The Primal Hunter

That day, the Chosen Ceremony Support Group (CCSG) once more had their bi-weekly meeting as six women met at Jake’s residence, as that was one of the only places they could be sure no one would interrupt or interfere. All of them were united in only one thing:

They each had a personal relationship with Jake and had all been severely impacted by his identity as a Chosen. No, they were repeatedly still impacted by his status.

This group consisted of Reika, Meira, Scarlett, Irin, Bastilla, and Izil, though they sometimes also had others join who also suffered from their association with Jake being revealed. These meetings didn’t have any strict purpose… well, they had initially been a way to organize and get their stories straight with what information they could and couldn’t share about Jake, but after only three meetings, the group had turned into what was essentially just a support group for venting.

“My family has constantly been sending people asking me if I could get a meeting with the Chosen, and when I say he is in Nevermore, they began to question if I know which floor he was at, and one of my aunts even asked why I didn’t join the party,” Bastilla – the beastfolk roommate of Reika – complained. “I barely even know him… we did one dungeon together! Why the hell would he bring me, of all people?”

“Have you tried misdirecting them?” Izil, the elf from the Altmar Empire, offered advice. “I keep telling them that I switched strategies from directly trying to make a close connection with the Chosen to instead focus on the people around him who do have a close connection… which means they are actively supporting me going to these meetings now as they think I am networking. Which I guess I kind of am. But it also makes them back off, at least for a time.”

“That’s a good strategy,” Reika nodded. “I am lucky that I have no pressure from family anymore. Then again, that is mainly because the Patriarch is already close to Jake. Ah, by the way, as an update, the other alchemists from the clan have also backed off trying to get closer to Jake through me, and I warned them that trying to take advantage of the fact he brought them here may end badly. No, what I have had trouble with recently was this instructor who had a lesson I really wanted to take about ice-affinity flask brewing. The man is a total creeper who immediately refunded any Academy Credits I had spent on the lesson and then proceeded to offer private lessons. I thought he wanted… you know, but no, he just wanted intel on Jake.”

“Wait… isn’t that the same guy who taught cold-poison absorption and refinement?” Scarlett said in realization. “Big blue scalekin. Has a weird scale pattern on his chest that looks a bit like a cupcake?”

“That’s the one!” Reika confirmed. “Geez, he tried it with you too?”

“Yeah, he definitely isn’t subtle. I think he is from one of the Dragonflights or something, though I didn’t actually talk to him; I just took the refund and informed him I was forbidden from speaking about the Chosen. He still sent me a natural treasure even after I told him to screw off, so I just ate it and moved on,” Scarlett shrugged.

“Definitely nothing wrong with taking advantage of people like that; just be careful not to sow any debts,” Reika nodded with a smile. She then turned to look at Meira, who was sitting quietly as usual. “Anything new happened for you over the last two weeks? Still the same problem?”

“Yeah…” Meira said meekly. “I don’t even try to take normal lessons anymore, only if it is really necessary. I just work with Teacher.”

Meira had the problem that she wasn’t just the former slave and close associate of the Chosen. She was now also the first person that Duskleaf, the Grand Elder of the Order, had blessed in no one knew how long, making her a figure many were interested in. Coupled with her demeanor and general personality, that was not a good mix, as she was far from used to the pressure.

Scarlett did have a bit of the same problem, being blessed by the Malefic Viper herself, but it was far, far from as severe as it was for Meira. The six of them had all questioned why Jake was so insistent on staying anonymous, but now, after having experienced just the impact of his status second-hand, they got it. While there were many advantages, the sheer mental drain was exhausting.

You had to consider if every single person talking to you had some ulterior motive and didn’t actually want to talk with you as a person but were just using you to get to someone else. This was one of the reasons why these meetings kept happening: it was nice to talk to a group of people who didn’t only suffer from the same issue but also people you were relatively sure weren’t just there to try and get closer to Jake.

“Any positive stories?” Reika asked, trying to focus on the good stuff.

“I got one! My former supervisor, who just came back from an assignment a week ago, keeps inviting me out for drinks and asking to chat. This was the same girl who just a decade ago made fun of me for not landing any big fish in the net,” Irin said, shaking her head as she displayed a proud smile. “I still remember when she spent three full hours bragging about getting with this young scion from some big Beastfolk tribe while throwing in jabs asking me who I managed to snatch up recently. Not a single comment from her for the last week, and I even purposefully keep bumping into her.”

“Devilish,” Izil chuckled. “Speaking of devilish… you said you had a skill selection coming up. Did you… you know?”

“Get an option related to Jake? No,” Irin waved her off, smiling. “I got three total. Two for my race and one for my profession.”

“And?” Reika questioned.

picked one of

said with a deapan

me. It isn’t like I am the only

“Still,” Reika sighed.

two weeks? I am at thirteen,” Irin said. “Down from last week. I think people

of them in-person too, with half

think they get that I don’t actually know the Chosen, like,

eight; I think the fact I have a fiance back home got around,” Izil smiled. “I don’t

proudly. “I rejected all of them… especially this

eyes turned to the final girl

“Meira?”

“I don’t…”

said. “It

“… nine-hundred and five…”

for a moment before Irin began

accidentally let

smiled. “I

what they were

them out, along with factions that wanted meetings to establish a connection, naturally with the goal of recruiting them. Oh, and the odd ones, like this weird guy who just wanted Scarlett to bite

a survivor of knowing Jake

hard at dealing with everything Jake’s identity as the

the large table. “I heard a demonstration recently got a bit

beastfolk who preferred to live closer to the ocean, and the locals didn’t exactly take to this kindly. Especially not when the housing prices rose exponentially for all residences that were seaside, pricing out anyone who wasn’t at least solidly in D-grade,” Arthur explained, shaking his head. “While we managed to quell some of the

handled, or do you need more

the sea, even if they are not close to it. Many of the

this all the time. Even before the mass influx of slaves appeared – an influx that was still ongoing, mind

since the integration, it had become the norm for every City Lord to effectively be the local warlord who made their own rules and laws. While the United City Alliance and other factions did integrate many cities, they didn’t include even close to every single city. Especially

of the council, they had actively made an effort to unite the planet. With the influx of slaves, this only became even more of a priority to make sure fringe factions that opposed this immigration wouldn’t appear without their knowledge. Recently, arrivals from the United Tribes to help assist Miranda had also begun coming, and while they were a great help in expanding the influence of the council, they were also ultimately newcomers, which many native earthlings weren’t

another guy in the room. It was the former leader

thoroughly retired… if by retired one meant having taken up the job of working for the government as an investigator of sorts. Ah, but he was not a leader

beast within human territory since Sylphie. C-grades were still pretty rare on Earth, so this had caused some ruckus, especially as the beast had appeared in a rural village with no other C-grades anywhere nearby. All other C-grades Jake – or now Miranda, having been given

I looked into it, and I don’t think there will be any problems even if we leave him alone,” Phillip shook his head and smiled. “In fact, this beast has apparently been protecting the locals in the area for quite a while and is a bit of a local hero. Plus, he was really nice… though he did seem