Shocking Incidents

The delay of the ladies return caused concern among the nobles which resulted in a bunch of guards being sent to check the situation only to find them making their way back to the city on foot with their heels in hand

Realizing something must have gone very wrong they rushed back with the four women and the slightly injured guard and handed them to the garrison for questioning

The wild wolf attack was then clearly explained, shocking everyone that a Silver rank beast had appeared in the woods this close to the city, this made the families of those who went on hunts hastily send out people to recall them back into the safe walls until the beast is taking care of

The prince's entourage, on the other hand, sent many of their men to search for the guard that had gone after the beast and to return with the dead bodies, much to the nobles surprise though these men were told not to engage with the wolf whatsoever as all of them were only capable of fighting bronze rank beasts

'As I thought something is up'

Heather already suspected that these men were not real guards, in fact, only the man in charge was possibly strong enough to be an actual member of the prince's helpers, what happened to all the strong men and woman who were supposed to follow him was not known to her

She wanted to discuss this with Yu as soon as possible but didn't have a method of contact until he came to visit so she could only wait while shooing away any guest who came to check on her with the excuse that the experience left her needing some time alone

The next day came and she thought the situation would calm down a little but an even bigger piece of news hit the city

"That's impossible!"

Heather replied to the maid that brought her the dangerous message

"It is what the guards reported my lady, in total there were seventeen groups found dead in the woods, all seemingly killed by that giant wolf, I'm really glad you escaped harm my lady"

'Why would he kill everyone like that? Does he not know that all the families here would be out for revenge?'

Her mind started to cloud up in confusion but the maid's next words caused it to clear up real quick

"Apparently it wasn't just one wolf that was attacking though, the last guard who chased after the big beast was found dead, its body seemed to have been ripped by a different wolf judging by the size of the claw marks"

'He has another strong wolf!'

Now she realized why he could take the risk, and furthermore why he said Ulv wasn't his match, it seems he was a master of wolves himself

'He spent the days before the event killing nobles left and right so that it wouldn't look like a targeted attack when he kills the horses, this clears up any suspicion of this being a staged ambush'

The more she understood the further her mind went with possibilities, but most notably was her change of mind toward one particular subject

'If he is that strong, and the prince's group is currently trying to hide how weak they are, perhaps we could..'

Before her mind started to turn toward even more rebelling thoughts she shook her head and calmed herself down

'I need to talk to him first, I have to forge a permanent connection with him, a man that strong at such a young age will definitely go far in the future'

There were not many ways to bind such people to a lower position than what they deserved, only by offering sufficient benefits would she able to remain him which she didn't have, the only other way she could gain his attention was if she gained his heart

While her thoughts worked their way around how to go about doing this the man she wanted to oh so desperately keep was not so far from the city, smiling to himself within a small rabbit hole as he looked upon the gains of these past few days

Trinkets and tools of many types were laying on the ground scattered, some were cool looking accessories that would fetch quite the price while others were some useful medicine and weapons

"I kind of wanted to grab that sword, but it would have been too obvious"

Unlike the nobles which he'd gotten the wolf to eat parts of to make it look like those valuables were lost in its belly the sword theft couldn't be attributed to that

"I do need a good melee weapon, I cant always expect to keep my enemies at range"

That could wait though, now was the time to sort what to keep and what to sell, once he was done with that he would head back into the city and claim his gold from Heather

"I wonder if she is going to be mad about her fall....Well, I could only spray her perfume on me so that guy could know shes an ally, it isn't my fault she didn't put enough of it"

Done making up an excuse to tell her when he saw her he began working on the task at hand, smiling every time he thought of the many gold coins going into his pocket

Another day passed with the usually quiet city buzzing around the incidents, every now and then another group came back from their hunt all mad about how their fun was interrupted, these men were thinking that a mere Silver ranked beast wasn't too hard to kill if they banded together

Along these groups one man followed as if he belonged within there ranks, sneaking into the city without the need for inspection once again before making his way toward the unguarded back of a mansion, climbing it for the second time

Knock!

He hit the glass once and waited for the room's occupant to open, looking him up and down for any injuries

"You came back in one piece"

"Told you my plan was perfect"

He bragged going into the room

"You certainly staged it well, there is no way they can trace it to us, though you did not need kill my friend during it"

"Your friend?"

