He shook off the dead wolf clinging to his bloody arm as he raced in the direction of Adam’s shout, trusting that the people behind him could hold the line with the help of Michael, who was working on this side.

  As he moved forward, he saw Adam with his spear, Jane with a baseball bat, and two more men trying to hold two wolves at bay. They probably could have prevailed, but one of these wolves was big. Huge.

  Wolf. Leader. Energy-Born. Tier 1. Uncommon Challenge.

  Certainly the biggest specimen they had seen to date. His head almost reached Adam’s shoulders.

  As he arrived, the smaller of the two wolves suddenly stopped attacking the frontline and instead yowled and flung himself on the ground. Adam used the opening to stab the Energy-born creature with his spear.

  Unfortunately, the alpha saw Ben coming, immediately assessed him as the biggest danger, and turned toward him, growling menacingly.

  They were just a few meters apart. Both feinted attacks. Around him, things seemed to quiet down. Ben wasn’t sure whether that was because of his intense focus, or because fighting had ended across the battlefield.

  Exploit. A feint to the left. Enter. Two steps forward to the right. Stand. Right foot solidly forward. [Cleave], sacrificing two attribute points to ensure success, almost severing the beast’s neck, getting sprayed in blood.

  Breathe.

  It had barely been two weeks of training, but it felt like his understanding of the basics of martial arts, and the seamless interaction of [Axe Handling] and [Self-Defense] took his fighting style, at least against these relatively weak opponents, to the next level.

  Ben quickly turned around to observe the rest of the camp. He saw no more fighting. But a bunch of people staring at him in shock.

  “Jamal?”

  “All good, boss.”

  “Michael?”

  “Clear.”

  “Perimeter, please.”

  He turned to the group. “Anybody hurt?”

  Silence answered him.

  Ben was confused about what was going on now. “If nobody is hurt, feel free to get back to bed.”

  Adam had walked up to him and chuckled at that, “not sure that is going to work out.”

  That seemed to have broken the dam as many people started talking and shouting at the same time.

  “… did you see what he did to the large wolf?”

  “… how did he do that?”

  The general talk was interrupted by one man, who angrily stomped up to Ben, “You promised us we would be safe! I brought my family to this place and now we get attacked by vicious beasts. What’s next? When will we die?”

  Ben was genuinely shocked for a moment, he turned to Adam, “has somebody died?!”

  Adam shouted into the group, for now ignoring the furious father, “Everyone not on watch, sit down unless you are hurt or missing someone! Now, please!”

  Within seconds, everybody but a handful of people on the perimeter sat on the ground.

  Ben felt relief. He turned to the man who had lost a bit of his initial momentum by now. “Excuse me, what’s your name again?”

  “Jim.”

  “Jim, and everyone,” he raised his voice, “I totally understand that this was a scary moment. Getting woken up in the middle of the night. Not knowing what is going on. Being under attack. Seeing all the blood.

  “None of us wants to live like that. And maybe that is something that you would not have to experience in the city for a few more weeks, or even months.

  “I don’t think I promised you safety. If I recall correctly, I actually said explicitly that this would be a dangerous path. I did promise you that as a community we would work together to protect everyone. And that is what we did. Quite successfully, I think. And nobody got hurt.”

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  He raised his bleeding arm, “except for me maybe” he chuckled and got a couple of laughs but even more sharp breath intakes as a response.

  The woman who was a doctor with her own practice stood up, “do you need a doctor? Can I help?"

  Ben shook his head, “thank you very much, I will be fine in a couple of hours.

  “So, Jim, I understand your frustration, but for now there is only one way, and that is forward. If you want to go back to town, you can do so now on your own, or we can take you back on our next trip to the city. That goes for everyone, by the way—the Protectorate is not a prison, you can leave at any time.

  “Now, unless there is something else, I suggest that you try to catch a few more hours of sleep.”

  Adam pulled him to the side. “Well done. That speech, together with that insane performance in battle, certainly made you a lot of fans. I have to say, I have never really seen you go all out in a fight. That was quite something. If you continue like that, I might change my mind and start calling you Sir Knight.”

  They both got a good chuckle out of that one.

  “I have to admit, now I am a bit exhausted. I sacrificed some of my Body attribute for that last attack, which makes me a bit weaker for the next couple of hours.”

  Michael stepped out of the shadows, “Looks all clear.”

  “Thanks, man. Please try to get some sleep.”

