Hello, Mr Werewolf.

Chapter 8: The basement

Returning to the front door, Glenn took a quick sniff of the air to make sure the black crow had been there.

He took his keys from under a stone and unlocked the door to his house.

Everything was still there, so he knew that the black crow probably hadn't gone in, but had just dropped the food and left.

It really was that simple... Glenn sighed to himself, then picked up the food and went inside.

He had to think of a way to preserve the pork he had bought that morning. There were no refrigerators in this world, so he decided to use the traditional method of smoking the meat.

It seemed that there was freezing magic in this world, and he would have to find out about it when he had the chance, so that he would not have to worry about preserving food... Glenn's mind wandered as he went through the kitchen items one by one.

...

After today's unforgettable despair, Leila could not imagine how she would face life without her mother. Fortunately, the silver lining was that a kind gentleman had saved her life.

My child, you must thank this kind gentleman. People like him are rare in this world,' said Lady Deli, Leila's mother, as she patted Leila's hand. "You are a girl who knows how to repay kindness, I am sure.

OK, Mum, tomorrow I will find out where the city of Bayek is and if possible I will ask my friends to come with me,' Leila replied quietly.

That's good. Just be careful with your manners. It would be best if your friends didn't do anything to make a bad impression.

Don't worry, Mum, they're all very polite.

As she spoke to her mother, Leila's mind unconsciously recalled her impression of Glenn.

He was a thin young man, not much older than herself, with a special aura compared to the people around him. He always had a calm look in his eyes, dressed simply like herself. It was the kind of person that always made her think back.

She always felt that he was a bit different, but what was it... Just as Leila was drifting off, her mother's words brought her back to reality.

'We should probably think about moving...'

Her mother's haggard face was tired.

'Move again?' Leila found it hard to accept. She had lived here for several years, made many friends and neighbours, and moving meant saying goodbye to everything she knew.

They had moved twice before, and each time they had had to adapt to a new environment, which was unfair for a fifteen-year-old girl.

As you know, your father has found us again. He almost killed me today. If it wasn't for the police patrolling the area, I don't know what would have happened. Mrs Deli took Layla's hands in hers and looked at her with pain in her eyes.

'I know, Mum...' Layla looked at her mother's face, still showing the effects of the injury, and saw the pain in her eyes. It was clearly her mother who had been hurt, so what was the point of her own complaints?

...

It was late when he got home last night, and with all the work that needed to be done in the kitchen, Glenn fell asleep and didn't wake up until 11 o'clock in the morning.

He rubbed his bleary eyes and opened the upstairs window to see the old neighbour returning from out of town with a young Rottweiler in his arms.

The old man really likes dogs! Glenn leaned over the edge of the bed and greeted him from below, "Good neighbour! Where did you get that dog? He looks pretty good!

The old man was startled by the loud noise in the quiet streets of the small town of Bayek. He looked at the source of the noise and saw that it was Glenn. His expression froze, then he snorted and ignored him.

Glenn smiled, then retreated into the house and started washing up.

Suddenly he remembered something and whistled outside the window, and immediately a huge beast rushed out of the distance and the mist and quickly approached Glenn's house.

The beast crouched down, looking poised and waiting for orders, its eyes glowing faintly with concentration.

Go and wait in the forest outside the town. If you meet a girl, protect her in the shadows,' Glenn instructed, poking his head out.

The beast seemed to straighten up, as if to salute, giving the impression that if it could speak it would say 'Yes, sir'.

Then it rushed out of town like the wind.

Today Glenn wanted to renovate the interior of the house, especially the fireplace. As it was enclosed, he couldn't smoke meat, so he had to make some changes.

Glenn had just started to break open a corner of the brick fireplace when his sharp ears immediately heard something wrong coming from below.

He put down his hammer and started tapping gently on the floorboards.

Knock, knock...

After some experimentation, he found the source of the strange sound. It was subtle, but he found it.

Is the floor underneath empty? Glenn's face showed some surprise. The previous owner had made no mention of a basement or anything like that when he gave the tour.

Curiosity got the better of him and Glenn searched the house for an entrance to the cellar, if there was one. He didn't want to damage the floor if there was no other way.

With some effort he found a trapdoor hidden under a large wooden cupboard in the utility room.

The trapdoor was covered in rusty chains, indicating that the culprit didn't want anyone to go down there.

But this was of no concern to Glenn, who used a little of his werewolf strength to break the chains and open the trap door.

A wooden staircase led down.

A foul smell came from below and Glenn's keen sense of smell made him frown, but he did not flinch.

He found a kerosene lantern in the house, lit it and cautiously descended the wooden stairs to the trapdoor.

Once on the ground, Glenn could see the scene in the light.

The first thing he saw were countless squeaking rats hiding in the darkness, followed by a few old bookshelves filled with eaten and worn books.

On a decaying wooden round table were scattered items, such as glass bottles and jars, all broken and leaking liquid.

Glenn made a light-footed tour of the cellar with a constant sound of exclamations, never imagining that there was such a place under his own home.

He casually took a book from the shelf, still in relatively good condition, and opened it.

Holmorgan's What's What's Second Alternative... Seal...' Glenn struggled to read a paragraph, finally closing the book and spitting out in Chinese, 'Damn it! What a load of rubbish! I can't even read it!

He put the book back on the shelf, then looked through the various items on the round table, all drafts, containers and the like, nothing remarkable, so he continued to explore the cellar.

As it wasn't very big, he quickly finished exploring it.

Much to Glenn's disappointment, there was almost nothing of value here.

But he had just spotted another door and was pinning his hopes on it.

Let's hope there are some good things inside... Standing in front of the door, Glenn took a deep breath.

The door was made of dark brown wood with an ancient pattern, and the frame was covered in runes.

Directly above it was something that looked like a clock, except that it only had one hand, and the dial was divided into five sections with strange writing evenly distributed across the face of the dial.

The hand was currently pointing to the area directly above it.

Turning the doorknob, the door slowly opened with a click. What Glenn didn't notice was that the moment he opened the door, the text pointed to by the hand on the upper dial flickered slightly.