I Raised a Nine Tailed Fox Wrongly - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

But for that to happen, he needed to become an adult.

Bigger, stronger. Only then could he protect Silia…….

Ran sat staring at the chicken when noise suddenly arose from the living room.

Turning his large desert-fox-like ears toward the door, he listened in on the conversation.

“Oh dear, I left the dried herbs at the treatment center.”

“Is it important?”

“If I don’t grind them tonight, we’ll run short of medicine ingredients tomorrow.”

“I’ll go get them.”

“What? How could I make the commander run errands for me? Please sit down.”

“Aren’t I fast on my feet? Wait here.”

After reassuring Schula, Silia’s footsteps headed toward the entrance.

‘Schula is alone.’

The young fox’s heart pounded rapidly.

‘If I consume her spiritual energy, I can grow quickly.’

Ran closed his eyes and remained perfectly still until Silia’s presence had moved far enough away.

A short while later, once she was completely gone, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened within the darkness.

Ran easily pushed open the door Silia had shut and stepped into the living room.

“What the?”

Schula, who had been sitting in a chair twisting her hair around her fingers, startled upright.

He did not feel like transforming into a human, so he approached in his natural fox form instead.

Seducing a human while not in human form was several times more difficult, but for Ran, it posed no real problem.

Schula possessed neither talismans to block demonic energy nor the martial strength to exorcise yokai.

All she had was holy power meant for healing.

‘Though that holy power is troublesome.’

A reddish demonic aura, like scarlet ink dispersing through water, began heating the air.

Schula’s eyes gradually turned hazy as her body grew feverish.

But she still could not move freely.

Her holy power was pushing back against Ran’s aura.

“Kyuuuu.”

Ran let out a delicate cry while swishing his glossy tail.

His harmless-looking eyes widened like full moons as he casually licked his front paw, and Schula’s feet unconsciously began moving toward him.

“Are you bored?”

Schula exhaled heated breaths as she stared at Ran.

“But you really are adorable.”

Ran’s round eyes curved enchantingly, almost as if smiling.

The fox did not move.

Schula was simply drawn toward him like a magnet.

Ran silently watched the hand approaching him from close range.

Growing impatient with the unmoving fox, Schula murmured almost pleadingly.

“How is your little mouth so tiny and cute? And your nose too. Smooth like glossy chocolate. I just want to bite it.”

Even half out of her mind, Schula’s way of speaking remained rough.

“Are you sulking because I treated you badly before? It’s not entirely my fault. You looked like you were going to eat the commander alive.”

“Kyuu?”

“No, no. I must’ve misunderstood. There’s no such thing as a bad yokai when you’re this sweet, right?”

No.

There were no good yokai in this world.

There were only yokai that devoured humans indiscriminately and yokai that could restrain themselves slightly better.

Even those yokai survived only by carving patience into themselves like etching words into stone, because restraint was not something innate to their kind.

But Ran merely wagged his tail softly without making a sound.

“Just a little…….”

The moment Schula’s hand was about to touch Ran’s head—

“Ran.”

A heavy voice crashed down onto Ran’s head like an iron hammer.

It felt as though the sound itself had slammed into his back.

Ran froze stiff like stone.

“Ah!”

Schula jumped in shock to her feet.

Ran’s pheromone-like aura instantly scattered, completely overwhelmed by Silia’s clear energy.

“What was I doing?”

Schula muttered while pressing a hand to her forehead.

Looking coldly down at Ran, Silia placed the herbs into Schula’s hands and spoke.

“You seem to have a headache. You should go home and rest.”

“Is that alright? I still haven’t examined the fox yet.”

“It’s fine. Go back and rest.”

Schula nodded and headed toward the entrance.

Thud—

Once the door shut, cold silence filled the room.

Silia slowly walked over and stopped in front of Ran.

For a woman, she was fairly tall. Though she looked slender at first glance, her body was firmly trained and strong.

As she stood over him, Ran suddenly felt as small as a pebble by a lakeside.

“Ran, there’s something I never told you.”

“……”

“If you harm an innocent person, I’ll have to kill you.”

Ran lifted his head.

Silia’s face looked devastated.

It was the same face that usually melted with affection whenever she saw the baby fox.

The cheeks that once glowed peach-red with happiness…….

Now, emotions darkened by despair and anguish dripped from Silia’s pale green eyes.

Receiving the full weight of those emotions, Ran felt as though his heart had plummeted.

“If I want to stop you, then I’ll have to kill you.”

“……”

“Killing and being killed. Is that the kind of relationship you want us to have?”

Silia was not someone who spoke carelessly.

Anything she said, she carried out.

A chill spread through Ran’s body, causing his silver fur to stand on end involuntarily.

“Schula is an excellent healing priest. She came to see whether you were hurt anywhere. How could you do this?”

“……”

“You’re not an ordinary yokai. You can think, reason, and make choices.”

