Chapter 45. Wolf's Calamity

Continuing to keep the bracelet activated by constantly channeling a small stream of Qi into the artifact, Rand glanced at the meaningfully smiling Weed standing next to him. It was completely unnoticeable that he had just sentenced a man to death.

"Weed shows no signs of the turmoil or doubts that would be typical for a teenager in this situation. He is completely calm and even smiling. If I'm not mistaken, does the hunter's death seem like mere fun to him? Hmm.

And his words about not forgiving the attack are probably just a convenient excuse to justify his thirst for killing before the others. And there's no benefit to any of us from the hunter's death; on the contrary, it might create many difficulties with the villagers during the mission to capture the fox. This means that either Weed doesn't care about the mission, or his actions aren't guided by 'beneficial or non-beneficial' considerations and are driven by emotions and secret desires. Another reason to get rid of him as soon as possible.

But Weed isn't the only one who behaved somewhat strangely. Eyron also should have realized that the hunter's death could only harm us in this situation and introduce unnecessary variables into the hunt for Weed. Yet he 'requested' me to kill Gark, not to stop or incapacitate him. And moreover, now, when the hunter's fate is being decided, he is conspicuously silent. Considering that Eyron is a rather rational person, this can only mean one thing: Gark's death brings him some kind of benefit that outweighs the disadvantages of such a choice. Now I'm almost certain that Eyron is somehow connected to the current events in the village, and without a doubt, his true plan to eliminate Weed is somewhat different from what he told me. Interesting."

While Rand was immersed in his thoughts, a now-calm Balron approached him, no longer showing any signs of hatred or rage. Instead, he now only felt compassion. A few minutes ago, the words and actions of the hunter Gark had infuriated him, releasing all his youthful emotions that had been boiling inside him, making him act contrary to his nature and beliefs. But the sight of the hunter on the brink of death, lying on the ground and choking on his blood, his fear of death evident in his eyes, completely extinguished the fire of rage in Balron's soul and made him look at the situation soberly. Standing next to Rand, he requested:

"Wait, Oberin. No need to kill him. At least until the elder tells us what is happening here, and why this Gark acted this way towards us, and why he needs our seniors."

Before Rand could respond, Eyron intervened in their conversation:

"That's not how things are done, Balron. Even if you're our temporary leader, you can't make such decisions. A commoner hunter committed a crime, insulted and attacked a novice of the great sect, and according to the rules, he should be immediately executed. And now you're asking Oberin to spare him, thus putting the sect's rules and its reputation in doubt. When the deacon or other seniors find out about this, we'll definitely have problems. As for the elder... he'll have to tell us everything anyway, or he'll break the contract with the sect, the consequences of which he and his village won't like."

Hearing Eyron's words, Weed nodded in agreement, while the elder standing nearby, who had sighed in relief a moment ago, turned pale. But fortunately for him, Balron continued to insist on his own.

"I know the laws and rules as well as you do, Eyron. He has already been punished for insulting the novices; his current state is proof of that. And regarding the attack... he only attacked me and Oberin, so in the absence of the seniors, it's up to the two of us to decide his fate. I believe it's better not to kill him for now. What do you think, Oberin?"

Rand demonstratively ceased channeling Qi into the bracelet, causing the fire within it to die down quickly. Eyron, immediately realizing what this action meant and where it was leading, threw a disapproving glance at his teammate, but Rand paid him no attention and calmly replied to Balron:

"Maybe it's really better to understand everything first. The decision on this man's punishment can wait."

"Thank you, Oberin," Balron thanked him for his support, then turned to the elder, who was still shielding the hunter Gark with his body:

"Elder, if you don't want us to execute Gark behind your back, you'll need to answer all our questions. First, tell us who attacked you. What's going on here? And why did this fool decide to call our seniors by insulting and attacking us?"

"Of course, I'll answer everything, honorable novices, but I beg you, before I tell you anything, let me give Gark a healing pill, because otherwise I'm afraid he won't live until the end of our conversation. It will take me very little time, I just need to get the pill from the house."

"Alright, but hurry up," Balron allowed almost without hesitation.

