Chereads / Spectral Regalia / Chapter 4 - Bandits II

Chapter 4 - Bandits II

When the adventurer group traveled until night, setting up camp near a forest, Avrin was being fed a bottle by the woman who brought some of the beast milk that had been taken by the bandits. She also cleaned up Avrin.

"Let's name him!" the woman suggested excitedly. The man with his arms folded, rolled his eyes, his comrades laughing at the two.

"Uhh?" The man's eyes suddenly narrowed as he quickly dashed over with his blade, "GET DOWN!" he roared before slashing, right as a large shadow pounced over towards the woman, from the darkness. The shadow and the blade of the man clashed, causing sparks to fly. The woman screamed and fell down to the side, while holding Avrin the best she could.

"Magic beast...!" the man glared, his body emitting soft hues of blue light, glaring at the creature as they both pushed to try and overwhelm each other. Despite being three times smaller than the large wolf beast with its eyes glowing, he was able to hold strong. The man's comrades and even the woman, who quickly placed Avrin into the safety of her tent, rushed over to fight. Though smaller wolves sprung out from behind the Magic beast, larger than the average wolf on Earth. The adventurers were still skilled.

Conflict broke out again, shouts and growls as well as roars, explosions from magic.

"What's going on?" Avrin mumbled, his feeding interrupted. He heard a growl approaching closer and closer. He could open his eyes, but they weren't too good at focusing despite how hard he tried. He could barely make the outline of a shadow outside the tent before it entered. It was a large wolf that had sniffed him out, or maybe it was the beast milk. The wolf went over, sniffing Avrin a few times before it opened its mouth and grabbed the beast skin-tied wrapping around him. Holding Avrin tightly in its mouth, it moved out of the tent.

"NO!" the female mage screamed in anger. She wanted to use magic but was afraid of hurting Avrin. She rushed over, but the large magic beast leading the pack got in the way.

"Shit!!" the man leading the group roared out as he rushed over, the fighting heating up more. This though bought time for the wolf that had Avrin to flee into the forest as its mouth was holding him. It was bumpy and Avrin could feel the wind from the speed of the wolf rushing through the thick foliage.

"Reincarnated only to end up as wolf food, huh?" Avrin reluctantly accepted his fate. He hoped it wouldn't end up like this, even having a feeling that this was just some bad prank being played by the being.

The wolf had been rushing through the forest for what seemed like hours, but right as it entered a clearing, a large boar rushed out and rammed into the wolf's side, causing it to yelp and go flying after dropping Avrin. The wolf growled in pain before it and the boar began to fight. The wolf, due to being larger than average, managed to cut and scrape at the boar, blood spilling on both sides before the wolf had finally lost, due to the exhaustion from the hours of running and ambush of the boar. It reluctantly scampered off and vanished.

The boar grunted in victory before going to Avrin and sniffing a bit, using its tusk to lift the strap of the rope tying the beast skin. It then rushed off into the bushes, rushing for quite some time it stopped to catch its breath. Still wounded and bleeding a bit from its fight.

As the boar lowered its head, the rope strap was let go. It clearly intended to enjoy its meal, which was Avrin. Though as it approached Avrin with its mouth, the wind split before an arrow pierced through its temple, a skilled precise shot. The boar trembled and in a daze walked a few steps before falling dead.

The bushes nearby rustled a little before a middle-aged man moved out from it, a bow in hand with a full quiver, with three dead critters hanging from his belt. It was clear he was a hunter. He approached the boar, eyeing it a little. Avrin was unsure of the situation, though regardless it would be better than starving to death, so he let out a feeble cry.

"Hmm?" The man looked in shock at the beast skin wrap, reaching down and turning it, only to see the baby. "A child?!" He looked around a few times, reluctance, sadness, worry, contemplation, then finally he moved his hands around Avrin after putting his bow away. Pulling Avrin and tying him to his chest, the man reached over and hoisted the boar with seeming ease on his shoulders, a clear indication of his built strength.

The man walked some time in the dark before returning to a village, lit up. He avoided being seen and headed straight for a home on the outskirts, with a stone wall around the back.

"I'm home..." he called out as he entered inside. The interior was what one might expect, wooden floors and hand-built, a bit better off than medieval housing. "Welcome home! Oh wow... a boar? This late at night?" a woman in a stitched dress and brown hair appeared, drying her hands with a damp cloth. She looked mature but one could see her face was exhausted and fatigued.

"I told you to please just rest... you shouldn't be up so soon," the man spoke with worry after lowering the boar. He was showing concern for the woman who was his wife.

"I'm fine, it keeps my mind off, you know. Hmm, what's that?" The woman looked at the beast skin strapped to the man's chest. The man looked a little reluctant, but he didn't answer and undid the strap before holding it and showing the baby Avrin to the woman. "I... found it with the boar that was already wounded, which made killing it easier. I think it took this child?"

The woman was stunned. Her body was shaking, almost having to hold her emotions back as she rushed over and took the baby from the man in a snatch. She looked at it carefully. "What a beautiful child..." her voice hushed, her finger tracing Avrin's cheeks. Avrin, obviously awake, didn't cry. Instead, he just made some random babbling sounds. In his mind, women like it when babies do that, or at least he hoped they did.

Hearing Avrin's response, the woman teared up a bit. "W-well... we can keep him here a bit, if anyone comes asking... we..." she was unsure what else to say.

The man who was quiet, gazing at his wife, approached her. "I don't think anyone will come... maybe it's a sign... or a gift... from above?" The woman looked tense. Soon the two embraced with Avrin held in the middle.

"Losing him days ago before I could even hold him... maybe this is indeed a gift from above," she repeated her husband's words.

With Avrin listening intently, it became clear to him that the woman had given birth a little bit ago, but it had possibly been a miscarriage, and she saw him as this blessing. Maybe for Avrin these two people were a gift too, if it lasted that is, as fate seemed to enjoy playing hot potato with him.

Feeling oddly comfortable, Avrin finally shut his eyes, mentally exhausted from the events of the night, having been unable to sleep. He soon slumbered deeply, hopefully this was the end of passing him along, and the beginning of his new life.