Yeah, don't expect super duper fast uploads, these chapters require much more planning and editing and all that good stuff. I'm hoping the quality doesn't dip though. Oh well, chapter time.


Chapter 39

Shines Like Gold

Waking the next day, Link turned over to see Noctus sprawled out on his bed unceremoniously, snoring loudly. Link decided that he'd slept enough, grabbing his scroll to see that it was actually 7AM, meaning he'd slept longer than he thought. He wouldn't complain though, he definitely needed it. Getting out of bed, he grabbed his gear as well as a medical bag before heading into the bathroom. Removing his shirt, he grabbed the bag and grabbed a roll of cheap plastic, wrapping all of his bandages such that they wouldn't get soaked in his shower and risk infection.

Taking his shower, he sat under the heated water for longer than he probably should have, but he wasn't going to be able to enjoy a shower like this often. Enjoying his time as much as he could, he eventually actually cleaned himself before getting out, drying himself, and putting on as much of his armor as he could, only being unable to put on his large sleeve. He also left off his cloak, as it was mostly a piece of travel gear.

"Better ask Noctus when he wakes up..." he lamented to himself, figuring he might as well get something to eat in the meantime. He did just that, managing to find a diner from which he could get something to eat. Honestly, he was surprised they had so many stores and such in this town. He payed it no mind though, as plenty of these towns and smaller settlements were so isolated from Kingdoms that they effectively had their own economies. Considering he had already gotten the information he needed, he simply ate and went back to the inn, seeing that Noctus was now awake and dressing himself.

"Where'd you run off to?" he asked, seeing that he was already dressed and ready.

"Diner, got some breakfast," he said, sitting back on his bed. "I'd have woken you, but you looked like you were sleeping rather well."

"I was, not gonna lie," he said. "I am pretty hungry though, so I'm probably gonna hit up that diner."

"Before that, can I get a hand with this sleeve?" Link said, holding up the black sleeve to go on his right arm.

"Yeah, gimme," Noctus said, sliding it onto Link's arm as he once again winced in pain, offering a thumbs up once it was fully on with the snaps clipped shut and the straps fully tightened.

"Alright, good to go," Link said, rolling his arm and ensuring the sleeve adjusted itself correctly. Noctus gave a thumbs up and turned to head out to the diner to get something to eat, but stopped in his tracks when he heard something outside, going to the window and opening the blinds to see a swarm of Grimm flooding the town.

"Oh, that's no good..." he said, Link already rushing out of the room and to Epona where his weapons were, kicking an Ursa away from his motorcycle before strapping his weapons on. Readying Farore and picking off any Grimm that got too close to any of the buildings that had people in them, he saw Noctus rush out as well, grabbing Midnight Unbound and going to work cutting as many down as he could. "Damn, there's a lot of them here!"

"Might as well fix that!" Link shouted, continuing to blow holes in as many Grimm as he could, slowly but surely wearing down the beastial numbers.

Noctus simply chuckled and kept cutting through the scores of Ursai, Beowolves, and Creeps that flooded into the town, many of them trying to claw their way into the scattered buildings of the small town and get to the frightened civilians within. They were equally as surprised as they were terrified when the Grimm trying to get to them were either shot or cut down at the hands of their visitors.

"Wasn't that the guy asking for a Huntsman?" the waiter from the bar mumbled quietly, seeing Link blowing holes in any and all Grimm that crossed his path. Any that dared to get too close met a quick end through the usage of the shotgun mounted to the bottom of Farore's barrel. "He and his friend sure seem to be fine without one..."

Link and Noctus eventually tore through their ranks enough to take a breather, though they didn't much need it considering how trivial a horde of weak Grimm was at this point. Watching the remainder run off, likely older Grimm who had learned their lessons, Noctus stood next to Link and shouldered his sword as the swordsman released his spent shells, putting the rifle away and cracking his neck.

"Looks like that mercenary group isn't too close to here, otherwise they'd have been on top of those Grimm," Link deduced, looking around the area to make sure there weren't more Grimm, but sadly that wasn't the case, as yet another came forward in challenge. It was simply an Alpha Beowolf, but to regular people, they were a massive threat.

"Dibs," Noctus said, charging forward and trying to cut it down, only to be beaten to the punch when Link drew his sword, now sporting a tempered red blade, and throwing it at the large Grimm. As per usual, once the blade buried itself in the beast's torso, the winch table was pulled taught as the blade was pulled back to Link. Catching his sword as it returned to him with the Grimm, he swung it all the way through and cut it in half, each half falling to the ground while Noctus pouted at him. "I called dibs, you asshole."

"Couldn't hear you, too many Grimm," Link said, smirking at Noctus as he sheathed the sword. "Glad to see that the new sword blade is holding up."

