FSE

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Chapter 21

The journey around the continent continued then on. Leaving the small town of Stelikan to the bigger city in the middle of the region, the group managed to cover as much money as they could for the long journey, during which they managed to find a good amount of supply, hunting equipment, new clothes, and books for entertaining each other. Since leaving Stelikan, the scenery started to change from the rural countryside meadow to a more geographically varied landscape complete with forest, rivers, mountains, hills, and small deserts based on map. Lilac and Ifrit were very fascinated in the experience, especially for Lilac who never even been to Adaline and Ifrit who wanted something new. With their carriage house they travelled around the region and didn't even try to find Yenhal.

At a forest-side rest area (the people of Adaline had another kind of station which was only intended for small rest and not for trading. There they could find food, place to bath, and socializing with others), Ifrit came to meet many other traveller Lycans riding on cheap carriages intended for a long journey. Some even only used horses and were using wide hat with leather shoes and some weird-looking clothes not seen in Tragoria.

As they rested in a bar, Albreich took a menu, scanned it for a while, and said, "I have the special, please."

"A sandwich, with an additional chunk of meat, please. Oh, and I will have a hot chamomile," said Lilac while the red-haired waitress wrote for the order.

"I'll have hamburger? What is this?"

"It's a simple sandwich. Serve hot with frenchies," said the waitress. "Want it hot or normal?"

"Hot."

"Thanks for ordering! The food will come in a sec."

After she left, Lilac kept wagging her tail in anticipation of the new surroundings, sometimes annoying even a Lycan beside her. The place was different from the taverns in Tragoria. While it was still wooden all around, it felt like alive and not as old as the taverns. It wasn't all that gloomy with so many lamps all around them. Also, there was this weird machine that played sound by itself as if it was operated by magic, and without the need of bards, they could hear an assortment of cheesy music and jazz.

"It's great, isn't it? First I travelled a lot around the regions, and second, I get to find a lot of Lycans around me having a great time with the humans."

"Well, werewolves are so common in Adaline that many of them are worried if the humans would wage a war to take this region," said Albreich while drinking the milkshake. "Just 10 years ago there was a peace treaty between the humans and the Lycan race, and after a while there was a movement to unify the groups. Adaline region is the first region to accept racial similarities before Tragoria took it."

Lilac scoffed at it. "That's not like how you say it will be."

"Tragorians resented your race because of a reason. Maybe if we can find a bookstore I can..."

"No!"

Her sudden shout surprised some of the patrons, but they quickly resumed their activities, thinking it was common. Lilac took a deep breath and in embarrassment, said, "I mean...our travelling house starts to be full with the knick-knacks you two bought during the trip."

Albreich knew what she meant, and he quickly turned to Eshdar and Ifrit who was staring back at them in confusion. Lilac turned to them and said, "Ifrit, I think it's wise as your girlfriend for telling you not to buy too much books for the sake of learning English. We barely have a place to sleep after Eshdar moved in and we can't afford to buy another bookshelf. For Eshdar...put away those arrows, will you?"

"I can't. I work as your hunter, so those are my things," said Eshdar while smoking his cigarette. "I've taken my place in your jock's seat bein' slapped by horses' tail all night just for you three to sleep and I can't even produce my own tail from under the coat I've been wearin' for concealing my horns. How's that for uncomfortable?"

"And buying five dozens of arrows aren't uncomfortable enough for a hunter? Maybe you have to put it in a better place so they won't be tickling us."

"Maybe you need to find a good place to hook my things."

"H...hey...are you two for real?"

Both of them stared at each other for a while before Lilac broke the view and said, "I want to get out."

When she left, Ifrit turned his head to Eshdar and with an angry look, said, "(You shouldn't said that to her, Eshdar. That wasn't right)."

"(What? I can't put any of my stuff if you three lived there for a while and made it as your home. I should've not burden you two with this...)"

"What does he said, Ifrit?"

Ifrit, without words, just stormed outside and followed Lilac to the carriage, leaving Albreich and Eshdar in the restaurant. There was also an awkward silence between them where they didn't want to talk to each other with Albreich only drinking his milkshake. This caused Eshdar to said, "What's wrong with you guys, huh? You three seems to have an awful lot of shit lately. What's wrong with Lilac?"

