CH 102

Chapter 102 – Glasses boy searches for the second one

First of all, one thing is clear.

There is no second Obsidian Wolf on this mountain.

Body Heat Vision allows me to see through matter. That was how I found the first Obsidian Wolf.

But that was the only one.

Even here, at the halfway point up the mountain, I tried using Body Heat Vision and Hawk’s Farsight again to try finding the other Obsidian Wolf, but I found nothing.

If looking at all directions from this location lets me see no light that is representative of an Obsidian Wolf, then there shouldn’t be one here.

“Are you sure that it is on this mountain?” I asked.

“I have no doubts about it… Is what I would have said. At least until I met this one.” Luheintz stared at the fallen Obsidian Wolf, “Right now, I can only say that I don’t know. That’s why I disclosed the information with you.”

Ah, right, he’s asking me for help…

“For reasons of pride and face, we had to finish off the Obsidian Wolf that we were tracking.

“But now, we seem to have lost sight of our target.

“From now on it is no longer a question of pride or face. It’s our responsibility as warriors speaking. We are taking the necessary actions to minimize the potential damage.” Luheintz told me.

Responsibility…? Ah, so that’s what it is.

I’ve heard that knights are very good at tactical combat even with large groups of people.

Moreover, their training is focused not on killing Demon Beasts, but on killing people.

It’s not something I think about much as our country has been in peace for a long time now, but knights prepare for conflicts between countries… They train for war.

Therefore, when it comes to dealing with Demon Beasts, they’re slightly inferior to adventurers, who are specialized in hunting those.

In other words, those four knights simply lacked the strength to hunt down the Obsidian Wolf. That’s why the tanned woman had multiple close calls during the battle.

And he said that this is not really about face anymore, but about responsibility… There’s only one thing that all this could mean.

“It was injured, right?” I asked.

The Obsidian Wolf that they were chasing was in a condition that they could hunt even with this small number.

Essentially, they fought the Obsidian Wolf somewhere, but failed to subdue it. It escaped, so the knights pursued it.

The reason they’re moving with such a small group is because they wanted to move as quickly as possible, and large groups inevitably move slower than smaller ones.

It would be a disaster if they lost sight of the Obsidian Wolf that they were chasing, and they absolutely wanted to be the ones leading the hunt to subdue it.

Because of their pride as knights, they want to take care of it with their own hands.

Because of their failure, the escaped Obsidian Wolf will attack people in the future.

The Obsidian Wolf doesn’t attack humans, usually, as it doesn’t consider them worthwhile enemies… But now that it was wounded by humans, it will attack any that it sees on sight.

“The Obsidian Wolf that we were chasing had already lost both its right ear and its right leg.” Luheintz told me.

Just as I thought.

The missing ear may not impact its combat capabilities much, but the missing leg is a severe wound. The Obsidian Wolf would move much slower like that, so the four knights should be able to subdue it on their own.

“We have been following its sightings. We were sure that it was near here.

“However, when we arrived, we encountered a completely different Obsidian Wolf.

“Even if it was a coincidence, it was a terrible coincidence. I almost lost my friends because of it.” Luheintz explained.

It’s certainly something that would surprise anyone.

From the knights’ point of view, they were chasing an injured Obsidian Wolf, yet the one that they found was in pristine condition.

The realization that they had lost their prey must have made them extremely impatient, which is why they started fighting alone.

“If we had found the prey that we were targeting, we would have subdued it without even raising the smoke signal.” Luheintz told me.

Oh, I see. So he really had no plans of raising the smoke signal all along, huh?

Well… Now that I know his circumstances, I can understand why he would do that.

“However, once we realized what happened, we understood that we must prioritize human lives over our pride.

“Before it starts attacking humans, we must hunt the second Obsidian Wolf.

“That’s why I revealed my identity to you. That’s why I explained the circumstances. So please lend us your strength.” Luheintz requested.

… I think that the decision of asking a completely unrelated civilian boy for help is already something that he should be proud of.

It is a very noble act to prioritize human lives over his pride and face.

To put it simply, they came here to make up for their mistakes. They wanted to clean it up themselves.

But now they realized that this isn’t possible, so they’re asking for help.

“I understand the circumstances, so can you excuse me for a moment?” I asked him.

“Huh? Is something the matter?” He asked back.

“Right now, I’m here as Roda’s luggage carrier. I can’t act without his permission.” I explained.

Now that I understand his circumstances and how he feels about it, I already want to help. I want to sincerely respond to the proud decision that Luheintz made.

Besides, even if I ignore the circumstances of the knights, this is still not a matter that can be left be.

There is another Obsidian Wolf. An injured Obsidian Wolf who will attack people on-sight.

