Chapter 5

Yuri cowered behind Satoru as the attack commenced. The Wyverian used one hand to keep Yuri behind him while his other held his katana and blocked the onslaught of attacks. It was proving to be an incredibly difficult task as he was facing not one, but two of the enemy at once and fighting at a disadvantage. However, Satoru, who had been loyally standing by Yuri's side for decades and whose blade had cut down many threats to his lady, the man was going to fight until his last breath.

…

Nearby, the hunters were also occupied with the enemy.

Julian had never fought anyone, or rather anyone with the intent of killing him at least, so constantly dodging and weaving around each sword slash with several close calls and scratches was terrifying. His only experience in close combat was whenever they got into a bar brawl (which were frequent) so he had some measure of skill gained from the many fights he had participated in. But nothing could have prepared him for the real thing.

Crap, he cursed inwardly, gritting his teeth at the pain as his attacker slashed at his arm, drawing blood. Had he not worn armor, the wound would have been much worse. He dodged another slash and retaliated with a quick swing from his knife targeted at his attacker's back. Unlike him, they weren't wearing any heavy armor and so Julian knew they felt that.

"Ouch! You little shit!" From the voice, Julian realized it was a woman and felt himself momentarily freeze. A nearly fatal mistake. The hunter narrowly moved out of the way just as the woman sliced at the air, creating a gash on his cheek. He hissed at the sting of pain and shook his head, attempting to concentrate again. The woman was much shorter than him, but her speed was catching him off guard. It was clear she had experience with her weapon, and he did not.

But if there was one thing Julian was confident about, it was his strength.

When the woman jumped into the air, the hunter raised the hand holding his knife and blocked the subsequent attack. Immediately after, he jerked the same arm up and sent her flying backward. She stumbled for a bit before regaining her footing, her expression was that of surprise. Clearly, she had not expected him to be able to deflect her sword strike with a knife. Elated at the sudden turn of the battle, Julian readied himself again. In response, the woman growled and surged forward. She swung her sword, a strike aimed at the joint underneath his arm where the spot was intentionally unarmored for flexibility.

CLANG!

Julian moved his arm to block the attack just in time but was unprepared for the follow-up attack. He dropped to one knee after the woman landed a swift kick to the back of his leg. When he looked up, he saw the woman raise her sword to bring it down onto him.

CLANG!

Once again, he blocked the strike with his knife and using his other hand, grabbed the woman's wrist. He squeezed hard, causing her to yell out in pain and drop her sword. Capitalizing on her brief moment of vulnerability, he followed it up with a powerful punch to the face that sent her tumbling onto the ground.

Sorry about that.

Warily, he then walked over to her and crouched down. Realizing that she had been knocked unconscious, he breathed a sigh of relief. Julian then looked around to see how his teammates were doing. He could see Camilla clashing blades with one of their attackers. Judging from the way her attacker appeared to be pushed back, she was probably doing fine, likely in part due to her brutish strength compensating for technique. Leon appeared to be doing fine as well even as he fought their leader and Julian knew this because Leon had experience fighting other people. Gigi and Satoru on the other hand…

Though he knew Gigi was an excellent fighter on par with Leon, he could see that she was struggling against two of them at once. There were cuts and lacerations on her body, and he had noticed her movement began to slow down. The same could be said for Satoru, who was busy fending off attacks with one hand while shielding Yuri away with the other. He then noticed one of them flank Satoru and was about to grab Yuri.

"No!" Julian dashed over towards them and tackled the person onto the ground. The brief opening that he created allowed Satoru to finally grip his katana with both hands and with one swift slice he cut down one of their attackers, who had been distracted by Julian's sudden assault.

"Bastard!" The man Julian tackled slashed at the hunter with his knife. Julian barely dodged it, jumping back but losing his balance and landing on his back. The man rushed forward to finish him off when Satoru stepped in front of him and clashed blades with the man instead.

