CH 60

Episode 60 – Wolf, Once Again 

After hearing the assessment of the prices for the various spices, just like yesterday, Lyra and Nina made dinner, and we all sat down and ate together. I handed the four stalks of Glutamate Herb that I gathered today to Lyra for safekeeping and asked her to make good use of it for tomorrow’s meals. Then, I went to go make preparations to retire for the night. Thinking that the second day was safely over just like that, I started drifting off to sleep… or so I thought.

My eyes shot open as I suddenly felt a terrible premonition wash over me. My whole body started shivering as I broke out into a cold sweat. I forcefully suppressed my breathing as I tried to hear the sounds outside of the tent… but all I could sense was an unsettling, deafening silence permeating the still darkness. Byrne was still sleeping soundly, and, after a while of lying in wait, I was starting to think that it was just a nightmare or my own imagination, so I began to drift off again. But at that instant, I heard the unmistakably familiar roar of a beast.

It was the kind of roar that made you quiver from the depths of your soul. My whole body stiffened up as cold sweat started dripping down my face. There was no doubt; that was none other than the roar of an Angry Wolf. My mouth went completely dry as I swallowed in abject fear. My breathing became ragged as I fell into a panic, but it was fortunate that the roar I just heard was still some distance away. There was a slight chance that it hadn’t become aware of our location yet, so I was able to start regaining my composure. Per my usual calming routine, I took a deep breath and counted to five in my heart… 3, 2, 1… Phew, there we go. All good.

After collecting my thoughts, I woke Byrne up.

“Byrne, wake up.” (Lewin)

In the meantime, I called Porta, who was standing guard outside, back into the tent. After that, I made preparations for battle. I took a few items out of my bag and set them on the holder of my belt. I was thinking about igniting the Magical Grass, but, after realizing that the Angry Wolf might not necessarily know of our presence just yet, it seemed like a bad move just in case doing so revealed our location. It wasn’t too late to use the Magical Grass after the enemy had already locked onto us. Based on my previous battle with the Angry Wolf, I knew that they heavily relied on their smell, not their vision.

“Hey, Lewin. Is there really a monster? I haven’t picked up a single hint yet…” (Byrne)

“I’m not sure if it’s near us exactly, but we’re currently in the position to be attacked. I also thought it was just my imagination earlier, but there’s no doubt that I clearly heard its roar just now.” (Lewin)

“I also heard the roar of a monster, but… it’s the mountains after all, so I think you would inevitably hear one or two of them throughout the night.” (Porta)

Since when were there this many Angry Wolves on Mount Cornello? Because Smash said that hiring a D-rank party to escort on Mount Cornello was more than enough, I decided to hire the D-rank party [White Feiler]… but when we encountered an Angry Wolf, they turned tail and ran. More than that, this was the second time in a row that I was running into an Angry Wolf, so I was starting to suspect that something was off.

“I’ll go and wake up Lyra and Nina.” (Lewin)

“…Got it. Porta and I will keep an eye on our surroundings.” (Byrne)

The three of us exited the tent, and Byrne and Porta went off to the edge of the camp to keep watch. I entered the tent next to ours to wake up Lyra and Nina.

After I stepped into their tent, I realized that it was kind of… awkward for me, who wasn’t even a party member, to be entering the tent where the two girls were sleeping. But this was an emergency situation, and I didn’t have the time to be worrying about that. I didn’t have much fighting power, so instead of being the one to guard the area, this was the more appropriate role for me under these circumstances.

Anyway– I stopped trying to persuade myself for no reason, and proceeded to wake the two of them up.

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“Lyra, Nina. Wake up.” (Lewin)

“….Mmmm? Lewin…?” (Nina)

“……Ku? ….?!! LEWIN?!!” (Lyra)

Nina woke up calmly, but the moment Lyra saw me, she cried out loudly. I quickly put my hand over her mouth and gestured for her to be quiet. Seeing the urgency in my eyes, Lyra nodded her head, and I removed my hand.

“A monster has appeared in our surroundings, so I came to wake you up. It’s a monster that we might need to consider the possibility of running away from, so please wake up and get ready.” (Lewin)

“Ehhh… A monster? It’s not Lewin who is attacking me, but a monster…? Okay, I got it. I’ll leave the tent when I’m ready.” (Lyra)

“Yeah, please do.” (Lewin)

After briefly explaining the situation to them, I left their tent. I walked over to where Byrne and Porta were standing guard, and… the previously reluctant Byrne was now on full alert, with his sword already drawn. Porta was also holding his staff, posed in a wary battle stance.

“Just as Lewin said, there’s something real bad out there. It’s already onto us… It’s still some distance away, so we might wanna run.” (Byrne)

“It’s not just one. I definitely heard more than one just now, and they seem to be signaling to each other with their calls.” Porta said, mopping up the sweat on his forehead. Multiple Angry Wolves…?

I knew that [Iron Gear] was strong from what I’d seen in the last two days, but… I had a really bad feeling about this. I was feeling so excited about the spices I discovered just a while ago, and things were really going so smoothly, until… this happened out of the blue. I couldn’t hide my uneasiness.