Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Blood, Honor, and Time: Volume 1 - Quest 3 – Always Together

After hearing about me going on various dangerous missions and jobs without her, Donna has been keeping a closer eye on me. It’s good on one hand because she’s significantly stopped her drinking habits to keep up with me. On the other hand, I feel like she’s merged to my side. I can hardly take a shower without her being there. The only times I’m granted real privacy is when I need to use the bathroom. Even then, she’s usually waiting outside for me.
Today, I’m looking at the request board again. The request we’re going to do involves-
“No.”
Okay, then how about-
“No.”
Uhh…
“Get someone else to do it.”
“I can’t keep sending my Sparrows out to do all the work for me. I have to do some of these myself too you know?”
“But some of these are a little too dangerous or mundane.”
“You said you would protect me from any danger, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then prove it.”
Going back to my original choice, I pick a request that involves a maze. This man apparently built a home in a cave the wilderness that’s made out to be a maze to confuse intruders. Unfortunately, wolves have entered the maze and he is looking for help in getting them out. Since this looks interesting, I take this request then head out to the location with Donna. Our carriage driver stops us a short distance away with some Sparrows with him because I don’t want him being attacked by any wolves should we scare them out of the maze.
When we arrive at the maze, we find wolf tracks everywhere. There looks like there are dozens of them in the cave and they’ve already made it their home. Blood along with the skin and pieces of flesh from animals are found deeper in the cave. Donna and I height our guard as we go deeper and deeper into the cave. A howling sound in front of us makes us stand still and ready for a fight, but a running silent running sound makes me turn my back in time to dodge a wolf that separates Donna and I. Several other wolves come out to separate us and force us into different paths in the maze.
I manage to kill the wolves that came after me, but I’m lost in the maze now. It looks like the ambush wasn’t the main tactic the wolves tried to kill us with. It’s our separation. Clever little puppers. This is the first time in a while that I’ve been separated from Donna for this long, but this isn’t how I wanted it especially since I don’t know if she’s okay. Ah! These dang wolves are using the ventilation holes to ambush me from. I have to watch every step I make or else I-! Or else these wolves will get me.
There doesn’t seem to be an effective method of flushing these wolves out. The only one I can think of is a fire, but I can’t start a fire to smoke them out because of the many holes that would vent it out. There isn’t much in here that can be lit up nor anything that can spread the fire to the entire maze. I’ll have to complete this mission by killing one wolf at a time. Wait. I remember hearing that wolves usually have a head wolf. If I kill it, the wolves might disperse from this area. The only problem is finding it. It’ll probably be in the deeper part of the cave waiting for its underlings to bring it its food.
I carve my way through the maze while hitting several deadly dead ends that are the feeding areas of these wolves. My armor ends up getting scratched and bitten to shreds, however, I’m still fine. I’m still concerned about Donna. The sounds of wolves fighting, dying, and screaming is echoed through the cave, but I can’t tell if it’s her or my imagination. Eventually, I find a large white wolf eating a larger brown bear at one dead end. Since there are a few crossing paths between us, I slowly make my way towards the wolf who seems to have noticed me. It stops eating and turns to me while just staring at me.
The wolves then spring a basic ambush but five bigger than normal wolves are the ones who attack. They ambush me from different directions one after the other. I manage to kill them all while suffering only a few flesh wounds. The white wolf then charges towards me. I throw my throwing knives at it that it dodges my attacks. The next throwing knife cuts its legs, which allows me to throw one into its head. It doesn’t kill it, but it does allow me to stab it through the head with my knives. With that done, the wolves shouldn’t attack me. Theoretically speaking of course.
With the white wolf’s dead body dragging behind me, I don’t encounter any more wolves until I stumble onto Donna who is still fighting them. The wolves turn around then run away as I approach them.
“Benedetto!”
“You see? I can take care of myself.”
“I knew you could. I just don’t want any girls who are attracted to you to be around you.”
“Of course, but I need my space every now and then. Us being married doesn’t mean you need to be glued by my side all the time. Our marriage makes us be together in a way than you can’t imagine.”
“Oh, that’s right. Alright. I’ll give you your space.”
“Thank-”
“As long as you aren’t in danger by any other girls.”
“Right...”
Now that the wolves have left the man’s home, he can return to it. I leave the alpha’s body at the front entrance as a repellent to any future predators despite Donna’s want to use it to make a coat. She’ll have to find another animal’s body to use as clothing. Donna does give me some space…after I recover from my minor injuries.

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