Remnant: Angel of Death

Chapter 2: Beasts in the Woods.

Yang was genuinely surprised when Azrael referred to his home as a hideout, upon seeing it, she could only think that the word hideout didn't make it justice. That cabin reminded her of her home in Patch.

The cabin was two-stories long with a roof made of logs and had a rustic exterior. The porch was small with a horizontal railing and two chairs at each side of the door.

"Woah, this is like my home," Yang said after taking a moment to recover her breath. "It's pretty."

"Thanks."

The Grimm Reaper advanced to the door but stopped before opening it, he could have a guest but that was no excuse to be careless. He drew his pistol and walked to a side of the cabin closely followed by Yang. Now that she was not looking at it from the front, the cabin was small perfect to accommodate three or four people.

They ended up walking in circles around the cabin and checking its surroundings. In their first round, she noticed a medium-sized pool and a small shed. After the third round, the Reaper allowed her to get into the cabin.

The inside was just as rustic as the exterior, the living room was small counting with a couch, a fireplace and a bookshelf. Turning to the left, there was a staircase and a threshold that led to the kitchen that doubled as the dinning place. There was few decorative items, pink and brown curtains on the windows, a black furry carpet and a candelabrum hanging on the ceiling, if that counted as decoration.

"Go upstairs, there is a bathroom you can use to clean yourself, it is at the bottom. You can look for clothes in room next to the bathroom."

"Okay, you aren't going to peek, aren't you?"

"No, I will not."

Yang sighed, he was so cold. She headed upstairs but stopped mid-way. The reason why she was in that cabin with a man she had just met was just one.

"Remember that you told me we would talk about me going with you to see my mother."

"..."

"Come on, I came all the way-"

"We will talk about this in the dinner."

.

.

.

After taking a shower and going to the kitchen, she had taken a sit on the dinning table while the Reaper finished cooking. For her, the sight was kind of ridiculous, the man was wearing a purple T-shirt and black pants and most importantly, his mask was still on.

"Hotter than the sun in the middle of July," he sang while pouring homemade tomato sauce into the pan. "Delicious."

Yang rested her elbows on the table and supported her face on her hands. The lack of conversation on the man's part was really awkward and she was kind of eager to know more about her mother. It was official, she had to break the ice somehow.

"Why Azrael?"

He stopped his actions for a moment. "What do you mean, lady?"

"Why do you call yourself Azrael?"

"It is the name of a being of light that is linked to death and out of the names in my list, that was what I liked the most."

"Oh, I see. How should I call myself?" she leaned back on her seat. "Blazing dragon?"

"Hot blonde way out of your league."

"Do you think I'm out of your league?"

"Do not distract me, I am cooking."

She smirked, at least he felt shame.

"So...What are you cooking?"

"Steak with tomato sauce and fries. Are you following a diet?"

"Nope," she noticed how his voice lacked the metallic and synthetic tone, it was kind of normal although it still had absolute neutrality.

"Are you a minor?"

"Nope."

"Really?"

"Well, I'm seventeen."

"Okay, do you like wine?"

"Dad has never let me to drink it."

"Prepare to transcend then, this wine is from one of the countries from my...homeland."

Yang tried hard not to laugh but seeing Azrael with such a casual style but with the skull mask on was funny. She could not take him seriously like that.

"Can you take your mask off?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I want to see your face and I really can't take you seriously."

"Why not?"

"You kind of look ridiculous with that mask."

"Is that the case?"

"Yes, it is."

Azrael remained silent, his body language didn't show his discomfort. That might be really dangerous but Raven already saw his face and had kept her word until that day. Well, that girl was not a police nor a huntress yet and he doubted that she had any contact with enough power in Vale to notify anyone about his location.

"Alright but you must promise something first."

"What is it?"

"You can only recognize me when we are alone. Meaning, if you see me in the street without my gear you will ignore me and act as if I was a stranger, if someone asks about me you will say that you don't know me, if someone shows you a picture of me you will act as if that was the first time you see me, understood?"

"Your identity is a secret, got it."

"Good, I wouldn't like to silence you."

Yang frowned, with his cold and neutral tone of voice was hard to know if he was joking but after what happened a few hours ago in Junior's club made clear that he was ready to kill if something got in his way. She was sure that she could beat him up but that would ruin her only lead on her mother's whereabouts.

"I promise, your identity is safe with me," she promised.

