To: Isabelle Aozora, Lucina Archaletta, Iron Silvarious, Ayaka Miyamoto
Your team is to accompany Professor Nox on a trip to Aubindon, a small settlement located in northern Vale. The citizens in this village have made us aware of rising threats in the area surrounding the village. Recently, they have spotted a number of scouts in the area, ones that they believe are members of a small bandit group that have attacked the village on a previous occasion. While those there that could fight managed to fend them off the first time, quite some time has passed since. No fully trained Huntsmen currently reside there, only self-trained fighters with access to basic weaponry. With scouts constantly spying on the village from a distance, they fear the possibility of an impending raid with larger numbers than the last. Such an event would be devastating to the village, and with the weather growing cold once again, their chances of survival afterwards would be slim.
In order to avoid detection by the bandits as best as possible, the airship will be dropping your team off a few miles away from Aubindon. If you are discovered, they will most likely postpone their attack until a later date. After landing, the rest of the distance will be travelled on foot. Encountering Grimm is a possibility, and the weather will be cold, so make sure to pack accordingly. Once there, you are to hand out supplies to the people of the village. You will then camp there overnight, as they are expecting the raid to occur when most of the citizens are sleeping. If the attack does happen, your team and Professor Nox will defend the village. Reinforcements will arrive sometime afterwards to take in the defeated bandits and to bring you back to the Academy. If the attack does not occur during the first night, you are to stay there for one more day before returning to Beacon.
Attached to this message is a map of the village and the surrounding areas, as well as the time and location of your departure.
As she read over the message displayed on her scroll’s screen, Isabelle was sure of one thing. This was by far the greatest mission that had ever been assigned to their team. As first years, they didn’t get a whole lot of eventful missions, making it harder for them to work on things like team combat skills. Not only was this a perfect learning opportunity, but it actually sounded like it could be a decent amount of fun. They were going to have a professor with them, a fully trained Huntsman, so they would most definitely succeed. Of course, she didn’t exactly want the village to get attacked… But, there was potential for some sort of fight, which was good enough for her to be interested.
Isabelle, who was standing outside of the airship that they would be leaving in, soon put the scroll back in her bag. She had made sure to pack a decent amount of supplies, such as food and dust for her weapon. Her quiver only carried fifteen arrows, so they were going to have to be used sparingly. Really, her sword and semblance would do just fine against most of the opponents that they would probably encounter. Not only that, but they were travelling as a team, so they wouldn’t need to pack a whole lot of extra firepower.
For now, all she could do was to stand there and wait. It was almost noon, the time that they were supposed to meet there at the docks. Apparently, she had arrived a little early, as even the teacher had not shown up yet. ’Hopefully they actually checked their messages...’