24 Hearts

63====================

Requiem, the boss of the black wolf

One night passed without anything special. The black wolves did not ambush in the middle of the night, threatened by Kaseun’s attack. Thanks to this, they were able to greet the morning without any turmoil. After breakfast, the soldiers prepared to move according to the knight’s orders. Kaseun, who led the Knights last night, decided that it was best to tie two groups together.

Although they were out to hunt the black wolves, there was no way to subjugate them immediately. If the forest were a mountain, it would be possible for a sheep to hunt the wolf, but this was not their case. There were so many troops, but their numbers weren’t even possible to surround the entire forest.

Four hundred soldiers were one-fifth of the Serenia Castle, but it was only a handful of sand compared to this vast forest’s size. And a faster siege would be possible if their count was greater than their opponent. But after last night, Judah doubted it.

‘I thought we could win if we had Kaseun.’

It wasn’t as easy as he thought. Above all, he couldn’t set aside the feeling that he was wasting his time. They were chasing the wolves’ tails, but when were they going to win over them? He thought it would be much better to separate. Sticking together wouldn’t invite them, but they can lure any spectating enemy if they scattered around.

Judah wondered how they could win this subjugation. What if the black wolves just kept running away? What if, because of Kaseun’s attack, they decided to retreat from fighting? After all, the black wolves, known for their aggressiveness, seemed to be avoiding the battle.

And as for Kaseun, this didn’t seem to serve him any special purpose. This could very well be a waste of time. There was something to lose but nothing to gain.

If Kaseun could chase them all away so simply, what was the point? Sending out these soldiers felt silly. There was no need to give it the grand name of subjugation.

They might have thought sending out these soldiers were helpful, but there was the problem with sustainability. To feed an army of 400 soldiers wasn’t easy. While they brought their own emergency food and the porters brought several days worth of it, it was already their second day. Food was sure to run out in an instant. It felt like they were bound to return to the castle with no victory. The citizens wouldn’t be willing to accept the failure of their conquest.

‘I think it would be better to create a base.’

There were several problems, but this was the best Judah could think for the moment. There was a small creek by the sea near their vicinity, and if they found a suitable place to fix and lay the ground, they could build a good barrack.

‘Ah? Hold on.’

Something that came to his mind, so he activated and expanded the -Map-. The place where he had his duel with the black wolf leader Korkan was half a day away. There was a fairly large plain in the way, and he remembered that many wolves gathered there. Maybe the black wolves they have encountered retreated to that open field.

Eventually, their day ended after chasing nothing. As the night came, the troops went to take a break and prepared to spend the night, keeping the distance between them like yesterday. Meanwhile, Judah went to Kaseun with a torch. He was in Group 5 in the middle and was with Kain’s party. Kain and Riel waved their hands, greeting him with much joy, and he told them he wanted to talk to Kaseun for a moment.

Even if he was the Wielder of the Sword, he was a little tired and could not be fooled by his age, but made no mention of it. Since they gathered by an open area, Judah led Kaseun somewhere where nobody could hear them.

“Judah, is there any problem?”

“It’s not a problem. I came here because I have a suggestion.”

“Suggestion?”

Judah nodded his head. Luckily, he seemed to listen to him, and he didn’t say much.

“You don’t think we can chase after the wolves in this state, right? When food runs out, we have to go back to the castle whether we like it or not.”

“I do.”

“Do you have any idea how to attract wolves?”

Kaseun shook his head. He had the experience of successfully subjugating villages of orcs and goblins while leading the mercenary corps. However, their situation was different then and now. Goblins and Orcs had a place to stay, and when mercenaries appeared, they fought back.

Unlike the black wolves, they did not run away at a speed that was difficult to follow. In fact, who would have known that the fearsome black wolves would flee at their very sight?

“Since you’re asking me about such things, that could only mean you have come up with something.”

“Yes, there are two.”

“Two? Then let’s hear it.”

Judah gathered his thoughts before speaking, “My first thought was to create a base. There is a river that flows into the sea near here. We can find a suitable place in the area and settle. Naturally, we can cut down trees, so we’ll have enough materials to build a house or a wall. We can expand on that thought later. We can also ask more help from the castle to help build the place into something more secured.”

