After the meeting had concluded, the sprite, Gorm and I had set off towards the goblin village. I had decided on going out to talk to the wolves this night and luckily it had gotten so late I couldn't believe it. My only problem was running into Minerva while she was still hunting. I didn't know how that would end. So I decided to branch off and have the sprite direct me to the wolves' home. If we hurried up we might have been able to get to there before she went hunting.
Unfortunately, we crossed paths on the way to the wolf hill.
"Oh, Tori-kun."
She said and I could see a sort of weird smile on her face
'Y-yes.'
I responded, but then she eyed the dryad curiously and lost her smile.
"And who is that?"
'Oh, um this is, well... a friend.'
She then bowed to Minerva, then said.
"I am Hinotori's guide. We will be acting as envoys to the kings of the West."
"Guide? Why is Tori-kun going to kings?"
She was looking down on me. She thought I was too weak to even go to kings and talk to them. I would prove her wrong.
"Well –"
'That's none of your business. I'll do whatever I want.'
I cut off the sprite from explaining to Minerva.
"Tch. Tori-kun is too weak to do this."
'Yeah! You're right! I'm weak right now. I may not be the brightest out there, either. But give me a month and I'll be strong enough to even beat you up.'
I got too bold and said something unnecessary. Minerva froze up and laughed.
"Oh? Hahaha! Can Tori-kun think correctly?"
'Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?'
She walked past me while laughing loudly.
"Good luck. The new wolf king is a coward like you."
'Huh? New Wolf King? There's a new one, already? Does that mean there was someone equally as strong as the former wolf king?'
I looked up and realized that Minerva was going out to hunt tonight. That meant the wolves would be especially aggressive and careful around me.
"Minerva! I think I saw a herd of bull deer close to the water hole. They might still be there."
"Hmmm?"
She closed her eyes as if in thought. She was most likely checking with her [Overlord] skill, after which she shrugged and changed course.
I looked at the sprite and she winked at me. If she wasn't here as my guide I may have not been able to convince Minerva. She was a cheeky one, wasn't she?
'Alright then! On to the Timber Wolves!'
I shouted.
***
As soon as Minerva left we ourselves headed towards the Timber wolves territory. It was quite the walk. But thankfully I was able to get more detailed looks at places and add them to my [Auto Mapping] skill. And I was able to use my [Golden Chick Cry] to lure them in.
It didn't take long for us to hear howling. The Timbre wolves were getting ready to hunt, or they were preparing another revenge plot against Minerva. You have to give it to them. No matter how many of them she killed, they always came back with a mindset of getting revenge. That relentlessness would really help us during the invasion.
'Hey agent, can you release my aura?'
My plan was to draw one or two timber to me using my aura. What I was referring to was the fact that Gorm's skill [Truthseeker eyes] was just a skill that allowed one to approximate the strength of their target by just looking at their aura. That made it quite useless if the opponent hid their aura. I guess for simple monsters it was a good edge since they would never think of hiding their aura or they simply didn't know how to. Because of that I got the skills [Aura Release] and [Aura Control].
[Aura Release] as it says allows me to release any aura I have hidden in a powerful burst, sort of like an attack, but it also gave me a rise in stats. [Aura Control] allowed me to control the amount of aura I let out. After spending a day with the goblins I decided to use that to hide my aura and I was suddenly way more approachable than before.
<<Releasing aura>>
As soon as it was done, I could feel lighter and relaxed. It was just like how one would feel after having a good stretch.
[You have released your aura]
[Your strength has gone up by 10]
[Your speed has gone up by 50]
[Your defense has gone up by 8]
I felt way better than ever before. It was really absurd.
<<Notice: The effects of letting go of your magical presence rather than constantly storing it may be the cause. Non-sentient magical creatures are incapable of hiding their aura because of the strain it causes on the body>>
Seemed like hiding my aura was straining my body but I hadn't realized it. Maybe because I had the agent do it for me. To be honest I wondered what I would do without him.
"Th-this vile presence. Is it yours?"
The sprite asked.
'Vile presence?'
I looked at the dryad and she looked a bit shaken. I could see the wariness in her eyes. Was my aura the cause? Well, I was part demon now so I guessed that was the cause.
