Chapter 5
#5 of Wolves' Legacy Saga
Chapter 5
The human was helped by Ifrit to stand up, where they realized, beneath the ragged cloth, there was a decent outfit that looked pretty expensive. He also looked more like a gentleman instead of a beggar. He then put out his glasses and cleaned some parts of his dirty clothes.
"Hmm, as Lycans, you two are too oblivious on the city's condition, aren't you? Are you two coming from a small isolated village?"
"No, it's not all that isolated, but...are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm alright, I'm just a wandering old trader. Say, about my trades, are you two willing to help me?"
"What's the problem?"
"It seems that my goods are robbed by mischievous people. I want you to take them back. These are the lists."
"Wait, mister. We know nothing about your stolen goods," said Lilac. "You can't ask any help from newcomers. If you please, we will leave and won't bother..."
"You want decent house? Maybe you should be. I heard your village is destroyed by a mysterious fire and you two are the only survivors."
Lilac then gasped. "What? Have you known?"
"News come and go, but I can get the hang of it from newspapers. You carry a daily newspaper and you don't know what happened?"
"But, how do you know we're the only survivors?"
"That's not your problem. Now, about those trades, there are actually only two missing items. Those are...let's see, a small sack of nails and a sword."
"A sword? Are you a weapon's vendor?"
"Yes. I sell everything my client wants. It's a way of living outside of your peaceful village, so now you have to struggle in the change of the time. The time of magic is drawing to an end, black one, so be advised on practicing any dangerous things."
"I'm sorry, but that wasn't a dangerous fire."
"It's alright, but next time practice it when you're outside the city. Now, how about that deal?"
"About that..."
"I will help. Stealing is not good, okay?"
This made Lilac surprised. She was taken by the fact that any hellhounds wouldn't feel anything about helping others. Yet, this hellhound that saved her by instinct wasn't joking either. The female Lycan felt how his 'instinct' was more based on a feeling, something she distrusted could happen in any feral Lycans, especially a hellhound.
Just when Ifrit wanted to walk away to find them, Lilac said, "Wait, Ifrit."
"Lilac?"
"I'll make sure you won't make any ruckus here. We can't risk exposing you."
Lilac said it based on her own decision, that sticking with a curious hellhound would be a good idea to make him safe on the world unknown to him. She didn't want to tell the reason, but of course deep down she wanted to help the hellhound.
And so, that day, they helped the trader in retrieving the things he lost. Using Lilac's money they bought a new sack of nails for around 10 silver coins, with the same quality as the trader wanted. Ifrit then tried to find the sword he meant, but he didn't find anything that picked the same description to the one he wanted.
When he consulted Lilac, she said, "Oh, this is a rapier. It's a fencing weapon. But, this thing is expensive. It can cost me much."
"We try to find one he wants, then."
"But, there's no way we can find a rapier in the middle of this big city, especially his stolen one. I can't guarantee he will return the favor after we returned everything he needs."
"(Well, this sucks)," said Ifrit.
"What did you say?"
"Something like...it's a bad condition?"
"You mean, it's...?"
Then there was a human girl making a scream while pointing upward, which naturally attracted both of them. They walked to the position of the girl and with many other city dwellers they saw a figure of an anthropomorphic canine of some sort standing on the edge of a building's flat roof. From Ifrit's view he was having a troubled expression, where digitigrades had started to slip from the side of the high building. Lilac realized that the Lycan wanted to jump.
"Oh my goodness, he's trying to finish himself!" exclaimed Lilac. "What is that bloody wolf doing? Ifrit, maybe we shouldn't..."
When she turned, Ifrit was gone, and the next moment she realized, the hellhound was climbing the white brick building. Lilac was dumbfounded on how the black hellhound was an avid climber, which instead took the attention of the onlookers instead of the one trying to jump, although the officers were trying to convince the Lycan not to jump. Lilac then saw Ifrit jumped to the side window and in animalistic speed started to climb quickly with each grip on the window panes.
Without waiting much, Ifrit had reached the window below the jumper, where in an attempt to grab the jumper, he almost fell himself, which gave a surprise to the onlookers. Unseen by them, his prehensile tail gripped a pole inside the highest room, where he got an idea on how to reach the jumper without risking him jumping.
"(Right, so I need a thing that can make a whip...ah, I've got one)." Ifrit ripped a bed sheet and started to tie them onto the strong metal pole he used as support. Then, he improvised a whip from a loose long leather belt, where he started to rely on what he had for survival. He walked out from the window and he effectively making a climber harness. With precise control on the long leather belt he swung the belt to the Lycan where it made a perfect grip to the Lycan. The black-colored Lycan made a yelp when a strong pull of Ifrit pulled him down and he managed to grip the Lycan. Since he had a near death situation the Lycan made a howl and started to cry.
"(C'mon, you're safe)," said Ifrit. "(Damn, this is not how normal hellhounds do)."
Now, since he was inside, he used proper stairs to get down with the Lycan, which had lost consciousness after howling too much. He handed the Lycan to a group of onlookers while he returned to Lilac.
"So? Are you alright? That's not how I imagine a hound would do. You really shouldn't try to risk yourself like that."
"I can go up there quickly, so I can save him."
"I mean, is it normal for hound to save another?"
"I was trained to be a helper, not a killer."
Lilac then sighed. "Alright.... Can we find that thing now? It's getting dark and we should be renting a room."
"Oh, I found something that looks like...uh, rapier, you said?"
