156 Awards
When Luke finished receiving the congratulations of his friends and Oliver, Ayumi quickly warned him that the Chaos Followers had been using the spotlight of the tournament to act in the shadows. Alexis warned Ayumi about the possibility of it being some kind of terrorist attack, and the Matriarch of the Strogueher Family soon put her pieces on the board. Now that she had taken recognition that the First Servant had some influence in her city, she needed to show him that she also had powerful contacts.
At Ayumi’s request, the Master of the Oukiwa Guild assembled a special squad with her most trusted adventurers, and together they managed to stop the occultists before the worst occurred.
“Oliver will be able to explain better about what happened. He was the one who was handling the information exchange.” The blonde Elf spoke, pointing her hand at the guard next to the door.
The Ayumi’s bodyguard was tall, bald, and seemed to never take the steel armor off his body. Oliver always had the same serious look on his face, which reminded Luke about Martha.
Getting the Matriarch’s permission, Oliver stepped forward and began to explain:
“They were carrying large metal drums, which were very heavy. We still don’t know what their intentions were, but the city guards will look into it.”
The half-wolf placed his right hand on his chin and began to think, “Metal drums? Are you sure?”
“Yes, and inside them there was also some type of powder.” Then Oliver withdrew a small bag from a pocket attached to his scabbard.
He opened the loop of the small bag and poured a little of that powder into his hand, which was without gloves. The first thing that could be noticed was the similarity to sand, except that this powder was black and smelled bad. The odor was abrasive and dry.
“Can I touch it?” Luke asked Oliver. The old guard just nodded and extended his hand further forward so that the half-wolf could touch it.
Luke touched that powder with his index finger. Then he moved his finger away and realized that there were still remnants of a thin layer of the material left on his skin. “I could be wrong, but I believe that is black powder.”
“Black powder? What is that?” Ayumi inquired, surprised that Luke recognized the material.
“It is a chemical and medicinal material, which was used to treat poisoned wounds. For example, if a Forbannet frosk bit you, you would go to a guru and he would use some of it to try to help you.”
Oliver listened carefully and was also a little impressed. “So, they don’t use that thing anymore?”
“They don’t use it because it never really worked and soon went out of circulation. Apparently, that powder would get into people’s bloodstream from open wounds and intoxicate them.”
“All right, I’ll pass that information on to the city guards and the Guild Master. Thank you very much.” Oliver thanked him and put back into the bag the bit of black powder, which he poured into his hand earlier.
After that conversation, a nurse knocked on the door and examined Luke’s injuries. He had multiple bruises all over his body and two broken ribs, and just like Shiro and Nathalia’s injuries, they seemed more serious than usual.
The nurse handed him a small glass flask. Inside the flask was a very bright red liquid. He drank it and immediately felt better than ever.
“I don’t even know how you’re not aching with pain…” The old nurse spoke, her countenance exhausted. It wasn’t hard to see that she had a lot of work to do that night. “By the way, Champion, I hear there are people waiting for you at the back exit, and they want to speak with you.”
After that, the woman retired from the room and closed the door. A few minutes later, the group got ready and left the infirmary. Shiro, Nathalia and Luke’s faces were not so swollen from the potent effect of the advanced healing potion they each drank.
You could still hear the people bustling around town, talking loudly and singing around the Municipal Arena. When they went out the back door of the stadium, many people rushed to the half-wolf.
“Hey, ‘Half-wolf’! Join my Clan! We’ll pay you a monthly salary of three gold coins!”
“Champion, sign my gauntlet, please!”
“No! Sign my shield!”
“Test my sword, Champ! She is the most powerful in the region!”
“Out of the way, amateurs. Mr. Amarus wants to speak to the Champion.” A huge man pushed the other four men aside very easily and made way for another man who was also very large.
Amarus, as he was nationally known, had a rugged face, thin black hair, and wore strange armor. The half-wolf immediately recognized him as well; after all, this man was one of Oukiwa’s most famous Adventurers.
“Hello ‘Half-Wolf’, it is a pleasure to meet you personally.” He spoke without smiling and with his hands kept behind his back. “I am the Leader of the Horizon Clan, and I am here to make you a propo—” Suddenly, Amarus interrupted his own speech as he heard a familiar voice.
At the end of the crowd, a man was trying to pass. “Excuse me! May I pass? Thank you! Miss, may I come through here real quick? Thank you very much, you’re a cutie!”
At the moment that the man finally made it over to Luke, Amarus exclaimed:
“Hollorius, don’t think you’ll ever steal another talented person from me!” This anger made the valiant leader’s pose disappear.
The blond-haired man who came out of the crowd instantly smiled when he saw Amarus. “How did you manage to get down the stairs so fast with that heavy armor and that huge belly?” He spoke, analyzing Amarus from head to toe with his right hand on his chin.
“Huge belly!? I told you that’s how thick my armor is!”
“How are you so old and lies so badly? That way your Clan will never get good Boss raids in Sheltered Halvøy Dungeon…”
“Shut up and let me talk to the ‘Half-Wolf’!”
However, as soon as Amarus turned to talk to Luke, he had already entered a high standard carriage. Ayumi stuck her head out through one of the windows and waved with a cheeky smile. Then the coachman snapped the carriage ropes and the four horses, which pulled the carriage, drove away at high speed.
“Shit! I hate you, Hollorius! I was going to offer 20 gold coins as salary to this guy!”
Hollorius himself was surprised, because he was going to offer a huge monthly salary of 10 gold coins for the young half-beast to join his Clan, Escadron d’incendie.
“Why would I offer so much money? You already have dozens of warriors in your Clan.”
“Are you dumb? I’d turn you into the best rogue this continent has ever seen.”
Immediately Hollorius wondered how he hadn’t thought of the same thing, because the techniques that the ‘Half-Wolf’ showed in the last two battles were quite similar to those of a rogue. And he, more than anyone else, knew what damage a good rogue could do if he worked as a team.