Chapter 2.5: Fox Race in the Dead of Night

"Hmm, I don't know about her."

After the meeting with the top brass…

Bellius Hund Cerbero muttered under his breath as he walked down the corridor of the Crimson Tower.

It was past eight p.m. The sun had long set, and the view outside the windows was of the Mulnite Empire dyed inky blue in the darkness. The country always seemed most itself after dark.

"You don't know what about her? Her cup size?"

"What nonsense are you prattling on about now?"

From the perspective of an outsider, Caostel was indeed talking nonsense. Though he had combat smarts, it sometimes seemed like he had a screw loose.

"Well, what are you talking about?"

"Supreme Commander Terakomari. She's got charisma, sure. But there's too much she keeps hidden. Take a guy like you—all it takes is a glance to realize you're a sicko."

"So we need to find out more about her."

"Right. Her choice of words sometimes lets her young age show, but her overall demeanor is just…strange. It's hard to explain. She seems on edge, even just during normal conversation. Like she's always intimidated, or up against someone she finds awe-inspiring or terrifying…"

"Hmm. Speaking of which, the commander hasn't demonstrated any magic ability at all. It's almost as if she doesn't have any… That's odd, right?"

Caostel stroked his camera, one side of his mouth rising in a lopsided grin. The sooner this guy got put behind bars, the safer the world and its people would be.

"So what? She's still the commander. And a commander's what we need. What do we care? She's going to give us tons of engagements to participate in, so what are we complaining about exactly?"

"You've got a point there…"

Still, Bellius couldn't fight his very natural desire to know more about Komari before he gave her his trust. His instincts were sharp and rarely led him astray. The rest of the Seventh Unit—ninety percent of them, in fact—

never used their brains. They would just blindly follow and worship her. Hold on, they were already doing that.

"Still, I understand your reservations. I actually did a little digging into the commander's background…"

"How?"

"I checked some government records. Real sneaky, like."

"…That's illegal."

"Now, now, let's just ignore that. Anyway, what I found out is this…Terakomari Gandesblood is an absolute…enigma."

"What do you mean?"

"Part of her personal record is baffling. Until the age of twelve, she attended a regular school and studied magic like any other girl her age. But from that age onward, there's a gap…a three-year gap, in fact, with zero

information on her at all."

"Maybe she just didn't do anything of note during that time frame?"

"I thought the same at first. Or I figured maybe the records were wrong."

As he spoke, Caostel handed over a document. It was made of parchment and covered in spidery handwriting. Bellius couldn't read, so it would probably take him a long time just to figure out what he was even looking at.

"What's this, then?"

"A confidential document from the Imperial Court."

Bellius almost fainted in shock. What was Caostel doing with something like that?

"The file details an incident that occurred three years ago. Though it's not public knowledge, of course. The whole thing was a huge hassle for the government after all."

"So what does that have to do with the commander?"

"She caused the incident."

"What?"

"The Imperial Academy raid incident. Thirty staff members were murdered. Of the troops sent in to break up the raid, seventy were killed. She slaughtered all of them using only her pinky finger."

Even Bellius, who knew little of the world, had heard of the event. A bloodbath that had taken place at the Academy three years prior. Apparently, the culprit was a student there. The newspapers and the weekly magazines

had eaten the story up with a spoon. It was a total press sensation. But…

"Wait. The ringleader of that operation was already identified. It wasn't her."

"She had a fall guy. It was Terakomari Gandesblood who planned it all, but she had a totally innocent patsy called Millicent Bluenight take the blame for her. Although some people say this Millicent Bluenight character never actually existed at all…"

"I don't understand."

"Me neither. All I know is that Terakomari Gandesblood was involved in a horrific crime three years ago, a transgression for the ages."

Bellius felt a shiver go down his spine.

If this were all true…then what the heck was going on?

"No one knows why she plotted it. But after the incident, she naturally dropped out of the Academy, then disappeared."

"Where to?"

"No one knows. The records don't say. Or they were erased…maybe prison, or juvenile detention. If you really want to know, why don't you try asking the commander yourself…?"

"…"

Bellius was silent. He was speechless.

All he could do was keep pacing, arms crossed pensively. Just who was this girl anyway? For some reason he couldn't stop shivering, despite themildness of the evening.

"Well, there's always the possibility that this confidential document is a fake, though. Hmm…"

Caostel suddenly stopped in his tracks.

They had just exited the Crimson Tower's gate. The indigo-blue-tinted gardens looked the same as they ever did, and yet beside the fountain, there stood the shadowy form of a person, almost ethereal to behold.

The individual was of middling height and was draped in a black cloak.

They also wore a fox mask.

