Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Raid And Level 30

It was around noon when the forces who were going to work together to raid the bandits met up down by the main road, where the side-path towards the bandit camp started.

Sara looked over everyone who had come along, and then at Lieutenant Davril, who was yet again commanding them. He seemed to always be the one who got sent whenever there was anything involving her. She wondered how he felt about being in that situation, but this wasn't the place to ask. She morphed into her Tree Form, and took out her board and chalk.

"Greetings, Lieutenant Davril," she wrote. "I am glad to see you here once more, but did I still not give you enough time to prepare?"

"A full day gave us ample time, Guardian Beast. Why do you ask?" He was as straight-faced as ever, so if there was any sarcasm in his words it was impossible to detect. He had barely showed any reaction even when Gloria had shown up alongside Sara.

Gloria's curiosity about people was rising, so she was overcoming her Ninja instincts to stay hidden, and wanted to get a closer look herself.

"I can't help but notice that the guards you have brought seem a little disparate. I thought the reason for that last time was the short notice I gave you," Sara wrote. There were a few from the Palace Guard, but most of them were from the City Guard, and clearly not all from the same unit.

"Ah, yes." Davril nodded. "After how things worked out last time, the call was made that this would be a great training exercise for guardsmen with less field experience."

It was genuinely impossible for Sara to read into whether he'd had anything to do with that decision himself, but a hunch told her that it might have been part of his report. That also explained why all of them were below level 30.

It's not my place to berate them for not taking this seriously. Gloria and I started this just for the heck of it, and invited the elves to... well, also just for fun. And to maybe make things easier for ourselves.

"I understand," she wrote. "You have proven your ability to command already, so I will trust in you. Hopefully the bandits have let their guard down since we've given them a few days of peace. I propose the same general plan as last time. My wolves and I breach from the side, my friend and her wolves assault the perimeter guards, while you, your guards, and the Adventurers charge the gate. I would like to bring Priestess Mirielle, and Speaker Laroni with me this time. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know."

Those two, plus a few others from the Temple, and the Society had also come along, same as last time. Each institution had sent three members this time, so she felt less bad about snatching away those two.

Among the Adventurers she saw some familiar faces, like the Druid from the day before, and two of the mystery mob guild girls. Just the Dancer, and the Druid. There were a couple of others that looked kinda familiar, but she couldn't place them off the top of her head. Maybe they were from the day before, or from the last raid, or maybe even from among the people who had raided her. It seemed like any form of party balance between them was purely incidental.

Their total numbers this time were 22 guards, 6 support members, and 12 Adventurers. Plus Lieutenant Davril.

On Sara's side were 40 of her own wolves, plus herself and Kathleen, 50 of Gloria's wolves plus herself, and a mixed air force of crows and ravens totalling 32 birds.

Against roughly 50 bandits. It was probably overkill, but Sara wasn't overly concerned about giving bandits a fair fight. They had honestly held their ground fairly well against the 200 or so wolves, and 40-50 birds her and Gloria had brought the first time.

"None, Guardian Beast," Davril said. "We have refined our own strategy, but none of it affects the overall structure of the plan. We will await your signal, as last time."

"Good," Sara wrote. "I will get into position." She was going in from the opposite side this time. As much as possible she wanted to pick different entry points each time. Just not too close to the boss's cabin.

She shifted back to normal as Mirielle, and Laroni came up to her. They'd briskly walk up to the breaching location while Davril, and the rest made their way up to the treeline outside of the base. Together with Gloria they would take care of any lookouts in the woods. Unfortunately not something they could do well in advance, since they had respawn timers to work against.

Though her last outing with Mirielle gave her an idea. How bad would it be for me to show open favouritism here? Eh, heck it. Sara crouched down, and said: "Get on, ladies."

"Eh?" Laroni was the only one who could understand Sara's words of the two, but Mirielle took the hint, and hopped on. "W-w-wait..." Laroni tried to protest.

Mirielle held out her hand for Laroni. "Come on, we can't waste time," she said with a smile.

Laroni turned her head to look at everyone, who were looking at her, or rather this whole scene with a variety of expressions among them. She turned back towards Mirielle, and nervously took her hand, then she was practically yanked on. The Priestess was stronger than she looked. Or Laroni was rather light under that bulky outfit the Society Druids wore.

"Make sure to hold on firmly," Mirielle told Laroni once both were on, and Sara got up to start a gentle... somewhat gentle canter into the woods. Once they were out of sight, Mirielle said: "Thanks, Sara. But should you really have done that in front of everyone?"

"It was a calculated risk," Sara replied. How good she was at math was a different matter. "Besides, I didn't see you hesitate to get on."

