This story takes its place right before the conflicts with Estana.
“Mother, we are moving in together,” said Raem clad in his usual armor, which was half plate. He had just come back home from work. He was 17 years old while Lara was 14. Both were within an acceptable age range to move in together. Karla, at the moment, was cooking something new; She had the cooking guide borrowed from the public library.
“Oh, my,” she remarked, looking slightly surprised, with her hand touching the side of her chin. They were currently living in a temporary house which was more of a large hut that was slightly more sophisticated. “Well, there is nothing for me to say against, isn’t there?”
She had indeed nothing against this advancement. They were known to be in a relationship for a few years. Lara was a bit on the younger side just a tad but was within accepted age. Besides, she saw this coming eons ago anyway. The bigger question at the moment was -
“Are you bringing her here or getting yourself a new place?”
The latter would obviously be better. If it wasn’t for Raem, she wouldn’t need this hut to begin with. As a head maid of the Fenchel manor, she had her own room within. This hut was a temporary residence. It was built in a rush when New Laufeld was just starting out. It was meant to be demolished a while ago, but Karla and Raem ended up staying here longer than they expected.
“I’ve asked the local carpenter to build a small house for us. So, yeah, I will be moving out soon.”
“Good, good,” she nodded along. She preferred this. There was no need for an old woman like herself to get in their way. Let them have fun in their own little nest was the gist.
“I do have a small concern,” she said.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“Lara can’t continue to be a soldier, can she? She should settle down. She will become a mother eventually, no?”
“Can you honestly see her stay at home?”
Lara was a hyperactive person. Anyone who knew her well would know that she could not become a stay-home mother, let alone be a mother. With her hand on the side of her forehead, she sighed.
“She is a bit … unhinged, isn’t she.”
“She’s been that way as far as we’ve known her. I don’t think it’s something that can be corrected. It’s just who she is.”
“Probably true…” She trailed off, recalling that, whenever she tried to educate her in etiquette, she ran off like a scared cat. Only when Kamil lectured her, she did learn some. She had gotten better since then. However, still she was far away from being a normal girl of her age.
“Anyway,” Rame changed the subject. “I take that we have your blessing?”
“Of course. She is like a daughter. I am happy for you two.”
It was only then he noticed whatever she was cooking.
“What are you making?”
“I have no idea.”
“You have no idea what you are cooking?”
“I simply borrowed this recipe book from the library. It’s a bunch of mumbo jumbo. I am trying to make sense out of this and perhaps make something edible.”
While it could be pointless, it was something to do.
“Ah,” she blurted out of the blue. “She can’t cook, can she?”
Neither had seen her cook although she could skin animals. Moving in meant either of them would need to cook. The job almost always fell to the woman.
“Well, we eat breakfast and lunch from the market. I suppose we will visit you for dinner,” Raem said.
Their relationship was quite unconventional. Women who pursued a career generally did not marry at all because marriage meant settling down and staying at home. Wiara was a good example of a woman choosing career over family. Perhaps, good news was that, since Lara was only fourteen at the moment, there was no immediate expectation of her bearing a child. They weren’t nobles after all.
“Well, we will make it work somehow, I suppose,” Karla said while turning her attention back to a boiling pot.
Meanwhile, Lara was at the central market. She laid her eyes on the statue of Sir Martin. She looked up to it for a while. Like everything in the world, people no longer paid respect to it as if they became used to its presence and forgot about it, and people simply walked by as if it no longer existed.
“You know, old man. They made you look handsome, you know that?”
That was an objective opinion. They indeed made him look more handsome.
She chuckled weakly, “If you were this handsome in real life, you would have gotten yourself a bitch.” Staring at the statue, she placed her palm on her left chest, paying her respect. Once done, she turned around and walked toward Esther’s stall. It was early morning, and there was no one at the stall.
“Hey, Red, the usual please!” She shouted from afar.
Esther fired a glare at her who was approaching fast.
She protested, “I told you not to call me that. I have a name, bitch.”
“Well, ya call me bitch, I call you Red. We even?”
Esther pouted hard but didn’t retort. Grabbing a small loaf of bread, which was just large enough for about ten bites, and a strip of jerky, she threw them at Lara who caught on skillfully.
“Thank ye.”
She didn’t need to pay since she was a higher ranked soldier. Basically, any food she ate during her duty was paid by the governor, Kamil.
“Hey, I heard you are gettin’ a man.”
