When Luke Lange returned to Stahurt and met up with his traveling companions at the agreed upon inn, Wanney and Meredith couldn't tell whether they were more surprised by the fact that the half-wolf had found them with his sense of smell alone, or by the information he brought back from his few-hour walk through the forest.
"Hold off on the revelations a bit, buddy." Wanney said, stunned, stretching both arms forward. "Are you really wanting to help the unknown weirdo who lives in a forest and who you only know the first name of!?"
"I've been traveling with you for six months and I only know your first name." Luke stated with a neutral expression.
"I've told you a million times that my last name is Ronald, Wanney Ronald!"
"Luke, he's right. I won't be able to trust a stranger's information.... If he wants us to steal something from a Melki institution as important as this strange religion, I need to trust him." Counters Meredith, crossing her arms balanced on her hind feet on the small table the three of them were sitting at.
The half-wolf placed his hands on the table, crossed his fingers and leaned forward slightly, looking Meredith in the eye. "You are not obligated to trust Hazor, but I ask that you trust me. This man may have the answers we have been searching for all this time, he may have the answers on how to use each of the three items we have been searching for the past few months, I know he can. Trust me and my gut."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWanney Ronald and Meredith Scully looked at each other at that moment and nodded with determined smiles. In a way, they felt a little guilty for not trusting Luke's words the first time, and if Hazor really could know everything Luke thought he knew, he was the right person for them to trust, even with Hazor himself still not trusting them.
In the end, even though Wanney supported the trip to the small unnamed town, he decided not to accompany the half-beasts. According to his words, there was something strange hovering over Stahurt and this needed to be investigated, which with the few days they had in the city was not enough. Although he wished to continue on the trip, he still felt he should ask Luke to do so, and Luke's response was very sincere: he just shrugged, as if this was not his decision. Wanney was very pleased and remained Stahurt, accompanying Meredith and Luke only as far as the wagon drivers at the entrance to town.
Since Luke did not know exactly where the town mentioned by Hazor was, because it was not marked on the map he had, he just had to pay for a wagon driver to take him and his companion to the place. It was not a bad deal, the wagon driver would get a coin of Melkian gold, and the two half-beasts would save time.
However, when they reached the town area, the wagoner suddenly pulled the reins of the horse he was driving. Luke and Meredith looked to the sides, seeing only bush everywhere.
"Why did you stop so suddenly?" Meredith asked, a little confused. "Are you going to take a leak?" They had been traveling straight for over ten hours, so maybe he wanted to take a break.
The wagon driver gave a nervous smile, looking at the two young people in the back of his wagon. "Don't you guys know? There are legends about these parts, so no one goes beyond the forest toward the coast. The Desolate Lands border that region, so it's pretty dangerous."
When he heard this, Luke grabbed the half-fox's purse and climbed down from the wagon. "We knew, but we thought you would proceed to the end of the forest. We'll walk the rest of the way, Meredith."
The half-fox inflated her cheeks, dissatisfied, and followed Luke.
"Wait a moment! What about my payment?" The old wagon driver held out his hand to receive the money.
"Oh? I almost forget..." Luke muttered low and opened the <Normal Inventory>. Finally, he tossed a small bag of money to the toothless old man, who with some excitement opened the bag of money.
'It has never been so easy to take money from rich people as it is in Stahurt. A trip that normally others would charge seven coins, I charged ten coins, and they still paid me...' The wagon driver thought, almost letting a smile escape, however, he was surprised when he opened the bag with money. "Hey, hey, there are only five coins here, that wasn't the deal!"
Luke turned back with the half-fox bag slung over his left shoulder and stated, "You're right. I asked if you could take us in the town to the south that has the lighthouse, you quickly agreed and gave your price. But look around, do we see any towns? Well, there aren't any. So settle for these coins or none, you choose."
The wagon driver had no arguments to rebut, not least because he purposely omitted the information that he wasn't going to take them to the town, so he just hid his own lips at that moment and left muttering loudly to himself as he snapped the reins for his horse to walk.
"You are such an asshole~" Meredith spoke up and punched the half-wolf weakly on the shoulder.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Ouch, that hurt!" He stated, immediately starting to rub the part that was hit.
"A punch from me would never hurt you. An arrow would, a punch wouldn't!" she stretched her arms up to stretch.
"I can't even tell you're lying..." Luke muttered.
Meredith turned back suddenly. "Hey! I heard that!"
"What? I'm just talking to myself! Hahaha!" Luke turned his face to the side and pouted.
The half-fox inflated her cheeks and moved closer to him as she leaned her bust heavily in Luke's direction. "Are you sure...you didn't say anything?"
Unlike all the other times Meredith had teased him, although Luke blushed he didn't flinch and smiled mischievously. "Maybe I said something about how beautiful you look today." He stated and took her chin.
This time it was Meredith who turned red as a strawberry and looked away. "Y-you got it wrong! I didn't mean to tease you!" She exclaimed, waving her hands like the sail of a boat waving on the high seas.
"Relax. I'm just teasing you... Let's get going, there's still a portion of the way to go." He said.