Fortunately, Kairos seemed to be persuaded by my argument to a degree. He stroked his chin, deliberated, then offered another proposal.
“I see... Then how about killing just one family member as a warning? That way that bastard will keep his head down too. And if it’s possible, doing a soul offering would be better.”
One person. If I had to deal with just one of Khalid’s family members, who to choose was clear.
Veron.
Khalid’s older brother by blood.
He wielded swordsmanship no less impressive than Khalid’s, and he was born with divine power on top. But when it came to character he was beyond redemption. He frequented the illegal brothels as if they were his own home, and he vented his stress by picking out only pretty, delicate men and treating them sadistically.
Like Khalid, he had walked the path of an inquisitor, but after these facts came to light he was driven out of the position. Officially the story was that the work didn’t suit him and he had stepped down of his own accord, but it was nothing more than a formal cleanup.
Above all else, Veron loathed Theo. He couldn’t stand to watch Theo, born a commoner orphan, rise through the ranks, and he laid trap after persistent trap for him.
I knew how absurd it was for someone like me to be weighing the value of lives. Still, if I may dare say so, I could offer up Veron’s soul without hesitation. If only for Theo’s sake.
“There’s a man named Veron. Khalid’s brother.”
I laid out the reasons as calmly as if I were picking from a breakfast menu, not choosing a target for murder.
“There’s the symbolism of him having been an inquisitor once, and more importantly, he’s a close family member of Khalid’s. As a warning, there couldn’t be a better subject.”
Kairos was silent for a while. The way his gaze swept over my face carried something dissatisfied. He opened his mouth slowly.
“By ‘brother,’ do you mean a full brother? Or a half-brother sharing only one parent?”
“A full brother.”
Kairos’s eyes narrowed. He said it meaningfully.
“Ah, is that so. If he weren’t a full brother, it would have been a bit of a bother. I was wondering whether you hated me so much that you were trying to work off that murderous intent on this Veron in my place.”
It was baseless nonsense. But Kairos was always like that. Grounds didn’t matter. He simply wanted to make his despised half-brother squirm. The instant I let even a trace of hatred for Kairos show, he wouldn’t miss the opening and would drive right through it.
“Hyung, why would you say such a thing? There’s no way I could dislike you. If you told me to crawl on all fours, I’d crawl, and if you told me to bark like a dog, I would bark.”
I put on a grovelling smile and readily lowered myself. Kairos looked me over with interest. He gave a low laugh and said,
“Really? Then crawl.”
...He’s actually going to make me do it?
I was thrown, but on the outside I acted like it was nothing. Hesitate at this point and it would all fall apart. Without a second thought I dropped onto all fours right there on the floor.
Kairos gestured. Kept low, I approached him like an actual dog. Hard stone scraped my palms and my knees. As I crossed the meeting hall floor an unstoppable shame clawed at me. But I couldn’t stop.
Kairos, seated in his chair, held out a hand. I set my chin on his hand. He slowly stroked his fingertips down my jaw and gave a laugh that said he found it interesting.
“So he really does it when you tell him to. Truly, you’re nothing more than a mongrel dog. Now bark.”
“Woof... woof.”
I nuzzled my head against his thigh and fawned. As if testing how far down I could bring myself.
Kairos made another gesture, and a black shape made of demonic energy twisted in the air. Stretched like a whip, it changed form in a moment and coiled around my neck like a dog’s leash. My breathing choked off. However much I tried to inflate my chest, air wouldn’t enter my lungs.
“Hah, ghk, h-hyung...”
I gasped and clawed at the floor with my nails. A solid boot came down and stomped, hard, on the back of my hand.
“Why is a dog speaking as a person?”
“Kah, ghk, urgh...”
Kairos was waiting. For me to break under this treatment and let rage and killing intent leak out. He was trying to catch that split-second moment to secure a justification for punishing me.
For that very reason, I had to endure. If my true feelings were read, I was finished. Even as the leash bit into my skin and my vision blurred, I lowered my head further. Instead of resisting, I took an attitude so obedient it was foolish. I gave short barks, woof, woof, and shrank in on myself.
Whether he liked what he saw, or the fun had simply run out, Kairos withdrew the leash.
“You stubborn little...”
Thud. A dull impact hit my stomach. Kicked, I went down on the floor. Lying there with my belly exposed made me look like a truly submissive dog. Kairos looked down at that sight of me and cackled.
Right. Laugh all you want. Believe I’m a grovelling, pitiful thing not even worth your attention. I’ll take advantage of the moments you let your guard down and diligently raise a hero. And in the end, I will save this world you’re trying to ruin.
At last, the order I’d been waiting for came out of Kairos’s mouth.
“Fine. I’ll change the assignment as you propose. Dispose of the inquisitor Khalid’s older brother, Veron.”
