Olberg's Gentle Dogs
After the resurrected girl and the resurrected witch set out on their journey together, it was always one incomprehensible event after another. Today was no different.
“Huaaang… Pirel, Pirel…”
“Um, Kaira…?”
Why was I lying down? Why was Kaira holding me and sobbing so hard? And on top of that,
why was I lying completely naked in the front yard of this cabin in the early-winter forest?
“So… why am I completely undressed…? It’s cold…”
“Ah.”
Startled, Kaira stayed on her knees and crawled across the ground, hurriedly gathering the clothes I seemed to have thrown off.
The chains clinking at her wrists and ankles, restricting her movements, looked pitiful.
As I stared at her back while she scraped together the garments to dress me, a headache crashed over me and the things I had done slowly rose to the surface. Once I had all my clothes on, the memories returned in full.
“…I’m sorry, Kaira.”
I could only say it while embracing my daughter, who was a full head taller than me.
“For doing… something like that… I just thought it was natural. The only thought I could manage was that I had to help that witch—”
Before I could finish, the chained wrist of my daughter swung wide above me. I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut, but…
I felt a slightly cool palm gently cupping the back of my neck, the strength of an arm pulling my face firmly against her body, and the soft, plush texture of a chest pressing against my cheek—breasts that carried no mature feeling at all, perhaps because they resembled my own.
Kaira rubbed her cheek against the crown of my head and, somehow maneuvering her constrained arms, hugged me tight.
“It’s all right, Pirel. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was the magic’s fault. It was… that witch’s fault.”
“Mmm…”
I was nothing more than an ordinary girl who had grown up in market alleys and slept among horses in a stable. Yet here I was, helplessly cradled in the arms of my wizard daughter—who had endured every hardship and grown far more mature than I could ever be.
Against the firm, smooth plane of Kaira’s chest where I could feel the hardness of bone, I asked quietly, “The last thing I remember is Viran… no, Viran casting some spell on me. What happened after that?”
Kaira gave a weak smile.
“You died, Pirel. You turned to stone.”
“I see.”
Not wanting my daughter to notice the tears that had sprung up, I buried my face once more in her chest.
What did it feel like to die by turning into stone? Kaira had not restored that memory, so I could not know. Perhaps it was the sensation of the body gradually hardening, senses being stolen away, while the terror of dying remained painfully vivid. I shuddered.
“Thank you for bringing me back to life again. I’m always just a burden to you…”
“You’re not a burden, Pirel. Without you, I would never have…”
A dry voice cut into our conversation.
“Hmm… This is truly surprising.”
We jerked in fright and looked toward the source.
Viran stood examining her measuring instruments. She did not even turn her head in our direction, as though something extraordinary had appeared on the display of that ramshackle device.
Her head was not severed. She looked perfectly whole, as if she had never been beheaded at all. Only the bandages wrapped around her neck still fluttered in the winter wind, cut and ragged.
“The distortion is comparable to the moment Astina sacrificed herself to tear space apart. Interfering with another dimension without using any mana and twisting causality to this degree… It really is fascinating.”
I felt trembling. Kaira was shivering uncontrollably. The fear rising from a realm beyond understanding—that must have been what she felt.
I felt the same.
“H-how… how is… how…?”
Kaira barely forced the question out through chattering teeth. I burrowed deeper into her arms, shaking just as violently. Viran ignored us and spoke in a low voice.
“As expected, Miss Kaira. You appear to be connected in some way to those entities known as ‘gods from beyond.’ Just what secrets are you hiding…?”
Only then did Viran turn her head. The sight of her head attached to her torso at a twisted angle was grotesque.
“Hik…!”
We both gasped at the horribly misaligned head.
“Oh, right. You’re wondering how I’m alive? I wasn’t alive to begin with. It’s impossible for a human to keep an intact body for over two hundred years, isn’t it? This body is dead. I simply linked the dimension where mana flows with my circulatory system and sustain myself on the incoming power.” The witch’s expression turned faintly bitter. “That was the magic I refined, believing it to be the secret of eternal life. In a sense, I suppose I’m similar to the Demon King or Kaira. Though I do despise both the Demon King and those things from beyond.”
Viran noticed her crooked head and used both hands to adjust her neck until it aligned with her torso.
“Still, I liked the original appearance of this body and didn’t want to let it rot, so I learned embalming techniques from the elves of the floating city. For example, the two of you, mother and daughter, have that…”
Viran gave a sneering chuckle.
“I wanted to preserve even after death a mature, beautiful form that could never be compared to a childish figure. Beneath the bandages it has dried and rotted, but I reinforced the areas that required curves with prosthetics.”
So that was why she wrapped her entire body in bandages and gave off that strong chemical smell. I finally understood.
“Goodness. Listen to me prattling on. In any case, Miss Pirel.”
