Wolves of Hader

Chapter 130

There was no mistaking it—they were East Asians.

But while their hair was black, their eyes were gray.

Their East Asian faces held an unfamiliar, almost alien look.

Dran and Elin actually looked more similar to us.

Those two were classified as other races, while these people were considered human.

It made me question the logic behind such classifications.

Maybe because they wore our clothes, they didn't appear like savages.

There were three men, two older women, a teenage boy, and a younger girl.

"Why? Do you know this tribe?"

"No, I don't."

"Their appearance is truly unique."

"I know, right? Even people from southern Beltern have dark skin and hair, but their bone structure is different."

All eight of them looked at us with blank expressions.

Sensing we meant no harm, they seemed relatively at ease.

Why were there East Asians in this world?

In fact, I'd been surprised just to learn that people lived in Rac.

It was only that everyone there was white.

As I stared directly, the people tensed up and looked at me.

Two men who had been sitting stood up.

Then, I noticed another difference from the East Asians I knew.

Their faces were Asian, but they were big and well-built.

They weren't the petite, round-faced kind I remembered from my previous life.

This was a people I'd never seen before.

"Where did you come from?"

They all just shook their heads.

I gestured and asked again.

"Where did you eat, sleep, hunt, and play as children? Not this village, but somewhere else."

The eight of them half-understood.

Since it wasn't this village—

One of the men spoke.

"Kami ay nagmula sa timog."

The man was pointing south.

It was an unfamiliar language.

It sounded a bit like Mongolian.

"Did you come from the south of this land?"

The people nodded.

"I am human. These people are called Dran. When we refer to you, what should we call you?"

Again, they understood.

Probably because I used the word "Dran".

"Goon."

"Goon?"

"Goon. Goon."

Urald and Wundbark looked at me.

I didn't know either.

"Where is the Goon village? If you walk, how many nights would it take to get there?"

The people looked at each other and laughed.

My actions must have amused them.

The man folded and unfolded both hands three times.

"Ten days?"

The man nodded.

"And if rowing? Ah, by boat? If you take a boat, it takes... three days. If the wind blows? Their boat was wrecked by a storm. So they were washed up on this shore. Three people died."

I asked the knight.

"Where is the boat?"

"It's downriver. We salvaged what was left half-sunk, but the group's belongings weren't there."

They were a nuclear family.

The two men were neighbors or relatives.

I gestured and asked again.

"Why did your family leave your village by boat, even with a grandmother?"

At my question, their faces hardened.

One man gestured in response.

"In your village, there was a beast—no, a monster came down and attacked? Many monsters came? So you fled by boat."

The man nodded.

Urald spoke.

"It looks like many monsters attacked their village. Weren't those the same ones that crossed the fortress wall during the cold snap?"

"That's possible."

I asked again.

"What happened to the village? What about the other people? Did everyone die?"

This time, they didn't understand my gestures.

Then the girl pointed at me with her hand.

"Why? Do you know us?"

"Mon."

"Mon? Are we 'Mon'?"

"Mon. Goon."

"We are Mon, and you are Goon. And... far to the south, Yan? Did you just say Yan?"

They all laughed and nodded.

I realized what they meant.

"So, you are the Goon tribe, but you used to be the Yan tribe, right?"

Again, everyone nodded.

My group was stunned.

The Yan tribe had lived on this continent.

"Urald, do you have charcoal?"

"Yes."

Urald took out some writing charcoal.

I took the charcoal and drew a map on the wall.

The shape of this continent and the south.

And the Yan continent beneath it.

One of the men figured out my intention.

He took the charcoal, stood by the wall, and scratched his head, clearly seeing the outline of the continent for the first time.

He recognized only the Yan continent.

He studied the map intently, then marked a dot on the shore above the equator.

It was east of the eastern mountains.

"Looks like a branch of the Yan tribe migrated to this continent a long time ago. It must be a long way from Yan to the equator."

Wundbark, looking at the map, said,

"They were probably the people who once lived at the southernmost tip of this continent. When the Tak tribe pushed south, the Yan were pushed further and further north."

Wundbark's guess seemed right.

With the Tak tribe holding the west of the southern mountains, they likely sought refuge to the east.

The vast west of the eastern mountains was dense jungle, but the narrow east side was wasteland.

It was the opposite of how the Andes are in South America.

"Please send a messenger to the fortress. Tell them I'm looking for Tuji. Have him sent directly here via Gate of Magic without blindfolding him."

"Yes, understood."

The knight left the building.

/ / /

Tuji looked at me with a bewildered expression.

He was already surprised at being transported instantly from the fortress to the new territory, and now the Yan tribe had appeared.

"So they really are the Yan tribe."

"Thank goodness you're here, Tuji."

"I was truly shocked."

So this was the original appearance of the Yan.

"The dialect is heavy, but they are speaking Yan. I'm not fluent, but I can understand."

"They call themselves the Goon tribe."

"That would be one of the many Yan sub-tribes. I've heard there are hundreds."

"Ask them what happened to their village."

Tuji questioned them in the Yan language.

The eight seemed amazed a white person knew Yan. They even looked pleased.

"They said monsters rose up from below and killed many villagers. There were devils as well."

"Devils?"

"Yes. Apparently, an ancient devil from legends has awakened recently. The monsters are said to be its minions."

But that was nowhere near the equator.

"Were the monsters made of rock by any chance?"

Tuji asked, and the Yan nodded.

Their expressions showed they had been through horrors.

"Yes, they said the monsters seemed like rocks."

I marked another point on the wall map.

Not just above the equator, but much further north.

Of course, they didn't know the exact coordinates.

"Their village was here."

