NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27 – Lies and fangs
"To start with," Scarlett began her questioning. "The people I have seen appeared very tense. Why is that?"
The village head wiped his hands on the sides of his shirt. "That...I'm not sure what you mean, my Lady."
"I believe you are." She tapped her finger against the table next to her as she regarded him. "In fact, there was an unusually small number of people out on those fields too. I was under the impression that one worked until it was dark during times of harvest, yet so few of you seem to remain outside your homes." They'd passed by a number of hamlets on their way here where large groups of people—women and children—had been busy at work harvesting the field's yields. It stood out to her that that wasn't the case here.
"Ah. T-That's because..." He paused as his eyes went back and forth between Scarlett and her entourage.
"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow. "Surely you do not mean to say that I am the sole reason behind this behaviour?"
His eyes widened. "N-No! Of course not, my Lady. I wouldn't dare."
"Then there is another reason. Tell me of it."
He went quiet, squirming where he stood. Scarlett almost felt sympathy for the man. Though that wouldn't really stop her from grilling him. "I should mention that we will be staying for several days. Attempting to lie to me is not in your best interest."
The statement seemed to have spooked him. "I-I never meant to lie to you, my Lady. It's just that I don't think that such a small matter is worth bringing to your attention."
"I will be the judge of that," she said. "Speak."
He massaged the backs of his hands. "Recently...we've had some small problems with monsters attacking our crops." He held up both palms. "No one's gotten injured! We've just asked those more vulnerable to stay inside as it gets darker, just to be safe. But it's barely affected us, really."
"Why haven't you sent for help? Or contacted the Shields Guild?" Kat asked from the side.
The village head turned to look at her. "We are not the most wealthy of villages. We couldn't afford to spend money on something like that. And we could never bother the Lord with a problem this small."
Kat furrowed her brows. "The Guild doesn't cost that much. And if it's serious enough that some of you have to hide I wouldn't call it a small problem."
He stared at her with his mouth open. "T-Thats'...I-I'm..."
Scarlett clicked her tongue. It was clear that he didn't know what to say, so she decided to give him an out. "How long has this problem afflicted the village?" she asked.
The village head turned to her with a slightly relieved face. "Ehm, not that long, my Lady."
"Give me a figure."
He scratched the back of his head. "A few...weeks, maybe?"
She frowned. He was lying. She was pretty sure it was mentioned in the game that the villagers had put up with this for at least a year. And the first time she'd done the questline here in Whistlecreek it had been several months into the game, and by then someone had definitely died. But she wasn't certain how early into the game the quest became available. That first death might not have happened yet in relation to where she was in this world.
She eyed him quietly. "And what do you know of these monsters?"
"Ah, they're wolves of some kind. Very large wolves," he answered. before hesitating. "We, um, we don't know why they suddenly started attacking us." Another lie. "But they come every few days or so."
Scarlett glanced at Kat, seeing a disbelieving expression on the woman's face. "And their haunt," she asked, looking back at the village head. "Do you know where they make their den?"
Sweat ran down the man's face as he shook his head. "No, we have no idea. They just appear from out of nowhere and steal some of our crops before making off into the woods."
She stopped tapping her finger against the table, staring into his eyes. "Are you certain about that? Bear in mind that lying to me can have severe consequences."
She saw him gulp as he lowered his gaze to avoid hers. "Y-Yes, my Lady. I have no idea."
She kept her eyes on him for a while, watching him writhe in discomfort. "Very well," she finally said and rose from her seat. "It appears we will have to find their lair by ourselves then."
His head shot up and he stared at her with wide eyes. "You're going to look for them?!"
"Of course." She smiled. "As I happen to be passing through, it is only right that I lend my aid to the people of Baron Gresham's domain, is it not?"
"Ah, yes, of course," he started mumbling. "B-But it's dangerous. We could never have a noble like you risk themselves just for our sake."
"Was it not you who earlier claimed it was not a significant problem?" Scarlett gestured towards Kat. "Then I imagine I and the Shielder Miss Breeden here will have no issue in handling it."
