The Primal Hunter

Jake and Carmen stood outside of the small brick house. It looked cheaply built, which made sense as this was squarely in the slums of Puddlerock. Apparently, many of those who lived there had been exiled from Saint-something island due to breaking some of their stupid Holy Church rules. Or maybe they just had a bit too much independence to fit in.

“This is the place?” Carmen asked as Jake checked the paper in his hand.

“Definitely looks like it,” he nodded. “How did you find out about this Clinton guy anyway?”

“The Holy Church isn’t the only faction with people able to divine stuff. Valhal has Rune Seers and stuff like that. I just got in touch with one of the better ones, and she used my Records to track my family by linking me to them. This is how she found this guy, too, as his karma is deeply tied to theirs,” Carmen explained.

“I see,” Jake nodded. He still wasn’t clear on how Carmen wanted him to track her family, considering he had yet to see anything to go from that wasn’t just good old detective work. For the Primas, he could use their energy signatures, and he would need something similar if he was to track humans.

“Why are we stalling, by the way?” Jake then asked.

“I wasn’t,” Carmen said defensively as she raised her hand to knock on the door. She hesitated a bit before she finally built up the courage.

She knocked two times as the two of them waited. Jake wasn’t worried about no one being home, considering he could already see the man inside sitting in a chair reading a book. He was on the older side, probably in his late fifties to early sixties. Also, inside the house, Jake had already spotted a lot of fishing gear, and overall the guy called Clinton just gave Jake the impression of an average retired man who liked to fish.

When Carmen knocked, the man looked up, frowned, and placed the book on a table as he went to open the door. It didn’t take long before he was there, but he didn’t open it right away.

“Who's there?” he asked carefully.

“My name is Carmen… I am looking for some people you used to travel with, and I heard you could provide some information,” the warrior of Valhal said a bit nervously.

The man instantly responded as he opened the door slowly at first, but was surprised and swung it open rapidly when he saw her. “Who are you?”

Carmen looked a bit surprised herself. “I already told you my name.”

“Your voice just reminded me of someone else… sorry. Ah, where are my manners? Come on in. I hear you are looking for someone?” the man called Clinton said, finally calming down.

That is until he saw Jake wearing his mask and the hawk sitting on his shoulder. He stared at them a bit as Jake just raised his hand to give a friendly wave, Sylphie mimicking him as she raised her wing to also wave.

Cuteness won out as the man couldn’t help but smile at the sight and was further calmed by Carmen’s explanation. “He is a tracker I work with to help me find the people I am looking for.”

Clinton nodded once more as he invited them in, and after the usual pleasantries of being offered a drink and politely declining, they finally got to the main topic.

for… you look just like her. Your mother is called

of relief. If it was because of the use of present tense implying they were still alive or the confirmation the man named Clinton

others from my

I remember your father mentioning you and saying how you were away at college at the time

her gaze turned a bit cold. “I am currently looking for them and heard you

sighed. “While it was a very cohesive group, there was also a lot of… drama. Being an outsider, I had no influence, so when I finally came across a safe settlement, I chose to make it my home. I also must apologize, but I am

decided to also enter the conversation as he asked: “Do you have something related to any of them? An item they

not questioning why Jake asked for it. “I may have

of all, because it needed to be asked, and secondly, because he saw how hard Carmen was clenching her fists below the table. He found it a bit weird but

looking for her family. He had never asked but had assumed it was similar to his own reasons. Having no plans to pry into her personal business, he would just let her handle it, and even if there was some bad blood between her and her family, it

a wand. Jake looked at it and instantly felt a mana signature from it. “This wand belonged to Antonios. He got a better one when we entered this city, and

was faint, but Jake was sure of it. It belonged to a person that wasn’t Clinton. Carmen was looking at him, and Jake nodded as she sighed in relief, muttering something about the Rune Seer

much for it?”

and I

Carmen nodded

them my greetings. I hope they are doing

called Beatrice with them?” Carmen asked

course!” Clinton said with a cheerful smile. “She was such a nice young woman. Beatrice is your cousin, right? You are about the same age, but I hear that you drifted apart due to some differences. I hope you two can reconcile. After all, family is more important than ever in this new world. Do

“I will be sure to greet her when we meet, that I can promise

as he escorted Jake, Carmen, and Sylphie to the teleportation chamber once more. He had actually been way more helpful than Jake had first

of it was rough estimates with no proper identification of where dangerous beasts resided. This did partly make sense, as to the United Cities Alliance, an area filled with level 160 monsters was viewed as pretty much the same as one filled with C-grades, marking them

give some insight into areas worth investigating, though. But before they would have time to head out and check the danger zones – hopefully

should bring him along. He was

young, probably barely in his twenties. He also just struck Jake as a bit green, even if his level was high. He was too… cheerful. But then

he smiled. “Trust me, I will be of use, even

know

a bit more convincing and the man even pulling out a small satchel with snacks for Sylphie, their group was convinced. If nothing else, then he was a damn good planner. They continued their

run through the plains for twenty hours straight without exchanging a single word. But this guy? It was like he had a condition that would make him explode if he shut up for more than ten minutes

dull, but the more the guy talked, the more Jake’s opinion changed. Even Carmen seemed to

of the Holy Church. The plan had been for him to get good relations with the massive faction on the planet to help out his father and because he