Chapter 19 : Werewolf Princess II

“Hmm…”

“What is this?”

“It’s a dog drawing.”

The three of us gathered around the blood-soaked map.

Considering it was found on the humans, it must have significant meaning.

I pointed to the dog drawing in the closest area on the map and said,

“Shall we go here?”

“What if it’s another human trap?”

“Unlikely…”

I shook my head at Aurel’s concern.

Did they hide this map knowing they would be defeated?

Unless they were prophets or had time travel abilities, it was impossible.

“Since it’s marked with a dog, it might be related to werewolves.”

I said, looking at Hwanggu.

Hwanggu tilted her head with an innocent expression, her wolf ears twitching.

This was Hwanggu’s territory. There might be her companions at the dog-marked spot.

I tucked the map into my pocket and stood up.

Before we left, Hwanggu suddenly dashed off somewhere.

Curious, I followed her and found her picking up a fallen bicycle.

She hadn’t forgotten my request.

“You ran to get that?”

“Yes!”

Hwanggu answered energetically.

Her large tail wagged enthusiastically.

Hwanggu ended up pushing the bicycle as before.

Perhaps because it wasn’t considered an item, the shadows couldn’t consume the bicycle.

The place marked with a dog drawing on the map wasn’t too far from here.

After walking for a while,

Hwanggu suddenly started sniffing the air.

Curious, I tried to catch the scent too, but I didn’t notice anything unusual.

“Hwanggu?”

“It smells familiar for some reason.”

A familiar smell?

I looked at Hwanggu with a knowing gaze.

Maybe my guess was correct.

I spoke to Hwanggu.

“Really? Does it bring back any memories?”

“Umm…”

Hwanggu shook her head with a serious expression.

At that moment, a faint animal scent began to drift on the breeze.

As if signaling the approach of the source, the scent grew stronger over time.

It seemed Hwanggu was the first to detect it.

Aurel, too, seemed to notice, as she approached me with a tense expression.

I unfolded the map from my pocket and waited for them to approach.

As expected, the dog drawing marked the territory of werewolves.

About a minute later,

Four werewolves appeared, silhouetted against the pale moonlight.

Their calm eyes and steady breathing,

and the strong animal scent told me they were werewolves.

Then,

the man in the front stepped forward.

He had a cold, stern look.

As I thought that, he spoke.

“Princess…!”

His desperate gaze made it seem like he had found a long-lost treasure.

Their gaze was directed at Hwanggu.

At that moment, Aurel let out a rough breath.

“Pfft!”

I almost burst into laughter myself.

I barely held back, watching Hwanggu’s reaction.

Hwanggu tilted her head with a strangely contorted expression, not recognizing the person before her.

“You are safe!”

“Do you know me?”

“Huh…?”

When Hwanggu pretended not to know, the male werewolf looked at me in shock.

But there was nothing I could do just by looking at him.

I awkwardly stepped back with a wry smile.

“Werewolf Princess…”

The male werewolf murmured Hwanggu’s original name with a serious expression. His voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Pfft!”

Aurel let out another laugh, covering her mouth and squatting down.

“Werewolf Princess…?”

In contrast, Hwanggu muttered her name with a serious expression.

Despite this, she didn’t seem to remember anything, and couldn’t send a friendly gaze towards the werewolves before her.

“Uh, um… What exactly is going on here…”

Perhaps realizing that a normal conversation with Hwanggu was impossible, the male werewolf turned to me.

I sighed and stepped forward.

“Do you know Werewolf Princess?”

“Yes… She’s our leader…”

At the male werewolf’s answer, I looked back at Hwanggu.

A level 20 werewolf user and a leader of a group.

Seeing how concerned the others were, it was clear she took good care of her people.

Before losing her memory, Hwanggu was surprisingly capable.

“I’m not Werewolf Princess!”

At that moment, Hwanggu shouted and rushed forward.

She even threw down the bicycle she was holding, clearly very agitated.

“Grr…!”

“Werewolf Princess…”

“Grrr!”

Hwanggu bared her teeth at the male werewolf.

It seemed to shock him.

