Chapter 24
“Talk! While I was gone, just who the hell were you fooling around with?”
Luni looked up at the man clutching her by the collar.
Dark skin, bloodshot eyes.
Muscles swollen to the point of bursting.
Beyron.
The man who had forced her to take strange drugs and threatened her.
She had been expecting him to show up sooner or later.
Her plan had been that, once he came, she would make up some excuse to slip outside and go find Ariel.
But this morning, he had barged in suddenly and wasted no time in seizing her by the collar and interrogating her.
“I saw it all. You went to see Duke Clasta.”
“T-That was… just because he’s a famous man, so I—kyaa!”
“Famous? Don’t make me laugh. You went because he’s handsome, didn’t you? Women… always desperate to throw themselves at a pretty face.”
Beyron hurled Luni to the floor and spat.
“I knew I shouldn’t have just left you alone. A loose woman like you—who knows what you’ll do when I’m not around.”
And then he began dragging her toward a hut deep in the forest.
Luni struggled to free herself, but she could never overpower Beyron now that he had turned into something more like a monster.
“Hngh… ahh…”
Her leg, which Beyron had once snapped on purpose, throbbed with pain as she was dragged along.
“What’s with the crying? You think I’ll go easy on you if you cry? You still think you’re as pretty as you used to be? Ha! Pathetic. Here, take a look!”
Beyron shoved a mirror in front of her face.
The reflection staring back at her was that of a woman’s face covered in patches of black scales.
When she turned away from the horrific sight, he grabbed her hair and forced her to look.
“Who would want a freak like you except for me? Even if you stripped naked and threw yourself at Duke Clasta, do you think he’d spare you a single glance? Huh?”
When his hand touched her leg, she felt like she was going to vomit.
She should have died before he came.
After meeting Ariel, she had dared to hope that, before Beyron returned, she might be able to live a normal life again.
That short dream was over.
By the time Ariel came to her room, it would be empty, and she would already be here, living as Beyron’s slave.
“Yeah! I went to him because I like him better than a guy like you!”
“…What?”
“Better to die in Duke Clasta’s arms than to live with an ugly bastard like you!”
For a moment, Beyron looked taken aback at Luni’s sudden outburst after all her meek obedience. Then his face flushed an angry red.
“So I let you off because you’re a woman, and this is what I get—!”
His hands began to swell grotesquely, sprouting sharp claws.
Those claws could rip through solid walls like paper.
He swung one toward her.
This is it.
Strangely, the thought that it would finally be over brought her peace.
And then—
Kuwaang!
With a deafening crash, Beyron slammed into the wall.
“…Huh?”
Luni, who had closed her eyes to prepare for death, looked back in disbelief at Beyron, now embedded in the wall, only his legs sticking out and flailing.
“What in the…”
Slowly, she turned her head the other way—and there was Ariel, lightly tossing a pebble in her hand as if it were a ball.
With her blue hair streaming behind her, Ariel smiled at Luni.
“Wow, thank goodness. I came to the right place.”
Judging by the dirt on her, she must have come through one of the nearby forests.
‘There are three forests near here—east, west, and south.’
From what Luni had told her, the man had taken on a monster’s form.
‘That rules out the eastern forest—too many people travel the main road there.’
The dirt was still damp, which meant it wasn’t far from Luni’s house.
‘That leaves the western forest.’
Racing over the rooftops toward the west, she soon realized she’d guessed right.
‘Found them.’
The footprints leading into a secluded forest path matched the ones she’d seen near Luni’s house exactly.
Clear impressions in the rain-soaked soil—the man clearly didn’t think anyone would follow.
She kept her senses sharp as she followed them, and then—she heard Luni’s voice.
Dashing toward the sound, she saw Luni about to be struck by a hideously transformed demon-man.
Without another thought, she snatched up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the creature.
Kuwhang!
With a loud crash, the monster slammed into the wall.
Confirming the hit, she quickly ran to Luni.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-Yes…”
She nodded, but her trembling grip on Ariel’s arm showed how shaken she was.
‘No serious injuries. That’s a relief.’
As Ariel scanned her for wounds, the monster embedded in the wall let out an earsplitting howl.
“Uwaaaagh!”
‘So noisy.’
Clearly enraged at being struck, he cursed her viciously, stomping and hopping in place.
With each movement, black scales spread across his face and his body swelled like an overinflated balloon.
‘Exactly like when the evil dragon’s drug was used.’
Seeing him only confirmed it—someone was using the evil dragon’s old experiments to turn people into monsters.
