Son of the Night - Volume 2 Chapter 18

While Akira was walking back to the monastery he quickly put his bonus points into Strength, Stamina, and Vitality.

Akira opened his stat window to check his current condition.

Wow! The numbers of all the stats have moved up a lot rather quickly. I did feel like I was getting stronger, but now that I can see it in numbers I can really tell, said Akira while studying the stats.

Closing the window, he continued walking, thinking of what he should do now that he had gained his full strength back and repaid the monks for their help.

Ah! I need to go and meet with Yuki and Grand, Akira thought to himself. How could I have forgotten about that? I guess I was too wound up in gaining more strength and leveling up.

***

After sitting in Freids office and listening to his long speech thanking him for his help, Akira returned to his room for one last night before leaving the next day.

He packed the small number of belongings he had acquired over the short period of his stay into the small bag. It was mainly just a few new pairs of clothes and other mundane items.

Akira looked at his leather chest armor that was once again in tatters from the fight with the giant rats and the largest problem was the large slash on the back.

This is just becoming a mess I really need to get something better when I get some more money. It wont last forever, I cant keep patching it up, said Akira with a sigh as he began mending the leather armor.

After sharpening his sword and fixing his shield, he ate a small dinner and went to sleep.

***

Akira waved goodbye to the monks of the monastery, who were standing at the gate waving back and wished him luck on his journey, hoping that it would be safe and successful.

He was very thankful for all the help he had received from them, the food and a place to sleep that allowed him to regain his strength again in such a short time.

Turning around, he began walking north following the road that would lead him towards the dwarven cities, carrying all of his belongings inside his small bag.

I was too careless with my time. Hopefully Yuki and Grand will still be waiting when I reach the meeting place, said Akira.

He continued walking for a week, camping near the roadside each night. He had little problem with food or water as he had stocked up on an extremely large amount at the monastery.

There was so much food and water that it would have needed a wagon to carry if he did not have his small magic bag, without even feeling the slightest bit heavy. It was truly a magnificent magical item. Even if Brother Freid claimed it was just a normal bag.

At night, while sitting next to the campfire, he worked on creating a crude wooden spoon and fork with a small carving knife. The following nights after he created a plate, soup bowl, and a cup. All of it was carved from dry dead wood he found while traveling during the day.

While traveling on the road, he did not meet another person during the day nor did he meet any monsters at night.

Now that I have everything I need, I can stop eating with my bare hands. With these I can have more of a variety in the things I eat, said Akira nodding his head with a happy smile. He looked as if he had found a rare artifact while he gazed at his crudely carved items laid out in front of him, each catching the light of the small fire.

He placed his new treasures back into his bag and pulled out his map. Studying the map for a while with the help of the dimming firelight, he had a rough estimate of where he was. If his calculations were correct, he would be arriving at a small farming city within a day or two.

He would be able to replenish some of his supplies, with the meager amount of money that brother Freid had given him as a bonus for clearing the dungeon along with the copper, he found in the dungeon. His current money amounted to 37 silver and 50 copper. Along with supplies, there might be some news of Rodger and Brutus or the kingdoms reaction to his escape. Although the chance of that would be rare for such news to reach such a small remote town.

Stuffing the map back into the bag and carrying the bag back into his tent to go to sleep.

By late afternoon the next day, Akira could see the fields of wheat and vegetables. Farmers were out tilling the ground with farm animals, weeding the vegetables, and finishing up the days work.

As he walked closer to the city, the field workers began to notice him and stopped their work to stare at him seeing his armor and sword at his hip, sizing him up as he passed to see if he would start to cause trouble for them.

A few younger teens ran off to the town to report to the town leaders that a traveler had appeared and would soon arrive.

When Akira reached the small towns gate, which was little more than a large wooden fence, a few men with leather armor that was even shabbier than his, stood in front of the gate hands resting on slightly rusty swords.

An old man with a gray beard stepped forward.

Greetings traveler. I am the village chief here. May I ask where youre coming from and where youre headed? asked the old man coughing at the end of his sentence.

I have come from the monastery a little over a weeks travel from here. Im headed for the dwarf mountains. May I ask whats with all the unusual security measures? asked Akira.

The monastery you say. Sorry to trouble you but there has been news of a group of foreign mercenaries terrorizing towns. The reports do not paint them in a good light. They have been using questionable tactics while looking for someone. Lucky they havent come this far south yet. We have enough of our own problems to deal with, let alone having to add them on top of our other worries. You should be careful while traveling farther north as they might stop you and cause problems, said the old man. He was still staring at Akira along with the other guards behind him who still had their hands on their weapons ready to take action if Akira made any aggressive move.

Thank you for the information elder. I was wondering if I could restock a few of my supplys that are low at the general shop in your town? Is there an inn that I can stay at for the night? asked Akira.

