Wolves of Hader

Chapter 20

The tenth day since the cold snap began.

Ever since the entire village froze on the first day, everything had remained the same.

We could go outside, but it was impossible to stay out for more than five minutes.

Outside, the cold was merciless, but staying indoors was quite tolerable.

What people truly feared was not the thirty-year cold snap, but the giants that the cold would bring.

Thus, the villagers' expressions were surprisingly bright.

Each day, I pored over the family swordsmanship manual given to me by the marquis, endlessly studying and researching.

I also began developing skills that my [knights] could use in the future, so I could create them once I returned from Taiki.

Our guild had four basic classes:

[Warrior], [Mage], [Hunter], [Martial Artist]

There were four basic classes, but no fixed jobs.

Some people purchased skills from other guilds and combined them with their own skills to create new jobs.

All the basic skills for these four classes could be made.

As for advanced skills, the blueprints were so complex that I couldn't create them from memory alone—but it wasn't impossible.

Even if the jobs were similar, the skills could differ.

Each could develop new skills on their own, based on their inclinations, so what came after the basic skills was up to each individual.

All I had to do was give them a hint on how to create their own unique advanced skills.

There were always ways to help, no matter how difficult it seemed, since the continent was overflowing with items needed to manufacture skills.

I had not yet decided on my own class.

Having witnessed the limits of Buffer as a combat-support mage, I figured I would likely become something with Buffer skills.

"Young master, I've brought your dinner."

"Mm. Come in."

The door opened and Donnie entered. He quickly closed the door behind him, worried the room's warmth would escape, and set the meal on the table.

"Please eat."

"Thank you."

I sat at the table and began eating stew and bread. Donnie also sat on the floor and sipped the stew's broth.

Even if I told him he could join me, he always insisted on eating on the floor.

"Young master. What is it that you keep writing every day?"

"Just studying, that's all. Donnie, are you still practicing swordsmanship?"

"Yes. I practice every day for two hours at the quarters. Master Ross told me to memorize all thirty-six forms in one week—it was so hard."

"So did you actually memorize them?"

"Yes. Master Ross showed me what I was doing wrong."

Ross had complained about teaching but, in the end, seemed to care for his apprentice.

The thirty-six forms are just the basics; once [Combination] and [Application] are added, that's when true swordsmanship emerges.

"How is Father?"

"I heard he's been sleeping all the time."

"There's no sign of improvement then."

"Everyone is very worried about it."

"I should go see Father."

I finished the stew quickly and stood up.

Donning a thick fur coat, I left the room with Donnie. The village had transformed into a true ice kingdom.

The cold was so biting it felt like it could tear flesh, so we hurried to the marquis's quarters.

At the door to his room, Donnie announced my arrival, and my elder sister Rozie stepped out.

"Go on in. He's been wanting to see you."

"Elder sister, you should get some rest."

"Alright. Be his companion for a while."

"I will."

I entered the room.

The marquis was asleep.

After checking his complexion, I sat down beside him.

I quietly watched him at his bedside.

In reality, the marquis was only four years older than myself.

That had made treating him as a father feel awkward, but lately, things were different.

I'd come to feel some familial affection for him, and we shared a sense of kinship, being close in age.

We'd both lost loved ones. Without the three siblings, perhaps he would have lost any hope to go on.

Books lined the shelves. The marquis's sword hung on the wall.

His armor lay in a corner.

The faded family standard.

The crest of House Hader is a black wolf.

Someday, that banner would fly again.

Before those who had destroyed the house bearing that crest.

"You're looking at the crest, aren't you?"

"Yes."

At some point, the marquis had awakened and reached out to hold my hand. In the past, it would have felt awkward, but not now.

I could feel his fatherly warmth. Perhaps it had been awkward before because I'd grown up without a father.

"Our family's crest isn't just a wolf. It's a giant wolf that lives only in the western highlands. It's such a clever and brave beast that it's called a divine beast. Only our family could ride that divine beast."

"You could ride the wolf?"

"Yes. The giant wolves recognize the blood of our family. I don't know what providence there was in the old days, but it is truly a wonder. Do you know why the first family head chose the surname Hader?"

"Is it related to the wolf?"

"That's right. The wolf's name is Hader."

"Ah."