The range of action of the Obsidian Wolf is wide.

In the worst case scenario, it could go all the way to my village, Albat.

I want to stop this kind of disaster from happening. I want to pluck this problem from the root.

******

I started walking towards Roda, who was watching the situation alongside Lisse from a little further away.

While I was talking to the knight, the adventurers had already arrived and started working on the Obsidian Wolf.

It was too big to be carried as is though, so they were dismantling it here… But as expected of people whose main job is exterminating Demon Beasts, they were quite skillful at it. It shouldn’t take long for them to finish this.

… Oh, right. I almost forgot.

I made a sudden turn and started moving towards the head of the Obsidian Wolf.

Its face, in death, is calm.

There were many lacerations, large and small, around its mouth. It was evidence that it fought for life with all its might.

The head of the Obsidian Wolf… I touched the area between the eyes, which were now laying sideways.

Its fur was hard.

And it still emanates the heat that it had when it was still living.

“Hey, boy. What are you doing… Ah, it’s nothing.” An adventurer, who was working on the dismantling, called out to me.

He stopped midway through and went back to what he was doing though.

A prayer of respect. And of gratitude for the life that was taken.

It was something that my master taught me.

Be grateful for all the lives that you take.

It’s not a formal requirement for a hunter, but it’s something that I prefer doing whenever possible.

There are some adventurers that do it too, so the adventurer that called out to me must have understood what I was doing.

After I finished my prayer, I went to Roda.

“Oh, you done talking?” He asked me.

Yes. We’re done.

“That anger was quite impressive.” Roda commented.

Glock’s, I assume? He was certainly scary… As expected of someone who can lead an operation with my sister. He is a person with a very strong will, and with strong morals too.

“It couldn’t be helped that he got angry at you though.

“I was more astonished than anything, but if he hadn’t done an angry scolding at you, I would have.” Roda told me.

Well, I was astonished too, to be honest. I was really surprised by the results of the Sound Bomb.

“What even was that? Boing?” Lisse stared at me with a cold gaze.

She seemed to be looking at me with contempt. I can understand how incredibly annoyed she must be at me right now, so I need to clarify something.

“Lisse.” I said.

“Hah? What?” She replied.

“I think it’s really embarrassing to say boing.” I told her.

“Huh?” She said.

“I would say boobs.” I stated.

She stayed silent.

“I would clearly say boobs.” I stated once again.

“… I don’t really get it, but alright. You don’t need to say it twice.” She replied.

“Tits.” I said next.

“Why did you say it three times? Or rather, why did you abbreviate it for the third time? And why are you saying this kind of thing with a serious face?” She asked.

Well, it’s fine for as long as she understands. I wouldn’t want her to think I speak like that.

“I agree. Boobs is better.” Roda commented.

Roda, that’s unnecessary. I was not asking for your agreement.

“You men… Just what’s wrong with you? Seriously…” Lisse heaved a deep sigh.

I also have something to say on this matter though.

“What about you woman though? I was stroked on the butt hard just now, you know?” I said.

“Oh, so I wasn’t just seeing things? I was watching how she really stroke you… That’s the first time I’ve seen someone so bluntly touch someone else like that.” Roda commented.

You were watching? You were watching that humiliating moment when I was being assaulted and you did nothing!?

“Why was she even touching him? Did you do something, Eil?” Lisse asked.

“She said it was a thank you for helping her friend.” I grumbled.

“What? A thank you? That’s what… Ah… Uhn… I see? That beauty must know many men who want to have their butts stroked by her… I guess this argument has a strange kind of persuasive power…” Lisse muttered.

Yeah… She can use this kind of argument. That fair-skinned woman is disgusting.

She can hide behind this kind of lie, and pretend that she didn’t know how I felt about it.

But why would she even want to assault me like that? I don’t get what’s fun about stroking a man’s butt like that.

“To be honest, I was jealous of you there. I wanted to be touched like that.” Roda commented.

Yeah… Looks like Roda is too tired to think properly. We should wrap up for today, so let’s quickly talk about the pressing issue.

“Roda, do you have a moment?” I asked.

“How do you feel? You happy with it?” Lisse asked after punching Roda’s butt.

“Stop it, Lisse. My butt is delicate. If you were to touch it, it should be a bold, but delicate… Oh, what is it, Eil?” Roda said.

Sorry to interrupt you playing around. I won’t take long though.

******

I got permission from Roda to do whatever I wanted, so I returned to Luheintz.

“I’ll do what I can, but I can’t guarantee that I will find it.” I told him.

Now, I have to think for a bit… Where is the second Obsidian Wolf?

And how can we find it?

I need to look at the information available to try figuring out the best search method.