258. The Black Nine-Tailed Fox
258. The Black Nine-Tailed Fox
- 1 -
The full moon hung on the eaves of the temple.
In the stillness of the night, only the thin, clear ring of wind chimes sounded.
Between the ornamental figures perched on the eaves' ends, the shapes of Zhe Bajie and Tianshan Gap could be seen.
They stared at us as if they were alive.
They were Yuran's subordinate yokai.
I felt their gazes, filled with worry for their master.
"You two, just do your jobs properly."
At the sound of Yuran's voice, the two yokai hurriedly averted their eyes.
Their embarrassment was plain to see.
Yuran's arm wrapped around mine, the warmth relatively cool.
And from her long hair flowed a sweet fragrance.
"The place where this concubine was born is the Demon Realm of Andras, on the Western Continent. I was born a member of the Heavenly Demon Fox Clan..."
As she walked, hugging my arm, she gazed absentmindedly at the temple garden, her figure like a portrait of a beautiful woman brought to life.
Her fingers moved restlessly in my palm.
As if it were not easy to begin her story.
"... I was a bastard child."
I stopped walking and looked at her.
Moisture glimmered on her long, half-lowered lashes.
"And what is more, I was a yokai born with an excess of power."
Before I knew it, my hand rose and caressed her cheek.
The tears did not fall, but it was not difficult to guess at her pain.
"White-faced Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox."
Ran drew a breath, then unfurled my fingers where they rested on her cheek, stroking each one as she continued.
Her body heat remained cool, yet her touch somehow seemed to warm me.
"That is the name of the power I possess."
I clasped her hand tightly. An old sorrow lingered on her face.
- 2 -
"The Gumiho clan is broadly divided into two," Ran said, raising her hand slowly and conjuring a flame.
The edge of her sleeve brushed past, spreading a subtle fragrance.
"Namely, the main house in the Demon World, and the branch house on the Surface."
One burning with purple light, the other with gold—the Foxfire illuminated her face.
The two soon transformed into the shapes of foxes.
Shapes that signified the houses of the Surface and the Demon World.
"I have heard of it. That the Third Demon Queen is a Gumiho."
Ran nodded. Her long, beautiful hair brushed against the back of my hand.
"The Duke of Lust and the Third Demon Queen, both are members of the Gumiho clan. Because of that, the members of the Surface Gumiho house were lofty in both power and pride."
Saying that her own proud clan was a noble house, Ran spoke. Yet, looking at me, Ran's eyes burned not with respect for her clan, but with contempt.
Had an ordinary person faced that hatred, they would have felt terror and fled from her.
"It was a noble house. Though it was still only of Count-grade at the time, it was confident enough to believe it would rise to become a Grand Duke on its own."
A sharp laugh, "Heh," escaped Ran. Her lips trembled slightly.
The sound of her setting down the wine cup also rang out sharply.
"The source of that power was the strength of the White-faced Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox."
From the gently swaying tips of Yuran's five tails, purple flames rose and began to revolve slowly around us.
Her face seemed paler than just moments before.
"It was the qualification of the Lord who leads the Nine-tailed Fox Dungeon, and the qualification of the one who leads the clan."
Ran raised one hand, and within it, two golden foxes circled and leaped.
Following behind the two foxes, the shapes of nine tails caught my eye.
"That power manifested in a bastard child."
"They must have judged that it would cause problems for the clan's succession structure."
Ran nodded at my words.
Her unshed tears made her eyes stand out more.
That bastard child was right before my eyes now.
She bore a terrible grudge and hatred for her own clan.
It was not difficult to imagine what had happened between them.
"At the time, there were two candidates to inherit the Count's title. The firstborn and the second. Both were born with the power of the White-faced Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox. On the day one was decided as the head of the family, the other was fated to have their power stolen or to die."
Foxfire danced in Ran's hand.
Between the two golden Gumiho, a small purple Gumiho appeared.
She looked around anxiously.
I pulled her shoulder toward me. I felt the temperature of her cold body gradually rise.