"Miss Gigi needs help!" the Wyverian said. Julian looked towards Gigi and sure enough, the huntress was getting pushed back from the repeated attacks. He saw her drop to one knee before blocking a simultaneous attack that sent her falling onto her back. Immediately, her two attackers both raised their blades at the same time, ready to finish off the downed huntress. The moment he saw her in danger, Julian acted purely on instinct. At a speed that he didn't he had, the hunter rushed toward the huntress.

CLANG!

His knife intercepted both of the attackers, clashing against their knives. Gigi gasped at the sudden rush of air and Julian's presence right next to her.

"What are you-"

"I'm here to help!" he said as he jerked his arm upwards and sent them reeling back. At the same time, Gigi swept the leg of one of the attackers before plunging her knife deep into their chest as they fell.

"Thanks for that," the huntress said gratefully as she pulled the knife out before finally dropping to her knees in exhaustion.

Julian smiled. "You've always saved me since we were kids so let me return the favor this time. For now, let me handle the fight."

"Hmm," she responded with a pleased hum, staring into his eyes before they both were interrupted by the other attacker charging forward, who had been enraged after witnessing their comrade get cut down in front of them. Julian frowned in response. Way to ruin the moment…the hunter complained inwardly as he rushed forward to intercept.

Meanwhile, Leon was still engaged in a fight with their leader.

"Hold still! Slippery bastard!"

Leon took several steps back, dodging the man's slashes and swipes. His attacker was swift with his movements, and he could sense the power of each slash, but the longer Leon stalled, the more frustrated he noticed the man got. It was clear that the man had not expected much resistance from them, thinking their numbers would help, and now faced with people who could fight back, they found themselves at a standstill.

Leon parried a strike and retaliated with a vicious punch to the man's gut, causing him to keel over in pain. "Once we're done, you're going to answer our questions."

"…Eat shit!" The man suddenly slashed at Leon with his knife, the hunter hissing as he staggered back while holding his stomach. Lifting his palm, he noticed the blood on it.

Damn it. Luckily, it was not a deep cut as he had narrowly dodged it, but it hurt. A lot.

The man coughed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve before glancing at the others. Already he could see that most of his allies had been defeated and the remaining few being pushed back. And the Wyverian girl was still there, cowering behind her protector. He clicked his tongue, furious at how the situation had turned out.

"Fuck it…" the man mumbled to himself before suddenly dashing directly towards Yuri with Satoru too occupied with the man he was fighting to notice. Before anyone could realize what happened, the man snatched Yuri and sprinted away, making a beeline towards Val Habar.

"Help!" the girl cried out.

Satoru's face turned pale as he deflected another strike. "Yuri!"

Gigi attempted to stand up, but her strength gave out while Julian glanced back from his battle with a helpless expression.

"Shit!" Leon cursed as he began to give chase. However, a sudden rush of wind blew past him, stopping the hunter in his tracks.

"I got it!" Camilla said, rushing past Leon with her bow in hand before immediately taking aim. Adjusting her aim upwards to calculate for drop-off, she took a deep breath…and fired.

The arrow flew and pierced the man directly through his back and out of his chest. The arrow, which was created to pierce even the thickest of monster hides and large enough to count as a lance, instantly killed him. Yuri yelped as the man's corpse fell to the ground, bringing her along with it.

"Are you alright?" Leon asked, running towards her.

Yuri brushed the dirt off her clothes and gave him a thumbs up. "I'm fine!"

The hunter exhaled in relief, mostly from the fact that Camilla had not missed and only hit the man instead of Yuri.

Glad that's over…

…

With their leader dead, his remaining few followers immediately surrendered. They quickly tied them up with ropes left over from the wagon and began to question them. To the group's frustration, however, none of them appeared to want to confess.

"I'd rather die than talk to you people," one of them spat. It was the woman that Julian had knocked out and she sported a broken nose and bruised face for her troubles.

