Priscilla shifted her right foot in front of her body while letting the rapier hang low beside her leg as she continued to talk.
"So you know why I came to this place."
"I know why most people come here, yes." He then proceeded to turn back to his skewers. "If not for coin, then for fame."
"Then you know what I must do, then."
"Yes. But pray let me finish preparing this food at the very least. I've worked in the fields all day for these meager scraps."
With a brief glance she noticed the skewers were made from green tree branches and sharpened it by burning its tips down before rubbing against stone—much like how wooden arrows were made with the lack of a proper blade for whittling. Scraps of lettuce, tomatoes and bits of meat were dark around the part where they were skewered thanks to the charcoal point.
She narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip around the rapier's handle.
"You'll have plenty to eat in the dungeon."
"This isn't for me, bounty hunter."
"Huh?"
He slowly turned to the entrance of his shack and knocked before raising his voice.
"Eleanor, your food is ready."
At that moment Priscilla flicked her blade closer to her body as she was about to lunge into a thrust, but what came out of the shack wasn't something the knight was expecting to see. A girl, not taller than Priscilla's waist, was wearing a long faded cyan ragged dress. Her long curly blonde hair cascaded down like a makeshift blanket that covered almost all the way down the back of her knees, the big round emerald droopy eyes had a faint glint of happiness to them as well as the quiet smile that followed as she came out of the shack.
"Thank you Dad!" She noticed the knight holding her rapier from the corner of her eyes before turning to the man. "Dad, is she one of your friends?"
He glanced at Priscilla, who was still at loss for words, before replying.
"Yes, my child. She is."
At that moment the knight lowered her blade. Something didn't seem right.
"'Father', can we talk?"
He nodded silently before turning to Eleanor with a skewer in hand.
"Can you eat by yourself?"
"I'm a grown up. I can do it."
He smiled warmly before patting her on the head.
"That's my girl. Here." He gently handed her the skewer and stood up by leaning most of his weight against the wooden door frame of the shack. "Be careful because it's hot, alright?"
"Mhm."
He turned and walked past Priscilla—who followed suit with her blade still in hand. They walked until they were far enough so the little girl couldn't hear their conversation.
Upon turning around, the man was met with Priscilla pointing her rapier at his throat.
"Tell me the truth. Whose child did you abduct this time?"
He looked at the grass around his bare feet and smiled bitterly.
"It has been a long time since I've heard those words." He shook his head and glanced at the girl eating by the campfire. "She is the child of the woman who put a bounty on my head."
"What…?"
"Bounty hunter, let me ask you this. Who does this bounty benefit? You, the system or the victim?"
She narrowed her eyes, but not from anger, but confusion instead.
"What are you talking about…?"
"I am no criminal, all I did up until this point was to protect the one I held most dear. The child that was kidnapped was standing right before your eyes. My Eleanor is proof of my faith."
"The child that was kidnapped…?"
Her narrowed eyes suddenly widened as a revelation struck her. Seeing that she seemed to understand what he meant, he started to chuckle sourly to himself.
"Yes, do you now see why? Fame, wealth, who does this bounty benefit the most?"
She lowered her rapier before sheathing it. In front of her was no criminal. No, that man was a victim himself. She closed her eyes as her blade let out a loud—distinct clink as it fit completely into the scabbard.
"Tell me who framed you."
"I…" He was about to say it but after a deliberate hesitant gasp, he decided to shake his head. "No, this isn't worth your time, bounty hunter. Besides… you would only meet your end if you were to go after them. As long as Eleanor is safe and well. That's all I ask for."
Priscilla let out a quiet long sigh as she looked down to her feet before looking up.
"Very well. Take care, 'Father'."
He nodded slowly.
"You too, child."
She watched him scramble back towards the shack, but before he reached the top, the knight noticed the small child waving goodbye to her to which she responded with a small wave of her own.
She stretched her arms out as fatigue was catching up to her. With a long exasperated sigh she started to make her way back through the slums.
'Well… on the bright side I don't need to save face when returning this unclaimed bounty.' She looked over her shoulder and noticed how happy the child seemed as she was about to step into the alleyway. 'She seemed happy at least…'
Her quiet footsteps and clinking of chainmail filled the dark night alongside the distant noise of critters. The clear night sky was filled with stars that shone brightly like gems in the darkness.
"Heh, I guess bounty hunting isn't really for me-"
Absent-mindly walking around the slums, however, was a mistake on her part as the moment she heard a nearby shuffling of clothes—it was already too late. A thick dagger came from the darkness and hit in the middle of her back—sending a sharp pain up to her head that made the knight quickly spin into a kick that the assailant dodged by slinking into the shadows from a nearby alley.
"Tsk!" She quickly drew her rapier and chased the culprit into the narrow alleyway. To her luck, she was wearing chainmail which stopped the blade from doing more than just bludgeoning her backside. "I was careless…"
Her eyes kept focused on the figure navigating the slums with nimble yet silent steps.
'Maybe an assassin, not as good as Dame Phoebe but still…' Her eyes sharpened as mana started to accumulate around her left wrist. 'Better to take this seriously.'