I am sorry if it is food you are looking for, we are unable to offer any up as we have been having problems with the harvest. We have little for ourselves as most of what we had, has already gone to the capital as payment for taxes, replied the old man.

A young girl shyly poked her head around the narrowly opened gate and stared at Akira a second before running up to the old man trying to hide behind him. She looked to be almost skin and bones.

Grandpa, Grandma wanted me to ask you what was the cause of all the fuss outside. She told me to bring you back, said the shy little girl.

Tell grandma Ill be back when Im back, said the old man with a dismissive tone putting on a show for the others around.

Really? asked the girl whispering to the old man.

No, grandpa might get in trouble if you said that. Just tell her that Ill back soon, he whispered back.

Akira with his heightened hearing was able to hear the whispers while the others could not.

The old man turned back the Akira after the girl ran off, We do not have an inn here as our town is too small and rarely have any travelers other than the fall merchants. I have a small guest room that you can stay the night in and have a meal provided for a three silver, said the old man.

Akira pulled out three silver coins from his bag reluctantly and handed them over to the elderly man. The guards loosened their grips on their weapons as they deemed Akira was not a threat.

Many thanks. Every little bit helps during the hard times. I can show you around our small town and show you to the shops, said the old man giving a small bow to Akira.

Being led to the shops Akira was able to buy what he needed. He was then brought to a medium sized one-story house in the middle of the city.

Akira followed the village chief up a short stone pathway and into the house. He was led down a hallway and into a small room furnished with the basics, a bed, table with a washbasin, and a chest.

This is the room you will be using for the night. Dinner will be ready soon, you need to wash up before you come to the dinner table, otherwise, youll get yelled at by my wife, said the chief before leaving the room.

Akira stored his bag in the chest after taking out some clean clothes.

When he finished washing and was putting on new clothes he heard a knock at the door.

Just a minute, shouted Akira.

Grandmother told me to tell you that dinner is ready, came the voice of the village chiefs granddaughter that could just barely be heard through the door even with his good hearing. A second later, he heard feet running away before he could answer.

Akira freshly washed, joined the village chief, his wife, and granddaughter at the table, sitting in the empty chair next to the village chief.

The family gave a short prayer of thanks for the food before the elderly grandmother ladled out a vegetable soup to go along with a thick slice of freshly baked potato bread.

Sorry that theres no meat. Like I said before, we havent had a good year with the harvest and taxes dont help, apologized the chief.

Dont worry about it, this is more than enough, said Akira as he put a spoonful of the soup into his mouth, the flavor and warmth seeped into his body causing him to relax slightly. It tastes really good maam.

Oh, you flatter. You sure know how to compliment an old lady, said the grandmother with a smile.

I hope I am not intruding on the towns personal business, but Im curious about what is the cause of your problems with the recently failed crops you mentioned before? asked Akira.

Its those damned bunnies. They have been eating everything that grows and is not guarded over every second of the day, grumbled the chief stabbing his spoon into his soup angrily.

Oh so thats how it is, animals causing problems. Have you tried to hunt them to lessen the numbers?

We have. But it has done nothing but caused more problems. We cant find their burrow, and they seem to breed like crazy. They are nearly overrunning the field, eating everything they can get their teeth on.

Well, I do have a little bit of experience with exterminating unwanted pest. If you like I could try and take care of the problem.

Really? We dont have much money or food to repay you though. The bunnies are truly vicious. One of the hunting dogs went into a group of them to try and chase them away but he was immediately eaten alive. The sight and sounds still haunt me. There was nothing left of him but a small puddle of blood and gnawed bones on the ground. It happened to fast to do anything. Since then we have been trying to keeping our distance.

Ding! A quest window popped up.

Quest: Clear the fields of Bunnies.

You have learned of the hardships the village chief has had due to [Blood Bunnies] Find and clear them from the fields.

Difficulty: E

Quest requirement: Failed if you are killed.

Reward:

Experience

Will you accept?:

Yes | No

Trust me, I think I can handle something like this for you. Just show me where they are and I can clear them from the fields and destroy their burrow, said Akira.

Wonderful! Then I will show you tomorrow where the mass of the bunnies has been for the last few days, said the chief slapping Akira hard on the back, causing him to spill some of his soup on his spoon.

***

Akira stood in a vegetable patch, fully equipped with his shield sword and leather chest armor.

All around him were vegetables that had been gnawed on and half eaten by the bunnies. He could see the small culprits were the cause of all the villages problems 30 to 40 ft ahead of where he stood.

They dont look so violent, they actually seem pretty cute, said Akira quietly to himself while inching closer to them.

As he neared them, the ears of one of the bunnies he was watching began twitching, its head popped up and looked over to where Akira was standing.

