Chapter 51: The search for answers. Wolf kept at bay.

Edward wanted nothing more than to push these adventurers away so he can take care of Minx until she woke up, but since their strength put some small pressure on him just by being nearby, he had to entertain them.

The members of the two parties felt a bit awkward seeing how Edward was just focused on the wolf and wasn’t even looking at them. From the back of one of the parties that came forward, a young woman dressed fully in plated armor walked forward and extended her cloak towards Edward.

“We get it. You love one of your little pets but we shouldn’t have to stare at the other one.”

Edward followed the woman’s eyesight and just now remembered he was naked. Taking the cloak with a nod, he quickly used it to cover his private parts and said: “Thank you. I forgot I was naked.”

“Oh, but why are you naked?” asked the woman as she raised one of thick eyebrows.

“One of my skills sort of needs me to be naked.” Replied Edward shortly, not willing to speak too much about the subject. The woman noticed this and didn’t asked further even if she sort of doubted his explanation.

“Are you injured? Do you need healing?” asked another man from the woman’s party. He was dressed in the usual priest clothing Edward has often seen members of the church wear.

Edward was not hurt so he wanted to decline right away, but looking at the sleeping Minx, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to let a healer check her condition so he said: “I’m fine, but would you mind checking my wolf here? I want to make sure she’s alright.”

The priest came forward without saying another word and placed one of his hands on Minx’s soft fur. Mumbling something under his breath, a thin membrane of golden light covered Minx as the priest closed his eyes.

A few second later, he opened them again and said to Edward: “I cast a small healing spell, but the wolf appears to be alright. I don’t know why it isn’t waking up tho.”

“That’s alright. Thank you for the help.” Replied Edward.

The members of the two parties asked questions one after another until eventually Edward got a bit tired of the interrogations and said: “I’m a bit tired and I’d like to sleep for a while. Do you mind if we continue this another time?”

The party has long noticed that Edward wanted to get rid of them, but they wanted to find out more about why that storm took place here and how did his wolf swallowed the lightning. Unfortunately for them, Edward kept avoiding the subject or making up some bullshit, in the end leaving all the adventurers a bit dejected. Without an excuse to stay anymore, even if they wanted to wait until the wolf woke up, they had no choice but to leave back towards the dungeon entrance.

The parties in the distance have also gone away a while ago and Edward was finally left alone with Minx. Looking at the sleeping wolf, Edward asked: “Fenrir, is she alright now?”

[She should be. Her soul must be exhausted or even slightly injured, but she will should wake up in time.]

Edward nodded and asked again: “That thing behind the rift. Why did it call you sister?”

[If I’m not wrong, it must be a fragment of Hel, my sister. Something must have happened in her realm, causing it to be split into several fragments and since she was fused with her realm her soul also ended up fragmented. Behind that rift must be one of the fragments.]

Edward frowned, having heard a few stories about Hel before. She was the one who ruled over the realm of death and was Fenrir’s only sister.

“But why was she kidnapping villagers and why did she take Minx’s soul?”

[I don’t know about the villagers. As for Minx, her soul must have been too weak to consume the core of a spiritual being. As she tried doing that, her own soul must have gotten injured enough for it to break apart from her body. As her soul was drifting out of her body while trying to fuse with the core, it naturally got attracted towards Hel’s dimension.]

Edward nodded once again before he stood up carrying Minx’s body in his arms: “I should leave this place. Some of those adventurers have already taken an interest in Minx and I don’t think I can fight them if they somehow decide to take her from me.”

[Do you mind doing me a favor first?] asked Fenrir all of a sudden just as Edward was preparing to head back towards the City of Ashes.

Looking at the mark on his arm, he said: “That’s new. You don’t usually ask for favors. What is it?”

[Can we go back to the village and wait there for a night? I want to see if the rift will open again so I can ask that fragment what happened to my sister.]

Edward pondered for a moment before nodding and starting to walk towards the village. He didn’t mind waiting at the village for one more night now that he knew the identity of the being behind the rift.

He kept walking what remained of the entire night and half of the next day until the village appeared in his sight. He was tired, not having slept for a while, as well as hungry, his source of sustenance being the wolf eating at night.

He couldn’t sleep since he had to keep an eye on Minx and doing so this close to the village will spell tragedy for everyone inside, but he could ask to see if anyone inside would be willing to spare some food for him.

While continuing to carry Minx in his arms, he made up his mind and started heading for the village entrance after picking up the tunic he has thrown away last night. The villagers keeping guard in front spotted Edward and wanted to warm him to stop when one of them raised his arm to stop the others and started walking forward. It was the same one Edward has spoken the day before.

“Why are you still here kid?” asked the man as he reached in front of Edward. He then fixed his eyes on the sleeping Minx and asked again: “What happened to your pet?”

