"Katsuo! Thank Idun you are awake!"Aranel found Katsuo staring into the air. She hoped that it wasn't sequela left behind from his advancement ritual. "Sensei. I am fine but-!"*Zoom*Before he could even warn Aranel that Aria was sleeping she had already zoomed out of the room. Actually, this was something he was curious about as well. Despite their time together, Katsuo still didn't know why she was so vehemently avoiding Aranel Sensei."It's fine my baby. Is there anything wrong? Do you feel weird anywhere?"Aranel put her hand over Katsuo's forehead to check his temperature.*Smack*"It's fine sensei. I don't feel weird"Katsuo smacked away Aranel's hand as he answered."Are you sure nothing is wrong?"Aranel was not convinced everything was fine. She wanted to believe that but what she did was taboo and it wasn't even guaranteed to work. Hence the reason why she couldn't believe it worked out so perfectly. There must be something wrong. Even if there wasn't, she needed to make
*Gwak*A raven perched on Aranel's shoulder bringing it a message from the outside world.She frowned."...It seems like I can't hold him back any longer. The time of troubles is upon us. I just wish he had more time"*Sigh****Katsuo was sitting under the waterfall tempering his spirit. It had been some time since he had advanced to rank 6 but he still couldn't go through the ritual. There was no sign of his seventh start coagulating. Was that the right word?Anyway, he figured out that the problem had to be his will.His mana should already be enough to advance and become a Voice of Nature.There was also a second possibility that he was not willing to accept.Maybe it was because of his heart?His heart didn't belong to him. It was the heart of a dragon. Katsuo had come to terms with it but what if this was the limit of his chimeric heart?He also didn't know how to face himself either.Katsuo wasn't a dragon, but he wasn't a human now either.His body was fine currently but wha
*Roar* Katsuo was standing in front of a towering black panther. She had lightning-shaped stripes running through her skin. He didn't know if he could come out alive from this fight but Aranel Sensei was right. If he wanted to truly belong in this world he needed to kill Relsai with his own hands. As a person from a peaceful world, the concept of killing was foreign to Katsuo. Sure, he had hunted in order to survive before but that was where the difference lay. He had killed to survive but this was different. Katsuo didn't need to kill Relsai, even if he didn't kill her he could still make a pact with one of her children. There were virtually zero reasons that he needed to kill her. He was only killing her in order to learn how it felt like to take a life. A cruel lesson from Aranel Sensei. "Stop wasting time and come now, boy!" Relsai roared once again inviting Katsuo to attack her. The fact that she didn't attack him already was her showing Katsuo some consideration. She obv
"Have you packed everything you need?"Katsuo pointed towards his magic pouch."Don't worry Sensei. I have packed rations, bedrolls, extra clothes, water and everything I might need.""Good. So do you have any plans for what you want to do?"Aranel nodded as she asked him this question for the umpteenth time."Yes, first leave the forest, then make my way to the Free City of Dawn and become an adventurer.""Makes sense, but when you are applying don't forget to use the fake identity I created for you.""Of course! I don't know whether the people I meet will be trustworthy or not so I will be keeping it a secret until I make sure it is okay to share it with them.""That's my son. Though I can still remember how willing you were to instantly tell me your whole story and how you were from a different world.""This and that are different things!""Fine, fine. Whatever you say little one. Oh, when you find time don't forget to visit Szithmor!"Szithmor was the capital city of Freusengenia,
Katsuo was happy that he had finally met another human being after leaving the forest but he was kind of peeved right now.He felt like he had gotten involved with something he shouldn't have.At first, he had thought he was taking care of some random thieves but it seemed like they were assassins sent to kill this guy.Well, that was okay.He didn't know if the guy he saved was a bad guy that deserved to die or not, but at least he had stopped the murder of a human being.As a bonus, he could also ask for directions to the Free City of Dawn.However, the weird incident started with the guy introducing himself.The first words that came out of his mouth were a lie.How did he know?Because while he was trying to make his tongue regain sensation with the herbs he picked up along his journey, he was also reading his status panel.---[Name]: Kalrune Einhar Greywulf (Disguised)[Age]: 26[Job]: Civilian[Rank]: 0[Title]: The Fangless Wolf, Heartsmasher[Background]: Minister of Foreign
After cleaning up the remains of the assassins, Kalrune and Maria went up to the tree Katsuo was perched on."Sir, now that the urgent matters have been dealt with, allow me to introduce myself once again. My name is Gaston Hedley, an ambassador of Oedl Kingdom, and this one here is my personal guard Maria Hedley, a rank 6 expert swordsman. Would you be kind enough to introduce yourself? Please forgive this one's ignorance but I don't think I have heard of a Voice of Nature with your description before."Katsuo jumped down the tree and inspected the two. She had glass blue eyes and ash-grey hair tied into a braid that was running down her left shoulder. With the scar running through her right cheek, she looked like a seasoned warrior. However, there was something Katsuo had found with the fight before and Maria in front of him now.He had ignored it before due to more pressing matters but 'Gaston' had called one of the assailants master class. Katsuo had regularly sparred with Aranel
