“That doesn’t even make sense! You can’t just pce that as some sort of evidence.”

  “You two—”

  “Yes, I can and I will.”

  “You two—”

  “Oh? Fine, if you want it that way then—!”

  “STOP!”

  The two bickering people, mainly Alex and Steve, paused as they looked toward the source of the voice. It was none other than the Chief.

  “Stop, the two of you. You just made a long argument over one question,” Alton said, his voice exhausted after seeing the two fight for a couple of minutes straight. He couldn’t endure it anymore.

  “Argument? No, I was just stating facts, and Steve here has to—” Alex tried to reason but failed when Alton simply cut her off.

  “That’s an argument,” Alton said ftly, prompting Alex to shut her mouth.

  “Fine,” Alex replied, pouting.

  Steve simply sighed at her side.

  Alton shook his head. He was too old to deal with teenagers. He turned his head to look at Ike, who noticed his gaze and stared back at him. There was silence between them before Alton opened his mouth. “Ike, you take care of things here. I’ve got some business to take care of.”

  “Eh, Chief?!” Ike excimed, breaking his composure. “B-But—” Wouldn’t the Chief interrogate them further? Why quit now?

  “It’s an order.” Alton simply waved his hand.

  Ike bit his lip as he had no way to refute that. Damn it, now he had to deal with these two weirdos. Before Alton could excuse himself further, he heard a loud voice in the vilge that caught his attention.

  “Chief! We’ve got a situation!”

  Alton quickly turned towards the source of the voice. It was one of his guards. The guard came up to him, panting as he did so.

  “Sir, there’s an injured faunus from our vilge,” the guard said, drawing a breath and reporting the situation.

  Alton’s expression darkened. “How many?” he inquired.

  “One.”

  Alton nodded slowly. “I’ll go. Ike, send the medics quickly,” he ordered, gncing at Ike, who saluted and took off without a word.

  “Take me to them.”

  “Yes, Chief.”

  Steve and Alex watched as the Chief left with the guard at his side. They shared a look with each other before nodding. Meanwhile, Alton hurriedly made his way towards the injured faunus.

  “Chief! He’s severely bleeding.”

  “Chief? Chief! Please, you have to help us,” begged the injured faunus. His face was covered in blood, raining down from a gash on his head. His shirt had multiple scratches, and more noticeably, there was a rge wound near his abdomen that was being slowly tended to by several bystanders. After seeing the Chief, the injured faunus’s eyes widened in hope.

  “What happened?” Alton asked, worriedly, kneeling in front of the man as he assessed his wounds. They looked pretty bad from his perspective. He was quite surprised to see the man had lived this long to get back here. With all the wounds he had endured, it would be no surprise if he colpsed from too much blood loss.

  “The Grimm, they ambushed us while we were hunting. They killed Theresa and John. Only me and my little sister Kit managed to run, but we got separated. Please save her, Chief. Please… she’s the only thing I have left.”

  “Of course. I’ll call the guards now to conduct a wide search around the vilge,” Alton assured him, looking at two guards on standby. “What are you two waiting for? Go now!” he roared, bringing the stupefied guards back to their senses.

  “Yes, Chief!”

  Alton pced his attention back on the injured faunus. “We’ll get you to a medic. Please hang on, okay?”

  “Thank you so much, Chief!” the injured faunus cried as he was taken care of by the newly arrived medics.

  “What happened, Alton?” a voice crept up behind him. It was Alex.

  “The Grimm attacked one of my citizens in the forest. That guy who was injured got separated from his little sister, so she’s out there all alone,” Alton replied grimly.

  “Is the Grimm a monster?” Steve asked, curious.

  “A monster would be an understatement. They are beasts, savages that want all humanity and faunus alike to be extinct,” Alton spat, feeling a rise of anger in his chest.

  “I see,” Steve nodded. He gnced at Alex, who seemed to have the same idea as him.

  “Don’t worry, Alton. We’ll help you deal with this grimm problem you have and, of course, save this little sister you mentioned,” Alex reassured with a smile.

  Alton looked at the two. “You two know how to fight?” he asked, doubtful. They didn’t even know what a Grimm was, and they wanted to fight it? Were they crazy?!

  “Of course! What do you take us for?” Alex questioned with a look.

  ‘Fools,’ Alton thought, shaking his head. “Alright, as long as you can help then—wait, where?” Alton soon noticed that the two had disappeared when he lifted his head. He had just averted his gaze for three seconds, and they were gone.

  “We’ll be back, Mr. Alton!” a distant voice sounded behind him. Alton turned behind him to see the two running off without warning. Even with his heightened senses as a rabbit faunus, he didn’t even sense them taking off. He looked at the crowd who were still watching. All their expressions were of shock and disbelief.

