Chương 56: Chapter 55: Hurkle Durkle

When I awoke, I did so in nearly perfect blackness. Where was I? The darkness wasn't as impenetrable as it first seemed though, I could... see things that I could smell around me, and hear my own heartbeat like a kind of radar, giving me echoing outlines of the tomblike stillness of what looked to be a bauer with the help of my Wolf-Ren, the synesthetic sensory skill I'd cultivated over my time in the World so far.

Things were starting to return to me, bit by bit, and I made sense of the confused images arrayed before my mind's eye as my senses presented the results of my inquiry. My body was aching in the chest and covered in softness. My nose reported that I could smell something cool and feminine and... sweet. Gelidia was near me somewhere close by. Where? In my arms, as it happened. The echo of my heartbeat didn't show her though... only my nose did.

"Emily?" Gelidia's voice came. With no other sound to change it, it sounded very bold in the darkness. Not loud, but... there was little else to occupy my senses, and with them came waves of noise that reverberated from the woman in my arms, green, shimmering lights that I could see. I tried to speak, but all I got was a kind of dry croaking noise. Gelidia shifted position a bit, accompanied by soft fabric rustles, and picked up something glass from a surface near the bed and pressed something into my hands.

It was cool, and it had moisture on it - sweat. I shifted and sat up a little, and cool, gentle hands helped me to do so.

"Drink, sweet-heart." Gelidia instructed and after a couple false starts, I managed to bring the glass to my lips and take a pull of it. Once I had, I began to feel a bit better. Still though, when my voice came, it sounded rough.

"Thank you... where am I?" I asked.

"My suite. I... hope you don't mind, but we - um, the staff and I - we cleaned you up and dressed you. Your scar is almost totally gone now, by the way. It's just pink flesh now... but it's much more visible when you're changed" she said, as if... nervous I'd be upset at her. I pet over the softness of the sleep dress and smiled a little.

"Thank you... scar?" I asked.

"You... don't remember? You got... stabbed through the chest and Felorikaan had to work on you?" Gelidia said, and another round of hideous recollection came back to me. I winced and made an unhappy noise.

"I remember." I winced"... Ow." Gelidia smiled - I could hear it in her voice as she said"How are you feeling?" I sipped the water again. It was... so good. Ice cold, clean, and just about the best thing I'd ever tasted in that moment. I didn't stop until it was gone and my throat had dragged every last drop into me. Gelidia took the glass from me with patient fingers, and refilled it from what turned out to be a ewer on a bedside table. I suddenly...

realized how thirsty I was, and drank it down again twice more before my thirst relented. When I spoke next, my voice was much more normal.

"B-better now... thank you." I said, and she accepted the glass from me to set it beside the bed once again.

"Are you hungry, my love?" She asked, and a beast roused in me, terrible as anything. Her ears perked in my mind's eye, her heavy head lifting and tilting eagerly, a very doglike expression on her broad snout! It was such a strong mental image it couldn't have been anything but my Wolf's actual reaction. Oh. Right. I was a werewolf. It wasn't that the Wolf inside me occupied physical space...

it was just that I could so vividly imagine the large golden beast lounging so comfily on the bed beside us that I could nearly reach out and touch her if I held my eyes shut. I smiled and nodded.

"Yes... very." I said, and Gelidia helped me to sit up in bed before... a tray was set there! Oh! In the darkness, I saw as a cover was lifted from a bowl and the scent of pumpkin soup with potato gnocchi and homemade baguettes hit me full-on in the face! The Wolf in me gave an eager noise, and before I knew I was even doing it I had the bread snatched in my hand and plunging into the cold soup. I took a big bite from it with a growl and tore the chunk loose, swallowing it whole as the flavors met my tongue!

It was even better cold and congealed around its flavors than it had been when it was fresh, I felt, but I was no judge at all in that moment. I completely forgot about anything else for several seconds after that, and when I next came back to myself, I found that the baguette was mostly gone and I was mopping up the soup from the bottom of the bowl, chasing gnocchis around with the bread, and there wasn't much left.

My face was a mess, too - and a gnocchi had rolled onto my chest, another couple in the bed with me. I blinked. Dang, okay. GOOD FOOD my Wolf said MORE I seconded that, with feeling! I scooped up the bed gnocchis and the boob gnocchi and let them rejoin their kin before tipping the bowl back and gromf-nomfing them down with the last of the bread. When I looked around at Gelidia, it was to find her staring at me, her eyes wide, but not frightened or displeased. Just... shocked! I blushed a little...

and realized I was a bit sticky! The shade produced a handkerchief she'd had ready, and began to clean me up with the care one might use for an invalid or a child. I let her without complaint, my golden eyes staring into her blank ghostly gaze with quiet affection and slight embarrassment.