Azrael gave himself a moment, a really short moment to admire Yang's beauty. He usually was to focused on his work that he never payed much attention to such things but it was simply too hard to ignore the blonde's beauty and much less with her outfit.

She wore a nightgown that was pink on the right and brown on the left, she also wore matching stockings; to the woman who those clothes belonged to, they would look really cute on her but on Yang's...It was just too stimulating. To top it off, the nightgown reached her thighs due to her height and bust which just was worse. She had Ember Celica on, at least she was not totally reckless.

Enough of perverted thoughts, if Yang were a blood succubus he would be doomed.

Breathing out, he took off his mask and put it on the table, he had spent so much time with masks or helmets on that he felt naked without them, in fact, without at least a weapon he felt really anxious, force of habit perhaps.

"Get ready, I am serving the food," he announced.

Yang was just startled, she thought that he had a scar on his face or something like that but the reality was quite the opposite.

Azrael was young, maybe of her age; his black hair was slicked back, his face while not perfect was pretty pleasant to the eyes. He had dark brown eyes which could only be noticed under the right light. He was fair-skinned and his face was pretty clean without traces of beard.

Azrael simply served the food and put a plate in front of Yang; the food was fairly simple but smelled really good. The steak was big and soaked with tomato sauce, beside it, there were a good number of fries. Until that moment, she hadn't notice how hungry she was.

"Bon appétit," Azrael said as he began to cut his steak, upon noticing Yang's confusion he talked again. "Enjoy your meal."

As soon as he saw Yang putting her knife and fork on the plate after taking the first bite he knew that something that he was not expecting was going to take place. Breathing in and out with such a slowness that it was nearly imperceptible, he readied mentally to interact with the young lady. Social interaction had never been one of his strengths but his friends and some people around him used to say that he was charismatic, well, a normal conversation should not be a problem.

"When will we go to see my mother?"

Alright, it seemed that it was going to be a problem after all. The problem he had now was that the answer required two things from him, reveal his plans and taking care of Raven's daughter. Why couldn't he just dedicate the rest of his life to kill monsters? Why do people always had to get into his life?

"Not now or the next month, I need to find her tribe first and that is no easy task."

Both of them take another bite of their food before kept on talking.

"Why do you want to find her?"

Yang's question was logic and natural but answering it might reveal more than he wanted...What the hell? He could use some help to deal with the corvid.

"I need to repay a debt. A year ago, I was on a rescue mission at the very border of Lake Matsu, while evacuating the people I had to fight against Lancers and their Queen."

"Lancers?"

"You probably only know Beowolves and Ursai. Lancers are really big hornet-like grimm that is what you need to know."

"Oh, okay."

"During my fight I got injured and ripped the Queen's legs off to make her run away which worked. My armor and hard-light Dust protected me enough to not get my body torn apart but my bones were not exactly well and my equipment was scarce so I was a dead man. Then I saw Raven, taking advantage of my precarious state, she offered me to stay with her in the tribe and become a bandit or wander aimlessly across Anima until find a human settlement. Dying devoured by Grimm or by hypothermia was not in my plans."

Yang hadn't notice when she began to eat her fries like popcorns. She might look and behave like a muscle head but she was not dumb, she was acquiring as much information about her mother as she could from Azrael's story. Going by what he said she could come to two conclusions; either her mother helped him to survive or she truly used the situation to recruit him.

"So I joined her tribe. Although it was not enough, I managed to change their ways at least while I was there."

"Is she a bad person? I mean, if she is a bandit then she steals from other people," Yang sounded pretty naive.

"And not just that, sometimes even kill. Regarding your question, the word "bad" is subjective in most cases and I can understand why she does what she does but I do not condone it."

"You understand her?"

Again, both of them ate in complete silence for a couple of minutes before resuming their conversation.

"The world is a harsh place, it is cruel and has no mercy. Some people is unlucky enough to not have a roof above their heads, money, or even a family, many people live in a violent environment that demands you to be relentless or die. Raven and her tribe have had the misfortune of living in such conditions."

"..."

"I do not condone her activities though, there are many ways in which they could have worked alongside the villages they raided; they could have stopped after the first village they doomed but they kept on with their dishonorable lifestyle."

Yang tried to say something but really didn't know what to say.

"Many people died because of their selfishness and that must stop."

"Are you going to kill my-"

"No, even when I hate what they do I cannot overlook the fact that she and her tribe saved my life that is why I will give them a second chance."

Azrael got up of the chair to grab the empty plates and turned around to wash them. While doing so, she totally unwillingly took a look at his rear, it was inevitable, he was wearing tight dressing pants.

