I did not know the exact reason, but the people who had eaten the food prepared by the black tiger impersonating the Mountain Lord vomited those things called “calamities.”
And according to Hwaya, I understood that once they reached the point of vomiting calamities, there was no way to save them.
The problem was that those who had taken the food were far more than one or two, and not all of them were gathered in the square.
As I had already seen while making my way to the square. Quite a number of people had left the square with the food in hand. There was no telling when or where they would vomit calamities.
Besides, the village was not exactly small, so it was impossible for only the eight who followed as my escorts to protect all the people when we did not know where they had gone.
Even if it were possible, trying to protect this many people would put the group in danger. I could not put Hwaya and the other servants in harm’s way because of my personal feelings.
But still….
“It’s your fault! You said to come here—!”
“Move! I said move!”
“Aaack! Aaaaack!!”
“My child… I just….”
Every time I heard the shouts of people gripped by panic and the sobs of those drowning in despair around me, my heart wavered.
If I said something, more people might survive. I told myself that by prioritizing my safety and that of the servants right now, I was letting people die.
I shook my head, trying to shake off the negative thoughts filling my mind.
There I went again.
Ever since possessing this body, my thoughts seemed to flow too easily in a negative direction. I had thought I shed quite a lot of it, but it seemed the lingering resentment was bigger than I expected.
“My Lady. You need not worry so much.”
Hwaya approached and spoke to me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.
Even as she trampled the approaching amorphous calamities underfoot, she raised her arm to hide the sight from me with her sleeve like a screen. The way she shielded my eyes felt like a parent covering something unsightly from a young child.
“The calamities spewing forth are immature things that crawl about without form, as they usually are. Not only non-human beings like us, but even ordinary people could handle them without much difficulty.”
“…Is that so?”
Hwaya’s calm explanation, as if this were not as serious a situation as I thought, seemed to loosen some of my tension.
If what she said was true, then those who had eaten the food directly were one matter, but the people around them were not in great danger.
If we cleaned up the calamities appearing in the square, wouldn’t we also be able to stop the calamities appearing in other places?
“Then, if it is not such a dangerous situation….”
“However.”
My question filled with hope was cut short by Hwaya’s next words.
“They show no signs of decreasing. Normally, excluding the personnel needed to protect My Lady, we should have already left the square with numbers to spare….”
…Just as Hwaya said, the number of calamities showed no signs of decreasing.
Rather, as if their numbers were growing, the square was gradually being dyed black.
“Do they normally multiply like this?”
“No. Usually they only spew out at the beginning, and that is all. But now they are not decreasing. At this rate….”
She did not finish, but there was no way I could fail to understand her meaning.
If the calamities kept increasing like this, there could come a situation where we could not protect the people.
And
“My Lady. I still believe it is right to escort you out of the square.”
Hwaya said in a voice small enough that only I could hear,
“We can still escape safely.”
She was telling me to give up.
“…”
That would be the rational judgment.
Compared to the ever-increasing calamities, our numbers were limited. And there was no proper way to resolve the current situation.
Demanding that we protect others blindly in a situation with no answer was nothing but my own selfishness.
The selfish desire not to feel guilty about turning a blind eye in comfort, and not to have regrets.
“Hwaya.”
Under normal circumstances, I might have nodded powerlessly at Hwaya’s suggestion.
But
“Is there really no way?”
I decided to live a little more greedily.
Because there was someone who told me that I could.
“If there is not, I will not insist either.”
That did not mean I would throw a tantrum recklessly.
Wanting Hwaya and the servants to be safe was also my wish, my greed.
“…There is exactly one.”
Let me be just a little greedy. A little more human.
Within the permitted means, that is.
“Holding out and enduring just like this… waiting for the Master to come rescue My Lady.”
“…Hwaya. Is that what one would normally call a solution?”
Or so I thought.
The so-called solution from Hwaya’s mouth was no different from throwing a complete tantrum.
But the fact that Hwaya bothered to mention it in this situation meant it was the most certain and safe method among the remaining options.
Then there was no reason for me not to choose that method.
I might as well throw a tantrum for once.
***
“Hwaya. I am counting on you. Hold out as long as you can…”
Setting aside the guilt I felt toward the servants who would suffer, the moment I was about to tell Hwaya to do it that way.
“Th-the real Madam is f-fine…? Even though we made her a r-retard who’d need care her whole life…?”
A voice I did not recognize was heard right beside me.
From a place where there had been nothing but wriggling calamities until moments ago, something with a human form was looking this way.
“Th-that’s straaange?”
Though I lacked common sense about this world, I could tell at a glance that that thing was dangerous.
No, anyone who could not feel that would be a damned fool.
“Sh-should I t-tear it out agaaain?”
