The Void Wolf

“Uh…” Ira slowly rolled over on a wooden floor and held his head while being showered in a warm sunlight that made its way into the room through the window. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he looked at his left hand, the events of the previous day began to replay in his mind.

After the engagement was settled, Lauren ordered the servants to bring out ceremonial wine, but it wasn’t just any ceremonial wine, in fact, ordinary humans couldn’t drink more than one cup or they would die. An aged wine made with various spirit essences, made especially for Valkyries, it tasted like fruit juice, but if one were to assume it was they’d be in for a terrible situation.

Lauren suggested Ira try to lower his regeneration rate by using his ability to self-adapt, to get the full effect of his first cup of wine. Suffice to say, he received a lot more than the full effect. After the small ceremony was finished, Avery got a servant to drive a carriage back to the capital. She booked him a room inside of a small inn and told him she was investigating someone and he should stay within range of the capital for the next few weeks or so, in case she needed his help or her mother wanted to talk to him.

Ira closed his and attempted to concentrate, slowly adjusting his regeneration. His level of control wasn’t at the point where he could make snap adjustments, so it took a few minutes before he could change it.

Ira opened his eyes with a satisfied smile, “Better.”

He stood up and looked around the small room. The only furnishings, other than the bed, was a desk and a stool. On the desk, Ira could see the white-glass status card. He grabbed it and waved his left hand, storing it in his void space before making his way out the room.

“Your lady friend already paid for your room.” A middle-aged man spoke as he saw Ira leaving the room. It was apparent he was the innkeeper.

After receiving a meaningful nod of approval based on a misunderstanding from him, Ira left. His first stop was the Mercenaries Union. So after a short trip through the Capital’s street, he arrived at the familiar building, and as usual there were long lines of people hoping to become Mercenaries. Ira walked over to the line for those who already Mercenaries and waited. Eventually, he finally got to the receptionist, a young man with round glasses looked up at Ira.

“What do you need today?” The young man with glasses asked.

“I want to update the status of my Mercenary card.”

“Ok, No problem, do you have your status card and your mercenary card with you?” The young man asked.

Ira produced the cards from thin air and handed them over.

“J-Just one second.” The young man wasn’t surprised by Ira’s display of spatial magic, it wasn’t a skill seen every day but it was still widely known. What surprised him was Ira’s status card, it looked to be way more advanced than the Kingdom’s own.

The cards were placed on a small glass screen and Ira’s history was pulled up and updated.

“H-Here you go. Everything’s up to date. Also, room number was left by a Mercenary party, they should still be staying in the room currently.  The young man handed the card back to Ira.

“Thanks.” Ira grinned and went on his way to the lift.

After he arrived on the second floor and went straight to the job boards, ignoring the giant blue glass column, which ranked Mercenaries. First, he received credit for capturing the Slaver, Lance’s party listed him as a temporary member, and thus the job was added to his record. The list of jobs available to him now had increased compared to the last time he came.

Since Avery told him to stay in the capital, for the time being, he decided to take on a few local jobs with no time completion conditions. They read as followed:

Find information or Disrupt a Local Gang’s operation.

5,000 Gre for viable information.25,000 Gre for the capture of suspected leader. 15,000 for killing the suspected leader.

B+ level target: Romelyn “Snake’s Fang”

500 Gre for each associate captured or killed.

Time Requirement: None.

See Captain of the City Guards before starting.”

“Security and Escort.

2500 Gre for security. (Rate negotiable based on performance.)No Mercenaries Groups. (A trio or pair is preferred.)Must be ready to fight a variety of creatures (If need arises)May have to go to the outskirts of the Capital for a few hours.Additional Preferred Qualities. (Not scared of fire, ice, acid, or magic. No fear of the arcane or demonic. Able to deal with semi-spiritual beings. Willing to work for low pay.)

Go to Charlie’s Alchemical Concoctions

Time Requirement: None (Preferably as soon as possible)”

Three other jobs, that weren’t really eye-catching, paid around 5,000 Gre.

