In the distance Vex could see the destination of the short detour, a large mansion like building atop a small hill, around hit all multiple farms of varying products ranging from fields of wheat to trees and bushes of fruit, it was an amazing sight, beautiful and serene. For Vex, who never saw such sights before it was even more beautiful, one was invited to just lay down into the grass and let all ones worries disappear as you bath in the war, rays of the beautiful summer sun.

Even Hanna stopped momentarily to soak in the tranquility and peace of the land before her.

"Who could have guessed that wench actually has some proper tastes, it’s almost a shame to burn it all down, almost."

And so, they continued their March towards the lonely mansion atop the hill And as They approached the first set of farms they were greeted by a young man, he looked to be around 25 years old and a strong build, years of tending to the farm seemed to do those kind of things to a body. Much to Vex‘s surprise Hanna didn’t immediately rip the guys throat out of his body, but rather introduced the group as an adventure team heading towards the mansion of First Lady Kathrin to discuss somethings with the lady.

"Ah, your also here for the hunt then I presume? Tell me, is the thing that attacked the prison tower really that dangerous? Heard the entire army got mobilised for this, some even rumour that king will ask other kingdoms for assistance."

This… would complicate things a little. Hanna had not expected her prison bust would go unnoticed for more then a few hours, but she had not expected that a response would form this quickly, or that this all would be linked to her. She expected that everyone thought she was still dead.

How on earth did they caught on this quickly? Yes the attack on the tower had the same calling card as her attack on the Querum village, but that isn’t enough to specifically link the two attacks to her in particular, unless someone had survived the attack on Querum and had told the tale, but that’s impossible, so how?

"Is everything alright? You look kinda lost…" The voice of the young farmer brought her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Right, she still was in the middle of a conversation.

"Yes, yes everything fine, just thinking how I should answer the best… Let’s say it like this, the monster in question is extremely powerful and dangerous and it can hold grudges for quite a while, that’s all I can disclose for now." The farmer raised his eyebrow.

"That first part is something I thought would be quite obvious, but that grudges part is something no other adventure said to me, how do you know that?" Hanna flashed him a toothy grin, revealing her rows of sharp teeth to the man, who flinched backwards at the sight.

"I have my ways good sir. Vex you can raise him if you want to, but if you do you gonna have to keep him hidden." And as if on cue, blood started to trickle down the mans face as more and more gathered inside his mouth and overflowed outwards, before the man fell backwards with a thud.

Vex blinked once then twice at the corpse in front of her, how did she do it so quickly and silently? The blood was a very clear indication of poison, but how on earth did she administer it this quickly and without anyone noticing?! Vex continued to stare at the corpse trying to figure out just what the hell had happened. The thought to raise the man and ask him crossed her mind, but before she could start her incantation, Luisa clapped her hands in front of her twice, startling her.

"Come on your falling behind, unless you want to die as well I suggest you keep walking."

Looking back up from the corpse Vex noticed how far away both Hanna and Adeline already went and she quickly scurried after them, Hanna‘s words still clear in her mind.

'If you ever wander off to far away for my liking, you‘re as good as dead, understood?'

Those were the exact words Hanna said to her before they went off towards Lady Kathrin‘s estate, a shiver ran down Vex‘s spine whenever she thought back to when Hanna had interrogated her bout anything she knew about the First Lady. She was well known and liked so even Someone as isolated as her knew of things about her, but most information was old and only hearsay, the only reliable thing the interrogation brought was the location of the estate and that’s only the case because they asked one of the undead guards.

Quickly catching up to the group she found a brooding Hanna, constantly rubbing her chin, she was clearly troubled by something, maybe the presence of the adventurers changed somethings in her plan, or maybe she was just thinking of a way to murder each and everyone, it wasn’t difficult to believe that Hanna would do so.

After another 5 minutes of slow walking through fields and farms they finally found a small dirt road, leading to the large mansion atop the hill additionally they came across a small group of what appeared to be knights, Vex recognised the coat of arms of the king on one of their banners they carried.

"Halt, state your business travelers, if we deem it unimportant we have to turn away. Lady Kathrin does not which to see any visitors at the moment."

They were all heavily armored, far more then any of the guards they had faced until this point, Hanna was strong, that much she had proven to Vex, but against such heavily armored foes even she would be unable to just use force to win right? So Vex was interested to see what Hanna would do next, while also being absolutely terrified at the idea of being captured. If only she would be able to make her journey alone then it wouldn’t be so unnecessarily complicated and she would be long gone, away from the kingdoms and it’s knights.

