"I'm finally going to kill this damned beast!" A woman shouted down the forest, pulling her bow and quiver and aiming for the beast.
The creature ignored the words of the woman and continued moving forward. The beast was a magical creature that resembled a lion, but it also had features that made it look like a dog. Kieran had encountered a magical creature outside of Mistwood Village.
The creature lunged forward towards Kieran and managed to scratch him across his arm. The force of the blow caused him to stumble and fall. Just from looking at the wounds, it was clear that he may bleed himself to deth if he didn't receive medical attention soon enough. The wounds were deep and stinging with pain, and he could feel a strange tingling sensation running up his right arm.
He then turned around and immediately began the Sprint for his life, running as fast as his legs could take him. 'Why do bad things always end up happening to me?'
Upon seeing its prey making a run for it, the creature growled and knashed its teeth as it started running towards Kieran.
"I finally have you right where I want to. This time, you'll not escape!"
The woman took aim, and a bright orange aura began to form around the top of the bow. When the creature was only a few meters away from Kieran, the woman let go of the back end of the arrow and the arrow shot out from the bow.
The creature was too exposed at this moment, and the arrow was too fast for it to dodge. Hence, all the creature could do was roar out in pain. As the enchanted arrow hit the creature, its body was pierced and blood could be seen gushing out of the wound.
"What's going on?" Kieran said. "Who are you?"
A group of people suddenly appeared out in the open, interested in what the woman had hunted down this time around. One of the individuals ran towards the dead body of the beast to check if it had truly been killed in that one attack.
As the man made it closer, he felt a shooting pain from his backside. When he turned his head, a woman could be seen holding s bow in her hand armed and ready to fire and a set of arrows carefully placed in a carrier on her back. The people instantly backed away and acted as if nothing happened.
The moment the woman made it towards the kill, Kieran could tell that the others had truly fled the scene.
"I can't believe you were just going to stand there and watch them steal my kill."
"Why the heck would I help a stranger like you?" Kieran retorted, shaking his fist.
Shaking her head, the woman turned her attention to the dead creature on the forest floor. To her dismay, the creature was actually still alive and breathing. Instead of just collecting it as it was, she shot out another arrow at close range right into its heart.
"Damn it. I thought I killed it in one shot."
It was another day of hunting for the line huntress and she hoped that her skills hadn't deteriorated overtime. She was suck and tired if having to do more than was necessary to take down prey, but she would never let her ego get in the way of doing her job. She had seen people who were far too confident in their skills and bring back live creatures to the village, only for them to heal using magic and wreck havoc all over until they were finally killed by the professionals. However, Samantha was not like that.
She didn't bother to waste anymore words on the boy, she had more important matters to attend to as she casted another spell and the large creature began to levitate in the air. As she turned around and began travelling through the forest, she heard the voice of the boy behind her yell out. It wasn't uncommon to find strangers who were stranded out in the open. A lot of these individuals were typically banished from their respective villages and were heading towards a different village to obtain membership and spend the rest of their lives as citizens of a different community. Kieran was another one of these individuals, having been banished from Mistwood Village. He had nowhere else to call his home. He was exposed to the dangers of the outside world.
When he finally caught up with her, he got down on his knees and began to beg. Spending the rest of the night in the first alone wasn't something he could survive through. The tent he had set up had been destroyed by the beast, and the campfire he had set was nearly extinguished.
He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes as he pleased to the woman. It was his way of apologizing for the way he had acted and also to seek her favour. Tears began to stream down from his eyes and fell to the ground. His heart rate increased rapidly, for fear that she may abandon him to the dangers of the wilderness. He bowed his head down multiple times. Meanwhile, he had offer to be her personal helper if she agreed to assist him.
"I hate guys that beg," Samantha said as she lifted her bow and aimed right for his head.
Kieran then quickly moved aside and barely dodged the arrow that struck the ground where he once knelt.
"A novice, someone who barely knows how to cast simple magic spells," she placed another arrow on her bow and shot it out once again.
"At least your reflexes are good, though I am holding back," she proceeded to continue to shot arrow after arrow at the boy, but he managed to dodge everyone of her attacks.
Concentrating, she casted a magic spell that brought back all of her arrows into the carrier and picked out one to fire once more, yet the boy was now nowhere to be seen.
"Chicken, huh? Well I guess they always run. It's a shame he couldn't stick around for much longer."
