Lion's Lunge made short work of the three knights left in the gatehouse, even with a hail of arrows and stones coming at him from every direction.

The Skill lent speed and momentum to Redmane's leap attack, making it feel like the charge of an auroch, only airborne, and when it landed the force of his strike sent shockwaves through the stone hall. Almost as hard as the blows of Castellan Caslav's hammer, but significantly faster.

Arrowheads stuck into his back and shoulders, and rocks bounced off the top of his head, as he smashed shields into splinters, cracked spears and punched through armor as if it were paper.

The fun couldn't last indefinitely, though.

Gnosis: 20

He'd have to find a source of magic to eat soon. Whatever that meant.

The final knight of the trio fell to a storm of claws, and Redmane wasted no time bolting for the door Castellan Caslav had emerged through, to get away from the non stop rain of projectiles and sink his teeth into those responsible for them.

He found them in the inner gatehouse, already fleeing when he broke the door down and charged after them. They screamed like deer at the sight of him, the fearful call of prey, followed immediately by the irresistible drive to escape at full speed.

Not that it did them any good. Redmane chased them down and devoured them all. The ones up above on the second level met the same fate.

Level Up

Level 10 --> Level 11

Level 11 --> Level 12

Quality Points awaiting allocation: 4

Redmane dispatched them and feasted on their remains, as well as those of Caslav and his knights, refilling his Corpus until there was no more meat left in the gatehouse left to consume.

Corpus: 901

The number made him happy. But not as happy as the way it felt in his body, the charge of abundant vitality in his frame. He wasn't invincible. But at the moment he felt close enough for it to be enjoyable.

He also had points to spend. On a whim he dropped them all into Might, and felt a savage sense of exultation when the power flooded into his muscles.

Might 8 --> 12

His Gnosis, by comparison to all these impressive numbers, needed some help.

So he went in search of some.

Though he didn't have a clue what to look for specifically, he decided the best place to begin would be the Castellan's private offices on the second floor of the gatehouse.

It was a small room, unfit for a man of Caslav's stature even before he'd been transformed. Its central feature was a desk made of dark wood, with a large well-worn chair upholstered in blood red.

Redmane began his search with the bookshelves on either side of the desk, but then he heard a shuffle. It sounded like a footstep.

He froze, and apparently the owner of that foot was watching him, because their breath hitched in fear.

The sound came from underneath Caslav's desk.

Redmane crept around and then crouched, poking his head in behind the chair. A little boy in a dirty tunic shrieked and cowered back against the corner, his eyes wide with fright. He frantically drew a paring knife from his belt and swiped it in the air wildly.

"H-have at thee, beast!"

Redmane's eyes narrowed. He recognized that knife. The lad must have stolen it from the kitchen.

Then he smirked at the child. "You can lower your weapon, I mean you no harm."

The boy didn't comply immediately. He looked suspicious. Redmane raised his hands up in entreaty.

"I'm unarmed, as you can see. The advantage is yours. But as I said, I mean you no harm."

The boy seemed to puff up a bit at the praise. The confidence made him relax a bit.

"Are you a monster?" said the boy.

"I am," said Redmane. "But I'm a good monster. I only eat bad people. The castle's full of them tonight, it seems."

Evidently the boy had never heard of a 'good monster' before. He looked Redmane up and down slowly, his eyes narrowed, and after a long moment of deliberation he slipped the paring knife back into his belt.

Redmane backed up from the desk. "You can come out from there. It's safe now. The men downstairs are no more."

The boy stayed put. Chewing his lip thoughtfully, nervously.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Kale," said the boy.

"Well met, Kale. Call me Redmane."

"On account of yer hair?"

Redmane smirked and nodded. "On account of my hair."

Kale gave Redmane one more speculative up-and-down look, appeared to decide he looked safe enough, and crawled out from under Caslav's desk. The moment he stood, his gaze darted to the door.

"I heard lotsa noises down in the gatehouse. It sounded like they was fightin." said Kale. Then he looked up at Redmane. "They was fightin you?"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Redmane nodded.

"All of em?"

Redmane nodded again.

The boy's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

"You killed the Castellan and all them knights and soldiers?"

"Yes, and then I ate them."

Kale's mouth fell open. "WHAT! How come yer belly's not out to here!" He pantomimed a huge distended gut by holding his hands out in front of it, and Redmane shrugged.

"I'm not sure why. But I ate them all, and dozens of their comrades as well."

The boy looked astonished. He stared at the wall and rubbed his chin, thinking. Coming up with a line of questions, most likely. Then apparently a different thought came to him, because his gaze snapped back up to Redmane.

"Say, have you seen my mum around the castle? I been hiding all day and night from them monsters, I haven't been able to look for her."

"All I've seen are beastmen and corpses," said Redmane. "But I heard there are people hiding in that chapel across from the keep."

"You heard?" said the boy. "Who told ya?"

"Rodimir's dogs."

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped again.

"You can TALK to DOGS?"

He nodded.

"Yer the best monster I've ever met!"

That put a smile on Redmane's face.

The two of them set out for the chapel from the gatehouse, which under normal circumstances would be a brief stroll across the castle yard. But even with so many corrupted Morholts dispatched already, it was prudent to go slowly and cautiously. Redmane took Kale and put him up on his shoulder, crouched low as he stalked along the side of the castle's south wall toward the chapel.

In the distance, on the other side of the yard, Rodimir's hounds milled around in the area in front of their kennels, sniffing at the bloody grass and stopping to nibble at whatever scraps of their master's remains they could find.

When Redmane reached the heavy oaken door to the chapel, he removed Kale from his shoulder, set him down and knocked with the backs of his knuckles.

No answer. There was noise inside. It sounded like conversation, but it was too muffled to make out what was being said.