Hanna stared the group of knights down, weighing her options, her original plan was to go in, metaphorical guns blazing, but this was becoming more and more intangible with every minute, she wasn’t foolish enough to believe she could kill everyone currently present, be it here or at the mansion.

The prison she could overpower easily through a combination of surprise and the incompetence of the enemy, As most guards stationed at the prison were nothing more then peasant, stuffed into some light armor with no real combat training or experience, this time however it was different.

These knights were professionals, trained and probably experienced and although the adventurers at the mansion could technically be worse then the guards at the prison, Hanna believes that the wrench had only assembled the most powerful and experienced adventurers available.

This was the biggest challenge Hanna had faced up to this point, she knew that, but she would not step away, she wanted her revenge, at any cost.

"We are but simple adventurers from far away lands, we heard of an gathering of adventurers and curiosity got the better of us." Hanna replied. It was a risk, but a risk she was willing to take.

If there was any form of identification practiced by the adventurers guild she was screwed and would have to resort to different tactics that would make it far more difficult, although a loud part of her mind also claimed it would be far more fun, but Hanna needed to pragmatic so she ignored that side of her as best as she could, which proved far more difficult then she imagined.

Luckily her gamble seemed to pay off.

"I see, The First Lady Kathrin as already assembled all the adventurers she said she would need, however she also said all further volunteers are welcome to attend, so I will not keep you hold up any longer."

The knights all saluted and then continued down the path, away from the mansion and Hanna let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, this was quickly turning into a far more difficult revenge plan then she had anticipated. She turned to her group of pets and observed them for a bit.

Adeline was busy glaring daggers into the direction the knights had gone, she was wearing a large cloak they had 'borrowed' from a travelling merchant they had stumbled upon during their escape from the city, and Hanna was more then grateful they did, since Adeline was an escaped convict, she really needs to hide her appearance from others, the same went for Vex, who luckily also wore a similar large cloak obscuring her features enough so no one would immediately recognise her.

Technically she herself and Luisa would need to hide their appearances as well, at least around the First Lady, however since Hanna herself could just shapeshift And Luisa wore a giant cloak at all times anyway she didn’t think this to big an issue.

Luisa seemed to be slightly bored, a common occurrence over the last few days Hanna noted, Luisa seemed to be in a constant uninterested or gloomy mood, no matter what happened, unless it involved some good old fashioned murder or otherwise heinous acts, although recently even those seem to barley spark her interest anymore.

Vex was still the shipwreck she had been previously and that’s good because that is how Hanna wanted it, Vex was clearly appalled by all the things they did for entertainment and Hanna clearly saw the glint of guilt whenever they had killed during their escape from the city, but not with everyone, she had no remorse for the dead guards after all. Hanna did not trust her much like how Vex didn’t trust Hanna. Vex had clearly a ulterior motive for joining them and until Hanna figured out what that was she would not let Vex rest, keeping her constantly on her toes for a very clear message: 'Do not try any funny business.'

Looking back onto the distant mansion and calculated her chances of this succeeding to be less then ideal, this was unknown territory for her while the wench probably knew it in and out, the wench had the numbers advantage and her allies had most likely far more combat experience then any of Hanna‘s groups, the odds were stacked against Hanna in every possible way, that’s why she hesitated, was all of this truly worth the petty revenge?

Absolutely, for Hanna at least. And so they continued forward.

————————————————————————-

Silence, deafening silence, that was what hung in the air at this moment, for Kathrin this moment felt like a eternity, but it was worth it, as she silently hugged her beloved daughter, words were simply not necessary at the moment, only the action was of importance. When Kathrin first heard the news she was so overwhelmed with emotions she almost passed out from it all.

The anger and frustration with the incompetence of that arrogant captain, she had told him it was still around she told him, he needed to make sure that it was dead, but he didn’t listen. Then the fear, the fear of that thing being out there destroying so many lives and then absolute devastation when she heard of her daughter.

She rushed to the capital and into the church where her daughter was being treated and after she saw the sight she had broken down into tears. Her beloved and strong daughter reduced to a muttering and twitching mess, unable to respond to any of the pleas her mother voiced.

Only with he help of 3 High Priests was Julia able to finally escape the nightmares of her own mind and she broke out into tears, basically threw herself into her mothers arms and they cried together for minutes on end, much like now, although there were less tears this time.

The priests had warned Kathrin that Julia‘s mind was now forever scarred and even the simple mention of the monster who had inflicted these wounds could send her down a spiral into despair. She would be plagued by nightmares for all her lives and seeing a fresh corpse could have a devastating effect on her well being. Her life was now forever shrouded by black clouds in her mind.

