Free Web NovelIt was a black puppy, without a trace of any other color.
It was no bigger than his palm, and the sight of it lying there in the rain without moving, as if something were wrong with it, was pitiful to the point of absurdity.
“......”
The corners of Kennel’s mouth slowly curled upward as he looked at the puppy.
Had it fainted?
Kennel bent down and picked up the puppy lying in the rain without hesitation.
“I’ll use you today.”
He had been sick of the very sight of cats lately anyway, and now there just happened to be a puppy here. It was black, too. Even the sight of white fur made his skin crawl now.
Not a cat, and not even white.
The way it had appeared at exactly the right moment felt almost like fate.
Kennel did not even want to waste the time it would take to go all the way to his room. Had he not held back long enough? His hands were itching.
Maybe he could just take care of it right here.
Did it not look like it would die if he simply squeezed a little?
He did not seem to need any tools, either. His hand slowly moved toward the puppy’s throat.
[.......]
At that moment, the puppy, which had been lying there with its eyes closed like a dead thing the whole time, suddenly opened them.
“......!”
W-what?
Kennel flinched without meaning to when those pitch-black eyes met his.
It felt as though everything inside him had just been seen through.
Then, the next instant—
“Uh...!”
He could only stare in even greater shock.
The world around him was swallowed by blackness in an instant. The scenery changed, and suddenly he was standing in a space filled with nothing but darkness.
“W-what is this?! Where am I...?!”
He had been in the garden just a moment ago.
Frantically, he looked around—and the moment his eyes fell to the ground, his mouth dropped open.
“Ugh...!”
A sound like a scream tore from his throat.
The floor was covered in corpses.
The mangled corpses of animals.
Of course, there was no reason for him to be frightened by dead animals. Was it not something he saw all the time? No, had he not put them into that state with his own hands?
But—
Slide. Rustle.
—that changed if they started moving.
At the sight of countless animal corpses hurrying toward him in that condition, Kennel’s legs gave out and he dropped hard to the ground.
“A-aaaaaaah!”
At last, a full scream burst from his mouth.
“G-get away! Get away from me! A-ah, aaaah!”
Things that were cold as ice and slick with rot began crawling all over him, climbing his body, biting into him. No matter how wildly he tried to brush them off, it was useless.
“Aaaaaah! Stay back! Stay ba— aaah... ah......”
Thud.
After screaming until he had nothing left, Kennel finally lost consciousness and collapsed.
And as soon as he did, the scenery around him swiftly returned to normal.
The black puppy that had been sitting quietly in front of him was nowhere to be seen either.
“It’s true! I’m telling you, it’s true!”
“All right, enough. Get some rest.”
“Why won’t anyone believe me?!”
“Haa...”
Jims, Kennel’s father, let out a heavy sigh and slowly shook his head.
Yesterday, the boy had been brought back to the house unconscious. The servants said they had found him collapsed in the garden, and when he woke up, Kennel had started talking nonsense again.
The dead animals attacked him?
He ought to say something believable if he expected anyone to believe him. Just as the doctor had said, Jims was beginning to wonder if something had gone wrong with the boy’s mind.
After all the animals he’s killed.
And perhaps even people...
Jims jolted.
He hurriedly shook his head. That was only his own speculation.
The blood all over him...
And the dirt caked on his shoes.
Not long ago, the boy had not come home until very late.
And when he returned at dawn, the sight of him had left Jims with a terrible certainty.
That, unlike usual, the child had not killed an animal that night, but something larger.
And perhaps that something had been a person...
“...Get some rest.”
Forcing the thought away, Jims quickly left the room.
“Why won’t anyone believe me?!”
Bang!
Left alone in the room, Kennel slammed his fist down on the table with all his strength, his voice breaking with rage.
Even now, he could still feel it—that cold, wet sensation of things crawling over him and biting him. And they were saying it had all been a hallucination?
“Ha!”
Kennel dragged a rough hand through his hair and let out a long breath.