Judah took a breath. Kaseun nodded word after word. He hadn’t thought about it, and now, hearing it from Judah, it was too tempting to ignore. But the plan had its problems—building and maintaining base costs a lot of money. Soldiers had to be dispatched to protect the base, and food had to be transported regularly. They needed time, manpower, money, and effort. They could do it themselves, but it will be a burden to the Lord.

“More than anything else, if we can’t defeat the black wolves and we had to retreat, the base could serve us well.”

Kaseun closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at him again, “And your second suggestion?”

“This is a bit of a gamble. I have an idea where the black wolves could be.”

“What?! Really? Why are you talking about this now?”

“I didn’t know they would run away like this. But as I said, it’s a gamble. I don’t know if they’re still there. We have to consider that I saw them gathered in that place… two years ago.” Judah shrugged. It seemed that his last revelation was more appealing for Kaseun. “And another problem is that the place is not close.”

“Where is it? Is it in the Eastern Forest?”

“We have to go into the Southern Forest. But there is a risk of meeting the white wolves. And if we do reach the place I’m thinking about, but the black wolves aren’t there, we will end up empty-handed.”

“…”

“And there’s a chance we might have to carry the battle into the night. Even if we carried torches or used potions made by alchemists, I don’t know if the soldiers can fight properly.”

Although Kaseun himself told Judah that their training intensity was high, seeing their performance in yesterday’s attack showed how little experience they had in real life. It would be better than having no experience at all, but it would be challenging to engage in combat at night. In the game, regardless of that, they could fight well day or night even if the level was high. But in this reality, there was so much to consider Kaseun had no answer, deep in thought about what Judah had just spilled. He sighed again and again, scratching his chin.

“I can’t help it. Your second suggestion is growing on me as you and I share the same sentiments.”

“Then…?”

“But let me ask one question before that.”

“Yes? Please tell me.”

“Aren’t these black wolves supposed to be feisty? Am I wrong?”

Judah drew a bitter smile. “They are. I’ve never seen them avoiding fights like this. This is definitely a first. I think they were scared away by my grandfather’s attack yesterday.”

“Huh.” Kaseun’s face turned grim. Then he seemed to think deeply, looking back at Judah, “By the way, no matter how scared they are, do you think they’ll keep avoiding us?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me this, Judah. Shall we watch these humans, who just attacked the wolves, go and build houses in this land they came in to conquer? What if it was you, Judah? Say you bought a house, and someone threatening had the gall to live in your house without permission. And you’re going to find another house, or if they hurt you, will you fight back and drive them away? Is my analogy a little bit odd?” He rambled, but Judah understood well what he meant.

“I’ll fight back…?” Judah replied.

“Isn’t that something? I think it’s funny that I see them as humans… But, how about we lure them out by pretending to build a base. What do you say?” Kaseun ruffled Judah’s hair, thanking him for his suggestions. But things wouldn’t seem to go smoothly as he thought.

“Oh?”

Kaseun’s smile fell as his head snapped in a particular direction, eyes scanning through the darkness. From quite a distance, red eyes in the dark dashed through the bushes. After seeing it, Kaseun quickly pulled his sword out of his waist. His weapon was unlike any other, vibrating with a sound that felt like a strong force. He looked back at Judah, grasping his sword, ready for combat.

“I guess we need to take the trouble of creating a base after all.”

“I know, right?” Judah answered, trying to focus on combat as well.

The plan was to surround the wolves, but now, they found themselves surrounded by them.

Chun!

The wolf ran, drooling without fear, and opened his mouth towards Kaseun. Without a sound, his sword slashed in the air, and everything that was nearby, including the wolf, severed in half. His power was overwhelming, and while it scared them like before, rather than fleeing, the pack ahead ran after the soldiers instead of Kaseun. Whether it was their enemy’s time to die or it was theirs, Kaseun squinted his eyes with an intensity that looked forward to the ending of this battle.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

Judah followed Kaseun’s trail, pulling out the bastard sword that was on his waist.