Wolves of Hader

Chapter 147

Black Mane stared at me intently.

"Ha ha ha! You're quite the amusing fellow."

"Hahahaha!"

As Black Mane laughed, her subordinates joined in, bursting into laughter. The grandson of Dran the Great Elder, the princess of Robe, the chieftain of the Tak Great Tribe, and the world's greatest swordsman.

It was an impossible combination.

Black Mane spoke.

"You lie so calmly. To spin such tall tales right in front of me, you must be a truly bold person."

Black Mane laughed again and continued speaking.

"So, how did the world's greatest sword end up adrift with such precious people? Where were you actually headed?"

"We were on our way to the southernmost tip of Beltern."

"For what reason?"

"Have you ever heard of Hairopro?"

Black Mane furrowed her brow.

She definitely knew.

"You know, don't you? Where is it?"

Black Mane's expression subtly changed. As if a secret had been revealed. Or as if I had exposed a weakness. Her subordinates seemed totally clueless.

"Hey. Are you really the princess of Robe?"

"Don't change the subject. You know where Hairopro is, don't you? Just tell us willingly."

"What are you talking about?"

Srrrk.

Black Mane's subordinates drew their swords.

Black Mane grinned.

"Speak the truth and beg for forgiveness."

"I'm asking where Hairopro is!"

"Do you want to die!"

I stood up slowly.

Black Mane's subordinates got up as well.

"If you don't want to trade, so be it. If you want that thousand gold coins in the pouch, you'll have to trade it for Yan's bow. If not, we'll just smash up the place and leave. Got it?"

"I suppose I'll have to check if you really are the greatest swordsman in the world."

"Your subordinates will get badly hurt though?"

"You'll die first."

"Really? I'm curious about the Pirate King's relic. Doesn't seem to be that sword. Not the boots. Definitely not the hat. Maybe... is it that coat?"

Suddenly the subordinates sprang forward.

At the same time, black Mane disappeared.

Pppppp-bang—

The charging subordinates were struck by something and sent flying, crashing into the ground. The elders were also pushed back by the impact.

The elders simultaneously shot magic power from their left hands. All of them had considerable magical skill, not only using it to leap but employing it as a weapon too.

And in my hand, I grasped Black Mane's hand. Her sword had even turned invisible. Black Mane suddenly became invisible and tried to stab me.

"Damn!"

I heard Black Mane's voice, now that both her hands were caught by me. As soon as I blocked her attack, she was caught by her left hand as well, her arm twisted.

"Let go!"

"Wow. You turned completely invisible, huh?"

"Let go! You cheating bastard!"

I twisted her arm further, forcing her to kneel.

She didn't reveal herself in front of her subordinates. She must have been sure she'd defeat me effortlessly.

Honestly, I was a little surprised too.

It was the first time I'd seen someone turn completely invisible. Although I could see a shimmery silhouette.

The elemental companion with me sensed something invisible. The newly bonded light elemental instantly detected the odd presence too.

"Let go! I said let go!"

"Where is Hairopro?"

"I don't know!"

"Boss!"

Before I realized it, the pirates were aiming their bows at us. The subordinates that had been knocked down were all unconscious. With their captain invisible, the pirates couldn't attack.

"Let's not do this and just trade."

"No way!"

"How old are you, anyway? Black Mane's been around for ages—you don't age, do you?"

Meanwhile, Allen was snickering, hefting his own bag of money. He let out a *thump* and climbed onto the roof of the log house, then vanished immediately.

"Allen! Where are you going!"

"I'm heading to the ship first! I'll beat up the pirate bastards, so clean up here! I almost lost my entire fortune! Hahahaha!"

"Don't set any fires!"

"I'll do what I want!"

I spoke to Black Mane.

"That guy. He likes playing with fire—is that okay with you?"

"Let go. Let's talk after you let go."

"I'm not joking. Not only will your pirates get hurt, this whole island could end up a sea of flames."

Black Mane's resistance crumbled.

Her magic power was tremendous.

And she didn't even seem human.

"What are you, really?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"You're not a human half-blood. Your hair color, your magic power—it's weird. Are you related to Hairopro?"

