Soul Knight - Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Nick marched casually through the forest, Eirwen and Kaya at his sides. His entourage had really increased.

Eirwen had given the small crowd a token meal, the little wolflings enjoying the bearcoon meat immensely. He got rid of Jerry, as the reservation for the wolfling alpha, Jasper, was enough that his soul blade dimmed more than he liked.

The three wolfling females followed Eirwen like little ducklings, and she constantly peppered them with loving attention.

“These three are just so cute! Look at how their fluffy tails wag when I pet them!”

After that, they decided to send them on the hunt, in the direction they were headed. To Nick’s surprise, they actually began gathering quite a few corpses–and safely. Jerome and Jasper both pulled a sort of sleigh, or travois that was now building up a decent stack of beast corpses.

Several squirrel-like creatures were slain, along with a sort of mole. They even gathered some fruit, and even a few handfuls of nuts.

They ran through the forest rapidly, it clearly being their home. Nick was getting better at moving through the alien foliage, but Eirwen was having a bit of trouble.

It turned out that if the goal was to obtain meat, it was really best for Eirwen to not use her looting skill. They could obtain meat from doing that, but much of the monster’s essence would then be split as a reward.

If they wanted to consume the meat, it was a bit better to manually dismantle the creature for cooking. The difference wasn’t too large, but it was enough that with the goal of feeding thirty wolflings, it mattered.

Overall, these creatures had no trouble collecting food. Just why were they so hungry?

Nick’s musing was eventually interrupted by a howl, and a few barking yips. It appeared they found an enemy. The alarm wasn’t as if they were under attack–they were sounding the attack

He dashed to the side, the direction of the howl askew from their original heading. The party followed, until he arrived near the location of the howls.

There was a creature in the clearing, with several wolflings barking at the monster, backing it into a corner. Nick was shocked that they could actually push it back.

The monster looked somewhat like a moose, but it looked a lot more like a predator. Its mouth was scaly and long, and had vicious-looking teeth. It hissed at the wolflings as they darted in and out with their tiny spears.

There were a few wounds on the monster, but they did not look very deep. Nick guessed that it was really just overwhelmed by the noise and the number of assailants, confusing it.

“I’ll take on this one by myself. My little fans will enjoy it.”

Kaya snorted. “They enjoy just about everything you do, even when you scratched your ass back there.”

Eirwen chuckled. “Yeah, that look of bliss on his face was cute!” She laughed, and Kaya laughed along with her.

“H-Hey. It’s tough to get under this armor. Then it’s like as soon as you close the clip, the itch comes back.”

The confusion of the odd moose was coming to an end. It roared, and it waved its antlers around, knocking away the spears. The wolflings darted back, but the moose chased after one with single-minded determination.

Nick flicked his throwing knife, piercing the creature in its shoulder just before it might have grabbed the wolfling in its mouth. It groaned as it nearly fell, but it locked eyes with Nick.

His Aura then washed over the creature, the frost building up on its body. It filled itself with red essence, and began its angry sprint at Nick.

The scaled moose was large, its big hooves thundering as it charged in Nick’s direction.

Nick took off running at an angle, forcing the creature to steer its charge after him. Drawing his soul blade from his shoulder, the creature had already slowed significantly after a few seconds from his Aura.

Nick leapt high in the air over the monster, causing it to skid to a stop.

Landing behind it, he dashed and slashed deeply into its flank at an angle–avoiding retaliation from its rear hoof. Its head whirled on him, trying to knock into him from the side.

But Nick ducked under, then continued to slash into the creature in its chest. Its essence stirred as if to block his attacks, but his blade was deadly. The creature’s essence was being absorbed somewhat by his blade even as he cut, and the wounds built on the monster rapidly as it twisted and tried to kick at him.

Blood from the monster splattered on the ground, as Nick expertly dismantled the creature with fast movements. Its wounds brought it down to a limp in moments, its speed drastically decreased by his aura.

As a final attempt at taking Nick down, it stirred its essence, and dashed at Nick to bite him.

The odd antlers atop its head sort of corralled or helped prevent Nick’s dodge, but he planted his feet and pierced his blade straight into the beast’s skull with a fierce stab.

