Chương 299: Meet The Wolf

Wolf's voice made Vale's hands twitch. It sounded perfectly human, and that was precisely what made it unsettling. The tone was pleasant, refined, even charming, yet beneath that polished exterior lurked something artificial. He was reminded of a puppet attempting to imitate a person after only hearing stories about them. Every word was placed correctly. Every inflection sounded natural. Nothing about the voice was overtly wrong, and yet the result felt less human than the growl of a beast.

A chill crawled slowly up Vale's spine as he studied the man standing before him. His gaze swept across Wolf's immaculate black suit, searching for anything that might reveal what kind of threat he truly was. A weapon. Hidden armor. Guards waiting nearby. Any detail he could use to measure the man. He found nothing. Wolf stood alone without a blade at his side, without visible protection, and without the slightest hint of concern. That final detail bothered Vale more than the rest.

People who feared death prepared for it. People like Wolf apparently did not. The man merely smiled beneath the scrutiny.

"Is something wrong, child?" A faint crack slipped through his voice. The imperfection was tiny, barely noticeable, yet it immediately set Vale further on edge. Shade stirred around his wrist, the shadow bracelet subtly shifting as wisps of dark mist leaked from the narrow seams between its bands. Wolf's eyes flickered downward for only an instant before returning to Vale's face. He had noticed. Of course he had.

"Why are you here?" Vale asked flatly. Wolf blinked once before his smile widened.

"Oh. So that's what's bothering you." He stepped forward at an unhurried pace, hands folded neatly behind his back like a courteous nobleman strolling through a garden. Each measured footstep echoed softly against the stone balcony, and with every passing second an increasingly familiar sensation crept into Vale's mind. It wasn't quite a memory, nor was it simple intuition. It felt more like recognition. As though he had stood in this exact position before. As though he had faced this exact smile.

As though some forgotten piece of himself understood the danger long before his conscious mind could. Wolf stopped barely a meter away. Close enough to shake hands. Close enough to kill. Tilting his head slightly, he studied Vale with the same intensity he had been subjected to moments earlier.

"You see," Wolf said softly, "I'm quite interested in you." Vale kept his expression neutral, though every nerve in his body tightened.

"You're a fascinating anomaly." The smile weakened.

"A mysterious young man falls from another world. Normally that wouldn't interest me." His eyes focused.

"But then you landed in the Scorched Sands." Vale felt his stomach tighten.

"A death zone," Wolf continued.

"You should have died. Had Drago not been present, you would have." The smile returned.

"How fortunate." Vale forced a grin.

"Luck happens to be one of my specialties." Wolf chuckled quietly.

"So it seems." Raising a finger, he adopted the expression of a scholar discussing an especially intriguing problem.

"But even after surviving that impossible situation, you continued to exceed expectations. You defeated the Royal Guard's vice commander, became Drago's chosen heir, and earned the attention of individuals who rarely notice anyone." His gaze drifted deliberately across Vale's body before settling on his face once more. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"And all while possessing almost none of your memories." The smile disappeared entirely.

"Remarkable." Vale felt his heartbeat quicken. Wolf leaned forward slightly.

"Almost as though something inside you consumed those memories." The words lingered between them. Vale's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" Instantly, the smile returned. The abrupt shift was somehow more disturbing than if it had never left.

"Oh, I could tell you." Turning away, Wolf clasped his hands behind his back once more.

"Eventually." His voice carried an almost playful amusement.

"Once I've gotten some use out of you." Vale's jaw tightened.

"What use?" Wolf laughed softly and began walking toward the ballroom.

"No." The word left Vale's mouth before he could reconsider it.

"What happened to the missing people?" The atmosphere changed immediately. The air seemed to freeze. For several seconds Wolf stood motionless. Then he slowly turned his head, leaving the rest of his body facing forward. The smile waiting for Vale this time looked wrong. Not polite. Not charming. Hungry.

"Oh?" His pale blue eyes gleamed.

"You want the answer?" Vale nodded without hesitation. Wolf's smile widened further.

"You understand that receiving it could be dangerous."

"I don't care." For a moment Wolf simply stared at him. Then he laughed. Not the pleasant, practiced chuckle of a politician. Not the carefully measured amusement of a nobleman. A genuine laugh. And somehow that felt far worse.

