“It’s been a while since I’ve caught a blunder like this!”
Scyllia, who was standing in a daze, was surprised. This is because the old woman suddenly got excited and approached her.
“…Yes?”
“Look at this! It’s a baby fox, but it has nine tails!”
The old woman, who was said to have been a newcomer from the East, opened her eyes wide and pointed at the fox.
Scyllia looked down at the injured fox.
Nine shimmering silver tails.
The reason why Scyllia, a Holy Knight, seeked for the new lady from the East was because of the fox’s energy.
It seems to be a monster from the East continent, but it didn’t feel good to kill it immediately. Scyllia thought, demonstrating her good-naturedness as a knight.
Indeed, the old woman’s face became serious, hinting that it wasn’t an ordinary monster.
“A fox monster is born with a tail that increases one by one every hundred years. The number of tails is the same as the fox’s life force.”
“A hundred years? Then nine tails…”
“It’s a 900-year-old fox monster. They say it’s called a gumiho.”
Sycllia shook her head.
“But isn’t this fox a cub?”
“So that’s why it’s a problem!”
The blotched face of the old woman showed how deeply worried she was.
“If a baby fox was born with nine tails, what would be the identity of the mother who gave birth to a gumiho?”
Scyllia kept quiet. She had no idea.
She was already troubled by the problem of animals smuggled from the East into the West. The worst of them was this monster. The fox monster was one of the products prepared to be sold to eccentric nobles.
Because the product was a monster, only a Holy Knight could sort out the situation.
This was because if even one of them was exposed to a strong monster, a normal knight would not have the skills to endure it.
“There’s no way a baby gumiho can be conceived unless it is from the womb of a Cheonho. The mother is sure to be a Cheonho.”
“What is a Cheonho?”
“It’s a thousand-year-old fox that is usually associated with heaven. It is a spiritual creature.”
Scyllia’s face gradually became dim as the series of unfamiliar words continued.
The old woman clicked her tongue and changed her words to fit the Western’s style.
“Something like a unicorn.”
Scyllia’s eyes became round.
“Unicorn? You mean the guardian?”
“Yes. What would happen if you mess with an animal of God? Heavenly punishment!”
“Then what should we do? Should we release him?”
“What foolish talk!” The old woman was clearly frightened.
“He’s born from a spirit, but he’s essentially a monster! If you let him go, he’ll eat the people of the West mercilessly!”
The more they talked, the more Scyllia felt a splitting headache coming.
“If you kill it, you’ll be punished, but if you let it go, you’ll die. Then what should we do?”
“That’s why I said I caught a blunder.”
Sycllia was lost for words and shut her mouth. The old woman, looking into her green eyes, sighed.
It’s like Sycllia’s soul is trying to figure out whether it was real or not, by inhaling clean, clear air into her lungs.
Suddenly, the old woman’s face showed signs of interest.
“You, what’s your name?”
The old woman was once a divine woman, who communicated with the Divine Spirit, but was expelled from the East for her sins.
Even though she was a newcomer, Sycllia felt an irresistible power from the senile voice that was asking for her name.
“I’m asking. What’s your name?”
She answered reluctantly, “Scyllia.”
“Right. Scyllia. Listen carefully to what I am going to say from now on.”
The old woman said meaningfully while looking down at the breathing nine-tailed fox.
“Raise this fellow until he becomes an adult and take him to the East.”
“…Raise him?”
“This monster, who can take the form of a human being, is a very mysterious creature. It holds a similar significance as to that of the Dragon of the West.”
“……”
“Depending on how you raise it, it will either become a spirit of heaven or a demon of hell.”
The old woman’s eyes gleamed with a strange light.
“Listen carefully. If you’re going to the East, you have to leave him and come back. That is, if you want to live as comfortably as now.
‘As well as now?’
The old woman’s words were strange, but Scyllia’s interest was elsewhere.
“Then the people of the East will be harmed.”
[t/n: If you’re confused, where Scyllia and the current setting is in the West, while the fox and the old woman came from the East.]
The old woman laughed in a hoarse voice. It seemed like she knew what Scyllia would tell her next.
“No. I’m going to find the Cheonho who went up to heaven. Then his mother will come to pick him up.”
“……”
“Scyllia.”
Scyllia looked into her eyes as if she was possessed, with her figure reflecting on the woman’s clear eyes.
“This fox must be raised by you.”
“…….”
“If you don’t want to see a child of heaven become a hellish fox, follow what I say, understand?”
Scyllia wanted to ask why it must be her, but her mouth didn’t open.
The woman would not answer anything, anyway.
As if she knew it would happen, the old woman lifted a steel cage containing the gumiho, in her arms. She meant Scyllia to take him with her.
She draped a cotton cloth over the cage, careful not to irritate the wound of the gumiho.
This was a stinking alleyway where no rat was walking, but if he was unlucky, he could meet bad people.
“Thank you.”
Scyllia, who meticulously checked that it was covered in cloth, turned around.
“This work should be compensated…….”
Her eyes widened and she stopped talking.
There was no one in the alley.
She stood and looked around but the old woman was nowhere to be found. Only Scyllia remained.
Scyllia shivered unexpectedly. It was eerily cold for some reason, as if the magical spirit of the old woman came into and out of her body.
That night, Scyllia had a strange dream.
It was a dream where a man was cuddling her from behind.
No, it wasn’t simply a hug.
One hand, with blue veins spotted from his forearm, was on her waist, and the other was holding her shoulder.
It was a hug close to being restrained.
The man was big enough to fit Scyllia, who was about 170 centimeters tall, in his arms.
His body was bear-like that Scyllia, when embraced towards his wide chest, looked thin like a needle.
She twisted her body to get away, but he didn’t even budge.
It’s not human strength, that she’s sure.
“You taught me.”
A baritone voice, which triggered something from her abdomen, swept the back of her head.
Scyllia trembled unknowingly.
Hot breath spread to the nape of her neck as she felt the man chuckling slowly.
“I have an instinct.”
Enchantingly reddish lips that formed a thin line. He was an incredibly seductive man.
“Even a well-trained dog has an instinct, but what about me?”
“Y-you’re mistaken.”
“Where’s a beast that defies its instincts?”
The man whispered tenderly, “I’m more of a tribe than a beast. You know that Sycllia, don’t you?”
[t/n: What the man means is that his power/strength is like the powers of all beasts in a tribe combined aka he’s that strong. Also, I’m assuming that the instincts he is talking about is the instinct to attack/destroy/kill.]
“……”
“Don’t worry. You taught me well. I won’t do anything dangerous.”
“……”
“But you can’t run away.”
The thick forearm that was holding her tightened.
“Help me to keep being nice, Scyllia. Stay by my side.”
Forever.
Scyllia woke up from the dream drenched in sweat.