Lara was talking about the mistress contract between Daniel and Esther.
“W, well, yeah.” Esther was taken back by the sudden mention of a rather embarrassing topic.
“Good for you. I mean you are dang pretty even to my eyes. Would be a shame if you didn’t marry.”
“It’s not exactly a marriage…,” Esther trailed off, grimacing.
“Does it matter? You are getting a man.”
“I don’t even know the guy well…” She looked down, looking depressed. “A good deal” may be, but it was true that she did not know Daniel at all. It would be awkward as hell to share a bed with him. “At least you’ve known your guy for years.”
“Heh, that’s true,” Lara replied with glee. “But yours is a high noble, no? Can’t really complain.”
“Like I said, it’s not exactly a marriage…”
“Shouldn’t you be happy about that?”
“What?” Confused, Esther tilted her head.
“You do know that you’d have to leave everything behind otherwise.”
She knew what Lara was talking about. That was precisely why she initially refused Daniel’s proposal.
“Well, yeah…”
“You can’t have everything, Red. You should be happy that you are getting a man.”
Esther couldn’t actually argue back since she did have a point. Of course, marrying a commoner was an option, but Julian was strongly against the idea. He told her that an unruly man would only bring her down, and that it was better to find a noble man. Seeing Esther becoming silent, Lara smirked and turned around to leave.
“Hey!” Esther exclaimed as soon as she noticed that Lara was moving away.
“What?” She looked back without turning around.
“Don’t forget to eat veggie once in a while. If you keep eating just bread and jerky, you are going to lose your teeth.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She walked to leave while waving.
Like or not, for both Esther and Lara, they were one of very few female friends they could have. They were essentially working in a field that was dominated by men. Thus, like or not, they got along because there was no one else to be friends with.
Her daily routine was mostly taking a stroll around the town, looking for signs of troubles and assist Raem in training soldiers. She had already been known as Raem’s woman for a while, thus soldiers paid proper respect to her whenever she showed up. Her being a capable fighter in her own right helped to cement her position even further. In addition to that, besides Raem, nobody in the town had experienced more battles than she did. She may have been young, but no one could really deny her achievements, especially after how only Raem and she survived from the bloody werewolf attack.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/4200/j0guS0.png]
Sitting against a tree a bit away from the town, she took a bite out of the bread while sniffing the jerky.
“Oh, this is a fresh strip of jerky, nice.”
Being a former hunter, it was easy to tell. A lot changed in Laufeld. What was once a predominantly farming community had become very much diverse. There were now hunters, miners, merchants, and farmers. Of course, out of 7,500 people, roughly 5,000 were still farmers. Still, compared to a year and half ago where pretty much 99% of the population was farmers, it had seen dramatic changes.
“Pfft,” she chuckled and took a bite out of the jerky in her hand. She was on a hill and was able to see a new lake that formed in the crater Kamil created upon killing Gregor. It had become a spot for walks among the locals. She didn’t know when and how, someone apparently built and put a small boat on it, and it was frequently used by couples who took out for a sail. Basically, it had become a dating spot. It was easy to see why the lake had become popular. After all, no one around Laufeld had seen a large body of water.
“Maybe I will take Raem out for a ride on that boat,” she said to herself.
They never really dated. The very concept of dating simply did not exist in this world. If a man and a woman were close enough, they moved in. That was how it generally worked unless they were nobles in which case a marriage contract was required before moving in. The moving in part was actually a fairly important process since the act declared a couple’s intention to tie the knot, thus letting everyone know that they were together. Taking a waterskin off her belt, she took a gulp to quench thirst.
“I kinda wish I could go back in time where things were simpler,” she said to herself. Her happiest days were probably back at the decoy house where she and Raem went out pretty much every day to hunt small games to get by. Life was harder back then but fun in her memories. At the same time, she was glad to have left Lux because she did not want to live too close to her biological parents. As she grew up, she realized that her parents were more than willing to sacrifice her in favor of her younger brother. Letting her have a single meal a day was basically slowly killing her by malnutrition. Upon such a realization, she swore not to see them ever again.
“They ain’t my parents. Fuck’em,” she said while growling.
Once she was done eating, she stood up slowly while supporting herself with her spear. She dusted off her pants and looked around. Her eyes eventually were fixed at the mining barracks which doubled as a training ground for soldiers. Due to log walls, she couldn’t see inside but knew that Raem was likely training up new recruits.
