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Chapter 25: Specter hunting VI

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"It all started a month ago when a young lady from the village disappeared, and no matter how much we looked, we couldn't even find a single trace of her."

Almeir, the village leader spoke as he dropped a few blocks of wood in the fireplace, in seek of some warmth amidst the coldness of the north.

Not far away from him were the group of young lads, in seek of becoming specter hunters, and thus they face their first test.

"The strangest thing about what happened is that she never left the village to the knowledge of the gatekeepers. She just suddenly disappeared at night never to be seen again, her husband is also clueless about her disappearance.

He gave all of his time to search all over the place for her, from the village to... to the forest. I also sent some of our hunters to search with him... One of them disappeared while he was by their side.

As am sure you know, going into the woods alone is not recommended, so we usually hunt in groups, yet one vanished in their midst.

I halted the search directly after because I and everyone else knew it's not something we can deal with. The husband however continued with the search and... disappeared soon after.

What followed is the disappearance of several of our hunters, all during their hunt. So I was forced to stop hunting for a while, we have saved up a bit of food throughout the previous months, but it will only last for a few more days, then we'll have to go out there again.

Whatever it is that's hunting us is hiding in the Aliversta forest, just a bit south of the village. You must've passed by it coming here.

Please take care of the problem as soon as possible if you can, else just leave and don't cause us any trouble."

Almeir spoke as calmly as possible, hiding whatever emotions he was feeling. He is after all the village leader, and he feels responsible for whatever happens to it and its inhabitants.

Lucas solemnly nodded before the man left to his room. The group was left alone in the guest room, a grave atmosphere overwhelmed the room.

The only ones seemingly not affected by the weight of Almeir's words were Boarlian, Natalia, and the one who broke the ice by saying, "It's probably a cat."

"What???" Everyone had a question mark above their heads, truly puzzled about his nonsensical words that came out of nowhere.

"Oh nothing, I just remembered something." Val casually shrugged their questions before turning his attention to Selena, "So, 'Group leader' What shall we do now that we received most of the needed information."

"You're right, there are still a few questions I need to ask him, but let's leave that until morning, then we can start with the first victim. We'll search the lost husband and wife's house."

Selena seemed to have a new strategy against Val's teasing which was not caring about anything he says or at least pretending to not care.

"Why?" Lucas was curious, so he asked with a frown. He thought they'd head straight to the woods tomorrow morning to vanquish the specter sooner than later.

"It's the start of the village people's disappearance, and it might just be the reason why it all started. The wife might be the specter, or at least that's what I assume. Usually, it starts with a dead person."

"You mean... that she became a specter? Doesn't that mean..." Lucas frowned even more and asked.

"Yes, something happened that drove her soul to remain in the lands of the living, her mind lost at the cost of greater power... A pointless power that possibly took her husband's life."

And then there was silence... for a while at least before Val broke it though for a serious issue this time, "Let's assume we're facing a specter and not some kind of monster, you should all know that some specific things are required. You all have them, right?"

That attracted everyone's attention with Lucas scratching his head and saying, "Well, I actually don't."

Val raised his brows while eyeing the man and questioned, "So what were you planning to do in the case of not finding a team?"

"Well, I was planning on joining the monster hunters first and hunting for a while until I accumulate enough funds, but I encountered Selena along the way, and she invited me to join her after knowing my intent."

Val nodded before turning his attention to the person who's acting quite suspicious, seemingly trying to be invisible despite his large frame, Boarlian.

"So I take you're the same." Said Val. Boarlian mechanically nodded. If he was embarrassed, he showed none of that.

"Well, at least you seem plenty prepared as I assume the luggage you had on the horse was just that, preparation."

Selena nodded at that before saying, "Indeed, and I assume you're the same as me."

Val nodded before adding, "Yes, I think you get what am getting at here, and you were most likely already planning on this. We need to know what everyone can do in order to coordinate our teamwork."

A faint smile surfaced on Selena's face which was hidden beneath a mask, the only apparent thing on her face was her mouth and her gorgeous green eyes.

That was no more as she lifted her hand and took that mask off, "Indeed, we need to be a bit more honest as a team as I'm sure my task is quite hard... Yours as well I assume."

Val smiled as well not fazed at all by the face beneath the face which was as predicted, beautiful. The same could be said for the silent Natalia as she took off her mask as well.

"Yea it's quite hard... And I assume you're the maid?" Val questioned Natalia, not at all bothered by Selena's words.

He didn't even try to hide his identity in the first place and he told them his real name, what information they got from that depends on their knowledge of the world.

From what he had observed, neither Lucas nor Boarlian seem to know of the Helious family which isn't too strange considering the size of the world, and that they are in the Nathalian territory by now.

Selena wasn't pleased hearing his words which showed on her frowning face, "No, she's my friend." Nonetheless, she didn't blame him for that assumption.

Perhaps she should've for his next words annoyed her to no end despite their simplicity, "So she's your maid that you consider a friend."

Natalia however was calm as she smiled and nodded, "Indeed, I am her maid and her friend." Perhaps Selena was ashamed of calling her that because of close they are but Natalia certainly wasn't.

Boarlian was a bit confused hearing their conversation but didn't question them. It was but a coincidence that he joined the team which he hopes to rely on and truly start his life.

Lucas on the other hand didn't seem to have heard anything for his soul was lost in looking at the gorgeous face before him. He did however get his bearing back though embarrassment was apparent on his face.

Selena turned the subject to another topic not willing to argue with Val any further.

"Anyway, I'd like everyone here to introduce themselves and especially their specialty. You can tell us as much as you'd like about yourself but go into details regarding your skills, the ones that matter for the hunt of course."

Lucas jumped first on the subject and started introducing himself, trying to hide whatever emotions he was feeling.

"As I said before, am Lucas Neuros. My goal is to be a specter hunter and set the lost specter souls free. I was actually raised in an isolated village east of here and this is the first time I've left it.

I might not know a lot of things about the world so please point me in the right direction lest I make a mistake.

Also, my weapon of choice is an Axe, and am pretty good at it. I actually have two as you might've noticed." While saying, he brought out two good-looking Axes that were attached to his belt.

The Axes were exactly the same, they have this apparent metallic luster of sharpness and pure danger. An inky black gem could clearly be seen in their handle, exquisitely dark. They were also quite small for an Axe.

"I also like him don't know much about the world but I'd really like to learn and explore it. I heard that Specter hunters make far far more money than beasts and monster hunters, so I wanted to become one to fund my exploration. I use a spear as you all noticed."

The spear was quite apparent due to its massive size on Boarlian back. Lucas frowned for a bit after hearing that but said nothing, he would like to understand that most people have different reasons for doing this but due to his childhood conditions, understanding them is quite hard for him.

"As for me..."