"The Count made a decision. To absorb the bastard child's power into the main house."
That small Gumiho screamed, and then began to be torn to shreds. Ran's voice trembled violently.
"They intended to use you as a 'sacrifice.'"
"That is correct."
I seized her hand. Unlike usual, it was terribly cold.
She, too, gripped my hand tightly.
"They prepared a curse sorcery. Not just to steal my power..."
Ran's voice wavered.
"They said they would extract the power from all bastard children born in the future, making their clan ever more sublime."
I embraced her. Her body was trembling as if she felt a chill.
Her fragrance seeped into my chest.
"That meant they would erase even the potential of any children born from me."
"So that is why you came to this place."
As I carefully stroked Ran's head and ears, she burrowed into my embrace and murmured.
Her long lashes tickled the nape of my neck.
"I had a teacher."
"A teacher?"
When I questioned her at the sudden change of topic, I felt the nodding motion against my collarbone.
"Privately, she was my aunt. She was the one who raised me, in place of a mother I cannot even remember."
As I listened quietly, Ran began to recount her memories of her, one by one.
The memory of learning sorcery from her.
The time she first formed her Dantian...
And how that very person met her end, dying while protecting her against the clan.
"Through her sacrifice, I was able to use her Cintamani as a medium to activate Reincarnation Magic. And then..."
Carefully lifting her head, she met my eyes.
"I met my lord husband."
Those eyes of hers were shining with sorrow and joy.
I cupped her cheeks with both hands.
Her lips slowly parted.
- 3 -
A moment later, we sat inside the Main Buddha Hall.
Her hair tickled my shoulder.
From her arm leaning against me, a subtle warmth spread, heating my body.
"I have one question about this."
"What is it?"
Ran and I were looking at the beauty portraits hung on the walls of the Main Buddha Hall.
Among them, a particularly large one depicted me, and the numerous pictures around it seemed to be of the women who remained loyal to me until the end, including Ran.
Ran's was on my left, and one that was slightly larger than the other beauty portraits—I could afford to close my eyes to that one.
After all, this place was Ran's home.
"According to what you say, this life would be your third. But the second you..."
I trailed off, but she smiled bitterly as if she understood the meaning.
When I discovered her, she had been in a situation where she was struggling alone to free herself from the domination of the Gwangshin nobles.
She had said she could have resolved that crisis even without my presence, but it was obvious it would have taken more time.
And it was the same in the first iteration.
If her life had been the second, such a crisis should have been something she could escape more... 'simply.'
"The Reincarnation Magic of my past life did not perfectly preserve memories like Regression Magic."
"Ah."
I gave a low exclamation and nodded my head.
The end of her words trembled. Like a reed bending in the wind.
But when I held her hand in return, her voice gradually recovered its clarity.
"Because of that, I suffered greatly when I was reborn on the Eastern Continent back then. I almost gave up. For I was nothing more than a young fox at the time."
Yuran's voice brightened immediately afterward.
"It was then, that my lord husband came."
Her black tails swayed gently, brimming with vitality.
Scattering golden and purple specks of light, they created a dreamlike atmosphere.
When that cluster of light illuminated her face, the expression of a woman in love was clearly visible.
"We grew up together, and I grew up watching my lord husband's back."
"It is a bit of a pity. That I will not be able to see what you looked like back then."
At my words, her face flushed a peach-blossom pink. Her appearance as she turned red down to her neckline was lovely.
The form of her lying with her head on my lap changed.
She transformed into a five-tailed fox, with fur entirely black, its tips dyed purple.
The golden eyes looking at me curved charmingly.
- How about this form?
"Your form is always cute and beautiful. It is just that there is a part I have not seen, so I feel a slight regret."
As I spoke while stroking her head, her body shrank a little more as she narrowed her eyes coyly.
Her soft fur tickled my palm.
I lifted her, now a young fox, and held her in my arms.
Her gentle warmth spread to my chest.
- Are you satisfied?
