The Wolf Cub

A boy even younger than I was appeared out of nowhere, radiating the kind of energy that spelled nothing but trouble. I looked him over for a moment, then decided to ask one thing.

"So if we fight and I win, you won't make this kind of offer again?"

His eyes lit up, sparkling bright.

"No! We keep going until I win!"

Figured as much.

"Then I won't fight."

"Why not? You scared?"

"I've got a packed schedule."

Two months remained until my match with Maria, the Rookie Slayer. I had no time to spare on anything else. I needed to hunt more monsters and train every single day I could get — I had to get stronger.

"What's got you so busy?"

"I have to train."

"Fighting me is training too!"

"I won't deny that. But I've got more important training to do."

He kept yapping even as I started walking, trailing right behind me. Thanks to that, I could keep heading for the training center without ever breaking stride.

"This place..."

Before I knew it, we had arrived. The moment we reached the entrance, the boy stopped dead.

Did he have some bad memory of this place?

Inside, monster hunters were already hard at work. He stared at them with his mouth hanging wide open.

"Th-there was a place like this?"

So he didn't remember it at all. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen his face before.

Laoren was a border city, but thanks to Dreygan's training center, new recruits flowed in steadily. An unfamiliar face wasn't strange in itself. Not knowing the training center even existed, though — that was odd.

"Did you grow up on some mountain?"

"Huh. How'd you know?"

So it was true.

Mountains crawled with monsters. Unless you were a bandit or lived in some tiny village, surviving up there was nearly impossible. Between that and the way he looked, he was quite the unusual character.

"I am Wolfgar, born on Mount Wolfhal!"

The Eldark Mountains — the largest range cutting across the Runheim Kingdom. Mount Wolfhal was one of the peaks in that range. I'd heard it was thick with wild wolves, a place where wolf-type anomalies appeared at an unusually high rate.

Looking closer, the way his muscles were built was different from ordinary people. They reminded me of a wolf raised in the wild.

I'd been ignoring him because he seemed like a nuisance, but this guy might actually be strong.

"How did you come to admire Golden Coral?"

"They're the benefactor who protected our village. I'd never seen anyone take down wolf monsters like that. Then I heard they were monster hunters, so I came to Lapwen village to become just like them!"

"It's Laoren."

"I came to Laoren village!"

But Wolfgar's spirits quickly sank. If he'd had ears and a tail, they would have drooped right then and there.

"But they said he went to the capital. I don't know the way to the capital."

A carriage would have taken him there if he paid. Being a mountain kid, that probably hadn't even occurred to him.

"You two. What are you making all that racket at the entrance for?"

Dreygan's voice rang out. He walked over with his hands clasped behind his back, looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the two of us, and raised an eyebrow.

"Where'd you pick up a wolf cub?"

"I just met him."

"Then why's he glued to your side?"

"He challenged me to a fight out of nowhere."

Dreygan glanced at Wolfgar and stroked his chin.

"He'll do."

Do for what?

"Follow me."

Dreygan headed inside. The fact that he wasn't chasing Wolfgar off meant he had something in mind. He brought us into the training grounds and had us face each other.

"Fight."

"What about training?"

"You've fought plenty of monsters, but you don't have enough experience fighting people."

That was true. Monster hunting was a profession for fighting monsters, not people.

"Don't think you'll only ever fight monsters. In this world, humans are far more vicious than any beast."

I couldn't argue with that. I had seen more than enough of human malice. Mages were human too, in the end. Their arrogance and cruelty were enough to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make your blood run cold.

"Besides, you're about the same level. Sparring with someone standing right next to you, instead of always going after someone stronger, isn't a bad idea."

So that was why he had brought Wolfgar along. Felt a little harsh on the guy, though.

"Don't worry. I didn't drag him here just for your sake. Kid's got potential written all over him. That's why I brought him."

If he was going to put it like that... it meant Wolfgar had that much potential and skill.

"Understood. Are you all right with this, Wolfgar?"

"I'm fine! This is what I wanted anyway!"

Wolfgar snorted hard, his eyes gleaming.

"I'll beat you for sure so I can join Golden Coral!"

"Golden Coral? Those brats?"

Even Golden Coral got treated like children. Well, they had trained at Dreygan's center. From his perspective, they really were just brats.

"Oh, does the little kid know Golden Coral?"

"I'm not a kid, wolf cub. Those are brats who trained at our center."

"Then I'll train here too!"

"Got money?"

"Uh. No."

Wolfgar was broke.

"Beat that one and I'll let you train for free."

And just like that, Dreygan casually lit a fire under him. This old man, I swear.

Wolfgar's eyes burned even fiercer. This was not going to be easy.

"Hey, wolf cub. You use a short spear, don't you?"

"Both. Long spear and short spear."

