"I'm glad you two both understood the aning of my glance," I said once we were out of the Hunter's Guild building.
"What, only the two of us? You weren't worried about Sakura-senpai?" Ichigo scoffed.
"Of course not!" Hina-nee exclaid. "Kaze-kun and I have telepathic communication."
Uh we don't. We really don't.
"Right, the whole sibling thing?" Horiya laughed.
"Uh a-ahem," I cleared my throat to take control of the conversation. "The quest said the snowolf pack is in Lidya forest, north of Qilian City."
Hina-nee opened up her System and switched to the 'Map' tab. "North is that way."
She pointed directly past the fountain located in the center of the city. We were currently on the south side of Qilian, so in order to reach the north gates, we had to just keep going in the direction we were currently heading in.
Around half an hour later, we reached the gates - it was a pretty big city, after all; took quite a while to get around. Once there, we showed them our guild cards, and they let us pass. However, they did say that while our guild cards could serve as travel permits as well, it was a good idea to get a proper one. I made up my mind to do that once we got back from doing this quest.
By this ti, it was nearly 3 PM. Furuwa should be done with school right about now. Jim should also be closed to finish teaching, if not done already.
*****
The cool afternoon breezes of autumn swept in relaxingly on our faces as we walked.
"These snowolves what do you think they are?" Horiya asked.
"Given the species nas we've had so far, such as sickleboars, moonserpents, and such I'd say it's safe to assu they're so kind of wolves," I conjectured. "White wolves, perhaps?"
"The quest description on the bulleting wall said they were 'erging'," Hina-nee pointed out. "Are they slowly appearing now that it's close to winter?"
"Maybe. I an, they do have snow in their nas," Ichigo shrugged. "But whatever the case, we just gotta beat them, right?"
"Don't let your guard down. We don't know how powerful they can be," I warned.
"Yeah, yeah but in the end, if they're ant for us Recruits to take out, then they can't be too hard to kill, no?"
"I suppose that's true," I sighed. "But even so, don't underestimate them. Even a cornered rat will bite a cat as the saying goes, one who is cornered will fight like a devil."
It didn't take too long for us to reach a forest. A little over half an hour, maybe. We had asked the guards at the gates where to go, and they just told us to keep going forward if we wanted to reach Lidya forest. So, we did. And now, here we are. There was an open, proper road for us to walk on, one that had probably been cleared out and constructed by the city. Trees surrounded us on both sides, and the road seed to have no end as it continued straight forward with the occasional curve or turn.
"This forest it's huge," Hina-nee mused, looking around. The trees were dense and thick - we couldn't even see just how wide this forest went on either sides of us. We weren't exactly keen to do so, either.
It would be a different story if a Vault was nearby, but I checked my Quests tab and didn't see anything. That said, the primary quest I had been aning to look into was still there, with the tir now saying '13:15:23:01'. Exactly 13 days, 15 hours, 32 minutes, and 1 second from now. Since it was 3 PM at the mont that would an this tir would run out at 6 AM in the morning. That was troubleso. Deciding that this wasn't the ti, I closed out of my System.
"Does anyone have any skills that could help us track down where these snowolfs are?" I asked the other three.
"I'm really close to Level 11," Hina-nee replied. "Once I level up, I'll be able to acquire the Sonar Pulse skill I told you about, Kaze-kun!"
"I see let's find so Magic Beasts for you to kill, then," I suggested, to which they all nodded in agreent.
*****
Lydia forest was filled with Magic Beasts for us to kill. We were able to hunt down quite a lot just by wandering around randomly. We kind of got carried away and ended up killing a lot more than we originally intended, but extra XP never hurt.
In the end, I leveled up to Level 17, halfway to Level 18. Ichigo and Horiya both reached Level 17 as well, while Hina-nee went up four levels, reaching Level 14, since we let her get most of the kills.
"Alright, now all I have to do is get the skill" she murmured, opening up her System and operating it skillfully. "And done!"
"Sweet," I said with a wry smile. "Test it out."
Hina-nee nodded and closed her eyes to help her concentrate. She appeared to chant sothing within her head, then suddenly, an orange energy pulse erupted from her body and scanned 180 degrees in front of us.
Hina-nee's eyes snapped open. "There!"
"H-Huh? Where?" Ichigo and Horiya looked around in puzzlent.
"Ah, you guys can't see it because only the user can see it, but I can see multiple living beings being highlighted in orange right now, straight ahead of us," Hina-nee explained.
"And are they wolves?"
"At least they seem to be, yes."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Ichigo chuckled, and rushed on ahead together with Horiya. "Let's go!"
"Uh, wait, you'll alert them if you go in like tha-" I began, but he was already gone. "Damn it those two are so troubleso"
I moved to chase after them, but Hina-nee stopped , grabbing my forearm.
"Hold on, Kaze-kun," she said. "Don't worry they won't be able to find them anyway without our help. I have a plan - let them rush on ahead, and hopefully get lost in the forest, actually. That way, we can get all the XP to ourselves, so we can level up and eventually return ho quicker," Hina-nee smirked evilly.
I blinked in surprise. "Wow, Hina-nee didn't know you had that cruelty in you."
"E-Eh? Um do you not like this way?" Hina-nee asked timidly, blushing. "S-Sorry! Pretend I never said that."
I smiled. "Nah. If anything I like this you better. I was just a bit surprised, that's all."
"Mou, Kaze-kun, don't scare like that," Hina-nee pouted angrily, on the verge of tears. "I was afraid you didn't want onee-san anymore"
Woah, slow down there how quick can you change emotions?!
"Relax, Hina-nee. I can abandon anyone and anything else, but not you," I said reassuringly. "Still why did you suggest that idea? I like it, but"
Hina-nee hugged tightly. "Why else? Simply because they used to bully you. I still resent them deep down for that, you know. I'll never forgive them for hurting my Kaze-kun."
"Hm I see. It would be a lie if I said I care about them all that much," I smiled wryly. "Let's do things your way. Where are the snowolves?"
Hina-nee snickered and grabbed my hand, pulling behind her.
"Follow ."
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