𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 (𝟓)
“Sir Knight!”
The reaction of the warriors was natural. In the midst of the chaos, a guy who had been caught suddenly appeared and offered to reveal Boriska’s location, which was bound to raise suspicions.
And Johan was honestly a bit flustered too.
The intention of releasing Botan was to cause internal strife by having them attack each other, not to expect such a betrayal.
To be betrayed so readily after being released was too good to be true, making Johan himself suspicious. Achladda looked at Johan with a mix of awe and surprise.
“This is not what I had aimed for.”
“Still, you are amazing, Sir Knight. It’s like fortune favors you.”
“Talking about luck in a situation where werewolves are going berserk is a bit. . .”
“Sir Knight! Should I shoot?”
“No. Don’t shoot. We need to hear the story.”
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
From Johan and the warriors’ perspective, it was like ‘𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭?’ But from Botan’s perspective, it was different.
Botan was chosen for a dangerous infiltration mission solely because of his agility, despite not knowing Eastern language well. He was mocked and insulted upon his failed return.
━𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞? 𝐎𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤? 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬.
━𝐀𝐡, 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬.
Boriska stopped Botan who was ready to draw his sword right then. The reason was not to start a fight before the hunt, but his true intentions were different.
━𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐧?
Boriska was doubting Botan. Johan’s plan had worked perfectly. Boriska’s suspicious nature only amplified the effect.
Botan couldn’t help but compare Boriska and Johan.
One fought honorably from the tournament and even showed mercy to captured prisoners, while the other. . .
Johan’s expression twisted strangely as he listened.
“. . .That’s how it could seem!”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to just run away instead of betraying?”
“If I had openly done that, an arrow would have come flying at my back. Sir Boriska is not stupid. How I acted to avoid suspicion. . .”
“I’m not really interested in how you shook off suspicion. Tell me, how did you get here, and why is all this chaos happening?”
Achladda, who was listening, interrupted with a question.
“How did you tail us?”
“Tail us. . .? we did no such thing.”
“That’s impossible. . .”
But it was true.
Boriska’s group was able to come to this forest not because of tailing, but because Galambos found traces of werewolves. More precisely, hunters acquainted with Galambos brought news of werewolves.
Achladda’s face flushed with humiliation. A centaur being outdone in tracking by a human in the plains. His hands holding the bow quivered.
“You’re more skilled than I thought.”
“It’s just this once, Sir Knight. Usually. . .”
“I get it. I get it. So why are the werewolves going crazy?”
“That’s the doing of that eastern ranger!”
Ordinarily, werewolf hunting should have been as cautious as the centaurs described.
Moving in and out of the forest, targeting the werewolves’ weak moments. That way, even the werewolf leader would have no answer.
“But that’s a task that requires quite a long time.”
From Boriska’s perspective, who didn’t know when an interruption might come, he wanted to quickly lure out the Werewolf King and defeat him.
Under the knight’s urging, Galambos did something unusual, claiming it to be a secret technique of the eastern hunters.
He released a few pigs he had brought from somewhere into the forest and confidently declared, ‘𝘚𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺.’
Not only the knight but also the mercenaries thought, ‘𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦?’ However, surprisingly, the werewolves began to rampage from the middle of the night.
“Is this a known method?”
“No. . . The secrets of the eastern hunters are often bizarre and unique. . .”
It seemed that Achladda was quite upset about being outdone by the eastern hunter. Instead of a relaxed demeanor, he was grinding his teeth in frustration.
“So, what about Boriska?”
“He and the others are waiting on the opposite side. When all the werewolves come out, the Werewolf King will too, and we’ll catch him then. They don’t know you’re here.”
“How did you know?”
“I was just watching for an opportunity. . . I kept circling around to check whenever I could.”
The two groups actually did not arrive much differently. It was purely luck that Botan was able to spot Johan’s group from a distance.
As soon as he spotted them, Botan caught a horse and rushed over with all his might.
“Trust me!”
“How can I trust someone who crawled into someone else’s camp?”
“It’s worth checking out. I’ll go and check and come back.”
The warriors were shocked at Johan’s words.
“It’s dangerous for Sir Knight to go alone!”
“If there’s a trap, it’s easier to escape alone. I brought it up, so I’ll go and check.”
Johan’s confidence overwhelmed and convinced the warriors. They no longer opposed and nodded their heads.
“Sir Knight. Take Euclyia with you. She’ll be helpful.”
Seizing the moment, Euclyia eagerly tried to show off her skills in fluent Empire language.
“Empire knight, I’ll tear them apart. I’m good at tearing.”
“. . .Alright, two should be fine. Botan. Lead us to where they are.”