Chapter 213
Chapter: 213
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 213
>Chapter Title: Lycanslope Lord (7)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
A channel had suddenly opened, forcing him to stay in the Holy Emperor's flame dimension for a while.
There, Sungjin heard many stories from the Holy Emperor, including one about the "Council of Six" that protected the Delcross dimension.
They were also known as the "Guardians of the Boundary." True to the name, they were representatives of the "Boundary Race," who had made their homes at the edges of dimensions since ancient times.
[The Boundary Race?]
[Yes. High races that occasionally traveled between Ionia and the Delcross dimension.]
Originally, Delcross had resonated with its paired primal world, forming a complete, unbreakable loop.
That world was called Ionia.
A beautiful realm that had been utterly destroyed by the [Calamity] flood years ago and was now completely gone.
The five races guarding Ionia's boundaries had, generation after generation, taken turns as boundary guardians, represented by their leaders.
Under the leadership of the previous "Guardian of Delcross," they had formed the Council of Six to protect the boundaries between the two dimensions.
[Who was the previous guardian?]
[A wise ancient dragon who has protected this Delcross for the past millennium. I cannot speak his true name, but I call him "Elder."]
No way! Dragons really existed in this world!
If he could, he wanted to tell his sister Amelia right away.
'But it's strange that Delcross's representative isn't human.'
Humans were the ones dominating the entire Delcross region.
Well, before Cadmus, the founding Holy Emperor, laid the foundations of the Empire, humans had been seen by Ionia's races as barbaric lesser beings. So they wouldn't have followed any human leadership.
[Ionia's races had unique traits unlike humans. Most possessed an "Essence" that protected and supported their race's collective mind. Each individual's mind constantly communed with the Essence to maintain reason and preserve their higher mental world intact.]
Through this Essence, they had effortlessly cultivated their civilization.
Without special training, their minds were exalted to extremes, and their hearts remained in constant peace.
Without deliberate study, ancestral knowledge was passed down wholly to descendants.
[They were all scientists and philosophers, artists and warriors at once.]
It was only natural they achieved advanced civilization. Simply sharing the small joys individuals discovered and enjoyed with the Essence propelled their race forward rapidly.
But with Ionia's destruction, that brilliant civilization came to an end.
The Boundary Races, connected to the Delcross dimension, had managed to flee here in part when the world perished.
In the chaos, however, transferring the Essences that sustained their entire races' minds intact to Delcross had been impossible.
In the end, two of the five races lost parts of their Essences, and two others lost theirs completely.
[One of those was the Lycanslopes, Mores.]
Once an elegant race wielding intellect and might, commanding massive wolves as kin.
Now, severed from their Essence, their reason clouded and fully corrupted by the demonic energy of the Demonic Realm, reduced to mere beasts.
Demonic beasts moving mindlessly like a herd, reacting only to the Lycanslope Lord's will.
That sparked an obvious question in Sungjin's mind.
[If they lost their Essence and devolved into beasts, how does the Lycanslope Lord retain reason? And why are they still part of the Council of Six?]
The Holy Emperor gave Sungjin a faint smile. He seemed to think it a fine question.
The look was like a father proud of his well-raised son, leaving Sungjin with an odd feeling.
[The current Lord, Berseus, is not pure-blooded Lycanslope. He is a distant descendant of Dacianus, the Lycanslope who became the ancestor of the House of Dasiano marquisate long ago.]
The Holy Emperor's following explanation was astonishing.
Occasionally, some Lycanslopes who traveled to Delcross would, rarely, mate with humans. From them, hybrid offspring were born at slim odds.
Those offspring inherited their parents' immense power and mental ability to command kin fully. Sometimes, they even inherited fragments of ancestral "knowledge."
But those descendants had clear bloodline limits. No matter their efforts, they could never connect fully to the Essence like pure Lycanslopes.
That difference led straight to discrimination and persecution of the hybrids.
[Then...!]
[Yes. They never imagined the barbaric human bloodline they scorned would become their last bastion of reason.]
Half-breeds severed from the Essence could maintain reason without relying on it. And that had reversed the relationship between pure Lycanslopes and hybrid descendants in the present day.