'I don't know what you mean by vile presence, but I just released my aura.'
"Are you perhaps, a demon?"
I nodded at her.
So demons radiate some kind of nasty presence, huh? If so I guess I should be constantly hiding my presence.
"Forgive me, but if I may ask. Y-you have been hiding it?"
'Yea, why?'
"Sorry, it is just that I did not notice it. I thought I already had a grasp on your strength but it seems I am mistaken. If you managed to hide your aura it means you must possess quite a lot of power."
'Eh? Are you guys dumb? Hiding aura doesn't necessarily equal having a lot of power.'
"No need to act humbly. I shall keep this a secret from the others if you wish."
'No, no! You're misunderstanding something here. I-'
I was about to argue, but then I sensed creatures get into my coverage area. I could count three, no five, six, seven, ten, no twenty? Crap there was a lot of them. Was it because I released my aura? But that wouldn't be strong enough a reason for all of them to come here at once.
Soon, there were sixty timber wolves. They had us surrounded from all sides. I could see one hundred and twenty yellow eyes glowing through the darkness. They were fixed on us. They were probably here thinking that dinner was served. The last time this happened was the night I came here with Minerva. That was one heck of a night.
Once again, I was reminded of just how monstrous that hob-goblina actually was.
'Hey guys! It has b-been a while, huh?'
I stammered, a sign of weakness I didn't want to show.
They all snarled at me.
'Chill, chill. I didn't come with Minerva this time! I'm not here to fight!'
I could feel them stalking closer.
'I mean, since when do sixty of you appear for little old me. Last time it was just one guy!'
Suddenly a huge timber wolf with midnight black fur emerged from the crowd. He had one eye clawed out. I didn't know why, but I recognized it as the current leader of the Timbre wolves. Well mostly because I gave him that injury when I was fighting it because it stole my food. If it weren't for Minerva I would have died that night.
'Heeeey.... you. How you been? How's your eye doing?'
I sent him a message using [Telepathy]. And surprisingly he responded in kind.
'Tch. After you clawed it out you dare-'
'Oi, oi! Agent you can translate animal as well? Then you can translate what bunnies say?'
<<Affirmative>>
Seriously? This skill was just… uwaa!
'Relax, relax. Like I said, I didn't come here to fight.'
I wanted to change the topic really quickly before this turned violent.
'Anyway, isn't sixty overkill for someone weaker than Minerva?'
'Hurumph, we didn't know you had returned here. Even better you're without that wench. Very foolish of you.'
'Hehe, quite the sharp tongue you got there.'
He snapped at me. I would have flinched if this were the first time he had done that to me.
'I said, I didn't come here to fight tonight.'
I warned him. This was taking way too long and I was getting anxious.
'You come into our territory while releasing such violent aura and you dare say that?!'
Wow, was the aura that bad? So that was why it was all of them tonight. Usually they would just hunt in groups until they sensed Minerva. I guessed my aura was frightening enough to get all of them here? Maybe I should have done it when Derbyshire was around. I could have shut him up.
'Yes, I just wanted to summon at least one of you. I didn't expect to gather all of you guys attention. I need to talk about something important.'
'I refuse! I won't listen to you!'
Oh boy. Battle crazed moron. I guess this is the part where we duel?
'I will cut you down right he-'
'Brother, stand down!'
A voice ordered and the Timber wolf stopped moving.
Brother? He had a sibling?
'But-'
'Silence!'
The voice ordered and he just whimpered. I wondered who it was that had so much authority over him. He never backed down even in front of Minerva. This person was definitely dangerous, but I couldn't sense their presence anywhere.
Out of nowhere, a very powerful presence then entered the one hundred meter radius. With a rough estimate from [Mana sense], this creature was way above me in terms of power. What was scary was the fact that, the creature suddenly appeared in my range, which meant it had been hiding in plain sight. So it could also hide its aura.
I could feel the presence walking from behind me. I slowly turned around, and standing there was a timbre wolf with silky white fur and dark violet eyes. It was about the same size as the guy I assumed to be the leader and bigger than the rest of the pack.
I faced the Timber wolf in all its majestic glory and the dryad bowed.
"Oh Timber wolf king, we have come seeking an audience with you."