The monster froze, then fell to the ground as Nick dispelled the blade.

The wolflings all cheered, barking and yipping with glee. They danced around the dead corpse, raising their spears in the air repeatedly, and their tails were wagging happily.

He smiled at their enthusiasm. “Man, it sure is nice to have a bunch of cute cheerleaders. Remind me to bring them along for any accomplishment I make. I should really teach them how to clap. I bet their fluffy applause will be great.”

Eirwen approached the downed moose. “This is a lot of food! This is full of essence, too. It must have been level six! But you dealt with it so easily.”

Nick snorted. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but if they don’t pull out no bullshit ability like that damn rhino, there is not a situation where I should have a hard time. I can kill twenty moose at once, bring ‘em on!”

Kaya smirked. “Is that right? How about two hundred rats?”

Nick’s smile faltered, as he remembered the horrible tunnels filled with rats. “Them rats weren’t fair, either. Anyway, let’s get this cooked up? I’m getting hungry now too. We've been at it for a few hours now. We should have enough to feed our little friends now, right?”

Eirwen nodded. “We do, but the smoke is not something we’ll be able to hide well. Maybe if we find a cave? The unending fireplace of my mom’s doesn’t make any, but to cook all this unless we wanna be at it for days will require a real fire.”

“Huh. I guess I’ll ask them?”

He entreated Jasper to ask. “Jasper, ask them about a cave, or a place to cook this meat–we need to hide the smoke.”

Kaya snorted as she shook her head. “I still can’t get over the name Jasper. What’s with these names?”

Eirwen giggled. “Yeah, they all start with J, and they are like…I dunno, it’s hard to put my finger on it. Is it an Earth thing?”

“Of course, they’re all butler names. They’re my Soul Servants!”

Kaya groaned, as she palmed her face. “Of course they are.”

Nick got a promising answer from the wolflings.

It appeared they lived in caves scattered throughout the island, and, they also sometimes used fire already. They had to backtrack a little to the closest ones, but they eventually arrived at a cave not that far from the beach.

However, Nick was not happy.

“Ah, hell nah. These ain’t no caves, these are burrows! I can barely fit inside.” He tsked. “Soon as we got more time, I’m going to have these guys dig out a proper home. Make me a throne and everything.”

It was clearly a dug out cave, the wolflings likely using their claws to dig out a crawl space. He supposed that once they got inside, it should be quite safe from humans and orcs, whomever came and tried to attack.

Eirwen giggled, as she followed after the many wolflings entering, crawling on her legs. “It got lost in translation! My horns and that fat wolfling can fit, so you should be able to.”

Kaya chuckled at Nick, as she crawled inside. “What’s the matter, Prince Hero? Not good with tight spaces?”

Nick cleared his throat, as he ducked and trailed behind her as he crawled. With her armor on and her cloak there wasn’t anything to see, though her tail wiggled behind her.

“I’m good with tight spaces. Matter of fact, your sister’s tight space was–”

Kaya’s tail smacked Nick in the face, and she growled. “H-Hey! I don’t wanna hear about her like that. Winny is an angel, and–”

Nick snorted. “Alright alright, I was just playin’. You’re exactly right, she is an angel… Er, wait–they got angels here?”

They crawled for what Nick thought was nearly thirty meters through the winding tunnel, before it opened up into a larger cavern. The ceiling was still low to where Nick still had to stoop down with his larger frame, but otherwise wasn’t too bad.

Even with thirty wolflings in the room, there seemed to be plenty of space to move around. There did appear to be a tunnel leading above, where smoke could exit when they cooked. Nick was curious about their ability to cook, when they looked like they could enjoy food raw.

When he got out, Eirwen helped dust him off.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, hubby. This place looks safe! We’re about half-way to the human village or so, and we now have a bunch of cute little allies.”

Nick snorted. “I’ll give it to them that they are great trackers, but they will not be all that useful in a fight. Unless you like to watch wolf children get slaughtered, I’d rather keep them out of it.”

Eirwen shrugged. “You can just revive them, can’t you? They will be happy to fight for their alpha, they are used to fighting as a part of their life. Anyway, I think you’ll change your mind quickly on them.”

