Chapter 4:
Hello the Snow village: A new member, the fierce Ochre giant!
As they have reached the Snow village's gate, they were so happy that they have successfully journeyed towards another village.
The Snow village was located beside a large cliff of the Snowy Mountains. It was encircled by a thick stone wall, with two large towers near the gates. There were houses made up of wood in pagoda designs, inside the wall of the village, and on its sides. It had a zigzag mountain pass to reach the cliff, and it even had houses hanging on its edges. The village elder resides inside the largest hut located at the highest part of the Snow village, which was the cliff.
The village's hunters were all wearing fur coats, due to the cold. The locals were distinctly paler compared to the Sand villagers, and they all had cream or blonde hair. They used Popos to pull their carts and Antekas to pull their sleighs. The main strip of the village was made purely of shops, which ranged from food to weapons.
"Wow! This village is so cool!" said the Yuko
"Awesome! They're really different from the Sand village… and it's freezing here!" said the shivering Marina
"Well it IS the SNOW village…" said Ken who was also shivering
"Let's find some place to sleep here." said Noa, and they decided to look around for an inn. They bought fur coats at a nearby store to at least withstand the cold, and Noa got his gunlance's safety fixed to a blacksmith. The group saw a nearby inn.
It was a big inn, and like any other place in the village, made of wood with sliding windows. The inn had two stories, with the lower part as a tavern. It looked aged from the years of serving both travellers and hunters alike. Inside the inn was the tavern full of people drinking wine and cider, and eating mutton from an Anteka and a large Bullfango skewered and cooked at a large turning spit.
People ranging from travellers to hunters were merrymaking, drinking, singing, playing games, while others were dancing along the performing bands that made use of ethnic Snow village instruments.
They looked for the nearest wench and asked her where the innkeeper was. She happily showed them to the innkeeper inside the next room. They managed to get two rooms for the cost of 1000z each, the food was free since they rented a room.
Finally, they get to put their bags in their rooms, and leaned their weapons on the wall. It was an exhausting trip getting from the Sand village to the Snow village, and now they get some rest.
"Man, my feet are killing me." Noa said when he jumped back on the hay bed covered with a cotton bed sheet
"Yeah, mine are too." said Ken while eating a roll he took out from his bag
Marina went inside their room, and told them to get some rest before the quest the following day.
"Well, we better get some rest, we'll be hunting tomorrow."
"Yep." Ken said as he took his last bite of his roll, and lied flat on the bed.
They rested, the boys talked about what they are going to do with the hunt, and the girls talked about how they want their armour should look both practical and fashionable. The group then went downstairs and ate at the tavern. After a hefty meal, they went back to their rooms and got to bed.
After getting some rest, they packed their things necessary for the hunt and left for the Guild hall.
The Guild hall was large—like any other hall in the seven great villages. The hall was a five-story pagoda-styled building, the sides of the biggest roof having long, sharp horns, making it look demonic, much like a monster. The roofs were made of hay, and blanketed with snow, much like any other house in the village.
The arch of the door was made with large elder dragon fangs, making the entrance look like a monster's mouth.
The doors were blue sashimono with white triangles on the top part. Each banner had the characters written in monster's blood, one had "Honour" the other "Unity" the other "Survival"
"Wow, the Snow village sure knows how to make a Guild hall!" said Noa, appreciating the intense look of the Snow village Guild hall.
They walk towards the guild, and was amazed at how big it was. It had a wide interior. The rear was where they get to find the receptionists for the quest, behind them was a large wooden bored hung in chains connected to a thick beam. It had a ladder which is full of at least eighty different quests, ten per each level, from the low ranks to the high ones.
To its left was an onsen which extends outside the Guild hall. The onsen was divided into the male's side and the female's side with a tall bamboo wall. To its right was the largest mess hall in the southern continent. Snow villagers were feast-loving people, so their food was always served in massive quantities and their tables for feasting were larger than the average house. There was a kitchen where a large crew of felynes and meylinxes were cooking endless meals for the hunters who feasts every victory of their hunt. The second to fourth floor was for the Village Defence Battalion in charge of the village's defence against monsters who attack the village. It was their barracks as well as their armoury.
The fifth floor was the smallest part of the building with a large room inside, that was where the Snow village's sacred treasure, the Twin Swords Kuro and Byaku was located, none has ever seen it, with the exception of the Elder, for it was—in legend—the sword of the Village's founder, who defeated a large elder dragon to make a village for his tribe of nomads.
