I Raised a Nine Tailed Fox Wrongly

“Le-Leader.”

Eric called Scyllia with a face that looked like he might faint.

“It’s a chance to raise a proud werewolf! Please?!”

The naked child screamed to make his presence known. His voice trembled as if he’d rather cry.

“I’ll raise you.”

“Yes! Sister is pretty and strong! Vio likes sister!”

“Calm down, for now……”

Scyllia touched her forehead. Her head was throbbing.

“Are there any other adults nearby?”

At the surprisingly soft and friendly voice, the heads of the nearby members turned in unison. Everyone had a frightened face, like someone who had heard the wailing of a ghost. Scyllia crouched down with a faint smile on her face.

“Do you have any sisters or brothers you were close with?”

The habit of dealing with Ran came out unknowingly. Her hard mouth drew a soft line and her eyes grew warm. Then, the gentle eyes that were hidden behind her cold impression were revealed.

Eric’s jaw, which was standing nearby, now stretched to the point where it touched the ground. The child, who had clenched his fists and was holding out as if he would never back down for anything, belatedly nodded his head with a flushed face.

“I don’t! The only werewolves around here were those nasty villains! Mom and I were looking for a group of werewolves like us!”

“You mean there is no adult to take care of you?”

“Right!”

“Then, would you like to turn back into a wolf? There are no clothes for you to wear here.”

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

Aren’t you human now?

Scyllia washed her face dry.

“For now, let’s go with this sister. To do that, it would be comfortable to take the form of a wolf.”

“Leader!”

Eric shook his head and tried to stop Scyllia.

“What are you going to do!”

“There is no other way. If this cub is left unattended, they could easily be corrupted by starvation.”

“But this guy is a monster!”

“There is already a precedent for raising monsters in the Holy Land and sending them back. After finding and protecting a dragon’s egg, they found the mother dragon and sent it back.”

“But that was the case with a powerful and rare dragon……”

Scyllia’s eyes took on a cold light and looked directly at Eric.

“This cub is a humanoid monster with reason. That dragon and this guy are the same. Is your reason for not taking him because he’s not rare?”

Doesn’t he want to desperately live? It was not a sin to want to live. Scyllia has continued her miserable life so far with that belief.

Eric was speechless because Scyllia was right.

“I’ll raise this guy, so you don’t have to worry about safety.”

“Is it true that he didn’t hurt anyone?”

Another member anxiously asked. Scyllia looked at the member with icy eyes and asked.

“I will ask you all the other way around. What do you think?”

“……”

“A paladin must be able to feel the unique energy of beings. We must be able to see the substance, not be fooled by appearances.”

It was a remark that pointed out the incident in which the members could not bear to kill a monster that had turned into a child. Scyllia looked back at all of her crew and said.

“I can’t always make decisions for you.”

“……”

“The time will surely come when you will have to decide the life and death of a single being yourselves. So feel it. What do you think?”

Scyllia spoke in an unwavering tone.

“This time, I will abide by your decision.”

When the Commander of the Silver Lion Paladins waited with faith, all the members clenched their fists in tension. Everyone closed their eyes and desperately tried to feel the energy of Vio. Is the unique energy strong or weak? Aren’t they insisting on just killing innocent lives? As a paladin, that was the thing they wanted to avoid the most.

After a while, all of the members knelt down in front of Scyllia and bowed their heads.

“That werewolf is a life that did not harm people.”

Eric, the vice-captain, declared on behalf of all the members. Scyllia briefly nodded her head and hugged Vio, who had returned to his wolf form. Then she quietly returned to the tent.

***

“Ran.”

“Is this Sister’s den?”

Vio chattered hard. Scyllia corrected it.

“It’s my house.”

“Is this Sister’s house?”

“That’s right.”

“Kyuuu……?”

At that time, a pitiful cry spread faintly in the air, similar to the forlorn protest of a pitiful husband who witnessed his wife’s extramarital affair. Scyllia looked at Ran and smiled while she was tidying up Vio’s hair.

“Ran. You’ve been bored, haven’t you? You must have been lonely by yourself.”

“Kyuuuuuu……?”

Ran was still shocked. He raised his trembling front paw and pointed at Vio, a gesture that showed he wanted Scyllia to deny the facts right away. However, she brought up a story that was the exact opposite of Ran’s wishes.

“It’s Vio, he will stay together with us from today.”

“Kwaaah!”

What!?

“He’s a werewolf. The same as Ran, a humanoid monster. In the words of the East Continent, it is a human-shaped yokai.”

(Note: from now on I will differentiate Yokai for Eastern Monsters and Monsters for Western Monsters.)

“Kwaaaa!”

Ran, who had been desperately screaming, ran up to Scyllia in delirium and pointed alternately at Vio and himself with his front paw.

How dare you call that wolf the same as me? This little brat?

Scyllia agreed brightly.

“Yes, Ran, he’s the same kid as you.”

“Kwuuu!!”

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

“Kwuuuuuu!!”

Friend! That brat?! My friend?!

“Can you get along with Vio? There will be some uncomfortable things when you start living together, but if you talk with each other……”

You can’t do this! Ran stepped back and went into the room. Scyllia, who was looking at Ran’s back, tilted her head to one side.

“He must be feeling shy.”

“Don’t worry, sister! Vio will treat him well!”

“Vio is mature.”

