Over the next week, the air grew colder as their group moved northward. When they made camp each night, L would train Eika and V in the ways of swordsmanship, as well as generic combat tactics. Eika's new class gave her incredible speed, but she needed training in order to utilize it. Her strength was also much greater than it had been, although her rank was A, she was still weaker than V's B. Eika's base strength was simply far lower than his. L was confident Eika could now easily overpower most normal humans, and perhaps some dwarves, assuming they wielded more standard classes. However, her speed was really her true strength, as was her powers of observation; at-least when it came to the wilds. As the days passed however, the reality of her class set in. Eika became worried about the implications even just the name of the class carried. As they traveled one evening, Eika returned to L, V, and Luna; she was normally running ahead and scouting.

"What do you think I was chosen for? Eika is not sure if I can be chosen."  V considered the question as Luna responded "Maybe you were chosen to make friends with all the foxkin?" Eika squinted as she responded "Well... that would not be so bad, but I don't think that's it." Luna shrugged happily as they walked. "That reminds me of this... actually no. I don't think I had any friends..." L sighed as they continued to walk. "Ours is not to question if we can carry out a duty that has been given to us. It is our struggle to carry out the duty, regardless of capability." L's words, while predictable, did nothing to assuage Eika. V finally spoke, ignoring L's previous statement. "Eika, the reason you have been named "Chosen," as well as given such an... ostentatious title, will become evident in time. If, however, you never discover what you were chosen for, then simply count this as a blessing and move on. You may have simply been given power without a purpose. Maybe you simply got lucky. We were all in the right place at the right time, if even a single moment of your birthday was different, you would have not gotten your new class. If I had been away from the camp for any reason, even going to the bathroom. Sometimes rare events transpire for no reason other than coincidence. It is my recommendation that you simply thank the stars, or your mother, or the Gods, or whoever, for a powerful class, and move on." V ignored the dirty look L threw his way as they continued on.

As they traveled, it was obvious that Eika's change still weighed heavy on her. She was much more quiet than usual, and could sometimes be caught standing listlessly, lost in thought. It had started to become cold enough that their normal clothes were no longer cutting it, and snow often drifted down from the skies. Even so, L's feeling called her further north. "So, I’m making an executive decision." V announced suddenly while walking. "We are going to try and find a village or city or something before we travel into what is quickly and obviously about to become no man's land. We need heavier clothing, and I doubt we will find many animals to hunt if we continue north." Luna nodded empathetic "Ya! The grass is getting thinner as well! We might starve!" L shrugged "When Eika returns, we can send her out to look for signs of civilization." Thanks to the men who they had rescued from the camp, they had gotten a rough idea of the layout of the villages in this area. Before they departed, they provided V with as much information as they had in regards to the northern lands. There were a few established towns that dotted the northern border of the kingdom, mostly logging and mining villages.

Later that day, Eika went out, looking for roads, or signs of deforestation. V and the rest made camp, so they would be easy for Eika to find should she return with news. As the snow fell around them, Luna was trying to build some sort of snow... thing. L watched her for a few minutes before getting up and doing exercises. V looked over "We have walked almost every hour of daylight of the last few weeks. Do you really need to do pushups right now?" L scoffed "I no longer tire from physical activity. There is no reason to not attempt to maintain or increase my physical prowess whenever possible." V rolled his eyes "Ya ok." He muttered under his breath "Try hard..." As he watched the snow fall, he once again wished he had some way to listen to music or something of that nature. He never really considered how much he missed the inventions of the digital age until he spent weeks walking with a statue on one side and a child on the other. This journey was the first time he really had... time to consider his position and his old home at length. Most of his time spent on this world was a constant stumble forward, trying to get his footing, no time to reflect greatly on his past. He wondered how the city, ravaged by the curse of violence, was faring. He had no special attachment to it of course, but he was always a city rat, and it was the first big city he had been to in this world. His thoughts also drifted back to his old... "family." He wondered if the boss gave his old position to the one that murdered him, he would normally be angry, filled with a desire for revenge, however... Maybe it was simply how far away it all now seemed, or perhaps he found something better in this world, but he realized that he was no longer angry about his murder. It was just the way of life he had been a part of, and now he was a part of another life. One even more focused on death and killing.

