117th Episode
39. Magical Beasts and the Suspicious Village #2
I moved to the kitchen and pressed my nose against the collapsed body of the chef, smelling something.
It was a faint but oddly familiar aroma of sauce.
I realized I had been surrounded by this scent in the Ancient Nest before.
—I’ll manage somehow.
I shouted towards Batus in the hall and slipped out the back door of the restaurant. Fortunately, there were no people visible in the alley behind the restaurant.
I put my nose to the ground and began to sniff slowly.
Watching media, I recalled dogs tracking scents like this and wondered, could I do the same?
“I’ve got something.”
Not expecting much, a sharp aroma of sauce wafted up from the floor.
I moved my nose towards the smell and cautiously made my way through the restaurant’s back alley.
“Ugh…”
“For the Brotherhood…!”
Whenever I sensed a presence, I held my breath and activated Hide. Soon, the humans who appeared didn’t notice me and lumbered towards the restaurant.
When their backs disappeared from view, I exhaled and took another sniff.
‘Can I really find out where they are just by following this smell? Where does it lead?’
I looked up to see if there were any clues to resolve this situation. In the distance, I spotted a tall building with a spire.
It seemed to be the only building in the village made of bricks.
The paper hanging from it likely indicated it was a church or something similar.
‘Could that be where the smell is coming from?’
I sniffed again.
I could be overreacting, but the greasy scent definitely seemed to lead towards that church building.
Just by looking, it appeared suspicious, being the only stone structure, so I started making my way toward the church.
“Let’s send the animals back to nature.”
“For Longtail!”
Thud, thud. Whee-haw!
At that moment, the sound of nervous horses stamping their hooves reached my ears.
Turning around, I saw crazed villagers untying the reins of the horses they had tied in front of the guard.
“Go….”
“Don’t let humans catch you again.”
Whee-haw!
One of the villagers slapped the rear of the released horses. The two horses, like a pair of racers, bolted away in the same direction.
‘Ugh, without those horses, what am I going to ride now?’
As I dashed after the fleeing horses, I heard a frantic cry from a man.
“Gah! St-stop! This is a challenge to the guards! This is a rebellion against the crown! Can’t you see the eagle flag flying? The door will break! The door will break!”
Bang, bang! The sound of villagers banging on the door and Garfield’s urgent voice rang out.
Even amidst this chaos, Garfield seemed to maintain his sanity, unaffected by whatever magic was going on.
There may be differences in how magic affects everyone.
Our eyes met through the curtain-draped window, and Garfield’s wide-eyed expression pleaded for help.
“Oh, hey! You there! Help me! Do something about these guys!”
Garfield was begging me for assistance, likely desperate enough to ask an animal that couldn’t even respond.
“D-don’t go! Don’t go! Stupid!”
Garfield shouted angrily as I turned my back on him and walked past.
I felt a bit sorry for him, but the more he yelled, the more attention he drew from the villagers. It seemed pointless for me to risk myself to save this Garfield guy.
“Hey! Come back! Come back!”
‘Looks like everyone has shifted over there.’
Taking advantage of the villagers clustering around Garfield, I moved forward.
While using Hide, I had to hold my breath, so I couldn’t sniff while doing that.
Thus, I needed to advance without relying on invisibility and track the scent.
‘It really does seem to lead to that bell tower building!’
As I got closer to the bell tower, I could definitely sense the smell growing stronger.
“Urrr… Let’s send them back to the wild.”
Suddenly, someone sprang out from behind me. While concentrating on the smell, I hadn’t noticed them approach due to my dulled senses.
—Get lost, you pest!
I swung my tail and sent the farmer sprawling away from me.
It seemed they were just ordinary humans being controlled by some unknown force, so there didn’t seem to be a need to cause any serious injury.
“Uugh… Let me go back to nature!”
The fallen farmer twisted grotesquely on the ground, trying to grab me.
Like something out of an exorcism movie, the bizarre contortion of his body sent chills down my spine.
‘I only wanted to send him back nicely.’
I had no choice but to swipe my paw at the farmer’s head. The farmer, who had been crawling like a four-legged soldier, collapsed and no longer got up.
“There it is!”
“It’s a beast tamed by humans! Capture it…!”
Noticing the commotion, other villagers began to converge toward me.
If I focused on taking them down, wouldn’t all the humans come rushing at me during the confusion?
‘Better to avoid this.’
I dashed towards the bell tower. A few villagers reached out toward me, but with their bodies swaying like zombies, they couldn’t even brush against my fur.
Before I knew it, I was close to the building of the bell tower, sniffing in front of it.
‘Just as I thought, this is definitely the place. My nose isn’t too shabby. Is it inside?’
I grinned wickedly, baring my fangs. Then, I pushed against the firmly locked door at the building’s front with all my might. But the thick wooden door wouldn’t budge.
‘The windows are too small for me to get through.’
Quickly brainstorming my options, I decided to climb up the bell tower and enter through there.
The building, looking quite old, had lots of crevices and footholds, so scaling it looked like it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
‘Feeling like Santa Claus up here.’
I sank my claws into the wall and climbed to the top of the building. The villagers below stared up at me in panic, reaching out.
“Ugh…”
“Eugh…”
Moreover, it seemed all the villagers were converging in front of this building. With such a notable reaction, I was convinced that the trigger for all this chaos was inside.
Reaching the very top of the bell tower, I looked at the rope connected to the bell. Just as I suspected, there seemed to be a chimney-like opening down into the building below.