A light blue glow started to flow from the center of her chest, coiling around her arm and then her wrist where it started to change from gentle blue to a fiery orange—then red alongside a green pulsating aura. That spell was a combination of the most basic ones she had in her arsenal, but considering the lack of space and the proximity of the rundown shacks, she didn't want to risk torching something on fire by accident.
She quickly stopped for a brief moment while extending her left hand towards the back of her attacker.
"Wind Shot Firebolt!"
Wind cracked as the mote of fire rapidly rammed straight into their back, not only lit their clothes ablaze but the sheer power of the impact made them trip forward and fall face first into the mud.
"Gah!"
A low grunt came from the cloaked figure which, on closer inspection, made her realize it was a man roughly her height.
'No need to go easy on him, huh?'
She quickly closed the distance before brandishing her rapier and with two quick strokes she severed both of his achilles' tendons before spinning the rapier and driving the blade through his right hand that was about to reach for mud in order to throw it.
"ARGH!"
"Hurts doesn't it? I can be much rougher if you don't comply." She stomped on his arm with her left foot and yanked the rapier out before flicking the dagger away from his hand with the tip of her blade. "Who sent you?"
"None of your damn business!"
"You know, I pity you." She kicked him in the shoulder, flipping him upside against the mud which put out the fire on his back. "Whoever sent you doesn't know who they are dealing with."
"Ugh, you bitch!"
She yanked him upwards from the collar of his muddy clothes before clocking him across the temple with the bellguard of her rapier—knocking him out cold. Upon letting out an exasperated sigh, she dropped him against the wall of a shack before taking a look around the alleys.
'If there were any more, they probably ran off when they saw me use magic. This isn't good…' She quickly sheathed her blade and grabbed the man by his left wrist. 'Should I report this to the guild or city guard…?'
With hurried steps, she dragged the unconscious man alongside the ground while keeping an eye out for more trouble. Her mind was racing as the man behind her was being dragged through mud, rocks and the occasional dirt bump that would rock his entire body upwards.
"Tsk…" She clicked her tongue. "This is going to give me more trouble than it's worth, I'm sure."
Thankfully most of the people that were around in the central square had now gone to their homes to rest, but those that remained saw Priscilla carry a bloodied hooded man. Many of the vendors that were packing up their goods stopped midway to witness what the supposed adventurer had just brought from the slums.
"Ugh, what the hell…?"
"Did she kill that guy?
"No you idiot, she probably got jumped. Look at her clothes."
Murmurs could be heard in the distance as she was dragging the unconscious man along the paved stone. As the knight stopped in front of the guild, a tired Lucina had just finished her duties when she came across a frightening scene in front of the hall.
"M-Miss Priscilla?! What in the world happened?!"
"It's a long stoy… can I leave this guy in your care?"
"I… um… w-well I'm not even sure where to begin." She put her hand on her forehead as she was definitely not prepared to deal with this at the end of her shift. "Come inside first, please."
With large steps, Priscilla climbed the small step that jerked her assailant's body up as he hit his forehead against the wooden step.
"Ugh…"
Priscilla grunted as she dragged him to the middle of the hall and left him there before taking a seat on a nearby wooden chair from one of the tables. Only after she realized there were still some adventurers in the same hall which made close her eyes shut and shake her head while pinching her nose bridge.
'Ha… I messed up big. I should've brought this trash to the guards instead…'
"First of all, Miss Priscilla, are you alright?" Lucina was carrying a stack of thin papers with her as she approached the knight. "You seem very tired."
"I was walking the entire day and this scum decided to ambush me in the slums." She flicked her head twice towards the unconscious man on the floor. "I couldn't get much information out of him but apparently he's a hired assassin."
Upon saying those words she realized how insane it sounded given the man before her was a bloody mess with mud and crimson red stains trailed alongside his sprawled body in the middle of the hall.
"R-right…" Lucina shifted her attention to the man and then the papers on her hands. "Could I maybe take a look at him? An assassin kind of person seems like one of the bounties we had for claiming."
"Go ahead. I'll stay here in case he wakes up."
After taking another deep breath, the knight stood up and remained beside Lucina. She kneeled down and unceremoniously removed part of the man's cloak in order to inspect him. Her eyes trailed from the bloody temple to his stabbed right hand that was starting to pool red against the lighter colored floor.
"Oh… he's still bleeding." The receptionist murmured before standing up. "Give me a second, I'll get a healer. We don't really want him bleeding out here in the middle of the hall."
"Sure."
In the meantime, the other adventurers present started to talk amongst themselves.
"Isn't she the copper adventurer from the other day?"
"The one with the kid? Yeah, that's her alright."
"Was she the one who did that on him? She doesn't look much of a fighter."
Priscilla remained quiet with her arms crossed. Her occasional glance towards the door expecting a group of guards to come was well warranted but it never came to pass as Lucina not only had time to patch the guy up but also match his appearance with one of the records for a bounty.
"Miss Priscilla. Tell me the truth." The receptionist looked over her shoulder with widened eyes. "Were you the one who did this to him?"
"Hm? Yeah, I had to. He tried to stab me in the back with a dagger."
"I… I don't know what to tell you…" She swallowed dry before standing up with both her hands clenched on the papers. "You caught the man nicknamed Black Assassin. One of the most notorious individuals in Arivaul."
Priscilla remained quiet for a few more seconds before she finally blinked a few times and replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh?"