"Well, I didn't want to cause a scene," Mirielle said after Laroni translated for her. "I don't know what my colleagues will think, or say about this, but it would have been more trouble to try to openly refuse you."

"I see." Sara hadn't thought quite that far. She had only considered the issues it might cause for her own image, not that of the other two. "I guess I am quite the troublemaker." In the most literal sense.

"I-I also worry about w-whether the Guardian Beast should be seen..." Laroni was dearly hanging on, though Sara felt like she had the skills to help them stay on. "Being used as a... a mount. If... if people start expecting things, or looking down on you..."

"I did consider that part," Sara said. "And decided it was worth it. Let them think I favour my friends too much, or that at heart I'm still an animal, or whatever their minds might come up with. My only regret is that I should have thought more about how it would affect you two."

Laroni did her best to convey all of that, and Mirielle sighed. "Troublemaker is a good word for you. Still... this is fun. I'll admit that," she said with a smile. "I've never been able to justify getting a mount. I've always walked, or ridden in carriages when going anywhere. N-not that I want to exploit my friend as one, it's just... when you offer..."

Sara chuckled. "Yeah... I've been thinking a lot about how I want to be treated. And I've landed on the side of... if there's something I'm able to do for the sake of those I care about, or because I think it might be fun, I want to try it out. Even if it might not be 'people-like', or others see it as a sign I'm still just a mob. Because I am a mob. Not a Resident, nor a Wanderer. Even if my mind might be more similar to yours than other mobs in certain ways, there are things I can do that you can't, and I've decided it's fine to embrace my animal side too. Besides, I think it fits the 'mystical forest creature' image to allow the 'chosen worthy' to ride me."

Laroni giggled as she started to convey to Mirielle what Sara had said.

I should probably keep my sentences shorter to make her work easier, but lately... the past couple of days especially, I've been thinking a lot about my place in this world... and the life I want here. Maybe because I don't know what might change after the evolution, and I wanted to... come to some sort of conclusion before I got to that. And I have a tendency to want to share my thoughts.

"I see," Mirielle said. "In spite of being neighbours, and friends, the two of us still live in different worlds in some respects." She sounded a little sombre about it. "Well, I'm glad you trust me this much."

"Me too," Laroni said. "I think I understand what you're getting at. I think the seniors, and leaders at the Naturalist Society would agree with you. I-in a good way! I hope..."

"Also someone asked to pet me yesterday," Sara said. "I decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it. It felt great." That might have helped nudge her towards accepting that it's fine to be more like an animal sometimes.

Laroni blinked, and very gently patted Sara's back. "Well... you are very fluffy..."

"What? What did she say?" Mirielle asked.

"Oh! That someone asked to pet her yesterday, and she said yes because she wanted to try it. Apparently it felt great," Laroni said.

Mirielle also blinked, and then groaned. "You mean all I had to do was ask?" She sounded defeated.

Sara glanced over her shoulder. "You've wanted to pet me?" she asked.

"Yes!" Mirielle exclaimed. "You just look so fluffy, and it felt great to ride you, and hug you... I just... I thought it would be extremely rude to bring it up..."

Sara giggled. "Well, you're free to pet me in private settings, when it's appropriate," she said. "That goes for both of you. But not in public. I don't want to compromise my image quite that much."

They were coming up on Kathleen's position, so they had to cut the conversation there, and get ready. It would be interesting to see if Rock Blast made an even more spectacular breach than last time. She'd spread out her Greater Fireballs a little more, but not too much. She still felt like she needed at least two overlapping most of the same area to weaken the wood sufficiently. Maybe instead of just blanketing an area, she could attempt to make something like... a door shape. Her precision aim had improved enough that it was worth trying.

She made one last check that she had turned off Skill Gain before charging up the Greater Fireball copies.

Fireballs, go! Activate Howl! Charge Rock Blasts! And breach!

* * *

When the first Howl went off, a whole horde of others followed afterwards. The elves, and their hired Adventurers charged in alongside their furry allies. No more subtlety or subterfuge, now it was an open assault.

Even for a seasoned officer like Davril there was a certain thrill in doing something entirely new like this. While he had done it once already, it that was hardly enough to get familiar with it. This time they had waited alongside the Wutsch Mist Wolf who ruled the other wolves in the zone. He had technically seen her during their last raid together, but he hadn't gotten a good look at her.

Nor had he heard of a type of wolf called Mist Wolf before. Given her reputation of never getting seen long enough for anyone to Identify her, he hadn't expected someone who seemed so openly curious, and eager about getting to hang out with them. Perhaps last time she had simply been shy. She certainly seemed like she had a lot to tell the Druids this time, though it basically boiled down to her wanting to charge in alongside them.

