Succeeding You
Nine Lives.
A house founded by the first of the beastmen — the White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox — that, after its founding, saw beastmen spring up like bamboo after rain and gather one by one until it transformed into something closer to a union of clans.
In short, Nine Lives was one house and nine houses at the same time.
"Come here."
"A human? How dare a human set foot somewhere like this…"
Evan arrived at Nine Lives with spectacular rudeness and arrogance — enough that Rainia, trailing behind him, watched him with open worry.
Evan paid it no mind whatsoever and addressed the beastman on gate duty.
"This is Nine Lives, right? Smelly old man."
"—You milk-reeking little brat."
"I got jumped by beastmen at my house. And apparently that was your leader? So I figure I'm owed some compensation."
The gatekeeper, having just been personally insulted, said nothing. He simply tightened his grip on the spear shaft in his hands and swung. A strike of startling speed came flying at Evan.
A clean blow that looked as if the man had spent his entire life training with a spear. Evan answered by meeting it with his blade and took a single step forward.
"Throwing the first punch here too, huh."
Evan chuckled, sliced the spear shaft clean in half, rode the cut upward, severed several of the beastman's fingers, and came to a stop.
Blood ran across the floor. Fingers tumbled after it.
Pain surged through the beastman like a lightning bolt. He clutched his ruined hand and screamed like a little girl.
"Gyaaaaaaah—!"
"I cut gently. Quit the theatrics."
"…Doesn't seem like there's much difference between a gentle cut and a hard one."
"I'm a Sword Saint, you know? When I cut gently, it really doesn't hurt."
Joke or not — putting the name of Sword Saint on the table like that left Rainia with nothing to say.
As she kept her mouth shut, Evan strode into the mansion as if telling her to trust him and follow.
…To think I'd come back here.
Stepping onto the long run of paving stones inside the mansion, Rainia looked around, overcome with feeling.
A mansion she had fled more than a decade ago. She had never imagined she would return.
She had been a failure born without a tail — washed out as a beastman, washed out as an heir. A loser.
"Nice."
Things were different now. Walking in through the front gate with nine tails, fair and square — everything felt as if it rightfully belonged to her.
Seeing Rainia break into a sly little smile, Evan tilted his head.
"Huh. You like this mansion?"
"It's not bad. I never thought it'd feel this good, though."
"Hmm— is that so."
Evan fell into a brief, thoughtful silence at her words, then let out a soft ah of realization.
"Then take it."
"…What?"
"This mansion. You said you like it, right?"
Evan grinned as if it were nothing at all.
"I'll gift it to you."
Nine Lives was made up of nine houses.
Gyeongguk-gyeongseong, the pillar of the organization that had succeeded the founding nine-tailed fox. Ilgidangcheon, the guardians of Nine Lives. Haesinsuryeong, where the beastmen of the seas beyond the land had gathered.
Beyond those, beastmen of every kind had founded houses of their own and filled out the ranks of Nine Lives.
As was only natural — just as humans were not close simply for being human — beastmen were not close simply for being beastmen of the same organization.
If anything, they were houses itching to tear into one another, and Gyeongguk-gyeongseong, as the pillar of the whole, had more enemies than any other.
"Hmm— so you've come to collect the debt Kiara owes you. Is that it?"
"Yes. Are you going to come at me too?"
"Of course. Naturally. When those bastards leave a mess and we get the chance to clean it up and collect the price, why would we run—"
Slash—!
Evan subdued the beastman in front of him and looked around. Dozens — hundreds — of beastmen already lay bleeding and fallen in every direction.
Even for a Sword Saint, this was starting to feel like crossing a line.
But he had already crossed every line there was, and sensing that stopping now would only make things worse, Evan did not stop. He pressed deeper and deeper inside.
"I thought the grounds seemed awfully big. So it's not just Rainia's family living here?"
"That's right. Nine Lives has nine houses. Gyeongguk-gyeongseong is the largest among them, but… even so, it's only a part."
"Uh… that's a problem. Does that mean I can't give you the whole mansion?"
"It's fine. I was just getting nostalgic. I don't actually want it that badly. Besides, there's no way I could clean a place this huge by myself."
