Chapter 21 - I'll Make an Offer You Can't Refuse
It was a pitch-black night.
The only source of light to rely on in the forest was an incomplete full moon.
But even that wasn't whole, and the moonlight that seeped through the branches was as good as non-existent.
Though the light was faint, it was more than enough for those who lived here in the forest.
Five senses, incomparable to the usual.
Techniques that grew more refined.
Monstrous strength that erupted from a swollen body.
He made his claws into tips, turning himself into an arrow.
Not long after entering the forest, I sensed that those arrows were aimed at me.
The reason the arrows didn't fly ‘immediately’ despite me trespassing on their territory was simple.
It was because the one who had trespassed was a vampire, a race they had killed and been killed by for centuries, and to make matters worse, a direct descendant of the Queen.
Pale skin beneath shabby clothes.
The bloodline that flowed within that skin.
The werewolves had realized her lineage just by sniffing the air.
I shouted into the seemingly empty space.
“Shouldn’t this be enough for identification? You might as well take me to the Hunter.”
The Forest of the Wailing Ghost.
In this place, where even a single gust of wind brought a cacophony of unpleasant sounds, there was not a single noise at this moment.
Even when someone walked out from between the trees, nothing could be heard.
A man in black clothes, who seemed to be walking on leaves.
He wore very large, drooping clothes, but it wasn't hard to imagine why he needed them.
The man, with a short beard and closely cropped hair, spoke.
“What are you scheming?”
His words were fraught with many meanings.
The werewolves’ noses would have surely smelled the scent of Millesdusk next to the Queen’s blood.
Furthermore, from the Black Wolf Brigade’s perspective, they would know why their client was attacking a colossal merchant.
The Fifth Son, who was the cause and the target of the request, had calmly walked into their main encampment.
Not captured by anyone, but of his own accord.
“How did you know the location of this place?”
“One question at a time. Besides, I believe I’ve already answered.”
Let me meet the Hunter.
He was a general-like figure who held command within the werewolves, second only to the Lord.
The man’s expression soured.
“…You’re quite composed for someone who’s come looking for a gravesite. Should I cut off an arm for you to realize where you stand?”
“I have no attachment to my arm. But if you let me go now, your general will have many attachments.”
“And why would we? I think we’d get paid three times as much if we brought your head to our client.”
“And then Millesdusk would hunt you down. Because beings who are not of the bloodline laid a hand on a direct descendant of Millesdusk.”
“……”
“Then all your hiding places will be exposed and spread throughout Millesdusk, and perhaps even reach my mother’s ears. Is that what you want?”
Or.
“Will you listen to the proposal of me, an ugly duckling disowned by my mother, yet also a direct descendant of Millesdusk?”
Ssssk─
Dozens of bright yellow glints of light appeared in the darkness of the forest.
The Fangs of the Black Wolf Brigade.
The surviving werewolves.
However, in my eyes, it wasn’t just the beasts’ pupils that were visible.
“The night wind is cold for chatting out here. Isn’t that right, Hunter?”
My blood-red eyes turned to the space behind the man who had walked out.
The man couldn't hide his surprised expression, as if he never imagined I would notice a werewolf’s stealth.
“Yarun. That’s enough. Step aside.”
“…My apologies, Hunter.”
The man called Yarun moved his massive frame aside.
From the darkness behind him, he spoke.
“You are young.”
“I suppose so.”
He wasn't telling me to speak formally.
As one of the Queen’s sworn enemies, he was simply stating his pure impression.
“Are you the only one of your blood?”
“If you’re talking about other direct descendants my mother gave birth to, I don’t know.”
This was the truth.
Nowhere in the story had it ever been revealed that the Queen had any children other than the Youngest Son.
Furthermore, lies were useless in front of the Hunter.
A werewolf of the Hunter's caliber could detect lies with his extremely sensitive hearing.
It was a rather different method from our side, which felt and utilized the heart itself.
Nevertheless, the end result was the same.
That it was impossible for us to lie to each other.
This was one of the reasons why vampires and werewolves fought to the death.
