Chapter 17

“C-Commander.”

Eric called out to Silia with a face that looked ready to faint.

“I’m giving you the chance to raise a proud werewolf! Huh?!”

The naked child shouted while trying to act tough.

His voice was trembling so badly that it would have been better if he had simply cried.

“You want me to raise you?”

“Yes! Noona is pretty and strong! Vio likes Noona!”

“First, first of all…”

Silia pressed a hand to her forehead. Her head was throbbing.

“Are there any other adults nearby?”

At her surprisingly gentle and affectionate tone, every knight in the vicinity turned their heads at once.

They all looked as if they had just heard a ghost wail.

Silia even crouched down and showed a faint smile.

“Do you have an older sister or brother you were close to?”

Her habit of dealing with Ran surfaced unconsciously.

The rigid line of her lips softened into a gentle curve, and her eyes grew warm.

The kindness hidden beneath her cold appearance finally became visible.

Eric’s jaw nearly hit the ground.

The child, who had been stubbornly standing his ground with clenched fists, finally nodded with a flushed face.

“Yeah! The only werewolf pack around here was those bad guys! Mom and I were looking for a werewolf pack that shared our beliefs!”

“So there’s no adult who can take care of you?”

“That’s right!”

“Then could you turn back into a wolf for now? We don’t have any clothes that would fit you here.”

“Vio is a wolf! Wolves don’t need clothes!”

But he was currently in human form.

Silia rubbed her face roughly.

“For now, come with Noona. It’ll be easier if you stay in your wolf form.”

“Commander!”

Eric shook his head furiously.

“What are you planning to do?!”

“There isn’t any other option.”

“But he’s still a monster!”

“The Holy Kingdom has raised monsters before and returned them to their kind. They once discovered a dragon egg, protected it, and later returned it to its mother.”

“But that was a powerful and rare dragon…”

Silia’s eyes turned cold as she looked directly at Eric.

“A humanoid monster with reason. That dragon and this child are the same. Is the only difference that he isn’t rare?”

Doesn’t he want to live?

Wanting to live was not a crime.

Silia had survived until now because she believed that.

Eric fell silent.

She was right.

“I’ll raise him myself, so there’s no need to worry about safety.”

“Are you certain he’s never harmed a person?”

Another knight asked anxiously.

Silia looked at him with icy eyes.

“Let me ask you instead. What do you think?”

“…”

“A holy knight must be able to sense wicked energy. Don’t be deceived by appearances. Learn to see what lies beneath.”

She was referring to the incident when the knights had been unable to kill a yokai disguised as a child.

Looking around at all of them, Silia continued.

“I can’t make every decision for you forever.”

“…”

“There will come a day when you must personally decide whether a life lives or dies. So feel it for yourselves. What do you think?”

Her voice never wavered.

“This time, I will follow your judgment.”

Their commander had placed her trust in them and waited.

Every knight clenched their fists nervously.

They closed their eyes and desperately tried to sense Vio’s aura.

Was his sinister energy strong?

Was it weak?

Were they about to condemn an innocent life without reason?

That was the greatest sin a holy knight could commit.

After a long time, every knight knelt on one knee before Silia.

Deputy Commander Eric spoke on behalf of them all.

“That werewolf is indeed a life that has never harmed a human.”

Silia gave a short nod.

Then she picked up Vio, who had already returned to his wolf form.

Afterward, she quietly returned to her tent.

---

“Ran.”

“Is this Noona’s house?”

Vio chattered endlessly.

Silia corrected him.

“It’s our house.”

“Is this our house, Noona?”

“That’s right.”

“Kyuu…?”

At that moment, a faint cry filled with betrayal echoed through the room.

It sounded like a devoted husband discovering his wife’s affair.

Silia laughed as she brushed Vio’s messy hair aside and looked toward Ran.

“Ran. You must have been lonely all this time. It must have been hard being by yourself.”

“Kyuuu…?”

Ran still looked utterly shocked.

He raised a trembling paw and pointed at Vio.

The gesture clearly meant:

Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.

But Silia said exactly the opposite.

“This is Vio. He’ll be living with us from today onward.”

“KYUAAAH!”

What?!

“He’s a werewolf. Just like you. A humanoid monster. In Eastern Continent terms, he’d be called a humanoid yokai.”

“KYUAAAAAAAH!”

Ran let out a desperate scream.

He leaped into the air and repeatedly pointed at himself and Vio with his paws.

Did you just compare that wolf to me?

That little brat?

Silia cheerfully nodded.

“Ran, he’s just like you.”

“KYUUUUU!”

“How about it? Do you think you can be friends? You won’t be lonely anymore.”

“KYUUUUUUUU!”

Friends?! That thing is my friend?!

“Can you get along with Vio? Living together may be inconvenient sometimes, but if you talk things out—”

This can’t be happening!

Ran backed away and fled into a room.

Watching him leave, Silia tilted her head.

“I think he’s just shy.”

“Don’t worry, Noona! Vio will cheer him up!”

“You’re such a mature boy, Vio.”

As Silia patted his head, Ran suddenly reappeared in the living room.

The atmosphere around him was ominous.

His golden eyes blazed like fire.

His fur had puffed up like cotton candy.