The male werewolf swept his face with a stunned expression.

“What’s going on…”

“Hwanggu.”

I extended my hand to Hwanggu.

She glanced back and quickly ran into my arms.

Despite her excitement, she listened to me very well.

How should I explain this?

If they found out Hwanggu lost her memory because of me, they might turn their anger towards me.

I patted Hwanggu’s head and said,

“As you can see, she seems to have lost her memory.”

“That’s…”

The male werewolf covered his mouth with a shocked expression.

I hadn’t lied, though I skipped many details.

In the end, we followed the werewolves to their clan’s hideout.

Going there might help Hwanggu recover her memory.

Hwanggu had lost her memory because of me.

I wanted Hwanggu to regain her original memory.

Hwanggu didn’t want to go, but she sighed deeply and followed me.

After walking for quite a while,

Hwanggu clearly showed she was in a bad mood.

“Princess…”

“Grr…!”

She bared her teeth, rejecting her original pack of werewolves.

Her tail, which had been spinning like a propeller, now drooped.

She stayed close to me, pushing the bicycle.

The werewolves were respectful towards Aurel and me.

They seemed to think we were benefactors for taking care of their leader who had lost her memory.

“Here we are…”

The place we arrived at looked like a military camp.

Fences surrounded the area, and large walls were built from the wreckage of cars and buildings.

Most of the structures inside were military tents or containers.

It looked like the werewolves had taken over a military facility.

It wasn’t an unreasonable assumption. To the werewolves, ordinary humans were like ants.

As evidence, tanks with torn or crushed barrels were scattered around like toys.

I looked around.

Despite the spacious interior, there didn’t seem to be many people.

At most, around 30?

The werewolves peeked out and watched us.

Hwanggu seemed very uncomfortable with the attention.

She tucked her tail between her legs and hid behind me.

“Can you show us the items or buildings that Werewolf Princess used? It might help her regain her memory.”

“This way…”

The male werewolf nodded obediently at my words.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t introduced ourselves yet.

I could use the Magic Eye to learn his nickname, but I didn’t want to go that far.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is…”

The male werewolf trailed off, glancing back at Hwanggu.

Perhaps he hoped that his leader would remember and call his name.

But Hwanggu was not so lenient.

“Grr!”

She bared her teeth again when their eyes met.

The male werewolf eventually spoke with a dejected expression.

“My name is Bongcheon-dong Hamfist…”

I frowned at the name, Bongcheon-dong Hamfist.

Why did the humans we met earlier, and now this werewolf, choose such names?

“Just call me Hamfist…”

“Uh, okay…”

Hamfist stared longingly at his leader again.

But Hwanggu remained cold.

“Grr….”

“Were you from Bongcheon-dong?”

“No…”

“Then why that nickname…?”

“I just chose it…”

Hamfist sighed and led us to a large container.

I sniffed the air and nodded.

I could definitely smell Hwanggu’s scent inside the container.

Hwanggu, too, must have recognized her own scent.

Her tail, which had been tucked between her legs, began to unfurl.

As the container’s interior was revealed, I gaped.

The interior decorations were beyond my expectations.

Hanging on the container’s walls were white skulls.

Not just one, but a total of ten skulls adorned the walls.

Even the armrests of the chairs were decorated with skulls.

“Skulls…?”

“Ah, these are the trophies from the human users that our Werewolf Princess hunted.”

As I suspected, they weren’t just ordinary models.

I looked at Hwanggu with a stunned expression.

“Aren’t they impressive?”

Hamfist proudly spoke about Hwanggu’s achievements, but Hwanggu entered her container and started sniffing around.

Naturally, she was most interested in the skulls hanging on the wall.

“Oh… Does this bring back any memories?”

“Grr!”

Hamfist’s eyes sparkled as he spoke, but Hwanggu’s reaction remained unchanged.

Hwanggu bared her teeth and growled loudly.

Then she threw the skull she was holding at Hamfist’s head.

Whizz-

Thud!

“Gasp…”

I swallowed hard, watching the scene.

The skull rolled on the floor.

Hamfist, with a wounded expression, teared up.