Time passed and Liberty managed to guess 4 out of the 13 foot prints right, which means she only needed one more correct guess and she would pass. She still has 3 more foot prints so there's pressure for her right now.
Her next footprint was something that looks like a cat's paw with a very deep, but tiny indentations on the tips. They are around the size of a hound but the toes aren't as sharp so it is probably not that. Another thing to note of is that the palm print is very large, but shallow.
'Small, and probably belongs to some kind of canopy dwelling creature judging by the claws.' These were Liberty's observations, the last one came from the indentations on the edge of the toe prints, which are the size of dots but reached deeper than any of the other prints stacked together.
Realistically speaking, possessing something like this while having a dog-sized foot print would mean that the animal— because this isn't a monster, as Liberty learned several times already. All of her mistakes were because her pride refused to acknowledge the print was from an animal. — is using them for something else other than hunting.
Whatever this is definitely hunts with its claws, but relying on it? Nope. It probably has other options when killing something, like sharp teeth.
So, it climbs trees, is the size of a dog, and has cat-like paw prints as to not make noise while moving. That last one is an important detail because this thing should be mostly prey to all the other predators in the forest, so it's not using the softened footsteps to hunt, but hiding instead.
'Does it have ways to attract predators when heard? It's easy to spot right? That's why it's so silent... Which means its tail, while prehensile, must be distracting.' By this point, Liberty knows that there's really only one conclusion to what this thing could possibly be.
Only a single animal comes to mind when thinking of an arboreal predator who wouldn't be able to hide its tail, and that's a squirrel, no?
"This thing is a Varut." Liberty had no doubt in her voice as she gave an answer.
"And what made you think that?"
"Just give me a yes or no, did I succeed?" This last question made her pass, so if the receptionist says yes then she will leave Liberty alone.
"Yes, you did." Siohel definitely added an unspoken 'unfortunately' at the end there. "But there are still two more footprints, please continue with the test."
"Fine." Liberty had already won anyway, what's there to worry about?
The next print was very similar to the last one she just did, except this one had extra bumps and lines all over it, as though the flesh of this Varut had inflamed. The bumps were from warts, that's obvious enough, and the lines, while difficult to really figure out, were from expanded veins.
She knew what it is, as these two things are very common to see in children who have become an undead.
'The bulging veins are there to keep the body cool while the warts houses more bacteria, which get released into the body it is able to fend off the initial wave of infection.' This was Liberty's theory as to why these two specific symptoms exist in undead critters or children, as it is simply far too common to just be a coincidence.
"An undead Varut." Liberty answered, her voice devoid of any form of excitement. She did have something to say though, "also, you shouldn't make people search for a footprint when dealing with Okui, they are literally walking corpses, tell them to figure out a smell!"
"Go to the next footprint please."
"Fair enough." If she was just gonna get ignored, then she shouldn't have tried to fix this stupid test to begin with. Whatever, let the hunters die because they were too busy looking at footprints instead of recognizing the smell of an undead.
The last footprint wasn't a foot print at all, but a hoofprint. It was small, with a line in the middle, the depth also didn't reach beyond 2 inches into the ground.
"Kaaser." Boars are, funnily enough, had no changes in this world, they're still as mean, tanky, and had no concept of the flight response in their head. They were just a ball of angry muscle that refused to die.
This specific species did have something unique to it however: it grows a crown of bone with its tusks over time, and eventually, it just gets a massive improvement to its ramming and head butting attacks so it is even deadlier.
"Correct. You got 7 out of 13! I'm amazed you got over half of it correct, and if you weren't so eager to find monsters every single time you discover a foot print, you would have perfected it." So Siohel noticed her mistakes? "Which begs the question, why do you constantly watch out for monsters? Do you look under your bed for fear that there might be something hiding?"
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"Is it that weird for someone to watch out for monsters? Again, I have traveled for most of my life.." Liberty made sure her tone was even as she gave a rebuttal, she hated that her own paranoia had messed up this test and gave Siohel an edge.
"But why did you travel? Can you answer that for me?"
"It's because I had to leave a marriage, someone as competent as me in our community would be forced to birth as many children as I can, I have aided in childbirth before and I just go scared just by thinking about it." Liberty crafted an elaborate lie that hopefully tugged on the emotional heart strings of this woman.
Surely she must share the same fear right? She must have seen countless hunters lose their career— something Siohel seems to prioritize based on how she acts all excited around high reward opportunities. — over something like childbirth?
"Well, that explains a few things. But why are you so scared of monsters?" And now they're back in the first question. "It doesn't make sense, you're a Lampiy are you not? You should have seen these things constantly."
"Have you ever left home with nothing but the clothes on your back and a cloak to keep the cold away?" Liberty decided to delve into memories she didn't want to relive. "What about running through a forest barefooted, you keep running even as wounds appear on your feet, even as you leave a trail of blood behind?"
