Chapter 20: The Medicine Man's Granddaughter

Joshua managed to reach Pilgrim's Road. He had kept track of how many minutes had passed since he left the cabin just to make sure he was getting close to the river Yuriy had mentioned earlier. Joshua looked up and down the whole stretch of road looking for bandit gangs and carriages before crossing to the other side. So far, he hadn't had any trouble, especially from monsters. Joshua took a moment to listen to his surroundings for the sound of nearby running water, but all he could hear was the sound of chirping birds. He checked his compass and saw he was going the right way on his trek through the forest growth.

"I have to be close…if not, then I might end up running into the ravine and that's too far from the cabin…." He muttered to himself as he scanned the forest around him.

Joshua broke out into a jog for about another five minutes before listening for the sound of water again. As he listened, he could hear two female voices joyously yelling in the distance, but they were too far away to make out what was being said. He followed the voices until he was close enough to hear what they were saying and came upon the river, and two werewolves bathing in the river. Both were fully naked, showing off their slender upper bodies, and unaware of Joshua's presence. One had pink hair and looked to be in her mid-teens while the other had dark blue hair and came off as slightly older. Both were submerged up to their stomachs telling him the river as deep enough for fishing.

"Adam likes it when I go slow and make it smooth, compared to you, Erica." The werewolf with pink hair said to the other with a smug grin.

"But he told me he likes it fast and wild….Sis, we're gonna have to settle this later tonight." The other one replied with a finger rubbing her chin.

"Great….just what I needed. Michael must think I'm a peeping tom now. Too bad for them I have Reiko." Joshua thought as he took his backpack off before digging the survival tin out.

Joshua set the tin on the ground and pried off the lid before he dug the mini fishing kit out from the tin and began stringing a hook with line. Then, squeezing two sinkers shut tight onto the line with his fingers, he spaced them out before pulling out his swiss army knife and firmly crushing them closed. Joshua then placed the fishing line and knife in a coat pocket before looking around for a sturdy branch to use as an improvised fishing pole. It didn't take him long to find a suitable branch and he took his knife backout and began cutting a shallow diagonal notch at one end with the saw. Once that was done, he tied the line to the end and started looking for large rocks so he could find some worms for bait. He checked under five rocks until he came upon a large worm and quickly snatched it before piercing it on his hook.

Once his pole was all set, he approached the water's edge and tossed his line several yards in front of him into the slowly rushing river. The two werewolves watched him nonchalantly emerge from the thicket with flabbergasted looks on their faces as he stood on shore with his pole gripped tight. Joshua had a slight smile on his face as he watched the line in the water for the slightest sign of a nibble. The two werewolves kept their gazes fixed on him as he stood motionless like a statue with a smile on his face as he looked at where his line poked out of the water. His line drifted gently with the current before he felt a slight sudden tug on the line and yanked it to set the hook.

"Oh! Fish on, fish on!" He shouted excitedly as he began reeling his line towards him.

His eyes glinted as the fish thrashed back and forth as he pulled it from the cold water, and he held it up in front of him to examine his catch. Joshua had managed to catch what looked to him like a rainbow trout and it thrashed weakly as he held it up in front of him. The werewolves were now growing annoyed by his presence and didn't know how or why a fish was more important to him than looking at their bodies. The pink haired one turned to Erica, then looked back at Joshua. She watched as Joshua flicked out his baton and slapped the fish to stun it before placing it on the ground behind him.

"Tch….why doesn't he look at us? We're better than a single lousy fish…" the pink haired werewolf said in a hushed voice to Erica.

As Erica looked at him, she noticed something that disturbed her. A terrified look spread over her face, and she took a few steps back. She realized he didn't give off a soul as it became clear who he truly was. This was the same man who had killed Annie and several other werewolves from her pack. Their pack leader had made it clear to stay away from him at all costs, and now Erica and her younger sister were only yards away from him.

"That's it! Come to papa!" Joshua exclaimed as he began pulling in another fish. He slapped it with his baton once he pulled it in and set it on the ground with the other one.

