Chapter 31-The Job
An old but strong voice comes from within the residence. “Litel bring everyone inside.” It seems his Sei abilities are good enough to know who we are.
As Litel inters the building she crosses her right arm across her chest and bows her head slightly. “Chief.” The chief gives her a light nod and she leans against the wall beside the entrance with her arms crossed allowing us to pass into his home.
Alice sits down on a small couch across from who I assume to be the chief as I sit down next to Alice on the floor.
The chief has white hair around the edges of his otherwise bald head. Wrinkles cover his face and hands. His deep green eyes are sunken into head behind the folds of skin. Small brown liver spots form in several places on his skin. He reminds me of some aged monk. He has an earthen smell to him. His finger tips of each hand are pressed up against each other as he examines us.
He takes a deep breath in before speaking. “Fenrir I have wanted to meet you. I know that a few months ago we didn’t have a Wyvern attack.”
“Rrriirr(But they were…)” The chief cuts me off with a movement of his hand.
“You do not need to explain it to me. I know who they were. I assume they attacked you and Alice first and you were merely protecting yourself. Why I wanted to meet you is because of your abilities.”
“Ruff(Oh yeah chief? What about them?)”
The chief gives a genuine smile. “Haha please call me Seoul. How is it that a creature such as your self has such strong Dei? And how do you create fire?”
Alice butts in at this point with an excited voice. “Chief Seoul you can talk to Fenrir right? Can you tell me what he is saying?”
“Haha of course I can, Fenrir before you answer my previous questions do you have anything you wish to tell the young miss Alice?”
Is now finally my chance to tell Alice everything? No I don’t have the time and I don’t want this old man Seoul or Litel to learn about my secrets. I guess all I can do is try to comfort some of her worries.
“Roof roof Ruff Howl grrrrr Ruff!(Firstly Alice you must know I love you as a little sister. Second I will let you choose between going on an adventure or learning to speak my language. I am fine with either choice because they are both beneficial. I will always protect you and I will never harm you. I don’t know why you have been acting distant these past few months but I hope it is not because of my… transformation… oh yeah one last thing I am not a pervert!)”
“hmmmm” Seoul rubs his chin momentarily while thinking. “He says he is not a pervert.”
There is complete silence for a moment before a stifled laugh comes out of Litel. “he… ahem. Excuse me.” She straightens her back and throws her arms to her sides while trying to retain the laughter building up.
I can almost see the gears turning in Alice’s head as she tries to process the information. After a moment she burst out with a loud voice. “Seriously! That’s all he said with all those barks and grunts! Dam it Fenrir you’re such a pervert!” She crosser her arms and looks in the opposite direction of me.
A small smile forms across the chief’s face.. “I am only jesting. He says he loves you as a little sister and that he will always protect you no matter what the threat is. He gives the choice of staying and learning beast language to you as he doesn’t mind staying around the village. He also wants you to explain why you have been being more distant with him recently and is afraid it is because of something he did. The pervert part was really just a last minute addition.”
Alice sets her fist in her hand in understanding with a large O on her face. “Hehe well I love you too Fenrir.” She pets the back of my head as she continues. “I still need to think more about when we will leave this village but thanks for giving me the ok. The reason I have been acting strange is nothing to do with you. I always knew you were special although I was surprised and shocked I was not scared. I was scared that men like them would appear again. I was afraid of what they might do if you weren’t around so I pushed you away so they wouldn’t know who I was. I did a lot of research on their group after that day…”
“Actually Alice Fenrir should already know about them from the Behemoth outside the village.”
“urh(Have you talked to Scar?)” I tilt my head to the side in confusion.
“Yes Fenrir I have. He and I have a spirt contract. Although he will live far longer then I he has given me a temporary contract that allows us to communicate over a long distance. He has agreed that if we protect him while he is still a baby then he will protect our village when he is older.”
Scar is still a baby? He is already twice my size and I am several hundred pounds. How big is that guy going to get? Also where on earth are his parents if they are so big?
“Now we are getting off subject. Fenrir please explain were your powers come from.”
I think I will give him a half truth on this one. I must leave out my rebirth but I can tell the rest of it. “Ruff roof. (I don’t know where the fire comes from. It just happened one day and everything clicked. The Dei in my body is accumulated just as humans do it through meditation and naturally. Perhaps I am just some mutant?”)