He gnawed at his nails over and over, his nerves showing plainly.
No matter how he thought about it, was this not strange? The cat, and then the puppy...
Something was definitely happening to him.
Tap... tap tap.
“...?”
As Kennel sat there replaying the last several days and sinking once more into anxiety, he turned his head at an unfamiliar sound.
Tap tap.
“Ugh...”
A small, cute red bird was perched by the window.
As if asking him to open it, it kept pecking at the glass with its beak.
“G-go away!”
Normally, he would have opened the window and let the bird in at once. There was no reason to send away a toy that had come to him on its own.
But had not everything he had brought in lately turned out strange?
What if that thing was one of those too?
“Go away!”
Whoosh!
Kennel shouted with all his strength. He even threw a cushion from the bed, hoping the bird would fly off.
[What’s your problem?! Why won’t you open the window?!]
Crash!
“Hhk!”
But the next moment, the bird came through the shattered window while squawking something at him.
The sight made Kennel recoil in terror.
“A-a bird...!”
Just a moment ago, it had looked like an innocent little fledgling that knew nothing.
Now its eyes were fierce, and it kept screeching at him as if that had all been an act.
[Why are you discriminating against me?! You let those other two get close so easily! Why not me?! What, I’m not cute enough for you? Is that it, you little bastard?! Since when do you get to discriminate—?!]
Whoosh!
“A-aaaaaaah!”
A great blaze erupted around Kennel.
This was absolutely not a hallucination. How could this scorching heat possibly be fake?
“S-save... me...!”
Kennel screamed with everything he had, praying that someone would hurry and save him.
[Shut up! What right do you have to scream?! I already set a barrier, so no matter how much you yell, nobody’s coming!]
“Ah...!”
The flames surged even higher, and the suffocating heat stole Kennel’s voice before he could even scream anymore.
And in the end, just like before, he thrashed in agony until at last he lost consciousness again.
*****
“Good work, everyone.”
[What are we even going through all this trouble for?!]
Ugh, my ears.
Will you stop yelling?
Camilla looked at the little red bird perched on her shoulder, shrieking at the top of his lungs.
Jeti.
[I told you, I could’ve just beaten some sense into that brat myself.]
“That isn’t the end goal.”
How many times did she have to say it?
Answering flatly, Camilla lowered her gaze to the small puppy at her feet—
No, not a puppy. Luna, in her wolf-cub form.
“But really, when you get small, you look kind of pathe— ahem... no, that’s not it. You’re both ridiculously cute.”
Looking at the two of them shrunk down even smaller than King, they looked absurdly tiny.
I thought only our King could do that.
And yet these two could also turn into adorable little babies if they wanted to.
[You were about to say pathetic, weren’t you?!]
“No. I never said anything like that.”
Avoiding Jeti’s stare as he glared at her, Camilla stroked King in her arms.
The ones she had brought along this time to watch Kennel—the murderer who had killed Rana—and to teach him a lesson were the divine beasts.
She had originally thought of asking only King for help, but it did not seem like a single round would be enough to correct his habits properly.
[Why go through all this trouble? We should just grab him and crush him.]
Jeti grumbled again.
He had come because Camilla asked, but he still could not understand why she was bothering with any of this.
Sure, the boy had been frightened, but had he not even killed a person, from what Camilla said? Should it really end at this?
“Of course I don’t intend to leave it at this. But I wanted him to understand something.”
[What?]
“That no matter how small a living thing is, he has no right to lay hands on it.”
I’m not some great animal lover, but I’m not thoughtless enough to stand by and watch something get abused right in front of me.
[Killing animals isn’t even the worst of it! How are you going to expose his real crime? Murder, Camilla. Murder! He needs to be thrown in prison immediately!]
The animal killings mattered, of course, but the greatest crime here was still the child he had murdered.
And had he not mutilated the body in a horrific way?
The most important thing was to prove that crime and make sure he paid for it properly.
“I’ll handle that.”