"For a man, he is pretty well-packed."

Azrael's voice got her out of her small trance.

"Lady, would you like to drink wine?"

"Sure."

A minute later, Azrael placed a big coup in front of Yang and filled it with wine; she was not an expert but he was experienced on pouring alcohol, not even a drop fell to the table, her Uncle Qrow's judgment on her host's pouring skills would be better than hers.

With his slicked back hair and the fact that he was drinking directly from the bottle, Azrael reminded her of Uncle Qrow.

"Are you going to drink all of that?" she asked slightly surprised.

"Yes, I am."

"At least be nervous or excited, you are drinking with a beautiful woman," Yang thought a little annoyed by Azrael's general lack of emotions.

"After finishing your wine, I will take you to the bed."

"Wow, we have just met, take it slow."

"What?" his face turned red after realizing what he said. "No, that was not what I meant, I was referring to-It's just...urgh."

Yang smiled tasting the victory of finally getting a reaction from him.

"Relax, I was joking around."

"I see."

"Unless you really want to do that with me, I wouldn't blame you."

"Please, abstain from doing such jokes, Goldilocks."


Lower Cairn, a human village with hundreds of people as their inhabitants; should it be compared to the City of Vale then it was pretty primitive.

It extended for nearly a circumference of one kilometer, it was surrounded by tall and robust logs intertwined by ropes and chains to create a wall to protect the people from the Creatures of Grimm. Houses were huts of usually big size and good structure but the most important buildings such as the one where the food of the entire village was stored or the building that worked as a shelter for the women and children were built with stone and covered by concrete. An area of the village was getting "modernized" with the soil getting replaced by stones to build a street. In the middle of the village, there was a a relay tower for the Cross Continental Transmit System.

The Cross Continental Transmit System was a form of wireless and, as it names indicates, communication between continents. That way, the village could call for help in case of emergency.

The village was built on a grassland-like zone surrounded by mountains and trees. The place was abundant on wild life and its soil was fertile, the location of the area made difficult for Grimm to reach it but those creatures were pretty stubborn. The biggest flaw was a clean water source, the river was inside the forest, it was a fifteen minutes walk.

Carrying the duty of collecting water for the village, a group conformed by dozens of people armed with rifles, swords, axes and bows. Four of them carried a squared container of big dimensions to fill it with water, it hovered thanks to the gravity Dust propellers on its underside which made easier to move it around. That was the tenth trip on the day, two more and the wells would be filled.

With the Sun already bathing the forest with its light, the danger was not too great but still present.

"We only have to do this one more time and we'll can go with our wives and kids."

The leader of the "expedition" did his best to cheer his men up trying to avoid any kind of negativity. The increasing number of Grimm stalking the village had sowed the seed of fear in the people.

"Hopefully this will be the last time we need to do this. I heard that the chief is saving money to buy water Dust," said one beside the leader.

"It would be nice not to risk our necks out here," commented a faunus woman.

"I wouldn't like my boy to be an orphan," said another man.

The group kept walking to the river, they could already hear it. The newest members of the group didn't notice something that instantly turned on the alerts in the brains of the oldest members. That place was full of wild life, most animals ran away when they saw a human or simply stayed at a safe distance but there was no animal not even a squirrel.

The area surrounding the river was free of trees, birds could come from the sky to hydrate and rest. Experienced hunters knew that at that time of the year birds went South to avoid the winter in Solitas which its already freezing climate became colder.

There were no birds.

"I-I can hear something!" announced a faunus prey of the panic, he was a novice.

The fear quickly took hold of everyone.

A distant howl was heard by the group who had their weapons ready. The howl was followed by several others and black feathers that fell from the sky.

"Run!"


Azrael grunted after noticing a message in his Scroll.

A Scroll was the smartphone of Remnant and was clearly more advanced. It was nothing but a translucent touch-sensitive panel between two solid end grips; the interlocking design of the grips allowed the device to be collapsible mimicking a scroll of paper, hence the name. Each Scroll had a diamond-shaped button that acted as a lock for the grips pressing it would make the grips loosen and separate to expose the panel.

Most scrolls had a white carcass, yellow button, and a blue screen but Azrael had the tendency to customize what he liked the most. His Scroll shared his color scheme, the carcass was black, the button was silver, and the screen was purple.

In the interface he could see two messages, he was the kind of person that liked to not receive calls or messages from anyone but sometimes it was necessary, what a nuisance.

