Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight Volume 7

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3112-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 382 Seiten

Reihe: Der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

Though the Doneiks' Rebellion has been put down, the political situation in Rolmund is more tumultuous than ever. While Ashley is crowned the new emperor, his hold on the country is tenuous at best, and the war for succession could hardly be considered over. With Veight busy running around the capital to shore up support for Eleora, the new emperor's older sister, Dillier, makes a shocking proclamation. She has married the current head of the Bolshevik family, Shallier. The same Shallier who betrayed the Doneiks and surrendered to Eleora at the start of the civil war. In this rapidly shifting political landscape, will Veight be able to safely guide Eleora to the throne?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hyougetsu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Nishi(E)da

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter 7

A fierce civil war followed the death of Rolmund’s emperor, Bahazoff the Fourth. That war, which had been started by the emperor’s nephew, Prince Ivan, was now known as the Doneiks Rebellion. I’d taken part in the war as one of Eleora’s generals, and had somehow managed to steer the outcome into a victory for Prince Ashley. However, considering how many people died in this needless conflict, I couldn’t really be happy about the results. The only thing I was proud of was rescuing Ivan’s brother, Woroy, and his son, Ryuunie, and delivering them safely to Meraldia. Even so, I was worried that if these bloody conflicts continued, I’d lose my human conscience and become a werewolf in body and soul. Of course, I loved my werewolf comrades, but when all was said and done, I was still human. In fact, it was because I was human on the inside that I’d managed to make it this far. I wanted to hold on to my humanity if possible.

Those were the thoughts whirling around in my head as I made my way through the tunnel back to Rolmund. Upon reaching Eleora’s fortress, I dropped off the supplies I’d brought with me from Meraldia, and stationed a few civil officers who’d come with me from Krauhen there. They’d serve as messengers between me and the Commonwealth Council. Once all that was sorted out, I headed back to the imperial capital with Ryucco and my werewolves.

“Gods blast it. I’m freezing. No one told me it was gonna be this bloody cold.”

As we rode in our carriage, Ryucco looked reproachfully up at me, shivering in his seat. After a few seconds of consideration, I responded, “Larger animals can deal with the cold better. Doubling something’s height only quadruples its surface area, but multiplies the amount of warm blood, fat, and tissue it can have by eight.”

This was the same reason larger pots of stew took longer to cool than small ones.

“I ain’t asking for a science lecture here! Though that useful to know...thanks for the tip, Veight.”

Still shivering, Ryucco brought out a notepad and wrote what I said down. I handed him a small children’s coat I’d bought in one of the villages we passed through and started explaining our strategy.

“I’ll handle all the politics and diplomacy, so you start analyzing all the magical technology Rolmund’s developed.”

“You got it.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

Ryucco pulled the coat’s fluffy hood over his head and gave me a questioning look.

“I want you to study the empire’s history and traditions and copy it all down for me.”

“Sure, I can do that. But why do you want their history?”

“The old Meraldian Senate tried to bury a lot of the region’s history. We’re missing some important details that I hope Rolmund’s records can shed light on.”

Meraldia’s historical records didn’t have any information on the things I was most curious aboutnamely the histories of past Heroes and Demon Lords, as well as any mentions of past reincarnators. Rolmund’s histories went back centuries further than Meraldia’s so I was hoping they might have some anecdotes.

“Draulight, for example.”

“You mean the northern city?”

Draulight, the city of peaks, did indeed sit on Meraldia’s northern tip. Ryucco was at least familiar with the name, it seemed. There was a very specific reason I was interested in that city.

“The truth is, in Rolmund, Draulight’s the name of one of their Heroes.”

Depending on who you asked, he was either known as the Slave Swordsman, or the Rebel Hero. Supposedly, he was the one who’d emancipated Rolmund’s slaves and led them to Meraldia, where they formed a new nation. It was because of his actions that the old republic in Rolmund eventually crumbled, and was replaced by the imperial system. His actions had led to a period of great turmoil in Rolmund, so he wasn’t looked fondly upon by history. That was why, despite the magnitude of his achievements, there weren’t too many records of his life and deeds in Rolmund. Ryucco pulled his vegetable case out of his pocket as he nodded along to my explanation.