Inside the hall, other hunters from different villages were present, hundreds of them were either taking a bath, eating, or preparing a quest. Some of the hunters were from the Sand village as well, it can be told from the blue hair.
"Wow! They're so many." said Yuko
They saw the hunters use a variety of weapons, there were plenty of greatsword, hammers, hunting horns, but there was no gunlance in sight, which got Noa out of place inside the hall.
"I don't see anyone else using a gunlance here…" said the dismayed Noa
"The Sand Village made that weapon remember. So you'll barely see weapons like yours." said Ken.
They planned to get a quest once they entered the hall, but they saw plenty of people taking quests. For one to get a quest in the Snow village's Guild hall, one must get a number and wait to be called. Once he is able to get a mission, and he may or may not allow others to join. They saw that the board was already out of new quests, and they had to wait for more to be released.
"Aww man! Just our luck, they don't have any more quests." Ken said in dismay
"Yeah… too bad, we'll have to wait for the other one I guess." Yuko said while trying to keep her smile, even though she wanted to have a quest
Then, one of the receptionists called out the next number
"Number twenty!"
Noa felt a rumble in his stomach, and decided to sit down and eat while they are waiting.
"Let's sit down and grab a bite, we haven't eaten yet-"
"Here I am number twenty!"
The person who was called was running towards the receptionist but did not notice Noa and accidentally collided with him behind his back.
"Oof!" they went. The impact was strong enough to push Noa down on the floor, with the person pressing on him.
The person was a female. She was a Snow villager, a girl who had a petite body of a pre-teen, her skin was as white as snow, pale grey hair in a bobcut, a long lock of hair on each side was braided with an adorable, little, green ribbon, as well as princess-like bangs which gave her the appearance of a life-sized doll. Her eyes were big, red, and beautiful. Snow villagers have blonde hair, red eyes, and big felyne ears as their trait.
She wore a robe with fur edges, big for her size with the sleeves overlapping her hands. It had a hood with thick, white fur, and had felyne ear designs. Her undivided hakama was up to her knee, and since she had a thick robe, the hakama does not need to be lengthened to keep her warm. Her footwear was fur boots with steel shin guards and steel toes on the outer layer.
"Oww…" the person went
"Umm, miss could you please get off, you're pretty heavy"
"Hey that's so mean!" the girl said, getting offended, thinking Noa was talking about her weight. The girl got up and scolded Noa
"Don't ever tell girls they're heavy! It hurts our feelings."
"Or maybe it's because of that gunlance slung behind your back?" Ken pointed out
"Wait, a gunlance?" said Noa, who got excited to finally meet a fellow gunlance user. He held her hands and started blabbering in excitement. He went
"Wow! A fellow gunlance-user like me! Oh thank goodness I'm not the only one! Could I please know you're name? We'll be great friends! Sorry I called you heavy…" and so on did he kept blabbering.
"Noa's very happy." Yuko said
"I know right." Ken and Marina sighed
"My name is Mineko Nagato, a graduate from the Snow village Hunting Academy." She introduced herself, and then realizes that she was supposed to get to the receptionists to get her quest.
"Oh no! I forgot I have to get my quest!" she went, and ran.
When she got to the receptionists, she was tasked to fill up forms for the quest she wanted to pick.
"Please sign this form ma'am." said the receptionist as she gave Mineko the forms.
Mineko filled up everything, her identification, the time she took the quest, and the time she must end it. She also wrote her quest, what rank it was, and whether it was a slaying quest, hunting quest, or gathering quest.
"Would you like people to join, ma'am?" the receptionist asked
"Hmm… I guess I could ask for some help. But who?" Mineko went
She then thought "How about those guys I bumped in earlier?" and stared at Noa and the others, who were sitting in a bench while eating food. Mineko told the receptionist that she would like others to join her quest. She said
"Wait a minute." And ran towards Noa and the others
"Umm… mister?" Mineko called for Noa's attention
"Hmm? Oh Mineko! My name's Noa, so you don't have to call me mister." Noa smiled at her
Mineko told them that she wanted to have people accompany her on her quest, and asked them if they could help her out in it. She felt shy when she asked the group she never knew to join her, but she too—like the group—wanted to finish this quest to proceed outside the village.