Azrael mainly received any call or messages from people who wanted to employ his services or the few friends he had in Remnant. Given his shady actions, he had hired a man from Atlas to make his Scroll a fortress. The signal could not be tracked unless he activated the option, it was infiltrated in the system of the CCT to make his location bounce between the towers that composed it and the several relay towers across the continents and if someone tried to hack it, all the data would be erased and a virus sent to the invader.

With all of those features, even a General with two seats in the council would be confident but not someone like Azrael.

His personal Scroll announced the message because it was showing the screen of another Scroll that was recently bought but equipped with the same anti-tracking features but not with the data erasing or virus.

Azrael read the messages as he drank fire vodka from...not Remnant.

The first message was a request for Huntsmen to come and aid, the details were few. Beacon Academy probably was going to sent students to deal with it, the city had a worrying shortage of huntsmen although it was a rumor that Azrael hadn't confirmed.

The second message was something that made him sigh. After another sip, he read the message.

"Dearest Dum-Dum, the greatest Dum-Dum and I got problems, Ashen-woman want us to hurry with the gigs. Greatest Dum-Dum is following your advice and is seeing the 'big picture', your strategic mind would be appreciated.

-With the passion of a lightning, the best Ice Cream, Laverna."

Azrael was relieved but worried at the same time. His associates were in trouble but not in immediate danger. Laverna had used certain words that told him that the urgency of the matter was not too much.

Dearest Dum-Dum was obviously Azrael, Greatest Dum-Dum was his partner in crime.

Ashen-woman was the code name he gave to a woman named Cinder Fall.

"With the passion of a lightning" meant that they required his presence with urgency and "best Ice Cream" meant that the matter was not life-threatening yet.

Laverna was of course a fake name, a code name given by Azrael to the woman who liked to go to that cabin and one of the two criminals in that world he could say that was his close to a true friend.

He then read the another message.

"Spectre, there are matters of importance we shall discuss. If you decide to show up, we will not move until the anniversary.

-Freedom is a birth right."

Now, that was curious. The White Fang was contacting him? Was it Sienna?

The message was too short to try to deduce who sent it but considering that Sienna was in Anima then the only person he could think of was Adam Taurus. He was intrigued but there were things he had to do before going to the place. The address was not needed, "someone" had already taken care of that.

"Alright, I've already called my dad, everything's fine."

Azrael lifted his gaze from the Scroll to the door. There was Yang already wearing her usual outfit with her arms crossed and body against the threshold.

"Good, you should go home."

"Not yet, you said something last night."

That was right, how troublesome.

"My actions are not specifically legal, Miss Xiao Long. I may and will do things that are against your morality. I can contact you just before heading to your mother's location."

Yang shook her head and walked to Azrael, she was not going to take a "no" as an answer.

"How long I'll wait? I have waited for too long, I've done risky things to find her, I can handle whatever you do."

"Carved my words into your memory then."

Azrael's brown eyes stared at Yang's as if they were penetrating into her very soul.

"I will not force you into anything nor request your help, if you decide to help me it would be entirely your decision. You shall know and be fully aware that should you tell anyone about my illegal activities I will have no problems silencing you or your family."

"Fine," answered Yang, for a brief moment, her hair shone gold and her eyes turned red.

"Good. I promise for my honor that I will help you to meet your mother."

Yang breathed out to calm down and sat on the table where a quite big breakfast was waiting for her. A big glass of orange juice, a small bowl of cereal and an apple but that was a just a small part. On the big plate, there was bacons, bread, fried eggs, grilled tomato, mushrooms and fried onions. Her mouth watered at the sight.

"I offer my apologies, I ran out of marmalade."

She looked at Azrael almost believing that his apologize was ridiculous.

"This is too much!"

"A good breakfast is the key to start the day with a Yang."

Azrael crossed his arms and drew circles with his foot. He took a sit to eat his breakfast but stared at it instead; that was a good joke, the best he could come with at the moment but she didn't even chuckled. There he was again, screwing up social interaction with his age, damn it, at his age talking with people should be easy.

"Good joke," she said with a smile happy to find a kindred soul that loved puns just like her.

"Thank you, let's just eat, we do not want this to get punful."

After finishing her cereal, Yang talked again.

"What are we going to do today?"

Azrael could only internally sigh. "Who invited you?"

"So?"

Without any other choice, he answered. "I am going to go to Lower Cairn, Grimm attacked earlier in the morning. The pay promises to be good."

