Looks like Carmine pulled an uno reverse card and recruited Link and Noctus instead. That sly devil... Oh well, they don't seem to have too much of an issue with it so far. Let's see how that's been treating them so far, shall we?

Chapter 41

New Assignments

"How many are you up to?" Noctus asked, ripping his sword free from another Grimm.

"Today?" Link said, bisecting one that got too close in its attempts to flee. "84."

"Ha! I'm up to 97," Noctus jeered, looking around and seeing there were no more Grimm in the immediate area.

"Congrats, it means you're catching up to yesterday's deficit of 21 Grimm," Link said with a smirk.

Noctus, lacking words for a moment, simply sheathed his sword and crossed his arms. "I don't like you sometimes."

"And yet you work with me anyway," Link said, looking around to see that there were no more Grimm left in the town they'd been sent to in order to clear out. "Considering how much Carmine has been using us though, I doubt it'll take you much longer to close the gap."

"He really is trying to run us ragged, huh?" Noctus groaned, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back a little. "It's a shame that they can't find Grimm faster than we can kill them though. Maybe then they'd be able to tire us out."

"The top ranked Huntsman of Atlas and a Strife-born former Huntsman-in-training more or less showed up on his doorstep one day," Link explained, sheathing his own sword and turning to head back to the mercenary camp. "He's just been given a couple of very powerful tools, I don't blame him for making use of them."

"Hey, it keeps me from just sitting around in the tent, so I won't complain. I just wish it was something more interesting than Grimm..." Noctus lamented.

"Next time we have a moment free, I'll spar with you again," Link said, ducking a tree branch and continuing on his way. "I certainly think I'm more interesting than Grimm, and the sparring will do us both good in the long run."

"That's only if we get that moment free," Noctus said, shaking his head. "With how often we've been sent out, I don't think we will."

"Yeah, probably..." Link sighed. "Here's hoping we get assigned something other than Grimm soon then."

"Yep, here's hoping," Noctus said in agreement, walking with Link back to the camp.

Upon their return, they were met by a scout running up to them, the one with the greenish-gold eyes Link had come to know was referred to as Jade over their time there.

"Let me guess, we've got another assignment," Noctus groaned, Jade nodding and handing them a file.

"Yep, but not Grimm this time," she said.

"Oh. Well. Looks like we're getting out of Grimm duty earlier than expected," Noctus said, mildly yet pleasantly surprised.

"...Yeah, looks that way. Bandits in the east, but they seem more organized than just hitting the easy targets," Link said, flipping through the report.

"Their numbers are the confusing part, despite there being so few of them- we've only ever heard about there being maybe two or three- they hit harder than other bandits we've seen," Jade explained, taking the file and flipping to another page to show them. "Most towns out here have little in the way of defending themselves other than hunters who can stomach shooting people and Grimm on top of whatever they usually hunt, but these guys avoid them."

"What in the...?" Noctus muttered, getting next to Link to read over the file.

"They actively search for towns with soldiers or mercenaries or anything of the like and hit there. We have no idea why," Jade said, making sure there was nothing else on the file that she needed to tell them ahead of time. "That's why Carmine wants to send you two, with these people actively searching for people like our usual mercs and taking them out, he figured anyone else would get themselves killed."

"Nice to know that the big guy thinks so highly of us, at least," Noctus said, rubbing the back of his head. "We need to leave by any specific time?"

"Carmine didn't give us anything in particular, but I'd assume as soon as you're ready," Jade finished, looking between the two of them. "Anything else you need?"

"Nothing for me, you?" Link said, handing Noctus the file to skim through for a moment.

"Nah, I think I'm good," Noctus said, closing the file up. "We'll be ready to move pretty soon."

"Sweet, I'll let Carmine know," Jade said, running off to do just that.

"I'm just glad it isn't more Grimm," Noctus said, turning to head towards their shared tent.

"Agreed," Link said, turning to follow him.

Walking inside, the two of them went to their own sides, Noctus tossing the file onto an impressive pile of cleared files before sitting at his desk and going to hone his sword. Link rolled his eyes and picked the file back up before heading to his own desk, setting it down and copying the information to his scroll before restocking on ammunition and dust.

"Looks like it'll be about a 45 minute walk..." Link said, reading over more of the specifics as he cleaned the scope on Farore. "Great..."

"I wish he'd just let us take our motorcycles out, I hate walking everywhere," Noctus complained.

"Well, they leave tire tracks. We don't. I don't like it either, but I see why," Link said, looking through the scope to ensure it was clear.

"Stop making sense, I don't like it when you do that," Noctus retorted, finishing with his sword. "Welp, I'm all ready to go whenever you are."

