Ch. 21
Chapter 21. The Oath
Beside the rough log table in the council hall, Ella was doing her best to make her voice sound steady and professional.
“My lord, Lord Brandon sent word ahead with the details of their purchases.
Fifty sacks of wheat seed, twenty sacks of bean seed, various vegetable seeds...
One hundred iron hoes, thirty iron plowshares, fifteen pairs of plow oxen... for a total expenditure of three hundred and forty-seven gold coins.”
“In addition, three hundred newly purchased slaves, all young adult males, were acquired at a cost of one hundred and ninety-three gold coins...
As for the gold currently remaining in the territory... including the amount you previously set aside, as well as the estimated proceeds from the iron ore at the mine... the treasury’s current balance is... one hundred and three gold coins.”
After finishing the figures, Ella felt her cheeks burning hot.
She could clearly feel Eli’s gaze resting on her. There was a gentle smile in that look, yet it seemed to carry an invisible heat of its own.
She did not dare lift her head, but the tips of her ears honestly flushed pink.
Resting his chin on one hand, Eli looked at Ella with a cheerful smile.
“My lord!” Ella suddenly looked up and glared at him in embarrassed annoyance. Those clear eyes made Eli’s heart skip a beat.
Just as Ella was so flustered she nearly felt ready to burst into flames, the door flap was suddenly thrown open, letting in a gust of cool morning air.
The little wolfkin, Aji, came rushing in, panting for breath.
“M-My lord! Lord Wolfgang s-sent me... to report! Deep in the forest... we found lots of wolf cubs! Alive!”
The teasing expression vanished from Eli’s face in an instant. “Wolf cubs? How many? Where are the she-wolves?”
“F-Forty or more! The she-wolves... more than ten of them have already... already been dealt with by Lord Wolfgang and the others!
They were in a hidden valley about five li northwest of the camp!”
“Lord Wolfgang said these cubs haven’t tasted human blood, and their eyes are fierce too. There are... there are definitely quite a few among them with the makings of wargs!”
Aji spoke at great speed.
Warg pups!
Eli sprang to his feet at once. The vision of wolf cavalry exploded into existence in his mind.
Wolfkin warriors paired with wargs raised from youth, bonded heart and soul—those would become the sharpest blade of Black Territory in the future.
“Take me there.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Eli snatched up the bow and quiver hanging over the back of his chair and rushed outside.
Before leaving, he did not forget to turn back and remind her of one thing.
“Ella, I’m leaving the gold in the treasury to you. Keep a close eye on it.”
Watching that tall, straight-backed figure disappear beyond the tent flap, Ella stamped her foot in a mix of irritation and embarrassment.
...
Deep in the forest, sunlight struggled to pierce the dense canopy, scattering mottled patches of light across the ground carpeted in rotting leaves.
In a relatively open clearing, the scene was strangely unsettling.
More than ten large she-wolf corpses lay sprawled in disarray, their blood soaking into the fallen leaves beneath them.
And at the center of the clearing, dozens of furry wolf cubs were huddled together, letting out frightened whimpers and low growls of unease.
Most of them were only about the size of puppies. Their fur came in all kinds of colors—gray, black, brown—and their damp eyes were filled with feral vigilance and fear.
Not long afterward, Wolfgang’s tall figure stood at one side.
Between the thick fingers of his hand was a trace of pale green powder—the powerful sleeping drug Est had managed to procure.
Behind him, the wolfkin warriors were carefully using the hemp rope and coarse cloth they had brought with them.
One by one, they wrapped up the slumbering cubs as gently as possible, taking care not to wake them.
Some of the younger wolfkin warriors, more lively by nature, could barely hide the excitement on their faces as they looked over the bundled little “furballs” in their hands from every angle.
“My lord!”
When he saw Eli striding over with his guards, Wolfgang bowed slightly in greeting, his voice deep.
Eli’s eyes swept over the scene at once, satisfaction flashing through them.
He went straight to the point. “Wolfgang, how is it? You said some of them have real potential?”
“Yes, my lord.” Wolfgang pointed at a dozen or so little “bundles” set apart to one side, each wrapped a little more thickly than the others.
“These few, and those over there as well—their eyes are fierce, their bone structure is strong, and their reactions are quick. They have the makings of natural war wargs.
With proper raising and training, given time, they will surely become excellent mounts.”
“As for the rest, even if they do not meet the standard of war wargs, they will still make good working beasts for guarding homes, hunting, or keeping watch.”
“Excellent!” A sharp light flashed in Eli’s eyes.
“All of these cubs are to be sent to the wolfkin’s new camp.
Wolfgang, I am placing you in full charge of their care and their initial training.
If you do not have enough hands, draw people from the hunting team. I will also select experienced people from the territory to assist you.
I want to see them grow up healthy and become part of Black Territory’s strength!”
“As you command, my lord!” Wolfgang answered in a deep voice, while the surrounding wolfkin warriors all straightened their backs as well.
“Oh, and one more thing.” Eli looked at the warriors carefully cradling the “bundles” in their arms.
Some of them could not resist poking the soft little bellies of the sleeping cubs with a fingertip.
“These little ones will be your companions in the future—perhaps even your family.
Whoever cares for one, whoever trains one, will in the future become that cub’s master.”
