A New House and Greo vs, Fire Wolf

"This is…. Pretty huge…" Zelentriya complimented.

"It is… It looks fine…" Aelee nodded.

I also agree. This is my uncle we're talking about after all.

Of course he would have a bigger house.

When we returned to the guild after doing our quest at night, my uncle's messenger pigeon arrived. Lightly tapping its head, it played the message that only the receiver can hear.

{Greo, my boy. How're you? You see, I demolished your house just now. But don't worry. If you follow the map attached to my pigeon's back, you'll arrive at your new house. Hahaha! You already have 2 members, that's pretty impressive. You room is at the right side, the very last room. Your members can decide which rooms they want to stay in. If you gather more members and there aren't any rooms left, I'll give you a new one. Until then, keep this house for now. Good luck! End Message.}

Did he really just…

*****

The three of us are standing in front of the gate of the said house. It's a two-story brick house. The pathway is paved with stones. There are also two beautiful beds of flowers on both corners of the garden. Although it's located at Central Town it's still a bit far from the guild. Though, it's close to the local market so I guess it's fine.

Seriously… Are they watching me somewhere?

"Is something wrong, Greo?"

"Ah, no. Anyway, let's go in and check the rooms."

*****

The house is pretty huge, it's close to that of a mansion. The first floor has a kitchen, dining room, living room, and a separate toilet for men and women. Going up the to the second floor is a corridor with five rooms each side. Including my room, we checked every rooms and all of them has the same size. My room…

"It looks the same as your room before, doesn't it, Greo?"

"Yeah… Wait! When did you get here? I thought you were picking out your room?"

I didn't even hear any footsteps.

"Hehe, this." She pointd to the room next to mine, "I'm choosing the room next to you."

"I-Is that so?"

But just like what she said, it looks the same as my room from my previous house. A single bed near the window, a single study table and a cabinet for my clothes.

Every rooms at least have a bed, a pillow, and a blanket for one person.

"Hmm. I guess you guys would have to decorate your rooms yourselves."

"I'm fine with how my room looks right now." Zelentriya chose the third room at the opposite side.

"You should at least decorate it even a little bit, Zel."

"Well, then. Should we go buy the materials now?" I suggested.

"We can just do that tomorrow. More importantly, I'm hungry!" Zelentriya protested.

It can't be helped, I'm also tired and hungry from our quest earlier.

"Should we eat outside?"

"Oh, Greo. Can I use the kitchen? When we went there earlier, I saw that the storage has meat and vegetables in it. I can use them to cook us dinner."

"Are you sure? You're also tired right?"

"Don't worry. I can still do this much, at least."

"Then, I'll leave it to you. Also, you don't need to ask for permission. You are also a resident here after all."

Aelee smiled after hearing my words. "I guess you're right."

As expected, the food she cook is always delicious.

*****

"Oi! Summoner boy! Wake up!"

Early in the morning, a loud banging on my door woke me up.

"I'm up, I'm up." 

After I rest my eyes for a few minutes, I got up and went to the dining room downstairs.

What greeted me there is Aelee wearing an apron, placing the food down the table. 

"Good morning, Greo."

"Yeah… Good morning. Hm? Where's the kid— Ow! That hurts!" A shoe greeted my shin with a good morning kiss.

"Who are you calling a kid!? I'll kick you." 

"You already did!" Noticing Zelentriya holding a tray with coffee and milk, "…There's milk."

"Whatever you are thinking is wrong. It's for that light girl."

"Ahaha… I'm not really good with coffee." Aelee bashfully said, slowly scratching her cheek with a finger.

Cute.

Oh right. She always drinks tea. I should buy some for her later.

*****

While we were eating breakfast earlier, we decided that we will take a subjugation quest today. We didn't rest for today to do a quest, instead we will rest for the next two days so that they could also take their time decorating their own rooms.

