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With that river behind us, we kept on our way to the village, following the path once we found it through all the dense shrubbery. If I'm sincere, I was pretty worried about Liam back there, fighting off those Grimm while I crossed with that creepy duck guy. As capable as he is, and as proficient in combat as the two of us were, I still worried about him. We had Manny to train us, sure, but I always wondered if that was enough to keep us alive with all the mercenary work we've been doing for this past couple of years. In the long run, I guess it didn't matter, but back then I worried about that stuff a lot, maybe a little more than I should have.

"Hey, Em," Liam turned his head back as we walked down the path, "Do you still have the map? I want to make sure we're on the right track here."

"Yeah, right here." I reached into my satchel, pulling out the rolled up paper and opening it to see where we were. The river was still behind us to the west, and the town was just a mile or so north now. I relayed the information to him, and we changed direction accordingly.

About half an hour later, we came into a clearing with a pond near the middle. We saw a few little forest creatures, each of them frolicking around, doing what animals do I guess. It was a very peaceful, serene scene with a bright blue sky and water so crystal clear that I could see to the bottom of it with no difficulty at all. Birds chirped from the distant treeline, and slight rustles could be heard from what we presumed to be more animals that we couldn't see.

"Ugh..." We heard a groan behind the rocks on the shore of the pond, it sounded like a man, and he moaned like he must have been in pain. Liam drew his weapon while we closed in, each going around one side.

When I got a view of what was there, I saw a man clutching his chest, his breaths shallow and rapid. He wore a dirty green button up shirt with some baggy brown pants that cut off at the knees, and a full head of salt and pepper, swept-back hair and a goatee. He looked like a villager or something to me, and after some quiet deliberation, we approached him.

Liam put his rifle on his back, crouching down next to him. "Are you alright?" The man opened his eyes weakly, looking at him with a wince. He was obviously in a lot of pain, judging by the way he moved slowly and held on tightly to his chest. "Move your hand; I'll take a look-"

"N-No...!" he groaned, "I-I'll make it... I-I just need... ah..."

"Don't be an idiot; we can help you." Liam grabbed the man's wrist, moving his hand away slowly. He looked for just a moment before his eyes widened and he drew his rifle, pointing it at the man, "You son of a bitch!" I didn't even have enough time to react before we heard somebody else.

"We're made! Get them!" Three more men started popping up, either out of the tall grass and reeds from around the pond or out of other hiding places, like the nearby tree line. As quickly as I could, I drew Scholar's Boon and counted two swords among them, and one rifle.

"Raiders!" Liam wasted no time opening fire on them, making them duck down for cover. The one with the rifle fired from his shelter in the greenery, showing it was a semi-automatic rifle, only firing one shot at a time. Liam crouched down behind one of the standing stones, guarding himself against the rifle fire, as it was focused mainly on him.

The supposedly wounded man suddenly got up -indicating he wasn't hurt at all- and drew a knife that I didn't see on him. He went for Liam while his back was turned, but I was just quick enough to dash at him, swiping his legs out from under him with my polearm. He rolled to the side and got back up to his feet, coming at me now.

He raised the knife up in the air, and I caught his arm, striking him in the stomach with my knee. He doubled over, and I swung down on his back with my weapon for good measure. He collapsed to the ground in a heap, groaning in quite real pain now, thanks to me. The shots kept coming at us as I ducked behind some of the rocks, and the two with the swords came running at us, one at me and one at Liam.

The raider climbed up on top of the rock I was taking cover behind, rearing his sword back and swiping down at me. I fell back to avoid the swing, pointing the business end of my weapon at him. I squeezed the trigger on the handle, and a ball of flames shot out and hit the raider in the chest, forcing him off of his feet and off of the rock, which I climbed on top of in turn.

I leaped off of the solid stone, the blade of Scholar's Boon pointing down at the burnt raider. He rolled out of the way of the edge, which stuck into the ground. He got up to his feet again as I pulled my blade out of the field, going to thrust his sword into my chest. I sidestepped the would-be stabbing, the sword finding itself between me and the shaft of my Guan Dao. I took the opportunity, pulling my weapon in against my chest, trapping his arm between my body and the polearm. I turned around, flinging him over my shoulder and onto the dirty ground with a thud. I released him, twirling Scholar's Boon in my hands before doing a side flip, planting my feet into his chest. He was down for the count for sure after that, so I stepped off of him.

