Zero Kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho

Argh, dog-face groaned and glared painfully at me. Having no coat of fur, his appearance looked ridiculous.

“How are ya…completely fine?! I saw you…I swear I saw you…get run through!!”

Indeed, I had thought so too, but my body was free of wounds.

“I guess she was just a quack witch.”

“She got me though, so there’s no f.u.c.kin’ way!”

“You’re just a quack mercenary then. You’re a piece of s.h.i.+t for settin’ that annoyin’ witch on me. I had ta hurt a woman thanks to you. But in the end, you’re the one that got done in, so I guess you’re the laughin’ stock now, huh, dog-face?”

“Didn’t I tell ya I’m not a dog?! I’m a wolf! f.u.c.kin’ get it right! Solena personally bestowed me with the soul of a wolf, so I know it for a fact!”

In the middle of his howl, dog-face choked and spat out blood. A hole seemed to have opened in his stomach due to the hollow in his abdomen. A fallen beast wouldn’t die from a wound like this, but the pain would still be considerable. But what mattered now wasn’t how badly he was hurt. The guy’d just said—

“Solena…bestowed you with…?”

Dog-face gave me an ear-to-ear smile. I could tell he was proud of himself for knowing something I didn’t, which irritated me greatly. I contemplated killing him, but stopped that savage train of thought before it went far.

“You’re the sort that thinks bein’ a fallen beast is ‘cause’a misdeeds in a previous life, eh? That makes me laugh. If you could get a great body like this just by doin’ s.h.i.+tty things in past lives, I’d be stainin’ my hands in this life with as many evil deeds as I could.”

“Ain’t they already stained?”

“Hardly!”

“But ya used ta hunt down normal women and say they were witches, right?”

“That’s just a by-product of a manhunt…they got handed over to me, so I just took ‘em along for the ride! Sure…I did choose ‘em…but I thought about lettin’ ‘em go sometime…”

“So not only are ya a s.h.i.+tty person at heart, but you’re makin’ s.h.i.+tty excuses too…besides, that’s not what I asked ya about. You got turned into a fallen beast by Solena?”

Heh, heh, The self-proclaimed wolf that was dog-face gave a pained laugh. He had no fur, so his sweat dripped, drop by drop, into a pool of his dark red blood.

“I didn’t get turned into one! I chose to be a fallen beast. The great Solena herself granted me the n.o.ble soul of a wolf! What’s wrong? If you’re scared, then…”

Dog-face broke off mid-sentence and hugged his stomach, collapsing to the ground.

“H-help me close this hole in my abdomen…I’ll die if I keep losin’ blood…”

“I don’t really care if ya die though.”

“I care!! Hey, I’m sorry ‘bout earlier, ‘kay?! But I can’t die! Solena ordered me to find little lady! She’d disappeared, and I’m lookin’ for her in this kingdom! I swear!”