So that meant that two of the three wolf bosses in Ildhena were a little... peculiar. Calling them strange might be rude, but they were certainly out of the ordinary, even if the Mist Wolf didn't seem to have as many tricks as the Guardian Beast did.

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He was curious about the third, the Sholan Warg. Was that one also peculiar? Davril hadn't seen it himself, but the Captain had told the story about the time he, and his unit fought the beast. It was apparently twice as large as a regular Dire Wolf, and more than twice as strong. The bosses in Ildhena were all level 30, and the Captain had been close to level 40, but even then he had struggled to take it on by himself while his unit held off the other wolves.

Davril wasn't sure about his own chances against the Guardian Beast. The first time they had met he probably could have won, but he had noticed that each time he had seen her since, she had felt stronger than the last time. He had of course noticed that her attributes had grown when she had visited the city, but even before then he'd had a hunch that something was different. When you'd been in this line of work long enough, you learned to get a feeling for someone's strength without relying on Identify.

He had been promoted to Guardian Beast Liaison Officer, though that was not an official title. It was just that whenever anything came up where the any of the Guard forces needed to interact with the Guardian Beast, he was chosen for the task. Honestly it might be better for everyone involved if more officers learned to deal with her, but he didn't mind the role. She made life interesting.

And as a result he had also been made privy to some additional information about the Guardian Beast that was considered too dangerous to be made public.

The most important of which was that the Guardian Beast was blessed by a deity other than the Moon Goddess, and that was likely the chief reason she was so unusual. He hadn't been given a ton of details about it. He didn't even know the deity's name. Considering Priestess Mirielle had made first contact, and Bishop Luneria had written the reports, they probably knew. Maybe they'd tell him if he asked. It could be worth doing so if they found a private moment. Perhaps knowing which one it was could give him some extra clues about this whole situation. Regardless it was enough for him to do a bit of supposition, even if he would openly claim to be against such things.

Since the Guardian Beast had been a little stronger every time they met, and she had this blessing, it was likely one that gradually strengthened her with time, and perhaps granted her extra abilities. Or even new skills. If she had changed this much in one week, it was hard to say what she might be like in yet another week.

But he also wondered, as he eyed the other boss wolf he was running alongside, whether the Mist Wolf also had a blessing. Or if she might be getting one. Before the Wanderers had arrived, it was well-known that a mob's strength was static. Numbers made them more dangerous to deal with than their individual strength in most cases. But now? A mere month after the Wanderers first arrived, the Guardian Beast showed up, and became the boss of the Nyolund wolves. An unprecedented event. Shortly afterwards they had discovered that she had a Named Mob with her that no one had seen before.

It wasn't entirely outside of the realm of possibility that more gods had entered Moorhold when the link to the other world had been established, and if one of them had chosen to bless the mob that became the Guardian Beast... though maybe he was venturing too far into pure speculation.

Regardless it was undeniable that things were changing. Especially in the vicinity of the Guardian Beast, but likely elsewhere too. If her blessing was going to spread across all of Ildhena... perhaps it was very fortunate that they got this alliance established when they did.

By the time the assault force reached the gate they could already hear the chaos inside, and see the rising smoke. The Guardian Beast had set half of the buildings on fire last time, and it seemed like she was doing the same thing again.

If there ever came a time when they wanted to re-take this Hunting Post, after either driving out, or managing to arrest the bandits, maybe he should ask her to not burn the place down in the process. It wasn't guaranteed the buildings would self-repair in such a case, but that was a worry for a different time. They had a raid to carry out. Based on how things had gone last time, he had drawn up a different battle plan for this assault. Time to see how it would hold up in actual battle.

* * *

The wolves, the corvids, the elves, and the Adventurers all fled the scene with all the loot they could carry after Gerard, and his bandits were dead, and before any of them could respawn.

The bandits hadn't seemed all that prepared this time either, though they had rallied pretty quickly since this had happened twice already. They still hadn't tried to close the front gate, though. Perhaps it was stuck.

Sara was going to leave all the loot to the Residents, and Wanderers. It would be of more use to them than to her, and she hadn't even looked through the stuff she had gotten from the first raid she did with Gloria.

Down by the road it was time to part ways again.

"Thank you for your assistance yet again, Lieutenant Davril," Sara wrote.

"Of course," the Lieutenant said. "And thank you for allowing us to take part. I sincerely apologise for the friendly fire incident."

"No need," Sara wrote. "I imagine they aren't used to fighting alongside anyone they're not in a party with." Two wolves had gone down to splash damage during the fight as they were locked in melee with some bandits that got targeted. "I didn't detect any harmful intent towards us, so I am willing to write it up as an honest mistake."

