Races: Online

Becky had finished haranguing the shopkeeper and prevailed on them—it was a natural event. And what she now focused her attention to was the Academy up ahead. The young woman drove on her cart and trudged closer to it amidst the foot traffic and other carts and carriages.

Her gaze pierced through the sky, and she spoke to herself. "What do you think, Betsy? Are they up to any trouble this time around?" It helped ease the pain when she pretended to speak to her old friend, but how could she even speak to her when Becky even butchered some of Betsy's friends?

This was her life, she shouldn't get attached to them and yet she still did.

The young Rancher spoke to herself with a sigh, "Hah… well, I still need to give Timothy a headbutt for actually staking the name of Rockfall Village to some weird bet with that barbecue shop. Grandpa Joe practically built the village, he wouldn't stand for any of it, and neither did Grandma Moe want to miss a chance to earn some coin. Had to address it to everyone, didn't he?"

Becky continued to grumble and tried to ignore the other letter sticking out of her pocket. She only had time for one, or at least two boys when she counted Han. Three would be too much. The young woman would eventually see things out when she visited them at the Academy.

And so she would.

.. .

Timothy Cook didn't know why he found himself spiteful of the old man tracking down the Princess, but also considered his words and attitude as something almost respectable. He didn't exactly like old men forcing their clever ideas and educational stories on them—Old Man Joe, a good example.

But he almost wanted to chase after the man and join him in search of the Princess.

"Who's Byron?" Donovan asked.

"The Beast Tamer, I assume." Timothy answered. He scratched the back of his neck, "I had to kill a lot of rats when some of them entered through the Academy." He hoped that neither of them would ask how and instead focus on something else trivial.

"Rats, huh?"

Sir Leon de Harrington rubbed his chin, "That sounds like trouble, a safety precaution that needs to be reported to the Professors and others. We'll do it after lunch, Donovan."

He glanced at him, a frown on his face. "Then you'd have to explain why it happened that rats were entering the Academy. Unless you make up another kind of excuse for it."

"I don't think you'd be able to keep this information all to yourself." the Noble said. He bowed his head slightly, "My respect to you though for sheltering an important individual, albeit, I cannot assure you how other people would take it once the news spreads. But you cannot keep hiding this, it will be even more suspicious if you do."

Timothy knew the man was correct.

And it only made him irritated—until his nose picked up something weird and stinky. He looked up and saw a burly man, his face contorted into a rage. The man looked bigger than any normal man, even bigger than when he first saw the man chasing him down. "Crap," he muttered underneath his breath. Was this some kind of behemoth Skill?

"You!" Byron's nostrils flared. He bellowed like a cow and barrelled headfirst towards them.

Whether it was through a fit of fury that overcame him and his senses, or the fact that he bulldozed towards them faster than any normal person, the Beast Tamer threw himself at them. Timothy felt like he had already experienced this before and dodged alongside the other two and watched the man crash through the door at the exact moment it opened.

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened, but Timothy stepped forward and attempted to reach out and save the Lady—the Beast Tamer still struck against the Lady of Crowel. Even the Hunters that she was accompanied with riddled with shock and surprise. The Beast Tamer, however, caught himself at the last moment, and even then, the Lady as well and caught her in his arms.

Timothy Cook blinked.

And then suddenly smelled something close to home. It actually was home. The smell of something heartwarming, of grazing and laying down in fields of green and looking up at a blue sky. 

… It also smelled like cow dung. But he didn't focus on it and looked behind him.

.

.

.

The burly man practically caught a gentle gazelle once, and perhaps one could even equate the same—a Noblewoman was in his arms. Byron still had some common sense with him and tried to give his best grin. He once charmed a lovely Druid out of her tree so a Noblewoman wouldn't be actually any harder, could it?

A bird squawked at him, screaming obscenities.

It was a crow.

He rolled his eyes and ignored it. And instead prepared himself to say something smooth and get himself out of this situation of having her personal army's weapons pointed at him. 

"What do you think you're doing?!" A familiar voice shouted. The Lady stepped on his foot at the same time the very familiar voice rang.

He spun around and raised his hands up, "I can explain what's wrong—" His daughter was standing in front of him displeased and she was all grown up. It was nearly enough to make a grown man like him sniff. Instead, he managed a weak smile. "Rebecca, it's been awhile. How long has it been?" He hadn't been able to see her for such a long time.

She drop-kicked him in the stomach, hurtling him backwards and nearly into hitting the Lady again. His face twisted, and he clutched his abdomen. His little girl had pulled in some mighty weight and watched his daughter place her hands on her hips. 

"Everybody calls me Becky, quit with that, will you?" She then looked over his shoulders, curtsying slightly. "Sorry about my father, Lady. I'd crush him if I could, and yet it'd be a useless thing… But is there anything we can do for you? Do you want to have some fresh meat straight from Rockfall Village?"

The Lady sniffed at her and shook her head. And then the Noblewoman swept her gaze at the floor and quickly picked something up. "I have already had enough today, so consider this situation as absolved." She said, giving him a pointed look. Her lips pursed together, and she soon huffed. "I shall make it a point to remember you… you!"

Beast Tamer Byron still had it—he couldn't blame anyone.

He cleared his throat, and almost introduced himself, but knew how to hold it back. Especially since his daughter was around. He could almost forget the reason why he was here in the first place. That wasn't as important as seeing and reconnecting with his daughter. Byron wasn't even sure how she found him… was it a daughter's instinct?

Byron threw one last look at the boy who evaded his Bull Rampage Skill and glared at them, and yet the boy's eyes were on something else. He stepped in front of the Lady and frowned, "Wait a second, Lady Crowel!"

"I have no more time to spare for this Academy, boy. Be best on your way before I actually get into a mood and file a complaint about this place."

"That's mine," he said. "I think that's mine, Lady Crowel. Please hand back that over."