The caravan was rolling along the road below me. Air rustled my feathers. I was not using a shifted form since we did not expect issues for the first week. Still, I kept my eyes on the forest, looking for any suspicious movement approaching the wagons. I was getting paid for this after all.
After a few hours of somewhat reliable focus, the boredom started to get to me. Had I been looking for prey this might have been more interesting. There was not much movement but a few rodents and a songbird here or there might make for a nice snack. Even though my storage was full of food. I had really no reason to hunt. So my thoughts went back to last evening and the three apprentices. They had been friendly and forward, talking about themselves when I asked where they came from. I learned some things about dwarven clans and how their children were raised but not too much of it was new to me. I had apparently done a good job reading up on their culture.
The one thing that stood out to me was how dwarves were allowed to leave their clan at any time but if they did not have another one to join they would be going to Borsdown and work in the quarry for three months. It was one of the worst punishments for one of the worst dwarven crimes. Maybe [Assassin] really was the wrong Class in their cities. Then I asked about humans and the mood had turned sour.
“What, you want to know about those? There’s not much good about them, you know?”, the elder sister said with a displeased face.
Her brother butted in.
“Well, that’s for most of them. Some humans dislike how they do things and seek shelter in the Dwarven Hills but… It’s rare they are able to prove themselves. The only thing they have going for them is how creative they are. Though most of that creativity is fuelled by their thrive for violence. Still, they are even less amiable when it comes to thaumaturgy than us so there’s no reason not to trade with them. The amount of crystals they farm to keep their lands clear from vis is making it a viable source of money for us Kinis. Trade Town is almost exclusively held by our clan, the only other dwarves being the protectors.”
That meant, [Assassin] might grow nicely if I move to the human lands but if they find out I do thaumaturgy it might be a problem.
“What about sapient animals? Do they interact with them?”
The boy shook his head.
“Not really, as far as I know. They keep livestock and some pets, I heard, but there’s nothing about sapient animals being friendly with them. But I don’t know much about their inner politics or laws. We only really interact with merchants and the occasional… what was it? Paladin?”
The younger sister nodded. “Paladins and Crusaders. Their fighters specialized in dealing with thaumaturges.”
“Right, that. They come by Trade Town once every five years to look for trouble.”
“And they don’t have a problem with artificing?” It was basically thaumaturgy-light, after all.
I only saw question marks on the dwarves’ faces.
“No? They mostly buy our artefacts. They haven’t really figured out how to make them. Which is something I don’t understand either, but as long as the money flows, I won’t complain.”
Interesting. That meant I might be able to hide some of my thaumaturgy as something else. Maybe the risk was less than I initially thought?
Coming back to the now, I spotted something large moving through the undergrowth. It was already quite close to the caravan only a few metres from the road. Still, it was pretty well hidden with its light brown fur between the autumn leaves. I dropped a little to get a better look and soon saw the animal raise its head. It was a boar. A huge boar. It was nearly three metres long and almost two metres tall. It snorted, some dirt falling off its monstrous tusks, and moved on along the wagons while sniffing the ground. I saw it make no move to attack the dwarves, neither did it look scared. Still, it was a good idea to inform Servin.
“We’ve got a large boar close to the wagons. Doesn’t look like it feels threatened or wants to attack but I thought you should know. It’s to the right of the fourth wagon.”
The dwarf took a moment before he managed to reply.
“A… Ah… Yes. Thank you. It won’t be trouble if we don’t attack. Unless it decides to move to the other side of the road. This guy has been living here for a few decades. He’s believed to be close to sapience. Maybe in a few years, this route will be even safer.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
What a strange encounter. I kept an eye out as we moved on but the monstrous animal was soon left behind by the constantly moving transporters.
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Nothing much happened for the next few days. The apprentices joined me every evening, talking about small stuff like their assignments for example. I did not care much about money other than having a bit to buy the things I wanted. Still, I kept listening and offered my own thoughts every now and then.
On the sixth day of the journey, a flock of crows rose to the air as I was watching out for threats. They zeroed in on me from what I assumed to be their home and tried to strike. But they were slow. A few shadows and an [Intimidating Screech] later, I was left alone again. Servin checked in on me, asking if I was alright but I told him there was no issue and to keep going. Similar things happened more often the next few days. I started to just drop towards the wagons every time I saw a flock of birds or some other raptor make their way towards me. When they spotted me sitting on the roof of a steel wagon with a dwarf each on its back and front holding ranged weapons, they quickly reconsidered. I presumed it was mostly an issue of invading their privacy. Many of these birds were preparing for winter and did not want to deal with another predator in their airspace.
