'This voice...'
Narrowing his eyes, Adam caught a decent glance at the elf's face. At once, a name popped up in his mind.
'Tara.'
She was one among the four members of the party who walked into the forest and ended up walking up the guardian beast.
'So they are returning now.' A quick assumption was derived in his heart as Adam scanned the other three members. The dwarf was ferociously swinging his hammer and killing a wolf or two in the process. The human, the head of the party, was a swordsman whose blade sliced beasts into two.
Before he could complete his survey, the zoo morph fellows who were troubled by the Green Wolves were thunderstruck and their leader cried, "W...what are you doing?!"
What are you doing??
The party of four halted their strikes to glance at the wounded zoomorphs with a puzzled gaze.
Weren't you all trying to find off these beasts?
Adam was bewildered by the cry and he scratched his head clueless. What are these fellows shouting for? Were they hit on their heads?
The rescue party froze in their tracks as they saw the victim party reddening in rage. They almost exploded, but thanks to a group of zoomorph civilians who jumped into the scene in their tattered beast skin clothes. There were several nets and chains in their arms.
"Don't let them escape!" An elderly beastfolk screamed and the rest dispersed to chase the wolves. By this time, almost all of the Green Wolves had met their demise or had fled the scene.
Yet, they caught one Green Wolf, one!
The elder's face was already distorted by the scene of dead beasts. Yet he roared to catch the wolves that lingered around. Fortunately, they caught one.
Adam and the party of four observed their actions and they all came to the same conjecture. But lack of understanding of the situation still created gaps in their hypothesis.
"Herman, what happened here?" The elder turned to the leader of the victim party and demanded an explanation. The four who displayed bravery to jump into the midst of chaos to assist fellow brethren became the target of several perplexed gazes.
"Father, we were moving according to the plan. Our plan was flawless. We even took on injury to make out acting real..." The beastfolk replied earnestly and then turned his head to point his finger at the four strangers. " But these fellows jumped in and started to kill the wolves. We were stunned by this unforeseen development. By the time I shouted at them to stop, they had already defeated more than half the pack."
At once, the gazes of perplexity turned to stares of surliness.
What did we do? We tried to help and is this how we are rewarded? If you are acting, then keep the expertise to a minimum!
Dark lines appeared on the face of the dwarf as he turned to glance at the elf. She was the one who insisted on helping those in trouble and pursued their leader to agree.
You went and done it, again!
The dwarf couldn't help but trade gazes at the remaining members of the party before they placed their weapons on the ground and raised their hands in the air. Even if it was unintentional, they had disrupted another's effort and soiled their activity.
"Tara, we need to speak as soon as possible." Whispering so, Gary, the party leader shot a gaze at her which was brimming with irritation.
A cloud of uneasiness hovered over the vicinity and the elder turned around to hear the strangers' words. Upon listening to their account, the zoomorph folks comprehended that the adventurers meant no harm.
"Isn't it time for you to come out?" The old man in his fifties with the blood of bear species running through him raised a question. "Or do you want me to pull you out from the shadow of the tree?"
As expected of people with the blood of beast running through their veins.
Upon realising that his cover has been seen through, Adam stepped out of his hiding spot. When his figure emerged from behind the tree, the civilians were astonished and cautious. The adventurer party stared at one another, indicating that they couldn't sense his presence.
"How did you find me?" What amazed Adam was not that he was spotted, but how he was spotted. The 'Stealth' glyph had nullified his movement noises yet this man found him. Curiosity peaked as Adam's eyebrows shot up in admiration.
Every pair of eyes in the vicinity now on the elder's face, waiting for his reply. The man produced a peal of laughter before responding, "The bears are sensitive to the scent of living beings."
The prideful smug on the elder's face vanished after a second as he spoke, "Explain why you were hiding behind the tree." The solemnity in the voice indicated that the question determined his fate.
"I rushed here after hearing a wolf's howl. But I found it strange when I witnessed a group of 4 people fending an entire pack of Green Wolves with worn-out weapons, so I hid behind the tree to see what is happening. Shortly after, those adventurers entered the scenario with a benevolent intention which toppled your efforts."
Adam found that the other party is an old man with tricks up his sleeve, and gave his honest account. There was nothing he had to hide in the first place.
"You four are adventurers?" The four individuals who spoilt their endeavour nodded in agreement and called forth their interfaces.
'29, 37, 35, 40.' Adam kept his calm on the outside but couldn't contain his surprise on the inside. From the levels alone, he can tell that these people are veterans. The dwarf's D-grade Hammer Mastery and the elf's E-grade Wind Magic and D-grade Bow Mastery displayed their dedication and expertise.
Their leader, Gary Sapphire, had the most impressive interface. Despite being 29, he had achieved B-grade Sword Mastery and A-grade Fire Magic. When compared to him, Walter Brown, the other human in the party was so-so.
"Remarkable." The elder commented and gestured to lower their arms. Then the sight of the multitude was focused on Adam.
Ok.
"Status".
Without waiting for the elder's command, the interface was summoned. The sights of curiosity turned slightly distasteful.
"How long have you been an adventurer?" The stout guy, the leader of the victim party enquired as his eyes saw the level integer. The elder was keenly going through the data of the interface and his face didn't display interest.
Several murmuring rose in the background when his race was exposed as Zoomorph. The atmosphere turned enthusiastic and the civilians engaged in trivial talks. The adventurers also traded stares in wonder. The class 'Berserker' which was a subclass of swordsman wasn't appreciated either.
"So you're an orphan, eh?" After skimming through the information, the elder raised his eyes and glanced at Adam who decided to play along. This he scratched the back of his head with a faint smile.
"It's fine. I was an orphan too." The old man nonchalantly waved his hand and turned to his son. "Bring them to the village."
With a respectful bow, the son acknowledged his father's request. The elder and his men walked ahead while his son and his accomplices guided Adam and the adventurers to their village.
"Adam, wasn't it?" While walking to the village at a steady pace, the dwarf neared the searching and initiated a conversation. "Ah, yes." The reply was a nod with a pleasant grin.
The dwarf seemed to be pleased with his reaction and probed, "So you're a Zoomorph?" The reply was a modest nod.
I think they are taking my race as Zoomorph, just how the sage predicted. I should keep this identity for my exploration.
"Hey, you're making him uncomfortable," Gary whispered at Theo, the dwarf. He then turned to Adam and introduced himself.
"Hello, my name is Adam." The reply was casual.
"Where do you come from?" Gary's next question was already out of the quiver.
"Umm...I don't know. I have been travelling for a long time." Adam took a moment to enact as if he's thinking and replied casually. He displayed a sensitive expression and the adventurers slowly retracted their intentions to probe further.
For the next few minutes, silence loomed over the entire convoy. The zoomorph fellows were also listening to the conversation and they too felt that it is disrespectful to probe into one's past, especially if it causes them uneasiness.
About four minutes later, they caught the sight of a tall wall. It was created with stone, mud and wood, and had moss grown over it, but had a rather sturdy construction.
The patch of brown soil they were treading on led to a small gate. The guards on lookout on the watchposts on either sides of the gate alerted those on the ground.
"Open the gates, the village head arrives!"