Chapter 93 – Hero Wolf (1)

[Do you know what this flower means?]

Purple, red and white.

There was a woman with a bright smile among the colorful flowers. She had her blonde hair long and her blue eyes twinkled.

“Angela… ! Angela!”

It was that dream again.

The hero, Wolf, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and clicked his tongue. There were naked women lying next to him, and bottles of wine were strewn about the table. Everywhere he looked was full of colors, but nothing could calm Wolf’s heart.

He hurriedly got out of the mattress and rolled across the floor. The woman who had been asleep at the sound of a light bump lifted her head with her hazy eyes.

“Warrior… Are you awake?”

The hero, Wolf, did not answer the woman’s question. He shakes the bottle and sees that there is still some left. He stuck out his tongue, quenched his throat with a few drops of wine, and tossed the bottle through his window.

There was a sound of the bottle breaking, and the woman looked at the warrior with her sleepy face. The hero stood for a moment facing the woman, then took her cloak and put it on. She was a woman, and she knew how to play her charms when she was like this. She soon erased the fear from her expression and crawled toward the hero with her awkward gestures.

“Warrior. Where are you going. Don’t do that with me…”

Wolf met the woman’s eyes. The fingertips holding the hem of his clothes trembled, and the eyes shook. No matter how much you hide fear in your face, your instincts shed that color. Wolf had met those eyes several times. Demons and nobles begging him to save him.

They all had the same eyes as this woman who was now holding on to the hem of her dress.

“Kyaaak!”

Wolf kicked the woman and walked outside. There was an uproar in the room where Wolf was gone, but the sobs from behind and the muffled voices of the women were like echoes without any meaning.

“Hero.”

An attendant recognized him in the hallway and lowered his head. Wolf said as he passed by the attendant.

“Did you hear any news from the Arend family?”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting on my knees in front of the mansion since dawn. What should I do?”

[Wolf. I hope you will be a really cool article. And I will become Wolf’s lady, ride a horse and go round the town together.]

Wolf brushed his hair. On days when he had nightmares, hallucinations always lingered in his ears. Even if he covered his ears, the hallucinations that continued to be heard drove people crazy. The attendant met his wide-eyed eyes and backed away from him, crouching like an abandoned puppy.

Said Wolf.

“Ask me to come in. Crawl.”

The attendant nodded and brushed past Wolf. Through the dark window, in the dim foglight, Wolf saw a silhouette lying flat on the ground. I saw the attendant who had just passed by Wolf say a few words to the shadow lying on the floor, and I saw the hesitant figure crawling like a caterpillar.

Wolf stood there silently until the miserable wriggling reached the front door. An old man in a luxurious suit staggered like a sick dog with sweat dripping from his brow. Over seventy years old, her skin, which looked like an old tree, pressed down on a puddle in the yard and made handprints that were dyed a more earthy color than her own.

“This, profit… !”

The guards looked at the old man and made strange faces, while the attendant turned his head and looked away. Wolf stopped at the old man’s movements and took one step towards the front door. He gritted his teeth and moved his trembling arm again, taking a step. He took another step while hearing a sobbing groan.

When the old man’s figure disappeared beyond the window frame, Wolf opened the front door and turned to face the old man.

The old man was lying face down in front of the doorstep. He pressed himself to the floor as if bowing to a king, his legs floundering as if he were paddling. Wolf looked down at his bony limbs and dirty clothes. The white old man’s eyebrows had long since lost their luster, stained with muddy water.

“Warrior… !”

The aristocrat who had turned into a beast called out to Wolf with his head on the floor. Wolf was just looking down at the old nobleman with emotionless eyes.

“Please, have mercy so that only the family can continue.”

Wolf listened to the old man and closed his eyes. The guards remained silent, and the servant stood beside Wolf, looking down at the nobleman. The aristocratic attendants standing in front of the carriage were swallowing tears with resentment on their faces, and some were trembling with clenched fists.

The old man mustered the last of his strength and rose once more. If Wolf didn’t forgive him, he thought of bowing his head over and over again. Wolf looked up at the sky and said.

“It was a few years ago.”

The old man’s expression hardened. His eyes were filled with anticipation and fear at the same time. Wolf tilted his head like a drunk and sighed as he continued his story.

