Chapter 11: Wolfsbane

Mersé and Elt were sparring on the open parade grounds just east of the castle. This was all too common for the two as Elt was one of Mersé's top recruits in her unit and her personal favorite among them. After training the two would often go to the tavern for a pint of ale which usually resulted in Elt carrying Mersé home then going back to his barracks where the rest of their unit was. This time, though, Elt's mind didn't seem too focused on his training and he made one too many mistakes that Mersé caught.

"No good, run it again." Mersé scolded with a frown.

"Sorry, captain!...do you think Joshua will be alright? I know he's with Eristia and her squire Yuriy as well as Luciana, but I can't shake this bad feeling in my gut" Elt replied before his face fell with concern.

"...I understand your concerns, but we should just have some faith in him...run it again," Mersé answered as her head hung low with slight concern before regaining her composure.

Elt and Mersé resumed their training and were being watched from a distance by Wilmarina. She was deep in thought over the whole situation and had just as much concern as Elt did for Joshua. It was shortly after she, her father, and Luciana got back to Salvarision that Luciana asked if she could accompany Eristia, Yuriy, and Joshua on their trip. Wilmarina was reluctant to let her go at first but then had an idea. She felt it would be better for Joshua to have three allies in case things went bad and could assign the role of active bodyguard to her for that reason. The only issue was her father as he would never approve of one of his knights from his knight order going off with the soulless man. So Wilmarina went and told him a lie as to what Luciana was doing. She then went and told the other knights the truth, and because they had great respect for Wilmarina, kept it a secret for her.

Now that the sun was setting and the group still wasn't back she began wondering how long she could keep up the charade. She worried fr what her father would do to Luciana if he found out where she was. All Wilmarina could do was pray to the Chief God she returned by morning. She watched as Elt and Mersé finished their training and headed off into the castle town before she, too, turned and left in the direction of the north gate to head back to Salvarision.

Sasha was busy sweeping the stairs in her orphanage. The sun had just begun its descent and the sky was a beautiful mix of red and orange with its light shining through the windows in the kitchen. Even though she was hard at work her mind kept wandering to thinking of Joshua. She had given Eristia three days, but maybe that was too lenient of her. Sasha was just starting to sweep off the bottom step when Primera came trudging down the stairs. Primera glanced at Sasha as she carefully stepped over the dust pile and could see the worry plastered all over her face.

"You're wasting your time, you know...thinking about that worthless soulless creature you brought back with you," Primera told Sasha calmly.

"W..What? Wasting my...time?" Sasha replied, slightly confused by what Primera had said.

"Ask yourself this: what is he worth? So far he's accomplished nothing significant but you and Eristia both are hanging on to him. What for? What do you all think he's going to do for you?" Primera said as she shook her head.

"Excuse me?! Captain Mersé has big plans for him! And as for "hanging on to him" he has been a big help when it comes to doing the chores around the church! Need I remind you I've been doing almost all the work around here ever since my mother died when I was fifteen!" Sasha shot back angrily.

Primera was taken by surprise when Sasha raised her voice to her. It was even rarer for her to get angry in defense of someone she knew for only a short while. On top of that Joshua admitted to killing someone before. Granted it was in self-defense while at a restaurant but Sasha detested murderers. Why she hadn't thrown him out after admitting to it didn't make sense to Primera at all.

"Whatever...just don't get your hopes up," Primera said with a sigh as she shook her head before walking off into the kitchen.

Primera grabbed a drinking glass from one of the cupboards and headed out around the back. Sasha watched her with an irritated look on her face. She had been hoping Primera would give Joshua a chance but now that seemed like too much of a far-off dream. It was true Primera could be difficult at times, but this incident caused her to begin doubting if she truly could change. She began thinking back to the day she found Primera surrounded by monsters when Primera was only eleven and she was sixteen. Sasha had saved her, but Primera was incredibly ungrateful. It took quite a lot of convincing and even some coercion, but Sasha managed to get Primera to trust her even if it was just a little. Sasha's thoughts soon became interrupted by a sudden headache. She began feeling weak and her body ached all over. Chills ran throughout her body and she realized what was wrong. Sasha began making her way up to her room and lay down on her bed as a terrible fever finally overtook her.