For these beings could not even lie and say they were for you.
“I will ask. What should I call you?”
“Young Master.”
“……”
“You can drop the honorific if you don’t like it.”
The Hunter’s glowing eyes, emerging from the darkness, narrowed.
“It seems you tried to gauge the extent of the bond I feel with the vampire side. I have never seen a vampire other than myself.”
“Blood is thicker than water. A phrase you people often spout.”
“Those aren't my words, though.”
“Indeed. They were your mother’s words. Since blood is thicker than water, it is easy to know what kind of person you, who were born of that blood, are.”
“Then why don’t you kill me?”
The conversation paused once again.
The reason my limbs and neck were still attached.
Was it because the Hunter knew his own abilities, and knew that this body could not escape them?
“You can kill someone like me at any time, so there’s no need to hurry? You might think that, but the reality is different.”
“……”
The Hunter did not open his mouth.
In a situation where neither could lie, the best lie was silence.
“Even if you lower your heart rate to an extreme degree with your extrasensory perception, I can tell. The sound of a heart under external influence feels different to the ear from the start.”
─!
The forest trembled.
The werewolves had trembled faintly.
The sensitive ears of a direct descendant of the Queen had caught the voices among the werewolves.
“A half-blood of a half-blood couldn't possibly notice the Hunter's body manipulation ability. Do you really think so?”
Smiling faintly, I looked back at the still-silent Hunter.
It was time to fuel the fire.
“Your daughter. I will cure her.”
***
Hunter Remus’s daughter waited for her uncles and father in a house made of thick logs.
They were in the middle of a meeting about the upcoming second raid on the Maxman Merchant Troupe.
Suddenly, an unusual scent wafted to the werewolves’ noses.
It had been a long time since they last smelled it.
The smell of blood that was impossible to forget, no matter how they tried.
Only that species could exude such a strong smell of blood without shedding or spilling a single drop.
Forgetting the meeting and everything else, the werewolves all rushed out, leaving only the sick behind in the village.
An empty village, seen alone in a werewolf encampment where communal living was the norm.
A deep sense of powerlessness and emptiness seemed to rise from the marrow of her bones, gnawing at her.
“…Damn it.”
She bit her lip.
The curse laid upon her blood showed no signs of being lifted, no matter what famous medicine she took.
It was the same even when visiting renowned sorcerers and shamans.
This curse, where if she got even the slightest cut, it would take at least a few days for the blood to stop.
The amount of blood she lost during that time was not small, and if the wound was large, it was a direct threat to her life.
Due to the constant bleeding, the very foundation of a werewolf’s fighting style, which was based on self-regeneration, had crumbled.
“I wish this damn curse would just disappear….”
Because of it, watching her father overexert himself was even more painful.
She wished he would just stay by her side. She wished he was with her right now.
“I’ll have to tell him when he gets back. To stop earning money by revealing the clan’s power─”
Rustle─
The bushes near the village parted left and right.
And then, a strange man walked into the village.
Naturally, the tip of her nose twitched.
To the young werewolf, it was a blood scent so strong it made her brain ache.
It was the power of a bloodline that imprinted who the owner of the blood scent was, and who the owner of the blood was.
“A beautiful place.”
The uninvited guest, befitting an uninvited guest, was still perfectly composed, even with both hands tightly bound.
The ceiling, unobstructed by branches or leaves, let the moonlight pour in directly.
Thanks to that, the werewolves’ main encampment became the brightest place in this eerie forest.
Moreover, the young werewolf, with the moonlight on her head, was so pale that a vampire might momentarily mistake her for one of their own kind.
‘…Still, is it a relief that she’s alive?’
It was the same with Josephine, and it was the same now.
As the playing timeline was different, the time between quests was also slightly off or changed.
Josephine wasn’t as skilled as I thought she would be, and that young wolf was alive.
‘Originally, that child dies, and the Hunter, overcome with despair, abandons his clan and wanders around looking for a place to die.’
