AN: I made P A TREON! More about it at the end.
Chapter 9: The Beast from the Forest
As a cart full of food was being hauled by a cart driver in the direction of the cottage jail, the driver rubbed the crust of sleep from his eyes. He yawned with the vain hope that his hangover would flee from his body. He scratched his short brown beard with a curse as the feeling wouldn't leave his head, and the clop of the horse was about the only thing keeping him awake. He solely focused on the mare so he wouldn't pass out.
His horse whined, and he called out to the beast. "It's okay, Betty. Only a minute more and we'll be there." A shaking in the cart brought his attention to the back of the vehicle. With a tug, the brown mare was brought to a stop. The driver peered through his assorted goods to spot anything out of place. He saw the makings of a tail, and then, not a moment later, it became a black and white blur. Betty stirred up a fuss that her owner had to placate with soothing hushes. With his horse clamed, the driver leapt out of his cart and checked what was taken. The greens and house supplies were still there, but the meat meant for Jaune was gone.
With a sigh, he got back on his wagon and motioned for his horse to continue forward. As he made his way down the newly made dirt road, he wondered how a creature could move so fast that it vanishes with the blink of an eye. "Where did that thing come from? Well, I'd better tell the Order about some creature taking meat." The brick cottage came into view, and he saw the paladin. "Woah there, sir Paladin."
"Ah, Joshua, glad to see you. I hope there weren't any problems on your way here?"
Joshua rubbed his neck and groaned. "Well, there was something that took the meat that was in the cart. My apologies that I didn't notice the beast stealing the food."
Jaune looked through the cart, and it was indeed missing things from the missive. "It was the meat again."
"Again?" Joshua questioned.
"Well, I've been experiencing the same problem. An animal has been stealing all of our meat, which is why we had to order more provisions. It could be the same creature. What did it look like?"
Joshua rubbed his chin in recollection. "Well, I didn't get a good look at the darn thing. It was black and white striped, though. It was furry as well, but I don't know if that helps."
Jaune nooded and wrote something down on the back of the missive. He signed it and then handed the paper to Joshua. "Please give this to the main house and make sure it gets to the groundskeepers. I think I know what might be taking the food, but we'll see."
"Well, do Paladin." The sun's light peered through the branches of the trees and just hit Joshua's eyes just right. "Ah, damn sun. Right into my eyes."
"Oh, is something wrong?"
"Nay, nothing wrong with me, Paladin. I'd best be going."
Jaune took hold of his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Please, tell me what ales you. I might not be able to help you, but I could tell you someone who might be able to."
Joshua saw the sincerity in his eyes, and the cart driver's mouth hung open. "Wel-Well, I might have gotten a bit too rowdy last night with my drink. So I've been nursing this headache for the entire morn."
"Oh, well, I can definitely help you with that, Joshua." Jaune's hand glowed a yellowish-white, and it flowed into the small man. The pain and shock faded from his form as the warm light filled his body. The aftereffects of last night faded away into memory, and a smile sprang from his lips. Then he could feel pressure in his lower body. "I was able to get rid of your hangover, but you'll need to pee. You can use our bathroom."
Jaune showed him to the bathroom and showed him how to use the toilet. Joshua was left dumbfounded as he emerged from the washroom. "This is so magical. And it's so clean too! How did they get rid of the shit smell." He picked up a box and carried it inside the brick cottage.
"I've been told it's being held in a container underground that sends it somewhere on the grounds. I'm guessing where ever the crap is taken, it's used for the fields." Jaune lifted the other two boxes and carried them into the cottage. "Oh, give me one second." He disappeared into the home for a moment and came back out with another note. "I need this to be given to Nora Valkrie as well." Jaune gave him some copper coins as well. "Is that enough payment for the devilry?"
"Aye, it should be. Thanks for helping me, Paladin."
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Glynda watched as Jaune set some meat outside the cottage within a trap. "So you think that the badger is responsible for thieving?"
"I do, and I hope we can solve this problem sooner rather than later." They sat there looking at the trap for five minutes, and nothing happened. Ten more minutes passed, and still nothing happened. "Well, the creature could be anywhere."
"Yes, so I think I'm going to read a bit more inside." She stood from the bush they sat in and turned around to see the badger staring at them. "Jaune," she said hurriedly. "The badger is looking at us."
"Wa?" Jaune looked back and saw the thing bring its focus to him now. "There you are, you little thief." He stepped forward, and the badger started to growl. Jaune took a cautious step back, and it halted its growl. "Fiesty one aren't you." They stared each other down. Jaune sneered at the animal, and the animal sneered back.
He leaped at the badger, and it leaped backwards. Then, with a surprising amount of agility, the beast used his back as a springboard and launched past Glynda. "Hey, wait!" The black and white animal ran for the meat with Jaune hot on his tail. He reared his foot back to kick it and dodge the swing. The foot snagged the rope and took Jaune into the air. "Woah!"
