Wolves of Hader

Chapter 35

Countless flame monsters swarmed in.

As I struck them down, even more fiery energy was being absorbed into the necklace.

The fiery energy was overwhelming my cold energy!

There was nothing else I could do now.

I had no choice but to try it!

I cautiously absorbed the fiery energy from the necklace.

The fiery energy surged roughly into my body. It wasn't as hot as I expected. However, it reacted violently with the cold energy.

It was as if something was gushing up from within!

A red aura surged through my body.

Fiery energy and cold energy collided. The two opposing forces whipped around ferociously, swirling and mixing together.

An incredible power spread throughout my body!

A heavy gravity radiated from me!

It felt as if I was ablaze!

A massive force began to gather in my lower abdomen. The two forces tangled and condensed there!

If I let it go, it felt like it would explode!

It was truly the power of a Berserker!

"Uaaaah!"

Pupupupupupung—

A surge of red energy exploded!

The swarming monsters flew off in all directions.

They crashed into the cave walls, became entangled, and collapsed.

Lava spattered up!

Flame Storm raged!

This was neither just fiery energy nor cold energy.

It was the meeting of extremes!

It was the power of Rage.

The surge of rage blazed within my body. The storm of energy radiating from my whole body dominated the inside of the cave.

No monster dared approach me. Or rather, they were being forced away by my energy.

That's how it was.

The demon's essence that the guildmaster obtained was originally cold energy.

He absorbed the essence's power in a cave with fire-element ore, and both energies surged into him at once.

Anyway, I got out of the cave.

The flame monsters could no longer attack me.

"Phew...."

Was the air on this island always this good?

The world looked completely different.

/ / /

Sitting atop a cliff overlooking the sea, I examined the changes that had happened to me.

Was this how the guildmaster felt as well?

Am I the only one experiencing this?

The fiery energy and cold energy I thought had fused were actually separating.

When I moved only cold energy into the necklace, only the cold energy was absorbed.

When I tried moving only fiery energy, only that entered the necklace.

The guildmaster's ultimate skill was Flame Storm. I didn't know it then, but that fiery energy was from the necklace I now possessed.

In-game, the guildmaster held the necklace.

Now I understood that I could insert and withdraw power freely. But the guildmaster had never used any freezing skill.

If he possessed cold energy, there was no reason he wouldn't have developed a freezing skill.

If there's a difference, it's just one.

The guildmaster absorbed fiery energy and cold energy at the same time. On the other hand, I absorbed cold energy first, then accepted fiery energy four years later.

Nothing else explains the difference. At any rate, I had gained the ability to use three kinds of power.

The power of freezing. The power of flame.

And the power of rage.

What was even more astonishing—

I could now put both cold energy and fiery energy into the necklace. In other words, I could freely use only pure magic power again.

I had gone looking for the demon's essence, but came out with the necklace the guildmaster used to wear.

I hadn't expected it to be this kind of necklace.

I came to collect materials and ended up with the unexpected power of rage.

Now, my path was clear.

I would walk the path of the Berserker.

I'd make Berserker my main focus, but also plan to keep Buffer skills.

I had reached the end as a Buffer, and now, I could aim for the top as a Berserker, too.

I was going to raise Berserkers as well.

Berserkers who received area-of-effect attack buffs.

/ / /

The expressions of my companions were very bright.

"My body feels truly refreshed."

"Do I seem a bit different?"

"Absolutely."

Donnie picked up his greatsword.

It was still heavy, but it swung much easier than before.

"When we meet Wundbark, we should have weight-reduction magic cast on Donnie's greatsword."

"Wundbark? Is that the friend in the central mountains?"

"That's right. He'll have the materials for weight-reduction magic. I already used everything I had while making the family head's armor at the Hader house."

"We'd better go there right away then."

"He's a specialist with accessories, so he could try making magic jewelry as well. And we can make things the Young Master has always wanted."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

We cheerfully set out.

Having a little magic power didn't bring any major changes.

Still, this was just the beginning.

Only we knew the island's secret.

We had achieved the initial goal of our voyage.

Now that we'd obtained what we needed most, we just had to make it. Urald could make it on his own, but we still lacked a few tools.

Those tools could be supplied by Urald's friend, Wundbark, when we met him.

The best would be to persuade him to come live with us at our fortress, though whether Wundbark would decide to move was another story.

It would take about ten days to reach the central port.

I decided to prepare the necessary materials for crafting right after meeting Wundbark.

Sorting out the materials we'd gathered so far could wait.

It would be better to decide how each should be used first, and then organize them accordingly.

/ / /

We arrived at the port.

The central port city, Trisda.

The largest port in the Kadena empire.

"This city is rather large."

"They're also strict with identity checks."

"If we hadn't disguised ourselves as fishermen, they might have confiscated our materials."

"They'd have especially questioned the divine ore. Even low-rank officials recognize priests' divine vessels."

Because of the materials, we secretly slipped into a fishing village some distance from the port.

Before dawn, we were able to transfer to a fishing boat for a few gold coins.

At the port, just Donnie, Urald, and I disembarked. The others departed right away—I'd instructed them not to dock and to go straight to Mouk since our group had grown in size.

I'd given a few instructions.

Goose would manage the shrunken pirate ship. Along with the pirates, he'd rest at the Hader house for a while.

After sending off the ship, we walked from the fishing village to the port.

The only inns and restaurants were in the downtown area near the port.

I walked with Urald and Donnie.

Everyone carried backpacks, and heavy bags in both hands. All the materials we'd obtained from the voyage were in those bags.

