TEB Ch 97
by STAR“Ah”
Rowena immediately understood the principle and was impressed. Of course, it was a gamble with no guarantees. But as long as Renard was by his side, Liev had judged that there was no need to worry about losing.
The tricks of the imps were only meant to deceive people, and they wouldn’t actually attack or charge. Whether the fairies would fall for Liev’s plan or not was something that could only be determined by trying, and fortunately, it had yielded some results.
“It’s not that much information, but it seems that our next destination might be ‘Pistel Mountain’. Does anyone know where that is?”
Liev had never heard of the place. Mountains could have different names depending on the country, so it could be a location they already knew, or not. For now, he asked his companions, who were more familiar with the local geography, but they all shook their heads.
“Well, I’ve never heard of that name before.”
“Me neither.”
“Maybe it’s a nickname only used in that area?”
First, we decided to go back to the village and among the residents. It was concerning that they still hadn’t found the werewolf’s home base, but if we hadn’t been discovered yet, it meant it was far away from the village. We would have to stay in the village, help with the rebuilding, and wait for the monsters to attack again, all while trying to uncover the truth about Pistel Mountain. Everyone agreed and began to dismantle their temporary base.
“It’s a shame to destroy it, since we worked so hard to build it.”
“It’s better to erase our tracks, just in case there are any remaining soldiers from earlier.”
Even though it wouldn’t matter if the fairies showed what they saw to other intruders, it wouldn’t hurt to be thoroughly prepared just in case. So, as we gathered our belongings one by one we were about to head towards the village.
“Wait, isn’t that a signal fire?”
Albert was the first to notice something strange and report it to everyone else.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked up at the spot Albert was pointing to. Sure enough, faint smoke was rising from the village outskirts.
“Did something happen?”
“Let’s hurry!”
Renard considered transforming and carrying everyone to fly, but the dense forest blocked their path in all directions, making it impossible unless he was willing to destroy the entire mountain in his ascent. Renard could manage to carry one person or so while flying alone, but it was physically impossible to lift this many people in his human form.
“Renard, can you see what’s happening ahead?”
When Liev asked in surprise, without any time to be frightened by the fast-paced scene that passed by in an instant, Renard responded with a somewhat dark expression.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like there is any sense of trouble inside the village. They’ve locked the gates. The problem is…”
“…!”
Renard furrowed his brows before he could finish his sentence. What was going on? It was strange how he, who usually remained calm and collected, was now hesitating to speak. Instead of answering, Renard let out a roar that could be heard larger than the radius of the village.
“…!?”
What is it, really? Liev was startled by Renard’s actions, jumping straight into action without offering any explanation. Renard carefully set Liev down on the watchtower of the fortress and pointed downward.
“Good thing we’re not too late.”
Where Renard was pointing, there was a guard frantically swinging his spear at the monsters to protect a panicked child. In front of them was a formation of the same monsters they had seen in the earlier hallucination.
“G-get back!”
Despite being terrified, the guard was determined to protect the child. But it didn’t seem to have much effect, though. Thanks to Renard’s roar that caught the attention of the monsters, the monsters threatening them became confused, no longer knowing what to do.
“I’ll go down there.”
As he saw the situation in the direction Renard pointed, he jumped down under the watchtower as if he knew what he wanted to do without being told to do so. The monsters, finally realizing the identity of the threat from above, started to change their formation in order to run away. Watching this from above, Liev shouted to Renard with a sense of unease.
“Wait for a sec! Don’t attack them yet!”
Why do I have such a bad feeling about this? Something was bothering me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. There were a total of eight wolf monsters. Each one was large, bigger than the average calves. The one in the front was probably the leader, followed by a female, and then the others arranged by their strength and hunting abilities, regardless of gender. Normally, hunting abilities are proportional to size, so it was safe to assume they were arranged in order of size. But these creatures were different.
The one in the front seemed like the leader, but behind it were smaller creatures lined up in a row, followed by what seemed to be the strongest female and male in the last row. Did the female give birth? If that were the case, they wouldn’t have included her in the attack on the village. Although it was a bit of a stretch, pregnant individuals were valuable resources to both animals and monsters and had to be protected at all costs.
So, the only possible explanation was… Liev, who had been running towards the group from a distance, shouted to them.
“Check the right side based on the direction you are currently facing! I have a feeling there is something lying in ambush!”
There was only one thing that could be suspected. There must be something they need to protect over there. Upon Liev’s request, the group ran in that direction, and the wolves, who had been trying to attack the child and the guards just a moment ago, now ran towards the group all at once to stop them. Renard, the biggest threat, didn’t seem to care and just left them alone.
“…..?”
Renard looked at Liev with an expression as if asking what he was up to, but Liev quickly responded,
“I’ll explain later! Let’s focus on that direction for now.”
And then, as if something had really been there in that direction, the most agile member of the party, Katrice, leapt high and began sprinting away. The monsters followed right behind him. Liev immediately intended to tell Renard to follow, but then he hesitated as he noticed two people trembling behind him.
“Ah…”
Considering the size of the group and the strength of the heroes, it did not seem it would be a big threat. And with Sigrid there, there shouldn’t be any problems, even if more enemies join in.
“What do we do now?”
Renard asked as he looked at Liev. Liev first went over to check on the two people’s condition.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The child then burst into tears and hugged Liev. The child was about eight years old, and its small body, only reaching Liev’s waist, was shaking with sobs. Seeing this, Liev’s heart ached. While patting the child’s shoulder to comfort him, he glanced at the guard. The guard let out a hollow laugh. Seeing this, Liev’s heart ached. While patting the child’s shoulder to comfort him, he glanced at the guard, who looked as if he had lost his mind.
“Ha, ha-ha… I-I survived…”
Then, as if he had regained his composure, he repeatedly bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.
“I felt like I was really about to die and saw the afterlife before my eyes, wondering if I was really going to die. Thank you so much!”
Despite the gratitude, the person couldn’t hide the lingering expression of distress, indicating the shock was quite severe.
“Are the people in the village okay?”
The guard nodded his head slowly.
“Luckily, we closed the village gates right away, so there shouldn’t be any damage inside. Would you like to go inside and check it out together?”
Liev nodded in agreement with the guard’s suggestion.
“Yes, there’s no need to worry about that side. They are the best warriors in the kingdom.”
There’s no way something could happen to the main character, Liev thought, recalling Sigrid’s characteristic cheeky but relaxed smile. The village was surrounded by very old walls and was larger than expected. Everyone had locked their doors and hidden because of the monsters, resulting in a cold and desolate scene with no signs of life. There were no indications of the demon creatures’ attack, such as bloodstains or claw marks. However, here and there were scars that had not been repaired from previous attacks.