Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Beowulfs
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“Kyak!? A lycanthrope that talks!”
Mirian made a huge fuss.
Not only Eugene but even Ranslo was fairly startled, blinking in surprise. Then, as if something occurred to him, he asked cautiously.
“By any chance, a Beowulf?”
“The eyes of one born with the blood of the Forest Watchers are sharp, it seems.”
He was mostly ash-gray, but striking with three black stripes of fur running down the center of his forehead. The self-proclaimed Beowulf crossed his arms and spoke. He seemed to be the leader of the Beowulfs.
“Beowulf?”
Eugene furrowed his brow, and Ranslo whispered lowly.
“They usually live in human form but can transform into lycanthropes at will. I’ve only heard tales of them—never seen a transformed Beowulf before.”
“Don’t compare us to lowly, inferior lycanthropes, knight born of the Forest Watchers’ blood.”
“It’s been ages since I heard that moniker, but I wasn’t born in the forest, and I’ve never done any watching.”
“Hmph! As a mongrel of mixed blood, that figures.”
Ranslo grinned at the leader Beowulf’s words. But that smile was utterly cold, unlike his usual ones.
Ranslo propped his favorite spear against his shoulder instead of his longsword and said.
“I’ve skewered five or six lycanthropes with this spear. Oh, they looked just like you lot, so maybe they were Beowulfs.”
“You bastard!”
“Graaaaaargh!!!”
“Eek!”
“Hik! Hiiiik!”
The enraged Beowulfs let out deafening roars, making the village chief and militia scream as they fell on their asses.
Like vampires, Beowulfs had their own unique presence, and ordinary humans couldn’t withstand that aura.
But Eugene’s group barely flinched. Raban and Glad twitched a little, but the rest held their stances without budging, glaring at the wolf monsters.
The Beowulfs were the ones surprised by Eugene’s group’s reaction.
“Is it because of the dark kin mixed in? You lot aren’t ordinary, after all.”
“Uncle! Why waste words on weaklings with fangs no bigger than a rat’s dick?”
“Yeah. Wolfkin, let’s just rip ‘em apart! Those bastards stirred up hundreds of roamers all over the mountains and fields.”
“Grrrrr...!”
As the dozen or so Beowulfs bared their fury, the wolves they commanded growled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Eugene stepped forward, and the Beowulf called Wolfkin spoke with malice in his yellow eyes.
“Don’t you know? You left corpses littered everywhere you went, so the roamers feasted every damn day. Fangs no bigger than a rat’s dick, and a brain to match!”
“......”
“Kieeeek! That dog bastard! How dare he to my lordship! Keeeek! Boil that fucker in a pot and eat him from ears to tail! You goblin-fucking dog!”
From Mirian’s uncharacteristically vulgar and direct cursing, Eugene could tell he was truly pissed.
And Mirian wasn’t the only one.
A chilling grin spread over Galpredic’s fierce face, while Luke’s neck flushed beet red. Partek’s team ground their teeth, ready to charge the Beowulfs.
But they still didn’t budge.
They were strictly following Eugene’s orders: never attack Brantian nobles or other races without command.
“Kuahaha! Not just a rat-dick brain, but rat-dick guts too!”
“Any dark kin who wraps himself head to toe in iron has to be a scared little pussy.”
“No armor, and you couldn’t even take a single goblin?”
“Krawwwrwwwr!”
The Beowulfs’ eerie laughter echoed.
“Hey.”
“Oh? Got the guts to talk after all. Fine, let’s hear your excuse for that stupid shit.”
As Wolfkin crossed his arms again, Eugene flashed a pure white smile.
“You ignorant dog bastards who never learned shit. In case you didn’t know: coming to where I am and insulting a knight? Means you offer your necks. And there’s this saying too.”
Eugene’s short, unique Brantiaran had a knack for pissing people off.
“What? Rat-dick fangs...”
Eugene scanned the Beowulfs once more as they started to go berserk again, sheathing Wolfslaughter and drawing Madarajika.
“Dog bastards who don’t listen need the stick.”
Kwaaaaa! Shuuuuk!
Eugene unleashed his vampire presence at full blast as his body sprang forward like a coiled spring.
His black cloak spread wide like gigantic bat wings, then sharpened into a long stinger trailing behind him.
“Kraw!?”
The Beowulfs, with their beastly reflexes, widened their yellow eyes and assumed defensive postures.
But no way could they handle the Origin presence crashing in fiercer than a storm tearing down a mountain.
Kwaaang!
In an instant, fifty kilos of iron club smashed down on Wolfkin’s frozen skull.
“Kuek!”
Wolfkin’s cranium shuddered from the impact as he crumpled to his knees.
The other Beowulfs belatedly bared their fangs to move.
“Graaaaaargh!”
The Origin presence roar, strong enough to crush powerful spells, hammered their eardrums, freezing their bodies once more.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-bam!
Seizing the moment, Madarajika battered the two-meter-tall wolf monsters’ bodies.
Beowulfs outclassed vampires in raw physical prowess, but getting clubbed by an ogre-slaying weapon shattered their bones and twisted their limbs grotesquely.
“Yelp! Yelpie!”
Their majestic roars from earlier vanished, replaced by pathetic whimpers like beaten strays.
Ten seconds.
