"There is no such thing as overthinking and overplanning when it comes to getting the best deal or staying alive." ~ The First Devil

The house in question had two floors and warm light from candles through the windows. Muffled and angry voices could be distinguished from the other side of the door.

Marama decided to stand right next to one of the windows and eavesdrop for a little while. She stayed out of sight for anyone that might look outside with the rain as cover.

She could see a bunch of people that stood in a gathered group by one end of a table. Most of them were men in their late thirties with some exceptions. The one that stood in the middle seemed to be the leader and argued with a wrinkly grey-haired man at the opposite end of it.

That must be the chief.

Marama waited for a little bit to see what went on in there.

"We got to do something!" An agitated leader of the group of men yelled. His body shook from suppressed rage.

"We have already sent the request! What more can we do? We have no chance to fight it on our own!" The elder said, moving his hand in a placating manner. His words were calm and serene.

"I can´t believe we actually went this far to request one of the Insitute’s pet monsters. We could fight the maneaters on our own."

"Sorry to stop you there, but you are barely level fifty and never fought in a battle," the elder said.

"I am stronger than I look!"

"Stop arguing! The Hunter will be here soon…"

"When? It has been two days! And more people have died! Are we just going to sit here while these monsters butcher us one and one?"

One of the men addressed the leader, who appeared irritated by the chief's words."Calm down, Samuels! We must be patient and endure."

"That’s it, everyone! Gather some weapons, and come with me! We will commit a hunt of our own! We will not just sit here and watch our family get murdered by the monsters! We won’t live in fear of them any longer! Who is with me?!"

Five of the men, encouraged by his words, cheered on and headed towards the door. The chief shook his head, and realized that there was no way to reason with them.

The hooded figure sighed as she moved in front of the door.

Okay, time to stop these idiots…

An armored hand grabbed the door handle and opened up the door just in time for another bolt of lightning to appear and illuminate it. The men stopped in fright over the hooded figure´s appearance and the man named Samuels raised his fists in self-defense in surprise.

Marama couldn’t blame them as the entrance must have been overwhelming with the intense rain smattering down on her.

Soaking wet from the hours of travel in the harsh weather, the figure entered. The men stood in stunned shock by the door, looking like idiots. Raindrops dripped from the cloak and the men moved out of the way as they yelled out their fright and feigned anger.

"Who the hell are you!?"

Marama didn´t reply, and instead, walked over to the table. She looked down on the old man with a wide stare and then spoke with slight respect. "I am here as requested."

The chief was speechless at first and then started to realize her identity. Relief blossomed over his face. "Ah! You must be the monster hunter from Moira Institute! It is a relief! We were getting nervous and feared it might take longer than necessary.” He paused for a moment before continuing in a sheepish manner. “Some of the others…"

Marama interrupted him and turned her head around to look at the group of men that still acted as if they would attack at any minute.

"I can see that," Marama commented, a mild hint of sarcasm and annoyance coloring her words.

She turned back to the chief who talked away with cautious concern.

"You see, these gentlemen were about to hunt down the ogre on their own…"

"And it is a plan we will hold to!" Samuels shouted out and seemed even more irritated with her presence.

"I see… Don’t take this the wrong way but how were you supposed to find the monster?" Marama spoke calmly to them and with her back turned towards their direction.

"We thought of…"

"The only way you people would find one of the creatures I hunt would be if you saw it attack. That also means you would sacrifice someone as bait. And if it actually worked, you would lose three men fighting it. Even then, the only damage you would do would be to piss it off. And considering that there are several of them in this village... It means that you all would become targets for them. And perhaps even start a massacre on everyone else once they got their cover exposed by your so-called plan."

"You…!"

"And the other way would be if you started to kill people you deem suspicious without any way to prove your accusations. Most likely, you would kill more people than the shapeshifting monsters with this tactic. And if, by any chance, you manage to get one of the creatures among the suspects, it would just kill all of you in an instant. Not only would people die, but you would have the blood of innocents on your own hands."

Samuels didn´t speak, mentally roaring in anger behind clenched teeth. He had not thought further than to round up some men and weapons and then lynch everyone who looked suspicious.

Humans are such fools sometimes…

"I thought so; you fools are only going to get yourselves killed. That´s why you collected all that gold to make a request. A request for someone like me that would keep the bloodshed at a minimum and can find the fiends in a safe way. There is no need for anyone else to die." Silence fell and Marama finished with a clear smile hidden in her voice. "Well, unless you want to die that is…"

"That’s it!" Samuels, now furious, pointed with a finger of accusation toward the cloaked visitor. His followers on his side prepared to follow his command. "Nobody calls me an idiot! And how do we know that this is a real monster hunter!? It could just be a stranger that takes advantage of our crisis, pulling some bullshit tales, and then take off with the gold! How do we know you are the real deal!?"

Marama turned around with aggression clear and deadly in her voice now. "You are calling me a fake?"

Samuel kept up an over-confident facade and yelled back in arrogance. "Yes! Exactly! Prove that you are a Moira Hunter! Or else I will beat you up and throw you out!"

Marama sighed as she moved armored hands towards the hood, mindful of the lives in her other hand.

Then she removed the traveling coat and the small crowd just stood there, watching with wide eyes. Samuels’s grin sunk and his confidence dropped like a rock.

