The disgust she had shown just moments ago was nowhere to be seen as she now plunged her pocket knife mercilessly into the cross-sections of the Wanderers’ corpses, extracting leather like a machine without any loss.

If the legendary live fish merchant of Jagalchi Market were in their prime, wouldn’t they look just like this?

The way she picked up the splashing leather, neatly processed it, counted and stored it showed the expertise of a lifelong master.

“From today, I’m a Wanderer hunter.”

Soon all that remained was the Wanderers’ blood mixed with dirt and rendered unusable… but Haniel even put that in a glass bottle, wondering if there might be something she could extract through alchemy later.

It was the Wanderer, not a cow, that had nothing to waste except its yawn at this moment.

“My mate has many talents.”

Though she has some peculiar aspects.

Regan honestly admired the leather being mechanically extracted in succession and the materials being organized instantly. It was like watching a person become a machine.

It was a moment when Haniel’s survival skills, honed from living alone in this Nightmare Forest for years, became tangible.

Even the artisans of Soleil didn’t have such techniques.

Moreover, beyond profession and craftsmanship, the ability to be self-sufficient, whether female or male, is a desirable trait in a mate for most Hume.

Haniel would be a coveted object for many in Soleil just for her fairy-like beautiful appearance, but with those abilities as well…

‘She’ll attract a lot of bugs.’

Regan narrowed his brows, already disgusted at the thought of which shameless vermin might approach his mate and sniff around her with their filthy muzzles.

He indulged in the selfish fantasy that if only Haniel had been so frail that she couldn’t survive alone without him taking care of everything…

But in the end, since she was loved by too many beings, it seemed like nothing would have changed even in that situation.

In any case, it seemed that blood would not dry on Regan’s mouth for a long time to come.

Still, what gave Regan Fenril an advantage over his rivals was that, besides tearing competitors to death, there was one thing he could do in this situation.

That was scoring points with the female!

The cold judgment that had kept Regan Fenril in the position of Soleil’s alpha wolf all this time.

That judgment quickly assessed what his mate liked from what he had observed so far and how he could win her heart, and Regan began to move his body as soon as he made his decision.

Thud, thud, thud, thud. Like a male pushing the most delicious meat to the female of the pack, he began bringing the Wanderers’ corpses to Haniel.

“…Ah, thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Receiving Haniel’s grateful gaze, the corner of Regan’s mouth lifted slightly. If he had been in his true form, his tail would have been wagging vigorously.

Regan, who had brought everything Haniel needed.

After scanning the surroundings once more in case enemies appeared again, once he felt things were sufficiently organized, he returned to where Rel’s body lay to clean up his traces.

Rel, who was once his subordinate.

Regan brought Rel’s head, which had fallen at the Wanderer’s hand, and his sprawled body together, and collected and organized the items left on him.

From personal valuables to the weapons he used, and accessories.

However, the necklace around Rel’s severed neck, bearing the symbol of the ‘Sun Wolf Unit’…

“…”

Snap.

Regan removed that necklace, which hung like a collar, from the dead man’s body.

Then he cut off Rel’s tail and placed it on top, gathered stones from around and stacked them to make an improvised cairn.

This was the best he could do.

Without a body, a funeral cannot be held, and the deceased who cannot have a funeral cannot leave this world, where their fate is tied.

That’s why not a single member of Regan’s old family, the Fenril pack, had left this world.

The last survivor, young Regan Fenril, didn’t know where the bodies of his family wolves and their graves were.

Only his former king, Sol, knew where the bodies of the Fenril family wolves were, and Sol was not merciful enough to cut off his hunting dog’s tail to sever the ties binding them to this world…

So those who died as Sol’s hunting dogs remained bound as his hunting dogs forever.

Sometimes rumors circulated in Soleil that the old Sun Wolves, the dead family of General Regan Fenril, wandered in groups in ghostly forms.

Not daring to approach the sun, they would howl among themselves only in the dark night, digging up the bodies of the forgotten, it was said. They would pick only the rotten bones of those bound to this world, with nowhere to go and chew them with hungry mouths.

“…”

Recalling Sol, who seemed to quite enjoy those rumors despite all of them having once been his hunting dogs, Regan observed a moment of silence before Rel’s grave.

Rel was a foolish man, but no one deserves to remain bound even after death. This was a courtesy to one who had been a member of his pack, if only briefly.

After finishing his brief moment of silence, Regan stood up and looked back at Haniel.

“We should hurry. We don’t know how the Rift might change or where stronger enemies might appear.”

“Oh, yes. Right.”

Haniel, who had already finished processing the crafting materials and was awkwardly standing behind Regan, answered quickly.

Her bewildered gaze briefly swept over Rel’s stone grave.

‘This must be a funeral custom from the country of Soleil.’

In truth, Haniel was slightly taken aback by Regan’s actions in making a ‘grave,’ even if it was improvised.

Why was she confused by something not particularly special? Thinking about the reason… despite having heard about the man’s past, she hadn’t directly experienced his country, Soleil, or the outside society here, so she couldn’t properly grasp it.

That this place was truly another world, and that there were societies of different races outside.

Don’t humans living on Earth enjoy different cultures in each country, and also have their own unique funeral customs? And how diverse is their history?

Thus, the ‘Hume’ Regan from Soleil was naturally conducting a funeral for his kinsman in a way familiar to him.

Probably in the exact same unique way his people had done for hundreds or thousands of years.

A funeral wasn’t just a human custom. No matter what world or what race, intelligent beings specially considering the world beyond death and giving meaning to that moment was the same.

This stone grave… structure that Regan had just made. To her, it looked somewhat crude and would be just a pile of stones easily overlooked if not paid attention to, but that was only from the human Haniel’s perspective—to the people here, it would look sufficiently like a grave.

Haniel, who had been cooped up in this forest thinking she was alone in this world all along, felt her heart stir at the sight.

She felt once again that civilization truly existed in this world.

And she couldn’t help but smile awkwardly as she remembered how she had efficiently looted the belongings of the Hume corpses she’d found on her way here.

Her conscience, which she hadn’t known existed until now, was jabbing at her insides…

“Shall we go then?”

“Yes, just a moment.”

Before Regan moved away, Haniel rummaged through her inventory as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

What emerged in her hand was a palm-sized cookie and apple cider.

“What is that?”

“Cookies and drinks I made.”

Haniel answered sheepishly as she took the cookies and drink cup and placed them gently in front of Rel’s stone grave.

It was the kind of atmosphere where, as a Korean, she felt she should do something like this.

She gave an explanatory addition to the puzzled Regan, as if making an excuse.

“It’s like an offering. In case the dead person gets hungry on the way to the afterlife… not that I believe in such things.”

As someone who had already experienced death firsthand, Haniel could testify with certainty that she hadn’t even gone to the afterlife—she’d just opened her eyes to find herself in another world—and that anger had been greater than hunger.