Hunting Sport

"Huaaaah~"

With a yawn loud enough to wake up anyone else who thought of sleeping Yu rose from his sleep, this was his second night successfully falling into the land of dreams in a row and it felt more than great, sleep was truly a luxury to him nowadays

'This couch is better than those inn's beds'

He thought sleeping on the couch in Heather's room would feel uncomfortable but he underestimated its softness, this made him wonder just how good it would be to sleep on her bed

"Good morning"

He heard a sleepy voice say so he turned and found her getting up from the bed looking very lethargic, it didn't seem like she had as good a sleep as he did

"Good morning"

He replied, his tone somewhat happy, it had been many days since he greeted someone so casually, something he missed doing

"You want to go before the maids come?"

She was asking since it was too early to wake up

"I guess, I will visit you to draw up the plan once I get my bearings around the city"

"Alright, just knock on the window next time and I will open it for you"

He nodded and made a low whistle promoting the snake to finally unwrap itself from her and coil around his extended hand

"When does the prince arrive?"

"In four days"

"Alright, I will come to you before then"

Opening the window he sent the little slitherer to put any guards drowsily watching the place to sleep before he made his departure

"...I need to up my security after this ordeal"

Seeing how easy he came made her feel that the guards were nothing but decoration in the face of a real assassin, she didn't pay it much heed before since there was never a reason for her to be assassinated but she wouldn't feel secure anymore if she didn't

While she set her long term goals Yu was busy with his near future one's

"I should start testing the plan soon, I only have four days after all, this city is too strict for me to stay in too, who knows when some guy with too much time on his hands starts causing trouble, I better leave"

Following the road back to gate he walked right out without a single guard bothering him, his pale skin and soft features coupled with the fancy clothes gave him a nobleman's temperament, and since he was coming out rather than going in there wasn't any real need for his identity to be questioned

His walk then took him far away from the city and into the nearby woods, there he could hear the galloping of horses and the cry of beasts along his way, apparently this was a hunting ground for those who wanted to pass their time going after beasts with bows and arrows,

'I bet the hunting sport is much more exciting in this world'

With savage beasts replacing the helpless animals the hunter and the hunted might be switched at any moment

'I will make as much distance as I could before I search for my own game'

Diving deeper and deeper into the woods he noticed the land became rocky, he was approaching a hilly area and the vegetation was dwindling leaving him half exposed to any would-be predators

"Roar! Grr!" "Squee squee!"

The sound of battle came from the distance, by the voice he could tell one of them was a large feline but the other squealing one he couldn't exactly which animal it belonged to

'Neither is my target though'

He kept on searching while trying to hide himself as best as possible, unless he had to fight he wouldn't reveal his combatant and scare his targets before they even came near

He managed to skulk around the hills for three hours straight without being spotted, sadly he was no master when it came to stealth, a group of three goats manages to spot him peeping around their hill and charged at him from the top with no intention of reasoning things out

Seeing their running speed accelerate the more they moved downhill he realized he didn't have enough time to unsummon the snake and summon Lyra at the same time, thus he only unsummoned the snake before using his the new grapple he got to hook himself up the nearest tree's branch, it was a small tree but should be enough to keep the goats at bay

"Maaa"

Or so he thought until the leading goat issued its warcry while leaping off the hill near the end of its descent, its two comrades following its steps

"The hell?!"

He questioned the smug white face while conjuring his shield

"Ble!"

With a weird sound that ended its heroic adventures the goat crashed into the shield with enough force to splatter its face into smithereens

The sight made him want to gauge so he turned his eyes away while summoning out his trusty companion to deal with the remaining two who had leapt off the shield instead of slamming into it after seeing their leader's gruesome death

"Awuuu"

Lyra came out with a little too much enthusiasm to kill for some weird reason, but before she could turn the two running fellows into kebab he told her to be as subtle as possible in her battle lest she scared away every creature in the vicinity with her bloody flames

She didn't issue a response and gave chase so the prey doesn't get away but it seems she heard him as a dark hue covered her body, muffling all sound from her while increasing her speed

"Maaa maa" "Maa"

The two scared goats knew they were about to turn into ghosts instead, so they stopped running and turned to face their deadly opponent head-on in an honourable battle- Chomp, Slice

"...."

Seeing her come back holding one of the goats in her maw with blood staining one of her paws after cleanly slicing off the other's head he felt that the current her was much deadlier than when she was coated in flames

"Want me to barbecue it for you?"

He asked but saw her light up her flames while covering it with the same dark hue as her body which hid the flame's menacing feelings, though she only lit a very small one for it seemed this method was hard for her to use

"Wu wu"

She called for him to eat after roasting the goat thus came jumped off the tree and joined her

"It's a little charred, I like mine medium rare"

"Wuuwu!"

It felt like she was telling him to stop complaining and eat so withdrew any further comments the food while thinking to himself that the she-wolf might be on her period, why else would she suddenly be all mad and upset

'Can guardian beasts even get periods?'

He wondered as he chewed on the tough meat

....

Wiiish thunk!

"Yeep"

The dog-like beast yapped after receiving another bolt to its calf impeding its running speed further which prevented it from catching to the damnable two-legged coward before it, it knew it couldn't catch it before that scary wolf pawed its head off first after finishing off its companions but it would try to the end as hearing its families barks for help turned it rabid for revenge

But it was wrong in thinking the wolf was its end since the next bolt accurately shot through its eye, penetrating its brain and killing it on the spot

"Wu wuu wu"

"Thanks, your getting better too"

He replied to what he thought was her praise, its become a habit of his to talk to her even though he didn't always understand what she was saying

"Let's go"

The two quickly fled the battle scene after that, they were far too deep into the hilly area where beasts ran amok without restrain, unlike the area near the city where the beast population was controlled this place suffered no such restrictions which gave the beasts the opportunity to grow in numbers, in turn grow stronger as well

"Wuuu"

Lyra once again complained about having to run, she felt like she could handle whatever beast that came their way

"I know you're strong, but if we get swarmed over and over you will tire out eventually, plus I can't keep them off my back all the time, remember the time with back in the White Woodlands?"

The sheer name of the place brought back those bad memories making her quit complaining and turn silent

Seeing her running figure a bit sad he opened his mouth to soothe her but a howel interrupted his thoughts

Both he and Lyra turned to the side where trees were a bit denser than normal, that didn't stop them from spotting the yellow eyes looking at them with clear hunger

"Looks like your friends came out to play"

"Grrr"

He teased her but the enemy wolves didn't take a liking to his comment it seems as they growled at him threateningly, slowly moving to surround them

The two of them didn't take their enemies too seriously and prepared to start yet another pack massacre, until the enemy leader came out that is

Half a size larger than the rest with scars spread across his large body denoting the many battles it took for him to become the alpha of the pack he sauntered to them with a hard gaze, focused on Lyra's dark covered body, his beast eyes showing some intelligent suspicion

'Finally, I've been looking all over for you'

Smiling after finally finding his target two days into the journey Yu readied himself for a much harder battle than he though