The strangest job was for Charlie’s Alchemical Concoctions, it was a low paying job with some irregular details. In spite of that Ira still took the job and then headed for the third floor.  After some searching, he found the room number left for him and knocked on the door.

“Hold on.” A slightly muffled voice responded. The door opened and an excited shout greeted Ira.

“…You’re alive!” Sarah exclaimed in surprise. Instead of her usual armor, she currently wore casual clothes.

“For the most part.” Ira smiled. Sarah continued to look at him with wide eyes which caused him to look around. “You gonna let me in or-”

“Sorry. Come in.” Sarah moved out the way and allowed him to enter.

“Sarah who is it?” Lance voice could be heard from deeper in the room.

“You won’t believe it.” Sarah said as she ran ahead of Ira.

Ira came into the living room and saw Lance, Gerald, Valerie, and Zella, all staring at him in surprise. There was a large map on the floor and a mess of papers.

“Glad to see you’re ok. We were worried about your health. ” Lance said.  The others voiced their agreement with nods.

“Thanks for my portion of the bounty…So, what are you guys doing exactly?” Ira asked as he eyed the map sitting on the floor.

“We took on a subjugation job for a herd of trolls. We’re currently in the planning phase. They’ve been attacking people just a little north of the capital.” Lance explained.

“Hey! Do you wanna join? We could use your tracking abilities. ” Gerald uncharacteristically spoke up. Everyone showed a bit of hopefulness toward the question.

“I’d like to, but I have to stay within the capital for the next couple of weeks.”

“Ira!” Gerald suddenly shouted.

“Gerald it’s not that serious,” Ira said with a chuckle.

“Your left hand!” Gerald ignored Ira and pointed towards his hand. Everyone’s attention became focused on Ira’s left hand, a pearl white ring was resting on his ring finger.

Gerald was the first to notice because on his own left hand was a gold wedding ring. He saved up from his first few jobs just to buy it, so he unconsciously compared his own ring to Ira’s before realizing Ira never wore a ring. They all looked at Ira waiting for an explanation.

“I’m engaged,” Ira said casually.

“Since when?!” Lance couldn’t help but ask. To him Ira was the embodiment of freedom, he was nonchalant about almost everything and didn’t seem as if he could be restrained by anything.

“Yesterday,” Ira answered with a smile.

“To who?!” Sarah asked, although Ira didn’t have the “Knight in shining armor” temperament, he was handsome and his strange behavior somehow made him easier to talk to. She, Valerie, and Zella all wished Lance could be similar, even if it was a little bit.

Ira furrowed his brows in confusion. “Didn’t you already meet her? She came to find me, and you gave her my portion of the money from the bounty, dark purple hair, silver eyes. Ringing any bells?”

“She’s your fiancé?!” Lance asked, an unmasked trace of envy in his eyes, he didn’t notice the angry expressions of the females.

“Yeah, she is…Anyway, I have things to do, so I’ll see you all later.” Ira said as he turned to leave.

“Wait, we’re going to get fitted for new Armor and if it’s not that important maybe you can come with us first.” Gerald suggested, he thought of Ira as a friend and now that he was engaged, he had more to ask him about.

Ira contemplated and then came to a decision. “Alright.”

…………………….

A baby-faced youth in Knight armor tied horses to a post outside the gate of a large decrepit mansion, paint had long since peeled from the walls, and the wood was clearly rotting.

“Franklin. Hurry up.” An older, more experienced looking knight, stood at the gate and urged him on.

“Why don’t you tie up your own horse, Justin?” Franklin complained.

“Just come on, Frankie.” Justin opened the rusted gate and walked in.

“Wait up.” Franklin quickly finishing before running to catch up to him.

It’s been a little more than a month since Franklin and Justin were given the assignment to investigate a noble family by the name of Fallmire from Avery. Recently, they heard reports of Avery losing her military position, and a strange event happening at the military center, but some higher-ups let them continue the investigation, with the stipulation of finishing it in less than three months.

Above the gate was a rusted metal plate, wrapped in dry vines. It was just barely possible to make out the words that were on it as ‘The Fallmire Family Mansion’.