After the meeting had concluded, the sprite, Gorm and I had set off towards the goblin village. I had decided on going out to talk to the wolves this night and luckily it had gotten so late I couldn't believe it. My only problem was running into Minerva while she was still hunting. I didn't know how that would end. So I decided to branch off and have the sprite direct me to the wolves' home. If we hurried up we might have been able to get to there before she went hunting.

Unfortunately, we crossed paths on the way to the wolf hill.

"Oh, Tori-kun."

She said and I could see a sort of weird smile on her face

'Y-yes.'

I responded, but then she eyed the dryad curiously and lost her smile.

"And who is that?"

'Oh, um this is, well... a friend.'

She then bowed to Minerva, then said.

"I am Hinotori's guide. We will be acting as envoys to the kings of the West."

"Guide? Why is Tori-kun going to kings?"

She was looking down on me. She thought I was too weak to even go to kings and talk to them. I would prove her wrong.

"Well –"

'That's none of your business. I'll do whatever I want.'

I cut off the sprite from explaining to Minerva.

"Tch. Tori-kun is too weak to do this."

'Yeah! You're right! I'm weak right now. I may not be the brightest out there, either. But give me a month and I'll be strong enough to even beat you up.'

I got too bold and said something unnecessary. Minerva froze up and laughed.

"Oh? Hahaha! Can Tori-kun think correctly?"

'Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?'

She walked past me while laughing loudly.

"Good luck. The new wolf king is a coward like you."

'Huh? New Wolf King? There's a new one, already? Does that mean there was someone equally as strong as the former wolf king?'

I looked up and realized that Minerva was going out to hunt tonight. That meant the wolves would be especially aggressive and careful around me.

"Minerva! I think I saw a herd of bull deer close to the water hole. They might still be there."

"Hmmm?"

She closed her eyes as if in thought. She was most likely checking with her [Overlord] skill, after which she shrugged and changed course.

I looked at the sprite and she winked at me. If she wasn't here as my guide I may have not been able to convince Minerva. She was a cheeky one, wasn't she?

'Alright then! On to the Timber Wolves!'

I shouted.

***

As soon as Minerva left we ourselves headed towards the Timber wolves territory. It was quite the walk. But thankfully I was able to get more detailed looks at places and add them to my [Auto Mapping] skill. And I was able to use my [Golden Chick Cry] to lure them in.

It didn't take long for us to hear howling. The Timbre wolves were getting ready to hunt, or they were preparing another revenge plot against Minerva. You have to give it to them. No matter how many of them she killed, they always came back with a mindset of getting revenge. That relentlessness would really help us during the invasion.

'Hey agent, can you release my aura?'

My plan was to draw one or two timber to me using my aura. What I was referring to was the fact that Gorm's skill [Truthseeker eyes] was just a skill that allowed one to approximate the strength of their target by just looking at their aura. That made it quite useless if the opponent hid their aura. I guess for simple monsters it was a good edge since they would never think of hiding their aura or they simply didn't know how to. Because of that I got the skills [Aura Release] and [Aura Control].

[Aura Release] as it says allows me to release any aura I have hidden in a powerful burst, sort of like an attack, but it also gave me a rise in stats. [Aura Control] allowed me to control the amount of aura I let out. After spending a day with the goblins I decided to use that to hide my aura and I was suddenly way more approachable than before.

<<Releasing aura>>

As soon as it was done, I could feel lighter and relaxed. It was just like how one would feel after having a good stretch.

[You have released your aura]

[Your strength has gone up by 10]

[Your speed has gone up by 50]

[Your defense has gone up by 8]

I felt way better than ever before. It was really absurd.

<<Notice: The effects of letting go of your magical presence rather than constantly storing it may be the cause. Non-sentient magical creatures are incapable of hiding their aura because of the strain it causes on the body>>

Seemed like hiding my aura was straining my body but I hadn't realized it. Maybe because I had the agent do it for me. To be honest I wondered what I would do without him.

"Th-this vile presence. Is it yours?"

The sprite asked.

'Vile presence?'

I looked at the dryad and she looked a bit shaken. I could see the wariness in her eyes. Was my aura the cause? Well, I was part demon now so I guessed that was the cause.

'I don't know what you mean by vile presence, but I just released my aura.'

"Are you perhaps, a demon?"

I nodded at her.

So demons radiate some kind of nasty presence, huh? If so I guess I should be constantly hiding my presence.

"Forgive me, but if I may ask. Y-you have been hiding it?"

'Yea, why?'

"Sorry, it is just that I did not notice it. I thought I already had a grasp on your strength but it seems I am mistaken. If you managed to hide your aura it means you must possess quite a lot of power."

'Eh? Are you guys dumb? Hiding aura doesn't necessarily equal having a lot of power.'

"No need to act humbly. I shall keep this a secret from the others if you wish."