The elder quickly ran back to his house. Like the hunter Gark, he was a cultivator, though only of the third level. Despite his frail appearance, he moved almost lightning-fast, much faster than an ordinary person, so within seconds, he returned with a gleaming pill in his hand. It looked very similar to the ones given to the novices during competitions, except its brightness was somewhat lower, indicating its lower quality. The elder approached the hunter lying on the ground, who had already lost consciousness by then, and placed the pill in his mouth. Then he informed the waiting novices:

"I gave him a Lesser Restoration Pill. It's not strong enough to heal him completely, but it can stabilize his condition and prevent immediate death. However, his life will still be in danger if left outdoors without care. Please, allow me to take him off the street." The elder immediately received Balron's permission and then called to a young man standing nearby:

"Gabe, get someone to help you and take him to Lada's house. It's not right for him to lie here on the ground." Then the elder turned his attention back to the novices:

"Don't worry, Gark won't run from his punishment, nor can he. So, let's go to my house now. It's not proper to have such heavy conversations out in the open with so many extra listeners." With these words, the elder led the novices to his house, where he seated them at a massive oak table meant for at least twenty people. Then he sat at the head of the table and calmly said:

"Now we can talk. Did I hear your names correctly, honorable ones? Your names are Balron, Eyron, Oberin, Weed, and Fara, right?"

Balron, as before, continued to speak for everyone:

"You heard correctly, elder."

"Good. My name is Landay, and as you have already understood, I am the elder of this village. And to answer your previous question: yes, we have indeed been attacked. Several times, in fact. A huge pack of wolves, led by a beast at the ninth level of Qi Condensation, has been trying to destroy our village for about a month now, attacking us again and again. We bravely fend off their raids, but each battle costs us dearly. That's why we sent people to your sect in the hope of getting help. After so many days of waiting for salvation from this scourge, you, esteemed guests, have arrived. And though you are extremely strong for your age and very talented, I must apologize again; I fear that helping our village is beyond your ability. This is why Gark tried to send you back and call for your seniors, even though he chose a very poor way to do it. If esteemed disciples of your sect come here to restore order and punish the offenders, they will surely solve our problem as well, since it would be very easy for them with their cultivation."

After hearing the elder's story, Rand and Fara remained silent, Eyron scoffed, and Balron frowned and responded in confusion:

"Something doesn't add up in your story, elder. Let's start with these wolf attacks. If your village faced such large-scale aggression from beasts, why didn't you right away seek help from the city you are affiliated with? In this situation, the city governor should send you a squad of city guards. But you decided to go directly to the sect for help."

"Not right away, not at all. Regarding the city's obligation to help us in this situation, you are right, but they don't want to."

"Don't want to? That's impossible. By law, the governor is obliged... Wait, what reason did he give for refusing? He couldn't have just said, 'I don't want to.'" Balron said with some disbelief.

"Officially, he didn't refuse us; he really can't by law. On the contrary, he promised to send a corps of guards. However, thanks to an acquaintance of mine, I found out that this help will only come next year because an influential family bribed the city governor to delay sending the troops. As soon as I discovered this, I suspected that the beast attacks on us were not coincidental and that this family had a hand in it."

"Now it's even more confusing. An influential family set the beasts on you and bribed the city governor to prevent him from helping you. Why would a family do this? And why didn't you name them?"

"Because I don't know their name, although I have a few likely candidates. In recent months, several families have tried to take control of our village after we had discovered the deposits of precious metal on our land, which is used in the creation of low-ranking artifacts. We tried to keep this discovery a secret, but somehow everyone around found out, and soon, many emissaries from these families appeared at our doorstep, wanting to claim our newfound wealth and us along with it. We refused them all, believing we were strong enough to use and protect the deposit ourselves, thereby enriching the village even more. Apparently, one of these families now wants to destroy us."

"Do you have any direct evidence linking the beast attacks to these emissaries?" Balron asked.

The elder shook his head and replied, "No, only indirect ones. A couple of days after we drove the emissaries out of the village, an elusive fox thief appeared on our land. Every night, it sneaked into our village, killing and stealing our livestock, and we couldn't do anything about it, as even our best hunters and trap masters, both ours and hired ones, couldn't catch it. When we didn't know what to do, a group of masked people came to us, offering to sign a contract of servitude to a family whose name they promised to reveal after signing. In exchange, they guaranteed to help us get rid of the fox and added that things could get worse if we refused.

We immediately understood that these people and the family behind them were connected to the beast attacks and even tried to capture and interrogate them, but failed.

Realizing our dire situation and knowing that the fox's owners wouldn't leave us alone, we sent a request to your sect, paying an enormous sum, even though we knew that help might not come soon. We thought we could hold out until the esteemed members of the sect arrived.

But we didn't know that the fox was just the first problem, insignificant compared to what followed. Two weeks after the masked people appeared, something much more terrible came. A huge pack of wolves led by a beast at the ninth level of Qi Condensation. The day the wolves appeared, they devoured everyone outside the village. Several hundred people were gone within a few hours. We gathered and tried to fight them in the forest, but there were too many, and we lost. I don't want to describe what happened that day; suffice it to say that only our strong walls and the villagers' selflessness saved us.

Since then, the beasts have attacked us every few days, and we've been repelling their assaults. Right after the attack, we sent a small group to request help from everyone we could. But no one responded to our call. Except you, of course, esteemed novices."