Yuel walked up to the upper floor of his mansion to meet the mages whose memories he had erased. The rare, annoying creak from the wooden floor accompanied him… Damn, he definitely needed to fix that. Which mansion owner would tolerate this?
Wendigo had difficulty sensing pleasures.
When he opened the door to the room where the mages were staying, he was met with a strange sight.
There were three humans in the room, but only one of them was real — and Yuel actually knew all three were Wendigos.
There were two separate beds, and on each bed sat a mage. Their clothes clearly marked them as mages. These garments were worn only by Wendigo mages, adorned with many jewels and symbols, including a pentagram eye emblem seen in many places on the fabric.
The person not sitting on the beds was the Wendigo Yuel had assigned some time ago to watch over the mages.
His name was Huruk. At the very beginning, on that snowy day, Huruk was the wounded man pretending to be human whose voice Yuel had heard. After all, he had started gathering most of the cult on the crystallized mammoth where Yuel first boarded.
It wasn't surprising that Huruk was someone Yuel had met on the first ship.
Unlike other Wendigos, Huruk was shorter because he was only thirteen years old. Thanks to this, Yuel—who often couldn't distinguish many Wendigos from one another—could tell Huruk apart.
This was a very useful trait, which was why Yuel made Huruk his steward. Although he also used Lumen as a steward, Lumen officially appeared as the cult's archbishop and thus had other duties. Most likely, Lumen was here because Yuel remembered he had assigned Lumen, not Huruk, before leaving.
Still, who did what wasn't very important now. What mattered was what the mages thought. After all, only their memories had been erased. Yuel didn't really like doing this, but it was the most humane way to win the mages over. Otherwise, the mages would probably behave hostilely.
The moment Yuel opened the door, both mages bowed and greeted him.
"Why are you greeting me?" Yuel asked. Though he didn't show it much outwardly, he was quite surprised by this.
"I don't see any harm in showing respect to the one who saved us," said the mage standing on the right, the one who looked less human.
"There's not much difference in status between us," Yuel said (normally there was, but to an outsider, Lumen seemed like the cult leader), "so there's no need to greet me."
The two mages exchanged looks and sighed.
"I thought you'd be more serious.""To be honest, I was a little afraid of you," said both mages.
This made sense to Yuel. Even without their memories, their attitude resembled other Wendigos. Among Wendigos, there was no mercy or kindness. They were all ruthless, and assuming Yuel was also a Wendigo, they must have suspected ill intent in not saving them.
"I might not be a Wendigo, but I understand your situation. You must be hungry. Come with me; I'll take you to the table," Yuel said.
He actually didn't need to say this—he was still a child and inexperienced—but the only reason he spoke like a scholar was to deceive them. He wanted to present himself as a friend and make friends with them. It wasn't to become stronger or anything like that; Yuel simply needed someone to talk to. Of course, Null existed, and Null's mental support was indescribable. Still, Null existed only as a voice. Despite trying his best, Null's capabilities had limits. So Yuel needed other anchors.
That was why he had to trick these two mages whose memories had been completely wiped.
...
Sometimes, he really hated himself.
With these thoughts, Yuel approached a table prepared some time ago. Although it was a very nice table, it held only meat dishes.
Yuel and the two mages sat at the table. It looked long enough to seat the entire cult, but it was strange that only three people sat and ate.
The food didn't cover the whole table, only the section where Yuel and the mages sat—the part with the dishes. Still, to be fair, it was well-stocked with food, and undoubtedly there would be leftovers even after the three finished eating.
Yuel, of course, sat at the far end of this long table. The other two took the two chairs closest to him.
Then Yuel asked, "There are a few things I need to talk to you about. Should we talk first or eat the meal?"
The pair exchanged looks and said sadly, "Let's talk first..." Of course, everything was written on their faces, and because of that, Yuel said:
"Then let's eat first. I know you're hungry," and they began eating.
