The Champion's Return

by Hyougetsu

  “Shut up, Snaak!”

  Skuje smacked his younger brother upside the head. You didn’t have to hit him that hard, you know. Volka closed her eyes and shook her head.

  “Why surrender when we could run? I know this forest like the back of my hand. You outsiders would never be able to catch up to us.”

  Are you trying to say you have the geographical advantage? While she had a point, I didn’t want to let potential enemies roam free, or we’d be ambushed again later. And since it seems like there’s grounds for negotiation, I might as well see how far diplomacy can get us. I gave Volka a bitter smile.

  “Sorry, our youngsters are a little hotheaded.”

  “It’s fine. My sons are the same way.”

  The werewolves behind Volka fidgeted awkwardly. They were probably embarrassed that their mom was chiding them in public. But while I felt an affinity with these werewolves, they weren’t humans. I wouldn’t be able to use the same negotiation tactics I usually did. As expected, Volka floated a very werewolf-esque suggestion.

  “While we could run, it’d be cowardly to leave without a fight. And I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if we escaped either. So how about a duel between clan leaders?”

  I knew it. Volka grinned at me.

  “Naturally, this clan’s leader is me. Surely you, the great Astral Fencer, wouldn’t shirk from a duel with an old woman?”

  Am I really gonna duel with an old lady? I wasn’t fond of the idea, but I knew I couldn’t underestimate her just because she was old. Older werewolves were actually more dangerous than younger ones. When transformed, their age didn’t really affect their abilities, and they had much more experience than younger werewolves. They couldn’t stay transformed for as long as younger werewolves, but that simply made them that much more aggressive.

  Since demons believed strength was absolute, there was no way their leader was weak. I had no doubt Volka was formidable. On the other hand, it was only after enhancing myself with magic that I barely had enough strength to serve as our leader. Furthermore, I barely had any combat experience. For the most part, I fought with my wits, not my brawn. Still, if I backed down here, it’d affect my werewolves’ morale. The same held true if I lost. There was a lot of responsibility on my shoulders right now. Man, why does it have to be like this... Well, whatever. Guess I just gotta do it.

  “Just so you know, I’m not that strong.”

  I dropped into a combat stance. Volka licked her lips with relish.

  “Only strong guys say that!”

  There was an explosion of snow as Volka transformed and leapt forward. In seconds she closed the distance between us and aimed a roundhouse kick at my head.

  I danced backward out of range, but she followed up with a second kick using her back leg. Like the last, this kick had enough power to cave in my skull if it connected. But despite the strength behind them, Volka’s kicks were perfectly controlled. As she waltzed across the battlefield, Volka shouted, “You’re stronger than you look, kid!”

  “You think so?”

  I was having a hard time getting a read on her fighting style. I thought she’d try to grapple me, but instead she was using some kind of martial arts. Though werewolves had wolf heads, the rest of our skeletons more closely resembled humans, so our fighting style tended to be more like that of monkeys than that of wolves. Meaning we were very good at wrestling. Especially since that put us in close range of our opponents, where we could make maximum use of our incredibly strong bite. Instead of closing in for a grapple, though, Volka continued launching high kicks at me, one after another. Each kick cut through the air with such speed that it sounded like a blade. They seemed deft enough that if I took any of them head-on, even my werewolf strength wouldn’t be enough to save me from losing consciousness. As we fought, the onlookers started cheering for one side or the other.

  “Ahaha! Get her, boss!”

  “You can do this, Mom! He’s nothing!”

  “Counterattack already, boss!”

  “You’ve still got it, you old hag!”

  Shut up already. I was using my magic to enhance my kinetic vision so Volka’s attacks weren’t quite a lethal threat. As long as I could follow her with my eyes, I could dodge. Furthermore, it seemed like Volka was only comfortable fighting at kick range. If I could manage to close the distance, I’d have a chance. However—

  “A true gentleman asks for permission before approaching a lady!”

