61. Legend of the Werewolf
61. Legend of the Werewolf
-Knock, knock.
"Who is it..?"
When I knocked on the lab door, Professor Praha poked her head out.
Behind her large glasses, she still had the same haggard face, as if she hadn't slept properly again last night.
Her skin was like a white porcelain bowl, and the dark, murky circles underneath lent a decadent beauty to the otherwise healthy image of an elf, giving off a peculiar vibe.
Elves need less sleep than humans, so how little was she sleeping to end up like that?
Was she even sleeping at all?
"I came for an inspection."
"Uwaht?! Sponsor-nim??"
The moment Professor Praha realized her sudden visitor was her funding source, she was so startled she nearly fell backward.
I had come to check what progress had been made since then.
"Have you made any progress?"
"Since it involves clashing with a legendary dragon, I've been scouring all the other legends too."
Professor Praha's lab was a mess of all sorts of materials, not just chemicals.
It was reassuring to see she was going through everything indiscriminately, from papers to thick books.
At least she wasn't the type to take the money and lie down on the job.
While scanning the materials, I picked up one paper that caught my eye.
Judging by its position, it looked like she had been reading it just moments ago.
"The Essence of the Werewolf..?"
"Yes, yes. That's a story that appears in multiple places, so I set it aside as a possibility."
Werewolves were monsters that existed in this world.
Ordinarily taking human form, they transformed into giant bipedal wolves only on nights of the full moon. Werewolves often clashed with the wolf beastmen, who sported wolf ears and tails even in their normal state.
Unlike the beastmen, whose autonomy was recognized by all as an intelligent species, there were several reasons werewolves were classified as monsters...
Werewolves increased their numbers through infection, not reproduction,
and unlike beastmen, every single one of them lost their reason and turned into a monster on the night of the full moon.
As a monster that actually existed, the werewolf itself was no legend.
The legend of the werewolf Professor Praha was talking about was an entirely different kind of story.
"Just as you, Sponsor-nim, ingested the Dragon Essence, there was a concrete legend about the Werewolf Essence.
There have long been stories that this legend was based on real events."
Now, it could not simply be dismissed as a legend.
Like the numerous essences dwelling in my body, the Dragon Essence was also an item that only existed in legends.
The only reason it didn't show much on me was because I was a Master; had a growing Expert drunk it, they would have felt an immense surge of growth.
Though what I'd wanted was a Growth Potion, not the Dragon Essence.
As a monster, the werewolf was a troublesome upper-rank monster, but compared to an existence like a dragon, which itself was a legend, it was rather shabby.
However, the legendary Werewolf Essence was based on a being from myth, not the werewolf as a monster.
-Once upon a time, a Wolf God bestowed a precious treasure upon her shrine.
A young priest at the shrine guarded it preciously, but fools blinded by rumors that the treasure granted eternal life and power coveted it, burned the shrine, killed the priest, and seized the treasure.
At that moment, the earth began to tremble, and the bodies of the fools who invaded the shrine transformed into wolves, losing their reason and scattering. They became the origin of the werewolves that exist today.
"It's a legend teaching a lesson about fools who coveted a god's object.. But it cuts off there, doesn't it?"
"Actually, ruins presumed to be the shrine that served that Wolf God were discovered, and a follow-up story that had been passed down orally in the surrounding area once became a hot topic in academic circles."
"There's a follow-up story?"
"Yes.. There's a legend that while the fools were cursed by the god and turned into beasts, the priest who risked his life to protect the treasure to the end had the god's treasure settle within his body, and he lived happily, enjoying eternal life..."
"Eternal life, what.. That's utter nonsense."
"Right?"
"If he lived eternally, he should still be around. What, is he hiding in some wilderness? ...Well, because of that legend, there were quite a few attempts to gain the power of the werewolf."
"You knew about it."
"It's famous."
Since this legend circulated as a very common folk tale, there had been numerous attempts by humans to gain the mysterious power of the werewolf.
There were those who tried eating werewolf meat, drinking its blood, or attaching a part of one to their body,
"There were also those who tried to mix blood.. and most of those failed too."
There were even people who tried to conceive a child with a werewolf.
There were attempts claiming that a child conceived in human form wouldn't show werewolf traits, and others attempted while the werewolf was transformed into a wolf.
To think of doing that with a werewolf, an upper-rank monster that had lost its reason... humans were truly terrifying.
This, too, was familiar knowledge to me.
"But using the Werewolf Essence could definitely cause an explosive increase in height!"