"You paid a lot for it, so it had better hold up," Noctus said, sheathing his sword and crossing his arms. "Now I'm mad, I wanted to kill the big one."

"You guys sure cleaned up, huh?" said one of the townsfolk, Link and Noctus turned to see people emerging from their businesses and houses.

"Just a few Grimm, nothing we can't handle," Noctus said, putting his hands in his pockets. "We've been doing this for a while, got some skills."

"Oh we saw," the liquor store clerk said, looking Noctus up and down. "Are you sure you need a Huntsman's help?"

"You have no idea," Link said, turning towards his motorcycle. "Let's get going, we have what we need."

"Oh, come on, let me get something to eat first!" Noctus whined, the person Link remembered being from the diner coming up and stopping him.

"No, let us at least stock you guys up before you go," she said, grabbing her wallet and pulling out a few Lien. "Here, your meal is on me. It's the least we can do for you since you got rid of that Grimm swarm."

"It's the biggest one we've seen in years," another townsfolk said, Noctus nodding.

"I know you wanna get going, but I still wanna get food, and if they're offering, then who am I to say no?" he said, nudging Link's arm.

"Yeah, fine, I guess we can stay a little bit longer," Link relented as he took the Lien from the diner owner, Noctus smiling and heading over to her establishment.

"Good! I am a hungry Huntsman," he cheered.

Link simply rolled his eye and smirked, opting to go through his ammo and dust supplies. After all, it wasn't every day you were willingly given free things like that. Seeing that he actually was actually running rather low on all of the above, he decided to head to the dust shop. He eventually found the store, heading inside and browsing through the aisles to try and find whatever dust he was running low on. He eventually found everything he needed and took it to the checkout, the cashier looking at him and nodding.

"Yep, that's some dust. You made sure we didn't lose anyone, so you can take it and go," she said, waving him to leave. "A few Lien worth of dust is a small price to pay for a few people's lives."

"I'd really rather pay, I was just doing what was expected of me..." Link mumbled, though the cashier shook her head and sat down.

"That's a shame. I'd really rather you didn't, and it's my store, so I guess you're gonna be getting that dust for free. Weird," she said, smirking. "You have a nice day, sweetheart."

"Um, yeah, you too," he said, putting his purchases in their proper places and heading out of the shop. As the door closed, he smirked. "It's a shame it's my money, and I could choose what to do with it."

As he walked back to his motorcycle, he just prayed that she wouldn't notice the extra Lien in her wallet, as well as the note that told her to give some of it to the diner to pay for his breakfast. Time Semblances, handy stuff right there.

OOO

Luckily for Link, the shop owner never noticed, or at least she didn't care enough to do anything about it, and as such managed to prepare to leave. He even went through the room they'd stayed in and cleaned and gathered their things, putting them in their bikes' saddlebags so that they could leave as soon as Noctus was done eating. He didn't have to wait long, the Huntsman joining him soon after he finished packing.

"We leaving then?" he asked, Link getting up and nodding.

"Yep, got everything out of the inn and packed it up," he said as he walked to his motorcycle, hopping on and gesturing to Noctus'. "Let's go, we've got some mercenaries to find."

"I sure hope we find them..." Noctus mumbled as he hopped on, Link starting Epona and glaring at him.

"Don't jinx it," he said, walking Epona back and pulling away, Noctus rolling his eyes and making to follow him.

"Kids these days, I tell you..." he mumbled as he pulled up next to the swordsman. "So, what's the plan now?"

"We're gonna scout the area for a scout!" Link shouted, only realizing the irony of his statement after it left his lips. "Once we find one, we can have them take us back to the main camp. We'll figure out what we're gonna do from there."

"What if the scout decides to not take us back to the camp?" Noctus asked. "Considering that they seem to not like people knowing where they are, I wouldn't exactly assume a scout would just take us there if we found one."

"That's fair," Link said, nodding for a moment before scowling. "However, as much as I hate him, my uncle trained me extremely well. If I know who I'm looking for, odds are that I can find them."

"You can be a scary kid sometimes, you know that?" Noctus said, occasionally glancing around the area for any sign of a scout.

"I think I've graduated from 'kid' by this point, wouldn't you say?" Link said, he too continuing to look around.

"It's a joke and you know it," Noctus said, zeroing in on something off in the woods. "Hey hold up, I think I see something."

Link did as was requested of him and pulled over, hopping off of Epona and taking a look around, making sure his left arm was free of his cloak to ensure that he could easily grab his sword. Being cautious was part of who he was now, sad as it was to say.

