Chapter 84: War (4)

[…….]

The memories floating in my mind weren’t mine.

They were from before I received the name Wolffang from my master and became “me”.

The owner of those memories, who was me but not me, still cried out in regret within me.

It all started with that scroll. Though faded after 200 years, the distinct mana and scent of Pierre awakened the Lobo sleeping inside me.

Born sickly, Lobo was pushed aside by his siblings and couldn’t even nurse properly. His mother soon abandoned him.

As Lobo lay collapsed in the bushes waiting for death, Pierre, who happened to be wandering nearby, reached out his hand.

Whether it was simple compassion or something else, we’ll never know now that Pierre is gone.

What matters is that Pierre extended his hand, and Lobo took it.

When Lobo, once so weak he could barely stand, was finally able to walk on his own four legs, Pierre declared:

“This meeting must be fate! I’ll raise you to be the greatest wolf, worthy of the Rapier!”

At first, Lobo didn’t understand, but he grasped that it meant they’d stay together.

To be honest, their time together wasn’t always pleasant.

There were near-death encounters with massive magic beasts, and the absurd experience of being forced to wield a Rapier in his mouth instead of using his perfectly good fangs.

Pierre’s obsession with the Rapier often irritated Lobo, but the warmth of Pierre’s hand when he pet him felt better than anything.

Wanting to feel that touch more often, and hoping to be useful, Lobo worked hard.

As time passed, their companions grew in number, and Pierre’s name spread throughout the kingdom until he was called a hero.

Around that time, Pierre went out alone, leaving Lobo at the inn. When he returned, his expression was haggard as he suddenly decided to end their journey.

Neither Lobo nor Marga knew what had happened that day. They could only guess that something had occurred to make Pierre decide to stop traveling.

Though there had been tough times, the joyful moments outweighed them, so Lobo was secretly sad to end the journey.

However, unable to object to his master’s decision, Lobo quietly accepted it.

When they returned to their hometown with their master, they received a grand welcome comparable to a king’s triumphant return.

Just as Lobo was starting to think that while traveling with Pierre and Marga had been good, these peaceful days weren’t bad either, Pierre’s wedding was arranged.

To be frank, Lobo’s first impression of the woman who was to be his master’s companion wasn’t good.

From glaring at him upon their first meeting to forbidding Lobo from entering the mansion, she was a woman Lobo disliked in many ways.

But Lobo couldn’t oppose the companion his master had chosen. Above all, his master seemed happy, so Lobo was satisfied with that.

Those peaceful days continued, and the feeling that they would last forever persisted for 20 long years.

Recently, as Lobo felt his eyelids growing heavy and had grown used to the peace, an incident occurred along with torrential rain, as if foretelling the day’s tragedy.

It began with a vibration caused by an immense amount of aura that made every hair on his body stand on end.

Realizing this came from his master, Lobo hurried towards him, dragging his aged body.

What Lobo saw when he arrived was his enraged master, a bleeding naked knight, and his master’s wife and daughter facing off against him.

It was confusing. Lobo couldn’t understand what was happening.

He simply stood still, waiting for orders from his master Pierre. Without a word, Pierre mounted Lobo’s back.

Though he didn’t know why, Lobo understood his master’s desire to leave and ran on and on without a destination.

“In that house… I was the only one not family…”

From Pierre’s constant murmuring as they ran and Marga’s enraged appearance, Lobo finally grasped the situation.

Pierre… his master had been betrayed. By the family he trusted most, no, by outsiders he had considered family.

If it were up to him, Lobo would have turned back to the mansion and torn those women and that man to shreds.

But for some reason, Pierre, the master and victim of the betrayal, didn’t want that.

After running for ages, they arrived in the middle of an unnamed forest.

Pierre dismounted from Lobo’s back and collapsed to the ground as if falling.

Then he cried. Hunched over, he wept endlessly without pause.

Worried about Pierre, who hadn’t eaten or drunk anything, Lobo brought back prey, but Pierre seemed determined to die and wouldn’t touch it.

Soon, having neither eaten nor drunk, Pierre met the entirely predictable end that everyone had foreseen.

The moment Pierre drew his last breath after leaving his final words in the earth was etched into Lobo’s heart, never to be erased even after death.

No more gentle pats.

No more warmth from his hand.

Faced with this unbearable reality, Lobo’s body began to change.

As flames that seemed to embody all of Lobo’s negative emotions engulfed his body, he transformed into a magic beast like those he and Pierre had faced many times before.

Yet even after becoming a magic beast, Lobo couldn’t bring himself to disobey his master’s final order and wandered near his master, unable to go anywhere else.

That hellish time continued until her master came to subjugate Lobo, and finally, Lobo seemed to find peace alongside his master – but it wasn’t over yet.

From the moment she faced that woman’s descendant in that trial, the Lobo that had been sleeping inside me began to awaken.

“I, I…!!”

