The Bounty Hunter

June 20th, 2088

I walked past the gates of Malkith, following the crowd of travelers and merchants flooding into the city.  Malkith was a port city on the western coast of the Darkmoon Queendom.  It was a prosperous place and also home to a thriving blackmarket.  Alfenox was clearly here for the blackmarket but he obviously didn’t realize that he would have no luck selling the sword.  No fence would dare try to sell a sword emblazoned with the Fell family crest for fear of reprisal.  The sword was a high level magic artifact, so removing the crest would be impossible without a decent wizard.  

Thus, Alfenox would have to search for a private buyer who would be able to solve that problem.  That’s a tall task and one that would take a long time, so I don’t have to worry about him skipping town soon.  Before I go searching for him however, I need to meet with this Veronica so we don’t work opposed to each other.  Ideally, I’ll just give her a heads-up and we’ll go our separate ways.  Then I can use magic freely to quickly track down Alfenox and finish this job before something bad happens. 

I arrived at the inn where she was staying at.  I never was given her description so I was going to ask the innkeeper, but then I noticed a hooded woman in the corner eating a meal.  Her face was obscured to some extent, but I could tell that she was probably a dark elf and her gear was all top quality.  The outfit screamed “Noble person trying to be incognito” and her table manners were flawless which was completely out of place in this run-down inn.  All nobles in the Darkmoon Queendom are dark elves, so it was obvious that this was Veronica.  “So she seems to be a relative of the Fell House, nevertheless what an amateur.” I thought to myself as I approached her. 

I sat down opposite to her and calmly slid over the bounty sheet I had received from Prime Minister Fell that had his signature.  “I’ve been hired by the Prime Minister to bring back Alfenox and the sword Nightrage.  I stopped by to let you know in order to avoid conflict.”  I didn’t wait for a response before getting up to leave.  At that moment, “CLANG!!!” Veronica had jumped up and stabbed at me with her estoc at a blinding speed.  The clang was from me deflecting her sword with one of my ninjato.  There was a brief pause as we looked at each other.  “You seem competent, good.  But surely you aren’t planning on going without me?” Veronica spoke with a clear, cold voice. 

Her hood had fallen off with her thrust, allowing me to see her face clearly.  She had a near divine-like beauty, with flawless light caramel skin and long shining silver hair.  She had luscious purple lips with pale violet eyes on a perfectly sculpted face.  Age-wise she appeared to be about 17 and since elves age like humans do at a 10 to 1-year ratio until they reach adulthood she must be 170 years old.  After adulthood, elves maintain their youthful looks.  But unlike many elves, she had a prominent chest which combined with her slender and curvy figure to make her even more dangerously attractive.  Normally even I would be enchanted with her looks for a moment, but I noticed something more shocking. 

Her eyes had an empty look to them that I was all too familiar with.  It’s similar to the look I had right after Hafor, where I just didn’t give a damn about anything for a long while.  I felt a strange feeling of comradery and connection with this girl.  “I don’t work with others, especially not amateurs.”  I replied emotionlessly. 

At those words, Veronica finally seemed to notice that when I had used one ninjato to deflect her blade I had drawn the other one with my spare hand and pointed it at her waist simultaneously.  Her face was still expressionless like a statue, but I noticed a slight tinge of red appearing on her long pointed ears.  So she still has feelings despite those empty eyes and cold expression. 

No, I shouldn’t get involved, it doesn’t concern me.  It doesn’t matter that I can feel that she’s suffered hardships similar to me, I shouldn’t get involved.  I opened my mouth to say farewell but instead I said “But if I leave you on your own, you’ll probably make a mess of thing and I’d get blamed.  So I’ll make an exception this once, I suppose.”  Veronica clearly didn’t expect that response, her eyes widened and her ears twitched cutely in surprise. 

AHHH, what kind of tsundere shit line was that?!  Damn it, a moment’s weakness is gonna make this mission be a major pain!  Fuck, I’ll have to manage it!  “Let’s go.” I calmly said as I immediately started walking away.  Veronica quickly pulled up her hood, left money for her meal and followed me.  “I never got your name.”  Veronica mentioned as we headed down the street.  “It’s Terra.”  I replied and silence resumed.  Neither of us were talkers, so the silence was actually quite comfortable. 

