episode_0115

The complex mix of emotions made her body burn with warmth.

The girl recalled the warm stew.

The kindness of others that had miraculously found her when she had fallen to her lowest point.

It was a scene that now, once again, felt distant.

“Everyone, eat slowly. There’s plenty more food coming.”

The dining table that had satisfied the hungry foxes.

At the time, she had been wary, suspecting there was a hidden motive, but looking back now, it was the moment all miracles began.

Because now, he had become a part of her life, someone she fully relied on.

She hoped that someday, she too would become just as strong.

She hoped to become someone he needed, someone he could rely on as much as she relied on him.

So she wouldn’t be abandoned.

So she would be loved, even just a little.

‘……I’m thinking all sorts of things.’

Irene shook off the useless thoughts.

The corners of her lips curved bitterly.

Her hesitant hand finally chose the simplest menu.

The chosen dish was none other than beef stew.

This seemed better.

Rather than trying to handle a dish she couldn’t manage and burning it all, it seemed better to offer a simple, safe meal, even if it was humble.

That person would surely praise it as delicious, even with her terrible cooking skills.

She found herself smiling.

The girl moved with lighter steps.

‘……’

Shadows shimmering like heat haze.

Unaware that someone was tailing her from there.

***

At the same time.

An alley where people didn’t tread.

There, a strange woman peered out. Her yellow eyes followed the retreating figure of the fox.

Mana flared in the air along with her flowing hair.

Her alluring lips parted slightly.

“Hmm~ So that’s the current target, is it?”

Her tone carried a unique air of leisure.

Though she wore a robe to conceal her identity, it didn’t erase the aura of a strong individual.

A tension sharp enough to cut filled the alley.

The woman muttered as if amused.

“Her face is quite to my liking.”

Her identity was as follows:

The Unreliant, Fire.

A prominent figure who wielded the Monarch’s fourth blade.

Originally, her role was to assist her master as a royal guard, but today she had received a special command to infiltrate the academy.

That command was to bring the recently troublesome serpent to the ‘Kingdom’.

Fire quietly licked her lips.

‘As expected… directly provoking the serpent is too dangerous. He’s not the type to meekly follow just because he’s told to.’

The war that had taken place in the Empire’s underworld.

The Usurpation War.

Having experienced that incident, Fire knew how cruel the serpent had been at the time.

He still appeared in her nightmares.

He was a part of a myth.

Alone, he had successively crushed the criminal organizations spread throughout the underworld, and in the end, he had even devastated the ‘Kingdom’ cultivated by the Monarch.

The Monarch, who reigned as the undisputed leader at the time, had to give up his right arm.

A one-sided defeat.

He was truly a figure with a monstrous legacy.

Fire unnecessarily wiped away cold sweat.

‘I never wanted to encounter him again…’

She chewed on a short complaint.

She still had nightmares.

Cold, sunken eyes.

If she were to face those eyes again, eyes that seemed inhuman, Fire was confident she would wet her skirt without hesitation.

To that extent, the serpent was an existence deeply imprinted as intense fear in the woman’s mind.

However.

Even so, disobeying orders was not an option.

Instead, Fire decided to employ a trick.

‘It’ll probably be easier to target someone nearby, won’t it?’

She scrutinized the target she was tailing.

The opponent was a servant known to live closest to the serpent recently.

Fox ears and a tail were perched on her head and behind, respectively.

She had heard it was a fox beast-person stolen from a businessman’s auction house, but the reliability was low, as the information came from Distrust, who was always slacking off.

Fire fiddled with the whip held in her fingertips.

The plan was simple.

Her master had commanded her to bring him in swiftly, but had not placed any restrictions on the method or means.

Even if she resorted to aggressive actions, it was fine because she had an insurance.

The serpent cared for those around him.

If she were to quickly kidnap one person and escape, he would have no choice but to pursue her all the way to the Kingdom to retrieve them.

Even if there was a clash, it was fine because she had her own insurance.

The woman hummed cheerfully.

“And the hostage happens to be to my liking~ Should I have some fun while he’s chasing?”

Fire was quite strong.

While her abilities weren’t aggressive, and thus couldn’t compare to the might of other royal guards, she could still twist a student around with a single finger.

