"Now answer, who are you?" the elf asked.
"Just a half-wolf." Luke replied, raising his hands to show he was harmless.
"Half-wolf? Is this your name or is it your race?" Taking the cigarette out of his mouth to speak, the elf remained inquisitive. Then he sighed, and some smoke came out of his mouth. "Sweeesh! So I'll start by introducing myself. My name is Leonan Morcyne, I am the leader of the 'Scythe of the Forest' group."
"My name is Luke Lange, and I just killed the Vineyard Contract Monster." The half-wolf pointed at the Lich's head lying on the floor.
A few men were already studying the thing closely and backed away when Leonan looked. Then Leonan approached, touched the tip of the horns that protruded from the skull, and saw how sharp they were.
"Hmm! After all, it was indeed a Lich." Leonan said and stood up.
The other adventurers in the tavern exchanged frowns, but before Luke could ask, Leonan completed his own sentence.
"Many reports have come to me, most of them about a monster with a pair of antlers. Fury deer don't have antlers. I thought about it and remembered a book I studied when I was a teenager: 'Fantastic and Dark Beasts'. It wasn't a good book, but it made me learn a lot about the monsters I hunt today. In this book, there was a creature with long wooden horns that resembled the antlers of a moose, the monster's name was Lich."
Everyone in the tavern was impressed by the elf, because most didn't even know the real names of most of the basic monsters, but Leonan not only did, but he knew several others.
"You didn't like this book? I read it and enjoyed it a lot, I think whoever wrote it really ventured into the Dungeons." Luke replied as he took off the cloak he wore over his tunic.
Leonan was obviously surprised, took a drag on his cigarette and asked, "This is exactly the problem. The book was written by a Broteforgian who entered the damned Dungeons, but the monsters' behavior changes a little when they come to the surface."
Arms crossed, Luke nodded as he listened to the blond man speak.
People in the tavern were still stunned, unsure how to react. For a nation as prejudiced as the Melki Empire this was the only possible reaction. An elf and a half-beast talking before their eyes was something neither of those people had ever imagined.
"Friend, are you a traveler? I've never seen you around here!" Walley, from the back of the tavern, questioned. "How about a drink?"
Walley had mingled with the people at the tavern a few minutes earlier as he knew some of them from other taverns.
"But of course I accept! My shoulders are heavy from killing the Lich!" Luke pretended a more outgoing personality after all the tension dissipated, after all, it's this kind of person who is easiest to talk to, especially when it comes to adventurers. "Are you with us, Leonan?" Luke asked the blonde.
"How could I refuse? Tell us how the battle with this monster went!" Leonan immediately agreed and took his chair away from the table he was sitting at.
Within minutes, the entire table architecture of the tavern had moved and Luke was at the center of it all being heard by nearly forty people. Everyone around him listened intently to Luke's story of the fight against the Lich, and he spared no detail, exposing everything from his conversation with the vineyard's owner, particularly how he made him confess that he wasn't a deer-furious, even the part where he noticed the crack in the monster's dark throat.
In the course of history, many people raised several questions, which the half-wolf answered without problems.
Of course, he had to lie and withhold information at some points in the story, especially in the parts where he used Gene's Abilities, but in the rest he was truthful. Some adventurers asked about fellow adventurers who went hunting for the creature and returned, and Luke replied that he saw five corpses at the entrance to the cave.
Leonan replied that he would notify the local guards to go collect the bodies and thanked the half-wolf for the information.
In the end, everyone was impressed with Luke, especially with his strength in being able to single-handedly defeat a creature that entire groups had problems with. The half-wolf didn't let his ego inflate with so much praise, as those people didn't use Gene Abilities, so killing monsters for them was a difficult task, despite that the Melkian population cared much more about training in martial arts, swordplay and other types of techniques, which most Broteforgians forgot.
At one point, the conversation took a slightly more political turn after a member of the 'Scythe of the Forest' group complained:
"Every winter it seems that things get worse around here. At first, it was just a few Goblins that appeared, now a Lich appears. What will be the next monster?"
The man who complained was huge, his voice was thick and he carried a big hammer on his back, so as soon as he opened his arms in indignation, he got a lot of attention.
Luke took a sip of his beer, as well as slamming the mug down on the table shortly after. "You're right, Brook. Far worse things await this city, so I don't plan on staying here for long."
Immediately, Leonan rose from his seat and slammed his hands down on the table. "Luke, or rather Mr. Lange, please stay a little longer!" He asked.
The half-wolf feigned amazement, looking at Leonan with narrow, serious eyes. "Why are you asking this of me?"
"You are incredibly strong and we need someone like you around here. There are practically no guards left in the city, the insecurity of the civilians is growing, and the people are afraid." Leonan said and stretched his arms out to his sides like his partner had before. "What we need is someone to reassure us, and if you take our side, I'm sure most won't even remember that you're a half-beast."
The leader of the 'Scythe of the Forest' group at first seemed like a serious person and would be difficult to talk to, but in reality Leonan was just another citizen concerned about Stahurt and the Melki Empire.
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