The figure was a young woman. She wore a shimmering thin, elegantly made metal armor that shone from the candlelight and the lit fireplace. Over this was a small chain with a silver medallion in the shape of an eye. On her back hung a huge double-headed ax with an oddly shaped hilt and two reinforced pieces leading to its blade. Her long platinum blonde hair, split by the base of her skull, wrapped halfway around her neck like a collar. Her pale blue eyes glowed faintly as she indifferently gazed at them.

In her free arm were two newborn babies. One of them resembled the traveling merchant that had been staying in the village the last few weeks due to her pregnancy and had even set up a temporary stall to sell her wares. The other was drained of color outside of her eyes and lips.

The one who resembled the mother had tufts of fluffy and rather wavy ultraviolet hair. Highlights of wisteria and a more mundane purple contrasted with the dark color of his eyes and hair. His skin was pale, almost unhealthily so, and yet there was a kind of otherness to him that drew the eye.

It was the profound emptiness and detachment in his eyes and the expressionless gestures of his face, that caused the village chief to shudder in fear. It was not the gaze a newborn should have.

The other child was no better. She was bright and curious, looking around as best as she could, and taking in everything she saw. It was just the subtle offness that was different from the Hunter before her, that caused one to be cautious. Her eyes were a dark maroon, resembling glistening pools of blood. Her tufts of hair was as white as bone and in the same style as her brother’s own. Skin the color of weathered bones made the pale pink lips stand out.

The crowd stood there with increased shame, having made fools of themselves.

"Oh shit! It is one…"

"A real hunter?"

Marama looked at Samuels who seemed to restrain his anger over being wrong in his assumptions. "Do you still want to beat me up and kick me out?"

He looked at the huge ax behind her and then back at the wielder. He clenched his fists and scowled faintly as he glared. "Yeah…"

The others around him tried to do their best to discourage him.

"Are you crazy?! Look at the size of that sword!"

"Samuels, don’t be an idiot!"

"It doesn’t matter. They would not kill or harm innocents. That is their one and only rule," Samuels replied with a smug grin.

Oh, is he trying to play the No harm to an innocent card? Well, I don’t mind teaching him a lesson, Marama thought to herself as she heard that last part.

"True, we don’t harm uninvolved people. However, if they obstruct the mission, or are considered a threat to the mission or the person’s life, we are allowed to act how we please to such things. Moira is very lenient as long as the money flows, and killing people tends to cause a bad reaction."

The men held Samuels back as they now pleaded with him to not get involved in this. "Don’t do it, Samuels! It is just plain stupidity!"

Samuels looked with annoyance and after a couple of seconds shrugged the others off with a frustrated grunt. "Okay, I won’t. Come on. We have better things to do."

They left the chief´s house while Samuels gave her the evil eye with an expression of despise. The door closed behind them and the chief tried to excuse their behavior with a hand on his face.

"Samuels never was the brightest. I hope they will not cause any trouble for you."

"Idiots only become a problem when they get involved in things they shouldn’t."

The chief massaged his temples to make an annoying headache go away. Apparently, this man Samuels had caused more than one scene in the past.

"The payment is right here," He muttered as he moved his hand beneath the table.

The chief pulled up a large bag filled with gold on the table.

And here we go again. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to put up with this standard routine.

"We managed to get to the fee. So I guess you will just collect it and get the job over with i-…" The chief spoke as he opened up the bag and revealed its contents of two hundred gold pieces.

"No, I won’t."

The chief looked surprised as he closed the bag. Marama continued in a monotone voice and stoic look now. It was a rehearsed act she has done many times before this.

"Half of the payment will be delivered to a person dressed in black with a symbol of an eye on them. They will arrive in a couple of days after the monsters have been taken care of. If I fail to kill them, you won’t have to pay. It’s as simple as that."

"Okay. Is there something else you need?"

Marama looked at the two children in consideration. “I need a room. It was a long journey here, and it is too late to sniff them out now. I will deal with it tomorrow. In addition, I would like for you to watch over the two children here until the representative of Moira comes to collect the payment. From there, you are to hand over the two children here to them. Tell them that Moon-Kissed Marama personally vouches for them."

The elder accepted the two children in his arms. "There should be some taverns further down the…"

"I already know where they are. I just stopped by to say that I had arrived. But I need you to do something as soon the rain stops…"

"And what is that?"

"Gather all villagers on the town square at high noon tomorrow, Once that has been done, your ogre problems should be resolved before lunch."

She seemed pleased, turned her back to him to leave, and then stopped. She moved her head and stared down at the village chief in profile.

"There´s one more thing. The children’s mother was about to be brutally attacked by the men of your village before they were killed by the monster. She died due to complications shortly after giving birth it seems. They are in one of the alleys close to the village entrance. You should remove the corpses before more creatures come here attracted by the scent."

The chief swallowed in slight fright and she put on the robe again while she walked out through the door. The door closed and left him all alone in there.

The chief took a deep breath and felt relieved that she had left. Drops of sweat flowed in his forehead and with hands that shivered in fear from the impression in those eyes. He had heard of the Moira Monster Hunters before, but meeting one? That was something completely different.

His memory brought him to a time where he had run into a shadow-wolf in the cold north, bent on devouring him whole with its intense wide eyes. This woman had the same expression in her eyes as it had.

And that frightened him...

"Maybe it was a mistake to summon that thing here?"