Chapter 03
TL-Mechatronic
The healing priest, Shula, was a woman everyone avoided due to her eccentric personality. She did not discriminate whether the opponent was ordained in a higher level or lower level than herself.
Therefore, even though she had excellent healing powers, she was stationed at the Holy Paladins camp in the Empire, as if exiled.
Not even Scyllia escaped her harsh remarks.
“Are you crazy, Commander?”
Looking at her momentum, she was about to grab Scyllia by the collar and shake her senseless.
“Take it and throw it away!”
“Shula.”
“It’s not just any fox! It’s a Nine-tailed-fox! It is said that they bewitch people and suck their energy!”
Shula was so frenetic that she didn’t even notice Scyllia’s embarrassment.
Normally, people would have looked at Scyllia with wide-open eyes, saying that it was rare to see such a face on the Commander. Needless to say, she was a paladin with a solemn atmosphere akin to a moving sacred statue.
Thin waist, tight sleek muscles and firm legs that seem to never end. An emotionless mouth that is tightly closed in a straight line.
Even those who persecuted women for holding a sword, saying it was unfaithful, shut up in front of
Scyllia. She, who seemed to have cold ice water flowing through her veins, was the perfect example of a holy paladin itself.
The body, which had been forged all her life, was as slender as a rapier, and her graceful jade-colored eyes had never lost her composure. Upon closer inspection, she had gentle eyes, but few noticed that fact.
It was because everyone avoided her gaze when she looked at them with her expressionless face, as if all, their filthy thoughts were being exposed.
However, such Scyllia was visibly embarrassed.
“Priest Shula. Can you do something about it?”
That’s all.
She couldn’t possibly stay away from the little fox because she was worried it wouldn’t make it.
Shula walked over to the nine-tailed fox. Scyllia was surprised and followed her, worried about the healer’s true intentions.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you think? I’m going to throw it away! This peculiar thing must have bewitched the Commander!”
The fox, who had been suffering a high fever inside the cage, raised her head in the loud commotion. The splendid silver fur reflected in the light penetrated deep into the eyes of the viewers and shimmered.
Shula was surprised and hiccupped while frowning. It was because the little fox was looking at her with bright sparkling eyes.
“Kyuuung.”
“Hip.”
“Kyuu?”
The nine-tailed fox flickered and blinked its bright yellow eyes that looked like a full moon.
Shula couldn’t even speak properly at its dazzling appearance.
Her lips twitched like a carp, and after a while she closed her eyes tightly as if she was out of breath and shouted.
“Damn it, hip! That thing! hip! That cunning fox! hip!”
The fox’s large, pointed ears drooped downwards.
“Look at this! Even if it’s a tiny little bud of a fox, it’s definitely trying to seduce me! It’s a very cunning nine-tailed-fox! That’s what it is!”
Shula covered the iron cage with a cloth to prevent the nine-tailed fox’s gaze attack.
“I was happy that the Commander came to me first for some reason, but it was because she was bewitched by a monster!”
“Do I look like I’m bewitched?”
Seeing Scyllia’s expressionless face, Shula was silent as if speechless.
Well.
It’s none other than Scyllia.
The leader of the Silver Lion Paladins, was also called Ice Statue, because she didn’t reflect anything human like in her face.
She handed water to Shula.
“I brought it here because I didn’t feel like killing it.” “What do you mean you didn’t feel like killing it?”
“You know my instincts.”
Shula’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Is that true?”
“This is not an ordinary monster. It feels different.”
“It does look like it.”
“It does look unusual. What’s with that silver hair that shines so brightly.’
Shula nodded with a very serious face.
She seemed to have interpreted the words in a different sense, but Scyllia didn’t bother to point it out.
“But wouldn’t it be more dangerous then? It’s not an ordinary monster…”
“The old priestess said we can trust it. Because it has the blood of Guardian Deities.”
“A priestess? A priestess who worships the gods of the eastern continent? If she’s here in the Western Continent, then she was exiled. Can we trust her?”
When Shula protested, the little fox whined from inside the cage and interrupted the conversation. He seemed to understand what they were saying
Shula turned her head and yelled.
“Shut up, you cunning fox!”
“Kyuu…”
Even though the little fox was close to dying, Shula didn’t kill her temper.
“You dare to talk back to a priest!” “Kyunng!”
“Don’t you think you are falling for her tricks.” (Shula)
“What?” (Scyllia)
Scyllia sighed and repeated her words.
“She had traces of divine power. The old woman was still a priestess after all.” (Scyllia)
“Still, it doesn’t change the unfairness. Why does the Commander have to raise that monster?”
Shula gasped for breath in anger.
“We are Solar’s servants. A goddess from the West Continent. That cunning fox is a child from the land of Danwa, the god who rules the eastern continent.”
