“Then I guess better late than never, young one,” Adela approached.
Adela explained to me what I was already suspecting with Erika. The wolves grew listening from Ella’s stories about the outside world, further up, under the warm sun and beautiful moon. Growing under the dark caverns they inhabited for generations, they craved the bounty of the sun they only heard stories about in tales told by their deity.
They have been like this for a few generations already. One day, they said, Ella gave the gift of speech to the first few wolves, and began to understand the world around them in more complex ways thanks to the high concentration of Magical energy around them. One of them in particular could speak with the voice of Ella in the Ether, and was named Ireina by her, the first Priest, just like Adela was when I arrived.
That was the first time any wolf had a name, and therefore, they grew up with the belief that only beings that they believed superior, like all humans, could give them one. It became a tradition, so they were rare, and confusing for me. They were used to not having names, but having one meant a calling was done on that wolf, and therefore, once they received one, for any reason, they must live to fulfill its meaning.
Which explained why Fir and Aspen felt so happy when they got one, why all of them want me to name them, and why they all are so fixated on me. Once they realized I was a human soul, even without the body, they felt they had to serve me because in many of their stories, when a wolf appeared, they also joined the humans with loyalty.
“And then you have Luna,” Adela mentioned, “who has different ideas on the topic.”
“And she gave herself the name of one of the heroines in Ella's tales…” Fir commented, which won him a death stare from his ex-wife.
“Some of those stories, Fir, explain that many humans saw us in the same level as them, just like happened with Luna, the wolf kin, and her human companion, Aseroi. And I don’t see Alice or Adela or even Ella being angry at me for making such a choice.”
“You always were one for defying authority, now look at you as one.”
Luna smirked at Fir's comment.
Both Luna’s and Fir’s ears perked up and they looked away from each other instantly when I said that.
“You still cannot differentiate between your personal thoughts and when you speak, right?” Adela asked me.
Maybe I was right, though. They went shy when I said that. Then why did they break up?!
I metaphorically slapped myself in the face, I had to focus before I said something weird again.
But from what I got, some wolves followed the teachings like a rulebook they should never dare to break. Others, like Luna, made their own interpretation of them, but the ones with name or a title were a handful.
“That’s right,” Adela said, “although no one got close so far. The prophecy told by the spirits that inhabit the elements of the caves, the same ones that told me to guide you to the North Clan, says that only when someone with the spirit of a human and the spirit of a wolf comes to the caves we will make it that far by uniting every wolf.”
“And that is what brings us to our current problem, Alice and Fir,” Luna said, “you already saw what happened with someone who believed such words and that they are the one.”
“Yes. For how much it pains me, I should have paid more attention to him. I asked him to come in my stead for personal reasons, with the order of assuring an alliance and possible and somewhere he decided that he wanted to be the one to unite everyone and March outside… but you saw the result.”
“And just like him, I am afraid that the wolf who calls himself the King is walking the same path.” Adela said. “He sees himself as the only one that will take the wolves out of the caves, and he doesn’t take lightly of anyone defying said belief.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“A wolf is meant to follow honor and help the others! He… he is a murderer and a tyrant!” Aspen screamed.
I saw other wolves who were listening, nodding their heads in agreement. It seemed people didn’t like him that much.
“Not only that, he devoured my father and brothers and sisters… I still don’t know why… but I swore vengeance against him! So if you are going against him, Alice, I am completely in your favor!”
“What a tragedy…” Luna said, “to someone as esteemed as Aspen, to do such a crime…”
“E-esteemed…?”
“It's true I help where I can around the clans, but…”
“You are still hot headed and impulsive, Aspen. I hope your stay with the human takes that out of you.” Adela said.
“H-hey!”
“How many are there between your two clans? Calculate that at least 3 times” Adela's asked us
[Calculating… adding the wolves on the West Clan, I calculate around 247 wolves in total]
If that number was correct, then we were at a disadvantage! I only had a few wolves capable of fighting, and even with Luna's clan we were at a disadvantage.
