Chương 26: Chapter 25 – Not Worth It

"Don't let them bite you," Kai shouted at the top of his lungs.

"They heal when they eat you!" Alexander glanced over with an incredulous expression. After a brief moment of hesitation, he threw his shield to the side to wield his spear with two hands and keep his opponent out of biting distance.

"[Regrowth]!" The spell knit together Kai's shoulder, but he felt a growing faintness. Is my blood sugar dropping? The hunter slipped past him with a cackling laugh, taking advantage of his brief dizziness. It sprinted towards Marie much faster than he could follow. Fuck!

"Alex, fall back!" Alexander replied only with a strained groan, but retreated backwards while stabbing at the gnoll in front of him.

"[Grasping Vines]!" came a panicked shout from behind. Marie was spending the last of her mana growing a field of tentacle-like plants between the incapacitated Lena and the approaching hunter. It was well-placed, forcing the gnoll to move through at least a section of it if it didn't want to take a major detour. The monster rushed forward, betting on its high Dexterity to carry it through. For the most part, it worked, but on the final stretch a single tentacle grabbed hold of its foot, causing it to stumble.

Unfortunately for Kai, the vines posed an obstacle for him as well. He could not simply Charge through either; the skill would not refuse to activate, but his Proficiency fed him an intuition that it would be a really bad idea. So, he had to take the long way around. Thankfully, he still had options.

"[Mana Beam]!" He fed the spell with three of his six remaining mana points, a luxury he hadn't been able to afford until his level-up. The gnoll, still off-balance from the vine field, failed to evade in time. The beam raked across its torso, leaving strange symmetrical marks. Even so, it refused to die – jagged teeth sank into Marie's forearm. It ripped out a piece of flesh, then gulped it down like a starving wolf. Again, a cocoon of blood came gushing out of its wounds.

It turned its blood-soaked snout towards Lena, who was still hacking and coughing, trying and failing to cast. NO!

"[Look at Me]!" Kai screamed, but the result was pathetic. The gnoll's eyes only briefly twitched towards him, then back to Lena. He stumbled. Then everything went dark. When his consciousness returned, the first thing he saw was Alexander grappling with his gnoll on the ground next to Kai. It had apparently tried to finish him off when it saw the opportunity. Marie and Lena were desperately trying to evade the other monster's attacks, both of them covered in cuts and scratches.

Kai tried to stand up, but his knees gave out halfway. A brief look at his hands confirmed his rising fears – they were covered in spellburn, flames moving with his pulse like they did on his now-extinguished blade. He reached for a potion, but his shaking hands spilled half of it on the ground uselessly.

"God-FUCKING-damnit!" Alexander growled next to him as the much stronger gnoll continued to bash its elbow into his helmet.

"[Fire Bolt]," Kai uttered weakly. The gnoll's sharp instincts worked against it, and the point-blank spell hit its face as it turned its head to look at him. The sizzle of its eyes and tongue made Kai even queasier than before. Alexander shoved the dead monster off with a groan, then uncorked his last potion and forced it down Kai's throat.

"Get the fuck up, man!" Kai struggled upright and handed Alexander one of his two remaining potions, then the two of them half-stumbled, half-ran towards the bridge. The remaining gnoll immediately let off the two casters when it felt greater threats approach. It did not look healthy – there were still some of Kai's flames dancing on its fur, and Marie had somehow managed to poison it judging from its unsteady gait. From there on, the fight turned into a farce.

The two Fighters kept it occupied just long enough for Marie to feed Lena a potion, which finally allowed the Wizard to obliterate the monster with a fully charged Zap to the heart. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ~ Quest complete: Don't let the gnoll raiders reach Lindenfeld. ~ Reward: 5 SP ~ Gnolls slain. 106 EXP awarded.

"Not fucking worth it," Alexander spat, sprawled out on the grass to catch his breath.

"Those things are fucking horrible," Kai agreed between coughs.

"No wonder the city is going to shit." = = = = = Laura sat behind her desk again. Like I always do these days, she complained to herself. Despite her best efforts to delegate, there were simply too many issues requiring her personal attention. For example, assembling, briefing, and dispatching hunting parties for critical missions.