“……”

“When you were starving and injured, your rationality must have been weak. But not anymore, right?”

That was why.

That was exactly why…….

Silia trailed off, her eyes reddening.

Ran sensed danger.

Almost instinctively, he moved and rubbed his body against her leg.

Silia seemed to understand what he meant.

Unlike usual, she did not misunderstand him in some strange way.

In a gentle voice, she asked:

“Are you apologizing?”

Ran nodded, his heart pounding anxiously.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

Silia picked the fox up and hugged him.

And Ran realized, astonishingly, that he could no longer harm innocent humans ever again.

Even though yokai were creatures utterly lacking in restraint.

Even though savage hunger still rampaged wildly inside him at that very moment.

……Just like a gumiho incapable of refusing its mate’s request.

---

Oddly enough, after the incident where Ran tried to devour Schula, the relationship between the two of them grew even closer.

Whenever Silia finished work, she always spent time playing with Ran, and Ran treasured those moments.

Ran’s favorite game was hunting play.

Silia would move her hand beneath a blanket, and Ran would try to catch it.

People often joked that a fox’s body resembled a dog’s while its personality resembled a cat’s, and Silia found herself agreeing.

Whenever she discovered Ran climbing high places and causing strange mischief, he seemed exactly like a cat.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t consumed spiritual energy today.”

She busily dragged over a cage.

“Today it’s a black chicken.”

Silia looked at Ran expectantly.

Ran’s reaction was lukewarm.

“What’s wrong? Try it.”

Puzzled, Silia pushed the cage right in front of him.

Ran abruptly turned his head away.

“Since when do you refuse food?”

Ran stared at the black chicken trembling in the corner of the cage.

At last, all the dissatisfaction he had been bottling up burst forth through his eyes.

Silia tried persuading him.

“You need to consume spiritual energy every single day. You can’t eat human spiritual energy, after all.”

“……”

“You’re still growing. What am I supposed to do if you refuse to eat?”

Ran slowly raised one paw toward the black chicken.

Silia’s face brightened as she encouraged him.

“That’s right. Hurry and ea—”

Bang! Crash!

“……”

“……”

The tiny paw slammed into the iron cage, knocking it sideways with a loud crash.

For such a small fox cub, he possessed incredible strength.

Silia’s expression hardened.

“What are you doing?”

“Kkuuk!”

Ran barked back defiantly.

Even his honey-candy-like round eyes looked fierce in their own way.

It was obvious rebellion.

“Who told you to flip over your food bowl?”

“Kkyuang!”

“Do you know how hard it was to catch that thing alive……?”

“Kkuaeng!”

Silia stared at him in disbelief.

The baby fox was openly mocking her.

“Kyukyu…….”

It was not her imagination!

“You, you……!”

Silia looked genuinely shocked.

The fox clearly found it ridiculous that she struggled so much just to catch such a pathetic black chicken.

The way he looked her up and down was incredibly arrogant.

“Where did you learn such behavior?”

As if protesting, Ran repeatedly smacked the cage holding the chicken with his paw.

“Stop that immediately!”

“Kkuuuuuuuk!”

The food isn’t good enough!

It practically sounded like those words were being shouted at her.

Silia understood Ran’s feelings, but she could not simply overlook such rude behavior.

So she firmly declared:

“If you keep acting this spoiled, then you won’t get any food from now on.”

Ran stubbornly turned his head away and completely rolled over with his back facing her.

“I’m not giving you anything until you apologize.”

Silia assumed Ran would lower his head and come around quickly.

But the next day, and even the day after that, Ran stayed curled up in the corner without moving at all.

---

Ever since their very first meeting, nothing between them had ever progressed easily.

It was only natural.

A yokai completely devoid of patience paired together with a holy knight who spent her entire life practicing restraint.

Silia felt a little sad about her situation—having to strictly discipline Ran so he could learn patience and self-control despite being a yokai.

“You can’t keep starving yourself like this…… If something serious happens to your body…….”

As Silia agonized while clutching her head, Schula snorted.

“Don’t worry, Commander. He won’t die from starving for that long.”

“But he already looks weak.”

“Well, of course he does. He’s not eating.”

“He’s never acted like this before. Why all of a sudden?”

Tilting her head, Schula replied:

“Maybe he’s depressed?”

“Depressed?”

The shocking suggestion drained the color from Silia’s face.

“He stays inside the house all the time. He originally lived in the forest, didn’t he?”

“Maybe I should make a backyard for him. That might help.”

Schula pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Commander, you really are reckless sometimes.”

“I’ll expand the barrier to cover outside the house.”

“How large are you thinking?”

“About the size of a backyard. Any farther than that would be dangerous outside my supervision.”

“Can you really afford to use more holy power?”

At Schula’s casual question, Silia suddenly fell silent.

‘Hm?’

Quickly sensing the strange silence, Schula turned toward Silia.

She had gone deathly pale.

“Commander?”