EP.17 Dances with Wolves -1
EP.17 Dances with Wolves -1
A month had passed since I'd gone on leave to Daon.
Compared to the bone-breaking grind of those five vacation days, my daily life after getting back had been surprisingly ordinary.
Why on earth had the time supposedly set aside for rest been harder? The question still baffled me.
It was all in the past anyway, so I really ought to stop dwelling on it...
"Whew, finally done."
"Gurgk—!!"
The sound of a human's breath being cut off.
As a man's body collapsed, it painted the already blood-soaked floor a fresh red once again.
A sight, a scent of blood, even the screams of living beings—I had long grown sickeningly accustomed to it all.
It felt as though I'd become a murderer standing over a crime scene.
But if there was one difference between me and a murderer, it was that I had a righteous cause.
The just cause of finding a way to avoid, during my work hours, the one time of day that was never peaceful.
To avoid the nightly draining hell by, of, and for Miho, I had no choice but to work.
-Vrrr!!
The instant I finished off the last remaining terrorist boss, my phone vibrated aggressively.
I pulled the device from my pocket. The screen read, 'That Dog-Bastard Boss.'
"Yes, Director."
[Apologies for interrupting you mid-mission. But the matter was truly urgent, so I've contacted you like this.]
"No, actually, the mission just ended, so I was about to call you anyway. So, what's the matter?"
[I'm sorry to do this, but I'll need you to head straight to the southeastern border for the next mission.]
"Excuse me...?"
[Truly sorry. I'll send the relevant data by message, so please review it while you're en route.]
"W-Wait a moment! Director?"
-Beep!
"You son of a—! Director, you bastard!!"
If I had to pick one of my biggest regrets right after returning from leave, it was the report on finishing off those terrorists.
It would've been enough to report only up to the lake issue with the unicorn. My foolish decision to casually mention that terrorists had appeared and I'd neutralized them had come back to haunt me.
As a result, the Director had massively raised my combat evaluation, and in turn, the missions dumped on me had broadened dramatically.
Before, I'd been a target 'to be protected.' Now, I'd become 'Work, you slave.'
That was why, just like now, I'd been saddled with missions to track down and annihilate small terrorist cells.
And presently, having been nonstop assigned yet another mission by that bastard of a Director, I'd proven my status as a slave beyond a doubt.
A slave to work at the office, a stud for the little ladies at home. Freedom was a thing I didn't have.
-Ding!
A message alert. The sender was, of course, the Director. I was boiling mad, but I checked the contents anyway.
'Huh? Why a link...?'
He'd always sent attachments as files before, but this time, for some reason, he'd sent a URL link to some website.
This was the first time he'd ever done this, so I was thrown off. It wasn't a spam message, was it?
But the name I'd set for the Director was brazenly displayed in the top-left corner of the screen, so there was no room for doubt.
Thus, when I pressed the link, a real-time news broadcasting site loaded, and a video began to autoplay.
[Around 1 p.m. today, wild wolves began to gather one by one at the southeastern border that divides the nation from the Great Wilds!]
[The wolves, starting as a pack, have continued to gather, and are now so numerous they can no longer be counted by eye...!!]
What the hell was this...?
I skipped ahead in 10-second intervals to get just the gist. The broadcast showed a monstrous, bizarre phenomenon unfolding.
Roughly estimated, well over a thousand wolves were howling in front of the border line.
If they were attacking, that would be one thing. But they weren't. They were clustered together right in front of the border, simply crying out. It was enough to remind me of a choir.
-Ding!
[Accompany the baby dragon, ascertain the situation, and report back.]
"Ha, I'm screwed."
By some truly shitty timing, my current location happened to be right near the southeastern border.
An anomalous phenomenon occurred, and I just so happened to be nearby. On top of that, I even had the ace cards known as Divine Beasts.
And so, the Director had seized the opportunity to tack another burden onto me. Except, the problem he didn't know about was... that today, I was alone.
Before, I absolutely had to bring a Divine Beast along on missions, but now, I'd become capable enough to handle things on my own.
So as long as I got a sign-off from Yata saying it was safe, I mostly traveled alone.
However, the Director didn't know I'd gained these powers.
I'd only reported that I'd dealt with the terrorists at the hot spring village. I never said I'd taken them down single-handedly.
So the Director thought I'd been mopping up terrorists with Tia's help.
This was awkward.
Going back home to fetch Tia would take too long, but going alone, there'd be nothing I could do, seeing as I couldn't exactly hold a conversation with wolves.
"Haa...!!"
Just as I was agonizing over what to do, I suddenly heard the sound of someone's footsteps approaching me.
Neither too lively nor too quiet—a gait at an andante pace.
Among the people I knew, only one person had footsteps like that.
"Kor?"
"Seon-ju...! I've been looking all over for youu...!!"
"Looking all over for me? What for?"
"Do you perhaps remember the promise you made with me last time...?"
"Which promise was that...?"
"When you apologized to me at the hot spring inn..."
"Right! The promise to go together to a festival a month later, wasn't it?"
