"Yawnnn~" Rammus woke up against the dazzling sunlight of the treetop village. As usual, the village is deserted, from an attempted invasion of the Empire a decade or two ago. Of course, the village's helpless against a powerful army, its not an invasion really, more of a one-sided massacre... Right now, he's just staying in an abandoned hut, living his hermit life in a place where most people thought to be a dead village, with occasional visits of concern from the few rebels who knew about the kid there. "Nothing much as per usual~" He put on his straw hat, laying down on a chair as he took a break before starting the dayy~

Irita walked besides the road, hiding among the trees. When he had walked on the road he had gotten attacked by bandits, so he kept to the side of it now. Up ahead he could see a tree that had fallen on the road. Most likely another pack of bandits. He walked out on the road and the second after, he was ambushed. Not that the bandits stood a chance. All they had was rusty daggers and treebranches. Aginst his scythe they didn't make it 10 seconds. He didn't even need to use magic. Irita jumped over the tree and continued walking.

The Wolf, after securing a spot high above the treetops, was peering down through the mesh of leaves obstructing the view of a traveling adventurer perhaps? He thought for a moment, and planted the weight of his arm on the hilt of his blade in his lap. He spoke, quietly as to not alarm the traveler.

"This, this will be a forthright catch."

He was still watching the traveler as they seamlessly fended off attacking bandits, and continued on their way.

The Wolf was pleased, another target that wouldn't be a plaything, so many easy enemies. Such boring endeavors.

The traveler continued on their way, The Wolf decided to tail the unexpected wanderer.
Amidst the treetops he walked, cautious to avoid snapping limbs. He was agile, and light with his steps, he was not being caught any time soon.

From below the forest canopy on a well worn trail, two men walked one in front of the other. Neither of these men looked particularly happy, especially not the one in front thanks to combination of his hands being tied behind his back, and the shotgun being aimed at him by the man behind him. "C'mon man, do we have to do this? It was just one damned horse!", "One damned horse that wasn't yours. Along with all of the supplies that happened to come with it. Now shut up and keep walking.". The man in front stop and turned, resulting in the barrel of the shotgun being aimed at his face rather than his back, "Look, let's make a deal, Jacque! I can pay you more than what my bounty's worth! I've got a stash of supplies not too far from the border of the Empire's northeast end! No one needs to know! Just-". The horse thief was cut off mid sentence by the butt of the gun being driven into his jaw, "Let's get something straight here, your bounty is the same whether you're dead or alive. I'm bringing you back alive as a courtesy, but I can change my mind if you insist on talkin'.".

The gun wielder -Jacque-, glared down at his quarry as he sprawled out in the dirt before yanking him to his feet, "Are there any more questions?" the bounty hunter grumbled as he shouldered his weapon again. The horse thief said nothing, he only turned and began to walk again to Jacque's satisfaction. "Good. We should make it to the collection office just before noon. You're lucky, that means we won't be walking during the hottest part of the day". The horse thief mumbled something, but Jacque paid it no mind. All that mattered to him now was the fact that he was about to get paid, and that there were more bounties to be had.

Kalio couldn't believe in her eyes, until here her plan was working almost perfectly, she had managed to fake an incident, escape the lands, take the boat and the only problem was that she mixed her noble clothes with her travel clothes, thus it was either going into Krrstria obviously dressed as an Imperial or go with no clothing at all and she was way too dignified for that.

That made her avoid the main routes in her travels, she hoped to first find a small village where she could explain her situation (with some few changes so she sounds a bit more moral) and get a local pair of clothes and she knew one was close to where she was. The main problem showed up when she arrived there, it was ruined.

"Of course! The map I had was from before the war" she slapped her face in anger of herself "But... maybe one of these ruins could have a spare outfit" She had this habit of speaking to herself aloud, she was a bit of a loner back in the empire and had developed the oddity during her studies.

Whilst he was traversing the canopy, following the traveling bandit fighter, he noticed something else at a distance... An Imperial woman, he hadn't check with the Imperials for a couple weeks, he has been out in the field, assassinating rebel targets, hunting for lost items of value, things of that sort.

She looked..innocent perhaps?

He tried to stay hidden, but realized this was futile. He must speak to the passerby, report on his current situation.

He lept from the tree, well he sort of just plumeted, from there he landed a couple yards away.

He spoke, with a deep voice.

@Magnato "You, Imperial. Are you here to aquire information on my current afairs?"

As Jacque and his captive continued to traverse the forest in their effort to reach the nearest city, the pair hit a slight snag in the road that set the bounty hunter on edge. It started with the horse thief cursing loudly and turning to his left to wretch, Jacque, believing the man's actions to be a plot to escape when his guard dropped, leveled the shotgun at his bounty and prepared to bark another order. The words died in his throat rather quickly as he caught the scent of blood, thick and heavy, wafting through the breeze and turned to see what the horse thief had reacted so violently to.

