The Milestone Pointed by the Full Moon - 5
“A cave?”
The place where the alpha wolf stopped was a cave at the bottom of the valley, shrouded in fog.
A sigh escaped me at the thought of having to explore yet another damn cave.
But as I tried to enter, the wolf blocked my path.
“What? Weren’t you telling me to go inside the cave?”
“Awooooo!”
The alpha wolf turned toward the cave and let out a long, drawn-out howl. Seeing it call for someone, it seemed I had misunderstood on my own.
As I waited awkwardly, light footsteps approached from inside the cave.
Did the valley wolf pack have a human family member or something?
A silhouette walking on two legs came into view, though still blurry.
“Rare. This land, human, came.”
“A lycanthrope…?”
“Correct.”
As the distance closed, the silhouette’s identity was revealed. Head of a wolf. Body covered in fur, skeletal structure similar to a human. However, it seemed unskilled with human language, speaking in broken words.
Should I be grateful for meeting a wolf that could communicate at all?
First, I realized that the true leader of the wolves was this wolf-man.
“I am Laskan. Heard, human. Helped, kin. Thanks.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t do it to receive thanks.”
“Reward, speak.”
“Hmm? I don’t particularly want anything.”
I had only come as a follower of Prihart to meet the followers of Maseta, who was close to my patron god. Then I ran into those despicable Magic Tower bastards and got into a mess.
Ah, I should have extracted information before killing them.
Already too late.
In the end, I had no choice but to speculate. The most likely story was that after the operation to kidnap the Saintess of the World Tree failed, they targeted the wolves of the Fog Valley this time.
Wolves instead of elves…….
I can’t easily guess what they’re plotting.
Do you not see a clear commonality in this series of incidents?
You mean the connection to gods?
Exactly. We should assume the Magic Tower bastards are plotting a grand plan that requires divine power.
So that means I could become a target too?
Originally yes, but they probably won’t know unless you reveal the god’s mark.
Well, Prihart’s temple was not only in the snowy mountains but also hidden under the snow. It would be hard for the Magic Tower to find it unless they were determined. Moreover, considering time and distance, it was extremely inefficient, so targeting the nearby elves or wolves was more advantageous.
“Human, no greed. But reward, necessary.”
“Why are you so insistent on repaying me?”
“Tribe, iron rule. Received grace, must repay.”
“Hmm, then is it possible to ask for help in a war?”
Laskan shook his head left and right. It seemed to be a request he couldn’t grant.
“Fog, essential. Leave, expulsion.”
“Umm. So you can’t leave this Fog Valley, and if you do, you’re no longer part of the tribe?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t expect troops to fight Ignite. Thinking that, it was a dilemma. A situation where I couldn’t receive the reward unless now. I had to demand something, but I didn’t know what the wolves had.
Even in the original work, Hesha and Kang Junhyuk only obtained the Moonlight Flower and fled, so there was no detailed mention of the Fog Valley wolves at all.
“Then can you ask your patron god if they can bestow even a small blessing?”
“Impossible. Blessing, bestow. Only tribe.”
To receive Maseta’s blessing, one had to become a member of the wolf tribe. And as Laskan said earlier, becoming a tribe member meant living in the Fog Valley for life. I didn’t fancy settling in the valley, and there was a mountain of things to do outside, so I could only smack my lips.
“If this is no and that is no, then what am I supposed to do……”
“S-sorry. Constraints, force majeure.”
“Yeah, it’s not your fault. Just give me the best thing you have among what you possess.”
“Understood.”
Laskan went back into the cave he had come from. While he brought the treasure, I revised the priorities in my head. One of my goals had turned into a bomb that could explode at any time.
The annihilation of the Magic Tower. Just like defeating Ignite, it was something I had to carefully attend to. The fortunate point was that the situation was different from the Fire Dragon. Since I had killed every person related to the Magic Tower without missing any, with no witnesses left, the Magic Tower didn’t know of my existence. That’s why I had placed it as the priority after Ignite.
I might need to uproot them before they become more troublesome.
Ignite is arrogant. He would judge that he can crush someone like me anytime and not make any special efforts to grow stronger. But the Magic Tower is different. They always pursue new knowledge and even touch taboos to gain power. This time, they seem to be researching and abusing the power of gods.