"Alright, what did you see?" he asked, looking around to try and find whatever it was that Noctus spotted. "I am literally blind on my right side, you're gonna have to almost literally give me a hand here."

"Oh cool, we can joke about that now?" Noctus asked, only for Link to glare at him over his shoulder. "Gotcha. Anyway, some broken branches off to the right."

"Considering the vicinity to Kingston, it wouldn't be out of the question for it to be Grimm," Link said, glancing around until he found it. "At least, that would only make sense if it was a smaller amount of Grimm, a hoard that size likely would have taken down a tree or two. This..." he continued as he approached the branches, "is far too subtle to be Grimm. At least a pack of them. So we're either looking at a lone Grimm, or..."

"...Or a person," Noctus said, catching on. "Think you can find them just from a broken tree branch?"

"Oh please, I could probably find someone off of what they bought at the convenience store, a tree branch is trivial," Link said as he smiled to himself. "So let's see here... Considering it's a rather low hanging branch yet still high enough for most small Grimm to crawl under on all fours, I'm either led to believe it's a larger Grimm or a person, but we already ruled out Grimm."

"Not bad, not bad," Noctus said, nodding as he approached the branch. Looking down, his attention was drawn to an abnormal mark on the ground. "Hey, looks like we got a bootprint too. Looks like it's facing... hm, north northwest? Close to due north but not quite."

Link took note of it as well, leaning down and looking at it to examine it more closely. "Indeed it is, good find."

"I may not be the best tracker, but I can find people pretty well too," Noctus said, he too looking at the footprint. "It's pretty deep in the ball in comparison to the heel..."

"It's rather small too," Link said as he looked at the print. "I think we're looking at a girl in heels, though more likely thick sole boots considering we're basically in the middle of nowhere."

"Sounds logical enough to me," Noctus groaned as he stood back up, cracking his back as he did. "So, should we head in the direction the print is heading?"

"We've got nothing better to do," Link said, looking back at the branch. "Wait... why did they break this branch? You'd think they'd just avoid it, like duck it or just go around it. So why'd they break it?"

"Maybe they hate trees?" Noctus asked, only taking himself half seriously. "Kidding, I doubt a merc would be willing to help people and then go out of their way to spite the foliage. Maybe they were in a hurry?"

"Yeah, it would explain why they broke the branch," Link said, rubbing his chin. "But why...?"

Looking around the area more thoroughly, he tried to find something that could explain his mere's rush.

He found something.

"There," Link said, pointing to another set of tracks further back. "Grimm. The scout might have come too close when that large group we took care of was charging through and caught the attention of one by accident. Since they were scouting, they probably weren't well armed enough to fight the whole group and ran since fighting the one may have drawn the attention of the rest."

"It sounds to me like we'd better hurry then," Noctus said, turning towards his motorcycle.

"That we should," Link said, rising and doing the same. "Make sure your weapon locks are undone, if that scout is still being chased they may have caught the attention than more than they want."

"Consider it done," Noctus said, hopping on his motorcycle and undoing the locks, but keeping it securely mounted enough not to fall off as he drove. He quickly started it as well, only to see Link already driving, shaking his head as he sped off to follow the swordsman.

The two drove rather erratically in the hopes of catching up with their unknown scout, Link making sure that he was able to grab his sword if he needed to. In time, they started seeing more and more mangled trees and shrubbery, and soon they heard the footfalls and growls of a small pack of Grimm.

"I hear them!" Link shouted, drawing his sword and speeding up. Eventually, he gained sight of them as well, locking in the brakes on Epona and leaping off while throwing his sword at the closest Grimm. It did as it usually did and buried itself into the beast's back, going all the way through and lodging itself into the ground. Link then activated the winch, pulling himself forward and stomping the Grimm's head into the ground, killing it rather easily. He then pulled his sword free and began running towards the other Grimm, a smaller group, but still big enough to be an issue for average people to be in huge danger.

Noctus came up quickly and matched Link's pace, his sword at his waist in the event that he needed it. He did, as a few Grimm broke away from the main group and tried to attack them, only for Noctus to take a brutal reverse handed swing to bifurcate all of them. Link then dove over Noctus in order to continue the chase, especially since he thought he was starting to get a decent view of the scout, a shorter girl in warm clothes and a thick cap that concealed all of her hair. Figuring he should get her out of danger as quickly as possible, he used his Semblance to move through the crowd of Grimm and grab the girl, but sadly in order to do so he had to sheath his sword since his right arm was still in so much pain. That being said, with the girl out of danger at the moment, he was able to focus on other things.

"Noctus, get rid of them!" he shouted, hearing the Huntsman laugh behind him.

"It's about damn time," he muttered, Link skidding to a stop with the shocked girl over his shoulder and looking back as Noctus darted through the pack, the purple blur shredding the Grimm apart.

