Ian stopped Rose, who was about to run off quickly.
“Uncle?”
“Be careful with that, it might bite you.”
“Bite me?”
“Woof!”
Rose flinched at Fenrex’s bark and hugged Ian’s neck.
“You’re so noisy.”
Fenrex momentarily flinched at Ian’s words but then bared his teeth again.
“Stay here with Er just in case something happen.”
“Because it might bite?”
“Yes. My Rose is so smart.”
Ian praised Rose, who hugged Er more tightly, and turned around with a stern face.
“Uncle, that’s needs to be treated!”
“Alright.”
Suppressing his urge to tell him to get lost, Ian approached Fenrex. As he took each step, Fenrex flinched more, and Ian whispered so Rose couldn’t hear.
“Did you get caught in a trap while running away?”
“…Grr.”
Fenrex bared his teeth, ready to bite if Ian came closer. Ian quickly grabbed Fenrex by the scruff of his neck.
“Woof! Woof!”
“Should I just leave you? Do you want to die here?”
At Ian’s threatening words, Fenrex’s fur stood on end, and his body stiffened. Ian, unable to hide his annoyance, injected mana into the trap that holding Fenrex.
Magic traps can usually only be unlocked by the mana key of the hunter who set them. But Ian’s powerful magic easily opened it as if it had never been a problem.
Fenrex’s gray eyes widened. Ignoring him, Ian used healing magic on Fenrex’s injured front leg.
‘If only Rose hadn’t found him.’
It had to be Rose who found Fenrex. Ian was annoyed at the careless hunter. If you set a trap, you should regularly check if anything is caught!
Seeing Fenrex still tied up after lazing around at the inn for a long time meant the hunter hadn’t checked the trap.
‘What a waste.’
Though Ian could replenish his mana with every breath, using it on Fenrex felt like a waste.
After confirming that Fenrex’s leg was healed, Ian whispered softly.
“I won’t save you next time.”
After warning him, Ian let go of Fenrex’s neck and quickly went to pick up Rose.
“I healed him, so let’s go now.”
“Can’t I pet the puppy?”
“Ermenia wouldn’t like it.”
– Aarrr.
Rose nodded with a disappointed look, as if she’s agreed with Ian’s words.
Ian quickly moved away from Fenrex’s location. Though he had decided to establish a principality for Rose’s freedom, thoughts of those who had tormented her often made him feels the vengeful.
But killing people who hadn’t yet committed any crimes for now might give Rose an undeserved bad reputation.
‘Let’s not meet again. Please.’
Yet, with each step, Ian felt a small presence following them. He turned around, sensing something ominous.
He saw gray fur in the thick bushes.
‘Damn. Is that mutt following us?’
There were many ways to the capital, and one didn’t have to take the same path. As long as they crossed the mountain range, it was fine.
Moreover, Fenrex was definitely following them, hiding whenever Ian stopped.
‘That damn wolf.’
Ian gritted his teeth.
***
“You should never trust humans.”
Fenrex’s father, a beastman, always told him that humans couldn’t be trusted.
Humans feared the strength of the beastmen and couldn’t touch them, but they would enslave them if there’s a given chance.
But Fenrex thought differently.
Humans who came to the beastmen’s kingdom were all kind and treated him as an equal.
Stories of human magic and the advanced world were fascinating.
Fenrex didn’t believe his father’s warnings, thinking he were just lies to keep him from leaving their place.
So he wanted to leave his boring country and see the human world.
Then, an opportunity came.
For the crowning ceremony of the imperial prince, his father, the king, prepared a trip to the empire.
Fenrex secretly hid among the gifts for the crown prince. No one noticed Fenrex’s journey began that way. Safely leaving the beastmen’s kingdom, Fenrex stepped into the human world when the carriage stopped for a moment.
At first, Fenrex wandered around the empire with great caution. However, that caution quickly crumbled. Unlike the beastmen’s kingdom that relied on moonlight, the empire was brightly lit even at night, and humans were kind.
