The glow of twilight illuminated the lonely mud roads of Troken as a boy stained by blood and dirt walked the path with a bloodied lady on his back.
The ground squished under his feet and the evening breeze of Troken wafted against his closed wounds. Perhaps, another person wouldn't be crazy enough to carry a random demon hunter to their home but Kael wasn't just any other person.
She would soon wake up, and he wanted his face to be the first thing she saw when she woke up. He wanted her to know that he was the one who saved her. That way, he would gain the favor of a veteran demon hunter, and in turn, he would be able to benefit from her. If all went well, she might be able to make up for the loss of an upper predator rank corpse.
In hopes that she would wake up before he got home, he walked slowly. That way, if she turned out to be some psychopath who wanted to kill him, he would be able to run away while she was very weak, and Lilly would also be safe.
Her necklace emitted a soft glow that slowly healed her wounds. She had stopped bleeding some time ago, so Kael believed she would wake up any moment now.
I hope Lilly's okay.
Lilly could hardly move by herself which made leaving her alone a risk. He doubted anything would happen, though—or at least he hoped so. Her condition made her require only one meal a day so Kael didn't have to worry about her diet too much.
He would have loved to show Iris his haul, the pack leader's body parts were definitely more valuable than the blood wolf's corpse he had brought the previous day. But he was too exhausted to do any—
"Hmm." The woman on his back groaned and shifted uncomfortably.
Kael promptly stopped and placed her on the ground with her back against a tree and waited for her eyes to open, which they did, albeit, very slowly.
With great effort, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the boy who had been carrying her for quite some time.
"You saved me?" she asked in a very low, broken voice. Kael nodded, affirming her suspicion.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Is it safe around here?"
"Yeah, this is my town," Kael replied
"That's really nice." She closed her eyes once more and her head slumped, signifying her return to the dream realm.
Kael just stood there with his mouth agape staring blankly at the lady who hadn't even given him a name before going back to sleep.
At the very least she wasn't hostile; although even if she was, she would be too weak to do anything.
He shook his head and picked her up, heading for his home.
"Who's that?"
If anything, Kael hadn't expected Iris to be standing just outside his home. For some reason, he hadn't noticed her until she spoke, and his brain was frantically looking for a way to explain the person on his back without exposing himself.
"I—is that a demon hunter?" She asked, noticing the sigil on her dress. Iris stepped back in shock. "Kael, why do you have an unconscious hunter with you?"
"Look, I can explain." He motioned for her to calm down.
Demon hunters were rare in these parts, and their appearance usually spelled trouble for the people, as getting on their nerves could end in genocide.
Before he could explain any further, the lady whom he had presumed to be unconscious opened her eyes in an instant and leapt off Kael's back, almost pushing him to the floor.
He was shocked momentarily, not expecting the same person who had nearly died a few hours ago to have so much agility. He had clearly underestimated her.
"You were awake all this time." Kael blurted out without thinking.
She just nodded with her head held low.
"Who is that, Kael?" Iris asked once more.
"She's… a hunter I saved."
"Saved?" she raised an eyebrow.
This time it was the hunter who replied, "Yes, he saved my life. He also killed the monster that wiped out my entire team.
"I owe him a great deal, so please don't hold it against him."
Iris' gaze lingered on the woman for a while before she said to Kael, "You got a lot of explaining to do kid."
He let out a frustrated sigh, this was what he wanted to avoid.
"But first, let's all go inside and have a proper discussion."
Following Iris' lead, they all went in, and the hunter told them about her situation over a cup of tea that Iris had originally brewed for Lilly. As for Lilly she was sound asleep and had no idea of what was going on in the living room.
As it turned out, she wasn't an actual demon hunter, but rather an aspirant who was completing her second year of hunter's college. Their final exam had been for their team to retrieve the remains of a predator-ranked monster.
Under normal circumstances, this was supposed to be done under the supervision of a lecturer, but one of her teammates had suggested that they leave the supervised forest that contained only lower-class predators and go into an actual forest and hunt an upper-class predator.
Glenda—that was her name—had agreed to the proposition as that would be the only way she could rank at the top of the class. If she could get the highest rank for her class then she would have a chance of getting noticed by the royal family. She was of royal blood but it was too diluted to get her any benefits.
Sadly, she had greatly underestimated the strength of an upper-class predator. The blood wolves in particular, were a stronger species in general. Not only had all her teammates perished in the fight, but she herself would also have died if not for the intervention of Kael.
"If only I wasn't so greedy *sob* they might still be alive *sob*." She spoke through tears as Iris held her in a bid to comfort her.
"It's not your fault; there was nothing you could do about it."
"I could have done something." Her whispers were drowned by her cries.
Kael stared at the awkward scene, not knowing what to do. His plan had previously been to use the fact that he saved her to get as many benefits from her as possible. But from the looks of it, he doubted she even had anything to give him.
A bit unnerved he decided to leave the living room for both of them; he doubted his presence was needed here.
He went into Lilly's rooms and sat on an old chair beside the bed. He spent the next few minutes watching her sleep—so serene and peaceful—until Iris barged in with an exhausted expression.
"She fell asleep." She moved to the window and leaned on the wall beside it.
"Mind explaining what you were doing in the blood wolves' territory?"
He sighed and gave her an almost true summary of how he had wound up there.
"So you mean to tell me you were going to the hunting woods and you heard a scream from the demon woods. And because of that, you made the stupid decision to go in all by yourself and try to 'save' whoever was screaming?"
"Yeah, and I was able to save her." He nodded affirming her statement. "I also got a little something from the trip." Kael fished out his supplies bag that was still stained with blood and threw it to her.
Iris caught it and furrowed her brow before inspecting its contents.
Her eyes continued to widen as she stared into it. "You got all this from the wolf?"
"Yep, I could have gotten more but there was no time."
"This is enough, this is more than enough." She paused and closed her eyes as if making up her mind. "Kael, if we sell this, we'll not only be able to heal your sister, but there'll also be enough left for you to take the hunter college exam."
She paused, allowing him to fully comprehend what she had said, then continued, "The next exam is taking place in three days, if we head to the city tomorrow and you get your class, you might be able to take it. Seeing as you killed a Predator, I doubt you will fail. And even if you do, I'm sure Glenda can find a way to get you in."
"Well, I didn't exactly kill the pack leader—"
"The decision is yours; do you want to take the exam?"