Clearly, they were highly suspicious.

Caostel crossed his arms and launched into a lecture.

"Naughty, naughty. You've concealed your face, yes, but it's clear you're a female underneath those robes. But not a child. You're fifteen, maybe sixteen. Not yet seventeen, I'd wager. I can tell from your scent. You smell sweet like flowers, with just a hint of tartness."

It looked like the interloper wasn't the only sketchy character present in the gardens that night. But we needn't be concerned about him right now.

Bellius scowled threateningly at the suspicious fox.

"You, over there. Woman. The Imperial Court is off-limits to outsiders. Leave at once if you don't want to be killed."

The fox-girl observed him in silence for maybe ten seconds before speaking.

Her voice was syrupy sweet, incredibly grating to the human ear.

"I'm surprised by how well guarded the Imperial Palace is. I was thinking about sneaking into the Empress's bedroom and doing her in, but I couldn't get past the magical boundary that's in place."

Suddenly, the atmosphere grew leaden with tension. Bellius found himself instinctively reaching for his ax.

Plans to kill the Empress… They were often heard around the palace.

The Mulnite Empire was rife with attempted mutinies and uprisings. This was exacerbated by the fact that the Empress herself was generally extremely lenient toward her subjects, on top of being so totally secure in her own position that she never took threats seriously anyway.

But the words spilling from the lips of the fox-faced girl had an ominous edge.

There was no reason to be alarmed. And yet Bellius's beast senses were tingling.

His instincts warned him that this fox-faced girl was dangerous.

"You're pursuing the Empress, are you?"

He could sense that she was smiling beneath her mask.

"I'll kill her one way or another. But now is not that time."

"Huh. So then why did you come here?"

"No real reason. Just to confirm a few things for myself. I read in the newspaper that Terakomari Gandesblood has become the new Crimson Lord. Is that true?"

Bellius drew his ax without any further hesitation. He could ask questions after this fox-faced demon was dead. Instantly, he sprung forward. At the same time, Caostel cast the Dimensional Blade incantation and sent a magical sword slicing through the air.

"Pfft. Such amateur magic."

She laughed as she cast an elementary-level light spell, Magic Bullet, to easily deflect the blade and send it clattering to the ground. Bellius raised his ax, determined to chop the smugness right off her face…but just as he was about to bring it down with all his might, he noticed something odd.

The fox-girl had suddenly disappeared.

"…Above!" Caostel yelled, and Bellius looked up.

Bellius's jaw dropped. The fox-girl was floating in the air, silhouetted against the moon. He dodged back out of attack range, but she made no move to strike against him. Instead, she simply looked down in silence, grinning.

"Hmm. Based on the evidence, it seems the one mentioned in the newspaper is indeed the real Terakomari herself."

Bellius bared his fangs at the fox-girl. It hardly mattered under the circumstances, but he couldn't help noticing how he could see right up her robe and even up the miniskirt she was wearing underneath. Casting levitation magic while wearing such a skimpy, revealing outfit…it had to be deliberate. That made her an exhibitionist, a deviant.

"Who the hell are you?"

"What business is it of yours who I am? This is between me and her. It's got nothing to do with a mangy dog and a sleazy vampire."

"What did you just say, wench?!"

"You won't get away with saying that. Who are you calling a sleazy vampire anyhow?!"

The fox-girl threw back her head. "Ah-ha-ha-ha!" she cackled.

"It's clear you'll be no obstacle to my plans. I'm glad I learned that much from this little visit. Well, say hello to Terakomari for me."

"Hey! Get back here!"

But they were powerless to stop her.

As Bellius flung his ax into the sky, the fox-girl vanished like a flame being snuffed out. His weapon flew through the air, unimpeded by its absent target, and disappeared against the starry indigo blue sky. It appeared she'd

used teleportation magic. Pursuit would be impossible.

The two remaining figures in the garden exchanged glances, the night air thick and silent around them.

"She's after the commander. What should we do?"

"There's only one thing to do: track her down and deal with her."

"You're right, of course…but shouldn't we warn the commander?"

Caostel grinned.

"If she learns of this, then she'll track down Foxy and obliterate her before the next sundown with her inimitable skills. Then we won't get any of the glory. We need to act of our own accord and track down that wench

ourselves. Then we'll win Komari's favor and the right to lick her shoes."

"But—"

"But nothing. Troubling the commander with trifles such as these…that would bring shame upon us. Our job is to keep things running smoothly so that she can focus on tactics, right?"

Bellius had to agree.

The Seventh Unit didn't care for following military protocol at the best of times.

And so while it remained unbeknownst to her, another source of trouble was hurtling Komari's way…