  “How did they do that?” Alton mumbled to himself. If he could have an opinion about those two humans, his first opinion of them was that they were strange people. Not in a bad way, but… in a confusing way that made you want to bnk out for a second due to their ignorance of the world—unless they had forgotten all their memories.

  Wait, maybe they had amnesia. That could expin it. As Alton was deep in thought about the two, a guard approached him and asked,

  “Do you think they can find her, Chief?”

  “I don’t know. I have some doubts but…” Alton paused for a moment. “Let’s just hope.”

  +++====+++

  Steve and Alex took off in what they called sprint jumping. It was a mixture of running and jumping that exhirated the force they exerted when sprinting, allowing for greater distance. They ran across several directions in the forest, not stopping for a single second. Tired? Exhaustion? Those were meaningless to them.

  “So how exactly are we gonna find this Grimm?” Steve asked, looking around. He could only find trees. Just trees. “Couldn't we just give the guy a golden apple? Won’t he be fine?”

  “Steve! You know how hard those are to find. Especially here—we don’t even know where to look for it. So it's ours, and we can’t share it, you understand?” Alex gave him a warning gnce.

  Steve nodded. He found Alex's reasoning to be….logical.

  “Also, we’re here to look for the Grimm and this little sister Alton mentioned anyway,” Alex added.

  “So how can we find this little sister?” Steve questioned.

  Alex appeared thoughtful. “Maybe we can find a sign on the way?” She smiled sheepishly.

  Steve just stared at her bnkly.

  +++====+++

  Kit shivered uncontrolbly as she hugged her knees, her breathing shaky as she tried to keep her voice down. There were growls and footsteps that didn’t belong to Faunus nor to a human, but rather to the enemy of humanity—the Grimm. Two of her brother’s friends died, eaten, while her big brother was separated from her. She was now all alone. All she hoped was that someone would save her.

  ‘Big brother,’ she whimpered, feeling despair as seconds passed. It wouldn’t be long before the Grimm would eventually find her hiding pce.

  “Steve, look! Is that a Grimm? It’s massive!”

  ‘People?’ Her eyes widened, a glimmer of hope appearing. She tried to peek through the trees to see who it was and saw not one, but two humans. However, they weren’t carrying any weapons or armor. Just like that, her hopes died down as if they were brushed away by the wind. They were gonna die. She closed her eyes and ears, hoping that she wouldn't have to hear their screams.

  Meanwhile, Steve and Alex were both equally surprised to see a monstrous, bear-like creature in front of them, with two smaller ones next to it. Alex was the most excited of the two, while Steve looked quite serious as if he was trying to recognize the creature.

  Then it clicked.

  “Alex, remember the rotten flesh that I brought?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you where you got that. It was really tasty.” Alex started salivating at the mere memory of how it tasted.

  “I think we just found our source.”

  “Eh? Wait, you mean that—” Alex’s words trailed off as she slowly got the point.

  “Yes,” Steve nodded, confirming her thoughts. Both their gazes nded on the three Grimms.

  "Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s get 'em!" Alex decred, rushing off with her sword in hand.

  Steve watched as Alex rushed in. He shook his head and opted to be the long-range dealer, taking up a bow instead.

  The three grimms charged toward Alex. Her smile remained as she slid across the ground, narrowly avoiding the first Grimm's pounce. An arrow shot through the air, striking the pouncing Grimm's head with extreme precision.

  "Nice one, Steve!" Alex called out. With one down, two remained. She broke off her slide, and as one Grimm tried to swipe at her with its cws, she was faster. She nded a heavy ssh across its stomach, bringing it down before it could attack.

  The st grimm turned its attention to Steve, who remained calm. He swapped his bow for a cobblestone block, and as the Grimm closed in, he towered himself up, causing the creature to crash into the wall with a thud. Steve jumped off, bow in hand again, and with a quick flick, an arrow nded straight into the Grimm's skull, ending it with one shot.

  Steve nded safely on the ground. Alex quickly caught up to him, smirking. "Do you always have to look cool?" she teased. "Anyways, look! I got six pieces of rotten flesh!"

  Steve crouched down and saw two more pieces of rotten flesh on the ground. “Overall we got eight. Not bad,” he nodded in satisfaction as he got up.

  “Hmm, now that we’ve taken care of the Grimm, we should probably find this little sister since we’ve run off track,” Alex hummed, looking around. Then her eyes spotted something up ahead. “Found her.”

  “You have sharp eyes,” Steve said.

  “You only know now?” Alex smiled pyfully as she approached a tree and peeked behind it. She saw a person lying down with her hands csped over her knees. The person didn't seem to have noticed her.

  Alex took a deep breath, preparing to shout, “Little sister!”

  “AH!”

