The wolfkin known as the Wolf Pack didn’t have the most imaginative name, but they were A class adventurers and thus had a good idea about what they were doing. They moved forward with a distinct purpose. We left the main city of the wolfkin tribe before I even had a chance to check the place out. It was probably fine. Since I had been there once, I could return whenever I wanted without any issue. Along with my disguise ability, I could even appear as a wolfkin. The only problem would be that my smell wouldn’t match, but I could probably come up with a solution for that.

The four I was traveling with didn’t talk too much, or rather, a lot of their discussion seemed to be done without opening their mouths. They had a series of gestures and looks that seemed to be telling each other things. I just didn’t know what those things were, and so I felt left out. That’s when I wondered if this was what non slaves felt when they moved around with my party. I’d use Slave Communication for the majority of the speaking, and it had to look something like this.

We entered the forest, traveling off the main road. The men had originally given me sidelong looks, but as I kept up beside them without complaining or speaking, they started to act more respectfully. After a long day of travel, I cracked out the food and began cooking. At that point, I had won to men over completely.

“I was uneasy about traveling with an Osterian. I was worried you’d be holding us back, or do something to get us killed.” The leader of the Wolf Pack spoke up as he ate the fried meat of a rabbit they had caught along the way and I had cooked up barbeque style. “However, despite your size, you’re not too loud.”

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“Lord Duran isn’t much smaller than me,” I stated.

“He is a wolfkin like us.” The man spoke like this was obvious. “Still, the forest is a place for our kind, but you have a wild air about you, like an animal. It is reassuring.”

“Um… thank you?”

The man nodded as if this was all that needed to be said.

I wasn’t sure how to take being called a wild animal, but they seemed to mean it. As for the skill that impressed them, I’d like to take credit, but I had cheated here. The reason I wasn’t loud was that I was used the dungeon skills Silent Feet and Hide Presence. Once we entered the forest, I became mindful of how loud I was as I was thumping along. After receiving a few looks from the wolves, I realized I had to change things up. They didn’t cost me very many points, so I splurged on a lot of these skills. Also, I had been watching how the wolfkin moved with Advanced Learning activated, and I was quickly getting a feel for their footwork.

After that, I was able to get them to open up a bit more. They didn’t know that I was Deek Deekson or from Aberis. They knew the mission was to take down the soul eater that had been threatening the land. They had also been told by the lord that I could handle this monster. They had been close with a party that was previously sent and never returned, so they had volunteered for this mission. Their best trait was that they didn’t ask too many questions.

I wasn’t lonely though, since on the journey I still had Alysia I could talk to. Then again, she was a woman of few words as well. I was starting to miss a chatterbox in the group like Celeste or Salicia.

Our progress continued the next morning, and it was around afternoon when we started running into more bodies.