“Wear it proud, Ghwyr Lightfoot.” Paryghor said his parting words and waved his goodbye as he took him to the square where the cart was waiting for him. “If it gets ruined, come back here… I shall repair it for yah.. ‘course yah gotta pay for it.” He chuckled.“I will indeed, sir Paryghor.” Ghwyr smiled and offered his hand for a handshake. “Until we meet again.” He smiled.The dwarf grabbed his forearm and yanked him closer to the dwarf. “Don’t die ‘til then.” He grinned. “Now, off yah go… the cartman here is a lil’ impatient.” He nodded at the cartman.Ghwyr rode the fully seated cart. He sat at the corner of the seat, the only vacant one at that time and waited for the cartman to go. He turned back to Paryghor waving happily. The dwarf was already far from him when the cart began to move. He waved some more until the dwarf faded into the crowd.“Finally, I thought you’d be waving forever!” A familiar voice cracked from the passengers.Ghwyr turned towards the voice and saw a hooded
Ghwyr lined to the same guild administrator with the Jackalope bounty on his hand. He was lucky enough to see the Jackalope bounty still available and it was the only remaining bounty in the board that was bronze ranked.Nobody bothered to get it maybe because of how risky it was, but how risky could horned rabbits be? He has hunted rabbits before and even if they may have been aggressive creatures, they were still too small and fluffy to be likened to a savage beast. He knew he could easily get them with a trap or two.“Good morning, Sir.” Ghwyr greeted with a smile. “I would like to reapply for the bounty again.” He said.The man was stoic and didn’t even greet him back. “I thought nobody would take this bounty. So, it had to be you again, hmmm…” He took the jackalope bounty while adjusting his monocle.“Well, I think I was just lucky.” He smiled while thumping his fist to his chest. “Do you think I could get this bounty now?” He subtly wanted to brag his armor to the guild administ
“From the way you responded earlier, I could tell you’re ignorant about Jackalopes.” The lanky man bluntly said.“I never knew them. I haven’t seen them.” Ghwyr answered. “We don’t have those kinds of creatures back from where I am from.” He explained.The man stopped walking and turned back to him. “Then I hope you don’t die.” He said before walking towards a small tent just a few feet away from the woods.Ghwyr scratched his head in annoyance. He hated how the man treats him like a fool jumping into an unknown situation. Firstly, he was no fool. He was confident that he could take those Jackalopes easy. He may have not seen or experienced hunting them, but he was confident that it would be a quick hunt for him. Secondly, he had his weapons ready in case worse comes to worse. And lastly, he could fight, that alone was a great factor to self-confidence.They stopped in front of the tent as the lanky man signaled. He gestured to Ghwyr for him to wait outside, as he entered the tent. Gh
The day was getting longer and still there was no sign of the horned rabbits. Ghwyr has been hiding on the bush for more than a few hours and it was getting frustrating. It didn’t help that the previously beautiful forest he praised just a few minutes ago was now slowly turning against him.The humidity of the forest was making him sweat constantly and the constant buzzing of the bugs around him was getting into his nerves. Despite all that, he tried his best to remain as calm as he possibly could. He took some sips of water from his waterskin to cool him down as he waited.His stomach was already complaining to him as the hours passed, but he remained completely still. He didn’t want to miss his first encounter with the famed rabbit. But as he sweated profusely, it was becoming clearer that the Jackalope wasn’t there to be found.Annoyed at the possible wrong information the man had gave him, he slowly crept away from the bush and made his way back to the stream where quenched his th
“Make sure you slash the head cleanly.” Ghwyr reminded himself as he went through the attacking jackalopes. “One… two… three… oh damn it.” He clicked his tongue as he slices one in half.He knew he wouldn’t get paid if he presented the jackalope hide and horns as damaged. He needed to be quick and precise about it. But these jackalopes proved to be too difficult for him to kill properly. The horned and furious rabbits were too quick for him aside from the fact that its horns proved to be very sharp. He learned that when a jackalope grazed his face with it.If he made the wrong footing it would’ve took out his eye luckily, he was quick enough to dodge it at the last second. The herd was beginning to thin out. Many of the jackalopes had already been taken down by him. However, the more their numbers decreased, they became more aggressive and insanely fast.Ghwyr was able to shield himself from another potential vital wound. The jackalope bounced off his shield. Just before it could land
Ghwyr woke up early the following morning and immediately went to the Guild Hall to ask about the request from the King’s Reserve. After confirming with the administrator, he immediately went to the place just as the sun rose from the horizon.Tuttel was already awake when he came to his tent. The man had been fixing some traps and was happy to see him comeback. He gave him a new location to hunt and told him that the population was twice as much as the last. However, he only needed to hunt 15 of it.“Your yesterday’s catch was good, but I couldn’t risk you ending a whole species because of me.” The lanky man said while scowling again. “Do fifteen today… and fifteen only. The guards might fine us we go beyond that.” He explained.Ghwyr nodded and apologized to him. However, Tuttel simply brushed it off and told him to move forward from the mistake. Before he left to hunt, the lanky man gave him a fresh pair of knives for the hunt.“One is for legs, and this hooked one is for the horns
Tuttel was carried out of the reserve still yelling about some monsters coming to get him. The remaining soldiers just shook their heads and gossiped about how the man might’ve smoked too much dream moss that caused the entire incident.“I heard you could get delusions if you smoke too much of that thing.” The younger guard said while carrying one of the dogs’ carcasses into the sack. “Poor hound, this is! You collaterals of your masters insanity.” He added.Ghwyr was left there standing by the tent. Still not sure what to do at that point. Should he leave? It was clearly obvious he wasn’t going to get paid that day, especially after what happened. Annoyed, he took a deep breath and was about to go inside the tent when the older guard blocked him with his spear.“And where do you think you’re going?” The older guard asked.“I’m just going to put this bounty inside.” Ghwyr explained.“Seems like so.” The guard said. “Unfortunately, I can’t let you do that. Besides you’re not even paid
Few months have passed after that incident with the mysterious monster and still Ghwyr was the talk of the guild, although for the wrong reasons. Most of it stems from the gossip that the monster was a sort of forest spirit that he angered while hunting the jackalopes. While most of the knowledgeable people on Jackalopes would find it ridiculous and something to scoff about, the rest of the adventurers weren’t as well-read or as forgiving compared to some.Ghwyr had since moved on from that incident. He even got a bonus from the guild for fighting the monster, but unfortunately no one could tell what it truly was. Jackalope bucks weren’t supposed to look like that! They might be gigantic in size, but they were never humanoid in appearance. This gave the throne a reason to investigate on the matter and close the King’s Reserve for the public’s safety as well.During the short amount of time, Ghwyr had already garnered a lot of experience and coins from taking some other jobs. Most of w