Yuel tasted everything on the table but didn't like any of it—because it was all meat, and what meat is sweet? Yuel was a person who liked sweets, and a table without sweets… he had to fix this immediately. He needed to build a garden on the crystallized mammoth and farm, but… farming would take a long time. Damn. So he should assign some of the fourteen crystallized bears he hunted to gather fruits and vegetables. Wendigos could only feed on meat and always did when not disguised, but this did not apply to Yuel. For his own health and pleasure, he had to do this.
When all the food on the table was finished, Yuel wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed, but he guessed over half an hour. Instead of leaving the table, they needed to start talking.
Yuel thought deeply here—should he tell the truth or lie?
If he told them the truth that they had been enemies before, they might try to attack. If he hid the truth, how could they fight under the same roof?
Should he take the risk and tell the truth or deceive the people he would fight alongside?
At that moment, Null spoke.
"Don't do anything you'll regret."
"But how would I know which one I'll regret?"
"--"
Finally, Yuel decided to tell the truth. If they truly fought, he would kill them.
What happened as a result of telling the truth was this:
Among the two mages, the one without a real human body—that is, the one listening to his Wendigo instincts—chose to attack, and Yuel had to kill him.
The mage hiding inside a real human body didn't make a move. This could be understood when considered; since his memories had been erased, he currently believed he was human and followed human instincts. If he were in his Wendigo form, he might have interpreted this much worse and attacked, but now he judged it as a human and found Yuel's actions reasonable. So, in the end, Yuel truly had a friend.
There were probably six to nine months until Shiro grew stronger in tournaments and finally faced Yuel, and during that time, Yuel had to reach a level to oppose him.
Thinking of what he could do… Wendigos had transformation spells, so a weapon and armor made by a Wendigo should be quite good quality. He had to make good weapons for himself.
But that wasn't all. At phase 4, he could also advance by killing a phase 4 titan whose bloodscript was close to his own. This way, he would reach stage 4.
Actually, the titan who had the Swore bloodscript and was a fugitive fleeing the tournaments had cursed that titan, so it was inevitable that Yuel would suddenly reach stage 4 soon.
Still, after that there was stage 3. To pass that stage, he could also kill a phase 4 titan, but that titan had to have a bloodscript close to his own power. And why would he kill a phase 4 titan? When he got that strong, it made more sense to kill a phase 5 titan, especially…
Infection.
He had not forgotten the revenge he had to take on Infection, so he couldn't die before avenging Luo.
Not only that, though. Because the storm was approaching, even though they had circled the lake, they could progress through the western mountains to the Inksworn Depths. Onur, Aria, and Shiro had previously dismissed this option because they could be harmed by the ink, but it was still a possibility. Also, they could move along the cliff marking the boundary between Deathsea and the other regions, but… was it sensible to walk all over Undergarden?
If he had to travel across the entire Undergarden, the already long journey would become even longer.
Yuel sighed and lowered his head, and the mage he befriended tried to motivate him.
Yuel asked him, "Okay, let's put aside these gloomy thoughts for now. The real question is, what will I call you? Didn't you lose your name when your memory was erased?"
"Well… not exactly. As mages, we had taken precautions against memory erasure and brainwashing. So although our memories were initially vague, within a few hours we fully recovered. Still, the reason I didn't attack you is that I want a better start, and this was the perfect time for that."
"So… what's your name?"
"As I said, I'm going to make a fresh start, so I'll change my name. I haven't decided yet. I want to live as a human; it definitely seems better than living as a Wendigo, and you have the potential to let me live this way, so I will follow you. Actually… my being a Wendigo should remain a secret between us!" he said, smiling.
For a moment, Yuel thought he heard his own heartbeat, then he heard Null speak in his mind.
"Yuel, you may have denied Aria before, but I don't think you can deny it this time!" he said laughing.
Yuel blushed slightly but tried not to show it.
"Okay then, tell me what you decide to name yourself tomorrow. Judging by the cold, we must have come from a tropical region. I'm going to see what we've gathered. See you."
Yuel immediately slipped away. He didn't fully understand why he did that. He had never experienced anything like this before.