The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

As soon as the group of 4 had entered, the gate began to lower behind them. The village had been under attack recently – that was why the group was sent here to begin with – so the guard was eager to close the gate as soon as possible.

Isaac saw her standing by the side, next to a wooden wheel. It looked somewhat like the wheel you'd find on a ship, but it was thicker and had rope coiled around it. The guard was slowly winding the wheel, letting out some of the rope and lowering the portcullis.

He couldn't see it before, but up close he realised how muscular the woman was. There were several pulleys and counterweights which made raising the portcullis easier, but it still would've required immense strength to do it without any help.

Despite her powerful build, the guard was just as timid as ever. When she finished lowering the gate, she bowed to the group again,

"Thank you for waiting. There's a guest house nearby so I'll bring you there. I h-h-hope it'll be satisfactory..."

She fidgeted as she spoke.

There was something about her bearing that made Johan want to comfort her and tell her not to be nervous. While she wasn't a beauty in the classic sense, her toned muscles, well-proportioned curves and striking facial features were very attractive. Coupled with her shy but sweet nature, she was a charming woman who even Johan was drawn to.

The group walked behind the guard as they followed her to the guest house, but Johan quickened his pace and caught up with her. He walked next to her and began to talk casually. It wasn't long before the group heard her laughing softly at Johan's jokes.

When he saw things develop this way, Isaac frowned. Meanwhile, Eva's expression twisted into a scowl and even Abbie's eyes glinted with a faint trace of disdain. It was fine if Johan wanted to act like a Casanova in his own time, but to do it during a mission was just unprofessional.

Abbie didn't say anything since she was waiting for Isaac to discipline Johan, but that never happened. Isaac stayed silent all the way until they reached the guest house. Now that she'd finished guiding them, the guard was about to leave,

"I'm sure the whole village will rejoice once they find out you're here. We've been terrorised by that beast, even some of my colleagues... *sob*" the guard began to cry as she remembered the brave comrades who'd given their lives to defend the village, "I... I just hope you can avenge them! I know it's too much for a lowly commoner such as myself to ask anything of heroes like you, but please kill that beast!"

She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to put on a brave face. However, her bottom lip continued to tremble,

"Please! It's done too much – it's killed too many! I..."

She broke down and started crying again. She simply couldn't stay brave when she thought about all those that she'd lost. It took her several minutes to compose herself, and she finally realised that she was overstepping her boundaries by speaking to disciples of the sect in that manner,

"I-I-I apologise for showing such a shameful side to myself... I've said far too much already – I n-need to get back to the wall, I've been away for too long, I-I hope you enjoy your stay."

She turned to leave as she rattled of words of apology, but Johan grabbed her arm,

"Look, if you want to talk about it, then why don't you come inside–"

"Johan."

Isaac's voice was icy and firm. It stopped Johan in his tracks and he released the woman's arm. Isaac ignored the glare Johan was giving him and spoke to the guard,

"Return to your work place. Thank you for bringing us here."

The guard rapidly nodded her head in thanks, then she turned and almost fled away from the group. It seemed that while she found Johan's jokes funny, she wasn't overly fond of him,

"Johan, come inside. We need to talk."

Johan knew that tone. It wasn't the tone Isaac used when he was asking – it was the tone he used when he was giving orders. Johan hated being ordered around.

But he also didn't want to start a confrontation in the middle of the street and in front of the other 2 group members, so he followed Isaac into the guest house.

Isaac revealed his identity to the person in charge of the house and the pair were quickly brought to a private room. Then the person in charge left. Now that they were alone, Johan burst out,

"Why can't I have a little fun? It won't do us any harm!"

"We're not here for fun, Johan." Isaac said coldly, "We're here on a mission, so stop messing around and stay focused on the job."

"But what if she knows any details about the wolf? I could've gotten info–"

"You could've gotten information from her? No. Even if she does know something, she'll have reported it to the village head, who we're just about to speak to. Don't kid yourself Johan, and absolutely don't try to kid me. We both know you weren't digging for information – you just wanted to blow off some steam."

Johan's face began to flush red. He always struggled to stay composed when Isaac challenged him like this, and that wasn't any different now; he felt anger and embarrassment about to overcome him. He knew Isaac was right, but he couldn't help but try to defend himself,

"What do you know?! She could have a first-hand account of seeing the wolf – she might know a lot more than the village head! You just ruined a good opportunity for us to glean information!"

"Johan Friberg. Think long and hard about what you've done wrong, because I know you don't believe a word of what you just said. If you never learn to recognise your mistakes, you'll never improve. And somebody who can never improve has no place on my team."

With that, Isaac turned around and walked out the door, leaving alone Johan in the empty room. He was caught in a mix of emotions: anger at Isaac for admonishing him; anger at himself for being so unprofessional; and a sliver of self-doubt about whether what Isaac had said was actually true.

While Johan was trying to sort out his feelings, Isaac was already outside. He told Eva and Abbie that he'd spoken to Johan and promised that it wouldn't happen again. Then he invited them to come inside.

The guest house was merely a temporary stop where they were waiting for the village head. They wouldn't be sleeping here, so it wasn't necessary to arrange a separate room for the girls. Isaac took them straight to the room Johan was in.

By this time, Johan had got himself together. When the other 3 entered the room, he stood up and said with an earnest face,

"I'd like to sincerely apologise for my unprofessional actions. It won't happen again."

Johan was a slippery bastard so Isaac had no way of knowing whether he meant it or not, but it was good enough. It seemed like Abbie accepted his apology and Eva was at least less angry than before, so any major conflict had been averted.

There weren't any further troubles, so the group started a fire and hung their coats above it to dry. Then they began discussing how to complete the mission.

There were 2 real options: wait for the wild beast to attack the village again and kill it, or try to hunt down the beast before it attacks again. The former would be easier, but the latter would give them a better mission rating since it would be quicker and prevent damage being done to Kirk Village.

All 4 team members were confident in their abilities. If they had to pick between an easy but less rewarding choice and a more difficult but higher rewarding one, they would pick the difficult task since they were confident they could complete it. That was why Isaac, Johan, Eva and Abbie all agreed on trying to find the wild beast.

To do so, they would need to start digging up clues about what type of beast it could be or where it might live. The obvious first step in that process would be to question the village head, since they would have the most information in the village.

*Knock* *Knock*

Ah. Speak of the devil, that must be the village head now.

Isaac got up and went to open the door. 2 people were standing outside; a guard dressed in poorly fitting leather armour, and a man who must've been in his late fifties or early sixties. Life expectancy for men in Northern Tundra was about 55 years old – and that was if you didn't fight or put yourself in dangerous situations. For the man to live this long, he was doing rather well.

His face didn't have many wrinkles, but most of his head was bald; there were only a few patches of wiry grey hair. He was quite short, maybe 5 foot 3, and had a slightly hunched back. He looked up at Isaac with his deep, dark blue eyes which showed the vicissitudes of life,

"We greet the visitors from the sect." Then he and the guard both bowed, "I am Leon, the head of this village. I hope we can assist each other in solving the problem which plagues this village."