And it was then when I was just about to get to sleep with Alfred’s blessings and turn in for the day did the doors to the building open with a loud sound with Jasper being at the door holding a sword and shield with tired looking eyes and huffing and puffing greatly. I helped push Alfred’s wheelchair out of the room as we approached Jasper. Looking at him geared up no matter how haggardly, I could already tell something tiresome was going down.
“Al, it’s bad news again!” Jasper said before his eyes turned towards me with a pleading face “And I think we need help from you again, Charles…”
“Calm down man and tell me what happened!” Alfred said as he clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs for a bit but his expression was still glued to the fatigued Jasper “I’d just left you all not an hour ago, what other problem is there?”
"It’s a horrible situation! Another wolf army has shown up at our gates! I was standing on one of the watchtowers before I noticed the approaching army. As I got a look at them I could tell that roughly, they were about about half the size of the army this morning.:
“Well that doesn’t sound too bad, I feel. We can handle that!” I chimed in
“I wasn’t done.” Jasper added and emphasized his words more “Nearly all of them are black beast wolves this time! And more than that, they're led by what looked like a person in a dark hood who just started demanding that the head of the village show himself!"
Hearing this, Al and I only looked at each other at this dangerous turn of events. By the Grace of God, I was tired to the extreme, but I was already involved at that point and I was going to see it through to the end.
“You can go on first to assess the situation, me and Jasper will be right behind you, now go boy!” Alfred said as he looked up at me who was behind his wheelchair. I nodded and immediately exited the building to go to the village’s main gates.
Running swiftly in front of Al and the other villagers who had gathered in response to the situation, I quickly left them and managed to get to the palisade wall in less than a couple of minutes without even trying too hard and climbed one of the watchtowers. Some of the villagers were already panicking in their homes as the bells kept on ringing incessantly.
"What's the situation here?" I asked the watchman who was surprised as I was already beside him but after realising who I was he immediately calmed down
"Those wolves out there, man, eh... uhh... sir." The watchman said as he pointed out to the several dozen massive black beast wolves outside and in front of that ferocious army was a person wearing a hooded black cloak. Y'know the stereotypical villain attire if you may.
"People of this pathetic excuse of a settlement!" The hooded figure started to speak in one of the most obnoxious tones I've ever heard in my life "Bring me the head of the one who butchered our brethren earlier this day and my master assures you all that only half of the village will be sacrificed to Malcanis! And don't try to trick us, my two friends here have memorised the smell of that man!"
This poor lout was out of his mind if he thought the villagers would agree to such an obviously disadvantageous proposal. He also mentioned Malcanis and from what I remembered I just read in the book about the heroes that Malcanis was known as ‘the Hound of Vindex’. Regardless, the madman was continuing to rave and shout his demands.
Just as the madman kept on spouting out his nonsense, Alfred had arrived at the foot of the watchtower being pushed by Jasper. When he heard the man's insane threats, Al looked at me and shouted. "Come down here and pick me up there so I can see what sorry sod is threatening my village!"
I nodded as I climbed down and carried Alfred on my back as I brought him to the top of the watchtower where I sat him down on a chair there and moved it closer to the edge of the tower against the rails. Alfred felt a bit heavier but I only just noticed he was carrying quite a belt of what looked like a bunch of throwing knives.
“Oy! Shut your trap and start making sense, you mangy mutt, or I’ll ship you over to the Orients where they eat you lot for breakfast!” Alfred shouted back in a loud booming voice and when he did, I felt slight tangible vibrations in the air coming from his voice as the winds shook a bit “Who are you lot to come to my village and threaten us?!”
The hooded man was visibly startled a bit but he had collected his wits about him faster than I expected. He continued to shout, “We are followers of the Dread Wolf Malcanis! We will usher our master’s return upon this land and rid this world of the false followers of the accursed cross! We will tear down-... ARRRGGGHKKKK!!!”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?!” Al shouted
As the hooded fellow was blabbering on, without any prior notice, Al had taken one of his throwing knives and threw it at such a high velocity I could scarcely catch a glimpse of it with my eyes. The knife like a sonic blast of wind pierced through the cultist’s left arm and lopped it off cleanly. I looked at the sight with great shook just witnessing the raw power of this man who up to that point I thought was a weak paraplegic. If he was that strong, why’d he need help against the wolves in the first place? Just as I became lost in thought at the sight of the wolves below in slight disarray, Alfred caught my attention as he called out to me.
