Someone's knocking outside. Who could it be? Who would visit the Hunter Sanctuary at this hour? It was not a very sunny afternoon, and the weather was getting colder, so no one should have the leisure to visit. It is still the end of the frost, and soon the dead moon will come.
Graddius gradually lowered the demonic sediment in midair, swallowed it, and made it all disappear.
Charles walked through the disorganized chapel wing and asked the autumn visitor outside through the door, "Who is it?"
"I'm Ines from the Rain-bay Hall." Char heard a woman's voice. "I've come to see Master Frederic."
"He was killed in action." Char was upset. Warren killed him.
"Oh," he said. The woman was surprised.
"I inherited this church." Char responded, "Tell me what you want."
"I've come for my father's things. Who are you?"
"I am Charles," Charles thought of the titles he could use. "Apprentice to Etienne, heir to the Hunter's Chapel, master of the Silver Key, Demon Hunter."
"You are Etienne's apprentice? Please open the door for me."
'Why? Shire felt strange.
"Because he's my father."
Charles was surprised that Etienne had children, whom he had never mentioned to Charles, and if he had, Etienne must have been a very bad father. Charles had never seen him write to them, nor had he sent them any money. For more than a year the old hunter had only travelled with Charles through the country of Loman, sometimes to the Goumarche.
He opened a crack slowly from the inside, his hand on the knife to guard against a surprise, and through the crack in the door he saw a woman about twenty years old, with dark reddish-brown hair, large eyes, sharp eyebrows, greyish-green eyes, full lips, and fair skin. She wore a leather jacket, a short gray cloak, a sword and a crossbow, and her posture was straight, like a skilled warrior, perhaps really Etienne's daughter.
"Ines from Rain-bay Hall..." Char said her name silently and asked her to come in.
"Was this place just robbed?" Ines looked around. "... I have heard that the Grey Tree Hall is a magnificent and beautiful place, full of statues and gold and silver ornaments and pictures and screens and curtains, but the truth does not look good."
"It is because this place was once so splendid," said Shire, "that it is so easy to attract thieves." While we were outside, the thief broke in."
"Then I really picked a bad time." Ines stroked the broken porch table with her hand. "But since my father is dead, I shouldn't have thought too well of things."
"How did you learn of Monsieur Etienne's death?"
"He left my mother a piece of amulet, and if we were in trouble, break the amulet and he would come back. If we don't move and the amulet breaks, it means he's dead."
"Who is your mother?"
"A woman Etienne doesn't deserve." Ines frowned. "Tell me, how did he die?"
"I gave my life to defeat the devil."
"That sounds fair enough." Ines nodded. "He hasn't come back to look at us in years, and since he did fight the devil, I'm a little more forgiving."
"Look at your costume," Char looked at Ines, who was tall and well built, with a beautiful curve of leather. "Are you also a demon hunter?"
"Asshole." "You should look at the callus marks on her fingers, observe her alertness, analyze whether she is a skilled adventurer by the tools and debris she carries, not by her legs!" Look at the bulge in her breast!"
"I turned over a new leaf." Char confesses in his heart.
Ines saw the change in Shire's face and shrugged: "I am not a demon hunter. Did you notice my sword and crossbow? I was trying to be a good enough fighter to protect my family and not ask Etienne for help for the rest of my life."
"Maester Etienne's relics..." Shire took out the magic rope from the backpack behind him, "only this."
"HMM."
"Won't you take it?" Shire forward.
Ines was a little surprised.
"What? You want to give it to me?"
"Aren't you here to get your belongings?"
"Indeed I am." Ines hesitated. "But the treasure has not passed to you. I thought you would keep it for yourself."
'If I keep it, Miss Ines will go home empty-handed.'
"Ah..." Ines mouth curved, "You this guy, unexpectedly is a good person, so precious things directly to me, or say you have ulterior motives ah."
'She doubts all your sincerity! "Cried Graddius." Never mind, I can testify for you! You are a foolish and simple man, without malice, and, apart from being greedy and lustful, a decent man on the whole."
"Take it." Char ignored the devil's noise.
Ines took the rope and sat down on a chair in the side hall, folding one leg over the other, wearing long black ox-leather boots studded with thickened leather.
"Is there anything to eat here?" 'Ines asked.
"I'm still looking. I just got back."
Ines laughed. "How can someone so young run this place?"
"I'll do my best." Char tells it like it is.
The wing was a mess, and Shire decided to tidy it up. He lifted up the chairs that had been kicked down, picked up the broken pieces, found a bucket for the broken wood and glass, and closed the open cabinets again, so that the whole wing looked more or less decent, The absence of some valuable furniture and decorations was obvious, and the central corridor led smoothly to the small garden, with the high stained glass reflecting like a dream.
