“Where is the body?”
The silver-haired middle-aged man asked calmly.
Merely standing in front of him was enough to make me feel as though something were tightening around my throat.
‘Beastkin….’
They were people who had crossed over from the fallen Eastern Continent.
Their various clans lived throughout the continent without regard for national borders.
In a sense, they were little different from refugees.
Refugees who were beasts loyal to their instincts, capable of doing who knew what.
Even so, the Empire did not indiscriminately oppress them.
It prohibited them from entering major cities, but it did not claim ownership of their forests and drive them out.
The Empire was not alone in that regard. The Holy Nation of Vaertz in the west and the Barbarian Nation of Bismir in the south took the same stance.
The reason was obvious.
The Clan Chiefs standing at the head of each tribe were simply too powerful to ignore.
“…….”
For an instant, I almost attacked him on instinct, but I kept that suicidal impulse as nothing more than a thought.
Without letting my guard down, I pointed toward the black ring on my left hand.
“I stored it inside the Subspace so it wouldn’t decay.”
“A Subspace, you say? That is quite a valuable Relic.”
Enos stared intently at the ring in admiration, but Tristan showed no interest and went straight to the point.
“Take it out. I need to confirm that he truly belongs to our clan.”
His tone was remarkably overbearing, as though I were merely returning something he had entrusted to me.
Do I look like an idiot who can’t even recognize a Werewolf?
The words nearly escaped my mouth, but I swallowed them.
The Clan Chief I had come here to meet was already standing before me.
There was no reason to create further conflict.
Besides, trying to bargain with them using one of their dead would hardly improve our relationship.
WHIRR.
I immediately opened the Subspace and brought out Garbo’s body.
There was no sign of decay.
After carefully examining the body, Enos reported to Tristan.
“It’s him. This is definitely Garbo.”
Luna, who had been inspecting the body beside him, turned to me.
“Allen. You said you wanted to return his body to the Clan Chief, right? Can we take him?”
I nodded.
Luna immediately lifted Garbo’s body into her arms.
Watching her, Enos smiled and asked,
“Young Master Allen. Garbo was a criminal who committed crimes within the Empire. As far as I knew, he was imprisoned. Where did you find his body?”
“…….”
It was slightly difficult to keep my expression unchanged.
Enos was smiling right in front of me.
He must have already known what had happened to Garbo.
After all, Enos was the one who had sold information about Garbo to Marco in the first place.
If events followed the original story, the entire Werewolf Clan would eventually be sold into slavery.
That would be troublesome.
The process would only strengthen the black market.
This time, things needed to unfold differently.
“I’ll get straight to the point. I killed Garbo.”
“What?”
Luna was the only one who reacted openly to the sudden confession.
Tristan, however, also fell silent with a hardened expression.
The atmosphere turned cold in an instant.
Before they could misunderstand, I opened the Subspace again.
THUD.
Marco’s body dropped onto the ground.
“His name is Marco. Marco the ‘Leech,’ a Slave Trader from the black market. He was also the one who bought Garbo as a Combat Slave.”
“Marco….”
“Black-Market Slave Traders don’t obtain their slaves through legal Imperial channels. They create slaves through kidnapping, coercion, and other crimes. Marco in particular was an eccentric with a twisted obsession for collecting rare things.”
Tristan watched me with calm eyes, but I ignored his gaze and continued.
“What Marco wanted were rare collectibles capable of satisfying that obsession. Among them was Garbo, who had been gaining fame as a Werewolf Adventurer.”
“A collectible…? You mean he treated Garbo like an object?”
“Yes. What Marco wanted most was a Werewolf.”
“How dare he! We’re not collectibles!”
Ignoring Luna’s outburst, I continued explaining.
How Marco had trapped Garbo in a scheme and turned him into a criminal.
How he had then bought Garbo as a slave and pursued Claire and me after we left the Labyrinth.
Even how I had ended up killing Garbo.
When the long explanation ended, Luna was the first to react.
Her youthful face twisted with naked fury.
“That bastard!!”
She suddenly lunged toward Marco’s body, apparently intending to kick it.
I hurriedly opened the Subspace and stored the body away again.
“Why are you taking him away?!”
“The only body I promised to hand over was Garbo’s. I never said I’d give you Marco’s.”
“Bring him back out! I’ll tear him apart!”
As Luna raged, Enos restrained her from behind.
“Please calm down, Young Lady. Garbo was a criminal who violated our Law. There is no need to become so emotional. Besides, there is no guarantee that everything this man has told us is true.”
Enos smiled pleasantly as he turned to me.
“Isn’t that so? How can we trust the words of a human without evidence?”
“Ask around the black market about Marco the ‘Leech.’ The information brokers there should know that he turned Garbo into a slave.”
“Do you not know? Under our clan’s Law, leaving the forest is forbidden.”
The Law.
Not human law, but the law of another race.
A tradition they regarded as more important than almost anything else.
Among the Werewolf Clan’s laws was a rule forbidding them from leaving their forest.
“I actually had something I wanted to say to you about that.”
I looked toward Tristan.
He was staring at me with the eyes of a beast.
I could not claim to feel calm.
If he wished, he could remove my head in an instant.
Even so, I did not allow my posture to falter.
After thinking for a moment, Tristan ordered Enos,
“Take Luna and return ahead of us. I need to speak with this brat.”
“Is that really necessary? He is still only a human.”
“Shut up and go back.”
“…Yes.”
With a servile smile, Enos grabbed Luna by the back of her collar.
“Young Lady. Let’s go.”
“Ah! Let go of me! I’m staying too!!”
“No. Those are the Clan Chief’s orders.”
