Hunting Orange

Winter Schnee sighed at the absence of Silva Branwen for the umpteenth time, as she never thought she would get used to him so soon. A day has already gone by since the snow leopard fanus was called to general James Ironwood's office, and the ice queen suspected was off on a mission for the general. Winter tried to focus on her homework for military tactics and strategies class but kept letting her mind wander towards how Silva may be doing and where he is now. The ice queen was used to isolation and solitude, but when the snow leopard faunus became her roommate, things changed.

For starters, Silva actively tried to talk to Winter on various subjects, whether for class assignments or just day-to-day items. The ice queen was honestly surprised by the sheer variety of topics the snow leopard faunus was knowledgeable about and even to the point of being able to correct a professor on their rare mistakes. Winter smiled at the memory of the few times Silva pointed out a professor's inaccurate information, like the composition of various regional Grimm and plant life. The ice queen felt the snow leopard faunus's absence more and more as silence descended the dorm room.

Winter even missed the background noise Silva generated when he was working on an assignment or enjoying his hobbies. The ice queen never pegged him to be a writer, and while she peeked at his manuscripts, she couldn't place what he was writing, not that she seriously tried to find out what he was writing. The only books Winter bothered to read were those relevant to her classes and career path as a Specialist of Atlas. The ice queen gave a sincere and silent prayer for Silva's well-being while he was away as she tried to fill the silence with work but only made the weight of her isolation more apparent.

Winter did miss Silva as someone who could be considered an acquaintance or even something she hadn't had in the longest time... a friend. Not that she would admit it as she knew, by the Brothers, the ice queen knew if Silva heard that she missed him, he would tease her to no end. A little over three months and, Winter got a decent feel for Silva's character, which marked him as someone that liked to do some good nature teasing to those he felt comfortable with but was overall a serious person.

***

My name is Silva Branwen, and right now, I am flying on an Atlesian Airship towards a sight of a bandit attack against one of Atlas's supply convoys with the current Ace-Ops. Clover Ebi is a literal good luck charm that uses a fishing rod as a weapon. Vine Zeki is a scrawny guy that uses a shuriken-like weapon with his Semblance Aura Vines to have some impressive reach. Elm Ederne is a mountain of a woman made of pure muscle with a rocket launcher-hammer combo that can root herself to the ground for some serious leverage. I kept to myself as while I don't dislike them, particularly I rather not get close to them either as they are Tindick's personal attack dogs.

Clover announced to everyone.

" We are coming up on the site."

We soon landed near the sight of the attack, and I started my investigation from my angle as the lucky fisherman gave his orders.

" Vine, see if you can find a manifest! Elm, I want you to search the wreckage for any clues that might be buried underneath it and Silva..."

I ignored my name being called in favor of trying to ascertain the bandit tribe's numbers, their positions before and after the attack, and where they retreated to when the Grimm showed up. I got plenty of tracking experience from hunting for food, plus the memories in Soul Archive that some hobbyist hunters helped me identify some reason animal movements over the older tracks. From what I have gathered so far is that this tribe is even larger than what the Branwen tribe used to be. They came to the crash site from two sides for a pincher maneuver.

As I tried to find where they had retreated, Clover was adamant about getting my attention.

" Silva Branwen, respond!"

" Yes, Ebi?"

I dryly answered without looking at him as I continued tracking and saw that they ran south of the wreck in retreat. I heard the leader of Ace-Ops sigh and he said.

" I understand that the general assigned you to the Ace-Ops because of your previous life as a bandit, but I am your commanding officer in this operation. This is a military operation, so you need to follow orders."

I looked at him and curtly told him.

" I am no soldier."

" Maybe so, but you are working with us and need to communicate with the team at least."

I knew Clover wasn't a hard case, but honestly, I wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible. The sooner I do my time for James Ironwood, the sooner I can focus on reasoning with Salem, as it is going to be a process to get her to take my words seriously, in more ways than one. As I followed the bandit tribe's retreat with Clover tailing close behind me and I found nothing. Their tracks end without a trace, no sign of covering their movement, no broken branches, no overturned rocks or foliage, nothing. I clicked my tongue and reported my findings as I tried to check their original positions before the attack to track from there.

" Ebi, the bandit's retreat is a dead end as they practically disappear into thin air, so either some can open portals to somewhere, or they have plenty of airships for transport."

" I see; that makes finding out where they went a bit harder to find out."

I backtracked the attack to where the bandits emerged from the woods to finish the job and found an old campsite. Clover sincerely compliented me.

" Impressive. To already find something that may aid us in finding out where this tribe's from."

I shrugged as I didn't care what he thought and poked around the campsite. Plenty of alcohol left over, but that's nothing unusual. Some game meat was left behind near the fires; again, nothing unusual as the attack happened fast. I found a few odds and ends but nothing that can give me an idea of where these bandits are from and where they went. I can only hope the manifest where the inventory is listed can give me an idea of who to talk to at the black market because what bandits don't keep after raids; they sell to buy additional supplies that they can't make or steal for themselves.

Clover asks me as he didn't find anything as well.

" Find anything?"

I shook my head in denial and said.

" No, maybe the inventory list can give us some idea if they are going to go to the black market anytime soon."

" Let's check on the others then."

We went back to the sight of the attack, and Vine did manage to find the shipping manifest for this convoy. After Clover looked it over, he handed it to me and asked me.

" See anything that might help us?"

"Hmm..."

The cargo was mainly silks and spices, which always sold well on the black market, and other luxury goods like expensive alcohol and finery. Raven always kept any tea sets she came across in the raids the Branwen tribe performed but putting that aside, I see plenty of stuff they could sell to the black markets for some additional profit, but the bandits could very well wait for the heat to die down before selling unless they're desperate for cash...

" These guys could've been desperate for quick money!"

I had a eureka moment as the heavy ordinance that bombarded the convoy could've their reserves that bandit tribes try to splice out Dust because it is a rare commodity out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. This also explains why they attacked a convoy with escorts from Atlas, which is something that bandits avoid for a good reason, as Atlas always investigates and responds with greater force to annihilate any bandits that dare attack them. Okay, the next stop is obvious, the largest black market in the city of Mistral that can easily swallow up the goods.

I informed Clover of my thoughts.

" If they want to offload all these hot items quickly, then we need to head for Mistral, as only the most prominent black markets have the necessary cash to buy them at a reasonable price while avoiding any intervention from law enforcement."

" Looks like we're heading to Mistral."

The Ace-Ops leader agreed, and we soon left for the capital, but I wondered why these guys were so desperate for cash. I guess I will find out soon if all goes well.