Wyvern Subjugation Request (2)
Cynthia raised an eyebrow and shot back, “So the cooperation team starts picking a fight the moment they arrive?”
“A fight? Your low-level interpretation is truly regrettable. As the commander of this operation, I am merely making a valid point. Is arriving late to the dispatch site something to be proud of? Tsk. Lazy to the core. Your basic attitude is all wrong.”
What the hell. That deer tribe bastard.
I couldn’t believe it. If we had actually been late, I would have had nothing to say, but we had arrived well ahead of the scheduled time. If this wasn’t picking a fight, what was it? He just wanted to crush anyone he met. You know the type you run into in any workplace—people so drunk on their own superiority that they look down on colleagues, casually belittle them, mock them, and humiliate them as if it were their God-given right.
Yeah, I can already tell what kind of guy he is.
From the looks of it, this man was the most senior member of Team 1. His face alone screamed “no manners.” The others had warned me that once I met Team 1, I would understand why they were so unpleasant. Cynthia wasn’t the type to stay quiet.
She sneered and fired back, “Jenok. You’d better watch your mouth. Before I rip those horns off your head and use them as toothpicks.”
“What did you say?”
“Last time I stopped at one, but this time it’ll be both. After I cut off just one, the remaining horn stuck out crooked and the balance looked awful. It kept bothering me, so I figured if I ever got the chance again, I’d trim both sides properly.”
“You…!”
The mention of his horns made Jenok grit his teeth and react sharply. Apparently, Cynthia had once severed one of Jenok’s deer antlers.
The deer tribe bastard got scratched where it hurts.
Deer beastmen grew branch-like antlers on their heads. If a human had antlers sprouting from their skull, they were definitely deer tribe. Deer beastmen placed great importance on their horns. Each race had wildly different cultures and traditions, and the deer tribe’s most representative belief was that “horns are a sacred blessing bestowed by the heavens.” They firmly believed the sky had granted special favor only to the deer tribe, and that the horns were proof of that blessing—an idea passed down through generations. Horns were both a symbol proving one’s race and a matter of honor and pride to be protected as dearly as life itself. Within the tribe, severing antlers was considered a severe punishment. It was only natural in their culture to view the cutting of antlers as more humiliating than any physical injury.
Want to piss off a deer tribe human? No need for anything fancy. Just say, “Your horns look like shit.” They could endure being cursed at directly, but mockery aimed at their horns was something they could never tolerate.
I looked at the deer beastman named Jenok. The pair of antlers sprouting from his head like velvet. Cynthia had supposedly cut one off before, but it seemed enough time had passed for it to grow back. Threatening to cut them again after he had worked so hard to regrow them was bound to wound his pride.
Following Cynthia, Zakan landed a second blow. “Those horns of yours were pretty useful back then. Felt great using them as a backscratcher.”
“You bastards…!”
Jenok’s ears flushed red. The attack had landed cleanly. If they weren’t in the count’s mansion, he looked ready to throw a punch.
The wolf beastman beside Jenok couldn’t stay silent any longer. He bared his teeth with a menacing aura and growled, “How dare you make such insulting remarks! I can’t tolerate this!”
“Kun. Calm down.”
“Are you just going to sit there and listen? They’re trampling on your honor right now…!”
“Have you forgotten we’re in the middle of a mission?”
The wolf beastman named Kun, who had started to rise, reluctantly sat back down on the sofa.
Honor, my ass. They had been the ones hurling insults first, and now they were acting offended? These people were arrogance incarnate. Mages were generally known for terrible personalities, so it wasn’t that surprising. Our team just happened to be relatively normal. Compared to the entire mage world, which was full of personality disasters, this was actually pretty standard mage behavior.
The deer beastman Jenok spoke to us. “You should have received the briefing. Command of the subjugation operation rests with me. Once the operation begins in earnest, you will simply follow my orders. If you defy my words or disobey decisions like you’re doing now, I will use my authority as commander to remove you from the mission.”
Of course, we already knew this from Gengor. The higher-ups had decided Jenok would lead this subjugation. But even a newcomer like me could clearly see the ulterior motive behind his words. He planned to use us as much as possible, then find some excuse to kick our team out once we were no longer useful, so his own team could hog all the credit.
The seniors understood this too, of course. Zakan snorted and replied sarcastically, “Yes, yes. Since you’re the temporary leader, we’ll follow along. Oh, should we call you Horn Leader instead?”
Apparently unable to stand Zakan’s mocking tone, Jenok finally shut his mouth, looking thoroughly defeated.
