Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 46

Habur’s eyes were fixed on the ceiling of the cave as he lay on the ground.

Thump, thump.

He heard Yan’s footsteps approaching his ear.

Was he coming to mock him?

Or to celebrate his victory, or to finish him off for good?

He didn’t care much.

But there was something he wanted to ask.

“…Why. Do we. Have to die.”

They, whom they called barbarians, the nomads, were just struggling to survive.

They never invaded the empire to expand their territory.

They did raid the upper-class carriages a few times to survive, but they did not take life lightly.

But those imperial bastards slaughtered them without leaving a trace.

Why… why did they have to die?

Yan sat down casually next to Habur.

“Just as you fought to live, Beowulf fought to protect. It’s also true that there are barbarians who invaded his domain.”

He wiped his nose roughly, leaving bloodstains on his face, and his fur coat was long gone.

Habur let out a bitter laugh at Yan’s answer.

They were dying because of other nomads.

But he understood.

If he were in their shoes, if he were the defender, would he have left them alone?

No, he probably would have done the same thing.

Habur, who had been smiling softly, looked at his condition.

He was barely holding on to his consciousness, but he was fatally wounded and could die at any moment.

It was a miracle that he hadn’t died yet with his upper body pierced.

The rage that had filled Habur’s head until a moment ago subsided.

They were the weak and they were the strong.

The principle of ‘survival of the fittest’ was taken for granted in the nomadic society.

He spat out a self-mocking laugh, and Yan’s calm voice reached his ear.

“You were a strong warrior.”

“…Are you. Joking?”

“No joke. I won, but.”

Habur snickered at Yan’s acknowledgment, and then his eyes became serious.

“Can you. Do me a favor.”

“Don’t worry about the kids. The guy who saved them is quite popular in the Beowulf family, so you don’t have to worry about discrimination or anything like that.”

Habur smirked at Yan’s words.

Should he be grateful, or angry at the cheap sympathy?

Yan smiled and reached out his hand.

“So give me some loot.”

“I have no. Wealth.”

Yan shook his head and pointed to the bone bracelet wrapped around Habur’s wrist.

“You have that.”

Habur’s eyes widened slightly at that.

But soon they began to tremble.

It meant that death was approaching.

“Promise me. What you said.”

Yan said he knew, and Habur laughed.

“Take it. It’s useless. Now.”

As he said that, Habur muttered something like a spell, and the bone bracelet came off his wrist by itself.

Yan picked up the bone bracelet that fell to the ground and put it in his pocket.

The Vila treated those they recognized as brothers as their own lives.

And having this bone bracelet meant that he inherited that life.

If he ever ran into a Vila by chance, it would be insurance for Yan.

‘The great warriors never forget a favor they received. If I had just let him go, Lorena or Cruel would have been in danger. I don’t want to suffer anymore while I’m here.’

He didn’t have to worry about other great warriors or Vila avenging Habur’s death.

‘Instead, they are the ones who admit defeat cleanly, and Vila must know this too, so they won’t hold me responsible.’

As Yan sorted out his thoughts, Habur’s focus blurred.

“Please. The kids.”

“Don’t worry, the guy who will take care of them has a personality that will at least not let them starve.”

The sound of his breathing, which had been hissing, was no longer heard.

He seemed to have stopped breathing.

“I hope you are born in a better place in your next life.”

Yan confirmed that Habur’s eyes were closed and got up from his seat.

He was an enemy he had to face because of the unavoidable situation, but he was not a bad guy.

A strong and honest guy.

“I should tell Lorena well.”

He had no obligation to keep his promise with the dead, but he could not ignore the promise he made with Habur.

No.

He didn’t want to ignore it.

* * *

Yan came out and squinted his eyes at the bright sunlight, covering his eyes with his hand.

The fierce blizzard had stopped.

He heard a loud shout in his ear.

“There he is! We found the trainee!”

The Mookap Knight Commander, the knights, and the trainees were looking at Yan.

Yan smiled at them.

His face was a mess, as he had wiped his nose roughly with his ragged clothes.

“I’m going to die of overwork at this rate.”

Yan waved his hand with a tired look.

* * *

Yan returned to Beowulf’s castle with the cheers of the knights.

He collapsed as soon as he arrived in his room, and he came to his senses when the sky was dark.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Cruel’s face, which seemed full of discontent.

“Are you not moving your head?”

“What the hell is this guy?”

Cruel glared at him, even though Yan told him to shut up.

When Yan’s eyebrows twisted, he finally moved his body back.

But he didn’t stop moving his mouth.

“Are you the bastard or the hidden disciple of the Duke of the Four Seas, or something like that?”

Cruel couldn’t figure out why Yan was so strong.

So he looked for the reason outside.

If he had learned swordsmanship or magic from the Duke of the Four Seas, who was the peak of the empire, he would have understood that strength.

‘No, then what about Lorena?’

Lorena was also one of the Duke’s daughters, wasn’t she?

She did achieve overwhelming results at the training center, but so did he.

And he never felt the same creepy feeling from Lorena as he did from Yan.

But Yan was different.

Something about this guy made him feel like he was naturally losing when he stood in front of him.

“What nonsense are you talking about? What am I to the Duke?”

“It sounds right…”

Yan snickered at Cruel’s absurd reasoning.

If he was the Duke’s disciple or child, would he be doing this kind of hard work?

“You might get beaten up if you keep doing that.”

At that, Cruel pulled his head and body back like a snake.

Yan got up from the bed and stretched.

Then someone knocked on the door.

Knock knock.

“Guests, the butler has a message for you to come to the training ground when you wake up.”

It was the voice of the maid who had been cold to him at first.

