The Primal Hunter

Ten minutes passed, and… nothing. Besides a few drone-like machines checking them out, no movement had been made from the Fort to welcome their arrival. Reika was getting partly worried and partly confused at the lack of a response.

She was absolutely certain they had been spotted, but didn’t they know who they were or where they were from? They had to know, right? Had they just caught them at a bad time? During an important meeting, perhaps? Or was something else going on that required their immediate attention, such as an emergency?

Finally, after another ten minutes, they saw a man approach. He was running across the plains rather slowly, and upon using Identify, she saw he was only level 71. Reika’s frown intensified as the man made it to their vessel, and with her permission, they lowered a platform for him to get onto the barge.

The man who came up was middle-aged and looked quite uncomfortable with everything that was going on. Reika looked at him as he correctly identified her as the one in charge.

“Miss, may I know your purpose for visiting the Fort?” the man asked, clearly nervous but still speaking clearly.

Reika now truly frowned as she answered. “Is this not Haven? The City Lord should be aware of visitors from the Noboru Clan.”

The official suddenly looked opened his eyes wide in recognition. “Ah! Right, I do remember that being mentioned in the briefing a few weeks ago. Sorry I didn’t recognize it. I must apologize; we are currently a bit short-staffed due to the absence of the City Leader and her assistant.”

“Absence? Did something happen? Where are they?” Reika asked bit concerned they truly had come at an inopportune time.

“I cannot disclose that, but they should be back within a few days at the latest. But for now, how about coming to the Fort and relaxing until someone is ready to receive you?” the official asked. “I am only in charge of agriculture in the northern plains, so I believe it best to wait for someone more qualified.”

Reika nodded as she asked. “Will it be possible to visit the dome? Is the Lord in there?”

“Uh, I think he is, but you need permission from him to enter. I also wouldn’t go with too many people, though. He doesn’t tend to like large crowds or interruptions in general while working. Not the most social type, but damn is he good at what he does,” the man answered casually, having clearly begun to let his guard down.

Reika frowned slightly but didn’t voice her displeasure at the clear disrespect and underhanded insults towards Lord Thayne. This was not her city and not her rules, so she shouldn’t overstep… though she would mention it to Jake once they met.

She would naturally also respect that Jake didn’t like large groups of visitors, which she understood from their brief interactions earlier. He preferred smaller groups, and that was perfectly fine. At least the official did give respect to Lord Thayne’s abilities.

Being led by the man, they quickly flew their barge closer before anchoring it and entering the Fort. Reika found the entire city a bit… disappointing? Then again, it had been built swiftly to accommodate the many people seeking refuge at Haven.

Once inside, they found an inn of sorts and left many of their members there, but they had to spread it out over several establishments as no single one had room for them all. Reika chose to let the others handle that as she went straight for the dome. Officials would come and handle more long-term accommodations soon enough.

It wasn’t hard to reach the dome, and the official had stayed with her to function as a guide. He pointed out the teleportation hub right beside the dome, currently with circles leading to the forest part of Haven as well as one leading to Skyggen, with several more currently under construction.

Haven was a bit isolated compared to most other cities, with even a lack of minor non-Pylon settlements in its immediate area. She knew a reason for this was them migrating to the Fort over time, and another was that there were a lot of hostile beasts in the area.

Arriving at the dome, she excused the guide and walked up to the massive sphere of metal. No doors were visible anywhere, and nothing really happened when she stood in front of it, so she knocked. A pulse of mana went through the dome, and she was certain whoever was inside had been alerted to her presence. She waited a bit with nothing else happening, feeling a bit impatient as five or so minutes passed. Finally, there was movement as a small drone flew over to her from somewhere, holding a walkie-talkie of sorts.

“Hello, this the Lord’s assistant speaking, may I know the purpose of your visit?” a voice came from the other end.

“I am here to visit Lord Thayne as arranged with the City Lord and the Chosen,” Reika answered as she finally got a response.

should come by within the day if you

Reika answered. “I was informed Lord

Thayne left a few hours ago, and Arnold doesn’t want

allowing others access as he seemed very much like the private sort. Also, if he made poison, was

voice

located?” she then asked, thinking she could always

“Probably at his laboratory.”

“Wait, what?” Reika exclaimed.

an equally confused voice

“This isn’t-“

is at

back and relaxing as he read a book with Sylphie lying on his stomach, also just resting. He was on the roof of his lodge, just enjoying the sunlight as he

had kind of been using Sagacity of the Malefic Viper wrong, or at least suboptimally. Jake usually tried to get knowledge through the drop of blood he had gained

the hell was the purpose of the skill for someone who

could use it for: it was a fact-checker. Okay, not entirely, but it helped give him a feel of the validity and value of information and more easily compile it into something actionable. A lot

had a suspicion the system had sorted the books a bit to remove the truly useless ones.

heard a noise from down in the lodge. It was a phone of sorts he had gotten from Arnold for the man to contact him in case something happened. Jake had no idea how long the guy had been able to make it,

asked as Arnold’s assistant spoke on the other

just been visited by a Ms. Noboru, who is – as you can guess – from the Noboru clan.

Jake asked, wondering if Reika had made it there or

I told her you were at Haven, so she will

then,” Jake agreed. This was the sort of thing Miranda usually dealt with, but Reika was as much his guest as she was Miranda’s – if not more so – which naturally meant he

decided not to. They needed levels, and the dungeon was a great place to get them, and dragging Miranda out would disband the

his chest, he rubbed Sylphie’’s feathers.

took only fifteen minutes before Jake felt someone approaching, also confirming it was a good choice not to head to the Fort himself as

roof of the lodge, getting some minor complaints, but she soon accepted her fate and just perched herself up to still look menacing. Jake jumped off the roof and landed in front of the porch as he headed to the entrance of the

Jake’s valley, and he couldn’t help but chuckle as she stopped up and

at the entrance as soon enough, Reika also detected him. Jake had already made his mask invisible as he waved the moment she

magic, Reika flew over as she landed in front of him. “So this is the famed abode of the Chosen

joked back as he invited her to the lodge. “Anyway, I heard you stopped by

he is, and no, I did not need anything off him,” Reika said, for

she had then gone to his workshop, but he at least had enough social skills to know that wasn’t a good idea. So, he

trip here? Saw something noteworthy on the

things, in fact. The trip took nearly a

she had brought an entire entourage of alchemists, once more making him reconsider calling Miranda and Lillian for assistance. She had just begun talking about a massive lake they had chosen to avoid as

she asked, motioning with her

my lodge?” Jake answered,