  The moment I rushed forward for a tackle, Volka countered with a knee to my face. Panicking, I leapt out of the way. But Volka followed up by extending her leg into a front kick. Though her kick was being propelled by only her knee joints this time, it was still powerful. Unable to completely avoid the blow, I took a glancing hit to the cheek. Not only was Volka a master of kicking, she knew how to keep her opponent at the optimal range for her as well. Plus she knew a bunch of different techniques. Crap...it’s gonna be hard to make an opening like this. That being said, Volka wasn’t quite as strong as the Hero had been. His skills had been on a completely different level. Volka’s kicks were formidable, but they wouldn’t take me out unless they hit a vital spot. I could make something of this still.

  “What’re you grinning about!?”

  Volka raised one leg high and swung it down at my shoulder. Perfect, here’s my chance. I grabbed her foot with both hands. To the onlookers, it probably seemed like her kick connected. And to be honest, even though I’d blocked it, it still hurt like hell. But now that I had her leg in my arms, I had leverage. I lifted her leg up and threw her back towards a nearby tree.

  “Hraaaaah!”

  I used strengthening magic on my arms at the moment of my throw, allowing me to slam Volka against the tree with tremendous force. The entire trunk creaked and swayed as she hit it. That must have hurt.

  “Ngh... Gah...!”

  Groaning in pain, Volka dropped to her knees in the snow. It was only by leaning against the tree trunk that she kept herself from crumpling to the ground. It was the law of werewolves to finish off your opponent. I grabbed Volka by the shoulder and bared my fangs. Though if she surrendered, I was planning to call the match there. To my surprise, Volka suddenly vanished. What? What’d she do? Wait, hang on. She hadn’t vanished. She’d canceled her transformation. Taking advantage of my momentary surprise, Volka slipped through my grasp. Once she was free she reapplied her transformation and launched a back kick toward my jaw.

  “Take this!”

  While she did manage to take me by surprise, a desperate attack like that lacked the power to harm me. I could handle her kick no problem. Rather than dodging, I took her kick on the chest and used strengthening magic to multiply my body weight. In doing so I was able to anchor myself to the ground and remain steady. That caused the force of Volka’s kick to rebound, and made her stagger backwards.

  “Ngh!?” Volka had probably expected me to at least be pushed back a little by her kick. The unforeseen result caused her to stiffen momentarily in surprise. Now’s my chance. I grabbed Volka by the waist and hoisted her up in the air. I arched backwards, using a textbook pro wrestling move.

  “Don’t die, Volka!”

  “Wha!? WAAAAAH!”

  I swung Volka over me and slammed her head onto the ground. Though the snow cushioned the impact, my Meraldian Suplex had the weight of two werewolves behind it. It was more than enough to knock Volka out.

  I got back to my feet and looked down at Volka. She was out cold so there was no need for a countdown.

  “Looks like I win. Don’t worry, I’ll heal her for you guys.”

  Werewolves were extremely tough, so I doubt this had even caused any lasting damage. But Volka was old, so it was probably best if I healed her anyway. A few minutes later, she regained consciousness.

  “Now that was a fight!” Volka smiled, sounding even more energetic than she had before our duel.

  Did I use too much healing magic on her? Still transformed, Volka sat down on the snow and looke
d up at me.

  “You’re one hell of a fighter, kid. Did you realize right away we’re not good at wrestling?”

  “Meraldian werewolves love to wrestle,” I replied with a nod. “But after watching you fight, I got the feeling Rolmund werewolves don’t.”

  Had I tried that move on the Garney brothers, or Fahn, they would easily have been able to adjust their fall to cushion the impact. But Volka hadn’t been familiar with the suplex, so she hadn’t been able to adequately defend against it. The deciding factor had been her lack of experience with my fighting style.

  “Ah, you’re right.” Volka sighed. “We prefer using punches and kicks. Our ancestors grew up fighting the giant beasts that used to roam Rolmund, so they didn’t develop any fancy grappling moves.”

