Wolves of Hader

Chapter 61

The wolves raced through the forest.

At first, I didn't know exactly where they were going.

I worried for a moment that they might be heading back toward the western mountains, but the direction we were taking was northeast.

I don't know the exact reason why the wolves allowed us to ride them.

Was it because I am of Hader blood? Or perhaps the elemental accompanying me asked the Hader wolves for a favor.

It appeared that the wolf I was riding was the leader of the pack.

When this wolf let me mount, exactly eight out of the remaining eleven wolves lowered themselves.

This was clearly their intention to carry us.

They were showing that they recognized my team and me as part of the group, and seemed to know exactly where to take us.

When Donnie was the first to get on a wolf's back, the other team members climbed onto the lowered wolves as well.

Then, the wolves immediately started to run.

I thought only the nine wolves carrying us would run, but that wasn't the case. The other three also joined the run.

Afterwards, we ran without stopping for about three hours.

While carrying us, the wolves paused at a stream to drink some water, took a brief rest with a soft whimper, and then set off running again.

And now, more than two hours have passed as they continued to race.

It truly was like riding the wind.

At first, it was dizzying and simply hanging onto the wolf's back was difficult, but now I had found a proper position.

The thrill got to the point where it was quite exhilarating.

The wolf I was riding was definitely the leader.

When we slowed down, the other wolves also decreased their speed.

When we sped up again, they immediately followed.

After a long stretch, the wolves finally exited the forest and entered a hilly area.

The rocky landscape was even rougher for running than the woods.

Donnie, sticking close behind, called out.

"Is this your intention, young master?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're heading more and more north!"

"I didn't give them any instructions! This friend is going on his own!"

"If we keep going like this, we'll reach the northern sea!"

"I know! Let's just trust them for once!"

"But the fortress is in danger, and you're heading north?"

"If we keep going like this, we'll reach the fortress!"

"What?"

Donnie looked at me, completely puzzled.

Common sense dictated that to reach the fortress, we needed to cross the continent to the east.

But since we were heading north, it was only natural he was confused.

"If we run east along the northern coast, we'll come to that cave we went to during our previous expedition!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"The divine beasts and demons knew something that humans didn't!"

"What did they know?"

"The true shape of the continent!"

The wolf accelerated even more.

Donnie kept looking at me with a bewildered face, trying his best to keep close.

The other team members behind us seemed equally mystified.

I had thought that people already knew this.

But after talking with the Dran tribe, I realized that the "end of the north" they mentioned didn't mean the polar region.

In a sense, it does mean reaching the end.

To me, the end of the north simply means the polar region, but for them, it's more like the final frontier that humans can reach.

That's how people in this world perceive it.

They believe the world is boundless, and that beyond the sea there's another continent.

To the west, the Storm makes crossing impossible; to the north, it's the Cursed Sea that prevents humans from going further.

It's the same in other regions.

No one had ever ventured to the southern polar seas or the uncharted East, so no one knew what lay there.

It's probably more accurate to say that no country has ever taken the lead in explorations.

The Empire had no reason to develop the far distant southeast of the continent, and the kingdoms of Beltern were too busy fighting territorial wars.

In other words—

From Donnie's and the team's perspective, the capital's north and the fortress's north were each their own separate "north" on the continent.

Of course, even if this fact had been widely known in the past, the imperial family would have kept it secret.

After all, rebel forces could use it strategically.

While it's nearly impossible to cross the polar regions due to monsters, it's not unthinkable.

"Trust me! We're definitely heading the right way!"

Everyone silently followed.

When I first rode the wolf, I was too distracted to think about it, but now something suddenly came to mind.

If the knights of the Syren family had driven their horses day and night, they might have reached our fortress in ten days.

However, in the vision I saw, a large force was assaulting the fortress.

"Donnie! What's the nearest house to the Syren family beyond the central mountains?"

"The Urada house! Count Urada is the great lord of the central gate, and his house is the in-law family of Grand Duke Syren!"

"They don't get along with the grand duke, right?"

"It's true that their relationship soured after the death of his wife over ten years ago! After that, the house's power greatly diminished, so it's very likely they accepted the grand duke's request this time!"

"The son born by that wife is the grand duke's eldest, correct?"

"Yes! The wife brought home by the grand duke—so she would have known that the second son, Art Syren, is actually the son of the grand duke and the empress!"

"Did the wife die trying to make a deal after learning that?"

"That might be the case! Her own son, the firstborn, was pushed aside, and there was no doubt that Art Syren, the half-brother, would become head of house!"

"What's the status of the eldest, Duto Syren?"

"He seemed to have no particular issues! The grand duke didn't seem to discriminate, either! However! Apparently there's no one in the military or in the house who follows him!"

The grand duke's eldest, Duto Syren, is currently the deputy-commander of the Imperial Knight Order.

I heard he has little influence in the capital and keeps a low profile within the family.

His mother, the grand duke's wife, died over ten years ago. Their houses' relationship may have worsened because of her death.

If she died under suspicious circumstances,

There's a strong possibility that the empress or Art Syren was behind it.

Perhaps she tried to expose the relationship between her husband and the empress and suffered the consequences.

Given that, Duto Syren may harbor strong resentment over being pushed aside as the eldest, his mother's death, and the decline of his maternal side.

Therefore, Duto Syren is a variable.

So is Count Urada.

"What if it wasn't the Urada house that attacked the fortress?"

"There are several other houses, but I doubt any lord would dare openly invade another house! The timing makes it certain it wasn't the Syren family's forces!"