After a few hours, we found a lead on Alfenox from a blackmarket fence that I knew from previous visits.  This led us to a dilapidated building that was supposedly where Alfenox was hiding.  Veronica made as if she was going to go in, but stopped as she saw no movement on my part.  As expected of a fellow silent loner type, after a few hours together we were already very familiar with each other’s nonverbal cues. 

I pulled out a flashbang grenade from my rucksack, pulled the pin and tossed it through the window.  There was the expected flash and a cry of pain from whoever was inside.  Instantly, Veronica charged through the doorway with me close behind.  Alfenox, a blue-haired elf, was rolling in pain on the ground clutching his eyes.  Veronica quickly knocked him out before binding him.  She confirmed the presence of Nightrage and then looked up at me.  “What kind of magic item was that?” she asked.  “Flashbang.” “Where did you get it?” “Personal recipe.”  “For sale?” “No.”  “How unfortunate.”  During our brief banter, I had a feeling of unease.  My intuition was screaming danger and it made me keep my vigilance even as Veronica relaxed. 

I heard the faint sounds of bows creaking as they were being drawn and I acted immediately, lunging forward and knocking Veronica off her feet.  My momentum caused us to roll to the very edge of the room, where I then covered Veronica with my body.  What happened next was akin to those 1930’s gangster flicks where the mobsters would stand outside a car and just light it up with machine gun fire.  Arrows, iron balls, bolts, flying daggers, throwing axes, javelins and even chakrams tore up the wall of the rickety building. 

Alfenox was killed instantly and his corpse looked like a pincushion that had been thrown into a blender.  Thankfully, Veronica and I were spared that fate due to two factors:  our location on the edge of the room spared us the focus of the salvo and my armor deflected most of the shots that were on target.  Eventually, the old building partially collapsed under the concentrated fire and the rubble cut off the projectiles. 

A sudden calm descended, one which I knew would be brief.  They likely sent a team to infiltrate the back and finish us off while we have no exit.  I got off of Veronica and evaluated the damage I had taken.  My riot gear armor was still intact, but my leather overcoat was in tatters and I was riddled with small wounds.  I also felt like I had a broken rib and there were a few arrows embedded in my back. 

Overall though I was still in fighting shape.  I looked over at the ground meat that had been Alfenox, luckily his head was still reasonably intact, and so I cut it off and placed it in a sack.  Veronica was holding the sword so the bounty at least had been completed.  I could feel her gaze boring a hole through me as I helped her up, I also noticed that she was red-faced for some reason. 

“Why?” she asked as her eyes swept over the plethora of injuries I had received by shielding her.  It was a clear contrast to her state, where she was merely dirty but unharmed.  I shrugged “Don’t misunderstand, if you get injured they’d likely deduct it from my bounty.”  Haa, that was a weak excuse.  Veronica didn’t even bother honoring that with a response and simply continued waiting for an answer.  “Tch, fine.  Unlike nearly everyone else I’ve met in this world, you are somewhat tolerable.”  My tsundere power level is over 9000 today, huh. 

A small smile appeared on Veronica’s face, making one hell of a beautiful scene.  “Risking your life so easily for someone you find somewhat tolerable, it makes me wonder what you will do for someone you actually like.” She teased.  I simply hmphed, and turned away.  I’ve resigned myself to inexplicably behaving like a tsundere around this girl.  Thankfully, before Veronica could further tease me, we were interrupted. 

“Haha, Adligo surely has blessed me today!  Who’d a thought that I’d run into the famous Peerless Terra during this job!”  It was a rough gravelly voice that sounded like a hoarse dog’s barking and a voice that I recognized.  I also finally realized what Arinera’s scheme was.  I glanced at Veronica “Seems like you were set-up.” “Yeah, Arinera really doesn’t like me.”  Based on Veronica’s comment it seems like this is not the first time Arinera has tried to do something to her.  I really got myself involved in something troublesome, huh.  In preparation for the ensuing shoot-out I drew my two 9mm pistols, while Veronica un-holstered a magic repeating crossbow. 