Borders of Harham WastelandsCapital of Greywulf DuchyBiledzir Castle***It was just before dawn. When the nightguards were in their most vulnerable state. After a night of standing guard on full alert, they were all tired.Einrich yawned, trying to keep himself awake.He was one of the many soldiers stationed in this castle, tasked with protecting Oedl from the invasion of nasty monsters. Most people from Oedl would call his job a thankless one but as a native of Biledzir, he was proud of his career. He had grown up hearing the stories of the famous winter wolf brigade protecting the walls so they could live safely. It was thanks to their sacrifice that he and his family could live happily. Now that he was one of them he couldn't be any happier.If it was any other part of Oedl they would call him an idiot. He was a rank 4 expert warrior, meaning he could easily become a sergeant in any other army but here he was just one of the many nameless soldiers. That was because the minimum
The discussion Katsuo had with Kalrune was insightful but at the end of the day, it was just that. He had no intention of getting involved with this so-called 'secret war', so for him, it might as well have been white background noise.Though at least he had learnt about the world's current state, which was a plus.For the rest of their journey, the party didn't encounter any more assassination attempts. There were a couple of times Katsuo felt like they were being watched but before he could locate the assailant the feeling would disappear. It was annoying. Katsuo didn't know who was secretly watching them but he didn't feel any danger so he was sure that whoever it was, they posed no threat to him.And this was the reason why it felt so annoying. If he were to give an analogy, Katsuo felt like there was a mosquito in his room while he was trying to sleep. When he turned on the lights it would disappear. If he turned off the lights, he would start hearing the buzz again.Thankfully,
By the time Katsuo had returned it was already evening. Sven and Gail still had not arrived so he decided to wait. He was not a detective, the play he put on in front of the Fatty was already the limit of his abilities. So his only job now was just to wait and learn where the girl was being held and then beat up some kidnappers. Speaking of which Fatty truly surprised Katsuo. He had already thrown out the idea that he was the kidnapper because of his demeanour and actions. In fact, he didn't even think he was a bad guy at all. Why though? He was not an easily trusting person... at least he thought so. Did that mean Fatty messed up with his brain in some way? That was impossible. If there was even a hint of magic involved he would have sensed it. Maybe there was something in the whiskey? No way, he had cast [Detoxcification] on it so that was not possible either. Maybe he used some psychological tricks on him, after all, he was a politician. That last one was a little probable but at
Katsuo gave it a thought and agreed to help Roy with finding his kidnapped sister. According to him aside from the mayor, there was no one else they had any enmity with so that was Katsuo's first clue, Gail said she could ask around about her to her old contacts and Sven decided to do his own thing. When asked what he meant by that Sven said just leave it to him and brushed him off. He had never questioned before maybe Sven also had some connections with gangs here but that was impossible as he was from Horwaard. However, when Katsuo thought about where to ask about the mayor he noticed a crucial problem in his plans. He didn't know anyone in Dawn. His sister and Kalrune had already returned to their countries. He wasn't some gruff noir detective who could understand how everything went down by piecing together some rumour either. So Katsuo thought about his own advantages. For one, he was a transmigrator with a lot of popular culture knowledge when it came to isekai genre. So he as
After his party members returned Katsuo started to talk with the boy to learn about his situation."So you said your sister was kidnapped?" He asked the boy cautiously. From his get up he looked like a beggar but his face was well defined despite the bruises so there was a high chance that his sister was a beauty as well. That would explain why his sister was kidnapped but Katsuo had no intention of getting ahead of himself. It was better to hear the situation first-hand from the concerned party."Yes, today she was kidnapped by a bunch of ruffians. I don't even know who they are and why they targeted us. Please help! I am begging you. If the money is not enough I can find more."The boy started to speak in haste. He was really panicked but what he said was of no help at all."I wanted to ask about that. This money is too much for a beggar like you. Where did you get it?" Gail asked as she grabbed the pouch and checked its contents. "No, that is money left from my grandfather's inher
As expected, Denstria accepted the terms of the deal and Kalrune left for Oedl soon after, leaving Katsuo and Sven to embark on their long-awaited adventurer life finally. "How could you forget about me *Sob*," said Gail while grabbing Katsuo's fur coat and sobbing. "No no, how could we forget about you? If we did such a thing what kind of a person would we be? We just had something important going on so we couldn't come to pick you up. Right, Sven?" Katsuo lied as naturally as he breathed. Aria peeked under Katsuo's shirt and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, stinky. Playmate who is this? She smells awful" Aria said as she covered her nose with her tiny little paws. Hearing that Gail got self-conscious and smelled her armpits but she couldn't smell anything. She as a budding young lady was very disturbed by such accusations. "I don't smell" Gail grumbled and pulled down her hood even further to mask her face. You know, just in case. "Of course, you don't, that was just Aria being...
