Chapter 26 Part 2 – The demon dogs attack. And that old scar petrifies Mary…

Like a good older sister, I gave Bradd some words of encouragement.

If anything, Bradd should be grateful for this gentle, dignified, and polite statement I gave him.

No need to thank me. A charming older woman always remembers to be kind.

「Are you stupid?! I don’t remember killing you 17 times! And there’s no WAY I have an older sister with a diaper!」

Whaaaaa? You’d like panties instead?! Panties and diapers are the same, kinda!

No discrimination! Don’t demean diaper’s social standing!

And don’t you remember everything?!

Even if you don’t, I DO!

Stabbing, stopping my heart, MURDER!

Get ready! I’ll have you executed for your impertinence!

My anger now is deeper than the ocean.

But, I will forgive you if you give me another ribbon.

This time make it pink.

「Some ocean. And hearing that I’m the strongest when I’m an adult…why does an infant like you know that, Scarlet? Well, it does relieve me a bit. Thanks.」

Bradd said with a smirk.

I’m not lying.

After all, adult Bradd mastered the mystery of the “Lawless Crew,” “The atoneless blood.”

You really are a genius. An idiot too, but you can’t lose to just any monster.

「Auuouu aouuuo」Bradd looked at me a bit shocked at my sudden encouragement.

「You know even about the “atoneless blood?” Who ARE you? It is an honor that you appreciate me that much…」

There are only a few that have learned the “atoneless blood” in the history of the Lawless Crew.

Bradd was skeptical, but still took my cheers as encouragement.

「I won’t lose to any opponent. I’ll use your strategy right away. This horrific foreboding feeling…there’s several monsters coming. I have to be prepared to blow up this manor, or else we might be killed.」

Are you really going to use that trap?

It’s a bit too much of a defense!

If our opponent was a murdered, we could just have him arrested and put in jail!

Are we going to have to Scarlet Jail Break episode next time?

「I agree with Bradd. We might have to sacrifice the manor to live…unfortunate…but…」

Mother also agrees with Bradd.

She said unfortunate, but her face didn’t look like she meant it.

「It’s an emergency measure. There might be no other way. And there’s no way I’d want my father and mother-in-law to pull up here and see the manor destroyed…no way I’d think about that!」

Ah…my mother’s letting leak her real thoughts…and I can see a black aura around her.

But what a sunny smile!

「I can always use that fire arrow. After they’re in the place, just as we said, get clear of the place. If you’re one step too slow, you’ll get caught in the trap, and that will end it all.」

We all looked at mother and nodded.

「Okay, let’s see these monsters.」

So we crawled over to the small patio and saloon in the garden, hiding behind scattered tables.

Mom was lookout and Mary was my carrier.

And I’m…the carried! What a lame role!

Mary carried me in her right hand and my baby basket in her left…it had a sunshade too.

It’s a bit baggy for luggage…sorry about that.

「There…see them?」

Brad points with his finger from under a table.

We looked over through the saloon window, into the garden. You can see almost everything as it’s only a framed window.

We could see four shadows in the moonlight looking down at us from a small hill.

Like some kind of demonic shadow play.

「Auouuu?」There was one silhouette I was familiar with.

The small shadow of a man crippled by rickets.

But the other three shadows were far larger than men!

Sharp ears, long snouts, big legs, thick tails!

My, grandma, what big EARS you have…

The better to hear you with.

And grandma, what big hands you have…

The better to hold you with.

And grandma, what a big mouth you have…

The better to…!!

Tah-dah!

KILL AND EAT YOU WITH ONE BITE!

「Auouuuhhh!!!」I screamed in fear.

「Shut up!」

Bradd said, clamping my mouth shut.

Demon Wolf Ralph

I’ll never forget it!

The trauma of everything made my body shake.

Ralph was a wolf that threatened my life over and over as Prince Rudy’s partner, one of the five heroes that killed me the previous 108 lives.

He could knock over a mounted knight and his horse, jumping from one knight to another like they were the ground, or zig-zagging across the field, trying to chase me down again and again. This thing could sneak up on your silently and avoid shot arrows, a beating footstep that would terrify everyone.

When the troops heard that the Demon Wolf was coming, they would scatter this way and that. How many nights did I live almost getting chomped down on the throat by it? I had constant insomnia thanks to that thing.

It was a horrible monster to remember.

But it struck a beautiful form!

「Auouu! Aououo!」

A wolf! A wolf is here!

I desperately tried to call to everyone.

There’s no way that’s a normal wolf.

That’s a DEMON WOLF.

I tried so hard to tell them that I gave out a little howl myself.

「Are you howling like a dog? Let’s hear your bark.」

「Auouooooooo ao…aouuuuu」

No! I was just trying to keep it quiet.

W-O-L-F.

A wolf! It’s here!

Everyone, believe me! There’s no way you can beat them!

But maybe they don’t trust me, like the boy who cried wolf?

Bradd looked at me with a scowl.

「Not a wolf. A dog.」

「Yeah, a dog.」

My mother also said.

I guess Bradd AND mom can see them from this distance.

I looked out and tried to stretch my neck…I guess I couldn’t tell because there was nothing doggishly cute about them.

I thought about the cute dogs that accompanied me during my previous 108 lives…Cookie, Candy, Plum…so cute… all of them.

For me, a dog is a little thing that follows you around with tail wagging.

For them it’s tearing prey apart and the sacrifices they gobble down.

A creature like that is not a dog!

And that trainer of them would have been chewed to death by something else if he didn’t have those doggies.

「The skull is different, the chest width a front legs too. I know because I play with wolves a lot near my village.」

Bradd said flatly, and I was shocked.

BRADD? Are you some demon?!

Are the Lawless Crew really zookeepers?

With all your beast friends?

「Everyone knows that.」

Mom’s remark stopped me too.

Whaaaa? So much for my knowledge cheat! Does everyone know this?

I never knew there was a difference between dog and wolf!

Maybe someone should have included it in an evil queen questionnaire!

I’m pretty sure half of the evil queens out there don’t know there’s a difference.

Bradd, look at me.

Take the name Dr. Doolittle from now on and go speak to the animals.

I’ll make the Scarlet Animal Park for this kingdom of mine.

And you can be its first ruler!

Hey, Mary, say something!

I made my appeal to Mary to help me out.

「Auuuouuu! Aooo!」

Listen to my tale, girl!

Mary was silent.

It was strange. Her eyes were wide and she was pale.

She just stared at the figures on the hill.

I shook myself in her arms like a little jackhammer on the asphalt of her arms.

「Vuoooaaah!?」

I cried out to her angrily.

I could get a higher karaoke score practicing like this.

Scarlet – Currently under construction.

We apologize for the inconvenience to everyone in this neighborhood.

…hey…you hear me? Mary? MARY!!