She didn't answer.

"Let's leave it at this. We don't have to trade. But I'd like to buy at least a used bow. I'll pay ten gold coins for one. You must have more than a hundred bows in this village, right?"

"You must have a lot of gold."

"Plenty. Decide quickly. Dran over there really will set the village on fire. If it burns, we'll be out of options too."

"Fine."

"Now show yourself first."

Black Mane's form slowly appeared.

I released her arm as well.

There was an embarrassed look on Black Mane's face as she retreated from me. If not for running into me, there probably would have been barely any rivals for her in the world. It was the first time I'd seen such speed since 'Xenon'.

"You really want to buy a bow for ten gold coins?"

"Yes. We'd have to go to Yan to get materials, and we don't have time to wait."

"That'll be one thousand one hundred gold coins including arrows."

"Are the arrows special too?"

"The arrows and the wood we use are different from what you have. They're very elastic and light. They barely ever break."

"Then it seems I'll have to come buy arrows again."

"Do you have any iron?"

"A lot."

"We'll do intermediary trade."

The negotiation was settled in no time.

They'd make a lot of money from this anyway.

"Donnie! Stop Allen!"

"Yes, sir!"

Black Mane shouted in Yan's language as well. At that, the surrounding pirates lowered their bows. Some dashed outside the fortress. Hopefully Allen didn't actually start a fire.

/ / /

This time, we were treated as guests.

Our party sat in Black Mane's living room and ate again.

"Sorry about that."

"We were the intruders—can't be helped."

"I didn't know you were so strong."

"You too."

Black Mane looked at me and the elders.

She seemed able to gauge the magic power of the elders, but couldn't detect mine and was puzzled by it.

Black Mane looked at Eilin.

"Are you really the princess of Robe?"

Eilin shook her head.

"I'm not quite the kind of princess you think."

"What do you mean by that?"

She said she's a princess, but also not a princess.

I stepped in.

"She is a princess. Originally, Eilin's father was the crown prince. The current king of Robe, who doesn't have a princess, gave Eilin the right of succession. She's third in line to the throne."

"I see."

Eilin stared at me.

As if wondering how I knew that.

"So that Dran is real too?"

"I told you, I never lie."

Black Mane scowled.

"They say he's the empire's most handsome man."

"How is that a lie?"

"Chuckling..."

I wondered who kept laughing.

It was Eilin.

"Did you know I have the Pirate King's boots?"

"I thought Red Beard had those."

"I took them."

She didn't seem particularly greedy about it.

"You don't seem interested."

"What would I do with such things? Become a new Pirate King and go around pirating?"

"Then why do you have the coat?"

"My mother gave it to me. The original Black Mane was my mother. I only use it because I inherited it."

"So she wasn't an old-looking grandmother."

"What?"

I smiled and said.

"I heard there are people like you, half-bloods, in the south of Beltern. They have different hair color, but they're probably similar to you. Right?"

Black Mane didn't deny it.

She must be from such a place.

"Are half-bloods and Hairopro related?"

"Why do you think I'd know?"

"If you want to hide it, at least act perfectly. Your eyes shook when I said Hairopro, you can't not know."

"Hmph."

Black Mane hesitated a moment.

She looked like she was debating whether to speak or not.

"Why do you want to go there?"

"Eilin's father, who's there, told us to. And an old man appeared in my dream and told me to go too."

"Father? An old man?"

"Do you know Viscount Drian?"

"I don't. No humans can go there."

"Why? Because it's where the Elin live?"

Black Mane's eyes narrowed.

I wondered if it was my mention of Elin, or because she let slip that humans can't go there.

"What was the old man like?"

"The one I saw in my dream. Would it help if I described him—would you know?"

"It wasn't a dream."

"What do you mean?"

Black Mane snorted.

"So an old man just appeared in your dream and told you to come to Hairopro? No one in the world has such a dream. No human knows about Hairopro."

"So you're not human, either?"

Black Mane didn't answer.

I tried again.

"Eilin's father asked us to come. He's there, at Hairopro. So, Eilin, is your father not human either?"

