Chapter 170
Chapter 170
If Canis Is Alive (1)
Anger’s body tried to push me out. In an extremely violent manner. It felt like forcing my way through a current lined with blades.
I wondered if I would benefit from the new ability I had gained when Adaptive Body was enhanced. But those scales only protected the left side of my chest and my neck, and did little else.
In the end, the thing doing all the work was the Circle of Reincarnation.
“…….”
Once I passed through the crystal storm, it was quiet inside. I looked around. It felt as though I was inside the body of a translucent black slime.
Anger’s size had already surpassed that of an average building, so there was not much time left until it went completely berserk.
I cast my gaze behind me. Somewhere beyond my sight, the Head of the Ulbushis Family was probably screaming in agony while bleeding.
‘He brought it on himself, though.’
Thanks to his ‘Sorrow’, things had temporarily settled down, but it would be troublesome if he happened to die. If the Head of the Ulbushis Family died, ‘Sorrow’ would take form like Anger and go berserk as well.
When I turned my gaze upward toward the ceiling, I saw a blue circle. That was probably the core serving as its heart.
“There aren’t many.”
The white spheres floating around it were memories. More precisely, intense memories. Yet only about six of Canis’s memories were visible.
Just how desolate a life had she lived for there to be so few memories? I clicked my tongue and approached the nearest memory.
―Woooong.
I awakened the fragment of a star sleeping inside the gauntlet. Fortunately, it worked properly. I checked the other things I could use, then slowly reached toward the memory.
Normally, I would have had to clear every single memory, but I had no intention of going through something that troublesome.
If I took one look and decided it was hopeless, I planned to destroy the core immediately. Canis would die, but I did not care.
“Hmm?”
A powerful light burst from the memory I had grabbed. When my vision returned, trees filled my sight.
“Ulbushis.”
Beyond the dense forest, I could see the Ulbushis Family’s grand estate. How old was Canis here? I slowly walked through the forest toward the grand estate.
―Crk.
As I moved forward with heavy steps, I suddenly sensed a presence. At the sound of something stepping on the undergrowth, I immediately turned my head.
The sound of trampling brush was too loud for a wild animal. If it had that much weight, it would have to be around the size of a deer.
I slowly headed toward where the sound had come from.
“…….”
“…….”
There was a small girl beneath the base of a tree. She had drawn both legs together and buried her face in her knees.
The figure with brightly colored hair was Canis in her childhood.
“Are you a person?”
When she raised her head, I became certain. Her neat facial features undoubtedly belonged to Canis. The only differences were perhaps her whitened eyes and unfocused gaze.
“Yeah.”
“W-Who are you?”
Perhaps startled by the unfamiliar voice, Canis flinched and fidgeted. She curled her already small body even tighter.
“W-Who are you!”
“If I tell you.”
“Yes?”
“If I tell you, would you know?”
“…….”
At my words, Canis’s mouth fell open. She had probably never heard an answer like that in her life.
I carefully observed Canis’s appearance. She looked to be roughly four to six years old. Then this must have been that time.
“What’s your name.”
“I-I’m Canis Ulbushis. O-Over there! Over there! That grand estate is my home!”
“Must be nice.”
She desperately tried to flaunt her influence. It was not bad, except that the place she pointed toward was nothing but forest.
Childhood Canis was still far more tolerable than the current Canis. First of all, she was not irritating, and she did not have a face that looked like it would betray someone at the first opportunity.
“W-What about you, Oppa?”
“……Oppa?”
“A-Are you not? Your voice sounds young.”
“Call me Mister.”
“Ah, okay.”
It bothered me.
Strictly speaking, Canis was originally one year younger than me, so we were indeed at an age where she could call me Oppa.
But hearing Canis call me Oppa somehow started sending chills down my spine. She looked puzzled for a moment when I told her to call me Mister, but quickly accepted it.
“What were you doing here?”
“W-Well, I came out for a short walk.”
I listened to Canis’s explanation. She had come out for a walk with her nanny. Apparently, two guards had accompanied them as well.
The problem was that quite some time had passed since her nanny had asked to be excused for a moment and left, yet neither the nanny nor the guards had returned.
Canis said she had been hiding herself as she had been taught.
“But how did you find me? I hid really well.”
“Because of the sound and your presence.”
I thought for a moment. In the game, I had never once let Canis live. I had killed her because dealing with her was troublesome.
People in the community had said that clearing Canis’s memories was enough, but now that this had become reality, things were ambiguous. There was no clear objective.
Was I supposed to kill someone, destroy something, or protect someone?
“Mister?”
“What.”
“If it’s not too much trouble, um, could you take me back to the estate? I’ll reward you!”
I felt an enormous sense of dissonance. Childhood Canis was more sensible than anything else. Even though she could not see, she felt intelligent.
“Fine.”
“Wow! Thank you!”
I accepted Canis’s proposal. I intended to look for clues.
“Excuse me.”
After asking permission, I picked Canis up. The way she immediately settled comfortably into my arms made it obvious that she was used to being carried.
I held Canis with one arm and waited until she found a comfortable position.
“Hmm?”
“What.”
“Uh, um. Mister. Do you perhaps have a skin disease?”
Canis asked curiously. Her hand was on the back of my neck.
“No. It’s because I’m not human.”
“Gasp! T-Then what are you?”
“Who knows. Lin?”