“Okay, time to do my job.”
“Hey, peoples, doing well?” She threw a casual greeting.
Just as she expected, Raem was training six soldiers. He was wearing his usual half-plate armor while the soldiers were wearing crude leather armor. Calling it armor was a bit of stretch because it was just sheets of leather stitched together to make it look like armor. Regardless, just donning a sheet of leather like a robe was going to be better than just clothes. It could make a gash from a werewolf into a more hurtful scratch that could be managed.
“You are late.” Raem fired a glare at her to which she shrugged off.
“Sorry, sorry.”
He was usually pretty cold toward her in public. Originally, she was confused as to why he was so cold in front of others. Eventually, she learned that it was just how he was. He wasn’t the type of a guy who showed affection in public. That was just how he was, and she accepted that. She stood a few steps behind him and watched him lecture the guys.
“Never turn your back to monsters! The moment you turn your back to them, they will understand that as an admission of defeat and will jump on you! Then eat you!”
A few of them grimaced upon hearing that, imaging the gruesome scene in their heads.
“If you must withdraw, take steps back while looking into their eyes! Again, never ever expose your back to them!”
It was true, which was why anyone worth their salt never fled from monster attacks. Anyone who turned their backs to monsters was explicitly hunted down before anyone else. It was as if the monsters were hardwired to punish cowards. After his lecture, a practical combat session came which was where Lara came in. She was better than Raem when it came to combat training for two reasons. One, those who didn’t know her had a strong tendency to underestimate her which allowed her to teach them a good lesson of being a weakling. Two, Raem was a shield fighter who often bashed a head with his shield. His favorite move was not a safe act to perform on a human due to concussion and all. His shield bash was, in fact, quite deadly. It didn’t matter whether one wore a helmet since it was a blunt force. A cushioned helmet would help, but such a thing did not exist.
“Here.” Raem threw a short wooden sword over to her, and Lara threw back her spear to him.
Swinging the wooden sword skillfully, she faced a soldier, a man in 20s probably. He was a greenhorn but was much larger than her whose height was barely 150cm. The guy was from Gonne and was a worker under a merchant who went belly up.
“Mike, go all out,” Raem suggested.
“But, sir? It’s a girl.”
“A girl or not, she can decapitate a werewolf with ease.”
The guy, Mike apparently, was clearly skeptical of Raem’s claim.
“Come on, big guy. Come at me,” Lara said with a smirk.
“Why you little -!” Feeling offended by a girl who was a full head shorter than him, he made a dash and swung his long wooden sword widely at her. At least, he thought he did because, by the time he made the swing, she wasn’t there.
“What?”
He fanatically looked left and right, then he screamed in pain. Lara was behind him, and the tip of her wooden sword was in between his buttocks. The dude jumped around, screaming.
“Gotcha,” she said gleefully while Raem face-palmed himself.
“Lara…,” he said weakly.
“What?” She wanted to say that she didn’t do anything wrong but kept her mouth shut which she was actually proud about. Karla had repeatedly warned her not to run her mouth too much. She also had taught her more etiquette. At least, she tried to. There were only three people she fully trusted, Raem, Karla, and finally Kamil. She would rarely listen to anyone else.
“Are you a witch or something?! You simply vanished right in front of my eyes!” Mike barked, contesting the validity of his defeat.
“I do cast water magic if that makes me a witch?” She tilted her head and added, “I didn’t cast any magic though. The thing is, you took your eyes off me for a second when you looked at your sword and swung. There was enough time for me to move away.”
“No freakin’ way!”
“Way,” she retorted. “We can go another round if you want.”
And, thus, they went for another round. Long story short, this time, Mike was kicked in the nuts. Literally bubbling from his mouth, he collapsed on the ground, moaning painfully with tears coming out of his eyes. The other soldiers looked at Mike with their eyes wide. The dude stood no chance whatsoever. At this point, size did not matter because the others started to see her as a she-devil who showed no mercy whatsoever.
“That’s enough for today, everyone, dismissed,” Raem waved the others off. Mike ever-so-slowly stood up with one of his hands covering his groin, pain clear on his face. Actually, he looked like about to cry.
“Elementals of Water, heed my call. Grant your healing power to where I point!” She pointed at Mike’s groin, and a greenish blob of water appeared out of nowhere, wetting his pants instantly.
“The balls will heal,” she said curtly.
