“Captain,” shouted a Guardsman as he ran into a small building. Of which was within the centre of the farming community called Rojiin. Nearest of which was a grand mansion, of sorts, that was once owned by a prominent farming family before the war with the Demons had wiped out such people on their way to the capitol city of New Wair. At that time, it was empty and in disrepair, with only the guest house being used by Captain Rin.

She wasn't one who would be considered as “good looking”, but was closer to being one who was homely in facial features. However, the rest of her body appeared more like that of a Farmhand's than a woman's, what with her tanned body, thick muscles, straw coloured hair, and earthened coloured eyes. In fact, she spent most of her life working on one of the fields before the call-to-arms was placed out, conscripting all who were able-bodied in order to fight back against the Demon scourge which had made their way to New Wair with relative ease. However, upon her and her compatriots' arrival, there came a tumultuous scene which soon became one which led to all who witness such a thing to fly into a rage and hunt down the Demons into extinction.

The death of their summoned Hero, bathed in the fires of a Red Dragon.

Now, Captain Rin stood over a fairly decent map of the farmlands and the forest nearby which was tacked down upon a long table of a metre and a half. Here, she marked the map with bronze coins in the shape of a stalk of wheat. For she performed thusly in order to mark where any and all reports of strange activities had taken place. However, she also marked several places with silver coins in the shape of freshly picked corn before they were shucked. These were any and all sightings of the unknown “Pretty Man” the child of the late Farmer Arthur had reported nearly a week prior.

Which became a week of stewing with anger, as the Mayor of Rojiin had placed a call to the nearest Adventurer's Guild in order to request aid in tracking and slaying that which terrorised their community. Of which they happily accepted, sent out their own, and brought back the eyeless head of a Basilisk to the Mayor, who then thanked them profusely for their efforts, and turned to find a very peeved Guard Captain.

For this beast had troubled more of the southern Farmers' livestock, and was certainly not a “Pretty Man”. Therefore, she had to send out her own request for a Tracker, claiming it was to hunt down a “Dangerous Criminal”, rather than a monster which not even her own Diviners could find with their magicks.

However, all of this faded away as the familiar and brutish face of her most trusted Lieutenant, Suun, stood panting in a matching outfit of her own. In fact, all other Guards had such an outfit which consisted of a heavy leather hauberk over a linen undergarment. Their own trousers were of the same heavy leathers, whilst their boots were of blackened iron over leather and linen. They also had rounded caps, but were made of iron and wood with only a little padding to keep their heads from developing blisters or cuts from the constant shifting of their caps.

“Captain,” huffed Suun, his face smeared with grease from his lunch, and sweat from standing under the high sun, “the Tracker is here.” Of which led to him turning to the side to allow a small, bipedal creature into the house. However, to say that this one was small was not entirely true. As a matter of fact, both the Captain and Lieutenant were normal sized for their community, whilst they were considered as too large for the rest of the world.

The creature, on the other hand, was a dark grey-furred Wolfman, but was not considered to be part of the Beastfolk race. Instead, these were considered to have been once great animals long ago, and were given Humanoid features. Whereas the Beastfolk were once Human or Humanoid, and were blessed or cursed with the characteristics of an animal. However, such distinctions are rarely noted by those who are ignorant of such things, and instead bundle both under the category of “Beastmen” or “Beastwomen”.

As to what this Wolfman wore? Simple leathers adorned his body, whilst an unstrung bow was held in his left paw. Upon the hip of the same side was that of a quiver with around twenty arrows, whilst the other had a pair of pouches with one of them jingling with a few coins as he walked inside. Once within, he nodded towards Suun, who grunted in return, and bowed towards the other.

Upon straightening himself, he spoke allowed with a melodic voice tinged with sorrow that none, but him, knew about, “Greetings Captain Rin. I am called Eyes of the Hawk, and have come to answer your desire for a Tracker to hunt down a criminal who escaped ere a week ago into the forest. Please note that my Class is Ranger, and I excel with the Bow and the Hunt.”

Rin then glanced down upon the Wolfman who called himself in such a strange manner, and shrugged due to her familiarity with such people from her time as a conscript. However, something else caught her attention about the being before her, and that was a silver coin with the letter F engraved into the centre. Denoting him to be a Second Grade Guildsman who was just starting down his second path. Of which led to her pursing her lips for a moment before nodding slowly.

“I am glad someone answered it, but I will tell you this much about who you'll be tracking down. He has white skin, has been spotted in this general location,” she pointed towards the marked areas with a silver coin, “and doesn't show up when my Diviners cast their magicks.”