The wind whistled through the trees as the sun dipped below the forest to the west. Crickets began their song and cicadas followed suit with their own chorus. Joshua and his group stood before a rope bridge wide enough for two horse-drawn wagons that stretched far over a deep ravine whose bottom was swallowed by darkness. Joshua scanned the far side of the bridge with his monocular. The other side appeared all clear, but his brief run-in with Annie as well as his war experience made him second guess his situation.

"See anything at the far end?" Eristia asked him as she too scanned the opposite end.

"...It's all clear...not a single monster in sight. We should find some shelter for the night. Getting into a fight in pitch blackness ain't on my list of things I wanna do today." Joshua replied before looking at the sun which was almost completely gone.

"There is an old cabin on the other side of the ravine we could use. Many of the knights use it as a landmark to tell how close they are to Lescatie." Yuriy said as he pointed to the far side. "We should still be on guard, though, because four days before you arrived in our world there was a knight who said five others from his squad disappeared during the night when they stopped to rest there. When he finally came back he looked like he had seen the angel of death itself." He warned.

"Gali mentioned people had gone missing. Maybe those knights originally went missing looking for the other missing people and no one wants to do the same out of fear it will happen to them, too?" Joshua thought as he looked over the ravine.

"What was their mission?" Luciana asked as her face contorted with concern.

"They were exterminating werewolves. Some believe their target may have been Quickdraw Annie's pack itself. Once the squad stopped for the night the sole survivor went to gather firewood but upon his return the Cabin was empty. There were no signs of a struggle and the others in his squad hadn't dropped any of their belongings." Yuriy replied. "When the sole survivor stepped outside he heard a female voice taunting him from the trees. The voice claimed to be Quickdraw Annie, but he wasn't sure if that was true. He immediately made for Lescatie and encountered heavy monster resistance along the way. When he got back he was shaken to his core. How he managed to avoid being captured is not known, but I believe the Chief God had his back the entire way."

Joshua mentally shuddered at Yuriy's story. He'd heard of "guardian angels" but that man had to have more than just luck or a "guardian angel" to make it out of that situation. Joshua's thoughts were interrupted by Yuriy shaking the reins as they set off across the bridge. Joshua could feel something was off as they made it halfway across. In his mind, a female voice told him "Turn around" and when he looked back he could see a young female werewolf with the same style of clothes as Annie. She pulled out a knife and began cutting one of the support ropes at the other end of the bridge with a saw-like motion. Joshua quickly dismounted and drew his knife and with one well-placed throw, he managed to knock the knife from her paw. Joshua's knife embedded itself in the bridge post as the werewolf's knife fell into the ravine below. The werewolf gave him a stunned stare as Eristia, Luciana, and Yuriy finally realized what was happening.

"...Impossible...there's gotta be at least fifteen yards between us..." the werewolf mumbled in shock. "No order soldier is ever that good with a knife...what is that thing..."

Joshua reached for his baton and with a single flick of his wrist, it extended. He then charged at the werewolf with a deep rage filling his eyes and his buckler gripped tightly in his left hand. Eristia watched him as he closed the gap until Yuriy pointed to the other end of the bridge. Five other werewolves stood with glowing red eyes and a predator's stare. Eristia, Luciana, and Yuriy dismounted and readied their weapons before rushing towards them. Joshua stood before the lone werewolf who cowered before him but still attempted to make a stand. She took a swipe at him with her left paw but he swatted her paw away with his buckler. The buckler's iron spike left a gash on the inside of her paw and she let out a yelp of pain. Joshua then struck her left knee with his baton and she toppled over as she let out another yelp of pain. His eyes glowed with a fury she had never seen and she began trying to back away from him as she lay on the ground.

