The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 65: Death Mark (VIII)

Then, Suradel nodded as if he fully understood my feelings.

“Aha. If so…”

‘What do you understand?’

Suradel turned and shouted at the knights.

“Lia doesn’t like it, so let’s pretend the talk about the kiss never happened. Everyone, don’t be slow.”

Then the knights who were running looked at me with eyes of respect.

I smiled and waved my hand gently.

‘I saved you…!’

As I was enjoying the respectful gaze, Iprus muttered.

“It’s a little pitiful. They probably don’t know what was said that stopped it.”

“Shh. For their happiness, let’s keep it a secret.”

It was then.

Two knights dragged a woman and stood in front of Suradel.

The woman’s hair was very messy, as if her resistance was considerable in the course of her dragging.

“Sir Suradel.”

Seeing that the knights were properly dressed, it seemed that they were on duty.

“We have been keeping an eye on her as she has been repeatedly wandering around the castle for several weeks, and just now, we found her attempting to break into the castle.”

“How shall I handle it?”

Then the woman who had been arrested shouted as if it was unfair.

“I-I was just admiring the surrounding scenery and entered by mistake…!”

“Hmm.”

Suradel’s gaze moved slowly as if he was annoyed.

There were separate central laws and territorial laws that were applied in common throughout the continent.

As this happened in the Weil family’s territory and their residence, there was a high possibility that only the Weil family would decide the punishment.

‘Is it because she knows that?’

‘Or is it because she is afraid of Suradel?’ The woman’s complexion was pale.

The issue of castle invasion could threaten the safety of the Weil family and their staff, so it could be a big punishment depending on how the decision maker saw it.

Suradel naturally looked at me and asked,

“What do you want me to do, Lia?”

“Why are you…”

It was when I was about to argue. The face of the woman who had tried to break into Weil Castle caught my eye.

A familiar face.

“Huh?”

When I opened my eyes wide and was judging whether I was seeing correctly, the woman’s eyes twinkled as if she recognized me too.

“Aren’t you the one who caught the thief who stole my notebook at the night market?”

“Yes. I think so.”

I had spent several days looking for a raccoon demibeast. I never dreamed that I would meet one at Weil Castle.

“Will… Will you please help me this time too, pretty lady?”

“Huh? Why should I?”

I quickly cut her off.

Then, as if she hadn’t expected me to come out like this, her eyes widened.

‘It’s kind of funny.’

It was quite brazen of her to ask for help when she didn’t even say thank you the other day.

And it was true that she did something suspicious.

There were those who would try to pay off the debt somehow if they received help, and there were those who would try to catch a sucker.

This woman seemed to be closer to the latter.

I was really curious about the Korean phrases written in her notebook, but I didn’t want to be obliging and please her.

I lifted my chin slightly and parted my lips with an arrogant expression.

“If I help you, what will you do for me?”

“Well, all I have is…”

Immediately, Iprus, having noticed that I wanted something from this woman, started to bluff.

“Come to think of it, Sir Suradel’s nickname is ‘laughter therapist’, right? It’s said he laughs and beats, then heals and beats and heals again and again.”

“Haha, why are you saying that? Don’t scare her.”

“No matter how injured she is, her limbs will be fine, isn’t it rather fortunate? Hohoho.”

Bitterly realizing what kind of crisis she was thanks to the bloody conversation, the woman looked at me, trembling.

She looked like she was begging me to save her.

“Su, this person. Can you leave her to me?”

“What are you going to do?”

“I will try to fix the habit myself.”

“Hehe, sure.”

With the corner of his mouth raised, Suradel answered happily.

“I can’t take away Lia’s interest in her. I’ll yield, so have fun playing with her.”

It was like talking about a toy.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

I looked at the woman who was locked up in the detention center for safety.

Wispy brown hair. Round glasses reminiscent of scholars.

First of all, before asking about the notebook, there was something I wanted to check.

“You, what is your name and species?”

“I-I…”

She hesitated, unable to answer easily.

I quietly raised my magic wand.

“I’m not trying to threaten you, but I can’t take responsibility if you get hurt because I can’t use healing magic.”

“I-It looks like a threat.”

Seeing her timid response, I clicked my tongue like I was dumbfounded.

“So do you pick that?”

“Oh, no.”

“What? No?”

When I glared at her with ferocious eyes, questioning what she had just said, she ended up crying and spewing out the truth.

“My name is Nikita. You, you may find it hard to believe, but I am a raccoon demibeast.”

“A raccoon demibeast?”

I pretended to be nonchalant, but inside, I was letting out shouts of joy. 

