Back at camp, Gwen sat staring at the embers bursting from the fire, her brow furrowed deeply in thought.
Her mind was occupied with images of the masked man.
’Just who is he?’
"What’s got our little princess frowning so deeply?"
Gwen felt two small mounds press against her back as a pair of slender arms wrapped around her.
Turning her head, she saw a head full of blonde hair.
Gwen smiled helplessly as she shook her head. "It’s nothing."
"Hmm, if you say so." Hana eventually let go of Gwen before plopping down right beside her on the chopped-down log.
She reached her hands out to the fire, using it to warm herself up. Seeing her friend’s casual attitude, she couldn’t help but tease her in this mont.
"So~," Gwen started, her tone casual as she looked up, "How’s things going with you and Landur?"
Hana’s shoulders instantly jumped as her eyelid twitched. Gwen watched her reaction with a smirk.
"Urgh," A small groan escaped Hana’s lips. "Don’t even ntion it."
Gwen started giggling. She didn’t expect to get such a strong reaction, which made her even more curious. "Did sothing happen?"
Hana groaned again, tossing a twig into the fire. She stared at the crackling flas with a distant look and remained silent for a long ti.
"...Just now, I tried to pull a stunt from one of those old drama films he likes," Hana spoke, her gaze growing distant as if the gap between her goals and reality was widening even further.
"Oh? That doesn’t sound bad. What did you do?"
"I tried the accidentally-trip-into-his-arms routine. Mostly to tease him, but also because I wanted to see his reaction if I got up close with him."
Gwen’s eyebrow shot up. She usually had these girl talks with Hana all the ti whenever it was just the two of them, but this was the first ti she saw Hana being so proactive in her approach.
However, seeing how she was in a bad mood, Gwen couldn’t help but feel that things hadn’t gone according to plan.
"Let guess, did he not react at all?" She guessed how Landur could have responded, but the truth was even more cruel than she could have guessed.
"...He dodged."
"What?"
Gwen was stunned. Hana whispered a second ti.
"The bastard dodged!" Hana muttered through gritted teeth, her hands clenched into tight fists, but she eventually relaxed them with a sigh. Her gaze turned to the sky, a look of acceptance on her face.
For a long ti, Gwen didn’t know how to respond and just rested a palm on Hana’s shoulder to show her support.
Her friend had chosen a tough path and had an even harsher journey ahead of her. All she could do was give her support like this.
"Hah..."
"Hah..."
Both of them sighed at the sa ti.
After a few minutes of just sitting in silence, Hana eventually snapped out of her lancholy, slapping her cheeks.
"Enough about and my hopeless romance! What about you?" Suddenly she turned her head to Gwen, a wide grin on her face.
"...?" Gwen blinked, a clueless look on her face.
"Co on, there’s got to be soone who caught the eye of our little Princess." Hana leaned forward on her arms, causing Gwen to lean back.
"I don’t have anyone like that," Gwen quickly denied, a wry smile on her face.
"Blah, I don’t believe it. You’re turning 21 this year and you’re telling not once did soone catch your eye? Even a movie star or an actor would do, so tell , who are you crushing on?" Hana demanded with a bravado that required a response.
"There really is nobody like that in my life," Gwen scratched her cheek, feeling awkward under Hana’s insistence. She had focused all her efforts and attention on martial arts since she was a small child, so it was only natural that she didn’t have what people would call a crush.
Hana’s expression instantly fell. "...It’s not fair that only I talk about my love life while you just listen, you know?"
Hana pretended to sulk, hoping to get a reaction out of Gwen, but to her dismay, she just continued to stare awkwardly.
"What about Junior? Weren’t you interested in him before?" Hana asked, catching Gwen off guard.
She didn’t have to think for a second who she could be referring to when she ntioned Junior. There was only one person their group referred to as such.
"That was different. It was more an interest in his abilities than him as a person. It’s not every day you et soone who could perform magic, so my curiosity was purely intellectual."