"...Why?..." She asked him with her eyes full of freight as tears began forming.

Joshua gave the werewolf a confused look. She had attempted to cut the rope with a knife, so why wouldn't he stop her? The werewolf then reached into her right pants pocket and presented a rag Joshua immediately recognized. Her eyes began to fill with anger through her tears as she held the rag.

"You killed my sister...WHY?!...She even offered herself to you...and you simply shot her and left her to rot! What even are you?!...Have you no decency?!...You didn't even bury her..." The young werewolf said angrily as she clutched the rag tight.

Joshua's gaze filled with indifference. Annie was an enemy. The Sino-American war taught him not to mourn for his enemies. When he made his first kill he only felt satisfaction rather than shame. The only thing the war made him fear was the sound of a mounted machine gun and the realization that he was the only one who could take out the soldier behind it after he realized any other resistance fighters who were supposed to help him had been killed. That led to the nightmares that he wanted to go away. Now he was being shamed by a monster? Primera told him what they're capable of and he has to feel bad about his actions?

"Annie helped make ends meet! How will the pack survive now?!...I, Alicia, will make you pay!" Alicia said as she began to stand up.

Joshua shook his head as he dropped his baton and reached for his gun. What he said next shocked Alicia and made her blood run cold as she heard a light snapping sound from where his right hand was. His voice was cold and unapathetic as he spoke.

"Make ends meet...sorry, but that's not my problem."

In a swift motion, he drew and placed a shot right into her forehead before she could react. Alicia's body crumpled to the ground with her face frozen in shock. Blood dripped from the bullet hole and began making a puddle around her head. Joshua turned and looked over to the other side of the bridge. Five werewolves lay slain, but seven more had taken their place. His friends' weapons were stained red with their blood but now everyone was staring at him. Joshua holstered his pistol before he approached the post his dagger had sunken into. A swift tug freed it before he sheathed his knife. He then pulled out his cigarette case and lit one before picking up his baton and began walking over the bridge.

"What the hell is that thing?..." One of the werewolves muttered in terror.

"He killed Alicia..." Another said in shock.

"I'm not sticking around for this! I'm too young to die!" A werewolf with an orange bandana on her head said before running off into the forest. This took Eristia, Yuriy, and Luciana by surprise.

The other werewolves called after her but it was too late. Eristia had never seen werewolves this terrified before, and it was all because of a single man. She turned around to see Joshua standing behind them with a scowl on his face. A puff of smoke escaped his lips as a minty smell filled the air. The werewolves tensed up as Joshua stared them down.

"I have five more bullets in my magazine and there's six of you. Make this easy on yourselves and get out of our way before I water the ground with your blood." Joshua told them. His voice was burning with anger.

One of the werewolves charged at him in a suicidal rage. The werewolf next to her tried to grab her shoulder but she was just out of reach. Joshua stepped past Eristia and stopped the charging werewolf with a solid hit from his baton to her right knee. He then bashed the left side of her head with his buckler with the spike going right through her skull and killing her. Another werewolf charged at him and he struck her in the head with the rim of his shield twice before striking her over the head with his baton. He then slammed his shield spike first onto her head, causing the spike to break off and the shield to crack as a puff of smoke left his lips. Two more charged at him with one holding a knife that had an unnatural pink hue to the metal. The other lunged at him with her claws only to be blocked by his shield while the one with the knife nicked his right shoulder with her blade.

Joshua looked at his shoulder but there wasn't a speck of blood or a wound. A large sword blade flashed past the left side of his head and stabbed the one with the knife in the neck, killing her on the spot. The blade then plunged into the chest of the werewolf. Joshua looked up to see Eristia and Yuriy charge and finish off the remaining two werewolves. Joshua collapsed his baton, putting it back in its holster, before picking up the "pink" knife and examining it. The blade didn't appear to be painted nor did the edge feel dull. The hilt had a crossguard that was a lighter shade of pink with a purple-colored gem at each end and the hilt itself was wrapped in dark brown leather.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling drained?" Luciana asked him as worry overtook her.

