Reborn to be Royal

Chapter 33: Hunted

On the way to Lucile's room, I got a few strange looks ranging from confused to solemn smiles. I ignored most of them and continued, unabated, though I am making sure not to move too much incase I wake sleeping beauty. Placing her in her bed and pulling the covers over her, I can't bring myself to smile. I'll go and see what this hunter has in store for me before I take out all of my pent up aggression on that bastard Dreyus.

[???] "You've arrived."
[Kai] "You had all that time to come up with something and that's what you go with?"

Out in the forest, I've come face to face with the cloaked male from before. His black cloak hid him from view within the shadows until he opened his piercing, crimson eyes and walked out into the light. After checking the surroundings with a quick scan, I lower my hood and reveal my own face, waiting for him to respond. For a moment, all I hear is a low, bestial growl before the afternoon breeze blows his hood away from his face, revealing the man's chiselled features and black sideburns connecting to a short chin-strap beard.

[Kai] "Well, aren't you the pretty one."

My sarcasm fails to escape the hunter as an instant passes before I find myself with the feeling of three prongs of cold steel piercing my stomach. Looking down to where the wound is, I can see my assailant is wielding a gauntlet with claw-like daggers attached at the knuckles. Without a second thought, I open my storage and draw one of my blades, resulting in the hunter's arm being separated from his torso, left to hang from it's current place in my stomach. He backs away quickly, with no sign of pain on his face and no sound, other than a slight snarl, escaping his lips.

[???] "Alright, I think you've both had your fun.  Can we please move on to the more important matters at hand?"

A feminine voice calls out, prompting both of us to shift our gaze towards the branches of a nearby tree. There, sitting with an unamused, almost bored look on her face, is the second hunter from the labyrinth basement. Her raven-black hair has been cut short, making her look somewhat boyish if not for her rather elegant facial features although her cold gaze would make approaching her impossible under normal circumstances.

[Male] "Fine. Hey, you."

The gruff hunter directs his attention back to me, pointing his remaining hand at my torso.

[Male] "Give me my arm back."
[Kai] "Say please."
[Male] "What?"
[Kai] "Did I stutter?"

This guy is too easy to rile up. A few words and he already looks ready to blow. A small smirk forms on my face before being wiped off when the female hunter appears to teleport in front of me, pulling the bladed arm from my stomach and tossing it at her companion.

[Female] "Don't make me repeat myself and let's get down to business."

I watch as my wounds heal, the Male hunter places his arm back where it should be and it begins to stitch itself back together, though nowhere near as fast as mine did back when I faced Lors. I suppose it would be prudent of me to keep the Regeneration speed of these hunters in mind.

[Kai] "I was told you had information for me."

The two now turn their gaze toward me.

[Female] "Our spy recently discovered what could be the reason for Dreyus' newfound courage."

I'll be the first to admit, this peaked my interest, though I was hoping for some kind of exploitable weakness.

[Female] "His servant, Juren, has been dealing with a human mage. From what we've been able to find, this man seems to be a chaos knight. A servant of Ouroboros, one of the dark kings."

As she speaks, a low chuckle resounds in my head. And I had almost managed to forget that thing was there. There's something with that information that doesn't add up though.