Wolves of Hader

Chapter 77

I walked with the Berserkers for four days.

No matter how far we walked, we couldn't find any trace of the Tak warriors heading north.

There were plenty of signs that the Tak tribe had passed by.

We passed places where they hunted and lit fires, and there was even a small hut where hunters had rested.

"This area is where we fought the Tak tribe during training. I thought the Tak tribe was much farther south, so I didn't expect them to have come up this far."

This was the western region of the Eastern Mountains. The range still stretched eastward, but only this area was open plain.

Donnie continued.

"We were practicing formation training on this plain when the Tak tribe suddenly attacked. It was the last day of training."

"There must have been Tak tribesmen nearby."

"Yes. There was quite an echo at the time, and they must have heard the sound and come."

We crossed the plain.

I had heard that the Berserkers and the strike squad held the front, while Russell broke through from the rear.

It was easy to imagine how fierce that battle must have been.

There were said to be over 300 Tak warriors, so it was a miracle just to have broken through their encirclement.

"The Tak warriors are bigger than our members, right?"

"No. Most of them were smaller than our members, and only a few were really big. Those were the ones wielding axes."

"Axes?"

"Yes. Most use crude hammers or short spears, but a few used axes. The ones with axes were different in both build and strength."

Could they have been the ones I met?

"The ones with axes are probably the best warriors in the tribe. Honestly, except for those few, the rest had poor armor and weapons. There even seemed to be some young ones."

"How many of the Tak tribe died?"

"About sixty. We weren't fighting to kill them, but rather to escape."

As Donnie said, the goal was escape, not killing. There's a difference between killing and beating back.

Besides, none of the special forces died.

There were some soldiers who barely survived thanks to being immediately given healing medicine, but nobody lost any limbs.

"Didn't the Tak tribe attack the special forces without warning back then? No threats or warnings?"

"Yes. It was clear they intended to wipe us out."

Until yesterday, I'd thought the Tak tribe had simply tried to expel humans who'd invaded their territory.

But trying to drive someone away with threats is different from trying to annihilate them.

The warriors I had met were not the latter.

Though they got excited with competitive spirit, at least the chieftain would have issued a warning first.

If that didn't work, they'd have fought.

So I wondered if they had come to seek reconciliation, or if perhaps they were a different tribe.

They certainly hadn't come to take revenge on humans.

And those warriors seemed to want to deliver some message to humans.

It's just that the miners ran away in fear and the message couldn't be delivered.

If so, they could just deliver it to me, but they had simply left.

Or rather, maybe they had given a message. They had pointed south and north. What could that have meant?

"What do you think it meant when the Tak chieftain pointed a hatchet at me and gestured to the south and north?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it meant not to come further south? I've heard that when Tak warriors point a hatchet at someone, it's a warning."

I also thought so.

That humans seemed to be coming further and further south, so they wanted them to stop.

Killing a miner would only make things worse, obviously.

"What about you, deputy Hans?"

"I think it was a warning too. Judging by their demeanor, I think they have some intention of reconciliation."

Then why did they make me fight one of their warriors?

Maybe they were testing me because I didn't seem ordinary.

Recognizing me as a warrior even though I had no weapons was also odd.

"By the way, when you fought, did you see a warrior with braided hair adorned with a red feather and a scar on one eye?"

"Tak warriors all looked similar, so I don't really remember any specific faces. It was such a chaotic time, too."

It was the same for the other members.

At that moment, the youngest member spoke up.

"I didn't see a red feather when we were surrounded, but a few days later, I saw the warrior you described, young master."

"A few days later?"

"Yes. Even after we escaped, they kept pursuing us, so we had to keep fighting. Once, we even raided their camp, and at dawn that day, I saw that warrior."

"Was he from another tribe?"

"I think so. There were warriors with slightly different decorations watching us from the top of a cliff, and the red-feathered one among them was especially memorable."

It was them.

As expected, they weren't from the same tribe.

"That chieftain had magic power."

"Is that really true?"

"Yeah. I can't say for sure it was magic power, because it was a kind of strength I'd never seen before, both in size and nature."

I couldn't fully grasp the chieftain's power. But I had sensed his fierce aura.

If that was magic power, it meant the chieftain could hide his strength in front of me.

"Let's go. We'll know when we meet them."

I walked on with the members again.

At the far end of the plain was the treeline. Unlike the terrain we'd passed through, endless forest stretched ahead.

We entered the woods. The trees here were all incredibly tall and thick, ancient trunks.

As we went deeper, it got so dark that sunlight no longer penetrated, and I felt an odd presence, as if the power of nature itself.

None of us had ever seen a primordial forest like this before.

"Nature's magic is so abundant here."

"So it is. The elementals are responding."

I could feel that the elemental traveling with me was as delighted as if it had come home.

Perhaps the lush forest felt as welcoming as Ta-iki Island.

In pristine nature like this, there are always forest elementals.

Perhaps even a high-ranked elemental, perhaps even a lord-rank who governs this entire south.

It was when we went further into the woods. Small lights began to fall from above like snow.

At first, I thought they were fireflies, but the lights circled around us.

I and the other members stopped walking and looked around. The small cluster of lights danced around us like fairies.

