Chapter 150
Chapter 150
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Deep Night (5)
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Hand over the child of Emperor Bakal.
The only imperial family member present here was Princess Christina alone.
Knowing that fact, everyone glanced at her.
“...”
Tina, who noticed this, swallowed deeply and looked at the chieftain.
“What do you plan to do if you find His Majesty's child?”
“I will kill them.”
In response to her question, the century-old wolf answered firmly.
“The emperor killed my son and even recovered his corpse.”
The silver fur covering his entire body bristled like thorns.
As if just thinking of that time made his teeth chatter.
“So, I will kill his child as well and leave no corpse behind.”
His voice was exceedingly calm.
He had suppressed his rage for so long that he had no strength left for excitement.
It was merely retribution for the death of his own child.
He sought only that retribution.
“I see....”
The princess, who understood the grief of a father who had lost his child, recognized his resolve.
Then, she gently closed her eyelids, beautiful like white snow, for a moment.
“...”
The white-haired princess quietly took a deep breath.
Afterward, she stood tall and spoke.
“I am the daughter of the emperor you seek.”
She confessed boldly in front of everyone.
In response, Bakal's knights looked up at her desperately.
“Your Highness...!!”
However, the elders were different.
They kept their mouths tightly shut, merely glancing at Tina, who stood defiantly.
“For the sake of all, she steps forward herself. The daughter is better than the father.”
The Elder Wolf spoke in a flat voice.
However, his red eyes still rippled like a sea of blood.
“Losing such an excellent daughter in vain. There could be no greater sorrow than that.”
The old wolf who had been holding his staff raised his massive forepaw.
No matter how aged, his claws were weapons in themselves.
――――――.
A powerful purple aura swirled around his claws.
Startled by that strange power, the birds nearby flew into the night sky.
“Christina, was it?”
“Yes.”
The Elder Wolf slowly approached the northern princess.
“Given your courage, I shall end it without pain.”
Seeing that, I tightly pressed my lips together.
The opponents were five werewolves, including the Elder Wolf.
Each one was swordmaster-level, equivalent to gathering all the captains of the empire's knight orders.
“This is more serious than the Day of Purge....”
Back then, they had come at me one by one, so I managed to hold out.
But fighting those guys as a group....
No one would survive.
They had always operated stealthily, one or two at a time.
But now they had gathered under their chieftain....
They were practically a living disaster.
“...”
I steadied my breathing.
Then, I secretly circled behind the campsite and blended in among the hostages.
I needed to find a way other than fighting.
“Close your eyes, princess.”
The Elder Wolf stopped right in front of Tina's nose.
Then, he raised his massive claws toward the air.
“Let us begin.”
At that moment.
“...!”
The princess snapped open her closed eyes.
Thanks to that, her glacier-blue eyes flashed.
“Please wait a moment.”
Was it because Tina stepped forward willingly?
The old wolf momentarily halted his descending forepaw.
“Do you have last words?”
The wolf asked with cold eyes.
“Yes, I do.”
Even with death before her, the princess spoke clearly.
“It doesn't matter if I die alone. If my death can save everyone here.”
Tina took a deep breath.
“But what you truly want right now is genuine revenge, isn't it?”
“What are you trying to say?”
The wolf frowned and asked.
Then, Tina glanced toward Elder Hummels.
“It was my father who permitted the werewolf hunt. However, that was because of a report that your son had killed a Bakal merchant!”
“My son was the chieftain. He was no savage who killed innocent humans.”
The wolf spoke coldly to the princess who scratched at his nerves.
“I know. All of this was based on false information.”
The northern princess raised her finger.
And pointed at the old elder.
“It was this man who first requested the werewolf hunt and fabricated false reports to create a pretext!”
“What...?”
The Elder Wolf halted his forepaw at her words.
Seizing the moment, Tina revealed the truth.
“In the past, Elder Hummels boasted about a black crystal necklace he had made.”
The old elders who had been listening all turned to look at the elder.
It seemed to be true.
“And he explained that a werewolf's heart was embedded in the black crystal he made.”
“Princess, are you mad? When did I ever say such a thing...!”
The enraged Hummels cut off the princess's words.
“Kill the princess quickly! She's the emperor's own daughter, as you wished!”
The werewolves frowned at the conflicting testimonies of the two humans.
A situation where they couldn't tell whose words were true.
Then, to turn the tables, Tina shouted firmly.
“If you don't believe me, I'll tell you an even more cruel truth.”
Tina pointed to her left chest.
“I'll explain exactly how your son's heart became a black crystal necklace.”
And, with her snow-white white hair fluttering, she spoke.
“If you hear it and it truly sounds like a method to create an artifact, then Hummels is proven guilty.”
The elder ground his teeth at the princess who refuted him point by point.
Then, the Elder Wolf raised his hand, ordering his subordinates to drag the old man forward.
“Urk...!”
Massive werewolf men grabbed the elder from both sides.
And forced him to kneel on the ground.
“Speak, princess. Tell me how my son died....”
The chieftain lowered his claws and leaned on his staff with both hands.
Then, he let out a deep sigh.
“Yes, your son was captured alive at the time. However, he was soon moved to Hummels's workshop, and after that, we only heard rumors.”
“While still alive....”
The voice of the father who lost his son began to tremble more and more.
