Kyle and Tracy split up to gather information.
'I think I shouldn't leave everything to her. She's probably pretty good at this, but a bit of help shouldn't hurt,' Kyle thought.
"Hey, Boss. Do you know how I can find some information on the bandits?" Kyle asked.
"This is your job. Deal with it yourself," Theodor answered with annoyance.
'Helpful as always,' Kyle thought. 'Why can't I have a nicer mentor, teacher, master, whatever?'
Kyle scratched the back of his head as he looked around the village.
"Excuse me," Kyle shouted to one of the villagers.
"Huh?" the man uttered as he looked at Kyle. "Yes?"
"We're here to deal with the bandits. You got any information?" Kyle asked.
"Oh! You're here to deal with the bandits?" the man asked in positive surprise. "About time! They've been a problem for weeks now!"
"If you want any information, you should ask the guard captain."
"The Beast Tamer?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, she's on that big tower," the man said, pointing at a 20-meter-tall tower.
Kyle looked over and saw a brown-haired woman standing near the railing on the tower's top floor.
"Thanks," Kyle said before walking to the tower.
When he approached it, he saw a huge wolf sleeping in front of the entrance.
The wolf was probably almost ten meters long, which made it far bigger than all the dogs running around the village.
'Guess that's her Primary Beast,' Kyle thought. 'Feels pretty dangerous.'
Based on what Kyle felt, this wolf was probably a Mid Ferocious Beast.
'No wonder the bandits don't dare to attack the village directly.'
Kyle approached the wolf, which opened one of its eyes to look at him.
"Hey, I need to speak to your… master?" Kyle said, unsure how to refer to the Beast Tamer.
Is this a master-servant relationship?
Are they companions?
The wolf snorted in Kyle's direction before laying its head down to sleep again.
The answer was clear since its body was blocking the entrance of the tower.
'Great,' Kyle thought. 'Plan B it is.'
The next moment, Kyle jumped onto one of the stone houses near the tower.
"Hey! I'm here to deal with the bandits! Do you know anything about them?" Kyle shouted at the tower.
The wolf looked at Kyle with annoyance, and Kyle felt his instincts starting to warn him.
The woman on top of the tower looked down at Kyle with a serious expression.
"You're here to deal with the bandits?" she asked in a cold voice.
"Yeah, I'm from the Stark Brotherhood. My partner is currently searching for information somewhere else," Kyle answered.
The woman looked with annoyance at Kyle.
'Just like her wolf servant,' he thought with annoyance.
"I'm the client. You're supposed to find the bandits and deal with them. That's what I pay you for," the Beast Tamer said with annoyance.
"Yes, and I'm doing that now," Kyle said. "Isn't it normal to ask the person in charge of the village?"
The Beast Tamer looked around at Kyle with annoyance and remained silent for a while.
"Ten kilometers to the east is where they strike most often. I've sent some Secondary Beasts to search for them. Two of my beasts died a bit to the north. I can't be sure if it was a wild beast or the bandits," the Beast Tamer spoke curtly and directly.
"Alright, thanks!" Kyle shouted.
Then, Kyle sniffed the air to find Tracy.
He jumped down from the building and went to Tracy while the Beast Tamer looked at him with annoyance.
Kyle quickly reached Tracy, who was currently asking one of the housewives buying groceries.
"Hey, I got a lead," Kyle said.
"Oh? Already? What did you find out?" Tracy asked.
"Ten kilometers from here is where they strike most often. They might be to the north," Kyle said.
Tracy's brows rose. "I knew about the distance, but I didn't know that they would most likely be north. How did you find that out?"
Kyle pointed at the tower. "She lost two of her beasts there."
"You asked the client?" Tracy asked, feeling a bit nervous.
"Yeah, what about it?" Kyle asked.
"Well, they are paying us to deal with it. So, we should deal with it," Tracy said.
"Not my fault that the client and the best informant happen to overlap," Kyle said with a shrug.
Tracy didn't seem satisfied with that explanation, but things couldn't be changed anymore.
"Alright. So, we go 20 kilometers to the east and go south, right?" Tracy asked.
"Ehm," Kyle uttered awkwardly. "It was ten kilometers and north."
"Yes, I know," Tracy said, "but they are not there, obviously."
"Why not?" Kyle asked.
"After killing two beasts of a Beast Tamer, would you remain in the same location?" Tracy asked.
"Probably not," Kyle said.
Tracy just nodded. "That's why they are most likely not there."
"Makes sense," Kyle answered. "So, are we going?"
Tracy nodded before running towards the east, and Kyle just followed her.
The two of them walked for a couple of minutes.
From time to time, Kyle saw a couple of beasts leering at him from the shadows.
Without his instincts, he wouldn't be able to see them since they were amazing at hiding.
At some point, Kyle started to furrow his brows.
"Tracy," he whispered. "You're faster than me. I think there's a guy to the north."
"Where?" Tracy asked, suppressing the urge to look around.
"Halfway up a tree. I can point it out."
Tracy's heart rate increased.
She wasn't nervous about the battle since she was most likely not in danger.
However, the thought of killing a human was not pretty.
Tracy took a covert deep breath.
"Alright, show me. I will deal with them," Tracy said.
Suddenly, Kyle stopped running and pointed at a tree to the north.
Immediately after, Tracy charged right at the tree.
Her speed was around three times higher than Kyle's speed.
A moment later, Tracy's body suddenly shrank to a size of just one meter, and her speed increased even more.
Her speed was now almost five times higher than Kyle's!
'Brah, she fast!' he thought as he saw Tracy essentially shooting into the tree's crown.
"No! Please! I have a family!" a man shouted from the tree.
Then, the man stumbled and fell onto the ground, looking upward in horror.
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