The train’s wheels rattled against the rail, the people around me hustling and bustling amongst themselves. None of them dared to stay close the moment they saw my official cross sitting on my lapel, the silver-made brooch shining almost hungrily as the strong noon sun hit it with its light. I couldn’t avoid this situation, either, considering the church merely gave me a miserly amount of money for funding. Not unless I managed to charm the accountants, but that’s even harder proposition than hunting.

I sighed, and was treated with silence, everyone almost immediately watching me—wondering what might have caused that. In some ways, this was good. I could avoid talking to people and keep all my social energy for when I would talk with the village’s official. But in other ways… my heart squeezed from how wide the distance was between people and a Hunter like me in this country.

At least the people in the carriage were talking again once it was obvious that there wasn’t any reason for that sigh, no monsters or anything that would need them to run away to keep their lives. They just didn’t really understand what it was people like me did. All they knew was that we contended against the various creatures of the night, and while we also could die—the fact we managed to win? That scared them, in this quite the backward country, Versmoor.

I ignored their stares and studiously stayed to look outside, on the thick foliages and trees that didn’t let me look deeper. Not somewhere I was used to being, if I was honest—my usual haunts were the steam cities, in Telehan, where the best technologies were made and spread. Versmoor… was slowly importing our technology, at least.

But maybe—my musings were cut off by the sudden noise coming from the pipes. Not speaker like it would be if this was one of the more advanced trains in the cities.

“Your attention please! We are coming soon to the next station, Maineer Station. Don’t forget to take your luggage with you when you disembark. I repeat…”

The conductor’s voice was clear, and he repeated the sentence without much issue.

Well, seems like I would be leaving the other passengers soon. They would be happy to know that, I noted, even as I stood up and grasped my suitcase. They all watched everything I did, curiosity, fear, anger… everything blended up together, when everyone was like this.

I walked easily through the corridor, the space between seats. Anyone who might have been standing to talk to one of the other passengers, immediately squeezing themselves into the chairs wherever possible. They were all too scared of me, a few mothers even immediately shushing their children when they pointed at me. A few people even outright stood and left for another carriage, not wishing to go through the same doors as mine.

When I finally stood in front of the door—I couldn’t help but put on a wide grin, and waited there for a moment. Just until the train started to slow down. Turning my head toward them, the ones who I was sure were watching me moments ago, until I was looking at them.

“Alright people, no need to be so scared of lil’ ol’ hunter like me, yeah? I’m not anyone’s great like Marissa, who goes regularly to the frontiers, or like Theo, who goes missing and comes back with the head of whichever monsters he was hunting. No one even know that one is a monster until he did it! He’s always too good…”

And I paused there, for memories always surged incredibly easily. I didn’t want to have those in the back of my mind, especially as the taste of bile danced within my throat as I remembered the one time I saw Theo’s handiwork.

Best to just think on someone better. Just remember how Marissa was. That if she’s the one here, she would have talked and managed to coax them all to share anything she wanted out of them with her. Being charming was supposed to be part of the job, after all. I was too tired for that though, so I went with a different tack.

“Nonetheless! You all have no worries from me… unless you are a monster, of course.” I grinned wider on the last part, widening my eyes slightly to give myself a certain look—and I was satisfied by the silence, the stillness immediately spreading across everyone.

The cry of the brakes were the only thing cutting the emptiness, and when the door finally slid open—well, I walked out without any other words. Those people didn’t really matter. No, the one I needed to truly talk with would be the village chief.

Hopefully they wouldn’t be too bad, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

“Ahh, Hunter Lorainne, right?” The village chief said—his beady eyes immediately dismissing me the moment he laid his sight on me. It would be surprising, if that wasn’t the case in most places I had gone to.

Even though I quite love Telehan, that didn’t mean I was free from this kind of scrutiny.

His smile grew a bit more fixed, his hand rubbing his graying mustache just a little bit harder. “Are you… the only one in the train? Surely there has to be someone else, right?” He asked, trying to look around me, which unfortunately was easy considering he was a head taller than me.

