Mad at Humans

It wasn’t hard to find Lucy’s trail.

Soho was with me, after all.

As I followed behind Soho, a sudden thought hit me: maybe it had been waiting for me all along. Clever little thing that it was, it had gone ahead and started searching for Lucy before I’d even said a word.

We reached a place called the Dead Tree Forest.

Gray, gloomy trees were strewn everywhere, filling the place with a bleak, lifeless air.

"Meow."

Soho fixed its gaze straight ahead.

I understood at once what it wanted to say.

I broke into a sprint, and Soho raced after me.

That was when I spotted it: a monster with blood around its mouth, pressing its nose to the ground as it searched for someone.

It looked like a giant hound.

It was roughly my size, maybe even bigger.

And it wasn’t just the bulk that was unusual. It had three heads. Instinctively, a wave of revulsion rolled through me, and the fact that it came charging at me with its teeth bared and no hesitation at all told me everything I needed to know. It was definitely a monster.

Monsters are evil.

Lucy had said that monsters were evil creatures who couldn’t be reasoned with.

They were the closest thing in this world to negation itself.

Born with a taste for killing people, beasts, and every other living thing, they never changed that nature for as long as they lived.

In short, monsters were non-recyclable nuclear waste.

Sometimes a monster would appear with enough intelligence to speak like a person, but Lucy had warned me over and over again that they were no different from the rest and that I should never get close to them.

There were no bad dogs in the world, people said, but a three-headed dog was a bad world all by itself.

I had no choice but to take this monster down.

"!?"

I grabbed the charging hound—Cerberus, basically—with both hands.

Then one of the mouths I had pinned started to move.

It was trying to tear my head off.

Crack!

"Yelp!"

Cerberus let out a scream.

Before I knew it, black thorns had burst up and covered its whole body.

This time, I wasn’t excited like before.

I looked coldly at Cerberus as it writhed in pain, dark blood spilling from its mouth.

Even if it was a worthless piece of trash that couldn’t be recycled, I had no interest in toying with a dying creature.

I grabbed its forelegs and started spinning it around.

Crack! Crack!

The body of the whirling Cerberus smashed through the trees in the forest.

A gust of wind tore through the woods.

Centered on me and Cerberus as we spun in place, a small hurricane began to form.

"Meeeeee-ow!"

Soho, clinging to a rock so it wouldn’t be blown away, let out a desperate scream.

I needed to end this quickly.

Using the force of my spin, I hurled Cerberus into the sky.

Watching it shrink to a dot in the distance, I brushed my hands together.

The black thorns sank back down, and I returned to my usual form.

ROOOAAAR────────!!

I let out a thunderous roar.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The reason I’d made such a racket was partly to warn any nearby monsters that they’d die if they came too close, and partly as a signal to Lucy.

Shivering all over, Soho padded up to me.

"Sorry. I scared you."

I lifted Soho onto my shoulder and gently stroked it with my finger.

With Soho a little calmer, I searched the forest with it.

And then I found Lucy.

She was a mess.

Her neat, lovely appearance had been wrecked, and her face was deathly pale. Even her breathing looked painful, which made my chest tighten with unease.

"Lucy, are you okay!?"

Watching her flail her arms desperately was awful.

It felt like staring at someone drowning to death.

There was nothing I could do for Lucy with a body this huge.

I couldn’t hold her and tell her to calm down. I couldn’t even take her hand.

...

My mind went completely blank.

How had Lucy ended up like this?

How was I supposed to save her?

Should I take her to the beastfolk?

Would they know any medicine? No—did there even seem to be a doctor around here?

What if Lucy died?

Thoughts crashed over me like a tidal wave.

"Meow."

I only snapped out of it when Soho licked my cheek.

"Yeah. Got it."

I nodded to Soho.

I took a deep breath.

Then I bent my knees and carefully held out my hand.

Could you hold out your hand for me?

Lucy always liked it when I reached out first.

My hand was huge and rough.

I had no idea why she liked it so much.

Still.

I always acted reluctant about it, but honestly, I liked it too.

After all, moments when I could feel another person’s warmth were rare for me as well.

I just didn’t want her to be in pain.

Thinking that, I held out my hand, and Lucy’s palm softly met mine.

Lucy and I were a monster and a human.

