Chương 60: Chapter 58: No Wolf Smuggling!

The kitchen was more or less how I'd left it when I set out what felt like a week ago to tackle the dungeon. It wasn't unchanged - things were scoured clean and seasoned because Alfredo knew his former trade, and not a speck of rust or dust or dirt was to be found - but it was still what had been my little home since I'd gotten here all those nights ago. On automatic, I set about getting some of the rice going, and checking on the foodstuffs I'd stored.

They'd been sitting a couple days, but it was only slightly wilted and the jerky of course that I'd dried from the venison - if you can call that jerky - was fine. So, venison pilaf, only instead of reheated leftovers, this would be fresh!

"So what did you guys want to ask me?" I asked politely, smiling as I set the dried meat to simmer.

"Well we were gonna ask for this, first thing." Torch said, and put his feet up on the table as he leaned back in his chair. Roxala gave him a blank look, but didn't seem to object to his comment in the least. She just added to it.

"We were wondering if you'd trade us some more provisions. Our stuff will hold out, but it's hardly anything good and we'd much prefer your cooking and ingredients over hard tack and boiled leaf brick juice." She said.

"Ah! Well... I'm definitely game to supply you guys, that's no problem at all, but I actually wanted to ask you something. We..." I glanced at Gelidia, and she nodded.

"... We both do" I said, and leaned against the countertop to face the trio.

"See, we need to make contact with the Republic - we want to open trade routes and set things up for diplomacy, since Lambstock is a town again. So, since Gelidia and I are both new to the world as it is, and we have no idea how to get around the Republic... we were hoping that maybe you'd like some company?" For a few moments as Roxala chewed it over, the only sound in the kitchen was Torch adjusting in his seat to get comfy and the skillet simmering.

The Orcish Shieldmaiden was calm as anything, and her heart beat steadily as her brow beetled a bit. Eventually though, she nodded.

"I think so, yeah" She said"You need to realize there will be trouble though... this won't be an easy sell." She said, and looked directly at me.

"Werewolves are officially Monsters. Ghosts at least have the benefit of being semi-common and not particularly threatening. A werewolf though? That's a problem people tend to think needs dealing with, seeing that the curse can spread so easily." She explained.

"If somebody comes after you, I'm not sure how much help the Wayfinders will be able to be." She said grimly, and I felt a pit open up in my tummy.

"Well, then again I am certain that once I bring my findings back, and if the Council of Wayfinders can confirm them, they might well weigh in on her side here. I mean." Fel spread his arms, smiling "We saw what she could do - imagine the possibilities, the benefit to society? To the Werewolves themselves, if Lycanthropy could be stabilized?" he said "And the Ghosts! And Skeletons! The undead are a real problem in parts of the world - imagine being able to get a second chance like Gelidia got?"

he said, and gestured to the Duchess in question, who simply smiled. Roxala was off the edge of the world without a map and it told on her face, even as she managed to nod, albeit reluctantly.

"What kind of... confirmation would we be talking about?" Gelidia asked with no small amount of concern. Fel took a moment to gather his thoughts as he considered it carefully.

"I think they would want to observe you, miss Emily, and test your control. That would... probably take something like a week's time, seeing as the findings would need to be confirmed by a majority of the senior members and wizards in the guild. But. If they did bring you support, they would also offer you a very broad avenue of approach to the Republic itself, with respected names and stalwart supporters. I'm not exaggerating - this will be huge." he explained, and grinned broadly. Torch thumped the table once.

"If it means we get to eat something other than hard tack and keep our friends safe at the same time, I'm all for it." he said.

"Besides. We could just not tell folks what you are until we get somewhere official-ish." Roxala almost growled and said"No, we could not!" She was almost shouting at this point, pointing at me"We'd be bringing a potentially hostile and dangerous magical creature into cities and letting her interact with people who could not defend themselves! That's how some people would see it. Not to mention the legal ramifications here - if it got out that we'd snuck her in, the Republic would string us up!"

She growled and tch'ed as she sat back.

"No. We do this above board and in the light. No wolf-smuggling!" Roxala growled.

