—Orion—

  A sigh of relief left my mouth as I finished divvying up all of the meat to the townsfolk, until only bones and offal remained. A table had been set up in the centre of the town, with the deer's remains laid on it as I carved up its flesh for the starving people around me. I'd never seen a group of people so tearful, and never been thanked so much in my life.

  Sally had been resting on my head for most of the lengthy process, occasionally receiving snacks or sinewy meat. But something must be going on with him, I could feel the anxious energy he was filled with—something in between the eagerness of a hunt, and a jittery desire to flee.

  I stood and left the townspeople to deal with what remained, giving it to some nearby folk to deal with. While many of them were already cooking the slivers of meat they'd received, I'm sure that they wouldn't want to waste a single piece. Even a bone broth would be priceless in a famine.

  As I walked the both of us back to our current residence, I began to unwrap the cooked piece of meat that'd been prepared for me by the town's main cook. The smell of spices and seared meat tantalised my empty stomach.

  It was almost enough to distract me from the thoughts weighing on my mind, the guilt and anxiety partially dispelled for a few moments. Today had been the first time that I'd seen a human corpse, and the person who'd died was someone I'd met earlier in the day.

  Once home, I left my meal inside before washing my hands of the remaining meat that'd been clinging to them. I felt at peace when water poured over them and banished the disgusting sensations from the drying gore. Though it could've been much worse, I was appreciative of the almost complete lack of blood throughout the process—that I was spared from having to touch the viscous liquid. A small benefit of using [The Hunter's Anathema], but one I'm incredibly grateful for.

  When I was inside and halfway through my meal, I tried to think of ways to deal with the threat of the predator. It had already been desperate enough to sneak into the village, tasted human flesh once, and now had successfully hunted a person. Like any typical predator, it would now have the confidence to attempt to hunt what seemed to be easy prey. I wouldn't normally be so anxious about a starving animal, but given that I don't know what it was, I couldn't know how dangerous it was.

  It could be something as mundane as a chimp, evolved differently from Earth's variant like how the Vampiric Deer was. The bite marks suggested a similar jaw size and canines, but the molars made for grinding food were absent. They must've also been changed to a carnivorous phenotype.

  But it could be something far more dangerous, a real monster. Something enchanted and twisted, hungering for human flesh for reasons far from simple sustenance.

  I had already mostly fulfilled the commitment I'd promised in exchange for the bow, that single deer had enough to feed most of the town. At least with all of the added sides eaten with it—spices and other food items inedible without a base. It would be safest to leave the first chance we got, we could get directions and walk to a much safer location. But it might be safer to deal with the threat before departing, an animal would be much harder to deal with in a forest than a town if it decided to stalk us.

  There was also that ticking I could have sworn I heard earlier. For a moment I could've sworn that I heard something tick repeatedly, but it was so faint, and disappeared as soon as the creature left, that I'm unsure if I imagined it.

  The unknowns of the situation once again frustrated me. Though… that is something I could ask it.

  As I finished my meal and put my cutlery set to wash later—I still needed to replace that butter knife—I noticed that Sally was trying to get my attention. I watched as she jumped up onto the cleared table, and was surprised by the nervousness if felt with him being eye-level with me. I was unused to having our faces so close together. It felt very different to when he was on top of my head.

  A tap of a claw on the table prompted me to take out the talking-twigs, and Sally quickly began to array the sticks into legible text.

  'Did you see the Quest?' He asked, and after reading it aloud, I nodded. I don't think I'll even need to narrate things for Sally much longer, as he seemed to follow most conversations without major errors. He must have developed a near-complete understanding of the everyday language here.

  I had been notified of the quest just after we'd left behind the remains of the villager—but I was occupied with wondering why I'd cared so little about the tragedy. I couldn't help but feel that there must be something wrong with me. Why could I not muster any more sadness or negative emotions when seeing his body when compared to wild animals?

  It took a while for me to realise it afterwards, but was I incapable of caring about humans more than animals? I did still feel things about the man's death, but it was still the same emotions—a mix of pity, sadness, and an ache deep within the heart—that I would feel if I stumbled across an animal that'd died of pointless cruelty.

  In the end, I could only conclude that it was one more broken part of me.

  "O-righ-on." Sally choked out, my attention returning to her as she managed to recreate a facsimile of the sound that resembled my name.