"Sanya….remember what Vanessa told us? To avoid the soulless man at all costs? We're going further upstream." Erica said to her sister as she kept her frightened gaze on Joshua.

Sanya gave her a confused look before fixing her eyes back on Joshua. It took a few moments for it to dawn on her just who he was and a look of pain and anger spread across her face.

"That's!...he killed Liza and Janice…he killed mom….." Sanya said through clenched teeth.

Sanya immediately stuck a paw down into the water as she looked for a stone big enough to throw at Joshua. Erica saw this and quickly embraced her enraged sister tightly. Erica understood Sanya's feelings, but hasty actions would only get her killed. She held on to Sanya, who was now struggling to break free, if only to save the only family she had left.

"Erica….let go!" Sanya demanded angrily.

"No….I'm not going to lose you, too! Mom made me promise to look after you years ago if she died, and I intend to keep it!" Erica replied as tears streamed down her face.

Sanya struggled for a short while more before she began to sob softly and partially submerged herself. She looked up at Joshua, who caught another fish and gave it the slap and added it to his pile after setting his baton at his feet. Both Erica and Sanya watched him stand there with a big grin on his face. Joshua was fully immersed in one of his favorite past times as he stared intently at the line poking out of the water. The two werewolves slowly began trudging upstream away from him. Joshua remained still like a statue as he waited for another bite.

"C'mon, Lady Luck! Give me another quick one…" He mumbled to himself.

Joshua felt a slight tug, then a heavy pull on his line. This caused the branch to break and the notched end to begin descending towards the water. Joshua made a mad grab for the notched end and began pulling as hard as he could. It took a few minutes, but he managed to pull in a large catfish.

"….Hello, kitty…." Joshua said with a smirk.

Joshua lifted the catfish out of the water, and it flailed in desperation. The catfish was a quarter of his height and weight and flopped around with all its remaining strength. Joshua grabbed his baton and gave the fish a solid hit to stun it before setting it down next to the other three rainbow trout. Joshua took the line off the broken piece of branch and pulled out his swiss army knife to cut the hook off the end. He then placed his baton back in its belt sheath before he looped the fishing line through the gills of all four fish and put his swiss army knife back in his pocket before setting off towards the cabin with a big smile on his face and his prize held tightly in his arms. He proudly strolled through the woods until he came upon the road and started crossing towards the other side.

Joshua was surprised how peaceful things had been since he left the cabin to get fish and it was nice to have a break from fighting. He hoped that the fight with Richter and his wife was the last one for a while. That peace didn't last too long when he heard a woman's scream. The voice had echoed from further down the road on his left. Joshua immediately began sprinting towards the sound just as an animal growl echoed out followed by another scream. Joshua recognized the animal sound as that of a bear and began sprinting faster.

The noise grew closer and closer until he came upon a large black bear stepping closer to a frightened woman who had pressed herself up against a tree. The woman had purple hair and the same robes worn by the scholars from magitech and was flailing a large knapsack around to try and protect herself from the enraged bear. The woman managed to slap the bear across the face with her knapsack, causing the bear to rear up on its hind legs. Joshua dropped his fish and his bag before pulling out both his baton and dagger. He clutched his baton in his left and his dagger in the other before calling out.

"Hey, Winnie the pooh! Why don't you fuck off!" Joshua hollered, catching the attention of both the bear and woman.

The bear turned towards him, still standing on its hind legs, and let out an enraged roar at him. The woman dropped her knapsack at her feet and wrapped her arms around her head as she pressed herself tighter against the tree. Joshua took one look at her frightened face before staring up at the bear as a confident smile washed over his face. He swung at the bear's stomach with his baton before following it with a stab from his dagger faster than the bear could react. The bear recoiled in pain before taking a swipe at Joshua with one of its paws, but Joshua dodged out of the way to his left. He retaliated with a smack to its right front leg with his baton followed by plunging his knife right behind its right shoulder. The bear groaned in pain but kept up the fight. It grabbed Joshua's right arm in its jaws and yanked hard on his arm.

