Now that the wagon has actually stopped moving, it’s relatively easy to gain ground on it. I think I was about right with my earlier guesstimation of how long it would take to reach, so even at a jog now, I guess it’ll take about… five minutes?

Oh, and about that jog, some more clarification has been achieved on this stamina system! At least, I think so. After walking for a little bit, the stamina drain definitely slowed down at least somewhat. I’m still LOSING it, but it’s staying static now. The rate of decay isn’t increasing, unlike when I was full on sprinting. But it’s also not increasing, so… It could be getting worse and I’m wrong, just, not as noticeably when I was exerting myself completely.

How much do I have right now again?

Stamina 61/122

Right… That should take me to the finish line, yeah. Still panting pretty badly, can’t feel that much of it, but being able to feel it at all is a pretty good indicator that I’m messed up right’about now. But I spared Jasper the struggle of having to run by simply [Recall]ing her for now, despite my earlier threat. No need to make her suffer for no real reason, I’m pretty sure she actually feels things unlike me, though I’m not sure if npcs are designed to suffer inordinate levels of pain.

Maybe the devs are sadists and they do, but either way, no need to test that theory on her of all creatures.

This just in; we have officially reached the halfway point! And from here, I’d say my vantage point on the fighting has gotten significantly better! But on the flipside, it also significantly died down in those two minutes. I’d say the monsters circling them bear most of their similarity to some kind of wolf. Though they're obviously monstrous varieties, their proportions of vicious applications seem… unnatural. I’m pretty sure I can catch a glimmer of sunlight flashing from their claws, even at this distance.

Speaking of circling them, things have gone from an all out brawl, to a slower paced slugfest, but the wolves seem to be on the back paw here. They’re slowly getting out of dodge, likely having realized they’re outmatched. That’s… kind of threatening, knowing that monsters have the intelligence to make sound decisions and what not… but no matter.

Either way, the people defending have gone from, as aforementioned; defenders, to attackers. Stepping out further than they likely should if they value their lives, striking out at the wolves, which seemed reluctant to capitalize on the aggressive maneuvers despite their clear ability to do so.

So… perhaps they’re not stupid, but perhaps not all that smart either.

Well, either way, they’re just about ready to dip entirely it seems, so, I’ll probably have to pick up the pace and hurry up before the wagon gets on the move again. Good job defender men, defending the… whatever that wagon is with style!

Or at least, that’s what I thought at first. Just barely out of eyeshot, A large bird off in the distance, way up above, seemingly… screeches. That’s all it does from my point of view. It’s loud, annoying, kind of hurts my ears, but otherwise does nothing else.

Or well, does nothing else to me. At the painful sound, everybody in my gaze seems to freeze up for a moment, but after the fact, the wolves lunge in with a renewed frenzy, abandoning their previous retreat and attacking with reckless abandon.

Though, as for my part… I’m more interested in the bird here. What the hell was that? Some kind of tamed monster, summon, something, that somebody over there used to draw the monsters in to wipe them out ahead of time? Or, maybe…

Or maybe it’s none of those things, because as my attention finally landed on it, it simply… soared away, shrinking from view as it got further, and… wait, no it literally shrunk. It’s in fact, doing both of those things.

…Huh.

That’s neat. Welp, better hurry on up before they hurry on up and clear out the monsters!

Hup to it!

—

I can’t help but wince at the dying whine of a wolf as I finally get within range, close enough to see the name and level of said wolf right before it vanishes anyways.

Great Crossing’s Feng-LVL 6

It’s name is… sorry, was, white, so I assume that just means it was around my level and also hostile. God-WAS, hostile, I can’t get these tenses right, huh? Heh, haaaah, haaaaaah…

“Halt! State your name and purpose!”

…Oh, right, there are people here besides the wolves that just got murderized.

“Can-” Ooo, god, lack of breath’s hitting me. “Hm-Ahem! Can do! Name’s Koth, I wanted to catch up to catch a ride because you’re heading in the direction of the town I was heading to!”

I smile as best as I can, and by that I mean as fake as I can, though my forthrightness seems to unnerve the man who’s been pointing a sword at my personage from a distance.

“...”

“Easy, they’re not in any position to hurt me.”

That silence is dangerous, please don’t maul them Jasper, thank you.

“Are you… serious?” His stone cold gaze cracked at my disarming smile, their sword held all the same as a few other men of similar stature approached his side.

“Certainly so! You’ll have to forgive me for being so blunt, I’d rather not walk all the way to Pierre’s Karst.” Looking over the baffled, growing group, I take a glance over each of them individually, and while they certainly don’t look too battered as a whole…

“I wouldn’t just come tagging along for no reason either, I’m perfectly capable of fending for myself, and I’m sure you could use some extra help.” I continue to smile gently as my eyes flicker across the blood stains upon the chain and leather of the… I’m gonna call them guardsmen for now.

They don’t say anything to me in particular, just muttering amongst themselves. However, those who were pointing pointy sticks at me, note the past tense, are no longer pointing pointy sticks at me! That practiced suave comes in handy, yuh huh.

