"The village before our destination should be right here," said Aviorah as she used her left hand to shield her face from the sun's harsh rays.

We were walking along a dirt road heading to the east. Our surroundings were mainly large trees that were on both sides of the road. Crickets were chirping even though it was basically what we consider midday. What a strange place the outskirts are.

Aviorah sighed and said, "The place is so dang hot."

I feel her on that one, and our uniform isn't doing us any better either.

"No complaints and continue marching forward."

I felt like a hypocrite for even uttering those words, because I wanted to turn around and head home because of the heat.

while still working on the roadway. Aviorah asked me, "Why did you want to become an investigator?"

I nervously scratched the back of my head and replied, "Well, I did it for the money and for the thrill, but mostly for the money."

With a puzzled look on her face, she said, "Huh, you entered this field of work because the pay is good? You do know that there are other ways of making money, right? "

Well, sometimes you have to stick your neck out for a few extra bucks. It isn't too hard to understand.

"I was right about my first impression of you being weird."

After putting my hands into my pockets, I reversed the question onto her by asking, "Since you think my reason is weird, What is your motivation for joining Umbella? "

Aviorah paused in her tracks and kept silent. I could tell that her reasoning might have been a very personal one.

In a serious tone, she uttered, "For revenge."

I was correct on my observation. So yay 200 points for me.

"What do you mean by revenge?" I curious asked.

In the same tone of voice, "I need to kill him."

"Kill who?"

She looked downwards at her feet which were firmly planted on the dirt road.

"Gurin. I need to kill Gurin. "

Gurin? I wonder who that might be.

For some reason I could feel a rage building up inside of her as she spoke about the topic.

She raised her head from looking at her feet then directly at me, with eyes filled with hatred and continued, "My father was a Regular Classed Investigator when he was killed by a tier 2 Witch who Umbella nicknamed Gurin. I understand that this is the risk we take by going on these jobs but my question is why hasn't anyone killed him as yet."

I tried to approach her and say "Avi-"

However, I was cut short by her due to a sudden and unexpected outburst.

"Why the hell is he still alive?" Every time I asked for an update, they kept telling me that they couldn't track him down. So I decided to do it myself."

"........"

Her eyes, which were previously filled with hatred, were still the same way, but this time they were mixed in with what I would describe as determination. Compared to her, my reasoning just sounded stupid. I was just in it for the money, with little to no motivation after that.

"Oh, I see."

Those were the only words I could let escape my lips due to me still processing the information I was just given.

Aviorah began to walk again, "I won't rest until I dicapitate his head or drive my blade through his heart. So I expect that you'll do your job and ensure that happens."

"Sure no problem..."

A tier 2 witch, huh? The bounty on his head must be high since he is basically off the grid and managed to kill a fair share of investigators at the same time. We could be added to his list if we do cross paths at an inopportune time, especially as we are right now.

My thoughts were cut short when I heard the sounds of children playing. We must have reached the village before our destination.

I should probably send word back to Mindori so she can know that we aren't Witch stew as of yet.

I reached into my inner trench coat pocket and pulled out the thin black sheet of messenger parchment, inscribed my message and then released it as it went up into blue flames. Great now that I gave her an update we can continued on. 

As we approached the entrance to the village, a purple and gold temari ball rolled towards us.

Aviorah bent over and picked it up with both hands. She smiled as if she was reminiscing about her childhood.

"Hey, Ayato. Did you ever play with one of these while growing up? "

"Uh once or twice. I wasn't really the active type, so I would stay inside and read books."

As we walked into the entrance two little children ran up to Aviorah and took the temari ball from her.

"Thanks lady."

Aviorah said in a soft and sweet voice, "Can you please show us to an adult?"

Well I wish she could speak to me in that tone, instead of what is basically equivalent to a drill sergeant.

One of the children grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along towards the nearest adult.

I followed behind them. A few moments later, We stood face-to-face with a mature-looking man. I would say around his mid 30's and he is probably the child's parent.

The child tugged on the man's clothing and said, "Daddy these people want to speak with you."

The man observed us and said, "Oh, it's two more of those Umbella investigators."

Heh? Two more? We were told that this was a fresh assignment, and no one else had been dispatched. Am I reading too much into this?

Aviorah replied, "We're investigating the next village over and just wanted to confirm a few things."

The man waved his hand and said, "I already told the last two investigators everything I know and they promised that they would get rid of the issue, but it is still ongoing."

Alura finally said that same-thing that was previously on my mind.

"What do you mean by the last two? We're supposed to be the first ones on this case. "

"Look lady. You probably got bad information, but two investigators came here previously asking about the same village. The pair consisted of two males, and they seemed pretty confident in themselves. So I'll give you the short version of what I told them. The village next door houses a witch. I can't fully prove it but I have the sinking feeling. Villagers from here have been going missing as well. So will you do your damn job and get rid of the thing."

Aviorah tried her best to calm the man down and reassure him that we should be right on the case.

The man coldly replied, "That's what the last two said, right before my wife and a few other people were taken away by it."

I asked, "How long ago was that?"

"Just last night."

Hmm, from my readings, I know that witches usually devour one person daily, so there is a possibility that she could still be alive, but I shouldn't tell him that. 

Raising someone's hopes only for them to be crushed isn't really a nice feeling. However, it's unusual for one to take that many at a time. Is there more than one?

Aviorah thanked the man for his cooperation, and we went on our way. I couldn't shake the fact that two other investigators were here before us and they didn't deal with the issue.

So that raises the question if they are dead or just confirmed the village to be a false flag.