"Heh. Wolf Smuggling." Torch chuckled, and Fel nodded at the knight genially.

"Alright then, I think that can be arranged. In exchange, you'll provide us with provisions for the journey?" Fel asked, and I nodded.

"I can do that. Doesn't seem totally fair though, I mean, you're doing us a big favor, aren't you?" I asked, and Roxala gave a mirthless chuckle.

"A bit." she growled in understatement, but shrugged.

"It's for the best." She said, and passed me a bag of coins that I blinked at, and then at her. It wasn't a ton of coins, but it was a fair few, enough to make a satisfying thunk. After opening it, and discovering eighteen silver pieces, and twelve copper pieces, I blinked at Roxala curiously.

"For your time." she explained"You were more than a guide, you were a full participant, and I'm paying you as an outside contractor. I might have something else to ask you later on, but I need to report back before I do." she said firmly.

"Standard rate for a hired expert that took a cut of the spoils of the dungeon already." she said. I nodded at her and gave a big grin!

"Thanks! Ten silver pieces is a gold piece, right?" I asked, and Fel shook his head.

"No, a hundred. Ten copper make a silver though." he said. I nodded at that.

"Got it" I said and Fel smiled a little.

"No trouble. I gather you are used to the concept of money, but how does the money you are used to differ from this currency?" he asked, and the sudden change of gears caught me a little off-guard. I blinked at him!

"Oh! Uh, a cent is one hundredth of a dollar, a nickel is five cents, a dime is ten cents, a quarter is twenty five cents, and then there's a dollar. Most things would cost five dollars or more." I said.

"I could get a loaf of bread, when I was little, for a buck-fifty" I said without thinking, and then corrected myself"A dollar and a half, I mean" I explained to the small circle of confused people.

"So... did you have bigger dollar pieces?" Torch asked "Like... nickel-dollars?" and I shook my head.

"Nono, just... different bills. A five dollar bill, a ten, a twenty, a fifty, and a hundred."

"Bills?" Roxala asked suspiciously"Like, paper money made with special paper and waterproof-sorta printing." I explained. Fel blinked at that.

"Ah. Promissory notes as a currency." he commented.

"We made coins for the stuff under a dollar, and sometimes we'd make special coins that were worth a dollar or more, too. most people just used the dollar bills and coins though." I explained. How did we get on this topic again?

"Why do you ask?" I asked, and Fel shrugged.

"I was simply curious. You're from a whole other world, it's interesting to hear about differences like that, at least to me." Roxala grunted.

"Anyhow. Provisions?" She asked, ever the practical lady.

"I'll head out into the woods a bit to forage, and I'll hunt tonight. I might try to talk to Albertson about getting some yeast and a few other things too." I said.

"We'll stay the night here then, the bedrolls are just fine on the floor in here." Roxala grunted with a nod. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Alfredo stuck out his chin and stepped forward.

"I wouldn't hear of it. No, we just replaced the mattresses in several of the intact rooms and cleaned them up. I believe you'll find them quite acceptable." he said. Roxala glanced at him and then lifted her chin a little.

"Yeah?" she asked, and Alfredo crossed his arms.

"what will that cost us?"

"Tonight? For you? Nothing. You are the Duchess's party, and she is welcome in this house. As are you." the man said, expression wooden.

"Besides, not like I have any other customers yet" he added, after a moment's thought. Roxala nodded.

"Right." She said.

"We'll do that. Thank you, Alfredo." Roxala said, even as my cookery skill pulled at my attention. The Venison was gamey, and it was dried out for preservation, so it was... very very thirsty. I rubbed my thumb over the rough texture of the meat, and frowned a little as I tried to understand what the Cookery skill asked of me. Grunting, I scored it with my new knife a bit on a cutting board, and started the meat soaking. On instinct, I inspected my wilty vegetables and frowned over them. They were fine...

but they were not fresh. I had a ready source of them out in the woods - why not get fresh? In fact, that would be so much better!

