Chapter 3 – Doubts (Edited)

Joe was awakened from his thoughts and slowly raised his head. He said, “Now that I think about it, you strike a point. There had never been a drill in the six-seven years I have been working. But also, my contact told me it was nothing and not to worry about it.”

Franswift did not want the matter to end this simple so he asked, “Do you know anyone that came for the drill, one that you could ask what is going on?”

“Unfortunately, no. I will look around since I thought of a few theories I also want to confirm. You might even know more than me, you have been operating outside the city for a few weeks now. Did you notice anything out of place?”

“I did not explicitly look around, though I haven’t encountered anything during the week I have been waiting for the flower. Only during its bloom did I en– that’s right!” Franswift’s eyebrows were raised and his eyes opened wide.

Joe expectantly asked, “Thought of something?”

“During the week I waited, I did not see a single beast. The only one I encountered was injured, it probably wanted the flower to heal. But most importantly, it was alone.”

Joe asked, “You think it being alone means something?”

Franswift answered, “Well If it were a normal beast it doesn’t. But it was a brown hound wolf. Those dogged wolves always move in packs, rarely do they move alone. Even when I injured it and it howled in pain, no one from its pack seemed to hear it, much less come. Not only that, while I was escaping not a single beast intercepted us even with all the noise we caused.”

“You actually fought and escaped from a brown hound wolf. You are much more skilled than I thought...” Realizing he was going off-topic Joe returned to the main problem. “Aside from that, so you’re saying there is a problem in the forest?”

Franswift replied, “I cannot be certain, but it was awfully quiet for its standards. I will be staying away from it for now. So, hypothetically speaking, if this means there is a problem in the forest, what do you think is the cause?”

Joe hunched his back forward and pondered for a while before he answered. “Based on the records I have read and taking into consideration what you have said, there are two different reasons I can think of. First, a ferocious beast is causing trouble in the forest, so the guards are taking precautionary measures in case it attacks the city. Second, a beast tide is coming and they are preparing for it.”

When Joe finished speaking, both he and Franswift stayed in silence for a bit.

“There is nothing we can do now unless we have more information,” Franswift ended the subject at this point. He then took out a pouch and put it on the table. “I want one-pound level 1 meat, the same price.”

Joe emptied the pouch of the coins then walked to behind the counter. He took out a piece of wrapped meat and put it on the counter. “The same old price, 60 neutral coins.”

Franswift took the wrapped meat and stowed it under his shirt. He hunched his back a little bit to hide the protruding package and went out the door while bidding farewell. “Take care.”

While Franswift walked back to his tent, his thoughts kept rolling in his mind. It kept bothering him how the guards pretended to go for a drill while not a soul in the slums knew why. He was sure if someone in the slums knew anything Joe would have known it.

And as Franswift was lost in thought, he found himself already at his tent. He sighed as he stopped thinking and went in. After getting into his tent Franswift took out the wrapped meat from beneath his shirt and started eating. Finished with his meal, he looked at the empty wrap and felt bitterness rising from his heart. This goddamn ability costs too much, I am barely stashing money.

He remembered the first time he discovered his ability, which was also the first time he went hunting. It was after he had stopped going with beggars and was doing a few odd jobs. He had heard a conversation going between the guards. From the gist of it, they had spotted in the forest a feathered rabbit – a rare beast the fetched for a lot of coins. At the time he was fed up with not gaining enough money to eat even with the number of odd jobs he had been doing. Feeling lucky, plus also being ignorant, he went hunting for the rabbit.

He entered the perimeter of the forest where he heard they had spotted the rabbit. And while he was searching, he heard a hiss from his back. Frightened, he jumped opposite to the direction of the sound and looked at where it originated from. It was a serpent, slithering on the ground with its slitted eyes staring at him.

More frightened than before, Franswift moved slowly to the direction of the forest’s exit without trying to rattle the slithering beast. Still, the moment the serpent inched a bit towards him, he immediately lost it and ran away. But he was moving so frantically without looking that he failed to notice a root on the ground. His foot got tangled in it and he stumbled. As his own feet brought him down to the ground, he felt something go past his face followed by a sting on his cheeks. He raised his head upwards and saw the snake that was supposed to be behind him in front of him. The scaled beast had sprung up to bite his neck, but he was lucky that he had stumbled, resulting in it just making a small cut on his face.