Cless woke up to an explosion of warm fur. Still half-asleep, she wondered when did Karen give her such a nice fur blanket.
Then she remembered she slept with a live wolf almost as big as her in her bed. A murderous monster that almost killed Lyle and would probably eat her entire guild.
Then she remembered even more. The live wolf was a Lycan, a type of monster that can shift between wolf, humanoid and a hybrid werewolf form.
Then she came fully awake and remembered that the Lycan was a boy and had the hots for her and even proposed that they should 'mate' during the bath.
Cless froze when she noticed she slept with a male in her bed. She crept one eye open to see the wolf looking right at her. She was hugging the wolf's neck. What should she do? Freak out and make a scene or just roll with it?
"Good morning, Silverfang. Did you sleep well?"
She earned a wet lick from the chin to the brow. She decided to stop thinking of Silverfang as a wolf. He is now a big dog. A big dog boy with chiseled muscles and... Time to get off the bed.
"Let go of my arm, please," She ordered Silverfang with a giggle. The big wolf... dog complied. One of the perks of an intelligent pet.
Cless thought it was funny how she got used to the wo – dog that fast. Probably because of her Skill, now that he was bound to her forever. So she stayed in bed with the monster for a while more his fur, now clean was soft and delicious to caress. She caressed his flank, scratched between his ears. The wolf stood still and even pressed his head against her head to make her scratch him more.
Cless giggled in delight. She hugged the wolf and tried her best to choke the monster. It whined and she let go, laughing.
"Come, Silverfang. We have a long day ahead of us."
Cless got out of bed and changed her clothes. After she finished tying up her apron, she noticed the wolf staring at her. She exposed her naked body to him again. There was nothing she could do and it would be too awkward to point that out. Besides, it is not like these Lycans had clothing, to begin with. To him, it should be natural. Right? Right?
She went out and cleaned the bathing room. Then she went to the common room and swept the floor and cleaned the tables, setting the chairs in their rightful places. Karen told her to slightly rotate the chairs every day and change the tables' position or they would eat away the floor with time. The big bad wolf followed her everywhere.
"I wish you could speak in wolf form, Silverfang," She commented absentmindedly. The wolf just shrugged.
The front door opened, and Josefine came inside just when Cless finished cleaning the last mug. They all sat on the counter to dry.
"Good morning, Josie."
The barmaid looked at Cless and then at Silverfang, panting with his tongue out.
"Cless, is that a monster?" Josie asked pointing at the wolf. She was obviously scared and probably considering going away and skipping work.
"A harmless and tame one," Cless answered with a nod. "I'm sorry if we scared you, Josie. But both boss Karen and master Balthus checked him. He is under my Skill, he won't attack anyone."
"Did you feed it already?" At Josie's words, Silverfang stood up and wagged his tail. "I guess not. I think we have some old jerky in the pantry, I'll go get it."
Cless nodded and while Josefine went inside to get some food, she polished the counter until she could see her own reflection on the wood. A while later, Josefine came with some jerky Cless could swear had gone bad.
"Hey, Silverfang, who is a good boy?" Josefine asked from a good distance. The wolf saw the meat and tried to move.
"Silverfang, stay, sit!" Cless ordered. "You must behave like a good boy if you want Josie to give you her your food."
The wolf sat on his haunches and whined. "Who is a good boy? Want some meat?" Josefine teased him.
Cless noticed that the barmaid was testing them. She kept stealing glances at Cless, but she smiled like a proud mother. She eventually made Silverfang do some tricks and then gave him a strip of jerky. And another. And another. And the jerky was over. Silverfang was happy, wagging.
"I think I can bear to have this wolf around," Josefine stated with a fake scoff.
"Josie... About us, I don't know if I did something to offend you, but I am sorry. These days were hectic and so many things happened that I..."
The barmaid stopped patting the wolf's head to look at Cless' face. "It is not you, Cless. But I saw you with your friends and I got just a little envious."
"Envious of me?" The thought was strange. Second only in strangeness to Silverfang calling her beautiful in the bath... NO, don't go there, Cless. "I am the one envious of everyone. You are gorgeous, Josefine. Not only that, you are hardworking and always cheerful. The inn patrons love you. I only get scowls and disgusted looks."