'No, no! You're misunderstanding something here. I-'

I was about to argue, but then I sensed creatures get into my coverage area. I could count three, no five, six, seven, ten, no twenty? Crap there was a lot of them. Was it because I released my aura? But that wouldn't be strong enough a reason for all of them to come here at once.

Soon, there were sixty timber wolves. They had us surrounded from all sides. I could see one hundred and twenty yellow eyes glowing through the darkness. They were fixed on us. They were probably here thinking that dinner was served. The last time this happened was the night I came here with Minerva. That was one heck of a night.

Once again, I was reminded of just how monstrous that hob-goblina actually was.

'Hey guys! It has b-been a while, huh?'

I stammered, a sign of weakness I didn't want to show.

They all snarled at me.

'Chill, chill. I didn't come with Minerva this time! I'm not here to fight!'

I could feel them stalking closer.

'I mean, since when do sixty of you appear for little old me. Last time it was just one guy!'

Suddenly a huge timber wolf with midnight black fur emerged from the crowd. He had one eye clawed out. I didn't know why, but I recognized it as the current leader of the Timbre wolves. Well mostly because I gave him that injury when I was fighting it because it stole my food. If it weren't for Minerva I would have died that night.

'Heeeey.... you. How you been? How's your eye doing?'

I sent him a message using [Telepathy]. And surprisingly he responded in kind.

'Tch. After you clawed it out you dare-'

'Oi, oi! Agent you can translate animal as well? Then you can translate what bunnies say?'

<<Affirmative>>

Seriously? This skill was just… uwaa!

'Relax, relax. Like I said, I didn't come here to fight.'

I wanted to change the topic really quickly before this turned violent.

'Anyway, isn't sixty overkill for someone weaker than Minerva?'

'Hurumph, we didn't know you had returned here. Even better you're without that wench. Very foolish of you.'

'Hehe, quite the sharp tongue you got there.'

He snapped at me. I would have flinched if this were the first time he had done that to me.

'I said, I didn't come here to fight tonight.'

I warned him. This was taking way too long and I was getting anxious.

'You come into our territory while releasing such violent aura and you dare say that?!'

Wow, was the aura that bad? So that was why it was all of them tonight. Usually they would just hunt in groups until they sensed Minerva. I guessed my aura was frightening enough to get all of them here? Maybe I should have done it when Derbyshire was around. I could have shut him up.

'Yes, I just wanted to summon at least one of you. I didn't expect to gather all of you guys attention. I need to talk about something important.'

'I refuse! I won't listen to you!'

Oh boy. Battle crazed moron. I guess this is the part where we duel?

'I will cut you down right he-'

'Brother, stand down!'

A voice ordered and the Timber wolf stopped moving.

Brother? He had a sibling?

'But-'

'Silence!'

The voice ordered and he just whimpered. I wondered who it was that had so much authority over him. He never backed down even in front of Minerva. This person was definitely dangerous, but I couldn't sense their presence anywhere.

Out of nowhere, a very powerful presence then entered the one hundred meter radius. With a rough estimate from [Mana sense], this creature was way above me in terms of power. What was scary was the fact that, the creature suddenly appeared in my range, which meant it had been hiding in plain sight. So it could also hide its aura.

I could feel the presence walking from behind me. I slowly turned around, and standing there was a timbre wolf with silky white fur and dark violet eyes. It was about the same size as the guy I assumed to be the leader and bigger than the rest of the pack.

I faced the Timber wolf in all its majestic glory and the dryad bowed.

"Oh Timber wolf king, we have come seeking an audience with you."

'Y-you? Didn't Minerva kill you like some days ago?'

All the wolves growled when I asked that question. The wolf claiming to be the king looked at me quizzically, then the wolf I had a fight with roared in anger.

'Do not talk about our father like that! Do you wish to die!? Then again, you wouldn't have come here unless that was what you wanted. Come! Let me rip out your heart and lay bare your organs. I shan't even feast on your corpse as it is too-!'

'Enough!'

The 'Timber Wolf King' cut him off as he threatened me. I felt like crying at the thought of my heart being ripped out. I shuddered thinking of what would happen to me if he killed me.

'And you.'

The white wolf focused its powerful gaze on me.

'No. Your ally killed my father, the previous Wolf King. The night he died, I was made into the Wolf King.'

Made into one? So the Timber wolves just replaced their Kings as soon as they died? Or was there some special reason to it?

'Leave here immediately! I do not have any wish to prey on you or it will bring about the extinction of my clan at the hands of that monster."

'Was this what Minerva meant by saying that you're a coward like me?'

'A coward? Me?!'

She raged and her aura just blew out of proportion. Her hairs stood on ends and her eyes glowed. All the timber wolves went slack and were now whimpering before her.

This was bad. I had just angered their king and if we didn't get her help, we were as good as dead meat on the day of the invasion. I tried to think of various things I could say to convince the wolf.

Maybe an offering of sorts would appease her? A sacrifice?

I looked at my escort with eyes asking for help, then she stepped forward.

"Oh mighty king of wolves, may we call for a Dog Fight?"

