Rania and Kenzo returned to the village with the dead werewolf in tow. It was past nightfall by now, but the people were still awake and once they arrived Rania immediately noticed that the initial signs of relief were quickly overshadowed by something else. It was true that this werewolf in particular had gone rogue, but there was no way of knowing how its former pack members would react upon hearing the news of its death. For the night however, both Blue Pegasus members were offered a generous reward as well as a place to rest. The following morning came rather quickly, but Rania was able to get a decent amount of sleep regardless. She woke up to the sounds of a commotion happening on the market place and even though she was still a bit groggy, she quickly put herself together to see what was going on.

The Paladin could hardly believe her eyes, when she spotted another freaking werewolf standing at the center of the marketplace; it was roughed up and the villagers were throwing rocks and insults at it, making her feel almost sorry for the beast. Its demeanor was much calmer than she’d anticipated and it quickly became apparent that he was here to talk to the chief elder Cameron. Bewildered by this sudden change of events, Rania grabbed her staff and quickly rushed over to Kenzo’s side so they could act fast should the need to do so arrive. “I don't like the looks of this.”

The trip back to the village was short. The dead beast in Kenzo’s shoulder was honestly smelling really badly. It was a curious thing to notice out in the wilderness, but it was starting to bother him. He couldn’t wait to drop the damn thing at the square already and take a bath. After the long trip from Marigold Town, the two Blue Pegasus members had yet to take a rest. Even if Kenzo was not tired per se, he would quite enjoy relaxing a little. Ever since he’d travelled to Myras City in order to join Alisa’s guild, he’d spent most of his time working. There was quite an incident in the Silver City, one that put the mercenary in quite some trouble, but the pay had made it all worth it.

When the two of them finally arrived at the village center, the two of them were offered a place to stay and were given their pay. Kenzo grabbed the tiny bag with jewels and opened to see how much they’d received. ”Tche.. Chump change” The warrior rolled his eyes as he held the bag in his hand and stored it inside his spatial ring. For now, they needed to rest.

Morning came quickly, quicker than what the blue haired man appreciated. Waking up to a ruckus outside the inn, the male dazed off for a sec before wiping off the trails of dry saliva running down his cheek. Still drowsy, the male made it outside. ”Yaaawn What the hell’s up with the-“ The swordsman’s words were cut short at the sight of yet another werewolf. As Rania came to his side, the male tensed. The submissive looking beast was leagues stronger than the one they’d hunted the day before. ”Be careful, he might be trying to trick everyone” Kenzo didn’t buy his martyr act. There was definitely something going on.

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“I want to speak to the chief, and the human who killed one of my kind.”

The Werewolf’s grim voice echoed through the marketplace, and a shiver ran down Rania’s spine. The girl mustered up all her courage as every person in the village turned around and looked at them; most of them probably assumed that Kenzo had been the one to slay the beast, but that didn’t matter to Rania. She had taken a life and she would deal with the consequences – even if that meant going into a house with a werewolf. To her surprise, Cameron the Chief Elder was fine with that idea, as he and the werewolf seemed to have known each other for quite some time. Wondering what this was all about, the woman gave her guildmate a simple shrug before she walked over, carefully eyed the large beast and then entered into Cameron’s house.

“This is Achak,” the chief then introduced the wolf to both of them and Rania shot the wolf another glance. He did look more peaceful than the other one they’d killed, that was for sure. “Pleasure,” she squeezed out and flashed him a bleak smile. “Achak has been the alpha of his tribe for many years, and during those years our village and his pack have lived peacefully among each other, but those times have changed.” Rania was uncertain as to where they were going with this, so she crossed her arms and looked up at Kenzo to make sure the warrior wasn’t making any hasty decisions – he genuinely seemed to hate those dark races after all. “My brother tricked me into a fight, he won on unfair terms and became the new alpha. If we don’t stop Amarok he will soon attack this village and slaughter everyone within it.”

He took a long dramatic pause during which is eyes glanced back and forth between Kenzo and Rania. “As someone who has killed a werewolf, one of you will be granted the right to speak to him and challenge him as the pack leader. So, which one of you was it?” A cold shiver ran down Rania’s spine. One teeny weeny puppy was fine, but the pack’s freaking leader? She wasn’t so sure she could do that on her own.

For all of the tension, it seemed that the werewolf was in fact not hostile. Kenzo knew not all of them were. After all, he knew one personally. However, he had learned that there were two types of werewolves. The first was the one able to control the obscure power conferred to them by the moon, retaining their human form and sanity. And there was the second one, beings that had fallen prey to the dark and primal desires of their curse, depraving their humanity and devoid of any human intellect. While the first kind of werewolves were able to transform at will, the second were forcefully converted into huge wolves. Akin in size to an adult horse, the only human trait these beasts retained was their human speech. From the looks of it, it seemed that the werewolf that bear the full brunt of the village’s wrath was one close to attaining full control over his dark power.