  Most of North Rolmund’s animals were huge, so that they could store more heat for the frigid winters. I imagined their monsters must have been the same. Come to think of it, Rolmund’s werewolves are a lot bigger than Meraldia’s. I guess it’s because they need more fat and muscle mass for the winters. Kinda like bears.

  Volka’s smile returned and she added, “Anyway, the fact is I lost. In fact, I’ve never been beaten that badly before! This proves you’re the strongest werewolf in Rolmund.”

  “I dunno about that. It was just a coincidence that I managed to win, and...”

  Honestly, I wasn’t confident I’d come out ahead if we went for a second round. But none of the werewolves seemed to care about that, and they started heaping praise onto the both of us.

  “Yeah, Mom’s right! You’re crazy strong!”

  “That old hag of yours is pretty tough, too! There aren’t many people out there that can give Veight trouble!”

  “After all, our boss is the famous Hero Killer!”

  “He killed a Hero!? No way...”

  “Yeah, he did! He killed a real, actual Hero in single combat!”

  More like I finished off a wounded Hero. As Volka heard my werewolves recount my battle with the Hero, she turned to me in surprise.

  “Seriously? You took out a Hero?”

  “Yeah,” I shrugged. “But he was already half-dead. And even then I was barely able to beat him...”

  “Even if he was on death’s door, a Hero’s a Hero. They aren’t easy to beat. I heard Rolmund’s Hero Draulight once crushed an army of ten thousand all by himself.”

  “Just so you know, I’m nowhere near that strong.”

  Volka gave me a wry smile and got to her feet.

  “Either way, it looks like I never stood a chance. If we want to beat you, we’re going to need a plan.”

  “So that means you’re going to stop trying to kill me next time we duel, right?”

  From the moment we’d started fighting, I’d noticed she’d only challenged me to a duel as an excuse to try and assassinate me. Humans would never have fallen for such an obvious ploy, but werewolves loved fighting too much to say no.

  Volka grinned and said, “I was just hoping I’d get lucky. But I don’t want to get in a real deathmatch with a Hero Killer. We won’t bother you for now. You’re too strong to kill, so we’d just be wasting our time. And Rolmund werewolves never do anything that’s a waste of time.”

  “What a coincidence; neither do Meraldian werewolves. Honestly, I’d like it if we could be allies.”

  Volka shook her head, dashing my hopes.

  “Sorry, but we can’t do that. It pains me to fight a group of fellow werewolves, but we have obligations to fulfill.”

  “I guess if all it took to be friends was to be part of the same race, then humans would never fight amongst each other.”

  “Hahaha, you can say that again!” Volka’s grin grew wider and she added, “But seeing as we are fellow werewolves, I’d like to ask for a favor. If anything happens to us, will you help? We can barely survive in this barren tundra as it is.”

  “Yeah, of course. I know just how prejudiced Rolmund’s Sonnenlicht sect is against demons... Though I see the Sternenfeuer cult is different.”

  Volka shot me a sidelong glance as I casually threw that out there.

  “It’s good for werewolves to be perceptive. But it’s rude to pry into a widow’s private affairs.”

  Widow, huh... As I was mulling over that word, Volka turned to her tribe and shouted, “Alright boys, we’re leaving! Don’t forget to pay your respects to the victor!”

  At Volka’s command, all of the Rolmund werewolves brought their right hands to their chests. I guess that’s their version of a salute. They then turned on their heels and vanished into the forest. If they’d still wanted to fight even after our duel, I’d planned on using my Soul Shaker to stun them, then have my werewolves gun them down. Fortunately, I didn’t have to resort to such drastic measures. Once we could no longer smell Volka’s people, Monza sidled up to me, her eyes sparkling.

  “Want me to tail them?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “For now, they’re still our enemy. If we tail them with a large squad, they’ll notice us. And if we send just you, you’ll get killed by them. We’re dealing with werewolves this time, not humans.”

  “I guess so.”

  Monza shrugged her shoulders, and I turned to the rest of my werewolves.

  “Everyone, cancel your transformations and return to the highway! We’re heading to the Wiron Library as originally planned!”