"I guess you were! How about now?" She asked, and my belly gave a rumble! It was clear that my hunger hand only been roused by the meal so far! She blinked, and smiled at me.

"Sorry... I'm... I feel like I haven't eaten in a week." I said softly.

"Is there... more?" Gelidia smiled even more and kissed my forehead.

"Certainly my hound!" my own personal ghostly angel of mercy said"I'll see to it." and she got up. My wolf made an unhappy noise with my throat, and she glanced at me with a soft giggle, but still moved to the door. When she opened it, someone was waiting to take instruction from her. They had a quiet conversation in hushed tones, but I missed none of it.

"She's awake. Nip along to the kitchen, and have them send up another couple of bowls of the stew and another three baguettes, will you? Are there any soup bones?" she asked, and the baffled guard replied"N-no, your Grace, this dish had no meat, I... I don't think there are any fresh bones in the castle at all." he replied, and she nodded at him.

"Off you go then" and she returned to me. BEST Oh yeah, she knows us. One very large meal later, my hunger finally abated and I felt right as rain as Gelidia held my head in her lap. I felt great - I could lie flat again, and a ginger inspection of my chest found it mended, just... slightly tender, but only slightly.

I'd emptied a total of three bowls of soup and three and a half of the four total baguettes foisted upon me before the war of the soup was over, and rather than feeling like I might explode I merely felt pleasantly satisfied as my favorite person in the whole world pet my head and brushed my hair while we relaxed in bed together.

"Thank you, Emily" the shade said"For... keeping your word to me, for helping me, for... for being here." she said.

"I'm... so grateful to you, and... I don't know what I would have done if we'd never met" she said.

"You're so welcome!" I said, and reached up to pet her cheek.

"I said I would, after all." She held my hand against her face, her cool flesh sweetly smooth against my skin as she cried a very real tear onto my wrist, her hair brushing over my face.

"I... I know you said you would, but... so much happened between the swearing and the doing. It turned out to be... so much more than I ever thought it would be" she said"And... and I'm sometimes not the easiest person to get along with, Emily. Yet, here you are... caring about me, loving me, and... and protecting me." she said, and a teardrop - an honest to goodness teardrop that was cool like rain - fell on my forehead.

"Of course" I said softly, and nuzzled up to kiss her cheeks, to wick away her tears.

"You're my friend, Gelidia... more than that, I'm ostensibly your consort, right? Of course I care about you - anyone who wants to hurt you will have two very angry people - a woman and a wolf - ready to unscrew their heads for them." I said, and the mental image of that seemed to get to her. She let out a huff of laughter amidst the tears, and her smile wasn't hard to see at all in my Wolf-Ren. I sat up a bit, turning in her lap, and bore her down to the bed beneath me!

Her giggle terminated in a squeek of shock, and I held her tight in a great big hug that squished her against my chest as I pinned her beneath me. She didn't hesitate at all - just held on tight to me and accepted it. I don't know how long we laid like that, just holding each other in the quiet, but I heard no complaints at all from my wolf. She was so soft, and her body was cool to the touch. Not cold, not chilly, but...

cool, like the cool side of a pillow, and it was persistent as she supported my weight, real as anything in my arms.

"Would it be... alright, if I looked at some of my notifications?" I asked, and Gelidia nodded against me. I rolled to the side, then to my back, and... took her with me! She squeeked in surprise as she found herself laying sideways against my chest, but quickly settled in with a soft, happy noise, her head laying on my breast over my heart.

"Mmmh! Go ahead hon, I'm... here, if you have any questions or something." She said, and I kissed her forehead. Alright then. I turned my attention once again to my notifications, and let them flow over me. Ding Ding Ding! Your [LIFE] Peasant Core has reached level 8! You have gained 1 Peasant skill point Health +10, Stamina +15 Ding Ding Ding! Your [MONSTER] Lycanthrope Core has reached level 8!

You have gained 1 Lycanthrope skill point Health +10, Stamina +10, Mana +5 The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. That made how many times my Peasant and Lycanthrope cores had leveled in lock step? I felt a rush of tingles flow through me and let out a happy sigh as a pleasant warm feeling spread to the furthest extent of my frame! Oh yeah, that was the stuff! Gelidia blinked at me!

"You just got goosebumps and shuddered! Are you alright?" she asked, and I nodded.

