Author's Note: Sorry about the time it took to update! As an aside, if FFN ever has issues with fanfic updates via email again (like it had for the past two to three weeks), look up "DestinedGrey" on a certain fanfic archive website.

Link's clothing was not quite clean, the sort of half-frumpy mess that resulted from washing without detergent in whatever clean water he could find. His body was weary, chafed- the boots he was wearing slightly outgrown, much to his dismay. The only thing going for him were the newly-purchased supplies in his backpack, though his wallet was much lighter as a result. Good camping gear did not come cheaply.

Fortunately, Link had a plan. And it was a plan that didn't count on having enough money for passage aboard the ships in this port town. Forget having enough money- Link did not want to take a chance on whether or not there would be a passenger ship here, or whether they would take someone as young as he was on board. Not to mention the complications that would arise if his father had put out an alert for him. The journey here had been long and hard on his younger body. Link did not want to make this journey again.

Instead, Link waited until it was evening. It was quiet at night here, with sailors retreating to bars, and townsfolk retreating to beds. While the town was a busy port, it was a small one. That was good. The lack of nightlife made Link's plan a lot easier.

Earlier that day, Link had spoke with a few of the people living here, asking about the ships and where they were going. From how the townsfolk responded and looked at him, they seemed to be sympathetic. They believed him desperate for work as a sailor. Much as it grated at Link's conscious, he was not above allowing them to believe so. It helped him confirm that there was a ship heading close to his destination.

Link slipped into the docks quietly, unnoticed. There was the occasional guard present, but they were piecemeal, aboard the decks of the ships. They were here to watch for the average thief, and make sure they couldn't run off unnoticed. They had no chance against Link, someone arguably better than the average huntsman.

Link moved to the end of the docks, toward an empty spot in which no ship had laid anchor. With barely a sound, he slipped into the water. Then, his whole body seemed to flip and undulate through the waters as he began swimming at inhuman speeds.

Thank you Mipha.

The magic of the Zora propelled him forward as he swam, completely submerged. He could not afford to surface until he was on the ship. It was unlikely anyone would look out into the water and see him in the dark, but this was a world where the faunus existed. He had not gained the approval of the Sheikah many times over by acting lazy in a stealth exercise.

When Link reached the hull of the ship, he pulled himself up, scaling the hull in a flash despite its smoothness. He took a look around. No one that he could see on this side, just as he expected. He moved toward a door on the deck, and with one last glance around, slipped below the deck and into the cargo hold of the ship.

A few hours later, Link had formed a comfortable cubby within the cargo containers of the ship, with enough stolen provisions to sustain himself for the journey. The next day, the ship set out. When the ship made landfall a few weeks later, Link slipped past the increasingly suspicious crew without a sound once more. Link had made it, far from home.

He had made it to the cold northern reaches of Anima.

Link's Jaune's family had always asked how he would become a huntsman. How would he gain entrance into an academy? How would he convince a huntsman to give him an apprenticeship?

What they didn't understand was that all of that, the academy life, the apprenticeship, it was all window dressing. Link didn't need an official title from the kingdoms, its benefits, or even consistent pay. It had never been about that, and Link didn't expect to die in the kind of bed where a state pension would be useful.

Link wanted to be a huntsman to help others. Who would want to stop him from killing Grimm out here? Who would even come out this far to stop him, especially in the Kingdom of Mistral? After all, it was a well known fact that there were few independent huntsman in Mistral, something that few in power were inclined to fix. The ruling elite of each city sought to keep as many huntsmen within their borders as possible. The outer villages and towns had to make deals with a patron city, attract an independent huntsman to their region, or try to get by without help.

It was the ripe location for a non-huntsman huntsman like him.

"So how are you supposed to use that sword if we get attacked?" The driver said, looking over at Link.

Link glanced over to the truck driver. With all of this said, he still needed a ride inland, to the start of the actual frontier. As distantly north as the port of Argus was, he was still in the safety of civilization. Just a few hundred miles west, and he would be beyond the reaches of any huntsman or city authority.

