Chapter 09- The werewolf girl.
The two walked in the city of Novo Redondo, the first sight was of a very busy street, being John's first time in the city of Novo Redondo he looked at his surroundings, he could see a water fountain in the middle of the street, it was a circular fountain with a statue of a woman with a bucket in her hands, water came out of the bucket without stopping to fill the fountain with no sign of overflowing.
Buildings were seen everywhere, buildings of one to three stories, they could not be a residential area, most of them were shops and restaurants, there were also blacksmith shops, people passed without a single course after the fountain there was a fork of four paths.
John and Alex managed to walk, the ground was not flat earth, it was all made of white stones properly placed and well squared, all of them were the same size, in the distance a majestic castle could be seen, even more exuberant than Venhorst Castle, the castle forms the center of the city, it seems that the entire city was built around the castle.
Alex saw John's gaze fixed on the castle, he said.
"That's the castle owned by the Venhorst territory. All matters related to the territory are resolved there. Your grandfather, the former Lord, used to live there, and the current lord also lives there, but he prefers Barra Castle."
- Lord Fernando still has to come to the castle estate every week to deal with some matters personally.
They walked, while Alex introduced them to the city, they walked until they stopped at a large three-story building, some men in armor with scary looks entered and left the building, John read the wooden boards at the entrance of the building.
[Mercenary Guild]
Alex explained what the Mercenaries Guild was.
- It is a mercenary guild, it works as an organization that protects the rights of mercenaries, they meet here and receive missions, the missions they receive define their livelihood and their classification.
- Where do missions come from? And how are they carried out?
John said, with some interest. Alex replied.
- Well, most of the missions come from the city of Novo Redondo, some nobles leave their requests at the Mercenaries Guild, these requests are evaluated and classified, and posted on the missions board, in short, anyone can leave a mission at the Mercenaries Guild.
- How does one become a mercenary?
John said with a smile on his face, Alex looked at John without knowing why he would ask such a question.
- I don't know how, but there's an ID requirement and the candidate must be at least 12 years old, why the question? Don't tell me you want to become a mercenary?
- Just curious, that's all. Let's go.
The two continued walking until they reached a very busy square, the square was well organized, there was an area of fruits and vegetables, an area where hunters sold their captured animals, a food area, a clothing area, an iron area, a bards area and others, the two walked observing all the surrounding skies.
During the walk, they saw some other semi- humans and some beastmen, but the dominant population is the human race, due to the fertility of humans they were the majority no matter where you look, in knowledge as it was known that after plants humans were the most fertile, for a human to conceive did not depend on luck like other races, just having a fertile age and having sexual involvement with someone is enough to conceive a new life.
The two passed all the other shopping areas and stopped at the fruit and vegetable shopping area. They stopped in front of a stand that sold radishes, carrots, cabbage, and oranges. There were also other vegetables and fruits that John didn't know the name of.
The man selling at the counter noticed them both. He rose from his chair and began presenting his wares, grinning from ear to ear. He thought it was time to take advantage of the boys' apparent naiveté.
- Boys , we have radishes, oranges, carrots, all of which are freshly picked in the agricultural area of the territory.
John looked at the man, he didn't seem to be lying, everything looked fresh and just picked, Alex looked at John and smiled, he knew that most likely the man uses a low-grade magical item to keep the products preserved, only the goddess knows when the fruits were collected, but for sure not today.
John pointed to the radish and the magician .
- I want 12 of each?
The merchant's eyes shone, the smile that already reached his ears widened even further.
- young people .
The merchant changed the form of address, from boys to young men.
- the radish costs two copper coins and the cago mago costs three copper coins, 12 of each in total cost 6 silver coins.
- all good
John took six silver coins and gave them to the merchant. The merchant quickly packed them into two packages: twelve radishes and twelve cago mago. They continued on their way until they reached another area selling the same products, at a lower price. A frown appeared on John's face, and then, in unison, they both burst out laughing.
- hahahah hahaha hahaha
- hahahah hahaha hahaha
Neither Alex nor John had ever bought food before; they had everything at Venhorst Castle at their disposal. It was to be expected that the merchants were quite crafty. As they walked, they picked up fruit and took several bites. An elderly woman with her child, the two ragged women, were begging in a corner of the square.
John walked over to them, Alex following closely behind. He saw the girl, who was very thin, clearly they hadn't eaten anything in a while. John took a look at the two of them, bent down, picked up their packages, of radish and cago mago, took one for himself and the rest gave to the girl and the old woman. The old woman had been expressionless the whole time, perhaps she was so hungry that she could no longer change her expression.
When the old woman saw the inside of the packages she smiled broadly and by some miracle she stood up and bowed in a bow, to show her gratitude, she took out a magic cago and gave it to her granddaughter, and spoke.
- My young man, thank you very much, may the goddess bless you.
John smiled and walked away. They continued their walk. Alex's height rose slightly, but John's position in his heart was unmistakable. His friend and young lord were kind and not at all arrogant. He was practically raised to serve the Venhorst family, and he was fine with that. Knowing his future lord had a good heart was a blessing for him.
After a few laps, John was bored of the square and wanted to leave, so they headed for the nearest exit. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and a girl who was running at full speed crashed into John.
