Chapter 6: The Viscount’s Daughter
“Do you know the coachman?”
“He’s over there, dead.”
I pointed to the thicket, and he nodded, parting the grass to drag the body out and lay it on the roadside.
“Orlan, are you alright?”
“Yes, my lady. I apologize for not being able to protect you.”
A knight kneeling in response looked so cool. As I turned around, I was met with the sight of a stunning noblewoman, fitting for a viscount’s daughter. Her hair was disheveled, but her posture was graceful. Just as I was captivated, a sharp voice cut through the air.
“How dare you! What are you staring at? This is Lady Fiene, daughter of Viscount Sharda Hamawal! Kneel!”
Reluctantly, I knelt. That was close; if I wasn’t careful, I could end up in serious trouble.
“Stop that. To scold someone who has come to our aid without even thanking them is a disgrace to the Hamawal family. Thank you for your help. Please, stand.”
“Ah, that’s fine. If I stand, I’ll have to look at your face and get scolded again. If possible, could I just leave like this?”
“Oh, but there should only be the City of Egdra nearby.”
“Yes, I’m a resident of Egdra. I apologize for my rudeness, not realizing you were the lord’s daughter.”
“Hey, kid, I’m sorry, but could you stay until help arrives? With this few guards, I don’t feel secure. If we get attacked by a pack of Black Wolves again, I can’t guarantee I can protect the lady.”
“It seems a bit late for that.”
As I stood up and looked in the direction of the presence I sensed, I saw a larger number of wolves than the ones that had fled earlier. This must be the main pack. With this few guards, it would be impossible to hold them off. I didn’t want to die either.
“Orlan, gather everyone by the carriage, quickly!”
Once everyone was gathered near the bottom of the carriage, I used Earth Magic to drive stakes into the ground. Each stake was about 3 cm thick, spaced 10 cm apart, and I used the fallen carriage to block the top, creating a cage-like structure.
“Orlan, I don’t have much mana left. I’ll use the rest to reinforce this, so please take care of the rest.”
After conveying that, I poured the remaining mana into the cage, and my vision began to blur before fading to black.
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“Hey, kid, kid!”
“Do you think… we can hold this?”
“For now, this is all we have to rely on. Just pray we can hold it.”
Clang!
One of them struck the fence with his sword, but only the blade chipped.
“Surprisingly sturdy. If it holds like this, we should be able to last until help arrives from the city.”
The pack of Black Wolves approached leisurely, suddenly charging at the fence, but it held firm.
“Pierce them!”
The Black Wolves rushed at the cage, snapping their jaws like they were swarming over prey. There was no room to swing my sword. I could only thrust my weapon through the gaps in the cage. After a while, it seemed the wolves realized the cage was sturdy, and I could hear the sounds of them devouring the fallen horses and their growls.
“The boss leading the large pack seems to be quite intelligent.”
“They probably know we can’t escape.”
“I hope they are satisfied with just the horses.”
“I wonder if help will arrive before sunset.”
“Probably not. A few knights with potions might be coming, but there’s no way to signal them. Let’s pray they aren’t attacked.”
“Even if the lady’s escort arrives, ten or twenty knights won’t have the strength to fend off this pack. I can see over thirty wolves just within sight, and if we include those hidden behind the carriage…”
“Orlan, is there anything we can do if this boy wakes up?”
“I don’t know. When I arrived, I saw seven or eight wolves down, but judging by the cage he built before losing consciousness, his mana seems low.”
“But to be able to create something like this, it’s unfortunate if his mana is low.”
“Since I can’t find any companions, he must have been gathering medicinal herbs alone, likely taking down seven or eight Black Wolves to create this. Plus, he noticed the approaching pack early.”
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The pack of Black Wolves surrounding us occasionally sent one or two closer to the cage, but they only approached to intimidate before lounging around leisurely. Just as I was beginning to lose hope of seeing help before nightfall, Kaito woke up.
He sniffed the air, detecting a pleasant scent, and opened his eyes to find the lady peering down at him.
“Ah… the fact that I’m still alive means the cage held up.”
“Yes, thanks to you, I’ve been saved twice.”
