A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 224: The Sword Wielding Woman

Chapter 224: The Sword Wielding Woman

Duke Darcy Blackwing is currently culling monsters and dangerous beasts on the prowl around the forest. It is his job whenever he comes home to Darcero Kingdom as the forest is one of the places where monsters and beasts coexist and cause havoc to humans who are just gathering herbs, hunting, or maybe gathering logs and wood.

He regularly does this as sometimes, an outbreak of such monsters becomes too dangerous to the point that they start invading the nearby villages. He is not afraid of making the monsters or beasts extinct there due to their abnormal number spawning. It was like once a monster is killed, two more appear in its place. He has been doing this for years and things have not changed at all.

And since winter is the time when many people head to the forest to gather wood for kindling and fuel for their stoves, chimneys, and other heating devices, it is also the time monsters come out to feast on unsuspecting people.

Currently, Darcy is dealing with an Alpha Wolf and its pack. Seeing an Alpha Wolf with multiple wolves in its pack including Elite Dark Wolves, they are not just something that he should ignore. Although they are not part of the monsters, they are still dangerous beasts and they need to be culled to reduce their numbers and to also stop these beasts from becoming too strong to the point that a raid party will be needed. Alpha Wolves are prime suspects of that since they can grow much bigger than they should be.

He already has an agreement with the intelligent wolves who are part of the considered "monster variants" of the wolves that culling these wolves would be the best benefit to the forest and humans as they also threaten not only the humans but them as well, so seeing one before him, he has to deal with it.

BANG BANG BANG!

This isn’t his first rodeo against an Alpha wolf. He has dealt with an Alpha Wolf before and it was close to getting so dangerous that if left alone for a few more days, it would become known as the Calamity Wolf which will start decimating villages until subjugated. The one he is facing is not yet strong enough to become a Calamity wolf.

As he was dealing with wolves one by one, it seemed that the Alpha Wolf had an idea of what Darcy was about to do and barked, commanding the two Elite Wolfs standing beside it to also attack side by side.

Surrounded by wolves on each side, Darcy can still come out unscathed here, but he will have to deal with them carefully. Pulling the trigger, he was about to shoot the Elite coming in the distance when he realized that he run out of bullets in the magazine of his gun. He was so caught up shooting with the smaller wolves that he didn’t realize he miscounted on the bullets he shot.

Realizing this, he needed to dodge, but then the second Elite Wolf was already attacking his flank, which meant he had to defend or tank the attack and get wounded.

"Ah sh*t..." Darcy grits his teeth as he is about to endure the attack as he reloads with one hand.

But before the wolf could attack, a white bear, a big cat, and a woman came out from the bushes and jumped into the battle.

"Hey, duck!"

Hearing the command from the woman, Darcy quickly ducked his head and immediately reloaded one of his guns as the woman who shouted jumped from the white bear and immediately slashed the wolves in quick succession. It was so fast that the wolves fell dead after the woman passed as she slashed them with her sword.

He didn’t see the face of the woman much because of her quick movements but her golden hair was enough to catch his attention. After all, golden hair is not a common hair color in the Darcero Kingdom. Seeing someone with golden hair appear out of nowhere and decimate monsters was something he wouldn’t expect.

Still, he didn’t remain ducking over and letting the woman steal all the kills. After he reloaded one of his guns, he quickly aimed it at the incoming wolves and shot it in the head followed by another wolf as his other hand continued to reload the second gun with one hand.

Seeing that every single wolf in its pack was dead, the Alpha Wolf panicked and tried to run away, only for the cat-like creature that came out with the woman with golden hair and the white bear to attack it, bite its neck, and restrain it as it tries to escape and overpower its opponent.

"Good job, Shardu!" the woman shouted as she put back her sword on her scabbard and rushed to the Alpha Wolf. Then, in a swift motion, as she is one step away from the Alpha Wolf, she pulls out her sword again from the scabbard and slices the neck of the Alpha Wolf, killing it instantly.

And with that, the battle ended. The woman flicks off the blood on her sword before she puts it back inside the scabbard. She then turned around and looked at Darcy who was still wiping off the snow on his body after he ducked earlier.

"You alright?" the woman asked Darcy who just happened to finish wiping off the snow.

As he raises his head to the woman before him, his world seems to slow down. For the first time in his life, things seem to have changed completely. For some reason, he can see her features that are hidden beneath her thick coat and beanie on her head.

Her golden hair shines like they were illuminated by the sun even though it is a bit dark in that area of the forest. She was shining in his eyes. Her blue eyes shine like aquamarine in a jewel shop also attracting his attention. Her pale skin is quite charming, making her look like a fair maiden despite how violent she was with a sword.

"Hey, you alright? Have you hit your head somewhere?" Elaina asked, her eyebrows frowning as she asked Darcy who remained dazed looking at her.

"[Woah, there, perhaps he is charmed by your beauty, Dear?]" the Goddess of Taming started to swoon seeing this development.

"Enough jokes, goddess. Perhaps he is in a bad state. I should shake him a bit."

She was about to shake Darcy who suddenly was jolted awake even though he didn’t close his eyes and snapped back to reality.

"Wuh-huh?" Darcy was surprised as he realized that he was just dazed.

"You alright? You seemed shaken a bit. Do you need some help or something?"

"Oh, no. I am alright. I am sorry, I dazed a bit," Darcy blushed a bit and looked away to ensure Elaina didn’t see it. For him, the woman before him is quite a looker and even though this is the first time she met her, he can’t help but be infatuated by her.

"That way of fighting you did was so reckless. You are even using a gun as a weapon of choice. I am not criticizing your weapon of choice but against wolves like that, using a gun willy-nilly and not keeping your distance from the wolves and then letting them surround you is enough to consider that this is your death sentence. Without my intervention, you will be torn limb by limb by now."

"Sorry about that, I was just stunned that those wolves managed to get some coordination like that so I was caught off guard."

"Those wolves are like that nowadays. Using your old tactics won’t work. Despite not being capable of intelligent ways to talk, they are now quite intelligent in basic tactics to bring down more dangerous prey."

Elaina then faced the carcasses of the wolves and nodded.

"Nice, even though you shot most of them, their quality has not degraded and their pelts can still be salvaged. Sad for the other wolves you just literally buried with bullets though, their pelt can no longer be salvaged at all."

She quickly ordered the two beasts with her to drag the other carcasses nearby while Darcy stood there still wondering who this woman was. For some reason, he finds this woman attractive and yet something in her that reminds him of the two old heroes.

"I am Darcy Blackwing, Duke of the Blackwing Family. May I learn the name of the woman who saved me?"

"Huh? Oh, you are the duke? Cool. I am Elaina. I am a farmer a little bit further from the forest. So you are the rumored Duke who returned recently?"

"Looks like the news has spread fast," Duke Darcy smiled.

"Well, it was a small village so news travels fast even if you don’t hear it from other people. Anyways, how come the duke is currently out here in the wilds and hunting wolves? Aren’t you wealthy to no longer need to hunt for food?"

"Ah, I am not here to hunt for game. I am here to exterminate monsters prowling around the area. As the Duke governing the village, I don’t just forget favors even to commoners. Come to my mansion later and retrieve your reward.

"Reward? No thanks. Besides, I didn’t save you just because you are in danger. You just happened to be dealing with my target before I could even attack it."

Duke Darcy was stupefied. Did he just get rejected?