Reaper's Crown

Ch. 130 - Battle of the Wimp

A younger man peeked his head out from behind a rather big rock. On the other side of his glance, stood a large silhouette, sniffing something thin out of the air.

The man, in turn, smiled.

"You see 'em, Go?" he asked. "It's looking for us."

"Shh..." Genni shushed him, waving her finger, and crawling closer towards the ground. Ingo stared at her for a few seconds, before looking up at Opo, who chuckled.

"Don't worry, eh?" Opo repeated, smiling, moving back a little. "The damn thing can't hear us. It has no ears, and it's desperately searching for a trace."

"We left footsteps." Ingo furrowed his brows, putting both hands on his head.

"That's right, but they're leading elsewhere," Opo commented.

As his words entailed, the creature focused on the marks left on the ground. Its long, sharp, grey nose almost tried to follow the few clues, even if the three stared from far away.

Now, Opo's beam turned into a large grin. The Sawa Canyon, strung only a few miles from the Mercury Village was mostly filled with ankle-deep rivers, as well as trees, bending from the formations moving upwards, some smaller, some larger, eventually housing bigger bushes towards the top and erecting pathways through tight squeeze caves or more rocks that... generously resembled staircases.

It was home to many creatures, small uphonas, jumping from the rocks to the mentioned pools, tiny centuras climbing around or a few lenos', leaping from one tree to the other. The elephant in the room, however, was a passage that was rumoured to lead right towards Halesdeep, and those few unaware beastmen, such as the deaf the two were staring at, often found themselves wandering through to the canyon.

Ingo recalled his brother's words about the "mission" they were taking part in. Many residents of the Mercury, such as Genni's family, reported seeing or hearing things that one would attribute to creatures of that kind. A certain smell in the air, nail scratches on wooden houses or even destroyed lampposts, for whatever reason.

The girl slowly raised her head, moving towards Ingo, spotting as Opo stepped out of the boulder they hid behind, and approached the creature, one small footstep after the other.

"Ahh..." Genni put her hands near her face.

"Stressed about Opo-nun?" Ingo smiled. "My brother's all the fire you can see! No worries, Genni!"

"No, but like," she shook her head. "He shouldn't be doing this..."

Ingo sat back down. "That creature roamed near your house, didn't it, Genko?"

"Exactly. It should be our responsibility, not yours!" she smacked him, lightly.

Ingo glanced at her again, with a tight smile, the same one that was still plastered atop Opo's face. Still treading the same path, it almost vowed to never change his expression, even in the slightest.

This wasn't the first time the Sforse family ever dealt with beastmen. Their father was once a hunter when younger, and eventually when problems arose with such, the only other way to deal with them was by inflicting the same damage they were to do. A simple hit to the head was given when it came to knocking them out, but beastmen had their weaknesses. Light was one of them, which was the reason they often attacked the lampposts if they ever roamed near the village. Furthermore, their feet weren't necessarily used to the ground, so they bore sandals.

Now, with their father much older and incapable of moving as swiftly and sneakily as back then, the responsibility quietly fell onto the two kids. Ingo's mama insisted that the two shouldn't dwell on expectations, but it was Opo's idea to continue this sort of tradition.