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated. He frankly didn't have time for this. He briefly considered beating them until they confessed when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Satoru approach the captives. And in his hand was his katana. Realizing what he was about to do, Leon reached for him. "No, wait-"

In one clean swing, the woman's head was separated from her body.

The hunters gasped in horror at the grisly scene while the rest of the captives could only stare with wide eyes at the sight of their comrade's body gushing out blood and staining their faces red.

"What the fuck?!" Camilla finally blurted out after regaining her composure. "Why?!"

"Oh gods…" Julian muttered, his face turning green as he turned around to vomit. Gigi patted his back reassuringly in response.

Leon grimaced at the sight before him. "Satoru…" He glanced back at Yuri, who was sitting in the wagon and who had also watched with horror as her companion executed someone in front of her. Great job at traumatizing her idiot.

The Wyverian however, didn't respond. He flicked the blood off his blade before fixing a cold glare at the rest of the captives, the bloodstains on his cheek painting a scary picture for them. "Talk now, or you'll end up just like her."

When none of them responded, Satoru raised his blade one more. Seeing this, Camilla instinctively rushed towards Yuri, one hand on the back of her head and pressing her face against her chest. "You don't need to see this…" the woman said softly, and she could feel Yuri nod even though the girl was clearly trembling as the sound of a blade swinging through the air could be heard, followed by a terrified yelp which was finally followed by desperate pleas to not kill them and that they'll tell them everything they knew.

…

After burying the bodies, they were quiet as the wagon began to move again toward Harth. After the interrogation, Satoru promptly executed the rest of them without remorse. Yuri couldn't look at him after that and so he excused himself and offered to become the wagon's new driver. Nobody protested that decision.

There was also an air of tension within the group. After what they had been through and been told and realizing that Yuri and Satoru hadn't been completely honest with them from the start, the hunters kept their distance from the young Wyverian woman.

"So, they both lied to us. Great," Gigi grumbled.

"And those guys were assassins sent to kill or capture her…" Camilla said, glancing at Yuri, who was tucked away by herself in the corner of the wagon.

"All because she's actually not a chieftain, but a princess from another kingdom? I…have a hard time believing that, to be honest."

Camilla rolled her eyes. "Really? Julian, we've seen it ourselves. Those guys we fought were no joke." She pointed at the bandage around Julian's arm. "We've all got the scars to prove it. Those bastards were really trying to kill us so they could take Yuri. Nobody would fight that hard for someone not important."

"Is that even her real name? Perhaps she lied to us about her name as well…" Gigi said, glaring at the young Wyverian.

Julian noticed that Leon had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. "Hey, what are you thinking?"

The hunter looked up at them and sighed. "I…I also have a confession to make."

At this, Gigi was stunned. "What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath as he began to explain. "Remember when I showed you the signed quest paper? The one that started this whole fiasco? It…wasn't actually a quest…"

"What?"

"I…didn't get it from the Guild. I got it…from the Black Market."

The moment the words spilled from his lips, Gigi reached forward and seized Leon by the collar of his armor, shaking him furiously. "Are you shitting me?! The Black Market?!"

"The Black Market?" Camilla asked in confusion.

"It's an underground market that deals with illegal goods and services such as drugs, weapons, monster parts obtained through poaching, and many more," Julian explained. "They also often allow people to post requests of their own, such as assassinations, trafficking, and poaching. They even created a fake seal of the Guild to trick unwary hunters or in certain cases, help fool the Guild to allow hunters to do whatever they wanted. The Guild has been doing their best to destroy the Black Market but has had little success, in part due to how widespread it is. And anyone who gets caught being involved with them is immediately arrested."

"Oh…" Camilla fell silent immediately.

"Yet this shithead decided to get us all involved," Gigi said, scowling at Leon. "Why did you do it?"

"Money," he answered honestly. There was simply no point in lying anymore.