The chief ponders my words for a while soaking in everything I said. “Do you know how us humans can understand monsters such as yourself?”
Both Alice and I shake our heads in unison.
“Why don’t you make a guess.”
Alice makes her guess before I do. “Do you listen to the sounds they make and translate them into words?”
The chief shakes his head in silence then glances in my direction.
“Ruff ruff!(Do you read our body motions? Or maybe some type of smell?”
The elder once again shakes his head. “More intelligent beasts can use Dei. Through the need to communicate more complicated idea’s the beast learn to use Dei to communicate. Some will do this subconsciously such as Fenrir and the Behemoth. Beast tamers can do this consciously. When you bark and whine you emit a small amount of Dei that is unnoticeable without mastery of Sei. This Dei comes in waves and patters that can be directly taken into the brain and interpreted into one’s native language. This method allows people to communicate even if they don’t speak the same language. It does not carry any tone or emotions however, and these must be interpreted by your voice and body motion.”
“Ruff!(So what happens when, hypothetically, a higher being like a dragon directly puts words in your head?)”
“He skips the stage of it going through the air and takes away the variable of you actually noticing and interpreting the Dei. In a way he is directly influencing your brain with Dei. But when one would receive information that way it is the same as a beast tamer receiving information from the Dei fluctuations in the air.”
Alice puts her hands on her cheeks while resting her elbows on her knees. “So what does that have to do with Fenrir’s power?”
“haha. In a way it has nothing, while in a different way it is the exact same thing. Is Fenrir sending the Dei out on his own accord? Just as he can speak with me he creates fire. It is like breathing. Do you consciously pull down on your diagram when you breathe? Do you mentally force the muscles to contract?”
Alice and I both shake our heads once again.
“Ughh. I was afraid that Fenrir would not know how his powers work either. As you said earlier you may be a mutant. The saturation of Dei increases slightly each year. The grater saturation can cause mutants. It also helps humans become stronger from generation to generation but it also awakens ancient magical beasts as well. An example is only a few years ago did the Behemoth awakening from an almost fossilized state.”
Curious about magical beasts Alice asks “Does the Behemoth have any inborn abilities like Fenrir?”
“In truth I don’t know. Neither does he. All he knows is that he is still growing and will continue to do so for a very long time. He doesn’t know why or how he can speak to us either. I still remember when he was excited the first time he communicated with Fenrir. It was the first time he talked to anyone other than me or one of my ten Royal guards.”
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The chief shifts his gaze toward the door. His eyes seem to be looking past it for a brief moment when a knock suddenly rings out.
“Rou please come in.”
The door opens to reveal a tall and wide young man with black hair. Under his leather armor his large muscles peek out. Veins slither up his arm from his hands to underneath his sleeveless leather armor. A large stick with a head sized rock on the end lays in a holster on his back. It is the same man who broke my ribs a few months back.
Rou crosses one arm across his chest and bows his head slightly “Chief.” The chief gives him a silent nod. Rou relaxes himself a bit and squats near the ground next to Litel’s side.
The chief focuses his attention back on Alice and me. “Speaking of the Royal guard these are two of the ten. I believe you are both acquainted with them already. As you both remember you attacked the Behemoth when you first saw him, a crime punishable by death, but with your young age and naivety we gave you a chance to repent. This was already all explained to Alice but she is not allowed to have her Moon blade back until she finishes paying for her crime. This could take several years if she only works as a bar wench, so I would like to give the two of you an opportunity.”
He pauses and stares at the two of us in silence trying to gauge our reactions. Alice is obviously over joyed at this news. The life of a bar wench is a difficult one, especially for someone as beautiful as Alice. I can only shiver at the number of times she would complain to me about people slapping her butt or trying to convince her to go home with them. Although we talked rarely in these few months she would complain constantly when we did.
I don’t know how good Seoul is at reading a wolf’s facial expressions but I know I am displaying a mixture of worry and excitement.
Seoul gives a light smile at our joint reactions. “I will be honest, this is a very dangerous job, and in truth I only feel safe in asking Fenrir to accomplish it.”
Alice ruffles her eyebrows before attempting to speak to only be cut off by a swift movement of Seoul’s arm. “I know how strong you are Alice, and if you are allowed to use your father’s sword you can easily hold your own against a few of those men. But in comparison to my royal guard you are still only a child. And my royal guard compared to the abilities Fenrir used on that night.”
