Arrival

Kusana hopped off of the boat with vigor in his step. While on the boat, the captain of the ship gave him a hint that he had to go to the giant pine tree at the top of the mountain next to the city.

Kusana could tell that the small amount of money he had would only last him a day, so he bought a sandwich filled with nutritional value and decided to head towards the pine tree immediately.

Despite his desire to befriend the group of three from before, Kusana knew he had a job to do and he wouldn't allow himself to get attachments to people he might never see again. It would be foolish to follow them like a lost dog while trying to accomplish something on his own.

So, Kusana began his journey towards the giant pine tree.

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Kusana entered a ghost town on his way to the tree. The road only had one direction through the city. The path was littered with broken bottles and withered papers. All of the buildings were boarded up.

Despite there being no sign of life, Kusana could tell that there was some presence inside the town. His trained instinct led him to believe that there was something watching him, although without malicious intent.

Just as Kusana was about halfway through, a group of indigenous people. They all had various colored hair, but shared one major trait. They all wore a tan gas mask that connected to a long tan cloak that covered everything but their hair.

There was only one person not wearing the cloak. It was a short, hunched old lady who seemed to be respected as the leader. Kusana raised his eyebrow in confusion. It was hard to judge what would happen.

"The excitement…" The old lady muttered.

"Excuse me, can you speak u-"

"TIME FOR THE MIND-BOGGLING CHOICE QUIZ!!!" The lady shouted with an unknown vigor. Kusana held his ears because of how loud it was.

"You going to that pine tree up there?" She didn't gesture, but Kusana could tell what she was talking about. "You'll have to go through this town to get there."

"I already am…" Kusana almost said out loud.

"The other trails lead to ferocious magical beasts. I will pose a single question…" The short lady held up a singular finger. "And give you but five seconds to answer."

"Okay, what's the questio-"

"STOP! Wait until I'm finished." The old lady burst Kusana's eardrums again. "Answer incorrectly and you fail. No hunter's license for you this year."

"You must answer with a 1 or 2. Say anything else, however clever, and you will be wrong. Here's the question…" Kusana gulped and got ready for whatever was thrown at him.

"Someone close to you intentionally led you to misfortune, but if they didn't, you would have had a much worse fate. Would you, 1. Take revenge, or 2. Forgive them and move on."

Kusana didn't expect to get hit with a hard question. Although the group seemed pretty eccentric, he expected some normal questionnaire like where he was from, or how he got here. Not some kind of philosophical interview.

"5"

He thought about his two options honestly. If this was meant to test how he would respond, this information would likely go somewhere. He had to choose the best possible looking answer, but both of them looked bad.

"4"

The first option made him look like a spiteful loser, but the second made him look like a wimpy loser. Both situations made him look bad under a scrutinizing eye. Kusana couldn't even specify what he did because saying anything else other than 1 or 2 would result in him being turned away.

"3"

Kusana focused more. If Kamino had decided to send him here instead of somewhere else, there had to be a point to it. This test was meant to test his capabilities outside of being in a controlled area. But this wasn't as much of a test as a mission. He remembered her specific words were, "bring back a hunter's license" not that he needed to get perfect marks on the Hunter's Exam.

"2"

So, this brought him to the question: Did he answer honestly what his heart felt, or try to look good? There was no way to actually get "perfect marks" on this question as there was no right or wrong answer. The question was so constricting that there had to be no answer.

"1"

"That's it!" Kusana almost shouted. There was no answer. Kusana fell on his butt, finally settling on this conclusion.

"Beeeeeeeep. Time's up." She imitated an alarm clock. The tension in the air made no apparent change to the old lady's demeanor as she continued to take her time.

"You had the correct answer." Kusana breathed a sigh of relief after that, making circles in the ground with his finger.

"This is the real passageway through the city. No obstructions lie here. You'll get to the summit in about 2 hours."

Kusana picked himself up from the floor as the group dispersed back throughout the village, waiting for the next group of hunters to come by.

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Short chapter, so double upload!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also because I forgor to hit publish last week 💀