Chapter 22 - Good Dog, Good Dog
The airship Mariella.
Jubel Maxman rchant Troupe’s trading vessel that floated in the sky.
Today, its cargo hold was completely empty, but it was only the cargo that was missing.
To an outsider, it looked like a vast warehouse, where only a few people were gathered in a cluster.
They were the ship’s owner, Jubel Maxman, Vice-Captain Marvin, and Josephine, Reggie, and Kio from Levering Firearms.
Having already finished their tour of the ship, they had chosen this place as a suitable workshop.
“The other places have employees watching and aren’t very spacious. This place is convenient for laying out items and is also sturdy, so it’s perfect.”
Everyone, including the technician, agreed.
Josephine looked at the vast warehouse and felt a surge of emotion.
Though nothing here was hers, her face flushed just at the thought of a workshop being built.
“If you need any machines or raw materials for Magitech, just tell Marvin here, and he’ll get them for you as quickly as possible.”
“Hehe. I look forward to working with you.”
For so reason, the Vice-Captain let out a foolish laugh.
It was because while riding up in the small hot air balloon, a gust of wind had blown back her hood, revealing her bare face.
Her beauty was enough to create motivation just by imagining it.
His eyes looked as if he would willingly ride a hot air balloon to pluck a star from the sky if she asked.
“Yes. I’ll write down the things I need as I think of them. What rchant Troupe Head Jubel wants is an automated security machine, right?”
“That’s right. The laborers are here for mass production, not to guard the warehouse. That’s a different job to begin with, so I have to pay them differently.”
“Then I’ll try making a prototype in the form of a trap. Since it’s a defined space like a warehouse, it might actually be easier to build the chanism.”
“I’m counting on you. As for the paynt, we’ll calculate the material costs and labor costs all at once.”
He was telling her not to worry about the cost of materials.
At this point, even from the creator’s perspective, I beca curious.
What were they trying to mass-produce?
What were they trying to ddle with that they were preparing such thorough defenses?
If it was a business they would get into and out of quickly, they would have at least set a budget.
But he was planning for the long future, aiming to build it correctly once.
‘I don’t know what it is, but those 500 Gold Coins are involved in this. If I play around making whatever I like, I’m sure I’ll run into it sohow.’
With a small wish in her heart, the technician with her notepad quickly continued her sketches.
***
The days of a boring routine.
A few days ago, it seed like sothing interesting was about to happen internally.
Unfortunately, the Youngest Son didn’t explode; instead, only the ssenger who had entered here with a condescending look on his face exploded.
Then, not long after, Jubel Maxman crossed the gate.
If the gatekeeper’s na had once reached the eastern sky through his military might.
Jubel Maxman was a man who had reached the eastern sky through his financial power.
Regardless of whether his field was money-making or sothing else, it was an achievent that could be called great, and the gatekeeper didn’t see him in a bad light.
Furthermore, when he eavesdropped on the situation inside with his trained body.
The situation was rolling along quite interestingly.
If there was sothing he absolutely didn't want to believe and couldn't believe, it was that the one driving the situation was the Youngest Son.
Today, too, he had worked his mouth hard and accomplished sothing beyond his own power.
Making Jubel Maxman walk to the mansion, and also opening Jubel Maxman’s wallet.
“Even if he obtained an Undead Ogre, it’s an undeniable fact that there’s a huge gap between him and his other siblings. I thought it would be over soon….”
I had been wearing the gatekeeper’s surcoat for much longer than I expected.
Opening the gate, which used to be annoying every ti, had beco so familiar that it didn’t even make angry anymore.
“Fifth Son…. It seems you’ve managed to prolong your life a little.”
Just as I was frowning, thinking that my service as a gatekeeper had only gotten longer.
Soone ca galloping towards the gate, breathless.
I knew his face.
‘The one who recently cleared the vines near the gate. His na was, All-purpose sothing.’
I couldn't rember it well, but he was a person from the mansion.
“Please step aside! It’s urgent!”
“The mansion gate doesn’t open any faster just because you rush it.”
Lubosch spurred his horse on, trying to squeeze its body through the gap.