About two or three dozen yards ahead of them there were several bodies scattered along both the sides of the road and on the road itself. Jacque muttered a hail Mary under his breath before kicking his quarry in the back of his knees to force him onto the ground, "Don't you move. If I come back to find you missing then I swear to God I will shoot you in your knees and drag you the rest of the way when I catch you again." he growled before raising his gun and advancing slowly upon the scene. He approached cautiously, spinning around slowly every now and then to make sure he wasn't about to be ambushed, even going so far as to aim at the trees to avoid an assault from above. Jacque never even got the opportunity to hope that the men had died from an animal attack as he reached them. The wounds on the bodies were much too clean, and nothing had eaten, which ruled out a predator of some sort. He leaned down to inspect the blood, then jumped back up to his feet in alarm as he realized that the blood hand't even begun to coagulate. Whomever had done this had done it very recently, which mean that they hadn't gotten far.

Jacque turned and began to walk back to his quarry, but froze and grit his teeth audibly when he realized the man had disappeared. "Oh you MOTHERFUCKER!" He all but roared as he sprinted over to where he'd forced the man down. A crashing in the undergrowth alerted Jacque to the fact that his bounty had taken off into the dense foliage of the forest. He raised his gun, but upon realizing he couldn't get a clear shot grit his teeth once more and charged after his quarry. "I'm going to put a shot between your goddamned legs when I catch you!" He shouted ahead as he charged after the horse thief. Now made aware of Jacque's plans for him upon capture, the horse thief went into a full on sprint, fueled purely by adrenaline and the fear of what would come if he topped for even a moment, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEONE GET THIS CRAZY FUCK AWAY FROM ME!!".

After a minute of walking Irita got a stinging feeling at the back of his neck, as if he was being watched. Was it another bandit that had survied? He didn't bother to look around since it would alarm the possible enemy. After a few more minutes of walking he could stil feel it. For some reason the possible enemy hadn't attacked him. Was it aware that he knew that he was there, or was it just there to inspect him. Suddenly he heard a slight noise in the canopy above, but the enemy didn't go for him, but rather up ahead. Irita increased his pace in order to catch up with the person that had followed him. His curiousity took control over him. He ran into the woods and kept as quiet as possible. Ahead he could see two people, but he couldn't make out what they were doing or who they were.

As she saw a dark silhouette moving across her view and as she heard the deep menacing voice it had Kalio's heart jumped.

After hearing what it had to say she felt a bit more relieved "Ah, for a minute I thought it was a rebel" but she was still uncomfortable, first because the figure was intimidating, second because she feared he would report he saw her later, even so, that was a minor fear and the chances of they linking her to her true identity was slim

"Actually, no, I think" she said to the man, trying to not sound too puny from all the fears going trough her mind "I'm just a field scientist, I don't take the reports."

@Diabolic

*hmm* Wolf thought for a second, field scientist.

"what is your purpose here, may I ask?"
He adjusted his zweihander behind his shoulder
"I've just some simple questions"
He continued to stare, awaiting an answer from this Imperial woman.
@magnato

Irita caught up with his follower and hid among the trees, watching the woman and man talk to each other. Why were they there? He barely heard what they were speaking about, but it seemed they didn't know each other and weren't exactly friends. But it seemed they weren't enemies either. Judging by the woman's clothes she was part of the empire, which meant that he most likely was too. He wanted to kill them so badly, but he didn't know their skills or anything about them. The man had probably seen when he fought the bandits, even if it only was briefly.

Strange... Rammus looked down at the treetop village, realizing that there are trails of multiple people nearby, all seemingly heading to his direction. He climbed down his treetop village, with his bow ready for his self-defense, its been a long time since such an amount of people are getting here, and he hopes it wouldn't be a bad thing...

He scouted the area around him, to sneak up on them and find out on what was going on. Nearby, he noticed two people, seemingly at the verge of confrontation. His heart skipped a bit as he went around them, carefully avoiding their notice. Just then, he noticed an innocent-looking teenager with a face of the least hostility. He approached Irita and whispered "Heyy... what's going on here... all this morning sooo noisy >_> ... Not sure if its just me or... did those two in front look like the Empire's dogs? >.< ..." He asked, his face letting loose a bit of his agitation, whilst trying to suppress his emotions.
@Zatoshi

The Wolf waiting for a response from the Empire girl, smelled something, something new. He held up his hand, in a motion for the girl to cease all noise. All sound was silent. The wind was blowing and it was all that could be heard besides the leaves in the trees blowing and swaying.

He turned his head slightly to the treeline to his right...

Nothing. He swung his sword around and smashed it into the earth. Digging in almost a foot, and resting his arm atop the hilt.

"We aren't alone I fear." @magnato

He looked back at the girl, trying to whisper through his mask.

"Confrontation isn't something I'm looking for right now. It is a possibility a fight will break out, if so happens. Run behind a rock, or a tree."

Still unsure as to WHO or WHAT was watching him, he continued to search the trees, especially in this area. It was dangerous to travel in small groups due to bandits, this much he knew from experience. He was more than prepared, why would someone challenge such a huge sword weilding myth?

"If things go south however-" he spoke

"I'll break anyone who steps on this dirt path"

To be sincere anyone at this point would have noticed that they weren't alone, it was a ruined village and there was nothing else that could be making those odd noises. The girl wasn't in the mood of being killed but if she was involved in this combat it would make fleeing to the kingdom even harder. On the other side she couldn't fully explain to the rebels that she wanted to flee to their land with the big knight with an even bigger sword by his side.

