Day 2, 7:30 PM
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
— George Bernard Shaw
We reach the site of the wolf attack with half an hour of daylight to spare, and I slowly go about preparing everything we need to build a fire, then we eat dinner.
“Why didn’t you start the fire?” Noble asks.
“Because I don’t know how long it’s going to take, and I’m hungry now. I have prepared everything, and all I have to do is rub those two sticks against each other until they start burning. Trust me, I’ve done this before.”
I can tell she doesn’t trust me, but that’s fine. Soon, after the fight with the wolves, my credibility will increase.
Darkness falls while we’re still chewing the old-boot jerky and rock-break. We wrap up our meal, and I half-heartedly rub the sticks like I said I would. Right on time, a howl splits the air, and I note just how much sharper it is compared to a bloodhowler’s frenzied squeals.
“Wolves! Climb the tree behind you. Do you need help?”
“I can manage.” Noble’s voice shakes, and her shoes scrape against the bark.
Suddenly, she slips and crashes to the ground.
Shit.
I turn around and grab her.
“Unhand me,” she hisses. I have no idea what I’m grabbing, and I don’t care. I lift her into the tree, realizing a second too late I could have slammed her head-first into a branch.
“Shut up. Grab a branch or something.”
Bushes rustle behind me, luckily, Noble’s weight disappears just in time. I spin around, and a wolf’s jaw clamps shut around my upper arm.
[You have leveled up.
Select a skill within sixty seconds or a random one will be assigned to you.
Initial Grappling - You are able to wrestle and pin your enemies.
Initial Dueling - Your sword prowess increases when battling a single opponent.]
Thank god I set opacity to ten percent.
“Grappling,” I mutter, grabbing the wolf’s clenched jaw. My hand moves on its own mid way, and instead of forcing open the locked jaw, I crush the beast’s neck. The wolf gasps for air, voluntarily opening its mouth, but before I can finish it off another one jumps and bites me.
[You have leveled up…]
I don’t get to read it before the Rage notification pops up, and I black out. When I come to, I’m standing, and the night is silent.
“Pft,” I spit a bunch of hair, hide, and blood.
Not again.
“F1,” I mumble, and the screen appears.
[Name - Aang Ree
Class - bodyguard level 4
Health 7/18, Strength - 19, Agility 18, Physique - 20, Wisdom - 19, Intellect - 18, Willpower - 21, Presence - 20, Charisma - 21, Composure - 15
Abilities - Literate, Select Principal [selected], Initial Grappling, Bargaining, Sense of Danger, Initial Rider
Attribute points remaining - 4
To level up, intercept an arrow about to strike your principal
Statuses - bloody, malnourished, wounded]
What? Wait! No! No, no, no! You did not randomly select my skills! What the fuck is Initial Rider?
[Initial Rider - You are able to mount animals.]
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
No! Shit! I didn’t ask what it does!
“Are you all right?” Noble asks from up in the tree.
“No!”
That came out more aggressive than I wanted. It’s not her fault BSD is a dick.
“Sorry.” I hold my breath, trying to regulate my breathing, and my voice grows calmer. “I am wounded and bleeding. I’ll have to start the fire again and then treat my injuries. Why the hell did you fall off a tree?”
“I’m sorry, it’s dark, and…” she actually sounds sorry and afraid as she stammers her way through a sincere apology.
“You don’t have to apologize. I have failed you. I should have lifted you into the tree from the start. Then I would’ve been ready for the wolves in time.” I’m amazed how I have started incorporating Blunt into lies so proficiently. I just let it start, then spin the words however it suits me.
BSD reacted to my thoughts without me having to speak. Don’t forget that.
I fumble blindly around the base of the tree, where I tossed my prepared sticks, trying to command BSD mentally. It takes several attempts, but I learn what my new abilities do. Bargaining is the stupidest thing ever, it lets me bargain with greater success. Sense of Danger is better, I can sense where attacks aimed at me will land even in pitch darkness, and I know how dangerous they are.
I check Initial Rider again. It’s still shit, and I just hope mounting animals means I can tell them giddy-up and not the other thing.
Finally, we have fire, and I find five wolf corpses surrounding the tree.
I guess they get scared more easily if I bite one of them to death?
I check myself, and I’m in roughly the same state I was the first time. I’m wearing rags, and I was lucky wolves didn’t go for my balls.
“You can come down now. We have fire, and wolves won’t return. I hope,” I accidentally say the last thing aloud.
She climbs down, but she’s terrified, looking at me with eyes as big as saucers.
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite.”
Unfortunately, she’s close to tears, not appreciating my joke in the slightest.
“You got hurt really bad because of me, sorry. I can give you more money?” she offers, and I smile.
I want to say that getting hurt came with the job, but my mouth spews an answer before checking what I thought on the subject.
“Sure, more money sounds great.”
