[h2]Fujiwara no Mokou[/h2]

After being used as a healing source--with some level of irritation, not that feeding the vampire really did much as long as she got to [i]take the shirt off first[/i] to avoid staining it too much--Mokou had gone back to doing what she did best: aimlessly patrolling a forested area and avoiding all human contact. As a bonus, this forest wasn't one that needed a guide just for people to not hopelessly wander in circles, so she didn't even have to look out for townspeople.

On the flip side, this also meant dealing with a lot more aggressive animals. And oversized insects. Nothing quite as big as those ridiculous centipedes--although there was no way she'd let one of those get the better of her again--but it was definitely an unusual experience. It even took her back a bit, although she'd usually been the one [i]starting[/i] fights in that case...

Like Sanae, she'd caught wind of the traders before they'd arrived--and after going back to the town to see what was up with that, had found out that the bits of dead body she'd been forgetting about her actually worth something? It wasn't like she was a professional hunter, so knowing [i]that[/i] was a bit surprising. Instead, Mokou spent the day going back and gathering what she could. Not that there was much, between her methods being quite destructive, other animals, and not having kept track or travelled with much of a pattern in mind...

She'd been about to go back to the forest--she didn't have an interest in the negotiations, and whatever plan the others had about going to the capital would be easy enough to catch up with once they were actually travelling--but these guards...

"They think they're strong, then? Willin' to prove it?" Well, they probably [i]weren't[/i], but if they were, this could be exciting. And what better way to find out how strong the people of this world were really like, after all? Who knows, maybe someone around here might have some unusual way to kill her.

Of course, from the merchant's perspective "skinny girl with burnt sleeves" probably didn't seem all that intimidating. Even if she was [i]oddly[/i] excited about this.