Lord of Reclamation: I Can Unlock Abilities By Building Civilizations
Chapter 38: Brothers

Chapter 38: Brothers

"Howl!"

In an instant, roars and battle cries erupted as men and beasts clashed together!

Eliric dodged the wolf’s lunge and swept his battle axe sideways!

The prairie wolf screamed as blood instantly sprayed through the air!

"Worthless mutts!"

Eliric grinned like a madman and laughed, swinging his axe to cut down another prairie wolf!

He wasn’t the oldest on the team, but he had the most wind, quickest reflexes, and fought like the devil himself, which is why he was picked as captain.

Seeing two companions killed one after the other, the wolf pack hesitated to attack again, circling around Eliric.

This fired up everyone’s spirits something fierce. They all fought without fear, renewed and ready, and soon seven or eight prairie wolf corpses littered the ground.

Just as Eliric thought they were wiping the floor with the wolves, a massive prairie wolf with dark fur suddenly charged from the side, forcing Eliric to dodge fast!

"Alpha wolf?!"

Eliric smelled trouble. How could the alpha be here?

The next second, reality gave Eliric his answer—another large black prairie wolf pounced!

A wolf pack couldn’t have two alphas!

"What in blazes are these things?!"

Eliric had no time to think, gripping his axe to fight the black prairie wolves!

These black wolves were strong and quick as lightning. Eliric found himself tangled up with two of them and couldn’t break free.

"Help the chief!"

Doron hollered and was about to charge when another prairie wolf lunged at him!

Doron instinctively swung his sword to block, when a third black wolf suddenly burst from behind and tackled him!

Doron reacted quick enough, sweeping his sword backward and instantly cutting a bloody gash across the black wolf’s body, driving it back!

However, another prairie wolf seized the chance and pounced with its bloody maw gaping wide!

In panic, Doron could only block with his arm as the prairie wolf bit down!

Metal scraping sounds rang out. His chainmail stopped the prairie wolf’s sharp teeth, but Doron’s arm was clamped tight in the wolf’s jaws!

At that moment, the black wolf Doron had struck came back and viciously tackled him again, causing his sword to clatter to the ground!

Menacing fangs loomed before Doron’s eyes, and the foul stench hit his face, making him feel raw terror!

Cold sweat broke out on Doron’s neck as he frantically waved his arms to block, but it was no use!

The instant he got tackled, more prairie wolves seized the chance to pounce!

"Doron!" The soldier nearest him wanted to help but was tied up tight by three fierce wolves!

"I’m a goner!"

The vicious fangs went straight for his throat as Doron felt like he’d fallen into an ice-cold grave!

Whoosh!

At this life-or-death moment, a battle axe carved a silver arc through the air, blood spattering everywhere!

"Get lost!"

Eliric roared as the black wolf howled and went flying!

Then Eliric’s axe swept sideways, sending flesh and blood flying!

Other soldiers quickly rushed up to hold back the wolf pack!

Eliric reached out and hauled Doron to his feet.

"Can you keep going?"

Having barely escaped death, Doron came to his senses and nodded hard. "I can keep going!"

Eliric clapped Doron’s shoulder to steady him, then turned to shout at everyone. "Watch yourselves! Something’s not right with these wolves!"

As he spoke, Eliric swung his axe again, knocking down another attacking prairie wolf.

Without the large black prairie wolves, the pack’s fire was dampened again. They circled Eliric and his men, howling but not daring to charge.

Roar!

Then a short wolf howl sounded, and the surrounding pack stopped dawdling and immediately turned tail to retreat!

"Ryan got him!"

Eliric was tickled, then glared with fury.

"Think you can waltz in and waltz out?"

Eliric shouted commands. "Keep them all here! Don’t let them mess with Ryan!"

In a heartbeat the tables turned as Eliric led his men chasing after the wolf pack!

But the wolves came fast and ran just as quick. By the time they met up with Ryan, they hadn’t managed to kill many more wolves.

Still, the prairie wolf pack left behind nearly twenty wolf corpses.

"Everyone in one piece?"

Eliric’s gaze swept over his men. Seeing everyone mostly unharmed, he breathed easier.

Mainly because Eliric and his brothers had good gear—the prairie wolves’ claws and fangs couldn’t easily do serious damage to fellows wearing chainmail.

As long as they protected the vital spots, their lives were pretty safe.

Ryan ran up to Eliric in a hurry.

"Something’s wrong with this wolf pack. Regular arrows didn’t even scratch the alpha."

"Then how’d it run off?" Eliric asked.

"With this."

Ryan showed Eliric an armor-piercing arrow, explaining. "A gift from our lord—it’s like your battle axe."

"Ah, that makes sense."

Eliric got it.

Ryan looked at the arrow in his hand and sighed. "Too bad I didn’t kill the alpha. It ran off with my armor-piercing arrow."

Ryan only had two such arrows—use one, lose one.

"Don’t fret about it. Let’s gather up all this game and haul it back. The lord will set you up with more."

Eliric turned to holler at his men. "Clean up the battlefield!"

Though the wolf pack wasn’t wiped out completely, they couldn’t waste all this game and had to collect every bit to take back.

While everyone was busy gathering prairie wolf corpses, Doron walked up to Eliric.

He hesitated for a moment, then stumbled over his words.

"Chief, can I... can I choose again?"

"Huh?"

Eliric turned around. "Because I just pulled your bacon out of the fire?"

Doron stayed quiet.

Eliric grinned and waved it off.

"You don’t need to stick around to pay me back. We’re teammates, brothers. Looking out for each other in battle is what we do, isn’t it?"

"I know, but I also know I could never farm like some dirt-grubber. I’m meant to risk my neck to earn gold."

Doron looked at Eliric, head down as he mumbled. "I thought hard just now—maybe if I leave you and these brothers, I’ll never find another brother like you who’d pull me back from death’s door."

Mercenaries were all about making coin. Often they’d fight if they could win, run if they couldn’t.

Just like the guards at Beuigclair—if the enemy was too strong, getting captured wasn’t the end of the world.

Unless surrounded by trustworthy old teammates, who would really dare turn their back and fight tooth and nail?

"Chief, would you still have me along?" Doron’s voice was small.

"What kind of fool talk is that!"

Eliric gave Doron’s shoulder a solid punch. "We’ve been brothers for over ten years. If you want to work with me, you’re always welcome!"

"Thank you, chief!"

Doron relaxed, a smile spreading across his face.

"But weren’t you going back to marry Katie?"

Doron grinned like a fool. "I am marrying her. I’ll bring Katie here."

"Perfect! Fontdmer Town doesn’t have a tavern. Let’s talk to the lord about pooling our money to open one for her."

Eliric laughed heartily. "Katie’s got such a way with brewing—business would be booming, and we’d have a place to put our feet up when we’re old!"

"That’s a grand idea!"

"Doron, we’re counting on your Katie from here on!"

The other brothers also laughed and joined in the ribbing.

"All right, hahaha!"

Doron laughed along, the tense mood from the bloody battle giving way to ease.

The other three brothers getting ready to leave exchanged looks, stood up, walked to Eliric, and apologized, all wanting to stay.

Naturally Eliric couldn’t hold a grudge. He cheerfully stood up and welcomed them with arms around their shoulders.

They pulled out the silver coins from before and handed them back to Eliric.

Eliric took them all and stuffed them into Doron’s hands as startup money for the tavern.

"Killing a few beasts worked up my appetite."

Eliric rubbed his belly and picked up a cold wild rabbit, walking toward the campfire.

"The night’s still young. Come on, let’s put away some more grub!"

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