"But you are smart and strong. You turned around terrible situations over and over. See! The monster of yore is today's pet!" She pointed at Silverfang. The wolf licked her hand, searching for more jerky.
"Josie. In the church, the priest taught me to always seize and make the best of the opportunities the One God places before us. And so I did. I just kept using my Skill. Thinking of ways to use it. It helped that I placed all my starting Status points into Intellect," Cless finished with a chuckle.
"I am not angry at you, Cless. I'm sorry if I mistreated you yesterday."
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Cless got around the counter and hugged Josefine. "Thank you, Josie. I was really worried if you hated me or not. You are an important person to me, listen to me!"
"Is that why you started earlier today and did all my work?"
"Maybe?" Cless giggled. "Don't worry about it. I am sure you can find something that needs cleaning or fixing."
"Thank you, Cless. You are the sweetest person ever."
Cless sighed. "Ugly people have to be nice. Else we'd be castaways. Josie, I am going out earlier to buy some tools. Tell boss Karen or master Balthus that I'll be out the entire day. If anyone needs me before then, I'll be with the guild in the northern woods as usual."
Cless went upstairs to change into traveling clothes. No more barmaid uniforms would be destroyed by her carelessness. As she was about to leave, she stopped to give Josefine a hug.
"Godspeed, guild master," Josefine send her away with a bit of bitterness hidden in her voice.
Cless found her guild by the north gate as usual. She was carrying a big leather sack that a few days ago would be impossible for her to carry. The sound of metal clanging against metal came from it. Silverfang waked beside her. Cless noticed that half the guild was not there. Probably healing after the wolf attack.
"Good morning, The Blind Eye guild."
Greetings and cheers. Some guild members were looking at Silverfang with concern.
"How is Lyle, Cless?" Maria asked her.
"Recovering..." Cless lied. She forgot about Lyle. "Josie is there, she will look after him." Hopefully, she mentally added.
"What is in the bag?" Joe asked.
"Axes, woodworking tools and scraps of leather, Cless answered."
"What for?" Someone else asked.
"Look, guys. The truth is that we are dead broke. The guild has no funds and we have no equipment. What little money I had I used to buy these tools. We are going into the woods today and we are going to get some lumber. I have a contract to deliver lumber to the town's sawmill."
The boys grumbled and complained. Cless clapped her hands.
"Who wants to fight wolves with bare hands again today? I can assure you that I don't. That is a fact, we are dead broke. So unless we take some odd job here and there soon we will be delving with bare hands. Our guild is going to harvest lumber and herbs in the forest to make some coin. Whoever doesn't want to go can stay behind, no hard feelings. Fewer mouths to feed."
"What if, hypothetically, nobody wants to go?" Patty asked.
"Then don't go. I am going with Silverfang into the woods. Who is with me?"
"I want to delve, not harvest timber."
"I'm going to relax at home."
"I'm not going into the woods with that monster."
Cless looked at them and none of them were willing to go.
"We can fight with the axes!" One of them suggested.
Woodsmen axes made poor weapons. They are not balanced and not sharpened enough to cut flesh. They are for chopping wood.
"If you don't want to go, fine. You are all dismissed except for Arnold, Collin, and Lawrence. You guys will stay with me until the Exp is paid off. Have a day off, guild. I am going to work for some coin. Silverfang, heel!" Of the ones that made the Experience deal, Lyle was being nursed at the inn, Martin and Shane were either at the healer or at home.
With that, Cless stormed off through the gates. She didn't even notice that Toby was not manning the gate.
She crossed the farms, waving at the farmers that were really grateful for the guild dealing with the wolves. Some of them even brought Cless some vegetables and fruit.
"Miss guild master!" One of the farmers called her out.
"Yes. Farmer Olson, how may I be of service?" Cless asked.
"Some of the farmhands went into the woods and skinned some wolves. We got the meat for ourselves and some pelts as payment, but there are twelve wolf pelts that belong to your guild for killing them wolves, miss."
"Is that right? We didn't mean to go back there and skin the wolves."
Olson scratched the back of his head, "It is more than right, miss. Winter is coming 'round the corner and the farmhands always complain about the cold. We would be in the wolves' bellies rather than making stew outta them if it weren't for your guild, miss."
