Chapter 11: An Unmatchable Therapy

A wolf's howl pierced through the night close by. Too close for comfort. Quintus walked over to Rorik unhurried, as if he had long expected this, and told him to handle it before they ruined dinner. Quintus glanced at Lucian and Serena, who were staring off into space, before asking Rorik to take them along.

"Uhh you sure boss? They seem to be pretty out of sorts" - said Rorik uncertain

"It'll be fine. I'm the smart one, no?"

"Yeah... it's as you say"

Though Rorik was understandably very much not-confident about bringing two defenceless people to fight off a wolf pack, he trusted Quintus and it certainly had nothing to do with the fact that he paid his salary. So Rorik armed Lucian and Serena each with a flaming branch from the campfire with the idea that they could at least scare the wolves with fire. Thus they were promoted from gathering sticks to fighting off vicious beasts with sticks. Or maybe it was a demotion? Either way, Rorik began walking, with the mute duo trailing behind him, towards the louder and louder howling.

Not even a minute later, the howls died out, as if they never existed in the first place. Then as sudden as the onslaught of charged silence appeared, several pairs of flaming dots came into view, soundlessly encircling them. Wolves. The blaze from the torches reflected back to them was the only evidence of their presence. A rough count would put their numbers over 15. A huge pack.

Rorik felt himself shiver, however don't be mistaken, as a Silver Rank, a wolf pack or a goblin squad would be at most a small challenge for Rorik even one as large as this. Basically the 'threat' in front of him wasn't actually a threat to him. The origin of his trembling was his companions' comments.

"Oh hey look Serena, wolves. Do you think they breathe fire?"

"I don't know Lucian. Would that kill us?"

Rorik was getting more scared by the second. The conversation of those two was creeping him out. He had to stop it.

"They're just normal wolves!" - he said. Drawing his short sword.

"Hahaha Serena Serena did you hear what he said? Normal wolves! It's the first goddamned normal thing I've seen here!"

"Hey Lucian, would normal wolves kill us?"

"Oh they sure would"

"Then let's embrace Death" - smiled Serena.

No sooner than once those horrific words were spoken did they dash past Rorik into the darkness. Their torches illuminating the, if wolves even had an expression, their rather stunned look as a free meal ran towards them. Rorik's mouth hung open uselessly watching the pair run past the faint outlines of wolves crouching, ready to pounce.

"I-I'm so screwed" - Rorik sputtered, rooted to the ground in shock.

But then he saw a sight so impossible, it was seared into his memory for many years to come. Serena and Lucian were in the middle of the pack, flailing at everything that moved. They weren't even hitting anything. Well once or twice they'd smack a wolf in the face by sheer luck but it didn't make any sense.

"Why aren't they dead?" - said Rorik. He was of course referring to Serena and Lucian who by some miracle were laughing in the middle of the wolves completely unharmed.

"Ha ha look Serena it really is a normal wolf!"

"Look here Lucian, I believe this one is dead. Is this mortality? Will I die like this?"

Rorik stood there, jaw practically unhinged

Wolves….aren't this weak...right?

They were literally just waving their torches around with no concept of technique or finesse. It went against everything he knew, they weren't even coherent. Incorrigible. But...as confused as he was, he joined them, he had to earn his cut after all.

And just like that the wolf pack who'd originally set off with the noble cause of avenging their comrade (currently being grilled over a fire) was decimated handedly by two people venting, a baffled Rorik and a Platinum level babysitter.

* * *

Once the final wolf was put to the sword, we began heading back, not wanting to stay around for seconds. Me and Serena were just short of skipping. It was truly a cathartic experience, it was the quickest and easiest stress therapy in the whole universe, hitting stuff with a stick. Then Gelda appeared.

She materialized just beyond the torch light. Materialized. As though she was there the entire time but has simply allowed us to see us. With what I know now, it had to be magic of some kind. Gelda's black hair was disheveled, her face flushed with fury and she was breathing heavily. She now raised a trembling finger at us. 'Us' being the crazy people who charged at a wolf pack armed with practically nothing. The same 'us' who were currently smiling as if everything was right in the world.

"Y-You!" - she stuttered, anger oozing off every letter

Strong as she was, defending two people from multiple attackers simultaneously perfectly without letting so much as a drop of blood spill onto the tracksuit, was hard work for a single person. Thus Gelda wasn't all that happy being taken advantage of. The best way to resolve this...

"Oh hi Gelda, did you go for a run or something?" - I asked, without a drop of pride

Was to pretend that I'd no idea that she was protecting us.

"S-Sh-Shameless!" - Gelda could barely keep herself from biting her own tongue off in rage.

"Ehh let's go eat some food" - I said, remembering that I should NOT piss off the super strong Elf lady.

Gelda said nothing, but every one of my senses told me she'll find a way to express her injustices in some way or another. For now though we reached and finally sat down at the campsite, where a mouth watering aroma greeted us. Dinner was ready. Just before Quintus started serving though, I had to do a little interrogating.

"Hey Quintus... did those wolves come here for revenge?" - I asked, the timing was quite coincidental after all.

"Hmm I wonder? On an unrelated note how about I pay for you and Serena to awaken magic?"

"I completely and utterly forgive you" - I said, embracing my shamelessness

"Forgive me for what?" - Quintus asked, dishing out my wolf meat .

"Haha I've no clue. Thanks for the food" - I said taking a bowl.

We sat down at a dining table made out of stone courtesy of Rorik's earth magic. The poor guy was still shaken up on everything that's happened but seemed glad that it was all over. As for the meal itself...for such a rich merchant Quintus sure cooks well. Or maybe that was an empty stomach talking. Serena discovered that food, as it turns out, is great when you have a physical body that needs sustenance.

After dinner Quintus and Gelda sat us down and basically broke down how magic works...but as exciting as it was, my mind was fried. I needed sleep. Afterwards I managed to make my way to an earth mattress and after mumbling a thanks to Rorik. I laid down to cash in on a well deserved rest.

Before I knew it, not even noticing the constellations of new stars in a different galaxy above me, I'd fallen asleep.