"...Yeah, me too, let's head out," Link said, rising from his seat and putting away all of his gear.

"If there ends up being three guys, I want to fight two of them," Noctus said as he cracked his knuckles to further emphasize his point.

"Not up to me," Link said quickly, shrugging as the two of them continued on their way.

"Another mission for them already?" White mumbled, Jade coming up behind her and nodding to herself.

"Carmine basically keeps them moving from dusk till dawn," she said, White turning to her fellow scout as she approached her. "They never complain though, and it never seems to slow them down."

"I guess you're right..." White mumbled in agreement, watching the two as they headed out of camp. "Now that I think about it, Midnight seems to like going on missions, so I suppose it's fine."

With that, the scouts headed back to their respective tents, having the rest of the day off.

OOO

Having eventually reached their destination, the town detailed on the file as the most likely town to be the next target, Link and Noctus attempted to find whoever was in charge in order to let them know who they were and what they were there for.

"Ok, so, looks like we need to find the village elder or mayor or whoever is in charge..." Noctus mumbled, checking his scroll for the information Link had copied from the file and sent to him. "Oh great, looks like Jade didn't meet them while she was here."

"Not like asking to see who runs the town is going to be that hard," Link replied, looking around to see if there were any larger buildings or stores that made sense to try first. Seeing one with a sign set up out front, he figured that was as good a place to start as any and nudged Noctus, the two heading towards it. Upon seeing the sign labelled as 'General Store', they nodded to each other and headed inside, seeing the clerk take note of their presence and scramble to meet them.

"You look like Huntsmen, did Jade send you?" she shouted, clearly a little distressed.

"Yes, you can call me Knight, and this is my partner, Midnight," Link said, gesturing to Noctus as he held a hand up and muttered 'Yo'. "We've been given a pretty basic briefing regarding your situation, but we'd like to speak with whatever officials run the town to figure out what our steps are going forward."

"Oh of course, please follow me," she said, brushing past the two of them and heading towards the door.

"Uh, what about the store? You've got people in line..." Noctus mumbled, gesturing towards the people who were checking out.

"Nah go ahead, if waiting a couple minutes buying my beans means the town can be safe then my beans can wait," the person who was checking out said, the other patrons mumbling and nodding in agreement.

"See? The beans can wait, follow me," she said, leading the two to an inconspicuous building with no blatant markings that distinguished it as having any form of importance. "Here, the mayor's been waiting for you ever since she heard you were coming, now hurry and go inside, I really do still have sales to make."

With that, the clerk ran back off to her store, Link and Noctus merely shrugging at each other as they headed inside. Looking around, they saw that the inside was as plain as the outside, giving no indication that whoever lived there was any kind of governing official.

"Well, the mayor seems to live well within her means," Noctus said, seeing that all of the furniture was rather plain.

"Good to see that she doesn't spend all their tax money on things she doesn't need," Link said, the two looking up after hearing a door open upstairs.

"I got a call from the shopkeeper, please tell me you're the Huntsmen Jade went to get," said a feminine voice, a woman heading down the stairs wearing rather simple yet neat clothes.

"At your service," Link said, offering a small bow. "I'm Knight, this is my partner, Midnight. How can we help?"

"Wait, don't those names get a bit confusing?" the mayor asked as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, it does," Noctus lamented, sulking a little bit.

"But that's not important. Follow me," she said, gesturing for the two to follow her into an office, rather small but with plenty of room for the three of them. She went to sit at her desk, papers covering it as well as a small plaque that read 'Mayor Rosa Williams'. "Please, sit."

Link and Noctus did as they were told, each grabbing a chair across from Rosa and taking a seat.

"So, we understand that you have reason to believe that your town is at risk of a bandit attack?" Link said, leaning forward. He was a bit more eloquent than Noctus, so he usually handled talking to their clients.

"If what we've heard from other towns is any indication, then we should be expecting worse than bandits," Rosa said, searching through the papers and handing a few to the two of them. "Most of our neighbors have been hit, and all of their combat capable citizens have been killed. We may not have much in the way of soldier types, but if they target anyone from my town then I'll do my best to keep them safe. That's why you're here."

"So, who would we be protecting? Name, location? Are they aware of us coming?" Link asked.

"Yeah, it wouldn't do us good if they thought we were the attackers," Noctus said in agreement, nodding along. "Is there anything you can give us that'll make sure they know we're here to help?"

"That's a good point..." Rosa said, thinking for a moment. "Ah. If I give you a letter with my official seal, signature, and a written description of the two of you, that should be enough. Here, let me do that."