"One of the ladies riding with us"

He never realized that they were her friends, but on second thought it was natural to ride with someone you know, something he missed in his planning

"...I'm sorry about that, I did not mean to have her killed"

"I guess it is okay just this once, after all I didn't specify anything either and she wasn't that close of a friend, we just shared our miserable single status"

She tried to lighten the atmosphere with a little joke

"Now, would you like a bath before any further talk"

"That would be great"

Knowing he smelled after going through so many chases and looting bodies he took the robe and towel off her hands and took a long well deserved bath

Once he came out squeaky new a table full of food greeted his eyes, there was a lot more than just meat on the palate this time as many fruits were laying in the small basket by the side of the table next to a small food cart containing dessert

"A celebration feast?"

"Indeed, you can begin without me, I will wash up and join you soon"

Carrying her clothes she went into the bath and closed the door leaving him with the delicacies

"Where to start~"

With as joyous mood he picked up the small cake from the cart and took a small bite, slowly munching on the soft texture as the sweet taste filled his mouth

'Hmm, maybe I should call that little one to eat some'

Thinking about the snake that helped him keep the horses from going into the woods by scaring them with its ability he felt like it deserved a part in the feast as well, though others deserved a treat too he couldn't summon them in front of Heather, at least not yet

Stringing the weird symbols together he summoned the little slitherer out once again

"Wanna eat some?"

Putting a plate in front of it he expected the little snake to eat the braised meat but it didn't seem to be in the mood for food at all, instead, it was staring at the bathroom door

"?"

He looked back and saw the same closed door, nothing seemed strange but the white snake kept staring at it for the longest time

Sensing something was amiss he frowned and tensed up

"Anything wrong?"

He asked promoting the snake to take its eyes off the door for the first time since she came out only to look at him with a little pity, then back at the door

After alternating between the two a few more times it finally sighed in its own hissing way, then slithered away dejectedly

"? What's wrong"

He followed it until it crept up the small nightstand by the bed, tapping the first drawer with its tail

Clearly, it wanted him to open it, which bothered him since he was going through a friend's stuff, but the situation didn't give him room to care about privacy this he opend it with some guilt

There was a notebook inside with a few other random things but the most notable one was the white envelope laying on top of the notebook

Picking it up he looked at the snake and saw it nod at him, it seemed this was what he needed to see

'What could the snake feel from the envelope that it would act so strangely? Is there something inside?'

Tearing it open he found a letter and nothing more

'A letter?'

He turned to the little guy in confusion, a snake can't read so how is this thing important

Hiiss

It hissed at him to take a look at it so he frowned and started to go through its contents

'If it is nothing I swear this little one isn't gonna get anything to eat for making me so...worried...'

His thoughts paused and he had to do a double-take on the message the letter held

[ Dear Family

I write this message in hopes that you find it before things are too late. If you do and disaster hasn't struck than I can only thank whover delivers this message in time

First and foremost allow me to explain that I am currently being held a hostage by the very same person who the Baron was looking for, it seemes that the thief who stole from him is also the trader that bartered for the goods, they are one and the same.

This man, who's Alias is Zombie-chan, has kidnapped me when I was on vacation in Begaria, he used me to escape the city and has been leashing me ever since using his beast, a snake, furthermore, he seemed to have plans on making me a into a peice in one of his new plans, it appears its main objective is to kill the horses that belong to the prince

Why he would do so baffles me, but I shan't speculate, I merely hope you can stop him before he gets our family involved in this mess, or worse, harm the prince

Sincerely, your dear daughter Heather]

"....."

Silence loomed in the room, it seemed like the two stopped breathing for a few seconds, perhaps the revelation was a bit suffocating for him to take

Hiss hiss

Sensing the snake slither up his arm and hiss at him concern he finally moved his eyes from the letter and spoke

"Did she write this after I left you on her last time?"

Hiss

It nodded, that time he forgot to actually take the snake back from under Heather's clothes and only when he unsummon did it return to him, that seemed to come in handy though as Heather probably never expected the small beast to somehow know what she was doing

"....I see"

There wasn't anything else to say really and he wasn't in the mood to talk at all, thus the room plunged into silence once again....