"Isn’t that how most typical fantasy romances start?" Hana suddenly pointed out, leading to her receiving a flick on the forehead.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You should stop spending so much ti reading novels and focus on your training."
"Urgh. Fine." Hana reluctantly agreed while rubbing her forehead. "Well, since you’re not interested in him now, do you think you might develop anything in the future?"
Gwen was once again taken aback by Hana’s question.
"Why are you so insistent about this topic?" Instead of answering, Gwen asked a question while shaking her head.
"I’m just curious! And besides, I don’t even know what kind of guy you would like."
"So you just chose him as a reference?"
"Why not? He checks all the baseline perks, doesn’t he? He’s strong, talented, good-looking, and gets along well with your friends. Unless you’ve got sothing against dating younger guys, he’s a solid pick." Hana explained rationally.
"I don’t have anything against dating younger guys..." Gwen started, "But I don’t think I could date a guy that has as many mysteries around him as Lake."
"Mysteries?"
"Where did he learn magic? What’s the reason behind his rapid growth that talent alone cannot explain? Why does he always seem to be holding back? Why is he so good at assassination and scouting skills despite being so young?"
Gwen listed them off one by one.
"All these questions surrounding him make feel cautious and uneasy when I’m around him. I don’t like the unknown, so I don’t think I could see myself in a situation where I’m completely relaxed around him like I would be with soone I would love."
"Uh," Hana flinched in face of Gwen’s solid response. "You’re even more picky than those girls in the dramas."
Gwen giggled, but was suddenly interrupted by loud chatter coming from across the camp.
"Hmm? What’s going on?" Hana also turned to see what all the commotion was about.
"Let’s check it out," Gwen spoke as she got up, her hand already on the hilt of her sword.
On the other side of camp, a group of patrolling hunters had stopped in front of the forest.
From the tree line, three figures erged, bruised and battered.
Upon closer inspection, Gwen recognized them as three of the missing hunters. She frowned, her instincts telling her sothing was off.
"Where the hell have you three been?!" The leader of Group 4, Owen, approached the three, his shout loud enough to rouse the entire camp.
Many more hunters ca out of their tents after his shout to see what was happening.
Gwen’s grip on her sword tightened subconsciously.
Owen continued to approach the three who had now stepped fully into the clearing, their true state revealed for all to see.
They were bruised and battered all over, with blood and dirt saring their faces. Their eyes were vacant as if their souls had left their bodies.
"What the hell happened to you?" Owen paused in his steps once he saw the three hunters’ horrible state.
He frowned as he looked behind them, "What happened to the rest of the hunters?"
Still, the three hunters continued to march forward silently, not responding to Owen’s question.
At that point, Gwen realized that sothing was wrong with the three hunters and quickly called out.
"Step back! They’re not normal!"
At Gwen’s shout, everyone’s nerves imdiately went on high alert.
Owen lifted the massive sword from his back, his eyes locked sharply on the three hunters.
"Stop right there! If you co any closer I’ll cut you all down!" He shouted as he pointed his blade at the three hunters.
Surprisingly, the three hunters stopped in their tracks, their vacant eyes staring at Owen.
Their slow reaction unsettled everyone watching, but even after a long ti, the three hunters didn’t move or speak. For a period, no one knew what to do.
Gwen continued to monitor the three, her sense of unease growing stronger with each passing second.
’What am I missing?’
She took a step back to get a broader view of the situation.
Everyone had stepped out of their tents to observe the commotion, all of their attention focused on the trio.
Gwen looked around camp but didn’t imdiately spot anything out of place. It was just the sa old camp with the surrounding hunters.
’Wait, who are they?’
"Kekekeke..."
At that mont, Gwen spotted a group of robed n at the back of the camp. They observed the commotion like any other hunter, but Gwen swore she had never seen them in camp before.
It was then that Gwen noticed a sharp gleam as the robed n drew their blades from their cloaks.
"BEHIND US!"
Gwen shouted imdiately, alerting everyone, but almost at the exact sa ti, the three hunters in front drew their blades and charged at Owen and the others.
In re seconds, the camp had descended into chaos.
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