The moment she spoke my name, my shoulders flinched. Was she planning to turn me into a bright-faced puppet that granted every request again?
“I’d like to keep your daughter a little longer to observe the results. As her mother, would you permit it?”
“What kind of nonsense are you saying!”
I clutched Kaira tightly with both arms and shouted.
“I will never hand Kaira over to a horrible witch like you! She is my daughter, and now she is my precious older sister. I absolutely, absolutely will not give her to you…!”
Viran let out a bright, refreshing laugh. The fact that a corpse could laugh like that only made it more horrifying.
“The mother has spoken, Miss Kaira. What do you say?”
The archmage’s condescending gaze slid away from me. I followed it and looked up at Kaira. She was…
mouth hanging open, body shaking violently, staring fixedly at Viran with a face utterly steeped in joy. A thin line of drool spilled from her parted lips and soaked the front of her chest.
“Kaira…? A-are you all right…?”
My words were completely ignored. A voice like a broken phonograph being forced to play emerged from her throat.
“Y-yes… Ehehe, Viran, M-Master… Kaira… Kaira is… happy! Hehehet, because I can listen to Master’s words, because I can help Master, I’m so happy!! Ahhat, ahahahat… Hek hek…”
Kaira pulled the arm that had been hugging me free and knelt before Viran.
“K-Kaira…? What’s wrong… why are you acting like this all of a sudden?!”
“Why? Because I cast a spell, of course.”
I turned my head slightly toward the archmage, who spoke in a voice as creepy as a snake. At Viran’s fingertips, something warm and apricot-colored swirled. When Kaira used magic, similar colored lights would appear. Was that afterglow the leftover mana from casting…?
“But you said that spell could only be used once a day…”
Viran giggled at my lamenting murmur, as though I had said something ridiculous.
“Indeed. This is not Viran’s Child’s Play. It is Olberg’s Gentle Dog. Since Miss Pirel is not a mage, perhaps an explanation is required? It is a spell that half-destroys the target’s personality and lowers their intelligence, turning them into a ‘dog’ loyal to the caster.”
I trembled as I watched the archmage speak of something so terrifying in such a casual tone. Goosebumps raced up my arms.
“Because cognitive ability is destroyed, its applications are limited. Once affected, normal human activity becomes impossible. It is typically used on prisoners of war to extract secrets—something of that nature. The effect lasts only until the target falls asleep. Since it could fail against someone with strong willpower, using it on the strong-willed Miss Kaira was a fifty-fifty gamble… It seems luck was on my side this time.”
“But,” I said, looking down at the crown of Kaira’s head as she panted on her knees, “you promised you wouldn’t do this to Kaira… You said that if you were going to use her as a lab assistant, she needed to keep her reason… If it was just me… manipulating one mind was enough with just me…!”
“Oh dear, Miss Pirel. You seem to be under a misconception.”
Viran took one step, then another, moving her thickly bandaged feet. Each step of the archmage riding a corpse felt like pure horror to me.
“Hik…”
“I never made any promise. I never wrote a contract. I simply tossed the words out lightly. Besides—”
Viran, who had already reached Kaira, lightly stroked the soft hair of the baker’s daughter.
“This child’s power exceeded all expectations. The readings were so intense the measuring device nearly exploded. There is more than enough data to analyze, so there is no need to keep such a trivial promise, is there? Still, the sight of a mother and daughter volunteering ‘Don’t torment her, torment me instead’ was quite moving. It brought tears to my eyes.”
Viran looked straight at me and continued in a firmer tone.
“But understand this, Miss Pirel. The true nature of the ability Kaira possesses is clearly suspicious. Depending on how it is used, it could endanger the entire world. I do not believe the current Miss Pirel—who has lost her memories and even possesses a different identity—should be held responsible, but the fact remains that a horrifying monster has sprung from your womb. Keeping the two of you alive carries risk for me as well.”
With that, Viran looked down at Kaira once more.
“Well, that’s enough of the heavy talk. Miss Kaira, who has temporarily become as stupid as a beast. Let’s see it. Obedience position!”
“Yes, Master! Hehe.”
Kaira immediately flopped onto the ground. Chains clinking, bare feet dirty with soil pressed together, legs spread, bound wrists placed demurely on her belly—she stuck out her tongue, panted, and acted cute like a dog. I could only watch.
‘Kaira…’
From the very beginning, this had been a dangerous journey I could never have started alone. Throughout everything we had faced, Kaira had always been my protector, and I had relied on her strength.
“Hek hek… How is it? How is it, Master?”
That same Kaira had been reduced to this. The girl who had protected me from strange cultists and hordes of bandits had become a stupid bitch. How could a person change so completely in mere seconds?
Was that archmage truly such a terrifying existence?
