6 Purge

As usual, the quest board was as massive as impressive. So was the number of people in front of it.

Lilliana quickly moved to the section of the board offering H-rank quests.

Surprisingly, although most of Avrel's adventurers were beginners, this section was not that crowded.

This was related to the fact that the surrounding terrain was still very wild, so there was no shortage of low-level creatures and monsters.

On the contrary, many people were rather stuck at rank G, creatures of this rank being rather rare and monsters being difficult to manage.

Lilliana didn't have to think about the quest she would take since after exploring the advertisements in the previous weeks, she had realized that only two animals were hunted in the area: brown wolves and horned deer.

They were both extremely weak and not very dangerous, so much so that it was difficult to say whether they deserved a rank.

As soon as she saw a quest close to her usual terrain, the Glade of a Thousand Stars, she tore off the form just by reading the statement.

'Kill the pack of brown wolves trampling on the Thousand Star's Glade.

Proof of completion: wolf fang.'

She quickly went to validate her quest, before heading to the famous clearing.

As she left the guild building, the sun was high in the sky, already beginning its descent.

This was good for her, as the brown wolves were coming out of their dens in the early evening.

She arrived at her destination two hours before sunset. At that time, many adventurers were still walking the trails, including this clearing.

Recently, she had made it a habit to sit under a tree and watch the other adventurers work and harvest their plants to complete their first quests.

Some were regulars and recognized her. They did not hesitate to greet her.

Little by little the flow of adventurers was reduced, until she was the only one present.

At that moment, the sky was already blood red with azure blue tints. The sun was so close to the horizon that it was no longer possible to see it, hidden by the leaves of the trees.

It was at this point that the sound of crumpling leaves was heard, followed by a howl tearing the silence. The wolves had arrived.

Lilliana hid behind a tree, trying to control her breathing as best she could. She watched the pack.

There were three wolves, a small pack. Lilliana had fought animals before, but this was the first time she faced wolves.

However, she knew that if the fight continued, it would not be to her advantage.

First of all, she was no more enduring than three wolves combined but worse, if she waited too long, the wolves could see much better than she could in the dark.

She decided to follow the wolves, paying close attention to the places she walked, so as not to make unnecessary noise.

'If I want to finish this fight quickly, I need to be able to take out one of them on my first assault.'

Lilliana moved as close as possible, waiting for the moment when one of the wolves would separate from the others.

*Sigh*

'I've been waiting for ten minutes already... Couldn't they separate quickly, so we can get it over with...'

She remembered all those peaceful moments, spent under the shade of a tree or collecting some herbs.

'Aaah... I'll never take purge quests again, harvesting is so peaceful...'

Although she lamented, she did not forget to keep an eye on the wolves.

Just two minutes later, one of them separated from the rest of the group.

She quickly changed her hiding place and followed him.

The wolf soon found itself in the middle of the clearing, eating grass.

The brown wolf in this region was well known for one thing: it was the only herbivorous wolf species in the world.

No one knew why, but the diet of these wolves had changed.

Their behavior did the same, which resulted in a very poor fighter, almost at the bottom of the food chain.

Their claws and fangs were still weapons, but unable to deliver fatal blows.

Their sense of smell and hearing was much weaker than normal, as these areas of the forest lacked predators.

Lilliana could thus easily approach its target, the latter did not notice her when she was right behind it.

Lilliana then quickly drew her sword, leaving the wolf no way out.

Lilliana was still very young, and her aura gave off no killing intent.

She could therefore easily plant her sword in the neck of the wolf even before it could realize its life was in danger.

Agonizing, it let out a shrill scream before tragically succumbing.

Hearing this, the other two wolves arrived instantly, growling fiercely at the one who had just killed their companion.

Surrounded by two enraged wolves, Lilliana did not dare to stay in place. She swung her sword, trying to take down one of the two wolves with a blow to the head.

Unfortunately for her, her target dodged easily, while the second did not hesitate to attack her back.

Although its claws were not of good quality, it could easily knock down the person who had eliminated its brother.

Lilliana was an easy target on the ground. She wasn't badly hurt yet, but she would be if things were to continue like this.

