Vincent

Over two weeks had passed since Vincent's men were sent out in the woods to gather information on the magical beast that had been slaughtering his men.

Vincent sat in the back room of the guild building contemplating what to do now, because he knew in his bones that his men were dead. Sweat was running down his head while his heart beat louder and louder. It was to the point that he could swear that it echoed through the guild's halls.

Frustration, anger and guilt were the emotions that kept flooding his mind while he was smoking a cigar to calm down. No matter how many cigars he smoked though, nothing seemed to have an effect on what was going through his head.

"Why are those idiots not back yet? They should have been experienced enough to not be caught and killed by a damn magical beast, but there's no other reason as to why they haven't returned yet!" He thought to himself as he slammed his fists down on the table, which knocked over his mug of beer and spilling it all over the table.

His guild was already on the brink of extermination before those men had left, but not that they were gone, it was guaranteed that the guild would be no more.

Vincent was annoyed by that thought, but what angered him to his core, was the fact that his men were dead and he was the one who had sent them to their graves. "What kind of goddamn monster could be out there that would be able to stop a hand full of pawn-3 hunters and not allow at least one of them to come back?" He pondered.

The truth though, was that it was something way more frightening than just a magical beast that had taken his men's lives. That was just something that Vincent would never had imagined on his own.

"Perhaps I can speak with with one of the other guilds and inform them what's going on so that they can hopefully send their own teams out to investigate and bring back my men. Their families deserve to see them one last time on their own terms."

"The problem with that though, is what if the monster that killed my men, turns out to be a bigger threat than I realize and the military has to get involved?" Vincent became more frustrated going through the options that he had at his disposal.

He knew that if the military involved themselves, then that would mean that the prince would likely come down as well. The prince was known for looking down on everyone, and that included the monsters in the world as well. In his mind, nobody could come remotely close to him in power inside the kingdom.

The reason that Vincent truly did not want this to happen though, was the fact that the prince would potentially find a way to dispose of all the lower level hunters in the area for being considered to weak and incompetent to take care of their designated land. Everyone knew that the prince despised weak people, and had no problems with killing them to make a point.

In Vincent's mind, the prince getting involved would be even worse than trying to deal with whatever was lurking in the forest.

All of these thoughts were making Vincent worry that he would have an aneurism from all the stress. He had begun to pace around the room like a madman, and after a while, it appeared as if a small rut had begun to form in the ground where he was moving back and forth.

Then a crazy idea popped into Vincent's mind. "I'm a pawn-5 and I know a few of the older guild leaders owe me some favors from back in the military. Perhaps I can cash in on what they owe me, and send out a party of the strongest hunters that I know. If they agree, then I should be able to round up three other pawn-5 hunters and maybe even a pawn-6. That should be enough power to be able to take down whatever magical beast is out there tearing down my guild."

Vincent immediately sat down and took a long drag from his cigar to calm his nerves and center himself before reaching out to those who owed him the favors.

After he could no longer hear his heart beat echoing in his head anymore, Vincent grabbed the communication crystal and contacted the other guild leaders.

A couple of the men whined that he would bring up the past and how they owed him from their time in the military. For many of them, it felt like ancient history, but he would remind them of how if they were to truly be leaders of their guilds and set an example to the rest of their men, then they should honor their words.

Once their conversations reached that point, the guild leaders would give in and accept to helping him out. This was the best solution that Vincent could come up with, that didn't include bringing the military in.

They had agreed to meet at his guild in two days to discuss what the plan moving forward with this OP would be. The thought of having these powerful allies help him to take revenge against the beast that kept his men from returning to their families, made him feel peace for the first time in days.

If him and the other hunters were still to weak to take this creature down, then maybe the military deserved to enter the fray. After all, their soldiers had to be near the peak of the pawn rank to be able to enter into battle anyways. Which meant that magical beasts should be nothing to them.

Now it was time for Vincent to try and come up with a few different plans that he could run by the group of hunters when they arrived. He wanted to be prepared and he also wanted to be the one in charge of the ones who would help him take his revenge.