Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 359

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Additional Side Story: Act 23
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Two days later.
I absently touched the necklace hanging around my neck as I always did. It looked like an ordinary necklace, but it was actually the Dragon Duke’s egg.
It had been a while since I visited the cursed Manor. No news had come from that direction.
Of course, it was possible that word simply hadn’t reached me, confined as I was except for visits to the Weakling Club.
But I was certain of one thing.
The enemies still didn’t know the Dragon Duke’s egg had disappeared.
‘Thanks to Tus.’
The baby snake sleeping coiled around my forearm beneath my sleeve right now.
Before taking the egg away, Tus had used his ability on the basket where it had been kept.
He said it wouldn’t last very long, but it was a sort of illusion ability that would make it appear as though the egg were still there for a while.
Thanks to that, everything remained quiet.
‘So I need to realize the next plan right away.’
Strangely, the Dragon Duke’s egg was always warm. Perhaps because of that, I found myself constantly touching it.
-I feel the same power from Calypso! It would be nice to be near her!
For some reason, Tus said he felt a power similar to the Dragon Duke’s emanating from me.
However, since the Dragon Duke hadn’t been born yet, Tus himself was still underdeveloped and couldn’t say exactly what kind of power it was or why it existed.
At the same moment Tus mentioned ‘the power of time,’ I began to suspect something.
Regression.
In any case, I came to the Weakling Club without any particular concern.
And under Edric’s consideration, I was having a private meeting with a guest instead of my friends.
The atmosphere was tense.
“Noble Lady.”
Sitting before me was Esther, the head of the Otter Family.
“I’m glad you’ve achieved what you wanted.”
She didn’t know what I had done or what I had taken when I entered the cursed Manor.
It was better that she didn’t know.
After all, I had only asked for her help with entry and return.
I looked at the tea on the table before lifting my gaze.
“You’ve been through a lot too. I’m really grateful for your help.”
“Not at all.”
I paused for a moment before speaking.
“It’s the panther beastkin.”
“. . . .”
The culprit who would cause the Otter Family’s annihilation. Beastkin as prideful as the Black Panther and terrifyingly devoted to their own kind and family.
“You’re not hearing this for the first time.”
That was true. I had already told the Matriarch of the Otter Family this.
On that very day when I said I would help them.
“I’m just confirming it again. There’s absolutely no chance I’m wrong.”
Silence.
Esther exhaled softly.
“Yes, I understand.”
“So how are the preparations?”
“Proceeding smoothly.”
I explained the culprits and provided several countermeasures. Listening to Esther’s follow-up, she had accomplished far more than I had anticipated.
“If we had followed your instructions exactly, we would have been pinned down as military supply smugglers embezzling resources.”
“They’re despicable.”
“…Indeed. In any case, we’ve secured evidence, and if we wait, we should be able to catch them in the act.”
Hope flickered in Esther’s eyes.
“We can survive now. All of us can.”
The Otter Family oversees the waterway management of the Capital. Among the resources they transport were military supplies.
One day, Esther discovered key materials going missing while checking the ledgers.
‘When she tallied it up, the quantity was quite staggering, she said.’
However, due to the passage of time, finding records proved difficult, and strangely, not even a single clue appeared.
There were occasionally beastkin who made unreasonable demands for favors, so she had thought it was nothing serious. But her anxiety only grew with each passing day.
The materials continued to disappear. Consistently.
I gazed at Esther quietly.
My deliberation was brief.
“…Do you really believe that?”
“Pardon?”
“That you can survive.”
Esther’s eyes wavered slightly. Confusion, doubt, anxiety. Even an expression asking why I would say such a thing.
It was a familiar face.
I must have worn the same expression when facing those who tormented and insulted me.
I sighed quietly.
I didn’t want to be so blunt with someone who had helped me.
But my life in this world had been extreme. I could either speak with excessive timidity and hesitation, or speak my mind freely as I did in this lifetime. I couldn’t afford to wear false pretenses.
“In my opinion, I don’t think you’ll survive using that method.”
“…!!”
Esther jerked her upper body upright.
Shock flashed across her face, and simultaneously, a sense of betrayal. Before her emotions could intensify further, I raised both hands. As if asking her to listen.
“You’re wise. Your response was excellent.”
I felt it when I received help to secure the Dragon Duke’s egg.
For a persecuted family, they possessed considerable resourcefulness, and judging by the mysterious force beside Esther that day, they seemed to have military forces in reserve. Those who were with them looked like mercenaries.
“What do you mean! You promised to help us, Noble Lady…!!”
The fact that she decided to help me even showed she possessed decisiveness.
That’s when I realized it.
‘If the Otter had been moderately foolish, they would have stopped upon noticing the culprits were aware of their information.’
But Esther was sharp. Even I, who hadn’t spoken to her many times, could sense it, so the culprit seeking to annihilate the Otter likely knew this as well.
Just watching her struggle to suppress her emotions and maintain composure revealed a difference in caliber, didn’t it?
“The method is sound, nothing wrong with it. I’d even say it’s perfect.”
“Then.”
“But that only works when the other party honestly accepts the results.”
I thought she would understand everything from just this one statement.
Because I already knew who the culprit was.
Sure enough, Esther’s eyes wavered violently.
“Then… does that mean everything I did was ultimately meaningless…?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“The sewage management your people do is extremely rough and difficult. Filthy, even.”
“Yes…”
“Because of that work, you’ve earned the right and authority to live in the Capital among the land-dwelling Beastkin here.”
I thought about why they could exist as a noble family despite being oppressed.
And when I saw Esther handling the sewers with such familiarity on the day we headed toward that cursed Manor, I felt it.
To the Imperial Palace or the Capital’s administrators, the Otter Family were necessary slaves—but they were also those who knew their weaknesses.
And these otters had built a system with their clever minds?
Then what comes next.
‘Just steal the well-made system and kill them. That’s all.’
The predators’ vile intentions were laid bare before my eyes.
“But you already knew that right wouldn’t be complete or eternal, didn’t you?”
Esther’s expression darkened noticeably.
“So… we were already decided to be eliminated long ago. Then even if we overcome this crisis…”
“You’ll die from something else someday.”
This was what I wanted to say.
Esther wiped her face and laughed hollowly.
“Then what was the point of me enduring, tolerating the hands that mocked our family and people, that pointed fingers at my daughter? And what do I do now…? Are you telling me to just die like this?”
Her face desperate, I opened my mouth with quiet eyes.
“Have you thought about leaving?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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