"Yeah...I'm fine..." Joshua replied as he curiously looked over the knife.

"...Demon realm silver...It doesn't draw blood, rather it drains physical energy. Are you sure you're alright?" Luciana said as she looked down at the knife and then back at Joshua.

"I'm fine. I'm not feeling any different, though. I felt the knife blade nick my shoulder but everything's fine." Joshua said as he looked at his shoulder.

Joshua spotted the knife's sheath next to the werewolf who tried to stab him. He then heard the werewolf who clawed his shield gasp and sputter. Joshua pick up the sheath and stuck the knife back in before standing over the sputtering werewolf. Her chest heaved heavily as she struggled to breathe. When her eyes stared into his a terrified look crept over her face. Joshua had the same look of indifference on his face that he gave Alicia as he stared down at the werewolf in front of him.

"...Wha...What the *cough* hell are...you? *cough*" The werewolf asked as she coughed up some blood.

"I'm just a human from another world here to do the good work," Joshua replied coldly as he looked her in the eyes.

Joshua un-holstered his pistol and took aim. Eristia approached him and looked down at the werewolf in disgust. Yuriy approached with a scowl on his face. A puff of smoke escaped Joshua's lips as he lined his sights up right between her eyes.

"So that's *cough* how it is? You're just going to *wheeze* shoot me? That's too bad...*cough* we could've had...a good time." The werewolf said with a smirk.

Joshua squinted his eyes in disgust. The only woman for him was Reiko and no one could take her place. A relationship with any other woman would only feel "fake" to him because their love could never match the love Reiko had for him. When she died he felt like he lost a very big piece of himself and that there was no getting it back. Life had continually dealt him bad hands at the card table and Joshua simply had enough and wanted out.

"Y'all should cover your ears as this is about to get very loud," Joshua warned as he clicked off the safety.

Eristia, Yuriy, and Luciana did as he said as two gunshots rang out. Joshua then dropped the magazine showing it only had three bullets left before he stuck it in a coat pocket. He reached for one of his spare hollow-point magazines and reloaded his gun with a rack of the slide. He then dropped the new magazine and placed another bullet in it before sticking the magazine back in the gun.

"Better to walk into a fight with a 'full' gun...I really should start carrying a back-up pistol more often. Grandpa's CZ-50 would be a good choice." Joshua thought as he holstered his gun.

Joshua scanned the treeline for any more monsters. He thought of the five bullets he shot and mentally cursed himself for going against his original plan to conserve ammo. Eristiaspotted one of the empty casings on the ground and picked it up as Yuriy and Luciana went and got the horses. The casing was covered in gunpowder residue and the very bottom of the inside of the case had a small hole. She looked at the bottom from the outside and the primer had a small dimple. She remembered how Joshua had explained how "pistol" ammunition worked when they were at Magitec. She began wondering how they would get "mercury fulminate" or even "smokeless" gunpowder. None of the alchemists she'd met ever mentioned a name similar to them. Paula had a gun, but it was one that was found in some ruins and was quite large and complex compared to Joshua's. Paula's ammunition also used compressed mana as a propellant but Eristia had heard those "magic" bullets weren't always effective. Joshua's ammunition had managed to kill despite being small caliber. She came to the conclusion his world truly was far more advanced if they can make an effective weapon small enough to fit on a belt.