His head spun to look at Kat. "Y-You're a Shielder?"
She nodded her head. "I am. A problem with that?"
"No, no. Of course not." He shook his head. "Then...that means you would be able to take care of the monsters?"
The Shielder looked at him for a moment. "Probably. I would have to see them first, though."
"I imagine it will not be long until you do," Scarlett said and walked over to one of the doors to look inside. It was a small room with a single bed and a closet in it. "If the residents here can be of no aid in locating their den, we will have to begin our own preparations." She looked back at the village head. "But first, I believe a meal is in order."
After eating—far from the best meal she'd had in this world—Scarlett and the others settled in for the night. She didn't want to risk missing it if the monsters were to attack again that night. While she had been pondering the best way of dealing with that question along with Kat, Garside had offered to stay awake the first few hours in case anything happened, and Kat then volunteered to cover the rest. Scarlett didn't feel quite comfortable asking that of a man his age, but she also didn't want to leave a job like that up to the coachman. And as she had to uphold at least a modicum of her 'haughty noble' performance, she couldn't really take it on herself either. Garside was also quite adamant about the duty, and Kat would be the one who had the toughest hours anyway, so in the end Scarlett had agreed to it. The Shielder had also assured her that she was quite used to surviving on little sleep and that it wouldn't be a problem. She'd mostly recovered from her wounds and could 'stay up for days.'
As such the butler and the Shielder had been on watch duty that night. Unfortunately for them, nothing did happen. So, first thing the next morning, Scarlett had ordered Garside to ask around some as she and Kat made off into the surrounding forest to try and find where the wolves made their home themselves. Though unlike some of the other dungeons and points of interest that she'd found in this world, the den of these monsters wasn't something that she had high hopes of finding just by looking around some. Even in the game it had been a tough find. It was basically a burrow next to some tree somewhere, largely hidden by the forest's undergrowth. She couldn't even remember exactly in which direction it was, just that it was closer to the mountains than it was to the village. Even with her and Kat searching for several hours on end they didn't find any clear traces of it and Scarlett found herself more annoyed than anything.
She knew at least some of the villagers knew where it was. They just didn't want any outsiders to find it because they were scared that people would find what was inside. She could probably have forced it out of the villagers, but she also didn't want to go too far. Not when she could just follow the wolves to it similar to how one could do it in the game. Although, she did lack a good means of tracking them as she did in the game — but she imagined Kat would be able to keep up. She'd asked the woman and it turned out she knew the [Haste] spell. Which was apparently also relatively rare. But it was a very useful spell, even though it wasn't always particularly suited to combat due to it leaving you completely burned out after using it.
They eventually returned to Whistlecreek around noon. Garside had asked around some but none of the villagers were especially open about things so he didn't have any new information beyond what the village head had already told them.
After eating they were supposed to continue their search through the forest, but walking around for hours on end in the forest turned out to be a bit much for Scarlett as she was right now, so Kat went back into the woods herself to resume the search as Scarlett took some rest. She took the opportunity to practice her magic some and get used to her upgraded skill. She picked a spot some distance away from the village and its fields, but she still noticed some of the inhabitants staring at her from a distance. She decided to largely ignore it, though.
[Name: Scarlett Hartford]
[Skills:
[Minor Mana Control]
[Pyromancy]
[Pyrokinesis]
[Minor Hydromancy]
[Traits:
[Dignified August]
[Supercilious]
[Cavalier]
[Callous]
[Overbearing]
[Conceited]
[Third-rate Mana Veins]]
[Mana: 3842/4123]
[Points: 2]
After testing it out, it seemed that the [Hydrokinesis] skill was more effective than its predecessor [Minor Hydrokinesis] by orders of magnitude. Previously the limit on the amount of water she could create at once was maybe close to a pitcher of water. Even less if she wanted great enough control of it to use it with her Aqua Mines. She used to be able to handle roughly three tennis ball-sized Mines, and now she could definitely create more. But she wasn't really sure where the new limit was. When it came to merely creating a batch of water, she managed to create maybe half a bathtub of the clear liquid when she really focused—an increase that was much starker than when she originally upgraded the [Pyrokinesis] skill, though that skill's performance was harder to estimate because it related more to the fire's heat—but it turned out that creating more Mines wasn't merely a matter of how much water she could create. Currently, she found herself losing control of them when she had more than five active at once, and even then they were a little unstable. It seemed it was more a matter of practice now than anything else.