"You don't have to tell me more." Siohel stopped her. "And don't give me that face." The woman turns away, scowling. "I don't want to give you any more pity than I already have, it is irritating. We're done, let's move on to the next test, which is your accuracy."
"What about my wilderness skills?"
"Lampiys have that in spades, I don't think you need to let me see how you make traps or how you survived inside a forest all by yourself. Shut up and move on."
Liberty put a pin on Siohel's current attitude, 'she's sensitive to emotional stories but tries to distance herself as much as possible from them? What an interesting way to live.'
Not that she herself has the authority to mock other people for their personal coping mechanisms, Liberty knows what it is like to do everything in order to escape a painful memory, and how finding esoteric and nonsensical solutions is the only real option if you want to survive.
They stop at the edge of a training field, there are bags and sacks of dust by their feet, it marks how far they can walk forward. It wasn't much. Just a few inches of space, which by Liberty's own experience, is basically nothing.
'I'm better off not getting closer, shooting from this range and walking a step forward won't make any difference anyway.' Liberty props her crossbow and holds it close, she aims in front of her.
It's no scope, but the tiny nub of metal she put at the nose of the weapon allowed her to gauge her shot better.
She fires, the light crossbow sends an arrow flying violently through the air, it hits the dummy and sand pours out of the wounded area like a waterfall.
As weak as it is, the crossbow does a good job when it comes to what she wants to use it for: which is to have a renewable ranged attack that has less risks than her revolver.
"You wouldn't kill a goblin warrior with something like that. And you're definitely not gonna get close enough to an archer to hit it, so what's your plan? Just die?"
"My plan is to grab my revolver and shoot them with it."
"You have six shots, you don't have protective gloves, what do you do?"
"I don't fire and run, also, why would I not have protective gloves?"
"You're not wearing a pair right now."
At that, Liberty decided to heed the receptionist's advice and took a pair of thick, rubber-lined gloves from under her cloak and put them on.
"There."
"That still doesn't change the fact that you're carrying a light crossbow, can you even pierce through leather armor with that? You're going to die from someone who only has starting gear!"
Liberty was pissed off, why was she so contrarian?! All this time, the only thing Siohel did was try and dissuade her from becoming a retriever, which was annoying but bearable because the receptionist wasn't screaming! Now Liberty just can't take it anymore!
"I can use white magic! And if that isn't enough then why don't I just cost the goddamn arrows with poison?! Huh?!" She yelled all at once, her breathing became ragged by the end of it.
Snapping at Siohel in anger was incredibly cathartic, but Liberty quickly regretted it once she saw the satisfied smile the woman was wearing. Okay, did she just get tricked?
"You should learn to control your ego." Siohel patted her back. "Now I am rather curious, are you really a Leech? You're closer to a rogue to me, for some reason."
She was taunting Liberty so shamelessly, and although another burst of anger would make her feel good, Liberty, against her worse judgement and pride, decided to heed the advice of the receptionist even if she didn't want to.
'It's counter productive to not control my emotions.' She set aside the part of her that wanted to rebel against Siohel's advice and forced herself to calm down.
"Yeah? Maybe I am a rogue." Liberty decided not to deny it. "What do you have against them? There are plenty of rogues in the hunter's guild, no?"
"Ha! Rogues? Them?" Siohel didn't give up, she continued taunting the Lampiy, hoping she would have another burst of anger and start screaming again. "Don't joke with me, they are archers, carrying bows around and shooting monsters does not make one a rogue."
Liberty bit her tongue, she decided to keep her silence. Siohel went ahead and mocked her anyway.
"You know what does?" The receptionist didn't wait for Siohel's response, immediately continuing with: "using poison and relying on tricks, I bet that medical bag of yours used to contain all manners of things huh?"
Liberty laughed, her medical bag? Why would she put dangerous things in there? Isn't that a hazard to her own career?
"Sure, I put stuff like that in my medical bag." Now this time it was her turn to pat Siohel on the back, she was very condescending while doing it too. "Just give me my scores, I want to leave this city as soon as possible and be, as you put it, a rogue."
She had a mocking sneer as she finished talking, this was something Siohel caught immediately as she frowned, her expression wrinkling in distaste. But she was professional and in the end, gave Liberty her results.
"You passed," she said mechanically, voice monotone. "If you'd follow me, I can give you a list of missing people and where they last went."
"Let's go then." Call her petty, but Liberty was glad the receptionist had lost to her so badly. And Siohel didn't even know why Liberty was suddenly so condescending! She could only wonder in confusion of where Liberty stores her poisons.
'Nowhere, obviously.' A good rogue— and she does hate this word in particular. — knows how to use their environment to the fullest. 'Poison is everywhere and she thinks I'm storing some on myself?'