But the poignant longing and regret for someone who was gone was enough to drive even a Hunter with a strong mind mad.
That naturally led to hatred for the living, and was directed at the sorcerers who couldn't cure his daughter's curse.
His twisted mind couldn't keep its claws still, and he turned the Citadel upside down, preventing people from opening their gates.
The player somehow manages to lift his wolf hide.
Along with it, they also get a junk item.
“What a beautiful jewel necklace.”
“…What, what is it? Get away.”
The wolf, whose name I didn't even know yet, was extremely wary of the outsider, her fur standing on end.
She didn't have a tail since she was in human form, but if she did, it would have been stiff with tension.
“Father. Why did you bring a vampire into the village…?”
Remus seemed hesitant to speak, but the Youngest Son answered for him.
“To cure you.”
“A vampire, me?”
“Strictly speaking, a Millesdusk blood relative. I’ve never even seen my mother’s face. From the looks of it, you seem to be in a similar situation.”
Thwack─
A simple punch shattered several of my ribs.
From the mouth I opened to speak, only a mouthful of blood came out instead of words.
“Sorry, but unlike you, my blood stops quickly. I also heal fast.”
“…Father. I’m going to kill him.”
Remus looked at the uninvited guest with complicated eyes.
The way he didn’t stop smiling even while bleeding showed just how familiar that man was with blood.
But for his daughter, who had to be careful of even a single mosquito, blood was directly linked to her greatest enemy.
Besides, the Queen's filthy blood had pinpointed all her symptoms without her uttering a word about her illness.
As time went on, as the non-conversation went back and forth.
The conviction that this noble of blood was the right person for the job grew stronger.
“Cailin. Just bear with it for a moment. There are many werewolves here bearing it besides you.”
“……”
The back of her neck, which had been overheating, instantly turned cold.
Because the hateful gazes pouring onto the vampire right before her eyes were tens of thousands of times hotter.
As the Hunter's only daughter, she composed herself with calmness and composure.
“How do you intend to cure my illness?”
But no one had ever maintained those two things for long in front of the Youngest Son.
“I’ll tell you if you untie this.”
Clank─
Thick iron chains were wrapped tightly around his slender wrists.
“I can’t examine the patient properly like this.”
“Do you know who made me a patient in the first place?”
“I do not.”
“It’s because of you people. Vampires.”
It was a claim that made me laugh.
“Do you just point fingers at vampires for anything related to blood?”
“You vampires cast a vicious curse on pregnant werewolves.”
Resentment and anger, accumulated over time, solidified in her pupils and shot out sharply.
“My mother overcame the curse, but I couldn’t.”
“Do you really think so? Curses don’t work on such principles.”
“I know my body best. I was cursed before I even came out into the world, so that’s why I’m in this state now.”
“This state, you say. You should think about your listening father's feelings too.”
“……”
Both Remus and Cailin shut their mouths, unable to look at each other.
Whenever the topic of the curse came up, a cold air settled over the once-harmonious father-daughter relationship.
No. I wasn't even sure if it was harmonious. They simply comforted each other because they understood each other's wounds.
Considering the habits of a Hunter, and from the perspective of a young child, I could roughly guess.
“Are you resentful of your father?”
“…That’s enough. I’m starting to really want to kill you.”
“A father who wandered only battlefields without protecting his pregnant wife. A daughter who thinks she was cursed because of it.”
The minimal understanding that comes with maturity and the resentment that had built up from a very young age must have constantly clashed.
Haa….
A long sigh escaped me.
“What a truly cursed relationship.”
Shwwwwwk─!
Thick claw marks were left on the Youngest Son’s neck.
They were so deep that the bone was exposed.
“Cai, Cailin…!”
“……”
Remus urgently checked her palm.
The palm that had grazed the bone was torn, and blood was flowing out.
It was bleeding that wouldn't stop for days.
In contrast, the Youngest Son, whose neck was half-severed.
“Before treating the bleeding and the curse.”
He stood on his own blood, looking as pristine as if nothing had happened.
“I’ll make an offer you can’t refuse.”