To Catch a Predator! (C/Solo)

There were many ways to solve a problem where a particularly violent animal was the cause in question. The most popular solution was to kill whatever the problem was, and for a country riddled with problems as trivial as animal control or as grave as a magical crisis, this solution both worked and worked well. In fact, this solution was so effective that there was hardly any hero from the past or present that was remembered for pacifying that one beast or solving the bigger issue. Of course, Nico knew it was silly to expect that. Not everything or everyone could be killed with kindness, after all. More often than not, that wasn't the case.

Regardless, Nico wanted to help people and their valuables if he could help it. He was a vagrant of eight years now—wandering from place to place, picking up jobs but never being able to hold them for long. It was a voluntary sort of deal, being a wandering man and all. Ever since the tragedy happened, he had underwent many hardships just so he could keep his head above water, and there were many nights where he often had to pick between an inn room or a good meal. He knew that if he had settled down in one town and stuck to one job, he wouldn't have to make such tough decisions again, and he'd find himself a community and grow comfortable in his employment. He was a good, hard worker, and if he stuck around long enough, there was a future for him no matter where he went. But none of those opportunities seemed to stick with him. His desire to find the clock-eyed wizard, his desire to help others, his desire to be like the Wizard Saints—settling down in some town in Fiore wouldn't get him any closer to those dreams. And so Nico found himself on the road again, hopping from place to place with his usual warmth, like a floating sun. He carried the same bag he had always carried, and he wore the same smile he always had.

"Thanks again for coming along, kid," said an older man who was driving a mule-drawn carriage, "never know when that sucker will show up! Ha!"

Nico grinned and clenched his hand into a fist as a gesture of excitement. "Of course! What kind of man would I be to turn you down?!" He was sitting in the back of the carriage with Gelu Morsus sheathed in cloth next to him. While Nico was here to, of course, escort and protect the older fellow in front, he was hoping to catch the beast in the act!

"Such a good kid, you are! Haha!" the older man laughed heartily.

Nico leaned back into the wooden planks that could hardly be classed as a seat, staring out into the vast fields stretching across the horizon on both sides. The dirt roadway the two ventured on seemed to cut through this immense space like the crossing of the Red Sea. It reminded him of Shadow Island—the sounds, the smells. Shadow Island was not an incredibly fertile land, so the vast sea of crops sparked no memory of anything like it, but a certain nostalgia came over him as he beheld the scene.

. . .

Something wasn't right.