Rosa quickly did just that, signing the paper and marking it with a wax seal before handing it to the two of them.

"Here, this should work. I'd go with you and clear things up personally, but I need to be free in case anyone sees anything. You're looking for the house with closed blackout curtains," Rosa explained, tidying up the papers on her desk. "Please hurry over to them, the reports of fighters KIA has made them quite anxious."

"Of course," Link said, rising and offering her his hand to shake, Rose taking note of the padding and different type of glove and being cautious to avoid hurting him.

"That arm of yours won't affect your ability to help us, will it?" she asked, Link shaking his head.

"What these people can do is nothing compared to what did this to me. You have my word that anything they throw at us won't be enough," he said, holding his arm forward in a clenched fist to prove his point. It still hurt, but he made sure she didn't notice that.

"Well, that's good to hear," Rosa said, rising and gesturing to the door. "You have my thanks gentlemen, now please be on your way, I have other business I need to attend to."

"Understandable. Midnight, let's move," Link said, heading towards the door.

"Right behind you," Noctus said, rising and following him after waving farewell to Rosa.

"So, house with the blackout curtains," Link said as he and Noctus got back outside.

"Sounds like they like to keep it dark, my kinda person," Noctus said.

"Or maybe they don't want any outsiders to see them," Link said, glancing around and finding aforementioned house. "There."

Noctus turned to where Link pointed, seeing the house in questing. "Oh, sweet."

"Let's go say hi then," Link said, making sure he had his letter in hand as he moved forward. Reaching the house, he knocked on the door, receiving no answer. Knocking once more, he called out to the occupant in the hopes of getting their attention. "Hello? We've been sent here to give you assistance."

After this he heard some rustling, noticing the door rattled for a moment.

"You don't look like any help I've asked for," said a voice from the other side of the door.

"We've got a letter from Mayor Williams that should clear things up," Link said, holding up the letter and being sure to present the seal.

"Pass it through the mail slot and let me see," the voice said, Link complying and sliding the letter through before stepping back. It took a moment, but they then heard several locks being undone, the door opening to reveal an older man with graying hair. "Knight and Midnight then? They sure do pick those names good, huh?"

"Trust us, we know," Link said, rolling his eye. "Anyway, Mayor Williams sent for us through the scout that was here recently. It seems she's worried about your safety."

"Yeah, she's always been a worrier. Come inside, and wipe your shoes off. I don't leave often, so I'd rather keep it clean," the man said, stepping aside to let Link and Noctus inside, the duo being sure to do as was asked of them.

"So, we've been tasked with keeping you safe for the near future," Link explained, setting his weapons off to the side, Noctus doing the same.

"We don't know for sure, but apparently the people we're dealing with are good. The guy we're working with would have sent his usual people, but he thought they'd be at just as much risk as you. So that's where we come in," Noctus said, the man gesturing to a few chairs in a main room.

"Take a seat," he said. "If you're gonna be with me, you might as well get comfortable. Want a drink or something?"

"Just water will be fine, thank you," Link said, Noctus nodding.

"Yeah, water for me too," Noctus said.

"Alright, I'll be back in a second," the man said, heading into another room and getting the two of them their drinks.

Returning, he passed the two of them their drinks, both accepting and taking a sip before setting them down.

"So, tell us a bit about yourself," Link said. "Like you said, we're going to be here for a while. Wouldn't hurt to know who we're helping out."

"I guess," the man said, offering his hand forward. "Name's Slate Thompson. Was a Huntsman in my younger days, but they're long gone by this point."

"What Academy did you train at?" Noctus asked as he leaned forwards and shook his hand. "Went to Atlas myself."

"Shade," Slate said, turning to Link and shaking his hand. "Once I graduated I moved around Remnant a bit, taking jobs here and there, but once I started slowing down I settled down in Vale and doing mostly local work. I can still keep Grimm from raiding a town, but people who hunt people like me successfully might be a bit much."

"I studied at Beacon, but unfortunately The Fall happened before I would have graduated," Link said, shaking Slate's hand and hiding his back under his cloak. "It wasn't fun."

"My god, you were there in that havoc?" Slate asked, bewildered. "I heard a lot of kids never made it out. Judging by the way you look, I'm sure it was pretty hard on anyone there."

"It was. I lost a lot of friends that day. My own injuries are nothing compared to that feeling of loss," Link said, absentmindedly reach to his missing eye. "But that doesn't matter. We're trying to prevent anything like that from happening again, one step at a time."

"It's a noble cause," Slate said, nodding as Link cleared his throat and took another sip of water. "Good luck out there."