The creature disappeared into the underbrush with the meat. "Well, that could've gone better." Glynda walked up to Jaune and looked at him expectantly. Jaune looked back at his charge and looked away with a blush. "Just give me a second." With a few swift motions, Jaune fell to the ground and almost landed on his head. "That could've been worse."
"Any idea on what to do now?"
"Well, it's probably full, so no. We can test the cold box. How does that sound?"
"The object that keeps most of our meat in perpetual cold?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yeah. Come on, there are things you haven't seen yet." Jaune jumped up and nearly skipped towards the home. Glynda sighed with a slight smile and followed behind at a decent pace.
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On the opposite end of their home/jail cell, the cellar doors sat close to the ground. The cellar itself had a surplus of items that they might need. In the middle of the room sat a large rectangular metal box. It was gray tarnish with no overt design to it. There was a separate metal door that sat on top of the box to keep it shut. In the center of the door was a divet made for a hand. Jaune lit the lamps on the wall, and the spell circle on the lid came into view for the pair. "So, what are we doing with this contraption?" Glynda asked as she scanned the circle on the lid.
"Well, to just check if it is still keeping things cold. It should just be cold, not flash freeze anything." Jaune touched the door, and the spell circle on top shone. A click sounded out from the box. With ease, it pulled open and showed its frozen bounty. A variety of meats sat before them, dressed with frost and ice. "Let's see," Jaune shifted through the frozen food. He inspected a slab of meat and then another one. "It also helps to look for any food that has freezer burn."
He eventually made it to the bottom and found another spell circle. It was slowly spinning, and each rotation pushed out a wave of cold that kissed Jaune's face with a tiny deposit of frost. He chuckled and whipped off the frozen water. "Well, it seems like it's still working." Glynda looked down at the freezer spell. The design and the complexity of the spell left her impressed. It had to keep the food constantly cold, but the spell couldn't dip or raise the temperature of the box at the same time. Inside the circle of itself, spell squares sat, what she thought were fail-safe.
Another wave of frost kissed her as well. "So it doesn't freeze things instantly?"
"Nope, it could cause damage to the food. We can't have someone freeze if the spell stops working as well." He chuckled as he wiped away the frost from her face. The padding of paws caught their attention as they looked to see the same badger looking back. Jaune spun with vigor to grab their furry problem. The badger glowed and grew triple in size. It stared down the pair. Anxiousness immediately slapped onto their faces. Glynda looked to the cold box and then to the badger.
It lunged, and Jaune snatched Glynda with a force that pulled her shoulder out of its socket. The badger crashed into the crates and scrambled to look for its target. The badger looked at him and then at the meat. Jaune got low and charged. The beast met him in the middle, and they collided into a lump of muscle. Glynda scrambled to the cold box and studied the spell with the speed that years of spell casting gave her. Her right arm reached out and scraped at the sigil for speed. She shortened it with her nail, and great waves of cold rapidly washed her face. She took the residue left on her finger and drew a crude extension to the sigil of power. "Jaune! Bring it over here!"
The circle spun rapidly and grew brighter as Glynda moved out of the way. Jaune's body glowed and threw the giant beast into the wall. The giant badger splattered on the wall in the shape of a flipped star and then fell into the box. With a flash, the badger's head froze in the box. It flailed and smashed the box against the walls. Jaune rushed and threw a haymaker into the gut of the beast. It slumped to the ground. "Well, that solves that problem. We'll have to lock the basement up and go to the main house to tell them about the replacements we need."
"Won't it just dig itself out?" Jaune smirked and said nothing. That left Glynda feeling bemused. She followed him, confused, but boiled it down to the idea that there was a spell that made it into a bunker. She could only guess and had to accept it, considering it was something she wasn't fully privy to. He locked it with a normal-looking lock and an ornate key. He dusted his hands off and turned to his prisoner.
"Alright, let's go to the main house."
AN: First and foremost, I have created a pateron with a discord connected to it. You can find me at DragooFire's Library. Now, the P a treon has 5 tiers for those wishing to subscribe. The tier Borrower is $1, and it gives you the Borrower roles and a shoutout at the end of every story if you wish to be thanked publicly. Now, keep in mind each tier has the same rewards. The previous one expects the role in Discord to correspond with the given tier. With that out of the way, the Regular tier ($5) allows you to see the chapter's rough draft, the progress, and the chapter before it is published to the public.
The You Live Here tier ($10) allows you to see one-shots early. The Budding Librarians tier ($15) gives you access to monthly Q streams. They will also be recorded for those who wish to watch back anything. Finally, the Librarians tier is the Fuck you money tier. I do not expect a single person to subscribe to this tier because there is no real reward for this tier.
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Big thanks to my paid supporters on P a treon: Nelson George
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Next Chapter: May 8th