A monster subjugation quest. Right after Zelentriya joined us, our party's rank went from Gold-II to Gold-I. That rank is where monster subjugation quests starts to appear.

Zelentriya's rank is Platinum-I and because of that our rank went up. On top of being a high level adventurer, she also has a high rank. I guess that's to be expected.

We're currently looking at Gold-I request board. There are goblins, slimes, kobold, and other strong wild beasts. Although wild beasts don't give that much experience points, they are still popular because of the materials you can get from them. You can either sell them or use them yourself.

"Should we take goblin subjugation quest then?" I asked.

"That quest. We'll take it."

A man clad in iron armor and a woman that looks like an Archpriest, took the goblin subjugation quest before I could get Aelee and Zelentriya's reply. They immediately brought it to Tir, the receptionist at the first desk.

"Well, that man just took it. What now?" Zelentriya asked.

"Good question."

"How about this one, Greo? Fire wolf subjugation quest?" Aelee suggested as soon as she came back from Platinum-IV quest board.

[Subjugation Quest: Fire Wolf

Reward: 300,000 oires

Location: Luminus Pond

Duration: 1 month upon receiving the quest

Requestor: Sal]

"Hm. A Platinum-IV quest. Why not? You will fight this one alone, summoner boy."

"Haha. You are so funny."

I never knew she's a comedian. That was a good joke. That monster, fire wolf, can destroy a town by itself you know? What is it even doing in Platinum rank quest, that should be at Diamond level.

"What are you afraid of? Didn't you just say last time that you want to catch up with us quickly?"

"Ugh…!"

I did say that. And besides… Our levels are a mess. There's me who's level six, Aelee who's level twenty-three then there's Zelentriya who's level forty-five. The gap between our levels are too big.

Letting out a sigh, I answered, "Alright, alright. I'll do it. Sorry Aelee, you will have to heal me a lot."

"I don't mind. You can leave it to me."

After that, we took the quest to Miss Bel.

"Good morning, Miss Bel. We'll take this for today."

"Good morning, Greo. Fire wolf, I see. Please sign this."

Since we have a party now, we can just write our party's name. So I did just that and handed it back to Miss Bel.

"Here."

"Thank you very much. Good luck on your quest."

*****

The Luminus Pond is a bit further to the west of Luminus town. Apparently, five days ago, the fire wolf settled there and turned the said pond into its feeding grounds. The caretaker, Sal, immediately put up a request to Luminus' adventurer guild to exterminate the said Fire Wolf. Since it got moved to Platinum rank quest, I guess it's a bit weaker than the 'normal' fire wolf that I heard from my father? Fire wolf has a burning mane at the back of its neck and its tail is made of fire. Of course it uses fire magic.

We soon arrived at Luminus Pond. There, we saw the fire wolf having a feast with the pile of fishes it caught at the pond. Look at the steaming water, I'm guessing it boiled the fishes first. There are even onion and other vegetables…

What a gourmet!

But… this monster…

"Zelentriya, this one looks different from the normal monsters I know."

"Yeah. Fire wolf is one of the monsters that didn't change just like the dragons. But all of them should've went extinct five hundred years ago."

"Did something happen before?" Asked Aelee, curiously.

"You see, the only place where fire wolves exist is right at the top of Mount Xyth."

"So you're saying…"

"That's right. When the one responsible for the terrestrialization virus, that strange monster, landed down there from the sky, the impact killed the fire wolves living there… or that's how it should've been."

The tallest mountain in this world, Mount Xyth is where the terrestrialization virus originated from. Five hundred years ago, a strange monster crashed and blew up the peak of Mount Xyth and made a huge crater. The debris of the said explosion rained down at the nearby towns and villages, claiming countless numbers of lives, including monsters and wild beasts.

Other than that, all I know is that even the Descendant of the Seven Heroes weren't able to finish off the strange monster so they were forced to seal it at the center of the crater.

"Does that mean that fire wolf is the last of them?" I asked.