Eilin laughed at my words.

Out of disbelief.

"So, I'm asking. Who was the old man?"

"He was dressed all in black."

Black Mane's eyes widened.

She even drew a sharp breath in surprise.

"What? You know him?"

"Why did that person go to you?"

"I have no idea. Who is he?"

She didn't answer.

Even Black Mane's hair was strikingly black. There had to be a connection.

"He's your grandfather, isn't he? Right?"

"No."

"Your grandfather is a mage, isn't he?"

"I said no!"

Such vehement denial was almost an admission.

Even if he wasn't exactly her grandfather.

There was definitely some connection.

"Let me ask you something."

"Anything except about Hairopro."

"Alright. We got lost drifting after a storm. But you found us. Do you send ships out even during storms?"

"That's..."

"It's odd. You approached as if you'd been waiting for us. The storm would be dangerous for you too, wouldn't it?"

Black Mane bit her lip.

"You knew. You knew we were coming."

Black Mane squeezed her eyes shut.

She hesitated, so I waited.

"I only saw that a strange ship was coming. Whenever someone intrudes, I always see it."

"That's an amazing ability."

But I doubted it was her own power.

That old man must have told her.

"If someone showed you us, doesn't that mean someone expects you to guide us? Nobody else knows where Hairopro is. There must be a reason your grandfather summoned us."

"He's not my grandfather."

"Anyway. It means you can tell us where Hairopro is. That old man gave his permission."

Black Mane fell into thought once again.

There was nothing forced about what I said.

"It's a place humans aren't supposed to know about. Yet three humans have been there. Viscount Drian and Eilin's father are there now."

"So how did they get there?"

"The will of the divine."

"What?"

Black Mane was startled again.

By the gravity of the word "divine".

"What's that supposed to mean? The will of the divine?"

"The three of them saw Hairopro through the Sword of Light. That's how they found it. That divine sword is now with Eilin. If that's not the will of the divine, what is?"

"Who is this woman?"

"She's the one chosen by the Sword of Light."

Black Mane looked at Eilin.

Eilin gave an awkward smile.

A brief silence fell.

"Guide us. It's alright."

Black Mane wavered.

It seemed she had her reasons.

Just what kind of place was Hairopro?

/ / /

Black Mane was quite a powerful woman.

It was almost absurd that I held her so easily. She even served as the admiral of Yan's navy.

Her magic power and skill were nearly on par with the Sword of Light; if not for help from elementals, I might have lost. Black Mane underestimated me, not knowing my true ability.

She didn't seem specially trained, but her physical abilities were outstanding. She was light on her feet and fast. She could only be seen as a half-blood of Elin and human.

A warrior of such prowess, with an invisibility cloak to boot, was inevitable to become empress of the southern seas. Even as a pure Yan, her personality likely would have kept her from leading Yan's army.

"We've loaded a hundred bows and five thousand arrows onto your ship. Food too. But they say the ship's too small to carry it all."

"We'll handle that. If you give us the bows, won't you run out of weapons?"

"We'll just make more. Throughout this archipelago alone, our number of warriors exceeds ten thousand. It's the main route to Yan."

"Then I guess we could buy more next time."

"If you come again, I'll sell you more then."

"What special products does Yan have?"

"Other than paper and black tea, not much else."

Trade would be difficult, then.

"Anything worth exchanging for iron?"

"Paper is precious for you, but we have plenty. Black tea—you've probably never seen it. It only grows in the jungles of Yan."

"Do you have it here?"

Black Mane went to the next room and brought out a book and a box. She set them in front of me.

"Check them."

I flipped through the book.

The paper quality wasn't much different from ours. We lack the trees for papermaking, so it's expensive for us.

I opened the box as well.

The moment I saw it, I was taken aback.

Tears welled up out of nowhere.

"What's wrong? Is there a story behind it?"

"It's just emotion. I'm so moved."

"Being moved by tea..."

I was genuinely overwhelmed.

I thought I'd never get to drink it again.

That tea, which had been one of the few joys in my life.

There's coffee in this world.

Americanos exist!