(3d POV)
"Are we sure that it's a good idea to go to this abandoned town? I know what folks in Welsber, but…" - A young voice asked in an unsure tone of voice. The owner of the voice was a short young man with short gray hair and eyes of the same color. On the top of his head was a pair of large mouse ears, which distinguished him as Faunus.
"What, worried about the Grimm, Grau?" - Asked back another young Faunus man with a smirk. He walked through the snow with absolute confidence, leading their group of five Faunus.
"Oder, you heard about the town, it was filled with Centinels less than three months ago! We can maybe kill a couple, but there were rumored to be literally hundreds of them there!" - Young man, Grau raised his voice in distress.
"Can both of you be quieter?" - asked the only woman among the group of Faunus. "We don't want to attract any Grimm that could be in this forest. Besides, Grau, we were told that all the Grimm in this abandoned town are gone, destroyed or something else, isn't it right, Mr. Brau?" - she asked the older Faunus man who walked slightly behind them.
His expression was somewhat distant, his dark brown eyes wandering around their surroundings, but he answered nonetheless.
"According to the townsfolk in Welsber, yeah, the Grimm in the abandoned town appear to be mostly gone. They say it happened around two and a half months ago, although they aren't sure. Some say that there have also been some signs of someone living in the town." - the man moved his eyes to the group of four young Faunus in front of him. - "That however doesn't mean that we shouldn't be cautious. The Grimm could still be there, just hidden from sight, and even if they are gone, we don't know for sure who might be living in this abandoned town."
The four youths nodded at these words, silently deciding to continue their way more cautiously.
Their formation was simple, at the front was Oder, who carried a large ax in his hands, and watched for threats in front of them. Grau walked behind him to the left with his hands on a pair of old revolvers and ready to act if something appeared out of the trees. To the right of the mouse Faunus walked the young woman, Ocher, carrying a double-barreled shotgun. Finishing their position was a short but stocky young man named Hammel, with a pair of curved horns on his head and a bolt-action rifle in his hands, and the older Faunus man, Mr. Brau, who carried an old lever-action rifle.
After their little talk, the group walked mostly silently, concentrating on reaching the abandoned town.
Their travel was careful, but swift as they already had the experience of traversing the frozen forests of Solitas. That still didn't mean that their journey was completely smooth, as a couple of Beowolves and Sabyrs have attacked them, although the group managed to defeat them without to much problems.
After almost a full day of travel they have finally reached the outskirts of an old abandoned town where they could see the walls surrounding it.
"Whew, we finally reached it. That last Saber almost got my hand!" - said Oder with an exaggerated sigh, wiping the imaginary sweat from his brow.
"Stop playing around, you idiot." - admonished Ocher looking at him with a pointed glare. - "You wouldn't even be in that situation if you let us shoot the thing instead of rushing at it like a moron!"
"Hehe, well, uh, sorry?" - Answered the addressed young man, sheepishly rubbing his hands.
"Stop" , Suddenly the old Faunus man said quietly, instantly ending chatter between the youngsters. His eyes were locked on the town wall, several hundreds of meters from their group, his expression tense. With his hands he signaled the other four a message 'someone' 'hidden', after which they all have also tensed up, gripping their weapons tighter.
"We know you are watching us." - The man said clearly, not removing his eyes from the town wall. - "We wish no harm".
" .move" - a voice called out to them, although it sounded strangely distorted. Four younger Faunus tensed more, alarmed by the fact that they couldn't tell even approximate direction from where the voice came from.
"That must be a Semblance of some kind…" - murmured the mouse Faunus quietly, his eyes carefully scanning the surrounding area for anything suspicious, while the other members of the group were similarly distressed.
"Don' .anything." - the unknown voice spoke again. Then, the eyes of Mr. Brau widened slightly as he quickly turned his head to the side just in time to see something hit the snow a couple meters away from them before exploding, sending the snow flying in all directions. - "Stay."
"...Fuck, a sniper! Of course it's a fuckin' sniper…" - Cursed Oder under his breath, nervously gripping the handle of his ax.
