The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 63

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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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Episode 63
* * *
“Shortstuff!”
Zeros Nordic rushed forward, his face drained of color, shouting as he ran.
“Baby Moon Bear Boss! Where are you!”
Whatever had happened, the fabric bore deep gashes from razor-sharp claws, torn to shreds.
Zeros Nordic swept his eyes across the chaos, skirting around what might have been bodies sprawled on the ground.
“Miel! Shortstuff!”
He shoved aside a collapsed tent with his hands and was about to pass when he finally noticed the silence, stopping short on the canvas.
“…gi.”
A small voice.
Zeros Nordic’s head snapped around at the sound, refusing to miss it.
“Over here.”
“……!”
Someone was there in the wreckage.
Sitting, cradling a child in their arms…….
“You’re…….”
“Nível Holbard. I serve as Pola’s aide.”
“Ah, right.”
Though he knew the face, he’d never exchanged proper introductions—he merely nodded lightly by way of greeting.
Zeros Nordic dropped to his knees and quickly gathered the child into his arms.
As he lifted her roughly and examined her from every angle, Nível Holbard watched with an odd expression before speaking.
“There are no serious injuries.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“……Yes. That’s right.”
After examining her carefully and receiving Nível Holbard’s confirmation, watching the child contentedly hum with a peaceful face, he finally gathered her close again, gently this time.
“You protected her?”
“I tried to.”
At Nível Holbard’s ambiguous reply, Zeros Nordic studied him more closely.
He looked far better than expected—no major wounds, no signs of toxin contamination.
“You’re untouched, unlike the others.”
“The others are fine too.”
“……What? Then what’s all this blood? The attackers? But I don’t even see any bodies…….”
Besides, what he’d seen in the tent moments ago were massive claw marks from a beast. The problem was that he saw no trace of the creature itself.
“Did someone come? From our house? I saw that purification light—someone must’ve been sent to cleanse the whole village.”
Thinking of that radiant purification earlier, it seemed possible that another practitioner had been dispatched from Nordic.
If they were stronger than him…… well, his older brother would have to come.
“No. No one came.”
“Then what happened? What went on here?”
“That child.”
“Baby Moon Bear Boss?”
“She did it. She defeated the Demon Beast that attacked this place, purified all the toxin in the area, and healed both myself and the knights—not a single wound remaining.”
“……?”
“She did all of it.”
“……What are you talking about? There’s no way this little thing could…….”
Zeros Nordic answered with a skeptical expression, glancing down at the child—then he froze.
“……This.”
Miel’s forehead looked different than usual.
Instead of the small stone that normally sat embedded in the child’s brow, something else occupied that space now.
A jewel that shimmered with iridescent light—something strange and beautiful.
* * *
“You liar.”
Snicker-snicker.
Blue Man laughed, watching the large Red Man’s massive frame lumber toward him.
“You knew perfectly well it would purify on its own without you getting close.”
“…….”
Red Man glanced sideways at Blue Man and let one corner of his mouth curl into a smirk.
“The young bear simply needed a strong stimulus to awaken.”
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, the first Awakening has gone smoothly.”
“Right. I’m not blaming you for anything.”
At the Silver Man’s words, the Blue Man let out a harsh laugh.
“Playing the dutiful ancestor, are we? Bernier.”
“…….”
The Blue Man spoke, but Bernier remained silent.
Soon enough, they vanished into the deep darkness of the forest.
* * *
“Squeak!”
“Lord have mercy, what in the world is this? A corpse? Garbage? How does a dog end up looking like that, for hell’s sake.”
“Ugh, disgusting. What is that, Mother?”
A newborn puppy whined.
Its fur hung sparse and patchy, its bones twisted as if warped, its face contorted into something grotesque.
It looked nothing like its littermates.
Born with a visage that made anyone who saw it recoil in shock—its front paws slightly bent, its eyes bulging unnaturally from their sockets, its teeth sharp and jagged as needles.
“Yelp, yowl!”
When it tried to nurse from its mother, the other pups shoved it aside.
“Growl-!”
And on the rare occasions it managed to seize the teat, the mother herself would reject it.
“Ugh, every time I look at this wretched thing, I can’t stand how vile it is.”
“Yelp!”
Left on the street before it was even weaned—the natural course of things.
A bitter winter.
It lay dying in the cold and wondered.
Why was it alone that had to suffer this way?
What made me different?
Simply—just a little—born different from my brothers and sisters, that was all.
“Heh-heh, good grief. What’s this now? A mole? You’re not actually a dog, are you?”