This last piece of information caused the Wolfman's ears to perk up and swivel towards herself, whereas his own eyes widened greatly, revealing the brown and gold colours within. However, he quickly sobered up and shook his head before replying with, “That is most peculiar, Captain. Perhaps our quarry is wielding something which prevents your Diviners from seeing himself?”

“Hah,” barked Suun from the doorway, which led to the other two to turn towards him with some apprehension, but was lost to the Lieutenant, “We thought so, too, but then again, he was naked that night he killed Farmer Arthur, Farmer Anna, and their boys. Any other time, he was spotted wearing only pocketless and cut trousers which barely went past his knees.”

“Hmm,” hummed their tracker, who tapped the right side of his muzzle in thought. Whereupon he turned his attention towards the map which was between himself and the Guard Captain before asking, “Which one is the last known position the man was last seen?”

“Right here,” pointed Rin, which was in the location nearest Farmer Anna's parents resided. Of which was within the community's residential area for those who could not work due to their age or a grave injury. “The bastard has been showing up there like clockwork.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Suun, “Until we came at him with force-,” and promptly slapped his lips with the palm of his right hand as his Captain turned to glare with a storm-like fury.

Whereupon she did cry out, “You. Did. WHAT?!” Her voice shook the entirety of the structure they were within, as a few of her skills activated. Such as , , and . Which led to three normal Guards appearing in the doorway, fully armed and armoured whilst staring about in search of an enemy.

However, these three quickly dove to the ground, as they witnessed their Captain slug Suun with a fist that appeared as though it were three times its size as she howled out, “”, frightening even their newly appointed Tracker from the Adventurer's Guild. Of whom also dove out of the way, his tail between his legs as he heard a sickening crunch of a gauntleted fist colliding with the flesh of another. This was followed by a whoosh of air, as the body of Suun flew past him, which was quickly followed up by the sound of a heavy body obliterating a cart and scaring everyone and everything around it.

When the Wolfman looked up, he spied the Captain, and tucked his tail til the point of it tried to tickle his chest, so great was his fear. For she who was his new employer had the skin of a Red Devil, which was causing steam to rise up quickly. Of which caused him to rethink about the proposal his father had given him, to come home and be the clan's Hunter. “I should've taken his offer,” he whined to himself, scrambling away as Rin moved out the door. Whereupon he noticed that no one else was raising an alarm about the apparent Devil in their midst, and instead opted to make bets about the outcome of their Lieutenant. This led to him screaming in his heart, “WHY AREN'T YOU ATTACKING THE DEVIL?!”

Captain Rin, on the other hand, had activated a skill she acquired during the war with the Demons. One which caused her to go into a rage as her blood boiled until her flesh was as red as a Devil's. This was called , and had some debilitating effects. Such as Complete Exhaustion which was applied to the body after a minute of use, which led to the user passing out for one week. More, if the person took more damage than what they could handle without the Skill. Though, most of the injuries received always led to an early grave after their Rage ended.

There were some beneficial effects as well, but those were only a few. Such as doubling one's size and being granted five times the amount of strength they originally had. Which meant the Captain would need new clothing soon enough, as her heavy leathers stretched and strained themselves in order to contain the new bulk of muscle as steam continued to vent around her body.

Once she was outside the building which had become the Guards' headquarters, Rin dashed over to Suun, lifted him high, and tossed him towards the onlookers. Not wanting to be crushed by the second largest Guard, the crowd parted from one another as the man collapsed before them. Whereupon they each clustered around him as one was sent for a Healer to attend to his wounds.

However, their Captain slowly shrank in on herself, her expression sour as she slowly strode upon the crowd whilst her skin became its normal colour. “Which one of you was with Suun when he tried to attack the white skinned fiend who has been seen around the cluster of homes north of here?” When no one spoke up, her face was parted into a wide grin as she pointed towards the group, a small bead of light swirling a few millimetres in front of her digit. Which then led to her intoning a spell called, “>.”

This led to the bead launching itself forward until it was nary half a metre away from the group who stood staring with their mouths agape and their eyes wide. For they had never seen her cast such magicks before. However, once the bead entered within such a range, it exploded outward, stretching itself to a dome that covered the whole of the guards which were present.

“Now then,” grinned their Captain Rin who slowly stalked forwards, her eyes beginning to glow a fierce red, though such a colour was only within their own minds, “Which one of you assholes defied my orders to not engage the bloody bastard?”