"Gonna go forage while the meat is soaking." I said, and the others nodded at me. Without another word, I got up and strode out of the inn, then out of the town in short order and into the Fallen Forest. Green-ness surrounded me in moments, and I found my feet falling on mossy old cobblestones, my Wolf-Ren telling me of the shapes of them each time my feet hit the ancient, ruined road as it carried me, but... not in a straight line.

If I really looked, I could sort-of see it curve out and around a sort of divot in the woods in which were growing a patch of mint that I'd harvested from with Alfredo yesterday, and I realized that the old road was curving to avoid that spot. The earth was softer there, and seemed to have no limit of moisture in the soil itself from the rains. Was that why? Probably. I got some of the mint, and placed sprigs of it in my apron.

If nothing else, the thick, oily leaves of the mint and its strong flavor would make a fine part of the sauce. It wasn't like a shopping list - I had to take what I could find, and take what I found with me more or less when I found it. More than that, there wasn't exactly a time limit... but if I took hours over each part, they'd start to wilt, and that was exactly what I didn't want to happen! So, I found myself moving at a spritely pace as my nose hunted down the sweetness of a cluster of Queenslace.

They were lovely, and smelled as lovely as they looked with clusters of little white flowers that bent and bowed under the weight of the seeds in their blossoms and...... I was being watched. I was grimly certain of it, and uncertain how I knew so keenly, so intently, that it was so! Kneeling in the moss and pausing mid-way through uprooting a springy queenslace plant, I froze in place and pressed outward with my Wolf-Ren to feel for what I'd felt, feel for the source of my suspicions.

I felt my own heartbeat, and could see it scintillate from each thump of my heart in my breast as I became aware of a sort of... valve inside my own head. Another control I had, very like the one that let me harden my body with Bestial Vitality or Bestial Might skills as I concentrated on my senses. Was this my Wolf-Ren at rank C? I let some mana shift into it, and saw my mana dip by ten points as my heartbeat grew slower... and slower... and slower until it nearly seemed to stop.

The world shifted to grayscale, at least to my vision, but my nose? That was another matter! My hearing, too! What did it matter that vision took a back seat? I shut my eyes, and, body seeming to move only reluctantly, like it weighed way too much, I drank in a breath carefully through my nose and watched the world sparkle around me in a silent wave. Queenslace was such a pleasant scent, but there was another. I discounted it. There was the scent of...

earth, of moss, and I pushed them aside because there was another. There was my own scent - I smelled of sage soap and my own sweat. No, not that. And then, as my senses pressed out further and further... I realized with something like horror that there was... a person. Watching me. I felt their presence first, and their scent only when I'd stopped to look for and understand it.

Now that I could scent it, I got a rush of information as my eyes slid open and, slow like a tectonic movement in my slowed perception of time as I turned my head to look in their direction, right where I knew they were. I couldn't actually see her with my eyes - and it was a woman, I knew that much at least - but I simply knew she was there in the underbrush. Now was no time to be cautious about mana usage.

I sank another twenty points into my Inspect skill, and in my own enhanced perceptions I could actually see my eyes light up a moment and flicker gold with the mana-assisted use of the skill. Sootpaw the Strange, Black Beast of the Fallen Forest - Witch level??? 💀:, Healthy, Curious. Even as I watched, the 'curious' became 'apprehensive'.... What? I found myself staring into another pair of... golden eyes that flashed with light, and time seemed to resume.

So not only had I been absolutely right about somebody watching me... but I could slow my own perception of time? I mean, Wolf-Ren had told me I could do that, but that was WAY TOO COOL! There was the matter of the witch with golden eyes to keep me from fully appreciating it though.

"Hello!" I called, and the other figure made a strangled little noise I never would have heard as a human. It wasn't a question - it was a statement, it said 'I know you're there' in as friendly a way as I could contrive in that moment. Apparently she decided there was no point in hiding any longer because she simply stood. She was a rangy figure, gaunt and wiry, but...

I sensed strength under her haggard fur robes and the long, floppy brim of her hat as her eyes shone gold, literally glowing from underneath the brim as she broke eye contact with me first. I didn't stand quickly, but I did rise to my feet slowly, with the fluid ease of an athletic frame, keeping her locked in my perceptions as my took my eyes off her.

