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Volume 2 Chapter 2 Part 7

Not to mention that she had a really bad personality. That being said, such qualities are not something that was ever needed for her to be a good Mage, so she never paid too much attention to her appearance or personality anyway.

The witch elder Zelma also said something like that.

When she was thinking about such things with a foggy head, she suddenly realized that her eyes have wandered towards Theo’s direction.

(N-No, our relationship is purely professional, nothing more!)

Siluca hastily added in her mind, letting her gaze wander away from Theo.

Before long, the Werewolf brothers brought out musical instruments and began playing music in earnest. The twin sisters were also dancing along to the music much to everyone’s delight, and the taller of the two was also showing off her beautiful singing voice. Delighted at the display, Queen Clara clapped her hands, not realizing that she was doing it out of tune.

Siluca was not a fan of noisy parties, but she did not mind seeing the happy werewolf family being all merry. Ever since she entered the Magic Academy, Siluca has completely cut herself off from her real family. That is because since she started showing the aptitude for magic from a very early age, all of the members of her family were terribly afraid of her, but it did not end at just them. She was shunned and ostracized by the entire village that she once called home, and there were even times where she was openly persecuted.

In all honesty, Siluca had no idea what would have become of her if she was not admitted to the Magic Academy, but it was only later that she learned that ostracism and persecution were pretty common for the children who awakened their magical talents at a very young age.

On the other hand, she could say that she truly loved her adoptive father, Aubest Meletes, and Aishela, who was like an older sister that she never had to her. These two were always doing everything they possibly could in order to become a real family, most likely exactly because they were not related by blood. The time that she has spend with them was a precious memory to Siluca.

However, she also held feelings of admiration for blood ties. That’s why she was honestly envious of the thing that this Werewolf family had.

However, such a fun party was about to take a drastic turn and change completely when a certain man burst into the mansion.

That man had no right arm. It looks like it was blown away by something, and the clothes that the man was wearing were splattered with blood and pieces of his meat.

「Brother Ion! 」

Seeing that, the werewolf brothers and sisters changed their complexion.

The twin sisters looked like they were about to cry and jumped at the man that they called Ion.

Siluca sobered up in an instant, and she rushed over to fix his wounds. Priscilla also came over to him, even though she was zig-zagging from one direction to another.

「Do not worry, I am fine. 」

Ion glanced at Siluca and Priscilla and said so.
Indeed, when they looked at the wound, they could see that the bleeding had stopped and regeneration had alredy begun. However, it will take some time before the arm is fully regenerated.

「And who are you guys supposed to be? 」

「I am the messenger of the earl of Artuk, Siluca Meletes. I have come here today on his orders to introduce myself to the queen of the Werewolves. And this girl is Priscilla, a priestess of the Order of the Crest. Are you also one of Lady Clara’s children? 」

「Yes, I am Ion, mother’s eldest son. I was looking into something that I was curious about, but before I knew it, things have already taken a rather ugly turn. 」

Ion let out a self-deprecating smile.

「So, do you know who did this to you? 」

When Clara saw her son, who was also her right-hand man, she asked him that without showing the slightest hint of being disturbed.

「Ah, yes, I do know who was responsible for it. 」

Ion nodded his head slowly.

「It was the heavy knights of Waldrind. They number more than 10 people in total. They don’t wear armor and they don’t ride horses, but they are definitely using their heavy crossbows, and they are using them to hunt down our brethren. 」

「As I thought… yes, of course tha is what it was! 」

Along with a wild shout, a loud stomping sound could be heard behind them. Siluca turned around in surprise to see Clara baring her teeth, standing in her chair with one foot on the table.

Her mouth became long and her teeth grew much sharper. Her skin grew white animal hair, her ears also become those of a beast, and their position changed, and to top it all off, she had a bushy tail now. Even though she went through such a drastic change, her clothes remained intact, so they must have been designed with her shapeshifting powers in mind to prevent them from tearing.

「How dare they?! They want to hunt the members of my clan?! Fine then! Assemble everyone! It is our turn to hunt them down instead!!! 」

Even though this conversation was pretty short, Siluca still managed to deduce most of the circumstances and information from it.

In this conversation, Siluca swallowed most of the circumstances. That being said, it looked like the situation was going to turn into quite a big incident, since if what Ion said was really true, then it would mean that the heavy knights of Waldrind managed to successfully infiltrate the territory of Artuk and were using this opportunity to hunt down Werewolves.

(What does all of that even mean?)
Come to think of it, the witch elder Zelma did say something about the Werewolf tribe currently dealing with some kind of a problem.

Now, since the heavy knights of Waldrind were hunting Werewolves, the most logical conclusion to that state of affairs would be that this was an action that was orchestrated by the leader of the heavy knights, Marine Kraische. However, Siluca was inclined to believe that this was not what happened here, since Marine is not a type of person who would order a senseless slaughter like that. Her adoptive father, Aubest Meletes, who is Marine Kraische’s contracted Mage as well as her Head Mage should never allow her to engage in such tactics unless Waldrind’s situation was extremely unfavorable and they had no other option left for them. If he was the one responsible for the crafting of the plan of the attack on Werewolves, the he would have probably chosen a full frontal assault, because while simple, such a strategy would also be the most effective.

But things are already moving, so rather than exploring the other person’s intentions and thinking what he would have done in this situation, Siluca had to face the reality that was right before her.

「Please wait a moment! 」

Siluca yelled at everyone in order to focus their attention on herself.

「We cannot wait any longer! The time for waiting is over! 」

Ion glared at Siluca while baring his long canine teeth.

「We need to go and chase after them before they are going to use this opportunity to escape us for good! 」
「That is exactly why you should not be chasing after them right now! 」

Without even flinching, Siluca retorted right in the face of the angry Werewolf.

「You do not have enough manpower to go chasing after them right now. If you go after them with your current numbers, then they will simply ambush you and pick you off one by one until there will be none of you left. 」

「Do not underestimate us, human! If I was not caught by surprise, then even the heavy crossbows of the heavy knights of Waldrind will not be able to scratch me! 」

Ion said while barking each and every word angerly.

「That might be the case if you did not allow yourself to be caught by surprise, yes. You did allow them to catch you by surprise, and as a result of that they managed to claim your right hand, did they not? And that was only because you were too focused on trying to uncover the identities of those who came after you and your kinsmen. If it was not for that, then you would have never allowed yourself to be caught off guard like that, right?」

「Of course… 」

Ion’s face became warped with frustration.

「He certainly wasn’t letting his guard down, but he was still caught off guard regardless. 」

「I will ask you about the situation later, but since the heavy knights of Waldrind entered this land to hunt you, you should think that they are well prepared to do so. If you move hastly and act without thinking your actions through, you will only increase the number of potential casualties. 」