Chapter 4

Day 23

Eran wasn’t convinced about my grand plan, but what could a simple farmer know about magic, after all? Anyway, defeating the Wolf King was my only chance to avoid the claws, since I didn’t know any protection spells. I tried to explain that it was better than having to place protection on his pasture every year, especially considering that such a spell was only as good as the mage who cast it. After all, not many real adepts wandered this far East.

In the end, he agreed to it for lack of a better option, but he wouldn’t pay us until the deed was done. But Tila seemed to make an exception for sleeping in the tent during our quest, so it could be worse. Now, when I had gained her trust and got a noble quest, my path towards creating my own sisterhood lay wide open.

We set camp at the edge of the pasture, close to the forest that was home to the Wolf King and his evil kin. Luckily, Eran had left us some supplies, so we didn’t need to go hungry while waiting for the upcoming battle.

Waiting… I had never imagined that it would be so boring. In all the books I had read, downtime was always the most exciting part. Assuming, of course, there was any action to begin with, but due to Tila’s mood and claws, any fun we could have was restricted to my imagination. Unfortunately, without any outlet, it felt like holding a fireball that grew hotter with every passing moment, and you neither could disperse it nor release it, but at least it kept me occupied while it was raining outside.

“So… What’s your plan? How long will we be stuck here?”

I pressed my forehead to the tent’s wall, hoping that the cold would give me some clarity amidst my hazy thoughts.

“We... We will wait for them to come and then follow them back to their King to defeat him in battle!”

“What if they won’t come…?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are sheep everywhere. What’s the chance the wolves will come to this exact spot anytime soon?”

I turned to her. It was a mistake. I had completely forgotten that due to her nymph blood, the cold didn’t bother her, so she still sat in her revealing tank top and due to my recent condition, I had almost completely lost my fear of claws. I burst out of the tent before I did anything that would reinstall that fear in me again.

“Where are you going!?”

“We… We need to look for the W-Wolf King…”, I sputtered.

“Now?”

“N-now!”

“You are weird, Lin, you know that?”

I was lucky I was crouched behind the tent, so she didn’t see me blush when she called me by my pet name.

A few hours later

Walking through the dense forest in the rain wasn’t my favourite activity, but at least it kept my mind focused on something else than Tila’s tank top. Also, I didn’t regret this quest. Proving myself as a mage and saving the world was another dream of mine after all.

I still wasn’t sure which spell I should use to defeat the Wolf King. Fireball was my favourite, but I had never paid enough attention during my lessons to be perfectly sure he didn’t have resistance to fire magic. I had always told myself that if things went bad, I could cast Meteor Strike and annihilate everything in a 100 km radius, just like the Great Sorceress Ardryll Fenlar Yinqirelle had done in her battle against Dark Dragon-King Naegolor.

Just as I had started to imagine my heroic return and the eternal gratitude the villagers would offer me upon my arrival, Tila spoiled the moment by asking,

“Are you sure you know what you are doing?

Her question put me so out of track that I froze in place and looked at her with a blank expression.

“Lin…?”

She looked at me, concerned, but before I had any chance to answer, a long howl pierced the air, and my adrenaline kicked in.

“That way!”

I grinned as I ran in the direction of the howl, and fortunately, I did manage to combine my passions, so I glanced back to see if my future sister-wife followed me. She was right behind me.

“Lin, wait!”

She tried to grab hold of my hand. It was so cute to see her true feelings being revealed the moment she thought I was in danger. Unfortunately, this time, it meant I didn’t pay enough attention to where I was going. I stumbled and fell, and sharp pain shot up my ankle. She ran to me with her sword in her hand and knelt by my side as the yellow eyes glowed in the dark forest around us.

“Run, Tila”, I whispered, wrapping my arms around her. “Save yourself.”

She gave me a look.

“Are you sure, weirdo?”

I froze at her unexpected answer. That wasn’t the reply I had envisioned.

“No…”

“So, what’s your plan?”

The first wolf emerged from the shadows.

“Help me up”, I whispered and took hold of her.

Our eyes met, and she frowned and pushed me away.

“You can cast your spells from the ground”

“Yeah, but...”

I didn’t have a chance to explain how unheroic that would be because the wolf lunged at us. Tila dodged the attack and cut the beast with her sword. It yelped and dropped to the ground.

“Where is your King?”, I cried.

I didn’t get any answer, but instead, more wolves emerged from the forest. They lunged at us.

“Do something!”, Tila barked, cutting down another wolf. “There are too many of them!”

I need to protect my future sister-wife, I whispered to myself. I forced myself into a less humiliating position and stretched out my arm.

“Fireball!”

The wolves exploded in flames before us.

“Yay, so cool! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!”

Admittedly, I got a bit carried away, but I had never used it against anything else than a target on a field and a chicken I had tried to roast. I only stopped when I had depleted all my mana and the forest was ablaze. I collapsed on the ground once again, but this time I didn’t mind it so much. It felt more heroic than the last time when I just stumbled. Tila ran to me.

“Are you okay?”

I smiled and tried to wrap my arms around her, but she stepped back.

“But I twisted my ankle”, I pouted.

“So I'm supposed to carry you back…?”

I nodded with a grin. Being carried in the arms of a beautiful girl was another of my dreams that finally came true.

She sighed and picked me up. The warmth of her body reignited the fire that had been quenched when I tried to save the world, and all those possible scenarios, starting with the sprained ankle, replayed in my mind as she carried me back to our camp