"Hello..." she replied in a tiny voice with a croaking burr in it, the tone hushed, as nervous as she looked in my senses. Under her hat and robes, I could see she was wire thin with pronounced eyes and a sleek, hunger-thinned face that looked like it could seriously use a meal. She wasn't ugly exactly, she might be very pretty if she got a few meals and wasn't nearly folding in half with tension! And She was a Werewolf. I simply knew it, as ironclad and certain as if I'd seen her actually change shape. She just...

was. IN OUR TERRITORY Yes, I know. But she's not attacking. SHE SHOWS RESPECT The witch wasn't meeting my eyes, I realized. Unconsciously, I'd stared her down, and equally unconsciously, she had submitted to me.

"... I am no danger to you." She said"I am called... Sootpaw." She said in a tiny voice.

"You... I..." she seemed to struggle over the words to say, and I didn't want to spook her, so I didn't approach, I just... moved to sit on a nearby stump as I kept her in my perceptions as she kept her body turned to face me, stilling with my movement only to marginally relax as I sat.

"My name is Emily Goldtail, I'm like you." I said, and she nodded jerkily.

"I... I know... w-we... can always tell..." she said in her breathy, hushed voice. She was fearful, and yet... she wasn't running either. She'd approached me, after all. Maybe she'd tried to sneak up on me to see me on her terms, but I got the sense she really didn't mean me any harm.

"I... heard your call... and... I came." She explained.

"My call?" I asked, confused, and she tilted her head a little.

"A week past... you called out to the sky when you changed and... I heard you." she said, crouching down on the ground. She kept her legs under her like springs so she could bolt if she had to, but as she put her elbows on her knees, she stared somewhere in the region of my hips in my direction, keeping me in her senses.

"These are... are our woods and... I don't recognize you..." she said, and I blinked a little. Our woods? Was she talking about her Wolf as she claimed a geographical feature as hers?

"Well... I'm not going to hurt you either, okay?" I said, and she seemed to relax.

"I'm working on a stew... would you like some when it's ready?" She really could use a meal or two. She was so thin, just muscle and bone and nerves! Part of me felt almost offended, seeing her in that state! No, not quite offended... more like, it seemed wrong that it should be so. I found myself wanting to help the girl. She didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"... stew?" she asked, in a tiny voice.

"Well, not stew exactly, I'm gonna make some venison pilaf I think, but it should be good." I said, and smiled"Lots of good herbs and things around." Her jaw worked a bit before she shook her head,"No, I shouldn't..." and then her tummy gave a growl that sounded over the moment of silence that followed quite clearly. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"I don't think you're a danger to me... I'm not scared of you, Sootpaw, and... you're hungry. Very, very hungry. Are you... nervous about coming into town?" I asked, and she wouldn't lift her eyes to me, said nothing. She was shaking. I could feel it clearly despite the intervening distance between us. It would be moonrise in a few hours. Another thing I just knew. Maybe she was no danger to me, but... if she was a wild werewolf, an unstable one? Maybe she might be a danger to others.

"I... will not enter the cursed town... or any town." she said firmly, her human voice sparking with a soft canine squeaking whine of apprehension. I wouldn't make her, either.

"Alright... how about I bring you out some once its done and we can face moonrise together out here in the woods?" I offered, and another whine escaped the woman's throat, and I could almost hear the nervous excitement as she gathered herself to reply to me, mustering her social courage.

"... Very well, I... th-that would... I would... y-you..." she rose to her feet and without another word, stalked off into the woods at a deceptively brisk pace that didn't exactly make sense to my eyes. Maybe it was her fur robes, but she didn't seem to move enough to justify the movement of her body as she blurred out of sight. I spared another surge of mana as she began to vanish into the woods again, and felt my eyes flash as I used Inspect on her. [MAGIC] Witchstride, Rank B Witchstride?

it looked so strange to my senses, didn't make sense at all as she dwindled out of my perceptions and vanished. A magical movement skill? IF she was a wild werewolf... that would be a very useful thing to avoid people with and to get away from places quickly, I figured. But! I had a new purpose. Nodding, I got up and resumed my foraging. I had food to make!