This truck driver had been unusually understanding of Link's desire to travel inland, not even charging him for the favor. The two had barely spoken since the drive started, until now.

"I go out there and fight them." Link said, confused as to how that would even be a question. Grimm meet blade. End of story.

"How are you going to catch up to the truck then? I won't be stopping if the Grimm attack us." The driver said.

"I guess I wouldn't get out of the truck then. Unless they make us stop." Link said, shrugging.

"Ah, it's like... I have a gun. Why don't you have a gun out here? Is your aura even unlocked?" The trucker asked in turn.

"I've held my own against Grimm." Link said, catching the concern in the man's questions for what they were.

"Without a gun? Is your sword mechashift or something?" The driver asked.

"Or something." Link responded, trying to be reassuring. The driver did not appear reassured.

In fairness, it was not a place to be reassured. The northern Anima wilderness was rough, with squat and thorny vegetation lining the muddy and winding dirt road. There was the slightest bite of a chill, but it would doubtlessly be piercing if it weren't for the vehicle shielding the driver and Link from the wind. These conditions would tear at a person, challenge their provisions, and entrap any sort of vehicle during the muddy rain. It was the sort of wilderness where if the Grimm knocked you off road, the conditions might finish you off.

The trip carried on in a grim silence.

The truck rolled into the town near dark, despite having set out before sunrise. Fallen trees had constantly held up the truck, forcing the two to dismount to move the fallen trunks out of the road. All the while, the driver looked increasingly nervous at the timing they were making, only letting out a sigh of relief upon the sight of the town's walls.

"We're here." The trucker said simply. "Welcome to the frontier. If you change your mind, I'm leaving at six tomorrow." The driver clearly expected Link to do just that. Looking at the community they had just rolled into, Link couldn't blame him.

It didn't look like a place one should be relieved to have reached, that was certain. Everything was close, and not in a good way. People and buildings were crammed together, enclosed by large, trimmed spruce log walls that encircled the entire village. Space between buildings were small, only sometimes half-covered with straw or wooden planks. Firewood was stacked higher than he was in every little space that the residents could fit it in. Most of the houses and buildings looked like they had once been built out of proper construction material, but had since been maintained with whatever cheap material these people could get their hands on. The soot of the town's collective wood burning helped paper over the differences into a grim sort of grey covering.

This town was a fire and health hazard rolled into one. Winter would be especially concerning here, when the stream the town had built itself over would clearly freeze over.

And the residents were as rough as the town was. There were no children and few women, with most of the townsfolk being men with dour looks and wielding calloused hands. The lack of children was a relief if anything, as Link couldn't imagine what a child would go through growing up here. The only smell he could make out beyond "that cold mud smell" and the soot was the smell of liquor.

"What's the name of this place?" Link asked the truck driver.

"No clue. I don't think it has one." The truck driver said honestly.

"How does it not have a name?" Link asked incredulously. "Surely someone would have named it? At least the people who pass through here."

"Ain't no one up here who passes through this town. This is the very tip top of Mistral civilization." The driver said, a little scathingly.

"But then... why does this town even exist then? Surely Mistral could get lumber from forests closer to Argus. Why settle all the way up here?" Link asked, again. The truck driver simply pointed to the people unloading the truck.

The message was simple. Ask them.

And so Link did.

"Excuse me?" Link said politely to the two men unloading the truck. The two men paused but for a second to look at him, before speaking.

"You're excused." One said wryly.

"I was wanting to ask about the work here." Link said, ignoring the jibe.

"If you're looking for work, you'll have to ask the logging super. We don't get enough truckers rolling through to hire more loaders." The man said bluntly.

"Not that, though that's helpful. I was more wondering why this town exists." Link said. That did cause the man to pause.

"What do you mean?" The man asked. Behind Link, the truck driver chuckled.

"I mean, why does this town exist so far from civilization? There's no nearby port or trade route passing through here, as far as I tell. And the only thing I see you loading onto the truck here are those pallets of lumber." Link elaborated. "I'm just trying to figure out why this town exists."