"Umm… I was kinda looking for hunters to help me with this quest, and I hoping if you guys could go with me?"
What she said gave the group a surprise. But not only a surprise, it also gave them excitement. Noa and Marina both grabbed Mineko by the shoulder with joy.
They shouted
"You rock Mineko!"
They finally got a quest in the Snow village. They went to the receptionist completed the form to take the quest, they each gave their identification, and most important, their hunting licenses, which is proof that they have finished their training at hunting academies. When they finished, they immediately left through a door next to the receptionist's counter. The door led to what looked like a stable for Popos.
The stable was made of old wood, it smelled like manure, and the mountain breeze did not make the odour any better. There were carts prepared by the guild with felynes and meylinxes packing their supplies like rations and a yurt they will be using as their home base.
"Wow! The guild prepared this?" Yuko said
"Yes, the guild prepares everything for the hunters who are going on a quest." Mineko said
"Licensed Hunters are not like the military or armed travellers, we get assistance from the Guild. Unlike the Elder quests, Guild quests are STRICTLY for licensed hunters like us only." Noa explained.
In the world, the North and South continents have the Seven Great Villages who train hunters in hunting academies supervised by the Guild League. The Guild League is a group of Guilds in the Seven Great Villages who help train hunters to kill monsters.
Hunters are portrayed by many as mercenaries who would kill monsters only for a price. They also receive prestige and honour around the land when they have achieved the High Rank Hunter status. Places without a guild could hire a hunter but they are not sponsored or supplied by the guild. Others have the local warlords who could make militaries of their own, thinking it is far better than hunters, and use them to defend their lands, and even invade.
Then as Mineko was putting her own items, then she placed a box full of their rations and necessary items. But the box was too heavy for Mineko to lift
"Heavy…" she went
Just as she struggled with the box, Noa went and helped her put it in the cart by taking the other side of the box.
"You need some help?" He asked
"Why yes, thank you." She replied
"Noa is such a chick boy…" said Ken, jestingly accusing Noa a womanizer
"It's just being friendly, you ass…" Noa answered back
Ken placed his own items at the cart and introduced himself to Mineko, followed by the girls.
"By the way, I'm Ken Ryuugasora, nice to meet you ma'am"
"I'm Marina Otogamine"
"And I'm Yuki Matsudaira"
Finally, they finished with their packing and got inside cart as well. The felynes got on top of the Popo and off they went, heading up the mountain. The back of the large Guild hall was a secret passageway that led up to the mountain's hunting grounds, which was behind it. As they went up the mountain pass's hairpin-like roads, the snowfall started to getting thicker like it was rain, and it started to get colder and colder. And while they were on their way to the hunting grounds, Noa and the group has been wondering ever since they met Mineko.
"Uh, Mineko?" Noa called
"Yes?" Mineko smiled back
"So why do Snow villagers have felyne ears and a tail?" Asked Noa
Mineko then started to touch her ears and explained to Noa
"Well we've been known to have these types of ears since time immemorial. It was said that the founder of the Snow village had already had felyne ears."
"I actually thought the Author just didn't have anything to do and made her like that..." said, Ken calmly, with a slight chuckle.
"Well what can you do? He wrote this story anyway…" added Yuko
"Instead of breaking the Fourth Wall for the reader's enjoyment, why don't we focus on the mission?" Marina suggested.
Then Marina's curiosity got the better of her when she noticed Mineko rubbing her gunlance with her hands while humming with joy. Gunlances were Sand village trademark weapons, and were heavy-class weapon, when Snow villagers are known for using light weaponry.
"Uh, Mineko?"
"Yes Marina?"
"About your weapon? The Snow village is known to be the Village of the light-handed. Why are you using a Sand village heavy-class weapon?"
"Oh! Actually, the Snow village allows us to use any weapon we want to use. We only pick the light weapons because we climb on mountains, and using heavy weapons are going to be hard to have. And I just love the gunlance, it looks so cool, and powerful!"
"I see… I hope you won't have a hard time. It will be bad if that becomes a disadvantage" Marina said
Mineko waved her hand indicating not to think about it, and said "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, but thanks for your concern."
"Wow, Marina, you sure are considerate." Yuko said
"I'm not, really" Marina scratched her head with humbleness
Ken, as always, joked about Marina by saying "She's got a sister-comple—kuu!"
