An Unexpected Visitor

Just as he said, at the far end of my vision, I could see a black cluster of them gathered in the plaza.

“Now, Shinbi-nim. Shall we go back that way? Our Shinbi-nim should only see good and pretty things.”

Tegen quickly blocked me with his body and, with a smile, gently pushed my back.

Normally, I would have also taken a detour or lowered my eyes and walked past quickly, but seeing the red eyepatch that stood out even from a distance, I couldn’t bear it.

“Wait a minute, Tegen. I’ll be right back. …Radugan!”

At my call, the man, who was listening to his subordinate’s report with his chin propped on his hand, slowly turned to me.

“…What is it?”

The red eyepatch covering the three scars.

The eyepatch, which was the only thing that stood out among the man’s entirely black attire, had been bothering me for a while, so I opened my inventory, took out an artifact, and held it out.

“It’s a gift.”

[Black Eyepatch: An eyepatch made from the tail fur of a Black Karib. The soft lining efficiently protects the eye. (Creator: Shinbi-jui)]

Radugan, who was sitting on a flat rock, looked back and forth between the eyepatch on my palm and me.

“…A rather thoughtful gift for a blind man.”

He twisted his scarred lips as if sneering, and then opened his mouth bluntly.
He pointed to his own eye with his thumb, with a face that said he didn’t know why I was giving him something like this.

“Unfortunately, it’s not very useful. I already have an eyepatch. As you can see.”

“It bothers me because you’re the only one who’s different.”

“…What?”

“You’re the chief leading the ‘Black Mane’ clan, so please match your eyepatch to be black too. Here, I’ve even attached black mane fur to it.”

I even turned over the fluffy fur decoration that I had attached to the back strap as a point and showed it to him, and then handed it to him and pressed it firmly into his hand.

Radugan held it and stared at me intently.

His raised eyebrow was a look of suspicion, as if he were trying to figure out my intentions.

“…Are you feeling pity for me now?”

“I’m making a gift for everyone.”

“So the benevolent Valtael is giving out alms, I see.”

“I made this while wondering what to give Radugan, since you seem to have most things in abundance.”

His furrowed brow, which had narrowed into a ravine, twitched fiercely.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, or angry, at my ignoring his sharp words and just saying what I had to say.

“You can throw it away if you don’t want to accept it.”

Radugan, who had been clutching the eyepatch I had handed him, slowly stood up.

Because he was much taller than me and held his head stiffly, a shadow was cast over his eyes.
His bright red eyes were flashing, just like a warning light that signaled danger.

“……”

‘This Destroyer!’, I thought he might throw it away or get angry, but the man, who had been glaring at me like that for a moment, just turned around and walked away.

The black manes, who were suddenly left behind, looked back and forth between Radugan and me.

“This, it’s a holy relic that warms you up when you have it. Use it when you go hunting. You won’t get frostbite.”

As they were glaring at me defiantly, as if they had something to say, I took out a salamander’s hot pack from my inventory and handed it to them.

“The Sura I’m with hunted a salamander, so we got a lot of fire pouches. I made it with that.”

As if he were not the subordinate of that chief, he had a look that said, ‘Why are you giving this to me,’ so I added something I hadn’t been asked.
I said it in a light tone, as if I were just giving away a leftover, and he hesitantly took it and followed Radugan.

‘…Are they going to burn it?’
‘Just from their demeanor, it wouldn’t be strange at all if they did.’

‘But at least they didn’t throw it away in front of me, so is that a relief?’
As I was thinking this and that and looking at the rapidly receding black manes blankly, I heard a sound of grinding teeth from my side.

“Do those bastards have their mouths glued shut! They should be bowing deeply in gratitude, how rude!”

Tegen looked ready to chase them down and beat them until he got a thank you.
If it weren’t for my request to not interfere no matter what, he might have really done it.

“Shinbi-nim! You don’t need to take care of guys like that. They’re ungrateful bastards anyway!”

And yet, unable to contain his anger, he fumed, glaring at the backs that had become distant dots.
He had a face that said he couldn’t understand at all why I was taking care of the black manes.

“Why on earth would you!”

“I heard that Radugan also suffered a great deal at the hands of the Destroyers. I can understand why he hates me.”

“That’s not Shinbi-nim’s fault!”

“It’s just that I’m concerned. Will the more mature and kind Tegen just turn a blind eye this once?”

“But! …Yes.”