"Did he not tell you about this place before bringing you here? Man, you're way over your head here kid." The man straightened himself up and looked Link in the eye.

"This is a penal colony."

Behind Link, the truck driver burst out laughing.

"Why didn't you tell me this place was a penal colony?" Link asked the truck driver. Half an hour later, the driver and Link were crouched over their drinks inside one of the local bars. It was a cramped location, much like the outside. The wooden walls pressed close to the small booths. There was the barest of space between these booths and the actual bar for anyone to walk in. If Link was claustrophobic, he imagined this would have been hell for him.

"Didn't want to ruin the surprise for you kid. Damn near everywhere's like this, outside the cities." The truck driver commented. Link's eyes narrowed. That was certainly a lie, but he would not confront the driver immediately on that.

"It's a rough place, but maybe you can scrape by a living here." He continued lightly, the taller man looking down on Link. It wasn't the first time someone had looked down on him in this bar either, given the laughs he had received for ordering milk. It was slightly out of date and sour, much like his experience in this town so far.

"I'll find someone in charge and see about work killing Grimm here." Link said after a moment of silence. "It should get my foot in the door, and help my reputation when I go to other villages." The driver gave him a long hard look at that.

"Don't know how much training you have, but no is going to come and save you if you get injured out here. There's no shame in returning home." The truck driver said in response to that. Link started to ask what he meant, when he quickly realized what the driver was getting at here.

The driver assumed (correctly) the kid asking him for a ride out to the middle of nowhere in Mistral was a runaway. He had brought Link out to this village without warning him of what it was to try to scare him home. He had even lied about what settlements were like outside the city to increase the chances Link would just go home, incorrectly assuming he was from the city and not a well-protected village.

Since that wasn't working, he was now trying to urge Link to return from whence he came in a more unsubtle manner. Link very firmly resisted rolling his eyes at this.

"Like I said." The driver began, getting up. He took a deep breath as he did. "I'll be driving back early tomorrow. I won't be back here for another month." With that last lifeline left for Link, the driver strode out of the cramped bar, and back toward his truck.

Link never did get that driver's name.

Link learned a lot about the nameless town within a few hours. He learned that it was created by Mistral, who had created this penal colony as a sort of second chance for repeat offenders, the gentler kind who were thrown in jail for non-violent offenses like petty theft, or drug dealing. It was viewed as a good alternative to throwing them into prison again, especially as crime rates rose within recent years in Mistral. Better to get those people productive and out of the way where they couldn't do harm, Mistral's ruling council had said.

There was also apparently something about staking a land claim over this area so that Atlas couldn't claim it, but Link hadn't asked his attempted mugger many details about that. Politics had never been Link's thing.

"And so I'm going to be going from town to town up here, killing Grimm when huntsmen aren't available here. If you require my services, I can offer them for the right price." Link finished explaining. The storekeeper, a man named Morshu looked to the stocky man standing behind Link.

"Why did you bring this sassy brat here?" Morshu asked.

"I know he don't look like much, but he beat me and Rowan up." Dimitrios, the man who tried to mug Link earlier said. "Rowan even got a lick on him, but it bounced off his aura."

After Link had foiled Dimitrios mugging attempt and offered him a black eye as a consolation prize, the two hit it off fast. Poor Rowan, Dimitrios's accomplice was left behind, laid out in the narrow and piss-sodden alley. Link bought Dimitrios a drink, and among other trivia asked about a leader. As it turns out, Morshu, a non-criminal shopkeeper had been put in charge of this nameless settlement "temporarily", after the Mistral bureaucrat appointed for the job skipped town long ago. No replacement had been sent since, of course.

"I know I don't look like much, and you don't have anyone to speak to about my experience. That's why I'm willing to delay the first half of the fee I'd normally charge until the job is done." Link stated. "If you need someone like me now, I'm available now. Otherwise, I'll be moving on to another settlement tomorrow. I'll send you my contact details when I have them." As morbid a thought as it was given the implications, Link hoped this settlement would have work for him. He didn't have much lien left. If he didn't get work here, he would have to make his journey to the next settlement without enough food, or without enough cold weather gear. Neither was a great idea in the northern Argus wilderness.

