"Please don't misunderstand me" says the huntsman, now lowering his bow. "Ya come armed into my land without asking, ya come from Riverin after something bad happened there, and y're carrying things ya sure as hell didn't pay for, I might not be very popular there, but me and dwarves got in each other" huntsman sits two meters in front of Alice, Alice serves a plate again and hands it to the huntsman.
"I got it honestly" Alice looks seriously at the huntsman, who almost chokes laughing with the spoonful that was in his mouth. "You must have seen smoke signals then, a big fire hit Riverin" Alice sees that he's going to be interrupted and waits for the man to talk, so he doesn't choke on what she's going to tell him.
"Yes, the question is who caused it, a fire is a good way to disguise a big robbery, I just don't see how you could do it alone, you look amazing, but that's too much for one person, even for a small group…" Alice lets him talk, maybe he'll finish eating before he stops talking.
"Did ya have any magic items perhaps, or the help of a wizard, or did ya discover any weakness in the defense of the city?" the huntsman seems excited by his conjectures, he speaks even though his mouth is full of food.
"Be careful not to choke again" Alice takes advantage of a briefly stop on his chatting.
"Yeah, y're not a great cook, ya can't be Alice's reincarnation, the most perfect of women would certainly cook better than this." Alice is comforted to see that he will be shocked and maybe stop making a fool of himself.
"Now that you're done you can hear the truth" Alice takes the plate back and takes the utensils to wash in the stream, the huntsman follows her.
"Something attacked Riverin" the man seems to be on the lookout. "I don't know if it was from this world" he replies imitating a ghost in mockery.
"Riverin was destroyed, burned, corroded and its population slaughtered" finally the huntsman shows total seriousness in his face, Alice goes back to her camp with the utensils, the huntsman follows her puzzzled, he hasn't what to say.
"I killed most of the creatures I found over there about 3 days ago" Alice puts away her things, the huntsman seems to have recognized such number of days.
"I remember seeing a red light in that direction three days ago" the man looks worried, he remembers seeing some strange scrolls in the girl's backpack while 'investigating', Alice knows he must be thinking about it and pulls out the scroll of the Secularized Flames of the Abyss and extends in front of man.
"This is what I killed them with." The parchment is inert, but the man looks scared. "Flames from the abyss that revolt nature" the huntsman backs away immediately seeing Alice reciting, he seems to recognize it as a spell.
"Stop!" he goes back to drawing his bow and aiming an arrow at Alice. "What did you do with those people?" the huntsman is shaken.
"I sacrificed them to perform this spell, don't you want to know what they were being subjected to? my head hurts just to remember it" Alice looks disturbed, although it's not a very different facial expression from her usual one, the huntsman who barely knows her can get her.
"Ya don't look like a person connected to magic" the man looks pained.
"Yes I am, I just don't have great magic skills" Alice isn't even sure what to say, Alice puts back the parchment into her backpack and she puts her backpack on her back.
"I don't know much about magic either, but I've worked with a wizard once, I saw him use this kind of magic once and he almost died." Alice approaches the huntsman who lowers the bow.
"I can't say why, but this parchment was glowing when I got close to where most of those creatures and survivors were" the man seems to accept Alice's words.
"The mighty creatures that were there seem to have been unaffected, even by such powerful magic." The man's jaw drops and primal fear covers his face, but he remains lucid.
"When I was young I chased some pretty dangerous beasts and ferals, I almost died a few times, but the pay was always good" Alice doesn't understand what he means by that.
"That wizard helped us hunt down the most powerful beast of our careers, without him we would have died, and the spell he used could barely be seen from a few feet away" the huntsman looks towards Riverin.
"I saw that glow, there was no smoke, it wasn't natural fire, we're many leagues from there, days of travel, I still don't understand what happened, I'll go check it out tomorrow, if I go what ya said I'm going to go back and get my family and go as far away as I can from here." Alice holds out her hand asking for the sword back.
"Come with me, you can spend the night in my cabin, it's not much, we're common people, but it's better than sleeping outdoors, it's the least I can offer if your warning is true" Alice looks annoyed, the huntsman hands back the sword to her, he turns and walks a few steps and realizes that she is not following him.
"Don't overestimate yourself girl, despite everything, I'm already happily married, ya'll get along with her for sure, we don't have many visitors here, especially illustrious ones" he returned to his mocking tone.
Alice decides to follow him just to see what kind of crazy or desperate women would agree to marry a deal like that, the huntsman chatters away unimportant things the rest of the way, they reach the cabin door with the moon high in the sky.
"Well it's kinda late, so try not to make any noise, they must be already asleep" Alice raises an eyebrow when she hears "they".
When the door opens, Alice sees a very simple house, a table with five chairs, a wood stove with a chimney, some shelves with everyday items, there is only one more room with a curtain in front, which must be the bedroom and two rocking chairs near the oven after entering.
In one of the chairs sits a woman with two girls on her lap, maybe seven or eight years old each, the girls are sleeping and the woman must be about to fall asleep too.
Beside the woman, a very sharp short axe, the woman moves the girls' heads with her hands and they wake up rubbing their eyes.
"Hey girls, daddy is home" the woman's voice is sweet and soft, the girls' faces fill with joy and they run to hug Retas screaming.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" the huntsman lifts them, one in each arm, and they adorn his neck with their childish arms, the man smiles, the wife suppresses her smile as she sees Alice behind him.
"And ya girl, who are ya?" the woman looks a little angry and suspicious.
"The girl your husband was spying on taking a bath" the woman looks at a roll of noodles and gives up.
"I'm tired of hitting him on the head because of it" the woman sighs in disgust and the huntsman smiles, Alice gets in and sees a pot near the stove, just enough to stay warm.
The furniture looks a bit old but it's well done, maybe bought in Riverin, the man sits down with the girls and starts to eat and talk to the girls, the woman signals to talk to Alice sitting in one of the chairs at the table, Alice closes the door and sits down.
"Alright girl what do ya want? The wife seems irritated by Alice's presence, Alice doesn't understand why, but the wife smelled Alice at the door, and she is envy to see her, even with the hood, the wife realized it in an instant, Alice is more beautiful than she was, even when she was young.
"I was already leaving, but he invited me to spend the night here, we had already eaten, apparently it wasn't enough…" the woman looks suspiciously.
"Yes, but it wasn't good enough!" the huntsman turns his head and retorts, the wife smiles.
Alice thinks that must be one of the happiest families he has ever met, the woman looks at her seriously.
"Alright, ya can spend the night, Alice takes the rest of the rabbit from her backpack and the woman keeps it, she turns angrily to the man still finishing eating.
"So where did you go hunting?" the huntsman feels a chill down his spine.
"You know dear, I found a rabbit, and it was the one handed to her, I saw she's skinny and I decided to share" the huntsman tries to explain, the woman takes the roller and comes over holding it tight, the little girls they run towards Alice.
POW!! The wife hits him with the roller on top of the man's head, he whimpers and holds her hand before she can hit him again.
"Calm down dear, we have visitors besides everything" the woman tries to free herself from the man's hands, and turns her face and glares at Alice.
"Okay, just one night, now let me go" the huntsman hand out his wife's wrists and grabs her by the hip with one hand and the neck with another, he kisses her heartily, the wife lets the roller falls on the ground.