Since my elemental greeted them, this must have been a welcoming gesture.

"I think they're communicating with our elementals."

"Indeed."

The lights danced like fairies, giving us an almost enchanting feeling.

Some lightly tapped my and Donnie's arms as they flitted by, some floated right in front of my eyes.

Just then.

Donnie tapped my back, and when I turned, I saw a Tak warrior watching us from farther inside the forest.

He had long hair, his face was painted white, and he was holding a club.

The youthful Tak warrior stared at us, then hurriedly backed away and dashed off into the woods.

None of us chased after him.

When in a group, no one among us acts on their own judgment.

"Should we not go after him?"

"If we chase him, it might cause misunderstanding. He'll come back."

Startled by the sudden atmosphere, the elementals dispersed and vanished.

They seemed to be of similar rank to those of the knight order.

We resumed walking.

Before long, we heard twigs snapping nearby. Tak warriors were gradually gathering around us and encircling us.

As we stepped into a forest clearing, we finally stopped walking—for the chieftain was standing at the opposite edge.

Only then did the Tak warriors reveal themselves one by one, watching us warily.

The Tak warriors began narrowing their encirclement, gripping their weapons more tightly, as if their village was just ahead.

The chieftain's face looked grave.

The chieftain said something.

I wondered if there had been a misunderstanding, so I took off my helmet.

"Ah!"

Exclamations came from all around. The chieftain and the other warriors I had met recognized me.

However, they did not yet lower their guard.

I took a step forward, alone.

The warriors around the chieftain moved to stop me, but the chieftain gestured with his hand to halt them.

Then he too took a step forward.

I handed my greatsword to Donnie and advanced further.

The chieftain, in turn, handed his hatchet to his subordinate and approached.

After each of us walked five or six steps, we stood facing each other.

I wondered how I should get my intent across.

Grrrgle.

My stomach suddenly growled in hunger.

It was utterly out of place, but judging from the chieftain's expression, I felt things might actually go well.

So I made a pitiful face pleading for food, as if I was starving, and pantomimed sleeping to show that I needed a place to rest.

The warriors still stared at me with fierce faces, but the chieftain alone smirked at me with amusement.

At his gesture, a warrior tossed an apple. The chieftain caught it and handed it to me.

I shamelessly took the apple and chomped—a big bite. Maybe it was wild, but the juice was very sweet.

"Donnie."

Donnie caught on and pulled out a large piece of bread from his backpack, tossing it to me.

I, in turn, offered the bread to the chieftain.

"It's still soft bread. It's made with eggs, so it's delicious. If you spread milk oil on it, it tastes even better."

The chieftain just stared at the bread blankly, looking like he didn't know what it was.

So I tore off a bit, put it in my mouth, and ate.

Only then did the chieftain snatch the bread from me almost greedily. He sniffed it, then his face softened.

He took a rough bite out of the bread and chewed it vigorously, his eyes growing wide.

His face basically said:

'There's a taste like this in the world?'

When I smiled, the chieftain also gave a wry smile, as if dumbfounded.

Then, as if asking if there was more, he brought both hands together, then spread them apart.

I nodded my head.

We eat this every day, and have plenty. Farmers till the ground and plant something called wheat, from which it's made.

My soft gestures must have made some sense to the chieftain.

Perhaps he found my actions amusing, as Donnie and Hans were laughing behind me.

For now, some of their wariness seemed lifted, but I wasn't sure what to do next.

Anyway, I decided to keep explaining with gestures.

"We don't want to fight you. It seemed you gave us some sort of warning, and I wanted to ask why. Is there some problem in your tribe?"

The chieftain just looked silently at me.

It seemed he understood I didn't want to fight, but not the rest.

I was about to try speaking again when—

The warriors behind parted to either side, and someone very small stepped into the clearing.

A Dran?

Suddenly, a Dran appeared, quietly observing us.

There was no wariness; on the contrary, they looked pleased to see us. They seemed far older than Urald.

"Why have you come here?"

"Are you with them?"

"I was a prisoner at first. Now, though, I serve as a blacksmith."

"Glad to hear it. Our house has two Dran as well."

The Dran's face changed.

"Really?"

"Yes. One is from the south here."

"Then I must know him."

"Do you know Wundbark?"

The Dran's face brightened further.

"Oh! That eccentric is in your house? I didn't expect that!"

"So you know him well."

"Of course. He never bothered to learn any crafts but always managed to get in trouble. I thought he'd died in the war, but it seems he left the south."

Since there's only one Dran village in the south, I figured he'd know Wundbark.

I never thought I'd find a Dran among this tribe—it was incredibly lucky.

"But back to the point. I haven't heard your answer yet. If you intend to attack this tribe, you'd better stop right now."

"We have no intention to assault this tribe. But the chieftain here gave me a warning, and I came to ask what it meant."

"A warning?"

The Dran asked the chieftain something.

When the chieftain replied, the Dran finally nodded.

"You should be grateful. The chieftain warned you because he knows something major is coming your way."

"Something major?"

The Dran sighed.

"The mighty tribe that unified the central lands will soon march north. They're the ones who drove these tribes to even these frontiers."

The Tak great tribe is coming north.

This means war.

A war like never before.