"Hmm..." Morshu said, rubbing one of his two double chins. "I think I can work with that. You don't expect help, do you?"

"No sir, I suspect the people here are too craven." Link said lightly. Dimitrios let out an offended snort, but Link ignored the snorting liar.

"Hmm. Alright. How much are you going to be charging?" Morshu asked lightly.

"Depends on the job." Link answered back, just as lightly. A pause.

"There's an abandoned settlement 20 miles east of here. The folks there abandoned it because of constant Grimm attacks." Morshu stated. "Apparently, some Grimm rolled in recently. They've built a nest, and we think they've started to reproduce."

"How did you find out about the nest?" Link asked.

"The supply truck got attacked a few months ago. I paid some of the folks in town to go investigate. They came back and let me know about the nest, but didn't do anything about it." Morshu said bitterly.

Craven indeed, Link thought.

"So kill the Grimm and destroy the nest?" Link asked.

"Yeah. So... how much?" Morshu asked.

Now this was the golden question. Link didn't think he could charge a lot for this job. He was an inexperienced element, and the town itself was clearly impoverished. At the same time, he needed enough money to equip himself, and didn't want to undercut himself for the future.

It was a hard question, especially when he had to consider that he'd have to offer "freebies" at some point. Link wouldn't hesitate to kill Grimm actively attacking people, even if it meant cutting into his future supplies. Earning just enough to survive wouldn't be enough. Link needed enough to thrive.

After a bit of contemplation, Link finally had an answer. "100,000 lien." Link decided firmly. It was incredibly cheap for the services he was offering, only a little less than what a laborer would earn full time at minimum wage in Vale. It was also uncomfortably close to being too little for what Link needed. But he would make do.

"Aren't you charging a bit much there?" Morshu asked. Link's jaw nearly dropped.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Those are pennies compared to what an actual huntsman would charge you, especially in Mistral." Link said, shocked that he would even try arguing this down.

"Well, you're the one looking for work... You should make do with 60,000 lien." Morshu offered.

"You're the one with a Grimm problem. They're not going to stay in that nest forever. You're going to draw those Grimm eventually." Link pointed out. In all honesty, Link was surprised this town wasn't in lockdown with confirmed Grimm so close. Grimm may build nests, but it wasn't like they didn't wander off in their eternal pursuit of human prey. Otherwise, humanity could just avoid existing nests and the problem was mostly solved.

"Well, I've been trying to cut down costs. And it is your first job." Morshu offered.

"How much do you think the Argus council is going to charge you to clear this nest out?" Link pointed out, pleased to see the annoyed look on Morshu's face. "How confident do you feel about keeping a pack of Grimm out during the miserable winter months here? When negativity is at its highest and they'll be drawn like moths to the flame."

"How about we split it in half at 80,000 lien and call it square?" Morshu offered instead, clearly still uncomfortable with the price. Link grimaced at the thought. He would have to go light on rations, and wouldn't be able to afford all the gear he wanted right away. But it would do.

"Fine. But you better give me a good reference for the other settlements in this region after this job." Link stated. At that, Morshu's face split into a grin.

"Deal, my boy."

"And I want some good quality dust to clear out that Grimm nest. Lightning dust will do in a pinch, but I can burn it out more easily with fire dust." Link said firmly.

"Well, getting dust up here is a bit expensive." Morshu noted, instantly snapping back into his appeasing tone. Link didn't buy it.

"I'm going to need something hot to take out the Grimm pit in that nest. Either you get me the dust or you wait until it's a problem that Argus will charge you for." Link had been initially willing to take on the costs of that dust, but after these miserly negotiations, Link wasn't going to offer this shopkeeper the slightest freebie.

"Fine. Anything else?" Morshu asked grumpily.

"A ride a few miles away from the nest would be appreciated, but I'll take directions failing that." Link said, satisfied. It was be a rough start, he knew.

But it was a start.