‘They probably never thought I’d sneak in this way.’
I grabbed hold of the long rope hanging from inside the building and leaped down.
Deng, deng. Deng.
With every swing of the rope I grasped, the bell rang loudly. Perhaps this noise would draw all the villagers towards this building.
As I descended on the rope, the dark interior of the building came into view.
Candles burned at regular intervals, barely illuminating the surroundings.
Long benches were arranged on either side, and a raised platform in front resembled the interior of a church or some other religious building.
—.
A strange sound echoed from within. It was a sharp note from an instrument that could justifiably be called a melody.
I cautiously approached the source of the sound.
Before the grand wooden altar, someone cloaked in a black robe played a stringed instrument attached to a rope.
‘This guy is totally suspicious. Anyone can see he’s the culprit.’
In this madness, holed up inside the church, playing a violin or whatever, this human was definitely not in their right mind.
‘Wait, this isn’t a human at all.’
Sniff, sniff.
I inhaled deeply, taking in the scent. It carried the distinctive aroma of the beasts from the Ancient Nest.
—Are you Longtail?
—.
At my question, the mysterious musician’s movements came to an abrupt halt. A lush golden tail protruded from beneath the hem of the black robe.
It was a long, golden tail that rivaled my own.
Watching it sway, I couldn’t help but growl playfully.
—Come on, just peacefully submit to being my meal, you fox. You’re one of those Tartar foxes or whatever, aren’t you?
—Heh heh. And what about you? Are you a human’s dog? You also smell like one of the Ancient Nest’s beasts, so how come you’re with the humans?
The black-robed figure stood up, turning to face me and locking eyes.
‘A fox standing on two legs.’
The ‘Longtail’ wore the same attire as those members of the Black Brotherhood I had encountered earlier that day.
Clad in a long black robe with a hood covering their entire form, they appeared to be a fox using their front paws like hands to play the violin.
The image of a creature wielding tools and wearing clothing looked so natural that one might mistake it for a half-demon from a folktale or a character out of Aesop’s fables.
Human-like in appearance.
This hinted that there was likely a mythical creature among its ancestors. In terms of hunters, this would classify as at least a Gold Grade beast.
‘The mention of the Ancient Nest wasn’t unwarranted. This village was actually its lair.’
While glaring at the instrument held by the fox, I growled.
—Are you controlling mice and humans with that? You sly fox.
—Indeed—this is the treasure of Lord Nialli, the Hamelin from the walls. And I have been bestowed the splendid name Longtail by Lord Nialli.
—Longtail because of your long tail? Wow, great name you’ve got there. Is that rat in the wall your boss?
—What? Rat, rat…?
Agitated by my mockery, the fox frowned deeply beneath the black robe. Speaking in a low, solemn tone like bubbling magma, he retaliated.
—Insulting my master is intolerable! You insignificant beast, are you defiling one of the twelve essences!?
The fox approached me with heavy strides, brandishing the violin bow as if it were a sword.
Whoosh.
The string, glinting against the silver wood, sliced through the air with a beautiful sound.
Yet, the sheer sharpness gave me a sense of imminent danger—getting grazed by that would surely spell disaster.
—Though beasts should be returned to nature, I’ll make an exception for you and bury you in the dirt!
The fox, Longtail, looked incredibly angry, wildly swinging his front paws around.
Swoosh!
The sharp string of his violin sliced through the wooden benches in the chapel as if they were made of paper or tofu.
‘Wow, that’s impressive. For sharpness alone, it rivals my claws. Being thin must make it even sharper.’
I thought of how to strike back without getting hit.
My first idea was to use Hide for a surprise attack, which was my favorite method of attack.
—You do have quick movements! But you shouldn’t just focus on dodging!
In a frenzy, the fox swung the violin bow around madly.
I hunched down and concealed myself beneath the wooden benches, holding my breath.
—Hiding under the benches won’t help!
Longtail slammed down onto the bench I was hiding behind. The long wooden seat splintered in half.
—What the? Where did it go?
Longtail wildly looked around, gnashing his teeth. I activated Hide and moved to a slightly distant spot to observe his movements.
His long snout, with his twitching nose at the end, flared up.
—There’s a sweet scent. The smell of milky fur. That must be your scent. I know you’re hiding somewhere around here. With just that bright white fur, you can’t hide… forever!?
Longtail thrust his head down beneath the benches, seemingly convinced I was there. I muted my footsteps and slowly crept toward him.
—Where are you? Come out!
Frustrated by how the situation was unfolding, Longtail ground his teeth in anger.
Using the skill Stealth Movement, I minimized my footfalls and approached from behind. Then, standing carefully on my hind legs, I extended my front paw towards Longtail’s face.
‘Goodbye.’
With that, I extended my claws and raked them across his neck with all my might.
—Grrrkl, arg…!
Longtail fell to the ground, bl**d spurting from his neck as he looked up at me with wide eyes.
—For a Gold Grade, you’re not that impressive. Am I actually strong?
I chuckled slyly at Longtail’s dying form.
Even if I won easily, he was likely a descendant of a mythical creature, so he should yield a generous amount of experience. Just as I was about to stretch my paw toward his nape…
—Na, ahl, keck. Y-you. Oh, it’s been a while…
Despite dying, the fox kept mumbling something. I thought little of it when he seemed to be chanting the name of his master as he died.
‘Something’s reflecting in his eyes.’
I realized that Longtail’s unfocused gaze was not directed at me.
His eyes were fixated on something behind me.