"Once again, we are not here to harm you, or anyone. My Semblance allows me to know exactly where you are, so I wanted to talk before we entered the town". - Old Faunus said with a clear and resolute tone, composing himself once again and deciding to give the information about his abilities as a sign of good faith.
In response to that statement followed several moments of tense silence, until Brau felt the unknown person move from his spot in the trees back to the ground and some distance away from their group, closer to the town walls.
"Lay down weapons. Take fifteen steps back. Then I trust." - the voice said, although this time it's direction was clear. It also wasn't distorted, which allowed them to hear that it sounded very young, almost childish, and had a thick accent.
The group of young Faunus wasn't particularly fond of the idea of leaving their weapons while still in the dangerous are and confronted with a potential enemy, so the send their unsure glances to the unspoken leader of their group, Mr. Brau.
"We are still in a forest full of Grimm, so we rather keep our weapons to ourselves. At least while we are here." - the older Faunus said smoothly. - "Perhaps we might go to a safer place to talk?"
The unknown person went silent again for several long moments before answering, his voice sounding distorted again. - " . talk."
Having said these words, the person began to move swiftly but carefully to the abandoned town, and Brau could see the places where they walked through the snow, although they still couldn't see any trace of them.
After waiting for several moments, the older man addressed the other four: "I think we should go into town and talk with them. They have watched for a couple of hours now and I don't think they have any ill intentions."
"Mr. Brau, with all due respect, I do not think that it is a great idea to follow an unknown person into their territory. They still might lead us into a trap or a bandit ambush". - said the usually quiet ram Faunus with caution.
"Yeah, trustin' a guy you can't even see doesn't sound like a great plan." - said Oder while still throwing sideways glances into the direction where the unknown person was last time.
"I know, I know… But I just feel like we can trust them". - said the old Faunus with a small smile on his lips. - "Trust the ol' man Brau on this one, will you, kids?"
The four youths exchanged glances before Oder groaned loudly and gave their group answer: "Fiiiiiiine. We'll trust your gut this time, oldman".
Having decided on their course of action, the group of five Faunus moved to the town, finding an entrance in the shape of a destroyed section of the wall. They still held their guard in case of anything unexpected, which was correct since they encountered several traps that while simple, still could be dangerous, especially if their doubts about the intentions of the mysterious person were.
Once inside, they found most of the town buried under the thick cover of snow, with most buildings destroyed. Mr. Brau could sense the mysterious person and so they moved to the place where they were, which turned out to be a small house that while heavily damaged, still held the roof and all of the walls.
Once they were inside, the voice called out to them: "Leave weapons outside and close door. Then we talk".
The group looked amongst each other, and after a silent debate decided to follow the orders, trusting their aura to save them in case of emergency and believing the ability of Mr. Brau to sense any dangers with his Semblance.
Inside the building was only a single large room with some stands and other destroyed furniture that allowed the group of Faunus to tell that it was a shop of some kind.
Once they walked to the center of this store, the voice called out again: "Stop."
They stopped hesitantly and after a moment, a small figure appeared on the opposite side of the store out of the air. It was a young boy, no more than 10 years old from his looks. He had incredibly pale skin, messy dark gray blue hair and long pointed ears. His dark cyan eyes had red slitted pupils, and watched them with intensity and caution. Thin reptilian tail could be seen behind him, which, coupled with all other of his traits clearly made him a Faunus, if a somewhat strange looking one, which somewhat lowered the caution of the group.
It was clear that he was very thin, but he stood firmly with a loaded crossbow in his hands. Both his weapon and clothes were clearly worn out, repaired several times over with mismatched parts.
What also attracted the attention of all five was a slight cyan glow around the boy, a clear sign of Aura, which explained his ability to hold a crossbow fit for an adult, as well as his ability, his Semblance.
"Who are you?" - he asked, his voice quiet and steady, as he watched their every move carefully.
He watched them for a couple of hours before they met, so he probably knew at least some information about them, but the old Faunus man decided to answer him, his caution waning as he became more concerned about what a child could be doing here and many other questions.