I looked over to Liam, who seemed to have the situation handled on his end. The raider swung his sword at Liam, who swiped back to make their blades clash against each other. He forced the raider's sword down, pinning it to the ground to open him up. Liam followed up by headbutting the guy in the nose, making him stumble back and let go of his sword to hold his nose.

Liam swung again at him, Titan's Razor gliding across his chest, his Aegis Aura keeping him from being seriously hurt. The raider fell to the ground, going to crawl away before Liam went and kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him unconscious.

The rifleman in the treeline struggled to put his clip into his gun, Liam aiming at him with his own. He pulled the trigger, a single bullet flying through the air and hitting the man in the shoulder, a spurt of blood erupting from the hit and a pained scream escaping his throat. Panacea Aura, great for healing, not so much for stopping a bullet. He fell over, scrambling away into the woods.

Liam stood up, putting his weapon on his back. "Damn... We're wasting daylight here, let's get on our way." I nodded, stowing my weapon, slinging it across my own back. The sun was going to be setting soon, so we kept on our way.

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We made it back to Wulferding, the village that hired us to kill the witch, after a couple of hours more of walking. We entered town hall, the secretary at the front desk pointing us over to the office of Aksel, the town mayor, who was pacing back and forth in his office, rubbing his hands together nervously with the small amount of hair he had on his head matted to his forehead from his sweat. I cleared my throat, and his head snapped in our direction. "I-It's you!" He stepped over to us, his heavy body coming closer to us as he perspired hard. "D-Did you do it? Is the witch dead?"

Liam nodded, "Your kids are safe now, we dealt with the witch."

"Oh, thank goodness!" He let out a huge sigh of relief, "Thank you, thank you both so much! But, uh, I suppose I'll have to um... p-pay you now, huh? Lien has been tight around here, you see, so there's uh... n-not much we can give you..."

"You won't have to worry about that anymore, either." I reached into my satchel, pulling out the gems and pearls I got from the witch's ashes. "We got these from the witch after we killed it, and they look like the real deal to us."

"W-What...?" He looked eagerly at them, "Th-That's... Can I see?" I nodded, handing one of them over to him. He took it between his fingers, inspecting it closely with his monocle. "It's... That's incredible..."

"Money won't be an issue for you anymore; it looks like." Liam crossed his arms, "We can give you half of the pearls, but we'll be taking the rest for payment. Sound fair?"

Aksel didn't even take a second to think about it; the deal was far too sweet to pass up. "Yes, Yes! Thank you! You have a deal." He extended his hand, and Liam grasped it for a shake, after which he would wipe his palm against his pants upon our exiting, the mayor's sweaty hand soaking Liam's like he dipped his appendage into a sticky, salty pond.

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We made it back home when it was getting dark, the both of us stepping inside for some much-needed rest. We weren't even five steps inside when we heard the familiar sound of a cocking rifle as we entered. "It's just us, Manny!" Liam called out.

"I know." The old voice of our old man called back, putting his gun on the table. Manuel Woods was an ex-Huntsman, retired for a couple of decades. He was wearing his tattered, brown duster coat, his wide-brimmed black hat sitting on the wooden table next to his woodsman's axe Husqvarna, which doubled as a rifle because everybody needs a gun sword, or gun axe, or gun-gun, something asinine like that. "I just like messing with ya is all." We were about to head to our rooms when he stopped us. "Hey, don't go just yet. Got something for you." He reached back into his coat, pulling out two envelopes. "Guess you're getting invited to Hogwarts or something." He put the letters down on the table, standing up. "I only opened them to make sure they weren't anthrax or nothin', I didn't read them, I promise."

"Thanks, Manny." I rolled my eyes, picking up the letter assigned to me and opening the already cut envelope to pull out the letter inside, the wax seal remaining unbroken until I pulled it apart. I unfolded it, and could hardly believe what I was reading. "Huh..." I thought about the Hogwarts comment Manny just made, "...Close enough."

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