NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21: //21// Was there a boy among them?
"Why did you choose to go hunting instead?" Asked Ohana. Ever since Arsenal told her about it, she couldn't help but wonder why he picked the most dangerous occupation to work in order to pay her father.
"I don't just want to pay your father," Arsenal replied, sitting back in the carriage and letting the young lady control the horse.
"I want to have some money that I will take along with me on this journey. It would be long…
"What are you on a journey for, exactly?" Ohana interjected, throwing the burning question on her mind at him.
Her curiosity caught Arsenal off guard, and truly, he wasn't prepared to answer. So he was quick to divert the subject and made it about her.
"Why should I tell you when you still never told me what you were doing outside on such a restricted day?"
"You can keep your secret then," Ohana replied,
"While I keep mine."
Arsenal considered it to be a win for himself. He wasn't really interested in knowing why she was out anyway, and even if she told him it wouldn't make him tell her his secret.
Their ride to the reserve took twenty minutes [Gnomon time], and Arsenal could already see an Agent far ahead standing under a gazebo at the entrance of the reserve. He quickly ran his fingers over the mask he had put on to ensure that it was still firm before instructing Ohana to drop him off.
"Good luck!" She wished him, but Arsenal scoffed
"I won't need it."
Ohana dropped him off far away from the entrance, so Arsenal had to walk a one minute distance just to get to the gazebo, which also served as an entrance into the reserve. What he wanted was very simple, a chance to hunt down one of their ferocious beasts, bring its dead body to the Agents, and get paid.
"Hi." He waved the agent, who stared at hIm from head to toe before pointing a gun at his forehead and commanding him to take off the mask.
"I can't," Arsenal said. He spoke too boldly to the Agents because he no longer feared them like he used to. Police men are what he saw them as, so who fears a police man unless they've committed a crime?
"It covers a terrible scar that you'd rather not see." He added, keeping a straight face and being careful enough to not make the Agent suspicious of him.
"Here to hunt?" Asked the Agent.
"Depends on the pay? Is it good?" Arsenal asked in return.
"The price remains unchanged since it has been determined by the regional head. Your pay depends on the class of best that you capture, and they range from fifty to five hundred silver Gnoms." The Agent replied before taking his gun off Arsenal's face and tossing him a bag of arrows and a bow that he took out from the barrel next to him.
"Do you need anything else?"
"This is good," replied Arsenal,
"A knife wouldn't be so bad if you have one."
Even before Arsenal could finish speaking, the Agent took out a small pocket knife and tossed it to Arsenal, who caught it effortlessly using his left hand since the right was occupied by a bow.
"Thanks." He said.
"What if the beast I catch is too big, and I might need help carrying it to this point?"
When he said this, the Agent burst into laughter. It was the first time that he had seen these black-eye scaled figures laugh, and it sounded just like a bear's growl.
"Don't be so confident." Said the Agents,
"Many have come in here, and they either died, or they caught a rat and made ten silver Gnoms from it. Good luck because you will definitely need it.
"You still didn't answer my question," Arsenal cut him off with a frown,
"Will you tell me how to call for help, or will you keep mocking me?"
If Arsenal was being honest, he had never caught a rat before, and so he was curious as to what kind of beast he should look forward to meeting. So far, a lot of animals on Gnoman look similar to those on earth, so he'd hope to catch an antelope or a lion if he'd have to go extreme.
"There are buttons on several trees," said the Agents,
"Look around, and you will see one. Press it if you are still alive. But just know that nobody will come and save you if you die. This is a job that we are paying for. We aren't paying to keep you safe…
"Yeah, got it." Arsenal did not give the Agent a chance to finish his words before they walked past him and into the reserve.
He couldn't help but wonder why this place was called a reserve, when people are paid to come hunt beasts for them. But he couldn't dwell so much on it since this place wasn't earth, and has a lot of differences as much as there are similarities.
With a bow, a knife and an arrows, Arsenal has no idea where he was headed for in this reserve, but the idea remained in his head, that as long as there was a system, there was a way
Not too long after Arsenal had gone into the reserve, two Agents approached their colleagues at the gazebo, and the badge on their uniform indicated that they were official from the General directly.
Without any words, these agents spoke with each other, and their conversation was as brief as this.
'Anyone at the reserve today?'
'Three people, yes. The the third person just went in. I must admit that we are running out of hunters…
'Enough about that!'
'Was there a boy among them?'
'Three of them are men. The last is person a lot younger.'
Both Agents from the General stole a glance at each other and nodded.
'Which way did he go?'
'left, towards the black lake, not sure what kind of animal he's hoping to find there…
'That's all the information we need.'