We were standing right in front of the humble station, the entrance just a few dozens of steps the moment I walked out of the doors. Just gave the rest of my ticket stub to the station employees before I then walked out of the station’s gate. There were a few trees surrounding us here, with dirt roads that lead right into the depth of the village. Grasses still grew on them, albeit starting to yellow, courtesy of autumn.

Nonetheless, the chief found no one else around us. There were, of course, other people who had also disembarked—even if there were only five of them. They all had immediately walked off the station’s entrance, not wishing to be around for whatever a Hunter’s business would be. Some of them probably would have regretted coming here already, but most of them wouldn’t go away. I knew those people’s type, of those hard lines and clenched teeth. They were on their last ropes, and this was the last place to be, before trying their luck in the frontiers.

“No, chief. I’m the only one sent by the church.” I smiled back, putting the sweetest one I could have made. My hand twitched slightly in that action, wishing I could show him the flintlock pistol in my inner pocket. It stayed heavy inside my jacket, still feeling cold, despite the fact the metal should have warmed from my body heat. “I hope that’s not an issue?”

The chief’s looks grew more strained, his thin face growing slightly redder as his fingers pulled on his facial hair. His other hand was within his pockets, most likely him trying to hold his best to not saying anything untoward.

“Wh—surely you jest, young woman!” One of the men standing behind him snarled, his voice almost deep considering his broad body. He did his best to stay looming, his brows furrowed as he folded his huge hands in front of his chest. “Now, just tell whoever the other Hunter the church sent to come out, we need to talk shop on how to deal with the issue, not talking with you.”

“Hear, hear!” The other one—as huge as the extremely rude one was, immediately agreed, nodding so quickly I had to wonder how he didn’t end up dizzy there.

I also noted that they were quite alike to one another, perhaps some sort of twins or maybe just brothers? Either way, that didn’t matter, for they stood slightly behind the chief, their bodies wide in such a way they looked intimidating but wouldn’t be maneuvering enough if they wanted to catch me. Especially since the chief’s position made them need to get through him first. I would point this out to them, but no one liked to hear that, apparently.

So I instead smiled at them, perhaps a little colder than usual, but they deserved it.

“Then we can just talk shop now, gentlemen. And I can assure you that I’m more than experienced enough to go to someplace new like this.” Although if I wanted to be truly honest, I would have told them how the church tended to send someone who was more knowledgeable about the local area… Surely they had a few people from Versmoor they could send? No matter. What I said was still true, anyway.

I let myself look more relaxed, allowing them to see the glint of the specially treated branch I had inside the other side of my inner pocket. They didn’t have to know about the gun. “This is one of the blessed branch by the church—as I’m incidentally one of the… vampire specialist.”

Not exactly right, but I also didn’t want to really explain it to them. The branch might be most effective against vampires, but that didn’t mean it’s useless for everything else. But best not to tell them about that—they already didn’t believe my prowess to be a Hunter, if they knew versatile everything in my pockets were? They probably would doubt me even more.

The two ‘bodyguards’, even if I doubted they truly had illustrious jobs like that, frowned from the information I dropped at their lap. At least the chief was narrowing his eyes at me, his hand no longer rubbing his mustache. He was tense, a little scowl on his face that he didn’t really try to hide.

I waited, despite the way the big men behind the chief were steadily losing their intimidating looks the longer the chief stayed silent. Just to show how they weren’t a professional, merely someone who knew how to leverage their looks for a while. But when the situation no longer called for it, well… they didn’t really know what to do. If this was in the city, they would merely continue to stay cool, not caring how long they had to stand and look down upon me.

All until their master called them off like the dog they were.

The chief raised his left hand, and I recognized the dismay that entered their faces incredibly quickly. That had to be the signal for stopping this—although it didn’t seem to be for making them leave us alone. No, they continued to loiter and glare at me as if I was the one at fault.

“Alright, let’s say I believe in you.” He said, while being so extremely clear that he wasn’t. “I’ll give you the information, and then a month of time to do… well, what you are best doing, right? You better exterminate that vampire in that time, or I’ll have such strong words to send to the church.”

