Chapter 136
“Looks like this size will work.”
“I think it even smells nice?”
Right as we finished getting ready to leave, Winter handed me a wooden practice sword. It was the same size as my old one, but felt much higher quality.
“It also feels lighter…”
I gripped the green-tinted wood, took my stance, and slowly cut down through the air.
Mm. It felt right in my hands.
“Since it’s your last line of defense, I brought something better,” Winter said.
I slid the wooden sword into my belt and nodded. “Thank you.”
[ …? ]
My bracelet flashed like it had something to say—but when Winter gave it a steady look, it just trembled a bit and went dim again.
“Shall we go?”
“Hojen lives just inside the untraveled edge of the forest,” Winter said. “Where he is, there are many untouched spirit beasts. We’ll pass quickly and try not to provoke them. They see humans as enemies—noise could start trouble.”
Trouble? Please, no more trouble…
I nodded and climbed onto Winter’s back. We left the path and ran into the thick woods.
‘Hojen Rustin. Please let him be reasonable.’
Winter had said this area used to be full of wild spirit beasts untouched by people.
But that was in the past. Now those beasts had very much been “touched” by Hojen Rustin.
Afraid his son’s dangerous ability might hurt others, Hojen had hidden in the monster forest. To survive there, he had to win the beasts over.
Hojen was a hunter. He offered one deer a day to the local Beast King. On the hundredth day, the king demanded Hojen offer his son. Of course he couldn’t. So Hojen gave his left eye instead—and was accepted.
After that, he earned the king’s favor and was allowed to live in the king’s territory. Which meant we were walking straight into the Beast King’s domain.
“Winter, I think I see red eyes between the trees…”
As I looked around from his back, the air grew colder.
Winter pulled me into his arms and lengthened his stride.
We were practically flying, but the red eyes only increased. At first they glowed between trunks—then in the shadows, then in cracks in the bark—and finally they waited right in our path like they were preparing a welcome.
Then a tree under Winter’s foot suddenly twitched.
“My mistake,” he said softly.
The tree-beast’s eyes snapped open.
[ ROOOOAAAR! ]
Offended, it shrieked loud enough to rip ears. Thick roots, as wide as a grown man’s torso, burst from the ground.
“Over there too!” I shouted, pointing ahead.
As if waking from sleep, nearby trees opened their eyes one by one.
They sprang up all around and charged us. Not one or two—so many I couldn’t even guess the number.
Winter murmured, “No helping it, then.”
For a moment I thought I saw fire flicker between his teeth—but the heat vanished at once.
Instead, since there was no more footing to leap from, wings burst from Winter’s back. We should’ve flown from the start, but every time he used his wings, his clothes tore.
“We’ll avoid hurting them. If we injure the beasts, the king will be angry. Better to shake them off and go.”
We sped on—until Winter stopped again.
“They’ve erased the road.”
The awakened trees moved in perfect order, herding us, until any “path” was gone.
“They’re hiding the king’s location. The king stays with Hojen, so like this it’ll take a while,” Winter said.
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. His blue irises narrowed into vertical slits.
A thin, piercing sound rolled out from him, sharp enough to slice the air—pure killing intent, a warning broadcast through the forest.
The charging tree scouts faltered.
“Let’s call the king directly,” Winter said.
His silvery hair lifted and brushed my cheek in the pressure. The ground under his feet began to sink, like it couldn’t bear him.
My bracelet clicked its tongue.
[ Tch! Just burn these lowly tree-animals to ash! ]
“If we do, the king will rage,” I said.
[ Then burn the king, too! Nothing in this world can block a mighty dragon’s path! ]
“Didn’t humans beat you…?” I muttered.
[ Ganging up is cheating! Cowardly humans! No honor at all! ]
Uh-huh.
Right then, I felt a clean, beautiful hum—like wind being cut.
An arrow, flying from the flank, passed through a strand of Winter’s hair. The aim had clearly been his throat.
“They’re here,” he said.
He tilted his head and avoided death by a hair, then stared toward the shot.
The trees parted, forming a lane. Beyond it, a figure appeared, riding a white wolf-like beast.
“Wolf-like,” except it was the size of five big bears lumped together.
The rider eased out of shadow.
“Hojen Rustin…!” I whispered.
But a hunter hears everything. Missing one eye only sharpened the other senses.
“You know me?” he asked.
I met the gaze of a middle-aged man with long, pale-violet hair in a braid—and an old leather patch over one eye.
‘He looks alike!’ The same eyes as the Ampelos I’d seen in the dream.
Hojen brushed back his hair and muttered, voice tired. “Your face says it all.”
His sun-dark skin and long scars told a hard life.
“A dragon, huh. I figured this day would come. A dragon shows up and comes for me—so it’s about my son, isn’t it? I don’t know how you found out, but I guess this was fate.”
He tugged the reins and jerked his chin. “Get on. And you—young dragon—put away the wings and the aura. You’re scaring the forest.”
Winter obeyed, settling his presence and springing lightly onto the giant wolf.
Hojen in the saddle, me behind him, and Winter at the very back.
Hojen soothed the beast, which quivered with pent-up energy, and spoke without looking at us. His tone was blunt.
“I get you’ve got business with me, but while we’re going, both of you—shut it. Don’t ask, don’t chat. This old man needs to think.”
I nodded silently at his back. He couldn’t see it, of course.
“The girl sounds young. The lizard… maybe a quarter my age? Not one of you answers when an adult talks. Kids these days…”
“You just told us not to talk…?” I said under my breath.
For not answering, he demoted Winter from dragon to lizard with a snort.
I was about to protest when I noticed something on Hojen’s shoulder—and blinked.
A small white puffball.
It was the size of my palm, with thin stick-arms and legs like a cartoon. Two round eyes—oddly cute.
The fluff scooted down Hojen’s braid like a sled, planted its little legs in the hair for balance, and wobbled while staring up at me.
‘Adorable.’
It waved both hands so cutely that I almost reached out—until Winter’s whisper hit my ear.
“Just in case: don’t touch it.”
If Winter says so, I listen.
I scooted back, pressing against him. The fluff waved again. Winter murmured once more:
“That is the King of the Beasts.”
…What? That little cutie?
“Under that fluff are more than a hundred mouths,” he added. “And even more teeth.”
The puffball’s fur squinted into a smile.
