Jim's PoV

The pain in his ass was named Maria.

"Why didn't you kill the spider?"

"Didn't feel like it."

"Do your wolves have names?"

"No."

"Can I name them?"

"No."

"Can I pet them?"

"Sure, They bite though."

But just to prove him wrong both wolves started nuzzling at the girl, which caused her to giggle.

Jim muttered darkly under his breath "Traitors."

"What's your name?"

"Jim."

"Are we lost?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you a knight?"

"Kind of?"

"What is a kind of knight?"

Why was there no 'off' button? Seriously this part of the game was walking a whole two tiles north. It was over in less than 3 seconds. Yet it turned into an escort quest somehow.

Finally Jim turned to one of the wolves and said "Attack her!"

Obediently one of the wolf pups launched himself at the girl child. The large pup toppled her over and sat on her chest. It was actually kind of comical how large the puppy was now. Looking at the pair side by side in comparison to the child, it was a lot clearer that once the wolves grew up they would be massive. It was really hard to judge size when he seemed to have gained a foot in height. Refocusing on the situation, he saw that she was giggling while petting the wolf when she was completely pinned down and unable to move. Very ineffective. This was taking forever.

And because of the vigorous petting it enticed the other one to pile in and roll on its back near her. The wolf glanced at Jim who was glaring back. With his ears pinned back the creature whined and did not get up. Sighing, Jim called to the pair "Come here guys, we need to get moving."

Unfortunately as soon as the quartet started moving again, the endless questions returned.

The word ineffective gave him an idea. This was a game after all he thought, so why not.

"Wolfie, I choose you!" Jim said to one of the pups.

He then said, "Wolfie, use wolf lick attack!" While pointing at the little girl.

It worked! The wolf started raining lolling tongues down on her face. Squealing the girl would run forward only to be attacked by a pink tongue from the other direction. Perfect, they were making progress! Maybe he should rename the breed "Kid Herding Dog."

While he was patting himself on the back for finally shutting the kid up, he noticed that a cloud of insects kept landing on his armor. He tried to shoo them away but that only seemed to cause more to attack. A few minutes later he looked like an insect man. Looking back it seemed like he was the only one having this problem.

Sighing, Jim was at least thankful that the bugs were big enough that they couldn't fit through the seams of his armor. That was a really weird statement. Thankful for bugs being too big? Weird times.

Jim trudged onward while the wolves continued on their kid herding duty. It shouldn't take too much longer to get to the village at this pace. Or at least he hoped so.

***

Davis' PoV

Davis couldn't stop pacing. His guard shift still had three hours left, and it would be getting dark out soon. His niece had been missing since the morning. Damn that oaf of a man his sister had married!

The kitchen his sister had established had been doing well enough, to the point that she couldn't keep up with the work as well as keep an eye out for Maria. It was a year ago that her husband's sole responsibility became looking after the girl. He quit his apprenticeship with the woodworkers of the village so Gwen could focus on her business.

Even if Gwen was busy, she always made time after the lunch rush had passed to bring home some leftovers. Only this time no one was home. His sister then immediately found him. At the time he had a couple hours before his shift started, so he asked around to see if anyone saw them. It didn't take long for him to find one of them. The man was drunk in a bar. Alone.

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Davis tried to suppress his fury that the man was making Gwen worry. He had literally one job, keep an eye on Maria. Yet he was here drunk as hell.

Entering the bar he made his way over to the man and immediately asked "Where is Maria?"

If it hadn't been for the man's drunken state he might have missed it. There was panic in his eyes. Panic that was immediately replaced by cunning. He said in an attempt at nonchalance "No idea. She's a big girl, so I let her go play. Last I saw her she was at home."

Lie. He was a guard and he had dealt with many a drunk. Why would he lie about that? Normally he would be more patient, but this was family. Family that had just lied to him.

Quick as a whip he bashed the man's nose in. Glancing in the corner of his eye, he could see the owner of the place was not happy. The owner bent over to whisper in the ear of one of the staff members, and the staff member started running making his way outside.

Looks like he would have to make this quick. Boiling with anger he again said "Where is she?"

"I don't know I swear!"

Davis got close in and said threateningly "It's literally your only job to know where she is. When did you last see her?"

"This morning at home!"

Lie. That slight hesitation again. The flicker of his eyes looking away just before answering. This time a fist to the gut punctuated his question.

Panicked, the man tried to lean away with his hands in front of his face and stomach and said with a near sob, "We took a walk outside the village! Near the western entrance to the cave!"

Truth? Why the hell were they there? Anywhere near the caves was dangerous. The youngest child to the oldest adult knew that.

"Why," Davis growled.

