Excuse me? I’m no monster. I’m a demon. People often mistake us for monsters, but werewolves possess intelligence and culture, we’re a proper race. I mean, come on. Humans are mammals just like horses and wolves, but no one goes around screaming “Oh my god, it’s a mammal!” when they see a person. So yeah, we technically fall under the ‘monster’ category, but I’d prefer it if people called us demons. As I’m sure you can tell, this is a pet peeve of mine.
“S-Sir! There’s a wolf monster here!”
I said I was a demon, not a monster!
I smiled tiredly as I watched people flee before me. Since I had a wolf’s head at the moment, I don’t doubt everyone saw it as a feral grin, not an exhausted smile.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on eating any of you.” It’s no good, no one’s listening. It seemed I’d caused a bigger panic than I’d intended. People bowled over entire market stalls in their haste to escape.
In the span of a few seconds, the street had become empty. Everyone had fled into nearby buildings, or narrow back alleys. Thanks to my superior sense of hearing and smell, I was easily able to tell where they were hiding. I know I look scary, but the fact that people are this terrified of me still kind of hurts. I used to be human too, you know. Besides, I thought my transformation was kinda cool, like the ones superheroes have in movies... Ah well.
I heaved a weary sigh and kicked off the cobblestoned ground. My leap propelled me a good three stories into the air. From this height, I was able to get a good view of the whole city. As planned, my werewolf squad had the viceroy’s manor surrounded. The few guards protecting the manor had already been mauled beyond recognition.
“I told them to avoid killing as much as possible... Oh well.” Once a werewolf got going, it was hard for them to hold back. I ran across a series of rooftops and jumped down in front of the manor. Unfortunately, that was the same time a squad of reinforcements happened to show up as well.
“Protect the viceroy!”
“Chaaarge!”
The five soldiers drew their weapons and charged. I sent the first of them flying with a back kick, then turned around and started attacking in earnest. I shattered one soldier’s sword with my bare arms, then jabbed his breastplate with my knuckles. I couldn’t use my claws, or I’d kill him.
“Gaah!”
Crap, did I overdo it again? Holding back’s harder than I thought. I dispatched the other three with low kicks, too afraid to use my arms against them. As it was, even my weak kicks shattered the soldiers’ legs, but at least that was something I could fix with magic later. In the blink of an eye, all five of the soldiers were lying defeated on the ground.
“I’ll heal you later, so just sleep there for now,” I said as I jumped up to the manor’s second-story window.
Compared to the glass in my old world, the glass here was far more crude. Not only was the window’s thickness uneven, it was filled with translucent bubbles that made it difficult to see through. Still, a pane of glass like this would have cost about a month’s income for a rich noble here. I smashed it without hesitation and strode into the viceroy’s manor.
The room I’d broken into was the viceroy’s own office. I’d examined the building’s blueprints before, and as I’d expected, the viceroy was here.
“Who are you!?”
I found myself being glared at by a woman in her early twenties. She was wearing a male official’s uniform, however, and a saber hung from her waist. She cut a rather gallant and dashing figure in the uniform; it was clear she was used to wearing men’s clothes. My guess was she normally wore them to work.Though I guess now’s not the time to be thinking about that.
A quick glance around the room told me there were no guards. Neither my nose nor my ears picked up traces of anyone else in the room. And my werewolves had the outside of the manor surrounded. I bowed politely to the viceroy, doing my best not to antagonize her.
“I am Veight, Vice-Commander of the Demon Lord’s third regiment. You would be Viceroy Airia, correct?”
“None other.”
Pale-faced, Airia nevertheless put up a brave front as she nodded. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide the trembling in her voice. She may not have had the fortitude of an emperor, but she would still make a fine general. A better one than me, that’s for sure. Out of respect for her courage, I tried to be as non-threatening as possible.
“My forces have captured your city. Further resistance would be meaningless. I advise you to surrender.”
“I will not!” Airia clenched her fists as she shouted. Why was it that people in power inevitably all had problems listening to other people?
“Ryunheit is an important lynchpin of our alliance! I will not allow it to fall into demon hands!”
Looks like I’m going to have to get a little violent, or we won’t get anywhere.
“Then die,” I snarled, baring my fangs.
As expected, the viceroy shrunk back in fear. Her trembling was understandable. She was up against a werewolf after all. Our claws could rend plate armor, and our legs could carry us faster than a galloping horse. A tiny girl such as herself had no chance against me. I took a step forward and put even more pressure on her.
“I will at least give you the honor of a noble death, befitting of your station. Draw your sword.”
Airia brought a trembling hand to her waist, but because of her fear she couldn’t even get a good grip on the weapon. She clearly wasn’t used to fighting.
“I-I am the V-Viceroy of Ryunheit... Marquis...”
In her confusion, she’d started declaring her name. Normally, in duels in this world, you did that after drawing your weapon, not before.
I grinned and roared at her. Though it wasn’t a very loud roar, the remaining windows vibrated from the force. Airia let out a yelp and fell backwards, her saber dropping from her limp fingers.
“Hiii—”
It was a pretty comedic reaction from my perspective, but I could see why she was so terrified. Had I still been human, I’d have pissed my pants facing a werewolf.
I snapped my jaws shut and sat down on the lavish rug in front of her. There was no need to intimidate her any further.
“That puny saber won’t even be able to put a scratch on me. And even if you could somehow beat me, it’s too late to save your city. Surrender.”
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