“That sod down there is a werewolf.” Alfred said curtly without even a shred of doubt as he prepared more knives to throw out
I could not believe my ears. Werewolves? Is that where this was going?
"I’ll need you to go down there and deal with them while I provide support. Do you think you can kill 'em all?" Al asked in a more serious tone while sounding superbly annoyed by the incessant threats and jeers coming from the now one-armed cultist
I was tired to the limits but looking at Al’s form dealing with the wolves below, I also felt a sort of excitement. Good Lord, I deserve some good rest after this. The wolf problem was giving me as much of a headache as the damned French did during my tenure as emperor... well almost as much... Okay, maybe that's being too disingenuous towards the wolves. I much prefer dealing with the wolves than dealing with the French.
I nodded to Alfred, breathed in and out and calmed myself. The watchman beside me looked at me with hopeful eyes. I'm a warrior first and foremost not a miracle worker or a saint but it was still worth giving it a shot. I felt much more powerful then than I did when I faced the wolf army before, and even though those black beast wolves look terrifying, they're not much stronger than the grey ones which I still outleveled. Even the cultist was only a level higher than me.
“It's gonna be a bit rough but I'll try! Please support me as well." I answered Al
"THAT'S ENOUGH! Malcanis’ benevolence is wasted on you imbeciles!!" The one-armed madman shouted in a fit of blind rage "We'll tear you ALL apart! Brethren! Destroy this village and let the blood sacrifice commence!"
Just as he said that, all the wolves howled and began to charge towards the village. Suddenly, a notification popped up.
*Defend the Village! Enemies Remaining: 56*
I guessed it was time to farm a bit more XP. Jumping off the watchtower and landing straight into the fray, I immediately unleashed a flurry of wind slashes in the air which drained a quarter of my energy but the damage I saw was devastating as that attack alone managed to eliminate a dozen or so wolves right from the get go. Alfred’s support with the insanely powerful throwing knives helped as well with significantly weakening the wolves if not outwardly eradicating them. When I landed, it created a gust of wind that blew back a few of the wolves from me by a bit. The combination of my strength and abilities along with the title of wolfslayer and Alfred’s useful support made this quite a bit easier than I expected.
Not giving the wolves much time to react, I continued my slaughter of their numbers. Dodging and parrying while using my slashes to blow a few of the wolves back in order to better regulate the amount of beasts I'd be fighting at a time whilst also leaving tougher ones and stragglers to Alfred’s knives, we managed to kill half of the army to the tune of ten minutes. My health wasn't all that scathed by the beasts and I felt better than ever! Although, I was getting a little conceited as Alfred pointed out.
“Don’t get too cocky boy and keep a watch on your footwork!” I heard Alfred shout from the tower “Wolves to your left boy!!”
I instinctively turned to where Alfred pointed and I made quick work of the wolves there where I could also feel one of Alfred’s knives so briskly pass by me to incapacitate a few more wolves close to me.
“Alfred, I appreciate the support but perhaps you should take care not to aim those things so closely to me?” I said in a little jest.
As if to tease me, Alfred instead consecutively threw several more knives which all just narrowly missed my head where the air pressure messed me up a bit but they managed to kill several more wolves.
“Don’t you worry, Charlie boy, I may be limp, but I’m not blind yet! Relatively speaking of course!” I could feel a cheeky grin coming from Alfred to which I just shook my head and continued the fight down here, hacking and slashing my way through the pack of wolves, like a tempered knife through butter.
*You have gained 150XP!*
*You have gained 150XP!*
...