The man flinched. When he realized Davis was waiting for an answer, he hesitantly stood up. He seemingly felt a bit more confident on his feet because he began to speak. But then it was there again. The slight hesitation. The brief look away before he answered. "It was her idea! She wanted to go there!"

Lie. Just as he was about to ask a few more pointed questions, some of his fellow guards rushed in. Looks like the interrogation was over. One of his fellows asked "What's going on?"

In a restrained voice he said "This man left his daughter outside near the western entrance to the caves. Probably since this morning. Would you mind giving me a hand?"

The group eyed him dubiously but in the end they agreed. What followed was the longest two hours of his life. By questioning people, they did verify that Maria and her father left the village in the direction of the western cave entrance. But then they also heard that after four hours he came back alone.

What happened in those four hours? Why didn't he alert the guard if something happened? His mind started wandering to a dark place. It was then that he swore that if he had a hand in her death, he would end the man. After a few hours they had covered most of the ground.

And what they found was looking bleak. There was a pair of fresh tracks that led into one of the cave entrances. After that had been found the search was called off. A part of the oath of a guard was to never enter the caves.

There was an evil in the caves that would kill all those who entered. In the past many families had been wiped out in their foolish attempt to save family members who entered the caves. One by one they would go in, yet none would come out. Even the Alextrian King of old had died to the creature there.

It was the reason why children were guarded so carefully. After so many tragedies it was enshrined in village law that all who entered the caves were to be considered dead. Part of his oath as a guard was stopping anyone foolish enough to attempt a rescue.

Thankfully in the past five years he had not needed to enforce that rule. But when he saw those little footsteps entering the cave, he finally understood how those people he formerly called foolish really felt. He knew he was going to add another pair of footsteps entering the caves. Davis wouldn't be able to look at himself in a mirror if he didn't at least try to save his niece.

Davis rushed in after those small footsteps, but he was too slow. His brother-in-arms had tackled him mere feet away from the entrance. During the short struggle someone had gotten a good blow on his skull and his vision faded.

He woke up in the guard shack near the southern cave entrances. And now he was pacing back and forth while his comrades kept a watchful eye on him. He was trapped.

Three hours left on his shift. They wouldn't suspect he would try to make his way back to the western caves in the dark, would they? He had tried to make his apologies for losing his senses, but even to his own voice he didn't sound sincere.

Was he a fool? Probably. But he didn't think he could bear the sorrow of telling his sister that her little girl was not coming back. He had to try. Fool that he was, he had to try.

***

Jim's PoV

Jim did a fist pump when he found the cave exit. Glancing back he saw that the two kid herding dogs were still doing a good job. As he exited he could see that the sun was getting low, there wouldn't be too much more daylight left. When the little girl saw the sunlight she started to cry.

Sighing he picked the girl up and gently patted her back. He was calling himself a fool in his head for comforting a digital girl, but his heart said it was real. Jim muttered under his breath "The robot army of the future is totally going to win."

It wasn't long before he saw the gate that blocked off this section of the caves. It was much less impressive when compared to the fortifications of Alextria. It was a simple wooden palisade wall with a gate that would need to be opened by hand. From his knowledge of the game, he knew the wall extended around the entire village. The walls were close enough to the cave entrance that anyone who exited would be seen.

As Jim got closer he could see a man pacing back and forth in front of the gate. Perfect! Time to complete the next quest so he can gain access to the village. Jim gently poked at the girl who finally met his eyes, then he pointed out at the man who was pacing. Her eyes lit up and she started struggling to get down.

Letting her go she rushed to the man that was pacing in the distance. The wolves were about to run out with her, but he called them back. The cute fluff balls had the equivalent of having almost the highest stats in the game, so he didn't want there to be any accidents or misunderstandings. Because if one of those happened he was confident his little pups could probably take down most of the village.

Waiting patiently for their tearful reunion to end, the guard finally addressed the girl and asked "What happened Maria? Why were you in those caves?"

The little girl couldn't meet the man's eyes when she said quietly "Daddy told me to."

Jim was surprised. This was new content. Normally the hero was just thanked and let into the village. Jim could see the man's exuberant expression change to fury. After taking a deep breath he said "We will talk about this later. Your father is in big trouble. Maria, who is this man?"

Cheering up she said happily "This is Kind of Knight Jim! He saved me!"

Confused, Davis asked "What is a Kind of Knight?"

Jim could only facepalm. Deciding to take the reins of the conversation he said "Look can we skip all this? I'm tired and would like to get some sleep. It's been a long day. Is there somewhere I can stay at?"

Taking a deep breath the guard stepped up to Jim and put his hand out to shake. "My name is Davis and this is my niece Maria. Thank you for saving her life. Welcome to our village, Jim."

After shaking the man's hand and dodging some small talk he entered the village. Now he only needed to secure a place that he can hunker down in so he could make his diagnostic tool.