Chapter 3
Schulla, a healing priestess, was a woman everyone avoided because of her abrasive personality.
Whether someone outranked her in the clergy or ranked beneath her, she never watched what she said. That was why, despite her exceptional healing abilities, she had been stationed at the holy knight garrison in the Grinia Empire almost as though she had been exiled there.
Her sharp tongue spared no one. Not even Celia.
“Captain, have you lost your mind?”
By the look of her, Schulla was one step away from grabbing Celia by the collar and shaking her.
“Throw that thing out right now!”
“Schulla.”
“You said it isn’t even an ordinary demon! It’s a nine-tailed fox! One that seduces people and drains their life essence!”
Schulla was so worked up that she failed to notice Celia’s rare show of discomposure. Normally, she would have stopped to marvel at the sight.
After all, Celia was a holy knight with the solemn presence of a sacred statue come to life. Her waist was lean and taut with muscle, her legs looked as though they had never once buckled, and her lips were always set in a straight, emotionless line.
Even men who scoffed at the very idea of a woman wielding a sword fell silent when they stood before Celia.
She was the very image of a holy knight, so austere that one could almost believe ice water ran through her veins. A lifetime of training had left her slender yet sharp as a rapier, and her elegant jade-green gaze never seemed to waver.
Yet the shape of her eyes was, in truth, rather gentle.
Few people ever noticed.
Whenever Celia regarded someone with that expressionless face, they had the unsettling impression that every filthy thought in their minds had been laid bare. Most looked away before they could study her closely.
And yet that same Celia was visibly flustered now.
“Sister Schulla. Isn’t there something you can do?”
That wasn’t all. She was so worried that she refused to stray far from the nine-tailed fox’s cage.
Apparently deciding she had seen enough, Schulla marched toward it.
Celia immediately followed.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you think? I’m going to finish it off! This wicked thing has obviously bewitched you, Captain!”
The fox had been lying weakly inside the iron cage, but the commotion made it lift its head.
Its brilliant silver fur caught the light and shimmered so brightly it almost hurt to look at.
Schulla’s entire face had been twisted into a scowl.
Then she hiccupped.
The nine-tailed fox was staring straight at her with enormous, sparkling eyes.
The fox gave a long, plaintive whine.
Schulla hiccupped again.
The fox gave a questioning little chirp, blinking its bright yellow eyes, round as twin full moons.
“Th-That… that…!”
Its dazzling appearance left Schulla speechless. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish’s until she finally squeezed her eyes shut and managed to shout,
“That—hic! That wicked thing! Hic! That bewitching little fox! Hic!”
The nine-tailed fox’s large pointed ears drooped.
“Of course it’s a nine-tailed fox! A sly little devil already, aren’t you?”
Unable to withstand the fox’s wide-eyed assault any longer, Schulla threw a cloth over the cage.
“I was so happy that, for once, you came to me first, Captain. And now I find out it was because some demon bewitched you!”
“Do I look bewitched?”
Schulla looked at Celia’s blank face and fell silent.
Well, this was Celia.
She was captain of the Order of the Silver Lion, known as an ice sculpture because no one had ever seen her show affection toward another person.
Celia handed Schulla a cup of water.
“I brought it here because I had the feeling I shouldn’t kill it.”
“You felt like you shouldn’t kill it?”
“You know what my instincts are like.”
Schulla narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“You’re serious?”
“It isn’t an ordinary demon. Something about it is different.”
“I suppose it does look unusual.”
That gleaming silver fur certainly wasn’t normal.
Schulla nodded with surprising seriousness. She had clearly interpreted Celia’s words in an entirely different way, but Celia saw no reason to correct her.
“But wouldn’t that make it even more dangerous? If it isn’t an ordinary demon…”
“It’s because it has the blood of a sacred beast. A priestess told me, so you can trust that much.”
“A priestess? You mean one of the clergy who serve the god of the Eastern Continent? Any Eastern priestess here in the West would have to be that exiled priestess. Are you sure she can be trusted?”
As Schulla protested, the fox began whining beneath the cloth, interrupting them.
It almost seemed to understand what they were saying.
Schulla whipped around.
“Quiet, you sly little fox!”
The fox gave a weak sound of protest.
Even half-dead, it apparently had no intention of keeping its temper in check.
“You dare talk back to a priestess?”
The fox answered with a sharper chirp.
“I don’t think she’d lost it,” Celia said.
“What?”
Celia sighed and clarified.
“Her spiritual power. The old woman was still a priestess.”
“That still doesn’t make this fair. Why are you the one who has to raise that demon?”
Schulla was so angry she was nearly panting.
“We serve Sola. We belong to the Western Continent. That troublesome fox came from the lands of Danwa, the god who rules the Eastern Continent.”
Celia said nothing.
“At the very least, one of Danwa’s servants should be raising it. Or that priestess from the Eastern Continent. Shouldn’t she be the one taking responsibility?”