"Can I ask you to tan the pelts for me?"
"Of course, miss. We are doing ours anyway, them boys will be glad to help. Should take a tenday at most to get 'em tanned. We can scrape off the fur if you want, but they are worth more with the fur."
"Keep the fur. Winter is 'round the corner as you said." Cless smiled and shook the farmer's hand. She kept her Skill from triggering by mentally suppressing it. "Farmer Olson, if we get any more hides, would you be willing to do business with us?"
"Aye, lass. If you bring us the whole carcass, we might even pay you some coin and do the hides for free."
"We'll keep an eye peeled. And if I find any wolf to tame for you, I'll be sure to bring it."
"Much appreciated, miss."
They left Olson behind and went into the woods. Cless focused on what Balthus taught her. They should find an old tree, one with white moss on the bark. Those were old and sick trees and clearing them would actually help the forest's health. Dead, dying and diseased trees. And those trees that are too plentiful and in the way of nobler trees, like oaks. They walked around for half an hour, choosing which trees to cut and marking their path. They decided on two dozen trees. That would be too much for only four people to cut in a single day but they didn't need to. They could cut all the trees and then remove the limbs and carry the logs back during the span of a few days.
That if they didn't have supernatural health. Since none of them had any ax or forestry-related Skill to accelerate the tree harvest, it left Cless with one choice to speed it up.
"Silverfang. Can you please shift into Lycan form. I would like to ask you one thing."
The wolf's fur rippled and the form changed. The three boys retreated and stayed a few paces behind Cless. Silverfang in Lycan form stood hunched over, legs flexed as if he was crouching. Even then the silver werewolf towered a full head above Cless. She was amused to notice she felt no fear. Rather she found out that she wanted to cuddle in that fur carpet, embraced by those strong arms. Cless shook those disturbing thoughts away.
"Yes, alpha. What is your desire?" Silverfang gnarled with his deep bass voice that sounded more like a growl than a voice.
"Call me Cless, Silverfang. And you there, Silverfang is part of our guild, of our pack. He won't hurt you. Will you, Silvefang?"
"Of course not!" He growled at the boys. "Even if one of you cubs want to fight for dominance, I shall never deal the final blow. Killing members of the pack is anathema to us unless they are traitors."
"There you go, boys. Silverfang won't hurt humans unless they are trying to hurt us. But enough of that. Silverfang, can your claws bring down a tree?"
"Easy enough, al - Cless." Silverfang corrected himself.
"Excellent!" She exulted.
Cless clapped her hands as she gave each boy a wood cutting ax, getting one for herself. In hindsight, she realized she should've left the spare tools with Olson. Too late for that. Cless slung the bag over her shoulder and directed Silverfang to bring the trees they wanted down.
Silverfang felled the smaller trees with a series of swings and one shove. The larger ones gave more trouble but the werewolf would just roar and claw even more ferociously at the tree. Meanwhile, the four humans were cutting off the limbs of the trees. Even so, they couldn't finish a tree before Silverfang finished cutting the next.
Cless' only worry was how to explain that they cut that many trees with only four people.
> Name: Cless (no surname)
>
> Race: Human.
>
> Level: 21 ( 222,139 / 231,000 Exp)
>
> Class: Warrior 3 (3,606 / 6,000 Exp)
>
> Profession: Warmaster 6 (17,123 / 21,000 Exp), Weaponmaster 6 (17,123 / 21,000 Exp)
>
> Base Stats: Strength: 14 — Agility: 14 — Health: 21 — Intellect: 20
>
> Available Status Points: 19
>
> Skills: [ Absolute Contract (S) ]
>
> Proficiencies:
>
> General — Prayer: 3 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 3 (+1) — Math: 2 — Reading: 4 — Forestry: 3 (+2)
>
> Social — Leadership: 9 (+1) — Intimidation: 8 — Negotiation: 6 (+1) — Tactics: 3
>
> Combat — Sword: 4 — Dagger 2 — Unarmed: 7 — Bow: 4 — Spear: 3 — Maces: 3 — Staff: 4 — Ax: 2 (+2)