153 – Friendly New Problems (B3 End)
Walter felt like he was floating as he returned from his hunt. It was an excellent hunt for multiple reasons. First and foremost, it was fun. His prey was some fiery gorilla thing that lived in a cave at the edge of the forest. Its fire abilities nearly neutralized Walter’s ice, meaning that Walter had to get creative to defeat it, and as far as he could tell, it was a late 7th tier beast, meaning it was much higher level than him. Walter’s Legendary species helped to bridge the gap a little bit, but it still had a lot of advantages over him.
Second was the taste of the meat. Walter had never eaten a wild primate before, and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor. In fact, he liked it so much that he had the carcass on a floating block of ice behind him to bring back so his pack could eat it.
Third, and probably most importantly, the hunt had gotten him to level 35, the limit for 6th tier, and he had evolutions available. It would be a bit tricky to find a place to evolve, and to make sure his pack stayed safe while he was away, but he wasn’t too worried. He had cleared basically all the dangerous monsters in the area out, and all that was left were fresh spawns and weaker monsters who had learned to avoid his territory.
As he trotted up to the den he and his pack had dug, he suddenly came to a stop. Something was wrong. The sounds coming from within weren’t normal. He was accustomed to his pack making noise as they played, but as far as he knew, none of them could giggle, which meant that whatever was giggling wasn’t one of his.
He set his floating ice block down carefully, then crouched low to the ground as he stalked up to the entrance to the den. He peered inside to see his many-legged packmates running and jumping and barking all around one individual he had never seen before. It looked almost like a human woman, but different. Her skin was made of tree bark, and her hair was made of moss and leaves. Her face looked like it had been carved of wood, but her facial features moved like they were made of flesh. She had a dozen arms of varying length protruding from her shoulders, each petting a different member of Walter’s pack. One of them was even jumping up and licking her face as she giggled.
Walter 2?! thought Walter.
The one licking her face was none other than his second-in-command, whom he had named Walter 2. Walter 2 was the only one of the pack to have evolved twice, and now looked properly wolf-like, instead of the odd, mutated wolf that Walter had found him as. And he was energetically licking the tree woman’s face.
Walter watched for a few seconds, then crept back out before making his presence known by stomping into the den. The others immediately gave him their attention, though not before Walter 2 gave the wooden woman a final lick, and the wooden woman’s eyes widened.
“Ohmygosh you’re so big!” she exclaimed, rushing forward.
Walter was startled, but did not sense any danger, so he wasn’t sure how to react. Before he knew it, the wooden woman was standing in front of him, smiling as she extended an arm to scratch his head. It actually felt really good. But Walter wasn’t about to be charmed by this odd creature’s wiles. He wrenched his head back and out of her reach, and glared down at her.
“Who you?”
“You can talk?!” she exclaimed. “Forreals?! Ohmygosh this is, like, amazing! My name is Anna! What’s yours?”
Walter was nonplussed by her reaction, but she had technically answered his question, even if it only left him more confused than before. While he didn’t consciously think about it, Freddy’s lessons about introductions had been drilled into his head, so he instinctively replied with relative politeness.
“Walter,” he said.
“Walter!” she repeated. “I haven’t talked to anyone in ages! I’m so glad I found you! And your pack! You’re all so adorbs!”
Adorbs? thought Walter.
He did not know what that word meant. If she was using it to describe him and his pack, it likely meant fearsome, or powerful though.
“Why you here?” he asked.
“Well, I was just wandering around when I saw one of these cuties patrolling around. He was just so adorable that I couldn’t help myself! And his fur is so soft! How do you all keep your fur so soft when living in the den?”
“What?”
“Anyway, I played with him, and then he dragged me back here where there were even more! And then you showed up! This is, like, the best day of my life!”
Walter barely understood half of what she said, but her tone and body language said enough. She clearly liked him and his pack, and his pack seemed to like her. She didn’t have enough mana to pose a threat, and he doubted that frail-looking wooden body was very strong. At least, it hadn’t felt strong when she was petting him. It felt very gentle, and almost comforting. It made him feel warm inside.
But that was beside the point. The important thing was that she didn’t seem to be a danger to him or the others. That meant he wasn’t going to bite her head off. Still, that didn’t mean he could just let her stay. Not when he needed to evolve, and didn’t know how long it would take.
“Go away,” he said. “Please.”
She seemed shocked at his first sentence, then confused when he added the “please.” He watched her face change a few times, going through a range of emotions before settling on a slightly pouty look.
“Can I please stay?” she asked.
“No,” he said firmly. “But you come back later.”
“I can come back later?” she asked, eyes sparkling. “Really?”