It had quickly turned out that adventuring was a draining business – most members of the Hunting Office took extended breaks between missions, just short enough to not run out of monster cores for food and utilities. There were exceptions, though. To Laura's great discontent, her two children belonged firmly among those exceptions. Just three days ago, they had returned from a quest battered and broken, and one day later they were already trying to get her to permit another excursion.

They had been easy to dismiss, then – bandages, dark circles under their eyes, visible exhaustion on their faces. But today, thanks to the stupidly effective potions from Daniel's fresh batch, they looked no worse for wear. She had still sent them home, but as much as she loathed to admit it, they were adults. Refusing them again would not go over well, and she could see them going on unsanctioned expeditions because they just couldn't sit still.

At her request, Daniel gave them perfunctory speeches about pacing themselves, but she could tell – they had gotten it from him. It's like they're addicted. She leaned back in her chair, softly caressing her pothos. The plant was a good listener, now that Laura had figured out how to talk to it. It wasn't about words. She had to package her feelings into concepts that were relatable to the plant, something she tried and failed to explain to the other Druids.

The tapping of high heels against the floor ripped her out of her thoughts, and sure enough, there was an aggressive knock at the door moments later. Please don't let it be Uta.

"Come in." The door opened, revealing a very upset mayor with immaculate makeup and wavy brown hair, somehow arranged perfectly despite the circumstances. She's just as bad, Laura grumbled internally. I can see her grey roots though. Ha.

"Laura, you need to put Tom and Finn back into the vanguard."

"We have talked about this, Andrea. We established a specialist team just for them. That's enough."

"It is not," Andrea complained.

"They're just keeping goblins away from the fields. There is no… No prestige in that." Something inside Laura snapped. She quickly reached out to the pothos before she lost control again. At the plant's behest, she took a deep breath.

"Participation in the vanguard is non-negotiable. I'm happy to grant them as much prestige as they want as long as they sell us their stupid milk again. Tell them to come up with something actionable that does not involve golems."

"Stop that," Andrea said, voice uncharacteristically shaky. Laura was briefly taken aback, then realized what the mayor was looking at.

"Sorry," she apologized, calling back the vines that had crawled across the floor and were already circling around the mayor's heels.

"Why are you even here?" she continued once color returned to Andrea's face.

"I doubt there will be elections any time soon. Their campaign donations don't matter anymore. Unless they're actively paying–""They are not," Andrea insisted.

"I am here because I am… worried about our… project." Oh my god, she is actually serious, Laura realized while studying the other woman's slightly panicked expression. There was none of the performative grandeur she had known and hated for decades, only the exhausted face of an old… not-quite-friend.

"Damnit," she cursed, the outburst making Andrea flinch.

"So, they want prestige. Status."

"Y-yes."

"Then we give them their damned status. Let's turn their boys into goddamn heroes," she growled.

"Fancy titles. Fancy outfits. The whole shebang." Andrea just stared, mouth standing slightly open.

"We'll call them… I don't know. Come up with something. Then we parade them around, telling the entire world just how fucking great they are." The mayor's jaw snapped shut as she suddenly returned to her usual self. She began pacing around Laura's office, her heels making the most obnoxious clicking sound in the world.

"Let's call them… Protector. No, that's lame. Hm. Warden, maybe?" She shot a questioning glance at Laura, who simply shrugged. Sounds like the most corporate-safe bullshit title ever. Fine by me.

"Warden it is, then," Andrea nodded to herself.

"Senior Warden for Finn and Tom, in recognition of their 'valiant service'."

"Let's give them a medal," Laura interjected.

"'Defender of Lindenfeld', or something."

"Good call. I'll have the Alchemists come up with something that looks expensive."

"Then we'll have a grand ceremony. Promote everyone who took part in quests in and around Lindenfeld." Thank god I have a ledger.

"Right. The two boys and your kids get the fanciest stuff, we'll justify it by saying they were the first to fight."

"How do we handle the vanguard?"

"... We shut up about the vanguard."

"Works for me."