“Hmm, do we really have to do this?”
A man mumbled around the cigarette in his mouth, and the bearded man next to him frowned and snapped.
“Of course, if this hotel gets exposed, it’ll be dangerous for the Tudogs too. Mikael is meticulous about this stuff, so he called us.”
“Waking us up at dawn for no reason.”
Despite his grumbles, he seemed to understand as he didn’t stop walking.
No matter how early it was, they needed stealthy and capable individuals to set fire to the three-story building.
Mikael had asked the two Tudogs living in Bethel to set fire to the Murder Hotel.
“This is the easiest place to gather materials.”
“Well, if it’s Mikael, he could quickly make a similar building. Right now, the inspector is causing a ruckus, so there’s no other choice.”
“He said we need to burn it without leaving a trace, right?”
“Especially the basement.”
“Tsk, where the hell did that old hag run off to?”
“She probably ran away because she thought she’d get caught. You’ve got to admit, that grandmother’s ability to hide with her Death Spider is remarkable.”
“Isn’t she watching us from somewhere even now?”
The two men snickered as they entered the hotel.
The first floor was completely dark except for the glowing tip of the cigarette the man held, so they switched on their lantern.
There was a girl with black hair sitting in a chair.
“What, what the hell!”
“Whoa, you scared me.”
Even though they were two Tudogs, they couldn’t help but be surprised when they saw a girl just quietly sitting in the hotel lobby with all the lights turned off.
Like a scene from a scary story.
But contrary to the atmosphere, the girl’s beauty made the bearded man stroke his chin and murmur.
“Shall we take her?”
“You crazy bastard, she still looks like a student!”
“Hmm, but with a face like that?”
“……”
The man with the cigarette let out a long exhale, blowing out smoke as he scratched the back of his head.
“Yeah, she’s certainly something.”
The two were treating the black-haired girl as a ‘product.’ They didn’t care about why she was there or what powers she possessed.
It was only natural for them.
They were quite formidable.
“You’re here to burn this hotel, right?”
“What? You knew? Where’d you get that info?”
“Mikael must have let it slip.”
As the annoyed duo responded, they attempted to subdue Rin.
But the floor was sticky.
It wasn’t just the floor.
Though their lantern illuminated the hotel lobby, it couldn’t fully light up every corner.
Feeling the darkness quiver in the places untouched by light, they panicked and quickly realized that Rin was the cause. They drew their daggers and charged.
Crack crack.
The darkness devoured their hands.
“Ah… Aaaah!”
“W-What the hell is this!”
The two who had hurriedly tried to escape turned back, but the darkness had already spread its mouth open towards them, salivating.
Rin, who was cautiously covering the faint gray light rising from her chest with her hands, quietly whispered as she watched the two men being consumed by the darkness.
“Have a good night.”
*
If the Tudogs had come to the Murder Hotel, it was the opposite for Mikael Portren’s estate.
Gack!
Gag!
As Mikael stepped outside with his underlings, white-masked assassins appeared.
They stabbed daggers into the necks of anyone inside the estate, and eventually reached the girl’s room, their ultimate destination.
Creeeak opened the door.
It was late dawn, yet the girl was still trembling on the bed, holding her pillow tightly. It seemed she had heard the screams from outside.
“W-Who are you!”
“……”
The three assassins didn’t bother to answer.
However, the fact that they didn’t immediately behead her showed they weren’t planning to kill the girl.
The goal was kidnapping.
The reason was Mikael Portren’s weakness.
As the three assassins were about to move, a white-haired girl with an expressionless face crashed through the room’s massive window.
When the girl laid eyes on them, her eyes widened slightly, and she slowly drew two daggers from her back, holding them in reverse grip.
“Are you going to let you go?”
“Sen…”
“Why are you here?”
“……”
They were all people Sen knew.
Specifically, older members of the Chokugen Faction.
Freshly initiated, they were wearing the white hoods that symbolized the faction and wielding specially made daggers.
“You came to kidnap this girl, right? Because she’s connected to Mikael from the Tudogs.”
“You know that much?”
“Looks like you’ve been doing your homework on the Tudogs.”
“Shorten your words.”
The three assassins dropped their previously menacing atmosphere and smiled brightly while continuing the conversation with Sen.
But Sen refused.
“Enough, I’m going to protect this girl. Are you going to take that on?”
“……”
The members briefly looked perplexed as they stared at Sen.
“It’s the faction’s decision to kidnap that girl. It’s the only way to hurt the Tudogs. Are you going to go against the faction?”
“Forget the past, what nonsense are you talking about?”
“You’re not discarded, Sen.”
“……”
The eldest man among them spoke.
“You weren’t able to contact me because you were busy fighting the Tudogs. Don’t misunderstand and just live as a member of the Chokugen Faction.”
As he said this, the man attempted to pass by Sen, but she had already crouched down, placing her hands on the ground and kicked up at his chin with her heel.
“Kugh!”
Reeling from the impact, the man fell backward.
The other faction members quickly assumed fighting stances and glared at Sen.
“You’re just a discarded girl.”
