The Quiet Path

"What is your connection to Shiro? Martha told me that when she went to introduce you to him, you both said you already knew each other, and you seemed quite thrilled."

"Shiro and I used to do some services together," Luke answered without trembling, he was pretty confident.

Ayumi continued to stare at him for a few seconds, but the half-wolf didn't budge or try to compliment her answer. Then she nodded and, with a nod, asked Martha to start serving the food.

The servant girl approached with a cart and began serving the Matriarch first.

"On the day of the evaluation, Oliver questioned if you had ever entered a Dungeon, right?"

Luke merely nodded in agreement as he remembered the old guard's question while leading the five chosen ones into the hall.

"Then answer me how you manage to be so skilled if you have never entered a Dungeon?" Nathalia questioned because she had trained with the best teachers available for her entire life, yet she couldn't even come close to a victory against the half-wolf.

Luke realized he was being interviewed, so he prioritized sincerity. "There are several ways to be strong."

In this short time, Martha was able to serve everyone. Luke was expecting the woman to sit down as well. Instead, she excused herself as she left.

As the smell of the steak was impregnating the half wolf's nose, he soon stopped caring about it and started eating, accompanied by the two women, who seemed satisfied with their answers, at least for now. 

Nathalia knew he was strong, she just didn't know if he would act brave when he entered a dungeon.

*

After lunch, the Jognart brothers stopped in front of the mansion's staircase so that Nathalia and Luke could climb into the carriage.

Alonso Jognart, the skinny brother, was still very pressed in the presence of the half-wolf, but trying to fight his fears, he shouted loudly to Luke: "Come on, you can go up! We will take you to the guild."

However, Alonso's smile wilted as Luke went straight past the wagon.

"Aren't we going by carriage?" Nathalia inquired in surprise.

Luke remained severe and replied: "No."

The girl was even more confused, the town was a mile from the mansion, so it would be much faster to go by carriage.

Albert Jognart, the chubbier brother, could perfectly understand why the half-wolf rejected transportation and comforted his brother, who was even more nervous because he now thought that Luke didn't like him.

The forests of Vasconcelos were vivid, especially now in summer, and for Luke, this was even more noticeable as he had lived for a long time holed up in the city of Oukiwa and hardly knew what fresh air was.

As he walked on the quiet road that cut through the forest, he wondered if what happened in the library was real. Had he really kissed the Matriarch of the Strogueher? To a thief, this was like a hallucination.

However, he was not wondering if it would be repeated. The half-wolf understood perfectly well that she was only doing that to protect her daughter. As a form of respect for the woman's act, Luke began to treat Nathalia more professionally, just as if he were protecting a fat old man.

It wasn't hard for Nathalia to notice that Luke was now treating her more seriously, but she couldn't tell if she was happy about this. She hoped to become friends with the half-wolf.

Between the rustling of the tree leaves, Luke's ears picked up a low sound. "Quec! Quec!" It sounded like small incomprehensible murmurs.

When Luke stopped walking, Nathalia realized that something was wrong. The half-wolf looked at her, and without needing to say anything, she understood what she was supposed to do.

A faint glow appeared as the girl summoned her Weapon of Panspermia. It was a two-pronged spear tipped with dark material.

Again, the half-wolf began to follow the noise he heard without saying anything. Using all his experience in stealth, Luke entered the bushes, and they didn't even make a sound. Nathalia, who surrounded the bushes, admired the boy's silent skill since that was still incomprehensible to her.

"Quarac!"

"Qurek! Queak!"

Luke dared not draw the sword he got as a gift from Ynosuke. As he approached, he knew it would clatter like a curved blade.

Soon, the murmurs became so loud that even Nathalia could hear them clearly, and a studious girl like her could recognize what that language was that clicks can sound like words.

Still, as they followed the sound, Nathalia muttered to herself as low as she could say: "This is the language of the Goblins." She knew about Luke's super hearing.

He looked back, perplexed because he had never heard of a Goblin language, much less known that they came out of Dungeons.

If they were so close to the mansion, their obligation was to take care of it. Since he had not been close to a Goblin until today, Luke could not differentiate their breathing from the other animals in the woods, so he could not say precisely how many there were.

Nathalia, until this day, had only read about Goblins and never had the chance to fight one either, but she was more scared than excited that there were some close to the grounds of her house.

Among the trees, the half-wolf finally managed to see the Goblins. These monsters were famous among Class E and D Adventurers, as their teeth were worth a lot.

Dark green-skinned beings, full of nasty, longitudinal warts. Also, two of the main features Luke noticed were elongated ears and vertical pupils. However, the half-wolf's inexperienced eyes, were a useful thing for him today, these prevented him from paralyzing like Nathalia.

The young girl almost fell backward when she saw the green beings, because they weren't the standard five feet and thirty inches. These were almost Luke's height and were also physically very strong, not to mention the tribal tattoos on their abdomens and arms.

When the half-wolf saw the deep look in the girl's eyes, he realized that those were no ordinary Goblins, so he drew his sword and, as predicted, the scabbard clinked with the draw of the sword.

"Stay here!" He shouted as he dashed toward the monsters.

There were only three Goblins chattering among the trees and bushes. They were quick to notice the presence of the half-wolf and picked up their knives that were lying on the grass.

One of them squealed furiously, and his four canine teeth were exposed. Those fangs were as big as a tiger's.

______

Discord for illustrations of the characters: 

https://discord.gg/qz2vDAn7Kb