Mike, looking utterly embarrassed, awkwardly ran away, and the other soldiers followed him. Once they were a distance away, Raem sighed with exasperation.
“You always go too far,” he complained.
“They better learn quickly that we are not joking around. It’s their lives at the stake. We go easy on them, and they will end up becoming werewolf’s meat the next time.”
She may have been harsh but she wasn’t wrong. Most of the refugees from Gonne had become lax due to being protected by walls and guards. Speaking of which, all of them were from Gonne. Only jobless people enlisted to become soldiers. Anyway, unable to argue back, Raem shrugged slightly.
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“Well, morning duty is done. I am going to lunch. Want to tag along?”
“I ate not long ago. I am just going to patrol around.”
“Alright then. See you later.”
Raem turned around to leave. Again, he didn’t smile at her or even hug her before leaving. That was as stoic as a man could get, especially to a woman he was about to move in together. She pouted a little, thinking that a hug would have been nice.
“Well, whatever.”
She, too, turned around and left the mining site.
She had an apple in her hand when she spotted a boy right in front of the guild house. It was established by Brian, a warrior from Gonne. The so-called guild house was nothing more than just a large hut. It was another temporary lodging that the carpenters built in rush to accommodate people. Some houses were being properly built, but those took time to be built unlike these temporary huts that could be up and running within a few days.
“Everyone seems to be from Gonne nowadays,” she remarked while approaching the boy who seemed to be very curious and was clearly reluctant to enter.
“Yo, who goes there?” Then she immediately recognized who it was. It was Faro, an apprentice carpenter. She ran into him more times than she could count. The boy startled as if he was caught doing something bad. He let out a sigh of relief after finding out who it was.
“Oh, it’s just you,” he said.
“Oh, it’s just me, eh,” she replied with a smirk. “Did I catch you doing something naughty?”
“No, no.” He became defensive. “I was just looking.”
“At the door? It’s not as if a picture of Red is drawn on it, is it?”
She knew he and Esther were a thing a while ago. For reasons unknown to her, they broke up. She never found out why since neither would tell her. Esther didn’t seem too disappointed, but the boy took it a bit hard which she could understand why because Red was a hot girl even to a fellow female’s eyes. If the boy ended up with her, Red was going to be his bragging point for pretty much his entire life.
“We are not together anymore, okay?!” he protested, looking pissed.
“Okay, okay,” she replied with a crooked smile and shrug. “What are you doing here though? Do you want to join the guild? Aren’t you a carpenter though? You should be out there working. They have so much work, no?”
Carpenters of Laufeld had been full of work for years non-stop. What was once just a father and his son had grown into a full company of carpenters. Sadly for Faro, as more people joined to be carpenters, he was slowly pushed out due to lack of natural talents. He was still given work, but his tasks were basic mundane jobs. At the moment, he still held a title of apprentice which he had ever since joining to be a carpenter. A sad fact was that he should have graduated from being an apprentice into a journeyman a while ago. In fact, those who joined after him had already become journeymen. Thus, the boy saw the writing on the wall; His future was not with carpentry. Therefore, naturally, he became interested in becoming an adventurer which was what he wanted to become in the first place. Meanwhile, Lara didn’t know that Faro was Kamil’s younger brother. All she knew was that he was the tea farmer’s son. In spite of Kamil being very protective of him and his family, no one made the connection that they were related. It was due to the fact that they were Macomaco tea farmers. They simply thought that he was treasuring the tea, which was perfectly understandable given the profit it brought in. In fact, the profit from tea sales outweighed the profit from wheat tax.
“If you are interested, why don’t you just go in?” she asked to which he put his index finger on his mouth and whispered.
“Shhhh! They could hear you!”
“So what? They need to hear, right?” Ignoring the boy’s protest, she walked up to the door and gave a good punch on the door.
“HELLO, BRIAN! HELLO?!” She shouted.
“What are you doing?!”
“OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR!” She even kicked it.
A big man appeared soon enough. He was so much taller than the both of them that they had to look up. It looked like he had just woken up. He was in boxers and had a loose shirt on. He yawned delightfully.
“What the fuck is it?” Only then he noticed the duo. He didn’t know Faro but knew Lara.
“Oh, lass, what brings you here?”
“Hey, old man. I think your baldness is getting better.”
“Oh really?” He sounded really excited initially, only to realize soon after that she was playing around. “Why you little - !” He growled while attempting to kick her which dodged with ease by jumping backwards.