“Most likely, we don’t have exact numbers, but the King’s clan is the biggest, many defected from the North and West in fear that they might get killed in case he starts to kill the rest.” Luna said.
“The worst part comes to us, Master Alice,” Fir said, “we are on the path towards where we believe the exit is, so his clan will pass through here when he decides to go find it, and he might demand we join him, or die.”
Yeah, the situation was bleak, to say the least, and idiots like Forehead doing plans that involved killing enough to weaken one of the Clans.
Then, the best path of action would be…
“That's right.”
“The lands on my clan should provide enough hunting grounds to feed both clans for the next few months,” Luna explained." If you move there, we would be happy to work together.”
Not everyone celebrated. Not every choice I made was going to be well received by everyone.
As we were beginning the preparations to move, I was still fixated with the two carcasses with scales.
I touched one and it got sucked into the inventory!
[Thanks to your new level, you can now hold bigger items]
I got several levels from that last fight! I missed the notifications, but I am sure it was the
“Really?” Aspen sounded excited, “will I become stronger too?”
“Haha! Don’t forget about me, I am sure I can take on that King!”
So I took both carcasses, as I was sure we were going to need them pretty soon.
“You became stronger, but I hope you learned more than just risking your life without need in order to win, young one.” Adela said, which was enough to pull me down from my cloud.
}------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{
Fortunately, the preparations for the exodus were quick, as it was mostly just the head counting. The drakeling meat was about to run out, anyway, and Fir helped to make sure everyone was counted for by the time we moved away.
And thus, the West Clan and North Clan became one. On the way there, we discussed a possible name for the new clan, as Luna was tired of using the directions for that.
“You are a follower of Ella, Elder Alice?” Luna asked.
I wasn’t sure if I should have said that I was literally a soul who mixed with her trying to fulfill her last wish before dying.
“I am sure that name came into respect to our beliefs, isn’t that right?” Fir commented.
“I like it. Ella’s Alliance sounds fitting! We are her warriors after all!” Aspen was excited.
“Then, if we both agree, Elder Alice, that shall be our name.” Luna answered.
And then came Adela. During the trip, instead of letting me take a rest like the rest of the group, she decided she needed to teach me everything about wolf history.
So I had to hear several tales, and how they reached that point. I just wanted to sleep.
[You don’t need to sleep unless you use magic]
And Erika tormented me in the side.
But in those 6 days of travel, because we moved slower than a fully capable group, some still pregnant female wolves and older members, I learned a lot. Like too much.
And the best part did not come from the history lessons. It came when she helped me forge a new spell.
[Wind blade Lv 01]
[Wind Burst Lv 01]
I got the spells from Forehead, which led me to be able to use the wind element. So Adela was about to tell me about how, based on Ella’s teachings, air vibrated when we talked, something I already knew about. The basics of it, at least.
I thought I would have to use [Sonic Screech] as a base, but…
[Warning… sound based magic is air based, and much more complicated to use without training. Make use of wind element spells first]
If I wanted to have a voice, I needed to use the wind element to speak. But to be careful, because that would make my thoughts pass through my spoken words with more ease.
So, I did the same when I made the [Fire Burst] spell, and focused on the wind element. The point of a triangle. The wind element took its form around me, and what I needed to do was to will it to transmit my thoughts.
“Don’t focus on how it works, focus on how you want it to work.” Adela explained to me.
It took many tries, and I would constantly run out of MP. Before I got to the critical point, we stopped, and returned to training when I recovered.
And by the 5th day.
Focusing magic slowly became easier. Erika helped a bit, but the process became more and more natural every time I used it. I would still do something she would call Magic Overflow.
[You are still overusing part of your Magic Reserve. That is something that only improves through constant practice]
That made the training last so long.
But that day, thanks to being stubborn and hard to make me surrender.
“H…ell…o”
The words slowly reverberated around me.
“You need more practice, but you already got there. The rest should be easy.” Adela answered.
And thus, I obtained the power of speech!
Now, we had to prepare ourselves, because the biggest test for me and the wolf clans was fast approaching.