“On the day of the academy graduation ceremony, the son of the Arend family was murdered by a knight candidate. The candidate fled, leaving the body behind, and the murderer is wanted for a crime unacceptable to the Arends.”

The old man of the Arend family knew what the case was. Because he was the one who wanted that knight candidate, he knew the inside story of the case better than anyone else. The old man lowered his head to the floor once again.

“I-it’s all my fault! I made a mistake in educating my grandson, and that kind of Satan happened!”

“No one wondered why the murderer killed the Arland family muppet. Expression of anger toward the well-to-do aristocratic class and blatant class discrimination. Various rhetoric followed, but none of the articles spoke the truth.”

The old man broke into a cold sweat. It all happened a year before the murder. Wolf gently pressed his foot on the back of the old man’s head. The old man was just lying on his stomach, unable to do anything in spite of the humiliating action.

“I remember then, you said in a newspaper article that you could not forgive me. It’s like an old man who ran wild, claiming he couldn’t forgive me, but now he’s on his knees in front of me begging for forgiveness. Isn’t it really funny?”

“Sorry, sorry… ! I am reflecting… !”

The old man fell flatter, repeating the same words like a broken gramophone.

“Did you ever think it was too late to apologize? It’s been several years already. Angela, your grandchildren are all dead. You can’t get anything back, what the hell does an apology mean? If you had bowed her head then, if you had sent Angela back, we would have forgotten each other.”

“Sorry… Do… !”

Volf’s feet got stronger. The old man squeezed his voice as he felt the bridge of his nose crush against the floor.

“I still remember. Angela came to the academy to see me, and your grandson saw Angela and had her servants take her to the warehouse. When I visited after hearing the story belatedly, do you know what I saw?”

I knew. It was because the face of her grandson, who had used the commoner woman as his concubine, was still visible. A nobleman could never say he didn’t know. Because I knew it all too well. It was because he was the one who kept his mouth shut with a sack of money to a candidate for a knight who was a former municipal miscreant.

“If I had not received the revelation and killed the Demon King, would you have kneeled before me? If I hadn’t been a hero, if I hadn’t held your breath, would you have come so servile to me?”

“Sorry… Do… ! Me, it’s all my fault… ! My, my family’s name… ! Please allow me to continue… !”

Wolf raised his foot. The soldiers and attendants averted their eyes at the sight of his feet lifted high as if they were about to trample on the nobleman’s head. The attendants standing in front of the carriage screamed.

Bang!

“Quaaaaagh! Aaaaagh!”

The old man’s arm was crushed. His elbows were completely crushed, leaving the soles of his shoes intact. With his blood dripping foot, Wolf pressed the old man’s neck.

“Kek… Keck… !”

Wolf’s eyes met the old man’s. The old man could not look straight into those eyes that burned with hatred.

“I had a revelation. The goddess appeared in my dreams and gave me strength. Why did God give me strength only at the end of my life? I thought about it several times, but the answer was always the same. Even God, my life was so pitiful. That’s why he bestowed the power for revenge.”

The old man’s bony fingers gripped Wolf’s shoe, pleading.

“Please, please… ! I-I’ll take full responsibility… Another innocent… !”

Wolf cut him off and shouted.

“Why me! I am! Did I have to lose my woman and give up my dream of being a knight? What sin did I have to lose my woman! I will kill them all! Yours too! Even your bastards! I will kill everyone who has anything to do with you!”

The old man saw Wolf’s beastly eyes. Those eyes were full of hostility and murderous intent toward himself. At that moment, the old man was sure that Wolf would not let him live. The directionless sense of betrayal of the false expectations turned into hatred for Wolf.

“Ahhh… ! Hey, you devilish bastard! Killing even innocent people… ! Do you deserve it!”

A groan escaped from the old man’s mouth. He boasted of an ugly color with red thread veins bursting out of his yellow eyes. The beast roared and used a rattle, but Wolf didn’t blink an eye. He cleared his face and calmed down his anger.

Faced with a cold expression, the old man shrank again. Wolf said while shaking his head.

“What does my qualification matter? The important thing is to pay the grudge. Whoever dies in my revenge.”

Wolf held out his hand. The guard handed over the knife he was wearing around his waist. The scabbard drenched in rainwater shone brightly, and the attendants next to the wagon stiffened stiffly. The sword was drawn with Wolf’s voice.

“It’s someone else’s business after all.”