"Thank you," Davril said with a nod. "We will head back to the city once we have sorted out all the items. I shall look forward to our next meeting, Guardian Beast."

"I feel the same, Lieutenant Davril. I wish you luck, and safety until then," Sara wrote.

A certain Druid was conspicuously waiting close by for the conversation to wrap up, and quickly stepped closer once Davril stepped away.

"U-um, Guardian Beast," Kosign said, and took out a sheet of paper, and a quill from her inventory. "Do you still... um... would you..."

Sara's smile probably didn't show on a treant face. "Of course," she said. "Give them to me, and I'll sign." She accepted them, and then paused. How do I actually do this? I don't think there's any possible way for me to... oh, wait. "Actually, could you place the paper on top of my board? I think having a hard surface is going to be necessary."

"Oh! Yes, of course." The two of them managed to get it arranged.

"Is there already ink in this?" Sara moved the quill around in the air. It was about the same size as the one she had used in the city.

"Yes," Kosign said with a nod. "Apparently there's supposed to be a litre's worth of ink in the enchantment. Um... um... can you sign it 'To Kosign, From The Guardian Beast'?"

Oh right, that's a thing people do, isn't it? "My handwriting is not going to be very pretty, but I'll do my best. Can you spell your name for me?" Sara asked, not wanting to reveal that she already knew it.

It was nice that a treant's arms didn't tremble, but it still wasn't all that pretty. Especially since she was trying to not tear the paper. But she managed to get through it.

"Thank you!" Kosign said, and the autograph very quickly vanished into her inventory. Maybe because she didn't want to risk losing, or damaging it.

"Farewell, Druid Kosign," Sara said as the Druid hurried over to the others.

Sara glanced at her popups, and confirmed there was a sparkly one among them. Unless there were other types with that effect, she had hit level 30. She would have a closer look when she got back to the den. She could hardly wait, and kinda wanted to leave right away.

"What was that about?" Mirielle asked.

"She was part of the escort for the road crew yesterday," Sara wrote. "She seemed weirdly starstruck, so I jokingly asked if she wanted my autograph. Then she actually said yes, but didn't have anything I could sign, so I tipped her off about today's raid. It's a silly thing, but I wanted to try it."

Mirielle blinked, then leaned very close to whisper (since there were many Keen Ears present): "Something from your past life again?" Maybe autograph wasn't a term the Residents of Moorhold used either.

"You could say that," Sara wrote, hoping it was neutral enough. "I can't stay for a picnic today," she continued, even though she probably could. She was just too impatient to stick around. "But there is something I want to tell you in private before I leave."

"Oh?" Mirielle looked puzzled as Sara turned back into a wolf, and led the way into the woods.

Once they reached somewhere Sense Presence had an acceptably low amount of blips at a good distance, she turned back into a tree, and started writing again:

"I just hit level 30. You remember how I told you that I evolved at level 10, and 20, right?"

"Yes? Oh..." Mirielle looked like she got it.

"I don't remember if I told you that evolving takes time. I think it will probably take around a day and a half this time, but at least no longer than two. It's hard to be 100% sure," Sara wrote. It was better to err on the safe side here, rather than give her too short of an estimate. "So tonight, and tomorrow I will not be available. I also don't yet know what I'm going to evolve into. Once I'm back at the den I will sort through everything, go to sleep, and when I wake up I will be at my next stage. But whatever that will look like, I will still be me on the inside. I will still be your friend."

Mirielle patted Sara's wooden arm. "I don't doubt that," she said with a smile. "So you don't have any idea what you will become?" she asked.

"Not yet. I would assume it's some kind of wolf, but aside from that I'm not sure," Sara scribbled down quickly. She wasn't very familiar with what types of mobs existed in this world, and had already seen several strange types of wolf.

"Okay." Mirielle nodded. "Make sure to call me when you're up again, okay? As soon as you can. I feel very curious too."

"Of course," Sara wrote. So long as it wasn't in the middle of the night, she'd get a message to her right away. It would still only be like mid-afternoon by the time she reached the den, but she wanted to get the evolution started as soon as possible.

"Oh, but before you go... can I pet you for a little bit? A couple of minutes?" Mirielle asked with a slight blush in her cheeks.

Sara tapped her "Of course" message again, turned back into a wolf, and laid down.

Mirielle beamed, and dove right in. She had very nice, soft hands. And a very enthusiastic touch. "So soft..." she mumbled, and pressed her entire body against Sara's fur. "I wouldn't mind sleeping on this..."

Mmm... feels nice, Sara thought. I hope I don't turn into anything non-pettable. Maybe that's a weird wish, but it would be a shame if this is the last time anyone pets me. If it is, then at least it's done by one of my best friends.

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