Thomala wasn't sure why his wife agreed to let their daughter go and hunt an Aberrant Crayfish or Light forbid– multiple of them.

  Rontress may be a competent kid who's always been way too smart for her age but just because she finally got her class doesn't mean that she's suddenly going to start killing Aberrant Crayfishes! That's just insane!

  So like any normal father would in his situation, he grabbed his boy and a few of his fellow spear fishers to find his daughter and save her. He can only hope that it isn't too late by this point and his bright little girl hasn't turned into Crayfish chum.

  But it's been hours since she left and Atterson told him that she hasn't been home since this morning so Thomala is expecting the worst. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his Rontress but that's just how it is in Flotol, he's seen his brothers die and even some of his friends when he was still young, and the number of deaths only really kept going as he grew older.

  Not that it made things any easier for him to accept.

  "Howaph, have you seen anything yet?" He asked his boy, his voice steel. His tone didn't have a single ounce of the nerves that's plaguing him mentally, he needed to be tough in order to not dampen the spirits of everyone else.

  "I'm not sure, you know how it is with Rontress, she likes to explore places. You won't find her unless she wants you to." Howaph didn't sound worried and Thomala isn't sure if he was putting on a brave front or not. "She's probably deep in Aberrant territory by now, making traps or something stupid like that."

  His son didn't have to put it like that but yes, that's where Rontress likely is: in the deepest parts of the swamp.

  When something moved in the water beside them, everyone tensed. Thomala eyed the surface, there are still water currents visibly flowing so the larger aberrants aren't present here.

  "Must have been another fish." A friend of his said, head shaking. "We're safe but I don't think it'll last long, we'll have to face one of those monsters soon and we aren't equipped to fight em head on. I'm only level 26."

  "We're not fighting one." Thomala reassured them, well aware that his own level is only 29. A far cry from the recommended 50 needed to fight an Aberrant Crayfish. "We're running away the moment we see an aberrant, but finding my daughter needs to be a priority."

  "We got it man, you care about your little girl. Stop sounding like she's dead!" Someone said loudly, clearly tired from the pessimistic way he's viewing things. "She'll be fine so stop worrying about it! Light knows that girl has survived more things than she should've!"

  At that, everyone nodded, making it look like it was Thomala who was in the wrong for even doubting Rontress' survival. But who can blame him? His little girl is missing and she hasn't come home for hours!

  They walked until their bodies began to sink, the water was getting higher the more they stepped forward. Thomala sniffed the air and almost gagged, there's a certain smell that's unique to aberrant territory, and that's the stench of death and rot. They're here.

  No matter how hard he looked, there still isn't a sign of his daughter anywhere and even as they found dry land again and reached the lifeless pool that the aberrants called home, Rontress still isn't anywhere to be found.

  "Well, she isn't here but I think I'm seeing something." Howaph said, making Thomala turn to him for guidance. He pointed somewhere in the distance. "See that? Those trees got overturned, the ground looks like it's been disturbed too."

  "Huh. Let's go there then. Good job kid."

  Thomala only watched as someone patted his boy's back before turning to the area Howaph talked about. It was true that the trees there got broken apart, some of the smaller ones even fell down, the ground too looked like it survived something big struggling on top of it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Did a crayfish jump out of the water? That would make sense but then where's his little girl?

  With his friend in the lead and his gut feeling heavy, Thomala forced himself to walk.

  When they got there, others whistled proudly, including his own son. Him? He could only let out a relieved sigh when he saw that the tracks went deeper into the forest.

  "She must have planned to tire the shelled bastard out!" Someone laughed. "Clever little lass, that one."

  "That's definitely something Rontress would do yeah." Howaph nodded like everything made sense.

  Together, they followed the trail; splintered trees, ruined earth, upturned rocks. A lot of disturbances can be found the deeper they went, and through it all, Thomala couldn't help but wonder why his daughter brought the crayfish so deep into the forest.

  "I don't think she was just trying to tire it out, the one that popped out must have been one large aberrant to do this much damage. Ya think she's in danger?"

  "It would have caught up to her if that's what happened but the tracks keep going don't they?"

  "Well, I don't see any blood anywhere and yeah, the trail just keeps going, so maybe she really was just tiring it out?" Howaph suggested an idea that everyone readily suggested.

  "Ya that makes sense. Poor fucker might be able to breathe on land but it's too heavy to run without getting damaged from its own weight, it must be hard carrying that heavy shell around without water to lighten it up."

  That was a pretty good observation, Thomala actually believed it for a moment. Believed that Rontress knew what she was doing when she brought such a giant aberrant out here.

  "This is one tenacious bastard though." The guy who spoke slapped an exposed piece of wood. "Fucker wouldn't just leave it huh?"

  "Maybe she did something to annoy it?" Shrugged another person.

  "That or it's an irate mother?"

  "Can't be, those things move out of the lifeless pools to bring their eggs somewhere clean and safe. Can't have the other aberrants feasting on their hatchlings after all. And the lack of food too."

  "I guess so, must be a bull then."

  Thomala shook his head. "There's no way my daughter can kill something like that."

  "Oh cheer up! Ya kid's bein talked about as someone capable of killing Aberrant Crayfish bulls and yer blabbin about how she's not? Who's the father here huh? Us or you?"

  The others laughed at the joke but that quickly died down when they heard sounds of struggling coming from the distance.

  "Sounds like we found her."

  "Is she okay?" Howaph quickly moved, running before anyone else could and Thomala followed. Their footsteps rang out as they ran ahead of the group, leaves crunching under their boots. "Rontress?!"

  "Help!" His little girl shouted after her older brother and Thomala moved even quicker. "I need help!"

  "We're coming for you! Don't worry!"

  The others rushed, and Thomala also put as much force as he could muster into his legs. He realized that his worries really were just fruitless when he saw that his daughter wasn't asking for help because she's injured, but because she can't carry her catch all by herself.

  Rontress stood ahead of them, her face red as she pulled on a piece of rope to try and lug around something that's several times her size.

  The dead aberrant sat behind her, its head cracked and its body still. Immobile. It truly was dead. But more than that...

  "... It really is a bull." Thomala couldn't remove the awe in his voice. "How'd you catch it?"

  "Traps." Rontress waved him off, clearly grumpy. He smiled at that, his little girl got that attitude from his wife. That glare too. And... Now he's scared. "Are you gonna help me or not?!"

  After a beat of laughter and congratulatory pats on the back, more so for him than his daughter, everyone went ahead and lifted the giant aberrant off the ground.

  "Let's not go back to their territory and just walk straight back to Flotol. Where is it again?" Rontress looked around, discerning a direction. "Yeah, you guys will have to decide, I'm way too tired to think right now."

  "Want me to carry you on my back?" Howaph offered but Rontress shook her head.

  "No thanks! I want to get something out of this." She said with that vague and mysterious tone she always did when she's planning something. "Anyway, I think I'll hunt another crayfish tomorrow, you guys will be there again right?"

  "If we get a cut that time, then yeah." One of the other guys said with a laugh. "Man, after all this time we finally got a proper [Trapper] huh? How long has it been again?"

  "It's been three decades since old man Kokar passed."

  "Damn, it's been that long?"

  And so, another wave of idle chatter passed them by as they carried the large aberrant back to Flotol. The one who caught it, Rontress, looked like she was already done with the conversation but she didn't run away. Which means she's probably interested in hearing about the village's previous [Trapper].

  Thomala considered asking around about that person, maybe he can tell his daughter stories about him during dinner? She always loved those.