Schulla had a point.
Now that she mentioned it, Celia found herself wondering the same thing. Still, going back to the priestess now seemed unlikely to change anything.
The old woman had insisted that Celia had to be the one to raise the nine-tailed fox.
If she wished to keep the child of a Celestial Fox from becoming a demon-yokai from hell…
When the priestess had spoken those words, her gaze had been as unyielding as an ancient tree. Even if Celia had argued, the woman would not have changed her mind.
“To be perfectly honest, Captain, I’m worried about you.”
Schulla let out a long sigh.
Celia was normally a cold, unsparing captain. Seeing her behave so unlike herself only made Schulla more concerned.
And this was Celia they were talking about.
She was competent enough that no one had objected when she was chosen to command the order of holy knights stationed in the Grinia Empire.
And yet, just when Schulla had thought she might finally get a chance to repay Celia for saving her life, she had been asked to treat a demon.
She rubbed her furrowed brow.
Truthfully, she probably would not have cared this much if Celia had not once saved her from a monster. Schulla had spent years looking for an opportunity to repay that debt, but Celia never gave anyone an opening. Sometimes Schulla wondered whether the woman was human at all.
And Schulla hated owing people.
The whole thing drove her mad.
“I practically skipped all the way here because I was so excited…”
“Do you not want to?”
“I’ll at least examine it. You asked me to, Captain. What choice do I have?”
“And you’ll keep this matter—”
“I wouldn’t tell anyone even if you told me to!”
Schulla snapped.
“If I go around telling people the captain is raising a nine-tailed fox, they’ll think I’m insane.”
Most people already thought she was halfway there anyway.
Schulla shrugged and began examining the fox.
“Wait. This one’s male.”
“Hm?”
“He’s a male nine-tailed fox. Look. Young as he is, he’s already quite well-endow—”
The fox erupted in a furious screech, every strand of fur standing on end as he glared at her.
How could anyone say such things without the slightest hesitation?
Standing several steps away, Celia pressed a hand to her forehead.
Schulla’s brow wrinkled further.
“You’re going to have a hard time raising this one, Captain.”
“Is there something seriously wrong with him?”
Celia approached, but stopped at a careful distance.
Keeping space between herself and other people was a habit.
Anxiety closed around her throat.
You monster! You should be dead!
Celia clasped her cold, sweaty hands together and squeezed her eyes shut. Then she opened them again and asked in a voice gone unnaturally rigid,
“Is the fox in bad condition?”
Schulla studied the careful distance Celia kept between them through narrowed eyes, but answered as though she had noticed nothing.
“No. He’s just got quite the temper.”
“I only need to raise him for about a year. It should be manageable.”
“A year? That priestess said he’ll be fully grown in a year?”
“That’s what she told me.”
Schulla tilted her head.
“You’ll be twenty-four by then, Captain. Have you ever thought about getting married?”
“I have no interest in marriage.”
Marriage wasn’t something Celia could even dream of.
“If you’re not careful, you might end up living with a nine-tailed fox for the rest of your life.”
Celia said nothing.
That would never happen.
She was going to return this young fox to the Eastern Continent no matter what.
“What about romance?”
“Not interested.”
She could not have it, so she had never allowed herself to want it. Otherwise, she might begin longing for things forever beyond her reach.
Love, friendship. Anything like that was out of the question.
“You don’t seem to have any close friends either. Captain, aren’t you lonely?”
Schulla looked at Celia as if she were some deeply puzzling creature.
Without so much as blinking, Celia replied, “Sola gave me life. That alone is enough.”
“Being alive is enough? How can anyone live like that? That’s a life worse than death.”
Celia had no answer.
“There. I’m done treating him.”
Schulla began packing up her medicine as she continued talking.
“I’ve never met anyone as strong as you, Captain. But if your heart gets too hard, someday it’s going to snap.”
Schulla sighed.
“You know, if you watch our captain closely enough, it’s unbelievable how naive she is.”
Celia finally looked at her. “…Are you sure you’re talking about me?”
“Yes, you. You don’t know you’re naive, do you?”
Celia let Schulla’s absurd claim go in one ear and out the other, merely averting her gaze.
Schulla sighed even more deeply. “And now you’ve brought home a male nine-tailed fox. This is like leaving a cat alone with a fish.”
“I’ll raise him until I return to the Holy Nation, then send him to the Eastern Continent. It’s simple.”
Schulla slowly shook her head.
“Oh, yes. I’m sure raising a male nine-tailed fox will be very simple for a woman who’s never even been courted.”
“What does my lack of experience with courtship have to do with anything?”
“When that nine-tailed fox gets hungry, how exactly do you plan on handling him? He’s a demon that seduces humans and drains their life essence.”
Schulla fixed Celia with an emphatic stare.
“And he’s male. Male, Captain.”