“Tsk. What does a young whelp think he’s going to accomplish by running in such a hurry.”
Just how urgent could it be? Let’s hear him out.
I tilted my ear towards the inside of the mansion.
…One of my eyebrows naturally shot up.
“It is a more urgent matter than I thought.”
I said it nonchalantly, but it was true.
“Haha. A werewolf. And against the Fifth Son, of all people.”
The gatekeeper thought.
If he returns alive this ti as well.
I would, just a little, a very little, try to acknowledge him as a true mber of the bloodline.
***
“I’ll make an offer you can’t refuse.”
I spread my index and middle fingers to make a V-sign.
“You have two choices right now.”
First, to be unable to sever the dium of the curse and hold onto it until the end, eventually having your mind dominated.
Second, to boldly sever the dium of the curse, bury the past in the past, and move forward.
The wolves who heard both choices, except for Cailin, opened their eyes wide.
The two choices were contradictory, but both required one single thing.
“The dium of the curse? What is it! Tell right now!”
Remus’s voice rose.
To think that the curse wasn’t on her flesh, but that there was so kind of connection.
Wouldn’t severing that solve everything?
“There’s no need for to tire my mouth by saying it. The person herself must be vaguely feeling it.”
Everyone’s head turned from the vampire to the wolf.
“What…?”
The wolf herself seed flustered.
The reaction of her heart was also honest.
Then the situation becos easier.
Though the solution becos more difficult.
“Has the curse already seeped in? Looks like this won’t be easy.”
I raised my hand as I spoke.
The index finger, one of the fingers that had presented the choices, pointed at Cailin, at her neck.
It was the necklace.
“Th-this is my mother’s nto…!”
“It’s usually an item like that. When a curse lingers on an item the deceased cherished in life, and the owner dies, the item takes on a malevolent will and becos an evil spirit.”
“What does that an….”
“The explanation was long. To put it briefly, you are an evil spirit. Or the evil spirit is you. The mont the distinction between the two blurs and they synchronize.”
The dium explodes, and the body itself becos a vessel.
From then on, it was closer to the dead than the living.
“Lies….”
The mont the werewolves froze, only Cailin boiled up like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
“Don’t be ridiculous…. This necklace is my mother…. It’s because of this necklace that I’ve been able to endure until now….”
I snorted and denied it.
“No. The reason you were able to endure was thanks to your father, who resolved to save you even if it ant losing most of his kin.”
The necklace trembled violently.
“And. The reason you started listening only to the dark side of your heart is because of this green necklace.”
I couldn't tell if the body wrapped around the necklace was trembling, or if the necklace was trembling.
The feeling that the two vibrations were gradually becoming one lasted only for a mont.
The stress the body was receiving was transmitted to the evil spirit, and it was reaching out to the world.
It was trying to break out of its egg before its life and existence were threatened.
Drrrrrrrrrr─
“Keoook….”
Her body trembled as if having a seizure.
In her eyes, the proportion of whites grew larger, and dark red veins bulged on her face and neck.
“Cai, Cailin…!!”
“Hunter. Step back. This is not sothing you can solve with your claws.”
“Are you telling to entrust my daughter to the likes of a vampire!”
“I believe I said it earlier. That I would make an offer you can't refuse.”
A mont ago, I had only presented the situation; I hadn't made any offer.
Because an offer you can't refuse must be pushed in a situation you can't refuse.
“Your daughter. I’ll return her to her senses. I swear on my mother’s honor.”
To werewolves, honor is one of the most important things.
It was the heaviest word they knew and the aning they held most heavily.
Remus’s pupils swayed according to his instincts.
I didn’t give him a mont’s pause and said.
“I understand that vampires of the past killed and were killed by you. But right now, whether your daughter lives or dies depends entirely on you.”
“……”
Kwoooooooooooooooh─
Cailin’s body floated into the air.
The evil spirit’s demonic energy had an ominous green glow.
It spewed a gloomy radiance from its open mouth and eyes, and hook-like claws grew from its hands.
“There isn’t much ti. The more we delay, the harder it will be to cleanly tear away the evil spirit.”