He smirked then, smug in the belief that he would send me packing sooner or later. As if I would either fold and said that I was merely lying to his face—and lord, I was sure that he would be insufferable if that was happening—or accept it, and I would fail anyway. Most Hunters needed a few months of time, to slowly dig various traps to use against the vampire themselves. Or the investigation itself would take that long. Both were possible, and so that deadline was so incredibly tight. If I was anyone else, I would have refused, and rather than let him set the tone, I would send my own personal missive to the church to tell them the appalling way I was treated here.

Oh, how this chief would swallow his pride if he knew how much tithe the church would demand out of him the moment they heard this. Let him gain his gratification, let him think he would win, and so pulled one over me. I would be the victor in the end.

The corner of my mouth pulled up, and I gave him a nod while offering him my hand. “While that will be a tight timeline… I think I can give it a try. Let’s shake on it, shall we?”

His confusion over my ease was momentary, before he masked himself and shook my hand as well. His grip wasn’t too tight, and I did the same to him—just to show that I wasn’t as weak as he thought I was.

“Alright then, Hunter Stella. May this cooperation ends well.” He said with a fixed smile, before turning around and motioning for me to follow him into the village. The other two men immediately walked fast to be right behind him as well, pressing their shoulders together to keep themselves between me and the chief.

Even if I was incredibly derisive, that definitely still deserve a mental applaud from myself.

“Of course, of course.” I said right back, all genial and friendly even as I hated this whole song and dance.

I kept my distance even as we walked together, not a sound coming between us, for we weren’t friends.

This mission… might be harder than it should be. I sighed inwardly, but kept my face neutral, just in case anyone else was looking—it was still noon after all, with the sun beating us down from its position in the sky.

—

The sniping and their disbelief turned incredibly annoying soon enough, even if at least I managed to pull out some information out of them—They of course had tried to lie to me, thinking it would be an easy thing to do. As if the church would have sent me here if I was still green and wet behind my ears. I shook my head as I walked out of the meeting, and out of the chief’s house. The man ended up telling me to find my own lodging too in the end, not keen at all to offer any place he might know about.

I sighed, not really looking forward to how I might find one, as I didn’t really have many coins to pay for it. Especially when I needed to really give a good reason on why I ended up spending those money—after all, the chief should have prepared a place for me. The accountants didn’t care how the field might be, what mattered was that they needed to be a huge money-pincher, more than they should be.

If only I was someone famous… Well, no, not really. Then I might be called to meet the various nobles, and that wasn’t a life I wanted. I shuddered at the thought, and continued my walk around the village. There wasn’t many people walking around, and without anyone pointing me out on where to go… well, I had no choice but to go toward the outskirts.

Maybe I could try out going to the local temple here, for that belief Versmoor people had. Some sort of natural god or something, I didn’t really know. But while I didn’t think they would kick me out over belief difference, I didn’t want to keep hearing how I needed to convert. I believed in the church and the God, no matter what anyone said.

My hand traced the cross on my lapel for a moment, the slight roughness of the metal giving me comfort. A reminder that I was one of the Hunters. That they had endorsed me and would be on my back no matter what.

The words rang hollow in my mind, bitterness swirling within the depths of my feelings. I looked away for now, deciding to think over what I had gleaned out of the chiefs and his ‘bodyguards’. All while smiling at whoever I managed to see while walking, of course.

Unfortunately, being friendly was stymied by the fact when they saw my cross… they decided to leave. That kept happening, even though sometimes I only saw the kids. Did the local temple say that I was cursed or anything? I wouldn’t be surprised, but the way the chief reacted to me was less fear of me, and more of a condescension that never went away, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Nonetheless, no matter what happened… and here I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling incredibly tired, a heaviness on my shoulders. Because I knew that I needed to hide the cross when tomorrow came then. I wouldn’t leave it behind, of course, but if it was causing issues… best to not make it even bigger one.

A village was too small to make enemies on, that was what I believed and was proven right many, many times. A few people had, sometimes, ended up with too big of a head and so their end result was being driven out of the village instead of managing to fulfill anything. The monsters probably pulled a few strings to make it happen even easier, but a Hunter shouldn’t give them such an easy job for god’s sake!

Shaking my head at the behavior of my fellow Hunters, I let my eyes roam around the village. Even as I kept walking to where there were fewer people around. The temple, of course, continued to beckon me, telling me that an easy answer could be reached there—but I turned my body and decided to walk on. Further and further, with the houses becoming sparser with each other—and not because of bigger gardens.