Human or monster, it was the same.
“They beat the living werewolf. Then, with the heartbeat amplified, they sliced open the chest.”
“Continue....”
The Elder Wolf's massive arms trembled faintly.
His old tree-staff shook.
“They squeeze out fresh blood before the extracted heart stops beating and drip it onto the black crystal. That's how they extract the werewolf's essence.”
The Elder Wolf said nothing more.
“The blood-soaked black crystal is refined into a necklace. Wearing it allows one to gain the werewolf's power to defend against any magic.”
He merely listened silently to the process of his son's death.
“And he boasted that he gave that necklace to his own son.”
The princess finished speaking there.
Then, the old wolf staggered and bent his knees.
“Chieftain...!”
The werewolves supported their chieftain.
The old wolf steadied his posture, saying he was fine.
“It's exactly the method those old shamans used in the past. The way they killed our isolated tribe and harvested our power....”
The Elder Wolf looked at Hummels.
Red tears flowed from the monster's eyes as he gazed at the old man.
“And this one used black magic too...?”
“...”
The elder tightly pressed his lips.
He seemed unable to think of a way to turn the situation around anymore.
“Tell me. Where is that black crystal?”
The desperate father wolf's question.
In response, Hummels firmly shook his head.
“What are you talking about? As if I would have such an item?”
The elder looked at the other elders who had traveled with him.
And desperately cried out for help.
“Tell them! Did I ever boast about making a black crystal artifact?”
The elders gave no answer to his question.
They merely stayed silent, fearing the sparks would fly their way.
“...”
The chieftain staggered toward the old man.
Both men had faces wrinkled by the winds of time.
As if they had few days left to live.
“Killing you won't match the value of my son's vibrant life.”
An old knife scar stood out on the bridge of his nose.
“Our kind can live at least 120 years.”
Scabs had healed, with sparse fur growing.
“And my son was only twenty when he died.”
A son who could have lived another hundred years.
A father deprived of seeing his son's coming-of-age, his wedding, his grandchildren.
For such a father, executing the old man was no compensation.
“So, I must kill your child as well. Is it here?”
At the old wolf's question, Hummels firmly shook his head.
However, the monster could instinctively tell from the human's eyes.
That he was lying.
“So it is here.”
The Elder Wolf looked at Bakal's knights.
Among the kneeling hostages, there were twelve men.
“One of them must be it.”
The red eyes of the wolf, filled with cunning experience.
Following those eyes, Tina and the entire guard detail looked at the men.
“Speak. Who is this old man's son?”
The guard detail all shook their heads.
They were originally from different knight orders and had met for the first time in the guard detail.
“Very well. Then I have no choice but to make him come out myself.”
The Elder Wolf raised his claws toward the old man.
And, glaring coldly at the guard detail, he shouted.
“If you don't come out, I will kill your father.”
Purple energy swirled around the old wolf's claws.
He was resolute enough to handle the execution himself rather than delegate it.
“Even a young woman stepped forward for her father. Surely a man won't hide...?”
Hummels looked at the massive forepaw looming over him.
Then, he shouted loudly toward the guard detail.
“Do not come out, no matter what!!”
Even in old age, his voice boomed.
“If I die, assemble the army and kill all these damned wolves!!”
Hummels shouted as if resolved to death.
――――――!!
At that moment.
The Elder Wolf struck down at the noisy old man's neck.
Thud....
Thanks to that, the old elder's head rolled across the ground.
“...”
Christina, standing nearby, trembled as black blood splattered onto her hair.
The dead old man's head rolled to her feet.
“It seems the father cherished his son greatly....”
The instigator of this incident had been eliminated.
Afterward, a brief, eerie silence enveloped the campsite.
‘What happens now?'
Blended in among Bakal's hostages, I cautiously lifted my head.
Everyone held their breath, watching the Elder Wolf.
The old wolf looked down at Hummels's corpse with a hollow expression.
“What will you do with us now...?”
The white-haired princess mustered her courage and asked.
In response, the wolf looked at the princess and the guard detail with unfocused eyes.
“....”
And he spoke.
In a utterly ruthless voice.
“Of course, I will continue searching for this man's son.”
The werewolf shook off the old man's blood from his claws.
Then, with resolute eyes, he said.
“Now I realize how much he cherished his child.”
“You, Hummels's child hiding there. Come out at once with the black crystal that was made from my son.”
The wolf raised his claws, dripping with fresh blood.
His red eyes flashed as he spoke.
“Otherwise, I will kill everyone here one by one. Until you come out.”
“...!”
At his words, all the humans in the campsite fell into terror.
Because Hummels's death was not the end of the incident, but merely the beginning.
“The elder is dead, isn't it over?!”
The men looked at each other.
There were currently twenty knights from Bakal.
Among them, only four were from the same hometown as Hummels.
And among those....
“What do we do now....”
I was there too, having secretly blended in.
Among them, I put on a wronged expression, pretending to be an innocent suspect.
“Veil...?”
Tina stared blankly at me, who had voluntarily jumped onto the suspect list.
Lea was the same.
She furrowed her mature brows as she looked at me leaping into the fray.
“What on earth are you thinking...?”
The two women looked at me with bewildered eyes.
To them, I made a 'shh' gesture with my finger.
'I will find his son myself.'