  'How should we hunt the monster? Set a trap?' The dragon had written, awaiting my response with an… eager expression. I was slowly getting better at deciphering his expressions and body language, proving just how invaluable [Animal Companionship] was.

  "Are you excited about the quest?" I asked, deciding to get an understanding of what Sally wanted before saying anything. He nodded fervently, and I immediately began to think of things to say that wouldn't depreciate his excitement.

  "The first step was 'identifying the threat' right?" I asked, Sally nodding as he quickly crafted a reply.

  'One of us has to use [Appraisal] on it. The cloak blocked me the last time I tried.' Sally recounted, reminding me of one of the few flaws [Appraisal] had.

  "If we can catch it hunting again, then it shouldn't be too difficult to catch it with arm or leg uncovered." I said, Sally's head falling forty-five degrees to the side. Did I say something confusing?

  "[Appraisal] works on whatever you're looking at, if it's still wearing the cloak the next time we see it, we can just look at its hand, and it'll Appraise whatever the hand belongs to." I explained, the topic bringing back memories from my earliest days in Solis.

  'Any other important secrets you'd like to tell me?' He wrote, his current need screaming… He needed reassurance? Answers? The feeling could only be analogised as craving a balm for an irritated itch.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "Sorry, I… I forgot about that. I didn't hide it on purpose." I blurted out, spending a few seconds in anxious agony as Sally evaluated my answer. He relaxed quickly though, and the change in what I felt that he needed was a reassurance for my own anxiety.

  "Would you like to know what I've figured out about the monster?" I asked, and Sally excitedly nodded.

  "It's likely some offshoot from a chimpanzee or primate, did you see the Vampiric Deer's [Appraisal] window?"

  *Nod*

  "Then it's probable that this creature's ancestor was affected by the forest in a similar way to the deer, becoming singularly carnivorous rather than a herbivore or omnivore. That's the theory I think is the most likely. Given the information we know at the moment." I said, though I wasn't too happy with the idea.

  "The issue is that I don't know much about the local fauna, or if it is something… closer to what we saw in the mountain." I shared with Sally, wanting to share my doubts about my theories. If I was caught off guard again, then there's no telling if we'll get that lucky a second time.

  'I'm sure it'll be fine, if we managed to escape Ulun'suti, then I doubt that anything up here will be a threat.' I read aloud, pausing for a few moments on the word Ulun'suti, failing to remember encountering anything with that name.

  'The giant snake in the lake.' Sally explained.

  "… So you want to go ahead with the [Quest]?" I wanted to confirm.

  'Yes! I want to see what rewards a [Quest] could give. And a monster from the forest shouldn't be anything near as deadly as one from a dungeon where a god was imprisoned.' Sally wrote, and while I was still hesitant to take this risk for an unknown reward, I’m sure that it would be worth it if Sally is this excited about it.

  "Well, before I can suggest a strategy, I need to know more. The history of the creatures seen in the area, and their habits. I need to have more information to plan ahead." I eventually decided, Sally squinting at me and my desire to plan ahead.

  'Well, we can always ask around tomorrow for more information. But are you scared of the monster?' Sally wrote back, a spike of anxious embarrassment shooting through me as I realised that what I said sounded like a suggestion to not hunt the monster.

  "I'm not worried about the monster at all. The only reason it got away before was because I spent all of my mana on the fight with the deer." I attempted to reassure him, worried that he might see how unsure I am about fighting the threat. If he starts to think that I'm weak, what reason does he have left to stick around me rather than someone better at fighting?

  One of the two goals he has at the moment is getting stronger. If I can't help, what reason would he have to tolerate me?

  The conversation paused after that, and I began busying myself with checking my gear and taking out a few arrows to permanently leave in the quiver. I had gotten used to being able to summon ammunition instantly, but as I learnt earlier today, I can suddenly become weaponless if I'm not careful. I had let the man-eating creature escape by not planning around the obvious flaw in [Barbarika's Quiver].

  I continued to go through my gear until Sally went to bed, thankful that he hadn't noticed me begin to go through some items a second time. The dragon-pup jumped up onto the end of the lumpy straw mattress and curled up into a ball. I found it reassuring that most of the little traits he'd shown from the first few days hadn't changed at all. He still slept while curled up in a tight little ball.