Until Marina kicks Ken on the gut, and made him hold on to his stomach.
"With a little violent side hehe." Mineko smirked
Finally, they got to the hunting area. While the felynes and meylinxes were setting up the yurt, they were already taking their necessary items for the hunt. They took their rations for their stamina, hot drinks in case they get cold, whetstones for their blades, their potions to heal wounds, and their barbeque spits in case they run out of rations, all of which were provided by the guild.
"Our quest will be a Popo hunting quest, and for some reason it's a higher quest than normal. We got fifty minutes to finish the entire quest." Mineko said as she read the hunting request
"It says here, we'll need to hunt for some Popo meat, and Popo tongues, around ten of each." She placed the request inside her small sling bag, and enthusiastically yelled
"Okay. Let's go!"
They got ready and prepared for the hunt, but as they left what guild hunters called "Safe zone"
"Argh!" they went as the strong winter winds became a powerful blizzard. They proceeded with their hunt and climbed up to the top of the mountain. They went inside caves to reach the top portion of the mountain. They were given a map to see just where they were headed. Finally they managed to get to the top of the mountain, and luckily, found a group of twelve Popos, young and adults, trying to flee from the harsh weather.
"Okay! We found some! C'mon let's go get it!"
Noa attacks first and then Ken, Yen and Marina attacks the second one, Mineko uses her gunlance, and fires it for the first time, killing the third on her own. While the other Popos started running for its life, Mineko wanted to stop them. But with the sheer weight of the Gunlance, she started to get tired. Her pace with the gunlance, was not like that of Noa's, and started panting, just after her first kill.
"Man, this Gunlance is getting kinda heavy. I'm not used to it I guess… oh man, I can't kill much at this pace"
Noa killed off the fourth Popo by continuously stabbing it. As they continued hunting down Popos, the blizzard got stronger, that they could not see each other through the snowstorm, they barely even see the blood of the dead Popos staining the ground.
After killing the eleventh, the group started carving up the dead monsters and got more than what they needed. Mineko was not contented with just killing one. She tried to overcome her fatigue and chased after the last one heading towards a cave.
"I'm not going to let you get away." Mineko said with a slight faint voice. She ran for the last Popo, but Noa and the others told her that they have enough and she does not have to continue hunting for more.
"Mineko! We have enough!" Noa yelled
Mineko did not listen to Noa and said "It'll only… take a minute!" she said as she sprinted to kill her prey.
And as she finally caught up with the Popo…
GRAAAAAAAAAAA!
They heard a grand roar, they did not know where it came from, but it sure sounded like a powerful monster. Mineko stopped chasing after the Popo and looked up, trying to find where that roar came from.
"What the-?" she went. It did not sound good, and she had no choice but to run away along with the others. Yet before she could reach the group, who just finished gathering.
The monster they were about to run away from came down upon them, which struck them with fear.
"Kyaa!" Mineko shouted.
The monster was a far too strong opponent for them. It was ochre, and scaly. It had stripes like a wild jungle animal. The eyes were red with rage, with a look that stunned its pray with fear. Its claws were razor-sharp, which could slash anything, from rocks to ice, and especially, flesh. The fangs were long and pointed meant to tear off the skin of its prey with one strong bite. The size of the monster was huge, towering over the group like a behemoth.
The monstrosity roared loudly ounce again, it was enraged like a beast awoken from its disrupted slumber. The monster stared at Mineko, with its terrifying eyes. Mineko was too scared to move. The monster made a quick swoop to Mineko, but she blocked it with her shield. But the monster was too strong that it broke the shield and she was knocked back by the blow.
Mineko only had her gunlance, but she withdrew it and tried to get away from the monster.
"MINEKO LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Noa yelled. His yell caught the monster's attention and it went after the group instead. Mineko ran for them so that they can run away and not get caught.
They ran as fast as they could, but the Monster flew in front of them, they had no choice but to find another way out. The blizzard made it harder for them to find where to go, and they were lead near an edge of a cliff.
"Damn!" Noa went
They looked back, only to see the monster preparing to smite them with its huge claw. They acted upon reflex by blocking the attack, but due to the power of the Monster, they all flew backward, and fell on the cliff. Mineko's gunlance, which she used to block, after losing her shield, was snapped in two pieces, the other weapons, severely damaged.
"GAH!" they went as they fell.
