“To be honest, I didn't really know what to answer.”

“I was just a simple foot soldier with a lot of debt inherited from my parents.”

The governor scanned the youngsters' faces. They were listening attentively, not dismissing him or his story.

That put a smile on his face.

“Actually none of us knew what to answer, but I believe he called us there because he knew we would accept, and I don't blame him, it was a transaction, there are no free handouts in this world, yet… from what I’ve gathered, his intention was never to put us in this situation either.”

“When we first got here we were accompanied by some masons, wood carvers, hunters…typical when starting a new settlement, so we built the village in less than a fortnight.”

“But…” The governor squinted his eyes and frowned ever so slightly.

Aegon and his friends shifted in their seats in anticipation.

“What wasn't so normal for a new village was that we were accompanied by two cultivators at the Flowing Stream realm.”

Aegon cocked an eyebrow. [And the plot thickens.]

“They remained idle most of the time, only occasionally scouting the woods around the village but they always returned with a frown on their faces. I can only imagine they didn't find what they were looking for.”

“In the beginning we tried not to pry too much but eventually I ended up “accidentally “ overhearing them.” As soon as he said this, he understood the somewhat immature behavior he had just admitted too and scratched his head while the group knowingly smiled.

“I wasn't the only one, everyone was curious, it's not like we get to see cultivators often…”

The governor then opened his eyes wide with realization and instantly bowed to the group.

“I'm really sorry for my manners! I didn't treat you with due respect.”

Aegon and his group were speechless, even though the nobles expected this type of behavior in the beginning they had since erased those thoughts due to the severity of the situation… also the governor was a really charismatic guy and a good storyteller, everyone subconsciously liked him.

"It's alright, we aren't really cultivators just yet. We are still in the body transformation stage… anyway It doesn't matter, please continue your story.” Travis took the lead

The governor was still a bit embarrassed and apologized a few more times before resuming his story.

“So everyone somewhat pressed me into spying on them..*Cough*” The governor tried to avoid looking at the youngsters' faces while talking out of shame but he still caught their amused expressions and got even more embarrassed.

“Anyways, I approached their tent one night after supper and managed to hear some of what they were saying.”

“They mentioned that they couldn't find the source of the presence.”

The room went quiet with that statement, most of the youngsters were looking back at him, clearly just as clueless as he was, except for the one who looked to be the leader, he was scratching his chin with a serious expression.

Travis looked up and around the table.“There is indeed a strong presence in the area, I noticed it when we arrived.”

“*Sigh*”

“But that could mean many things, it could mean we are in a zone with a stronger presence of the elements… and now that I think about it, that could be why the Count wanted to build this village here in the first place.”

He was silent for a few moments before continuing a bit more seriously.

“...But it could also mean that there's a treasure in the area or it might even be the natural presence that a strong magical beast emits.”

“And that is probably the reason our mission mentioned a possible alpha.”

“An alpha?!” The governor was taken aback by this but he managed to regain his bearing and for a few moments pondered on the possibility.

“That actually makes sense, the attacks have been well organized, the bears have been attacking us in groups and they aren't known for acting in packs so I can only believe an alpha is forcing them to cooperate.” The governor said while scratching his chin.

A few more hours of discussion followed.

The governor explained all manner of things related to the village.

The number of villagers, the original and the now reduced population, the layout of their “defenses” that amounted to wood barricades around the windows and doors of the citizens’ houses, from which direction the pack came, his estimation of their number among many other things.

…

The moon rose in the horizon as an eerie atmosphere surrounded the settlement, crickets didn't sing, the wind was abnormally calm, no bats flew in the shadows, only the voices of a few youths could be heard in the village streets.

“Hey, aren't you guys worried we might not be strong enough to fight a pack of bears without a strategy?” Aegon was walking back and forth the main, and only, street in the village with the other disciples patrolling the place and waiting until the next attack.

Their plan amounted to waiting for the pack of bears to attack, defeat them and then proceed to find the possible alpha. Any action after that would be decided later.

Travis, who was walking a few steps ahead of the rest, stopped in his tracks and sighed dejectedly. ”You’re right Aegon, this is not a great plan, calling it a plan is stupid in and of itself, but no one had any more creative ideas, there isn’t any defendable terrain in or around the village, the simplicity of its layout isn’t suitable for guerrilla tactics, we don’t even have the exact numbers of bears attacking us, 20 to 50 is a pretty big range…”

Aegon could only stay silent and accept it as it was, he knew that Travis was right but he would be lying if he said he was comfortable with the lack of planning in their plan.

[I really hope I don't end up dying for a mere 200 contribution points, that would be such a waste…]

Crack.

[And so the show begins.]

“They are here.” Travis spoke while grabbing his sword with his right hand but at the same time reaching for his pendant with his left.

More sounds came from everywhere around the village, what started with a small twig breaking was now the rustling of leaves and soon after a rumbling caused by their running footsteps.

Travis had already summoned his rhinoceros and the group was standing behind him with weapons drawn.

Swoosh.

Swoosh

Swoosh

From every direction shadows leaped through the foliage and dashed towards the village.

It was dark so Aegon couldn't make out their appearances but he still managed to spot their silhouettes which was enough to guess at their numbers. “Around 35 or so.”

“35 huh? 5 for each of you and I take 10, I like these odds.” Travis licked his lips in anticipation.

Aegon cocked an eyebrow at this remark but the beasts didn't give him enough time to respond.

From the end of the road 4 shadows ran towards the group, in response Travis’ rhino charged with his head laying low, as they drew closer the beasts jumped towards the charging rhino… the odds seemed stacked against it but at the last moment a screech sounded.

Aegon looked through the corner of his eye and atop Linda's shoulder a dark green lizard was screaming from the bottom of his lungs.

At the same time the shadows became stiff mid air almost as if they were frozen, maybe even petrified.

Taking advantage of this opening the rhino slammed all four of the beasts with a swift movement of his snout, basically using his horns as a baseball bat.

Crash!

The beasts flew through the air sideways and crashed into a wall of a house. Their bodies slowly slid down from the wall and when they hit the ground there was no doubt they were dead.

“Incredible…That wall managed to withstand that?”

Linda and Bella looked at Aegon as if he was some kind of idiot, an impressive show of force and coordination yet all he took away from that scene was the durability of a wall.

Roy and Percy on the other hand didn't even hear him, they were a bit too scared to even think, it was their first time in a real life and death fight so their brain was mostly on survival mode.

Travis looked back at our hero with some surprise.[ It seems there's more to him than meets the eye, he isn't pissing his pants just yet.]

As for the man in question, his back was drenched in cold sweat and his legs, if one looked closely, were slightly trembling.

[Holy shit! Those wolves just died, I'm gonna die…is today the day I meet the creator?... wait…wolves?]

Taking a second look at the corpses Aegon's eyes flashed with understanding and soon after a deepened worry.

“Guys…look at the corpses…I think we’re up against a pack of wolves.”