  As we headed westward, I thought back to the Rolmundian brethren we didn’t know we had. So they’re being hunted by the Sonnenlicht Order and sheltered by the Sternenfeuer Cult... I didn’t have all the pieces I needed just yet, but if things went well, I’d be able to turn Volka and her clan into allies. Parker, who’d been keeping his Blast Rifle trained on Rolmund’s werewolves during the entire encounter, finally lowered his gun and muttered, “From the looks of it, I doubt they belong to the Sternenfeuer Cult. The way they reacted when we mentioned the Demon Lord makes me believe they still follow the old demon ways.”

  “Yeah. I guess their numbers must have dwindled since they were forced to fight the humans here without ever once having a Demon Lord to lead them.”

  That realization made me feel bad for them. The climate here was harsh, so they must have had an even harder time surviving than we had.

  “I want to help them somehow, but... Hmmm...”

  There was nothing I could do for them right now. After all, they were working for our enemy.

  The only human among my entourage, Mao, whispered, “I see werewolves have it tough too. Despite your overwhelming strength, you’re the ones who’re backed into a corner.”

  “It’s true. That’s just how strong you humans are.”

  I sighed, and Mao furrowed his brows.

  “As a human myself, I don’t feel particularly powerful. Are we really that strong?”

  Werewolves had evolved to hunt humans, but even we were terrified of human settlements. It turned out humans were very good at hunting down intruders in their midst. Which was why werewolves had long since abandoned the lifestyle of sneaking into human communities and preying on the residents. As time passed, I had no doubt humans would grow even stronger. My old world’s history proved that much.

  I gave Mao a sad smile and said, “You are, trust me. You’re all far stronger than you realize.”

  “I see...”

  As a former human, I could say that with confidence.

  Wiron Library was where the Sonnenlicht Order’s sacred texts were stored. The library itself was more of a massive temple that stretched across all of Mount Wiron. It actually reminded me a lot of Mount Hiei in Kyoto.

  “Everything on this mountain is part of the Wiron Library?” Fahn, who had never been a big fan of reading, looked up at the library in awe. I told her what Eleora had told me.

  “The official reason why it was built here was that if it was in a major city, there’d be a risk of it getting burned down in the event of a war.”

  “Uh-huh. So what’s the real reason?” Monza asked skeptically, her curi
osity piqued.

  I nodded and replied, “The truth is this is practically a Sonnenlicht fortress. If you look closely, you’ll realize the library is built more like a military castle than a storage complex for books.”

  “Ahh...you’re right. Even this gate is built perpendicular to the stairs. And that tower over there looks like a castle turret.”

  After having experienced a few siege battles for themselves, my werewolves had gotten good at discerning whether or not a particular building was designed for warfare. As I climbed up the stone steps to the library, I explained, “Normally you want to put a temple within the city so it’s easier for pilgrims to reach. On top of that, it can serve as an administrative building. Basically, city temples are the perfect connection to the secular world. Meanwhile, this temple is a military outpost that exists to fight against heretics.”

  Jerrick examined the temple’s structure for a few seconds, then asked, “Hey, boss? I don’t know that much about human religion, but shouldn’t priests and bishops and stuff be above fighting? Why do they have all these troops and a castle and all that?”

  “If pretty words alone were enough to protect people, no one’d have to suffer,” I said. “But it’s not. It takes swords and soldiers to protect a religion. The same way we all protect the Demon Lord with our lives, these guys protect the Sonnenlicht faith with theirs.”

  “I see.”

  The temple had a few inns that catered to pilgrims, and I set my werewolves up in one of them. I then told Fahn and Parker they’d be in charge while I was visiting the cardinal.

  “Mao, you come with me.”

  “You want me to accompany you?”

  Mao, who’d been looking forward to resting, frowned at me.

  “You and Parker are my best negotiators. Since Parker’s got his hands full keeping the werewolves in line, that leaves you to be my assistant.”

  “But I’m a Mondstrahl believer.”

  “Yeah, and we worship the Demon Lord. It doesn’t matter what your religion is. Come on.”