*You have gained 150XP!*
After somewhat thinning their numbers, I could almost see a clear and straight path towards the cultist who was still holding his shoulder where his missing limb was. I took this opportunity to immediately lounge at him and strike out.
"What was all that about having my head? About to serve my head on a platter to your ‘master’ was it?" I said as I was relentlessly attacking him
"You!! Bastard! K-k-KILL HIM!!" The madman was a little flabbergasted by my over the top introduction, but it was clear he was starting to shake a bit.
On his order, a few beast wolves lounged out, but not caring for that, I expended a bit more energy than I needed to to eradicate them completely.
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*You have leveled up!*
*Your wind affinity has been enhanced! Your wind attacks are more powerful and can summon small cyclones to wreak havoc!*
The new bonus attribute I acquired piqued my interest quite a bit and it sounded very useful. Without a second thought, I immediately tapped into what I could just describe as instinct and conjured up a few cyclones to wreak havoc on the wolves through my sword slashes. It was an unbelievable sight with enemies being tossed and turned like they were ragdolls. Unsurprisingly, this attack required quite a bit of mana besides the usual energy requirement so I can't really spam it as much as I'd like to as because of my lower focus stat, my mana takes its sweet time to recover and I didn’t have a very large pool of it to begin with.
The awesome power of the wind was undeniable. I became more agile and the wolves began dropping like flies to the swatter. I had blown the cloaked madman quite a bit away and immediately drained all my reserve energy and mana to slaughter the wolf beasts. In a matter of a few minutes, the wolf army was crushed with only several stragglers left who I served up to Alfred to take care of. I managed to level up again and recovered my energy immediately, making quick work of the stragglers leaving only the original madman cultist left who started shaking vehemently and fell to the ground.
"Do you have anything else you feel required to say before I send you to meet your maker?" I asked the madman as he was shaking in fear but kept on blabbering nonsense about how his master will have his vengeance on me as the tip of my sword lay on his neck
That was where I made a mistake. When you have an irredeemable son of a bitch cornered, don't give him any chance and just put the bastard out of his misery. My wish fulfillment power fantasies, however, got the better of me as I tried acting cool to even Alfred’s annoyance.
“JUST KILL THE BASTARD ALREADY!!” Alfred shouted this time with a bit more urgency
I snickered as I prepared to give the sod the last blow but just like that, in the next moment the mad cultist unleashed a terrifying power that managed to blow me back a few feet. Luckily, I managed to soften my landing with my wind attribute. What I saw next was one of the craziest things I've witnessed yet. The man began to transform, hair growing incessantly from his body as his muscles also bulged. I had noticed underneath his hood that he had dog-like ears and a bit of fur. A dog-man somewhat but still quite low on the furry scale. His mouth became a snout, eyes turning sharper as did his fangs and teeth. This bastard really was a goddamn werewolf. The fact that it was a full-moon night I could guess would only serve to increase his strength.
A chill went down my spine as I reflexively jumped backward to dodge an incoming strike from the beast. The power of the attack was on par with my regular ones and the speed of it was no joke. Losing all pretense of fighting an easy battle, I engaged the beast more seriously. I was in no position to play fair against this monster so the only way I could do this... is to exploit my powers.
Jumping up high in the air, I immediately unleashed an almost non-stop flurry of wind slashes and cyclones on the beast, draining away my energy and mana reserves little by little. It was very tiring but it was beginning to show results as the werewolf became helpless as it was being cut and slashed left and right by my wind slashes and being tossed around like a barbie doll in the mouth of a rottweiler by my cyclones.
Just as I had drained every last point of mana and energy I had left, the wolf was still standing as I dropped to the ground breathing raggedly like there was no tomorrow. It just kept on standing there, looking at me fiercely while also showing signs of tiredness before it fell to its knees with blood bursting from all sorts of wounds that had appeared on its body. However, even in such a sorry state it looked like it was prepared to give me one last lounge and perhaps end my journey rather prematurely. It was then I saw a larger knife piercing through the air like an arrow from the tower to finally put the werewolf out of its misery as it morphed back to its more humanoid form and fell to his knees before finally collapsing. I could see its reddish soul essence start to float from his body.