She walked away, and helped in preparing the food to be roasted. To Nick’s surprise, the three little wolfling females followed her, and began helping her in her preparations.

The many wolflings barked and yipped, and seemed to be gesturing for him to head into the back of the cavern.

In the back was what appeared to be a crude throne. It was made of stone and bone, and covered in animal hides. Trophies of small animal skulls lay nearby, and the pushy little wolflings guided him over to it.

Thankfully, the bulky wolfling had made the throne large enough that he could sit in it.

Kaya snickered as she looked over the many details of his odd throne. “Look at that, they beat you to it, there was a throne here already.” She spread her hands wide, gesturing wildly as she exclaimed, “Behold, the splendor of King Noblefrost, ruler supreme of the Wolflings! All shall marvel at this chamber of opulent magnificence.”

Nick sat down on his throne with a satisfied sigh. Several of the wolflings deposited fruit on the stand next to him, and one even began fanning him with a large leaf. He started chewing what appeared to be some kind of grape, but tasted a lot more tart and sweet like blueberries.

He chewed them with a smile. “Jealous much, Kaya? I bet you wish you were in such an esteemed position. Your every need catered to, by your humble servants?”

Kaya wore a smirk as she came and joined him sitting next to the throne, eating some of the fruit.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Alpha? You have a duty too.”

Nick frowned as he put more berries in his mouth and chewed. “Whatchu mean? Protecting them? That’s a cakewalk. They practically protect themselves, they’re fast enough to run from most threats.”

“No, I mean the other duties of being an Alpha. Haven’t you seen how them females are sweet on you? They’re going to have other expectations. Words have meaning, and you just made a pact, or swore an oath, to fulfil their needs as their Alpha. Why do you think those females tried so hard to mark you?”

Nick’s face went white as he stood up. “N-No way, that can’t be? That ain’t happening! Them girls are like little children, and they got way too much fur, I’m not into that! Actually, I can come up with at least a dozen reasons why not!”

Kaya’s smile grew wider. “Are you sure? You could make a bunch of heirs in one go! I thought that’s what you wanted?”

Nick caught Kaya’s expression and tsked as he sat back down. “You’re just teasin’ me. That was a good one, I have to admit. Ain’t no way that’s happenin’.”

She gave him a mysterious smile, before she shrugged, and she chewed on more fruit. Eventually, she stood up.

“I’m going to help them get that food grilled up. Have fun with your little…subjects.”

She left, and Nick watched as the many wolflings busied about the cavern. Many of them appeared to be quite tired, but others played. A few worked on sharpening their weapons, and others prepared their odd goods from the slain forest creatures.

The little creatures were more industrious than he imagined, busying themselves with different crafts.

They brought him a drink out of a gourd that seemed to be filled with berry juice, and he just absorbed essence from the air as he killed some time.

Eventually, some of the food was ready. The many wolflings brought over the food, piling it on the table in front of him. Nick never had moose, let alone a scaled moose, but it smelled delicious.

Eirwen had added to the meat with various herbs and wild vegetables they foraged, and Nick was impressed with the spread. But as they deposited the food, the many wolflings headed away with their tails between their legs.

The many wolflings gathered on the other side of the cavern with nothing, and it became clear to Nick what was going on.

The old Alpha was a glutton. Probably, it gorged itself and left only the scraps for its brethren, barely allowing them to survive. If he had to guess, it likely even prevented its brethren from hunting much for themselves.

That would reduce the amount of food for him over time, even if they earned more than enough from their hunting to take care of themselves.

There weren’t even any wolfling children. The creatures were so emaciated that their instincts would probably prevent it.

But that was no longer. Prince Noblefrost would be a much more generous alpha.

He called over Jasper, to give them the news. He made sure to add that they should absorb all the essence they could, to grow big and strong. That he wanted his pack powerful, to grow from their honorable hunts in the Noblefrost name.

The wolflings yipped and barked in excitement, joining Nick in his feast. Kaya and Eirwen eventually sat down with him, and to his consternation, the three wolfling females that were interested in him, busied themselves with catering to his needs.

They refilled his gourd and made sure he always had various foods on his plate. Each time he ate or tried something and looked pleased with it, they would replace it. There was a wide variety of grilled tubers, mushrooms, and wild vegetables that Nick had never tasted.