Beng
John and the girl both fell to the ground, the girl's elbow hit John's head when she tried to dodge, as she was coming at high speed there was no time to dodge, John and Alex neither saw the girl coming, that's why there was a crash that knocked them both to the ground.
- there there
John let out a low growl; the girl was strong enough to knock him down like that. As soon as the girl hit his head, she stumbled and fell on top of John's thin body. He didn't see who it was; he was covering his head with both hands and growled.
- Hey, aren't you going to get up? Do you think I'm your bed or something?
He didn't wait for an answer, he tried to lift the attacker over him, he removed his hands from his head and pushed upwards, John's hands reached an area that would most likely grow into two mountains in the future, but at the moment they were as shallow as a board, when the girl felt the touch of John's hands she jumped with her hands covering her breasts, like a scared kitten.
- aaaaaa
The girl screamed, John stood up, and only then did he see what was before him: a girl with silver hair, blue eyes, and black irises. Her round, oval face was covered in dirt. Despite the dirt on her face, she could see beautiful cheeks with baby fat. John looked at her with a wide-eyed gaze and saw that she was wearing worn-out clothes covered in dirt.
- thief . Someone stop the thief.
A voice sounded from behind the girl, a fat merchant was running after her, the fat man was breathing heavily, when the girl heard the fat man's voice she ran away, not caring about the boy who tried to take advantage of her, she ran so fast that John didn't have time to do anything.
John was stunned by the turn of events, the fat man came up to them and spoke with difficulty.
- You... why did you let the thief go?
The fat man bent down and began to collect the fruits that the thief dropped, John didn't answer he shook the dust off his clothes, Alex asked.
- John, are you okay?
- I'm fine, who the hell is that girl?
John asked as he looked into the distance where the girl disappeared. The fat man, after retrieving his fruits and taking a breath , answered John's question.
"She's a survivor, a member of the werewolf race. She runs around here robbing people, you should be careful around those scum."
Apparently this isn't the first time the fat guy has been robbed. John nodded and tried to check his bag where he kept his belongings. To his surprise, the bag was missing. Obviously, the girl didn't run away because she was worried about the fat guy, but because she took John's bag with her.
Alex noticed John's change in expression and asked.
- What's wrong? Are you okay?
The frown on John's face deepened. First he'd been tricked by a merchant, and now a wolf girl had stolen his bag. He didn't care about the bag itself, nor its contents—just a few measly copper coins and a few silver ones. His pride was wounded; he could already picture Ferdinand and Catherine's faces in his mind when he told them what had happened.
- The wolf girl, she took my bag.
Now it was Alex's turn to frown, for John it was just change in his bag, but for Alex it was several months' allowance, he clutched his bag hoping the same wouldn't happen to him.
After this episode, the two left the square and sat on the railing bench in a public area, they were depressed, John looked at Alex and asked?
- What's up with the werewolf race? Why did someone from their race from the Junior generation become a thief in the square?
Alex didn't know the details, but what he knew was common sense in the kingdom. Ceto was an informed man about the situation in the kingdom. Consequently, Alex, his son, knew a thing or two about the races in the kingdom. He spoke what he knew.
According to Alex, the werewolf race is on a list of endangered species. John was stunned; how could a race be nearly extinct? John's confusion didn't last long; Alex explained all of John's troubles.
The world is a cruel place where only the strong survive. In ancient times, there was an even more diverse diversity of races than today. Unlike today, each race fought only for its own development and saw other races as enemies.
The werewolf race was a strong race in the past, when they had in their possession the metamorphosis evolution path, it is a path that best suits the werewolf, during the war this path was lost, and this was a devastating blow to the entire race, they could not defend themselves, the entire race was becoming weaker and weaker.
They could only submit to another, stronger race, the werewolf race has a very low birth rate, the birth rate could not keep up with the mortality of the race so they became extinct year after year, until today when it is even difficult to see someone from the werewolf race.
- So are werewolves that rare these days? How did they organize themselves?
John asked.
- They spread out and took refuge in some small towns.
- a girl we just saw, if she is not by a single one, there must be at most, a family of three, or even a small group.
Alex spoke. John was no longer interested in the werewolves, now he just wanted to leave. For him, the day would be ruined if they didn't find something good in the city. It was almost lunchtime, he spoke with a refreshing humor.
- Let's go to the castle.
Alex was happy with this decision, because they would most likely find his mother, his permanent mother in the city of Novo Redondo, at the time of the year when Ceto is with Fernando, there is a need for someone trustworthy to stay in the city's castle, nothing better than the commander, that is, Alex's mother.
The two of them got up and walked, they didn't take the same path they came, now they took a shortcut, they walked around a long corner, it was an intersection between two streets forming a long and narrow alley.
When they reached the middle of the alley, the two metaphorically dropped their jaws to the ground, because at the other end was a little girl with silver hair, blue eyes, and black irises. She had an oval face, and despite the dirt, beautiful cheeks with baby fat could be seen. The wolf girl was right in front of her.
The girl was also stunned for a second or two, and then she appeared, showing her beautiful white teeth. She was carrying a brown bag, and there was no sign of John's bag on her person. She decided to turn around and run. John recovered and growled.
- Not this time ... You thief. I won't let you escape.
The girl retorted saying.
- Come and get me if you can.
John saw that she had no intention of stopping and was still provoking him, anger grew within him and a chase began between an angry tail and a wolf girl.