The hunt begins

The sound of someone screaming woke him from his sleep, only to find himself hanging from the tree as the fingers of the gauntlet held on tightly to the tree. He looked down to see three people looking up at him; the three wore simple leather armor and were armed.

"Are you dead?" One asked; seeing him open his eyes, Charlotte took a second to realize his predicament. He struggled to pull the fingers of the gauntlet from the tree and jump down.

He was worried he had been asleep long but could feel his chi barely filling slightly. It had, at most, been a few minutes. Why did he pass out?

One of them stepped up, looking at his wounded arm; it had stopped bleeding for now, which didn't make sense if he had just been asleep for a few minutes. The sun hadn't finished setting, so it shouldn't have already stopped bleeding. He had streaks of blood running down his arm and blood covering his gauntlets.

"You need help covering that wound; if you don't, it's gonna get infected." Charlotte nodded as the man reached into his bag, pulled some bandages, and wrapped them around his arm. 

The man covering his arm in bandages looked to be in his forties or fifties; he had wrinkles under his blue eyes, and his golden hair was graying slightly. He was also fit, as a sword was hanging from his side. He didn't recognize the design or logo on the guard, so it couldn't have been from someone in his town.

The other two were similar; their faces, hair color, and eyes looked identical. The most significant difference was their build. One of them was taller than the older man, and he was highly fit as a sword hung at his side, similar to the man beside him, except he also had a shield hanging from his back. The other was smaller but still taller than Charlotte. He was still fit, but it wasn't comparable between him and the man. A bow was in his hand with a quiver of arrows on his back. The two were most likely twins, while the man before him was their leader, but why were they here... Were they hunting just like him?

He was about to speak, but the man cut him off as he spoke first.

"So what are you doing out here? I'm sure you know it's dangerous, considering your arm." The man's tone was calm but reminded him of when his dad reprimanded him.

"Well, I was hunting a deer till a couple of wolves attacked me. Why are you guys here?" He tried to sound as polite as possible, the man stepping away from him as he finished bandaging his arm. He tried moving his injured arm, and although he could manage some pain, he didn't have to worry about training with one hand.

"We are here to take care of that wolf problem. We are sorta passing through this town before heading to the capital, but some people were complaining of wolf attacks, and we figured we might as well get rid of it before we leave." He turned to look at the guy holding a bow and gave him a slight nod; the man nodded and walked away, heading toward the dead deer from before. 

"Well, I killed one of the wolves before retreating up here. Didn't you guys manage to kill them while they were under me?" 

As he spoke, he began noticing a strange occurrence that made him a bit more worried; whenever his mind wandered slightly, his chi would move on its own toward his wound. He knew it was most likely trying to heal it, but now he was beginning to doubt he was asleep for a few minutes. He tried to help and move his chi towards his wound to hasten the healing process; it was an excellent way to train his control over it anyway.

"Sadly, they were gone by the time we arrived; the tracks on the ground suggest they left an hour or two ago. You blacked out, so you probably didn't notice." 

He sounded concerned, giving him another look over. Charlotte wanted to move past that subject quickly; they might try to hurt him if they found out how he had been fine.

"Well, don't worry, I'm fine; I'm just going to take the wolf I killed back to the town and rest up." He chirped and tried to walk away but finally looked towards the field. The body of the wolf he had killed was gone; the bloody grass was the only inclination of the body that had been there.

"W-wha...where did it go?" He wanted to sit down and cry; all that work and he didn't even have anything to take back.

The man inspecting the body and the ground near the deer spoke up calmly.

"Someone else likely took it; I see other human tracks around the area, and they seemed to have left towards your town. Sorry." His tone didn't give any inclination of sincerity as he stood up and gestured for the other two.

"Sorry, you got your kill stolen, kid. Head back home and try again tomorrow." The man responded, walking towards the other near the corpse. The final one, wearing a shield, gave him a pat on the back and sprinted over.

He was tried, both physically and mentally. He wasn't about to let himself return home without having caught a thing. Although he had caught a fish, he could have called it a victory. But he refused to be satisfied with such a small one.

"No, I ain't done. I will go after those wolves, and don't call me a kid. I'm at least as old as those two!" He responded in a frustrated tone, walking over to see what they were looking at.

The three exchanged glances, the man with the shield seemingly holding back laughter as he covered his mouth.

"Kid, these guys are eighteen years old. I understand wanting to act a bit older, but this is reckless."

Charlotte looked at him, insulted by what he was insinuating; he knew his short stature was a problem. But he had never been confused for a kid.

"I am eighteen like them; just cause I'm short doesn't mean I'm young. I'm a blacksmith in town, damn it!" 

The older man and the one with the shield looked confused and then shocked. The archer remained composed as he shook his head.

"Can we start moving? Let him come If he wants. We won't be responsible if he dies; besides, if he killed a wolf, we could use some help." 

The older man seemed to be contemplating the choice, while the one with a shield walked over and tried to poke his cheek. Charlotte swatted his hand away before he could, and he looked utterly devasted.

"Fine, you can come along. However, as he said, we won't be responsible for your well-being. I'm Adam, by the way. That idiot is Gabe, and the archer is Giles."

He pulled Gabe back and gave him a stern look; Gabe looked offended as he turned away and grinned. Adam shook his head and rubbed his temples before looking back up at Charlotte, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"I'm Charlotte. Can we start moving before it gets dark? I would prefer not to sleep in the woods."

Giles seemed to agree as he took off running through the field; Adam and Gabe, wasting no time, ran behind him. Charlotte was slightly surprised by how quickly they took off as he ran behind them.