A strange sounding bird call floated into the camp. "Ah, Eika's back!!" Luna jumped up and looked around. L sighed "Did you really have to give her such a stupid idea? Attempting to mimic bird sounds to signal an arrival..." V raised his eyebrows "So, you would rather her just charge into camp with no warning, causing you to jump up with your overly taut mind in an attempt to stab her?" L for once did not have a good comeback, so she simply crossed her arms "There has to be a better way. We used messenger birds." Luna went slack jawed and her eyes became as big and round as the sun. "M...messenger rabbits! LET’S GET EIKA TO TRAIN MESSENGER RABBITS!" V smiled at L "You did this." As L began to respond, Eika jumped into camp. "I found a town! Well, it’s not really a town it’s like a village. Villages are smaller than towns, right? It was actually sort of easy. There is one not far away from us. If we just walked another hour north, we would have seen it! Guess what? I visited it! The people there live with rabbitkin! Not many, but there are a few rabbitkin families! They welcomed me into the town and asked me what I was doing out here alone. At first, they thought I was a runaway slave because of the collar but then I explained that..." V held up his hand. "Slow down a little please, it’s really hard to understand you."

Eika took a few deep breaths and drank some water that V handed her. "Right. There is a village a little ways north of us. They say they are the last village this way. Beyond them is just fields of snow and ice. They live with rabbitkin! A tribe was attacked by some sort of orc things and was mostly wiped out. The kind villagers took them in! Since this village is so far north no one really pays any attention to them, so they have been living peacefully with the rabbitkin for two generations! Look at this!" Eika sat down her pack and pulled out a cute little dolly, made from some type of wool. It appeared like a teddy bear, but with rabbit ears. "A little rabbitkin girl gave it to me! I’ve never seen a rabbitkin doll before. Everyone there was so nice to me!" L furrowed her brow. "Overly kind country bumpkins usually means they are horrible people. Maybe they have been dodging the kingdom's taxes, or maybe they are cannibals or something." Eika's face was a cross of horror and disbelief "W...what?" L shrugged "I’ve been sent to destroy villages like that in the past. All smiles and friendship, because they plan on tying you up while you sleep in their inn so they can use you in tomorrow’s repast." Luna tilted her head "I don't think people are good to eat..." V stood up "Stop, stop. That was probably a single event. Ignore them Eika." He looked at the sky. "They are probably just normal people who were happy to get some visitors this far north. It’s a bit late now however, we will head to the village come morning." Eika nodded as she unpacked her backpack. According to her, the villagers would be happy to trade them food and clothing for the journey further north. She was very excited to get going in the morning, and had trouble sleeping that night.

Early in the morning they set off after packing up camp. As they headed toward the village, Eika hardly ceased talking. her excitement was overflowing. L was clearly bored of Eika's rambling, but V was looking forward to seeing rabbitkin living in a normal fashion. He was curious as to how rabbitkin society functioned when not entirely enslaved. He also wondered if there was a way he could "casually" inquire about "rumors" he heard about a rabbitkin "Chosen one" without sounding suspicious.  Perhaps their people had a legend or myth regarding Eika's... transformation, such as it was. As V mused to himself, Eika suddenly called out. "Oh no! We have to hurry, somethings wrong!" Eika pointed to the horizon, where the silhouette of the village had been creeping closer. Now however, large plumes of smoke were issuing forth from somewhere within the village. Eika started running at full speed toward the village, frankly none of them could hope to catch her, but they started running as well, hopefully they would not be too far behind Eika. If something was wrong in the village, it would be unfortunate if she got herself killed before they even arrived.

When V and L finally drew close to the village, it was immediately obvious it was under some type of attack. Screaming and yelling permeated the air, it was also clear that a few houses were on fire at the far end of the village. If the fire spread even a little bit, it might engulf the entire village. V and L could see people running toward what appeared to be the central part of the village. Drawing his sword, V slowly advanced into the paths between the houses. Luna was a minute or so behind them, but they had no time to worry about her. L gripped her sword hilt. "Should we try to apprehend one of the natives? We might be able to get some information." V shook his head. " We don't really need to. It’s obvious that Eika would have ran straight to the problem to try and help. We just need to go to where the fire and noise originate." L nodded and moved in front of V, taking up a protective positioning as they advanced. "Come this way! Hurry! I’ll save you!!!" V heard Eika's desperate and angry voice ahead. A feminine voice called out to her "I can’t! My son is still inside! I can’t leave him behind, they will eat him!" L looked at V "Eat him?" V shrugged "I would say animals, but animals don't normally light buildings on fire. Maybe someone was a cannibal after all?" As they broke out into the chaos, it was another horrific scene. From one end of the village, a horde of small animals were... invading? Is the only real word V could find to describe the situation. He caught a glimpse of Eika jumping through a window, into a house whose entrance was flooded with rats. Between the burning buildings, at the edge of the village, stood a ragged looking middle-aged man, he had animal ears but V could not figure out what animal they belonged to. The man laughed and screamed "This town now belongs to The God of Vermin! Your bones will feed the hoard, nothing will remain!"