"Yeah, fair enough."
Evan bantered with Rainia like that while continuing to put down every beastman who charged him. Once the number of subdued beastmen passed several hundred, the enemy side finally started thinking.
They tried negotiation instead of fighting.
"—I am Masok, head of the Cheollyangjilju house. What is it you want?"
"I've been saying this from the start… compensation for the damage Gyeongguk-gyeongseong did to me."
"…The head of that house is currently away. She isn't here."
"Then I'll just wait like this until she gets back. That okay?"
Masok bit down hard on his lip.
"…Being a powerful superhuman doesn't make you invincible. Keep acting like a reckless child and you'll pay for it."
"Sounds fun. Go ahead."
"…"
"People who say 'just you wait' never turn out to be scary."
Grinning, Evan simply sat down on the stairs and passed the time at his leisure.
The beastmen of the other houses, watching him, redirected their resentment. That thing was a natural disaster. An act of God. Something beyond their power.
So — when the head of Gyeongguk-gyeongseong who had brought this thing here returned, they would make her take full responsibility.
Without fail.
In the adventurers' city, Kiara received the report from her subordinates kneeling before her.
"I-I'm sorry. We failed."
"…Was there a variable? My calculations should have been perfect."
"W-well— they were stronger than expected, and they had a companion… Time dragged on, and other adventurers showed up."
"Aha. So there was a variable?"
Hearing her subordinates report their failure, Kiara looked at them with a slight smile.
"I failed to account for the variable of your incompetence."
And in the next instant, the iron fan in her hand smashed into the beastmen's skulls. Ordering the blood-drenched, collapsed subordinates cleared away, Kiara sighed and stared blankly out the window.
Even striking while Evan and Rainia had their guards down, they hadn't managed to take the two — so any further schemes were probably impossible.
The two would already be preparing for the next ambush, and that Sword Saint brat could pressure the lord of the city directly and have them expelled. Capturing them would have to wait. Returning to the family first was the wiser course.
"Cheongil. Hongil."
"Yes, Family Head."
"You two stay here and monitor Evan and Rainia's movements. Report at all times. I need to head back."
"Understood."
The next morning, on the road back to the family after leaving her surveillance agents behind, Kiara discovered the two people she had left in the city running toward her like mad.
"F-Family Head—!"
"…I distinctly told you two to keep watch, didn't I?"
"B-both of them— they disappeared last night!"
"What?"
Never expecting the two would flee like this, Kiara wore the look of someone who had taken a hit and let out a hollow laugh.
Wherever they had gone, it would only be harder to catch them now. She needed someone to find out where they had gone, and sending people to pursue them all the way there — all of it cost resources.
If they had used the title of Sword Saint to slip under the Blue King in the Royal Capital… then no matter if it was Nine Lives or anyone else, reclaiming them would be impossible.
Even a mongrel eats half just by being in its own territory… Pulling a superhuman and a nine-tailed fox out of a superhuman's domain is impossible…
Hoping desperately they had not gone to the Royal Capital, Kiara returned to her family.
The territory of Nine Lives. Arriving there, Kiara frowned slightly at the complete absence of any welcome.
"What is the meaning of this…"
The head of the family returns and this is the cold reception she gets? Whichever house, whichever person was responsible — she would not let it stand—
"—Ah. There she is."
"You're late, Mother."
"…Why are you two here?"
Bursting through the main gate, Kiara found Evan and Rainia lounging on the stairs of the headquarters and froze.
Around the two of them, countless beastmen lay sprawled and rolling on the floor.
"Why are we here? Don't you remember what you did last night?"
Evan said this as he rose to his feet. For some reason, the sword in his hand seemed to grow larger and larger.
Seeing that, Kiara swallowed hard. She could feel in her bones what the name "Sword Saint" — a name she had dismissed — truly meant.
It meant the sword in those small hands could take her head at any moment.
"I've come to collect."
"C-collect what…?"
"This family."
Evan answered, poking the ground with his sword.
"The legitimate heir is here."
Putting forward the most legitimate successor — the nine-tailed fox Rainia.
He was saying he had come to devour their house.