Lobo’s voice flowed from my mouth, independent of my will.

“…I cannot forgive.”

The sins of those bastards, passed down through long ages.

I cannot forgive the sin of impersonating my master’s descendants and trampling on that name for so long.

“…I cannot accept.”

The bloodline of those bastards, continuing unbroken.

I cannot accept the existence in this world of beings who inherited the blood of those women.

With those words, Lobo’s consciousness began to quiet again, and control of the body returned to me.

And as Lobo’s mind awakened and then slumbered once more, my body underwent a change as well.

“Master….”

“…Yes.”

Not Lobo’s master, but my master responded to my words.

The person who always stroked me with a warm hand, just as Pierre did for Lobo.

When I told him about the new ability that had just emerged, he seemed to sense my feelings without me saying everything and returned me to my scabbard.

“Phew…”

After taking a deep breath, my master, as he always did, drew me out towards the approaching horde of magic beasts and shouted:

“Manha!!!”

“……..???”

“Wash them away!! Wolffang Bubble Sword!!!”

……How should I put this?

My master was incredibly serious, but somehow I felt like I was being treated as an absolute idiot….

Surely it was just my imagination…?

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Raei  Translations
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Along with Wolffang’s… no, Lobo’s feelings, the new ability that had sprouted in Wolffang flowed into my mind.

I wondered if this foolish yet powerful ability emerged because I used Pierre’s Rapier when creating Wolffang?

Or perhaps it was because I, who named Wolffang, subconsciously held that perception while looking at Wolffang, which used many materials related to Brother Ponpon.

‘…This isn’t the time for idle thoughts.’

As the light emanating from Wolffang faded, the horde of magic beasts, which had somehow grown to number in the thousands, charged towards me.

The magic beasts’ target seemed to be me right in front of them, but it appeared they weren’t being fully controlled, as one or two strayed from formation and lunged at one of the knight order members.

‘The new ability – this lot will make perfect test subjects.’

I shouted a name befitting the new technique as I drew Wolffang against the magic beast charging at me.

“Manha!! Wash them away, Wolffang Bubble Sword!!!”

As I shouted and slashed at the rabbit-like magic beast rushing towards me, it was engulfed in a large bubble reminiscent of soap bubbles emerging from Wolffang’s blade and lifted high into the air.

“Kieeeeeeek!!”

The body of the magic beast trapped in the bubble began to transform into a blood-red foam, then its entire body changed to bubbles, vanishing from this world without leaving a trace.

This was Wolffang’s new ability.

Trapping the cut target in a large bubble, if they couldn’t escape within a certain time, their body transformed into foam – the so-called Curse of Brother Ponpon.

“Vacuum Slash.”

To check if indirect cuts would also trap them in bubbles, I fired countless vacuum slashes forward, and every magic beast cut by the small blades of wind was enveloped in bubbles.

The magic beasts who had seen what happened to the rabbit beast with their own eyes struggled to escape the bubbles, but it was all in vain.

They met their deaths, transforming into foam with unbearable screams.

“Hmm…”

Though it used up stored blood and human flesh each time, it truly was a powerful technique.

My only concern was whether this technique would work on opponents above the level of Swordmasters like Ganryu.

‘Well then, time to clean up the rest…’

That should be enough performance testing.

As I was about to draw Wolffang again to deal with the many remaining magic beasts, I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of them.

‘Come to think of it, this is hilarious.’

It’s not like the entire knight order collectively developed dementia. Did they really think they could catch me, who defeated Lobo after he ruled over the Sage’s Forest for 200 years, with these pathetic magic beasts?

“Even without me, you lot would have died in some incredibly stupid way on your own.”

The battle afterwards was so one-sided that if this were a novel, it could be skipped over with a note saying “omitted” and moved on to the next content without issue.

Like the Little Mermaid in her final moments, they vanished from this world without leaving a trace, transformed into mere foam.

When the fight was over and I knelt on one knee to pick up the fallen scroll, Wolffang suddenly began to tremble and leapt from my waist, scabbard and all.

“Huh?”

When it spoke earlier, I thought it had simply developed a sense of self, but it seemed that wasn’t all.

As I stood up holding the scroll, there was a girl with deep crimson hair like blood standing before me.

As if to announce that she wasn’t human, dog-like ears pricked up atop her head, and Wolffang, which had been at my waist until just moments ago, was now attached to her waist.

“…Are you Wolffang?”

“Master…”

When I asked that, half-expecting it, Wolffang suddenly threw herself into my arms and spoke in a tearful voice.

“Lobo… Lobo is speaking. He’s begging to please kill those women…”

“…I see. I was going to do that even if you didn’t ask. But before that…”

“…Before that?”

As Wolffang, tears in her eyes, looked up from my embrace, I stroked her head as I always had.

“Before that, let’s start by lightly shaving your hair and giving you a bowl cut.”

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