Albreich sipped his milkshake without even talking to Eshdar, which caused the hellhound to feel rejected and said, "Damn.... Only together for three months and this group is fallin' apart. This trip is messin' with you guys. I'll find a good air..."

"And taking your bags and leave us? I'm the leader of this group, so you shouldn't do that, Eshdar."

"Like I care. I'm just a hitchhiker to your around the continent trip. I can take care of myself."

When Eshdar walked away from Albreich, he said, "Maybe Anarim won't be happy with you walking around with bow and arrows while there are so many hellhounds putting a price on your head. He won't be happier either if he knew I failed to protect his son."

This caused Eshdar to stop. He turned and said, "What do you mean, protect? I'm a (hellhound)."

"Just for you to know, I know what Anarim is really working. He's not a farmer, for starters. Anarim is a barkeeper in my small village, telling great stories to us while I was still a kid. He trusted me the most and when I realized that I met his only son, I was thrilled, until I realized that he never told me of a son that's even older than Ifrit."

"That's normal, right? He's an old (hellhound) now. It's normal to have a-"

"A young brown furred hellhound barely reached his 20s? You're even more like his grandson, Eshdar. Just don't lie to me for now as a companion. Please sit down, young prince of Winselia kingdom."

The hellhound hesitated, but he sighed and said, "You may doom your friends when you said that, Albreich Schafner."

"I'm not, Eshdar, because you're one of the five Princes of Hell, representing the family of Winsel. Now, sit down."

Eshdar reluctantly sat and with the soda in front of him, he just quickly drank it and said, "How much do you know about that?"

"Anarim was interested in me since I eagerly followed his stories despite of them being hellish and such, scaring others away. I should've known him being a demon to tell a story very astonishing to be real, but I held that suspicion until I'm around your age when I saw Anarim running to my family's home while engulfed in flame. I realized he was a demon at the same time when I saw his tail and horns. He was trying to find help, trying to run away from his assaulters. I hid him inside his house when I saw some demons, clearly not hellhounds, were running around with hellish weaponries I couldn't imagine. After they left, Anarim said that he must go from the village to protect those he loved, and he gave me his necklace, saying that whoever sees the thing must be the real Winsel heir. Apparently, that necklace is similar to the one you're wearing."

Eshdar suddenly moved his hand to his neck. He realized it was gone, but then, in the increasing panic, Albreich gave him another necklace identical to the one he lost. It shone in red, and the light reflecting in it looked like a fire. Eshdar was dumbfounded by the sight of the thing. It was so beautiful in a sense, but also deadly in another.

"So that's what dad's been..."

"He's not your father, Eshdar. Anarim Winsel is your grandfather, or at least that's what I think it is. When did you meet your father last?"

Eshdar scanned around, before saying, "I never met my father, but I know his name is Anarim Winsel. Are you sure you're not mistaken? A hellhound has a very long life and their features change slower than normal. If you think you can stop me from leavin', I think you're mistaken."

"Eshdar...your father's name is Ensalder."

The hellhound stopped dead in his path after hearing that name. He wasn't reacting for a while, even the only voice that was in the middle of their conversation were the voices of other patrons and the songs being played from the gramophone. The awkward silence was only broken by a waiter saying, "Here's your special, sir" while putting a bacon omelet in front of Albreich.

"Are you sure you're not mistaken? Ensalder is my father?" asked Eshdar in disbelief and a worried tone.

"Yes, that's what Anarim told me. That's obvious if you are surprised since you claimed that you never met your..."

"You're wrong, Al. Ensalder is not my father. He's dangerous. I don't know if you have met him or not, but if he knew I'm with you you're also dead, along with Ifrit and Lilac."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry about that action earlier, Albreich, but don't let me make your business be in danger. Ensalder is cunning. He's one of the rebels and he is trying to kill any monarchs he knows alongside those making any connections to them. If they ever found out..."

"That's a little too late for a warning, isn't it?"

Just at the same time there was a loud noise of explosion that caused the restaurant patrons to be surprised and moved down under the table while some just screaming in place. There was a chaos where the attackers started to shot into the building, killing some guests and hurting some. There was a human taking cover under the table with Albreich and Eshdar while shouting, "What the hell is that?! Are they trying to gun a goddamn beast?"

"Depends on your perspective!"

Eshdar suddenly gasped and said, "Oh shit! Ifrit and Lilac are still out there!"