“……Didn’t you say it was an offer I couldn’t refuse? My answer is aningless.”
Facing the moss-colored green light, the Youngest Son smiled deeply.
“I’ll talk about my demands slowly after the work is done. There will be quite a few, so have paper and a pen ready.”
“I will also prepare a hamr in case you fail.”
“As you wish. Have all the wolves back off. You too.”
“I am her father. I will stay by her side.”
“Hahahat.”
I was wondering who had the talent for making others laugh that the daughter possessed.
It seed it was the father’s side after all.
“No doctor lets a guardian into the operating room. Do I have to take care of a fainted wolf as well?”
“……”
Remus silently watched his daughter, who was being consud by the evil spirit.
“Still can’t face reality? I’m asking if that looks like your daughter.”
The hand that had pointed at the necklace now pointed at the evil spirit.
Dominating the werewolf’s mighty body with its demonic energy.
Creating a formidable protective barrier with the host’s mana.
The sight of it writhing ceaselessly inside looked no different from a caterpillar preparing to molt.
“I’ll ask you one more ti. Does that truly look like your daughter?”
“…If the situation isn’t good when I return, I will tear your body into a thousand, ten thousand pieces then.”
“Good dog. Good thinking.”
Although I heard a phrase that was incredibly grating, I waved my hand behind dismissively.
It couldn't be helped.
I had to turn my back, leaving only my daughter and the vampire.
Because no matter what the treatnt process was, I couldn't bear to watch my daughter, who seed to have ended up like this because of .
Remus gritted his teeth and made the werewolves back away.
The village beca empty except for two people.
“Now. They’ve all backed off as you wished. Since it’s just left, you might as well co out.”
If there were too many predators like werewolves around, that thing would finish its possession inside the barrier.
You have to gently coax it with prey it thinks it can swallow to make it salivate and whet its appetite.
Fortunately, I seed to look sufficiently appetizing.
Jjeojeojeojeojeok─
Judging by how it was slowly descending after breaking the cocoon it had wrapped itself in.
Kirrrrrrrrrrr─
The evil spirit, on the verge of taking over Cailin’s body, let out a grotesque sound like scraping tal.
It was a jeer.
A sneer that ant, what can you do in front of ?
So I laughed back in the sa way.
“It’s a pain that incorporeal beings can’t be struck unless you’re also in an incorporeal state. But for creatures like you, I’m rather thankful.”
From a state of flawlessness that was impossible to deal with unless you were a Spirit Sorcerer, had it not been instantly demoted to a bundle of weaknesses?
An evil spirit that had stolen most of the abilities of a Hunter-class werewolf.
That thing thought it was an elegant butterfly, but in reality, it was nothing more than an ugly moth.
A moth that would lose its mind over a brilliant fla and burn itself to death.
“Let introduce the fire you’ll be jumping into.”
A black crosshair was drawn in the air.
The massive body with red feathers that tore through that gap.
“It’s a Griffin.”
The werewolf on the verge of being dominated by an evil spirit.
The Griffin reborn as an undead.
I unknowingly glanced around the village once.
“No matter who wins, reconstruction will be essential.”
Kuuuuuuuung─!!
The evil spirit leaped, kicking off the air.
Its formidable physical ability t with demonic energy, creating a feat of kicking the air, but there was no ti for admiration.
If I did, I would be pierced through by its dagger-like sharpened claws.
The Youngest Son chose to defend without hesitation.
He chose to defend against an attack ard with the werewolf's physical ability and the evil spirit's demonic energy.
It wasn't because he trusted his powerful regeneration, nor was it because he couldn't find a place to dodge.
He had armor.
[Using Skill 「Skeleton Armor」.]
[Target: Red-blooded Griffin]
Kuuuuuuuung─
The charge of the half-man, half-beast with its rough fur flowing like a mane was halted.
The hand that stretched out like a spear was caught and blocked by another hand.
“Kirrrk─”
The evil spirit looked at the owner of the hand in bewildernt.
At the end of its gaze was the sorcerer.
With deep red eyes, there was a sorcerer with vast wings on his back.
User Comments
0 comments from readers