“Damn, you are as fast as a cat, you know what, girl? Anyway, what brings you here?”
“This kid wants to join.” She pointed at Faro who looked dumbfounded.
Brian glanced at the boy. “You? Haven’t I seen you before?”
“I used to work with the carpenters,” Faro replied timidly.
“Oh, right. Yeah, that’s where I saw you. Used to? Not anymore?”
“Well, I am thinking of quitting.”
“It’s never good to quit, lad.”
“I am just not fit for it.”
Meanwhile, Lara took a glance into the guild house via the open door.
“This is hardly a guild house, ain’t it? It looks more like a dump.”
Brian scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
“Look, we don’t have a receptionist. It’s just the five of us. Besides, this isn’t even a house. It’s a hut.”
“Sounds like you need the boy’s assistance, then?”
“What?” Initially he failed to grasp what she was trying to say. “Oh, I see. Well, we could really use a hand around here for sure.”
Realizing where the conversation was going, Faro protested, “I want to be an adventurer though?”
“How old are you, kid?”
“Eleven now.”
“That’s barely old enough to be an adventurer. You need muscles first and foremost in this job and you barely got any right now. The best you can hope for is to do chores for us and learn from us occasionally.”
Faro pointed at Lara. “I’ve seen her fight among others. She has no muscles.”
“Kiddo, the girl moves like a cat. She’s got agility. I don’t think you do.” Having said it, he threw his kick toward Faro who couldn’t react fast enough, and Brian’s foot lunged into his belly. He was thrown back and fell down, coughing hard while holding his belly in pain.
“The girl dodged the same kick a moment ago. You couldn’t.”
“You didn’t tell me that you were going to kick me!” he protested.
“Kiddo, no one is going to tell you when to attack.”
Sighing, Brian looked at Lara who shrugged with a grin. He looked back at Faro who was getting up.
“Kid, if you want to join us, fine. Do chores for us. We will teach you from time to time. When you become thirteen years old, we will take you with us sometimes.”
The boy looked like he was about to cry.
“Nothing’s working out for me,” he confessed while starting to sob. Perhaps, he had a point. His career as a carpenter wasn’t working out. He had to break up with Esther due to being a blood relative. He was eleven years old. He should have been set on his career path at the least.
Lara told him, “Aren’t you the tea farmer’s son? Just inherit your dad’s job.”
Faro barked, “But it’s boring!”
Brian retorted, “Kiddo, boring as it may be, you won’t risk your life doing the job. Our job risks our lives.”
“I couldn’t do it. I tried. You just pick leaves all day long. I can’t do it.”
Brian was actually understanding in his complaint because he couldn’t see himself doing that for an hour also, nevermind one’s entire life.
“I just want your parents’ permission. You are only eleven after all.”
Leaving them behind, Lara walked away. It was time for her to go because the fun had run out. The boy’s ordeal was something she couldn’t comprehend. In her mind, if Raem could do a safer job, she would encourage him to change his career. She did not want him to risk his life for anything. She wanted him to be by her side. Only death should rip them apart in ideal circumstances. At the same time, Raem had repeatedly told her that he wanted to become a noble one day. He admitted that he probably won’t become a noble any time soon. The only way for a commoner like him to become a noble was through battles. There was no way around it. She felt her heart ache slightly whenever monsters attacked the town because, every time monsters attacked, Raem had to be on the front line, risking his life. It was also why she always volunteered to be with him in battles. She wanted to see his death with her own eyes, should it occur. She wanted to be with him in his last moments if possible.
“I’d take a boring job over a dangerous job any day, boy,” she whispered to herself while walking away.
“I am home,” said Lara as he entered the house, or a hut to be more precise. It was a three room house with basic furniture in place. As a hut, its walls were thin pieces of wooden pranks, and the floor was just flattened soil. The only saving grace was the beds which were fairly decent. They were a grade above straw beds.
“Anybody home?”
Apparently, no one was home.
“Well, I am home either way.”
Placing her spear on a wall nearby, she casually made her way into the kitchen to find something to eat. She found a pot with questionable liquid in it. It was something Karla was working on the night before.
“It’s … yellow? Is it even food?” she mused. She could see veggie bits here and there. Except for the color, it looked like veggie soup. She submerged her index finger into whatever it was and put it in her mouth to taste it.