She got up quickly and charged again towards one of the wolves.

Unlike her previous attack, this time she made a very wide cut, difficult to dodge for someone not used to fighting.

The wolf tried to dodge in the direction of the cut, but unfortunately, it was not fast enough, and a long, deep gash appeared on its right forepaw.

It grunted in pain, fixing a dark look on Lilliana.

It and its comrade wasted no time, and they launched a joint assault before Lilliana could regain her posture.

Unable to protect herself from the two simultaneous attacks, she raised her sword towards one of the wolves, in this case, the one that was not yet wounded. Unable to stop its charge, it impaled itself on it.

As for the other wolf, it struck a violent claw at his opponent.

Fortunately for Lilliana, the claws did not penetrate her armor, but she was still thrown violently to the ground for a few meters, her weapon remaining stuck in the already dead body of the canid.

After that fall, she knew she was covered in bruises and scratches. Still, she couldn't stop there yet.

She got up, rushed to the wolf's corpse, and took her sword in hand.

Knowing it was in danger, the last wolf tried to flee, but it was finally caught by its enemy, one of its legs being seriously injured.

When she saw the life leaving the wolf's body, Lilliana sat down beside it, breathless, resting after a hard fight.

*sigh*

She looked up at the sky, admiring the last lights of the sun fading in the night sky, giving way to those of thousands of other stars.

'Raah...I'm quite in a bad state... It hurts, damns it...'

She stayed on the ground for a good five minutes before getting up.

She slowly made her way towards the city. Two hours later, she finally arrived at the inn where she had been staying since her arrival.

When she arrived, a voice as deep as melodious sounded in her ears.

"Welcome back, Lilliana."

It was the manager's son, Nero. Every evening when she came home, he was there to welcome her.

He was a brilliant alchemist who helped his mother run the inn while she prepared the dinners.

When Lilliana approached, he did not fail to notice her condition.

"But, what happened to you? You're so badly hurt !"

*sigh*

She didn't like to be seen like this, but she couldn't help it.

"I fought wolves, on a purge quest. I won, but one of them managed to get me."

"Tss... You should be careful. It would be a shame if your skin was full of scars at such a young age." he replied, with a sly laugh.

*sigh*

"Haha, don't worry, go wash your wounds, I'll tell my mom to cook you a nice meal, I'll prepare some remedies for you so that in two or three days you'll be completely healed."

"Aah... Thank you."

"Hey! Watch out, you won't get away with this! You'll owe me at least one date!"

Hearing this, Lilliana started to blush instantly."

"Y-You... You want to end up like those wolves maybe?" she said as she drew her sword.

"Hey, take it easy, put your sword away!"

"Fifty Astels, no more. That's all you'll get!" she said, her gaze threatening.

"Haha, all right, I get it. Well, I would have at least tried."

Lilliana sheathed her weapon, before heading to her room. She took a hot shower, removing all the dirt and blood from her skin, leaving only the wounds visible.

She usually tied her hair up on her quests, but this time she decided to let it flow around her face to hide her wounds.

When she finished washing, she went to the kitchen. There, a tall woman in her forties was waiting for her, dressed in an apron.

It was Meli, the manager of the inn. Despite her age, she was still very elegant.

She stared at the young adventurer with her sapphire eyes. Her gaze softened before she called out to her.

"Sweetie, I heard you got hurt on a quest!"

Lilliana lowered her head.

"Don't worry about it, my dear. It's unpleasant at first, but eventually, you get used to it. Despite these wounds, you must persevere! Only people who manage to become strong can accomplish their dreams."

Meli spoke from experience. She too was once an adventurer. She was in a group with her husband, they were both B-rank adventurers.

Nevertheless, one day, during a difficult fight against a creature that was much stronger than them, her husband lost his life.

After that, she decided to give up her life as an adventurer and opened an inn to welcome those who were new to the trade.

Her words comforted Lilliana. Meli was not only kind to her, but to all the other adventurers.

It was not a mistake to say that she was revered by many adventurers.

Lilliana went to sit at a table. A few minutes later, a magnificent horned deer steak with potato gratin and salad was brought to her.

She ate heartily before going to bed.