Standing in a new empty plain, the warrior looked around.

"To think there'd be Grimm this close to the roads..." He muttered to himself. "The people here must be close to despair after all."

It was no surprise, all things considered. Between the sickness going around, and the bloodthirsty bandits who left no survivors, the people outside the Kingdoms had seen more death than usual in the last few months.

Something the Hunter never thought he'd think to himself. The people out here were hardy enough that the death rates rarely changed overly much. Too hardened by Grimm attacks to mourn for long, too focused on survival to leave a weakness for the Grimm to take.

The sickness must have been worse than he thought, then. These people might have been outside the Kingdoms, but they were close enough to request a Hunter to investigate. If things were getting bad enough for people to break away and become bandits, then perhaps he should request backup. A few bandits, the Hunter could take. A gathering of Grimm in the numbers he had just fought, no problem.

But there were this many Grimm gathered in one place. Not scatted around the land, as usual. They were coming together. If the Hunter wandered around and looked for a cave, he'd bet on finding another such collection gathering. And it wouldn't be the only one.

There weren't many people who lived in towns this close to a Kingdom, but those who did had their reasons. Too poor to survive inside the Kingdoms, or too unwelcome. He doubted the people would accept an evacuation, if he thought they were in danger. He didn't doubt that one out of every ten people in there was an exile or criminal of some sort, avoiding punishment or unable to return to Vale. But to leave so many people in the path of danger...

He couldn't do that. Between the plague, the bandits hitting supply traders, the deaths that caused directly and through a lack of resources, and now the threat of a large scale Grimm attack...

The town wouldn't survive if he did nothing. But he couldn't deal with this alone. Too many threats at work. If he stayed to protect the town, the bandits would keep killing and starve them out. If he patrolled for bandits, the Grimm would attack while his back was turned.

With some back-up, a mission like this would be a piece of cake. Which meant, naturally, that the crime spree in Vale was bad enough that official channels didn't have time to deal with a town in the middle of nowhere. Sure, some traders had sent requests for aid regarding the bandits, but whoever was doing the killing had wandered up until now, so it was never the same company of traders complaining. A group would give a complaint, then the bandits would move on, the traders in one group would retract their complaint and get back to business while another group suffered.

But for the most part, the Hunters needed to maintain stability back in the Kingdom. It sucked, but it was unavoidable.

Usually, in a situation, the Hunter would just call in an old friend and request a favour. But that wasn't an option now either. There was only one person he could call on now, with everyone else dead or incapacitated, and he was watching the hunter's daughter after her near-death experience. Calling him in now would mean leaving his daughter unattended, and he couldn't do that. Not again.

Never again.

...There was nothing for it, then. The bandits usually wandered before an official response could be sent in, traders would wise up eventually and hire mercenaries, and it'd take longer for the people to die of starvation than from a Grimm's claw in the back.

He'd just have to get in contact with his old friend and ask him to pass off a message. Find the people who did the trading to this area, give them a message so the traders could get in contact with him. If the traders could get off a warning for him to run too, he could deal with the problem and head back fast enough that the town should be able to fend off the Grimm until he got back.

It wasn't the best solution. People would suffer until it worked, people could die if he made a mistake, and it was all so possible that the trading companies could just get stingy and stop sending supplies until the bandit's were confirmed dead.

But it wasn't like the Hunter could do anything else. He couldn't be everywhere at once, after all.

He just hoped that the illness going around wouldn't spread too far until Vale could send medical support. Otherwise...

A cough came from behind the Hunter, and he turned around in time to watch a woman stumble from out of the trees.

Her complexion was pale and sickly, and he could see her skin cling to her bone in places. Her movements were sickly and unfocused. It couldn't have just been her, either. The Hunter could see her weapon at her hilt, a rather well maintained sword. Someone who could fight wouldn't move like this in an area that had been full of Grimm a moment before, and she didn't look injured.

Another victim of the illness, then?

Taking a step forward, the Hunter called out, and the woman turned to look at him with-

The young woman sighed as she looked over the notes.

"So that's how they met." She mused. "A strong hunter taking in a dying woman that he found in the woods... It sounds like a real love story! A shame about what it lead to, though..."

"It was good for the man at the time." An older voice mused. "He may have seemed fine back then, but he was still fragile. Someone else to look after really grounded him."

"But considering what's coming?" The girl asked. "Perhaps it would have been kinder if the two had never met..."

"Perhaps." The old man mused. "But you're too young to be this cynical. It is not too late yet. Destiny may spin it's wheels before tragedy, but it's not a lost cause as of yet."

"Hm, you have a point." The girl noted. "Still, it's so sad, isn't it?"

"Then we'll have to hope our next person of interest can make it better."

The girl's eyes widened. "You mean we're moving on?"

"Of course." The old man noted. "We have enough of those two for now. Their role in things is important to understand, but the details won't be important for a time now. For now, who shall we observe? These four hold the power to turn this tragedy into something with a happier ending, but which one?"

The young girl looked over the notes for a moment before coming up with her answer.

[X] "Miss Nikos is in a position to make some important changes soon enough. Perhaps we should watch to ensure this tournament goes well for her?"

[X] "Miss Rose is young now, but in time, she'll be perhaps the most important of them. If she's going to start learning to fight, perhaps we should take the time to guide her development?"

[X] "Miss Belladonna has perhaps the most tragic start, but also the most reason to oppose our enemy. Perhaps her organisation could be guided down a path of our choosing?"

[X] "Miss Xiao Long... The schooling trip outside the Kingdoms is happening soon. Perhaps she will encounter one of the targets, as you predicted. Shall we observe to learn of our enemy?"