The marquis stared at me for a while.

The word 'revenge' circled in my mind.

And in the marquis's eyes as well.

"Do you resent this father?"

"No, I don't."

"Don't you miss your mother?"

"I do."

The marquis fell silent, simply looking at me.

His wife had died of illness, and her family had been thoroughly massacred. I couldn't imagine the breadth of that pain.

"What would you like to do when you become an adult?"

"I just want to live happily."

"And if someone tries to harm us?"

"Then I'll have to fight."

There was a truth the marquis could not say aloud.

That it would be difficult for our family to find happiness again.

"Will there always be those who persecute us from now on?"

The marquis slowly nodded.

As if—perhaps unlike Rozie and Ross—he wanted at least me to know. Maybe that was why he told the story of the family crest.

"Those who wish to harm our family will likely never give up. What pains me most is that, because of a decision I made, you all have to suffer like this. I wish I could have let you just live peacefully."

As it happened, I had intended to ask anyway.

"Why did His Imperial Majesty send us here?"

"I disobeyed His Majesty's command."

"What command was that?"

"I was ordered to destroy a family."

The marquis could not speak further.

Nor did I wish to press on.

His eyes were filled with sorrow.

But then.

"It was your mother's family. And my friend's family."

The blacksmith Urald had been right.

He had said I would understand my father's choice, and if I were the marquis, I too would have had no choice but to disobey the Emperor's command.

Although I knew the Emperor was our enemy, I wondered how the marquis truly felt.

"Is it wrong to seek revenge?"

"We don't have that kind of strength."

"And if we ever did?"

"Even if our enemy is the imperial family?"

"There is no such thing as an eternal empire."

The marquis's eyes widened at my words.

He seemed to be hearing, for the first time at his age, someone say that no empire is eternal.

Or perhaps it was the meaning behind my words. That was more likely.

"Is it the Emperor who did this to us?"

The marquis did not reply.

Whether it was the Emperor or someone else, his silence showed he didn't want me to pursue revenge.

Seeking vengeance could only hasten our family's ruin.

Still, I needed to know the truth.

"Please tell me. I need to know who our enemy is so I can be prepared. Otherwise, we'll live our whole lives in fear."

The marquis nodded.

This was a different matter from revenge.

At last, the marquis spoke again.

"It all began with the Empress. Your mother and the Empress were old friends. But things fell apart when His Imperial Majesty became Crown Prince."

"Was it a fight over who would be Crown Princess?"

"Back then, His Majesty was a young Crown Prince, and he loved your mother. Even after she married me and had your elder sister, he couldn't forget her."

"So the Empress was jealous of Mother?"

"I still don't know the real reason. Maybe it was because His Majesty could not let go of your mother. Afterward, your mother's house fell into dire straits. Then, your uncle discovered a secret of the Syren family. A secret that could bring down both the Empress and the Syren family."

"Why the Syren family?"

"The Empress is the current Syren grand duke's sister."

"Ah!"

So that's why the Emperor and the Syren family were so closely tied.

Just looking into the marquis's eyes, I could sense how many cruel events happened back then, even without hearing the details.

"To survive, your mother's family was forced to dig into the Syren family. Around that time, I was away on a campaign in the west. When I returned, things had already become irreversible."

"So they deliberately sent you away to a distant place."

"Yes. Your mother fell ill, and before I had any chance to act, His Imperial Majesty delivered his command: If I wished to prove I was not party to rebellion, I had to destroy your mother's family myself."

I felt suffocated.

This was no longer someone else's story. This was my life, my family's affairs.

The searing anger welling up in my chest proved it.

I'd thought this was just politics between the Emperor and the nobles.

I believed the marquis had defied the Emperor's order because of factional strife or imperial atrocities.

But for it all to be because of one woman—the Empress?

What secret could have been so dangerous?

What did my mother's family discover that warranted wiping them out and reducing us to this state?

"What did my uncle discover?"

Only after a long silence did the marquis speak.

"Art Syren."

Art Syren?

Why that name all of a sudden?

"He is the Empress's hidden son."

What is this?

Art Syren is the Syren grand duke's second son.

And yet, he's also the Empress's son?

This really is like a soap opera.

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

Another Cersei and Jamie situation...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】