Meanwhile, outside...

"(You goddamn son of a bitch, take this!)"

Ifrit pulled a trigger to the gun he was carrying after he snatched it by force from a nearby hellhound that was trying to shoot him. Lilac managed to kill another based on her sense and her claws, but Ifrit quickly helped Lilac into the restaurant again while in the way the Lycan took a long rifle with her. She managed to get inside unscathed, but Ifrit was held aback near a half-wall near the entrance of the restaurant. What was worse than a wooden oak half-wall was the fact that the weapons could pierce through, unlike arrows, and it almost cost him his life when one of them missed him to the wall in front of him. He managed to peek, though, and saw, in a sudden focus of sense, on how to operate the rifle he was carrying. He saw one of the hellhounds pulled a small lever at the side of rifle, while there was an empty cylinder ejecting out from it. After the lever returned, the hellhound pulled the trigger from his pointy finger, all in a quick succession before a bullet forced him to stay behind the wall. He could hear a screaming voice in pain and an unearthly roar he knew wasn't coming from any beasts except his own dog.

This gave him an opportunity. Pulling the lever like the one he saw in the sense, he took a deep breath and went out of cover to shoot one of his assailants through the head, which caused a surprise to him and Eshdar who was running to him from the inside.

"(How the hell did you do that?! You scored a headshot with a rifle?!)"

"(Survival sense, maybe?)"

There was a shot passing through the wall and almost hit Eshdar, but he didn't budge and said, "(Goddamn it! We gotta go to the carriage! I need to take my bow and arrow!)"

"(You are taking a bow and arrow into a gunfight?!)"

"(It's better than taking a sword into a gunfight! Cover me while I run back to the carriage!)"

Running under the cover while being shot at by rifles and guns, Ifrit and Eshdar tried to reach the carriage parked behind the hellhounds. Ifrit managed to shot the hellhounds quick enough to kill three, which amazed Eshdar while they ran towards another cover just near where Sammael was waiting. The demon dog somehow lost his upper skull and because of that he exposed his not normal splitting maws commonly seen in demon dogs while he tore out the insides of a hellhound he was feasting.

"(You know, I think I regret training you in usin' a bow! You handle yourself with that fuckin' gun pretty nicely)."

"(Well, that's for the compliment, asshole. Get moving!)"

Eshdar ran in a speed akin to a wolf. He pulled out his dagger and cut some of the hellhounds beside near him while Ifrit, after emptying the ammunition, started to use the rifle as a bat, beating out some hellhounds trying to attack him head-on. He was lucky no other hellhounds were trying to shot him in this daring move. Sammael helped him with other hellhounds while Eshdar, taking his bow and arrow, took the sniping with them.

Back in the restaurant, a human ran outside carrying a rifle from behind his counter, helping the two hellhounds from behind the counter. Albreich and Lilac saw him shooting some hellhounds trying to attack their saviors, and Albreich suddenly said, "That man's crazy! Does he know what he's dealing with?!"

"What can I say?" said a man beside him. "He's a goddamn bounty hunter taking a rest and all of the sudden some Lycans shoot this place like crazy! I gotta help him."

"Wait! Those Lycans use a new gun technology from Dusdolf!"

"You're from Dusdolf, aren't you? Do you know how to disable them?"

"The hell I know! I'm just a trader, not a weaponsmith! I don't approve in selling guns!"

"Well, unfortunately, Adaline has a gun policy, and it's easy to get weapons these days, including that bow and arrow that Lycan is using!"

"Okay..."

After a while, there was a deadly silence after the gun spree was over. There was no one daring themselves to get out from shelter and see anything from their perspective. When Albreich peeked a little from the chair, he saw that aside from five humans and three more Lycans, Ifrit, Eshdar, and Sammael were alright. They sat near the damaged carriage from the gunfire, exhausted while some Lycans helped them to stand and sat near the carriage.

Eshdar managed to stand and sat near the stairs, but Ifrit was too exhausted running around hitting the Lycans with his now battered rifle. Sammael managed to get out from the scene and took his skull (somehow that thing was indestructible). Taking a deep breath and exhale of relief, Eshdar took his bow. The overuse of the bow and the use of almost all of his 60 arrows broke the bow and the string, making it unfixable since it broke in the center most durable part of the bow."