As Scyllia stroked Vio’s hair, Ran, who had gone into the room, returned to the living room at a fast pace. Somehow the atmosphere was unusual. His golden eyes were roaring with sparks, and the fur all over his body swelled up like cotton candy.

Noticing Ran’s claws digging into the floor, Scyllia screamed at him.

“Ran, no!”

It was already too late. It took only a second for the fox and the wolf to get entangled and roll on the floor.

The two monsters fought so ferociously that if she tried to force them apart, both would be hurt.

“Ran, stop this now! Vio! Stop you too!”

“Kwaaaang!”

“Rurrrrrr! Woulf! Woof!!”

Why does this sound like a dog barking in the middle of the night? 

Scyllia took extraordinary measures. She trusted her left and right fists into Ran and Vio’s muzzles.

The two snouts, which were about to close, froze wide open. However, their fangs were so sharp that blood flowed. Scyllia fiercely scolded both of them without taking out her fists.

“What are you doing!? Ran! How can you bite him!? Where did you learn to be rude to a new member of the family!”

“Ki-ing……”

“Vio! If you dodged Ran’s attack, you should think about calming him down! How can you go insane trying to kill him!”

“Whimm……”

Scyllia sighed and pulled out her hands. Ran and Vio restlessly licked the back of her hand and the blood that flowed down her arms.

All of a sudden, Scyllia thought she was a fool. Because the mere sight of both pups fretting over her relieved her anger.

“Ran. I thought you might not like your new friend. But Vio is a young werewolf who has nowhere to go.”

“Ki-ing……”

“What if you attack without even listening to the story? Did you think I would send Vio back?”

“Kyuu……”

“That wasn’t a wise choice of action.”

Ran nodded his head in agreement.

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“Kyung,”

“Vio.”

“Yes, sister……”

Before she knew it, Vio had returned to being a human. One of his shoulders was exposed because he had been dressed in old clothes from her garrison. Scyllia straightened his collar and reprimanded him sternly.

“You must have been very surprised. But even this sister was surprised that you tried to kill Ran. He is a precious family. You can’t kill him.”

“I’m sorry, Vio can’t control it yet. Werewolves are warlike and vicious.” 

Vio bowed his head sullenly. Scyllia silently looked at him before she asked.

“Did your mother teach you how to exercise self-control from an early age?”

“Yes. Mom told me that if I don’t want to be a stupid monster, I need to learn to stay rational first.”

“You have a wonderful mother.” 

“That’s right. My mom is the best!”

Vio, who had been shouting happily, bit his lips as if holding back tears. Seeing him like that, Scyllia’s heart tightened. Ran, who lost his mother earlier on, was also listening to Vio while pretending not to.

Scyllia said, while clearing her voice.

“The training is not over yet.”

Vio lifted his wet eyes and Scyllia continued in a calm tone.

“The training you learned from your Mother depends on your will. You can continue or quit. What do you want to do?”

“…I want to continue.”

“Then let’s continue. Can you do that?”

“Yes!”

Scyllia stroked his head.

“Sister will help you practice.”

“Really?”

“But if Vio doesn’t work hard, I won’t help.”

“Vio doesn’t neglect training! I’ll become a great werewolf!”

“Yes.”

Vio’s face brightened. Pulling Ran, who had completely softened his hostility, into her arms, Scyllia asked.

“By the way, how old is Vio?”

“Four years old. I’m on growing time!”

“Growing up?”

Vio nodded his head.

“A werewolf becomes an adult at the age of five! The last year is called the growth period!”

“Why?”

“Because we grow up. We keep growing until we become an adult, it grows this much in one year.”

Vio made a big circle with his arms and said.

“Then you will become an adult at the same time as Ran.”

Scyllia lifted Ran and pushed him in front of Vio’s face.

“Come on, Ran. You heard him right? First of all, let’s apologize to Vio, who will grow up with you.”

“……”

“You attacked first.”

In a bad mood, a limp Ran glanced at Scyllia, but her eyes were stern.

“Ran.”

“Kwuh……”

Ran looked at Vio with unwilling eyes and licked the young wolf’s nose once. It was an insincere apology, but it was too late to nag at his behavior.

“Ran apologized. Vio should answer too.”

“I’m sorry for trying to bite your neck! But I didn’t mean to pull out the head completely!”

Vio shouted without malice. Scyllia was confused about whether to point it out or not, but she decided to finish the urgent things first.

“You should call him brother.”

Vio widened his acorn-like eyes.

“But he’s much smaller than Vio!”

“Ran is a fox yokai. He grows in a different way from Vio. You know about butterflies, right?”

Vio nodded his head.

“A caterpillar becomes a butterfly in an instant. Ran will become an adult in the same way. It’s different from Vio who grows step by step over the course of a year.”

“Then how old is brother?”

“He’s nineteen years old.”

“Wow! Fifteen years older than Vio!”

It was the same that they were both young, but Scyllia thought it would be better to decide in advance the top and bottom of the hierarchy in this way. When Vio called him brother, Ran also seemed noticeably better.

“Then let’s wash up and go to sleep.”

“Brother! Let’s wash together!”

“Kyyuu?”

Ran raised his head, doubting his ears, but Vio was obstinate. He quickly wrapped his arms around Ran’s waist, hugged him tightly, and ran to the bathroom.

“Playing in the water!!”

“Kyuuuaaaaa!!”

Ran stretched out his forepaws and sent Scyllia a cry for help.

“Have fun.”

Scyllia smiled brightly and cheered for their cozy time of bounding.