Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Forty-Two: Old Memories

The time had come for the first brigade, which Nia and her team were a part of, to depart west from Granport to the Iron Bastion, setting off on the mission that the entire city and its guildhall had been working towards for the past few weeks. With any luck, this meant that the end of the Safi'Jiiva that had taken so much from so many people would soon be at hand, and that the settlements and ecosystems of the region would be free from its reign of terror at last. Yet, even as the airship she was due to board was nearly ready to take off in front of her, even with the knowledge that she was at least partially responsible for this operation even happening in the first place, and even considering that the rest of her team was already aboard, Sariko likely minutes away from peeking up from below deck to see if something was wrong, Nia had become hesitant, finding herself struggling to approach the vessel.

Fear was making those steps rather difficult.

She was about to depart on an dangerous mission that, at its conclusion, would see her and her team facing off against an Elder Dragon she understood to be one of the most powerful monsters ever known, and a more vicious specimen compared to the one encountered in the New World at that; never mind the possibility that the red dragon still beared energies within it that could make it even more powerful and ferocious at a moment's notice. Of course, Nia knew much of this when she last went to face the creature, but the key difference between then and now was that Haldys was no longer here to lead, support, or assure them. Making matters much worse, he wasn't here because of the Safi'Jiiva they were preparing to hunt. The more Nia thought about it, about how a hunter who was far more skilled than her and her team fared the second he was seriously caught out by this monster, the less of a chance she felt like they really had. As if all of this wasn't enough for Nia, there was also the fact that this Elder Dragon, like the Hopesbane and the Nergigante before it, had now provided more than enough fuel for that terrible rage deep inside of her, which she knew could get her or others killed if it ignited at the wrong moment. Fortunately, Sariko's ever-present optimism and the hope that they would soon be able to avenge Haldys, as well as everyone else slain by the red dragon, were both enough to keep Nia from spending all her time seething over mere thoughts of that monster, but she couldn't help but worry that this wouldn't last. If seeing the Safi'Jiiva again, after all that it had done, was going to make her as furious as she feared it would, the only thing that would return her to her senses would be Sariko more purposefully stepping in to calm her down: something that couldn't be reasonably expected of anyone in the heat of battle. With all of this in mind, the endeavor of slaying the red dragon was really starting to feel like a woeful fool's errand to her.

Certainly, it was a hell of a time to be having such doubts.

Hoping that she had somehow misread the time, and thus could put off boarding that airship for just a few more moments, Nia pulled her watch from her pocket and opened it up, though she couldn't help but wince a bit when she looked upon its mechanical face. Eight minutes to noon; She had ran out of time to delay this much longer. Though, once she closed the watch, letting off a discomforted sigh as she did so, an intricate design on its lid caught her attention much moreso than it had in the past: a symbol consistent of four, curved, flare-ended lines, two larger than the others, all coming together into a single point. Nia knew that this was the symbol of the Second Fleet of the Commission, likely meant to represent some core value of that armada of engineers and craftsman that she wasn't aware of, but it meant something different to her all the same. To her, this symbol represented Haldys, who had given her this watch many years ago. In a way, it also represented her parents, who came from that same fleet alongside the old man.

It represented people who believed in her in their final moments.

"Hey, Nia!", Sariko's voice was suddenly heard calling out, her inquiring from the airship not too far away once Nia looked up from the watch and towards her close friend, "Is everything alright?". Just as Nia was suddenly left mildly shocked by the revelation that had just crossed her mind, another person who she knew believed in her made themselves known, though she at times felt that she didn't deserve it. Naturally, Nia then wondered who else may fall into that list, only to realize something that stunned her for a second: Practically all of Granport believed in her. At least, they believed in her enough for her livid speech at Haldys' funeral to motivate them to defy the red dragon, and in the skill of her and her team enough that the knowledge that they'd be the ones to face the terror inspired the same kind of confidence in them that once only the old man could achieve. Of course, most of them had not witnessed the Safi'Jiiva's wrath for themselves, and did not understand the destruction it was capable of, but enough had that Nia couldn't help but wonder if that even really mattered.