[Author’s Note] Wishing you a delightful weekend! Thank you for any recommendations and comments. 97th edition
32. The Magical Beasts and the Peculiar Wolf, Tartar096 – The Magical Beasts and the Peculiar Wolf, Tartar #3
I maintained my self-image of having a throat sore from lettuce pollen and spoke sweetly like a Wildling.
━ Actually, I have an important story. There’s a tree with claw marks to mark territory, not far to the south, right?
━ How many lines of claw marks are we talking about? Two? Three?
‘Weren’t there claw marks in just one place? Guess I was wrong.’
I briefly closed my eyes and recalled the tree I had seen during the day. There had indeed been three lines of claw marks on that tree.
━ Three.
━ Seems like you’re talking about the Shaking Rock area. So what happened to those claw marks?
In response to Kublai’s question, I decided to share what I had seen just as it was.
━ Someone vandalized them! They layered several lines of claw marks over the original ones, from the top down. Isn’t this a blatant challenge to our wolf pack and the great Kublai himself?
━ Vandalizing claw marks?
━ Messing with territorial markings? That’s just crazy.
━ Who could it be?
The wolves began to stir restlessly.
Borjigin, his silvery fur standing on end, questioned me.
━ Who’s the j*rk that did this? Did you see? If it’s to the south, could it be that white-furred beast? You know, the one that makes weird howling noises.
At Borjigin’s question, the wolves grew even louder.
━ If it’s the white-furred beast… that hurt Lord Kublai…
━ Shh! I told you to keep quiet about that!
━ Anyway, whoever it is, we should tear them apart! This is an insult to our wolves!
━ Agreed! Let’s tear them apart!
The wolves sprang up, baring their fangs, ready to leap out of the cave and rip apart some beasts.
I never imagined that simply vandalizing a territorial mark would provoke such a response.
‘If they discover it was me, I might actually be torn to shreds right here!’
Suddenly, a loud thud echoed through the cave.
Kublai smacked his front paw down and clicked his tongue.
━ Everyone calm down. Blackpaw hasn’t finished his story yet. Right, Blackpaw? If it’s the Shaking Rock area, that’s your patrol zone. Surely you must have seen who defaced my claw marks and challenged my authority, right? You are an excellent scout, after all.
I blinked a few times.
In this situation, shaking my head felt worse than nodding. Saying I hadn’t seen it would mean I neglected my duties and might just earn me a d*ath sentence.
━ I did see it.
━ Good! Then what color was the fur of that beast? Was it white like they said?
The choice of words was calm, but Kublai’s voice had a growl mixed in.
‘If I admit it was me, this will turn into a huge hassle.’
After hesitating, I confidently declared.
━ It was golden fur. Golden fur.
━ Ha!
Kublai pulled a wide grin, suddenly bursting into laughter.
━ Hahaha! Golden fur? Golden fur?
He continued to question me while laughing.
I started to panic, worrying that I might have answered incorrectly.
In that moment, Kublai’s laughter faded, replaced by bared teeth and a snarl.
━ There’s only one creature with golden fur in the south and eastern forests. It’s that Ishtar! I thought he had settled down recently, but it seems he’s showing his true colors again.
━ Those foolish foxes! Let’s wipe out that leader Ishtar while we have the chance!
━ Agreed!
Dissatisfaction with the golden fox was growing among the wolves.
I silently praised myself for dodging a b*llet. What a marvelous lie, I thought.
━ It seems quite suspicious.
Just then, a wolf spoke in a thin voice.
It was the gray wolf who had remained calm when the Wildling’s voice was heard and when the territory markings were vandalized.
The wolves that had been growling as if readying for war against the fox fell silent all at once.
Kublai narrowed his single eye as he looked down at the gray wolf.
━ Blanca, do you think Blackpaw is lying?
━ No way. Our honest and excellent Blackpaw wouldn’t lie! But the situation happening now seems like a poorly patched-up tale. I mean, launching a war in the eastern forests at this time? Even the foolish foxes wouldn’t think of such a dumb idea.
━ Then what are you trying to say? I want to hear the opinion of the eastern sentinel last.
Called upon by Kublai, Blanca stood up.
The wolves that were jumping with excitement about trampling the fox gradually sat back down.
‘The atmosphere changed in an instant.’
I noticed that this gray wolf named Blanca was no ordinary wolf.
Though of somewhat smaller stature, he possessed a leadership quality that rivaled Kublai and his son Borjigin.
Blanca calmly and quietly spoke.
━ The east is packed with eastern matters right now. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about what happens in other regions. But today, I came across something in the east.
After giving a bark, Blanca caused two wolves to trot in, carrying something in their mouths. Everyone gasped as they placed the item in the center.
━ That’s a tool.
━ That’s a human tool! Probably a sheathe for blades. Something to hold sharp metal.
The wolves gasped at the leather and crafted object as they inspected it.
━ Humans….
━ Humans are trying to come back to this eastern forest.
━ Is the nightmare from over a decade ago starting again…?
Their voices quivered in fear.
This was a completely different atmosphere from the restless chaos before; it was filled with dread and hopelessness.
Blanca continued.
━ Such things have been found scattered throughout the eastern forest. There are also reports of sightings of humans.