Edward sighed and said: “We’ve fought that shadow last night and she ended up injured.”

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“Oh, so you were the source of the noises we’ve been hearing last night. What happened? Did you defeat the shadow?”

“We killed the shadow, but as you can see, it wasn’t easy. I want to stay here one more night and see if another shadow will take the last one's place, but I haven’t eaten in quite a while and I wondered if you can spare some food.”

The man looked quite excited to hear Edward has defeated the shadow so he nodded almost immediately: “No problem. Let’s go inside and I’ll let the others know of what you did for us. A hearty meal is the least we can do for you.”

Edward and the guard made their way towards the entrance. Asking Edward to wait a bit further away, the guard went forward and spoke a few word to the other ones. One of the guards went forward ahead, probably to let everyone know the news as the middle aged one led Edward inside the village.

“Edward was your name?” asked the middle aged guard. Seeing Edward nod silently, he continued: “I’m Edmur and I wanted to thank you one more time for taking care of that shadow. The others in the village are not that found of outsiders, but please don’t mind them. They are still good people, just used to trust only on their own.”

Edward nodded, not really caring that much as long as he could get some food. Reaching in front of a small tavern through the village’s beaten paths, Edmur opened the door for Edward since he was carrying Minx and they all walked inside.

At the tavern’s counter stood an white haired old woman. She looked towards the door, a kind smile appearing on her timeworn and wrinkled face as she said: “Ed, why are you here so early?”. Even her voice sounded week and fragile.

Edmur smiled and led Edward towards one of the tables in the back as he replied to the woman: “Mama Milda, I came to treat this friend of the village to a meal. Could you bring out some delicacies on me?”

The old woman looked at Edward and the wolf but didn’t say anything as she just headed for the back to prepare some food.

“Mama Milda is one of the oldest members of the village and her food is simply the best. I’m sure you’ll like it.” Said Edmur as the two of them took their seats.

Edward placed Minx small body on another chair and replied: “As long as I can fill my belly, I’m not that picky.”

The two of them chatted casually and eventually Mama Milda came in the dining room carrying two large bowls of soup. Placing one in front of Edward and Edmur respectively, she went in the back to prepare more food. They kept eating for almost and entire hour while chatting continuously in between. Mama Milda kept bringing out food like there was no end and Edward could say that this must have been the most lavish meal he had in both his lives.

After being done eating, Edmur’s expression became a bit more serious as he asked: “After you defeated that thing, did you find out anything about what it really is or it’s origins?”

Edward felt a bit awkward, not really knowing how to explain, so he said: “I’m not really sure, but when I fought it, I saw it came out of some sort of rift in space. There was also the fact that it dropped a monster core when it died.”

“A monster core? Like the ones in the dungeon?”

“Yes, at least similar. This was a lot darker than the ones I’ve laid eyes on before.”

Edmur frowned and asked: “Do you think that maybe there is a dungeon opening near the village?”

Edward didn’t think about this, but knowing the origin of the rift, he wasn’t sure that would be the case. Pondering for a moment, he said: “I don’t know. I have no idea how dungeons come into being in the first place.”

“I should inform the village chief nonetheless. Want to come with me? You must also be quite tired and I’m sure the chief will let you borrow a room for the day since we don’t really have an inn here.”

“No, thank you. I don’t plan on sleeping for the day. I will check to see if anything else will happen tonight before returning to the City of Ashes.”

“Alright. Do you have anything else you want to do in our village? It would be better if you don’t walk around alone if that’s the case.”

“Not really. I think I’ll head out and wait for night to come.”

Edmur nodded, looking quite apologetic he couldn’t entertain Edward more.

After they thanked Mama Milda and Edmur payed for the food, they headed for the village entrance. The guards there thanked Edward as well before he headed for a small clearing a bit further away from the village where he sat down next to the sleeping Minx. Looking at her, he sighed and mumbled: “I hope you wake up soon…”

Edward was a bit too tired to practice magic or do anything else so he just laid next to Minx all the way until midnight.

As midnight came, he stood up and fixed his eyes on the village entrance, waiting to see if the rift will open once more.

Unfortunately for Fenrir, nothing happened that night. As the sun started rising in the horizon, announcing the arrival of a new day, Edward said: “I’m sorry, Fenrir. It looks like that lightning destroyed the rift for good.”

[It’s fine. I suspected something like this must have happened…] replied Fenrir, but while she said it was fine, Edward could notice the disappointment in her voice.

Sighing softly, he picked up Minx in his arms again and started to slowly walk back towards the City of Ashes. He didn’t know if this qualified as a passed quest, but there was nothing more to do other than to report everything that happened to the guild.

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