"I leveled up!" I said! She blinked at me, then chuckled"What, just now? Did you level from cuddles?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Nono, I have a bunch of notifications waiting for me - I just put 'em off until now." I explained, and Gelidia sat up to blink into my eyes.

"You... held off on leveling up? I didn't even know you COULD do that! Who does that?" She asked incredulously, and, still grinning like a loon, I jabbed my thumb at myself. The Shade chuckled, settling against me again.

"That... brings you to eight, right?" She said, and I nodded at her.

"... I leveled too, after the fight." She said, and her smile turned a little sad. I had questions for her, as it turned out!

"What... ARE your levels now?" I asked.

"I'm level fifteen in Wind Sage, and level eight in Shade." She said promptly.

"I was level seven for a bit in that... but the fight in the kitchen pushed me over for that." she explained.

"You get a leverage in magic from Lycanthrope, right?" she asked, and I nodded.

"What leverage do your classes give you again?" I asked, and she snuggled in against me.

"Shade gives me three leverage in magic, and two in health. Sage gives me three in magic, and one each in health and stamina." she said.

"What were yours again?" She asked"Lycanthrope gives me two in health and stamina, one in mana, but Peasant gives me two in health, and three in stamina - no magic. Means my new stats are-" I checked, and related them to her in turn. [Health: 260/260] [Stamina: 300/300] [Mana: 140/140] She nodded.

"We took your collar off you when you were unconscious, we... were sort of concerned that you were investing mana when you were bleeding it." She explained. I nodded at her. It made sense.

"My health is three hundred and ten, my stamina is a hundred and forty, and my mana is four hundred and thirty." she said.

"Holy cow that's a lot of mana. But I suppose... with your two cores, that makes a lot of sense. Did I tell you I got a magic skill for Peasant?" I asked, and she BLINKED At me again.

"If you did, I'd forgotten! Really? What's it called?" and I told her.

"Braucherei is such a strange skill. I wonder why your synergy gave you THAT of all things?." She said.

"You've heard about it before?" I asked, and she nodded.

"It's folk magic" Gelidia sighed"It is based on investing mana into creatures and objects to work very simple sympathetic spells and remedies." she said"In my education it was just a point of interest as a predecessor to modern runecraft, but I do know it's not a sophisticated form of magic." she said, and sighed, adding"That said... it can be very useful if you use it well, I understand. I've heard that a skilled practitioner can act as a town's healer and mystic defenses all rolled into one.

It's not as good as an alchemist at making medicine and it's not as good as a sage for working forces, but its strength lies in its flexibility."

"Neat! That sounds like it will be useful." I said cheerily, and she smiled at me.

"I'll teach you what I know about it and help you cultivate it. Normally it's just a Life-magic skill - I'm curious what your version will be like, and how it will be different" she said. I kissed her temple, gave her a squeeze, and let the next notification come. You have learned a new skill: [COMBAT, MAGIC] Wind Shear [COMBAT, MAGIC] Wind Shear, Rank F: 0% - You can use mana to move wind with your body. I furrowed my brow. Huh. Good thing I had an expert on wind magic at hand!

"I just got a Wind skill - Wind Shear." I said, and Gelidia nodded like it wasn't really anything strange.

"I guess I'm not too surprised - even if it's normally for Armigers. The Wind Cuff knights get that as one of their skills. It's actually how Gotthardt could do the things he did. At rank C, it lets you sort of create air charges to push yourself around with, like he was doing." she said. That was neat! Into the toolbox it went!

"I've never had the skill, but Sir Little has or, possibly had it, and I've seen lots of knights using and training it." How many skills did I have now? I checked my character sheet.

Name: Emily Goldtail the Twice-Cursed, Hound of Lambstock / (Emily Smith) Race: Human, Lycanthrope Class: [LIFE] Peasant Status: Healthy Skill Slots: 0/0 Skills: Floating Skill Point: 1 [LIFE] Peasant level 8 Peasant skill points: 3 Skills: [LIFE] Inspect, Rank C: 80% [CRAFTING] Toolmaking, Rank D: 40% [LIFE] Cookery, Rank B: 40% [LIFE, SYNERGY] Samu, Rank D: 70% [LIFE, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Sohei, rank C: 90% [LIFE, MAGIC, SYNERGY] Braucherei, rank E: 0% [MONSTER] Lycanthrope level 8 Lycanthrope skill points: 0 Skills: [MONSTER, SYNERGY] Bestial Vitality, Rank B: 100% [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation, Rank B: 20% [MONSTER, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Bestial Might, Rank C: 100% [MONSTER, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Wolf-Ren, Rank C: 0% [COMBAT, SYNERGY] Unarmed Combat Proficiency, Rank F: 0% [COMBAT, MAGIC] Wind Shear, Rank F: 0%\"What's...

a floating skill point?" I asked.

