Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Warning! (Intermission 1, I)

Azer’s men had gathered a couple of smaller sized tree trunks and created a pretty decent looking seating area around the fire. They looked very confused and still alert to the presence of the wolves who had begun to munch on the deer they had captured earlier, with Sparky and his family already full from getting the first dibs.

Sparky had been a great topic of observation from the men who, I think, were more surprised by his size than anything else. His intelligence was far greater than the average beast and his interactions with the smaller child made him look almost human in nature.

Azer had kept his men under control and assured them a few times by now that the wolves weren’t going to do them any harm. I had no idea what the wolves were going to do but sort of played along with the situation as best I could. As long as Sparky was cool, then I didn’t see any reason for the others to start being aggressive.

Sparky ignored the attention while his she-wolf companion sat next to him near my shelter with the little one running around full of unlimited energy like he was being powered by a nuclear power plant or something. It somewhat reminded me of when my children were little. I sure miss those days, and overall wished I could see them again. I sure hope Glen sorts this shit out very soon as he still needed to reach out to me like he said he would.

Sparky let me take one of the deer’s legs, a prime piece of meat that hadn’t suffered any damage during its run-in with the wolf who’d hunted it down. I thanked Sparky and promised him if I caught something I would let him and his pack share. He didn’t seem bothered and bumped his head into my chest for fun.

The crafting system hadn’t given me an option to build some kind of a cooking spit yet, so I decided to use some initiative and gather some large sticks. Azer gave me some rope from his cart to join it together while one of his men used a small knife to scrape the skin and any dirty fat off. According to the man, he had done this kind of thing before back when he was still a young man. His father had owned a small farm and taught him how to skin and harvest animals for their meat, along with many other components of their bodies useful for crafting things. We left the meat to slowly cook about a foot and a half above the fire and twisted it around occasionally to ensure it wouldn’t get burned.

“It has been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of tasting venison,” Azer stated before taking out a small greenish glass bottle and taking a sip. The liquid looked milky, but I couldn’t quite make out the exact colour.

“It’s a shame you didn’t have any spices in stock. I thought you were supposed to be the guy who sells all and everything.” I chuckled before the middle-aged man passed me the bottle.

“Indeed…that, my friend, is what we call Barrow Bosa. Who needs taste when you have this?” Azer replied with a cheeky grin.

I took a sniff of the liquid, and I knew exactly what it was, some kind of fermented beverage. I took a sip and instantly noticed the resemblance as a tangy taste filled my mouth and tingled my taste buds. It wasn’t exactly as strong as beer back on earth but would still put someone in the dirt after a night of heavy drinking. Yeah… I definitely had a few of them during my teenage years. “Not bad at all” I replied, taking another gulp, and passing it back. It would make a fine complement to the meaty taste of the venison. I wonder if Azer had some more in that cart. I might need to buy some for later.

Azer and his men gave off this strange vibe…as if they really needed to hear the explanation of how I ended up here with these wolves and what kind of powerful creature had caused this unfamiliar friendship.

“Right, so you know when you said not to go in that enchanted forest because of strange creatures roaming about. I should have listened to your advice. I got bored and went for a stroll to see what was out there. I mean, it was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission, but I found some ancient ruins. My curiosity got the better of me and compelled me to unravel its secret. So, it wasn’t long until I found out they’d been explored previously by an elven archaeologist named Eldrin, along with some of his buddies.” I paused to take a breath when Azer spoke.

“Indeed. I have not met an Elf personally before, but I know of their existence. I once heard a story from one of the fishermen in Royo Village. This was before the bandits took over. He had been out with his son gathering fish when a large unknown vessel approached. One of the elves boarded his small boat and they had a conversation about some sea monster or something along those lines. I can't remember the full details, but for some coin, I could maybe find him again to share his encounter with you.”

“Maybe later… you greedy sod. You might want to hear what I have to say next. So long story short, they ended up all dead because of some dark entity that was locked away in there for a long ass time. The elves ended up getting their minds taken over by this black goo affliction and turned into undead. But they still managed to keep the creatures trapped down there… That is…until I got there. It’s not like I knew what was in there, and besides there were two creatures there trying to dig this thing out, so eventually it would have escaped anyway. At least now, we know it exists and it’s out there. In the end, I managed to fight its mind fuckery, then Sparky and I had to team up to actually defeat it. But before we could land the final blow the little bastard got away and is now out there getting stronger than ever.”

“If you defeated it once, then why couldn’t you do it again?” Azer asked, gulping down another mouthful of the Bosa.

