Chapter 05
TL-Mechatronic
The more she talked, the more Scyllia’s original atmosphere came out.
The low, sunken eyes sparkled with a lovely light green color like a fresh sprout, and blush appeared in her cheeks. Her hair, as if woven by sunlight, shone with a brilliant golden color. When she added a smile, her sweet and kind heart was fully revealed.
An image that feels clean, delicate, and even fragile
That was Scyllia’s true nature.
“Kyuuuuuu!! Pyuuuuuuu!!”
“Okay. You don’t like it. Do you want me to let you go
“Kurreung!”
“If you drink water…”
Scyllia’s voice was cut in the middle.
It’s because the fox, who struggled without getting tired, eventually caused trouble.
Claws that easily ripped through human flesh cut Scyllia’s throat, and blood gushed out.
After he himself did it, the fox opened his eyes in surprise.
Scyllia hurriedly pressed down on her neck to prevent more blood from pouring out. Her whole neck and hands were wet. She felt hot blood running down her forearm.
‘It was a deep cut.
“Un….”
As Scyllia’s eyes distorted, the fox’s frightened eyes became damp with water.
He cut a human’s neck.
When he had a major accident like this, the punishment was worse than the mistake he had made. It was not uncommon for all of his toenails to be pulled out.
His stomach was numb and his heart was beating like it was going to explode.
The little fox rolled into its belly, and the unusually large ears drooped on both sides. Scyllia, feeling the fox’s trembling, stretched out her hand. The fox’s eyes closed tightly in anticipation of the ruthless violence. But even after a while, the pain did not come.
Instead, he felt a soft and careful touch sweeping away his eyes. The fox carefully opened one of his eyes.
Scyllia was staring into the little fox with worries in her sprout-like eyes.
“Why are you crying? Did you hate it that much?”,
“I’m sorry for forcing you. I was afraid you would get sick. You have to drink water.”
Exhaling a ragged breath, Scyllia closed her eyes tightly, feeling dizzy.
Fixing the frozen fox in her arms, she went into the bedroom and searched the shelf. A vicious blood mark was stamped everywhere her hand touched.
Only then did the fox examine Scyllia’s condition.
There was no place that didn’t bleed from scratching and
biting.
“Why isn’t she angry?”
While the fox wondered, Scyllia sprayed emergency hemostatic agents down her neck. It was effective because it was an item with holy power.
“I’m sorry, fox.”
Scyllia was not angry. Rather, she had a genuinely sorry
face.
“I locked you up, forced you to be touched, and made you sick.”
“I have a situation, too. I can’t let you go right now. I swear to you that this is not a decision just for my convenience.”
I swear. The Paladin in front of him was the first person to talk to a fox like this. The fox was startled in another sense and only his eyes were wide open.
“I don’t want to kill you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I didn’t do anything wrong?
No. The fox knew very well that it was his fault.
He was born..
Born as a monster.
That was his fault.
He was rational even if he was a monster. The divine blood of a heavenly beast flows through the body of a mere monster. Understanding people’s words, not knowing his place as a monster.
Born a monster, lived a monster and was treated as a monster, breathing in the mask of a nine-tailed fox. Being alive in itself was a sin. Every human I’ve ever met has treated foxes that way. Everything was the fox’s fault.
“You did nothing wrong. It’s all humans’ fault.”
Scyllia patted the fox’s head and whispered as if singing.
When she comforted the fox, she would speak in a sweet voice, as if she was singing.
It was like that even now.
“Because humans don’t recognize you, they acted recklessly and treated you like a monster. That is why you were harmed.”
The tears didn’t stop.
Even though the paladin in front of me wasn’t scary now, couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
“I’m sorry, little fox. Don’t be hurt. It’s embarrassing.”
“You have to be healthy and happy. Yes?”
Scyllia hugged the fox and headed for the kitchen. She then dragged a bowl of water directly into her arms.
“Aren’t you a nice kid?” Scyllia’s kissed the top of the fox’s head and held out a bowl of water.
“Would you like to take a sip?”
The fox, who was quietly staring at the bowl, looked at the wound on her neck.
“Huh? Just one sip.”
She comforted the fox and eagerly held out a bowl of water. The fox reluctantly licked the water and began to drink it.
It wasn’t that the paladin’s request was granted. The smell of blood from her wounded body was so bad that his head, was dizzy.
I don’t want to smell blood anymore.
That was all.
“Thank you.”
However, the eccentric paladin smiled brighter than ever and was delighted.
The paladin worked outside all morning and afternoon and came home late at night.
