23. Crawl for Me

The hand that suddenly covered the little fox’s face and yanked it aside left the little fox completely stunned! After a moment, regaining its senses, the little fox immediately bit down on the hand that covered its mouth, and then, after breaking free, it began to shout and scream.

“Ahhh! Squeak squeak squeak!!”

“Help! I’m going to be braised!”

“I’m going to be steamed! I’m going to be yellow-braised, I’m going to be…”

“Shut it! Hush, don’t scream! Do you want to attract even more mice!?”

While trembling, I pulled back my hand, which had been bitten through, and landed a punch on the little fox’s head!

“It’s me, you little rascal!”

Enduring the pain from the bite on my palm, I focused on the fluffy little fox in front of me—Zelus, the little fox responsible for cleaning the Grand Chief’s temple, as a minor being.

At this moment, upon seeing me, the little fox looked very surprised, but I was equally startled: those beastmen brought by the Grand Sorcerer clearly intended to capture her, yet this little creature was actually planning to fight them! Did she think she was a beastman like Grom!?

“W-why are you here?”

“This isn’t the time for that.”

I didn’t respond but immediately grabbed Zelus’s fluffy little paw. Even though I had just pulled the little fox over from the shadows, the temple was small, and it was impossible for the Grand Sorcerer not to notice.

Sure enough, the next moment I heard footsteps, along with the Grand Sorcerer’s impatience and panic at the little fox’s sudden “disappearance.” The script clearly told me: this was not a place for us to hide.

[The Grand Sorcerer has found Oqilid and Zelus.]

“Follow me, and stop making a fuss, or we’ll both be done for!”

With that, I took the lead in a “strategic retreat”—running away. I was certainly a bit panicked, but I wasn’t completely flustered; after all… my appearance tonight was to help the little fox deal with such “emergencies.”

The Grand Sorcerer’s various sarcastic remarks at the council this morning were, in my view, clear signs of impending action. He was anxious that I had already found “clues” and feared that once he truly found the “shadow,” the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian tribe and the elves would be resolved under the facts I uncovered, which would definitely lead him to stop me or even frame me!

And the best way to do that was to find a scapegoat. The most suitable “scapegoat” that matched the clues of being “agile” and “having been seen around the temple” was none other than the bear fox beside me. That’s why I had been lying in wait in the temple according to the script, and I hadn’t guessed wrong: the Grand Sorcerer indeed came here to capture the little fox!

“So do you understand now?”

While briefly explaining the situation to the little fox beside me, I tugged at her, preparing to escape the vicinity of the temple. “You’re usually so bear-like and jumpy, and now you’re being treated as a scapegoat, huh!?”

I glanced at the little fox, swallowing my extra worries for the moment. If it weren’t for the little fox’s loud shout after I grabbed her, I would have had more time to escape in the pitch-black environment. Unfortunately… thanks to this little rascal’s noisy antics, we had already been discovered by the beastmen brought by the Grand Sorcerer and were being chased around!

However, compared to my anxiety, the little fox remained calm and composed; not only did she keep up with my pace, but she even moved faster than I did!

After a moment of silence, she looked over at me: “You humans really have an excess of cleverness.”

“I’m an exception!”

Not everyone is like me, able to foresee that the Grand Sorcerer might soon capture you as a scapegoat, so I came here early to stake out and save you. If you understood this, then when Kefer comes by next time, stop trying to act cute in front of her, and don’t make faces at me when she’s not looking.

I wanted to clearly tell this little fox and make her behave, but the next moment I realized: there was no chance for that now.

After all, while I could protect the little fox in advance thanks to the script, I wasn’t particularly skilled at escaping, and the Grand Sorcerer seemed to be serious about capturing Zelus, having arranged quite a few lackeys and beastmen…

Zelus and I hadn’t completely escaped the temple’s range; we were suddenly blocked in by the Grand Sorcerer and other beastmen!

This time, it seemed the Grand Sorcerer had set up quite a few traps to capture the little fox. Even though Zelus and I had escaped from the palace and reached the outside, during the night, none of the beastmen who usually guarded outside appeared. Instead… only the Grand

I fixed my gaze on the figure slowly emerging from among the surrounding orcs, who all looked rather “shifty-eyed”—the Grand Sorcerer. No wonder he had strutted around this morning, confidently insinuating that everything happening lately was a conspiracy by humans and elves. It seems… he had already arranged the upcoming plan!

“A mere beast, running quite fast, but do you really think you can escape from the temple? Moreover…”

As he spoke, the Grand Sorcerer turned to me with a smug smile, “Human, you’re here too. Your mind isn’t bad, but do you think too little of me?”

【The Grand Sorcerer took the opportunity to kill Oujili De.】

The death script, as expected, appeared immediately. However, at this point, the orc had clearly shown hostility towards me, so there was no need for me to continue pretending to be cheerful in front of him.

“Why can’t I be here? I’ve seen through your thoughts and know what you want to do, which is why I came here to take Zeros.”

Pausing, I lowered my voice, “Grand Sorcerer, you want the orcs and elves to fight, but what’s your purpose!?”

In response, the orc before me let out a haughty snort. The Grand Sorcerer now felt he had the upper hand, even looking down on me without bothering to hide his intentions.

“What if I have a purpose? Even if you knew, you wouldn’t have the life to speak it! You think you can smear my name and my clan in front of the other orcs, and now you want to stop me!”

As he spoke, he pushed back, and his lackeys, the orcs he had brought, closed in around us. In an instant, more death scripts rushed towards me. At least with the little fox in tow, I had no chance of escaping.

“It’s too late for you to run now! Trespassing the temple, even if I kill you, it won’t matter! All humans who dare resist me should die! Die! Die!”

The danger surrounding me made me clench my fists tighter, gripping the little fox Zeros’s fur even more.

At times like this, the most important thing is to maintain momentum; at the very least… I can’t let the bear demon beside me look down on me, right!?

I glared at the Grand Sorcerer and raised my middle finger.

“Scram!”

No one has yet appeared who could make me bite the dust!

—