“Is that you, Loser?”  I called out as I started placing shaped blasting charges all along the perimeter of the collapsed rubble.  “You little fuck! It’s Vuser! My name is Vuser, damn it!  By Adligo’s chains, I can’t wait to piss on your corpse!”  The man I call Loser, AKA Vuser, is the head of the Bounty Hounds, a bounty hunting group that I have clashed with on multiple occasions.  As the name suggests, all the members are dog-kin.  Bounty hunters often clash since the person who gets the reward is the one who turns in the proof of completion, which does not always match up with the person who actually completed the job.  This is also one of the reasons why there are not any solo bounty hunters:  they make easy pickings since they don’t have any friends backing them up. 

I ignored Loser’s swearing as I finished wiring everything up and briefly told Veronica our plan of action.  “So Loser, why are you here?”  I asked “Ho, here I thought that…” before Loser could actually continue talking I pressed the detonator and the explosion roared into the street.  The piled rubble blasted outwards like shrapnel tearing into the Bounty Hunters, who were not expecting me to attack in the middle of the conversation since it sounded like I was trying to gather information.  Naïve.

I immediately rushed forward into the street, where I saw at least 20 dog-kin unconscious or bleeding out on the ground.  Amongst the forces on the ground there were about 10 or so men on the perimeter that were still standing and there was one very large dog kin kneeling in the middle of the fallen due to the shockwave of the explosion.  He had a heavily scarred face and spotted black-brown hair along with floppy ears like a basset hound.  In his hands there was a massive tower shield and a large morningstar. 

Bang, bang, bang, bang!  I focused my gunfire on the survivors and they started dropping like flies.  Veronica joined me and seconds later only Loser was left.  He glared at me in particular and let loose a long howl that echoed in the street calling for reinforcements.  Based on the ease with which I tore through the troops and the lack of magic gear these must be the cannon fodder while the elites were sent to infiltrate the back. 

I shouted to Veronica in a voice full of fighting spirit “Hold off the incoming troops while I deal with Loser.”  I quickly pulled out a bag of grey powder and tossed it towards the charging Loser, who immediately stopped and brought his shield up.  A magic circle engraved on the shield glowed and a blast of wind scattered the powder that obscured his vision just in time to see me and Veronica booking it down the street. 

He was dumbfounded at our immediate flight after all the fighting spirit I had been showing and bellowed after me “You damn coward!”  His reinforcements coincidentally arrived at that time and they were about to join in pursuit but then the delayed blasting powder I had tossed and which Vuser had scattered activated.  Rather than a large boom, it was more like a series of firecrackers going off.  Unfortunately, only 1 person of the 9 elites died while the rest merely suffered minor injuries and Vuser was unharmed.  But my objective of delaying them was accomplished and by the time they reconsolidated Veronica and I were long gone. 

“Why did we run?  I bet we could have taken them.”  Veronica asked after we successfully lost them.  “No point.  I was paid to bring back Alfenox and the sword, not fight the Bounty Hounds.”  I replied.  Vuser on his own is a threat level between 10 and 11 due to all of the powerful magic equipment he possesses and his decades of combat experience.  Throw in the veteran elites who also have magic items and the threat level becomes at least a 12.  Even if I freely used magic it would still be a threat level of 10. 

No way am I risking that while injured, even if I have backup.  I’m not invincible after all, so when I knew who we were fighting I immediately told Veronica my plan for escape.  “I suppose that’s true.”  Veronica replied with a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice.  “The Bounty Hounds appear to be a large group, but the real members number less than 10 including Loser.  The others are initiates who can only become members if they survive a year of being used as cannon fodder or meat shields.  Rather than recruiting elites, they forge them through combat.  We only faced the weak ones not the well-equipped veterans, hence why it was so easy initially.”  This answer satisfied Veronica and a comfortable silence resumed as we walked. 

This callous approach to life used by the Bounty Hounds only worked because of beast-kin’s rapid maturation.  Much like animals in the wild, beast-kin mature quickly and reproduce early.  It is why they are the most populous civilized race.  Rather than spending 6-7 years in puberty like humans, beast-kin take a year to become youthful looking adults and stay like that until they are 30.  After that they age like humans do.  This development can occur as early as 10 years, but will always occur by 12 years of age.  Huh, now that I think about it, Kira is 13 yet she’s still a child.  Maybe cat-kin are different?  I should ask Grandma Kuma when I get back.  As I was thinking about such things, Veronica and I hopped onto an express carriage to Obsidia to report back.