[But.]
Sungjin tilted his head.
[The ancestor of the house... doesn't that make the current marquis a very distant descendant? Isn't the bloodline too diluted to retain Lycanslope traits?]
[Yes. By now, most descendants have lost nearly all ancestral traits.]
The Holy Emperor nodded, then gazed at Sungjin with deepened eyes.
[But, Mores. Do you know of "atavism"?]
* * *
"Right, Louise?"
Sungjin asked as he stared straight at the massive wolfhound before him—and the one who undoubtedly commanded it as kin, a distant descendant of the Lycanslopes.
[......!]
The usually calm, almost dry black eyes shook with unmistakable panic for the first time.
"Max" hesitated and took a step back from Sungjin.
[How in the world...]
Suddenly, an enormous surge of aura erupted from the wolfhound's body. Overwhelmed by emotional turmoil, it had failed to contain a portion of its meticulously hidden aura.
[Gasp! That's some potent demonic energy, Seongjin! How did you hide that perfectly until now?]
The Demon King inhaled sharply and shouted.
It was probably related to the intensifying aura Sungjin sensed. He'd thought it different from others', but he hadn't realized the aura itself was fused with demonic energy.
Sungjin couldn't pursue the thought further. Louise's agitation upon her identity being exposed was fiercer than expected.
[How did you find out? There were no clues to speculate, no evidence to confirm! No one in this era should even know the truth about Lycanslopes!]
Even as telepathic words, her voice sounded breathless and ragged.
[Who told you? Who else besides Your Highness knows?]
"Calm down! It was just coincidences piling up! That Lycanslope traits can atavistically appear in descendants now and then!"
Sungjin hadn't suspected "Max" was Louise from the start.
In hindsight, he wondered why he hadn't noticed "Max's" dignified demeanor and those uniquely deep black eyes sooner.
Still, who would connect a massive wolfhound to a normal person?
Even when meeting Captain Sebastian, he'd felt a vague familiarity in the atmosphere, intensified upon first seeing Louise—but he'd dismissed it as déjà vu.
Of course, Louise had shown unusual traits at times. But even her exceptionally keen sense of smell, he chalked up to coincidence.
Sungjin truly began suspecting her after Captain Bruno's cautious hint.
-He arrives at dawn and works until late at night in the count's manor. So when does Louise find time for sword training? She's so diligent.
When Sungjin muttered that offhand, the captain's face grew grave and he confided: Louise had failed to grasp even the basics of aura and abandoned the path of the sword.
-As the daughter of Sir Ilma and Sir Sebastian, she bore all their expectations. Truly regrettable. Your Highness suffered late aura initiation in youth and can empathize with her struggles.
That was when Sungjin first tilted his head.
No, Captain. Don't tell me you don't know? She's incredibly strong!
Hiding her aura so flawlessly meant her mastery was no joke. How could she not even have initiated?
Certainty came after he began properly using the Demon King's demon eyes.
After seeing her aura, distinctly different from ordinary folk.
'...It was definitely purple.'
Unlike the yellow-to-blue spectrum auras of normal people, Louise's gleamed a vivid violet. As if something were heavily mixed into it.
And yesterday, upon reaching the third ice wall, he'd confirmed it: that polluted, violet-glowing aura was the hallmark of Lycanslopes.
With that, scattered clues in Sungjin's mind finally clicked together.
A Lycanslope descendant who commands kin—and a massive wolfhound.
Lycanslope traits that atavistically emerge out of nowhere.
And Louise, forced to hide her true power from others.
"Plus, you've been calling me 'Your Highness' since earlier. Back on the snow mountain, it was 'you.'"
[......!]
"The title slipped out naturally. And you know? Your speech pattern is pretty unique. After days together, think I wouldn't recognize it?"
The wolfhound blinked in flustered surprise.
Thankfully, Sungjin's explanation seemed to land somewhat. The wildly surging aura began sinking back into its body.
"I was also curious why you pretend not to use aura normally. You're strong by nature, right? I saw you coming here, Louise. You handled those 'snowshoes' perfectly. Speed never dropped, light as can be on snow or ice."
