Chapter 457: Night of the hungry wolves (3)

"..."

Mary frowned, feeling something off about the red-haired girl who showed up - so that's why she glanced at her wolf and stealthily motioned at him to check up on the other girl.

The black wolf nodded and approached Cranberry standing in front of the blond prince Roan and started inconspicuously sniffing the ground around the two as if he was just a normal dog doing dog things - though, honestly, because of the time and place he started doing that, his action was more suspicious than anything else.

"...roar..."

Still, Arion returned to Mary's side and barked dismissively, shaking his head from left to right.

"...nothing suspicious, huh...

The brown-haired girl muttered to herself.

If even Arion with his skill-enhanced senses couldn't find anything suspicious about the red-haired girl, it probably meant that there was nothing to worry about.

After all, deceiving the special detection+ [smell] skill that the black wolf possessed would require really powerful stealth skill or the sin-based skill of at least a registered heir of the throne of sin level or higher.

"What do you mean 'take care of this mess'? How?"

Roan asked Cranberry, furrowing his brows while pointing towards the direction from where all the horrible noises of a bloodthirsty battle were coming from.

"Isn't it simple? If we show them something more important than their current mission, they should follow it instead, don't you think?"

Cranberry asked with a confident smirk, looking right at the black wolf whose tail dropped even more than before as he lowered his head and glared at the girl with contempt.

"...what do you mean by that...?"

Mary asked, looking between her wolf and the other girl, more than simply suspicious about the fact that the red-haired girl seemed to have known something about her tamed monster than she did not.

"Isn't it obvious - with how Arion has been acting, it should be clear that something is off... though the biggest giveaway was that maid before telling me a secret about the werewolves leader and his missing son - the son that their family had cast aside because of the curse of starvation."

Cranberry explained without taking her eyes off of the black wolf, Arion, observing his reaction...

"Okay... then? You need to be more clear, what the hell is that curse of starvation and what does it has to do with Mary's wolf?"

Roan shook and tilted his head, frowning in confusion, not understanding the connection that the red-haired girl was making.

"...oh dear..."

Cranberry breathed out heavily and started massaging her forehead.

"The curse of starvation is a passive skill that takes away its users' sound mind in exchange for rising their physical capabilities. You could call it the Gluttony family's very own version of a berserk's rage, but one that doesn't just end. The only way is to stop it is to eat until they are completely full, but that's when the curse part plays into this mess - the poor user, or rather a victim, cannot be satiated and gets driven even more mad until they change into nothing more than a wild beast incapable of turning back into a human."

Cranberry's words shocked the other two, while the black wolf was silently glaring at the red-haired girl while digging his claws into the ground.

"And what, are you telling me that my Arion fits into that description?! Don't be stupid! Look at him! He is an obedient wolf - where is the madness you are speaking about?!"

Mary stomped her foot, raising her voice forgetting about the time and place, and confronting the other girl.

"Oh, it has everything to do with him. The members of the house of Gluttony afflicted with the curse of starvation are usually cast out of the family to fend for themselves like common monsters until they are killed off by either humans or other monsters - but it's a different story if the person afflicted with the curse of starvation is a registered heir to the throne of gluttony. It has been recorded that thorough the history of the Gluttony family, each time a cast away member would return in their human form, it would be as either the heir of gluttony or the avatar of gluttony."

Cranberry merely shook her head lightly from left to right and revealed.

"Isn't that right, sir Arion Gluttony, the youngest child of Lady Goji and Sapotle?"

"Grrrrrrrrr...!"

The red-haired girl suddenly smiled and asked the black wolf who flinched and backed off, lowering himself to the ground with a beastly growl building up in his throat.

"Don't you think that we've wasted enough time? Your senses in this form are far better than humans, you must have heard your father's voice? Seriously, don't you have the ability to get the attention of the werewolves away from the Pride house by merely showing up and barking at them? They have a skill that allows them to freely talk with any monsters they want, after all."

She asked mockingly, staring down the shaking monster.

"Hey! What got into you?! You can't just say something like that?! Back when Arion became my tamed monster he introduced himself as the normal wolf, not some cursed human! I'm his tamer, I can see his status! He wouldn't lie like that to me!"

Mary stepped in to protect her wolf - but oddly enough that seemed to make Arion even more anxious and worried as his body trembled the moment that Mary shielded him.

"...well, if you say so - though it would be better if you first asked yourself why was he introducing himself in the first place - from what I know listing the familiar's species is the system's job and the tamer or master is the one selecting the name."

"!!!!"

The red-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and looked to the side with a smirk, knowing even without looking what kind of reaction Mary and Arion had.

"So... could we stop this comedy and just have Arion show up, howl at the werewolves, and get them away from here?"

Cranberry clapped her hands together, getting the attention of the others, and motioned towards the corner of the storage shed shielding them all from the battlefield in front of the Prides mansion.

"I don't believe it! Like, what, some maid that could as well be a spy had just told you all that and you believed her unconditionally?! How can you say that she did not make it all up to get you or me or even the prince out of the hiding spot?! This could all be just a lie!"

Mary shook her head and clenched her fists in a desperate attempt to deny the truth right in front of her, rejecting the idea that she was the one being lied to.

"Mary..."

Roan made a concerned expression and reached towards the brown-haired girl's shoulder.

"No! My prince - that is definitely just some...!

"...raor..."

But the girl backed off, escaping his touch, and shook her head, still in denial - but then a low bark coming from behind her made her flinch.

"A-Arion... what do you mean by 'she's right'...?"

Mary's face became pale as a sheet as she turned around, facing her black wolf currently lowering his head in shame.

"Wh... what...? No way... Arion, you were originally a human...?"

The brown-haired girl backed off away from her tamed monster with a terrified expression.

"!!!!"

That reaction alone caused the wolf to close his eyes as if he made some sort of a decision, and the next moment he turned right around and bolted away from the safety of the shed.

"RAAAOOOR!"

His roar managed to tear through the battlefield, getting the attention of more than a few humans and werewolves alike, but the reaction that it caused wasn't quite like it should be...

"ARION?!"

Sapotle, the giant jet-black werewolf enhancing his size with a skill, fighting back to back together with the bespectacled lord Blackberry, howled in shock while fending off the rampaging members of his own pack who had completely forgotten trivialities like enemies and allies and just bit and tear at everything in their reach.

"SON! GET AWAY FROM HERE!"

He roared while slashing open the throat of the monster that tried to get lord Blackberry from the side - while lord Blackberry used his skill to tear apart the werewolf trying to use the chance and claw at Sapotle's back.

...because Cranberry's plan was all fine and good - but it did not account for the potion that drove all the subordinate werewolves mad...