The more I looked at Kaira’s miserable state, the more my body shook. My teeth chattered. Strength left my legs. Feeling as though I had been thrown into the world with no one to protect me, trembling like a mouse before a cat, I
“Uht…”
lost all strength in my waist and legs, wet myself, and collapsed. Skirt and legs soaked, they grew cold in the winter wind.
“My, my. Was the sight of Kaira broken so frightening that you wet yourself? How adorable.”
Viran glanced at me where I lay collapsed and shivering, mocking me, then turned back to Kaira.
“Now, Miss Kaira. Wouldn’t it be unfilial to pretend to be more mature than a mother who wet herself in front of her daughter? Why don’t you make a mess as well?”
“Yes! Hehehe. Master! Master!”
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaira flipped up her skirt and roughly yanked her underwear down to her knees.
“W-wait…”
I tried to stop her with a trembling voice, but I could not stop the splashing sound, the stream of pale yellow liquid, or the white vapor that scattered uselessly into the winter wind.
I stared dazedly at Kaira, who wore an expression of utter bliss despite her shameful state, then spat resentfully at the insane witch who refused to treat us as people and simply toyed with us.
“What exactly do you want…? Why… why are you turning us—turning Kaira—into such a miserable sight and mocking us…?”
Viran tilted her head slightly, then answered with an expression that said the question was obvious.
“For fun!”
“Wh-what…?”
“While I analyze the measurement results, I would prefer to keep you both alive and captive. However, tying you up goes against my aesthetics, and leaving Miss Kaira—with power this strong—free is too unsettling. The only remaining choice is to shatter the minds of this harmonious mother-daughter pair and make them perform clownish acts. That is by far the most entertaining option. That is all.”
I had nothing left to say. As I clicked my tongue in disbelief, Viran almost completely ignored me, bent down to Kaira’s ear, and whispered something.
“Stop your nonsense!”
I shouted at her.
“You claim to have lived for hundreds of years—why are you doing something so childish?! We won’t run away, so please persuade Kaira properly, let us wait for the analysis results together, and we will cooperate with your experiments, please…”
I pleaded, sobbing.
“Because I was lacking, because Rasail was lacking… our poor Kaira, who has only lived a pitiful life—please don’t make her any more miserable…”
After shedding tears for a long while, I finally calmed down enough to lift my head. Viran had finished giving instructions to Kaira and now stood. The dead-bodied archmage, more than two heads taller than me, smiled.
I shrank back, inexplicably intimidated.
“Wh-what did you do?”
“Nothing much, Miss Pirel. I simply taught Kaira one spell.” Viran gestured toward her as if making an introduction. “Even with reduced thinking ability, she is still a mage, so she learned it quickly.”
Kaira reached toward me with a completely broken smile.
“Magic…? Hue…?”
At the tip of Kaira’s finger—where the magic-sealing cloth had come slightly loose—her face… something shimmering… a feeling…
Strength drained completely from my already-kneeling body. It was not merely strength; this was…
My mind grew hazy.
I saw Kaira still reaching out to me.
That’s right. I… pretend to be a mother, but I have only ever been protected. I selfishly gave birth to Kaira and only caused her suffering. This disqualifies me as a mother. Rather than a mother…
At this rate, I am nothing more than a pet, aren’t I?
Yes. Kaira-nim’s dog.
Hehe…
“Hue… Kaira-nim…?”
Just like that, I lifted the skirt stained with dirty urine, spread my legs, exposed my belly, and assumed the obedience position—just as Kaira-nim had shown her master’s master, Viran-nim, moments ago.
“Good, Kaira-nim…! So good…”
Viran-nim let out a delighted laugh.
“Excellent. The cute puppy has brought in another puppy?”
Kaira-nim answered happily,
“Yes, Master! Yes!”
I felt good too and smiled shyly.
“Ehehet…”
Viran-nim laughed brightly, as though everything had gone perfectly, and spoke.
“Good. Then I’ll play with the two of you moderately like this, freeze you solid with stasis magic, shatter you nicely, grind you up, and use you as fertilizer for the herbs in the front yard. Sending you back would be troublesome. It is far too dangerous to leave Miss Kaira with such an ability alive. Or perhaps, since you mother and daughter are quite pretty, I could petrify you in an unsightly position of mutual lust and use you as garden ornaments. Either way, you die. How does that sound?”
We both listened to Viran-nim’s joyful command and answered happily.
“Yes! Kaira is dangerous, so she is a bad child! Please kill us, Master!” “Hehe… Good, good, Master…”
“Huhu, yes. What good children. Then I will examine the measuring device all day, so the two of you…”
Viran-nim gestured lightly toward the cabin.
“I’ll lend you the bed. How about it? Spend your final moments as mother and daughter entwined like slugs before you die. Let the noises you make become music that motivates my work.”
We—the lowly me and my beloved Kaira-nim—
“Good, Master!” “Thank you, Master!”
answered with joy, neither caring who spoke first.