The Prince I Met in Another World is a Wolf

Chapter 14: Don't do Anything Bad

"A wolf descended on the dead world ruled by ice and snow. With his first roar, he melted the snow, and with his second, he called the sun.

As his voice echoed three or four times, the earth was filled with plants and flowers, and the animals that ate them flourished. Fish swam in the sea, and they learned how to carry seeds. The seventh roar gave birth to the King of Men, and with this as his last roar, he returned to his land in heaven.

But the King of Men, who had been entrusted with the country by the wolf, soon began to oppress people with his arrogance.

One night, a bad butterfly stopped at the tip of his nose and suggested that the King should take the wolf's power as his own as well. So the King deceived the innocent and untrained citizens into making a huge ladder that could reach the sky.

When the ladder reached heaven, the wolf was very ashamed of the King's stupidity, releasing a sorrowful howl. All of the holy wolves in the country responded, and their sad roars shook the earth and enraged the sea.

The devastated sea destroyed the ladder, and on a moonlit night when the moon was full, a creature that was neither man nor wolf was born from the dust. The werewolf attacked ships and villages at night and ate livestock and people alike.

The wolf commanded the King.

"That is an abominable beast, the product of your sins. Let your son slay the werewolf, or your son will become it. And then, he will have nothing but a wilderness overrun with demons, where no vegetation can grow."

The prince was still young. The false king, who was a fool, became furious and ordered his battle-hardened soldiers to subdue the werewolf. However, the werewolf was in a labyrinthine cave, where no one could reach it, and none of the soldiers came back.

The prince, who had soon become a bright, young man, said to his father:

"Please prepare the sacred bow and arrow, a ball of thread and incense. Then I will return triumphantly with a thousand miles of fertile land in my hands."

On the night of the new moon, when the werewolf's strength had weakened, the prince entered the cave with his golden bow and arrows in hand. He burned the incense, and when the werewolf had lost all sense of smell, he loosed an arrow.(1)

　　　1. It says that he "shot" the arrow, but since it's like a fairytale, I figured the medieval terms for it would be better.

The werewolf collapsed, and the prince followed the ball of string he had laid out to the entrance and returned to the royal palace. The prince became the True King, and the human's country flourished once more."

The book ended with an illustration of a young man with intelligent eyes, who Shun assumed was the prince, kneeling before a noble wolf and crowned.

The back cover was also beautifully detailed. Decorations based on plants and trees were drawn, and in the middle, an emblem that looked like the wolf's face was drawn in gold foil.

"Tempted by the bad butterfly... It's certainly picking a fight with the Butterfly Country."

This was probably the creation myth of the Wolf Country. If someone had been taught about the relationship of these two countries from these kinds of fairytales, it would be a bit worrying for the relationship between the two countries. Maybe it was like England and France(2) from Shun's original world?

　　　2. Honestly any England-adjacent country could go here lmao though Ireland or Scotland might've been a better fit since you can see anti-England things from them even now... but I guess Shun's referring to the long-standing history of wars between the two(?) instead of just the enmity.