The Golem Adventurer

Chapter 40 - Lambs and Lions

Drevin thought he was the luckiest man alive as he sat at his personal table in front of all his lackeys. Forty men, all drinking and feasting to him. Tired of taking orders from the nobles of Rudelia, he decided to take the best men in his unit and run as far away from the North as possible. To him, staying there was nothing more than awaiting imminent death. Equipped in shoddy gear, they were forced to march to the front lines and wait. Standing their ground, they called it. Drevin thought it was just setting up target practice for the Empire. They'd come back with half their men, the others turned into pink mist or bodies ripped to shreds from a distance by the Empire's weapons and magic. Obryia was no better. He'd seen the strange equipment their soldiers wore but no one thought to give a few pieces to them. Obryia was the only reason why Grav hasn't marched down to conquer the rest of the continent.

No, Drevin thought. He didn't feel like dying while another noble stood back at camp getting fat. And so he left. To the border between Archipel and Haldin. The two countries drained the most by this so-called Nation Alliance against the Imperial war machine. And it was here that he found freedom. He didn't know how liberating it would be or how much he would enjoy taking what he wanted. He wasn't like this before, as a peasant sheepherder. He thought maybe he was always like this deep down. None of these countries did him any favors. If they had found out he was a deserter, it would have been straight back to Rudelia in chains. They might as well kill him right there? So why not just live how you want then? 

No more herding for him, no more bowing to his "betters". Here he was a king with his own castle. A lion. The finest pleasures in life were there for him to enjoy now. All the food, women and money in the world. But you could never have enough of all three. he thought.

When a stranger contacted one of his fences that traveled the countryside, Drevin was offered more money than he could ever hope for. All for one simple job to find some wolf cub. Of course he asked to meet this benefactor in his fortress face to face. To either take him up on the offer or just take the money from his corpse. The moment the stranger made his appearance, the man made sure that the latter was not an option. Drevin was smart enough to know how to pick targets. This man was not one to try his luck on. Not even with all his men.

But Drevin still accepted the offer. He had skilled trackers among his ranks. Former game wardens from Rudelia who could easily track it down in these mountains. And they did. Along with it's parent, an enormous magical wolf beast. If it wasn't for the strange supplies given to him by the stranger, the beast would have tore through him and his men. Whatever the ball that spewed a strange dust in the air was, it was highly effective against the creature. It intoxicated the beast as their arrows and spears tore into its flesh. If their mages could have used magic at the time, they would have killed the beast but the dust effected them too. Stopped them from drawing mana to cast their spells. Instead it ran out into the forest in a enraged stupor, unaware that it was abandoning its child: a strange looking wolf cub with it's two tails.

A present for some spoiled Rudelian noble's child, he wondered? It didn't matter. Only the gold mattered. All he had to do now was wait while his fence got into contact again with the stranger. 

And while he waited, his men found a craftsman golem wandering outside his gate. None of his men had seen a golem of his like before. Intelligent, made of pure metal and covered with some unknown fiber-like skin. This one is sure to pay even more to a collector. Two large sacks of gold, like he had never seen were just waiting to be cashed in. He just had to celebrate his new found wealth with a feast. The only thing he was disappointed with was the fact that the dancers were already "used" the week before. Now he had to settle on enjoying the less attractive staff workers they had. With all this money, he thought, he could just buy a hoard of women instead. His own personal harem. Of course a king needs a-