The only problem was Joshua wasn't a gunsmith. The only information he had on his world's firearms came from the books he brought with him even though she had only read one of them briefly. She recalled one of the other two looked like an encyclopedia of sorts and the blue book was still a mystery to her. Perhaps there was still a way for him to improve their muskets using some of the knowledge from his books. Either way, Mersé was sure to be pleased to hear about his combat effectiveness especially with a gun. She would als get a kick out of hearing monsters were afraid of him. Eristia took off her backpack and put the empty casing in a pocket for safekeeping. Joshua dropped his cigarette on the ground and pressed it into the dirt with his boot. The group then mounted their horses and continued down the forest trail so they could reach the cabin. It wasn't too far of a ride from the bridge, only fifteen minutes, but by the time they made it to the cabin, it was nighttime. The cabin looked to be a large "one-room" cabin from the outside, but the inside was divided into three rooms with six chairs against the far wall and a fireplace in one of them with a small stack of firewood next to it. There was a small stable and a well around the back of the cabin and Yuriy put the horses in the stable for the night. Eristia, Luciana, and Joshua secured the inside of the cabin with Joshua placing wood in the fireplace in the living room area.

Joshua pulled out his journal and tore a page out. After rolling it up and sticking it under the firewood he pulled out his lighter and lit the tip. It was then that Joshua heard Luciana let out a startled cry and went to check the room she had been in with Eristia not far behind him. The room Luciana had been in was a bedroom and in the middle of the wood floor lay a freshly broken hole in the floor. The inside of the hole was too dark so Joshua pulled out his flashlight and shined the light down into the hole. Luciana was rubbing her right ankle at the bottom with a pained expression on her face as she sat in what looked like some kind of cellar. Eristia eyed Joshua's flashlight curiously. She wondered how such a small object could produce such a bright light without a flame.

"Do you think you can stand?" Joshua asked Luciana worriedly as he noticed her rubbing her right ankle.

"I'll try..." Luciana winced in pain as she did her best to stand up.

Luciana wobbled as she stood up and tried her best to maintain her balance on her left foot. Joshua then handed his flashlight to Eristia and motioned for her to keep the light shining down into the hole. Eristia briefly examined the small metal light, a Coast HX5, before shining it back down into the hole as Joshua reached his arms down. Joshua managed to lift Luciana with no issue which surprised her as a lot of knights in Lescatie weren't ever able to best her during a sparring session. The only one to ever really give her any trouble had been Wilmarina who was the strongest hero in Lescatie. Luciana was quick to notice how some of the male knights did look at her chest during a sparring session and was quick to reprimand them for their indecent behavior and losing focus. Joshua set her down on the bed. He then set his backpack down and began searching for his bandages.

"Alright, let us take a look. Eristia, keep the light pointed at her ankle." He said as he pulled out a self-adhesive bandage roll.

Luciana took her right boot and dark blue leg stocking off. Joshua couldn't see any dislocation nor was there an immediate dark bruise around her ankle. It was a little swollen, however, so Joshua began gently wrapping her ankle. Once he was done he pulled out his swiss army knife and used the scissors and cut the bandage from the roll. Eristia was amazed as she had never seen a tool so small let alone one that appeared to have multiple different tools attached to it.

"What is that?" Eristia asked Joshua curiously as she pointed to his multitool.

"Swiss army knife. Almost everyone in my world carries something like it. Extremely useful as it has a handful of tools in a small package. Not really good as a weapon as the blade is too short and the edge wouldn't last if I started using it to parry a sword or something." Joshua replied as he handed it to her.

Eristia examined it closely as she held it in her hands. The metal on the tools was polished to a mirror sheen and it had six different tool layers. Some of the tools were tucked under other tools while others, like the can opener philips screwdrivers, looked completely alien to her. The knife blade stood out most as it was razor-sharp and had been honed delicately. Eristia went to close the blade but found it to be stuck. She tried to push on the spine as hard as she could before Joshua stopped her and closed it himself.

"Where did you get that?" Luciana asked him.

"Lucky find one day at the store," Joshua responded with a slight chuckle.

Joshua placed his swiss army knife back in his pants pocket before zipping his backpack closed. It was then that they heard the front door open and slam shut. They could hear Yuriy, who sounded irritated and was grumbling about the horses. They heard him plop down in a chair and start going through his knapsack.

"At least I can eat my dinner..." He said with a sigh.

