Chapter 23
Chapter 23
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Only the Owner Can Rein in Their Pet's Gluttony (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I jerked my chin toward Kaku and asked.
“Is that a mercenary group? Why are they all sprawled out here?”
Kaku didn’t hide his tension and instead fired back with a question of his own.
“That monster next to the Duke. What the hell is it?”
“Didn’t you hear my question? I’m the one asking. What are these guys?”
“…It’s the Sloth Mercenary Group. We got badly injured fighting a magical beast. We need to get back for treatment.”
“Why’d you get injured?”
Kaku lifted his head, his face flashing with surprise. Our conversation felt oddly tedious, and my expression hardened.
“People got hurt. And the Duke isn’t even fazed. You ask about the reason before even trying to save the wounded.”
“You seem to be under some delusion. What good does it do to flaunt your misplaced sense of justice in a situation like this? I guess you’ve lived a life where you could push nobles around because you’re strong enough to take down magical beasts…”
I stroked Death’s Maw demonstratively. Its belly was full today, so it clung to me more affectionately than usual.
“I’ve got a starving monster here. What if it just snaps up a fragile thing like you in one bite?”
[I’m hungry. But I don’t eat peopleeeee!]
I gripped its jaws tight, top and bottom, and smiled.
“Hungry, huh? Yeah, yeah. I get how you feel.”
[Am I hungry? Yeah! I’m hungry!]
Fortunately, Death’s Maw had intelligence on par with an ostrich.
“So before I offer you all up as a meal for the garden gulper, tell me what happened.”
The mercenary leader let out a rasping cackle, then spat a glob of blood onto the ground. A reckless grin spread across his lips.
“You act just as nasty as you look. Why we got hurt? Can’t you see? We got fucked by a magical beast. Damn…”
“I’m wondering how that beast showed up here. Did you summon it? Use magic?”
“Hey, kid. Do I look like some weak-ass spell-slinger? I lost an arm, sure, but I’m still the leader of the Sloth Mercenary Group. Summoning beasts with curses is for eggheads who can’t fight. But…”
The mercenary leader’s eyes gleamed as he twisted his body.
“But that bastard wasn’t some weakling!”
“Hmm. So there’s someone behind it?”
“Ahahahahaha!
He laughed so hard that coughs and blood erupted from him in spasms. Still, the laughter didn’t stop. One of the downed mercenaries crawled over and clung to Kaku’s ankle.
“Kaku, Captain Kaku, save us. Please, we only followed the captain and vice-captain’s orders. Save us… That guy’s a monster, a monster!”
“You’re the one who brought him! You said we’d make a fortune! We trusted you and dragged that lunatic along! You said we’d get rich, not that we’d all die! It’s all your fault!”
The conscious mercenaries all sobbed as they called out to Kaku. Kaku’s face twisted, flushing red. It looked like he was holding back tears.
Another mercenary, who’d lost a leg, propped himself up on his arms and yelled.
“You think you can crawl into the village alone pretending to be the good guy? You killed people with that beast—how long did you think you could keep up the act? How fun was playing house with those orphan siblings?”
At those words, Kaku completely broke.
“You killed their parents anyway!”
Kaku pummeled the mercenary who’d said it. The man went still—dead or passed out, who knew.
“Now I get it. Why you and Pippin were so despised in the village. In short, you came up with the plan to summon the beast, then bailed when things got out of hand. You settled back in like nothing happened and took care of disposing of the beasts. You handed the captured ones over to the village chief like tribute.”
“…”
“Does Pippin know? About this.”
“Pippin doesn’t know.”
“Feibe didn’t either, it seems.”
“You know Feibe?”
I smiled warmly at Kaku.
“I heard you really care for Pippin. My lips can be sealed tight… or they can run loose. Depending on your attitude.”
I stroked Death’s Maw again. It leaned against me, wagging its stubby tail smugly.
Kaku stared at me and Death’s Maw, then nodded quietly.
It meant he’d keep quiet about Death’s Maw.
That was when it happened.
Rumble rumble rumble!
A ground-shaking roar began. No voice came with it, but I could tell who was making it. Pippin.
If Pippin had kept running instead of stopping here, that meant there was another beast over there.
The strongest one—a massive beast too big for the garden gulper to digest.
Kaku grabbed the mercenary leader by the collar and shook him. The limp body flopped like a ragdoll.
“Is that thing inside? What did it summon? Where’s Pippin? Did Pippin go that way? Why didn’t you stop him!”
Kaku’s voice was that of a full-fledged father. A normal father screaming in worry for his son.
“Hahaha! Playing house has driven you completely mad. What, you think that bastard’s really your son? Pippin’s next on the menu! The garden gulper’s done for. That freak summoned some impossible monster. Fuck, we tried to make a quick buck and now we’re all dead meat! Ahahaha!”
“I told you! To stop! That it was more than we could handle!”
“You’re the one who brought him in, Captain Kaku. You ditched us and ran, left me holding the bag as leader.”
The mercenary leader’s mad laughter faded away.
The air in the forest shifted.