Her tone was still cold, but the feeling in it was different.

“Training ground? Are they going to teach us something?”

Cruel’s eyes sparkled.

* * *

Following the maid’s guidance, they arrived at the training ground.

There, the Mookap Knights, the butler Hans, and Lorena and Charl were waiting for them.

“What, what is all this?”

Cruel’s eyes widened at the sight of the training ground.

There were tables and bottles of liquor and dishes piled on top of them, which did not match the training ground.

Hans smiled and answered.

“This is a modest celebration for our victory. A banquet, if you will.”

“Then why don’t you do it in the banquet hall, why do it in this training ground?”

Hans shrugged at Cruel’s question.

“When other nobles come, we use the banquet hall, but when the knights have a victory party, we usually do it in this training ground. They all say this place is more comfortable and fun.”

Yan’s eyes scanned the place.

It was a banquet, but some of them had gloomy expressions.

Especially Lorena.

She looked more serious, as she grew up here.

A look as if she was holding back tears.

‘It must be because of the dead knights.’

Hans, who noticed Lorena’s mood like Yan, laughed and led the trainees to the table full of liquor.

Then he handed them a glass each.

“This is quite expensive liquor, even though we piled it up like this. Ah! Miss, you’ve attended this kind of banquet a few times, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Lorena was still not in the mood to enjoy the banquet.

She fiddled with her glass for a while.

Hans looked at her with a bitter smile.

Meanwhile.

“Mookap Knights, listen up!”

The Mookap Knight Commander shouted in a hoarse voice.

“Yes!”

And the knights responded to the commander’s words.

“Anyone who doesn’t get drunk today and walks back on two feet, I’ll make them crawl with my own hands!”

He laughed and said.

“Everyone, loosen up your hips and drink up! Let’s drink and die!”

“Uaaaa!”

“Let’s dieeeeee!”

The banquet began with a huge cheer.

The atmosphere, which had been low-pressure until then, quickly heated up.

The knights all chattered and blew their bottles, and stuffed meat into their mouths.

Among the trainees who were staring blankly at them, the first one to move was Cruel.

He seemed to have made a big decision and squeezed into the Mookap Knights and grabbed a bottle.

“Ooh! You’re a man!”

“But you look young, you shouldn’t overdo it…”

The knights either laughed heartily or worriedly faced Cruel.

But Cruel smiled and poured the bottle into his mouth like the other knights.

“Kreeee!”

Cruel twisted his face and exclaimed.

The Mookap Knights started to laugh and chatter at his appearance.

“Wow, you’re amazing? Have you been drinking since you were young?”

“This guy will be a great drinker when he grows up.”

Cruel straightened his shoulders and shouted at the knights’ cheers.

“Khat! I’m telling you, I’m a genius who was praised by my family!”

Yan shook his head at Cruel.

Then he also picked up a glass and poured liquor and gulped it down.

As Hans said, it was expensive liquor, and a sweet grape flavor spread in his mouth.

“Lorena, try this. It’s a really amazing taste!”

Charl, whose cheeks were red, poured liquor into Lorena’s glass.

But Lorena just looked down at the glass of liquor and didn’t do anything.

She looked at the knights and trainees with a blank eye.

Then she opened her mouth.

“…How can they all do that without any problem?”

The one who answered her dry voice was Hans, who had come close.

“Miss, you may not understand them yet, but they are also mourning in their own way for those who went first.”

“…Is that mourning?”

The Mookap Knights were pouring liquor like they were living for today.

“Yes, it’s mourning.”

Hans answered firmly.

“We are knights who protect the north. Others may say that knights are honorable or noble, but in the end we are always walking on the edge of the sword.”

Hans spoke with a distant look on his face, as if recalling the past.

“Knights have no choice but to die fighting. They did their job well. They repelled the barbarians and protected you.”

They were all great knights.

He recited that and smiled.

“There’s no tears at a place to mourn such knights. Do you think they would want that? Rather, it’s polite to send them off like this, brightly.”

Lorena still couldn’t understand Hans’s words.

Send them off with a smile?

The ones who had taken care of her childishness since she was young were dead?

Hans tapped Lorena’s shoulder, who was confused, and pointed somewhere with his finger.

There, the Mookap Knight Commander was pouring liquor into the glasses of Cruel, Yan, and Charl.

“This is the liquor that the dead Bas gave us, so don’t spill a drop and drink it all!”

“Ah, I know who he is. He was a pretty cool guy!”

The knights burst into laughter at Cruel’s drunken words.

Yan, who had quietly put his mouth to the glass, also said something.

“He wasn’t just cool, he was a really great knight.”

“He was a great guy? Do you know how much of a jerk he was?”

Suddenly, one of the knights got up from his seat and walked to the corner of the training ground where the wooden swords were piled up.

He rummaged through them for a while and pulled out a wooden sword with the name ‘Bas’ engraved on it.

“This is the wooden sword he used, but he said it was mine and even wrote his name on it!”

The knights laughed and added a few words to the knight’s shout.

Seeing that, a light came into Lorena’s blank eyes.

Bas was the knight who had charged alone at Habur.

Now his name was the topic of conversation.

And that wasn’t all.

The names of other knights were also coming up one by one.

She still didn’t know for sure, but… she thought she knew what Hans was saying.

Lorena poured the glass of liquor into her mouth at once and shouted.

“Bas was a really cool knight!”

She screamed as if she was cursing from afar, and the atmosphere suddenly quieted down.

“Uhahaha! Yeah, he was a really cool guy!”

“He must be listening to this from heaven, too. He always came running like a ghost when I talked about him!”

As if nothing had happened, the atmosphere heated up again.

The banquet that started in the afternoon lasted until morning.