Their three stomachs growled in unison as they realized how hungry they were. It had been a long day of hunting for the plants Gali asked for. They all decided to join Yuriy with Joshua letting Luciana lean on him. Eristia took note of the lit fire and wondered how Yuriy could have gotten it going so soon as he was munching on biscuits. She remembered how she had been the one to pack a few flints but her knapsack was with her. Yuriy often forgot to pack his stone so he couldn't have lit the fireplace.

"How'd you get the fire lit so fast?" Eristia asked him as she raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't. It was lit when I came in. Good timing, too, as I wouldn't be able to eat otherwise." Yuriy replied after swallowing a chunk of biscuit bread.

Joshua pulled out his lighter and flicked the wheel with a smug grin on his face. Eristia found it hard to be surprised he had something like it seeing how he carried a "flameless torch" among other strange tools. Eristia grabbed three more chairs so they could all sit and eat by the fireplace. Joshua helped Luciana before taking a seat himself and going through his bag for a can of baked beans. when he began pulling on its key it broke off so, with a slightly irritated grumble, Joshua used his swiss army knife to slowly cut the lid off. Joshua then tilted his head back and downed the beans in one gulp. Joshua let out a satisfied sigh after swallowing his beans and pat his stomach before reaching back into his back for a Clif Bar.

"Time for some dessert..." He said with a grin.

Joshua unwrapped his Clif Bar and finished it in only five bites. He began thinking of Angry Orchards and how his dinner felt slightly empty without one. The others were surprised by how fast he finished his dinner. They only had some biscuits compared to Joshua's strange meal and it would take them a good half hour to finish them. Joshua stuffed the empty can and wrapper into the plastic sandwich bag that originally held the bean can before stuffing them back in his backpack.

"Luciana, did you notice anything while you were down in the hole?" Joshua asked her after he was done.

"No...it was too dark to see anything..,." She said with a sigh before looking at her ankle.

"I'll be back." He said before standing up.

Joshua went back to the bedroom before hopping down into the hole. He pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and shined it around, noting how he appeared to be in some kind of cellar. There was a bunch of planks with one nailed across them against the far wall that looked to be hiding something so he cautiously approached them. The planks were indeed covering a hole in the wall and behind them was a small sack. Joshua got on his knees and opened the sack to find eight white crystals inside. He examined them closely but couldn't tell if they were quartz or something else. Joshua then shined his flashlight through one of them and it began to glow like it was absorbing the light. A thin white beam of light shot out of it towards the wall and left a small scorch mark where it hit. Joshua could feel the heat from the scorch mark all the way over to where he was on the ground and even the crystal felt very warm. Joshua placed all the crystals back in the sack before scanning the room for a way out.

The hole he jumped down was over in a corner on the other side of the room but there didn't appear to be any other way out. An idea then formed in Joshua's head. He grabbed the planks that had been covering the sack of crystals and angled it against the wall just under the hole. Joshua then threw the sack full of crystals up above and they landed with a bang. Using the board that held the planks together, he carefully set one foot on it and boosted himself up. He then grabbed the floor above and climbed out and back into the cabin. Joshua brushed himself off as he stood up and saw Eristia looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You would not believe what I just found." He said with a smirk as he grabbed the sack of crystals.

He held the bag open so she could see and she was genuinely surprised. Joshua had managed to find a small hoard of crystals, but not just any crystals, these were used to make magic gems for wands and staves.

"Magic crystals...take these to Mimil when we get back. I'm sure she'd be very grateful." She told him as she grabbed one from the sack.

Joshua could feel a big payout coming. Maybe he could use the crystals to pay off some of his debt to Mimil. He hadn't forgotten about Gali's job, though. The only thing he needed to do now was survive the trek back after finding the last of the Solar Glory.

A/N: and...it's done! This is going to be it for a while as I'm in the middle of getting a better laptop. I have another story on my page that despite being a side story that takes place before Ch. 25, IS canon. It'll explain how Joshua gets some "things" and some more backstory on him. It will also be a more darker story that deals with some of his personal demons. That's all for now, Gmatrix signing off!