letter and places it inside his leather bag, a little unsure of how to react to being treated so, casually and almost, friendly "Thanks" Is all he can say, causing the Headmaster to amuse himself at the awkward display coming from him.
"I know mages have been seen poorly by us humans for a very long time, but Hunters and Mages have always been friendly to each other, after all, you were our best employers, and we, your best way to get rid of unwanted experiments. Go with the Light, Archmage" the Headmaster brushes him away once more, standing up with the bestiary in hand to place it where it was before.
Das feels, weird. Of course, he had no idea that there existed humans that didn't hate mages since everything related to them in the palace was about how evil they were. It felt oddly comforting.
He turns around and leaves the room, a Hunter outside carrying the much welcomed torched waiting to guide him out of the fortress.
With lighting, he falls on the outskirts of Blackwood, a fitting name as it is surrounded by the dark and tall pine trees, bordering both Grunland and Totesland, there is a surprising amount of guards, and seems like the town is surrounded by a and tall sturdy wooden palisade, with torches and a few guards with crossbows on watchtowers.
His arrival seems to startle most of them, they point their crossbows and Das instinctively raises a barrier, they look young and inexperienced, he too notices how poorly fitted they are, wearing sleeveless black light gambesons for protection and a simple steel helmet along with their crossbows or spears.
"Stop! What are you?!"One of the gate guards asks carefully getting closer to Das with a raised crossbow.
"What am I?"
"He's a mage! Move away dumbass" The man in charge shoves the other guard away. He looks old and weary, yet gives off that air of knowledge and experience only decades of work provide "Long time since we last saw a mage over here, who are you, and what do you want?"
"I am Das, the Royal Archmage. I've come to inspect the recent murders" He then remembers and pulls out the paper from his bag, the sudden movement making the crossbowman ready to shoot.
He passes the paper to the old guard through his barrier, he reads it and nods to his men behind, everyone lowers their crossbows and spears.
"Fine, let's see if you can do more than the Hunters," the old guard says with contempt, turning around and motioning Das to follow him.
Letting his barrier down, he walks into the town, the young guards whispering to each other or with their eyes fixated on him. It baffles him that knowledge about mages has so easily been erased.
The town is different from the usual houses of the kingdom, while similar in style, they are longer, lankier, and darker, everything seems made out of wood, and there are many stone chimnies with tender white smoke drifting up to the sky.
In contrast, people dress in many colors, compared to the dark and muddy streets, they dress in greens, yellows, and reds. But always with furs on their shoulders to shelter from the uncomfortable cold.
They walk deeper inside the town until the guard shows Das the first house. Looks no different to any of the surrounding ones, but by the dark stains on the windows, he knows this is the one.
"If I'm not mistaken there is a local Hunter already inside taking a look for himself," the guard says taking a sip from a drinking vessel from his belt.
Das nods at the guard and moves forward, opening the creaking door of the house and setting foot inside.