Though in his dying breath, his last words were, "Master Wolfram... will avenge me..."
“Charles, are you alright?!” I could hear Alfred shouting with evident concern in his voice
*You have gained 600XP!*
*Congratulations! You have successfully defended the village! You have gained 4000XP! You have gained 50 fame!*
*You have leveled up!*
Honestly, though I was glad to hear the sound, this time, not even leveling up managed to relieve my mental fatigue. Soon after collecting the werewolf's soul essence, I collapsed to the ground and the last thing I remembered was hearing Alfred shouting to his man to get me back in the village.
***
When I awoke, I was in a soft bed. It felt as if it’s been ages since I've been in a warm bed and to feel as comfortable as this. I had almost thought I'd woken up in my campus dorm room and Ivan would be snoring his trousers off like always, but the strange and unfamiliar ceiling as well as the sight of a wheelchaired old man beside my bed reading a book pulled me back to my newer reality.
"Ah, I'm glad to see you've woken up!" Al said as if it was just another day "Rosie's made you dinner and for the good of us all I hope you eat up to regain your strength."
When I arose from my bed, I felt younger and healthier. A good night's sleep was all that I needed apparently. After yawning a bit, I looked at Al and asked him, “How long have I been out?”
"You've been asleep for three years!" Al said to which I'm not gonna lie, I felt like my heart stopped for a second there and it wasn't until long that Al let out a laugh that looked like he was about to shit himself "HAHAHAH!! The look on your face, boy! Hahahah. Priceless! I was only joking. You've only been asleep for the entire day. Look out the window. The sun's already starting to go down again. But it's good that you managed to get yourself a much needed rest."
Honestly I was half a mind to send Alfred flying to the moon, but remembering his immense help and the fact that he saved my life in turn and also that I might not even be able to faze the man at all, I held it in and only sighed out before laughing with him about the absurdity of all this.
“You could’ve at least put on more of an act for my worry, Alfred.” I said as I got up from the bed to get my bearings.
“Easy there, Charlie boy…” Alfred helped in providing support to me as I was fixing my footing a bit along with Rosie “And I was sure that you’d be fine. You were just sleeping like a baby is all.”
“Grandfather was actually very worried for you, Master Charles.” I was a little surprised by Rosie’s sudden comment and to see her smile earnestly as she was usually always quiet and reserved around me.
“Well isn’t that sweet?” I said with a slight laugh as I got behind Alfred’s wheelchair to push him to the dining room of the building where Rosie had already prepared the food for our dinner. It was a modest looking meal of bread and milk again but I’ve learnt to appreciate Rosie’s cooking and the bread in this village.
"I don't think last night's gonna be the last we see of those twats." Al said while still chewing on his food
"Swallow first before you talk, old man. Less you're planning to choke to death." I reminded Al while passing him a glass of water
"Bahahaha! Stop being such a worry-wart! You always manage to sound like my mother, God rest her soul."
"It's for your own good. Anyways, I have to say I agree with you. Judging by the words of that madman, there has to be at least a group of them out there still on the loose. But I hope the roads are going to be at least a little bit safer for travel."
"For the time being, Charlie boy. Which is why I sent another horseman along with a message to Ashfall town. The adventurer's guild there might help us out. Although money is quite a problem now, I'm sure the people could scrape up some coin to put out a reward for the guild."
I simply nodded my head at the old man's decisions. It was for the good of the village and I get the importance of receiving aid from the adventurer's guild, but thinking back to the villagers and the hardship they'd been through for the past week or more and seeing them have to cough up what may be the last bit of money they had left, I can't help but feel a little concerned. I mean, these people have been nothing but good to me since I came here.
I looked at Al, a bit at a loss for what to say but I intended to voice out my intentions to help further. Seemingly able to tell of my intent, Al spoke up first,
"If you'd be willing to help us further, and I do hope you forgive this old man for troubling you anymore than what we have already troubled you with."
