Bear School Astartes

”Wow, he looks dazzlingly beautiful in the sunlight, doesn’t he, Icarus?”

Cassandra said with a low smile, not even turning her head.

Her eagle glided quietly, landing on the corner edge of the cage room housing the wild wolf, and let out a subdued screech.

As if in agreement.

But soon, Cassandra shifted her gaze from the hillside to Icarus, her face turning to disdain.

”Of course, don’t think you can get away with flattering me! No way! This time I was almost discovered because of your negligence!”

”Days have been easier lately, so you learned to enjoy slackening, huh? Only watching people from the sky, not beasts?”

Icarus let out a guilty ’chirp’ and turned its head away.

”Hey! Look at me! I’m disciplining you!”

Cassandra stood with her hands on her hips, looking angrily at the eagle perched on the cage corner.

”Alright, no roast quail for you for the next ten days! Off to eat fish! Unroasted! No spices, live fish!”

So the eagle began to stomp its feet at the spot.

”Uh... are you two... communicating over here?”

Lann came down from the hillside, entering the port.

He was now looking confusedly at Cassandra scolding the eagle.

”Isn’t this still within enemy camp territory? Is being this conspicuous a bit reckless?”

He deliberately lowered his voice as he spoke.

But Cassandra, after finishing her scolding of Icarus, turned and gave him a warm smile.

”Don’t worry, Lann. Everyone in this area has been dealt with by me, as long as we’re not overly noisy, the sound won’t reach the pier.”

”Are you sure?” Lann raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms and looking down at Cassandra, ”I remember I was the one who sorted out the trouble for you just now.”

Thus, Cassandra’s expression froze, and she turned to glare at Icarus, who was preening its feathers.

Then she turned back, barely maintaining her smile, ”Icarus overate recently, it’s not in the best condition.”

Which means, when in good condition, it can identify all targets in the entire camp without missing any?

Lann quietly evaluated Cassandra’s abilities.

Such reconnaissance capability is rare even among Demon Hunters.

And judging by Cassandra’s demeanor, she has great faith in this ability’s efficacy, meaning its reliability is exceptional.

Utilizing Icarus to exert her ability... do they share some sort of mental connection?

”Why did you come over? I remember you promised Phoebe to deal with the plague.”

Cassandra leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking at Lann.

”If I’m not mistaken, you don’t seem to have any issues with the One-eyed People. You just arrived and only killed a couple of his little lackeys, and not many people know about it yet.”

Lann calmly shook his head at this question.

”The plague is no longer a problem; only seven people survived in that village, and they’ve all recovered. As for my grudge with the One-eyed People, heh... look at this.”

Saying so, Lann pulled out a sheet of papyrus from his pocket and handed it to Cassandra.

”There was a rather formidable female Mercenary ambushing me on my route, and this is the only clue I found on her.”

”As a newcomer from afar, like you said, I haven’t even had the chance to provoke anyone yet. And yet, someone hired such an expensive-looking Mercenary to kill me... that piqued my curiosity immensely.”

”Who can resist their curiosity? I had no choice but to come.”

As Lann recounted the sequence of events, Cassandra looked at the contents on the papyrus.

”Malaka! The One-eyed People want to kill Marcos! The lender wants to kill the debtor... it seems I have indeed provoked him; the guy doesn’t even care about costs now.”

”Thank you, Lann. You saved Marcos, that rogue. But have you considered it might be an old enemy chasing after you?”

Cassandra first expressed sincere gratitude, indicating she indeed cares about the ’rogue’ she mentioned.

Then she raised her eyes to look at Lann.

”Someone like you, I can’t believe you haven’t had any enemies before?”

To take action against local bandits affiliated with power, killing them for the sake of a recently met ordinary girl.

Heh, a person like this sailing smoothly in such turbulent times would make even legendary stories hesitate to write such.

But Lann’s answer greatly surprised Cassandra.

The young man spoke with certainty and confidence, without hesitation, ”No.”

”I have no enemies in this world.”

...Have you exterminated all your enemies already?

Cassandra almost blurted out this thought.

But sensibility managed to keep her mouth shut.

”Then it seems we have a common goal.”

Cassandra smiled and extended her arm towards Lann.

”We can go trouble the One-eyed People together.”

The Demon Hunter raised an eyebrow, stepped forward, grabbed Cassandra’s forearm, and shook it up and down.

”Pleased to cooperate, Cassandra.”

Icarus flew back into the sky, and Cassandra and Lann abandoned their stealth plan altogether.

Both regarded each other as formidable, so with the other party assisting, what’s the need for caution?

Just charge right ahead!

So the man and woman walked side by side, swaggering boldly towards the pier still echoing with wails and roars.

-----------------

Barnabas shouted in vain, bubbles surged past his ears with the opening and closing of his mouth; his muffled voice of pleading from underwater sounded rather strange, as if from another world.

His hands were bound behind his back, and the rope cut into his skin due to his struggle, with blood oozing from the bound areas. Water rushed violently into his mouth and nose, snaking down his throat.

And worse, as air escaped from his lungs, the body screamed for oxygen intake, while that notorious One-eyed man pressed him firmly in place with a large, thick palm.

The distance from the nose and mouth to the water surface was just four or five centimeters, but in this large pot, those four or five centimeters severed all his oxygen.

His vision started to flash and blur, indicating hypoxia-induced disorientation, warning his body nearing its limit.

And suddenly, everything changed. The substantial hand released his head abruptly, calming the water in the pot. His head of bound white hair and beard swung like octopus tentacles, splashing water everywhere.

He blinked, retching and gasping for breath, looking up at the giant holding him up, who, in turn, locked eyes with him with that one eye.

”The gods are my witnesses! I swear!”

Not even fully clear-headed, Barnabas, driven by survival instinct, started declaring his innocence again.

Fighting for that minuscule chance of survival.