WHOOSH!
The two disappeared into the forest.
Once the noisy pair were gone, Tristan spoke.
“Brat. First, I offer my thanks for bringing back a foolish member of my clan.”
Tristan bowed his head.
Considering that he was the Clan Chief, the gesture carried an almost excessive degree of gratitude.
After remaining bowed for a moment, he raised his head.
His eyes had already become those of a wolf.
“So. You said you had something to tell me?”
Good.
Now we were finally getting to the real point.
“Haven’t there been noticeably more intruders lately?”
“By intruders, do you mean people who trespass into this forest without permission, like you?”
“I came here for a legitimate reason. I mean people lurking around without any apparent purpose.”
“Hmm. There have indeed been a few such people.”
So he had noticed but never suspected anything?
I found myself leaning slightly toward the theory that Beastkin were not particularly bright.
“What did you do with the intruders? Kill them?”
“Kill them? Your thinking is extreme, just like a human’s. Aside from the vermin who kidnapped one of our children, we sent them all away. We administer punishment only according to the Law.”
“Is that Law also why you can’t leave this forest?”
“Yes.”
That damned Law.
If nothing changed, they would be wiped out because of it.
And the small flutter created by the Werewolf Clan’s extinction would eventually become a storm that shook the entire continent.
I could not afford to let the difficulty increase any further.
“If you keep chanting ‘Law, Law’ like that, your entire clan will be wiped out. You must have heard that the Buffalo Clan recently fell into enormous debt and was sold into slavery.”
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
Displeasure entered Tristan’s voice.
Could I push him further?
Whatever.
I had to throw it out there.
“Get rid of your clan’s Law. That stubborn tradition is nothing but a shackle around your necks. It’s actively harming you.”
At that moment, Tristan’s body flashed.
“…!”
A beast’s arm wrapped around my neck.
Damn it.
I had not even seen him move.
Tristan had already completed a Partial Beast Transformation.
“You certainly say whatever comes to mind. What exactly is wrong with our Law?”
His fur-covered arm pressed harder against me.
This seemed excessive against a Mage.
True to the Werewolf Clan, he was hot-blooded.
But I did not change my attitude.
“At this rate… your clan will be wiped out! Because of that precious Law of yours!”
“Shut your mouth!”
“Ghk—”
Tristan tightened his grip without another word.
He was choking me harder than I expected.
No, seriously.
I might actually die here.
This was beginning to feel less like a threat and more like genuine danger, so I had no choice but to draw up my mana.
『Black Body』
A sphere of darkness appeared above my right hand.
A small orb capable of annihilating whatever it touched without regard for rank or status.
I aimed it directly at Tristan, who was gripping my throat.
“!?”
He released me instantly and retreated.
“First a curse, and now Darkness School magic… Are you perhaps a worshiper of an Evil God?”
“Of course not.”
Curse and Darkness School magic were practically synonymous with Black Mages.
If Tristan had been human, I would never have revealed them.
Unlike most humans, who worshiped the God of Light, the Werewolf Clan did not believe in gods.
“Tristan. Hasn’t Enos been leaving your territory frequently lately? Starting around the same time the intruders began appearing?”
“…….”
His expression said something had occurred to him.
“Enos is working with the black market. Behertha. You’ve heard of them, haven’t you?”
“Behertha….”
“He’s leaking information about this place to them. He intends to sell your clan out.”
“Why should I believe you?”
I never told him to believe me.
Nor did I expect him to.
I only needed to plant a seed of doubt inside his complete trust.
“Do you know what my final conversation with Garbo was?”
“Tell me.”
“I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to. There was no conversation.”
“What do you mean?”
“That wasn’t Garbo. Only the body belonged to him. He was a snarling beast with a wolf’s brain implanted inside him.”
Tristan processed the meaning of my words.
His expression twisted with rage.
I threw another piece of firewood into the flames.
“Since when did the proud Werewolf Clan allow trash like that to toy with them? And you still think your Law isn’t a shackle?”
“…….”
Looking into Tristan’s eyes, I had a feeling.
Something was going to change.
He was not a foolish man.
If he still failed to understand after all this, then I could hardly complain if the clan ended up destroyed.
“Question Enos first. Use whatever method you’re confident in. Grab him by the collar or beat the truth out of him.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“Then it doesn’t matter. A few blows won’t kill him. If I’m wrong, you confirm that the eldest son of the Kalsburg Family is nothing but a braggart. If I’m right, you uncover a traitor within your clan.”
Before I knew it, Tristan had fallen into thought.
A good sign.
This should be enough.
I had no further business here.
Before leaving, I said one final thing.
“I can collect payment for the information about Enos another time, but I’d like compensation for returning Garbo’s body. Isn’t it written in your Law that you must repay a benefactor?”
“Is there something you want?”
“You have dealings with the Avian Clan, don’t you? I’d like an introduction. I have business with them.”
“I’ll mention it to them. I’ll tell them some half-witted noble wants to meet.”
“Haha….”
He talked like that, but he would arrange the introduction somehow.
That was the kind of thing their Law demanded.
My business here was finished.
I turned to leave.
“Wait.”
Tristan suddenly stopped me.
What now?
I turned back.
With an unusually solemn expression, he said,
“Stay for a meal. Our clan does not send guests away without feeding them.”
“…Don’t tell me that’s part of the Law too?”
“Yes.”
Haa.
Damn it.
There was probably no point refusing.
“Where do I go?”
“Follow me.”
Feeling slightly apprehensive, I followed him deeper into the forest of beasts.
Was it my imagination?
I suddenly felt a little hungry.