In the middle of the sky, two demi dragons finished hearing the young dragon's proposal.
— When the time comes, I hope they know how to make their choice—
Seeing the dragon retreat, the cocatrices only looked at his faces, before sighing and returning to their lair to prepare for the chaotic times ahead.
Dying, the dark wolf managed to reach a safe place where he would try to harness the energy of the flower that he stole to strengthen himself. Worried about his brother, he decided that as soon as he finished recovering he would go in search of him.
At the shelter, Sven started looking for the recycler. What worried him most was the possibility that the wolf had destroyed him.
Hearing the howls at the entrance, he knew that if he didn't get it soon, the wolf would enter the shelter for him.
Near the bed, in the center of the room, many of the things Sven had accumulated were in piles.
Looking closer, Sven found no sign of the recycler. Complicated by low vision, he decided to turn off one of the lit batteries to reduce the amount of smoke.
Feeling that time was running out, he found the recycler under two boxes that the wolf must have thrown.
With his goal accomplished, Sven took one of the torches and lit the whole place.
Thinking of the wolf, an idea crossed his mind.
— If you liked my refuge so much, I hope you don't mind staying for a long time in it—
Hearing the explosions inside the shelter, anger surged in the wolf as he remembered the creature causing his pain.
Not caring about the damage he received to his body, the wolf entered while charging his electric breath.
Taunting the wolf, Sven threw some bags full of it towards the main room, to which the wolf sensed that movement and released the electric breath from him.
The combination of chemicals, fire and electricity caused a chain reaction inside the shelter, setting the entire air on fire.
With a great explosion, most of the shelter was buried under the rubble not allowing to know the current state of the wolf inside.
— Too bad, I lost most of my stuff, but at least it was worth it—
Taking the recycler and some clothes, the young man could only move towards the south of the forest in search of a new refuge.
A week had passed since Sven had lost his shelter to the blue wolf. During that time, he concentrated on improving his stealth abilities.
Spending a lot of time in the open, he could not neglect himself at any time, if he did not become part of the food of another animal.
The most dangerous situation that he had was when he woke up inside a carnivorous plant of more than three meters. It was only thanks to luck that he was not digested by the plant and with his knife he managed to create an escape route for himself.
After a week, his body had reached a new level of strength. Although he had no way of comparing himself to others, he at least he should be above average human.
After breakfast, Sven found a river that led to a region that he had not yet explored.
Following the course of the water a voice reached his ears.
— Is it a person who is singing?—
With much anticipation, the young man ran in the direction of the voice. When he got to the place where he heard the voices he could only find some tools on the ground.
The existence of tools increased the belief that he found a village of people, but he felt strange to see the rustic of them.
Without losing his composure, he kept walking along the edge of the river until he could see small palisades blocking his path.
Surrounding the buildings, the young man looked for an entrance or guards that would allow him to enter.
— Who are you? and what business do you have with our town?—
Sven was shocked to see the guards. Silver hair, a variety of eyes between ruby and violet, brown to gray skin, and most importantly, long pointed ears, he did not believe he had encountered a people of dark elves.
— You don't seem to be of our race, explain yourself well or we will be forced to expel you by force—
Feeling conflicted, Sven could only go with the flow. He needed all the information possible.
— I'm not suspicious sir, I'm just an adventurer who passed by here—
—Catch him! If you weren't suspicious, why would you mention it—
Sven knew that his words were suspicious, but he decided to use what he thought most common to get to know this town.
Being surrounded by five guards, he was transferred to the village "jail", which was a small room in the house of the chief of the guards.
Being transported around the village, Sven was able to see the various villagers, but what surprised him the most was that he could only see a couple of children.
Another more important point is that it seemed that this town was advanced, in charge of monitoring the changes in the forest.
After eating a tasteless soup, Sven was transferred to a room where he would meet the chief of the guards.
Although the room where he was taken was much better, most of the furniture was old and you could see the wear and tear on it.
— Hello, to what do we owe the presence of him esteemed "adventurer"—
A mature woman entered the room, although her purple hair with gray streaks added to her explosive figure could distract most of her, Sven kept his cool.
Her lustrous armor on her body, like the ones worn by the Valkyries of the legends, added to her serene temperament warned Sven that he shouldn't joke with her.
— Greetings my lady, my name is Sven and I am just an adventurer who lost his way—
— I see, still, I need you to explain your reasons for visiting Sixteenth Outpost. And I don't want any lies—
When he finished saying those words, Sven could see a glint in the eyes of the head of the guards.
— As ordered madam, I have no conspiracy against your people. I am currently lost and my main objective is to find information about my grandparents—
After the head guards' eyes flashed again, she took a sigh and relaxed.
— That is good. My name is Eleine, and don't call me ma'am, this year I'm only two hundred and fifteen years old, I don't look anything like those four-hundred-year-old women—
— Ahem, miss take care of her language—
From the shadows, a teenage girl dressed in a maid outfit came out after Eleine, correcting her behavior.
— "I must not interfere with the age of the boss"— was the thought of Sven when he saw the dark aura that was generated around Eleine.
— From now on you are free to walk around the town, but you should know that only the soldiers of the kingdom of Asturias can live here—
— Is there any way I can join the kingdom's army—
— There is, but you should know that if you fail, you will automatically be expelled from the town, do you agree to take that test?—
Sven had nothing to lose, if there was a way to keep getting information, he was going to pass the test giving everything of himself.
— Yes ma'am ... I mean. I would like to take the test Miss Eleine—
— Okay, you can back off. When it's time I'll send someone to look for you—
After Sven left the room, the maid followed Eleine to a kettle to make tea.
— Are you sure Eleine, that young man seemed to hide several things from you—
— But he didn't tell any lies, did he Aisha?—
Looking at her emerald-haired friend of hers, Eleine was not happy to bring her to one of the most dangerous outposts in the kingdom.
— You know not, even so that young man doesn't give me a good feeling—
— Don't worry about him, if he doesn't pass the test, I'll be the first to expel him from the town, are you happy?—
— Only if you let me be the one to take the test—
Eleine looked at her friend with a complicated face, but she knew that Aisha would not be unfair, so she accepted her request.
Walking the streets of the town, he reminded Sven as if he were in medieval movies.
Some stores offered different types of food that he did not remember. Wanting to buy some roast beef, he realized that he didn't have any of the local currency.
— Young man, don't worry about that, I invite you this time—
The clothesline looked like a man in his forties, but Sven knew that meant the man should be almost five hundred years old.
— You're new to town, that means you're a soldier—
— It's my first day in town, this afternoon I'll take the test to enter the army—
Hearing Sven's last sentence, the face on the clothesline changed to a dark one and he looked contemptuously at the young man in front of him.
—Thank you very much for the meat, my name is ...—
— Don't go on with that, keep your name and go back the way you came—
Seeing that something he said had affected the clothesline, Sven decided to keep exploring after thanking the man.
— You may never get the chance to say your name again if you fail the test—
Seeing the young man disappear into the distance, the clothesline expressed a grim face as he thought of the fate the young man had in store for after the ordeal.