They traveled in silence until they were only minutes away from their destination before parting.

It was something had been beaten into his mind when he was first learning how to swing a sword; that he wasn't a hero.

Heroes gave long, inspiring speeches before engaging in honorable duels against their foes. Heroes for kings and saved princesses. Heroes did it all for free and with a smile.

Heroes didn't kill five men in the span of half a minute before torturing the sole survivor. Granted, Minato reminded himself, he had had the decency to drag the man out of sight before efficiently getting every last drop of information that he could out of him.

He cooperated, so while the wolves were going to be feasting like kings that evening, they would at least know what it was they were tearing into.

It didn't change the fact that that family would never look at him the same way again. The blunet noticed a glimmer of respect in the father's eye, most likely from killing the man holding his son hostage first.

But the only thing he saw in their eyes before he departed was fear and weariness.

Fear of another ambush at the hands of bandits.

Weariness over the monster hiding in a human skin and long coat that had been traveling with them.

While those looks of trepidation were not new to him, the sting the hunter felt every time he received them was why he vastly preferred to travel alone.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Minato readjusted his cloak to make sure his infamous coat was out of sight before stepping out of the treeline.

The forest cleared to give room to the massive city sprawled out on the plains. Tall stone brick ramparts encompassed the city in a large hexagon, with guard towers at every point. The main keep rested straight in the center point, being built low to the ground for the purpose of being a fortress rather than a castle. Around it spread out the many Districts, housing everything from a sprawling marketplace to the forges that made the city into the trade center it was currently.

But what truly made the city such a sight to see in the colder months was the simple fact that it was bright and sunny out, taking the edge off the cold breeze that swept over the flat lands.

Minato couldn't help but snicker; he knew exactly why the weather was always so fair around here, and it had nothing to do with the mountain chain that ran from due west to due north of the city.

The hunter approached the Eastern gate, sliding into the end of the line to pass through the checkpoint. Standing in line, he quickly pulled down his hood and looked over the state of the wall. The iron chain used to raise and lower the metal gate looked decent in condition, but the hunter noted that it needed to be greased and that the pick and hammer used to break the chain in case of emergencies was out of sight. That, combined with the fact that a few rookie guards were scrubbing a section of the wall rather than training told Minato that the last thing anyone expected was conflict; which was good, considering two years ago the city was in the middle of churning soldiers and weapons out to fight the war in the west.

It was a short wait before the blunet made it to the guard, to whom he handed over the letter he'd received only a week and a half ago. After a brief look of confusion, the man walked over to where the guard captain supervising was speaking to an older man. A few quick words later, and the captain removed a smooth stone, moving it over the paper. A seal glowed lightly on the bottom corner of paper, proving that the summons to the keep was in fact legitimate and not a forgery.

"Sir, do you require aid reaching the Central Keep?" The captain asked as he walked over.

Inwardly, Minato groaned; he knew that the letter's clever wording would end up with someone thinking he was some sort of aristocrat. He mentally noted to remind him that the next time he wanted to talk he could just give him an admittance letter and sneak into the keep from there rather than have to deal with the hassle of an official summons.

Shaking his head, the blunet replied, "No thanks, I know the way".

Turning and walking past them, Minato quickly disappeared into the crowd.

"Uh, captain, do you know who that guy was?" The guard questioned his superior, still slightly confused about the encounter.

Rubbing his chin in thought, the captain responded, "He was traveling light and by himself, so I don't think he was the son of anyone too important. Besides, the Second Prince is supposed to be working out a trade agreement with some merchant guild today; some big aristocrat would probably take up an entire day's worth of time".

He turned back around and started to walk back to his post, the lesser guard following suit.

"Who knows? Maybe he's a friend of the prince?"

It was almost pitiful how easy it was to sneak into the keep. The hunter silently walked through the shadows as another servant walked by, carrying a feather duster, and began to sweep the dust off of a nearby table.

The room that was his destination was only just down the hall from him, so he stopped and prepared himself for his entrance. Unclipping the cloak, the hunter stuffed it into his travel pack before reaching into one of the pockets and pulling out his face mask.

With the mask covering his nose and down, Minato flipped his hood up and put his pack back on. Making sure his weapons' belt was in clear view, he strapped a few extra knives to it just to make sure.

He knew that he looked the part when the servant, some poor lady, noticed him walking by, turned deathly pale, and then promptly fainted.

Reaching the large, double wooden door, the blunet quietly opened the door just enough to slip in before closing it without so much as a squeak.

The room was large, almost as large as the house he had up north, with long couches around a fireplace that served as a place to socialize. Behind that was a slightly raised section, with a full-size wooden desk set in front of an impressive set of windows; allowing large beams of sunlight to illuminate the room.

Crowded around the desk, numerous men garbed in quality clothing argued back and forth, the brunet sitting in the desk's main chair looking less than amused.

Minato stood still, waiting for his presence to be noticed, only to groan as he realized that he'd instinctively stood in the shadow of the room's grandfather clock.

Leaving the room, and making sure to leave both of the doors slightly ajar, he turned around and kicked open the doors.

This time, when he walked into the room, all eyes were on the hunter. While the other men looked like they wanted to hide in a corner, the man he was looking for seemed happier for the distraction than anything else.

"Than-n" One of the

"You're here, finally" The Second Prince spoke up, his tone dry as usual.

The blunet approached without a word, wanting to draw out the affect he was having for as long as possible.

Rifling through his desk, the prince pulled out an envelope and handed it to Minato, "I need a favor from you; the letter will tell you what you need to know".

The cloak was back over his shoulders the second he stepped back out of view, quickly making his way to the Northern gate.

The letter, unsurprisingly, was brief.

Bernstone / Disappearances

Minato was only mildly annoyed at the two words; his annoyance being diminished by the fact that the lack of substance to the letter meant that something major was happening, something major that needed to stay out of the public eye.

Ripping the letter into as many fragments he could, the blunet threw them into a nearby torch.

It was a detour from where he needed to be going, a detour that he really shouldn't be taking with what little he already knew.

But, he couldn't exactly deny a favor from "Apollo".

A/N: And we're starting to pick up steam already.