The moment those words fell, the eyes of the young wolfkin warriors lit up with astonishing brightness, and the way they looked at the little furballs in their arms instantly became even more eager.
The human members of the hunting team, seeing this scene that was somehow both heartwarming and a little strange,
also stepped in to help wrap up the remaining cubs, slinging them over their shoulders or carrying them in their arms.
For a time, the bloodshed and killing intent that had filled the clearing was strangely diluted by this cluster of sleeping little beasts.
Watching the busy scene before him, Eli felt one weight in his heart finally lift.
He had just been about to ask Wolfgang about the specifics of the past few days’ hunting.
Yet he saw that the wolfkin chieftain merely stood where he was, his gaze dark as it swept over the “bundles” being carried away.
In the depths of those ice-blue wolf eyes churned a kind of emotion too complicated to put into words.
“Wolfgang?” Eli keenly sensed the heaviness in his mood and gestured for the others to take the cubs back to camp first.
After the others had gone far enough away, leaving only the two of them and a few wolf corpses in the woodland clearing, Wolfgang finally spoke slowly.
“My lord, if you wish to ask about the recent hunting situation...
the deer herds and wild boar groups on the outskirts have indeed begun to dwindle, and their tracks have become harder to follow.
That was to be expected. With so many of us gathered here, hunting and feeding, the beasts would naturally grow wary and avoid us.
If we are to maintain our supply of meat, then from here on, we must explore deeper into the inner reaches of Nightsong Forest.”
He was reporting on his work, his tone flat.
Eli listened quietly. “Mm. I will have them establish a fishery.
As for the deep forest... the risks are not small. You and the hunting team must be careful.”
He looked at Wolfgang, then shifted the subject. “But that is not all you wanted to say, is it?”
Wolfgang’s broad frame seemed to tense slightly.
He was silent for several seconds. At last, he lifted his eyes, those ice-blue pupils meeting Eli’s directly.
He raised a hand, and his rough fingers slowly brushed the thick silver-gray fur on his cheek, then touched one of his upright wolf ears.
“My lord, did you see them? This fur... these ears...”
“To the wolves of the forest, we wolfkin are monsters that walk upright and steal away their prey.
And in the eyes of humans...”
His gaze swept over the corpses of the she-wolves on the ground.
“...we are also aberrations—beasts wearing human skin, merchandise in the iron cages of slave markets.”
He drew in a deep breath, his chest rising and falling.
“Neither wolf, nor human.” Wolfgang’s voice was low and despairing, as though every single word had cost him all his strength.
“We... have no place to return to. We can only linger at the margins between two races.
In barren lands beneath human contempt, we survive like rats in a gutter.
We fight for scraps of living space, and then...
amid endless conflict, hunts, and sale into bondage, we watch our people die little by little, our tribes vanish one after another.”
His gaze once more fell upon the cubs being carried away.
“Just like them... they have lost their mothers and can only depend on the mercy of monsters like us.
How much better can their future possibly be?”
He lifted his head and said, word by word, each syllable like a nailed-down verdict:
“Humans and beastkin... our bloodlines are different, and we fight for survival. The hatred has long since seeped into the marrow.
Coexistence? Beneath the sun, it will never be possible.”
Even the wind in the forest seemed to go still, leaving only Wolfgang’s heavy words echoing in the clearing.
Eli listened in silence, with no trace of offended anger on his face, nor any attempt at comfort.
Within those deep blue eyes, there was only an iron-like firmness, solemn and unshakable as bedrock.
Only after Wolfgang had spoken his final word did Eli slowly rise to his feet.
His movements were steady and strong. Though his frame was not especially tall, beneath the dappled shadows of the trees he somehow appeared extraordinarily upright.
“I will bear your hatred.”
Eli’s voice was not loud.
“I am your lord. Those scum who destroyed the Frostclaw Tribe—I will drag them out with my own hands and make them repay that blood with blood.”
Wolfgang’s whole body jolted violently, and his ice-blue pupils contracted at once.
Eli’s gaze suddenly locked onto him, as tangible as if it had physical weight.
“As for coexistence?” A sharp, ambitious curve slowly lifted at the corner of Eli’s mouth.
“If I say it can be done, then it will be done!”
The instant those words fell, Eli made a movement that nearly froze the blood in Wolfgang’s body.
He leaned forward slightly, and the motion overlapped with startling precision with the moment of their first meeting before the iron cage in the slave market.
Word by word, he clearly uttered the sentence that had been carved into both their bones.
“Now. Can you still walk, Wolfgang?”
Boom!
It was like a thunderclap exploding in the deepest part of Wolfgang’s soul.
Time itself seemed to reverse in that instant.
That was not merely a question. It was the first hand ever extended toward him when all hope had died.
It was the first spark that had ignited the flame called hope in the depths of his heart.
“D-Don’t underestimate the tenacity of the wolfkin!”
The same answer, almost torn free in a choking roar, burst from Wolfgang’s throat.
Scalding tears finally shattered the frozen dam and surged out from Wolfgang’s ice-blue wolf eyes.
His broad shoulders trembled uncontrollably. That was the release of grief, rage, and loneliness that had been suppressed for far too long, finally finding a place to belong.
Eli smiled and turned away.
“Follow.”
“Yes!”