What world would an entity holding a severed head while talking to you not be dangerous in?
Moreover, the voice flowing from the severed head’s mouth was not even that of a man. An excessively feminine tone drifted out, far too much to be called a male voice.
Could that also be some kind of calamity? But the repulsive feeling emanating from it, as though crawling all over my body, was incomparable to the things crawling on the ground.
“It cannot be helped….”
That thing slowly raised its hand and held out the head.
“How dare you!”
Hwaya swung her arm wide at that thing, which was approaching while holding the head, as if trying to stop it from coming my way.
She had swung with all her might, to the point where the sound of clothes cutting through the air rang clearly.
“Not you.”
“What…?”
That thing lightly caught her arm without moving an inch. Hwaya’s eyes widened in disbelief, and she struggled to wrench her arm free, but it would not budge.
“Shall I play with you?”
Unlike how it had not budged even when Hwaya struggled, Hwaya’s body swayed at that thing’s light gesture.
Like a child tossing aside a toy it had grown tired of, it very simply yanked and threw her backward.
“You’re in the waaay.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, it rolled its unfocused pupils toward me.
“Then, Madam… I’ll tear it out as promised, yes?”
“What promise?”
Even standing still, I felt as though my breath was running short.
I had vaguely thought there would be dangerous beings, but facing one right before my eyes, the sense of reality was on another level.
“Hm?”
I could understand that these so-called calamities were monstrous beings commonly found in romance fantasy, but just what was that thing that had appeared out of nowhere?
Appearing out of nowhere talking about some promise, saying it would tear something out.
If this were really a romance fantasy, I should be peacefully having a romance. Talk about excessive world-building.
“You appear out of nowhere and spout nonsense I can’t understand.”
I felt as though I could scream at any moment. My mind was screaming at me to run away right now.
But where was I supposed to run?
Calamities were slowly wriggling and multiplying all around, and that thing was standing right in front of me?
All I could do… was buy time.
Even just a little bit, until someone came to help me.
“If you have something to say, at least explain yourself.”
“You don’t know me?”
“I don’t know you!”
I had spoken to that thing with the mindset that I had nothing to lose, anyway. Unexpectedly, it began to react.
“So you really did tear it all out?”
As if observing something wondrous, it turned the head in its hand this way and that, examining me.
Could we communicate? If I kept the conversation going like this, could I buy some time?
“Well. No harm dooone?”
“Cough!”
But such hope lasted only a moment.
A hand shot out roughly and grabbed my neck. Under the tightening grip, my breath was cut off, and my neck bones felt like they would soon go on a free journey.
I struggled to tear away that thing’s hand from my neck, but even with all my might, I could not make a single finger budge.
Far away, the thrown Hwaya was staggering to her feet, but it felt like my neck would be torn out before then….
But strangely, my mind, which had been screaming at me to run away immediately, had gone quiet. My body, which had been trembling in fear, was no longer shaking in the slightest. Could it be because I lacked air and could not think properly?
If that were the case, I should not still be feeling everything so vividly.
Even the metallic stench coming from that thing’s severed neck.
“My Lady!”
And Hwaya’s voice, her normally neat appearance in shambles.
“Does Madam’s head huurt? Why are you smiliing agaaain?”
And the corners of my mouth rising even amid the agony.
I see. Right now, I was feeling relieved, reassured, and happy.
Because I could vaguely sense that the person I had been waiting for had arrived.
“Do not touch her with filthy hands.”
— Kwaaang. With an earth-shattering roar as if the ground itself was exploding, a massive shadow fell over me, and before my eyes, the foot of a beast with white fur, as if to protect me, was lightly crushing that thing.
Only that thing’s arm, detached from the impact, dangled limply and clung to my neck, but it soon lost strength and fell to the ground.
“Cough, hack, heuk….”
“Are you alright, wife?”
The voice I had grown accustomed to while eating together for the past several days now reached my ears, slightly louder.
Yellow eyes glowing as large as my head, looking down at me.
Rough breathing, as if he had rushed here in haste.
“I apologize. I am somewhat late.”
Just like the first day I possessed this body.
Sohwi, in his true form, was looking down at me from above.
I had certainly made a complete mess of my first meeting with him, and until not long ago, I had been so afraid of encountering him that I did not even want to go to the garden.
“You are too late.”
Now, that form was so very welcome. To the point that I could not understand how I had fainted at the sight of it before.
Clutching my aching neck, I leaned my body against the fox’s foot that I had once been afraid to even look at, and buried my face in its fur.
The fishy, musky scent unique to beasts filled my nostrils, and the warm body temperature felt good.
“You know how long I waited. Husband.”
It seemed I was still surprised after all.
Because the thumping of my heart filled my entire body just as it had on the first day I saw him.