“Oh, that sounds really nice,” I said, getting a little excited as I imagined the view.
Then, a long, loud, and piercing shriek filled the air, and a second voice with it. “He-Help! Anyone!!”
Menel and I glanced at each other, and immediately ran in the direction of the voice.
There was a deafening bellow.
It came from a gigantic ape with dark brown hair. The ape was easily over two meters tall, and I estimated its weight at close to three hundred kilograms.
It was big. Its arms were thick, as were its legs. Its torso, its neck, its lips, its eyes—all were large and bulging. It reminded me of the depictions I’d read in martial arts stories in my previous life.
There was another high-pitched shriek. Two people were frantically running in our direction and away from the ape. One was a scrawny man with a pack on his back who looked to be a hawker. The other, carrying a stringed instrument of some kind on her back, was a little girl—no—
“A halfling, huh,” Menel muttered.
She was definitely very short, and a pretty fast runner for her size. Her ears were pointed like leaves, and her hair was red and curly. I’d learned about halflings from Gus—they were a vagabond tribe of cheerful little people who enjoyed singing, dancing, and eating... Hmm, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about this.
The two of them ran madly towards us. The short girl caught up with the man and his goods and began to pass him. “What are you doing?!” she cried. “Dump it! Dump it, you dingbat!”
The hawker looked ghastly pale and was sweating profusely as he tried to run. “But—” he started.
“Nuts to your but! Oh, why me?!”
Before they could bicker any further, the giant ape charged them, and with two simultaneous yelps they darted away in opposite directions. Taking advantage of her small body, the girl rolled into an area heavily obstructed by branches.
It looked like she was going to be able to get away.
But she looked at the hawker, and saw that now he was the one being chased. Her eyes went hard with determination. Shouting, “Hey! Over here!” she picked up a tree branch and threw it at the ape. Evidently, she was hoping to draw its attention to her.
I stepped between the short girl and the ape instead.
“Look a—ah?! Wh-Who—W-Wai-Watch out...!”
When the giant ape saw that I had barged in front, it stopped its charge. Its large eyeballs rolled in their sockets towards me, and it stared. Then, its enormous mouth opened wide as it roared and threatened me with its long, thick canines. Its rage made the air tremble.
I stared unblinkingly into its eyes.
It roared again, pounding on its chest with the palms of its hands. The sound was incredible, like it was beating a set of enormous drums.
I stared unblinkingly into its eyes.
In my peripheral vision, Menel seemed to be helping the hawker to his feet, but I wasn’t going to take my eyes off the ape. I kept on staring. The ape was looking back at me while emitting a very low growl. Blood had told me that in an encounter with a wild animal, you lose the moment you look away.
Come on then. Wanna wrestle? I’m game.
I continued staring intensely, letting the ape know that I was more than willing to fight. Its growl grew steadily fainter, and it began to back off. Finally, the staring contest was ended by the ape breaking its gaze, and it turned around and headed back into the depths of the woods.
I breathed out.
I didn’t have to fight. What a relief, I thought, and turned around.
“Are you all right?” I said, and the halfling girl came flying at me.
“What was that?! What was that, that was crazy crazy crazy! Hey tell me tell me, who are you, an adventurer?! Giant apes don’t stop just ’cause you look at them, that’s just wow, I mean wow!”
Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity.
“I’m Robina! Robina Goodfellow! I’m a troubadour, I sing, I dance, I go where the wind takes me, you can call me Bee! And this dweeb is a hawker, he’s Antonio! But I call him Tonio! The ships of the trading company he was working for all sank one after another and it folded, so now he passes himself off as a hawker on country roads at the border!”
Robina had red, curly hair and a childlike physique. A halfling girl—could I call her a girl? A “young woman,” perhaps? She looked small, but she probably had a longer lifespan than humans, so I wasn’t really sure of her age. What I did know: she talked a lot. I’d never met anyone like her before.
“Hahaha... I don’t believe there’s anything left for me to say. Hello, my name is Antonio. Please feel free to call me simply Tonio. As Robina says, I’m a lowly hawker of goods. I was on my way back to where I’m based in Whitesails, when... well, dear me, that was a close shave. Thank you truly.”
Antonio was a bearded man somewhere in his late thirties. He looked peaceable and friendly, but a little fatigued, lacking any get-up-and-go... Yeah, no offense to him, but I could see where Robina was coming from with her “dweeb” comment.
“I’m Meneldor. I used to be an adventurer, but now I’m a hunter around here. I was just going to town to buy some stuff. And this is—” Menel looked at me.
Self introductions were never my strong point—not in my previous world, and not in this one. I always got nervous at times like this. “William. William G. Maryblood. I’m an adventurer, and a priest to the god of the flame, Gracefeel.” I made sure to smile. “Call me Will.” Yeah, that was probably passable.
“Woww that’s a real noble’s name, wait did you say Gracefeel?! Gracefeel’s that one right, from the south! The god that has basically no priests anymore! Whoaaa, what a discovery you are! And you’re not just a priest you’re also a skilled warrior? I mean you must be, who else just stands in the way of a giant ape?! So are you or what?!”
“That’s about right,” Menel said on my behalf. “He looks a little slow, but he’s ridiculously good. I mean, I’ve been walking with him, and there’s hardly been a single beast attacking us.”
“You mean even the beasts know how much stronger he is and they avoid him?! Whoaa, that’s amazing!”
Hm? “There’s normally more beasts than this?” I asked.
“I would say so... That is why it’s called Beast Woods.” Even Antonio was looking at me as if I had something wrong with me.
“What about you two, you alone?” Menel asked, looking around. “Didn’t you have any bodyguards? They get killed or something?”
“Well, the thing about that, you see... I’m ashamed to admit that when we ran across the giant ape, they all ran off...”
“And they made such a foofaraw over it that the ape got worked up and then look what happened! Giant apes never attack people normally!” Robina sounded very frustrated. “They just look scary, they’re actually really nice!”
When Menel heard this, he burst out laughing. “So they showed up totally unprepared, ripped you off the up-front payment, and ran for it! You need to work on your eye for people, brother, if you’re gonna be a merchant!” Cackling, he slapped Antonio on the shoulder several times sympathetically. Antonio looked embarrassed and timid.
It seemed like this was something every adventurer went through once or twice. That was a bit of a shock... More importantly, though, that meant that these two had lost their protection.