I thought she was just being nice, but she actually smiles and looks relieved.
“You do know that getting hurt for your sake is what I signed up for?” I ask, and her cheerful expression darkens. Still, I have to drive the point home.
“The men who attacked your camp are trained and numerous. There are dozens of them. I will probably have to kill a bunch of people to get you home safely. You will see blood and dead bodies.” I pause, she’s paler than I expected her to be, so I decide to lighten the mood.
I gesture at my general person with both hands. “We’re already done with the bloody part.”
She doesn’t smile. Her eyes water, and her chin trembles.
“No, no, please don’t cry. Then I have to feed you more water, and nobody wants that.”
A miserable chortle escapes her, and I nod.
“Now, speaking of water. I have two things to do now. One is to clean and dress my wounds, the other is to bleed the wolves, and then prepare rations for the next few days. Do you mind if I borrow your knife?”
“You don’t have a blade?” she asks, shocked, but she moves for the dagger hanging off her waist.
“I do, but it’s a dull little thing. Don’t ask me why it’s like that, I really don’t know.”
Two hours later, she’s sleeping soundly, and I’m eating a midnight snack.
“You know, it’s ironic,” I tell the slightly raw roast on the stick. “You wanted to eat me, yet here I am, eating you. World’s funny that way. You never know what’s gonna happen next.”
I’m wearing a hat, and my head is bald again. Thanks to my agility, I did not slash my scalp open like Manuella did a couple of days ago, but without soap, my head still burns a bit. Much less than the rest of my body, which is riddled with red bite marks, so I guess it’s a good time to shave without feeling the itch.
I’m much more thorough with harvesting the wolves, and I get more meat than I did off of six wolves I killed last time. One reason is practice, another is that I know I will have to feed Noble for almost a week.
I open BSD again, and invest three points into intellect and one in wisdom. Four points in strength would have made me a beast, almost four times stronger than a healthy adult male, but for what I’m about to do, I prefer having the mental faculties to plan and see my plans through.
I move the meat away from the fire, so it stays warm, and I’m about to go to sleep, when I realize how stupid it would be to sleep without someone standing guard.
“Noble, hey, Noble, wake up.”
My hands are greasy, so I don’t want to shake her, finally, I sigh.
“I’ve lost some blood, so I have to sleep for a while. The meat is warm, and it’s really decent.” Hopefully, the best it will ever taste.
“There’s also some edible roots, they are nice, but taste a bit earthy. Wake me up if I don’t wake up by dawn. Good night and don’t worry. I’ll see you home safely.”
I wake up on my own, and as I crack my eyes open, I can see the fire’s still burning.
F1, I check and see that my health has increased from seven to nine since last night.
This is so much better when I just have to think of the command.
I yawn and rub my eyes, an assortment of irritating pains flashing all over my body to make themselves known. I disregard them and sit up instead.
Noble is dozing near the fire. She has eaten some meat and three baked brown roots. Those things are decent. I should pluck some more if I see them.
I go about my stretches, carefully. I may have washed my wounds, but I don’t have bandages, so I just put my clothes back on, and now all of it is stuck in one giant mess. I take more than half an hour to loosen my clothes and finish my stretches.
I don’t really need to do those. Not with this body.
It’s a good habit. I will grow old one day, I tell myself, and eat.
I check BSD again, and my health improved by two more. I’m still wounded, but I believe I’ll fix that by the end of the day.
“Good morning, Noble!” I say when I hear her breathing pattern change. “Do you want to have breakfast, or should we pack up and leave right away?”
“Good morning. I would like to eat, and could you stop calling me that?”
“What? Noble?”
“Yes, call me Leandra.”
“Sure, Leandra. Nice to meet you. You can call me Mister Ree.”
A barely perceivable electric fuzz caresses my back and an instant later she slaps me in the exact same place with something soft.
“I’m really going to start calling you Mister. Just Mister, not Mystery, and you see how you like it!”
I shrug. “I’m fine with everything, just don’t hit a wounded man.”
“Oh, God, sorry!” Her tone turns apologetic, and I laugh.
“You! You! Cheeky Little,” Her voice quivers with rage, and I turn around to see her waving a yellow handkerchief.
“I’m not little. I’m very big, in fact,” I guffaw. “And I’m glad you’re safe, and that your mood is good enough so early in the morning. It was a scary night, and I apologize, I didn’t mean to startle you. Don’t worry. I will see you home safely. Regardless of how I end up.”
The impression she’s leaving when she doesn’t think I’m out to murder her and her family is vastly different compared to my original one. I still recall the swords scraping against my ribs, but I guess I’m partially to blame there.
I was giving her lustful looks, and stared at her for way longer than is socially acceptable. Manuella really helped me blow some steam and cool my head.
I smile and look into the distance. Then Leandra gulps.