Levi

  ***

  Eating breakfast, I found myself gncing at Evelyn. I wasn’t the only one. She, along with her friends were having breakfast with the mercenary leaders Aura, her husband Bke, and many other mercenaries. All of them seem to be giving her bacon as well, but that was far from my main concern. What I really was worried about was what I heard yesterday. Something, or someone, called “The Raven” was speaking to her. That must be the reason why she isn’t acting like herself. I don’t know how, but I know that I need to get rid of it.

  Not knowing how, all I could do at the moment was watch and hope for the best. Also, it might be the name of this “guy” but I’m keeping an eye out for any suspicious looking birds. Is this Raven guy even a bird or is he just trying to sound cool? Regardless, I need to be careful. According to Evelyn, he is watching us all…

  Lna

  ***

  Today, all of us students found ourselves out in the woods. Okay, that’s a bit obvious. Currently we were just outside the encampment where we were going to begin our practice. I’m not going to lie, I’m not looking forward to it. I didn’t sleep well st night. I was cold, and although I had Fatty, my stuffed rabbit, I hadn’t realized that we would be sleeping in the open. Not wanting to be further embarrassed from sleeping with a toy, I kept him close by in my bag. It wasn’t the same…

  Anyway, we were out here with our weapons and armor to start our hunt. With all of the groups lined up, Captain Aura stood in front of us with an enchanted saber. Given that we were fighting demons, it only made sense. All of our weapons were enchanted with Holy Magic, for our own safety, so even if we were to panic and not be able to form any spells, we can still defend ourselves. Thank goodness for that. Even if I’m confident with my magic, I still don’t want to think about what’ll happen if I can't use it.

  “Alright everyone, you are going to have your first taste of combat. For some of you at least. For those of you who have been out on hunts before, you already know what’s coming.” Captain Aura said. “For the rest of you however, there are a few things you should know. Firstly, you're not alone. Rely on your team, and if you get overwhelmed, rely on us. Remember, there is no shame in failing. If you fail on your first try, try again. Every time you fail, go over what you did, what went wrong, and learn how to avoid that in the future. Keep trying until you succeed. And then try until you don’t fail.”

  Captain Aura looked over at us. Having been on several royal hunts, I was a bit experienced, although truthfully I never actually killed anything during them. Dad invited me several times, but I was always scared. These things that we’re about to hunt however aren’t animals. They are Demons pin and simple. Killing them is a lot like killing bugs. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told, and that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.

  “Despite the fact that you are going up against demons, they aren’t as deadly as you might think. They are something that you can fight.” Aura said. “Now, before we pair you off with an instructor, let’s give you an example. Do we have any volunteers?”

  “Me! Me! Me!” Evelyn raised her hand as soon as Aura finished speaking.

  “Great.” She said. “What do you want to go up against? We have twin-tailed squirrels, horned rabbits, and dwarf hogs.”

  “A dwarf hog please.” Evelyn said.

  Oh god, this is going to end horribly! There’s no way she can take a single tailed squirrel, let alone a dwarf hog! Dwarf hogs are hogs, but small. Go figure. They are just as aggressive, so I’m not sure why they even have some ready for us beginners. Despite knowing the dangers, Captain Aura nodded even as we were all silently telling her not to. Oh god, all the mercenaries are smiling! They must be thinking of using her as an example to the rest of us not to get cocky! I thought they were her friends!

  “Come up here.” Aura said.

  “Kay!” Evelyn said cheerfully.

  Almost skipping, Evelyn brought her spear with her. Being as tall as her, it seemed like a formidable weapon. Also, it seemed to be a type of boar spear. So the bde, from the socket and the wing-like things that kept the boar from running up the spear, up to the very tip was about a foot long. I definitely don’t want that pointed at me. Regardless of how dangerous that spear looks, I don’t think it’ll help her. Or will it? Ever since we got here, she’s been oddly energetic. I’m worried for her health, and given what happened to her, I was worried about her being in the forest at all. Maybe this is like exposure therapy for her?

  “Alright, since you’re up here, tell us a bit about the dwarf hog.” Aura said.

  “Right.” Evelyn nodded. “Dwarf Hogs are territorial and aggressive. Their main method of attack is to charge their target. Once they start running, they have to slow down greatly or even stop entirely just to turn.”

  Given how confident it looks like she is going to wait for that moment to strike.

  “That’s right.” Aura nodded. “Can you tell us anything else about them?”

  “They make the best bacon.” Evelyn said.

  “That’s right.” Aura smiled, tussling her hair. “Alright, when you’re ready, go ahead and give the word and a cage with a dwarf hog will open up.”

  “Got it.” Evelyn nodded.

  Having said that Aura moved out of the way and stood next to one of her men who carried a crossbow. I guess he was for insurance, if things get bad. Hopefully he has a good shot. With her off the field, Evelyn held her spear at the ready and looked at the cage that was around maybe twenty or more feet away.

  “Ready!” She said.

  The man standing on top of the cage lifted the front gate and out shot a- wait that's a dwarf hog!? That thing is giant! It’s like a rge dog! Maybe a small wolf! There’s no way she can handle that! Someone do something!

  As if hearing my thoughts, the dwarf hog saw Evelyn and decided to do something. Letting out a ferocious screech, it charged. As it shot forwards, Evelyn stood firm with her spear pointed towards the ground. Right as it was on her, she sidestepped it and hooked the bde guard around its front leg, tripping it. With a cry it fell to the floor, rolling out of control. Before it could stop itself or even figure out what happened, Evelyn stabbed into its side and pinned it to the floor. Struggling, it let out a pained cry as it bled out. Evelyn, for her part, wasn’t looking at it like a living being. With a neutral, almost cold expression, all she saw was a target for her spear.