"Most likely. Well, I don't really know. If we're lucky, we might be able to ask the monster itself."

Ask the monster itself…?

"Alright…"

"Good luck, Greo." Aelee encouraged.

"…..Zelentriya will fight it"

"'Alright' my ass. You already said that you're gonna fight it!" Zelentriya rebuked.

"W-Well… Looking at it closer, it looks really strong."

"Stop complaining and get out there!"

Before I knew it, I was tossed out of the bush where we were observing the fire wolf.

Did she just throw me!?

The fire wolf noticed me. It stopped eating and stood up. It's looking straight at me. Baring its sharp fangs, it growled.

I was surprised at first and thought of running away but—

"Ha! Don't tell me all of those stupid years of training were a complete waste of time!? Ah~ I feel bad to whoever trained you. Seeing that they trained a coward!" Zelentriya provoked and let out laugh that seems to be mocking me.

The nerve!

"You just watch there, demon girl. I'll end this mutt!"

"Let's see you try!"

I unsheathed my dagger from my waist and took an offensive stance, imitating an assassin.

The fire wolf instantly closed the gap between us. Brandishing its claws mid-air, the fire wolf attacked me with a slash. I barely managed to step back and dodge its attack on time. I then fired off a water magic—"Water Stream!"—at the fire wolf. But… it doesn't look like it did anything other than make it angry.

"Grrrr!"

Ohh, it looks really mad. It continued its piercing gaze at me. The fire wolf slowly opened its mouth.

That's…!

As soon as I realized what it was about to do, I threw my dagger at it to try to interrupt its magic but it only hit the ground where the fire wolf once was. The fire wolf simply jumped in the air and shot its large fireball in my direction while in mid-air.

"So fast!" Before the fireball hit me, I cast—"Magic Barrier!"—a barrier to, hopefully, protect me from the fireball.

As soon as the fireball hit me, a loud explosion occurred. Smoke and dust are everywhere.

I pant as I struggled to stand up. The sleeve of my robe burned and burn marks can be seen on my arms. As soon as I managed to stand up, a soothing feeling ran through my body and the burn marks from the fire wolf's attack disappeared.

Must be Aelee… I will have to thank her later…

Not giving me a chance to enjoy my brief relief, the fire wolf made its way towards me. Its sharp, blazing, fangs gnashed.

I managed to avoid it by jumping to the right.

At this rate, I'll be its main dish…

I tried to widen the gap between us but it suddenly charged at me.

"Earth Wall! Earth Spike!"

…Of course it will shatter. I tried to stop its movement with an earth wall with earth spikes in front of it but it just broke through it unscathed. But thanks to the earth wall, I managed to get out of the way of its charge.

It momentarily stopped before it howled. All of its legs are now engulfed in flames. I don't know what that is but it looks bad. There are even sparks below its feet.

"Body Enhancement: Speed!"

It is one of the magic I learned from one of my masters. It's a skill that increases the speed of your body movements, perception, and reaction three times than your original state. The only downside of this is that it uses three-fourths of my mana. Including the spells that I cast earlier, I already used at least ninety-five percent of my mana.

The fire wolf then let out a loud howl, its body is now covered with lightning.

"Double Body Barrier!"

All of a sudden, a barrier that could defend both physical and magic attacks is now protecting me. "Huh? Zelentriya?" 

The difference between a normal barrier and a body is that the body barrier has an increased defense properties and rather than a sphere shape, it coats your entire body instead.

"That's just to ensure that you won't die."

The fire wolf growled and moved at an incredible that even with my enhanced perception wasn't able to catch. All I know is that it's already in front of me and is about to strike me down using its claws with lightning.

"Hmph. For a low-level human like you. You did well."

Did it just—

"Gahak…!"

"Greo!"

The fire wolf's attack sent me rolling to the ground until my body hit god's strongest tree.

The barrier broke.

Ah… I'm gonna pass out…