The Golem Adventurer

Chapter 43 - Wolf's Rest

Nestled within a mountain valley that stretched on for miles and surrounded by a lush Evergreen forest stood the town of Wolf's Rest. Compared to Haldin, its size doesn't compare but it was still much larger than any of the villages that littered the countryside. Of course with the highway being the only safe path through the mountains, this town benefited from any travelers hoofing it by land to reach the rest of the continent. Unlike the other nations, Archipel's territory had a natural border protected entirely by a mountain range that ran circular from the western sea all the way to the southern tip of the continent.

It had been over a week since I left Haldin and started my journey towards Archipel when I arrived to this seemingly quiet town. Of course there were other villages along the highway but most were just small communities with only a dozen families but this place felt like a miniature slice of civilization. After inquiring about the local Guild Branch, I made my way towards the unassuming building that stood in some inconsequential part of the main road. Ignoring the occasional odd stare I received as I walked, I entered the town's guild hall. The place, however, was more of a bar than a guild hall compared to Haldin's. Kurtz had explained to me before that ancillary places like these were more of a simple gathering place than a full on administration building that the main branches were. Hell, even some of the inns in Haldin were larger than this.

It was here that I met Guildmaster Rhodes. After agreeing to answer her inquiries about who I was, she had asked me to stay and help deal with a bandit problem the town was having. Agreeing with her request, we set about at the dead of night to raid the fortress.

Now with that issue solved, our rather large group had finally returned to the village by the next day's evening. Traveling through the dense forest with so many injured, some of us had to personally ferry those who weren't ambulatory. As we neared the gates to the town, I personally carried two men in each of my arms. One was unfortunately in a state of shock, unresponsive to outside stimuli. Nothing but a blank stare appeared on his face. The other had lost both his legs from the shins down due to gangrene caused by untreated wounds. The only little ray of sunshine I had on our return was the wolf cub who had comfortably nestled on the top of my flat head.

As we reached Wolf's Rest, we were greeted by the town's militia; just over one dozen of men and women barely trained to fight off encroaching wildlife or a small band of goblins. A bandit army like the one we had fought would have been beyond their capabilities. In a town like this where the majority of people were either woodsmen or quarry miners, joining the militia was the least lucrative of either job. But it was needed nonetheless. Rushing towards us, they helped escort the survivors to an empty storage building were the local healers and whatever passed for medical practitioners in this world awaited. A few of our own joined to help usher them into the bivouac. The rest of us were greeted by Guildmaster Rhodes. The middle aged woman strode up to us with a relieved smile on her face.

"Everyone, I'm glad to see you all returned back safe." she said as her eyes shifted towards the storage building. Her voice suddenly became downcast, "...Is that all of the survivors?"

"Unfortunately yes..." Aaric somberly replied as he began to fish around in his bag, "After the captive merchants finished recovering their stolen goods, I had our group retrieve any pieces of jewelry found among the bandit's ill gotten gains. Hopefully this along with a written description of all the victims we've found will be enough to identify the dead."

From his bag, Aaric produced a large sack filled with the stolen personal items and handed them over to Rhodes along with some pieces of parchment.

"Thank you Aaric. Maybe with this, anyone looking for the lost will be able to find some peace." the Guildmaster replied with  frailty. Unlike Kurtz, the guildmasters who ran the ancillary halls in towns like these weren't veteran adventurers. They were locals who volunteered for the position. I'd imagine playing nanny or uncle to a bunch of traveling roughnecks doesn't have people lining up in the streets for the job. Out in solitary places like these, you probably needed a big heart and patience miles long for it.