SWNOVELS Chapter 139
Chloe
The morning came and the dense forest protecting the new Blood Moon Pack was moist and dewy. Esha and I walked through the trail in a relaxed manner, our feet getting heavier with the dense mud that is accumulating because of the heavy downpour that happened a few days ago.
After placating Esha for sometime, I ordered her to prepare immediately for our quick trip to the human town ahead.
We donned inconspicuous clothing as we masked ourselves with the usual persona we took whenever we went to the town as healers.
The town was remote and secluded. It was far from the tales I heard from my childhood about human towns where advanced technology and infrastructure dictated their way of life. Instead, these people lived in simplicity and seclusion, as if trying to shut themselves off from the rest of the earth.
When we came here the first time, their eyes were filled with worry more than anything else. I have a vague understanding of humans from what I usually overheard from my father back then.
While most humans are oblivious to our existence, many humans are afraid of what they do not know of.
That is why once our existence is exposed to them, their first response would be fear.
And for them to deal with fear... their response would most likely be... to eradicate the reason why they are scared.
And so at that time, in order to survive with our weakened state, I strived to let me and my pack somehow integrate with them until we are able to establish ourselves in the region.
Part of doing so was me going to the town and healing the sick. It was hard at first, as human anatomy was surely different from the werewolves. The potion that would surely work to us were kind would be too strong to humans, sometimes even fatal.
As such, in these five years, I managed to improve my medical skills not only for our kind, but for humans as well. This is so that we could at least make the humans’ guards down and allow us to somehow coexist.
“Teacher... It's been a while since we went down to heal again~~ Would there be many human patients this time? Sigh... humans are so fragile!!!” Esha happily clenched her bag as she asked while clicking her tongue.
Gone was her timid and aggrieved expression as it was all filled with mischievousness. The thought of being able to practice medicine again has completely washed away her trembling expression last night as if she was a totally different person.
I looked at the young girl beside me and sighed, feeling helpless, “Esha... how many times do I have to tell you, do not speak like this especially when we are on our way to town! If humans heard you, they would definitely be suspicious and think of very crazy things...”
"Oh... sorry Teacher!” Esha’s shoulders jolted, looking down as if she realized her mistakes.
Or so I thought...
I saw her lively eyes looking at me excitedly and asked with a hushed town covering a side of her mouth as a gesture of being secretive, “But teacher, when can I start to practice healing our kind? It makes me feel sad that I only get to heal humans!”
My brows twitched in helplessness as I flicked her forehead gently, “Sigh... sometimes, I do not know if you are timid or mischievous!”
Esha was mostly shy and timid, except for specific things, such as medicine and poison.
"Don’t get impatient and listen to me! Your time healing in town will bring you more benefits... Besides, you are still young... I remember last time, you even freaked out when you saw a warriors lower body when I was conducting a check up..." I teased.
“I am not young anymore, t-teacher! I will be an adult two years from now! At that time, I will even have my... my own mate! At that time, I will no longer freak out seeing such... such bodies!” Esha looked at me in protest, retorting while she blushed.
She looked like a little ginger cat whose tail was being stepped on as she bared her little fangs in retaliation
I let out a chuckle as we continued to thread to the forest.
“Now now... settle down and be alert. Remember that our “mission’ is only a facade... we have our real mission to do at the moment.” I reminded her.
Hearing my words, Esha’s eyes became serious and even wary. Haze covered the liveliness in her eyes as it was filled in deep darkness.
Yes... five years ago, this young girl was just barely eleven years old.
She saw her family bathed in blood during that attack in the Blood Moon Pack.
If not for one of the elders acting fast and grabbing her little body toward the shelter where we all
found the survivors back then, she would have also been one of the casualties that night.
Her agony did not even end there, even though Caleb and I were able to rescue them out of the pack.
A child like her being pursued relentlessly, seeing her fellow survivors succumb to the hardships one by one and her remaining friends starting to dwindle in numbers, Esha started to develop this contrasting personality.
One was the innocent and timid helpless girl who seemed to know nothing about the world, the other was a seemingly playful and mischievous girl masking a cold heart inside.
“Right now, let's focus on investigating if there are spies lingering around the area... If there's anything suspicious we are to eliminate them in order to protect the pack...” I looked ahead and muttered.
"En..." She hummed obediently.
In no time, we were able to reach the entrance of the town and everyone started to recognize us. “Doctor is here! Doctor is here!” One of the humans shouted while the others looked at us excitedly. Eventually, all the humans with various illnesses lined up.
They set up a table for me to work on, while Esha started organizing the patients.
“Grandpa~ how is your back pain? Why do you look grumpy today? Does the pain get worse?” Esha asked one of the patients.
This was how we thought to gather information as “doctors’. I would be in-charge of handling the patients with severe conditions while Esha handles the manageable ones.
Humans with “manageable’ condition usually had a lot of energy to talk to Esha who wears a playful amenable expression at the moment.
It is not a fool-proof plan, but this might be the best course of action while we wanted to investigate without raising any suspicion to the humans and to the spies themselves.
The grumpy old man grumbled as he muttered, “Well there's a new guy in town who came out of nowhere. I thought that I could strike rich and ask him for a little money, but he suddenly disappeared!”
"Oh... I see...” Esha casted a look on me while I gave her a slight nod.
Receiving my signal, Esha went to ask more of the “new guy".
Whilst listening, I found myself spacing out as a name appeared in my mind. Unable to stop myself, I opened my mouth to ask the human, “This new guy... how does he look? When did he arrive, and when did he disappear?”
The old man looked at the other man and shrugged his shoulders. “He arrived last night and disappeared at the same time.”
“I didn't see his face properly... but he is tall, he's probably the tallest man I've met. His build is also strong. He looks as if he could lift three of me in one arm. What else... ah! He was hiding it, but I saw that he has dark hair and dark eyes,” the old man continued.
Suddenly, my body froze as an image of a man appeared in my mind.
“Could it be?" At that thought, my heart pounded hard as an aching sense of contrast overwhelmed me.
“Blake..."
In the end I held my breath and shook my head, “Impossible... he could not have found us..."
“He could not have found me..."