The woman opened her eyes slightly and stared bewildered to see Joshua fighting back with all his might. She wondered who this stranger was only to notice she couldn't detect his soul. The woman remembered all the buzz from a few days earlier concerning Mimil and how she summoned a being from another world. The stranger matched the description of the being that many scholars mentioned and after some had seen his drawing of a rifle on a chalkboard followed by the math with it on the day the king and High Priest Noscrim visited, he appeared to be very intelligent. Now he was fighting against a bear.

She wondered if the massive beam of light magic earlier had been his doing as she had spotted Richter Noscrim heading that direction a short while after. The woman watched as Joshua struck the bear on the face with his baton, causing it to let go off his arm, before he plunged his dagger into the right side of its neck five times. The bear collapsed into a lifeless heap at Joshua's feet, and he let out several tense breaths before nudging the bear with his left foot to make sure it was dead. He then slammed the tip of his baton into the ground to collapse it before putting it back in its sheath. He then took out his phone and took a picture of the bear with a smug grin on his face.

*Achievement: Man Vs. Wild*

"Are you alright?" he asked gently as he turned his head towards her.

"Yes, thanks to you…" The woman replied, "My name is Natalia Gali. My grandfather owns an apothecary in Lescatie."

"I'm Joshua Gehrke. I've been out here since yesterday gathering plants for your grandfather." Joshua said with an unalarming smile as he carefully approached her.

Joshua held out a hand to help Natalia up, who grabbed firmly to steady herself. Natalia grabbed her knapsack from off the ground and slung it over her right shoulder. She gave Joshua a grateful smile before something dawned on her. She set her knapsack back down and began rummaging through it but let out an irritated sigh before slinging it over her shoulder again.

"I'm sorry….I don't have any money to offer you for your help. I was out here with earlier with a mercenary, but he robbed me and left me out here without any way to protect myself." She said apologetically. "Had you not shown up when you did, I'd be dead or worse yet another one of Richter Noscrim's victims."

Joshua gave her an understanding nod.

"I don't need your money and as for Richter, he's dead." He replied calmly.

Natalia gave him a look of surprise and disbelief. No one had been able to fight Richter head on and win. It was then that she noticed the signet on his left hand due to it briefly flashing. Mana particles from the air swirled towards it if only for a second. Joshua noticed where her eyes wandered and gave off his signature nervous chuckle.

"I'll admit these past two days have been….eventful. More so than I wished they were." He said.

"But back to the topic of payment….instead of money could you tell me if there are any wild edible plants like wild carrots or onions nearby? I'm part of a group consisting of me and three others. Our horses could really use some food, so any help right now is better than any sum of money. You're more than welcome to join us, after all I can't just leave you out here alone. Who knows what would happen." He asked Natalia.

Natalia rubbed her chin as she squinted. "There should be a wild carrot patch not too far from here. If you're lucky they won't be too woody." She replied. "I'll show you the way. Stay close… I managed to listen in on a conversation between two alraunes earlier. alraunes have been getting a bit more antsy since Richter was spotted. They think the Lescatian army is on the move and are looking to ambush them."

Joshua groaned internally as he gave off a fake smile. He then went and grabbed his fish as Natalia grabbed her knapsack. Joshua took one last glance at the bear before trailing after Natalia. He wanted to harvest a portion of its meat, but wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to butcher it in front of a lady. The catfish and rainbow trout would suffice if he cut them into small pieces and put them on improvised kabob sticks after cleaning and cooking. He then thought about the alraunes that Natalia mentioned. From what he knew of the name it came from a novel he had read in school for an English assignment. Not once did he think Hanns Heinz Ewers work would come back to haunt him.

"Is it too much to ask for a break?..." He thought as he followed Natalia. "I'm tired, battered, and hungry…..but this ain't no dream nor is this Kansas."