Chapter 26 (2/2)

Loren started thinking that maybe mercenaries were more fortunate in terms of money.

There was no need to worry about money, and they even got small allowances.

They would give their equipment to whoever was in charge of them, it would come back before the next battle, all repaired and ready to go.

“I guess the commander and the guys in accounting didn’t have the easiest of times.”

“Although it differs from person to person, that’s how everyone is living.”

Even though she said with a teacher’s tone, it wasn’t going to increase the number of herbs in their sacks.

On the way back, Loren wondered if he should get a weapon, even if it meant increasing his debt, and try a better quest. But he felt something around them and silently threw his sack at Lapis.

“Are you saying that I should carry your stuff?”

“No. Be quiet for a second.”

Loren clasped his fists and silenced Lapis, who was about to complain.

Lapis realized that Loren felt something, held her tongue, and hugged the sack that Loren had thrown her in her chest along with her own.

“This way. Something’s here.”

Loren picked up a scent of beasts within the green smell of the forest.

He heard a low growl and stepped off the path in the direction which the sound came from.

“If something’s there shouldn’t we run?”

“That’s true, but I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Although Loren agreed that what Lapis said was reasonable, he followed his intuition and ran through the forest.

The bad feeling Loren felt soon became a reality in front of their eyes.

“Loren! A young girl is lying unconscious!”

They reached a small clearing, and lying in the middle was a young girl wearing a white dress, her blonde hair all over the place.

Lapis was focused on her, but Loren found the source of the scent of beasts hiding in the trees around them.

“Something’s here!”

“Forest wolves!”

Lapis realized that they were surrounded as Loren warning rang out, and immediately said the name of the beasts.

The wolves lived in forests and weren’t that large, but they moved in packs and hunted in packs, which made them somewhat dangerous.

Alone, they weren’t that dangerous, but their danger level rose exponentially, and were the were the causes of death for a great number of adventurers in the forest.

“We’re going to save her! You have no objections, right?”

“I don’t, but Loren you don’t have a weapon!”

“This is enough to handle these dogs.”

Loren swung his fist lightly and charged.

The forest wolves saw Loren charge and some of them broke off the pack and rushed to intercept him.

One of the wolves jumped from tree to tree and lunged at Loren, but got hammered straight in the face with a fist.

It flew backwards, spinning, with a broken nose and teeth and crashed into a tree. While it died without a sound, another wolf got its neck crushed, thrown onto the ground, and its head crushed.

Another wolf tried to bite onto Loren’s boots but couldn’t bite through the thick leather, was grabbed and swung straight into a tree, and its back broke.

The last one, which tried to slip past Loren and attack Lapis, got its tail grabbed at the last second. It tried to bite Loren but was swung around and got its neck snapped.

All of this happened within a short moment and the forest wolves, which just lost four of their members, became wary of Loren.

“Can you eat them?”

“Their meat isn’t meant for eating, but their pelts are worth some money. Loren, do you know how to skin animals? I don’t know how.”

“We don’t have a knife either, so I guess we’ll have to give up on that.”

Both came to gather herbs, and didn’t have anything to help them carry four wolves.

Although he regretted not being able to take the wolves, but he knew there was no other choice since they had no way of bringing them back. Loren left the corpses on the ground and took a step forward. The rest of the forest wolves understood that they didn’t stand a chance and ran off.

Loren wasn’t one who liked chasing beasts that won’t attack, and continued to brace himself for a while longer, making sure that they didn’t come back. After he saw that they weren’t coming back, he relaxed and slowly walked back to the fallen girl.

The girl looked like she was around ten years old.

Loren thought maybe it was a trap, but couldn’t think of anyone who would want to set a trap for him using a young girl as bait, and couldn’t find anything of the sort nearby.

“I’ll keep guard, so can you check on her?”

“Yes, of course.”

They were dealing with a young girl.

Loren decided that Lapis, who was a girl as well, would be better suited to check on her. Lapis crouched next to the girl and checked her pulse, then checked her clothes and body.

Loren, watching her at the corner of his eye, looked around him.

Although the forest wolves backed off, there was still a chance that they would attack again.

“This girl sure is lucky.”

The girl, lying on the ground, had dirt and fallen leaves stuck in her hair.

Lapis seemed to feel sorry for her and started dusting off her face and body.

“Lucky? Even though she was about to get attacked by wolves?”

“Yes, because we found her before she could get eaten. Plus, while Loren was dealing with four of them, the others didn’t attack her. If you don’t call this luck, I don’t know what you would call it.”

“That’s…Since there’s people with bad luck, I guess there are people with good luck as well.”

“This world is made so well. By the way, do you have any idea of who the unlucky people are?”

Lapis lifted the unconscious girl and smiled at Loren.

Loren quickly averted his eyes from that smile.