“If this has to be raised by someone, shouldn’t it be raised by the priestess who came from the East herself?”
Shula’s point was reasonable.
Scyllia also questioned it again, but now even if she manages to find the priestess once more, it didn’t seem like the situation would change.
The old woman said that this nine-tailed fox must be raised by Scyllia herself.
If you don’t want to see the cub of a Heavenly Beast turn into a demon of hell……’
When the old priestess spoke those words, she had unwavering eyes, like an old sturdy tree. Even if Scyllia had objected, she would not have changed her opinion.
“Honestly, I’m worried about the Commander.”
Shula sighed and muttered.
Scyllia was an emotionless and reserved Commander. It was more worrying when such people do things they usually don’t do.
What kind of personality does she have?
She was such a talented person that no one could stop her from being chosen as the Commander of the Holy Knights to be stationed in the Grenia Empire.
By the way…….
I was finally delighted to be able to pay her grace for saving my life, and of all things, she asked me to heal a monster.’
Shula rubbed her distorted forehead.
Honestly, if Scyllia hadn’t saved her from a monster she wouldn’t have been this invested in the Commander. She wanted to repay the favor, so she was looking for an opportunity while spying on her, but Scyllia had no flaw, it was to the point where Shula started to worry whether the Commander was even human.
Shula, who has a personality of not being able to live in debt, had a fire inside her stomach.
“I was so excited that I followed you unknowingly…”
“Do you not wish to do it?”
“I will take a look. Do you have any special requests, ma’am?”
“Keeping it a secret…”
“I won’t tell others even if you tell me to spill the beans!”
She was furious.
“If I say that the Commander is raising a nine-tailed fox, everyone will treat me like a crazy person.”
“Even now, I’m being treated like a half-crazy person.’
Shula shrugged her shoulders and looked at the condition of the nine-tailed fox.
“But is this a male?”
“Hmmm?”
“It’s a male nine-tailed fox all right. Look at this. It’s nothing more than a cub and it already has a solid
“Kyuuuanng!”
The little fox pricked all its fur and puffed out its eyes.
“How can you say something like that without hesitation.’
Scyllia, who was far away, touched her forehead. Shula murmured as she stretched the wrinkles on her forehead.
“It must be difficult for the Commander to raise him.”
“Are there any serious problems?”
Scyllia approached until a certain distance and asked. It was a habitual distancing she took from other people.
‘It’s uncomfortable…….
Anxiety tightened her throat.
Monster! You must die!”
Scyllia clasped her wet hands drenched in cold sweat and closed her eyes tightly. She then asked in a stern voice as if terrified of the answer.
“Is the fox in a very bad condition?”
Shula, who was looking at the strange sense of distance with narrowed eyes, spoke her words naturally.
“It’s not that. The problem is that it’s not a normal monster.”
“I just need to raise it for a year, so it’ll be fine.”
“A year? Does this sprout of a cub become an adult in only one year?”
“That’s what the old woman said.”
Shula tilted her head.
“In one year, the Commander will be 24. Do you have any plans of getting married?”
“I am not interested in marriage.”
Marriage was not even a possible dream to have,
“If you make a mistake, you will have to live with a nine-tailed fox attached to you for the rest of your
life.”
There was no such possibility. She will unconditionally return this nine-tailed fox to the eastern continent.
“What about dating?”
“I’m not interested.”
I couldn’t do it, so I didn’t care. I thought I’d be greedy for more.
Love, friendship….
“You don’t seem to have any special friends… aren’t you lonely, Commander?”
She looked at Scyllia with eyes that saw a strange person.
Scyllia answered without blinking her eyes.
“Solar gave me life, so that’s enough.”
“You mean that just being alive is enough? How do people live like that? It’s a life worse than death.”
“Okay, the treatment is over.”
Shula continued to babble and unintentionally scratch at Scyllia’s weaknesses.
“I have never seen anyone as strong as the Commander.”
“But if your heart is too hard, one day it will break.”
Shula sighed.
“I can’t believe that the Commander who looks at others closely is being so gullible.”
“…are you talking about me right now?”
“Yes, leader. You don’t know that you’re naive, do
you?”
Scyllia rolled Shula’s bizarre nonsense into one ear and out of the other.
Shula’s sigh deepened.
“Of all things, it’s a male nine-tailed fox. Isn’t this completely like offering fish in front of a cat?”
“……….I’m going to raise it before I go back to the Holy Land and send it to the East. It’s a simple thing to do.”
Shula shook her head.
“The Commander thinks that you will simply raise a male fox? You have never even dated before.”
“What does it have to do with no dating experience?”
“When a nine-tailed fox is hungry, what will you do to appease it? It is a monster that seduces people and sucks their energy. Besides, it’s a male. A m.a.l.e, Commander.”