Just three to four minutes after they fell, they woke up on top of a huge pile of snow, they were wounded by the Monster, but they could still walk. They get up, only to know they were already at the foot of the mountain.
"Mnmnmnm…. What the heck happened?" asked Noa
"My back hurts…" said Yuko
"Ouch, who has a hot drink?" asked Mineko
"Man, what kind of a monster was that?" asked Marina
"My butt is cold…" complained Ken
They get their potions from their bags, and are glad to see that the things they carved out of the Popos were still intact. Just two meters away, they saw their weapons, damaged by the strong beast. Mineko's gunlance did not have the same condition, hers was completely broken.
"M-my gunlance…" Mineko went, and fell down on her knees in shock. The gunlance was not as strong as Noa's steel gunlance, hers were made of bones and iron. It was snapped in two, and was irreparable.
"Mineko…" Yuko said with worry
"Look Mineko-" Noa went to her
"That was so stupid of me!" Mineko shouted, with tears dripping off her cheeks
"If I hadn't chased that Popo because of my pride, I would still have my gunlance!" she sobbed and continued crying over her broken gunlance.
But Noa gave a sigh and walked to Mineko to at least try to comfort her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and started patting it. Mineko then stopped sobbing, surprised by Noa's pat on the shoulder
"Y'know Mineko. Hunters make mistakes too. But we learn from it through experience. If it wasn't for the gunlance, you would've died."
Mineko then wiped the tears of her face, but was still sobbing.
"Yeah Mineko! You were given a second chance to live!" Marina cheered Mineko up
"Well look on the bright side, you're alive, and that's that! The author spared you!" Ken stated
"There we go again…" Yuko smirked.
Noa then helped Mineko get up and said
"Don't worry Mineko, we'll give half of our pay for you to buy a new weapon!" Noa said it with a straight face, but Mineko could not have such an offer. They did more work than she did, and she felt too embarrassed to accept what Noa gave her.
"No! What about your weapons?" she asked
"It's not that hard to have our weapons fixed. So we'll give our pay, and you get a good weapon!"
"Please, I don't wanna be a burden! It's your hard-earned money!" Mineko said
Noa gave another sigh, but then he thought of a better idea
"Okay how about this? You tag along with us! That way, you can pay for what you owe!"
"What!?" Marina reacted
"A-Are you sure Noa?" Mineko went
"Sure! We need more members with our group, I mean—we'll need all the help we get to become high-class hunters. So waddaya say?"
"C'mon Mineko, we can sure need your help!" Yuko encouraged
"I'm okay with giving my money, but Mineko, don't you have other quests?" Marina said
Mineko told Marina
"I'm not into hunting because of getting to the high-class ranking. We Snow villagers are different from the Sand villagers who do it because it's for social standing. I'm into it…" Mineko thought at first, and then smiled with her answer
"Because it's fun!"
They were silent for a moment, and then started laughing. Mineko's frown was quickly turned into a smile by Noa and the others. Noa then looked at his hunting watch and saw that they only have ten minutes before the quest end.
"Man… that was tiring. Hey we only got ten minutes left, let's get out of here." said Noa
"Yeah!" they went with their closed fist raised high, and smiles on their faces. They took their weapons, and went back to the Safe Area.
Finally, they got back to the Snow village guild hall. They went to the receptionist and gave the bag full of Popo tongues and meat. And finally, they received their pay, which they gave fifty percent to Mineko, all in all it caused 5000z, good enough to make a new weapon.
They then decided to go to the village Elder, to ask about the monster they encountered during their last hunt. They climbed up the cliff to get to the Elder's giant hut.
As they got to the hut, they went inside, with the Elder sitting on the middle, sitting on the Tatami and doing calligraphy.
"Hello, what do you want young ones?" said the Elder. To the group's surprise.
"Elder-sama!?" they yelled in shock. The Elder of the Snow village looked exactly like the Elder of the Sand village, what distinguished them from one another was that the Snow village Elder wore a thick coat to keep him safe from the warmth.
The Elder looked at the four foreign hunters, and saw the sand village emblems. He knew immediately where they came from and said.
"You must be from the Sand village… My brother is your village Elder, he looks exactly like me ehehehehehe…" said the Elder.
"What a weird family…" they thought, with smirks on their faces.