Blanca stood proudly in front of Kublai and looked straight into his enormous single eye without fear.
━ Humans will return to this forest. This is where they seek our woods, the east.
━ Hmph.
Kublai scoffed at Blanca’s words.
━ That’s a wild speculation.
━ No, we all know the reason why humans have been visiting this forest in the past few years.
Blanca turned his back to Kublai and looked at the other wolves, speaking like a passionate speaker urging them.
━ We all know it’s the ridiculous human with the golden metal horns being the master of their forest. And the children he held closely right before his d*ath. The babies wrapped in that soft, warm fabric…
━ Shut up!
Kublai shouted, jumping out of his seat, cutting off Blanca’s words.
He growled roughly, blocking Blanca’s speech.
But Blanca, showing no signs of being fazed, slowly walked toward me.
‘What the heck, why is he coming this way?’
I wondered if my true identity was about to be exposed.
However, Blanca turned right in front of me and stood in front of the black wolf, Tartar, on my left, and began to pull off Tartar’s skin.
━ We know. Tartar is not a wolf but a hu… cough, cough. Cough.
Blanca seemed to choke on the lettuce pollen stuck to Tartar’s skin and could not continue speaking.
But the other wolves were equally stunned into silence.
Once Blanca exposed Tartar’s black skin, Tartar appeared in the form of a boy with two arms, two legs, and bronzed skin.
‘What the heck, that j*rk is a human!?’
Now that I thought about it, Tartar had several points that seemed unnatural for a three-eyed wolf.
He was fine around the dreaded lettuce, and his gait was different from other four-legged beasts. Moreover, his blue eyes were the most worrisome.
‘So that’s the reason.’
I slowly began to understand why this wolf was so harshly criticized and ridiculed by the others.
━ Hoo.
A sigh of relief seemed to shake the cave. Kublai slowly walked to the center of the circle.
━ I know you all hate humans. They set fire to our land, stole our pups, and ripped apart our parents. I know it all. With your rage and desire for revenge against them, no one here could defeat me. I lost my eye, my wife, and all the light in my life to humans.
Kublai’s single eye widened. bl**d spilled from the grotesquely scarred sockets.
━ But there are no humans in our pack. Tartar is my son and Borjigin’s brother. Though he’s incapable of hunting alone, he’s still a wolf. Just a wolf.
Kublai picked up the black wolf’s skin on the ground and draped it over Tartar’s body.
Blanca frowned, looking displeased with the situation.
But all that came from Blanca was a dry cough: ━Cough, cough.
‘It feels like I’ve heard something I shouldn’t have.’
Kublai took a deep sigh before seeming to reach a decision.
━ Borjigin.
━ Yes, Father.
━ Take your brother Tartar and step outside the cave for a bit. Just take a short walk nearby.
━ Understood.
The silver-furred wolf Borjigin grabbed Tartar, who was clumsily wrapped in his own skin, and they both exited the cave, coughing as they went.
When Borjigin and Tartar were no longer visible, Kublai began to speak again.
━ We all knew humans would come back. I care little for their reasons for coming to this forest, but whether we like it or not, the eastern forests we share borders with that human count must be defended.
━ Arf, arf!
The gray wolf Blanca barked something.
I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but the other wolves nodded along with each other, agreeing: ━ Yeah, that’s true. ━ Good point.
━ But Blanca, your opinion is dismissed.
Kublai responded in a cold and solemn tone.
━ Launching an attack on humans first is akin to leaping into a furnace. Blanca, you’re right that humans are weak. They don’t have thick skin, nor do they possess claws or sharp teeth. But we must never underestimate them. There are strong ones among them, wielding heavy iron and clad in thick metal armor.
At Kublai’s words, the wolves drooped their tails in a dejected manner. Even without having fought, they already looked like defeated dogs.
━ Above all, the terrifying aspect of humans is that their numbers can grow rapidly beyond counting. If we k*ll one, in a few years, ten will show up. The cities and villages they inhabit are rumored to be filled with hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of humans.
━ T-tens of thousands? Is that really true?
━ How can so many of them live together?
━ What do they even eat?
━ How can a swarm of that size be sustained?
Questions erupted from the wolves in response to Kublai’s speech.
‘Count, cities, and villages.’
I too was left with questions about humans in this world, just like the other wolves.
I recalled the hunters I met last time.
If there are tens of thousands of such beings, it would surely be quite a threat to the beasts of this forest.
Kublai silently listened to all the wolves’ questions.
After a moment, the wolves who had been chattering loudly fell silent, paying attention to Kublai.
Feeling that the atmosphere had settled, Kublai continued.
━ I don’t have much knowledge about humans either. But one thing is certain: they have invaded this forest time and again, and we have chased them away every time. We will do so again this time.
━ What do we do then?
A brown-furred wolf, probably the northern sentinel Delma, asked Kublai.
Kublai calmly scanned the wolves and fell briefly into thought.
━ There are some here who have only been born for a few years. There are those who have never faced battle with humans, so I’ll explain briefly.
Kublai turned to the rock behind him and lifted his front paw, scraping one claw against the stone to make a white mark.
‘A drawing?’
