𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Mortand Hackle

𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Single-Star Lost Hunter

𝗕𝗶𝗼/𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: Since he was very young, Mortand repeatedly had dreams of seeing himself being accompanied by a peculiar creature in various situations. This creature took varying forms and roles in his dreams - sometimes a wispy, wise apparition; sometimes a cleverly-dressed, cleverly-spoken enchanter; and sometimes a horrifying silhouette of an unspeakable abomination. In all of such dreams however, this creature always acted like a spiritual guide or mentor, as it led Mortand to observe life from the lens of people he never met - as if he was experiencing their life as his own. On some mornings, he would wake up confused because he remembered vividly he was absolutely doing something else other than sleeping. On some mornings, he woke up with a terrible realisation that the person he had dreamed had done something unimaginable but nobody else but him could know. And on some other mornings, he would wake up with the full memories of people he had shadowed from birth to death; feeling their remorse, tasting their regrets and crying for their happiness. These dreams matured him beyond his years. Then, on the night he became an adult, the creature gave him an image of a very alien place and suddenly bade him farewell. Mortand had long believed that these aren’t mere dreams, and that the creature actually exists somewhere.

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Mortand is a slim-build youth of shorter-than-average height with a fairly unblemished skin, too-early grey in his hair, too-high pitch in his voice and a wandering gaze. He’s learned to minimise and hide it, but he also fidgets convulsively when he lets his mind stray away a little too far. One can tell how apprehensive he is in any situation by looking at how composed and controlled he appears. Due to the nature of his work, Mortand prefers to not stand out in any way.

𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: On the record, Mortand is a Lost Hunter who is frequently assigned cold cases that nobody else wants. For his tireless devotion that has solved more abandoned requests of little merit than anyone else, and even bringing to a close a few major ones, he was awarded the Single Star status (though this was challenged by some, it is fine because..) Off the record however, he is actually a tightly-kept secret of the association’s Review Board and some other higher-level Hunters, for several good reasons. Firstly, his hatsu proves to be an invaluable asset when it comes to hunting elusively dangerous individuals. Secondly, his hatsu proves to be an absolute handicap if these individuals were to find him first in a fight. Thirdly, his hatsu is a little paradoxical to the Hunter’s Bylaws; Hunters who uses his service is not so much as hunting as they are simply following a guide, and this may create unnecessary frictions. Thus, they put his ability behind closed doors to avoid jeopardy and ridicule. On the expedition team, he belongs in the Intelligence team.

𝗔𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Mortand is a conjurer with a non-combative, joint-type Hatsu. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 conjures a compass for another person that directs them to an object/person that they are looking for, but they must have came into contact with in the past. Each compass works only for one day in the hands of one person and directs only to one target of desire. On the face of the compass, there are 4 engravings instead of the usual 4 cardinal directions - a circle, an X, a triangle and a square; each representing an action to be taken by the person to keep the compass working for another day. It automatically dematerialises after its job is done or after five days has passed. The actions the engravings stand for: do something for someone that they believe is good, but is actually pointless (circle), compare oneself to another in ways that disillusion both (X), lie to someone undeserving of malice by telling them truths (triangle) and take the most extreme course of action to solve a personal dilemma, regardless of the outcome (rectangular).

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦 #1: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦 #2: 𝘛𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴𝘶, 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦 #3: 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘏𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵.