Raynard looked around the cottages, where people were still standing, through the slits in the fingers covering his face.

‘How frightened she must have been.’

‘How scared could she be? How much was she afraid of dying? She has shown fear before. Now this is also…’

“There doesn’t seem to be anything useful.”

Hearing the voice of the Imperial Knights, Raynard raised his head and sighed.

A black-haired man in a particularly flamboyant suit was standing in front of Sir Gerard.

Raynard got a good look at his face for the first time, but immediately recognized it.

“Crown Prince…”

Sir Gerard, whom Dave had mentioned earlier, reported to the Prince sedately about his failures.

“We know the wolves have focused on the young lady of the Carthia House. This kind of thing makes me think that someone gave them the order. But there are no traces.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Neither the wolves nor the area around them show any signs of magic.”

“Then, are you thinking of reducing it to an accident? Even if the pack only targeted Yurina?”

“That… perhaps, because Lady Carthia is the smallest, the easiest prey…”

“Tell me, is it true or not?”

Curtis’ voice, mingled with anger, echoed throughout the precinct. Raynard heard that voice and remembered Curtis talking to Yurina a few days ago.

‘I don’t like it.’

Having tasted the feeling of being in love with someone, Reynard could now recognize the expression and look of the person who was in love.

According to the letter Yurina sent, Curtis was interested in her as a girl. Therefore, Raynard advised Yurina to dodge him as she can.

At that time, Reynard didn’t understand why he wrote her such a thing. Perhaps it was jealousy.

A few days ago, when he saw Yurina with Curtis, it seemed to him that everything went dark before his eyes, and he wanted to run up and immediately separate the two. And if common sense hadn’t prevailed, perhaps this would have happened.

As he watched Curtis harbor an attraction to Yurina, Raynard noticed something else strange. He looked at Yurina with curiosity, but didn’t show that he loved her.

‘Maybe he’s trying to use Yurina.’

He was in many ways an unpleasant person. But if dislikes aside, for the moment Reynard agreed with Curtis that this was more than just an accident.

“That makes no sense, master.”

Reynard again sorted out the whole story he heard from Dave.

“A whole crowd of people participated in the hunt. Animals know better who is threatening them. In that situation, they should have taken down the escort knights first. Why would they push through the knights and attack Yurina?”

“Reynard, calm down. You scream too loud.”

“What’s the point of this?!”

Raynard couldn’t restrain himself and jumped up.

“How long will you keep repeating the same thing? Yurina almost died!»

Because of his loud voice, the eyes of those around him were now focused on Reynard. Dave got up and tried to hide him behind his back, but Reynard started staring at the cottages.

The dead wolf was also left nearby. The corpse was untouched. Perhaps conservation magic?

Raynard gnashed his teeth again and at the same time clenched his hands into a fist. The feeling of his nails digging into his own palms dampened his ardor a little.

Then he felt an energy he had never felt before. No, to be precise, he had felt like that once before.

And the feeling tickled his nerves. It’s like a swarm of bugs crawling up his bare legs. The vile feeling persisted from the moment he approached these cottages.

The first time, Reynard chalked it up to frayed nerves.

But now he saw the picture more clearly. This terrible feeling came from outside, not from within him. It was from that corpse of a wolf that died without even closing its eyes.

“Master, don’t you sense anything strange about that wolf?”

“What? That’s what we came here to find out…”

“I’m not talking about that…”

Master doesn’t feel it?

“There is a strange energy coming from this wolf.”

He approached the wolf as if possessed by something. Dave tried to grab him from behind, and the knights crowding around the wolf wanted to intervene. But Reynard brushed them off easily and stood in front of the corpse.

“Your Highness, if you don’t mind, may I have a look for a moment?”

Dave bowed to Curtis and asked. After Curtis’ approval, the vigilant knights immediately retreated.

“I told you to be careful. But what are you doing all of a sudden? At least you should warn me.”

Dave leaned closer and whispered in his ear, but Reynard didn’t heed his words at all. Standing in front of the wolf, it seemed to him that something formless gnawed at his nerves even more.

Reason, instinct called out to him.

This wolf, it contains the whole clue.

Raynard grabbed his waist, suddenly realized that he had forgotten his sword, and pulled the sword from the scabbard of a certain knight.

Surprised by his boldness, the other knights pointed their swords at him.

“Drop it now!”

However, Raynard only indifferently plunged the point into the belly of the wolf. Directly to where the flow of the most vile energy was felt.

Blood soaked the grass, and the stench filled the area. Then the green grass began to dry before their eyes.

Raynard plunged his sword into the belly of the wolf and swung his arms, sending mana through the metal. At that moment, as if receiving the desired reaction, he invested even more heavily into the sword. Feeling his arms about to burst, Raynard gritted his teeth and send more mana.

As soon as he broke through the invisible mana-rejecting wall, blood gushed over Reynard, and something rolled down and touched his boot. It was a ball the size of half a thumb.

Raynard picked up the red, blood-stained stone, wiped it with his shirt, and examined it carefully.

Inside the transparent stone, black smoke unknown to him swirled like a whirlwind.