In exactly ten seconds, Eugene had turned every Beowulf into half-cripples. He said to Galpredic and Ranslo.
“The dog bastards they brought? You guys handle them.”
“Graaaaaargh!”
“Been waiting!”
Led by the two knights, Luke and Partek’s team charged at the wolves commanded by the Beowulfs.
“Yaaargh! Shut those dogs up!”
The dogs’ yowls and the spirit’s furious shouts formed perfect harmony.
* * *
“Guhuhuhu! Guhuhuh!”
“Kiing! Kiiiing~”
“Hey. I said shut the dogs up.”
The Beowulfs’ pitiful whines cut off at once.
True to their renowned physical abilities and recovery, the Beowulfs’ wounds had healed somewhat.
But overwhelmed mentally and physically by Eugene’s presence, their recovery was slower than usual. In the end, they knelt with cracked skulls or broken limbs, looking wretched.
“So. The roamers migrated because of us?”
“Y-Yes... that’s right.”
Galpredic glared, and Wolfkin, about to speak casually, hastily switched to polite speech.
“You little shit. Funny little shit. Why’s that my problem?”
“......!?”
Flabbergasted but too beaten to resist, Wolfkin just rolled his yellow eyes without retorting.
“If it were you. Would you just let attackers who tried to kill you go?”
“W-Well...”
“Do you. Clean up the bodies of the ones you attack and kill?”
“......”
“And. This ain’t my territory. Why should I give a shit about the local roamers?”
“......”
“Need help? Then you should’ve asked nicely. You dog bastards insulted this knight. That Perseos Beowulf honor?”
“Kuh!”
Wolfkin and the male and female Beowulfs dropped their heads.
They’d lost the fight decisively and had no ground to stand on.
Of course, it was because their opponent was a monstrous “beast” himself.
But even that was due to their own arrogance and ignorance in underestimating him.
‘A terrifying powerhouse among the dark kin?’
‘Even the Beowulf King couldn’t take him?’
‘Where’d this dark kin come from?’
Eugene coldly looked down at the pondering Beowulfs.
“Dog head. Stop rolling it. And drop the transformation.”
The startled Beowulfs began reverting one by one.
Ash-gray fur shed in clumps, swollen muscles shrank, and wolf heads shifted back to human form.
“Whoa!”
“Fascinating.”
The group exclaimed in unison, flushing the Beowulfs’ faces red.
For them, showing their human form to outsiders—not even fellow Beowulfs—was utter humiliation.
A race born for battle and combat only transformed back to human upon defeat. And usually, that meant as corpses.
Beowulfs saw dying in battle as a warrior’s glory, so surviving a crushing defeat naked in human form before the enemy was...
“Uwaaa! Better to dieee! Aaaargh!”
A man suddenly shot up roaring, clutching his head and collapsing in place.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Galpredic zipped over like lightning and bashed his head mercilessly with the mace haft.
“Scared me, you dog bastard! Shaking that ugly thing around!”
“A race with beast blood, so the equipment’s impressive.”
“Y-Yeah, tell me about it.”
Ranslo admired, and Partek’s team nodded with queasy looks.
They’d clearly won the fight, but somehow felt like they’d lost.
“Eh. Shameless dog bastards.”
Galpredic clapped his hands clean and stood behind Eugene again.
Eugene looked at the Beowulfs pitifully and said.
“Hey. You lot. When you capture prisoners. Whose laws do you follow?”
“Our tribe’s laws.”
“Right? But now. You dog bastards are my prisoners. So my laws apply, yeah?”
“...Yes.”
Eugene grinned at Wolfkin, whose yellow eyes wavered with inexplicable dread.
“We’re going to your home. Time to collect ransom.”
* * *
Leaving the village chief and villagers’ heartfelt thanks and praise behind, Eugene departed the village.
Of course, he didn’t forget to tell them to inform the local lord of what he’d done.
The chief groveled like he was before his own lord toward Eugene, who’d refused payment and even sold the wolf corpses cheap.
Eugene led the way with the male and female Beowulfs draped in sackcloth rags, heading to their home.
Brantia had almost no proper roads, so the group traversed forests and fields for two days.
When crossing rough terrain, Eugene allowed the Beowulfs to transform.
In lycanthrope form, they could’ve easily fled, but not one tried.
No chance all would escape successfully anyway, and after leaving the village, Eugene’s group treated the Beowulfs better than expected.
They bickered plenty, but vampires and Beowulfs were distant kin split from the same bloodline, so they saw Eugene in a new light.
Getting beaten like dogs after mouthing off still stung, but they’d never heard of a vampire treating Beowulfs this well.
By the time they neared the end of the Perseos Mountains, the Beowulf prisoners, including Wolfkin, had grown fairly chummy with Eugene’s group.
Completely oblivious to the Origin vampire’s dark intentions hidden behind that kindness.
‘Hiring Brantiaran mercenaries with crap gear who can barely understand orders costs a fortune. Better to use these guys.’
Of course, that idea owed much to an unexpected figure’s boasting.
“Heh heh. Leave it to me, Master. From the pups that old hag Talulla birthed on, I’m a natural at handling dog bastards.”
“Kikikeket! Hey hey, dog lord Master! You can count on me! Kiket! Kiket!”
Making Galpredic a retainer was turning out to be the best choice in many ways.
(To be continued in the next installment)