HTWBB Chapter 16

"You're the child who jumped in front of the horses."

"Th-that was because I didn't look around..."

"How's your knee?"

"Ah! It's fine. It just got scraped a little."

Her voice, which had been answering in confusion, grew smaller toward the end. As if belatedly grasping the situation, the girl hastily looked around, gave Melian a glance, then looked back at Rietta.

Sharp wariness and fear together colored her face that had been relieved. The girl opened her mouth while slightly trembling her shoulders.

"How did you get here? No one knows about this place..."

"That's what I should say. A child alone wandering through a forest where magical beasts appear."

"It's fine because it's close to home! More importantly, h-how did you come here?"

"There's something I'm looking for. You might know about it."

The girl, who had been anxiously swaying her body, instantly turned white. She reflexively moved her body as if to block what was behind her.

Her pale green eyes lost their direction and wavered. She was still a child, it seemed. Watching the girl who was signaling with her whole body that something was there, Rietta asked.

"Your name?"

"P-Priscilla."

"Right, Priscilla. What have you hidden in there?"

"There's nothing like that!"

Priscilla denied it almost screamingly. The high sound reflected off the cliff and echoed distantly upward.

It seemed she'd shown enough consideration. After a brief pause, Rietta extended her hand beside the girl's head.

The frightened eyes disappeared behind eyelids that reflexively squeezed shut. The sound of Melian sighing could be heard.

"It's definitely not a 'thing.'"

Rietta, who had pulled back the hanging vines, muttered. A threatening sound scratching deep in the throat crawled along the ground and spread stickily beneath her feet.

Rietta had been sensing something gradually approaching from the moment Priscilla started being wary. When she let her magic flow to sharpen her senses, it became even clearer.

As soon as the girl raised her voice, it let its energy flow as if it would burst out immediately. Like those honed, blade-like, luminous yellow eyes right now.

"No! Go back inside, Lycaon!"

The girl, who opened her eyes a beat late, only then grasped the situation. A wolf as tall as the girl was already trying to slip out of the cave.

Priscilla tried desperately to push him back inside, hugging his neck and straining, but he didn't budge. His growling cry grew louder.

Rietta, with her gaze fixed on the wolf, turned her head slightly toward Melian.

"I thought werewolves stood on two legs?"

"Only during the full moon. Normally they can freely transform into the complete form of a wolf."

Rietta straightened her head. Then she moved her hand to tear away the vines. The moment it sensed the faint movement, the yellow eyes that had been staring only their way the entire time sharpened.

A solid arm that appeared from the darkness instantly wrapped around Priscilla's waist. The girl disappeared from view in the blink of an eye.

Instead, someone blocking the entrance boldly walked out under the sunlight. It was a gray-haired boy who hadn't yet quite reached young adulthood. Rietta didn't avoid the vividly burning golden eyes.

"So you're that rumored werewolf."

The not-yet-fully-grown wolf sneered irritably.

"Seeing how you came all the way here, you must have ignored all the warnings I gave."

"I did realize it a bit late."

"Then get lost right now. If you know, why come? Do you want to die?"

"L-Lycaon!"

Priscilla, who had been restless, grabbed and pulled Lycaon's arm. The fact that he didn't budge showed he had no intention of compromising at all.

More than this arrogant werewolf's appearance, Rietta was certain from just a few lines of conversation that he was a young creature. If the opponent had been weaker than him, far from overreacting, he would have leisurely toyed with them. Or he could have subdued them by crushing them with force.

However, right now he had vaguely assessed Rietta and was immediately baring his teeth. It was a state where the seasoned composure of an adult couldn't be found anywhere. Rietta indifferently swept over the sharp boy from top to bottom.

"You're far from fully grown."

"Want me to show you if that's really true?"

"Do you know anything about the whereabouts of the 'Moon Tide'?"

Rietta lightly ignored the provocation. At the question thrown without context, Lycaon, who had been growling as if about to charge immediately, sharply raised his eyebrows.

"How does an outsider know about the Moon Tide?"

"Where is it?"

"Why are you curious about that?"

"Because that's why I came here."

Rietta gestured with her chin toward the back that the boy was cleverly blocking and added.

"I'm not interested in you or that child."

Priscilla blinked her pale green eyes. Lycaon, who had hesitated, opened his mouth after a brief pause.

"...That nymph half-blood better think the same way."

"You knew he was a nymph?"

The boy wrinkled his nose.

"Human or animal, there's only one species that gives off such a sickeningly sweet smell that entrances everyone and makes the nose numb."

Then he shook his head as if disgusted. It was a gesture suggesting he'd smelled something foul. Then Melian, who had been quiet, exclaimed with an incredulous expression.

"I hate such weak and troublesome humans!"

At the voice filled with suppressed displeasure, the tension that had filled the surroundings instantly subsided. Lycaon's gleaming eyes calmed as if they'd never been that way, and his tightly drawn muscles relaxed loosely.

His murmur of "Is that how it was?" also softened considerably, sounding almost gentle. He nodded with his now relaxed attitude.

"She's weak, but she doesn't inconvenience others. Don't speak carelessly when you don't know anything."