Urald and Wundbark were shocked.

It was just below the eastern mountains from Mouk.

Not far from the new territory.

The main ridge of the eastern mountains was formidable, making Mouk relatively safe; but the new territory was fairly at risk.

Those monsters had never surfaced before.

What had changed?

The Guardian of the eastern mountains lived there.

It was far stronger than the Guardian in Dran's domain.

While it had little magic power or brute strength, it was very hard to capture.

The monsters were made of rock, but the Guardian wore rocks like armor.

No one knew its true nature.

Its attributes and abilities were telekinesis and gravity manipulation.

Myself and my squad could capture it.

But we could also get seriously hurt.

It wasn't something worth risking our lives for.

"I have to go over there. I need to reduce the number of monsters as much as possible."

"Are they like that monster from the Dran domain?"

"Yes. If their numbers grow too large, they start coming up to the surface. The main monster won't appear, so if we just deal with its minions, things should be safe for a while."

It was just a theory.

The one in Dran's domain appeared 28 years ago, and the eastern Guardian had begun moving recently.

Was this just a coincidence?

If the Guardians to the west and the far south of Beltern also started moving, then it couldn't be chalked up to chance.

Those monsters had never emerged in my previous life.

My father and his two friends had gone to the southernmost part of Beltern.

Maybe they went looking for the Guardian there, guided by visions from the divine sword.

If anything, this was a lucky break.

I could take the officers for actual combat training, and use it as an opportunity to forge an alliance with the Yan.

"Tell them: those monsters are dangerous for us too, so we'll go hunt them. Let them stay here for now, and when we reclaim their village, we'll send them back."

When Tuji relayed my words,

All eight kept bowing their heads.

"Please set them free."

"Understood."

I left at once.

The Yan family posed no threat to us.

They were kind and simple-hearted.

The eyes are the window to the soul, after all.

I headed to the workshop.

If their tribe lived so close to Mouk, why hadn't we met before?

Maybe they had split off from another southern tribe and gradually moved north due to food shortages or conflicts, reaching near Mouk.

I entered the workshop.

The Dran were hard at work with test builds and research—rubber tires, carriage springs, and more.

Urald went straight to an object covered with a cloth and briskly uncovered it.

It was a large generator.

Wundbark pulled off the cloth beside it.

A transformer and an electric motor.

"The generator's performance tests are finished. The transformer's a little unstable, but with trial and error it will improve. The motor can be used right away."

"We installed a smaller generator outside earlier. Would you like to see the motor in operation?"

"I'd like that."

Urald turned on the transformer first, and Wundbark pulled the motor's lever.

He pulled a smaller lever as well.

Tung-tung-tung-tung—the device shuddered with a loud noise, then gradually quieted as the vibration and sound faded.

Viiiiiing—

The motor inside the electric motor whirred rapidly.

We'd succeeded in converting AC to DC.

"That's a lot of power."

"More than enough for drilling or excavation. With that generator, we can light up the entire new territory. Making light bulbs is the tricky part."

I nodded.

Light bulbs were still being researched.

Currently, they only lasted a few days.

It would be nice if the motor could be used to power a carriage, but that was still difficult.

Battery storage was an issue—it was way too large and had an utterly insufficient capacity.

We climbed to the top floor of the workshop.

This was where Urald and Wundbark had crafted elemental weapons.

Many were already finished.

Bows, spears, swords, and magic staves.

Most were weapons.

I even saw gloves, which were mage weapons—used in place of a staff.

"They can't be used without an elemental companion or if your magic power is insufficient. Only Bellen and Lok could wield them at will."

"What kind of abilities do they have?"

"All sorts. This spear can summon seven spears of light for an instant. That sword emits a gravity wave. And that staff summons and shoots fireballs. We couldn't get any of them to work."

Since Bellen and Lok were Elin, they probably didn't need much magic power.

Their elemental companions were high-rank. If magic power were the key, only Berserkers would qualify.

"What about Bellen and Lok's weapons?"

"They already took theirs. Bellen took a mage's gloves and the Boots of Speed. Lok got an invisibility cloak and the Bouncy Boots."

"What are the Bouncy Boots?"

"You'll have to see for yourself. Since they're Elin gear, they didn't work very well for us. Only two were made, and Lok took one."

"Is there anything for myself and the squad?"

"Of course."

My and the Berserkers' gear had been set aside on a separate shelf: cloaks, masks, gloves.

And then—

What was that random pouch?

"This wind-resistant coat is the same invisibility cloak Lok took. The masks were made first for the intelligence squad—there were so many, we made extras for the squad."

"What kind of masks are these?"

"If you put one on, your face changes. And if you wear the coat too, your body appears altered as well. It doesn't actually change, but that's how people see it."

"Is it a mimic magic?"

"Probably."

The elemental seems to make you appear like a person it remembers.

The cloak's stealth ability let it copy nearby backgrounds onto its fabric.

Urald grinned.

"These gloves are just for you, young lord."

"What do they do?"

"You can lift things that are extremely heavy."

"So, it's a gravity inversion magic."

"That's it. And don't be startled."

Urald picked up a silver cloth pouch.

The pouch was just fabric, yet it had a peculiar silvery sheen.

It was about the size of a potato sack.

Then Wundbark took a long spear, and Urald widened the pouch's opening for him.

I was floored.

The long spear slipped right into the pouch.

Then Urald folded the pouch.

"How is this possible?"

"It's a magic pouch."

"It connects to another space."

I hadn't expected much—but this was a jackpot.

The cloaks, masks, gloves.

And a magic pouch, too.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Pinoy pride...

Although they got called Mongolian...

Oh, well...

【(„• ֊ •„)੭】