"Rapier? How did you..."
"Now, this IS my weapon," said the trader from behind them, starting and confusing Lilac at the same time. When she changed her view to where the trader said, she gasped.
"Ifrit, is that...a rapier?"
"This? Oh, I found this when I descend the stairs. I thought it would be the one we're looking for."
"Hey, are you an incompetent fool? That's not your belonging, so give it back to the one owning it..."
"And, miss, have you known that this tenement is a smuggler's den? Many degenerates live here, and sir, you've opened their dirty operations."
"Smuggler? How do you know?"
"This rapier has rune identity engraved on its hilt. It tells who wanted this rapier and who sold it. Now, since the rune hadn't vanish yet, that means this thing hasn't found its owner yet. Now, if it hasn't found its owner yet, what can you think of it?"
"It's...stolen?"
"Nice one, miss. Now, thank you for taking back this important trade. Oh, one more thing. This bag of nails...you bought it, didn't you?"
"Yes?"
"It's alright. That's not a trading good, anyway. I need them for my carriage."
"Oh...that's a relief. I thought trying to find a small bag of nails need more energy. I'm tired...but, well, what do you propose now?"
"Huh...what do you...oh, right. What a fool of me. Okay, from what I see it, you two want to stay in this town after your small village is destroyed, right?"
"Before you said it's full of filth, yes," replied Lilac.
"Now, how about if I make a deal. Do you like travelling?"
"Uh...I really want to try travelling, but I don't have any money for that. I want to see the Tragoria region and beyond, like how my wolf instinct wants to. I read from the books that this continent called Ternor is full of lush green landscape, white veils of snow when winter, and more of those."
"Let's just put your belongings to where I point you."
"Oh, it's alright. We'll stay in an inn."
"It's alright. This one's free. Have you had a sensation of a moving house?"
"A moving house?"
"Come, I'll show you."
The night darkened as the whole bustling crowds resided. The place became gradually silent until only small crowds remained in the well-lit place. Just like what the coachman said, the gas lighting was a brighter alternative than candlelight, but the gloomy city had just got enough on the normally peaceful life Lilac was always said, until she realized it was 10 years ago.
"Damn, why haven't I remembered it sooner," thought Lilac. But when she wanted to just try to make a howl in response to another wolf's howl, she choked on it when she saw what the trader had in mind. With Ifrit, both were surprised by the sight of the 'moving house'.
The house he meant was instead a carriage big enough to fit five fat people in it. When the trader had opened the door and welcomed them in through the relatively small door, they were amazed on the interior.
While it didn't look like much from the outside, the inside looked like the whole house fused into a carriage that was barely half the size of Lilac's house. There was a bed roll on one corner near the door, but there were vacant spaces enough for three. The storage compartment was beside a door leading to the rider's position where there were four horses. The compartments weren't all stored with personal objects. There was a metallic storage with a keyhole, presumably a place for a precious thing the trader had. On one side with the most room space was trading goods, separated from the living quarters by a door. From the outside, this side was the only side with no window.
"So, what do you think? Not like any passenger carriage, right? I need a travelling companion, anyway. What's your share of the trade?"
"Uh, I...feel adventurous already. Well, I don't have any homes; maybe I'll consider it, sir. You don't look too suspicious, too."
"I'm an honest trader, I tell you. You two can stay with me, but with a condition. Since you don't have anything for money making, we can share our treasuries. Then, you must help me in my trading business. It's nothing hard. This Lycan can be a bodyguard, and you, missy, can be my assistant."
"But...I don't have any prior knowledge on handling trade goods. I can only cook, that's all."
"You can count balances, right? Don't be afraid, I won't gonna kick you out from my house. You're just one of my roommates, that's all."
"Uhm...."
"Don't worry, miss, I can help you try to find a job. If you're a homeless and jobless wanderer, you can't be anyone's help. How about it?"
Lilac knew she didn't have any other choice than to take this opportunity. Travelling with a hellhound and an unknown trader was something that's very unique for her experience. She just made a smile and said, "Okay, we'll travel with you. What's your name, if I may ask?"
"Albreich Schafner. I'm not from around Tragoria so the name seemed awkward around here. What are both of you?"
"I'm Lilac Rezmirn. This Lycan fellow is Ifrit."
"Yes, what a nice greeting to both of you. Oh, lucky you. I want to start my journey tomorrow, so take a rest for the night here. And, Ifrit, can I talk to you for a while?"
Ifrit understood what 'a while' meant, and he walked to Albreich's back. They went to a park when Albreich said, "C'mon now, Ifrit. You can't pretend to be a Lycan forever, hellhound."
This revelation made Ifrit gasped. "What? How do you..."
"I thought you're a Lycan at first, but your tail and your horns told me otherwise. Well, that aside, I am quite surprised you saved a suicidal Lycan despite of your own race. You must be rebelling against them."
"I'm not. I know I'm a hellhound. It's just how I been trained."
"Well, look at you. I thought you hellhounds speak a language called Hordo instead of English. Where did you learn to speak English?"
"I, uh...wait, what is a Hordo?"
"Hordo is your language."
"Oh, you mean like...(Hordo, is that it)?"
"Yeah...though I'm not supposed to speak demonic language, or my tongue will burn. Anyway, nice seeing you being friends with a mortal Lycan. You two can be along pretty well."
"Yes, but..."
Only after Albreich left him to go back to his carriage did Ifrit said to himself.
"(What's that mortal race?)"