A Forced Conversation

Silver hair that seemed to have grown longer since I last saw him.

A faint scar on his right eye, hidden by his bangs.
Golden eyes that shone fiercely like a beast’s.

‘It seems I shouldn’t state my position.’

While I was gasping for air as if I’d seen a ghost, the man casually pulled out a chair with a squeak and sat across from me.
I tried to hide my agitation and spoke calmly.

“…And your name?”

‘Bi.’

I hurriedly checked my surroundings, but fortunately, no one seemed to understand the Varg language.

‘I came to find you, as promised.’

“I’m sorry, I only speak the common beast-kin language. Please speak in the common language, not your tribal dialect.”

I intentionally cut him off stiffly, but the man just stared straight at me regardless.

“…….”

I also bit my lip hard and faced him.
Karvan looked a bit gaunt, making his impression seem sharper.
His gaze, honed like carved ice, was still the same.

“Black tea again today, Ms. Awakener? You should try blood sometimes… Oh my! What’s wrong?”

“…….”

“Wait a second, I’ll get Lokti for you!”

We just stared blankly at each other until Sharona, an Empire secretary who had brought tea, was startled by the unusual atmosphere and asked.

To be precise, only I glared at him, and the man just stared at me silently.
Like the moonlight that made my heart feel empty every night.

‘Did I make you wait too long.’

‘You call that an excuse!’
Feeling something hot surge inside me, I threw down the quill pen I had barely picked up and shot up from my seat.

Thank goodness the Skollcat wasn’t in the mood to go out today and hadn’t followed me.
If he had been sleeping on my lap, my sudden action would have earned me ten cat punches.

“Why, what’s going on.”

Just in time, Loktis approached from afar.
Whatever Sharona had told him, he was frowning and had even drawn his suppression baton.

“Did you receive another death threat?”

“…N-no, it’s nothing.”

“Nothing, you say. Your face is pale blue. Hey, what did you say to her?”

Loktis glanced at me standing awkwardly with my hands on the desk, then walked around and started to scrutinize Karvan, who was sitting in front of me with his arms crossed.

“Huh? Wait a minute. This guy….”

“H-huh? Why, what? Is th-there a p-problem?”

Why am I the one flustering more than that man?
I tried to hide the twitching corners of my mouth.

“I don’t think this guy is a beast-kin?”

Seeing the human-like ears on the sides of his head and the empty backrest meant to accommodate a beast-kin’s tail, Loktis tilted his head in confusion.

Then he tapped his shoulder and gestured.

“Civil complaints for humans are on the opposite side. This is for beast-kin translation. You came to the wrong place. Get up.”

Naturally, the man who ‘didn’t seem like a beast-kin’ didn’t budge.

“…….”

‘Don’t say anything. Please! Don’t act like you know me!’
I was blinking furiously from behind Loktis as I stared at him.

“Hey, can’t you hear me? I said get up and follow me.”

Unaware of my silent plea, Loktis, still in an annoyed voice, poked the man’s shoulder with his cane.
When there was still no reaction, he started poking harder, which made me slightly worried.

“Geez, why are all beast-kin like this? Did they feed all their manners to the dogs?”

“…….”

“If you don’t get up, I’ll tie you up tight and throw you outside Midvalen. You better get up while I’m asking nicely.”

I was so worried about Loktis.
It felt like watching a day-old puppy pick a fight with a wolf alpha.
I was incredibly anxious that an ice spear would shoot out of his mouth at any moment.

“U-um….”

While I was fidgeting, wondering how to naturally stop him, I saw his expressionless eyes move.

“…….”

He just lifted his eyes to look at Loktis poking his shoulder, then turned his gaze to me, who was biting my nails.
His eyes seemed to ask, ‘How long do I have to put up with this?’

“A-actually, they say this person is a half-beast-kin!”

The look in his eyes that said his patience had run out sent a chill down my spine, and I hastily intervened.

“I heard he originally didn’t have ears or a tail? So I was surprised and staring at him. I didn’t know what to do….”

“Ah, does that happen too? What a weirdo… Hey! Hey, stop!”

Screech, the sharp sound of a chair cut off the conversation with Loktis.

The expressionless eyes quickly approached my direction.
As the man got closer, my surroundings blurred.
Gray mist was rising around me like a haze.

“I told you to stop! Where do you keep coming?”