I said that as I started walking. Canis repeatedly stroked my skin. She felt the rough texture of the scales.
“A snake? Something like that?”
“You’re comparing me to some mere snake?”
I scowled sharply.
To call something connected to Anaye a mere snake. Canis sensed my mood and hurriedly changed the subject.
“……Wow. I’ve never seen someone of another race before.”
Childhood Canis was innocent. She seemed like any other child her age. It was obvious that the Head of the Ulbushis Family had raised her with great care.
“Where did you come from, Mister?”
“The sea.”
“The sea? That huge body of water?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow…….”
Canis had many questions. She asked endlessly, and although I did not answer all that sincerely, I responded to most of them.
Of course, most of my answers were lies.
“Why did you come here, Mister?”
Apparently never getting tired of it, Canis continued touching my scales without pause. At the same time, her mouth did not stop moving either.
I found myself at a loss when she asked why I had come. The words I came here to kill you did not come easily. What I was actually doing was far removed from that as well.
“I came to save someone.”
“You came to save someone?”
“Yeah.”
Canis grew quiet. I looked at her with a puzzled expression. She merely stared blankly into empty space with unfocused eyes.
“I want to see the sea.”
“That’s impossible, though.”
Canis could not say anything in response. She pouted.
“Tch. What’s the sea like? Is it pretty?”
“It’s beautiful. A place that’s cool yet warm, soft yet rough.”
“……What does that even mean.”
Canis quickly grew comfortable around me. Even though my attitude was not particularly kind, she treated me with familiarity.
“Is there anything you’re afraid of?”
“Something I’m afraid of?”
“Yeah.”
At my question, Canis fell into deep thought. I examined our surroundings while waiting for her answer. Something felt unsettling.
“Maybe just things I’m not used to? Since I can’t see, I get hurt easily by things I’m unfamiliar with.”
“I see. That makes sense.”
Things she was not used to. I gave a vague reply while constantly shifting my eyes around. Then a familiar scent reached the tip of my nose.
“Are you good at smelling things?”
“Smelling things? Of course. Ulbushis are wolves.”
Canis smiled as she said that. It was not the false smile where only her mouth curved upward beneath calm eyes.
I let out a dry laugh at the sight of Canis smiling for the first time. It made me realize once again how important the environment someone grew up in was.
“Then hold your nose for a moment.”
“Yes? Why?”
“If I tell you to do it, you should, right?”
“……Okay.”
With a face full of dissatisfaction, Canis pinched her nose with her tiny fingers. I quickened my pace.
The faint smell of blood grew stronger.
“Hmm.”
After confirming the gruesome scene that followed, my eyes twitched. There were three corpses, one woman and two men.
Their bodies had been torn apart from head to toe, and the smell of fishy water still lingered around them. I examined the surroundings before leaving the area.
“Mishter. Can I let go of my noshe now?”
“Yeah.”
At my permission, Canis immediately let go. The tip of her nose had turned bright red. She flared her nostrils a few times.
“Hmm? Hmmm.”
“What.”
“No, I smell blood.”
I did not answer Canis. Instead, I recalled the corpses I had just seen.
Judging from the circumstances, they appeared to be the nanny and guards who had been looking after Canis. And I could roughly guess how this incident had unfolded.
“What are you going to do when you die?”
“……I’m six years old.”
“Do people die in order of age?”
“That’s true, but……. What do you mean, what will I do when I die? Once you die, that’s the end.”
The smell of fishy water and the savage attacks that looked as though they had been made by a beast.
The Ulbushis Territory was inland, so there were no sea monsters here.
“Then what are you going to do, Mister?”
“I’ll probably just attend to The Goddess.”
I answered as I created a sword with Blood Magic.
“I asked what you’d do after you die?”
“Um, well. I’ll peel an apple for you.”
“?”
Canis’s answer felt completely out of nowhere. Not I’ll peel an apple, but I’ll peel one for you.
“For whom.”
“For you, Mister? Ah! For The Goddess. And Father and Mother too. My nanny too!”
Just before leaving the forest, I stopped.
I could now clearly sense their presence. I turned around with a resolute posture.
Three people who had been perched in the trees descended to the ground. They wore black leather armor, and shark-shaped masks covered their faces.
“Duhein.”
“You noticed us?”
I recognized their identity immediately. I had seen those masks before. They were identical to the one worn by the bastard who had attacked me aboard the train headed for the Ulla Desert.
When I instantly identified them, one of the Shark Masks asked in surprise.
“Only Duhein is insane enough to be obsessed with sharks.”
“Hah. What an amusing bastard.”
They did not seem to realize that I was a Duhein.
The Duhein Family’s most distinctive traits, sea-colored hair and tanned skin, were not visible because I was covered in blood.
I even felt disgusted.
As far as I knew, Canis had been killed by assassins at the age of six. The Head of the Ulbushis Family, who had been suppressing the berserk Anger, requested help from Duhein and received a Homunculus.
“Tch.”
In the process, the Head of the Ulbushis Family helped with Duhein’s experiments.
Looking at the current situation, Duhein had deliberately engineered this situation to force him into helping with those experiments.
And they had even used the Extermination Unit, said to be their strongest.
“From now on, do not open your mouth under any circumstances.”
I said that to Canis and took my stance. When I entered a combat stance, the Extermination Unit did the same.
“You disgusting Duhein bastards.”
I swung the crimson sword.