"Very well." Wolf's head tilted at an angle that looked deeply unnatural, less like a man considering a question and more like a predator studying unfamiliar prey. The smile never left his face as he leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"I ate them." The words settled over the balcony like a shroud. For a fraction of a second, Vale believed him. The certainty in Wolf's voice left no room for doubt, and the image struck with enough force to freeze his thoughts. Then reason reasserted itself. Hundreds of people had vanished. Wolf could not possibly have eaten all of them. Could he? No. Whatever the truth was, it had to be something else. Something worse.

Vale's jaw tightened as he searched for a response, but before he could speak, movement exploded at the edge of his vision. Wolf vanished. Not literally, but his acceleration was so sudden and violent that it might as well have been teleportation. Every instinct Vale possessed erupted in warning. Danger. Lethal. He threw himself backward without conscious thought, relying entirely on reflex. It wasn't enough. Wolf was already there.

His smile remained fixed in place as his fist rose, and Vale barely had time to register the motion before his body reacted. His arms came up instinctively while Shade answered the threat before he could issue a command. Darkness erupted from his wrist in a torrent of mist and shadow. The bracelet unraveled, flooding the balcony with black vapor that twisted and expanded until the living shadow stood fully manifested between them. The construct moved without hesitation.

Its massive fist surged forward carrying enough force to pulverize stone and reduce most living creatures to paste. The air seemed to tighten around the attack. For a single suspended moment, the entire balcony held its breath. Then reality shifted. Vale blinked. And suddenly the fight was over. A hand gripped Shade's fist. Effortlessly. Drago stood in the path of the attack, his expression carrying nothing stronger than mild irritation.

The elderly librarian showed no sign of strain despite stopping the blow as casually as a man catching a tossed apple. At the same moment another figure had appeared beside Wolf, a towering wall of crimson hair, black horns, and muscle forged for battle. Ares held Wolf's wrist in a grip that appeared almost relaxed, yet even Wolf wasn't moving. Silence descended. Vale swallowed hard as the reality of the situation settled over him.

The two strongest men in Irea had arrived, and the confrontation had ended before it truly began. Ares' crimson eyes narrowed.

"Now." His voice remained calm, which somehow made it far more dangerous. Drago released a slow sigh.

"What exactly is going on here?" Neither Vale nor Wolf answered immediately. Wolf's gaze drifted between the commander and the librarian before he released a long, theatrical sigh of his own. Straightening his suit, he smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from one sleeve and offered them the same pleasant smile he had worn from the beginning.

"Relax, Commander." To Vale's surprise, Wolf slipped free from Ares' grasp with apparent ease.

"I was merely scaring the boy." Ares' expression hardened.

"You said that last time too." The temperature seemed to drop several degrees. Ares continued without looking away from him.

"The last person you 'scared' died." Wolf's smile cracked. The change lasted only an instant before the mask repaired itself.

"Surely young Vale isn't that fragile." After a moment Wolf glanced around, realized he would receive no response, and simply shrugged.

"I'll be seeing you all." He turned and walked away without another word. Shade's crimson eyes tracked him the entire time. The murderous intent radiating from the shadow was palpable. Vale had little doubt that if Drago released his grip for even a second, Shade would pursue Wolf through the castle itself. Only after the man disappeared into the ballroom did the atmosphere begin to loosen. Drago released the shadow's fist, and Shade immediately returned to Vale's side, though its gaze never fully left the doorway.

The librarian turned toward him with an expression caught somewhere between annoyance and concern.

"Kid." Vale swallowed. Drago folded his arms.

"Didn't both of us specifically tell you to stay away from Wolf?" Vale rubbed the back of his neck.

"... Yeah." The librarian stared at him for several seconds before releasing a deep, exhausted sigh.

"Forget it." Straightening slightly, he shook his head.

"You've got enough problems ahead of you already. Trust me, obsessing over this conversation isn't going to help." Vale glanced toward the doorway where Wolf had vanished. His stomach still felt twisted, and the questions circling through his mind had only multiplied. He wanted answers. He wanted explanations. Most of all, he wanted to know whether Wolf had been lying. But Drago was right. For now, there was nothing he could do. Slowly pushing himself upright, Vale nodded.

"Yeah. You're right." Ares had already begun walking away. The commander disappeared into the crowd without another word, never once looking back. Vale watched him go before lowering his gaze toward the floor.

"I really should be more careful."