She had made a silent promise that day, that she would not rest until that disgusting thing of pure evil was destroyed, to never plague this world again, so no one else will ever have to life through the same pain they did and that Julia knows she can rest easier, even if it was just a bit and she would never be truly healed, her wounds now for ever open, Kathrin could at least clean the wound so it wouldn’t get infected over time.

"I will be going out now, okay?“ Kathrin whispered softly and although it took another minute, Julia let her go, after she heard her mother would go out to hunt she suddenly demanded to hug her mother, which Kathrin could hardly refuse, obviously she had not told her daughter what she would be hunting, to not send her daughter down her spiral of fear.

"Please stay safe, I don’t want to lose you…" Her daughter whispered and she had to restrain herself to not immediately hug her again, because if she would she knew they would be here for another 10 or so minutes and she really didn’t want to wait to long anymore, her burning desire for vengeance demanding of her to find kill the monster that hurt her daughter.

"Of course I will. You don’t need to worry, I will be back soon." She said before finally exiting the room of her daughter. Outside the head butler waited for her, he bowed slightly after he spotted her and with a sign of her hand she ordered him to follow her through the halls.

"My Lady we have another 4 adventurers joining us on our expedition, they came by only a few minutes ago." The butler reported.

"Are they capable?" Kathrin asked, not stopping her strides through the halls, ignoring the greetings from any staff members they encounter on the way.

"That’s the problem, we don’t know. None of the other adventurers seem to know them and our informants found nothing about them in the guild records.“ This got Kathrin to stop for a moment.

"How can that be?“ She asked.

"They claim to come from a far away land, of I had to guess they seem to come from the north. They claim to have been on a simple mission and had heard rumours of this hunting event and we’re intrigued enough to be part of it." The butler answered, he walked over to a window overseeing the courtyard, where all the adventurers were gathered, he pointed out a small group of them.

"It‘s them a group of 4 people talking currently with bright knight Jack."

Kathrin looked tos eye for herself, a group of 4 people, three of them wearing long and oversized cloaks making it hard to make out any detail from this far away, although Kathrin had the feeling she had seen one of those cloaks somewhere before. The three of them seemed to stay still as statues while the final one, a small girl with blond hair, who wore simple clothes one might find talking to a travelling merchant. She was talking to Bright Knight Jack, the man towering over everyone of them, he seemed to be in a good mood, just as expected of Jack.

"As long as they perform admirably I don’t care where they are from." She declared, stepping away from the window and continuing her walk through the halls. Before she reached the door to the foyer however she turned to the head butler on last time.

"Keep an eye at these four, there arrival is to convenient for my taste." The butler bowed and then left the Lady alone, while she went down the stairs leading to the courtyard.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 Hanna wanted to vomit quite badly, the person in front of her had that effect on her. This man, The Bright Knight Jack, had an aura far to bright an pure for her to handle, for her pets it was the same story, they all were blinded by his aura of light. He went to church regularly, he became a adventure solely to help others and only ever demanded half of the money offered for his quests, saying they needed it more then he did.

Most adventurers refuse to party up with him, not because they hated him, he was beloved by all, but because adventuring with him meant giving up 50% of the profit, something other adventures did not want to do.

"And what is your reason to accept this quest, I don‘t believe you would do it out of the good of your heart, being from the north and all… N-not that I‘m saying you or the people of the north are bad or evil in anyway! It‘s just, most adventurers want something and with you being so far away from home, there must be something, right?"

Hanna was convinced in that very moment, That Even she would not be able to crush this man‘s spirit, she saw him smiling even after hours of torture and it made her almost buckle over, almost, she managed to hold it in, luckily.

She contemplated what to answer, she needed a very good reason for this, she had already leaned that most adventurers here were actually not in it for money, but rather glory and hero status, but she couldn’t answer with that, she had already stated that they would 'return home to the north' after this, so what worth would fame in a far off kingdom do for her? She needed something else to hide her true intentions.

"Well, we’re going to make the mother of all omelet‘s here Jack and we won’t fret over every egg."

Not even a second after saying this Hanna wanted to punch herself. What the hell was that?! Is she stupid!? He will be extremely suspicious of them now, making it all even harder!! Just why would she…

"I don’t think the monster lays eggs and even if it does I wouldn’t want to eat those if I were you… But I can’t really stop you either, so please just stay save yes?"

And Jack walked away, leaving a dumbfounded group behind him.