Wild weeds grew between people’s homes, no one caring enough to plucking them out as I keep walking, the trek luckily not that painful to my feet as I was used to this kind of walking amount from all the training I had done.

The wilderness kept stretching outward, beyond the boundaries of the village. I couldn’t even see the end of the thick foliages, at how each trees seemingly pressed against one another, their branches criss-crossing with each other so people couldn’t see further than a few feet, and that was only if they went inside. From outside like I was? Even though I was walking on the outskirts, eyes alert and checking the inside to see if there might be any predator stalking around—I doubted there would be any, as even a small village like this one was good at driving those away—the trees were just too dense. And there were… something more in the air.

A copper taste in the back of my throat, in the base of my tongue. Not exactly a true sign, as places with heavy bloodshed would stick the same in my spiritual sense. But considering the idyllic nature of this place, that even with everything, people weren’t exactly paranoid… I needed to dig deeper.

I pored and churned over the information I got out of the chief. Rotating them in my head, especially over a few important parts. Such as how they didn’t notice that they had occasionally slipped the truth between everything. On how they said that things had been happening since last year, when their report consisted of merely last six months. At least not making up additional victims, even if they also did a flavor of it by combining the disappearance of people from neighboring villages with their own, pretending it was all theirs. A fudging of numbers, and that was merely one of the few things I had noticed.

The part about animal deaths, especially when they were reluctant to let me ask around the farmers—showed that it was likely there were many that came from sickness. Not my problem, but that showed how much they were willing to fudge over in the reports so that the church would send someone here to check, because the issues looked worse than it actually was.

But standing here… I couldn’t help but wonder, maybe they were right to do that after all. Something was off in the forest, and I wanted to check it before I wanted to really say how this place was, one way or another. Whether there were truly a monster here or not, I wanted to truly investigate and see with my own eyes.

As I decided on that course of action, I finally arrived at the very edge of the village. Every other buildings—a bit hard to count them as one considering how they were mostly fragile and made out of wood, but I couldn’t count them as anything else—had been left behind. There were a few dilapidated buildings within the fences, as long as one could open the wooden gates. I would say that the owner was incredibly brave, if not for the fact I could feel how each grain of it was blessed and protected.

I leaned close to the one nearest to me, the gate to the compound. Inhaling their scent, I couldn’t really taste the holy, the almost sterile aroma it should have if a priest was the one who did this. No, what I could smell was more of… pine and forests. And my eyes widened at how this farm protected itself—by pretending that it was merely another part of the wildlife. That there wasn’t anything interesting here.

In some ways, it was one of the most unobtrusive barriers I had ever seen, in another… it was still dangerous. But it still meant that whoever lived here didn’t have to worry much, no matter what they did. Not unless they placed some sort of bait, that something was already interested, of course. But that wasn’t likely, most of the time.

Nonetheless, I couldn’t really see much of anyone here. And well… I had gone around the village enough to know that there weren’t many other places to stay in. One of the last place to try, unless I wanted to scrape and bow and beg to the chief.

Maybe sleeping on the ground, in the grasses would be better? I knew enough that was to be the last choice, considering I didn’t have anything to protect me from the elements here. Nor would I be able to be okay with the cold wind. I shivered, glad for my jacket as the cold wind blew a little stronger—the sky was darkening, the sun starting to set.

Not much choice then.

I half-heartedly knocked against the wood, knowing that wouldn’t echo much noise, nor would it be loud enough to reach anyone inside. So after a few seconds of doing the polite thing, I leaned forward and untied the knots, letting the gate swing open once it was fully untied. With that done, I walked in, tied it back because I was still trying to be polite, and finally move toward the buildings.

While I wasn’t sure which would be filled with someone, I went toward the one that looked more like a house, the one sprawling whichever way, as if the building hadn’t been built with any plans in mind. Just that someone thought they needed to add another room, and so they went and did that. The other one wasn’t too much smaller, but they weren’t built as clean as the one I went to.

None of them were painted, was the one thing I nodded even as I knocked on the door when I finally arrived. I tried to inhale and see if I managed to smell anything… but nothing. No smell of soup or anything else. Was there even someone here?