“It’s … not bad? I think it’s regular veggie soup with some random spice mixed in.”
It wasn’t actually too bad. So, she put a bowl out and put some in it with a ladle. Sitting down on a table nearby, she started to eat it with a spoon. When she was done halfway, Raem’s voice was heard.
“I am home.”
“Hey, honey, come to the kitchen.”
He promptly made his way into the kitchen to find her eating yellow goo.
His eyes went wide as he told her, “You are eating that? My mother was working on it last night.”
“Not bad actually. Better than regular veggie soup.”
“That is veggie soup? It certainly doesn’t look like it, does it?”
Standing up, Lara approached him and exchanged an affectionate hug.
“Want some?”
“Errr, sure why not.” He was clearly reluctant. Regardless, she ran up to the pot and poured down his share of soup in a bowl.
“Anyway, about the house. They were talking about an underground house.”
“For us?” She wondered aloud while placing the bowl down in front of him who just sat down across hers.
“Yeah, they said they were establishing an underground city center. A few are already living there.”
“An underground street, I can’t even imagine.”
She tried to act more lady-like in private with Raem. She didn’t use slang and behaved a lot more feminine. Meanwhile, Raem tasted the soup, and his eyebrows lit up. “Hm, not too bad. Regular veggie soup is a bit bland. This one’s got some kick in it. Anyway, they told me that they have one coming up pretty soon. A four room underground apartment.”
“An apartment?” It was a word she didn’t know. “What is an apartment?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a new word or something. Basically, we don’t have houses underground. We have apartments.”
“So…., a house equals an apartment?”
“More or less.”
“Can’t we have just a normal house, you know, above the ground?”
“Well, they are willing to give us one on a prime spot or so they said. Basically, the sooner we move in, the better since, unlike houses, people can’t choose where they build their homes underground.”
“So, no house for us?”
She was disappointed. She just wanted a regular house, not some underground weird “apartment” thingy.
“They are trying hard to sell it. I couldn’t turn it down. They did promise me that they’d make it look almost like a manor.”
“They’ve better keep their words,” she replied with a pout, clearly not pleased.
“I personally don’t want a house,” Raem declared to which she reacted with her eyes opening wide.
“Why not?”
“Monster attacks. It’s becoming more frequent as of late. Underground is safe, extremely safe. Anyone living above the ground, they might get you sooner or later.”
“Aren’t we going to build a stone wall eventually?”
He shook his head. “Not in the foreseeable future. Too much work, I was told, and the town boundaries haven’t been set clearly to start building walls.”
Since stone walls were permanent defensive structures, they had to make sure that the walls would enclose the whole town. However, at the moment, with refugees and all, the town boundaries kept on changing which made it very hard to draw a circle and start building walls only to bring it down and rebuild it elsewhere later. In that sense, underground apartments were very easy to do since they didn’t need to worry about locations and safety. Anyone living underground would be protected. In fact, there were no known monsters underground although there weren't enough records to proclaim that underground was completely, 100%, safe.
“Well, if you put it that way, I guess I can see the need for this apourmento or something.”
“A-part-ment,” he spelled it out slowly.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
They heard the front door open and close. There was only one more person who’d enter this house; That was Karla in her maid uniform.
“Oh, my, you two are eating it?” was the first thing she remarked upon entering the kitchen to find Raem and Lara eating her experimental veggie soup.
“It’s not bad, Karla,” Lara said. What they were having was essentially curry sauce. Of course, they had no rice to go with. Rice did exist but it was unknown to those in the kingdom. It was found in the far east.
“I was talking to Gojar about the soup. He said we should dip pieces of bread into it, so I brought a loaf of bread.”
And they did just that. Karla sat down by the table after having her share of bowl. They dipped pieces of bread into it and took bites. While Raem and Karla seemed content, Lara didn’t like it. Instead, she preferred the soup as is. After the dinner, Karla went on to clean the kitchen. For Raem and Lara, it was their private time. They weren’t sharing a bed but they did snuggle.
The next day, Cezary visited when Raem and Lara were training another group of greenhorns. He had a job for them and Wiara who had been given a job to scout the vicinity of the town for any potential signs of monster attacks. She was basically away most of the time and had just returned the night prior.
“A werewolf nest?” Raem repeated after Cezary.
“A nest of about 30 werewolves according to Wiara. It is expected that they will launch another attack on the town. We should attack it preemptively.”
