[center][h2]Kochiya Sanae[/h2][h3]Aventon — Forest Outskirts[/h3][/center]
"Uh... Huh. Right."

Though Derek might not have been a fool, the explanation that Remilia provided didn't really explain anything to him as much as it tell him to accept that it was monsters that they were dealing with. Probably. The semantics of the situation mattered little in the long run, though, so long as the problem—be they monster, youkai, rahi, or whatever other word these otherworldly travelers might have had for them—was dealt with.

"Well, if we're talking about a general description... I will admit that the size of whatever it is that we're hunting was about... That high and roughly that wide?" the hunter continued, gesturing towards the bottom of the treetops and between a pair of trees roughly four meters apart. "It wasn't a clear look, mind you, so that's a rough estimate... But I can at least  trust my eyes if nothing else. Not a hunter for nothing."

With that description and Lewa's assertion to proceed, though, Sanae took a brief moment to think for a bit before pointing in another direction, wherein the trees seemed to be equally scarred by whatever had passed through in that direction.

"It might be a good idea to split up here, then—teams of two, maybe, if we want to be safe? If there are a bunch of these things in the area, it might be a bit too slow to take them out one at a time. Worst comes to worst, we can always just run; no way these monsters are any stronger than those soldiers, right?" the green-haired girl asked—somewhat rhetorically, of course—before starting to head off. Hopefully someone actually able to track monsters would join her; otherwise, it'd come down to relying on her intuition. While that had served her well enough in the past, hopefully she could just follow the vague trail of destruction in front of her and not lose the trail entirely.

Assuming the group split up, though, each of them would come across very similar scenes—namely, the presence of what could only have been described as a massive boar surrounded by decimated trees. None would notice the people that had come seeking them immediately, but it would take little more than a few seconds before they turned and recognized the existence of something yet foreign to them—and likely hostile, to boot.

[@VitaVitaAR][@Izurich][@Lugubrious][@EchoWolff]
[hr][center][h3]Aventon — Hunter's Lodge[/h3][/center] 
Kendrick chose to listen to Anne's word's in silence, but all the while that same expression seemed to remain as it was. Once she had finished speaking her piece, though, the guard spent a few more moments in silence before sighing.

"...I guess I can't blame you for saying something in that situation. Still doesn't sit right with me, but if the alternative was false hope or something..." he mused before shaking his head. "...No, wait, it's a kid we're talking about at the end of the day; there was no way something wouldn't happen. Gods, why's it so much more complicated now of all times?"

After scratching the back of his head and groaning in frustration, Kendrick took a deep breath before finally turning to face Anne again.

"Ugh. Well, in any case, he should still be asleep now, which gives me a bit of time to talk to you about what comes next," he said as he glanced towards Millie. "Those two are orphans now, no two ways about it. I could take them in, and that'd be that. But my gut's telling me that something's up; I don't know why those Raven Heralds came here in the first place, but it's got something to do with them, right? No way Ywain would've made them run if he didn't know something himself, and it's not like he's around to ask any more..."

[@Drifting Pollen]