The Primal Hunter

Mission: Mysterious Organization Double-Agent Infiltration went much more smoothly than Jake had expected. After he left the Baron’s place, Jake went and just relaxed in the city for a day as he sat down and did a bit more crafting. After this day, he left the city again, still disguised as a scalekin.

Once a good distance away, and when he was sure no one was watching, he changed himself back to looking like – and Identifying as – a human before flying back toward the city with his stealth skill active while also wearing his usual getup. Once he got close to the mid-sized city again, Jake dispelled his stealth skill while still flying up in the air, instantly feeling many gazes on him.

This time, he showed no subtlety but just flew into the city. During the conversation with the mysterious hooded figure, the person had told him to go to the Guild and say that he had lost the package during transportation, and while Jake wasn’t a fan of doing that, the Baron and Duke assured him they would still report the job as completed successfully to not impact Jake’s reputation negatively.

However, as it turned out, this wasn’t even necessary…

Shortly after Jake entered the Guild, and before he even had a chance to approach one of the employees, a regular-looking guy sitting off to the side of the room sent him a telepathic message.

”Excuse me, you’re a Courier, right? Might you be coming out of Hillspring City? I have an aunt living there, and I heard some bad news…”the person said. Disregarding how weird it was to send a telepathic message to say something like that, Jake knew this was just a probing question.

”I am indeed. The trip was long, but when you have an important delivery to an even more important client, you cannot slack off too much,” Jake replied. ”One in high places, both figuratively and literally.”

”You have arrived earlier than I expected,” the person said when he affirmed Jake was the one. ”I am here representing a mutual friend. Please play along.”

Due to the speed of telepathy, Jake had barely entered the Guild as the man sitting close to the door stood up and opened his arms wide. ”Bloody hell, you’re finally here! Lizzy has been on my ass since she heard you were coming. Good to see you, buddy.”

The man went over and dragged Jake into a hug, Jake naturally playing along. ”You know how it is with work and everything. Can’t always know my schedule ahead of time, but hey, I’m here, aren’t I?”

”That you are! Now, let’s get going before she rips both of us a new one!”

Jake did as asked and nodded as the two walked out together while making idle chatter. No one seemed to care about the reunion of two old friends, and Jake and the other guy quickly got away from the Guild as they headed toward a large mansion close to the outer walls, no one following them.

The man Jake had met was barely C-grade, and someone Jake later came to learn was pretty much just a middleman who worked for a wealthy lady – Lizzy - in the mansion. However, in order to appear less suspicious, the two of them acted as if they were in a relationship. These were the first two people Jake met, who he confirmed were part of this organization, even if they were auxiliary members who pretty much carried out direct orders without questions while knowing pretty much nothing about the organization that employed them.

Once in the mansion, Lizzy and the man introduced themselves and, after some probing questions, fully confirmed Jake was who he said he was. Jake was subsequently led into a cellar beneath the mansion, where he was left alone with a token and surrounded by quite a powerful barrier. One definitely not made by the two C-grades living there.

Down in the cellar, Jake activated the small token the pretend-couple had given him, and soon after, a familiar hodded figure appeared.

”I am glad to see you are reasonable, not only in your decision to take us up on the offer but by not delaying your arrival needlessly,”the figure said right away, not even saying hello or anything.

in a relaxed pose. Very purposefully, mind you. He had been fronting himself as a powerful individual with this organization before,

I thought I might as well get things done quicker this

hope you continue to make wise choices,” the figure answered. ”Now, could you confirm the nature of the

looked directly into where he suspected the eyes of the hooded figure would be. ”I am right now stuck between two factions. Some nobleman Baron, and a shadowy organization that has been semi-threatening me from the get-go. I am entirely neutral toward this Baron as

a few seconds, they spoke again. ”Very well… how

”Fuck all,” Jake shrugged.

allow me to

the last two days as the figure explained most of the same things the Duke of Flames had. It mentioned how it was a big family, how their patriarch was a duke and near the peak of A-grade, and how their Path included consuming – thus killing – elementals as part of their Path. Of course, the tone of the explanation was a lot different than the

It was clear they didn’t like the family at all. Fact-wise, things were pretty

Duke of Flames and the actions of his vile spawn. They are a scourge upon this world, and cleansing it of their presence would be a blessing,” the figure finished. ”As for details…

Royal Road; report any instances of

was a contractor, not an employee, so the person who hired him wasn’t allowed to say jack-shit about how Jake did things, and he wanted to make it very clear

which he had re-cast a stable arcane barrier on. Quickly erasing the barrier, the shadowy figure used Identify on the item, confirming its

indeed,” the figure said with a nod. ”Thank you for trusting us with this… but before we continue, may I ask you. If you were to choose between supporting the dukedom that I told you about or

discern lies. At least the figure tried to find out if Jake was lying using it, naturally failing upon encountering Shroud. It would under usual circumstances, that is, but this time around, Jake let it go through as his honest answer was one he was

the most. I became a Courier to challenge myself and to gain as much recognition as possible as I grow my reputation and rank. Who I work for doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things as long as I benefit,” Jake answered genuinely. Of course, he didn’t include the part where he only did all this to get a lot of Nevermore Points and a great Grand Achievement, but hey, they didn’t

precedence, I see… but let me ask. What do you think of elementals?

can’t tell you how I feel about an elemental before meeting them, now can I? People are different, and I am sure some

pro-elemental and cared a lot about them, so making himself appear sympathetic toward them would prove beneficial. Also, it was pretty easy to say he didn’t have anything against elementals, considering

people… I hope you realize how

casual demeanor. ”I mean, considering I have a niece of sorts who is an elemental, it would be very weird

technically, Sylphie wasn’t just an elemental but a weird mix between beast and elemental, but that did make her

a bit more about who we are and what we stand for, and with this explanation, you will understand who

kind either, but the type to actively try and kill every single member of the dukedom in what they felt was a justified position. The figure even explained how killing anyone who helped the dukedom in any way was the right thing to do. Even if that help only came in

Jake learned that the ”inconsequential challenges” the Duke of Flames talked about them doing for nearly a century were things like this elemental rights organization slaughtering thousands of E and even some D-grades in the Duke’s territory in what were effectively

about. He only started to care when the organization began to mess with his ability to collect rare elemental variants. Oh, by the way, rare variants tended to also be the sapient sort and not the regular mindless

he had learned about this scenario was true, Jake reached

They both fucking sucked.

Jake was not in the Challenge Dungeon to pass judgment, and he was in no position to. At least not