My quest to find the sharpshooter brought me in a tiny fishing village, nested in a deep valley on the western shores. I was assured that they were doing business here. I arrived under the scorching sun of noon, wasted not time to start interviewing the local butcher.

"Oh, I know who you're talking about" he said, "she comes at dusk often, my last client of the day, always blessed with a good game. She hunts the largest of sea creatures, which make for a pretty penny, because noone in the town goes for any of these preys. Sure, she knows the deal, and she asks for big buck from me, but I can still get off with benefit because that kind of meat sells well." I had to interrupt his careful explanation of cutting up meat to ask of their whereabouts.

"Oh, well if you are looking for her, you'll have to wait for the night, she will often go for a drink at the pub after a hunting day. "

I left the butcher to his work, and headed for the port. If I had to wait, at least I had time to do a bit of sightseeing. There, I met and talked with a few fishermen. Three humans and a formican, who were discharging their nets. The formican was the muscle of the team, their large stature commanded respect as they hoisted four crates at a time with ease. All seemed to know about my Noxcaleos, and had some anecdote to share fo them. One once had lost a drinking contest to them, another had once hired their services to eliminate a "big bad wolf" who had attacked his sister and... stolen her jewelry. I scowled at that man as his companions bursted with laughter. My prey sure didn't seem to have scruples to carry out the dirty work, maybe that's the business they had with my Lord.

The formican told me that they had partied with Roui on several occasions. Once it was to clean the shore from jellyfish (they had bloomed far too much that year) under the mayor's direction, an other time it was the Noxcaleos themself who had hired their muscle for some heavy hauling of a whale.

"The whale had been killed with a single blow through the head" they started to explain, "It had entered the left eye, pierced the skull, mashed the brain. An insane shot." They talked to me about the great skill this Noxcaleos displayed, as one of the best sharpshooters in the whole region, maybe the world. They told me about their strange dress choices, their large hat that shielded them from sunlight, and their beautiful weapon, a long-barreled railgun they had built themself. It could hit with deadly force and great precision a mile away according to their account, although I doubt this kind of distance is even remotely possible, and I'm sure any projectile would fare quite badly at long range underwater.

Hours passed. I had lost myself on the dock watching the sky unfold, wave and dance in a spectacle of light and clouds, and now the tired rays of sunset had started to paint the azur in warm shades of pink and gold. I headed back to the pub, to wait for my own prey. I pushed the pub's door as the sun went down, they would come out of the ocean any minute now.

I heard the cocking sound.

I turned slowly on the doorstep to see them, the gun pointed at me from the other side of the place. Such a master-crafted piece of art, the fine engravings on the metal shone bright in the dying light.

I opened my mouth to speak, "I co-

I fell forward on the ground, the hard embrace of warm cobblestone welcomed the first drops of my blood. The pain went later in that hour-long second. They had approached, bent towards me "I owe your master nothing, but vengeance" they said, before entering the pub. The air felt cool, the night had fallen.

This chapter was made with the help and in the world of Digition Find more about Noxcaleos at https://www.worldanvil.com/w/primoria-digition/a/noxcaleos-species