As I gently soothed him, saying I was really fine and not to worry, Tegen pouted his lips but meekly lowered his tail.

On the first floor of the main building where the Valta resided, there was a large banquet hall.
If it weren’t for the mounted monster heads on the walls, it was a rather cozy place with a romantic wooden round table and a fireplace.

However, since only high-ranking Varg like the Valta’s direct Sura or the Maha could enter, and since they usually used the banquet hall in the basement of the central plaza, this place was always empty, but it had become quite bustling for the past few days.

“It’s your turn, Amundu, you punk! If you don’t have it, take it!”

“Damn it, why is it me again.”

The gray-haired Varg with his ears drooping struggled to pick up a trump card that was on the round table.

“Here you go.”

“Aah! V-Valtael! Thank you!”

Recently, I had been hanging out with the escorting Sura.

Karvan seemed to be busy again as before, and Tegen and the other Sura also seemed to be busy along with him, so I tactfully didn’t bother them.
I had also told Mashak that the Varg language lessons could wait.

“They said the Valtael wanted to learn the Varg language.”

“If you’re okay with us, we’ll teach you.”

But Mashak must have been concerned, as he seemed to have told the escorting Sura, who were always stationed around me, to teach me instead.

They had readily come and offered to teach me, so I had gratefully accepted, but their teaching method was unique.

“Eeh, what’s with the boring desk study. It’s best to learn everything by doing!”

…at his insistence, I had ended up playing with the Sura…. no.
I had ended up learning ‘practical language.’

“If you just chat and play with me, you’ll naturally get better! Now, now, this way…”

“Why you, you punk? Play with me, Valtael!”

Since they were all fighting over who would do it, I asked them to teach me all together, and I ended up having to decide what to play with ten healthy wolf beast-kin.

“How about tail-chasing?”

“The Valtael doesn’t have a tail. And who plays tail-chasing at this age. Are you a kid?”

“Then how about a bone-throwing contest? The Valtael can throw it, and we can fetch it…”

“Only we would have fun with that. Don’t try to satisfy your own desires, you punk!”

It was cute to see them all racking their brains, so I was just watching them talk, and since there were a pack of trump cards among the spoils brought by the reconnaissance Sura, I taught them the game ‘One Card.’

“You can only play cards of the same number and suit, and when you have one card left, you have to shout ‘One Card!’”

“Ooh, that sounds fun!”

The rules were very easy and simple, so even the Varg who didn’t like to use their heads quickly became interested.
However, since there were few cards and a limit on the number of people, we decided to split into teams of five and play in turns.

“Oh, a joker card came out.”

“Shut up! Why would you say that?!”

The Sura who couldn’t play would bet on someone and watch their cards from behind, giving advice.
So in reality, it was a 2-on-1 game.

“You can play this one. Why haven’t you been playing this one?”

“A-ah! That one’s no good!”

“Why? If you play this one, you win.”

“It’s a precious card that the Valtael has bestowed upon me! It will be mine until the end of this game!”

I tilted my head at Amundu’s solemn words, and then went ‘ah.’
Since his unusually long nails made it difficult for him to pick up the thin card on the table, I had picked it up and handed it to him, but he seemed to be on the verge of tears, saying he couldn’t play that card.

“Hey, you punk. That’s…!”

The Sura who had bet on him and was watching from behind was also frustrated, and pounded his chest in anger, then gritted his teeth and whispered.

“I can’t help that. I’ll admit that you can’t play it.”

“Thank you.”

As I was looking at the Sura who were patting each other, saying they’d admit it or not, at a loss for words, I chimed in.

“Just play it. I’ll keep picking it up for you if you want.”

“Y-yes? No, you can’t! Shinbi-nim! That bastard will get a bad habit!”

“Hmph. A guy who hasn’t even been bestowed a card by the Valtael has a loud voice.”

“What did you say? This bastard…!”

As we were chattering and playing cards, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Crunch, crunch.

At the dull sound of footsteps from the corridor, the Sura started to glare at the banquet hall door one by one.

With their mouths tightly shut, their perked-up ears were on high alert.
I, who had been contemplating whether to play a joker or not, also turned my gaze in confusion.

In the dead silence, the footsteps stopped, and the door was thrown open.
The force of the opening was so strong that the silver bell on the door rang loudly.

“…You seem to be having a lot of fun.”

Beyond it, a man as black as night was standing.

Under the black eyepatch, three scars were drawn, and under the flag-like scar, a red eye glinted.