I asked just in case… I didn’t imagine she was really a raccoon demibeast…!

I was about to shed tears at the fact that I had met the raccoon demibeast I was looking for so desperately.

‘Calm down, Adelia.’

‘Not everything has been resolved yet.’

The ultimate goal was to cure the plague of pure-blooded humans by using this shameless and pathetic raccoon demibeast.

It meant there was still a long way to go.

Come to think of it, there was one thing I really wanted to ask when I met a raccoon demibeast.

“Before getting into the main topic, I have a question, but if you are a raccoon demibeast…”

Before I could finish my words, she replied with a stern expression, as if she had never cried.

“I don’t wash cotton candy in water before eating.”
(TL/N: google it if you want, it’s funny!)

Oh my.

Seeing through my psychology, it seemed that she was no ordinary racoon.

I thought about which one should I say first, the Korean contents written in the notebook or the treatment of the plague.

The worry didn’t last long.

It wasn’t a good move to bring up the story of the plague, because it could reverse my relationship with the raccoon demibeast.

As long as my father’s life was at stake, I would have no choice but to completely rely on the raccoon demibeast.

I asked Iprus to bring me the notebook I had been keeping in my room.

Nikita looked at the notebook, widened her eyes, and stretched out her hand.

“…This! Isn’t that my notebook that was stolen at the night market? Turns out the lady has been keeping it! Come on, give me that…!”

“Before that.”

I held out the notebook as if to give it to her, but when her fingertips barely grazed it, I pulled it back.

Opening the notebook, I pointed to the part where Hangul was written.

“How do you know this?”

“What? No, my god! Don’t tell me, can you read that text…?”

I slowly frowned.

This was because her tone was not ‘There is someone else who knows these characters!’ but ‘Is there someone who can read these characters?’.

Did this raccoon demibeast not know how to read this?

“I asked first. Keep the order and say it directly, how do you know this text?”

Her eyes trembled slightly.

“…So far, no one has ever believed me. Do you still want to hear it?”

“Try it.”

I nodded.

‘It’s okay to judge whether it’s false or true after hearing it.’

After a few seconds of hesitation, Nikita said,

“That… Among my distant ancestors, there is someone who was called a saint.”

Saint…?

As I recall, divine power did not exist in this worldview.

Did they simply call her a saint because she had excellent wisdom and virtue? 

Nikita, who was watching me, confirmed that I didn’t have anything to say and continued speaking.

“I learned a great fact by interpreting her diary, which is close to ancient texts.”

“What?”

“As a prophet, she knew the future.”

I seemed to know why others didn’t believe her.

Even in my ears, assuming that it was true, this sounded like an absurd claim.

“The text in the notebook is a copy of what was written at the beginning and end of her diary.”

“…It’s just a transcription?”

“Yes. The diary is written in an old language that is now lost, but I have mostly interpreted it except for parts that are badly damaged and unreadable.”

Nikita shook her head, expressing pity.

“However, I couldn’t decipher the letters at the beginning and end of the diary. So I just copied that part down in my notebook.”

In the end, the raccoon demibeast in front of me didn’t know Korean.

It also meant that if there were any other suspects in this book other than me, there was a high probability that they were people from the distant past, not the present.

“…What prophecies were there in the diary?”

When my expression turned serious, she started talking excitedly.

“There have been numerous prophecies, but the point to note here is that most of the future prophesied is at the present time.”

Nikita continued, adjusting her tilted glasses.

“The prophecies were terrifyingly accurate. From the decline of pure-blooded humans to the rise and prosperity of demibeasts, and so on.”

Her body shook as she described the prophecies to me.

“What really creeps me out is that it even predicted that I would be able to restore and read the diary.”

Oh… If it was real, that would be really creepy.

“But only one thing, the annihilation of magic, was different.”

“…What?”

“According to the diary, there was a nuance that magic would be exclusive for pure-blooded humans. However, it was written that magic will disappear into history as pure-blooded humans become extinct.”

I couldn’t control my expression.

‘It’s the same as the original story.’

As she said, in the original story, after pure-blooded humans become extinct, magic disappears.

Since the heroine, Anemone, survived, it would seem a bit ridiculous to call it extinction, but if there was only one pure-blooded human left, it was practically no different from extinction.

Between pure-blooded humans and demibeasts, demibeasts would be born unconditionally.

“But there is an error here. Magic used to be exclusive to pure-blooded humans, but isn’t the Weil family also able to handle magic?”

Nikita’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Even if pure-blooded humans become extinct as per the prophecy, the prophecy will turn out to be wrong because the whales can use magic.”