I barely protected Marianne and the Fog Valley wolves, but there are those who revere other gods throughout the kingdom. I can’t protect all of them, and quite a few have already been taken by the Magic Tower. If I leave the Magic Tower, which seeks to raise their realm through inhumane experiments, alone, they will become more of a headache than a dragon. So I needed to change the priorities.
The only concern was whether I should pick a fight after completing the magic sword. Even if not at dragon level, the Magic Tower Master is quite strong. The Magic Tower Master, who had surpassed 8th rank and was looking toward the transcendence of 9th rank, was a formidable enemy who, like the Light Dragon, had driven Kang Junhyuk to the brink of death. I needed to make thorough preparations against an opponent on whom shallow tricks wouldn’t work.
Mountain after mountain…….
That’s just how life is.
I want to throw it all away and live happily in a cozy home with the people I love.
Hehe, for the sake of such a lovely future, don’t you have to endure the current suffering?
That’s true.
After possessing Bern’s body, I had tried not to care even if the world perished. But as precious people appeared one by one, a goal of wanting to protect them arose. For that reason, I intended to collapse the Magic Tower that would become a problem later, and kill the red lizard that touched Rene. Only then could I swagger around as a husband who isn’t ashamed anywhere.
“Human! Treasure, brought.”
“What’s that book? Is that the treasure?”
“Yes. Revered, sacred, supreme treasure.”
“Hmm……”
Figuring I might as well be fooled, I accepted the thick book from Laskan. There were pictures drawn inside the book. Not with pen and ink, but scratched with a wolf’s claws. Yet the expression was surprisingly good, and I was quite astonished.
The picture on the cover was of Laskan himself, of a quality that was no exaggeration to call a carbon copy, so my trust rose. Perhaps Laskan had expressed his martial arts or secret techniques in pictures. If so, this book held a value that was no exaggeration to call a treasure.
Looking forward to it?
Rustle-!
I turned the page and looked at the next picture. Laskan standing, no different from the cover. But a new wolf was added in front of him. A cooperative technique? Though a bit disappointing, if it was a technique I could use with Rene and Lin, it wasn’t bad.
Rustle-!
The wolf was the same, and this time Laskan’s appearance changed. He was kneeling on both knees, pressed close behind the wolf.
Rustle-!
Laskan gripping the wolf’s waist. He was pulling his hips far back. And on his lower body, a stick that hadn’t been there before was added.
Rustle-!
He thrust the stick into the wolf.
I immediately closed the book and looked at Laskan. He was rubbing his nose with his finger as if embarrassed. The identity of the book he gave as a treasure was erotic art. Moreover, adult material made from his own experiences that I didn’t want to see.
Only now did I learn that Laskan’s fur was unusually blue. The other wolves were gray or black, but he alone was blue. Suspiciously so…….
“You weren’t normal either, huh.”
The wolf-man who tore through countless vampires under the full moon and showed off his majesty. That image from the movies was mercilessly shattered. I had somewhat expected it to turn out like this, but seeing it made me laugh.
“Haha!”
This trashy world needs to be burned down.
“Haha, hohohoho!”
A tower far from the Fog Valley. On the top floor of the tower was an old man laughing heartily just like Bern.
“It’s complete. At last, I have completed it!”
In his hand was a sword emitting a sinister aura. Just approaching it, one would feel an ominous energy enveloping them. Yet the old man held the sword casually and examined it this way and that.
“They said only dwarves could make magic swords? Ha! That’s nonsense now. Even humans can make them sufficiently!”
The old man raised the sword high. Declaring that the fruit of his efforts had been borne, he was happier than usual. Even though hundreds of demon corpses were strewn behind him.
What the old man created was an artificial magic sword made from demonic energy extracted from demons. Unlike Frach, who possessed refined demonic energy, it was a crude collection of demonic energy, but it was still a proper magic sword.
“Next is the holy sword.”
Though he achieved a miracle with the body of a mage rather than a blacksmith, his grand ambition was not yet over. Just like when he made the magic sword, he planned to forcibly extract divine power to make a holy sword.
The moment the holy sword is completed. The world will be mine…!