Chapter 6

A few minutes after the Elder bit into my arm.

“That should be enough.”

With that, he released his hold on my limb.

His coat was already glossier than when I first saw him, and his limbs were firmly planted on the ground.

That being said, he was still recovering from a long illness, so I checked him over just to be sure. He seemed perfectly fine.

“As expected of a legend. To think you’d recover this much just by replenishing your magical power.”

“It is only because your magic was of such high quality. More importantly, you mentioned wanting to master that power of yours?”

“Yeah. I can’t exactly undergo special training in the middle of a town. People rarely come here, so it’ll make for a perfect training ground.”

“I have no objection. However, first you must acquire the strength to survive here. Otherwise, you will be dead in an instant.”

Wait, we’re starting from there? My training begins with basic survival?

“Father! I cannot allow this!! Are you truly going to let a human like this join our pack!?”

“Why are you bringing this up now? The condition for saving me was that he would be allowed to stay with the pack.”

“That may be so, but this human is far too suspicious!! If that power were ever turned against us, this pack would—!!”

“In that case, you may simply kill him.”

I figured there’d be someone who wouldn’t be convinced.

I wondered how I should go about persuading him… when suddenly, an unbelievable bloodlust erupted from the Elder!?

“You… did you just say you would kill my savior?”

What is with this murderous aura? It wasn’t even directed at me, but I was terrified!!

Hey, don’t run away, you wolves in the background!! No, seriously, don’t leave me alone, this is actually scary!!

“As expected of Grandfather… to release such an intense killing intent.”

“Just who the hell is your grandfather?”

“Grandfather is the first-generation Fenrir. They say he reached his current state after repeating cycles of training and evolution.”

The first generation, huh? That explained it.

Of course he’d be strong.

Even the Pack Leader was completely cowed, so it made sense that the rest of the pack was bolting.

“Hey, old man. Exactly how much strength do I need to survive here?”

I decided to cut the tension and change the subject. We weren’t getting anywhere like this.

“Hm. The necessary strength is considerable. Furthermore, as a human, there are many walls between you and our domain.”

“Basically… give up on being human, huh? Well, that’s fine. I can handle that much.”

“You’re surprisingly nonchalant about it. Are you not afraid?”

“If it’s a choice between being scared or not, then yeah, I’m scared. But it’s better than dying without being able to do anything, right?”

“You say that with such a straight face.”

The Elder spoke with a wry smile.

I knew I was being a bit crazy.

But I still wanted power. Is that so wrong? I’m a man, after all.

“Very well. There is no harm in possessing strength. If you want it, then take it.”

Man, monsters are so easy to deal with. They don’t question the desire for power or nag you about why you want it.

“So, are you going to start coaching me then?”

“Not yet. If we started now, you wouldn’t last a single second. First, we must build up your body.”

I guess that makes sense. Well, at least the plan for the future has been decided.