Chapter 17: Worries [1]
The atmosphere around the knight’s stone courtyard turned stale. The chilly night breeze blew and pricked the stiff faces of the soldiers, waking them up from their shock. With a shudder, they looked at each other, asking the pale pals on their side if they heard the words right.
An eerie silence grasped the soldier by the throat. Never did they imagine they were going to face an infamous beast like the Death wolves. The dimming lights coming from the burning torches illuminated their ashen faces. Indeed, tonight was unlucky.
The soldiers felt their hearts hammering until they missed its normal rhythm. The excitement in their faces a few minutes ago vanished like smoke. Strained brow and shocked faces replaced their previous giddy smile. Some even rubbed and checked their ears, hoping that they might have heard it wrong.
They cast a dumbfounded gaze towards Knight Levo. Their mouths hang wide open. Confused, they all wished to hear the words of the knight again.
Word by word, syllables per syllables. The knight uttered his words again.
“... De-ath wol-ves.”
Confirming that they heard it right, signs of deep uneasiness fell over their faces. Soon enough, the soldiers’ faces shifted into a deep scowl, like they just ate poop.
The old soldier called Klepas, who was arguing just a moment ago, shifted his eyes to the side. He sent a fiery gaze towards his old nemesis. Klepas kicked the middle-aged soldier named Levi, the one who was playing with his blade.
Klepas then pulled a long face, his face seething with annoyance and blame. He gritted his teeth. “You fool and your mouth!"
He was like an old kingdom censor, ready to take a bite out of an official.
“See? I told ya’ you’ll jinx it.” The old soldier, Klepas, murmured in an exasperated tone.
“I’ll tell the knight to put ya’ in the front later, you jinx. I’ll let the death wolves do my job.” His voice loud enough to let the nearby soldiers hear him. “I’ll get them to cut your dumb arse with their bloody claws.”
Hearing the hidden threat of the old soldier Klepas, the soldier called Levi frowned. He threw a sharp, mocking gaze at the old man. He knew he would be in the vanguards even before the knight announced anything.
After all, his specialty was direct melee battles and hand-to-hand combat. His skills had already set his fate in stone, even before the battle began. He raised his eyebrows and flashed a sneer. His arched lips made the old man fume like a volcano.
Perhaps it’s one symptom of the elderly catching up with the old man. Levi kept his mouth shut and let nature run its course.
He thought that arguing with this senile old man would only waste his spit. Of course, he would drag his old bestie into the front lines along with him.
After all, he needs an excellent assistant in the vanguards, Levi thought, as he laughed in his mind.
Old Klepas deemed Levi’s silence as a sign that he had one him up this time. A happy and triumphant smile bloomed on his face as he turned towards the other soldiers with his chest up.
The other soldiers knew the love-hate relationship between the two. A lot of pearly whites grinned. It seemed like there would be something nice to watch later. With the two here, there would be no boring days spent.
Everyone knew Levi was one of the best vanguards. A master of bladed weapons.
Old Klepas was one of the best rearguards in the Knight’s regiment. Leaving your back to him would be the safest way to battle without worrying about any sneak attacks. Despite their always at odds relationship, these two guys had spent a lot of time on the battlefield. Their strange trust in each other on the battlefield had already turned into second nature to them. One could describe their relationship as frenemies.
“Cough! What’s with those sore looks on your faces?" The knight chided, his eyes unsettled, glancing unceremoniously at his stumped soldiers.
Knight Levo knew that his men had just arrived, still tired from the long march. Yet, he was now here, requiring them to battle against a pack of bloodthirsty beasts. He felt a little guilt coursing through his muscles. Of course, only a little.
“It’s not like your first time facing those kinds of beasts,” said the knight, though not before looking away. He shifted his line of sight to avoid the gaze of the stiff-faced soldiers. He let out a cough. "It's only Death wolves. Not a big deal."
The eyes of the veterans twitched in response. Remembering their past exploits with the Knight, they knew his strengths and weaknesses.
During the last monster campaign, they had only encountered one or two lone death wolves. Killing those Death wolves was even pain in the neck because of its wariness and cunning mind.
Another thing that ticked them off was… the soldiers had never encountered a ‘pack’ of death wolves in their whole life! As far as they could remember, a death wolf pack would be at least 20 or more wolves during their hunt.
A veteran soldier sighed and looked at Auburn. "How many?"