"Then use these. It's a formal spar, after all."

Dreygan casually grabbed a wooden short spear and a long spear and tossed them over. Wolfgar caught them like he had done it a thousand times and spun both shafts in his hands.

"Hey, Rookie. Dual-wielding two kinds of spears is rare. Watch and learn."

He was right — I had never seen that type before. How would he fight?

Interest started welling up inside me. I wanted to get stronger, so I was taking in every experience I could get my hands on. If Dreygan vouched for this opponent, he was worth looking forward to.

"Begin."

At Dreygan's word, Wolfgar extended his long spear and pointed it at me. Meanwhile he held the short spear drawn back at his waist and began slowly circling clockwise, as if measuring the distance.

Just moments ago he had been a simple mountain kid, but his presence had completely changed. His eyes gleamed with a far sharper light. A subtle pressure leaked from him, wrapping around my body. The spear aimed at me carried a clear intent: the moment I entered range, he would thrust.

As Dreygan had said, I had not fought many people. And because of that, there were things I could only learn by experiencing them firsthand.

Power gathered in my legs — the same legs Dreygan's training had forged into something far beyond ordinary. The enormous force packed into them crushed down against the sand.

Here I go.

KRAAAAAANG!

With that spring-loaded explosion of power I shot forward like a cannonball. A spear loses its advantage the moment the distance closes. Against a spearman, range was everything.

The instant my body was about to pass his spear, the weapon began a strange ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠movement. As if rotating, it changed direction and traced a circle, and the tip of that circling spear turned toward me.

The blade had been blunted, but a spear was still a spear. I had to operate on the assumption it would not touch me.

My pupils tracked the spear at high speed. Right now, my greatest advantages were my reflexes and dynamic vision — physical abilities elevated by absorbing monsters. I had to put those to full use.

My eyes followed the swinging spear. And from the opposite side of the shaft, I drove my fist upward.

THUD!

The fist that struck the shaft sent the spear tip floating skyward. Wolfgar's eyes went wide — he clearly had not expected me to track the spear's movement.

But Wolfgar did not have just one weapon.

The short spear in his left hand shot toward my chest. A short spear was faster by virtue of its length, and in terms of penetrating power it packed even more force than the long spear. A single hit would be a critical blow. An upward punch would not work this time.

So I extended the same fist that had knocked the long spear up, reaching higher — then clamped down on the rising shaft and held on.

GRRRRK!

The enormous strength in my hand stopped the long spear cold. My raw physical ability was higher. Because of that, as I forced the long spear upward, a strain fell on Wolfgar's body as he swung the short spear. The hand gripping the long spear was pulled behind his own torso, and he hesitated for a split second.

And in that brief pause, my leg was already coming up with full force.

The reach of my leg was just a little longer than the short spear in Wolfgar's hand. A tiny difference — but that moment of hesitation made my kick faster than his thrust. Wolfgar noticed it too. The gap created by that pause meant that even if he stabbed with the short spear, he would get hit first.

His reaction was fast. He let go of the long spear and, gripping only the short spear, dropped into a crouch in an instant. My leg swept over his head. And from that seated position, he aimed straight at me.

That is, if I had not already pulled my swinging leg back.

THMP!

The back of my knee hooked around Wolfgar's neck. My body had flexibility as well as muscle. I could move freely even from a kicking stance. In an instant, Wolfgar's body bent and slammed into the ground.

"Urgh!"

"Kh."

His grunt and mine crossed at the same time. His short spear was buried in my thigh. He had driven it in while his body was being flipped. Originally, that would have been a serious injury — torn muscle. But if he had been pinned to the ground, it was over.

The moment I reached for him to finish the hold—

SNATCH!

With a beast-like motion, Wolfgar rolled across the ground, evaded my hand, bounced off the floor, and sprang to his feet. In that instant, as he bounced away, he must have leaped well over a meter. I had no idea what kind of elasticity that was.

"Grrrrrk."

He gnashed his teeth, making a sound like he was scraping his throat. His face said he had sensed something off about my grip. And in that brief span, he had even retrieved his long spear.

Beast instincts, huh.

Now I understood why Dreygan called him a wolf cub.

I had the edge in physical class. But when it came to beast-like instinct, he was a step above.

This was a damn good match.

Unlike monsters, a person's movements went beyond what you could anticipate. Split-second judgment changed everything. No small monster could move like this. Medium-sized ones were sluggish by nature because of their bulk. But people were not. Countless feints, completely different fighting styles. Every one of them became experience. Became flesh and blood.

I wanted to fight longer. I wanted to keep going.

But a match was a match. A winner and a loser had to be decided. Only the victor was in the right.

I clenched my fist and aimed it at Wolfgar. He aimed his spears at me.

I will win this.