"That doesn't mean we have to get involved in illegal business!" Camilla argued.

"Look, I had no choice alright! I'm sorry I lied to you all, but we have bigger problems, namely our funds! Let's be honest here, we're not good enough to take on the higher-level quests to earn extra money! None of us are! And doing low-level ones won't sustain us either! I had to find us another way!"

"…So, you don't trust us? Trust in your own teammate's capabilities to gradually get us to the top. Your friends?" Julian accused, looking hurt.

"N-No I…Julian, that's not what I meant…"

"Then what?" Gigi demanded, shaking him hard. "What exactly do you mean Leon?"

"I-I mean that-"

"Please stop fighting!" The hunters stopped and turned toward the source of the voice. It was Yuri, who had tears in her eyes. "I…I hate to see you people fight! Good friends like you should never fight like that!" She placed a hand over her chest. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't posted that damn request, none of this would have ever happened!"

"It's not your fault," Satoru said from his spot over at the front. "It was mine. It was I who decided to post the request on the Black Market. I didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention due to posting it as an official quest from the Guild, so I chose to do something I knew was likely illegal. If anything, the blame lies on me."

"No, as princess I must take responsibility for my actions. I should have never requested to stop at Val Habar first instead of heading straight toward Dundorma, which resulted in us getting attacked. Therefore, the blame also lies on me."

"Yuri, you don't have to-" Camilla said, but was interrupted by Yuri's hand. The young Wyverian had a determined expression on her face, and though her eyes were red from crying, she nonetheless exuded an aura that perfectly reflected her status as a royal.

"If you all wish to withdraw from our request then I won't stop you. Satoru and I will pay you in full regardless and we'll continue the rest of the journey on our own. Once we get to Dundorma, it shouldn't be too difficult to find the person we're looking for to help us get to Cathar. Will that suffice?"

The hunters had not expected her to outright offer them a chance to back off and disassociate themselves from her, to act as if none of this had ever happened, even offering to pay the full sum as stated in the request. To say they were shocked was an understatement. And the fact that she had offered it to them instead of letting Satoru do it for her…

As if in agreement, the hunters shared a look before they all let out a sigh.

"We're in too deep to back away right now. Might as well see it through till the end," Camilla said.

Julian smiled. "I'd hate to see you do this alone so count me in."

"I don't trust you both," Gigi, narrowing her eyes at Yuna. "But I don't break my promises, so whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me too."

They then turned towards Leon, who nodded determinedly. "It's also partially my fault we're in this mess, to begin with, so I'll take responsibility as well. And what kind of mercenary would I be if didn't follow through with my job?"

Yuri beamed at them, almost on the verge of tears once again. "You guys…" She smiled brightly and bowed. "Thank you so much. I'll never forget this. Oh, and speaking of forgetting…" She coughed and cleared her throat as the hunters watched curiously.

"Are you sure about this?" Satoru asked from the front.

"I am. Besides, we're the only ones here." The young Wyverian sat straight and looked them in the eye. "The truth is my name is not Yuri. That is just the name I made up to avoid suspicion."

"Figured that was the case…" Gigi commented.

"My real name…is Yuna," she said. "My name is Yuna and I am the princess and heir of the kingdom of Namie."

The hunters racked their brains for any recollection of a kingdom with that name, but they came up empty. "Never heard of that place before," Gigi said with a shrug.

"Me neither," Leon answered as well. "Through all my travels, I have never heard of this kingdom of Namie."

Yuri, or rather Yuna giggled. "That's to be expected. Namie is a faraway and isolated kingdom that hasn't had any visitors for decades. I doubt most people alive today would even know of its existence."

"…Wait so if you're the princess of the kingdom…then what the hell are you doing here?" Gigi inquired.

