Her earlier burst of laughter now gone, Linnea’s face now flushed an angry crimson in the blink of an eye. “Whaddya mean, nonsense?!”
“I mean the nonsense you speak each time you open your mouth. To be sure, we may have once seemed like dogs to you. But by our elder brother’s hand, we have been reborn. We are indomitable, real Wolves. So long as he is in command, a mere gathering of slow-witted pigs will be no match for us.” A smile stretched across Felicia’s lips, and her tone was polite, but that couldn’t disguise the degree of disdain in her words. You could find no better example of an insult wrapped in superficial courtesy.
“What?! This feeble-looking little kid couldn’t be that great!” Linnea declared.
Thud! Shiiiink!
A mighty sound rung out through the tent. Sigrún, who had been silently waiting at Yuuto’s side up to that point, had slammed her fist down onto the wooden desk in front of them, breaking it completely in half.
This wasn’t the typical strength one might expect of a woman. Even among large men, there were few who could pull off such a feat.
A design which had not been there before appeared on Sigrún’s left shoulder, and began to emit a faint light. It was the rune Hati, the Devourer of the Moon, which granted its bearer wolf-like traits and extraordinary physical strength.
“Mind your tongue. I’ll not forgive anyone who insults Father.” Sigrún straightened herself up again and gazed down at Linnea with arrogance. In her expression and voice, there wasn’t even a hint left of the sweetness that she used when interacting with Yuuto. She was cold like ice, sharp like a blade.
“Ngh!” Linnea reflexively flinched.
Sigrún had been the one who captured her. Even though Linnea had surely been under the protection of several sturdy soldiers, having the fight brought so physically close to her during the last battle had no doubt etched a real fear of Sigrún into the very marrow of her bones. That terrifying strength had just been put on display once more. There was no doubt that Linnea was terrified.
The air still tense, Sigrún gave an audible snort. “Just like Father, you became a sovereign at a young age, but no matter how you look at it, you don’t even hold a candle to his greatness.”
“Now, now, Rún,” Felicia told her. “That comparison itself is an insult to Big Brother.”
“Hmph,” Sigrún said. “I hate it when I actually agree with Felicia, but for once, she and I see eye-to-eye.”
“Ngh! Nnngh!!” Linnea seemed unable to find any words.
“My, my, groaning and moaning... who is the real dog here?” Felicia mocked.
“That’s right, grunt and snort like the pig you are. It really suits you,” Sigrún agreed.
Watching the unrestrained banter between the pair, Linnea suddenly howled with fury. “Why, you—! Don’t look down on me!”
Linnea’s frightened expression instantly replaced by rage, she lunged at Sigrún despite the bindings. The guards who had brought her in quickly held her shoulders down. Still, her growls and hate-filled glare pierced Yuuto and the others.
She really was like a mad dog.
“Well now. It seems the rumors of your pride are well founded,” Yuuto said under his breath, so that Linnea wouldn’t hear.
That pride was likely a surface cover for an inner lack of confidence. The outburst from earlier was the result of her inability to stand being looked down upon. Still, that would make this the opportune moment.
“Both of you, restrain yourselves,” Yuuto ordered. Straightening himself up from having rested his chin in his hands, he feigned an exasperated tone. “She is still, for better or for worse, the Horn Clan’s sovereign. Mind your rude words.”
“Sir!” The two immediately complied.
Yuuto knew that they’d been acting just as he’d instructed them to, but he couldn’t bear to hear any more. He didn’t see himself as such a grand figure. He’d been trying to endure the fidgety feeling and anxiety that always arose from their flattery.
“You must forgive their rudeness, Lady Sovereign of the Horn,” he told Linnea. “I apologize that my subordinates have somehow missed learning discipline.”
“...No, well, I also went too far in calling you dogs,” Linnea responded. Her attitude had softened considerably.
Since becoming sovereign, Yuuto had been reading books on negotiation techniques. He felt such techniques were vital for someone at the top.
One of those techniques was playing “good cop, bad cop.” It was a common feature in police procedurals. With this technique, an aggressive police officer would use insults, threats, and a rude, oppressive manner to antagonize the target. Then a second police officer with a gentler demeanor would intervene, chiding the aggressive cop, so that conversation would flow better, and the good cop would garner goodwill and sympathy.
In this situation, Felicia and Sigrún were playing the bad cops, while Yuuto played the part of the good cop.
“Let’s get back on topic,” he said. “What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, the matter of you becoming my child.”
“...And I told you I wasn’t interested.” Linnea once again stated her refusal, but this time, it lacked her prior ferocity. It felt like she was saying it to half-heartedly reassure herself.
Things were proceeding as planned, and Yuuto couldn’t help but gloat in his mind.
His conscience was scolding him for swindling, deceiving, and threatening a girl of such a tender age, but if they couldn’t bring these negotiations to a proper conclusion, the fighting would continue and both sides would see even more bloodshed. Yuuto had no choice but to use these means in order to avoid that outcome.
The foundation had been laid. Having waited until the time was right, Yuuto could now make his real demands.
“Hm... well how about becoming a little sister of mine?” he asked.
The sovereign patriarch of the Horn Clan, Linnea, was as flummoxed as a person could be.
No matter how many times she thought it over, she couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for how they had reached these circumstances.
Three or four generations ago, the Wolf Clan had been flourishing, but now they were in ruins; they’d become a puny clan whose national power was vastly inferior to that of the Horn Clan. And up until recently, they had been warring with their neighboring country, the Claw Clan. It wasn’t hard to imagine that they’d continue to fall deeper into disarray.
Furthermore, when the new Wolf Clan sovereign came to power a year ago, she’d heard he was a mere sixteen-year-old boy of unknown origin. He should have been easy to deal with...
Should have been.
After gathering nearly double the soldiers as their enemies and expecting a flawless battle, and instead suffering a cruel and crippling defeat... the proud commander had now resigned herself to her fate as a prisoner of the enemy.
The reality she was forced to face now was stark: the enemy she had scorned as mere dogs now clearly saw her people, the Horn Clan, as completely beneath them. Of course this behavior was partly just a boast, the Wolf Clan exaggerating their strength to a defeated foe in order to move negotiations in their favor. Being the victor had its perks, after all.
Still, that was only half of it. The looks of respect and adoration that the people of the Wolf Clan gave Yuuto clearly weren’t normal. They were all showering the devotion due a sovereign upon this weak boy.
That included even Sigrún the Mánagarmr and Felicia the Ráðsviðr or “Wise Wolf,” warriors whose names were known even among the Horn Clan. And more than anything else right now, the fact that the Horn Clan had experienced such a crushing defeat at his hands was surely a spur in Linnea’s side.
She was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t made a gross miscalculation. If things kept up like this, her own clan might be destroyed.
“...A little sister?” Linnea said slowly.
Having such a concession presented to her as if Yuuto were offering a helping hand, even Linnea couldn’t refuse him outright this time.
It was common knowledge in this world that becoming a child subordinate meant absolute obedience on principle. Of course, she couldn’t accept that.
Younger brothers and sisters were also expected to revere and obey the older sibling, but it wasn’t as iron-clad as with child subordinates. As an option, there was more reason to at least consider it.
“That is the one and only compromise I’m willing to offer,” Yuuto told her.
“Ngh!” Linnea let out a wordless, anguished cry.
It was a matter that required careful deliberation, but there wasn’t any time. Thinking things over calmly in the current situation would be near impossible in the first place. Consequently, she hadn’t noticed the trap.