"Damn...I don't really want to burden you guys...," muttered Eshdar while throwing the bow to the gravel terrain.

Ifrit was helped by a Lycan to stand up, but his exhaustion meant that he couldn't move his legs. The black Lycan put him on the stairs and gave him a smile, saying, "Running around hitting wolves with an empty rifle is not the best way to fight, but you got a hell of a hit to them. You're an experienced fighter."

"Thank you, but I only fight with instinct, not skill."

"And...you really have a very great instinct to be able to use this delicate rifle and shot some of them through their heads. Well, aside from that, your action prevents death of the guests. We need more citizens like you."

"I'll appreciate that."

The Lycan and the group then went into the restaurant asking for the patrons for any information on the witnesses. By this time Sammael ran back to his master and jumped to Ifrit's lap, which caused the hellhound to become strained with Sammael's weight. Both of their eyes locked to each other, and Ifrit seemed relieved to see through the skull into Sammael's six doggy eyes (wait, does he even know what that means?).

"(I'm so relieved that you're alright, master. For a while, I thought those hounds are trying to kill you)." "(I won't be killed if you protect me, Sam. You're one hell of a dog)."

"(I got that double meaning)."

Both of them laughed to each other, but Ifrit then said, "(Damn, I really think that weird force is telling me that Sammael has doggy eyes. Does he even know Sammael is a demon dog?)"

(I wrote the story).

"(Like hell I believe in that. Don't bother us for a while, okay? My friends start to think I'm a freak. How the hell do you know Hordo?)"

"(Ifrit, what's wrong?)"

Eshdar came to see the black hellhound, with the other. Lilac felt relieved that Ifrit went out from the battle uninjured that she shed a tear and with a sudden leap she jumped to Ifrit, making the hellhound yelp. Now, with PROPER doggy eyes Lilac had, she said, "I never thought you can survive that."

"You really are one hell of a hound," said Albreich while watching his damaged carriage. The horses were killed in the gunfight, but aside from that, the carriage only suffered gun holes everywhere, broken glass, and some splintered woods. The carriage also broke its wheel support, rendering it unmovable.

"This is my goddamn third carriage! You guys are so in trouble with your problems!"

"S...sorry..."

Albreich just sighed. Rubbing the red carriage for a moment, he said, "Well, with how things have worked out between the four of us and a dog, I plan to sell this carriage sooner or later. Now, with the horses dead the wheel support broke, I guess we won't be able to use a decent shelter for the night. The next town is two days by walking. Fortunately, we don't really have any goods for trading, so with some books, camping appliances, weapons, furniture, and candles, I guess we can hire some horses for a while."

"I can carry some of the things. I don't want to see my master getting burdened out from the things you take by moving this moving house."

Everybody stared at Sammael. It was true that the size of the demon dog itself was big enough for some goods, but with the skinny-looking dog carrying some things could gave too much stress to Sammael. Ifrit didn't want his dog to be burdened out, not after he knew that the dog was his savior.

"(S...Sam, I think you don't need to carry the things for me. I can carry them by myself. Just...walk along with us. That should be fine)."

"(Well...if you insist, master)." Sammael just walked around the corner and sniffing around.

They managed to take the goods out. Fortunately, no major damages were seen from the things, especially the lunar scroll and the books had no visible damage at all. Taking many of their goods, they packed them neatly inside some camping bags for three, which Lilac realized that it was odd.

"So, you three plans to carry the things by yourselves?" said Lilac with stern eyes. "I wish I can be a help. But, is it better for us to hire some horses?"

"We won't really carry those things on our backs. We hire some horses for these goods."

"But I better get a hold with my things. Some of them are essential for survival," said Eshdar while taking his quiver. "I need to buy a new bow and some arrows. That fight costs me too much."

"Don't worry. Next time we'll buy a better reinforced bow, so it won't break with that strong pull you give."

During the trip, Eshdar walked near Ifrit and said, "(Do you think those hellhounds weren't our preys?)"

"(I doubt it. Some of them were killed even before I hit them)."

"(Yeah. I never thought I can connect my arrows to some of them, either. I thought that human shot them, but apparently he didn't shot one's head off)."

"(I've got a feeling that someone...or something, is watching us. I can't tell if that is an enemy or an ally, but...from how good he shot through three heads, I bet if he has an opportunity to kill us, he can do it less than a minute)."