Game Master in Another World

Igasnov quickly got dressed, while Vera smiled at him seductively.

“Why don’t you come back to bed? No one else is up yet, and we can have some fun,” Vera said suggestively.

“I don’t like having to repeat myself, Vera, but I am just not interested in that type of relationship,” Igasnov replied.

Vera pouted, lowering her blanket a little to bare her breasts.

“I’m also certain your nudity will not seduce me, so there is no need to try. You may as well get dressed.”

Igasnov turned his back to Vera and began to rebuild the fire. Vera slowly got herself dressed, watching him, likely willing him to turn around.

We joined Igasnov by the fire, making sure to rub our furry body against his leg.

“You are enjoying yourself, aren’t you, Juliana?” Igasnov said grumpily.

Juliana just smiled; it was likely best she wasn’t able to speak as a cat.

Toby was the next up. Rubbing his eyes, completely unaware of the awkward morning Igasnov had experienced, he asked, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, until I was disturbed this morning by a pest,” Igasnov replied.

Vera’s face scrunched up, but she didn’t say anything.

The rest of the villagers got up to join us for breakfast. “Good morning, sleep well?” Xanthia asked.

“Very well, thank you,” Vera replied with a cheeky smile.

“I was, until I woke up, unfortunately,” Igasnov added.

“We slept alright considering the surroundings; our own beds are usually a lot better,” Xanthia offered.

Once everyone had finished their breakfast of reheated stew, they packed up camp and carried on down the road. This time, Igasnov ensured that he sat in a different cart than Vera to try and gain some space.

The rest of the day continued without much occurring. Long days on the road with nothing happening were boring, but I appreciated it; the famous curse, “may you live in interesting times,” crossed my mind.

The next few days passed the same: every stop would result in Vera climbing into Igasnov’s bed naked, and Igasnov waking up to reject her. She was certainly persistent.

Eventually, we arrived in the next village. The only differentiating factor was the people; the buildings all looked the same, and the layout was very similar to the settlement we had just come from.

An older man greeted us as we entered the village.

“Welcome, it is good to see you again, Bevan and Xanthia.”

“It has already been a year; time seems to fly by. This trip, we have brought Vera, Igasnov, and Toby with us.”

The villager took a look at us, noticing Igasnov’s tall figure.

“I might have a job for you, Igasnov,” he said.

Igasnov climbed off the carriage. “What can I help you with?” he asked.

“Recently, we have been losing livestock to wolves. Normally we would form a hunt, but most of our able-bodied men have been conscripted for the war. Could you please help eliminate them for us?”

Wolves… I thought they could be part of the pack that we summoned. I felt obligated to help them, so I hoped Igasnov would agree.

“Certainly,” Igasnov replied. “I can go hunt them tonight. I just ask that you look after Toby here while I’m out.”

Toby climbed off the cart and stood beside Igasnov.

“Great, we certainly can. My wife, Hazel, would love to dote on a young man like yourself. You can call me Norman.”

Norman shook Igasnov’s hand.

“Well then, I’ll head out now with my cat. I imagine I’ll be back after dark. If you can point me to my lodgings, I can just settle there.”

Norman looked at us with a slightly confused expression before shaking his head slightly.

“The house you will be staying in tonight is the one with a green door and two windows in the front.” Norman pointed at a house nearby. “You can have the main bedroom; you’ll need a big bed, after all.”

“Thank you for your accommodation tonight,” Igasnov said kindly.

“Thank you for looking into this problem for us; it is the least we could do,” Norman replied.

Igasnov grabbed his weapon and shield from the cart, and we followed him out into the fields. From behind, we could just overhear a murmur—something about Igasnov liking his cat a bit too much.

The fields were large and the number of animals was sparse, but it wasn’t long before we found the well-chewed carcass of a cow.

Igasnov knelt down and started looking at the ground.

“I’m not the best scout, but I think, judging by the wolf prints, they went that way.”

Igasnov pointed at a stand of trees about one kilometre away.