His body grew so large that the wooden hut around him began to collapse.
Grabbing Luni’s hand, Ariel hurried her outside.
From the debris, the monster bellowed at them.
“You little shits! You think I’ll let you go because you’re kids? Both of you are dead!”
Ariel looked up at him calmly.
“Big talk for a piece of trash.”
“What?”
“Oh, right. These days trash gets recycled. But trash like you—who locks people up, threatens them, and forces drugs on them—can’t even be recycled. What a shame.”
“You bitch! I told you—I’m not going easy on you just ‘cause you’re a kid!”
He stomped the ground with such force that the forest shook.
“Good. Don’t hold back. You’d lose anyway—so what’s the point?”
He had copied the evil dragon’s recipe, but not perfectly—Ariel could feel the difference. The power was nowhere near the real thing.
“I was going to spare your life because of your pretty face!”
He lunged at her, swinging a massive arm.
Nearby trees snapped in half like twigs.
“N-No! You have to dodge—run!”
Luni tugged at her clothes in panic.
“It’s fine. Just stay behind me.”
Watching his movements, Ariel laid her hand on her sword hilt.
“This’ll be over soon anyway.”
The claws slashed toward them—
Shrring.
In the same instant her blade cleared its sheath, the monster’s arm hit the ground.
“Aaaaagh!”
He collapsed, clutching the stump—surprisingly sensitive to pain.
Most monsters would have gone berserk at this point, attacking even more wildly.
But he was already trying to retreat.
Not much experience in real combat.
When Ariel advanced, he turned to flee.
“Who said you could leave?”
She hurled her sword with magic-infused strength.
“Kraaaagh!”
The blade pierced straight through him and pinned him to a tree.
When she approached, he writhed in place, stuck fast.
“W-Wait! I’m sorry! I won’t do anything! Take the girl! It’s not my fault—she’s the one who smiled and seduced me first!”
“…You know, saying that right now just makes me angrier. No sense of timing, huh?”
Grabbing him by the head, she asked:
“The orb you’re using to control her—where is it?”
If he had used the evil dragon’s experiments, he would have an orb to control his victim.
It probably hadn’t worked fully yet on Luni because the drug’s effects hadn’t completely set in.
“I don’t know! I swear I don’t!”
“Really?”
Ariel took hold of his hand.
“You know something? Monsters have way more vitality than humans. They can survive things that would kill a person outright. I don’t like torture, but…”
She smiled down at him.
“…when it’s necessary, I use it.”
“You don’t have to worry about the orb anymore.”
Ariel crushed the orb she’d found in the hut’s ruins.
Luni, looking dazed, nodded from where she sat in a chair.
“Here, drink this.”
Ariel handed her a mug of cocoa she’d made from what she’d found in the house.
While Ariel downed three cups in a row, Luni stayed silent.
Not knowing what to say either, Ariel simply sat beside her.
After a long silence, Luni finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper.
“…Is it over?”
“Yes. It’s all over.”
The orb that had bound her was gone, and the man who had threatened her was dead.
“…It’s over.”
She said it again.
“All of it… over.”
Tears spilled from her eyes.
“All of it… all of it…”
Curling into herself, she sobbed.
“I don’t have to see that bastard again, right? I don’t have to worry about my family being killed? About being beaten for no reason? I don’t have to worry anymore, right?”
“Yes. You’re safe now.”
Ariel awkwardly patted her back as she clung to her and cried.
“I’ll make the antidote for the drug too.”
Then this woman wouldn’t have to hide away in a dark room, avoiding people, ever again.
“Thank you. Really… thank you. If it weren’t for you…”
She gripped Ariel’s hands tightly.
They hadn’t gotten much information out of the monster-man.
‘I—I don’t know! I just… I got dumped, okay?! I confessed to her, she turned me down, so I was drinking alone in a tavern when some guy came up to me. Said if I was dissatisfied with the world, I could change it. Said he could give me incredible power!’
‘Name? Face?’
‘I—I don’t know—aaagh! Wait, I remember! T-Temira! Red hair, young guy! That’s all I know!’
It was a name she’d never heard before, but she made sure to remember it.
If they ever met, she’d wring every last secret out of him.
“You saved my life. You’re my benefactor. I don’t know if I can help you with anything… but if you ever need me, I’ll do whatever I can.”
Every time Luni spoke like that, Ariel’s chest swelled with a warm sense of pride.
And with her saying it now… a good idea came to mind.