The chief has a slight glint of fear coat his eyes. “The power that Fenrir displayed is unlike any I have ever seen. When that night happened I felt a terrifying fluctuation in the Dei across my field of Sei that covers the town. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel he would be unstoppable when using it.”
“Ruff Ruff!(But I don’t know how that power works. I can only use the fire freely.)”
“What did Fenrir just say?”
The chief frowns slightly while rubbing the bridge of his nose. “He says he doesn’t know how to use that power again. Fenrir you can use fire freely though right? Have you noticed that no matter how much a creature or person tries to block your flames with Dei of any kind it simply eats away at it? Fire can break the strongest of defenses. Even if you come across an enemy that far outstrips you or one of my royal guard the fire can still injure and possibly kill them. Fire is one of many reasons why dragons are on top of the food chain.”
Alice glances between the two of us as we all contemplate what has been said. “Seoul what is it that you want Fenrir to do any ways? Only after we know all this will we decide on who will and won’t go.”
The chief gives a quite sigh. “You have two options that I present you. I can knock a full year off your sentence of labor if Fenrir simply guides Rou and Litel to the hide out of the Helix Executioners. The second option is that I can complete your five year sentence now if Fenrir also helps clear the hide out of every one of those despicable cultists. Either way I wish for you to stay…”
Alice stands up and slams he hands on the table in the center of the room. “I don’t care what you or anyone else says. I am staying with Fenrir no matter what! Whichever choice he makes I am going too. He is all I have left and I can’t risk losing him.”
I know how stubborn Alice can be sometimes. Ever since her father died she is adamant on doing things her way. For the past 3 months I thought she hated me and was slowly pushing me away, but in reality she has persistently been trying to protect us both. If I decide to take this mission there is nothing I can do to stop her. The best I can do is making sure she is safe.
“Ruff grrrr ruff! (I will go to the hide out, but only on one condition. You must allow Alice to have her father’s sword during the trip so she can protect herself. There is no convincing her to not come; when she makes up her mind she can’t be stopped.)”
The chief nodding his head replies. “That can be arranged. So does this mean you will help destroy the hide out or you will only guide them there?”
Alice clenches her fist in front of her face before I can make my reply. “Hell yeah we are!”
I turn my head sideways and paw at the side of Alice’s lap. “Errr? (What? I was going to just bring them then then leave. I don’t want to put you in danger.)”
Alice not quite understanding me gives me a smile and pats me on the head before looking at the chief for help.
“He says he only wishes to show us the location then leave the rest to us.”
Alice crunches her face before shaking her head. “No, that won’t do. If you really want to keep me safe then we need to get rid of the problem. If that means killing them or putting them in jail then we have to help. Don’t you remember what they did to me? What they wanted to do to me.”
I place my head on her lap and moan. I know she is right. If they aren’t taken care of then she could be ambushed again if they learn who she is or if they learn of our relationship.
The chief gives a smile and I think I hear him murmur something about youth. “Very well Alice I will give you your sword back. You will have the rest of the day to re-familiarize yourself with it. Tomorrow at sunrise you two along with Litel and Rou will meet at the east gate.”
Alice nods her head with excitement. Rou stands from his seated position to grab the sword form a different room.
“Ruff Ruff Ruff! (Why are you only sending two people with us? Don’t you have hundreds of guards? Or what about the ten elites of yours called the royal guard?)”
The chief shakes his head in concern. “This is the most I can send. I already have several of my guards out on other missions, and the rest are needed to protect the village from both beasts and bandit groups such as the Helix Executioners. We also don’t have time to wait for back up because we don’t know when they will move to a new hide out, especially after being discovered by you and Alice.”
At this point Rou has appeared holding the giant blue blade. Alice jumps from her seat and pulls it from his grip. Her eyes shine with a beat of excitement and a bit of memories from the past. “Fenrir come on lets go hunting!”
Not having any further questions I look at the chief. He nods his head once giving us the ok to leave. Litel opens and closes the heavy wooden door for us. After we get a little distance away I can hear a small coughing fit escape from the Chief’s home.
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Sorry for the long wait. I had a lot of things happening in RL. I also struggled with this chapter because of all the dialogue. The next chapter will be out much quicker then this one (Probably a few days) and will also have a lot less dialogue.
As I said in the announcement chapters will be more random and spread out. I will be more often posting on Sundays then any other day of the week so I would advice checking on Sundays or Monday for updates.