"Uhm, are you sure about this?" Katsuo couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked after leaving the meeting. "About what? Saving hundreds of thousands of lives?" "But just like that fatty said isn't the Greywulf estate your ancestral home?" This was the part that eluded Katsuo. He was from a lineage of martial artists and their family held onto their traditions for centuries. So selling their ancestral home was something he couldn't imagine. That was why he wanted to ask Kalrune how he did it. "Home is where you make it. Also, I wasn't joking when I said Greywulf estate is its people and not the land. My father would also agree with me. After all, he was the one who taught me this. Being a noble means 'being responsible for your subjects'." As Kalrune spoke about his father his face brightened up. Katsuo could see that Kalrune treasured him greatly so this made him curious about the strongest man on the continent Brevok Greywulf. Just what kind of person was he? A cold Duke of the
"My supervisor accepted selling Greywulf estate to you," said Kalrune as everyone in the meeting looked at him in shock."Come again?" asked the fat mayor of Dawn while wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "You heard me right. Kingdom of Oedl decided to 'sell' Greywulf estate to Denstria" Kalrune repeated himself."Of course, since you have a legitimate casus belli this land belongs to Denstria so we will withdraw but as we were the ones that were taking care of it for so long you guys need to pay us for our services. After all, if it were not for the 'current' Greywulf house the land would already have been ravaged by the monsters long ago. So it is only right that you guys pay us."The glasses guy from Denstria frowned while pondering. This was out of his considerations for how the meeting would go. He didn't know who came up with this ingenious idea but they surely got him. He even suspected that there might be a spy amidst their ranks otherwise it would be impossible to come
Kalrune was pacing around in his room thinking about how to stop this impending war. This time Denstria was coming at them for real without any intention of stopping with measly threats. Otherwise, they wouldn't have pulled out the trump card they had been hiding for centuries. The question was why now? There were times in Oedl's history when they were way weaker than they were now. In other words, this plan was something in the making for a long time.At first, Kalrune had thought this was going to be another small skirmish to cull the forces of Greywulf Duchy as after Archmage Karrion's death his father became the undisputed strongest man in the world so of course this reputation had its pros but that was about it.Now Denstria was aiming for swelling Greywulf whole... but why?Even as a person who was born and raised in Greywulf estate Kalrune couldn't see any point to this.Sure it was acting as a shield against Denstria but even if they took down the Greywulf estate they would ju
Katsuo unwillingly hugged his sister Tharnel. Truth be told he didn't know how to treat this sister of his. If he said they were close that would be a lie, but if he said they didn't get along that would be one as well. Their relationship was complicated. "Woah, I missed you, little brother! You have grown bigger since I last saw you. But you seem a little thin. Are you eating okay? Don't tell me you get so wrapped in your training and forget to feed yourself. Didn't I tell you to take better care of yourself?" Tharnel started nagging Katsuo as she gave him a firm hug. Well, the distance between them was only awkward for Katsuo. For Tharnel, he was her one and only little brother. "Ugh, no. It's just that my muscles have become more compact so I look thinner... you also know that Sensei would never let me skip a meal right?" Katsuo mumbled as he pulled away from her hug. "You still call mom Sensei?" "It's... just... I don't know it's complicated okay?" "Why though? She only sa
Katsuo nervously walked behind the elven strider. He tried to read his status window but as usual, the damn thing didn't work when he needed it to work. As they walked forward Katsuo remembered what he had learnt about striders. They were a subclass of warrior profession but they had extremely harsh requirements so usually only elves could become one, which made sense considering elves were the ones who created the profession.The speciality of striders was their endless regeneration. He wasn't sure about its authenticity but he had heard once heard from Aranel that even if you decapitate them master rank striders could grab their heads and reattach them and keep fighting like nothing happened.Of course, their fighting style also was one that favoured mutual destruction.They didn't care if their arms were chopped as long as they could leave one wound in their enemy. In this way, they sounded like berserkers but unlike those glass cannons, these guys were anti-aircraft cannons.