  Eventually it stopped moving and screaming. Without removing her spear, Evelyn closed the distance. Pulling out a knife, which was about as long as her forearm, she stabbed it through its neck. Once more it screamed and kicked up dust as it writhed in pain. Again, however, its movements slowed. After a few slight twitches of its leg, it stopped moving entirely. Carefully removing her knife, she gained some distance and pulled her spear from its side. Keeping her spear pointed at it she watched for any movement. However it didn’t even twitch anymore.

  “Excellent work.” Aura called out. “I’ll have the boys make something good from this, for you.”

  “Thank you for your hard work!” Evelyn said to the two mercenaries who took away the hog, smiling.

  As for the rest of us, we were watching with our mouths wide open. How did she do that? The girl who misses so many csses due to her health? How did she kill it so easily!? What the hell!? I’m scared! No wonder she is the viliness! If she were healthy she would be super dangerous! Thank you for being sick! I don’t want to have a duel to the death with you!

  “As for all of you.” Aura said, looking at us. “You saw what she did, correct?”

  ““““…”””” Those of us who could, silently nodded.

  “Don’t try that.” Aura said pinly. “I'm sure you already know this, but she was stranded in the wild for a while. Back when we found her, Evelyn was hunting things faster than these in the Dark Woods. She was half starved, limping, and was using a glorified stick to do so. Unless you are confident enough to say you can do what she did, don’t try it. As for what everyone else should do…”

  Aura shooed Evelyn away, who returned to her group. Seeing this, the man who opened the first cage opened a second. Out ran another dwarf hog. Smelling the blood of its brethren, it let out an enraged cry and bolted towards Aura.

  “What you do is let it run past you, follow closely behind, and wait for it to come to a stop.” Aura said, side stepping it and sticking close behind it.

  As it slowed down and tried to look behind itself, Aura raised her saber, and swung it down. Without even a cry, the dwarf hog fell with its head separated from its body.

  “And then execute it.” She said wiping off her bde with a cloth she carried, and then added. “If you can't kill it in one blow, and you're close by it, it'll circle around trying to get you. To deal with that, have someone else get it's attention and it'll charge them. Repeat until you kill it or it runs away, though in that case, we'll deal with it. Also sometimes, as you saw with Evelyn, they can py dead. Not just dwarf hogs, but all demons. Since you’re in groups, have one person pin it down and have another hit it to make sure it’s dead. Any questions?”

  ““““…”””” Again, as before, none of us could say anything.

  “Good.” Aura nodded. “An instructor will join you and teach you what you need to know before you try your hand at hunting. Good luck, and remember. You don’t need to be successful on your first attempt. Although we don’t have unlimited hogs, so only try those when you think you're ready.”

  ““““…”””” Again, we were quiet.

  It took us a good while before we were able to move normally.

  Nissia

  ***

  “Come on!” I said stabbing at the floor.

  Our hunting wasn’t going well. Right now, me and my friends had surrounded a horned rabbit and were stabbing at it. The problem was that none of us could hit it. Even using magic to enclose it in some walls, we were having difficulty. It moves so fast! How are we supposed to hit it!?

  Although I compin about that, I know that we shouldn’t. Evelyn already proved that it was possible. And she wasn’t even using magic! Not only that, but these guys apparently aren’t even as fast as the ones in the Dark Woods! Just how did she hunt these at less than half her age when she was starved and injured!? No wonder she’s supposed to be the viliness, her specs are too high!

  “Got it!” Lidia said cheerfully.

  “Finish it off!” Jenna said.

  Even before we stabbed it to death, the poor thing started screaming. I didn’t know that rabbits could scream… We finished it off, but it’s body wasn’t in good condition. I wonder if the cooks can do anything with it. Once we took down the walls, one of the mercenaries came by and took the body, all three pieces of it…

  “Maybe we should take a break…” Alice sighed, out of breath.

  “Yeah, let’s do that…” Jenna said, looking at her blood stained sword.

  You know, maybe Melody really will have to beat the Demon Lord for us. Sighing, I looked at the rest of the css. Most of the commoners, and several of the noble groups were doing as poorly as us. Other groups such as the Twins group seem to be doing better. They even hunted a dwarf hog, though it wasn't nearly as quickly as Evelyn. You know now that I think about it, can this really be considered hunting? After all, they were already caught and we just needed to stab them. Whatever. This is hard enough as it is. I don’t want to spend hours tracking them down just to have it run away from us. One of our rabbits did manage to slip by us, but didn't make it even ten feet before a crossbow took it down. They've got some seriously good aim. Took its head clean off.

  That aside, I couldn’t help but look at Evelyn. Her skills aside, I remembered what she said st night. The Raven. This guy, whoever he is, is a problem. Although Lloyd doesn't think so, he could be a threat. He did save Evelyn, but we don’t know his goals. For all we know, he could be some stalker who is obsessed with Evelyn and wants to take her away or something. After all, if he is taking motifs from old Earth gods, he probably is weird.

  However, it’s not like we can do anything about it right now. We’re just students, and we have no clue who this guy is. Even if we did, Lloyd and Lna might be the only people who can deal with him given the fact that they're in line for the throne. Whatever, let’s leave the complicated stuff for ter. For now let’s do the best we can to keep an eye out for Evelyn.

  Grayburne