Slowly but surely, a black figure made its way through the woodlands near Sosshi. This close to the Black Bulls base, it wasn’t entirely uncommon to encounter a member of the squad, though this far in the woods, most people did not come often, and for good reason. Over the past year alone, they had been forced to deal with a minotaur, a glade of dryads that did not look kindly to humans cutting down their trees, a trio of werewolves and a bunch of lesser threats such as wolves and bears. Because of this fact, Griswold patrolled the area roughly once a month, knowing that one day, this place would be where he would build his farm. Allowing the poorest people in the region to find work wherever he could offer it, tending to orchards or farm animals, it also allowed him to look after the region itself to the best of his abilities.

After all, there were more things in this world than just monetary gain and whatever the hell humans needed. It was why he employed scare tactics to fend off wolves and bears, often times giving them a thorough thrashing to assert dominance and allow them to keep them from venturing too far from their territories and getting too close to people. In the case of the dryads, he had even gone as far as to choose their side over that of the people, letting them know that their glade, which was incredibly deep inside of the woodlands and hidden from regular sight, was now forbidden ground. Using his elven tongue to speak to the incarnates of nature, they let him know that the next time people got around, they would kill them, which Griswold could only hope would never happen. But by patrolling as often as he did, he could see to it that people did not venture through the area.

On his latest patrol, he had found a large monstrosity that had likely ventured far enough down from the Fringe to the north, killing various loggers in a skirmish while being gravely injured. With the pain of a logging axe stuck in its back driving it insane, it had done a huge number on a portion of the forest, destroying trees left and right, as well as killing an entire pack of wolves out of sheer anger. Because of this, killing it was required as sending it on its way would not work for him, as it would put a great deal of people in danger, as well as allowing it to go about killing man and beast alike in some other location. Besides, with the wounds it had sustained, putting it down had been a kindness. Leaving the body in the woods for the beasts and birds to feed on, he had taken the head and hung it off of the side of his saddle on a large hook.

Trophies like these were required, as not every commoner or peasant would believe a haunting tale of a monster in the woods without seeing proof. And without proof, most would also not be willing to pay any bounty money, which was among the kind of currency he required if his dream of a farm was to ever become a reality.

After the fight, the forest had become a rather serene place, as even the birds had stopped singing for a while in the aftermath. This, paired with his incredibly fine-tuned sense of hearing allowed him to pick up on people not to far from here. In a normal situation, he would have rode around them, though part of what he managed to pick up seemed like it stemmed from an unfriendly situation. Besides, given how they were still fairly far from the main road, he had to make sure people knew not to stick around here. So, as he and Nuck, his black stallion, made their way over to them, the decrease in distance allowed him to get a better idea of what the conversation was about. Halting his horse and leaving it by a large oak tree, Griswold began approaching the group of people on foot. With how loud they were, he was not surprised no one noticed his gradual approach.

Once a bunch of large thorns broke through the earth and made their way over to those that were planning to assault her, she made a run for the treeline. As she did, she ran straight past him, heading over to where Nuck was waiting for Griswold to return, the head of the monster yet hanging from the saddle and blood still dripping down and into the soil. By the time the men made their way around the attacking rose bush, they ran into the forest after her, at which point Griswold emerged from behind a tree thick enough to hide his form. Always doing his best to contain his mana so as to not freak people out, when one of the men bumped right into him before falling flat on his ass, Griswold’s mana seeped out for a moment. But in that moment, all of the people in their neck of the woods were made aware of him.

Knowing a good deal of the people who lived near Sosshi, as well as a large majority of the people within the forsaken region, these guys were all new faces he had never once seen before in his life. And judging by the things they had said, it seemed like they were bad news. To say that something needed to be done about them was simple enough as it was, he just needed to decide upon the severity of their punishment.

“You know, you really shouldn’t be out here. Not long ago, a monster killed an entire pack of wolves, as well as a group of loggers not far from here. I’d recommend staying near the main roads once you make your way back from here. But before I let you lot leave, I’d like to inquire as to where it is that you’re all from?”