Once the fire was out Matriarch Helena was both relieved and devastated. The crops that had been saved would probably sustain the community through the winter, but there would still be rationing required. The only good thing to come out of this disaster was nothing anyone cared to hear or discuss. The land that had been burned would probably be more fertile, the ash from the burnt plants working as fertilizer to vitalize the area.

"There is no way to find the money to replant?" I asked the Matriarch as walked with her to conduct a survey of the smoldering ruins that was left of once healthy crops.

"There are some root vegetables that do well. Turnips, rutabagas, parsnips. But we don't have the seedstock to plant, we would have to send to Cleave, and with the bandits waylaying anyone between here and there, I doubt anyone could make it there and back safely," she replied.

"Perhaps send to Flowing Water?" I suggested. "You won't need the workforce to tend fields that have been destroyed, send the people that you can spare with, and bring back some stock? "

"It might work," she mused. "And if we sell the crops, we would normally ship to Cleave, we could purchase enough for Spring planting too."

"At this point, do you really have a choice but to set up and find new trading partners in Flowing Waters?" I asked. "Cleave has abandoned you, it seems. They can't expect you to just wait until they are ready to open up trade routes again. I can tell you the road between here and Flowing Water was free of bandits when I made the journey."

"We will increase our fishing efforts, try to increase our daily catch so that we can pickle and dry a larger haul than past years," she decided. "I'll have our crops and other goods that Cleave has refused to purchase, shipped along with a list of purchase requirements."

Our discussion had replaced any trace of despair the Matriarch may have been feeling as she viewed the burnt fields with a new sense of determination, and now that she had formulated a path forward she seemed more composed less wounded. I watched for a while as she began to marshal her forces. She really was like a mini general; barking orders, expecting immediate responses.

It was amazing how fast she managed to get the small homestead community organized. Items and produced collected into spatial packs, much like my Hunter's backpack. I did offer to make a copy of the map I had for them, which would make their journey much easier. I was even kind enough to place markers on areas I knew to be safe to camp, as well as a few areas to avoid.

By midmorning, a schedule for fishing, farming, and hunting had been revised with each farm contributing. The success of the entire community became paramount, and I watched as farms that had not been affected by the fire, acquiesced to Matriarch Helena's plans.

I spent the rest of the morning, once I'd made sure those that would make the trip to Flowing Waters understood the markings on the map I'd shared, quartering the area around the field, it was almost noon before I found the first set of tracks. A scruff of footwear that didn't match the farmer's habit of working without shoes.

I still hadn't received a reply from the Sect concerning the message I had sent detailing the new information I had discovered, and until I did, I was the designated representative, my acceptance of the mission had been registered and filed.

I only considered joining the group that was heading to the Sect for a few seconds. Although it might be the logical thing to do, this mission was certainly much more than a simple Hunt, it would still mean returning in failure. This was my first hunting mission, and if I returned at the first sign of trouble, it would affect the types of missions I would be able to accept in the future. I did not want the Contribution Hall to grade my first Mission as sub-standard or leave a negative review to my token.

The tracks I followed joined with another, eventually. Once the two people had met up, the occasional scuff and footprint became clearer, less effort to hide their movements. It was obvious that wherever they were heading; they were in a hurry.

Not knowing their destination, I had to keep my own movements slow, my Qi perception extended as far as possible so that I didn't unknowingly simply walk into a bandit camp. I didn't have any stealth techniques, nothing to hide that I was approaching, so I had to really on my Qi. I made a mental note to add a stealth technique to the list of skills I needed to acquire when I returned to the Sect.

I did remove my Bow from storage as much for peace of mind as safety. I formed arrows using elemental affinity and Qi as I shot, so there was nothing physical I needed to store, as long as my Qi reserves lasted, I could not run out of ammunition. With the bow equipped, I was armed and loaded.

It became obvious after twenty minutes of tracking that the footprints were headed to a stone escarpment that protruded from the base of one of the smaller mountains that protected the valley.

Once I was confidante where the person was heading, I changed direction, moving to flank the escarpment hoping that if I approached from a direction that took advantage of wind I might be able to get close enough to identify who was there, and how powerful they might be.

I continued moving carefully, placing my steps on the ground that looked firm, not wanting to dislodge loose rubble, and warn the camp of my presence. And there was a camp, set up in a narrow ravine that had been hidden by the jutting stone, the perfect spot to watch the valley below without being seen.

By navigating the outer edge of the narrow gulch, remaining outside of the ravine, I was able to see the area below. My vantage point made it easy for me to identify three people, what was more surprising was an Eoraptor nest nestled in the back of the ravine. The female was brooding, protecting a clutch of eggs, the male guarding the family wary of the people that had made camp at the ravine entrance.

Eoraptors were very similar in shape to Velociraptors, although smaller, from a distance it was easy to see how they could be mistaken as their larger cousins. It solved the mystery that had been bothering me, the hunting pattern described just didn't match up with Velociraptors known strategies.

Eoraptors would normally not have raided the farm, preferring small mammals and lizards. They certainly had no way to bypass a defensive ward. The men below had been responsible for that behavior, coaxing the male from the ravine somehow and leading him to the farm, opening and closing the wards for him making his raid on the farmer's livestock rewarding. Each raid supplying the Eoraptor and his mate enough food for a few days.

It still didn't explain why.

In any fantasy game I'd ever played, Elves made amazing rangers, mages, and rogues. Their agility unmatched, and their almost immortal existence allowing them to perfect skills. Those tropes didn't hold true in this world, very few Elves mastered the bow, for one. But no matter what role they assumed, they always seemed to the grace and beauty that typified the race.

These people proved the exception. They were weathered misanthropes, their disdain for other people, and civilization apparent. Clothing that had been pieced together from bits and parts of animals they had hunted. Crude weapons, that although effective, could be replaced easily and frequently from source material they came across in their travels.

Their disregard and rejection of even the smallest trapping of civilization was made even more apparent at the crude structures and supplies they used to make camp. That they tolerated each other well enough to work together was remarkable.

Two of the men were arguing, one furious that the other had fired the fields without warning or discussion. And they should be worried. Only one of them was a cultivator, bandits at best, they were nothing more than hired thugs. Even the cultivator had barely advanced into the Body Refinement Realm. It explained how they opened and closed the defensive wards; he had just enough Qi to overwhelm the safeguards a community without a cultivator could rely on.

I may have been precipitous in my missive to the Sect, even together they posed no real threat, and if this was all that I needed to worry about, the Mission would be easily resolved. There was no way these three were among those that had ambushed the Delard Clan when they had tried to send protection and escorts for Sophie, which meant there was a well-funded, armed, and trained group making their base out of Cleave itself.

My cultivation level may have only increased into the middle tier in the past nine months, but even that increase in Realm made me exponentially more powerful than these three. Even if they had a set of refined weapons, defensive arrays, and protections to even the odds, I would have still won.

Eventually.

It would have been harder, but the back to nature and espousal of all things manufactured by civilization, they had embraced, would make my task easier. The only hard part is if they refused to surrender. I wanted one of them alive at least, to answer questions.

I considered the moral implications that I was considering killing so easily. Maybe it was because somewhere in the back of my mind, I still considered this world to be fake, a virtual simulation. But I thought it more likely that it was because I was still treating the world as a game. And in any game I had ever played, killing was not only a part of the world, but it was also what the world was based on.