“The distance?”
“About half a day away.”
“Oh, they are gonna attack the town then.”
“Without a doubt.”
Nobody knew where they were coming from. They just appeared out of thin air. For a werewolf nest of such a size, there should have been traces of them gathering, but there was none. The nests showed up literally out of nowhere.
“We will prepare to depart today,” Raem declared.
“Take Wiara with you. A fire mage will come in handy.”
“Understood.”
Once Cezary left, he told Lara to patch Wiara who was knocked out cold in a hut near the mining barracks. Since she was a woman, she was given a small private hut to stay in. She could hear her snoring quite a distance from her hut.
“Oh, boy, she’s out cold,” Lara remarked as she approached the door and knocked it a few times, fully expecting it to be ignored and it did. Carefully opening the door, she poked her head in to find half-naked Wiara sleeping quite disorderly on her bed. Her bare leg was out along as her midriff due to rolling up shirt. It was a really small hut. The bed was large enough to cover over one third of the whole place.
“Eh…, Wiara? Can you hear me?” She carefully spoke to her. Of course, her snoring dampened most of, if not all, her voice. “Hellllloooo?!” She raised her voice this time. Wiara continued to snore loudly.
“This ain’t working.” Taking out her spear and holding it backwards, she carefully poked Wiara’s midriff. This prompted an immediate reaction from her and scratched the spot. Alas, she still didn’t wake up.
“Oh, well, I tried to be nice.”
Approaching her at once, she shouted into her ear directly.
“WAKE THE FUCK UP, OLD HAG!”
By the time Lara and Wiara arrived to meet up with Raem and his soldiers, everyone looked to be almost ready to depart.
“What took you so long?” Raem complained. “We are almost ready to go. Gear up.”
“M, my apologies,” Wiara bowed apologetically. “I … wasn’t actually told why I was called?”
Raem fired a glance at Lara who was whistling in the back while avoiding eye contact.
“You know the werewolf nest you found? We are going to exterminate the nest,” he explained.
“Oh? Oh! I see.” She seemed surprised as if she didn’t expect her report to be taken seriously. “Then, of course, I should tag along.”
“Get ready. We will depart as soon as you two are ready.”
Raem, Lara, Wiara, and twelve more soldiers set out with small backpacks on their backs. Laufueld, at the moment, had 30 guards. They had to leave half to defend the town in case of an unexpected attack.
“How are you adjusting to your new life, Wiara?” Raem asked while they were a distance away from the town. The mountain was getting smaller. It was his job to make sure that she was doing well and also find out whether she displayed any suspicious symptoms. Lara was also aware. Cezary informed them that she was a possible spy. So far, they found no such evidence of any foul play.
“I am doing well,” she replied. “There is surprisingly little influence from nobles in Laufeld, so I assume life for everyone is good.”
Hailing from Gonne, she experienced suppression from nobles for pretty much her entire life. Siwen nobles always made sure that they were above them in one way or another. While she escaped most of their suppression due to being a merchant’s guard, she had seen commoners getting roasted by them more times than she could count. It wasn't a pleasant experience to see people suffer in front of her eyes and unable to do anything meaningful.
“Well, Laufeld has almost no nobles anyway,” Lara said. That was true. There were only three noble houses in the town: The Fenchel, the Vogel, and the Waszak. The latter two were one-man noble houses. Even the Fenchel had two members only. Essentially, out of 7,500 people, only four people were actual nobles. In comparison, Gonne had 40,000 people with about 1,000 nobles. The large number of nobles, who had nothing to do, found their little pleasure in toying with commoners. Such did not exist at all in Laufeld.
“That’s true. Regardless, the nobles here have their priorities right. That’s what matters,” Wiara said.
They arrived at the werewolf nest within the same day. A werewolf nest was basically a patch of a small forest out of nowhere. It certainly stood out because a small patch of forest was there on a plain. Additionally, there was a faint dark aura radiating from it, and one couldn’t look into the forest because it was pitch black inside.
“That’s it,” Wiara declared. “That’s the nest we saw the last time.”
Werewolves were at the same strength whether it was day or night, but they were at advantage at night due to their night vision.
“Men, form a line formation,” Raem ordered. The thirteen soldiers quickly formed a long line. They readied their shield with a sword in their other hands.
“Remember what I told you. Never, ever, turn your back to them. If you do, you will die.”