"Y'know, I'm surprised you weren't concerned with that fact that he's still basically only a Huntsman in Training," Noctus said, leaning back and throwing his leg over his knee.

"He made it out of that chaos alive, I can't think of many Huntsman who could have," Slate explained. "So if he's gonna help me out, I don't have too many worries. I doubt a couple of head hunters would be anything compared to what went down at that school."

Oh, you have no idea, Link thought to himself, finishing his water. "Anyway, back to the subject at hand. We'll keep an eye on you until we can do something about those head hunters, not a moment sooner. Whenever you need to go out, one of us will follow you, and the other will stay here to watch the house."

"I don't remember how long it's been since I've had someone to watch my back so closely," Slate said, chuckling. "But hey, I'm glad. It means I can spend more of my time looking forward."

"All we ask is a room to ourselves," Link said, Noctus nodding.

"Preferably close to yours. The closer we are, the faster we can react if something goes wrong," Noctus added.

Slate nodded, rising from his chair and gesturing for the two of them to follow him upstairs. "I've got a spare room next to mine I really only use for storage. There's some extra bedding in there, as well as a few old mattresses. It isn't much, but it's what I have on hand."

"This will be more than enough," Link said, examining the room and what they had to work with. "I'm going to grab my weapons, you should do the same."

"Yep, got it," Noctus replied, heading downstairs to do that. The two got their gear moved up to their new room, ensuring that the door was locked tightly. However, Link decided against settling in just yet, strapping his weapons on and heading back downstairs.

"I'm actually going to check the area, keep an eye out for when I get back," Link said, heading outside with Noctus obliging and standing near the door.

Heading through the area, Link made sure to take note of anything that stood out: closer buildings, denser areas of the forest, Slate's house's position in relation to the town itself, things like that. Content with his assessment of the surroundings, he turned to head back to Slate's house and went back inside, Noctus letting him back inside and locking the door back up behind him.

"His house is closer to the center of town than most other buildings, and most surrounding buildings have more than one occupant. The forest northeast of here is also really dense, a large quantity of taller trees being there as well," Link said, finishing his report of the area. "So if they're coming from anywhere, it'd most likely be the northeast."

"I'll keep an eye on the southwest then, these guys seem more or less professional, so they'd know to avoid the obvious stuff," Noctus said, Link nodding in response.

"Makes sense to me," Link said in agreement, heading back upstairs and moving some things around to get more comfortable before removing his cloak and pelt, sitting on the bed and sighing. "I just hope this doesn't take long, we need to get moving again soon."

"So long as we find these guys fast, then we can get back to clearing Grimm out," Noctus said, laying back onto his borrowed bed.

"Let's just hope they're too bold for their own good," Link said as he laid down as well. "The sooner they act, the sooner we can get back to thinning their numbers."

"Oh yeah, fun fun fun," groaned Noctus, shaking his head as he propped it up with his hands. "It's better than waiting around I guess."

"Agreed," Link said, closing his eye and taking a deep breath. "I'm tired of waiting to progress."

"Yeah, me too," Noctus said, closing his eyes as well. Killing Grimm all day wasn't hard, but it definitely got mentally tiring. He wasn't a fan of that kind of monotony.

I hope these head hunters or whoever they are end up being worth my time... Noctus thought to himself as he started to drift off to sleep.

OOO

Outside of both Slate's house and the town itself, a pair of men stood watch from the top of a tree, one of them smiling at the area before him.

"It's about time those idiots took the bait," said one of the men, dressed predominantly in blue.

"Those small fry may have been fun, but I'm looking forward to the main event," sneered the other, dressed in mostly green with a smile plastered on his face. "A 'dead' assassin and a disgraced Strife... Oh, I'm getting chills just thinking about it!"

"Try to keep quiet, you idiot," the blue dressed one snarled. "The town's asleep, that doesn't mean they won't wake up if you shout."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," the green dressed one retorted. "I just wanna take care of them already."

"We will, just wait until we get a better chance," said the blue dressed man.

"Will Oni be mad if we take too long?" the green dressed one asked, the blue dressed sneering and glaring at his cohort.

"He'd be a lot angrier if we rushed and failed," he said, clearly annoyed by his partner's ignorance. "So just wait."

"You're no fun..." the one in green groaned.

"I don't care, I'm here to do a job," the one in blue said. "I'm here to kill Link Valion and Noctus Hale."

Ahhh yes, more goddamn Strife soldiers, who could have possibly guessed he had his bases covered. Seems like he realizes he can't just leave those two alone, but he's still busy in Mistral. Oh well, at least it isn't the man himself.

OniHelix out!