“But it seems we’re not out of danger yet.”
“Kid, do you have any ideas?”
“Is there a boss among the pack?”
“Yes, there is. Just slightly left of the front, there’s one with a white throat. I believe that one is the boss of this pack.”
“That’s a bit far, isn’t it?”
It’s probably between 40 to 50 meters away. Without any landmarks, I couldn’t gauge the exact distance. I could take down one or two if I pushed myself, but against a pack, that would be futile. Besides, it would be bad if they learned about my abilities. As I pondered while watching the pack, two wolves approached, followed by another.
“They’re underestimating us.”
“Yeah, it’s pathetic. They sometimes come close like that to provoke us.”
I pierced the chests of the two approaching wolves with Stone Lance, and the one that had been trailing behind also fell.
Ooh! Amazing! Haha! they cheered, but I kept my eyes on the one I suspected was the boss. When three of his pack fell, he lifted his head and stared intently at us.
“That one seems smart.”
There are always foolish and curious creatures everywhere. I remembered hearing on a TV show or YouTube that wolves are no exception and can be quite curious. Another wolf wandered out, sniffing at its fallen companions, but as I watched, another one approached.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to shoot?”
“Quiet, don’t look at me. I’m going to move back so they can’t see me, so please switch places slowly. It seems they can see who is shooting. Orlan, I’ve never shot more than ten times. Each shot uses about half my mana, so I’m using the remaining mana to protect myself. This time, I think I can take down about twenty, but after that, it’s up to you.”
“Just pray in your dreams that we can hold out until you wake up.”
Occasionally, the knight guards stood up and switched places, finding a position from which they could shoot. I targeted the three wolves sniffing around the dead and the four nearby. I first shot the three around them and then quickly moved to take down the remaining two, but one managed to escape.
As the boss stood up and began to howl, the wolves started running around, slamming into the cage and carriage. The cage should hold, but the carriage… I could hear sounds like crack! snap! and scrape, indicating it wouldn’t last long.
The wolves had entered through the ceiling but couldn’t charge in due to the cramped space, so they were likely scratching at the floor of the carriage.
To know the enemy’s position, I needed a peephole, so I listened to the sounds of scratching and shot a Stone Lance at the spot where I thought they were.
Yelp! I heard a yelp and some thrashing sounds. Now was my chance. Peeking through, I saw that half of the ceiling had collapsed, with one wolf screaming and another inside the carriage.
They couldn’t get in any further, leaving the rest of the wolves wandering outside.
I thought it would be better to prevent them from entering than to build a cage, so I decided to grow spikes from the ground towards the ceiling of the carriage at an angle. After growing over twenty spikes of various sizes, the charges stopped.
I heard a scream in the process; it must have been one that charged in and got impaled.
Peeking through the hole, I saw two wolves caught on the spikes, unable to escape due to the barbs.
“What did you do?”
I pointed to the spot where I had made the peephole, and Orlan looked through, growling.
“That’s clever.”
“If I could build a cage, that would be great, but I can’t see well enough to do that, so I thought it would be good enough if they couldn’t charge in. I don’t have much mana left, so I’ll take a short rest.”
Slumping down, I closed my eyes and fell asleep. When I next awoke, the surroundings were already bathed in twilight, and it seemed help had not arrived. Lying down, I asked about the situation, and it appeared we were still in a stalemate. Peeking through the knights sitting with their backs against the cage, I could see the silhouettes of wolves gathering around.
My stomach growled, protesting my hunger. No matter the situation, I was still hungry, but I couldn’t pull out the stored bread from my pack.
I stave off my hunger with Life Magic: Water.
As the long summer sun sets and darkness begins to envelop the surroundings, I sense an unusual atmosphere, though no one else seems to notice. Slowly, like a scene in slow motion, I rise cautiously and peek outside from between the Knights.
No one raises their voice at my strange behavior; they all seem to sense that something is amiss and are watching me intently.
The source of this unsettling presence is a particularly large wolf standing beside the nine wolves I had taken down during the day. Quietly, I kneel down, taking care not to make a sound, and set my sights on the boss-like wolf.