"What's the current state of the Urada house?"

"It's very bad! Half of the territory's forces are gone! The residents are struggling in poverty! Bandits run rampant, making things even worse!"

"The bandit den the special forces cleared out—was that in the Urada territory?"

"Yes! Munden Mine of the central mountains belongs to the Urada territory!"

"What's Count Urada's reputation?"

"I'm not sure how it is now, but in the past he was a respected lord! The knights are also quite renowned, but seeing that he went through with this operation, his situation must be desperate!"

Such a count accepted the request of the Syren family. Anyone could see it was an excessive assault.

Count Urada must have closed his eyes to save his dying territory. But in the end, his house won't be able to escape ruin.

The Urada house will be defeated by us in the end.

In this way, the Syren family killed two birds with one stone—testing our family's strength and destroying the disliked in-law house at the same time.

What should I do with the Urada house?

Urada territory is in the central-east region across the central mountains.

To go from the capital to the east, you must cross the central mountains, making it a strategic point.

Also, the central-east region is a breadbasket, which is advantageous for food supplies and trade.

What's the best way to handle this?

"We can see the sea!"

"Already?"

The wolves were running along a high rocky ridge, and in the distant left, a vast sea came into view.

It looked like a harsh cold would arrive any minute; both the sea and sky were pitch black.

It was as if the malicious energy of darkness was lurking like a massive black cloud.

Then, an enormous biting wind swept in.

We were lucky that it wasn't snowing, but if we ran for several more hours like this, we'd freeze to death.

The wolves, whether they knew or not, just kept running.

I tapped the neck of the wolf tearing through the gale and shouted,

"Hey! I'm Roger! Can I know your name?"

Naturally, there was no response.

"The sun is about to set! I'm amazed you can keep running, but wouldn't it be better to rest a bit?"

The wolf glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, as if bothered.

It seemed to be communicating spiritually through the elemental, but there was no direct interaction.

"From now on, I'll call you Loki! Roger and Loki! What do you think? Not bad, right?"

The wolf looked at me, as if to say, "What are you talking about?"

When he turned his massive head to look at me, it was intimidating.

"The dog I raised before was named Loki! He was the only friend in my life who gave me comfort!"

As if to say, "Do what you want," [Loki] kept on running. I thought he'd run for several more hours, but that wasn't the case.

Perhaps he sensed that humans could endure no more. After running long past sunset, he finally stopped in a seaside cave.

It was somewhat shielded from the wind, but the air was so cold that we all shivered and hurriedly lit a campfire.

Meanwhile, the wolves disappeared somewhere. We wondered if they were leaving for good, but one stayed behind to watch over us.

By the fire, we struggled to thaw our frozen bodies and brewed some warm tea.

We gave up on sleep, fearing that if the fire died, we'd freeze to death.

Then, around dawn—

All of a sudden, a tremendous noise erupted from the cliff above the cave.

Along with the sound of wolves growling.

Chrrrrrrrr—

Something was coming!

Everyone heard the sound, and we looked around, feeling a sense of foreboding.

Above the cave. On the left and right along the beach.

Something was closing in.

Chrrrr—

Dadadadak—

Too small to be called monsters, but the creepy crawling made goosebumps rise.

We hadn't encountered many monsters thanks to the divine beast wolves' speed, but the polar region was infested with them.

If you wander around with a human scent, you'll get eaten by monsters.

If they had goblin-like intelligence, we could intimidate them and drive them off.

But mindless monsters have no fear, even of divine beasts.

Yet, the fact that monsters were approaching the divine beasts here meant these were all unintelligent monsters.

Donnie shouted,

"Prepare for battle! Monsters are swarming in!"

Everyone grabbed their great swords.

Concentrating on the sound, I finally realized what it was.

The wolves knew something was here. They may not have brought us here intentionally, but—

"Loki! Come down!"

My shout echoed along the shore, and almost at the same time, a shhhhhh- sound came from all directions.

The wolves dashed down from above the cave. But attached to their bodies were huge crabs.

The smallest was the size of a human head, and if you were caught by those blade-like pincers, limbs would be severed.

So-called blade-hairy crabs!

The wolves thrashed about, trying to shake off the crabs attached to them, but it was no use. Alpha wolf Loki was rampaging in the darkness.

Meanwhile, the entire beach we stood on began to be overrun by swarms of crabs.

They poured out from the sea, over the cave, and from every direction along the shore.

"Loki! Over here!"

"Young master! We're surrounded! We need to break out now!"

"Let's fight, Captain!"

At Hans's words, Donnie looked at me.

We had our armor on. There were a crazy number of them, but it wasn't like we couldn't handle it!

"Let's fight!"

At my word, the whole team sprang into action. We rushed out and began slashing and kicking the crabs that came at us.

Crabs crawled and clung all over our bodies, but we paid them no mind and fought our way through.

Meanwhile, the wolves were fighting the huge crabs.

The largest were the size of a bull, yet the wolves tore into those massive shells with a single bite.

I sprinted to where Loki was. Loki was also fighting a crab bigger than himself.

Surprisingly, I could feel the collision of magic power—waves of force clashing like great billows.

This is why Hader wolves possess magic power.

After devouring these magic-powered monsters for centuries, their own bodies became imbued with magical energy!

Loki was fighting the giant crab with astonishing agility.

The monster's blade-like claws were terrifying, but to the wolves, this was just easy prey.

I leapt at the giant crab.

"Loki! Fall back!"

Shuuuuuuuk—

I brought my great sword down right onto the back of the enormous crab's shell.