Chapter 27

After getting our stuff, we left the blacksmith with a bit more pep then when we entered. Well, me, Alice and Piccy left, Gravel is still gawking at the spear in there. How much longer is she planning to keep that up?

After we all left the blacksmith, we decided that we wanted to test out the new toys. So we started heading towards the guild to get a commission or two. But...

"Hay! Can you stop that already!" I whispered to Gravel.

We are walking on the middle of the street, in broad day light, and Gravel is holding her spear right in front of her face and gawking at it like a statue! It's like I'm in a parade and she's the float! The only moving parts are her legs! It's embarrassing for us, you know! HAY!? HAY?!

While my face is turning a bit red walking escorting the float, Piccy and Alice seems to not mind the situation. They only find it funny.

…

..muuu... At last, we arrive at the guild, and she has finally taken her eyes of the spear, but she is still gripping on to it real tight. With a single glance at her face, it is undeniable that she is absolutely thrilled to try out her new toy. I can't imagine anything being able to wipe that grin off her face. She is raring to go.

Every time anybody steals a glance at her spear, I swear the sparkles around her gets brighter. Calm down girl! It's just a spear!

I understand that getting new things can get you really excited sometimes, and your old iron spear does look pretty worn. But is a steel spear really that much better?

Alice gets to the board first and asks, "Alright. Which one should we choose?"

"Ou! Ou! This one! This one! Or how about this one! No? Maybe this one?" I thought crocs were cold blooded. Apparently this one might not be.

"We can't take that one. The rank is too high for us."

"Ohhhh ho ho. But with this baby, I feel like I can take it, easy pesy." What are you? A greedy goblin? Stop rubbing the spear! And breath normally!

"Let's just go with some normal ones for now. Ok?" Thankfully one of them still has their senses.

"Yeah. Let's not get in over our heads just yet." Piccy nods profusely, agreeing with me. I don't think she feels like dying anytime soon.

Well since we're copper and Silver ranks, we can take most of the commissions on the board but… "Now that I've taken a better look at the boards. This town really has a hound problem doesn't it."

Alice, "Yeah... I don't really know why. But hound population has been exploding for a while now. While it's true that they're not very dangerous creatures. A large number of them could still cause some serious damage."

"Hmmm... You live in the forest. Do you know why the hound population has increased?"

Piccy, "Hmmm..?"

"Right... of course not."

Piccy, "Hmmm? ... ??"

Gravel, "Alright! Then we'll just clean up all the hounds!" she says as she starts grabbing commissions.

Alice immediately jumps in, "Ahh! Wait! We can't do all that at once!"

...

Finally, we decided to take a few hound subjugation commissions, and after confirming them with Glendel, we immediately set off to the forests to find some hounds. With Gravels expert tracking skills and me practically holding Piccy on a leash so she doesn't wander off. We didn't miss a single trail and in no time at all, we found our first pack.

"There are about 15 fo them. Alright. So here's..."

"Heaa haha haha!!" Gravel immediately jumps out of the bushes, with her spear at hand right behind her and rushes the pack.

"Ahh..."

"Well let's go!" Alice looks to me with a smile before also rushing the pack.

"Ehh.." "Tsk" I don't care anymore. I'll just take a seat and start playing my lyre.

Seeing me do this, Piccy gives a small chuckle before prepping her own spells.

Gravel is as aggressive as always. She's dancing through the hounds, slicing and jabbing at everything that comes close. I feel like she's being a lot rougher with the new spear. No matter what it's made of, it's still gonna get damage if you don't take care of it you know…

Everywhere inside the range of her spear is a dead zone for those poor hounds. And with increased speed and power from my buff, she's basically a tornado of death. Wait... is this partly my fault then?...

... Meh. Shouldn't think too much about it.

And that gigantic smile full of sharp pointy teeth is almost scary. I can almost see the bloodlust in her eyes. Or is it just excitement form getting to play with her new toy. Who could tell at this point...

Alice on the other hand... she usually plays the role of a tank. Pulling the enemy's attention and creating openings for Gravel to attack. She usually only focuses on her shield and uses her sword only when there is a good opportunity, or when it's necessary.

But ever since Piccy joined the group, she's been playing more aggressively. Focusing less on defense and more on her devastating slashes.

And I really mean devastating. She puts a ton of force into those slashes. You'd think that would be a bit impractical, but she's not doing big swings at all. She must have a pretty good strength stat. You'd need at least some strength if you want to use shields effectively. Especially against the bigger monsters.

I guess it's only logical that she focuses more on attack, since she doesn't have to play a tank role anymore. Piccy is already using her wind magic to suppress the hounds movements. Making it so that they are practically standing still to Gravel and Alice in their buffed state.

So it's only normal for her to be playing more aggressively. This way we'll also get things done faster. But... somehow, she looks a bit more excited then usual. And that smile... it almost resembles Gravel's... I don't like it on that elegant face.

And with that. The one sided battle, if you can even call it a battle, ended in no time.

I do not want any part of this. I mean I've also hunted hounds before, but I don't think I've ever been this merciless. Just look at them... *Gulp* I don't think I ever want to be their enemies.

...

Right after we dismantle the hounds, and put it in my bag, we immediately set off on the trail of another pack.

Piccy has gotten a bit more used to seeing us dismantle now, but she's still looking away. Actually, I think her eyes were already closed halfway through the fight.

Yeah. I don't like this either, but what can you do.

Oh yeah! And my new storage bag finally arrived two days ago.

'WHAT!! HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET THIS?!!' Was Gravels response when she snatched it out of Silvia's hands on that day.

Her reaction was priceless. And that look on her face when she grabbed it. I couldn't tell if she was curious, excited, awestruck, or just plain confused. To be honest it might have been all of those things.

She has, since, gotten used to seeing me using the expensive piece of equipment. But I wonder what her reaction would have been if I bought the large one?

I'll have to take some mental notes, just for fun.

...

And now, thanks to Gravels expert skills of closely observing grasses and bushes, we took out 2 more packs and are on the trail of the forth and final pack for today.

According to Gravel, this pack might have an alpha. Because she found some fur stuck at a slightly higher elevation than usual. Makes sense, but I'm more impressed at how she was able to notice the tiny difference in height.

I mean yeah the alpha is a lot bigger than the usual hounds, but mostly only in terms of bulk. In terms of shoulder height, it's only around 5 centimeters taller than the averages hound, at most. That's practically nothing. And to notice it just from the foliage. Despite how she normally acts, she is pretty amazing.

As we continue to follow the trail and get closer to out target. Gravel pointed out that the there movements are getting more sporadic, more spread out. Indicating that they were active at this point in the trail. If they were just hunting animals it'd be fine. But if it was people, then we have to hurry.

It's not entirely impossible since one of the main roads leading to Grant is just up ahead. They could have been setting up to attack a wagon that came down the road. Or even worse, people walking down the road. So Gravel picked up the pace, and I also started using my Perception.

We advanced quickly. The trail cuts through the main road and into the next part of the forest. We advanced a little further into the woods, and surely enough, there they were. A pack of five hounds including an alpha.

And to top it off, there are two people being attacked. One is a plump old man with black hair and a mustache. Judging from his cloths, I'd guess he's a merchant of some sort.

The other is a young boy with white hair, wearing tattered rags for cloths. He's laying on the ground and appears to be hurt. Needless to say. Their current situation is… bad.