Yuna hesitated for a moment but when she saw Satoru giving her a nod of approval, she straightened herself up and began to explain. "It came out of nowhere, whatever it was…" The hunters listened as Yuna told them about how one day, the people of her kingdom began to grow sick. Plagued by a mysterious illness. In just a matter of weeks, more than half of the people in her kingdom had succumbed to illness. The death toll had been enormous as the kingdom's best doctors and researchers scrambled to create a cure and figure out what was causing this plague.

"It was a terrifying time for the princess," Satoru added. "Her parents had no choice but to close the castle walls and isolate them from their people for safety. It was one of the hardest decisions they had ever made as they were helpless to do anything while the people of the kingdom suffered. Routine health checks and frequent isolation from her parents and siblings were what the princess faced every day. And even so, the fear of getting infected haunted our minds."

"And it gets worse…" Yuna continued with a shiver. She then explained how just when they thought the situation couldn't get any worse, the monsters around the kingdom began to behave differently. Once passive or non-aggressive monsters began to wreak havoc, injuring and killing people. When the kingdom sent its warriors to deal with the threat, they were overwhelmed. The plague only got worse from there as the doctors found that the monsters had also contracted the mysterious illness, only instead of killing them immediately, it turned them aggressive. And when the warriors sent to fight them came back home infected…

"Did your people figure out what was causing this illness?" Julian had asked.

"No…" Yuna answered despondently. "The only clue they found were small bite marks on some of the infected victims' bodies. The moment my…family got infected, the kingdom was done for."

"In one last desperate attempt to save his family, his highness sent Yuna – who somehow had yet to contract the illness – away to start anew elsewhere," Satoru explained, his tone of voice bitter. "He told us of a village named Cathar where Wyverians thrived and instructed us to find his majesty's friend, who would take us there."

"And that's how I ended up here. The last surviving member of the Namie royal family…" Yuna finished with a sad smile.

"…Damn," was what Camilla muttered while the others stayed silent, processing that information. The rest of the journey was then quiet, the only sounds being the creaking of the wheels of the wagon and the low bellowing of the Popo.

…

Night had fallen and the group stopped to make camp. Yuna stood off to the side as the hunters began to unload their supplies, setting up the campfire and cooking their dinner. The young Wyverian felt hesitant to approach them as despite having revealed the truth, there was an air of tension between them. Yuna realized that she looked awkward standing there, so she diverted her attention elsewhere.

Where is Satoru? The man was nowhere to be seen. Yuna absentmindedly wandered off to find him, curious as to where he had disappeared. Her search took her around the campsite until she stumbled upon him on another side of the wagon. The first thing she noticed was that he was leaning against the wagon's side. He was also breathing heavily, and her eyes immediately registered that he was about to collapse.

"Satoru!" She surged forward, catching him before he could fall to the ground.

"M-My lady…" he croaked, face pale.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine. Just…tired and hungry, that's all."

"I don't believe that. You're sick! We must get you to a doctor as soon as possible and-"

Satoru suddenly stood straight, puffing out his chest and acting as if he hadn't just nearly collapsed. "I insist, I am perfectly fine! How about this, once we get to Harth, then I'll take a rest. Does that sound alright to you?"

"…I suppose so."
The man grinned and tousled her hair, earning a pout from the young woman. "See? There's nothing to worry about. Now, I'm starving. I wonder what's for dinner?"

Yuna wanted to say something, but Satoru had already scampered off toward their camp before she could get a word in. She let out a sigh and quickly followed him.

Dinner was great, as expected from Gigi's cooking. There was a brief bout of awkwardness before Camilla – in an attempt to lighten the mood – began to recount tales of their group's various hunts. The huntress's lighthearted attitude and humorous stories eventually shed the tension between the group, and it wasn't long before they all began to laugh while eating dinner. Yuna however, noticed that Satoru had distanced himself from them, citing that he needed to keep watch for any hungry monsters, and chose to sit near the wagon. Though he exuded confidence, it was clear the man was not in his best shape. The young Wyverian was unable to keep her eyes off her guardian, her thoughts clouded with worry and different scenarios as to why Satoru was sick, ignoring both her dinner and the conversation.