Silia noticed his claws digging into the floorboards.

“Ran, no!”

Too late.

The fox and wolf collided and rolled across the floor in an instant.

The two nonhuman creatures fought so fiercely that trying to pull them apart looked dangerous.

“Ran, stop it! Vio! You stop too!”

“GRAAAAH!”

“Grrrrrr! Woof! Woof!!”

Why was there suddenly so much barking in the middle of the night?

Silia resorted to drastic measures.

She shoved her left fist into Ran’s mouth and her right fist into Vio’s.

The jaws that had been about to snap shut froze wide open.

Even so, their teeth were so sharp that blood immediately began flowing.

Without pulling her hands away, Silia scolded them fiercely.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Ran! How could you bare your teeth at a new family member? Where did you learn such manners?!”

“Whine…”

“Vio! Even if Ran attacked you, your first thought should have been to calm him down! Were you seriously trying to kill him?!”

“Yelp…”

Only after they fell silent did Silia pull her hands free.

Ran and Vio immediately fussed over her, licking the blood from her hands and arms.

For a moment, she thought she had become a fool.

Her anger had already disappeared just from seeing that sight.

“Ran. I knew you might dislike our new friend. But Vio is a young wolf with nowhere else to go.”

“Whiiine…”

“How could you attack him before even hearing his story? Did you think I would send him away if you did?”

“Kyuu…”

“That wasn’t a wise choice.”

Ran nodded as though he agreed.

“Don’t do it again.”

“Kyu.”

“Vio.”

“Yes, Noona…”

Vio had already transformed back into his human form.

He was wearing some old clothes from the garrison, leaving one shoulder exposed.

As Silia adjusted his collar, she spoke sternly.

“You must have been frightened. But you tried to kill Ran, and that frightened me too. Ran is precious family. You must never kill him.”

“I’m sorry. Vio still can’t control himself very well. Werewolves are supposed to be aggressive and violent.”

Vio lowered his head gloomily.

Silia studied him quietly before asking,

“Did your mother teach you self-control from a young age?”

“Yeah. Mom said that if I didn’t want to become a stupid monster, I had to learn how to keep my reason first.”

“You had a wonderful mother.”

“Yeah! My mom was the best!”

Vio shouted happily.

Then he suddenly clamped his lips shut, as if struggling not to cry.

Silia’s chest tightened painfully.

Ran, who had also lost his mother long ago, pretended not to care while listening closely.

Clearing her throat, Silia spoke.

“Your training isn’t over yet.”

Vio looked up with wet eyes.

Silia continued calmly.

“The training you shared with your mother depends on your own will now. You can continue it, or you can stop. What do you want to do?”

“…I want to continue.”

“Then continue. Can you do that?”

“Yes!”

Silia patted his head.

“Noona will help you train.”

“Really?”

“But only if you work hard.”

“Vio never slacks off! I’m going to become a great werewolf!”

“Good.”

Vio’s face brightened immediately.

Holding Ran in her arms now that his hostility had faded, Silia asked,

“By the way, how old are you?”

“Four. I’m in my growth period!”

“Growth period?”

Vio nodded.

“Werewolves become adults at five! The last year before that is called the growth period!”

“Why?”

“Because we grow really fast. We keep growing. We get this much bigger in one year.”

He spread both arms wide in a huge circle.

Apparently, he was trying to demonstrate just how much he would grow.

“Then you’ll become an adult around the same time as Ran.”

Silia lifted Ran and held him in front of Vio’s face.

“Now, Ran. You heard him. First, apologize to Vio.”

“…”

“You attacked him first.”

Ran drooped unhappily and glanced sideways at Silia.

Her stern gaze remained fixed on him.

“Ran.”

“Kyung…”

Reluctantly, Ran leaned forward and licked Vio’s nose once.

It was a halfhearted apology, but it was already late, so Silia let it pass.

“Ran apologized. Now you should respond too, Vio.”

“Sorry for trying to bite your throat out! But I wasn’t planning to rip your whole head off!”

Vio shouted innocently.

Silia wasn’t sure whether she should correct that statement, but there was something more urgent.

“You need to call him Hyung.”

Vio’s acorn-like eyes widened.

“But he’s way smaller than me!”

“Ran is a fox yokai. He grows differently from werewolves. You know butterflies, right?”

Vio nodded.

“A caterpillar suddenly becomes a butterfly. Ran will become an adult in a similar way. It’s different from how you gradually grow over a year.”

“Then how old is Hyung?”

“He’s nineteen.”

“Wow! He’s fifteen years older than me!”

Both of them were still young creatures.

But Silia thought it would be better to establish seniority now.

Once Vio started calling him Hyung, Ran’s mood visibly improved.

“Now then, let’s wash up and go to bed.”

“Hyung! Let’s take a bath together!”

“Kyu?”

Ran lifted his head in disbelief.

Vio was relentless.

He immediately wrapped both arms around Ran’s waist and sprinted toward the bathroom.

“Water plaaay!”

“KYUAAAAAAAH!”

Stretching his paws toward Silia, Ran silently begged for rescue.

“Have fun.”

Silia smiled brightly and cheered on their bonding time.

As always, she remained completely oblivious to the situation.