“You all seem to be a little out of it, so I’ll back off and give you a moment. I promise I don’t mean any harm, I’m just here for a ride, and I’m more than willing to pay off my presence, be it through money or combat. If that whole shabang earlier is common in any way, you could probably use the help.”

Taking a few paces back, I watch as the wary gazes melt away from me, finally letting my fake smile loose a little bit, replaced by an even neutrality.

“Hey Jasper, wanna hang out for a second?”

Couldn’t hurt to make myself look more valuable beyond simple composure, monster tamers are probably helpful, right?

“Mmmm… Mmhm.”

“Radical.”

[Summon]!

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Gently stroking Jasper as she stretches out across my lap, I simply sit criss-cross applesauce and look at the wagon from a distance as I continue to catch my breath.

It’s only a matter of time…..

—

…

Alright, what the hell’s taking these guys so long? It’s been like four minutes! Four whole minutes, can you believe it? Come on, I'm literally right here offering my services for fuhREE! No strings attached!

Ugh… I guess I should’ve expected it given their hostility was so readily apparent from the start. But like, why though? I get they were on edge cause of some monsters and everything, and that could lead to them to be a bit abrasive, but if they’re a bunch of calm and logical people, they’d surely understand that I meant no harm, right? Apologies aplenty should be coming my way.

So… why aren’t they? Well… I was a little straightforward, maybe too much, but they should still want to speak to me… wait, wait hold on. There was some kind of monster like, heading the attack on them from what I saw. It drew agro back towards the wagon, and…

What am I doing right now?

…Petting a monster that I summoned. And… they were just… attacked… by monsters. Uhhhhhh, would it be more or less incriminating for me to [Recall] Jasper now? Probably more, right? I think the proper thing to do here is to uh, just wait until they speak to me. I think I can tolerate that, for a few minutes.

—

After a solid fifteen or so minutes, one man finally approaches me. I couldn’t put a name to the face, or even a distinct feature that sets them apart from the other men I’ve seen so far, they’re kind of uh… dime a dozen, but that’s beside the point!

Though, just before he’s about to say something, I raise a hand and motion for him to pause.

“First things first, I’d like to apologize for my prior advance. I should’ve given you and your…” Uh… his allies? His allies. “allies some time to recover from the fight, I was just tired and wanted to make sure you didn’t leave without noticing me.”

Letting my hand fall back down to Jasper, who was basically now half asleep, I nod for him to continue.

“...Very well, your forwardness was off putting, but not too much of an issue. There is… no need to apologize.” He nodded back, eyeing me with a neutral expression. “However, that’s not what we were speaking about. You asked to come with us, all the ways to Pierre’s Karst. Lucky for you, our stop is nearby, so we debated allowing you to do so.”

…Why is he pausing? Aye? Speak up ja!?

“...And?”

“Whether you can or can’t depends on a few things, namely, a few questions. Would you mind answering a few?”

Tilting my head, I force down an annoyed smile and forge a fake one in its place.

“Certainly, ask away.”

“Right, what level are you?”

For my part, I simply take a glance at my menu. It’s not exactly a difficult task.

Koth-Monster Tamer

Level 7

Though… why are they asking me? They can just see my level, can’t they? Just like I can… wait, hold on a minute, actually, why can’t I see their levels? Now that I think about it, I haven’t really been able to read the information of any human, only monsters…

Y’know what? I’m taking a little too long to answer this question.

“Nine,” I lie effortlessly.

“Mhm… and you are a Monster Tamer, yes?

Nodding, I continue to smile as “best” I can, no need to lie to make myself look better this time around.

“Hmm… alright, that about matches up with what we thought about you. Very well, you’ll be allowed to come with us on three conditions.”

“I’m all ears.”

“...What?”

“I’m listening, alright?”

Eyeing me with a… look, he sighed before continuing. “First, do not ask any questions about what we’re transporting.”

“Simple enough,” I butt in before he has the chance to continue, earning a bit more of that previous glare. Raising my hands placatingly, Jasper rumbles with discontent as she is left unattended.

“As I was saying… second, deal with as many monsters as you can-” and before I could interject “-and third, attempt to subdue the creature that you no doubt saw earlier.”

“The bird, yes?” I nod with awareness. “But why would it come back?”

“...No asking questions about what we’re transporting.” He huffed and rolled his neck a bit. “Do you agree or not?”

Tamers Escort

500 exp

???

Escort the wagon’s cargo safely to its destination.

Accept?

Y/N

“Well, why not?”

If that monster would be coming back, might as well see if I could get my mitts on the thing, seems interesting! And also, you know, don’t need to walk the entire way to the place. Ha, ha, haaaah… Yeah I’m kind of pinned on this not gonna lie, what do I do, say no and jog the whole way? No way, lol!

—

Kicking my legs over each other, I yawn as I [Summon] Jasper once more, who had priorly been rudely awakened through a [Recall] born of necessity.

“Hmmmmm.”

“Aw don’t be too angry, we were never going to just sit in one place the entire day. You know that.”

“Mmmmm.”

“Okay, okay, look, wanna play a game instead of being angry?”

“Mmmm… Mmm?”

“Ever heard of Monkey’s Paw?”