"Yes! That's right...!"
Come to think of it, she'd said there was a festival exactly a month from then. So that was today. Time really flies.
More importantly, a date with Kor. Just the thought made me so happy that I wanted to go.
But...
"Kor, I'm really sorry. I'm busy right now, so I think we'll have to go to the festival another time."
"Ah. You're busy...?"
Kor, who'd been blushing and smiling bashfully just because I'd remembered our date promise, now drooped her ears and tail limply, like a puppy soaked in the rain, and looked deeply disappointed.
Seeing Kor like that made my own heart start to ache.
"Yeah. Something else came up, work-wise..."
"Is that so... Then I guess it can't be helped..."
Kor turned her back and trudged away, her tail sweeping across the floor like a broom as she went.
I felt so bad—I was already thinking of what I could say to comfort her—when one look at her wolf tail suddenly sparked an idea.
"Kor!"
"Yes...?"
"If you don't mind, could you follow me for a bit?"
"Oh... Is there something I can help with, perhaps...?"
"Yeah! I was just at the point of desperately needing your help!"
"Yes! In that case, I'll help you no matter what it is...!!"
Her wolf ears and tail shot straight up and began wagging again. She must have been that happy to feel needed.
Moreover, she hadn't even heard what the task was yet, but she'd reacted like that and immediately pledged to help me...
As I thought, my kind-hearted companion wolf. If it weren't for the mission, I'd go with her to the festival right this minute. What a pity.
Once the mission was over, I'd have to dedicate as much time to Kor as she wanted.
"So, what is it you need my help with...?"
"It's nothing too hard, just simple translation."
"Translation...?"
"Yeah, you see, there's word that a massive pack of wolves has shown up at the southeast border for some unknown reason. I want you to talk to them and find out why. If you could get them to back off, I'd be even more grateful."
"Ah...!! Seon-ju, about that..."
"Is it maybe an unreasonable request?"
"Ah, no!! It's not particularly that... Those wolves you mentioned, Seon-ju, they probably came because of me...!"
"...Huh?"
The wolves had gathered... because of Kor?
Probably because I hadn't expected that at all, my mind went blank for a moment.
-Ding!
While I was spacing out from that unexpected revelation, my phone sounded a message alert once more.
I thought it was the Director again, but this message's sender wasn't him, but someone else.
The crow who always contacted me at every critical moment to tell the future, Yata.
It was a message from her, and the content was...
[Dear husband, have a good meet-the-family!]
A line of incomprehensible nonsense.
What was this out-of-nowhere talk of a meet-the-family? Whose?
"Seon-ju...?"
"Ah! Sorry, Kor. I was just checking a message real quick... So, why are those wolves gathering because of you?"
"Well, they came out ahead of time to welcome me for the festival...! Even though I told them they didn't have to...!!"
Seeing Kor clutch both cheeks and blush an even deeper shade, it seemed she found the wolves gathering to be quite embarrassing.
The fact that she'd even told them not to gather meant someone else had ordered them to do so, against her own will.
Who could it be?
"By festival, do you mean the one you asked me to go to with you?"
"Yes...!!"
Come to think of it, I'd never even asked Kor what the festival was for.
I'd only said I'd accompany her to the festival; I hadn't even actually known what kind of festival it was myself.
I felt so awkward all of a sudden, I could only scratch my head furiously.
"Kor, if you don't mind, could you explain to me what festival we're going to?"
"The festival I want to go to with you, Seon-ju, is none other than the Feast of Wolves, held once every five years...!"
"Wait, I'm not a wolf. Isn't it against the rules for me to go?"
"It's fine...! If I tell them you're attending as my guest, there won't be any problems at all...!"
"Well, that's a relief."
I'd been uneasy about the disaster scenario of a human butting in among wolves and just getting eaten.
No matter how well-honed my combat abilities were, if over a thousand wolves charged me, it'd just be terrifying.
"So, I hear it's a wolf festival. What's it specifically like?"
"It's just a simple gathering, like a place of harmony, where lots of wolves gather in one spot to play, eat, and enjoy themselves..."
"A banquet-style festival, then. Huh? Wait, Kor. If you're attending, does that mean Hati is coming too?"
"Yes, that's right...! The reason she came to visit me last time was to talk about the festival..."
"Th-Then, I mean... By any chance, does your father also come to this festival...?"
"Of course... The host of the festival is none other than our father, after all...!!"
"..."
At last, I understood why Yata had brought up the term 'meet-the-family.'
To humans, he was a disaster and terror incarnate, the king of wolves, the Divine Beast Fenrir.
And since I was suddenly going to come face-to-face with him, who was also the father of my companion wolf, she'd called it a meet-the-family.
But there was a problem. If my memory served, I knew that Fenrir was an absolute madman of a daughter fanatic.
In other words, he loved Kor so much it was sickening; so much he could put her in his eye and it wouldn't hurt. If a daughter like that brought a man along? The implication was...
"I'm fucked, huh?"
Ahh, my stomach was already starting to burn at the foreseen outcome.