Prelude To The Hunt

“Ha! I’m not following this modus trollest setup!” Sato said gleefully, winking over to Idalec,

“Master Sato, I believe he isn’t trying to spring anything on you.” Garia advised, “I believe he just wishes to simply confirm or deny the fact, and simply seek your opinion on the matter.”

“That made less sense than before.” Sato said, pointing to Garia, “So he’s baiting me?”

“No~” Sunya jumped in,

“Yes, master!” Carrot agreed,

“This is so complicated-” Sato said about himself. “But since I’m him, I know that he isn’t, not, not, baiting me.” Sato faced Erik. “I am the hero Sato! Gotcha ya.”

‘Uhmm…’ Erik started, his eyes darting around all eight of the heroes. “Can you help us deal with some wolf that keeps attacking our sheep?”

“I already killed all the wolves.” Sato bragged, “In the whole world, um, actually. But I guess we'll go check it out.” Erik rightfully looked extremely skeptical before Sato added, “It’s part of my master plan. I’ll be waiting to buy my slave when I get back.” Sato waved him off to walk into the forest,

“Sato, the wolves attacked from there last time.” Erik pointed in the opposite direction,

“Yeah, but wolves are very sneaky; they clearly liv-” Sato paused, spinning around and walking in the direction Erik was pointing. “Since I already killed all the wolves, w-we’ll just check it out. Let’s go.”

‘A very interesting situation.’ Idalec thought as the heroes' party followed Sato towards the woods. ‘Do the wolves, beasts that aren’t even beastfolk, deserve to die on the word of some man?’ “Prix?” Idalec walked closer to Prix, who looked pale. “Should we hunt these wolves down?”

Prix looked over sadly, “I think we should. If they’re terrorizing these villages, then we should hunt them down.”

“What if Erik lied?”

“Why would he lie?” Prix’s sadness dropped, replaced with fresh frustration,

“To get us to leave. Imagine you had just met Sato right then and there, would you not try and also send him off?”

Prix rubbed her eyes. “I think wolves should still be killed; they still attack people. Maybe they just haven't attacked these people yet, but they might at some point.”

“I see. So killing all those demons was fine.” Idalec said happily, his consciousness a little lighter,

“That’s- no, you didn’t even give them a proper trial! Luna j-” Prix spoke, trying to remain reasonable,

“What did you just say?” Luna demanded.

“...” Prix didn’t say anything else.

‘Could ignorance make certain problems go away?’ Idalec wondered as everyone came to a sudden stop.

“I was thinking-” Sato turned to face everyone. “Idalec, can you cast the kill all wolves spell?” Sato asked sincerely,

“...”

“Is that not a spell?” Sato asked unsurely as Idalec gave him a mildly disgusted expression. “Ok, fine. I was thinking we could pair up- I’ll be going with Idalec- and whoever kills the most wolves wins?”

“What’s my prize going to be?” Luna asked as she was sniffing the air.

“That’s if you win, cuz I’m paired with Idalec.” Sato shot back,

“I could hunt down more wolves than all seven of you working together." Luna stopped sniffing the air.

“Who’s pairing up with who?” Sato asked,

“Did you say that you already killed all the wolves~” Sunya asked, confused,

“I-I-it-” Sato tried to say. “It’s like an affirmation, you know, like I WILL hunt all the wolves… at some point. So who’s on whose team?”

“I’ll go with Sunya.” Prix huffed,

“Ok~” Sunya sang happily,

“Then we can do Garia with Miki and Carrot with Luna?” Prix suggested, pointing at the pairs. Garia, Miki, and Carrot vaguely nodded along,

“Isn’t there someone you forgot to ask?” Sato pouted

“What do you think, master~” Sunya asked,

“I think we should change the pairs.” Sato pointed to Sunya. “Cats go together, girls go together, and…” Sato was left with Garia and Carrot, “and you two.”

“Are you sure, master~?” Sunya was sweating,

“I don’t even need you,” Luna informed Sunya,

“You know what the winner can ask anyone for anything!” Sato said, “So like if I win, I can ask Prix to shut up, and she’d have to shut up.” Sato said, pointing at Prix,

“You're the one who talks too much,” Prix said defensively,

“So if I win~” Luna grinned, “I can challenge you to a duel to the death~.”

“Ye-” Sato started so confidently

“It has to be within reason.” Idalec interrupted,

“That’s fine.” Luna laughed,

“Ok, on the count of three, most wolf kills by sunset wins!” Sato said, “One… Three!” Sato sprinted off deeper into the forest before anyone else caught on.

“Scum,” Luna muttered as she sprinted off on all fours orthogonal to Sato,

“Well.” Idalec huffed as he started walking after Sato. “I will see all of you later.”

“I-” Prix looked over at Miki, who looked out of it. “We will be staying here.” Miki nodded to Prix’s proposal,

“We should run! Garia? Let’s go! Let’s run!” Carrot bounced around; Sunya looked nervously at Sato and Idalec, considering following them.

“I guess we could forage for some mushrooms. They do tend to call out to me, lovely in taste, which is oh so hard to place anywhere else really.” Garia brushed her face,

“Do you think we can join you?” Prix asked Garia, as Idalec and Sato vanished deeper into the birch forest.

“I could foresee that kind of possibility, though I do not understand why you could wish to come with us when you did as a matter of fact promise or made the vague-” Garia spoke,

“Come! Prix, come with us! I want to make a sling!” Carrot was jumping up and down on the spot. Garia rolled her eyes but nodded,

“Can I also come then~” Sunya laughed nervously,
“Yeah, I think that’s fine,” Prix said, looking around and getting no disagreement.

“Let us go; mushrooms taste better than wolf meat do anyway, if I had to take my chances with my current knowledge. Do any of you happen to know the contrary?" Garia asked and started to slowly move into the forest, looking down at the forest floor, and that’s how all eight of the heroes started moving deeper into the backwoods.

“So who do you think will win?” Sato asked Idalec as he ran around aimlessly, Idalec some dozen paces away.

“Luna is winning,” Idalec said,

“Are you sure? I think I could kill a few wolves, to be honest- and I also have you!" Sato looked back at Idalec. “Also, are you sure- like fr fr- that you can’t cast a kill all wolves spell for us?”

“No, I can not.”

“What can we do to win?” Sato asked, looking around,

“If we manage to stumble upon a wolf den. That’s further away than the one Luna smelt.” Idalec commented as he kept walking,

“What do you mean?” Sato stopped. “You're telling me Luna already knows where to find the wolves? X-raying?”

“Who would X-ray…” Idalec stopped himself. ‘Sato is a dumbass, but I should be revealing that I know what an X-ray is.’