She, too, was a member of the Five Negations who protected the Monarch (Roi).

A mere girl who hadn’t even outgrown her greenhorn days could be erased from the world without a trace.

Fire calmly continued her tailing.

‘Should I ambush her when she enters the dormitory?’

She waited for the hostage to voluntarily become a mouse trapped in a jar.

The fox moved, carrying a shopping basket.

Finally, as the slender footsteps entered the dormitory building, Fire immediately tore through space and leapt, ambushing her opponent.

The shadow appeared in mid-air as if flickering.

Crack-!

“Peek-a-boo!”

The woman smiled brightly.

Fire sharply swung the whip in her hand.

The fox’s eyes were clouded with surprise.

“……!”

The girl reacted to the ambush belatedly.

However.

Fire had already narrowed her focus to the range.

The whip, flying at lightning speed, struck with a violent force.

Thud-!

A dull thud echoed in the air, and a shadow slumped to the ground.

Legs knelt with a faint moan.

It happened in an instant.

***

Having finished his work, he returned to the academy.

When I dragged my tired body and opened the dormitory door, I felt an indelible sense of strangeness on my skin.

It was because of the deep darkness.

“……”

Beyond the spacious area, only silence lingered.

It was long past sunset, and it seemed strange that the lights inside hadn’t been turned on yet.

I moved, suppressing my presence.

I waited for a moment, but the voice that usually came to greet me was also silent.

At that point, I instinctively knew something was wrong.

Rustle-.

A shopping basket lay tumbled in the entrance.

As I picked up the meat and vegetables spilled on the floor, a faint presence suddenly brushed past my ears.

It was a sound coming from the innermost room.

-Ugh, sniffle…

A faint whimper.

At first listen, it sounded like weeping.

I immediately ran towards it.

“Irene…!”

Bang-!

I roughly kicked open the door, which was at the source of the noise.

There wasn’t even a trace of hesitation in that movement.

Leaving the splintered planks behind, the hot air lingering in the room made me frown.

I quickly scanned the interior.

What greeted me there was none other than…

“Waaahhh!! I’m sorry! I was wrong!”

A loudly wailing voice.

In the corner, a girl with yellow hair was kneeling, holding up both arms as if being punished.

Her face was smeared with tears and snot.

As if she had been playing with fire somewhere, her body was covered in black soot in every corner.

I raised a question mark.

“……?”

What is this?

As my brain briefly froze, a girl nonchalantly greeted me.

Around her, flames gracefully danced.

“Welcome. You’re a bit late today.”

“Irene?”

At the center stood the fox.

Her orange hair had somehow turned red, and her mana was burning with intense heat.

The majestic scarlet flame (紅焰) aura dominated the atmosphere.

Likewise, the sword wreathed in fiery demonic energy was merciless, and its tip glared at the kneeling child.

I questioned the incomprehensible situation.

“What happened?”

“I was ambushed.”

“And?”

“I won?”

“……?”

My head tilted once again.

The girl explained.

“Someone was tailing me from the shopping street, so I wondered what was going on, but then they suddenly ambushed me, so I just appropriately knocked them down.”

Thunk-!

The fox tapped the woman’s crown with the flat of her sword.

A terrified reaction came back.

“H-h-eek…! S-sorry! I was wrong!”

The girl trembled, rubbing her hands together profusely.

No matter how I looked, she seemed barely past ten years old, if even that.

I silently looked back at the fox.

She awkwardly avoided my gaze, then muttered as if making an excuse for her actions.

It was an explanation added in a voice barely audible.

“……I think I hit them too hard.”

As if to corroborate that one remark, the woman burst into tears she had been holding back.

Large tears fell in drops.

“Ugh, sniffle… I won’t do it again, s-so please, s-stop the hot thing…”

“……”

“……”

A frail voice that wailed as if the sky was falling.

We silently looked at each other.

“Irene.”

“……”

“Have you perhaps heard of child abuse?”

“They were an adult originally… They kept shrinking while fighting, and in the end, they became as small as they are now.”

“Then what about excessive force?”

“……”

The fox remained silent.

We had to stand there for a while amidst the awkward silence.

Until the kidnapper stopped crying.