"Well, I'm going too."

"Unfortunately."

"What was that?"

"A word that shows how displeased I am at your choice."

"You are quite honest, aren't you?"


Azrael and Yang arrived at the entrance of Lower Cairn a few hours later. He would have been there faster but the information said that there was not people to rescue. As he expected and used to, many people looked at him as if was some kind of xeno species, he was not. Well, that civilization had not interacted with extraterrestial lifeforms but not finding documents did not mean that it hadn't happen.

He had changed his equipment, now using a helmet that covered his whole head that looked futuristic and was referred to by Azrael as "Ronin Ballistic Helmet". He used the same type of bulletproof vest, combat belt and thigh just with a sheathed katana strapped to his back that took the place of his rifle. His gear and even uniform had camouflage pattern to blend in forest-like environments. He had armor on his shoulders and forearms as well as elbow and knee pads. Yang was curious about the grenades on his vest but it was better not to ask anything yet.

In one moment during their walk, Azrael advanced faster. She tried to look at the pockets of his combat belt wondering what they contained but her eyes went to his rear.

Yang was pretty excited about her first mission as a huntress although she was not one, she had not the legal requirements to be a huntress. For starters, she still was a minor, she was seventeen years old but legally a minor whose parents still represented legally; then the detail that she was not graduated from any huntsmen academy and had no license, of course that there was a way for someone to become a hunstman without the 4-years education and that was through an exam. There probably were other ways to become a huntsman and other requirements needed to be considered, at least legally, but Azrael had not researched further since he was not interest on being official, he worked better in the shadows.

Feeling unable to just leave her like that, Azrael offered to teach her the basics.

While every hunt might be similar between each other, there always were many factors that made them different; maybe the snow made walk harder, the heat was scorching, humans and monsters working together. However, there always were basics things to know.

The first, information means preparation.

Getting information not just from the one who put the request but from the people around and even the surroundings. Novice sla-huntsmen just were too straightforward, they asked about what was the Grimm and where it was but never investigated what caused the attack or if the number of monsters were more than the one written on the request.

The second, never trust inexperienced or compromised judgment.

Unless the one who contract you or a witness is a scholar of Grimm or a retired professional huntsmen then whatever you are told must be taken with a grain of salt. They might exaggerating or confusing a Beowulf with an Ursa or a black bear with an Ursa so it always was a must to investigate by oneself. The story might have different versions and many inconsistencies either because the emotional shock was too much or the person giving you information lost a loved one.

The third, trust no one.

If there was something equally or more dangerous than monsters then that something was humans, your very employer was able to send you to your death on purpose or kill you directly after finishing the job. He had heard from huntsmen that sometimes villages turned on them.

Azrael had more rules but those were personal. One of them was not accepting food or drink from anyone, always suspect of everyone, be prepared for any situation and more.

Eventually, Azrael and Yang arrived at the chief's house. Before entering, Azrael kindly asked the blonde to remain silent and pay attention to the chief's words and surroundings.

The chief was a small elder, Azrael could have mistaken him for a dwarf if they existed in Remnant, his obesity could be noticed pretty easily despite of the expensive vacuan robe he was wearing. His head was beginning to lose its silver hair; his mustache was messy and had crumbs all over it. His dusty green eyes covered by small glasses were devouring Yang.

The chief was pretty used to Azrael's appearance from the weird helmet and the scheme of black and purple. This time the Grimm Hunter was not wearing his coat, the weapons and pockets on his belt were perfectly visible; strangely enough, a sword was wrapped on his back.

The young lady beside him was more interesting. She was a bit taller than him; her blond hair was long and almost golden. She had quite the body, her jacket exposed her cleavage and marked mid-riff, those shorts allowed him to see her well-trained legs, one of them was covered by a yellow stocking and...

"Chief, I kindly ask you to stop looking at her like that."

The elder quickly obeyed, he saw him beating two men up when they tried to cross a line with a young lady, they had to be transported to the hospital to fix their broken bones.

"Yeah, yeah, I am sorry. Why are you here, Grimm Hunter?"

"A little bird told me you needed help wiping out the Grimm in the forest."

"Hmmm but to my understanding you are not a huntsman. Why should I hire you?"

Yang looked at Azrael curious to hear his answer.

"Because if you don't, the Grimm will overrun your settlements and you will die devoured by a Beowulf. You will not make it out of the bed."

"Alright, alright, I will hire you."

"And me," added Yang with her usual confidence.

