Steel Eyed Faker

Steel Eyed Faker Chapter 3: Save the Reunion

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness.

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-The Capital-

She still remembered that fateful day as clearly as possible; every single detail, from the orders her father received from the Royal Palace to investigate a settlement near the northern wastes. A place she heard snowed heavily for almost the entire year with little to no sun, though still close enough to experience a more sunny climate for a single month or two. 

Her father spoke about this place before, Wolfrod, a small livestock village where they mainly dealt with hunting animals and weak Danger Beasts that barely reached class four, before selling them off to passing caravans or the Empire directly. They hardly needed any aid from soldiers to fend off the occasional small group of bandits, due to the harsh environment and their own capable hunters on top of them having almost nothing even worth stealing in the first place. 

At one point, Najenda asked her father to take her to that region after she finished her academic education. She wanted to gain some experience on survieing in the frigid wilderness, something beyond the simple basics that were taught in class and a similar ordeal to what the newcomer prodigy in the academy had supposedly grown up in. Rumored to be the sole survivor of a clan from the northern frontiers, much further north than Wolfrod, where living conditions were much harsher, where class one Danger Beasts were common, and even some Special Class Danger beasts were rumored to still live somewhere in that region.

A few of her friends joked that she was an upcoming rival, and would land a similar position in the military to wherever Najenda herself would be placed. Which in itself impressed her, as unlike her the new girl didn't have her family's existing legacy of numerous high-ranked and distinguished generals in the army adding weight to her reputation. 

"Lady Najenda," pushed out of her inner thoughts, the young silver-haired girl closed her notes to find a maid standing near the door. Her posture was respectful as usual as she bowed, a gesture Najenda was indifferent to. "General Nagumo has returned from his duties, and requests your presence at once." 

"So soon?" He came back earlier than she anticipated, returning less than two weeks since he set out with his men. Just the travel to the northern regions took at least three days for a single rider — to say nothing of the difficulties of hundreds of soldiers making the journey even if they all had horses of their own, let alone the risk of the snow slowing them down. Something must have happened. Her inner worry blooming, she forced down her emotions and quickly left the room with several servants following along. Looking outside the window provided a view of a handful of cavalry, mostly composed of her father’s most trusted subordinates, lingering around the entrance. 'No visible signs of injuries anywhere on them, was it a false alarm?' 

That wasn’t to imply these men were weak, quite the opposite, but any battle against Danger Beasts in freezing areas always incurred some level of casualties. This notion was further enforced by the fact that the reports alluded to a possible Special Class Danger Beast being in the area, though with little proof. Najenda made sure to follow her teachings and take in every possible detail from everything around her, a trait that had been developed into a habit by her mentors. 

"He's outside by the fountain," this time, an older guard who had been working for the family for nearly two decades mentioned as soon as she descended the stairs. 

Odd, her father always preferred to have any sort of conversation either in his study or the living room. A habit which he never broke for any kind of scenario. This change added to the growing pile of irregularities about his behavior.