Mission Details:

  The administrative clerk was not too keen with having to accept a baby badger from Rhys, but in the end she hauled away the squeaking would be Ninju. Rhys would have laughed at the site of the terrified woman running with the tiny creature in her outstretched arms, but he was far too focused on the day's events.

  Rhys had not processed it at the time, but he had killed someone. Another human being had died at his hands, and he was not bothered by it in the least. That's what really bothered him. It was true that the man was worse than scum, but was Rhys qualified to be judge, jury, and executioner? If not him then who? Rhys nodded solemnly. He had been justified, and it was time for more.

  What time remained in the day was spent trying to convince the administration to send out a squad to take out the poachers, but unless Rhys wanted to pay for it himself they would do nothing without a formal mission request. So, Rhys decided it was up to him.

  Rhys scoured the mission board for anything that he could use to make his expedition official. He found just the thing, an old mapping request at the very back of the queue. It was perfect, all he had to do was map the area he was already going to and any resistance he faced could be dealt with as he saw fit, all while sanctioned by the village. He took the mission and went home to rest. Tomorrow he would find and stop these vile poachers, by any means necessary.

  Sleep was surprisingly easy for Rhys to obtain. His plan was ready, he had a good meal, and he spent no time tossing and turning over his intent to kill the next morning.

  He awoke refreshed with the remnants of a pleasant dream tiptoeing at the edge of his memory. He quickly gathered his gear and supplies then headed out of his apartment. The sun would rise in about an hour and he wanted to be a kilometer away from the village by then. The morning was peaceful, there was barely a soul to be seen. Peace was not always coupled with good things however. The silence felt oppresive, the attitude of Sunagakure felt like the quiet before the storm. Its people were scared of something yet to come.

  Rhys let these thoughts slide away as he passed through the village gate into the desert. The open canvas of the world had a soft blue tint from the fading darkness. Rhys had the momentary feeling of walking across the ocean floor. He had never personally seen the sea but had heard that underneath the waters was nothing but sand. It was reassuring to Rhys that even the great bodies of water, the opposite of his beloved desert, were not all that different in the end.

  His mind wandered like this for some time as he drove his way toward the small oasis not far ahead. He would map out all of the locations he knew offhand before searching for the poacher's encampment. He had already made it to the hillside covered in cacti, he stopped to mark its location one half kilometer from the village. The cacti would be useful in the right hands.

  Rhys was not much of an artist, but the crude sketching would do for his purposes. He continued on his path as the morning sun crested the horizon and warmed his back. He was making decent time but still picked up the pace.

  The oasis came up quickly at his heightened speed. All of these desert excursions had done wonders for Rhys's physical condition. He stopped to drink some of the sweet night cooled water before adding the location to his map. It would likely be dried up and gone by year's end, the vegetation shriveled and animals scattered to some new location, but for now it could still save lives. His own thirst sated, he set out into the heart of the desert.

  The morning passed with relative ease. He was doing his best to follow the same path he had walked the day before when looking for animals. He stopped to mark down any unique landmarks he encountered along the way. There was that cactus he passed that was easily hundreds of years old, the rock formation that slightly resembles a giant fist, and of course the ominous towering dune off in the distance. This would be the point of reference for his map, it was the tallest thing within eyesight for kilometers.

  It was just before mid-day when Rhys found the patch of vegetation the hate he had been chasing stopped at the day before. It was not far from place of battle and death that lay ahead. Rhys stopped to take a long draw from his canteen that was full of water that had been flavored with mint leaves. The refreshing concoctions rejuvenated the big man as he pressed onward.

  Rhys was in luck, the body was gone. This meant that someone had come for the body. Animals would have eventually gotten to it but there would have been much more evident signs of carnage. As it was, there were only two pools of blood, the one where the hare and coyote had been slain, and the other where Rhys had obtained his first kill.

 Rhys stopped to inspect the area further. He noted a deep depression next to divits in the sand. A stretcher must have been used to drag the corpse back to their camp. By now the sand would have blown away any further trace of the dragging, but Rhys knew which direction to go. He had chased the other poacher for some time before losing him and could only assume that was the way he needed to go.

  Patience was now his goal. He had to slowly move forward looking for any indication of other people traveling through the area. He continued on in the same direction for an hour. He had begun to suspect that he might have lost the trail when he found a clue. A small rock poking up from the sand, and it had blood on it. The blood seemed less than a day old and Rhys knew he was on track. The stretcher must have bumped this rock causing blood seep down into it. Rhys continued with vigor anew.

  Not long afterwards his objective came into view. He came to the top of a dune and saw the camp below. A series of five tents circled a large cooking fire. A tarp was draped over the tops and it appeared to be used to block out sand when unraveled. Rhys ducked down low to observe his prey. This particular location would not be marked and the rest of the day's events would not be part of the official report.

Exit

WC:1164 for 250ryo