Ines hand support chin, see Shire busy before and after.
"Do you want to spend the night here?" Shire noticed that Ines did not leave.
"Spend the night? No, not just. I'm going to stay here for a while." Ines explained, "After the amulet broke, my mother died, and she spent her life waiting for the wrong man, and I don't want to be like her." On the day of the funeral, there would be no reason for me to stay in the village, and I would look for a place where I could be trained in my craft, and the group of hunters Etienne had joined might be a good choice. I thought there was someone here who could teach me the mysterious hunter spells."
"Yes, I can." Charles nodded, the rhythm, the tone, the release of power, Etienne had taught him, and he could teach others, only the hunter's teachings could fully convey the secret of the spell, the precise and clear expression of its rhythm.
"And being a hunter is the only way to legally hold a crossbow." The crossbow at the back of Ines looked larger and heavier than that of Charles.
"I must say that we do not legally hold crossbows either. The guards forgive us because we hunt demons." Shire hastened to avoid misunderstanding.
"That sounds OK." Ines smiled. "I am not a good man, but if your church has room for the likes of Etienne, it must have room for me."
"We will rebuild this place." Char nodded.
"There is no 'we,' there is only 'you.'" Ines shook her head. "I'm not going to do the garbage and all that. Can't you get some servants?"
Charles remembered that they owed Count Rene a large sum of money, and he could not afford to make additional expenditures until he had a steady income.
"Things are tough right now. We have no money." Shire shrugged.
"Go ahead, then." Ines showed little interest.
"She is not aware of your leadership, to conquer her, to command her, to force her to obey you, let her discover your strength, let her see you as a commanding alpha male, fierce and aggressive, use your charm!" Roared Graddiu.
"I'm not interested in scaring women." Shire retorted, and then crossed the garden and returned to the hall, where he neither liked to trouble others nor to make them submit to him. The hall was more than ten times larger than the wing and much more difficult to clean up, so Shire decided to rearrange the benches and then clean up the rubbish.
Many of the curtains had been torn from the Windows, and Charles had to remove all the rest. These curtains were made of silk imported from the East, and were much more expensive than linen and wool, showing how extravagant the church had been in its old days, but now two thirds of them were broken or stolen, and Charles decided to sell them.
They ruthlessly robbed the efforts of generations in this way, and Shire looked at the bare hall and felt very unhappy. He will decorate it more magnificently than ever before, and everyone will be shocked the moment they step into the sanctuary, and the devil hunter will no longer be a suspected and despised profession, but a profession that everyone dreams of.
"As long as you hunt demons, your fate is doomed." Graddiu shattered Charles's confidence, "You will die and betray each other."
"In that case." Char sighed. "We should have died out generations ago, but we survived."
By living with demons, by abandoning the hunter's creed. Shire's heart was heavy.
Ines did not know when to enter the hall to watch Char carry the long, heavy chairs.
"Very busy."
"I'm second to busy. I'm mostly annoyed by that." Char looked up and pointed to the dome of the hall.
There was a very large hole in it, and apparently, the winged demon escaped by smashing through the rock wall of the dome, flapping away, and being seen by half the city. This kind of damage affecting the whole structure of the building, Shire really do not know where to repair, as soon as the rain and snow weather, heavy rain and snow will spill in, the whole hall made a mess.
"Ha... This is how you want to do everything slowly with your own hands?" 'she asked.
"Yes," he said. "Little by little," said Shire, "because this is our base camp, and when people join the hunter's Guild and find this place empty and robbed, how sad they will be."
All the candlesticks had been stolen from the hall, and the sky was getting darker.
"That's when you start thinking about the future."
"As long as I have the keys to the sanctuary, I cannot stay out of it."
"But you're so young..." Ines doubts it.
"There's nothing wrong with being young. I have so many things I want to do. I want to be a strong hunter. I want to restore the glory of this place. Shire said confidently, "I can do it, I will do it."
"Ah -- big talk." Ines laughed. "But I like it. Your armor looks evil."
"I made a suit of armor out of the demon I killed." Char said nonchalantly, "Fighting demons with demons is part of the hunter's life."
"You're just bragging, but it's all on me." Graddiu took the credit.
Shire tried to lift a crooked bench, the muscles in his arms were sore and painful, he was going to give up, and suddenly found that the chair became lighter.
Ines is helping him on the other end.
"Didn't you say you didn't want to help me with these chores?" Char and she lifted the bench to where it belonged.
I don't know if it's dark or if Ines is really smiling.
"I've changed my mind, so I'll do you a little favor." The first thing you should realize is that... I'm a fickle woman."
"So I see." Shire smiled.
"I beg your advice, then, Lord Shire." Ines sends her compliments to the Shire.