The chief ate her with his eyes before turning to Azrael. "Who is this girl?"

Azrael crossed his arms and stared at the chief with hostility that could be felt even when the helmet was in the middle. "A hunting partner."

"I don't care anymore just go and kill those monsters."

"Not so fast, chief, let's talk about our reward first."

The chief frowned and crossed his arms; noticing who was he trying to intimidate with his charge, he quickly took a few steps back. Yang was silent paying attention to what Azrael was doing, learning from someone with more experience was always good.

"Oh no, you must kill the Grimm first."

"We talked about this already, chief."

"I can't pay you!" the chief took several steps back clearly regretting his outburst. "I mean, you could simply take the money and go."

Azrael put his hands on his belt near his pistol. "You should know that I am a man of my word. Now, you must pay or you rather me to tell the people about your gluttony?"

The chief's face twisted into an angry expression and his face got red, Azrael couldn't resist the urge to compare it with a pig. That was not his first time in that village named Lower Cairn and absolutely was not his first time dealing with the obese chief. Everyone in Lower Cairn had limited food and while good nurtured, everyone was rather slender with low muscle mass and fat but the chief was obese which meant that he ate much more than the rest or he had hormonal problems, the latter was his excuse. Faking an official diagnosis with who knows what money, he saved his ass from the angry inhabitants of Lower Cairn.

Azrael discovered that out of boredom, looking for the private doctor that made the diagnosis. He was not surprised when he didn't found the doctor or the clinic in Vale. If Azrael decided to expose the chief then he was likely going to be exiled from Lower Cairn, he doubted that people wold beat the glutton to death.

"What do you mean with that?" the chief inquired even angrier. "Guar-"

"Have you visited your doctor?"

Yang watched how the chief turned pale and tried to play fool but Azrael simply said "I know your secret". Those words were enough for the chief to pay a hefty sum, the extra money surely was to buy their silence.

.

.

.

Azrael and Yang were in a "square" meditating, actually, it was the former who was meditating, the blonde was asking questions and answering the ones that came from the man.

They were right next to the Relay Tower for the CCT. She tried to use her Scroll to see how much Aura did Azrael have; the maximum percentage for Aura was an arbitrary number and some people might have more than others so she was curious. Her Scroll detected nothing, maybe the damn thing was getting old.

"What do you do if you are overwhelmed?"

That's right, Azrael was making a kind of test to see if she was too reckless but she had no idea.

"Use my semblance to take them out?"

"What do you do without Aura?"

"Run away?"

"What happens if you cannot run away?"

"Fight?"

"Yes, but that is a fight you are going to lose. Monsters are pretty much like animals, they have basic emotions, should you find yourself overwhelmed, your best bet is brutally murdering one of them."

"Brutally?"

"Rip its limbs off, gut them with your bare hands, tear their flesh with your teeth. Grimm can feel fear, I have seen it. They expect humans to be scared of them, to fight with refined weapons or techniques, they get scared when a human begins to act like a murderous beast."

"I thought that Grimm could not feel emotions. Why so aggressive?"

"You would be terrified if a Beowolf suddenly begins to talk, wouldn't you?"

"I think so but that wouldn't stop me from kicking his ass."

"Grimm have survival instincts, when they see a bloodthirsty human doing whatever they can to kill them without signs of fear or pain..."

"Alright, lesson learned."

"It's your turn."

Yang put a hand on her chin, she could ask whatever she wanted but nothing came to her mind and the questions she had were far too personal, that would seem invasive from her. Actually, there was something that made her curious.

"Who is the woman that lives with you?"

"A close friend."

"Just a friend?"

"Sometimes I wish that was not the case."

The blonde kicked a rock, that man was hard to talk with, at least she knew that he liked puns.

"Alright, I have meditated enough. We will try to get a bit more of information then we will head to the woods."

"Finally."


And that's it. Next chapter is hunting time!

According to the wiki, Lower Cairn is a settlement near Mountain Glenn that was destroyed in the novel "Before the Fall" by a Goliath that was angry. I have not read the novel so I just made up how it was like.

With Lower Cairn I wanted to show how only cities had the sci-fi technology that we see in Volume 1, 2, and 3 of the show. I think that it makes sense since there could not be a lot of factories for mass production thanks to the Grimm.

Other two things I wanted to say. The settlement is near the borders of the city of Vale and obtained money thanks to agriculture, selling their vegetables to other settlements and to a private food company.

Well, that is all I wanted to say. Wish you all a wonderful day!