(Chpt. 13) The hero.

As we approached the town we could see some merchant carriages and wagons, Ari decided to get off from Fenri and walk, the road was wide enough for carriages to pass and people to walk on the side of the road. As we were approaching we could see some merchants talking and adventurers next to them, some of them noticed us and waved their hands while bearing a warm smile, however they froze as soon as they saw Ari next to Fenri.

I guess that much was normal.

Fenri continued walking with us, Ari was visibly nervous about it. Aizen and I just kept walking towards them as if this much was normal. It really was! I swear... When we were close enough, some adventurers rushed towards us, the one that looked like their leader shouted full of enthusiasm as if they were going to be our heroes. 

“Don’t worry girls, we will save you from that dangerous wolf!”

It was a four man party, a vanguard which was the leader, a female mage, what seemed like a priest and a scout. We decided to get away from Fenri to see what would happen, Why? ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting?’ Aizen said in a curious yet evil voice beforehand. I just agreed. Fenri seemed amused by the idea and wagged his tail. Ari reluctantly agreed, so it was decided to let the adventurers try to “subjugate” Fenri.  We decided to run towards them in a hurry.

The adventurer party was ready to beat the menacing beast down, however the leader spoke in a heroic and confident voice.

“Don’t worry guys I can handle the puny lvl.1 wolf! Y-you guys protect the girls!”

He said to protect us while pointing at us, but he had a confused voice and stuttered a bit. Well we did show up next to them and they didn’t notice. Aizen and I kind of just dragged Ari so she was quite shocked too. I admire his acting abilities. The hero went on to beat the menacing beast of death down. Aizen and I had amused faces, The mage noticed this and asked in a curious tone.

“Why are you girls amused by it?”

I just pointed towards Fenri and spoke in an amused voice.

“That’s my tamed beast.”

“Your beast is going to die!”

The mage instantly answered while panicking, she then proceeded to talk about the oh-so-great hero; about how he was a gold rank adventurer. Aizen just went ‘Hoooh’ she seemed to even be more amused by this development, Ari started holding her head with a troubled expression as if asking ‘How did this happen!’, I just shrugged. The ‘hero’ did not even have an aura, how strong could he be. The mage gave up seemingly mad because we could not understand how strong the ‘hero’ was.

Ari stared at the ‘hero’ full of worry, we just looked to see how the battle would turn out. The mage noticed how uninterested we were in Fenri’s security and decided to stop pressing on, she also just watched.

The hero was ready to face the menacing beast of death that was threatening the world. The hero swung his holy sword and slashed the beast. The beast let out a cry of pain and took a step back. It was trembling... The beast tried to attack the hero, however the hero skillfully parried all of his attacks and went on the offensive, the menacing beast of death had been vanquished by the hero. Or so that’s what the mage thought. The hero rushed Fenri, Fenri did not move.

“This is your end wolf, not moving will be your last mistake!”

He declared full of confidence as he was slashing his sword. When it was about to hit Fenri the sword shattered like glass. Ari and the adventurers froze. The hero was shaking, he was trembling in fear, he quickly lost his balance and fell on his back.

“M-Mo-Monster…” He said in a trembling voice that did not fit a heroic figure like him.

‘Huh, so that’s how stats work?’ I muttered, Aizen nodded as if answering my mutter. Looks like if your stats are substantially higher than your foe, they cannot react to what happened. Only Aizen and I saw what happened to the sword. Fenri bit it and shattered it, however due to the disparity in level and stats it just looked like he did not move to others. In short, stats are absolute.

As I finished thinking about stats, the ‘hero’ was running towards us full of fear, he started begging us to run for our lives, that was no ordinary wolf. However Aizen and I kind of just answered with indifferent voices, the ‘hero’ could not take it anymore, and got mad at us.

“You girls don’t understand!”

He said in an infuriated voice, but his face darkened and he spoke in a defeated tone.

“I cannot protect you… Please run!”

“Ah, I see. I guess I will have to teach you how to “subjugate” a monster.”

I said with a condescending tone. However he wasn’t mad, he just looked at me in disbelief. I started walking towards the menacing beast of death. The hero panicked. 

“Girl?!”

I just looked at Fenri, and said the magic word.

“Die.”

The menacing beast of death trembled, and took a step back. He started to lose his balance then collapsed on the ground and stuck his tongue out, It was very dramatic. The adventurers froze. Ari had a bitter smile and Aizen was struggling to hold her laughter.

“H-”

As the ‘hero’ was about to speak, he froze and looked at my back in fear. The menacing beast was back... however no aura was left from before it was just a docile wolf now. Of course its size didn’t change, it’s not a bear. Fenri casually walked towards me and started rubbing himself against me like a cat. ‘sigh’ I seriously do not understand if you are a dog, a wolf or a cat…

The group of adventurers were flabbergasted, the ‘hero’ quickly recovered from his fear and said in astonishment.

“A tamer?!”

I just nodded, he held his head as if he was in pain muttering things like ‘How is a tamer this strong, is she higher than gold rank?!’ I paid it no mind and continued walking, Ari and Aizen followed so did Fenri. The adventurer group was discussing something and we continued walking.

That did not last long, the adventurer group chased after us and got in front of us and started pleading to me.

“Please join our party!”

They bowed, this was troublesome I needed help. I just looked at Aizen and she nodded, she used chant-less magic unlike normally. It was a spell called [Freeze]. Aizen could only use neutral magic. Neutral magic only has light and dark attribute, together they make neutral magic. The spell literally froze someone, the mana consumption was harsh but for Aizen that had 5 digits in mana, it was no big deal. Ari just looked at them and tilted her head in confusion because they seemed to be stopped in time.

The carriages and wagons had cleared. We could see the gate, the armored guards just waved at us and smiled.

Alice.

Thank you. To every single one of you that commented on the previous chapter, I cannot express this enough. I found myself crying on my desk after reading some of them, I have always been an insecure person about the things I do. Reading about how much some of you enjoy this novel, truly moved me, and for that I am thankful. I came up with a short quote that might sound a bit edgy so don't bleed please, however this was my heart speaking.

I write and you read, I cry and you help, I find myself in darkness yet you are my light. Please, don’t leave me.

~Azriel. 

Knowing that someone enjoys what I write, truly makes me happy. So please don't leave me, because I need every single one of you, allow me to be selfish. Sincerely, your author. No. I mean, your wonderful author. ♥

I-It's not I like you guys or anything. B-bakas.