“Want a puff?”

“Thanks.”

I selected a stick of dried burdock and chewed on it thoughtfully. Ryucco took a carrot stick for himself and looked out the carriage window.

“Heroes are a real threat, that’s for sure... Last thing we want is Master ending up like the last Demon Lord.”

“Yeah, Master’s not invincible. If she had to fight someone as strong as a Hero even she wouldn’t come out unscathed.”

That was certainly one of my worries. But another big reason I wanted to investigate this was because I wanted to know if the old Demon Lord had been reincarnated again. After all, if he’d been reincarnated once, it was feasible that it could happen again. And if he had, I needed to know where he’d gone. Of course, I realized this was wishful thinking and that the chances of him being reincarnated were exceedingly low. But even so, I wanted to have hope.

“I had Kite chronicling the empire’s history before, so you can just take over where he left off. He’ll investigate all the promising leads when we get back, so you don’t have to dig too deep.”

“Alright, should be a piece of cake. Looks like my magic’s gonna come in handy after all.”

Ryucco pulled his bag closer to him and opened it. Inside was a vast space far larger than the dimensions of the bag. I’d christened the bag “Ryucco’s Rucksack,” though I only called it that in my head. Meraldian didn’t have a word for knapsack that alliterated with Ryucco’s name, so it wouldn’t sound clever to anyone else.

Ryucco was a space mage, meaning he could bend dimensions. However, he was only skilled at manipulating the space in his vicinity, which meant he couldn’t teleport. This was mostly because instead of actually calculating spatial coordinates, he relied on his lagomorph instincts to cast spells. Because of how wary lagomorphs were by nature, they were always keeping an eye on their immediate surroundings. As a result, they had an intrinsic grasp of the area around them.

Ryucco finished his carrot and pulled a daikon stick out of his case next. As he started chewing on it, he said, “I’ll grab every interesting magical gizmo Rolmund’s got, don’t you worry.”

“Just don’t go overboard, okay?”

I was a little jealous of Ryucco’s massive inventory of magical items, though. Thanks to his spatial magic, he could even reduce their weight, making them easier to carry around in his knapsack. I probably wouldn’t be able to make efficient use of space magic, really.

We spotted a few suspicious people tailing us on the way to the capital, but I didn’t want to make a scene, so I let them be. If, as I suspected, they were Bolshevik spies, capturing them would do more harm than good. I had my werewolves keep an eye on them, but once we neared the capital they vanished.

Soon enough, we reached Rolmund’s capital.

“I grew excited when I heard a fellow disciple would be joining us here in Rolmund, and yet...” Parker heaved a momentous sigh. “To think it would be you of all people, Ryucco!”

“Shut it, skullface! Why don’t you put some meat on your bones, huh!?”

“I can’t, whatever I eat just falls out of my mouth!”

“That’s cause you don’t have a throat, fool!”

Ryucco guffawed heartily while Parker picked him up and hugged him. Every one of Master’s disciples were problem children in one way or another, but now the worst of the lot had all gathered in one place. That assessment included me too, of course. With Ryucco still in his arms, Parker turned toward me.

“Oh yes, there’s something important I need to tell you. Lord Bolshevik wants to meet with you.”

“With me?”

Parker repeated himself, with added emphasis, “Yes, Not Eleora.”

“Hmmm.”

Parker added, “You may not have been part of the most critical battle that won this war, but without you, Eleora would have lost. Plus, you rescued Woroy and Ryuunie and sent them to Meraldia. My guess is that Lord Bolshevik is afraid of you.”

“Well, I did make quite the scene. Alright, let’s see what he has to say.”

I was pretty curious what his motives were myself. Besides, I had a little unfinished business with the Bolshevik family.

After greeting Eleora, I headed straight to the Bolshevik manor in the capital. I announced my arrival, and was ushered into the main hall, which was empty save for a single young man. I doubted the owner of the manor would be waiting for me in the hall like this, so I surmised he wasn’t Lord Bolshevik. But judging by how well-dressed he was, I doubted...