I was right.
From the highest point of the castle of Muri, I could simply float down to the city with my skill [Wind Mount] alone.
I spent another night in the Hollow Lodgings, listening to those women scream like ghosts. It's frustrating, for sure. I would have liked to do that goth girl on the counter, but when I asked her out that night – she said:
"I'll fuck you like Jack the Reaper, elf."
Red flag, right away.
I've seen the stage play 'SE7EN' in a dark part of town about a hundred years before. I know what it means to get fucked like Jack the Reaper.
I should've guessed that woman was into that kind of stuff.
Another night in the Hollow Lodgings made my pouch of money lose its weight. With all the meals I kept buying alongside the cost to keep my lodging, my coins gradually decreased in amount. So, I had to do a few missions to make some more coins.
Secondly, I had to find out where this "Woods where a thousand fell" was. And what the hour where Werewolves weep meant.
So, the second day after I delivered the letter to the Princess, I found myself riding out into the woods to complete a mission I'd accepted in the Adventurer's Guild of Muri.
[NOTICE: A large dark wolf is lurking in the eastern part of the Woods up north. We're some people who have our lodgings within this wood. Our livestock is decreasing by the day. Some of our children cannot even go outside. Please, for anyone who can stand against this wolf, we shall reward you with 15 Gold Coins.]
[Notice: Anyone who defeats the Night Crawler can take 15 Golden Coins home! Bring us the criminal in chains and we shall reward you! General of the Royal Guards of Muri, Connor Rain.]
I accepted both of these missions.
The first day I spent hunting the Wolf in the woods on Nelly's back. Nelly's a fast runner. We managed to outrun the Wolf and nail it on the spot with a spear of ice to its neck.
[You have successfully slain a B-Rank Dark Wolf!]
[+1 wolf soul gained!]
[2 Stealth stat points gained!]
[+1 Strength stat points gained!]
That's about all the rewards I've gotten for slaying that thing. It wasn't too big for a B-rank wolf. Only if it had been S-rank Wolf, I would've broken a sweat. But – not this low-level beast.
With the hide of the wolf, I rode to the lodgings of the villagers who resided within the Forest.
"Sir! You have defeated it!" The old man who was keeping watch over his goats cried out to me as I reached his house with the wolf hide on the back of Nelly.
"Yeah, it took me a while to track it down. It was a Dark Wolf. Those only come out when the night falls," I replied to the man.
It was the dead of the night when I reached his house with the hide of the dark wolf.
The old man was standing there with a torch in his hand, keeping his eyes on his goats. If the wolf had reached this place before me, it would've taken the old man instead of his goats.
"We owe you so much, good sir! Sally! Come out, the wolf is dead! The precious gentleman who killed the wolf is here!" The old geezer cried out from the top of his lungs.
Moments later, a gorgeous lady dressed in a green dress which was probably sewn by her hand came out. It was a tattered garment. They were poor villagers, but that beauty of hers was unfitting for the poor.
"Dad! The wolf's gone?" She asked, coming to her father.
The torch enlightened her face, perfectly reflecting all of her beautiful features in the light.
"Oh, God! Thank you, sir! I was scared that my kids would be in danger," she remarked, covering her mouth.
"Get the money, Sally. The gentleman is waiting!" The old geezer snapped at his daughter. She instantly nodded and rushed back to the old wooden house.
I watched all this unroll in front of my eyes. She's a hot woman. Suited for a good man.
"Sir, we cannot thank you enough." The old man continued. I gazed down at him from atop the horse, narrowing my eyes.
"Old man, do you know of the woods where a thousand men fell?"
"Huh?" The old man asked, confused. "Well, sir, this is that very wood. But, not many call it that these days, you see. Olden poets called this wood by that name, from a fight that took place in these very woods centuries before. My mother used to read such poems to me when I was a mere child."
"Is that so?" I smiled.
"Yeah, I'm surprised someone in the younger generation like you know of this."
He could only see part of my face, I couldn't blame him. If he saw my pointy ears hidden behind my hood, he wouldn't make such a remark.
"Hm, and the hour where werewolves weep? What's that about?" I asked him again.
"Are you a lover of poetry? Haha. It's the Dawn, of course. First light of the morn where werewolves weep because the moon is dying."
'A lover of poetry? So, she likes poems, I assume,' I thought to myself, reminding myself about the princess.
"Thank you for your information, old man."
"Gladly, sir."
The daughter of the old man came running to me with a pouch of coins in her hand. "Ha, here you go, good sir. You've earned every one of those gold coins." She said to me, raising the pouch to me.
I grabbed the pouch and opened it.
Fifteen golden coins were inside, just as promised. Gazing at the crumbling wooden house and the tattered clothes these people wore, I could tell that they had no money like this to give away.
'But I got to live too.'
I gazed at the girl and smiled at her. She smiled back. Then, I spoke.
"Woman, you know. A young beauty like you doesn't really belong in the woods, taking care of your father's livestock like this."
"Um –" she lowered her eyes, her cheeks flushing.
"Here, take these coins, dear. Go buy yourself a beautiful dress, and go to the city. Sell those goats. Get yourself a husband. A decent one…" I advised her, throwing five golden coins at her.
"At nights like these, you should be with a lover, screaming as hard as you can with a big cock inside your pussy in a bed that isn't made of straws." I finished, turning around my horse.
"WHAT?" The woman cried out.
Grinning, I rode Nelly off back to the City.
The next mission was easy.
I found a rumor in a bar the very next day that some thug was surely associated with this 'Night Crawler.' I beat the living shit out of the thug to tell me where the Night Crawler was.
I found him in his very lodging, and minutes after I entered the room, the Crawler was lying on the wooden floor. I had his hands frozen to the ground.
"So, you're worth 15 golden coins, haha," I laughed at him. "Any last words?"
"Please — I'll give you 25 golden coins, just let me go…"
And that is how I came back to my lodging with 37 coins by the end of the second day.