“Y-yes,” said Walter.
“When is later?”
“Later.”
“But how long will it take?”
“...Don’t know.”
“Hmmmm,” she said, putting a hand on her chin. “Oh! I got it! You’re evolving, aren’t you?”
“Wha–? No!”
Walter knew how dangerous it was for strangers to find your evolution location. While she still didn’t know where he would do it, the fact that she knew he was evolving at all meant that she could look for him and find him and kill him while he was helpless.
“Yeah you are,” she said, smirking. “You can’t fool me. But it’s okay! I won’t tell anyone! My lips are sealed!”
As if to demonstrate her point, her lips closed, then her mouth slowly vanished, turning into smooth wood.
“I not trust you,” said Walter.
“That’s okay!” said Anna. “How about this? I’ll go way over there!” she pointed in an arbitrary direction. “I’ll stay there without leaving, and when you’re done, you come find me. Okay?”
Walter stared at her for a few seconds. He didn’t think she was that dangerous, but he also didn’t think he could trust her. She looked weak, but right now, his pack was weak too. Who knew what would happen if he let her stick around while? But he also didn’t want to just kill her for some reason.
“I’ll even pinky promise!” she said, holding up her pinky.
“What that mean?”
“If we lock pinkies while we make a promise, you can’t break the promise,” said Anna, nodding. “So if we pinky promise, that means I can’t leave my spot over there until you come get me, and that you have to come get me when you’re done.”
Walter thought about that for a few seconds. He vaguely remembered Freddy mentioning something about unbreakable contracts and deals. It sounded like Anna was promising one of those. If she was willing to go that far, he supposed he could trust her. There was just one problem.
“I no have pinky.”
“Sure you do, silly!” said Anna, bending down to grab his paw. “See? Right here!” Her own pinky extended to wrap around his outermost toe. “Let’s do it now. I promise that I will stay over there and not try to find you while you’re evolving. Now your turn.”
“I…” said Walter hesitantly. “Promise to find you after evolve.”
“Great!” said Anna excitedly. “Well, I’ll stay out of your way for now! You see that hill way over there? I’ll be waiting just on the other side of it. Got it? Just go over there and call my name when you’re done.”
“Okay,” said Walter. “Now go away. Please.”
“You got it, Walter!” she said raising her hand in a salute. “Bye-bye!”
“Bye,” said Walter. Then he thought a second longer and added “Anna.”
Anna beamed at him and reached her hand up to pat his head again.
“Good boy! I’ll see you soon!”
She walked off, humming happily while Walter and Walter 2 watched her go with their ears down.
Good boy? Walter wondered.
He wasn’t entirely sure how well it fit him… but something about the way she said it made him happy. He watched her until she disappeared into the woods, then turned back to his den. If she wasn’t allowed to come back until he went to her, then that made his planning for his evolution much easier. He could just evolve in the den. He would need to dig out a new evolution chamber, but that was easy.
He dragged the dead gorilla on its ice block over for his pack to enjoy, then went into the den to begin his preparations. While he wasn’t sure which evolution it came from, at some point, he had acquired a digging skill, making the process much quicker than it might have been. It wasn’t long before the den had a whole new chamber big enough for Walter to comfortably stand in.
When he was satisfied, he returned to the mouth of the den to find the gorilla’s corpse mostly picked clean, and most of his pack laying around, napping. Walter 2 was still half-awake, and sat up at attention when Walter arrived.
“Walter 2,” said Walter.
Walter 2 barked in response.
“I evolve now,” continued Walter. “You in charge. Protect the others. No hunt strong monsters. Only weak ones because you are weak.”
Walter 2 barked again, and Walter nodded.
“Okay. I evolve now. Bye.”
He returned to the new room in the den, and then proceeded to empty his mana reserves creating a shell of incredibly dense, highly reinforced ice. It was strong enough that even he wouldn’t be able to break through it easily.
With his mana reserves empty, he lay down in the middle of the chamber and opened his System menu to start the evolution process. He could not read, so he made the System Assistant read his options for him, and without hesitation, he chose the final option. It was the only Mythic option, which was the highest rarity, so of course he took it. Why would he take anything less than the best?
Then, his eyes closed, and the evolution began.
Penelope tried not to fidget with her fingers as the tense silence stretched onward. She had just informed her commander of the meeting in the carriage and was waiting for him to respond. He was never one to rush his words though, especially on heavy topics, and this was the heaviest topic she had ever discussed with him.
“So…” he finally said after more than a minute of silence. “Do you have any clue who this woman might have been?”
“None, sir,” said Penelope. “My only theory is that she is either a member of Ostra or the Blood Syndicate, because, if she was telling the truth, how else would she have gotten that information?”