"How about a cold beer?"

"Do they have beer here?"

"Of course. It's different from wine or hard liquor."

"I'm curious what it tastes like."

"Let's go. I know a place."

At seventeen in Rac, one was considered an adult.

There wasn't even a concept of being underage.

Of course, I craved a mug of beer.

It was easy to see how backward the east of the continent was compared to this city.

Most buildings were at least five stories tall, and there were plenty over ten floors.

When we reached the plaza, we saw splendid and grand buildings. It felt as if we'd stepped into a 15th-century European square.

We set down our bags near the plaza fountain and looked around for a moment.

We could see carriages lined up in front of one building.

Noticing this, Urald spoke.

"There are still plenty of merchants hoping to curry favor with Count Mals."

"Is that the lord's castle?"

"No, the castle's on the northern hill. That building is the city's government office. Count Mals always meets with traders there."

"The lord here must be very capable."

"This city isn't far from the capital and it's the center of imperial trade. Count Mals also handles the trade for the imperial family and nobles."

"What kind of person is he?"

"He's more a merchant than a noble, so he's quite flexible. You could say he tries not to make enemies."

"So, he's neutral."

"That's right. He was quite close with Lord Hader. The Mals house and the Young Master's mother's family were related by marriage."

That was news to me.

"Yet his house didn't come to harm?"

A hint of bitterness appeared on Urald's face.

"When your mother's house was exterminated, in the end, he pretended not to know. I can't blame him. He couldn't risk losing everything in this city. In fact, neither the imperial family nor the Syren family had any reason to strike at Count Mals. If he fell, they would lose out, too."

"Doesn't sound like he'll be on our side."

"Probably not. Count Mals is shrewd about politics and profit. But you never really know what's in people's hearts just from appearances. He's very filial, so I bet he feels guilty."

"Guilty?"

"Count Mals's mother is your maternal grandfather's sister."

"I see."

That means Count Mals is my mother's cousin. There wasn't any closer kinship than that here, so to me, he was little more than a stranger.

But my mother's family was also Count Mals's maternal kin. The count's mother's house had been thoroughly destroyed.

Both Count Mals and I had our maternal households wiped out.

So Urald's mention of guilt was about that. For me, my maternal grandfather was Count Mals's uncle.

He must have witnessed his mother's suffering.

"Does Count Mals know our house is rebuilding?"

"I'm doubtful. Everyone believes the Hader house was completely annihilated. There's no reason to investigate a forgotten house now, and he's not one to offend the Syren family."

Ever since the Hader house was exiled to the fortress, we had likely become a forgotten house.

Once destroyed beyond recovery, we were erased from memory.

In noble society, social ties and friendships are means to benefit one's house.

There's no reason to care about a ruined house. They had also thoroughly shut off information about us.

Some men in the plaza were watching us. Eyes on our bags—they looked like the type who lived by pickpocketing and theft.

"Let's go. Down that alley."

We headed into a street lined with pubs.

Shabby taverns and restaurants crowded the alley. Unlike the plaza, the passersby's clothes were ragged.

"How about heading to an inn?"

"The only place selling beer is here. The plaza is all restaurants for the wealthy. Let's have a cold drink here, then head to an inn."

I reluctantly followed Urald.

I wanted some beer, too.

We entered a small tavern.

We sat around a table and ordered beer. Soon, cold beer came out in wooden mugs.

Urald took a sip first and let out a "Kya~" in satisfaction.

Donnie and I drank as well.

It was a rather cold dark beer, as if brought straight from the ice storage.

We had drunk a couple of sips when—

Sure enough, the men from the plaza entered the tavern.

Three men sat at the next table. The proprietor looked quite anxious and kept glancing at them.

Only then did Urald and Donnie notice the atmosphere turning strange. The three men had not even ordered, just kept eyeing our bags.

"Where are you from?"

"You talking to us?"

"Yeah. The big guy, the dwarf, and the kid."

The others snickered.

The one who spoke pressed in toward us. He had a scar on his cheek. He kicked at our bags with his foot.

"What's in here?"

"That's none of your business."

He turned his gaze to me.

Donnie started to stand up, but sat back down at my signal.

Scarface stared straight at me.

"Don't know where you drifters are from, but if you came here to do business, you should report to the merchants' guild first. How do we know you aren't smugglers, or stowaways from Beltern? Right?"

"And who exactly are you supposed to be?"

The man smirked and continued.

"Yeah, maybe you don't know us since you're outsiders. Still, you've got to check in. You come to this city to make money and pay no taxes? Is that it?"

"We didn't come to do business."

"Anyway, no one saw you come into this city. So, if you show proper gratitude, we'll look the other way."

We had imperial ID tags. So whether we'd come through the gates or down from the mountains, it didn't matter.

"So basically, you're the local thugs who spout nonsense to rob tourists."

The man chuckled.

"Don't make this a hassle. We're very scary guys."

"What do you want?"

"Pay 30 gold coins. If you don't have it, we're taking the bags."

"What!"

Donnie's eyes blazed.

*Click*—

Scarface produced a small knife.

"If not gold, a finger or two will do."

Scarface grinned, showing yellowed teeth.

I stared at him and spoke.

"Put your knife away."

"What?"

"If you don't stow it right now, you'll be living out the rest of your life with a monster's face."

"A monster's face, huh...."

*Shing—*

The other two men drew daggers.

Scarface kept grinning.

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

What's a fantasy story without ignorant thugs getting beat up?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】