[.......]
Sssrrrrk.
The aura fully withdrew into the wolfhound's body like seeping mist. The now-calm black eyes regarded Sungjin cautiously, probing his intent.
[Whoa, that intense demonic energy vanished without a trace. Incredible.]
The Demon King nodded in admiration.
It truly was masterful aura concealment. Fooling not just Sir Masin but even Captain Bruno.
She'd even sneaked into his tent without their notice to whisk him away. If Dasha knew, she'd writhe in self-pity at losing even to a wolfhound.
[...My parents don't know, Your Highness.]
When Louise finally spoke, surprisingly, it was to defend her parents.
[From the first time I manifested aura as a child, I felt something off. My aura was somehow different from others'. Instinctively, I knew I had to hide it from prying eyes. It was my decision alone, so they firmly believe I've yet to even initiate.]
Really? He'd thought Sir Sebastian might know.
He had a similar presence to his daughter, after all.
"Isn't the bloodline from your father's side?"
[Yes, Your Highness. But I'm a rare case where the trait atavistically manifested after countless generations. Father knows nothing of this lineage.]
Occasionally, Lycanslope descendants even inherit the ancestors' "knowledge" itself.
Thus, Louise had naturally grasped and handled her situation through innate knowledge.
Commanding the wolfhound as kin, imbuing and withdrawing aura from them—she learned it all effortlessly, like breathing, without a teacher.
[So what now, Your Highness?]
Her explanation done, Louise asked calmly.
"What do you mean?"
[I am Lycanslope. Kin to the demonic beasts threatening the territory from the Demonic Realm, a non-human race the Empire classes as demonic spawn.]
"So what? Louise hasn't harmed the territory, has she? Just keep living as is, I say."
[But aren't you the prince of the Holy Empire?]
Her eyes as she asked were resolute.
She couldn't easily trust he'd stay silent knowing the truth. It was obvious she was even considering burying him secretly to eliminate evidence.
Factoring in her own safety—and her parents' in the territory—it was an unavoidable choice for her.
Hadn't she said something similar before?
-If you're of the Holy Imperial family, I cannot explain further. It's an unavoidable choice for us all—please understand.
Well, understanding aside, he wouldn't go down easy.
Sungjin subtly gripped his walnut cracker's handle in warning.
"You'd best judge carefully."
[Your Highness is kind. I don't want to harm you.]
The complex emotions clouding Louise's eyes settled calmly. She'd clearly made a choice within, but it didn't seem favorable for Sungjin.
Krrrrrr.
The deep, rumbling growl from her throat was a clear threat signal.
[No matter how I think, there's no other way. Will you cooperate quietly?]
"What are you planning?"
[I must make Your Highness my kin.]
What the—?
"Hey! Don't joke! I get your position, but I have family worrying about me too. I can't just overlook this unconditionally."
[This is the best path for everyone. Don't worry. It'll be over quickly.]
The wolfhound's maw parted, baring fangs that gleamed menacingly.
Right then.
Whoosh whoosh!
The wolfhound's limp tail suddenly began wagging furiously.
[Ah? Max? Wait...!]
And then pssshhh. Like air leaking from a balloon, the wolfhound's size began shrinking bit by bit.
Huh?
Puzzled by the sudden turn, the half-sized wolfhound bounded happily toward Sungjin, tail wagging. And then.
Crunch.
With a soft crushing sound, the wolfhound's sharp fangs lightly nipped Sungjin's hand.
"...?!"
[......!]
Sungjin was stunned.
It wasn't at all what he'd anticipated from Louise's intent, and it felt utterly playful—no killing intent. So he'd had no thought of defending.
Blood trickled from his hand, and Louise's scream—like a shriek—rang out.
[No, Max! Cutting the connection now...!]
And with that, her telepathy cut off abruptly.
"...Max?"
He called uncertainly.
Woof!
The wolfhound released his hand and barked loudly in response.
Clear amber eyes gleaming with faithful warmth.
Back to its original size, Max the wolfhound licked Sungjin's wound happily, tail wagging like mad.