Standing over the dying creature was a man in a heavy robe, his voice gravelly and rough.
His laughter had something unnatural about it.
“Do you want to live?”
He let out a chuckling laugh, then without hesitation scooped it up in one hand and tucked it into the pocket of his robe.
Possible only because the creature was smaller than most.
And so the man became its master.
The man was a Miner.
He wore a Lantern with a bulb affixed to his forehead, descending into the depths to extract Jewels.
As time passed, the creature—now a full-grown dog—came to understand one thing.
Its master was a being like itself.
A spine bent like a hunchback’s, a face twisted slightly askew, legs of unequal length that made him limp.
“Damn it all, really.”
“Bark!”
Even among other Badger Beastkin, he was an outcast.
“Damn bastards. Just because they were born normal and proper…….”
It wasn’t a Beastkin itself—it didn’t understand the details—but it knew for certain that there were those who tormented its master.
On the day when the bulb that always shone white and yellow abruptly began casting red light.
The man came home drenched in alcohol and, for the first time, offered it no food before collapsing into sleep.
“Bark!”
So then.
“……Huh, wow. One ugly son-of-a-bitch dog.”
“Isn’t it like that thing? That one. The Red Lightbulb!”
Snicker, snicker.
They laughed.
“I mean, who even thought to swap out that bulb? You could spot that bastard coming from a mile away.”
So then….
“Growl-!”
“Wait, what’s that…….”
“Ahhhhhhh!!”
Crack-crunch-!
Crunch, snap-crunch-!
It killed them.
It chased after those who screamed and fled, tearing out their throats with the sharp teeth everyone had called grotesque.
“Howl-!”
At last, when all the miners working in the mine had perished, the creature tore off the arm of their leader and returned to his master.
“……You!”
“Pant, pant. Master!”
The master, who had just awakened and groaned through his hangover, recoiled in shock.
He rushed to the mine, surveyed the carnage, and returned to stand gazing down at the creature in silence for a long time.
“Ha, hahahaha!”
And then he laughed at last and pulled the creature into his arms.
“You killed them for me, didn’t you?”
“Master!”
“Ah, you’re truly my best friend.”
The master beamed with joy.
And the creature, unrestrained, showered him with affection.
It was a gesture neither could have made to anyone else.
For no one had ever accepted them, and everyone had cast them out.
“My heart feels lighter. I know that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Master, master!”
“Yes, well. We should leave now. The guards will arrive soon enough.”
He gathered some money and a few clothes he could wear at once.
Naturally, this bundle also contained snacks and a blanket for the creature.
They began their wandering life.
The creature was deeply happy. No longer did his master go to work, and he was always there by his side.
“Two nights’ lodging, please.”
“Yes, three silvers…… oh, hah.”
“……Why are you laughing?”
Gleam.
The red lightbulb on the man’s head flashed.
And in the next instant, the man seized the innkeeper’s head.
“What are you——!”
Crack.
The innkeeper died.
The man held back no longer.
The badger beastkin, strong of limb and stocky of build, had always been prone to violence.
And this man was violent beyond even that.
To fit into society, he had restrained himself countless times, endured and persevered, but there was no longer any need.
They were already wanted fugitives.
“See? Now no one can ever look down on us.”
The man laughed.
“Master, master!”
The creature barked back at the laughing man.
But the joy did not last long.
The hunters were swift.
The creature and his master were captured in no time at all.
“Grrrrr——!”
“Seize them!”
“Kill those monsters at once——!”
Thrust——!
Spurt——!
“————!”
The master called out to the creature.
Gleam——!
The red lightbulb on the master’s head shone.
Beneath it, blood pooled thick across the floor.
“Wheeee…….”
“At last. We’ve killed the monster at last…….”
The voices of the triumphant hunters rang out.
He was dying.
As he died, the creature thought.
What is a monster?
Certainly, when he was born, the creature was not a monster.
He was only hungry, seeking warmth—identical to all his other siblings.
Ah…….
Simply born this way.
Why. Why. Why.
Why are we monsters?
[You speak truth. You need not be monsters. You were merely born in your primal form. What is twisted is this world.]
……Who are you?
[Tell me—do you feel it? That resentment. That hatred. That question. Why not pour it into us instead? Let it serve as a cornerstone for the day when this world returns to its genesis.]
It doesn’t matter.
As long as I don’t have to part from my master.
[Ah. If that is your desire…… I shall keep you together. Until that moment when you are born anew.]
A cold hand pulled the creature toward the dark.
And so it sank into a sleep long and deep, its soul stained crimson.
[Now then, let us make a contract. What is your name?]
—-.

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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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