"Now I see, you were feeling a bit sulky, weren't you?"
- I was not...
How much time had passed?
We stayed like that until the moon tilted further and hung at the entrance of the temple.
Caressing her plump cheek, holding the fox who smiled softly...
Her tiny breaths tickled the nape of my neck.
Gazing up at someone's beauty portrait, Yuran continued speaking.
- When I regained my memories and was confused, my lord husband swore vengeance, regardless of the political situation.
Ran, licking my cheek, let out a short, cute whimper.
Her small body squirmed in my arms.
- And when my lord husband came to know his own origins, we confirmed our feelings for each other with an even deeper sense of kinship.
I nodded and carefully caressed the tips of her ears.
"Both of us were born as someone's blood kin, fated to be used as their tools."
- And my lord husband allowed me to escape from being that tool.
Having returned to human form, she knelt and placed both hands on my face, cupping it.
I felt the touch of her hands at my temples.
"So I resolved myself. That this time, I will never lose my lord husband."
I took her hands.
With her now-warmed hands interlaced with mine, she carefully climbed onto my lap.
Her smooth, luxurious scent spread out.
I looked up at her and whispered.
"Thank you, Ran. For coming to my side."
Finally, tears streamed down from the corners of the Black Gumiho's eyes. The transparent droplets fell onto my cheek.
She leaned her body toward me and whispered.
"I will be by your side forever. Even if I must give everything I have..."
The night gradually deepened. The moonlight merged our shadows into one.
- 4 -
Dawn in the underground dungeon.
I pushed aside the blanket deeply infused with Ran's scent and rose from the bed.
Wrapping my body in sleepwear and rising from the spot, I looked at one of the beauty portraits hanging on the wall of the Main Buddha Hall.
The portrait was smaller than mine, but similar in size to Ran's.
The woman in the picture depicted Ran's teacher and aunt.
I poured fresh wine into the wine cup placed before her.
After warming the wine over the candle flame a few times, I placed it before the woman again.
The warm fragrance of wine spread into the dawn air.
And from within the darkness, very faintly...
- I entrust Ran to you. Great Master.
The whisper of a soul long departed from the Surface was heard.
It was the voice of a woman who, until her last moment, guarded her student and niece.
Within that voice dwelled a deep affection and worry for Ran.
"..."
I merely nodded.
I felt the presence of the soul vanish.
- 5 -
About a month later, in the western forest of the Orbis Duchy.
Today was the day another appointment was set.
I followed behind Shue, who was running ahead, and lifted my body into the air.
As the midday light shone upon her white hair, a subtle radiance spread out.
With sunlight penetrating the deep forest to illuminate the ground, Shue's white form sprinted like a shadow and tore out the throat of a demon beast.
- Kuok...!
Chwaak - !
A fountain of blood burst into the air, and the ogre, the terror of peddlers and mercenaries, collapsed to the ground.
The creature died blinking its eyes. As if, until the very end, it didn't know what had happened to it.
Tak.
Standing atop the corpse, Shue's body bore no blood.
Except for the hand that had just torn out the ogre's throat.
Chararak - !
Blood was drawn out from the ogre's body and gathered at Shue's fingertips.
What formed there was a small, blood-red pill.
By the time the ogre had completely shriveled, the slightly larger pill disappeared through Shue's lips.
"This way."
Again she took the lead, and I, too, walked forward slowly.
She was running and I was walking, but the distance between us was short.
Because my shadow was sliding my body forward.
"... It's this place."
Arriving at a clearing in the middle of the forest, she used the tip of her foot to dig at a spot in the grass.
Her white legs glistened between the blades of grass wet with dawn dew.
"The place where... I first met Master."
Lifting her head, her red eyes looked at me.
Deep longing was settled within those eyes.
"...It was the place I was reborn."
With her languid eyes curving thinly, she spoke in a small voice, as if whispering a secret.
It was a voice accompanied by a sweet tremor.
As I took a step closer to her, she seized my hand and escorted me carefully.
Our shadows stretching across the ground became one.