I had trained extensively with Illara many years ago, back when we went on the odd mission together. I never did get as good as her at noticing the small things, though.

As we walked towards the trees, Igasnov spoke.

“I’m likely going to need your help on this one. I suspect the pack is fairly large, and getting out unscathed is going to be a challenge otherwise.”

We nodded our cat head—not that Igasnov could likely see it, as we were following behind him.

Once we reached the stand of trees, the paw prints were more obvious; there were quite a few. I hoped that this was from multiple trips rather than a large number of wolves.

Juliana shifted back into her Nhalyri form, giving a big stretch.

“I’m pleased to see you back in that form; having you as a cat was starting to seem far too normal,” Igasnov remarked.

Juliana smiled back without saying a word.

Further into the stand, we could make out a small hill; the tracks seemed to lead that way. Juliana and Igasnov started to walk carefully, trying to avoid making any sound.

We got close enough to see the hill. There was a cave where we could see at least ten wolves, with more inside. The sun was beginning to set, giving the opening an ominous gloom.

“I’m not liking the odds here. Any chance of a large spell to clear a good number out?” Igasnov whispered.

I could feel Juliana frown; she never really liked inflicting harm on animals, especially ones not currently attacking her.

Juliana began to chant an incantation. The wolves noticed the noise and began to snarl, standing up.

Vines sprang from the ground, grabbing the beasts; several wolves yelped as they were held down. Seizing the opportunity, Igasnov charged in, killing each captured wolf one by one. As each one died, Juliana grimaced.

The wolves that weren’t grappled began to run. Igasnov noticed and chased several down; he managed to run surprisingly fast for a man of his size.

He caught up to one wolf and took a swing with his mace, hitting it over the head. The animal collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Juliana managed to capture another two wolves as they fled the cave; we now had ten captured.

Igasnov ran to the cave entrance and charged in, the snarls and howls of falling wolves echoing from within. Tears began to flow down Juliana’s face.

Eventually, the noise from inside the cave stopped. Igasnov appeared, covered in blood with a few cuts to his arm. He then walked up to each captured wolf, quickly putting them down. As the last one fell, Juliana released her spell and collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

Seeing this, Igasnov ran over. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.

Juliana looked up. “I just don’t like the slaughter of animals. They were in the way of humans, so they were marked for death. They were innocent.”

Igasnov showed a pitying smile. “Yes, but unfortunately they needed to be culled. There were far too many to be supported in this area; they would have likely starved in the end and suffered a worse fate.”

Igasnov put a hand on Juliana’s shoulder to comfort her.

“Now, let's not let their deaths go to waste. Let's bring their bodies back with us; at least then we can give their deaths some meaning.”

Juliana nodded.

Igasnov picked up two wolf carcasses at once, and we shifted back into a cat. We made haste back to the village so that at least more of their remains could be salvaged.

Our return trip was practically a jog; feline legs didn’t work well for distance running. We managed to make it back to the village in the dark, just before the lights went out.

Igasnov threw the two wolf carcasses on the ground and knocked on the door of the most important-looking house.

Norman’s face appeared at the door.

“Igasnov! My, that was quick. Judging by the wolves there, I take it you were successful. How many were there?”

“Twenty adults and five pups,” Igasnov replied.

I could feel Juliana cringe at the mention of the pups.

“Hmm, I take it you need help with the rest of them, then?” Norman asked.

Igasnov nodded. “I’d hate to see them go to waste.”

“Okay, let’s leave now. I’ll go get Garth and his cart; we should be able to collect quite a few that way.”

Juliana didn’t feel like returning to the cave, so she left them to it. We found the house we were supposed to stay in and jumped up onto the windowsill.

Inside, we could see Vera and Toby eating dinner. Juliana scratched at the window. Seeing us, Toby got up and let us in.

“Successful hunt then, Juliana?” Toby remarked.

We simply made our way to a comfortable spot in the middle of the floor, lay down, and fell asleep. I was happy we didn’t have to lug wolf carcasses back to the village; that was definitely one advantage of being a cat.

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