He became captivated by new customs and experiences. While buying food with the jewels he always carried, he felt a sharp pain in his neck and lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he found himself collared and imprisoned, starting his life as a slave. The slave trader starved him whenever he tried to escape. On days he resisted, he endured unbearable violence.
Only then did Fenrex realize his father’s warnings were true.
He also realized he had been foolish to give humans a chance to enslave the beastmen.
But as a descendant of the wolf tribe and a member of the royal family, he refused to become a disgrace.
He would rather die than bow down, so he continued to resist.
The slave trader fed him drugs when he wouldn’t stop resisting.
Despite regaining consciousness, the repeated drugging left him too weak to move a finger.
Fenrex blankly waited for the day he would die, preferring death over slavery.
But one day, he woke up in a cozy room instead of a cage.
There, he met a human girl and a human man.
Though the human man promised to take him to his father, Fenrex, having been betrayed by humans before, did not trust him.
He escaped from that man, thinking he would sell him back to the slave traders.
Remembering his tutor’s words that walking towards the rising sun would lead him to the capital, he climbed the mountains to avoid humans.
However, he got caught in another human trap.
He tried to transform into a human to free himself, but the trap wouldn’t budge, causing more pain to his leg.
Struggling to maintain his human form, he reverted to his wolf form when the human man and girl appeared again.
At first, he thought the man had pretended to free him only to trap him again, so he bared his teeth.
“Is getting caught in traps all you can do after running away?”
However, the man not only freed him but also healed his wound. After warning him he wouldn’t save him again, the man left without hesitation.
‘…Did he really save me by coincidence? Really?’
Even after standing there for a long time, the human man did not reappear. Fenrex got up on his now-healthy leg and started running, following the man’s scent.
‘Humans cannot be trusted.’
Fenrex’s swift legs didn’t take long to catch up to the man. Watching the man’s back, Fenrex thought, ‘I just don’t know the way to the capital. So I’m just following him because he’s heading there.’
Then, the man stopped and looked back. Fenrex quickly hid, feeling the man’s gaze but staying motionless in the bushes.
He still couldn’t trust the human man.
***
Ian swallowed a sigh he couldn’t let out.
Fenrex kept following at a certain distance. Even when Ian ran using his mana-powered legs to shake him off, Fenrex, energized by the healing before, quickly caught up.
‘How do I shake him off?’
Running to shake him off had already brought him near the capital.
At this rate, they can reach the capital by this evening. Just as Ian was about to increase his pace, Rose, who was in his arms, spoke.
“Uncle, I’m hungry.”
Ian’s legs came to a sudden halt. Preoccupied with Fenrex, he hadn’t realized it was almost lunchtime.
“Sorry, let’s eat first.”
Fortunately, they had stopped on a flat area, so Ian quickly took a mat out of his bag.
“There’s a lot food today.”
The innkeeper, having received gold coins, had packed a lunch basket with great care.
Ian took out a sandwich filled with eggs, ham, and meat, and handed it to Rose. He also poured orange juice into a cup to ensure she wouldn’t choke.
“It’s delicious.”
Ian smiled along with the beaming Rose, but his attention was still on Fenrex, who was watching from a distance. Suddenly, a voice from the <Origin> echoed in his mind.
【Move!】
At the moment Ian swiftly picked up Rose and stepped back, a bolt of lightning struck the mat.
“Wow, you dodged that.”
A voice chuckled as a man in a black robe appeared in the trees.
“Who are you? How did you dodge that? Was it just luck?”
Ignoring the man’s words, Ian focused on the message in front of him. The constellations, which had been silent until now, all sent messages at once.
[<Source> says this aura is black magic.]
[<Well of Mana> is surprised, wondering if black magicians weren’t supposed to be hiding in this world.]
[<End of the Sword> shouts to just kill him since he attacked.]
“What’s this, are you ignoring me?”
The man gestured, and a black bolt of lightning struck where Ian had been standing. But Ian, holding Rose, quickly dodged again.
“Oh, so it wasn’t a coincidence.”
The man’s robe shifted slightly, revealing his lower face. A smirk appeared as if he had found a new toy.
“If I take you, my master will praise me.”
The man waved his hand again.
“Rose, close your eyes.”