A massive surge of magic was bearing down on us. It wasn’t just invisible currents. The air vibrated, trees shook wildly. Pitch-black darkness swelled from the depths of the forest like an explosion.
The sky was soon blotted out entirely by the black form, leaving only thin slivers of light.
Pessimistic groans wrapped around everyone’s ankles like thorny vines. It didn’t matter who said what.
Before a superior existence that overwhelmed mere beings, all struggles were pointless.
“That thing… No way…”
“We can’t even run now.”
“Hahahahaha!”
It wasn’t mere demonic energy. Something heavier, colder, vaster filled the world.
The monster’s wings snatched the last light from the sky. The flapping wind swept the ground like a storm. I barely stayed on my feet and took in the monster’s form clearly. Awe and terror mixed with a sense of emptiness. It wasn’t curiosity keeping my eyes locked.
I was simply overwhelmed, unable to turn away.
The monster opened its maw, crimson fluids dripping between jagged teeth. Its eyes burned with a ferocity beyond the garden gulper’s, electric sparks crackling along its rough scales.
A second pair of wings unfurled, its head, body, and tail curving in majestic arcs. The tail tip slammed into the ground, triggering an earthquake.
Its roar tore at the ears—beyond what human hearing could grasp—and I laughed. The sight was absurdly magnificent.
And for some reason, I thought tiny Dahlia, sweet little Dahlia, might not know fear and would just love it.
“Lecrophadas.”
Beyond the giant monster’s gaping maw lurked pure darkness in its throat.
The dragon maddened by slaughter.
“Dahlia’s dream lizard…”
***
The so-called otome game [Flower of the Sleepless Garden] was the story of people who shone like flowers that never lost their light, even in darkness.
Not my interpretation. That’s what it said printed on the game title.
If you excluded the heroine, the one who shone brightest there was, naturally, the crown prince. Crown Prince Timers was a genius swordsman beyond any title’s description, an outstanding hero. Handsome from birth, brilliant from childhood, and radiant in adulthood.
No one could tarnish the crown prince’s dignity, nor breach the cold, solid walls of his heart.
Nobles his age were all mere foils. No—they were firewood to make him shine. They had to burn away their honor and pride until they were charred black.
Young Sierra was sacrificed that way.
The heir to the House of Gluttony Dukedom was premium firewood to hone the crown prince’s fame.
Swordsmanship, knowledge, horsemanship, leisure—nothing beat the crown prince. The Gluttony Duke, locked in power struggles with the imperial family, despised his soot-covered son. The brighter the crown prince shone, the more miserable Sierra became.
At some point, the violence called childhood friendship became routine. The crown prince’s attitude grew ever more arrogant. He often followed Sierra just to humiliate him. That clever devil had mastered the joy of crushing others to assert dominance at a young age.
Sierra grew timid, shrinking away. He endured until the flames licking at him died out.
He believed a breakthrough would come if he held on.
Until the once-in-a-generation hero, Pippin, appeared to fan the crown prince’s fame even hotter.
Pippin, the sworn knight to the crown prince, racked up feats subjugating beasts, credited them all to the crown prince, and positioned himself as an unquenchable ember.
Sierra couldn’t stand against the hero. Sierra was weak. His young sprout had been trampled by Crown Prince Timers, leaving nothing.
Even beautiful Dahlia suffered humiliation. Nominated as a crown princess candidate, she was pushed aside by a commoner heroine. Normally, a commoner couldn’t even be considered. Dahlia becoming crown princess was a given. But Timers simply—
‘Because I can’t stand looking at Sierra Gluttony. How long do I have to put up with that pathetic face?’
For that petty reason, he snubbed Dahlia.
When Sierra went to the crown prince’s palace to protest, it was hero Pippin who issued the expulsion order against Gluttony Duke Sierra.
With eyes haughty like his master’s, he dared ignore a duke’s lady and chased out the duke.
The naive young lord, the incompetent heir, the incapable duke Sierra Gluttony—today, at last, with my soul housed in his body, the time for revenge had come.
Without Pippin, the crown prince was a flower without scent, a wasp without wings.
If Pippin died today…!
“Lecrophadas. The dragon maddened by slaughter. Nothing like the crappy illustrations in the bestiary.”
No matter how great Pippin was, beating that monster and claiming victory was impossible. All I had to do was sit back and wait for triumph.
My victory. An easy one.
“Pippin has no choice but to die. How could he beat something like that…”
So now I just flee to the village and wait for Kaku to drag back Pippin’s corpse.
Run. I need to run now…
“Why does this feel so off?”
Ha, hahaha—
An empty laugh burst out, and I clamped my mouth shut.
Why? Too easy a win making me uneasy?
Could be. Luck’s always hard to trust.
“Hahaha…”
No. That’s not it.
I knew full well it wasn’t that.
It was hollow guilt.
I couldn’t take a step because that idiot’s dumb face flashed in my mind—the one pulling the cart loaded with beast meat. His innocence, missing his sister while poring over the bestiary, made me pity him…
“And now, of all times, I want to save Pippin.”