  The heavily muscled man nodded and walked over to Jamal, who still stood sentry on the other side of the camp.

  Ben looked at the wolf corpses and sighed. “Well, somebody’s got to do it…” With that he started to pull all corpses onto one big pile, a few meters away from camp, but only after removing the five cores he got out of the ten wolves.

  After he was done, he resumed his circling of the camp, until the sun rose. He did not think that many of the group slept more than he did during that time, despite not being on watch.

  ***

  During the last few hours Ben had resolved to make it to the settlement today, even if they needed to walk through the dark. His announcement was met with a lot of groans and dropping shoulders, but nobody objected.

  People consumed whatever food they had left and the remains of the boar from the night before. Shortly after, they were back traveling through the forest.

  "One of the group used to be a real estate agent. Fittingly, he got an illusion spell. There's some irony there. Anyway, he used it quite successfully yesterday during the fight. We should see whether we can’t get him to join the Protectors." Adam had joined Ben at the end of the group.

  "Oh, I think I saw that. One of the wolves was behaving weirdly. Would be great indeed if he were to become a Protector."

  "I also learned that the professor is a mage. Apparently, he has a perk called [Clarity]. He isn’t one hundred percent sure what it actually does, as he didn’t want to experiment on people, but it is supposed to help clarify one’s thoughts."

  "Wow. That man is incredible. Once we are back, I am happy to play guinea pig for him. We need to find something productive for him to do in the Academy."

  Later that morning Jane approached him. "That was a heck of a fight."

  "It was. One of the scarier ones for me because I couldn’t be everywhere. The wolves themselves have lost a bit of their menace for me, after fighting them now for weeks."

  "Well, if I could decapitate huge monsters like that alpha with a single hit, I probably also wouldn’t be scared." She laughed. "But seriously, is this what life is going to be like up here? Because if so, I’d better get my family in shape!"

  "Mhh, I hope that eventually we will get to a place where people won’t have to fight unless they want to. But until then we probably have a long way to go. But the good news is, we have awesome fitness and martial arts instructors in the settlement and there is a whole program in place to get everyone in shape so that they can serve either in the militia or with the Protectors."

  "Looks like you have it all figured out."

  "Nah, not at all. We are just starting out. There is a lot of stuff still to figure out and a lot of opportunities that the systems are offering that we haven’t even explored yet."

  "What is stopping you?"

  "Well, so far, time—we were focused on staying alive and the basics—people, and of course money. Always money."

  "What would you do if you had more money?"

  "First and foremost, whatever money we have will go into building housing and buying food for all these people. Beyond that, there are a couple of things on my list, for example workshops for our crafters, learning facilities, and I am sure there will be more options soon."

  Jane grunted. "You have no idea how curious I am to see this place. Once we are there, let’s talk about money again…" With that she wandered off, talking to her family.

  Over the course of the day Ben reflected on his decision to push through to get to the settlement today. He had to acknowledge that he had been rattled by the fight during the night, not so much because it was difficult, but more because he had felt helpless to ensure everyone’s safety. He had concluded that there was no reason for him to take the decision unilaterally, and that it would make sense to hear what people thought.

  In that spirit he spoke up during one of their short breaks in the afternoon, "Hey everybody, can I get your attention please. With our current speed I suspect we are still about five hours or so away from the settlement. I know I said this morning that we should push through, but I want to give you the choice. Those that would prefer to rest earlier and spend another night here, raise your hand… Mhh, that looks pretty overwhelming, but just to be sure, now those that want to push through? Ok, then it is decided. We will push through. For what it is worth, I think it is the right decision."

  And that’s what they did. It was very clear that some of the group, young and old, were very close to the maximum they could give, but there was no complaining, just some good-natured grumbling.

  Arthur Cackett and his small group had also voted to continue. Ben took that as a reason to extend an olive branch and ask him how he was doing.

  "Very well, thanks for asking. I was in the rowing club when I was younger and exercised ever since, but I have to admit that this is exhausting.

  "I have to say that after the fight last night I understand and appreciate your outfit and weapon much more. The fight did not seem to faze you much, and from what I can tell the wound you suffered is already healed."

  "Yeah, I know that we must have looked like extras in a fantasy movie to people who hadn’t left the city, yet." Ben laughed. "But out here, these weapons and armor can be a life saver."

  "So, Ben, how did you earn the [Knight Protector] perk?"