  I waited a few minutes, carefully observing Sally and making sure that he was asleep before I summoned [The Hunter's Anathema].

  I held the artefact in my hands and inspected its container, disappointed to see that the amount of blood in it had clearly decreased. It seemed to evaporate at a fast rate, a quarter of its contents already lost over an afternoon.

  Well, I had better use it now, before it loses the rest overnight and I waste a whole deer's worth of blood. I stabbed it into my thumb and let it drink my blood, the motions and pain of the process already feeling familiar.

  It filled quickly and I prepared my question, deciding to word it carefully, so I could test a hypothesis.

  Show me the Creature, and how it killed that man.

  I tried and failed to not be shocked as I watched the artefact accept the question.

  It showed a short scene, of that man following a short figure in the cloak. At first I assumed that it couldn't be the same thing that I saw eating his lifeless corpse, because it was much smaller than that creature was.

  But that was not what confused me, it was the man willingly following the figure. He even tucked the knife into his belt as he ran after them. I thought for a moment that the thing that'd killed the guardsman must've stolen his cloak out of simple primate curiosity. Has the creature killed more than one townsperson?

  I could see the man's lips moving, but [The Hunter's Anathema] didn't produce the sound and I struggled to read lips, so I couldn't know what he was saying. When the small cloaked person ducked into the same alleyway that I found the remains of the man, I knew the vision would end soon.

  The man seemed to have lost the child-sized figure, out of breath and looking around the street frantically. Though their covered head popped out from the small gap between houses, and presumably something was said that lured the man towards them. The person disappeared between the houses, and the man followed.

  The view it was showing moved towards the alleyway, but never went into it, simply displaying the man shimmy between the buildings and down the path. He reached the end and walked into the small space between the houses, disappearing from the scene altogether.

  After a few seconds of nothing changing, I prepared to dismiss [The Hunter's Anathema] as I assumed the vision had concluded. But just before I did, I glimpsed a blur of movement, and I saw it happen, the man's body flopping to the ground, bleeding from the back of the head as he crumbled into frame. I watched his limp form slump forwards onto his stomach, eyes glassy and unfocused as he helplessly fell unconscious.

  A pale, inhuman hand then grabbed his ankle, the nails black and long, every tip cracked and broken. The skin a blueish grey colour, and not unlike that of a corpse's pallid flesh. The clawed grip dragged the man's body out of view of the street, which concluded the final scene shown by the artefact, and it turned off. But the final image of the blood-smeared trail leading to what I knew would become the half-eaten corpse I'd seen earlier was still seared into my retinas.

  I… Why did he follow that stranger? What was going on? Why would he put away his weapon when chasing after a stranger?

  Did he know that person? Was that even a person?

  I somehow felt even more baffled than before I was given the answer to my question. Though, I suppose it was a lead for us to follow, a clue as to the nature of the creature. And it did answer one of my personal questions, about whether [The Hunter's Anathema] could show the past. Its ability to show scenes of the past explains its anomalous results with the village, and of the monster called Ulun'suti.

  I willed [The Hunter's Anathema] back into its quiver, and felt drowsiness I'd been ignoring begin to build at a much faster rate. The urge to go to sleep became irresistible, so I stood, and let the siren's call of the bed draw me towards it.

  That would explain it. I almost flopped onto the bed, but to avoid disturbing Sally, I slowly sat and lay on my back. I tried to pull the blanket over myself, but unfortunately Sally had gathered much of it underneath himself, making it impossible to cover more than a leg and part of my chest.

  But the need to sleep was too strong to resist forever, and I closed my eyes to prepare to sleep. Even the creaking sounds from our thatched roof wasn't enough to stop my departure to dreamland. I figured that it was a rat or some animal scurrying across the rooftops. I rationalised the decision by remembering that I had locked the front door and shutters, so whatever it was wouldn't be able to get in easily.

  I shuffled to try to get into a better position, my clothes uncomfortable but necessary—for both the cold air, given that I lacked a blanket, and to not bother Sally with my nakedness. I still remembered how off-put he'd acted when I unwittingly stripped before him, another sentient human being.

  I pushed down the familiar feeling of cringe, realising that I’d embarrassed myself—far too long afterwards to do anything about, yet again. But this time, it had been intertwined with a new sensation. One I didn't recognise, but didn't find completely unpleasant.