Nonetheless, the upgrade was a welcome addition to her growing repertoire. Later on she hoped to accomplish some impressive things with those two skills of hers, as well as any other tricks she would pick up.
Kat returned later that day towards the evening when the sun began to set once more and most of the village's inhabitants had already returned to their homes. Scarlett was no expert on the matter, but it seemed like there was still much work to be done on the fields for the current harvest. They had a lot of work to catch up with.
Much as expected, Kat hadn't found anything new during her search, so they settled in for the day as one of them kept watch of the fields. The village head was quite nervous all the while, but it was clear that he didn't dare to say anything. Perhaps he was hoping that they'd be able to just take care of the wolves and settle for that.
It had already turned dark when the first sighting happened. Scarlett was sitting nearby the fireplace in the village's manor house reading a book about a rumored 'lost cave'—although it wasn't very rumored to her as she was well aware of its existence, even if it was incredibly hard to reach—in Rellaria Lake by the capital with Garside not far from her when Kat came barging in without so much as a knock.
"They're here," the Shielder said, moving a strand of hair away from her eyes. Now Scarlett understood why the woman usually wore a headband when they went dungeon-trekking.
Scarlett closed the book and put it into the pouch of holding as she rose from her chair and moved towards the door. "Then we will have to move quickly," she said as she tied the pouch to her side. "Our first objective is rebuffing the monsters into the forest. You know what to do after that, Kat." She looked at the woman for a moment, then turned to her butler. "Garside. You are in charge of ensuring the safety of the villagers. Try to make it so that none of them come to any serious harm. We would not want them to complain about our interfering."
He performed a quick bow. "I will do my utmost, my Lady."
She nodded her head. "I expect no less."
They left the house and both Kat and Garside began to run towards the fields. The elderly butler was in surprisingly good shape despite probably nearing his seventies. As for Scarlett, even during circumstances like this running wasn't something she could bring herself to do easily. It wasn't 'dignified', after all. Instead she settled for a rather hurried, but still calm, gait in the direction of her destination. She passed by several houses on the way, and even though it was quite dark outside by now she could still see a few faces looking out at her through the windows.
It took her a few minutes to reach the fields, but she could see and hear some of Kat's magic from a distance. Now and then she also saw sparks of light at other locations which she could only assume was Garside at work. As she neared the simple wooden fence that enclosed some of the fields and the tall stalks beyond them, she saw a pair of large men climb over the fence and run off towards the village. Not all had managed to get away yet, it seemed.
She entered the fields and walked along a path of trampled wheat stalks towards the other end of the field, where recurring bouts of rumblings and the occasional flash suggested Kat was currently fighting off some of the monsters. When Scarlett got close she spotted the Shielder launching a small boulder towards the side of a wolf the size of a pony. It had thick silver-grey fur that almost shone in the fledgling moonlight and displayed fangs the size of her fingers. Scarlett recognized it as a warg.
Honestly, seeing it in person she almost couldn't believe these monsters were only supposed to be level 25 in the game.
Another five of the wargs showed themselves not too far away, in the cover of the trees by the forest edge. All of them seemed injured in some way, either limping slightly or with large gashes on their side. Kat had already done a number on them.
As the last one that Kat had attacked slowly got up from the ground with a whimper, one of the other wargs let out a loud howl. It was soon met up by howls from other parts of the clearing and soon the group of wargs started running off into the cover of the forest.
Scarlett looked towards Kat, who gave her a nod. Immediately after Kat started gesturing with her hands in front of her and a low red-white light shimmered around her for a second. Scarlett saw how the woman's eyes took on a red hue. Then she took off like a bullet into the forest, leaving Scarlett behind.