Chapter 8: Investigation Complete — Not a Natural Disaster, a Man-Made One
After leaving the mayor's office, Ren headed straight outside the town to investigate.
"Hmm… these footprints do look like wind wolves, but isn't the number a bit off?"
Ren compared the tracks on the ground with the information the mayor had provided and discovered the footprints were far more numerous than the stampede sizes recorded in past years.
After thinking for a moment, he followed the direction the tracks were heading. He trailed them all the way to a forest, where most of the footprints led deeper inside.
Ren didn't enter immediately. Instead, he left a Flying Thunder God mark on a tree at the forest's edge, then returned to town and started talking to residents to gather intel.
Before long, Ren had obtained some information and decided to confirm it with the mayor. He went back to the mayor's office and knocked.
"Mr. Mayor, I have a few questions. Do you have time right now?" Ren asked politely.
"Of course, Wizard. Ask whatever you like. I'll tell you everything I know," the mayor said, ushering him in.
Then he slumped into his chair, visibly exhausted, like he was about to collapse.
"First question. I asked some of the young people in town. They said a stampede basically happens once every year. So why do the records show this is the first time you've posted a request?" Ren picked up paper and a pen from the desk and began jotting notes as he asked.
"I'm not sure," the mayor said after thinking. "I only remember the stampedes starting within the last decade or so. When I was a child, I never even heard of such a thing."
"Then how did you deal with them before, without hiring a wizard guild?" Ren asked, even more curious.
"To be honest, the earlier ones were barely 'stampedes.' Really, it was just a small pack of wolves wandering near town. They almost never attacked at all. We'd send a few strong men with weapons to scare them off, and they'd go back into the forest," the mayor said, getting worked up.
"But this time is different. They've started actively attacking the trade route. If this keeps going, forget scaring them off—our town's survival will be at risk!"
"And because of our geography, it's hard for us to farm. Even if we plant crops, yields are terrible. So the trade route is extremely important to us!"
Ren spotted the problem. "If that's the case, what do you live on? Why stay here instead of moving somewhere else? And you still have money to post a request."
"It's both a blessing and a curse," the mayor said, his shoulders sinking. "The reason agriculture can't develop here is because there's a magic crystal vein underground. We survive by selling magic crystals to buy food and funds. If the trade route gets cut off, the whole town is finished."
He looked utterly drained. The number of wind wolves gathered this time was far beyond anything seen in the last decade, and their aggression had spiked without warning. The middle-aged man clearly hadn't slept well for days.
"Alright, I understand," Ren said. "Don't worry, Mr. Mayor. In the name of Fairy Tail, I will complete this job."
"Please… if you need anything, tell me anytime…" the mayor said weakly, waving a hand.
Leaving the mayor's office, Ren found a quiet place and began thinking.
Wind wolves only appeared in the last decade. When they first appeared, it wasn't serious. No, it should be that it wasn't serious even up until last year. And except for this year, they showed almost no aggression. After peaceful coexistence for so long, a sudden change like this could only have two causes.
First: the wind wolves had been pretending to be harmless, secretly building strength to assault the town. But that didn't make sense. Wind wolves weren't that intelligent, and there was no major conflict between them and the town. The town's income came mainly from mining; they didn't expand farmland, and they hadn't damaged the forest the wolves lived in.
Ren narrowed it down.
Then it could only be the second possibility: something capable of driving the wind-wolf packs had appeared, and it held hostility toward the town.
Either a higher-level monster like a Wolf King had appeared… or it was human-caused.
Ren decided to return to the forest and investigate again.
Whoosh.
Ren appeared at the forest edge. He looked at the huge forest ahead and a warning sign that had been put up at some point.
Wind Wolves Ahead. Beware.
That made him even more certain it was the second possibility.
As Ren moved deeper, the sunlight was gradually blocked by the canopy, and the surroundings dimmed.
Following the footprints, he faintly heard people talking.
"Boss, we've gathered this many wolves already. The whole forest's basically been turned upside down. How long do we have to stay in here?"
"Don't rush. There are still a few packs on the west side of the forest. Once we herd them over too, it'll be enough. Probably by tomorrow night."
"By the way, the Wolf King is in the west too, right? Can Fusa handle it? Isn't his magic only able to control ordinary wolves?"
"It should be fine. The boss is over there too. Tonight they're gathering everyone, killing the Wolf King directly, then using Fusa's magic to control the pack and wipe out this whole town. Once everyone here is dead, we'll pretend to be townspeople and ask the Magic Council and the wizard guilds for help."
"Then not only will the vein be ours, but this town will become our Smiling Coffin base. Hahahaha. And those damned Council dogs and the legal guilds will even fix it up for us!"
"Hahahaha, just thinking about it is funny. But honestly, a Wind Wolf King in this forest is rare. It actually restrains the pack from attacking the town."
"Exactly. A peace-loving wolf. Thanks to it, we had to make them attack the trade route first. Otherwise, the boss's plan would've been finished ages ago."
Ren hid and looked over.
A fat one and a skinny one, both with obnoxiously flashy punk styling, were sitting on a tree stump like they were resting. Their look practically screamed villain. Card-shark hair, ridiculous facial expressions, heavy black eyeshadow that was hard to look at, pointless metal piercings across cheeks, nose, lips, and ears, black sleeveless leather vests, and large skull tattoos down their arms.
Standard bad-guy fashion, Ren mocked internally.
West side of the forest… annoying.
No way to wipe them all out at once, and he couldn't alert them either.
Ren activated Flying Thunder God and left the forest, returning to town. He went straight back to the mayor's office.
"Two pieces of good news and two pieces of bad news. Which do you want first?" Ren asked without any small talk.
"Bad news first…" the mayor said, immediately clutching his chest.
"The bad news is there's a Wolf King in the forest."
The mayor almost passed out.
"Don't panic," Ren said quickly. "The good news is the Wolf King is peace-loving. It has no intention of attacking the town, and it's been restraining the pack from attacking the town."
"Then what is this stampede? And why is the trade route being attacked?" the mayor demanded, jolting upright.
"That's the second bad news," Ren said grimly. "A dark guild has shown up. One of them can control wolf packs, and the wolves around here were herded together by him. Because the Wolf King forbids the pack from attacking the town, they could only attack the trade route until the Wolf King was dealt with."
The mayor looked like the sky had fallen. He started pacing in a panic.
"What do we do? What do we do… Right! I'll contact the Magic Council and have them send people to wipe out this dark guild!"
"It's too late," Ren said, staring at the map on the wall. "From what I heard, if nothing changes, they'll launch the full assault tomorrow night. The Council won't make it in time."
"Then we're finished!" the mayor's mind collapsed.
"Don't worry," Ren said. "That's only if nothing changes. But I'm the biggest change."
Ren narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharpening.