Chp.7: New problem

Having devised an efficient plan, the dragons waited for the adventurers to make camp. They didn't have to wait too long: with the days getting shorter, it was getting dark very early now. Humans weren't good at moving in the dark, so they built a fire and made camp as soon as the sky began to darken.

As Haku had foreseen, the adventurers had put down almost all their belongings on the ground, keeping only their weapons beside them to be ready to defend themselves at any moment. After all, carrying around all those saddlebags and bags must have been really annoying. Now that the adventurers had parted with their possessions, all the dragons had to do was lure them away from the camp.

"Good, it's time" Haku whispered. "I will lure them away with an illusion. Corgorin, do you want to steal their things?"

The task was decidedly simple, but his sister still looked uncomfortable. But before he could say anything Jatara suddenly exclaimed, "Um... Haku, can I be the one to lure the adventurers away?"

The request surprised Haku quite a bit. "Why?"

"I would like to test myself" Jatara replied. "After all, it's not a difficult task, is it?"

"That's fine with me!" Corgorin immediately gave her support. "She will distract the adventurers and I will steal things!"

Corgorin's behavior seemed to have completely reversed. From being reluctant she had become very sure of herself. It wasn't hard for Haku to notice. "Okay" he said pretending that he was unaware of it. "Then go. We are waiting for you here"

His two sisters walked off in the direction of the adventurers. The others remained hidden in the tall grass and the darkness of the night. While they waited, Haku approached Kotaru: "Jatara didn't want to test herself, right?" he whispered to her.

His sister nodded slightly. "Corgorin was afraid to do this thing with you. That's why Jatara stepped forward"

"So they still don't trust me, mh?" Haku was quite discouraged. "How can they do that? I promised them I'd share my every plan with them! Do they remember I'm a dragon?"

"They know you won't break your promise, Haku, anyone would know that. Dragons don't break their promises. But..." Kotaru sighed. "But I think the problem is more complicated than you think. Even if they know you won't hurt them, they don't feel safe in your presence"

To Haku that situation seemed totally illogical. Why didn't his siblings trust them even though they knew for sure that he couldn't betray them? "I don't understand" he admitted.

Kotaru sighed. "Try this: Imagine a beast, the most terrifying and ferocious you can think of. Then imagine that this beast is locked up in a cage, and that you have to stay around to watch it. Even if you know that the beast cannot get out of the cage, you would not feel safe in his presence. It would be an irrational fear, but still you would not be able to not sleep with one eye open to keep watch"

That example was quite understandable. "So I would be the beast, my promise would be the cage, and you would be the ones who have to watch over the beast, mh?" Haku murmured. "I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't want to take any chances with me around then..."

He was quite discouraged. He hoped he'd mended the rift that had grown between him and his siblings a little, but apparently his apology didn't seem to have had the desired effect. Kotaru noticed his moodiness. "You can't expect their perspective of you to change overnight. Give them time. You've apologized, and well too I must say, and I'm glad that for once you have listened me, so... I'd say at least you planted some seeds. Now you can't force these seeds to germinate, you have to wait and create the right conditions for them to do so" she told him. "From now on, act normal and show them your sincerity. You can't do more than that"

Haku understood those words, and he himself was aware of the importance of patience, but he was still quite uncomfortable in that situation. He was about to say something when he heard the cries of the adventurers.

He lifted his head slightly from the tall grass to check. Apparently, Jatara had created the illusion of a beastman based on the descriptions they had. The illusion hadn't gone very well: it looked like an unsuccessful cross between a bear and a bipedal leopard. However, in the dark of night, it was enough to fool the humans, who as Haku predicted took just their weapons and ran after the illusion. A few moments later, all of their belongings disappeared from their camp, a clear sign that Corgorin had taken them.

Corgorin and Jatara reappeared alongside their brothers shortly after, while the adventurers were still busy chasing the illusion. The group of dragons wasted no time and quickly moved away. The adventurers would probably have wasted their time searching for the illusion all night, and in the meantime they'd have run away.

When the sun rose they were already several tens of kilometers away. The landscape around them had changed: the multiple grassy hills had given way to a more barren plain. Only there did they stop: surely, by now the adventurers would no longer be able to reach them.

"I'd say we're pretty far" Haku said, then looked at the loot his sisters had gotten. "Now let's see what's in here..."

As Haku had expected, the adventurers' saddlebags were filled with documents relating to their guild. By reading those documents and putting all the pieces together, the dragons were able to figure out what was going on, albeit not with little effort.

