Having made his way across the fence, Gawain was the one who was leading the party of two as they were gradually following the tracks left behind by whatever monstrosity had snatched up an entire cow and carried it elsewhere. Likely having done so for the sole reason of either feeding a batch of young or eating it somewhere where they felt more comfortable doing so, the boy was under no illusion when it came to the wellbeing of the cow. It was likely either dead already, or it would be dead by the time Gawain reached it and the others that had been taken previously. Because why would something want a squirming creature on their shoulders when they can just carry around a limp body. On the one hand, you’d have a whole lot of extra effort, whereas on the other hand you’d just be confronted by a bunch of dead weight.

If it were up to him, it was a decision that was easy to make. Still, he was doing his very best to speed through the underbrush and the treeline while keeping his eyes on any and all tracks that he could possibly locate. Whether it was a tuft of hair caught on the tip of a branch, the deep tracks left behind by deep feet that proved just how heavy it was, as well as trampled small trees and bushes. In so doing, it was clear that the creature was not the kind of thing that could hide itself well or obscure the path it took. That said though, it still took someone who knew a thing or two about tracking to know what exactly they needed to look for and where. For whenever there came a patch of land that was dryer, the indentation left behind by footprints had a tendency to be far weaker or disappear due to the underbrush pushing back into formation over time.

When the ground was wetter, it could be difficult to tell a footprint apart from a puddle, or know when it went through water where exactly it might resurface. All in all, it was the kind of scavenger hunt he always wanted to do as a kid, except instead of finding a fun reward, he would likely end up finding some sort of bloodthirsty creature that wanted to mangle and maim him before eating the flesh from his bones. This arguably made it all that much more exciting, even though the prize he would get out of all this would likely be limited to his already existing paycheck and a few extra golden stars for his squad. But as it were, the boy was wondering more and more frequently whether or not him putting in the work that he did actually had any kind of positive effect.

Surely his work did wonders for the people living in the country, but when the only other slightly prominent member of the squad called his work a vanity project, part of him wanted to just disavow the entire squad. Were it not for the fact that his captain believed that, in spite of his past and the fact that he was a commoner, he could bring about great things and had a lot of potential, he would have gladly abandoned that whole sour bunch for something else entirely. But none of it truly mattered, as becoming vice captain was truly just a stepping stone towards being able to better help the kingdom and the squad he was in. The way he saw it, he had gradually been learning more about his responsibilities by being around the farmland that had been left to him, as it more or less put him in charge along with the majordomo. In the same sense, he hoped that becoming vice captain would aid him too.

But right now, he had to follow the tracks that were in front of him to get to the creature that had stolen several cows. After a lot of pondering whilst focusing primarily on the tracks and not losing them from his sight, he had completely forgotten that they had gone into the fringe as a pair. Looking around, it seemed that the older elven man had taken a different path entirely, and no longer registered on his ‘radar’. Truth be told, the guy had been a bit sketchy, avoiding questions and expecting him to answer when they were asked from Gawain. He had something to hide, or he had something against magic knights. Whichever was the case, it seemed that he had relieved himself of the boy entirely to go look on his own. But without any tracks to follow and likely having gone into a different direction altogether, Gawain wished him the best as he would need all the help he could get.



WC: 804

When a second torrent of fire came towards him, Gawain did not intend to block it. Instead, he moved out of the way entirely, knowing the intensity and scale of the spell, as well as the speed at which it moved this time around. Knocking one of the other wargs out as he passed by, it seemed these were roughly on the same level as the ones he had encountered when he had been looking into the disappearance of several loggers, the illegal cutting of wood and a rising problem posed by violent wolves coming down into the northern towns and attacking villagers or killing livestock. At the time, it had been werewolves that eventually caused the whole ordeal. Or rather, it had been the loggers and their illegal activities becoming werewolves that caused it all, though they had been taken care of in an effort at allowing the natural cycle and balance to restore itself.

Out here, he never truly understood what the balance was as it had the potential of being ever shifting and changing due to the way in which the natural mana-rich regions that existed within and without the Fringe to change what managed to survive and thrive inside of them. But that was honestly what added to the fun, seeing whether one would be able to adjust to these conditions themselves and get out alive and strengthened.

After striking down one of the wargs with his fist, Gawain saw how the odd warg would not breathe fire at him when he was near a member of its pack. This showed that it was likely attached to its own kind, and that it was slightly smarter than some of the others. Whether this was also a kind of mutation or not, he didn’t really know, though it was an interesting development for sure. Deciding to lean into it as much as he possibly could, the boy dashed between wargs, kicking the next target in the head and making sure to remain low so the alpha would not be able to shoot its flames directly at him. That was, he assumed due to its behavior and the fact that it was enhanced beyond the average animal that this was now, or had always been the alpha of this pack of wargs. But it seemed that when the second warg was taken out, the alpha was tired of remaining stationary.

Beginning to maneuver about in an attempt at getting an angle with which he could burn Gawain without hitting its own kin, the boy kept having to maneuver in contrast to the beast. When it went left, he went right, making sure to keep one of the animals between them as he figured out the best time within which he could make a dash towards the third and final ‘regular’ warg. It was quite interesting to see how clever this particular beast had become, as it was leagues beyond most other animals in that sense. However, when faced with a human being, the level of intelligence an animal could climb to was easily overshadowed by the superior species. So the moment the alpha tried to make a move around the side, after making a feint in the other direction, Gawain dashed off towards the final warg. Reaching it before it really even had any idea what had happened, the blow had struck and sent the creature back several meters.

All things considered, Gawain had become a mage that was beyond the struggle of mere juniors. He wasn’t just the average knight anymore, having long since surpassed many of his seniors. The way he was now, he was honestly quite certain that he was somewhere within the top twenty mages that currently existed within the lands of Clover. Being quite certain that the captains were beyond him in skill and experience, he also knew that there were a handful of people who were arguably close to being captains themselves. He was still very much not on that level, though he was rapidly approaching it for sure. And right now, these wargs were getting in the way of him climbing up the ladder of the magic knight organization and further proving to everyone else that he was one of the best. But most important of all, he needed to prove this much to himself.




WC: 725
Total WC: 2294