"Take a quick look around, make sure we don't have any more unwanted guests," Link said, only then setting the girl down once Noctus went to do just that. "So, little miss scout, care to answer a few questions for me?"

"W-Who are you?" she asked, taking a cautious step back, Link then noticing that the girl had aniridia, though it didn't seem to have any impact on her sight. "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for a Huntsman," Link said, leaning against a nearby tree. "Word is that you may know one."

"No more Grimm," Noctus said as he came back to the two. "There were a couple stragglers, but I place emphasis on 'were'."

"And who are you?" the girl asked, turning towards Noctus.

"Oh, I like your eyes," Noctus said, getting a bit closer and leaning down to get a better look. "No pupils... How well can you see?"

"I can see fine, but I don't see why you two are... why you're interrogating me!" she shouted, crossing her arms and scanning the area for an escape route. Noctus noticed this and stepped to the side to give her a more open path if she so desired, which she noticed.

"You're... moving? Why?" she asked, definitely confused.

"I mean, we're not evil. Just because we're looking for a Huntsman doesn't mean we're gonna be cruel about it," Noctus explained, making sure to soften his tone to get the point across.

"I-I mean, you made that impression when you saved me from Grimm..." she said, putting her hands behind her back. She definitely seemed rather shy...

"So, can you give us a hand?" Link asked, leaning down to make sure he wasn't looking own on the girl. "Can you lead us back to your camp? You have our word we only have good intentions."

"I... I probably shouldn't, but..." she mumbled, mulling over her options. "Well, you two definitely seem pretty strong, and you don't seem mean, so I figure it couldn't hurt. Ok, fine, I can lead you."

"Just give us directions, we can take you back," Link said, the girl looking at him rather skeptically for a moment.

"What? If you're gonna carry me again, no thanks!" she shouted, only for Link to chuckle and grab his keys.

"No no no, we've each got motorcycles. An extra person is easy," he said, the girl mouthing 'oh' in understanding. "So, take your pick of who you wanna ride with."

"Ummm... You?" she said, gesturing to Link. He nodded, stepping aside and gesturing to where they'd left their bikes.

"Then let's go. Got a name?" he asked.

"I do, but when we're out looking for people who need help we only go by code names. We don't want to give away too much information. For now, call me White," she said, following Link's directions towards his bike.

"Okay, White, I can do that," he said, the trio eventually reaching their bikes and hopping on. Link faithfully followed White's instructions to get to a sizable clearing with a few tents strewn around, as well as a multitude of armed individuals wandering around the camp. Pulling to a stop, White mumbled 'Well, here we are' before hopping off and dashing into the largest tent, a pair of guards on either side making way for her.

"Leave your weapons on your bike, we aren't here to do anything else but talk," Link said, Noctus nodding and doing as was asked of him, hopping off of his bike moments after.

"They've definitely got some impressive numbers here..." he muttered, taking a look around at the mercenaries strewn around the camp and seeing at least a few dozen. "Think this is enough to stop that uncle of yours?"

"Not even close," Link groaned, taking a few steps away from Epona. "Not counting him, he's got a lot more soldiers than this, and to his standards. They only way they'd be able to do it is if they were all Strifes, and I'm not under the impression that they are."

"Considering how rare they are, you wouldn't think you'd find so many in one place," Noctus said in agreement. "Even finding one person who maybe fits the bill is... well, it ain't easy."

"Trust me, I know just as well as you," Link groaned, turning to see the large tent open back up. From the depths came a rather large man in gothic militaristic clothes and wild golden hair, a confident smile plastered on his face.

"Hello there!" he called, bowing towards Link and Noctus. "I understand that you're looking for a Huntsman?"

"He looks... interesting I guess," Noctus said, scratching the back of his head.

"He's very clean..." Link muttered after giving him a quick look over.

The man continued to approach Link and Noctus, the pair turning fully to see him as he approached.

"Yes, we are," Link said, seeing the man offer his right hand to him, which he reluctantly took due to his injuries, but did so nonetheless.

"Well then, you're in luck!" the man shouted, Link now seeing that the man had piercing golden eyes. "My name is Carmine Aurum from Vale. People know me better as Goldmine, Pro Huntsman."


Well, this came out a bit faster than I thought. Oh well, I was figuring the gap between 3 and (4) was going to be the largest gap. In terms of actual working time between chapters, that is. Sometimes I just take longer than I thought because I take breaks every once in a while lol. Oh well, nothing to be done about it. Just gonna work on the next one!

Oh, and I know I mentioned it during the chapter, but aniridia means you don't have pupils, just in case some of you didn't catch on.

OniHelix out!