Apparently, the war between beastmen and humans was turning in favor of the latter. Haku wasn't surprised: even Ethan, months before, had told him that humans had a very good chance of winning thanks to the more information they had. From what Haku could gather, the humans had been able to eliminate at least two-thirds of the beastmen army and were now busy conquering their cities. However, there had been a sudden turn that required the adventurers to be sent.

This turn had been the beastmen's warbeasts. Apparently, the beastmen in fact used to tame ferocious predators, as opposed to humans who preferred milder creatures such as horses. These animals were very effective in battle, but they also had a dark side: once their masters were dead, in fact, their survival instinct got the better of them and they fled, killing everything in their path. Now these creatures were scattered throughout the region, and clearly they could cause serious problems if they got too close to human villages. Since the human army was busy conquering the beastmen cities, the king of the humans had very cunningly decided to use the adventurers to control the danger posed by those beasts.

"Well, this explains the presence of the adventurers here" Haku muttered as he read the documents that decribed the work the three humans had to do. "I assume that these animals do not pose a danger to an army, but that if they cross the border they will become a serious danger to the population..."

"What were they hunting?" Darbi asked him.

"According to this paper, some wolves" Haku explained. "There should be a herd of at least a dozen of them nearby, and if they get too close they could pose a serious danger to livestock or even people"

"Wolves? Like the ones we hunted in the forest?"

"I don't think so. Their name is different. The ones we hunted were gramr wolves. These are called 'mànagarmr'. I assume they are a very similar species, but I couldn't tell how similar"

"Will they be dangerous?"

"Considering that they have sent adventurers, which according to our information shouldn't exceed the level gold, I assume that these wolves are not much stronger than the ones we hunted in the forest. Also it says here that even beastmen foot soldiers they used to use them as mounts, so they don't have to be too difficult to tame. I think even level silver adventurers could handle them"

Darbi breathed a sigh of relief: at least, those wolves didn't look very different from the ones they had already faced many times before. However, they could still prove dangerous. If they were like their cousins, who hunted in packs and used mana very well, they could prove to be tough opponents. Even though Haku doubted that he and his brothers couldn't handle them, it was still best to avoid them.

"I don't think it's the wolves we need to worry about" Serengal said suddenly, holding up a document. "Here is a list of various jobs catching and hunting wandering animals, complete with bounties for each one of them. And as it turns out, these wolves aren't the most dangerous"

Haku looked at the document his sister was showing him; it was a parchment in which the names of the various animals were written in order of danger. And Serengal was right: the wolves were only fourth from bottom. Above them were various species of lions, tigers, bears and other dangerous creatures. And higher still were names that Haku had never heard. "Basilisks?" he read. "What should they be?"

His siblings obviously had no idea. "Why didn't they leave us a guide?" Darbi grumbled. Haku ignored him and went back to reading the list.

He didn't know what basilisks were, but they sure were very dangerous. Haku didn't know the economic system used by humans, but the reward offered for catching or killing a basilisk seemed to be quite high. Haku figured that the more complicated or risky the job was, the higher the reward was, so the basilisks must really be formidable opponents.

The problem was, basilisks weren't even at the top of the list. Before them were the so-called 'great basilisks', and then even higher the 'royal basilisks'. Haku suspected they were variants of the same species, bigger or more dangerous than the normal ones. But even these creatures weren't the strongest: the place at the top of the list, with what seemed to be a huge reward next to it, was in fact occupied by another animal. "Hydra?" Haku murmured as he read its name.

Unfortunately, even in this case he had no idea what creature it was, but it certainly must have been dangerous. He snorted: he hated being so ignorant about the world. Perhaps he should have captured the next adventurers and asked them for more information. "We were right to rob those humans. From now on, we will have to move with these possible dangers in mind"

Avoiding humans or beastmen was easy: the newcomers weren't good at hiding and their senses were bad. Using the invisibility rune, Haku and his siblings could have walked past them without them noticing. But for animals, especially predators, it was different: their senses were much more developed and they knew how to use them very well, they also knew how to recognize and follow tracks and weren't fooled by simple invisibility.

"From now on, we will never have to get distracted. Even when we rest or discuss, we will still keep our senses sharp. Hearing, sight, smell: you must never ignore them" Haku said. "We are dragons and have the best senses in the world. All we have to do is use them. By doing so, we will be able to avoid these creatures. We do not know what they are or how dangerous they are, but a conflict with them would not give us any advantage, and would only serve to endanger us or attract the attention of humans or beastmen"

His siblings nodded; they too believed that this was the best solution. Haku raised his head and sniffed the air for a few seconds, then said, "It's safe around here. Let's rest for a while, then continue on. If you're thirsty, I smelled a pond in that direction" he said, pointing to a point between the rocks. "Let's regain our strength and eat something, and then we'll go on"