Redmane knocked again. The talking paused for a moment, then resumed.

He took a long breath, vented it from his nostrils. Some of his mounting frustration went with it, but not all.

Redmane put his face closer to the door and cupped his hand next to it, in the hope that they could hear him on the other side.

"I have a child with me," he said. "A boy named Kale. He seeks his mother."

"It's really me!" Kale shouted. "It ain't no monster trick!"

Immediately he heard footsteps coming toward the door. Someone called out behind them, it sounded like 'Wait!' but the owner of those feet wasn't listening. There was a heavy scraping sound behind the door, a muffled grunt.

Then a woman's voice. "Someone help me move this cursed thing!"

There came another few footfalls and then there was a thud, a clink of an iron lock opening, and the door flew open,

revealing a young woman in a housemaid's dress. She had wide, fearful eyes.

"Ma!" said Kale.

He flew into her arms and she crouched down and hugged him tightly. Her eyes closed, tears forming in their corners as she rocked side to side.

"Thank the gods," she muttered, again and again.

Redmane thought Kale's mother looked familiar, and a moment's thought made him realize from where. She worked in the kitchen, when things were especially busy or they were short handed.

She was one of the kind ones.

The head cook liked to put her in charge of cakes, pies, tarts and pastries, and so forth. Evidently Lord Morholt was particular about the way his desserts were decorated, so she'd take the imperfect ones and slip them into Little Redcap's cell with a grin and a wink. She'd done it more than once, enough times for him to remember clearly.

Her teary eyes opened and she looked up at Redmane, as if she were about to give him an impassioned thank you, but the sight of him made her freeze.

He didn't take it personally.

After all, he was dressed in rags and covered in blood, with arrows sticking out of his neck and shoulders.

Redmane considered attempting to explain who he was, but decided against it.

'You see, they fed me a strange corpse, it made me lose consciousness and witness strange, violent visions, and when I awoke my body had been transformed,' sounded far fetched, when he played it through in his head.

On the other hand, it appeared to have been an unusual day for everyone at Häerz Castle.

"Thank you, good sir," said the girl, her tone a little muted by apprehension.

Kale looked up at his mother with a big smile. "It's alright mum, he's a good monster! He battled all them crazed soldiers and knights, and even the Castellan! And he ate em!"

The lad's heart was in the right place, but his explanation didn't help the young lady's fear level. Her face paled a bit.

"They won't trouble you anymore," said Redmane.

She nodded slowly and said, "May I have the name of my son's rescuer?"

"Redmane," said Redmane.

"Gods greet you, Redmane. I'm Letha."

"Well met, Letha. I'm pleased I could return your child to you."

His calm demeanor seemed to make her relax a bit, despite his horrific appearance. She smiled and stood up, her hands on Kale's shoulders, and bowed her head to him.

"If there's anything I can do for you, I'm at your service, my lord Redmane."

Lord Redmane had a nice ring to it.

He smiled, and nodded back. "Thank you. I'll remember that."

There was a man standing next to Letha and Kale, likely the one who had helped her un bar the door so she could open it. He was past middle age, Redmane thought, judging by the lines on his face and the white hair at his temples. He wore a fine blue robe under a white cloak trimmed in silver.

He looked like a man of Volos, but style of those clothes wasn't familiar to him.

The man had been studying Redmane while he talked to Letha. He looked worried, upset at the sight of him. But when Redmane turned his attention to the man, he smiled a strained smile and bowed as well.

"Hail and good evening," he said. "Helmold is my name."

There was something different about Helmold.

Redmane's eyes narrowed. An icon of some sort floated next to his head. His gaze focused on it and a message from the System appeared.

—

Helmold Brecht

Class: Magister

Archetype: Tutelary

Faction: None

Level: 6

—

"You're—"

Helmold smiled and nodded. "Imbued, like yourself. But I don't know you, nor have I heard of such a mighty Hunter in the area. If I may ask, where did you receive Astral Communion?"

"Down in the larder."

Helmold's eyebrow popped up. "Eh?"

Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to explain after all. So Redmane went ahead and described the events of the day, beginning with what the head cook and those two soldiers fed him for breakfast.

As he explained, Redmane noticed that Letha and Helmold weren't the only people in this chapel. There were two more in the back. One of them Redmane knew immediately. Aric Morholt, the Lord's nephew, sitting at the far end of the chapel by the lectern. He looked about as aghast as Kale's mother had when she flung open the door, and was tensely looking out of the open door at the castle yard as if expecting beastmen to come running in any moment.

The other was an old woman in a weather beaten frock, with a cowled cloak that seemed to be in no better condition than Redmane's own rags. She sat, quietly listening. Under the shadow of that cowl she seemed to be smiling.

By the time Redmane completed his explanation, in as much detail as he could provide, Helmold and Letha stood there with wide eyes.

"So you're... Little Redcap?" said Letha, her voice a bit breathless.

Redmane nodded.

"I've never heard of such a transformation happening before," said Helmold. "You say the System accepted you after a meal of Divine Flesh... But a whole body! In Astral Communion we partake of a small wafer."

"I don't know anything about your customs," said Redmane. "All I know is what happened to me."

"No, no, I'm not accusing you of sacrilege. It is as you say, this is simply what was done to you. But..." Helmold shook his head, let out a sheepish laugh. "Some Tutelary I am, if I can't explain the how and why of it!"

"I care not for either," said Redmane. "Your god freed me from my chains, and for that I'll gladly perform whatever services it asks of me."

Helmold blinked. "It has you on a Quest?"

"Yes. I have Tasks to complete, two out of three of which are done. The last awaits me in the castle. I must slay Lord Morholt."

Letha and Helmold looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Aric Morholt's eyes had gone wide. Redmane could see the fear and the fury in the boy battling for dominance.

The old woman grinned.