Chapter 215
Chapter: 215
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>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 215
>Chapter Title: Garden (1)
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Dawn was breaking in the east.
Marquis Daiano, who had been drinking alone all night, bared his teeth in a grin at the presence of an uninvited guest.
"A coincidence? Lately, it seems more and more people are seeking me out."
At his words, a human shadow slithered out of thin air. Someone was leaping through space via [Rift].
As far as the marquis knew, only two people in Delcros could wield such a skill freely. And with one of them bound hand and foot by the [Pact]...
"We've been seeing a lot of each other lately. Guardian of Delcros."
Sure enough, the one who appeared was the old man he knew well.
The old man's face, shrouded in an aura of mystery, might have resembled that of a renowned scholar, but the golden eyes gleaming fiercely in the darkness were anything but human.
In response to the marquis's greeting, the old man furrowed his brow slightly.
"Moderate your stubbornness. Doesn't the current guardian hold that position?"
"That guy's just your temporary proxy anyway. I can't possibly recognize such a half-baked human as this world's guardian."
"Your recognition doesn't matter much."
Cutting off the marquis coldly, the old man brought up his business with a hint of irritation.
"You must know why I've come. Stop what you're doing right now, Berseus."
"What am I supposed to have done?"
"I know exactly whose instigation you're acting on. Are you in your right mind? To let yourself be swayed by such a one and disrupt the world's causality like this!"
Marquis Daiano—Berseus—let out a scoff.
"If the problem is disrupted causality, then there's someone else you should be reining in first, isn't there? That arrogant pup just violated the [Pact] again."
"No, it didn't exceed the limit this time."
"What? No way."
"You seem to have forgotten, but the current guardian is a child more adept at harmonizing causality than anyone else in this world. And even if it had exceeded it, that wouldn't justify what you're doing now, Berseus."
Berseus's eyes flashed menacingly.
"Then tell that almighty guardian directly! Have him come here and stop me himself! I won't even call a council or revoke authority. Why are you so soft on that guy?"
The old man clamped his mouth shut.
Just as Berseus was manipulating the irrational Lycanthrope Lord to provoke a violation of the Holy Emperor's Pact, the Holy Emperor too must have been hoping Berseus would cross the line enough to give justification for a hunt.
Thus, the old man—who merely wished for the world to stay quiet, unlike the hot-blooded youths—had no choice but to step forward.
"Listen well, Berseus. If you keep this up, your kind might truly face extinction this time. Weren't they barely saved from the [Cataclysm]?"
Though the old man tried to gently persuade him, the king of a race on the brink of destruction merely dug in his ear with a face that said, *What nonsense*.
"Honestly, what do I care if they go extinct? They've devolved into beasts anyway, and someday they'll be wiped out by human hands without a trace. All you need is the true 'Boundary Guardian' to inherit that dimensional [Key], right? Me."
"You..."
"I'm not going to make excuses now. Truth is, I put on a little act to inherit that [Key] from the 'Council of Six.' Pretending to care for those pathetic kin made me want to puke."
"......"
Before Ionia's fall, Berseus had endured all sorts of contempt and persecution from his pureblood kin.
It wasn't hard to understand his feelings, but they had expected that resentment to have dissipated now that he stood at the pinnacle of his kind.
Yet the hybrid Lycanthrope Lord's hatred toward his race ran deeper than imagined.
"Are you seriously thinking of revenge now? What meaning does that even hold for you?"
The old man tried desperately to persuade him, his face bewildered.
"You know it well. The ones who wronged you were all swept away in the [Cataclysm] flood. Most of the survivors now are innocent. Besides, they're practically yours already, aren't they? The southern region of the Demon Realm is your domain. It's all your kingdom!"
"True. He said the same. Why wouldn't I know a fact anyone can see?"
With that reply, Berseus suddenly glared at the old man sharply.
"But what about this? I found it. That arrogant descendant of Nebraska."
"......!"
"Don't tell me you didn't know. Guardian of Delcros. Do you think I don't know the 'Council of Six' has always wanted to replace that half-wit Lord someday?"
Thwack!
Downing his glass in one gulp, Berseus slammed the empty vessel down roughly and snarled at the old man.
"So etch this into your mind. I'm not interested in the shallow title of Lycanthrope Lord, but I won't stand by with my eyes open and let them fall into the hands of Nebraska's spawn to bolster his power! I'll erase them from this world entirely before handing them over willingly. Got it?"
* * *
"So, what the hell are those things doing?"
Seongjin muttered after observing the Lycanthropes for a while. He was stretched out so far that half his body hung over the cliff edge.
If he heightened his aura to the max, he could make out the Lycanthropes bustling between the coniferous forest and the gorge. The problem was, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't figure out what they were after.
Down below, there were about a dozen Lycanthropes, including the Lord. But their actions were utterly bizarre.
When the Lord pointed to some spot on the icy gorge, one of them would claw its way up the slippery cliff. It would climb to its limit, then slide or plummet down.
Given the height, the fallen ones were never unscathed. Then the pack would drag the dead or injured back into the forest, move to the next spot, and repeat the same madness.
It was too self-destructive to be just searching for something.
*Guess I need to get closer...*
He wanted to cloak himself in aura concealment and go down, but the situation made it impossible.
When he'd tried descending the cliff alone, Max had whimpered pitifully at him.
Even at this precarious distance, a howl from the dog would alert them instantly.
Taking the dog with him was out too—Max couldn't hide his presence anyway.
"Max. Asking you to conceal your aura is probably impossible, huh?"
Max stared at Seongjin with bright eyes, his face saying, *Why ask me?*
*Am I imagining it? I feel like I understand what Max wants to say better than before...*
Was this the effect of that thought circuit?