"I'm Karl Brau, a Huntsman, well at least a former one, and these are Oder, Ocher, Hammel and Grau. We are from Mantle, but when we were at Welsber, we heard rumors that the Grimm in this abandoned town have gone completely and so, we wanted to search this place for anything we could use ourselves or sell." - the Faunus man said, trying to speak clearly and slowly, guessing that for one reason or another, the boy was unfamiliar with common language.
The boy listened closely, nodding slowly after Karl finished speaking. After that, he pulled an old communication device and said something quietly in an unknown to them language: "Я думаю мы можем довериться, ты встретишься с ними?... Понял, я скажу им."
Seemingly finished speaking, the boy put the device back into the pocket and addressed the group, pointing at himself and then : "Sasha. You meet… Patriot. He speaks better."
The old Faunus man nodded, now feeling another presence enter the range of his Semblance and approaching their location. Perhaps that 'Patriot' could tell them more about what is going on.
Meanwhile, four younger Faunus from Mantle weren't so sure about the whole situation. Of course, looking at the boy, they felt sympathy rather than suspicion, but they were still cautious, especially about that 'Patriot'.
Soon enough, the door at the back of the shop where the boy, Sasha, stood, opened, revealing an incredibly imposing figure, standing more that two and a half meter tall, with large antlers on its head and clad fully in metal armor, with a skull-shaped helmet concealing their face.
The five Faunus tensed up involuntarily, their very instincts alerting them of the power of this stranger. Meanwhile, the armor-clad figure bent down somewhat to enter the shop, and walked slightly in front of Sasha.
"My name is… Buldrokkas'tee. But, you may call me Patriot. I wish you no harm. The boy, Sasha, is under my guard." - The voice was deep and hoarse, but carried no threat in it.
Recovering from his initial shock, Mr. Brau looked up at the figure and answered with a calm and measured tone: "It is nice to meet you, Buldr-, Patriot. I'm Karl Brau, and these four are Ocher, Oder, Hammel and Grau. We, well, could be called Hunstmen, from Mantle. We have heard rumors about Grimm disappearing there and, well."
"Hmmm, I understand. The Grimm that lived there were slain by me. Me, Sasha and several others made this town our temporary home because of our… circumstances."
"Perhaps it is related to your accent?"
"Indeed. We… come from much further north. Isolated long ago. Speak different language. We needed time to learn, so we are here."
That revelation was quite shocking to the five from Mantle, but while the younger ones were skeptical about the story, the old Faunus could quite easily imagine what had happened: "Your town, or maybe towns, were probably cut from civilization during the Great War and had never reestablished contact since. However, seeing that you are here, is your home…?"
The man in armor stood there quietly for a second before speaking.
"...Destroyed by Grimm. I… was not from there. Found the ruins. All of the survivors are there."
It was hard to guess the emotion behind the mask of the man, but Karl could at least somewhat imagine. After all, he was old enough to talk with people who lost their whole towns and villages to Grimm when they rose up in numbers during the Great War. His gaze moved to Sasha who stood quietly to the side. Now it made sense why the boy already had Aura and Semblance, although the explanation was't pretty. The four younger Faunus have also understood that and so they have quieted down, looking somberly at both the little boy and the armored giant.
"I… my condolences. Perhaps we can help you somehow?"
"I would be grateful for that. In truth, we were planning to travel to Mantle, but weren't sure as to how." - The giant said thoughtfully. - "Perhaps we can help each other then? We looted this town for anything useful, so we can give part of that to you."
"Hah! I would help my fellow Faunus for free at any time!" - Karl exclaimed as he extended his hand for a handshake. - "Perhaps then we should meet the other people who are with you?"
Patriot looked at the extended hand for a moment before shaking it with his own much larger hand, before addressing the five Faunus: "I'm thankful to you, Karl Brau. And to you too, Huntsmen of Mantle. Take your weapons and I shall lead you to meet the others."
Karl nodded resolutely, while four younger Faunus looked between each other, still cautious but determined to help their fellow Faunus.
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