Since this was a city ruled by vampires who hate sunlight, it was common to use the ‘Fog’ skill to make the weather cloudy, but this was different from that fog.
I felt a chill that gave me goosebumps.

“Follow the Commander’s orders!”

“Return to your spot. If you cause a ruckus, it’s summary execution, you beast!”

As if frozen by a freezing spell, the voices of the knights shouting from behind entered my ears.

‘I want to move to a quiet place and talk.’

Regardless of what the Empire vampires were spouting, he just stared straight at me standing behind Loktis and spoke.

‘I don’t want to cause trouble for you. Bi.’

It was clear Varg language, as if whispering right into my ear.

‘You should know better than anyone how my patience is.’

I flinched momentarily at the flashing light in his eyes, but I soon snorted.

‘Funny. You think that kind of threat will work now? Do you think this is still Bahalgras?’
Swallowing the words that came up to my throat, I retorted bluntly.

“I don’t know what you’re saying. You’re not using the beast-kin language.”

After spitting that out coldly, I abruptly turned my head away.

“Huh? Is he not using the beast-kin language?”

“It seems he’s using his own tribal language. Never heard it before.”

‘…….’

My profile prickled under his gaze, but I figured if he said nonsense, I could just feign ignorance and say I couldn’t understand.

He could do whatever he wanted in Bahalgras, where he ruled as the Valta, but this is the neutral city of Midvalen.
The Empire vampires, who fundamentally disliked beast-kin, wouldn’t believe his words anyway.

“Sorry, Loktis. Can I go back early today? I’m not feeling too well.”

Ignoring the gaze that felt persistent, I completely turned my back on him.
It was an expression of my intention that I had nothing to say to him.
A quick-witted man like him would have probably caught on immediately.

“I thought your complexion looked like a corpse. Let’s go. I’ll take you back. I’m afraid you might collapse somewhere again.”

“Really, do you think I’m a drunkard or something?”

‘How many times is he going to bring up that time I drank the wrong potion and fell asleep in the hallway?’
I playfully retorted and was about to hold the hand of Loktis, who was wearing black gloves.

Thud!

Along with the sound of something heavy crashing, a murmur rose from behind.

• Wh-what is that?

Everyone in the square was looking behind my back in horror.

• How could he have such a thing…!

‘Did he kneel on the bare floor? It’s useless. No matter what he does, I will never be surprised and will pretend not to know him.’
I firmly resolved this and looked back, but unwittingly let out a gasp.

“Hah, really! These beast-kin are always… huh?”

Loktis also grumbled in annoyance and was about to step forward to restrain him, but tilted his head.

【<Karvan Baharga> has summoned ‘Leviathan’.】

This crazy man had blatantly summoned the SL weapon I had lent him.
Naturally, all eyes were drawn to the flashy effects unique to Special Legendary weapons.

“Huh? Wait. This fork-like weapon looks familiar?”

I couldn’t even pretend not to know anymore, especially with Loktis right in front of me.
He had asked me to spar a few times to prepare for his Knight Commander exam, so he had seen my Leviathan many times.

“Why does that guy have Shinbi-nim’s weapon….”

“Kyaa! Y-y-you came to return this! Oh my!”

That’s why I had no choice but to jump in front of him like an overzealous fan rushing a fan signing event and snatch Leviathan away.

“I completely! Forgot! And lost it somewhere, but! You must have found it somehow! Wow! What an incredible coincidence!”

Ahahaha, hahahaha, my pitifully squeezed-out laughter filled the Eve Square of Midvalen.
Feeling the collective gaze, I shouted for the whole world to hear, but cold sweat was pouring down my back.

‘Finally.’

The man, looking down at me, whispered as he brushed his hand against mine, which was gripping the spear’s handle, barely touching it.

‘Are you in the mood to talk to me now?’

“Pardon? You personally came all this way to return it?! My goodness, how kind of you!”

‘I’m sure I said it. I don’t want to cause trouble for you.’

‘You already caused trouble, you bastard!’
The man spoke calmly while watching me desperately try to fix the situation.
The corners of his mouth were crookedly raised, and he looked so annoying, as if watching a fish flapping after swallowing the bait whole.

“…Ahh. I see.”

Meanwhile, Loktis began to alternately look at me, who was pale blue, and Karvan, who had a relaxed face, with subtle eyes.

“As expected. Was that why?”