“If we say steal, you steal, if we say kill, you kill. Remember your position, Sen.”
“Sorry, but this isn’t something I can just let happen.”
Receiving the moonlight coming through the broken window, Sen turned her head slightly to look at Michelle.
Carefully, she patted the trembling girl’s head.
“I owe you a debt. So I’m going to pay it back.”
“D-Debt?”
“Yeah, something like that. You don’t know, do you? I don’t know well either.”
“……What do you mean?”
With Michelle’s question, Sen recalled the man who was joking and replied.
“I don’t know, they say this is life.”
She didn’t fully understand what that meant, nor did she fully grasp why she had to risk her life to fight the faction.
Everything was quite vague and didn’t make sense to her head.
But right now, Sen felt truly alive for the first time and that she had made her own choice, refreshing her mind.
“Is this really sincere, Sen? You want to oppose us here? Do you think the faction will just overlook this?”
As the man, who had just been hit, brushed his jaw with his hand, he glared at Sen, who seemed annoyed.
“I told you, this is not something I can handle.”
“……Wait, did you take a request? From who? Why?”
The Chokugen members only moved when they received a request.
So naturally, they assumed Sen personally received an assignment.
But Sen smiled slightly and raised her dagger.
“It’s not a request; it’s a mission. Not received as a member of the Chokugen Faction… but directly to me, Sen.”
In order to protect the girl she had killed in her past life, Sen charged forward.
*
“Impressive.”
Mikael Portren simply had to applaud in respect.
He had already lost five of his underlings.
And all to an 18-year-old male student.
“Daniel McLean, just what is your identity? You can’t be just an ordinary student anymore, can you?”
“If I tell you, you won’t believe it, so why ask?”
I chuckled and brushed off the blood from my sword.
Thinking it would be pointless to send other underlings, Mikael stepped forward himself.
“I salute you. You too fight with your own sense of justice, and that is indeed right.”
“……”
“But I, Michael Portren, am a father to a child. For my daughter, I can become a monster.”
In truth, feeling him say such things while becoming a werewolf was tangible.
His voice resonated against my skin, and as he stomped the ground with force, the spot where he stepped sank.
“A superb swordsman, but do you think you can beat me, a monster who has discarded the shackles of humanity with your childish notions of justice learned at school?!”
Crack!
Indeed, Mikael’s attacks were significantly heavier than those of other werewolves.
It wasn’t just a difference in physical ability; I knew it was the weight he bore for the girl.
Thus, it made it even harder to counter his blows.
I twisted my body, dodging his attack while swinging my sword.
My strike lacerated his waist, causing a wound, but it quickly healed, and he furiously continued his assault.
Relying on his werewolf’s overwhelming regeneration, he blindly pursued only offense, disregarding defense.
‘Though I could kill him if I wanted…’
My goal wasn’t to kill Mikael but to make it so that Hainy could arrest him.
Knowing the difficulty of subduing a werewolf made my path ahead dark, but I continued to evade his attacks and swing my sword.
Huff, puff.
Covered in wounds and bleeding, Mikael took a moment to assess himself.
Too many injuries, his body was now beyond recovery.
Even a werewolf didn’t have infinite life.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, glaring at me.
“Why are you stopping me?! Why do you want to kill my daughter! Without me, she cannot survive!”
His cry, filled with sorrow and despair, echoed throughout Bethel.
His servants behind him were also crying, empathizing with Mikael’s emotions.
We wielded swords and claws against each other, trying to kill and subdue one another.
Yet paradoxically, we were all fighting for the girl named Michelle Portren.
It was laughable, but I needed to clarify one thing.
“Don’t judge carelessly.”
“……What?”
“Michelle is stronger than you think.”
Mikael’s stunned expression showed he never expected me to say this.
“Yeah, that might be the case. After all, she’s my daughter and also the daughter of that person.”
Perhaps reflecting his deceased wife, the light in Mikael’s eyes was reminiscent.
As he slowly bowed his head, I said to him:
“I will also bring the medicine. You can feel it now, right? I am much stronger than you thought.”
“Yeah, I realized it when I saw you trying to subdue me without killing me. But…”
He spoke to me with eyes that seemed ready to tear.
“Those from the Tudogs won’t leave that girl alone. Could it be just the Tudogs? The Chokugen Faction might also be moving! Even if you survive here, it’ll be only for a moment!”
“I’ll take care of that too. I will protect her in the safest place in the Frisia Kingdom.”
“……”
“You are now standing at your last option.”
I only hoped he would come to understand.
“You don’t know what kind of judgment awaits you. You might receive the death penalty, or if you’re lucky, you might save your life.”
“……”
“Whatever the outcome, please say goodbye to that girl as a father.”
“……That’s cruel.”
Having completely lost his will to fight, Mikael slowly shrank in size, his fur falling away as he returned to human form.
“Will she really be able to live well?”
A father’s sorrowful question.
I recalled her, proud and strong, and couldn’t help but smile slightly.
“She’ll endure well, live beautifully. Your daughter, Michelle Portren, is absolutely not weak.”