The men nodded. Raem, Lara, and Wiara stood in front of them.
“Wiara, start,” Raem ordered.
Inhalding, she chanted an incantation, “Elementals of fire, heed my call. Rain fire upon my enemies: Fire rain!”
Literal rain of fire shot down toward the patch of forest, which immediately set trees on fire. Howling, a wave of werewolves dashed out of the dark forest and soon they found their targets in Raem and Co.
“MEN, STEADY! LET THEM APPROACH!” Raem barked. Lara aimed her spear forward, and Wiara drew out her sword and shield.
About thirty werewolves ran toward them, fully enraged with their eyes glowing. A lone werewolf was faster than others and reached them first. Lara was the first to attack by thrusting her spear into the werewolf’s neck. The werewolf thought it dodged but he was wrong. It howled in pain as the spearhead pierced deeper into his neck. At this point, she let the spear go and dashed toward the werewolf, at which point it clawed at her, but she was already in the air on the back of its head. Grabbing her spear back, she pulled it in a circular motion; She was basically decapitating its head. The werewolf fanatically tried to grab her to no avail. Soon enough, the werewolf’s decapitated head was rolling on the ground, and Lara was back on the ground with her spear back in her hands. All of this happened in about ten seconds. The soldiers’ eyes went wide, having a hard time believing what they had just witnessed. But they had no time to think further because the werewolf wave was upon them.
Werewolves had a strong instinct to claw repeatedly whatever was in front of them. Therefore, naturally, they were clawing the heck out of the soldiers’ shields. This normally created an opening to strike back if someone was experienced enough. There were several greenhorns in the squad, and they were crying while they endured the barrage from werewolves with their shields. This was not a training session, and no one was there to guide them. They needed to endure, survive, and learn. Thankfully, with Raem, Lara, and Wiara, they were in safe hands. They jumped away from the fight initially, watching the soldiers take on the wave of werewolves, but they did save those in trouble. Therefore, the pressure on the soldiers themselves was minimal.
Predictably, they emerged victorious with ease. There was just one casualty, Mike, who had his thigh clawed pretty badly. He wouldn’t be able to walk, but that wasn’t going to be an issue since there were others who could carry him, taking turns.
“Elementals of water, heed my call. Grant your healing powers on this wound: Healing water!”
Lara cast healing water on Mike’s thigh while gently lying her hand on it. The wound was so deep that his bone was exposed. Mike himself was down on the ground, crying and fearing that he might lose his leg. A blob of greenish water poured down slowly onto the wound and made him shiver in pain.
“Raem, the wound is too deep,” she whispered to Raem and Wiara who were standing right behind her.
Healing water was a basic healing spell. It couldn’t heal any deep wounds but still had an ability to seize bleeding which was very handy in prolonging one’s life in critical situations.
“I am gonna lose my leg, right?” Mike cried, covering his face with his hands. “Oh, Gods. What did I do to deserve this fate!”
“You would lose your leg if it wasn’t for Lara here,” Wiara remarked. “The bleeding has stopped, and we will sew the wound. Do not move your wounded leg at all. If it reopens and starts to bleed, you will be a goner.”
Being assured that he would not lose his leg, he grabbed Lara’s hands and gave her his heartfelt gratitude.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, ma’am. I am so sorry for looking down on you earlier. I was a fucking fool! You are my Goddess!”
“Well, at least I was useful this time,” Lara said with a remorseful grin. She recalled how she was unable to save Martin. His last moment was deeply engraved in her mind. She observed a man who fought to his demise while giving literally everything he had. When she touched his body, it felt freezing cold and rigid. Having been a sort of medic for many years, she realized, after his death, that his body had been dead for a while. It was his pure grit that made him go on. He was literally commanding his dead body to go on because he must. The man essentially refused to die until the right moment. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, thus she stood up and turned around, away from the crowd. Although it was short, he had been like a father she never had. He taught her proper spear play along with many other tips he learned from his adventuring days. Therefore, she was extremely happy that his statue was enacted at the central market. The man deserved it, she strongly felt.
“Sir Martin…, you were the man,” she whispered to herself while looking up at the sky. She looked back, and Wiara was bandaging Mike’s thorn thigh. The wound looked really bad, and he would have died of blood loss under normal circumstances. Her healing water spell did save him. She beamed a bitter smile and approached Raem, holding his hand tightly.
“Let’s go home,” she said softly.
“Yeah, sure.”