The big threat appeared on day twelve. I had gone ahead with my wings of darkness and spotted our goal not too far away. We had made good time and another three days would most likely be enough to get to the city. When I returned from watching the dwarves tend to their walled-in fields, I found the caravan had stopped the wagons in a long oval. The non-combatants were sitting in the middle while the guards looked through the gaps or out above the roofs. It was easy to see why they had huddled up. Once more, some way too large animal was in my sight. This time, it was not just one and they were not peaceful.
The snarling snouts, the grey fur and the tense tails could only be wolves. But these were not like the ones I had seen a few months earlier on the other side of the mountains. These were nearly two metres tall to their shoulders, easily dwarfing – heh – the dwarves. They seemed to be looking for an opening to pick up a snack which I did not like very much. But I was hesitant to show myself. The pack was occupied with the caravan and I had the element of surprise on my side.
There was a total of twelve wolves. They looked to have trouble supporting their needs with how haggard some of them were. Those were also the wolves closest to the caravan, most likely to attack. Were they throwing their weakest members to the dwarves to have less need for food? I silently moved down into range for [Identify]. One of the dwarves spotted me and they started talking in hushed voices while pointing at me. I saw the hope on their faces. There was not enough elation to make it seem like they were truly scared for their lives. One more reason to believe I could take these beasts. Now…
[Identify]
Species: Giant Wolf (mature)
Age: 12
Name: -
Gender: male
Level: 48
I saw why the dwarves were not too worried. The guards of Borsdown had been mostly above level 50 in their Class and these were, on average, even stronger. The twelve wolves would each have to take one of them and two dwarves would still be free to do what they wanted. And that was without counting me.
Serving caught my eyes with some gesturing. With the distance I had gotten just earlier, the supersensory matrix had lost connection so it would take getting close to communicate properly. Still, after some time I figured out what he wanted. I was supposed to strike at the wolves closest to the caravan. If we took one or two of them out or injured them enough, the others might run. That was something he explained to me later.
In the moment, I decided to simply follow his plan and go for the four wolves keeping close to the wagons. The best move was to not get myself in danger. I was not in a shifted form and did not have my second lease on life. The only attack I could bring to bear, or to wolf, like this, was [Winged Death]. I decided to keep it simple and go with metal aspected feathers. Slowly, I kept drawing circles through the air, not making any sound. It was only a matter of time for one of the beasts to look up but with the clouds behind me, I could use some light shadows to obscure my position.
Then, I found the moment. Three of the wolves I planned to target were between me and the wagons. I spread my wings wide, [Sgiathan Dorcha] activating to triple my wingspan. Mana flowed into them, metal feathers shaping up. With not a single sound, I pushed them forward. Instead of the usual two feathers, six steel projectiles shot forward at high speed. The air split on their edges and made a high whistling sound which drew every single wolf’s gaze to the air. By the time they could have reacted, the metal was already cutting into my three targets and I had moved on. Of the three animals, I had missed one completely. The others were less lucky. One dropped dead instantly, a feather having penetrated its skull. The other was yowling loudly and trying to drag its bleeding body to safety. With none of the others being able to spot me hiding within grey shadows, one of the large wolves at the back gave a short growl. The others answered with a bone-chilling howl before speeding off into the woods. The injured animal was left to bleed out and one of the guards ended its misery.
As I landed on the top of a wagon and dispelled my shadows, the dwarves started to point at me. I heard them whispering to each other about how powerful and scary I was and how glad they were I was on their side.
I checked on the notifications I had gotten from the fight.
~ding~ You have taken out your chosen target. Experience awarded.
~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 59. 1 Attribute Point awarded.
That was not much but I could not really ask for more. Another point for Intelligence, at least. the fact that I levelled up at all was good enough. I had an endless lifespan. I could just go with one level a month and would still reach all my goals one day. Though I was not really sure what those goals were other than the generic ‘explore’ that came with this new world and the freedom my wings brought me. Maybe one day I would find a purpose.