"Well, a small army at least." The body of the old veteran shook before shutting his trap.
“Well, the number would even increase depending on the alpha wolf’s ability.” Auburn flinched as met the sharp gazes that were getting thrown at him.
An army-like pack of wolves with such a sly mind. Tsk, the soldiers felt cold sweat flowing on their backs.
“Fine, fine! Don’t worry I'll make sure that only a few of you will di—I mean to get hurt.” The knight said in a grumbling tone, yet he could not even look at the pricking eyes of his soldiers.
“I’ll protect you guys at the best of my abilities.”
“…”
Seeing the blank looks aimed at his husband, the madam couldn’t help but interject and assist the knight. “I already ordered the best supper you could get this night. Eat all you can Deviltusk boar meat buffet! Fill yourselves up!”
The madam’s words looked like this would be their last supper. Are we getting fattened up before slaughter? Please don’t raise some shitty flags for us! The thought itself sent another shiver into their spine.
“...”
“Oh, I almost forgot I’ll also watch your backs.” The madam added a sincere smile appearing on her face.
The words coming from the mouth of the knight and the madam didn’t help anyone. No one here wanted to die yet.
They all knew that when the battle starts, the knight would forget everything he said just now. Well, at least they know the Madam would watch their asses, cough, they mean their backs.
It would at least make their backs claw and bite-proofed. With the madam as the rearguard, they could avoid any possible sly sneak attacks from the Death wolves. After all, perhaps she knew it even better than the Death wolves.
The soldiers knew the Knight would focus more on killing the monsters. The one leading the men during the battle. He could not cover everything for everyone, leaving the unlucky ones to their own devices in the end.
The knight would at most be in the frontline along with his close men, giving them some leeway to breathe in relief.
“Anyway, let me introduce to you the lucky guys who discovered the roaming bastards.” The knight said, an idea flashing in his eyes. He pointed at the monocled esquire. “There were two lucky guys that made substantial contributions tonight. The first one is still lying in bed, you know whom I mean right?”
“...”
That lucky bastard. The soldiers rolled their eyes and their livers ached. There was one thought roaming in their minds. ‘I wished I was also beaten up!’
Because of his injuries, Davin would be out of service for a few days, making the old veterans quite envious of him.
“Though, most of the credit goes to young Auburn,” Levo added as he walked towards the monocled guy. His enormous hands tapped the seemingly feeble shoulders of Auburn as if he was passing all the responsibility to his esquire.
Auburn choked.
Levo wanted to share some hate with Auburn by giving him some torch of responsibility. It made the esquire’s well-ironed coat-tail cringed.
“Alright, everyone! Let’s give this cute bastard a round of applause, please!”
“Clap. Clap. Clap...”
A series of forced and dull claps reverberated in the stone courtyard. The soldiers’ loose claps, along with piercing glares, clogged some dried spit on Auburn’s throat.
Despite knowing that the esquire man was innocent, and his discovery had saved them. Some of them still couldn’t help themselves but cursed the man’s luck. Out of all kinds of beasts and monsters, why the heck did his luck chose Death wolves?
It could be iron-hide panthers, Deviltusk boars, man-eating salamanders. No one will even take a step back. Swamp lizards, goblins, orcs, and damn! His luck just had set on for Death wolves. All they could do now was throw some stony gaze towards the Auburn.
Who could blame them, right?
Gulp.
Seeing the not so amicable and somewhat pricking gazes, Auburn stiffened. His eyes twitched. He wanted to explain that it was Davin who brought those damn Death wolves’ feces to him. He was innocent. He only analyzed the poop as a hunter under the madam’s order.
“I...”
He was about to explain everything to the soldiers when...
“Ahem! As for the strategies, we already prepared a general plan,” said Knight Levo. “Leine will later explain everything on how we will handle the Death wolves. You can fork out some pennies in your mind for our strategy. If it’s good enough, Leine will relay the message to me. Understood?”
“Yes, Lord Knight!” The soldiers bellowed in chorus.
“Bose!”
“I am here, my Lord,” answered the village chief as sweat formed in his eyebrows. He was still gasping after running to the manor. He had heard everything.
The news left his palms sweaty. His heart filled with anxiety. He tapped his forehead and felt like a new stress-related wrinkle was about to show up tonight.
The knight and the madam looked at each other and sighed. The madam spoke. “Come with us inside the house.”
The old village chief knew the dangers that Death wolves could bring. A disaster.