"I honestly don't mind, Al. Just speak and tell me what I can help with. I also haven’t properly thanked you for saving me last night."
The old man waived his hand and shook his head a bit before he took out a letter which was stamped by some sort of seal which looked to be of importance. The old man just kept on intriguing me more and more. Though he may be a little rude and abrasive, there's no hiding the fact that I could feel some sort of noble air permeating from him though I didn't bother asking him anything of it as I felt that if he wanted to tell me, he would've already done so himself.
"You know of the Baron's residence just north from here, right?" Alfred asked as he held out the letter to give to me
"Yes. Does this letter have anything to do with that?" I asked back to which Alfred nodded
"I need you to take this letter and present it to the steward of the residence. An honorable knight, Sir Patrick Blakebow. Though the baron's an upper class twit so out of touch with the lives of us regular folk, Sir Blakebow is a man you could trust to put the people's well being above his very own. Give him this letter, and I assure you he'll be of great help. You're faster than any other person even on horseback this village has to offer. Can I trouble you with this request?"
"Of course I'll do it... for a price..?" I smiled cheekily, obviously jesting with Old Al. But to my surprise, he was only quiet before he took out another item before placing it in front of me. It was a dagger. And it didn't look like just another ordinary dagger. The handle looked like it was made of quality material and it even felt comfortable to touch. Pulling the blade out of its scabbard, I could see the metal was made out of a material that looked so out of this world with its green color. It was also surprisingly light. Looking at it a bit more, I realised this was the dagger that Al sent flying towards the werewolf to kill it last night. I didn’t know what to say as Alfred just gave me something oh so very precious.
*You have obtained 'Windwyrm'*
When I saw the further stats on this weapon, my jaw dropped. It was glowing with a green colour which meant that it was a 'unique'-grade weapon. Its description also says it's a wind attribute weapon with a faster attack rate than any other dagger of its grade.
"Consider this your down payment." Al said with a smile though I could see his eyes had a strange look to them like they were tearing up
"Al! You know I was only joking when I said I needed payment! Just supplies to last the trip would suffice! Please take it back!"
"Don't refuse a gift from someone who's sincere. I also didn't mean it like payment. Consider it as me passing on my torch to you. You're of the wind affinity, are you not? If those whirlwinds you conjured up last night weren’t enough of an indication. This blade will serve you well as it has served me so well until now. Such a beauty doesn't deserve to be kept away gathering dust in some old codger's cupboard. It has to be out there where the action is. Please take it. With this you could strike first before your foes get the chance to even see you. For someone lacking any decent armor, I believe it's the best thing you could have."
I was really out of words at this man's kindness. "I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything, boy. Just shut up and get on with your mission first thing tomorrow morning! The place isn't that far even. Only about a day's ride away from here to the direction you came from. Do you understand?"
Without a second thought, I nodded affirmatively. I finished my bread, gulped down my drink and prepared myself to head out on this mission. I was planning to set out just before dawn and I asked Alfred permission to continue my rest as I grabbed a few more books to help me along.
I woke up the next morning and grabbed all my preparations as well as rations from Rosie. Before going out, though, Al gave me a pat on the back and looked like he wanted to say something.
“I know I may not look like much of a believer, but would you at least allow me to pray for you? I know you’re not much in your for protestantism, let alone the fact it's from a different world, but would you humor me?”
“Of course I would, Alfred!”
Alfred nodded before he laid his hand on my forehead for a short prayer, “God protect this servant of Yours and lead him always and guide Him by your grace through your angels and saints… Amen.” Alfred crossed himself before taking some oil and crossing my forehead and patting me on my back to send me on my way.
I honestly appreciated the gesture as I gave a slight bow to the old man and to Rosie before heading out.
The sun wasn’t even out yet when I set out for the Baron's residence. This was a mission that would help to keep Dansville safe and everyone who lives in it safe as well. After all this was set and done, I'd probably stay for a bit in Dansville to help the people around in rebuilding the place. Putting all those other thoughts aside, I headed back into the wilderness.
Back into the unknown. Into the hands of the Lord I trust.
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