“Please eliminate the wyvern. We’re counting on you, mages.”
After finishing our meeting with the count, we moved with the knights to the location of the erosion.
“It’s here.”
Atop a low hill, a red oval-shaped hole floated in the air—an entrance into the erosion. Just as the Exploration Department had predicted, the cause of the wyvern’s appearance was the erosion. Beyond that hole lay the wyvern’s nest.
“The Steel Shield Knight Order will do our utmost to support you.”
The brown-haired knight commander answered. The Steel Shield Knight Order served under Count Portri and was renowned throughout the kingdom. They had produced winners in martial tournaments such as jousting matches and knight duels, and had earned fame through numerous territorial wars and monster subjugations. Since the incident had occurred within the count’s domain, they were obligated to protect the territory and thus joined the subjugation force.
Having such skilled knights join us was welcome news for our overall strength, but…
Knights don’t like mages, do they?
If you asked any knight what profession they hated most, nine out of ten would say mages. Because of the nature of their roles, knights and mages often ended up as partners. Most mages acted as if they were nobles, sitting back and demanding service while ordering knights around to do all the menial tasks. That inherent sense of superiority mages carried was what irritated people.
The saying “A knight’s best friend when standing next to a mage is stomach medicine” existed for a reason. On large-scale battlefields, it wasn’t uncommon to see knights popping stomach pills because the stress from dealing with mages gave them chronic digestive issues.
Additionally, mages were notoriously stubborn and capricious, making them exhausting to work with. Even fellow mages despised each other, so there was no way knights would enjoy their company.
Come to think of it, everyone’s expressions look pretty grim.
I glanced over the knights. Including their commander, there were twenty in total. All of them wore gloomy faces, as if they were holding back the urge to curse while forcing themselves to maintain a poker face. Having to work with mages was already stressing them out.
I genuinely felt sorry for the stress they were about to endure and offered them silent condolences in advance. Though, worrying about other people’s stress wasn’t really my priority right now.
“Let’s go in.”
Team 1, Team 3, and the Steel Shield Knight Order—three groups—stepped into the erosion.
. . .
It was a dense forest. A tropical rainforest with hot, humid air. Cynthia narrowed her eyes and looked around before speaking. “The area is so vast I can’t even gauge its size. In a large forest erosion like this, it’s easy to lose your sense of direction. There might be perception-distorting magic or illusion magic that makes you wander. Since the hole is fixed, we should use this as our reference point so we don’t get lost…”
“Shut up, Cynthia.”
Jenok cut off her suggestion sharply. “Who gave you permission to give orders? Do you think I wouldn’t know something so basic?”
“As a cooperation team, I thought this level of suggestion was acceptable.”
“Did I ask for your opinion? I clearly told you not to interfere unnecessarily and to just do as I say. Either you can’t understand simple instructions, or your memory is terrible.”
Jenok’s face twisted with irritation as he snapped at her. Cynthia started to retort but swallowed her words. She understood that getting the mission done came first, and it was better to back down than waste time arguing right after entering the erosion.
That deer tribe bastard flies off the handle at the slightest thing. Does he have anger management issues?
The knights wore troubled expressions at the already rocky atmosphere. These mage bastards are already giving me a headache. I could practically hear their inner thoughts.
Once Cynthia stepped back, Jenok spread his palm. A large staff made of ancient wood materialized in his hand. The staff was twisted like a pretzel with green vines wrapped around it. When he pointed the staff at the ground ahead, roots spread through the previously empty soil like blood vessels, writhing and intertwining until they merged into a single massive red tree that shot upward toward the sky.
Jenok extended his staff toward the branches of the giant red tree. Small blue feathers flowed from the staff and settled on the branches. When he chanted a spell, the feathers transformed into bluebirds. Jenok addressed the bluebird perched on the branch. “Guard the entrance. If any wyvern passes nearby, report to me immediately.”
“Yes, Master!”
So he really was a druid. I had suspected as much from the faint forest scent I detected when I first saw him. His appearance doesn’t match the image at all. Weren’t druids supposed to be kind, pure, bright-eyed people? With those dead-fish eyes and dark circles, he looked more like a mad scientist who had crawled out of an underground lab. A cute, harmless druid who harmonized with nature and pursued peace and healing? Yeah, right.
After assigning the bluebird its role, Jenok looked around at everyone and said, “We’ll use this red giant tree as our reference point. Search outward in a radial pattern and regroup here.”