Chapter 107: Poachers

Inside Paul's makeshift house, Ciaran was dissecting a carcass of a penguin. The environmentalist was closely watching behind him.

The boy had proposed to become his assistant when they were back in the camping zone, and the man had agreed, but first, he demanded a demonstration of skill.

"The specimen was killed by piercing its lungs full of holes. There is no sign of damage to the epidermis so I have to conclude this was done by an ethereal force. Since the bird is only of Rank Three, I highly doubt this was done by a Warrior, they tend to focus more on the force, and less on precision." He bagan his analisis.

The old man didn't miss how he called Warriors 'they' indicating that the boy didn't see himself as someone of that profession. As a Grand Mage and a scholar, Paul agreed with his self-assessment.

The boy was prone to cold analytical thinking. He never fought at a disadvantage, and if he had to he either ran away or manipulated things so he could create a more advantageous stage for himself.

'Most kids his age, hell, even most of the Hunters here tend to think violence solves everything. They think every fight is won by the person with the bigger fist, but, as the kid likes to say, they are fools. If you can't outfight your opponents, you have to outsmart them, and the kid has that down to a T.'

"I resent that! I am as precise as you Rony, even more so in close combat." Diana protested.

She still wore her armor when they were with the old man, helmet and all, but at least she had stopped pretending to be mute. Unlike Ciaran's mask, her helmet didn't have a voice-changing option, so until recently, she only talked when it was necessary.

"First, the fact you bring 'close combat' into this just proves my point. And second, you are an exception, not the norm, or do you think all Rank Four Warriors could take on a dozen people of their rank without breaking a sweat?" He asked playfully.

Usually, the old man would chastise his students and assistants for getting distracted during an autopsy, but the kid could hold a conversation, not even look, and still perform quick precise, and perfect cuts on his specimen. It was honestly creeping the old man out.

Both of his guests were abnormal, but at least the girl had the decency to exert the aura of an irregular. The boy seemed as ordinary as one could get. He even went out and gathered a bunch of spices from the other hunters.

Out of the three of them, he was the most social and the most well-liked by the community. Which was nothing but a joke to Paul, as he knew the boy was one of the biggest misanthropes he had ever met.

The story he presented to the Hunter community was that he was a chef on a journey to cook irregular food. No one believed his nonsense at first, but after he shared a few meals with them, they all begged the old man for an invitation to his dinner table.

Things had gotten so out of hand, that now Hunters were going back to the human world to recruit chefs of their own.

No one wanted to eat bland, tasteless food, but similarly, they didn't have the time to learn how to cook. Even the other three had come by to check the boy's cooking abilities. The necromancer came once a month, he was polite and paid them with knowledge.

Ciaran and Diana were curious about necromancy, while Paul wanted to study some of the moving carcasses. Overall the environmentalist liked the Dead Grand Mage the most.

The priest was also plight, but no one liked him. He always babbled on and on about the Empire's patron God, and how great spreading his word felt. The holy man came once a week, but to this day, they had only made the mistake to let him in once.

As annoying as the Light Grand Mage was the pugilist was the biggest annoyance they suffered by far. He came every day, and unlike everyone else, he didn't ask for permission to eat with them. Paul had tried to look at the door, but he just tore it down. They tried hiding in the wild, but he just found them and ate with them anyway. Talking him out of it was a no-go either. So in the end they gave up and counted him as their unofficial fourth member.

Soon it became apparent he knew who the boy was. He even hinted that he knew who Diana was, but he kept it secret, so Paul wouldn't find out.

"I don't care. Do what you want, politics don't interest me, I came here to hunt. " Is what he told the kids.

The man was a vagabond and a Rank Seven Warrior. When he said he didn't care about them, he meant it. But he was human too, and as such he chose to eat good food since the option was there.

The only time they had peace was when the man went out hunting. He only came back a few days later, demanding more food.

"Shall we go and deal with the killer, I haven't fought with a mage before. If it is a Mage tho, the honor is all yours old man." Ciaran told him.

He was met with a sneer from the environmentalist, but no protests, so they set off.

Tracking the culprit wouldn't be hard. They found the carcass of the penguin floating down a river, and when they went to investigate they found traces of a great battle taking place there.

Forty penguins were dead, and about two hundred hunters were dead alongside them. There was no doubt the number of dead birds was much higher, but the surviving hunters probably took them back to their camp.

Using his wind, he traced the smell that was all over the battlefield. When the smell mixed with the smells in the forest tho, the old man stepped in and asked the trees for directions. It was weird to see, but the boy talked to both the wind and water, while Diana had long-lasting conversations with the moon.

The trio didn't hide their hobby of talking to their elements, and most people thought the old man had infected them with his bizarreness.

Soon they found the camp, but they didn't like what they saw. Hundreds of Hunters were gathered there. It was nothing like the unofficially official camps but it was still fortified, and packed with rankers. Not only that, but they also knew that this camp had mages as well.

"What do we do now? Even I can't deal with so many people. If we ask that blockhead for help, he probably can, but I highly doubt he would bother with ants like those." Paul said.

He was furious with the group. He didn't mind when the Hunter hunted animals, but when they hunted a group to extinction that would cause harm in the long term. Not to mention they were considered one of the species that was not a solution to humanity's food problems. Their diet made them high in mercury and as such mundane humans wouldn't be able to eat them for long before they suffered from health-related problems.

They were hunted for sport and for their pelts, which would make fashionable accessories and sold for a high amount on the black market. Basically, this was a camp of poachers.

"Well, I have two ideas on how to deal with these pests. One requires us to find and talk to a Ranger, and then we make snacks and watch the show." He joked.

Diana shook her head. Her seniors could be encountered but not searched for. They came and went wherever and whenever they pleased, and as a sort of Junior Ranger, her handler was her grandfather who could not and would not help them.

"Well if that is not an option for you, then I suppose there is nothing else to do but to bite the bullet and go for plan B." He said with a dramatic sigh.

Both the old man and Diana frowned. They knew this brat well enough to know that when he said something dramatic like this he was preparing the stage for a storm.

"We can't ask our fellow Hunters to help, because, just like us, they are all just a bunch of selfish assholes right? So, I propose we cross the Tundra, and get ourselves a bunch of patriotic Aurorians to come and deal with the evil Novarians. As long as we provide them with sufficient evidence of what the poachers are doing, the Empire can't make any complaints to the Kingdom." He said with a grin, they couldn't see it under his mask, but they knew the bastard was grinning.

"That's right, I propose we commit high treason, and sell out our countrymen." He answered their silent question.