As soon as the words reached William he ordered camps to be built for them, that was out of consideration as druids didn’t like to live inside cities. In this condition, they might put up with it but he didn’t want to trouble them more than they have.
Cain stayed with the guards and Alaric as they were setting the camps, They had another mission thought. “We received enough bread, beans, and dried meat. This will be able to sustain us for a few days.” Alaric said as he inspected the bags brought by the guards. “Sorry, this is all we could afford to give you. Our winter supplies are not that high.” The guard who was driving the carriage said, he had just returned from the food storage.
Cain knows he was either lying or didn’t know, this year they have gathered more than double what they need. But that was in preparation for the anticipated war with Ourals, William can’t risk losing a war because they have given a lot from their supplies.
“It’s a bit bland, let’s go hunting!” Cain said as he jumped into the empty carriage. “Wait, you were just fighting monsters this morning, you have to rest.” Alaric tried to stop him but Cain pulled him into the carriage instead.
“The girls are helping with the cooking, I should do something as well.” Sofia and Gracie were helping in cooking for the druids, and Alice was working with the church people to heal the injured. Zaleria had gone back to the forest, and Cain was sure she went to bring the monsters’ corpses back. Selena was helping with the transportation of equipment as she was stronger than everyone else.
The guard who was sitting in the driver’s seat looked at Cain and then smiled, “I’m on duty now, I don’t want to exhaust myself more.” Cain quickly understood his meaning, the man want to slack off. “Fine, you will go if it was an order from the lord’s daughter?”
“Well, I can’t have my head chopped off!” He replied and Cain immediately went to get Alice, he instead found Leon on the way and got permission from him.
“Did you get it?” The guard asked, “Better, I got it from Leon. You have to escort us to the forest!” Cain replied. With this, the guard Cain drives them to the forest, takes a nap while they were hunting, and then drives them back. For him, it was better than running around with logs in the middle of the snow.
The carriage groaned as the horses dragged it on the snow. Cain and Alaric looked from the window as the camp faded into the distance, “I hope to get a couple of deers, rabbits are too small.” Cain said as he checked his sword.
“You say as if it was easy to find one, we might spend a whole day and not find anything.” Alaric shook his head at Cain’s overconfident.
“Any druid worth his salt will be able to transform into a hound and track smells, finding tracks and hunting will be easy!” Cain replied instantly.
“Are you expecting me to be your hunting hound?” Alaric growled.
“Of course, who’s the other druid you’re seeing here? He sure isn’t one!” Cain pointed at the guard driving the carriage. The man burst out laughing, “I sure know no magic, heck if I can write my name I wouldn’t have been working here.”
Alaric couldn’t help but laugh, this man named Cain felt different than any other mage he ever met. “I can see why Zaleria took interest in you, your rudeness know no bounds.”
“But you indeed can, and it’s not like I will be eating from the hunt, it’s your people,” Cain stressed in the last sentence, it was true that the one doing the voluntary work here was Cain and not Alaric.
“Cheeky brat, but you’re right. Let’s get this done with quickly.” Alaric was optimistic earlier, the food they got from the city could barely last them the week. They would have to start hunting immediately if he wanted the children to eat their fill.
They reached the forest and got from the carriage. The guard immediately prepared to take his nap leaving the two of them to work.
“What are you waiting for?” Cain looked at Alaric and the man frowned, “Let’s find a trace first. Alaric wasn’t fond of the idea of becoming a hunting hound.
To his bad luck, Cain was quick to find some deer waste under a berry bush. “Look, I found some for you to sniff!” Cain weaved his hand in excitement, Alaric’s face grew tense as he didn’t want anything to do with it but he had no choice.
The druid shook his head as he weaved his staff, his body twisted as he grew black fur, glowing red eyes, and large canine teeth. A large black hunting hound tall enough to reach Cain’s waist, he intimidating, to say the least.
“Ah, such a cu…” Ahem, Cain cleared his throat. “Let’s start the hunt quickly!”
“Oi, what were you about to say?” Alaric growled but it sounded like a small bark. Cain knew that druids only transformed into exotic creatures and this hound was nothing less of a rare species. Some call them hell hounds because of their look, Cain simply was fond of rare dogs and he wanted to see one.
They immediately started the hunt.
…
A bit far away, Zaleria was clearing the forest of the corpses left by Cain and Selena. She was honestly impressed by how much carnage those two left, “With this much, how many levels did they rise?” She wondered, there was tens of dead monster of no less than B-rank. Some of them even had severe wounds as if hit by a large monster.
The more she delved deep into the forest the more she found, the more her anxiety grew. Sofia had told her that they were no more than the sixth level, but it didn’t match with what she was seeing. This much damage couldn’t have been done by two people of less than the tenth level.
A giant bear with its skull caved in, growling moos cut in half, a four-armed gorilla with its neck snapped, a viper eagle burned to ash. The list kept growing, to the point she got annoyed from carrying them to the forest edge. Zaleria looked back in Cain’s direction, “Who are you, and which level you’re now after this?” She said.
She quickly shook her head, “No matter how strong you can grow, humans are always limited. Unless you can break those shackles you better not stand out that much!” Her words came from her heart, she knew that the Dragon’s lord was hunting talented people for some reason, if they came for Cain she wouldn’t be able to protect him. Unknown to her, in Cain’s past life she had died protecting him from them.
The day quickly went by as they hunted cleared and the druids rested and tended to their wounds. It was growling works but it all was with the effort when Cain and Alaric walked in with a whole ten deers, two of them were roasted on the spot. The dinner seemed more like a feast around the raging flames. New allies have been gained and time was ticking.