“And what are the odds it is one of the anti-monster factions trying to stir trouble?”
“I–” Penelope stopped herself. “I hadn’t considered that, sir.”
He nodded. “We have three potential sources of this. The two you said, and one of the humanoid factions. However, regardless of who did it, they’re trying to stir up trouble. There is no reason to give you this information otherwise.”
“I agree, sir.”
“Have you told anyone else about this?”
“No, sir.”
“And you are currently supposed to be mediating a meeting between the church of Nature and a member of Ostra?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Penelope, for drinking on the job and failing to appropriately do your duty, you are hereby suspended from your knightly duties indefinitely!”
“What? But sir–!”
Penelope stopped talking as the commander tossed her a leather sack that jangled with coins. She caught it, confused until he continued speaking.
“You will not be assigned to any more tasks. You are to live quietly and reflect on your mistakes. And under no circumstances should you tell anyone of that ridiculous dream you had! Certainly not anyone with a habit of spreading information!”
Understanding dawned on her as she slowly nodded.
“Then I shall return to my quarters, sir.”
“A disgrace like you is better off out of sight,” he replied. “Away from the knight’s quarters. The last thing we want is a royal inspector to know of your failure.”
“Of course, sir. Then I will make sure to stay under the radar until my suspension is lifted so as not to exacerbate my failure.”
“Exactly,” he said, tossing her a bottle of whiskey. “Now get out of my office! You reek of alcohol!”
Taking his hint, Penelope took a swig of the whiskey, making sure to spill a few drops down her chin and armor before tossing the bottle back. It burned going down, but the bit of flavor she tasted was fantastic, and she regretted that she couldn’t enjoy it properly. When she looked at the knight commander, she saw a hint of a wince at the waste of good booze, but it quickly vanished as his stern expression returned.
“Out, I said!”
Penelope bowed, then wobbled out of the office, doing her best impersonation of a half-drunk knight. Fortunately, there weren’t many around to witness her performance, and the few people she greeted were fooled by her acting. Or at least, they seemed fooled. The scent of the alcohol was no doubt doing most of the work.
She stumbled all the way to the small house she had purchased with the reward money for her role in the Blood Syndicate raid, maintaining her cover until she closed her door behind her. As soon as she was out of sight, she took her armor off and changed her clothes, then started preparing travel supplies.
The commander wanted her to look further into the words the strange woman had said, but it was clear from the way he had asked her that he wanted it to be secret. Why exactly, she wasn’t sure, but she knew that Jelor’s relationship with Ostra was a sensitive topic, and that even if it was completely fabricated, such a rumor being spread would be highly damaging. She had no doubt that the commander would look into things on his own end. In the meantime, she was somewhat on her own.
Information was far from her specialty, but she had some ideas on how to get it anyway. The month she spent preparing to raid the Blood Syndicate hadn’t been for nothing. While she wasn’t sure she’d trust Maia with her life, she could at least trust Maia not to hide information that would be detrimental to the Blood Syndicate. And her sister might have more information beyond what was reported, since her extraction had been quiet, and she never had a chance to be interrogated. On top of that, Otto, their adoptive father, was an information broker, so there was no better place to go.
She could also go to Snowberry, but she soon decided against it. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the shy rabbit monster. It was more that she didn’t trust her surroundings. Penelope wasn’t the most observant person in the world, but from everything she observed, Snowberry was very important to Ostra. If she wasn’t being regularly monitored, Penelope would be extremely surprised. Even if it was for her protection, there was no chance that Penelope talking to her wouldn’t be noticed, and she had no idea what the consequences of that would be.
Of course, there was a good chance that she herself was being monitored, as well as Otto and the twins, but if Penelope could reduce the risk, she would. She might end up needing to talk to Snowberry anyway, but for now, not only was there no point, it might actually endanger her investigation. If Snowberry started poking around Ostra and she got caught, whatever was going on could unravel and rapidly spiral out of control.
She was nervous as she cinched up her pack and snuck out her house’s back door, but steeled herself. What she was doing was important. Even more so than when she had helped to take down the Blood Syndicate. If the woman in the carriage was telling the truth, Jelor was about to enter an alliance with a very terrible organization, and she couldn’t allow that.
She kept to the back alleys until she got away from her familiar part of town, then straightened out and started moving normally toward the exit of the city. Acting suspiciously would only draw suspicion. She was just a suspended knight using her suspension as an excuse to take a vacation and visit an old friend. And that was the excuse she gave the security at the teleportation station.
I really hope that woman was lying, she thought as she stepped onto the pad. I don’t know how the world will handle it if she’s not.