A petulant reply came immediately in his head.
[Of course it's your imagination, Seongjin! The link with that mutt isn't strong enough to transmit thoughts properly!]
*Yeah, okay.*
[Got it? The soul conversation we're having is completely, utterly on another level from that trash!]
Why was this guy so pissy since earlier?
*Just open the spirit eyes for now. Might see something different.*
At Seongjin's request, the Demon King grumbled as he activated the spirit eyes. Soon, the snowy landscape was bathed in a familiar pink hue.
Seongjin now somewhat grasped the rules of how the colors converted to visual perception.
Cold things like snow appeared pink, while bonfires or hot food showed blue. But since the pink faded on cold nights, it seemed to reflect relative temperature differences rather than absolute.
Living beings' energies or auras, on the other hand, varied by nature and intensity, not temperature.
[Colors?]
When he asked the Demon King about it, he sounded puzzled.
[Beats me. Huh, interesting? Spirit eyes just reveal an object's essence. For you, it registers as color?]
It must be because what Seongjin saw wasn't the raw spirit eye sensation, but a conversion via the thought crystal into visual data.
Anyway, he turned his gaze to the Lycanthropes, now glowing purple, and examined their actions closely.
Soon, he spotted something odd that his naked eyes had missed.
An object in the Lycanthrope Lord's hand emitting a brilliant crimson light.
*...What's that?*
It was small enough to be completely covered by the Lord's hand, pulsing with varying intensity like a heartbeat.
And Seongjin soon realized another fact.
The timing of the Lord pointing at the gorge matched when the object flashed rapidly.
As Seongjin squinted and craned his neck for a better look—
Grrrrr.
Sensing something, Max suddenly flattened his ears and bared his teeth.
At the same time, Seongjin felt it too. A familiar presence was approaching them rapidly from behind.
*This is...!*
Guessing the identity, Seongjin closed his spirit eyes and silently waited.
Sure enough.
Leap. A familiar face vaulted up onto the cliff and landed neatly in front of him.
It was Louise.
"Thank goodness you're safe, Your Highness! Are you alright? Not too cold?"
She rushed toward him, exclaiming urgently.
Seongjin stared at her in disbelief. The girl asking that was barefoot in the snow.
Her loose pants were rolled up to expose her ankles—*You look freezing right now*.
"I wasn't cold until a moment ago, but seeing you made me freezing. What are you doing without shoes?"
"I'm a Lycanthrope, aren't I? I don't feel the cold."
"You look human to me right now."
"Of course I reverted before reaching this area. Can't let the Lycanthrope Lord pinpoint my location."
Her voice remained calm.
Then.
Grrrrr.
Max flattened his ears at Louise, tail stiff, clearly on guard.
Louise gave the agitated Max a wistful look before turning away.
"It was your familiar, right? Is it okay to leave it like this?"
As Seongjin soothed the excited Max and asked, she sighed while pulling shoes from her backpack.
"Yes. It was bound to happen someday."
"Really? From what I saw earlier, I thought you'd try to take it back outright."
"...That was imprudent of me. My apologies, Your Highness."
Max was Louise's first and only familiar.
She had hidden her Lycanthrope abilities thoroughly, but with a starving puppy that had lost its mother, she had no choice.
Moreover, Max, covered in his mother's blood scent, had refused her touch outright.
Frustrated by the pup that bit her viciously at every attempt, Louise had instead linked her thoughts to him, making him her familiar.
The sole constraint she imposed was this:
-Never refuse food from your master when needed.
Thanks to that, the puppy grudgingly wolfed down what she offered. In the end, his resentment toward her unresolved, he grew both in size and hostility.
They had coexisted indifferently until now, but full liberation from the familiar bond had brought the suppressed animosity to the surface.
"Really? You did well to keep it alive this long. Max was always ready to tear into you at the first chance."
It was a genuine question.
Even in their imperfect familiar bond, Seongjin could clearly sense the deep malice from Max.
The only reason Max wasn't attacking outright was her overwhelming strength beyond what a wolf-dog could handle. Louise surely knew that.
"Max holds special meaning to me, Your Highness."
A rare flicker of sorrow crossed Louise's eyes as she replied.
"I knew our bond would twist us both eventually, but maintaining it this way was my only option."
"I see."
"But now it's time to let go."
Louise bowed politely to Seongjin.
"From the moment I first met Your Highness, Max decided to follow you. Once he sets his mind, it never changes, so please take good care of him from now on."
"Hmm, sure."
Seongjin scratched his head. Even if she'd tried to reclaim him, he planned to refuse anyway.
Strictly speaking, the Frontier Count owned Max, but snatching him as a bonus was no big deal.
It was settled. He'd take Max to the capital like this.
"Anyway, about the Lycanthropes. Louise, do you know what they're after?"
At Seongjin's question, Louise peered down the cliff, narrowing her eyes.
"They're ultimately aiming for Sigmund fief, obviously. Somehow they knew—I could clearly hear the Lord's howl carrying warnings and threats."
So the frequent wolf howls lately had special meaning.
"But I only sense they're plotting something. Honestly, I don't know their exact goal."
Seongjin tilted his head.
Hm. There's a simple way to find out, right?
"Why not just make one of them your familiar?"
"Pardon?"
"You're already exposed, aren't you? So why not act openly? Let's just grab one now!"
Even the ever-composed Louise couldn't hide her shock at his unexpected suggestion.
"Right now?"
"Yeah. You're strong, right? While we're at it, want to nab the Lord too? He's got something nagging at me."
"...Pardon?"
Louise couldn't believe her ears despite hearing it clearly.
*What is this man saying right now?*