I took another stock around—taking note how most of the fields were already overrun with wild grasses, and various things were already sprouting and growing ever taller with every second of it being alive Abandoned plot.

If I didn’t count the ones where there were clear vegetables growing, of course. Not too big, but perhaps, enough for one person? I wasn’t sure, but the sign of something being cared for, even if the buildings weren’t good. Meant that there were, indeed, someone taking care of things at least.

I knocked a little harder when there hadn’t been any answer after a few minutes of waiting—and this time I could hear the heavy thunk of wood against wood, before the door finally opened in front of me.

He was old, with slightly bowed back. His nose was long and slightly crooked, a sign of being broken and set again, and his eyes were slightly milky. And yet he let out a friendly grin, showing me the few gaps within, even as his white mustache and beard had grown long and framed his mouth. A short staff was held in his hand, loose and relaxed—he didn’t look worried, not at all despite the fact I was a stranger standing in front of his house.

“Oh, hello there! I haven’t got any guest for a while now.” He was friendly, and he immediately ushered me inside after saying that as well, not even waiting for me to say any word.

“Uhm. Yeah. I’m here for something!” I cut in before he managed to say anything more, and that was when he finally stopped and looked at me.

Well, I had ended up sitting on the dining chair, even if the only thing on the table was a slightly fuzzy apple on top. Was that mold? I narrowed my eyes at that fruit for a moment before turning my focus back at him.

He was looking at me, not with derision or anything—just a consideration. At least it wasn’t fear though, despite the fact he should have seen my cross on my lapel already. Another few seconds, maybe even minutes, passed before he finally nodded, and I finally asked him what I wanted to.

“I’m sorry to disturb you like this, good sir.” I said, starting it with light bits of flattery, even if it was what someone would usually say to nobles and such. “My name is Stella, and I’m a Hunter. I came here for doing a little monster extermination, and investigation, of course. But I need a place to stay while I did that. Do you think you’ll mind if I stayed here? I won’t mind staying elsewhere than your home, of course—After the harsh life of the road, I find that even a roof and walls were enough.”

I said it all, perhaps in a little sweeter tone than I usually would, but I really wouldn’t want to sleep outside, if possible. My smile was a little wide as I waited for the old man to answer, as he walked around and finally took the seat opposite of me—leaving the other two chairs surrounding the table empty.

“Hermann doesn’t want to give you any space, does he?” He finally asked—referring to the village chief by name. I shook my head quickly, muttering how he didn’t offer me any sort of place. I didn’t say that he was being rude about it of course, because despite everything, he was still the village chief. At least that seemed to be the right answer, if the way this old man smiled was any indication. “Right, right… then I think you can stay in the barn, no cow’s been living there for years anyway. Just lil’ old Flo, my female goat. She’s docile though, so there shouldn’t be any issues.”

Even though the fact I would stay with a goat made me pause for a moment, I immediately let a smile bloom. “Thank you for the help, sir uh—”

“Tristan.”

“Sir Tristan. I suppose I’ll take a look around your place first before starting my investigation early in the morning tomorrow.” I said in the end, giving him a nod while standing up.

“Of course, of course, Miss Stella. You can take whatever you need from my place here too… I’m only not offering to keep the memories here, I apologize. One young woman like you should sleep in a better place, but…” He went silent as he looked up to the ceiling, where there were nothing, but I was certain he was looking back to another time.

“It’s alright, sir. That’s good enough, better than where I needed to sleep sometime.” I murmured, voice small as to not disturb his reverie. Slowly and carefully so the chair wouldn’t skid and made a sound, I turned and walked outside.

And yet before I opened the door, I still turned my head and murmured two words. “Thank you.”

I left right after, my smile still staying for I had managed to secure myself a place—and only when the door had closed did I manage to point out what had bugged me throughout my walk.

The forest made no sounds, no animals or bugs, none at all. It should be loud, what with them preparing for the long winter ahead. My eyes went to look toward the woods, the trees staying outside this farm—and they stayed silent and eerie, not even a rustle of foliages as I watched.

I narrowed my eyes, vowing I would find whatever the monster’s within before I was done with this village.