"Princess are you alright?"

Yuna snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see the hunters looking at her with concerned looks. Leon, who sat next to her placed his bowl on the ground.

"Penny for your thoughts princess?" he asked. "You were spacing out."

"…It's nothing. And please, don't call me that."

Leon blinked. "What, princess?"

"Yes. It…doesn't feel right. Anyway, it's nothing."

Gigi scoffed. "For Gog's sake, I thought we were done with this? No more secrets princess."

"And I'm telling you it's nothing! It has been a long day for everyone so I'm simply exhausted and in need of rest."

Gigi frowned, "Princess you-"

Camilla quickly placed a hand on the huntress's shoulder. "Enough Gigi."

"Ughh, whatever. I'm going to sleep." The huntress stood up and walked away. There was a moment of awkwardness before Julian stood up as well.

"Sorry about that," he apologized.

Yuna shook her head. "It is alright. We've all had a long day and I'm sure Miss Gigi is tired, especially with her injuries."

"Right," Julian nodded. "Well then umm good night!" He gave a brief smile before making his way over to the sleeping bags. The moment Julian was out of earshot, Camilla smirked.

"Wanna bet he'll attempt to cuddle Gigi and act as if he had accidentally rolled over from his spot?"

Leon snorted. "Please, as if he's brave enough to do that without Gigi 'accidentally' elbowing him in the face the moment she wakes up."

"Oh, so it is true that Sir Julian likes Miss Gigi?" Yuna couldn't help but say.

Camilla grinned. "It's that obvious, isn't it?"

Leon chuckled. "See, even the newcomer notices. Now if only those two weren't so stubborn about hiding their feelings."

"I'm sure they both have their reasons for not confessing," Yuna reasoned.

"The day both Gigi and Julian admit their feelings to each other is the day I quit being a hunter, which is never cause I love this damn job," Camilla proclaimed before letting out a yawn. "Guess it's time for me to get some shut-eye too," the huntress said before standing up and doing a stretch. She looked over at Leon, who shook his head.

"I'm not gonna pass out just yet so you go on ahead."

"Alright. Good night you two."

When Camilla had left, Leon heard the distinct sound of a yawn coming from beside him. He smiled while poking at the campfire with a stick. "Seems like you should sleep as well, princess."

Yuna frowned. "I thought I told you to not call me that. And what about you? Shouldn't you be going to…" A yawn. "…bed already."

Leon smirked. "Pot meet kettle."

"Ughh."

The smile didn't leave his face. "Go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch."

Yuna was too tired to protest any further. "That's fair. Good night then," she said with another yawn before heading off to sleep.

Back in Dundorma...

Minerva could tell that their leader was thinking, evident in the way he wasn't taking a sip from his mug. He simply sat there, staring at his mug while she and the rest sat in silence. The tavern they were in was packed with people of all sorts of professions and the noisiness made it much easier for them to situate themselves in the corner to discuss their plans without incurring suspicion.

"You think something happened to him?" Farron asked quietly.

Dorin sighed. "Most likely…"

"Could they have figured out we're after them?" Minerva suggested. "The report did mention the princess has five bodyguards with her…"

Dorin shrugged in response. "No clue. Either way, this doesn't change the plan too much. At the very least, we now know where they're heading, and knowing that we can meet them head-on-"

"Hey there handsome."

Dorin's eyes lit up and he grinned as he turned around. "Why hello there."

Minerva, Layla, and Farron groaned as their leader grinned flirtatiously at the two huntresses that had approached their table. For all his smarts and skills as both an assassin and hunter, he was easily defeated by the sight of attractive women.

So much for not drawing too much attention to ourselves, Minerva shook her head as they watched Dorin walk off with the two huntresses, presumably for some business in the alleyway right next to the tavern.

…