"This is a very complex mission sir" she whispered to the knight I need to talk to those people for confidential reasons that only a higher officer or imperial noble should know. "However, you carrying that sword is surely going to interfere in many ways so if you don't mind pick a less menacing way to look"

The real problem was how to communicate to the rebels that she wasn't there to fight.

He paused.
Turned towards a spot at the treeline, he could sense people staring at him. He peered through the leaves, and focused on someone... Familiar.

"You, two... or three, hidden in the forest. Appear, or suffer consequences. Imperials choose not to hide like petty bandits."

He chuckled slightly.
Then turned towards the woman.
"-And you, speak to the bandits, be quick. We've much to discuss 'frail one'"

He sat on the ground, crossing his legs and leaned up against his massive blade, still protruding from the terrain. He was skeptical as to if the girl knew what she was getting herself into, but someone sent from higher up orders to speak to rebels seems likely, yet unlikely due to Krrstria being at war with the Empire, it was bloody and unforgiving. The Empire was crushing anyone and anything in it's path, but the rebels were almost if not just as skilled as many Imperial soldiers. He didn't question much, after all he was an assassin for the Empire. He was supposed to take order with no explanation at times, still to him this could go good, or bad.

Jacque was not having a lovely day right about now. Somehow despite having his hands tied behind his back, the horse thief was keeping a fair bit of distance between the two. For a second Jacque considered raising his gun and firing, but without a clear shot the action would have done nothing but waste ammo. There was however an alternative. The horse thief jumped over a fallen tree only to be followed over it by Jacque not more than eight seconds later. He prepared to hop over another log, which gave Jacque just the opportunity he needed. The bounty hunter drew his knife and threw it at the horse thief, hitting him in the back of the thigh as he jumped up. The result was the man falling over the log and shrieking like, well, like a man with a large knife in his leg really.

Jacque glared menacingly at the horse thief as he closed the distance, "What the hell did I tell you would happen if you ran? What were the very first things I said!?", "Wait wait wait, Jacque, I was just trying to get away from the bodies on the road! You saw that-" *BANG*. As the gun shot rang through the forest, Jacque nonchalantly tried to take aim at his quarry's other knee while the man rolled around and shrieked in agony. *BANG* "I made myself perfectly clear." Jacque said as he shouldered his weapon and yanked his knife out of the horse thief's leg. There was no need to be armed anymore, the slugs that had been fired had punched a nice set of ragged holes into the man's knees. The bounty hunter waited a little while for his quarry to stop thrashing and lose consciousness, be it from pain, shock, or blood loss, before pulling some gauze and wrappings from his bag to bind the wounds.

He lifted the thief with a grunt and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of flour before making his way back towards the road, being certain to take a route that would move him ahead of the corpses found earlier.

The woman sighed in relief when the soldier gave her the permission to go on

"Alright, I will talk to them, and again, this is a deal, every coin counts when you are focusing on world domination so lets not dull our blades and tire our bodies on unnecessary situations" she took a knife out of her belt, her only weapon right now, and held it on her hand, then she placed her hands above her head, in the vision of this imperial girl the rebels weren't the sharpest people out there but she expect this signal to be universally accept as "I'm not here to stab us"

With that done she started to walk in the direction of the noise "You people up there could also help to make this easy, there is no sense in engaging in needless violence, just want to have a word with you"

Irita sighed as he realized that they really had noticed him and went out onto the road. His scythe was on his back, but was easy to grab in case a fight would break out. "Well excuse me then. But isn't is a bit unfair that ou follow me, and when I follow you, you threaten me?" he asked the man. He was currently holding himself back, cause if he wasn't, he would've already attacked the both of them. He hated imperials with all his being and soul. "So, what is it you wanted her to talk with me about?" he asked the man again, ignoring the woman. He was clearly younger than the both of them and probably didn't seem that intimidating.

Wolf studied the words of the fledgling.

"Fair? Nothing is fair in war, from a families losses of home and blood. To being sent to the front lines for months on end. Small battle are less fair mind you!-"

he continued on

"Two people fighting to the death. Their skills unknown to each other."

Wolf's words became stronger...

He pulled his sword from the ground, and swung it over his shoulder.

"My business and her business is separate, if you wish to know what she wants, speak with her. Otherwise you can attempt to fight, as I can tell you're itching for it. But, perhaps your anger and hatred cloud your judgement... Are you aware of who I am?"

The huge knight paused and waited for an answer, he already expected little from this plebeian from the forest, he motioned with his hand; the girl to step ahead to speak to the traveler. He figured he wouldn't want to commit suicide.

@magnato@zatoshi

He took a deep breath. He couldn't believe that he went against everything that his master taught him and let his anger show. "Although I desire to fight you, I won't." he said and bowed slightly. "I may not know who you are, but you don't know know me either." he said as he stood up straight again. "Although I doubt it, will you allow me to take my leave and continue my journey now?" he asked.