"So what are you here for?" he asked
"We're here to ask a question?" asked Marina
"What is it young lady?" said The Elder
"During our last mission, we were encountered by this large monster. It was large, thrice as big as us, and it had a large roar. With orangey scales and red eyes." Marina tried portraying it with her hands, from stretching her arm to emphasise the size, and using her hands to make an imitation of the jaw with her fingers as fangs.
But even if she did not imitate the monster, the Elder already knew what monster she was talking about
"Ah! That was the Tigrex, a powerful monster, fast, agile, and most of all deadly. The Snow village is home to the rarest, and even some of the strongest monsters known to man." He said.
"That's the monster we fought a while ago. We barely made it intact!" said Ken.
"Yes… well I'm sorry you had to find it out the hard way. Both the guild, and I are asking hunters to deal with It. We just don't know when we can fight it, and if we close the hunting grounds for the guild, that could be a hassle for guild hunters." said the Elder, while playing with his beard.
Talking about the Tigrex struck fear into them. Facing a monster like almost got them all killed.
"Oh." Yuko looked down
"If monsters are that powerful…" Ken went
"Then, we have to get stronger!" Noa said
The others looked at Noa. He said to the Elder with enthusiasm.
"Elder, if your lands are said to give home to the rarest and strongest monsters, then we'd like to come back here and show them how strong we'll get!"
"Dang Noa, you really don't know when to quit." Ken said
"And that's what's good to you." He placed his arm on Noa's shoulder
His words gave encouragement to his teammates as well. The Elder smiled at Noa and walked towards him. He said
"You are a very enthusiastic one hehehe." He laughed
"But yes, to be a great hunter, you must face the greatest challenges."
"And remember everyone." He added
"Not every opponent in a hunter's life is a vicious creature."
They left the Elder and went back to their inn. It was already night time, but still the Snow villagers were seen outside walking from different food stalls that only open during evenings. They feasted inside the Guild hall, where it was still full of life, and full of hunters going on night quests. The group feasted with food, like Popo sirloins and Anteka steaks.
"Woohoo! We finished a Snow village quest!" Ken raised his wooden mug filled with grape cider. Noa was merrymaking too, celebrating their first quest outside the Sand village, and surviving the attack of the Tigrex.
"Yeah! Let's celebrate! The guild said that licensed hunters get the food for free when you finished a quest! Hahaha!" he started gulping down Strawberry cider down his throat like no tomorrow. He asked for more from the guild hall wench, and started eating a rare Anteka leg, but he was eating too fast and chocked on partially-chewed meat. He hit himself lightly on the chest with his closed fist, and when the food finally got down, started grasping for air.
"Be careful Noa." Smirked Yuko
"Or else it'll be an Anteka that got you, and not a Tigrex." Mineko joked after drinking a warm mug of Milk.
Marina was also going along, and started gulping down apple cider.
"Aw yeah! So what place are we going this time?" she said. Noa checked his map which was inside his satchel. He unfolded the map and saw the next village.
"Hmm… ah, the Swamp village! It'll probably take us two to three days on foot."
"The Swamp village is up north. It's farther than when we got here from the Sand village." Yuko said
"I bet the Swamp village is a very fun place!" Mineko said
"We'll see about that." Ken replied
It got late, and the group decided to finally retire. The following day will be their journey to the Swamp village.
The following day, they prepared for the next trip, the Swamp village. Buying potions, and a knapsack, since they have some items they cannot throw away, like their coats. They each shared their weight, knowing they have no money to travel with any pack monster to carry it for them.
Ken was the person who was given the knapsack to, filled with most of their food, and some materials from their past quests. Noa carried two sling bags, one on each side, with his gunlance slung on his back. Marina and Yuko both had only one bag with them.
Mineko had her items packed in a big satchel, and had her new pair of lightweight dual swords slung on her back.
"Man, next time, we're buying something that could carry all this weight." Noa said
"You said it." Ken added
"Well you wouldn't want us girls to carry that, would you?" Marina said, with feminine pride
Ken replied "Please, you're an ape-"
Marina punched Ken's face and said
"An ape am I?" the enraged Marina said
Noa, Yuko, and Mineko laughed at Ken's expense…
"Hey, c'mon. Let's go!" Mineko said impatiently
"Yeah, Swamp village here we come!" Noa turned his eyes towards the gate, and they started walking out the Snow village, with Mineko taking her last look of the guild hall.
"And now I'm off to see the world, with new friends."
