A certain person was heading toward the association's head office, knocking on the door of the office, he had been invited in as always.
Elijah, it has been two weeks since you came to, my office. And how is that recruit you brought in, I hope he has been training hard.
" Yes, he has been training hard. and why have you called me here Sir Oscar?" Elijah asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Ha yes, I called you here to tell you that I have a mission for you Elijah. The Ironclaw has been informed that in a village called Tampa, People have been going missing day to day. Some people go to fetch water from the stream and may never return".
" This might be the work of a beast since they said that they see blood traces here and there. So we have been contacted to investigate the matter"
What if it is a beast I can not handle, what should I do then? Elijah asked standing up from the chair and getting ready to leave
"You can always send words to me and I will send a higher beast hunter like Andrew to assist you with the job. you leave for Tampa tomorrow" Oscar answered as he stood up from his chair and looked outside the window of his office.
_-_
Steven had just finished his training for the day after settling the dispute between the brothers and because of Jake's idea, he had been beaten up by Liam while training with their swords.
"Why does he have to beat me so much, well I guess my training with him will pay off someday. what an annoying sparing partner I got mixed up with"
Steven had left the training hall and was now heading home " He had been living with Elijah for about three weeks now and Elijah as been treating him well. "I wondered what would have happened if he had not shown up in my village when the beast attacked, would have died back then with the other villagers"
Steven entered the house only to find Elijah packing his hunting tools.
Where are you going Elijah with all these?" Steven asked.
"I am going to Tampa tomorrow to hunt down a beast, so I am getting myself ready so that I can leave early tomorrow morning," Elijah replied.
Steven was surprised about the fact that Elijah was going hunting, and he didn't like the fact that he would be left alone in this house. And like that, an idea came to mind.
"Let me follow you, Elijah. I want to see the results of my training against a real beast." Steven pleaded.
Then, Steven went on and on about how the hunting with Elijah would benefit him. Elijah thought about his reasons and decided after hesitating.
"Fine, you can come with me, Steven. We leave for Tampa very early tomorrow." Elijah said as he continued what he was doing.
Yes, Steven felt a surge of excitement as he said to himself, knowing that he had achieved his goal.
The next morning, Steven and Elijah packed their bags and were ready to leave for Tampa, Elijah had informed Andrew about him taking Steven out for hunting and was going to miss training for a few days.
A carriage that would take them to Tampa, had been prepared for them by the Ironclaw. Steven was eager to see what kind of challenges awaited them, while Elijah was more cautious and reserved. He knew that hunting was not a game and that they had to be prepared for anything. He hoped that Steven would not get into trouble, or worse, get them both killed. He decided to give him some advice on the way.
"Listen, Steven. Hunting is not as easy as you think. You have to be alert, agile, and smart. You can't just rush into a fight without a plan. You have to study your prey and learn its habits, strengths, and weaknesses. You have to use the right strategy, and the right timing, and fight with the weapon you have trained with. And most importantly, you have to know when to retreat. Sometimes, it's better to live and fight another day than to die in vain."
Steven nodded, but he was not listening. He was too excited to care about the details. He just wanted to prove himself, to show Elijah that he was not a weakling, that he could be a great hunter too. He had a feeling that this trip would be amazing and exciting, and curious to know what type of beast they would fight with.
After a few hours of ride, they got to the village of Tampa and Elijah informed one of the men he saw that he was the beast hunter sent by the Ironclaw to investigate if it had been a beast that had been attacking people and had been directed to a building that serves as the town hall.
As they entered the town hall, they were welcomed by a man named Jacob.
Thank you for coming, hunters. We are in dire need of your assistance," Jacob said, bowing his head.
"It's our duty, sir. We are here to protect the people from the beast menace," Elijah said, with a confident smile.
"What can you tell us about the beast? What does it look like? How does it attack? Where does it hide?" Steven asked, eagerly.
"You have to calm down Steven, they might not know what type of beast it is. all we have to do is to know where it attacks people the most" Elijah said as he looked at Jacob hoping to get an answer.
"We don't know much, I'm afraid. but one thing is for sure, It attacks by surprise by the stream and drags its victims to the woods, where it devours them," Jacob said, shuddering.
We need to investigate further and find some clues. Maybe we can track the beast to its lair, and ambush it there," Elijah said, calmly.
"Or maybe we can lure it out, and fight it head-on. That would be more fun, don't you think?" Steven said, grinning.
"Fun? This is not a game, Steven. This is a serious mission. We have to be careful, and smart, and follow the rules of hunting. Remember what I told you before we came here?" Elijah said, sternly.
"Well, if we want to lure out the beast and fight it head-on, we need bait," Elijah said while looking at Steven.
No, no no no don't you dare do that to me, Elijah.
***
Back at the Ironclaw training hall, Jake has noticed that his jogging partner has not been seen and training has also started and he could not be seen.
Where is Steven Jake, I can't wait for today's training; Liam said as he was getting ready for training. "Looks like he is not around, so I guess I will be your sparing partner today Liam" Jake answered.