Argonn grumbled angrily when he felt someone pushing him.

  “Get up you lout. You slept long enough.” A mustached man standing behind the bar demanded as he continued to shove Argonn.

  Lifting up his head, memories of last night flooded his brain. He had stopped in this tavern for a drink trying to mask his stale life with alcohol.

  As one of the world’s most famous hunters, Argonn had captured everything from an albino squirrel for a noble, all the way to a rare species of bird that lived near a volcano. There wasn’t much left in the world that interested him. No scary monsters or interesting targets. The last of which had killed each other. “Damn Genesis for taking my prey.” He muttered to himself as the barkeeper gave him a stern look while tapping on the counter. “I’m going. I’m going. Relax that stache’ I’m leaving.”

  Getting up from his seat at the bar. Argonn rested a hand on his head fighting the headache that commonly occurred after a long night of drinking. He squinted his eyes as he stumbled outside, the bright morning light bearing down on him as the busy noise of Gildale filtered in more clearly.

  More or less walking normally though still partially blinded by the sudden change in light, Argonn found himself eventually wandering into Gildale’s central market. He bought himself a meat skewer and continued walking. Bits of conversation reaching him.

  “Did you know? Albert bought flowers…”

  “Have you seen the new…”

  “Two cryst! Two crystal for this delicious…”

  “Can you believe the guards let an armed Fereece in…”

  “I’m so broke. I lost all that money. My wife is…”

  Pausing mid bite on his skewer, Argonn stopped walking. “An armed Fereece?” He looked around trying to pinpoint who was talking about it, but with how crowded the market was. There was no possible way he could. An armed Fereece walking around a large city like Gildale was unheard of. If someone had been casually talking about it. It was very likely that more people would know. With nothing else better to do, Argonn started asking people for rumors on this supposed Fereece that was travelling around the city.

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  As he began asking, it was very evident that there was indeed a Fereece the city. What’s more, it was a female, and they wielded a sword and shield. Almost immediately the thought of Lucina came to his haggard mind. It was too coincidental. He knew without a doubt that Lucina was dead.

  Continuing to gather information, he learned of the other travelling with the Fereece. An elementalist, but a really young one. What the relationship between the two was anyone’s guess, but he now had a solid image of what he was targeting.

  A silvery-white haired Fereece warrior travelling with a young dark brown-haired elementalist. Seeing as how so many people had reported actually seeing them, it was safe to assume that they were not making any attempts to hide their identity.

  Walking through the central market, Argonn immediately spotted his target. Across the street from him, a silver haired Fereece and a dark brown-haired human had walked out of the recently renamed Adventurer Guild. Behind his target also walked out a knight in white armor and a cleric who was most likely a part of the Scarlet Clinic from her garb.

  Focusing on the Fereece, he saw the tell-tale white and blue dress that had burned in his mind the past few decades. He found himself quickly approaching them as if he was being controlled by some unknown force.

  So focused was his mind, Argonn tripped over a wheelbarrow toppling the poor man’s brussel sprouts all over the street. “My sprouts!” He exclaimed as he gave Argonn an annoyed look and began frantically collecting what he could before it got trampled underfoot.

  Coming back to his senses and realizing what had just happened. He thanked the sprout trader and quickly disappeared back into the crowd moving for a vantage point where he could easily spy on the unique duo. Leaving the disgruntled townperson completely confused as to why he was thanked for spilling his produce.

  Finding another bench under a tree with direct line of sight he took a seat. His mind was racing. Thinking about how he luckily avoided making one of the biggest mistakes of his life by spilling brussel sprouts of all things. When hunting a creature, it was best to keep your interest and presence secret while you studied them. It was such a basic concept of hunting, that he was actually mad at himself for completely disregarding this core aspect.

  He had found his target, and while she looked identical to Lucina, her hair and fur were silver. “Was it possible that Lucina had a child before she died?” He had so many thoughts crossing his mind, that he actually found it difficult to focus on the task at hand. Stalking his prey.