"Is that so? Then from now on I should figure out how to become an inconvenience."

"Why would you want to know that?"

The way his eyes immediately widened was unbearable to watch. Acting as if he'd already found a mate when he hadn't even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet. Melian let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.

"I'm not curious, so just tell me about the Moon Tide."

"Really?"

"Not even a speck."

Lycaon, who had been examining Melian thoroughly as if deboning a fish, confirmed the face that showed not just disinterest but even a slight hint of aversion, and lowered his intensity.

The bold demand to hand over the species' treasure seemed completely unimportant in comparison. Having suddenly become languid after leaving the topic of 'Priscilla,' the boy curtly spat out.

"It's not here right now."

At the expected answer, Rietta tilted her head.

"Where is it?"

"The king probably has it. I don't need it anyway."

"So you're saying it's not hidden here."

"As if I'd hide it in a place like this."

Rietta ignored the boy's sneer. Footprints for hiding something were definitely scattered here and there throughout the coniferous forest. Seeing them wind around, there was also the possibility they were for Priscilla's sake.

However, judging from the wounds extending from waist to abdomen, meeting her couldn't have been that long ago.

If those footprints stamped before the two met weren't because of the Moon Tide, then what were they trying to protect? Rietta opened her mouth again.

"Then why are you alone in a place like this? There's a separate place where werewolves gather to live."

It seemed to be an unexpected question. Lycaon, briefly flustered, made a pondering ugh sound, then soon stepped aside one pace.

"Come inside for now."

The boy pointed at Melian, who had been guarding Rietta's back the whole time.

"I don't know about you, but nymphs don't lie."

The criteria for choosing the leader of a pack differed by individual. It could be the strongest, the largest, a bloodline of the previous leader, or the wisest who was chosen.

And the werewolves' criteria for successors were fairly demanding. First, have the best combat ability in the pack. Second, receive the recognition of the entire pack. Third, be an adult who has found a mate.

All these conditions had to be satisfied, but the last condition was excluded in extremely exceptional cases. For instance, if one could maintain reason on the full moon even without the 'Moon Tide.'

'Lycaon, you still haven't become an adult?'

'Mind your own business.'

Even though all his peers had safely become adults, Lycaon was the only one who hadn't even performed his coming-of-age ceremony. By the time they were having children one by one, the situation still hadn't changed.

The title of next successor was the same as well. No matter how much time flowed, the successor was always Lycaon. Discontent erupting from those who had been competitors since childhood was a natural phenomenon.

'It doesn't make sense that someone lacking qualifications is still in that position.'

Lycaon had received the recognition of the current leader, Penn, Lord of the Lycanthropes, at just twelve years old. One night when the full moon rose. Among fellow species running wild having lost their reason, those whose eyes were clearly shining were only the king, the queen, and Lycaon, who had just turned five.

Penn immediately perceived that he was a miraculous mutant who didn't need the Moon Tide, but since he couldn't be certain the miracle would continue, he watched for exactly seven years. And finally declared:

'The successor is Lycaon.'

The resistance pouring in from all sides completely disappeared after the full moon passed and they checked the recording sphere. The remaining opposition forces also quieted down when Lycaon claimed victory in the widely held duel.

However, when the coming-of-age ceremony problem emerged, the minority public opinion that the successor should be changed came back to life and didn't settle down easily.

Sion, who had been treated as the implicit successor from before Lycaon was born, held the greatest dissatisfaction. As the king's only direct lineage, he who had taken succession for granted finally caused an incident when Lycaon remained a minor far beyond the appropriate age.

"He even used forbidden sorcery to try to kill you?"

"If only I disappeared, that would do it. How satisfying it must have been to watch me unable to pull myself together and crawling on the ground."

At Lycaon's calm answer, Melian furrowed his brow. Sion, who had been appreciating the sight of him trying to resist somehow even under a spell that sapped strength from his limbs, attacked targeting only vital points. It was an act imbued with the will to kill.

Eventually, while Lycaon, who had suffered fatal wounds, lost consciousness, the queen who had belatedly received news moved quickly. She rescued Lycaon just barely before his breath was cut off, and as soon as she finished emergency treatment, hurriedly sent him north with his mother.

A place where they could obtain medicinal herbs that grew only under specific conifers, and where they could avoid human eyes as much as possible.

"Mabia must have been optimal."

Rietta murmured. The footprints stamped across the entire initially discovered region must have belonged to Lycaon's mother. It was the optimal method for freely roaming the forest while hiding her child whose life was in danger.

She examined Lycaon, who was protectively holding Priscilla in his embrace. Judging from his growling state, it seemed certain the spell had been broken, but his mother who supposedly came with him was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is your mother?"

"She went back to the village after just breaking the spell."

"Why? You said you could have died."

"It was a situation no different from rebellion erupting by defying the king's command—the queen's guard couldn't leave her position for long."

Rietta tilted her head questioningly. Land-based demi-human species generally had strong attachment between parents and children. No matter how strong their loyalty, leaving a dying child behind couldn't happen.

"I-it's because she met me."