Right, that was it. It was because I had once come across this while frantically searching for growth methods in the past.
However, most cases ended not with the individual gaining the werewolf's power themselves, but with them passing down werewolf traits to their descendants... and even that had almost no properly successful cases.
They either just became ordinary werewolves, or something neither here nor there emerged.
"All werewolves actually discovered share a common trait. They are all males of immense height and build... There's even a record that a short, skinny man who became a werewolf grew beyond recognition.
Of course, actually becoming a monster like a werewolf would be putting the cart before the horse, so if only we could take the advantages... if only we could obtain the essence!"
Professor Praha's glasses flashed.
"So... since all werewolves are tall, if we can only obtain their essence, I could grow taller too... is that what you mean?"
"Yes! According to the legend, that 'Essence' isn't a monster's essence, but a god's treasure. So it could definitely surpass the Dragon Essence!"
"Ha.. really...."
We didn't know if the Werewolf Essence even existed, nor whether it would turn me into a werewolf or if I could absorb only the advantages...
But since there had never been a short person among those who became werewolves, should we just try it?
It was truly a madly dangerous thing to do.
"D-did I go too overboard...?"
"That's a really good idea. Let's do it right away."
When I looked into it back then, it was about people desperately trying to gain a werewolf's power, not its essence, so I filtered it out. But if it was about taking a god's essence, that changed things.
If I could accept only the werewolf's advantages while remaining human, it was more than worth a shot.
"So, how can we obtain this Werewolf Essence?"
"We have to start figuring that out now."
"Well, shit."
So we had to start from square one.
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The moment I left the lab, I went to observe the Swordsmanship Research Club at the invitation of my cousin, Hera nuna.
The Swordsmanship Research Club was one of the academy's pillars, and its scale was large.
Just as the Newspaper Club used a whole small building as its printing office, the Swordsmanship Research Club also used an entire building near the academy as its clubroom.
"You bastards! I won't let anyone who gives even a single point to the Clover Kingdom off easy!!"
""""Yes, Vice President!!!!""""
Hera shouted at the club members who were diligently swinging their swords.
It seemed winning was taken for granted, and they were honing their skills even further to avoid losing even a single point.
With so many gathered, their skills naturally varied widely.
Some were true beginners, but the further forward you went, the more skilled they became.
It appeared positions were assigned based on skill level.
Capes, tailored to a length that wouldn't hinder sword-swinging, rustled from all directions.
"Something I've been curious about for a while: why are they wearing those capes?"
"It's the cape the first president of the Swordsmanship Research Club liked to wear. It was adopted as a uniform because it's easy to distinguish from other clubs."
Hera was watching the club members training from the second-floor railing.
Her auburn hair was tied back neatly, and she wore the same cape, but perhaps because it was during club activities, her attire was much easier to move in than last time.
It felt like some kind of martial arts uniform.
"In the Swordsmanship Research Club, skill is the most important thing. I've heard about what bad blood you have with some other members, but...
In the end, they picked the fight first, and you won, right? Then that's that.
It's nothing more than a match where both sides drew their blades and decided a winner and loser. No one's going to say anything about it. No, if they do, they die by my hand."
"Haha. Helping out if it's really urgent is one thing, but officially joining the club is a bit..."
"Let's train together sometimes, little brother."
Unable to give up on the idea of recruiting me, Hera kept subtly suggesting I join.
I laughed it off appropriately and refused.
Still, helping out when things were really urgent was something I could do anytime.
After explaining the Swordsmanship Research Club from the second floor, where we could see everyone training, Hera moved indoors to continue our conversation.
Once we arrived at the consultation room, Hera suddenly brought up some shocking news.
"And.. I contacted Father yesterday."
"What..?"
My mind went blank.
I'd thought we'd have that conversation face-to-face once I was out of the academy... So I thought I'd at least be safe until vacation.
"I think I still need time to prepare my heart before telling Mother.. So I contacted Father, the person directly involved, first."
"Wh...at did he say?"
"He denied it, very euphemistically. To make excuses... I'm so disappointed in Father. But don't you worry, Atlas.. No matter how much Father denies it, this nuna is absolutely on your side!!"
After that, Hera continued to badmouth Count Nemea, letting out sighs.
'I was screwed.'
No matter what, I'd thought I had until vacation, since I was inside the academy, but to think she contacted him directly right away...
He was a maternal uncle I'd never contacted in my entire life, but I had to write a letter quickly for the sake of domestic peace.