The next morning, Alex woke up in his room at the mayor's house. After he put his mask back on and readied his equipment, he walked out of the room and saw the mayor, Willem, sitting at the table.
"Oh, good morning, Alex. I know you missed out on dinner, but I've made some breakfast if you want." Willem said.
"I'm good. I'd rather start finding these monsters of yours." Alex stated it clearly.
"R-Right right." Willem said. "They are located south of the village, near our local river."
"Thanks." Alex said. "I'll be back later."
"W-wait!" Willem yelled out. "Let me walk you there."
"Not necessary." Alex said plainly.
"C'mon, let an old man take a walk." Willem said with a smile.
"Whatever. C'mon." Alex said as he walked out the door, with Willem following shortly.
"So question for you, mayor." Alex asked. "Why were you willing to offer up the woman of your village for payment?"
"Oh...I'm not proud of that." The mayor said this with his head down. "I heard from another nearby village that's why they did it when they couldn't pay their mercenary...he took advantage of the offer, so I assumed you all were like that."
"Well, we're not." Alex said it angerly. "And if I ever meet that mercenary, I'm going to kill him for taking advantage of that village."
"I didn't expect you to have such high morals." The mayor said he was surprised.
"I don't." Alex said it plainly. "I've killed people innocent and guilty alike, but even I have a line that I will not cross."
"Well, it's good to know not all mercenaries are heartless." Willem said.
Soon the pair arrived at the south exit to the village.
"Head towards the river and then head a bit west; there you will find where we lost our hunting group." Willem said.
"Alright. I'll be back." Alex said as he walked into the woods.
"Be careful!" Willem yelled as he watched Alex disappear into the trees.
Alex kept marching through trees and bushes, not finding any sign of any predators. He looked for carcasses or even blood but spotted nothing. As he reached the river, he once again spotted no sign of anything hostile.
"Hmmm...he said a bit west of here was where his people went missing..."
Alex walked west until he saw a bit of a clearing where he spotted a rotting body leaned up against a tree.
"Found it." Alex thought.
Before Alex could walk up to it, he heard rustling from the bushes around the clearing. Alex could sense something hostile nearby
"GET AWAY, HUMAN!"
Alex turned around, drawing his sword with just enough time to block an attack from behind him. He then kicked the attacker away, creating distance between them. His attacker was a girl with tanned skin and long white hair, along with bright yellow eyes, but the most attention-grabbing of all was the wolf ears and tail she had.
"THIS IS OUR TERRITORY; WE TOLD YOU NOT TO COME HERE AGAIN!" The wolf girl yelled.
"Look." Alex said it calmly. "I'm just trying to understand what happened here. That's all."
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" the wolf girl yelled.
"I can understand that. Look, how about I put my sword away and you put your claws away, and we can talk?" Alex said very calmly.
"NOT HAPPENING, HUMAN! YOU'LL JUST BETRAY US LIKE THE OTHER HUMANS!"
"Other humans?" Alex asked.
"THE ONES FROM THE VILLAGE!" The wolf girl yelled angryly. "THEY KILLED EVERYONE IN OUR TRIBE—MY FATHER, MY BROTHER, EVERYONE!"
Alex thought for a second before sheathing his sword and taking off his mask, revealing his face to the girl. "What do you mean they killed everyone?"
"THEY...they attacked our tribe. We didn't do anything to them, but they wanted the land...we tried to talk to them about living together, but they..." The wolf girl started getting visibly upset. "THEY KILLED EVERYONE!"
"How long ago was this?" Alex asked.
"T-Three years ago." The wolf girl replied.
"May I ask your name?"
"Reyna." The wolf girl said.
"Well, my name is Alex, and honestly, I was sent here to kill a monster, but you are not what they told me." Alex said, sighing. "So, I'll be heading back to the village to cancel this job. This wasn't the deal."
"I'm afraid you can't do that."
Alex heard a voice coming from behind him. He turned his head and saw someone who looked like Reyna but was a bit older before she punched Alex in the face with almost unmatched quickness, knocking him out.
"Reyna, what did I tell you about talking with the humans?"
"Sorry mother." Reyna said in sadness.
"I'll take him back to the house; get the fresh water for Daria."
"Yes mother." Reyna replied.
*A Few Hours Later*
Alex started to stir from his forced sleep. He looked around and saw a small campfire in front of him. He then noticed his hands were bound behind his back by some kind of rope.
"You have got to be shitting me..." Alex said out loud.
"Good, you're awake."
The older version of Reyna walked up to Alex. She had longer hair than Reyna and, frankly, had a more adult body in comparison. Like Reyna, she also possessed long white hair, yellow eyes, and, of course, wolf ears and tail.
"What are you doing here, human?" the woman asked.
"I was given a job to hunt some monsters." Alex said.
"So you're here to kill us?" The woman asked.
"No, I was told there was a monster here, so I expected goblins, ogres, and the like. Not members of a beastman wolf clan." Alex said.
"So now that you know, what are your intentions?" the woman asked.
"I was going back to the village to cancel the job since I was lied to too. That was until you decided to punch me, of course...nice left hook, by the way." Alex said slightly joking.
"Those people who hired you are the real monsters...what they've done..." the woman said with her voice breaking.
"Reyna told me a bit about it, but not much in detail." Alex said.
"Well then, let me tell you exactly what happened."
"It was a peaceful day in our village; everyone was doing their morning chores and whatnot, so nothing was out of the ordinary. Then that afternoon, a group of six humans walked to the front gate. They said they were new to this part of the country and were just familiarizing themselves with the surrounding area. Our clan chieftain, my husband, welcomed them and even taught them about places to go. We even gave them some of our harvest for the road, but that night they returned with over twenty more people, all armed with their swords and arrows. They opened fire, and...they killed most of us. They even hired magic casters to burn our village in the process. My husband...died saving our daughters from our burning house. I, along with my two daughters, Reyna and Daria, were the only survivors, and we retreated to this cave. Since then, they sent group after group into these woods to find us, and we've had to fight them off. My own daughters had to kill humans just to live. So that's why I don't trust you, human."
"I understand why you don't." Alex said. "When I was there, I was not told any of this. I wouldn't have taken this job if I knew..."
"That's why you need too-"
As the woman was coughing, a lot of coughs could be heard in the distance.
"Stay there!" The woman ordered Alex as she ran further into the cave.
Alex, not listening, followed quietly behind her. He saw the woman and Reyna standing next to another girl, lying down and coughing.
"That must be Daria..."
The girl on the ground looked a bit younger than Reyna, with short silver hair and wolf features. She seemed to be coughing up blood.
"What's wrong with her?" Alex asked.
"YOU!" the woman yelled as she pushed Alex up against a wall with her forearm directly on his neck. "I told you to STAY THERE!"
"Let me help your daughter." Alex said. "In my bag, there's medicine that could help her."
"And why should I believe you?" the woman asked.
Alex looked at her in the eyes with a sympathizing look.
"Do you have much choice?"
-------------------------------------------------------
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