Chapter 25.2

Hostage Lydith and Ria the Werewolf King (2)

“Has the pain gone away?”

Ria’s tone was only gentlemanly and calm.

He appeared to have no intention of threatening or hurting me.

“Yes. The wounds on my body have healed. Thank you for your kindness.”

“You are a valued hostage and it is only natural that you should be treated with respect.”

Ria sipped the reddish-purple liquid that was poured into his glass.

Apparently, I am a hostage.

The fact that I am a hostage probably means that I was brought here to be used in some kind of negotiation.

“Ria-sama, you said you were the king of the werewolves. Right?”

“That’s right. That being said, I’m the only werewolf, so it will be akward if someone asks whose king I am.”

“Does that mean there were many more?”

“You don’t know much about the demon tribe, do you? Are they a demon tribe or a race? For example, wood nymphs and, as you may have already met, water nymphs and fire nymphs are called spirit people. They are a lower tribe of the elves. I’m from the werewolf tribe, and as you can see, I am half beast, and I can change my form into a wolf.”

“Well, you really can turn into a wolf?”

“Yes. I rarely change my form, though. Astaroth in the castle is a man-snake. Clive, who sent you here is a bloodsucker. There are many other races, but many of them stay away from the castle side, so I don’t know if you’ll ever meet them.”

Everyone here seems to know Clive.

Our head butler may be quite famous in this country.

“If you like, you can have some fruit. It will take away the fatigue.” Ria said, and I decided to have some without hesitation.

I was also feeling hungry because I hadn’t eaten the sandwiches I had in my cloth bag after all.

Even though it was an emergency situation, I regretted having wasted the food.

The food on my plate was all familiar to me: raspberries, sticky-sweet hoshilingos that form a star shape when cut, and watery tub grape berries with large grains and skin that can be eaten whole.

My body was still feeling tired after a long run, and I was grateful for the water and sweetness.

“So each tribe has its own king, I suppose.”

I stabbed a raspberry with my fork and brought it to my mouth, swallowed it properly and then asked Ria.

“Yes, that’s right. Unlike now, there used to be a lot of them, so each of us, created under an ancient king, lived in our own little city. Oh, not all of them, the werewolves lived in clusters because of their strong sense of kinship, but the vampires and the human serpents didn’t like to cluster together so much.

“Who is the old king, Master Lucis?”

“Lucis the Fool is the second. The ancient king, the king of the beginning, you humans… the king of races other than humans, Heinsolde-sama.”

“I heard that Gilbert-sama’s name is Gilbert Yule Heinsolde.”

“Yes. Yule’s name was Yule Lucis Heinzolde. Gilbert’s name means he inherited Heinzolde’s power and was made by Yule.”

I could hear the slight irritation in his soft voice as he called out the name Yule.

From the way he spoke, it seemed that Ria was not very happy with any king other than Heinzolde.

To sum up the story so far, the Kings of the demon tribe started with Heinzolde-sama, was succeeded by Lucis during the Great War, then Yule, and was changed to Gilbert-sama about two hundred years ago.

It would be different to lump them together with the demon tribe. I think they should be called the kings of different races.

I feel that it’s kind of wrong to classify races other than humans as heterogeneous races, and since it’s easy to understand here, let’s express them as demons for the time being

I think I finally understand the true meaning of Gilbert-sama’s saying that Yule Heinzolde is not his name.

“Ria-sama, you know a lot about the old days, don’t you? When you said you’re a king, did you mean that you’re the first born werewolf?”

“Right, you must be old-fashioned. Are you interested in me?”

“I believe that everything begins with dialogue. If I can get to know you, I can understand why I’m here. Besides, we forgot about you after the war. Thank you for everything you have taught me. I’m sure you must have enjoyed your time together with humans in the same country.”

Ria’s ears flap as he smiles at her. Perhaps it means he is happy.

I thought maybe he had a tail too, but unfortunately I couldn’t check it from where was sitting.

“It’s been a thousand years since the Great War and we, the powerful ones, are hiding, which is strange in the first place. The king has stopped creating new lifes and we are dwindling.”

“Master Astaroth told me that the only way to create life is to guard with kings or guard with men.”

“It’s inconvenient. If the king was lustful, the race would flourish, but Lucis was infatuated with the female vessel of the goddess, and Yule suffered from it.”

Anguish flashed across Ria’s face.

“Your, your sister?”

“Aria was my sister. She was Yule’s only companion, Gilbert’s mother.”

I felt like I understood why Gilberto-sama said he didn’t want to argue with wolves.

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