She sometimes ran out late at night to subdue monsters, When she came back, she always had something to eat. Live chickens or ducks were often brought in so that the fox could eat the spirits.
She had a cold expression as if she wouldn’t bleed even if she was stabbed, but she knew how to make a very kind face when dealing with the fox.
Of course, that didn’t mean that the fox was released. This is because the fox did not stop running away
‘If you don’t run away, I’ll release you.’
She was a person who was terribly strict with what she said.
I have seen a lot of humans spill empty talk like that out of their mouths, but there weren’t a lot of people who were strict with themselves like her.
“Are you late again today?’
The fox lay bored and thought so.
He was locked up all day, all he could do was sleep. He was still a cub, so he’s supposed to be lucky that he sleeps a lot…
When he fell asleep for a short time.
“Damn you fox cub!”
Suddenly, the sound of a whip hitting the floor resounded in my ears.
Splack-!
The sleeping fox was so startled that he opened his eyes,
A rugged pirate with messy hair covered in a hood was voicing his anger with his yellow teeth exposed. One of his eyes was covered in blood.
It was the trace of being hit by the claws that the nine tailed fox branded against him.
“I won’t let you go!”
A leather whip coated with glass powder exploded on the back of the little fox.
“Kae-gaeng!”
In an instant, his flesh was torn apart and his bones were exposed. He didn’t die with this much, because he was a monster.
The pirate reassured himself and swung his whip in succession with confidence.
“Kae-gaeng! Kae-gaeng”
He let out a vicious scream, but no one felt sorry for the fox’s painful screams. No one noticed the fox’s pain.
There was no one to save him.
His mother died by the hands of people who were more well groomed and looked more luxurious than the pirates in front of him.
Who was it?
I didn’t remember.
I felt like I heard something weird from someone,
“If it wasn’t for that request, I would have burned the bones and flesh!”
The pirate complained.
The fox constantly ran through the open passage behind the cage, and the pirate chased after him with a vicious laugh.
The whip turned into a giant serpent and flowed like a stream of water to devour the fox.
“Kkyuu! Kkyuu!”
He hung his tongue out of his snout and ran. His pink soles were hot as if on fire.
The fox was running on the lava field of the horribly hot volcano.
“Little Fox.” His body shook frantically from side to side.
“Little Fox, wake up!”
His eyes opened wide. The dark gray sky disappeared, and the bright sunlight spread like an aurora.
No, it was not sunlight. It was the hair of the paladin. A blonde with the smell of sunlight that waffled out as if she had been basking all afternoon.
The sticky vision of hatred and anger was wiped clean, and the paladin’s eyes filled his insides.
Scyllia blinked her worried green eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“I think you were having a nightmare.”
She held the exhausted fox in her arms.
Her arms were hard because of the armor, but it was moderately warm because of Scyllia’s heat. She smelled of sweat and dirt from running around. It smelled similar to, his mother, the Heavenly Fox.
The fox’s eyes blinked slowly.
“You seem very surprised.”
Scyllia gently stroked the trembling back of the fox. It was the back that the pirate’s whip had torn apart. It healed without a trace, but the scar still remained in the fox’s heart.
“What nightmare did you have that made you scream like that?”
The fox’s scream was not heard by anyone. If he cried, it would be noisy, and more violence would pour out.
And….
“When you grow up, tell me who did it. I’ll punish them.”
Scyllia spoke with a joking face, and then she immediately held out her other hand. There were uncooked chestnut and sweet potatoes.
“It makes me feel better when I eat sweets. Do you eat sweet potatoes too? I went to the village today to subdue monsters, and the villagers gave me chestnuts.”
She cut the sweet potato into easy-to-eat pieces and shoved it into the fox’s snout. It smelled sweet and fresh.
“What do you think?”
“Is it not good? Do you want me to cook it for you?”
She tilted her head to the side, and headed to the kitchen while hugging the fox.
“I’ll give it to you after it is cooked and then cooled.”
“What if you burn your tongue?”
Scyllia mumbled as she boiled water.
The fox was suddenly angry at himself who was calmly held, in human arms. Struggling with his feet as he tried to escape, Scyllia panicked and clamped the fox’s body,
“Look out. I’m boiling water. You can get burned.”
“Growl.”
“Good boy.”
As Scyllia returned to the living room, she comforted the fox.
“Little fox. I named you today. Do you want to listen to it?”
“Growl!”
“Listen just once. When I thought of you, this name immediately came to my mind.”
The fox struggled without pretending to hear it. At that moment, Scyllia’s warm voice gently penetrated into the fox’s ear.
“Ran.”
It was a name that contained a strong impact as if piercing the eardrum with an awl.