For that reason, the mercenary complied with the chief’s will for now. Without dropping his guard, Kenzo was able to relax a little and listen to what he had to say. Apparently, he was the old leader of the werewolf pack. From what chief Cameron said, the two of them had made an agreement many years ago, promising not to harm each other. Kenzo crossed his arms as he tilted his head to listen to the story. According to the large beast, his leadership was taken away from him by his brother, using deceitful tactics. The male simply huffed, no surprise there. As he took a pause, tension would come back to the air for a moment. As he asked which of the two of them had killed the stray werewolf, Kenzo could see Rania getting nervous. He understood what the girl must have been feeling. After all, considering the difference between the one she had just killed and Achak, one could only imagine the strength of his brother that had beat him in combat. Kenzo knew it was time to step in. After all, he had been sent by Alisa to supervise Rania and allow her to grow, protecting her from any mortal danger. Yeah. Taking the blame was the right thing to do. But…

”It was her. She killed the beast” Kenzo blurted out of nowhere, pushing Rania forward with a heavy hand, making her take a step forward. A playful smirk appeared in the mercenary’s face.

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The Paladin’s hand slid down her scepter, and with a quiet sigh she ran her other hand through her long, black hair. The situation had gotten complicated; the former alpha sought their assistance in a matter that was otherwise overwhelming for the people of this village and since they’d already gotten involved, this was no time to step out. Either way, it wasn’t how a guild would handle the situation anyways, and Rania understood this. Her eyes fell on the wounded beast, and while none of his injuries were major she still felt pity for him. To be betrayed by his own kind, his own family and forced to seek help with those who disregarded him for the very existence he couldn’t help must have taken a toll on him.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all of this,” said Rania, and her words were spoken with sincerity. “And I’m sorry that there will be no way for us to keep your family together, but everyone here will have no choice but to be grateful for your cooperation, whether they want to admit to it or not.”

When Achak explained what had to be done, the woman’s heart skipped a beat. Being put on the spot like that almost made the mage feel guilty for what she’d done, even though she knew that her choice to kill the other werewolf had potentially saved many lives. For a moment her mind even went to Kenzo, who would–by the looks of it–feel perfectly comfortable in slaying an alpha, but instead he blurted out the truth and she couldn’t fault him for it. “Kenzo is right, I did it,” she spoke immediately after and gestured towards the blue-haired male with her scepter.

“He’s merely my apprentice anyways,” the woman spoke with a tone so dismissive and calculated, that made it seem as though she was 100% convinced by her own words. Still, when he pushed her forward she couldn’t help but stumble. Regaining her position immediately, Rania looked up at Achak and gave him a warm smile. “I’ll be happy to help.” And then she put her hand onto the werewolf’s arm and began to heal its wounds while side-eyeing the mercenary.

It was almost too easy to tell how much Kenzo hated werewolves, and perhaps all dark races. Achak had done something almost noble, and yet he couldn’t get himself to refer to his kind as anything but a ‘beast’ and that alone told Rania that perhaps Alisa had truly sent her to be with him, and not the other way around after all.

For a second, Kenzo thought about taking his words back and just playing it off as a joke, volunteering himself for the task at hand. However, Rania struck once again with yet another witty remark. The male simply chuckled, nodding at both Achak and chief Cameron in agreeance to her statement while also shrugging his shoulders. His brows rose as he left out a silent expression of ”If you say so” with his face. For some reason, the girl had brought out a side of him he didn’t know. Normally, people would shrug off his jokes with an awkward silence or something, but it seemed that Rania was something like an expert. Had he perhaps lost his touch? Further experimentation was necessary to reach a decisive conclusion. Nevertheless, the thing the male found the most interesting was the fact that she was earnest while defending herself. After seeing the display of empathy she had for Achak, Kenzo couldn’t help but warmly smile. Rania was a good person, someone with a yet untainted heart. He’ll do his best to try to keep it that way.

As the two of them left the chief’s house and prepared to go and challenge Amarok, Kenzo walked with both hands behind him, wondering if Rania was aware of his status. From what it seemed, she was completely oblivious to who he was. It was a strange feeling after being chased around the country for his bounty. One that the male quite appreciated. Perhaps she also knew and had decided to ignore it, something that he also appreciated. However, the most plausible reason was that she simply was dense in that way. No matter what though, she was quite an interesting person.

-EXIT-
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