I didn't know why, but when she said that all the wolves stopped growling. They looked at her for a while, then the scarred wolf lashed out at us.

'Kukukuhahahaha! I knew it! You couldn't resist as well! The urge to finish our battle!'

The black wolf said something I couldn't really argue with.

'I can see you really wish to die at our hands-'

'Brother!'

'Sister, I can't take any more of this! They are underestimating us too much just because of that witch!'

The white wolf tried to calm him down, however he didn't listen to her. He turned to me and bared his fangs.

'You wished for a Dog Fight? I shall give it to you.'

'Are you sure?'

The white wolf asked him, calming down her aura. He responded with a nod. However, standing still, completely confused, was little old me, trying to understand everything.

'Dog fight? What's that supposed to mean?'

The sprite answered immediately.

'A Dog fight is a tradition among the timber wolves, in which two timber wolves fight to show their superiority over the other. It is usually held once every month, but can also be done by individual wolves who want to prove their superiority.'

'Ok, ok, I get that, but I'm not a timber wolf.'

'There have been incidents where races who wish to speak with the clan head need to participate in dog fights. They always had to fight with a warrior of the heads' choosing or the heads themselves, in order to be acknowledged by them.'

'You want me to fight against them!?'

I looked at the wolf who was glaring at me. I could feel his killing intent like thunder.

'You don't actually expect me to fight them, do you?'

'I believe that if it is Hinotori everything should be alright.'

'Saying that won't make everything magically fine!'

'Hinotori is ready for the fight, will he be your representative?'

She asked the white wolf while pointing to the scarred wolf.

'Oi!'

'Very well! Since my younger brother is eager for this, I shall allow it!'

They completely ignored my wishes. I looked at the dryad who did the same with me. She had a serene smile and thumbs up.

Uwa, this girl and Diane were too scary!

The wolves had cleared out, and only I and my opponent remained. They said, the howl was the cue for the fight to begin, so for the moment, we were just sizing each other. I remembered his stats from the last time. In the case he hadn't gotten any stronger in the past 4 days, I was just a little bit weaker than him now.

I had been scrolling through my skills, searching for something that could cause some serious harm to him. From our fight the last time, most of my skills were ineffective, so he had the upper hand. However, now that I was closer to his stats was it going to be the same story?

Walking around in a circle was getting boring so I decided to initiate a conversation with him.

'Hey listen. I'm sorry about your eye and all, but the East is about to-'

'Don't waste your time! If you want me to listen to you, defeat me!'

I was hoping that I might have been able to convince him without actually having to fight. It seems I was too naïve.

It didn't take long for the howl signaling the start of the fight to go off. Without wasting a second, the wolf pounced on me, but I jumped back, barely avoiding the hit. It didn't stop there, bouncing off the ground towards me as if it had already anticipated me dodging it.

I shot off a ball of fire at it and wolf just passed through it, assuming that nothing would happen. This time though, it could feel the flames and it roared in pain. I then cast poisoned black threads around the wolf then trapped it mid-air, taking the chance to fly it to above the ground. I simply flung it into the ground from the air then covered myself with [White Viper Scales], and went with my Tori-original [Poison Maelstrom] drilling it into the ground.

It was one of the shortest and easiest fights I had ever participated in with me completely overwhelming my opponent. I let out a victorious cry and all the wolves just stared at me.

To be honest, with [Hunter], this timber wolf had no chance from the very beginning. All monsters were beneath me with this skill. In fact, I was starting to think that its previous owner was just a dumbass.

"Very well then, I shall listen to what you have to say."

The wolf king said.

'Have you heard about the invasion from the East?'

I went straight to the point. I didn't want an incident in which I would need to fight because I didn't say what I needed to.

'Invasion? From the East?'

'Oh? So you haven't heard? War Monger Krull has announced that he will be invading the West by the next full moon.'

She looked at my dryad escort for confirmation.

"It is as she says. War monger Krull has decided to invade the West."

She proceeded to inform the wolf king about the message and the meeting between the leaders and how we had decided to ask the kings for help.

'Hmmm. Indeed. This is bad. So that means you want my help in the creation of a self-defense force?'

'That is exactly what we are saying.'

My companion responded

'So will you help us?'

I asked. She looked at her fellow wolves, then at her fallen brother, then back at me. She sat up, then said,

'We the wolves refuse to participate in this matter.'

'B-but, didn't you promise to help us if I won!?'

'Please do not misinterpret my words. I told you I would listen to you on the matter. I do not recall ever saying that I would help you.'

'Don't you also live in the West? You won't be spared from the Tyrant's wrath, you know.'

'The wolves shall cater for our own. You can leave now.'

AH! What the hell is with these guys? First Minerva now the Timber Wolf King? Didn't they realise the gravity of this situation?

I looked at the sprite who had been quiet the entire time. She simply shook her head with a sad smile.

The wolf king howled and all the timber wolves slowly left the area, leaving me alone with the sprite