"I mean, I can kind of guess but I've never seen one before." I said Gelidia smiled a little.

"Most people never will. When a dungeon has never been explored before, or if it's been long-lost and forgotten, the World will give out floating skill points. You can... sort of spend them on any of your cores. I'm going to save the one I got for something special" she explained. I'd take her example, for sure. Finally, I considered the last remaining notification I had. Will you evolve [COMBAT, SYNERGY] Unarmed Combat Proficiency?

[Hound Fang Style / Brutal Savagery / No]"I have a choice of a couple evolutions of a new skill I could take. So, I got Unarmed Combat Proficiency - it's a combat synergy skill. It says I could choose to take Hound Fang style or Brutal Savagery, or decline to evolve it." I said as Gelidia listened. She looked thoughtful before speaking up"You... should probably evolve it, I think, evolved skills tend to be stronger overall, with more potential. This one sounds like it wants to give you a combat style.

Do you get to know anything else about them?" she asked, and I thought about it. I found that... I could look ahead of my choice! That was neat! [ANIMAL, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Hound Fang Style - A canine martial art that emphasizes mobility, body checks, and the use of fangs. [MONSTER, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Brutal Savagery - Use your incredible strength to rip and tear your enemies to pieces. Yikes. But I shared the descriptions. Gelidia hummed thoughtfully, tapping her chin a little before rolling her shoulder in a shrug.

"I'm not sure... they're both... WAIT, did you say, an animal skill? You got an animal skill? A canine martial art?" she asked, incredulous! Then,"Dogs have martial arts?!" That WAS wild, now that I came to think about it.

"I guess so! I... don't like the idea of ripping someone apart, though." I said, and she gave me a look, raising an eyebrow. I blushed a little"It's... not like it's a habit or something. I realize I'm two-for-four on the arm-ripping thing, but I don't... want to rip people to pieces." I said.

"Sounds like you've got your choice right there then, Emily!" She said, and kissed me, grinning. I had a feeling she'd make a dog joke or something about it later.

"It will be interesting to see how you'll use it when you're human-shaped." Gelidia said, and I nodded as I chose. [ANIMAL, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Hound Fang Style, Rank F: 0% - A canine martial art that emphasizes mobility, body checks, and the use of fangs. And that was still not it. There was one more. The Town Of Lambstock has been re-established!

The current ruler is Duchess Gelidia Windbinder The current town Burgermeister is James Stockpot The current Alderman of the Merchant District is Albert Albertson The current Guard Captain is Walton Wardsmouth This town has a Dungeon: Windbinder Keep Population: 765 Current Status: Damaged At last, I'd run to the edge of the notifications, and sighed.

"And Lambstock is yours! I'm no longer the only citizen, too!" I said"What's a burgermeister?" I asked.

"Oh - a mayor. The actual day to day running of the town goes to him. The Alderman is kind of his intermediary with the merchants and their direct concerns, the captain of the guard just keeps peace and... well, they do what I say, now, broadly speaking. Really though... the best thing I can do is not bump their elbows too much and give them high-level instructions overall." she said.

"So... who does the Law answer to? Who makes the call when someone breaks the law?" I asked, and she sighed.

"Usually? The burgermeister and the captain will put their heads together, but sometimes..." she SIGHED mightily.

"Sometimes it'll have to be me. I'll have to settle it sometimes, and when that happens, it's always a fiddly matter of legality versus right or wrong." she buried her face into my left breast and groaned. I pet her head.

"There there... you can be the ultimate authority later, when you're up for it." I said, and she groaned again.

"I'd -much- rather lay in bed all day with you." she said softly, and I smiled a little.

"There's worse things than a good Hurkle Durkle. These beds are good for that!" I said with a grin! She looked at me without in any way lifting her face from my booba.

"... Hurkle Durkle?" she asked, muffled somewhat.

"Yup. It means 'to lay around in bed when you know you should be doing something but its just so perfect here and you don't wanna move' in my world. It's another country's phrase, but it's a good one."

"Hurkle Durkle. I like it. Let's hurkle durkle, and..." she bit her bottom lip, and sat up a bit. She shifted... and moved so she could hike up our night dresses and straddle my hips.

"... see if we can figure out something to talk about?" Woof! YES PLEASE