章 72: Don't lose your belongings, please! part 3

Ryu and Sera faced a small sized wolf that growled at them.

"What should we do mister Ryu?"

"Stay still, I'll look on my pockets if I have something to feed it"

"I think he's found its food already"

Sera said pointing at the wolf's drooling jaw. It was a scrawny wolf, no bigger than a house dog, with a bark brown fur and it looked weak. But it was a wolf nonetheless, and its fangs looked dangerous.

"Don't worry, i know what I'm doing"

Ryu said as he took the obsidian knife from his leather sash. It looked even weaker than the jackals he had faced before, but it was the first time he was planning on facing a wolf in a straight fight.

Ryu lunged himself on the wolf to make the first movement and slashed at the wolf's head, making only a small cut over its eye with the sharp knife.

The dog yelped in pain but returned the favor with a strong bite on Ryu's leg. He was already used to the pain of being bitten, but something was off this time as the wolf let go of him immediately instead of trying to pull him.

"dammit, i was counting on him holding on to me"

Ryu said

"and that was supposed to be a good thing!?"

Sera was absolutely terrified, especially when she noticed that the wolf was getting ready to pounce at Ryu who was still limping. He took a vial out of his breast pocket and smeared the blade with a think green substance.

Ryu faced the wolf's onslaught with the knife held with both hands, but the wolf performed a feint and headed straight at Sera's face with its maw wide open. Sera kept her eyes open and fell butt first to the snowy ground and the wolf stopped an inch from her face.

"whew! it's done"

Ryu said while clapping some snow off his clothes and taking off his leather sash.

"Quick! finish it!"

Sera yelled.

"Shhh! don't be so loud Sera, it's ok, he's completely paralyzed"

Ryu showed her the small vial with a proud expression, until he realized it was the wrong vial. It was the same poison he used on the captain of the brothel when he drank a beer with him. It's effect was slow but strong, at first it weakened the victim progressively but then it started draining it health points until the victim died.

"What's that look on your face?"

Sera feared the answer, but asked anyway.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. It's just that instead of the paralyzing potion I used a poison"

"But it can't move right?"

Ryu nodded and she sighed in relief.

"Still, I don't want to kill it, I think it'd be useful if I manage to make it so lets bring it with us"

"Yes, mister Ryu"

Sera replied, even though she didn't like the idea at all, she couldn't disagree with Ryu. Just a minute before she was willing to give her own life for him and she had been more scared for his life than for her own.

It's not that she didn't fear death, she had all kinds of hopes and dreams for the future. But she knew that she was living on borrowed time. Ryu not only treated her for free when she had nothing to repay him, he also took care of her and her small sister Claire. At first she didn't like Ryu because she thought that he would take advantage of her, but once he met him all her doubts were dispelled into thin air.

He treated everyone fairly and was a kind person, he also was capable enough to take charge of a rundown tavern and turn it into a thriving business with new ideas.

But that wasn't everything. For someone as weak as her, having a broken arm was nothing but a death sentence. It could have taken her days or weeks, but she knew her chances of making it out alive on winter were slim to none.

Everything he did, was for other people's sake, she couldn't stand people mistreating him or seeing him suffer. Her only hope was to be able to repay him or, at least, make Ryu's life a bit more joyful. She had long noticed that he was very diligent and focused on his work, but he didn't take his time to rest like everyone else.

Her first impulse was to always ask him to rest a while, and she always got the same answer 'I can't rest now, there's a lot to do and little time on our hands'. It was only when she was sitting on the carriage, looking at Ryu being held at knife point that she finally understood everything.

Ryu wasn't strong like miss Anne or Bob, his body was weak and he didn't even look as manly as even the weakest miners. Despite his slim constitution, he had a confident appearance that made him look reliable and a special kind of charm that would make people put their trust on him. Over and over Ryu had proven himself to be capable of solving matters that had been haunting Ironwoods for years, if not decades.

All this made Sera think that if she was to die today, nothing much will change. But if they lot Ryu, everyone at Ironwoods would suffer a great loss.

Ryu dragged the wolf downhill while Sera was still lost on her own thoughts, since they were heading back and had the height advantage, they were able to see the town from afar.

It looked close, but it still took them several hours to reach Hiraku's trading outpost, which was located on the town's northern outskirt closest to the road to the mine.

"What happened to you young Ryu!? everyone's been worried sick!"

Hiraku's expression changed when he saw their appearance. They were dirty, wet, their hands and faces were red and their clothes were ragged. It looked as if they had been dragged on the ground for kilometers.

"There's no time, ask Ksenia to bring me every vial there is at the tavern"

Ryu said as he sat on the ground next to a filthy looking dog.

"Why did you bring a dog in here? is that your new pet?"

"Hopefully, if it doesn't die"

The wolf was unconscious and Ryu took the chance to use his consider skill on it.

>Amarok pup (bleeding) (poisoned)

"Also, it's not a dog, it's an amarok pup, any idea what it is?"

Hiraku shrugged at Ryu's question.

"If it's just a pup, how big do you think this thing will grow?"

Ryu shrugged in return.

"How can you two be so calm? Hiraku they need assistance, move your ass!"

Ayumi yelled at her husband while pulling off his ear.

"Calm down Ayumi, we're ok. Sera, you can go rest inside, I'll stay by the side of this fellow"

But her face was stiff, Sophie who had just came outside with a blanket to receive their guests stood still with the same expression as Sera.

"Mister Ryu, did you just say it was an amarok?"

"Yes, why?"

"There's an old tale, older than this town, that told the story about the mighty Amarok. He's supposed to be the god of strength though most experts believe it actually refers to a divine beast"

Sophie said after regaining her cool.

"Yeah, but that's a tale so it has nothing to do with reality"

Hiraku said trying to calm things down.

"It's not like that mister Hiraku, not all tales are based on lies"

Sera said and Sophie took the chance to continue.

"Even if it's not as described in the old tales, there's a reason why this part of the country has been long forsaken. The amarok is supposed to be a giant wolf, but instead of hunting in a pack, he always hunts alone and particularly at night. According to legend, nothing can be concealed from an amarok, thus it has been called the famine beast since it can find prey without fail and needs huge amounts of meat due to his huge size. Whenever there's famine in a town, the elders of town claim it's the amarok's fault"

"I don't think our current situation is caused by this fellow"

Ryu sneered looking at the scruffy wolf lying on the ground panting heavily, until he remembered that when Anne went outside to hunt after the freeze she came back empty handed.

Ksenia arrived a short while after and Ryu was still lying on the ground.

"Mister Ryu, are you ok?"

"Yes yes, this is nothing, did you bring what I asked for?"

"Everything should be inside this box"

She said as she placed a medium sized wooden box on the ground. It had different compartments with vials and bandages, it was something similar to a first aid kit but instead of medicine it had all kinds of extracts.

Ryu started identifying the different vials until he found a lesser antidote, it was necessary to identify every different vial since some of them looked identical but contained completely different liquids inside and they couldn't put tags on them without risking other people stealing them.