The difference in our sizes was so enormous they could hardly be compared.

It was like setting a pure white crayon on a sheet of black paper.

Lucy’s pain slowly began to ebb away.

The harsh pounding of her heart, loud enough for me to hear, and her uneven breathing both started returning to normal.

"Are you okay?"

I asked Lucy.

Her face was dirty, but her expression had softened into its usual gentle calm.

Lucy smiled through her mess of a face. Then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she lost consciousness.

I carefully caught her and laid her down.

Soho came over and licked Lucy’s face.

I let out a breath of relief.

Lucy’s breathing had returned to normal.

She didn’t look as critical as she had a moment ago.

My gaze naturally drifted to the humans.

They didn’t look entirely safe either. Considering how little blood stained their clothes compared to the severity of the damage, had Lucy healed them too?

"■■, ■■, ■■■■."

"■■■, ■■, ■■■ ■■ ■■…?"

I figured it’d be better to take them back too.

For now, though, it seemed wiser to decide after Lucy woke up.

My meager brain wasn’t good enough to understand the situation at a glance.

Lucy’s body twitched.

Her deeply submerged consciousness stirred awake, and three voices overlapped in her ears.

…

One was the voice of her teacher, the one who guided her through the world.

"Meow meow!"

"Lucy, are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you okay!?"

The others were Satania’s and Soho’s voices.

"The cottage... we’re back."

Lucy could feel the soft touch of a bed beneath her.

Just a moment ago, she had still been in the forest….

"How’s your body? Does anything hurt!?"

"Mew-mew-mew!"

"I-I’m fine! I’m fine, so please stop pulling my cheeks like that…!"

"I’m really glad you’re safe…."

Satania let out a relieved breath.

Lucy had been gone so long that she’d thought maybe she’d gone to visit a village somewhere, and when Behemoth said Lucy had been hurt, Satania had been so shocked she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Then, once Lucy woke up, the disembodied, almost mechanical presence Lucy called her teacher briefly explained what had happened while she had been unconscious, because Lucy wanted to know.

Lucy then learned that Satania had tended to her devotedly for 9 hours, 58 minutes, and 6 seconds while she was out cold, and that her precious friend had saved her and carried her back to the cottage.

"Meow…."

I patted Soho, who was sprawled beside the bed.

Soho had also stayed by her side and watched over Lucy carefully the whole time.

Lucy spoke to her friends in a bright voice.

"Satania, Soho, thank you so much."

"No, it’s my fault. I should’ve noticed something strange sooner and helped you…."

Lucy shook her head at Satania, who was blaming herself.

"I’m the one who should be sorry. I never imagined things would turn out like this either... And, by the way, my friend…."

Her teacher told Lucy about the situation unfolding in the yard.

"!?"

"He’s watching the humans right now. Those guys are mages from the Seven Magic Towers, aren’t they? Lucy, they hurt you, didn’t they?"

Outside the window, Behemoth was keeping a sharp eye on the humans.

The humans were trembling and kneeling, and Satania thought it served them right.

Originally, Satania hadn’t planned on healing them.

They were the sealing enforcers from the mages’ towers—humans famous for being impossible to talk to. When she’d asked them why they’d come to the Gehenna Great Forest, they’d all clammed up. It was obvious they’d come with some shady purpose.

And she didn’t even need to hear the reason to guess what it was.

Lucy was a Chosen... So that explains the awful curses on her body too.

If Lucy hadn’t healed them with magic, Satania would’ve really let them die.

She wasn’t exactly fond of humans in the first place.

"Hmph. Humans are sneaky, all right... I know that better than anyone. I suffered plenty because of them too. Ah—and I am absolutely not saying Lucy is sneaky! Don’t you dare misunderstand me! Got it?"

Lucy nodded and gave a little smile.

Then she tried to get up.

"Are you sure you should be getting up already? Wouldn’t it be better to rest a little longer?"

"I’m fine. Those people look uncomfortable too... and I thought it would be better to talk to them sooner rather than later."

"Honestly, Lucy, being this kind is almost a problem sometimes…."

Satania took Lucy’s hand and guided her gently along.

Come to think of it, there was a huge crash near the orc and goblin settlement. It wasn’t a meteor, was it?

Satania blinked and dismissed the stray thought from her mind.