Thirty times - This was the number of times she had shot out arrows at the boy. Not only did he manage to dodge all of her attacks, but it seemed like his wound had been bleeding profusely for a while now. His movements were bound to grow sluggish, but he still manage to jump, roll, and swerve across the attacks, ensuring that not a single one of her arrows managed to graze his skin.
Upon turning around, she continued on her journey back towards her village.
"The agreement between Stormridge Outpost and Silverhaven has lasted for years now, but the leaders are saying that tension is starting to rise once again. Now, we must prepare for another civil war…"
The mention of another civil war breaking out had always been on her mind ever since a certain day two years ago. Both villages were once on good terms. They were once trade partners in the marketing of staple crops, raw materials for buildings such as wood, metal, sand, stone, and limestone among other things.
With no real clue as to why the relationship between both villages suddenly went sour, she immediately came to the decision that she would protect the citizens of Stormridge Outpost no matter the cost. Of course, she had the means of doing that, though not alone. As a huntress she was quite skilled, and as for Sunhaven, well, they had more capable hunters and magic users.
Every citizen of the village, disregarding of gender, was expected to partake in the Hunter's training to become useful members in their community. The conflict between both villages eventually escalated towards fights breaking out, so everyone needed to be prepared for a full-on battle.
When she finally made it to the entrance to the village, a group of people came forward - These were the people in charge of inspecting whatever was brought into the village. They began their inspection of what Samantha wished to bring in and once they were done, she was allowed entrance. Moving forward, she didn't stop until she made it to a particular market stall in the street.
Standing in front, a woman could be seen with an eager expression on her face, she was the owner of the stall and was just as excited as any other time of the day to make a good sale. Money was the only other thing that ruled the world and everyone had to work tirelessly to obtain it.
There were various currencies being used all across the globe. Different denominations existed to tell the difference between the quality and living standard of the countries in the various continents that exist.
Samantha looked just as eager to make a trade. The stall owner agreed to pay her ten gold coins for the magical beast, to which Samantha shook her head. She was no fool, having enough experience and knowledge to tell when exactly someone was trying to cheat her and swindle her of a good business opportunity. She was well aware that the actual cost was thirty gold coins. The stall owner believed her of being inexperienced due to her age.
"The actual price is thirty," she said, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow.
Shaking her head, the stall owner walked towards her desk. She pulled out one of the drawers and picked up a small tied sack filled with gold coins. She opened the sack and poured out its contents onto the table, and counted out thirty gold coins and handed them over to Samantha.
"For someone so young, you have an eye for business," she patronized as she handed over the payment. The good coins were then placed into another sack that was strapped around the hunter's waist.
Fortunately, there was more than enough space to contain her payment , one of the many ways by which money was carried around.
Samantha then handed over the dead carcass over.
"Nice doing business with you."
After a while, she made it back home, opening the front door and heading into the house. As she headed up to her bedroom, she hearts the sound of the front door opening once again.
The person who stepped in was a man who looked to be in his late twenties, and as he closed the door behind himself, he looked up at his wife and began to walk towards her.
Samantha began to walk down the stairs as she was just as eager to meet with her husband. As the two embraced each other, they decided to cat h up on how their respective days played out, while Samantha would proceed with doing her household chores.
"What did the elders say?"
The conflict between Stormridge Outpost and Sunhaven had caused a massive decrease in the goods being supplied by the village's marketing channels, particularly because their major trade partner is the neighbouring village of Sunhaven. A few weeks after the conflict began, Samantha and her husband had decided that they would do something to help the people of the village survive despite the food scarcity. Samantha couldn't bear to see fellow members of the community suffer because of the dispute. Despite her position, she felt like she was suffering along with them. Many children were left to starve and even die due to the lack of food. She thought of a way she could help prevent any more casualties.
When she had proposed her offer to the village council of elders, they were reluctant at first. At the same time, it wasn't like they weren't putting their own measures in place to help curb the growing issue. Her requests were eventually acknowledged, and with that, her plan was set in motion.
Her plan involved sending out the strongest wizards of the village out towards towns, cities, and even countries to do mercenary work and earn a hefty living to help support the people of the village.
"I just hope those meat heads aren't keeping most of the money for themselves."
Working outside of the village and in the midst of a wider crowd of people, it was bound to draw attention towards Stormridge Outpost, and hopefully one day a savior who would pull them out of their food crises and overall financial dilemma.