“It’s not as simple as that. With every victim it takes, this creature's power grows and now that it’s out in the open, there’s no limit to how much its power can grow. We need to deal with it before everyone on this island ends up either dead or under its influence as one of those zombies.”

“Indeed. What I want to know is, do you have any evidence to back your claims? Without this, you could just be making this story up for your own ambitions.” Azer said, stroking his small goatee.

It made sense for him to question me. We had only met twice and even I would be dubious if someone told me something like that. “Yeah… I don’t suppose you can read elven. I can read it using the same magic I use when talking with you even though we are speaking different languages,” I showed him the orb on my wrist. “This thing right here contains the magic that allows me to understand you and it also allows me to read other languages. I don’t know how it works just yet, but I know it does. So let me show you the diary entries and you’ll know what I mean.” I took Eldrin’s diary entries out of my inventory and passed them over.

Azer, who was now dumbfounded, scratched his head a few times while looking them over. “I can’t read a word of this.”

You are reading story Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) at novel35.com

Damn it! Hmm… maybe if I temporarily allow him to join my party and let the system do its thing, he might be able to read it. “Azer… let me see if something will work. This might be a little strange and you might get an uneasy feeling... just trust me and accept whatever it is. I give you my word, no harm will come to you.” I said, locking gazes with him and hoping he believed me.

Azer looked at me with a curious but strange look as if he got the feeling I was up to no good, “You want me to trust you…this is the second time I have met you…,” he sighed before giving me an approving nod.

I opened the system and clicked on the party box where only Sparky's name was written before a notification appeared.

[Would you like to add Azer Valer Hamun, Human Level 4 Merchant Class to join your party? <Y>/N]

I clicked yes before a small blue orb appeared on his wrist. Azer’s eyes opened wide as if he had seen something insane.

“What kind of magic is this? I can see something in my eyes asking me to join your… Party.” He gawked in excitement.

“Just press yes. I think this magic will allow you to read the entries.” I egged him on as I couldn’t be bothered to read the whole damn thing. I can be a lazy sod sometimes.

[Party: 2/6]

[Azer Valer Hamun, Human Level 4 Merchant Class has joined your Party. Would you like to give your Party Member a name? Y/<N>]

Excellent! I decided to skip the naming procedure as my naming conventions were rather basic and could come across as offensive to some. Besides, I really needed Azer on my side right now, so skipping it was the best course of action. I can piss him off with banter later down the line. Azer was stuck in a trance, most likely observing the information the HUD provided. I passed him the entries pulling him out of his daydream before he snatched the vellum. “So… is it working?” I asked.

“This… Indeed. It appears I can read this now… the words... how is this possible?” He asked, darting his eyes across the page.

“Look, I don’t know how this thing works. I’ve only been using it for a couple of days but it’s kinda cool, right?” I grinned like a child before waiting for the merchant to finish reading.

“What do you need me to do? You are safe to assume you now have me at your disposal. This is very troubling news indeed.” The man looked shocked and the feeling of fear that overwhelmed him was easy to notice. After seeing him like that even his bodyguards looked worried.

This was great news to hear, getting this man on my side was the first step in enacting the plan I had spent a great deal of time formulating before finally getting some sleep the previous night. “First of all, we need to spread the word and warn people. I think you’ll be good for that as you often travel from town to town. Then, we need to fix the issues plaguing these villages, like getting that Krossa mine cleared of the Goblins who will no doubt be easy prey for the black goo monster. The bandit problem will have to be dealt with as well, this creature will likely offer them rivers of gold and power beyond belief. Once that’s done, we can think about forming a proper party and making our way to the Elven city to the north, where I believe we’ll find the means to destroy this thing once and for all.”

“Indeed. I understand you, but… you do realize that this is an impossible task? Where do you plan on getting the manpower to do this?” The merchant asked while rubbing his eyes.

“I can’t do all this on my own. We’ll need great allies plus a shit ton of resources. I’m certain the Krossa twins will want their mine back and the people who lost their homes would want to go back to a normal life. If I can help them get their lands back then who's to say they won’t help me in my mission… plus, you need to kind of help convince them. Seeing as you know them better than I do.”

“Indeed. I will see what I can do, but be warned, not everyone is as nice as they seem here. Politics and culture are the greatest poison in this society. After what you’ve shown me, I will do what is possible in my means to do my part in all of this. It’s like you said, we’re all going to either die or end up like those undead creatures. I wouldn’t like to avoid that if possible.” He finished when one of his men shouted to let us know that the meat was ready.

We all gathered around the spit to cut our portions before stuffing our mouths like hungry children.

You can find story with these keywords: Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series), Read Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series), Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) novel, Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) book, Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) story, Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) full, Rekindle Project (A LITRPG Series) Latest Chapter