  Kit, who didn’t expect someone to approach her, jumped in surprise. She felt as if her soul left her body. She looked beside her and saw the same person she thought would die by the Grimm, peeking at her.

  “You—” The next moment, she fainted, unable to contain the stress in her body.

  Alex blinked, her mouth hanging open. She was not expecting that to happen. She quickly turned to Steve.

  “Steve, we might need to carry her.”

  Steve facepalmed.

  +++===+++

  “Chief! We’ve sent fifteen guards throughout the forest, but there are no signs of Kit anywhere. However, we did find some Grimm scouting around the forest,” the guard in front of him reported. Alton frowned at the information.

  “Have you checked near the river?” Alton asked, eyeing the map of their vilge.

  “Yes, sir. We checked near the riverside and still found no signs,” the guard replied.

  “I see. Still, we can't give up yet. Scout for another hour before we deem the search a failure,” Alton ordered.

  “Yes, Chief!” The guard quickly left.

  Alton sighed, leaning back in his chair. This was getting worrisome. How did they attract the Grimm near their vilge?

  For years, he had been Chief, yet only now had the Grimm decided to close in on them? Something was suspicious about all this. As he was deep in thought, another voice rang out outside his tent.

  “Chief, we’ve got some news!”

  ‘That fast?’ Alton blinked, sitting up straight and adopting a professional manner. “Come in.”

  “Sir, we’ve got reports that Kit has been found!” The guard reported, appearing to be out of breath.

  “Really? Who found her?” Alton asked, doubtful.

  “Uh, it's the humans, sir.”

  “Pardon?”

  “The humans, sir.”

  Alton felt his brain short-circuit for a moment. Holy hell, they actually did it. He didn't know whether to ugh or cry. On one hand, he was happy that one of his citizens was safe, yet it was odd that the two humans found her rather than all his fifteen guards combined. Was his intuition right that they would actually find her? Alton pondered that for a moment, then shook his head.

  “Alright, I’ll go see them.”

  +++===+++

  “Medic! Over here!” someone shouted in the crowd.

  Steve looked ahead and saw several people dressed in strange clothing begin to gather around the little sister, who they found out was Kit, thanks to the helpful bystanders. Kit, however, was still unconscious. He stared bnkly as they pulled out some tools he wasn’t familiar with.

  “Is she alright?” Alex asked the medical team, curiously eyeing the girl.

  “She’s alright. Her heart rate is quite low, but she’ll survive,” one of the medics answered. “Tell me, what happened to her that made her fall unconscious?”

  A fsh of hesitation passed through Alex's features. “Uhm, she was unconscious when I found her,” she replied a moment ter.

  The medical personnel nodded, accepting her answer. “I see. Thank you for helping. I’m sure Kyle will be happy to hear that his little sister is alive.” With that, the medical personnel left, taking the unconscious Kit with them.

  Steve approached Alex from behind. “We found her unconscious, huh?” he teased, causing Alex to pout.

  “It wasn’t my intention!”

  “Of course.”

  “...You don’t sound convinced.”

  “Alex, Steve.” A voice quickly took their attention away from each other. They saw Alton approaching them. “I heard you two were the ones who found Kit. I came here to personally thank you for your assistance,” Alton spoke, smiling genuinely for the first time as he met them.

  “Ahahaha, it’s fine,” Alex replied, ughing awkwardly while Steve stayed silent.

  “Anyway, we would like to thank you by giving both of you 1,000 Lien each,” Alton offered.

  “Lien?” Alex asked, tilting her head.

  “It’s the currency we use—wait, you don’t know what Lien is?” Alton blinked, coming to a pause. He felt like he was having déjà vu.

  “No? Should we?”

  Alton fell silent. How did these two survive without having the basic knowledge that even toddlers know?! Alton massaged his temples, feeling another headache coming on just from talking to these two alone.

  “Alright, just… Ike, hand them the Lien,” Alton spoke to his assistant beside him, who handed the Lien to Steve. “You can use it to buy any stuff in this vilge and in the city, or everywhere for that matter,” Alton expined, his tone almost devoid of emotion.

  “Ohh, so it’s like emeralds?” Steve asked after finding the connection between this

  dimension’s Lien and the overworld's emeralds.

  “Huh?” Alton was confused, but he didn’t want to pursue it further. Instead, he answered, “Yes, like emeralds.” It was better than asking questions that would complicate things further.

  “I see.” Steve nodded with a small smile on his face. He needed to get more of this Lien. He wondered if trading was applicable here.

  “Ahem, so that will be all, you two.” With that, Alton excused himself as if he were in a hurry. Ike soon followed after.

  Alex and Steve were left alone, staring off into the distance.

  “So, Steve, we might as well explore this vilge, right?” Alex asked, turning to Steve.

  “Let’s go.”