〈MAIN QUEST〉 Dispose of Veron Murder, soul offering. Any method acceptable. On success: Infamy +700 On failure: Kairos’s displeasure; additional punishment to follow
I opened the gate again and returned to the house in the human realm. The marks of the leash were left on my neck in plain view, and a dull pain was climbing up from my stomach. Thinking I should at least put on some ointment, I took the medicine box from the cupboard. I took my shirt fully off and inspected the injured areas carefully. As I’d expected, there was a livid bruise on my lower belly. A mark from where Kairos had kicked me.
I’d just tipped some ointment out onto my hand and was about to apply it when I heard footsteps. Almost simultaneously the bedroom door opened halfway and closed again at once. From the other side of the door came a hurried apology. It was Theo.
“Ah, I didn’t know you were changing. I’m sorry.”
We’ve even bathed together, why the sudden hesitation? Of course, it was better that Theo hadn’t come in. If he saw the injuries, he was bound to interrogate me on how I’d gotten them. I put the ointment on quickly. I picked out clothes that closed neatly up to the neck so the marks would stay hidden.
“You can come in now.”
Theo only opened the door softly and stepped inside after my permission was given.
“You’re back early today.”
“Yes. The shop closed early.”
The conversation stopped there for a moment. Theo watched me with a look that said he had something to say. Then he took a large step forward and suddenly hugged me tightly. There was no strength at all in his voice.
“I think I need to find some more decent kind of work now. Madam Cecile is a good person, and I do learn a lot working there. But still...”
“Why? Did something happen at the shop?”
At my question Theo lowered his eyes, then slowly opened his mouth.
“It’s the drunk customers. Sometimes they raise their voices and say obscene things. Of course, they’re not saying it to me. It’s just them talking amongst themselves, and it gets loud enough that it reaches my ears. I don’t want to hear it, and I keep hearing it anyway... And I feel like I’m starting to be affected by things like that too.”
Originally, under the Saint Rihen’s protection, Theo was supposed to grow up in a pure, clean space like the temple, wanting for nothing. The fact that this Theo was now in a comparatively rough environment stabbed at my chest a beat late. I was doing my best to raise him well in my own way, but compared to Rihen I fell far short.
“Sure. It’s better to quit. If you don’t like it, there’s no need to keep working there.”
I answered without any hesitation. Theo seemed relieved by that and held me tighter. He pressed his forehead into my shoulder and murmured like a child,
“If I quit, everything will be all right, won’t it? It isn’t that I’m bad, that I’m abnormal, that I’m thinking strange thoughts, is it?”
Now what pointless things is this kid worrying about? As if I didn’t know Theo. In the game, he was always a hero who had chosen the good path. It was obvious that the fact he had stolen a kiss from me while I slept still had him in the grip of guilt. He was such a pure-hearted person that he was taking that single act like an irrevocable sin.
I smiled kindly and reassured him.
“It’s okay, Theo. The you I know is a truly good kid.”
My words seemed to help. Theo let out a comfortable breath and quietly leaned into my arms.
When he opened the door, the first thing that came into view was a half-undressed Rihen.
The exposed upper body was a mess. Someone had put a collar around his neck and dragged him around, from the look of it: the pressed-in marks on his throat stood out clearly. The livid bruise on his lower belly snagged at his eyes. The marks left on that white skin were so blatant he didn’t know where to put his gaze. Theo shut the door hastily.
Fortunately, Rihen didn’t seem to have noticed that Theo had seen him a moment ago.
Theo tried hard to erase the scene from his head. But the more he tried, the more the stories he’d heard at the tavern rose up. The obscenities the drunk customers had laughed and rattled off. The talk about a game where you handled a person like a dog. Where you put a dog collar around their neck, pulled the leash, and made them crawl on all fours...
He shouldn’t have thought about what came next. But it was already too late.
An image of Rihen wearing a dog collar came to him. Overlapping with the marks he’d just witnessed, a mere delusion turned excessively vivid. In his head, Rihen was being dragged along on a leash, head bowed. The bob of his Adam’s apple every time he swallowed, the trembling of his limbs. Knees dragging along the ground. Even that expression that mixed submission and humiliation. A scene he had never actually seen, and yet strangely clear.
Rihen rubbed his head against the thigh of a customer with strange tastes. Even through trousers you could see how swollen the man’s crotch was, and Rihen carefully licked at it through the fabric. Sticking out his red tongue like a dog licking a bone. When the man scratched Rihen’s chin with satisfaction, Rihen parted those soft lips and said, woof...
Blood rushed downward, damn it all.
Theo had, at some point, substituted himself in for the customer’s face. He hated himself for having thoughts like this about Rihen. What was more horrifying was the strong possibility that this wasn’t empty fantasy but the reality Rihen was living in.