Akira entered the staring contest with the bunny, slowly placing his hand on his sword. Above its head, he could see its name and level. [Blood bunny lvl 4]

Its black eyes were staring at him for a less a ten seconds before it began creating a thump with its hind legs and started screaming. Its eyes changed from a dark black into a deep blood red.

Multiple bunnies from the nearby surroundings were alerted by the thumps and scream. Soon there was a swarm of bunnies surrounding him all screaming and thumping their hind legs, looking at Akira with their eyes flashing red.

This seems A bit harder then I imagined, said Akira under his breath.

As if his voice was a command, the bunnies burst forward with their strong legs hopping forward at an extremely fast speed.

Trying to clear a path out of the swarm, he used a [Shield bash] against the mob in front of him, killing a small number with the skill and knocking the rest away wounding them.

Their defense seems to be weaker than the rats from before but they make up for with the numbers.

The area he had just cleared was soon filled again with more bunnies, Crouching down, he leaped forward, flying over the heads of the sea of blood bunnies trying to escape the encirclement.

Landing on the outside of the group, he ran a few steps forward before turning around and continually slashed his sword in front of him where the majority of the bunnies were swarming towards him in a wave of cute but bloodthirsty fur balls.

Slicing multiple enemies each time, while continuously retreating, trying to keep a distance, lest he is surrounded again.

Ding!

New skill created!

Sword Slash (Beginner: LvL 1 | 0.00%)

A simple skill that sends the sword slashing in the direction it is pointed. Deals a small amount of damage.

Able to hit multiple foes with a single attack dealing the same damage to each.

Skill usage cost: 20 mana.

Sweet! thought Akira. Almost forgetting he was being chased by a bunch of rabid bunnies.

A few of the blood bunnies had caught up to him and latched onto his shield, and started chewing on the edges and falling off when they bit all the way through. Few others tried to bite his legs and other unprotected body parts.

Using [Shield bash] while retreating Akira was able to knock off the one that was still clinging to his shield.

Lets try out this new skill.

[Sword slash!] A bright light flew from the tip of the sword and traveled forward in a short arc slicing a large number bunnies in half.

Damn this skill is OP!

Akira continued to fight with the mass of bunnies slowly whittling down their numbers. Looking at his mana bar, he could see that it would be empty soon. There were only a few blood bunnies left that he could see.

He quickly killed the remaining enemies with regular swings from his sword.

Ding!

Quest updated: Clear the blood bunnies burrows.

Now that you have cleared the field of the [Blood Bunnies], you must search for and destroy their burrows to stop them from breeding and retaking the fields.

Difficulty: E

After resting for a short time to regain his mana and stamina, Akira began his search to search for any and bunny holes in the ground. After an hour of searching, he found the burrows in a nearby small wooded area.

Ding!

Akira was able to easily find all of the holes once the area of his search was narrowed down. He began to gather twigs, pieces of dried wood, and leaves from the ground and began filling the holes and lighting them on fire leaving only one hole as an exit.

The blood bunnies inside of the burrow were frightened by the fire and smoke, causing them to all try to escape through the one hole that was not blocked by fire.

Although there was a large number of blood bunnies inside the burrow the narrow hole they were escaping from cause it to be an easy slaughter for Akira who was waiting for them.

***

It was getting dark when Akira finished gathering all the spoils of war into a large pile. He started to walk to the town to report to the village chief and show the results of the fight.

Ding!

Sorry, we are unable to offer you any money or food. But we can give you a few other items that may help you in your travels. If you can wait here for a short while, I can find something, said the village chief after Akira finished reporting the success of the task given.

A short time later, he came back carrying two items.

I noticed your clothes and armor arent in the best shape so I asked around and was able to get a pair of leather armor pants and a metal headband. They may not seem like much but I am sure they will come in handy for you, said the village chief handing over the leather armor pants and metal headband.

Leather pants(common):

Durability: 22/23 | Defense 5

Metal headband(common):

Durability: 20/20 | Defense 2

Thank you! I gladly receive these gifts you have given me, replied Akira with a short bow.

Ding!

What is up with these titles?

Pardon me? asked the village chief puzzled at the question.

Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself. What do you want to do with the meat and the fur? asked Akira.

Well, unfortunately, there isnt much we can do with the fur as most of its been ruined from being cut in half. We might be able to figure out something unless you want to take it yourself? asked the chief looking at Akira questioningly.

I have no need for any of it. So you can use it however you see fit. It may help you get out of the rut you guys are in.

Thank you so much! said the village chief as he bowed lowly.

Do you mind if I spend another night at your house. I can pay another 3 silver if it is needed, asked Akira.

Of course you can! I would be delighted to have you for another night. Theres no need to pay for all the help you have done for us, its the least bit I can do, said the chief while leading him back to his house.