277 A human allied with demons?
As Meredith slept peacefully in her warm sleeping bag next to Luke, who was standing guard, a grudging groan could be heard crossing the place they were in.
Luke Lange’s wolf ears twitched as he caught the sound, and he immediately looked to a specific pilaster on the opposite side of the chamber. There stood the man who controlled the Orc’s and who innocently believed that Luke was a guardian spirit, both because of his strength and because finding humans in a settlement lost in the middle of miles of mountain ranges was not something expected.
When this white-haired man opened his eyes, he came across the half-wolf sitting cross-legged in front of him.
The man was a little surprised that he was still alive, but also a little frightened by who he saw as he despaired. The man looked right and left, but all he could make out was the fact that he was inside one of the buildings in the village.
“Shesshhh! You’re not a ghost, are you?” He asked after a mournful sigh.
Luke just shook his head negatively, making the man feel like the idiot he really was.
“What are you going to do? Eat me? You’re not a cannibal, are you?”
“Of course not, but I can be just as cruel as one.” Answered Luke, without so much as a shiver.
Sweat immediately began to bead down from the strange man’s forehead. “Right, right, right, right. Just tell me what you need to know and I will help you. Just don’t kill me man, I have a daughter who needs me.”
Luke arched his eyebrows. “Do you really think I would fall for a lie, for such a ridiculous bluff?”
“I-I’m not bluffing!” With some desperation, the man tried to move his arms and lean forward, but Luke had tied him quite firmly to the stone pilaster, so he didn’t even get out of place.
To the half-wolf it was simply unbelievable the idea that someone who was on the side of the demons actually had a family to protect, after all, the demons wanted chaos, the end of the small spark of peace that the world had experienced since The Calamity.
Besides, what the man claimed was practically impossible. Humanoid monsters, as this man seemed to be thanks to his scales, could not have children because procreation among monsters was something common only in the weaker monster species, such as Kobolds.
Even though he didn’t believe it was possible, Luke was not an unreasonable man.
The half-wolf uncrossed his arms, and put them over his legs. “All right, prove that what you say is true. If you can, I will listen to what you have to say before I can question you.”
Luke saw tears of happiness pool below in the man’s wide-open eyes, who thought for a few seconds, and then suddenly stated, “My wallet! In my coat pocket is my wallet. I carry everywhere a drawing made by my daughter, and a letter written by her!”
Luke removed the man’s wallet from his own overcoat, surprising him. “You mean that wallet? Um, I thought you were some kind of monsters like the Goblins, who steal people’s belongings for themselves, but if that’s what it is, I’ll take the liberty of opening it to check.”
The reality was that Luke had just forgotten to check the wallet that fell out of the man’s pocket as he carried it into that building.
The man wasn’t even surprised that Luke had already picked up his wallet in advance. “The drawing is in the front pocket, and so is the letter.”
The man’s wallet seemed to be made of animal leather and was quite normal looking, yet it was still able to surprise Luke. It was not very common in Broteforge to use wallets, and only a few people used them to keep some documents, such as purchase receipts, letters, statements and other prominent papers from the bureaucracy.
Luke searched the wallet with close attention to detail. ‘Three gold coins and a Certificate of Enlistment to the Melki Empire. Just that in the first pocket.’
Opening the document that was titled as Certificate of Enlistment, Luke found the following information:
[Certificate of Enlistment to the Melki Empire.
I, Wanney Cuslley, apply to serve in the name of my homeland, the Melki Empire, and honor the legacy of all those who desire a unified, just and…]
‘So, his name is Wanney…’ Well, of course that could be false, but not even the humanoid monsters of the Legion had human names like that.’ Luke thought.
When Luke turned to the second and last compartment of the simple wallet, he immediately saw a nice drawing, a portrait.
In that small portrait was drawn the face of a young girl with eyes drawn like the captured man’s, but this girl’s hair was depicted as dark, not white.
“That is my daughter…” The man stated with a slightly sheepish voice. “When I said goodbye to her a month ago, I am sure she already knew that I would not be back to see her grow up, find a good boyfriend, get married, have children and fulfill her dreams… My mission is practically suicidal, yet she told me to have ‘strength, focus and faith’ and that everything would work out.”
“Stop trying to move me, because you won’t be able to see a smile on my face. I am out in the cold, talking to an enemy and in the middle of a war, while all I wanted was to be in my girlfriends bed with them in my arms. However, you have managed to convince me that you are a human, so tell me everything you know about the Melki Empire, its strategies and plans, and I will release you.”
“Are you serious?” The man inquires, a little fearful, after all if Luke considered him an enemy it would not be unusual for Luke to kill him after he told him everything. “Give me a guarantee, and I will speak.”
The half-wolf crossed his arms, glaring at the man angrily. “The guarantee is that you are still alive, and if you don’t tell me, you will die. What do you think of that guarantee?”