Dim, yellowish light.
A bone-chilling cold seeped into his marrow. Leon slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was a dull ache throughout his entire body.
He noticed his wounds had been crudely bandaged, and his equipment hadn't been taken from him.
A dim oil lamp hung by a marble pillar, barely illuminating the cramped space. Thick metal bars separated him from the world outside.
A prison?
Leon's head was heavy, but memories of what happened before he lost consciousness began to clear.
Flora being taken...
Dumpling? Coco?
Leon leaned against the iron bars, his throat so parched he could hardly make a sound.
He thought about cutting through the bars, but...
In the distance, the faint sound of an iron door creaking open echoed, followed by the slow, heavy thud of approaching footsteps.
Three hunters stopped before his cell. Leading them was a middle-aged man with white hair. He glanced at Leon and asked coldly, "You're awake? Where is Flora?"
"Commander!" Leon rasped, his voice filled with urgency. "Flora... Flora was taken! We have to save her!"
However...
The Commander only watched Leon with a cold, piercing gaze.
The other two hunters looked just as indifferent, their expressions bordering on hostility and disgust.
A moment passed.
The Commander finally spoke, his voice gravelly and heavy. "From the day you set foot in this base, I should have known... you would eventually become a blight."
Leon's heart skipped a beat.
"You brought instability. You broke the order and disrupted a balance that was already fragile." The Commander stepped closer, his eyes filled with deep disappointment. "I gave you a place to stay, and yet you..."
"It wasn't me!" Leon clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white from the strain. "We were ambushed! Someone set us up!"
"Do you have proof?" the Commander countered.
Leon opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He only remembered the enemy's sneer and the sight of Flora collapsing before he fell unconscious.
How could he prove his innocence?
"It really wasn't me!" Leon gripped the bars tightly. "It was that emergency quest! The Research Commission Leader? Yes! The quest issued by the Research Commission Leader!"
*Thud!*
One of the burly men beside the Commander kicked the bars violently, the vibration forcing Leon back a step.
"You dare claim you didn't kill those three local hunters?" the Commander said, his gaze freezing.
Leon clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
No one would listen to his explanation.
There was no investigation, let alone a defense.
In everyone's eyes, he was now the criminal who broke the rules and murdered fellow hunters.
"I trusted you, but you..." The Commander's words were like a blade, stabbing into Leon's heart piece by piece.
Leon's heart sank as if submerged in icy water; even breathing felt heavy.
The Commander looked away and turned to leave, his voice low and weary. "When we find Flora's body, that is when you will pay with your life."
*Slam!*
The heavy iron door shut again, locking away all hope of escape.
Only the flickering yellow light remained, casting a shadow of Leon's lonely, silent figure. He slowly slid down to the cold floor, burying his head between his knees.
His chest felt tight as anger and humiliation swirled within him.
He hadn't died at the hands of monsters...
But he was defeated by humans?
Leon bit his lip hard, blood slowly trickling from the corner of his mouth. A fire burned silently in his heart.
Rage, humiliation, resentment...
Like scalding lava, it had been suppressed to the absolute limit.
They say I broke the rules?
They say I killed Flora?
What kind of idiotic Monster Hunter world is this?
Time passed slowly in the cold, damp cell.
Leon leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, constantly thinking about how to prove himself or escape.
Suddenly...
*Click—* From a corner of the wall came an almost imperceptible sound.
Leon opened his eyes, looking toward the sound with caution.
*Click— Thump-thump.*
A loose stone brick was quietly pushed aside, and a mud-stained white paw poked out.
Next came a filthy feline face as a round Dumpling struggled to squeeze through the ground.
"Rookie? I finally found you, meow." Dumpling looked frantic. Before they could catch up, he was pushed forward by a sudden force.
A black cat poked its head out right after.
Dumpling and Coco tumbled out of the tunnel one after another like two balls of mud.
"Dumpling? Coco..." Leon was stunned for a moment before a choked laugh escaped his throat.
Coco followed close behind, clutching an odd-looking shovel. He poked his head out of the hole and flicked his tail. "The plan was a success!"
Dumpling plopped down on the floor and patted the dust off his head. His round eyes widened as he said huffily, "Rookie, hurry up! We'll be caught if we stay too long, meow!"
Coco, still holding the strange shovel in his mouth, said excitedly, "We had to dig seven tunnels just to find the right spot, meow!"
"Flora... she..." Seeing Coco made Leon think of Flora immediately. But before he could finish, Coco interrupted him. "Don't worry! I already know who they are. They won't hurt Flora."
"That's enough, meow! Escaping is more important right now!" Dumpling grabbed Leon's finger, trying to pull him toward the hole.
Looking at the tiny hole, Leon pulled his finger back and gave a bitter smile. "How am I supposed to escape through that?"
"Then we dig!" Coco had already nimbly dived back into the tunnel and started expanding it with the shovel.
Dumpling followed him back in.
Leon gritted his teeth as a flame reignited in his heart. He bent down, following the two cats and their shovel, crawling quickly through the tunnel to leave the cell.
The tunnel was so narrow he could barely squeeze through. The smell of soil was suffocating. Coco led the way while Dumpling muttered from behind, "Rookie, you need to lose weight, meow... It's too tight, meow..."
After an unknown amount of time, a breath of fresh air drifted from ahead.
Coco pushed aside a stone slab with a *shing*, letting in a sliver of faint moonlight.
"We reached the exit, meow!"
Hearing this, Leon crawled faster and leaped out of the tunnel onto an unknown beach with Dumpling.
The night breeze brushed against his cheeks, carrying the taste of freedom.
Leon took a deep breath and looked up at the starlit sky. The suffocating weight in his chest finally began to lift.
"We did it, meow!" Dumpling rolled around on the sand triumphantly, letting the white fur get covered in grains.
Coco coolly hoisted the shovel onto his shoulder. "I definitely deserve top honors for this. I demand a reward of ten Felvine sticks, meow!"
Watching the beach under the night sky and hearing the waves crashing against the shore, Leon finally calmed down a little.
He turned to Coco and asked, "Coco, you said you knew who kidnapped Flora?"
Coco was busy sticking the shovel into the sand. Hearing Leon's question, his ears flicked. "Hunters from Schrade Village. They want to drive you away, meow."
Leon frowned. "Hunters from Schrade Village? Why would they do that?"
This was the first time the plot diverged from the game's path; there was no mention of Schrade Village in the original game...
Coco brushed the sand off himself, looking at Leon with a serious expression. He lowered his voice and said, "Those young people and Flora are all hunters from Schrade Village, meow. They're a tight-knit bunch and don't take kindly to outsiders..."
He paused suddenly, clenching his small paw in anger. "But this time, they went too far, meow!"
"So... they took Flora just to get the Commander to kick me out?" Leon's eyes darkened as he pieced together the details in his mind.
"Maybe," Coco said in a low voice, flicking his tail. "It's not just you, meow. Actually, Flora never really fit in with them anyway. Her father was a member of the Research Commission, so she's only half-local, meow."
"In that case, how can you be sure they won't hurt her?" Leon worried for Flora's safety again.
"Don't you worry," Coco snorted. "Naturally, someone will protect her. I expect they'll let her go once you've left, meow."
Silence fell for a moment.
Leon's fingertips slowly traced the hilt of his blade. His gaze was as dark as the night as he made a decision. "I don't like gambling, especially not with someone else's life. We're going to rescue Flora."
He turned back to Coco. "You know where she's being held, don't you?"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+40 chapters) patre0n.c0m/Royal_ink]