The wild onions were especially sweet, and the essence seemed to enhance the flavors.

“Man, this is grubbin’ good. Nice grillin’, Winny and Kaya.”

He smiled at them, and they smiled back. But the three wolfling girls looked at him expectantly, their blue, wolf puppy eyes becoming big, and tearing up.

“Er, good job, wolfling girls?” He patted them on the heads, scratching behind their ears. Each of them closed their eyes in happiness, their tails whipping back and forth dangerously.

Kaya had a teasing look nearly the whole meal, and Eirwen looked overjoyed to interact with the little creatures. The three females seemed to also cater to her, ignoring Kaya nearly entirely. He thought he caught the looks they gave, it was almost like they sneered at her.

None of them really used a utensil beyond a fork, using skewers but otherwise just biting into the meats and vegetables. Still, the three wolfling girls made sure to eat plenty for themselves, taking turns in their eating. Nick just shook his head at this.

Eirwen giggled. “They’re so happy! Well, this was both good and a lot of fun, but I think some of them are going to be too stuffed for travel, after this. This was a lot of essence, for them.”

Nick sighed. “I guess there’s not a lot of daylight we’re losing. But we could march at night, couldn’t we? Most of us have decent night vision.”

Kaya shook her head. “I’d rather not. Even if we have that, our vision is still better during the day. I think us heading back with the wolflings might confound any of our trackers, too. Still, we’re almost half way there, we should definitely be able to arrive at the human settlement tomorrow.”

Nick sighed. “It’ll take a whole day to go back to the Orc one just about, unless we had an amazing pace. I suppose two weeks is plenty of time, but I’d rather set a pace for being out of here in under a week.”

Eirwen tapped her lips. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to move quickly. The wolflings scouting and tracking for us makes us much safer. We made much better time with them scouting ahead.”

Nick looked around the cavern. He saw a bunch of hide rugs and similar, but not much that resembled beds or bedrooms.

“Huh, doesn’t look like we’ll have much privacy here. Maybe we can do one of your dream dates?”

Eirwen giggled, her ears wiggling. “That sounds like fun! But, I have another good idea.” She pointed at Kaya. “Dream training! You can help Kaya with her axes.”

Nick was dubious, but he saw some of the merit. “You can do that? But what about muscle memory, and things like that? I don’t see how that could work.”

“It’s magic! Well, it will take me some effort on my part to make it work, but I think she’ll be able to gain a lot, maybe even practice mastering her ferality! And you might be able to play with your essence some, too. I haven’t done this before, but I think I can do it.“

Nick smiled at Kaya–he was on board with this. “So, what’ll it be? Wanna practice your axes with me? I promised I would do everything in my power to help you become a beast warrior, so you won’t hear any complaints from me. Unless Winny told me you might get ten minutes of training out of this, then screw that–I’m going on a date with my girl.”

Kaya smiled back at him. “Thanks, Nick. I really appreciate that. Let’s do it! I want to get stronger.”

They spent a time chatting, and meeting with the many wolflings. Nick could hardly differentiate them all that much, but he could feel how happy they were, as they showed him their little crafts and their various trophies.

Eirwen pointed out to him that goblins were prolific crafters, so it felt normal that the wolflings would share their desire to accomplish similarly, even if in a more beastlike fashion. If goblins were similar to wolflings, he wondered what their intelligence was like.

Nick was given the largest beast hide rug, what appeared to be the skin of some kind of bear. Eirwen joined him at his side, and Kaya on the other side of Eirwen.

The wolflings were very communal in their sleeping, the many wolf people sprawled out all over their little cavern. Nick was happy to learn that there were a handful of them that patrolled in the nearby area, capable of warning if a threat approached their burrows.

The three wolfling girls were pushy, trying to join him in his bed. He wouldn’t have minded much as they were just sleeping, but as soon as his armor came off they wouldn’t keep their tongues away. It was like they had a renewed determination to give him a bath, though with what Kaya said about marking, he noticed some other behaviors that he’d rather not think about and dutifully ignored.

He shoved them away, ordering them to sleep nearby.

He drifted off to sleep, with his lovely sheep girl in his arms as she worked her magic.