Chronos stared at him for a moment searching for any hint of him trying to mock his lineage, like many other nobles he had met, but the only thing he found was earnest wonder.[1]
He came to the conclusion that Tobias just wanted to know more about werewolves. And Chronos was more than happy to help spread the glory of werewolves anywhere.
Smiling Chronos said, "Personally I grow nearly a meter taller, but most werewolves only grow a few centimeters. We think it has something to do with how concentrated our bloodline is, however, nobody has confirmed this."
Tobias's eyes went wide when he heard this.
"You're three meters tall in your werewolf form?"
"Nearly. But there aren't many that grow as much as I do, most grow 15-30 centimeters though some don't change size at all."
He stared in amazement at Chronos.
"So then is your fur soft or does it feel rough? How sharp are your claws? Do the female werewolves have shiny coats? Do they grow as large as the male werewolves? What about a werewolf's healing ability, can it really regrow limbs like in the legends?"
So that was it. Tobias was obsessed with werewolves and wanted to know everything about them. He wasn't trying to be mean or insulting at all.
From the grimace on his brother's face it didn't look like this was something new.
"Most werewolves fur is soft, my claws are about as sharp as a steel sword, but I maintain that myself. Female werewolves do have shiny coats when they are clean, but most of the time we rub sand or dirt into our coats to prevent a shine when we're hunting. And no, they don't grow as large as the male werewolves do when they transform. As for our healing ability, I'm afraid I can't comment on that."
Chuckling Chronos answered every question he could. Some questions couldn't be answered as they would reveal secrets that he wasn't allowed to tell outsiders.
And he didn't want to be scolded again.
Sir Tobias had many questions about werewolves causing the ask and answer session to continue for 20 minutes before Chronos decided to tease the poor man a little.
"With how many questions you're asking, some might think you want to marry a werewolf."
For the first time in 20 minutes Tobias went silent as his face turned red.
"I-I don't think I'd go that far." he muttered under his breath much to his brother's chagrin.
Chronos stared at him for a moment before turning to Lord Rosenfeld, "You're going to need a skilled swordsman to teach him.
"Why would I need that?" Lord Rosenfeld asked.
"Because most female werewolves only like strong men. Sadly, his current strength is very lacking if he wants to catch their attention. And a warning for you Tobias, a werewolf mates for life and only has one mate in their entire life. If you ever betray her, she'll kill you and then herself."
"W-Wait a minute I-I never said I wanted a werewolf wife!" He exclaimed.
A couple of older nobles who knew the young man laughed, causing him to blush even more.
With how much he talked about and asked questions about werewolves they couldn't see him marrying anybody but a werewolf.
Which had caused his brother a great deal of headaches in the past and present.
Lord Rosenfeld sighed, "I can't approve of you marrying a werewolf."
"It's not that bad, is it? He could certainly do worse than a werewolf bride. You could set him up with a demon bride."
Lord Rosenfeld glared at Chronos for even suggesting such a thing.
"I don't want to sound rude but most of the capital nobles don't really respect werewolves. And I was hoping that my younger brother could make some connections in the capital."
"Hm, I can see where you're coming from, however in this case I disagree with you. Having a werewolf in the family will keep the more troublesome nobles away from you and give you a level of combat power that most noble families lack.
You also need to consider that werewolves have a strong territorial instinct. Once we've chosen a land to live on, we'll defend it with our lives. And with the tears and chaos happening in the world right now, that could be a very valuable prospect."
That made Lord Rosenfeld reconsider his position.
It was true that tears could appear anywhere at any time and would cause serious destruction to the surroundings. Even right now Earl Malric had gone to deal with a tear close to the city and from what the whispers in the garden were saying several fields had been burned down before they could react.
Having a werewolf that would respond to intruders immediately suddenly didn't sound like such a bad idea. The detriment of having the capital nobles look down on them was negligible compared to that right now.
Especially if she brought some friends to help the territory.
But he also needed to consider what would happen once this disaster was over. Others would definitely still look down on them for having werewolf blood in the lineage.
Was the power a werewolf would bring to the family really worth it?
"Hm, you could be right about that," Glancing around he saw several other nobles thinking the same thing.
If he was going to take advantage of this, he would need to act fast.
"Come with me Tobias. We're going home."
"Alright brother."
Tobias beamed as he understood what was waiting for him.
No matter how difficult the training was he would power through it for a chance to go to the land of the werewolves. Whether he could find a bride or not was secondary to him.
Chronos laughed with some of the older nobles as they watched several others leave.
"I don't think they understand how difficult what they're attempting is," one of them said.
"How strong do they need to be to attract a female's favor anyways?" Another asked.
"I don't know for other clans but in my clan, we prefer skill over power. As long as they can reach an intermediate level of skill, they'll do fine with some of the weaker members," Chronos replied.
"That was a good laugh," came a voice that Chronos could never forget. "How are things in the Ulv lands, lad? And don't give me whatever answer your mother gives the court. I've known Margaret too long to believe 'manageable' means anything other than she's killed whatever was causing the problem."
A big grin appeared on Chronos's face.
"Grandpa Knud Enevoldsen, how are you still alive?"
[1] Hello readers today I have finally finished setting up my discord. It has character art, fan art, and chapter discussions amongst other things. For those of you that would like to join follow this link: https://discord.gg/KzykMRAbs