Chapter 1
Prologue.
“This is bad. Very bad.”
Celia jolted out of her daze as the old woman suddenly grew agitated and leaned in close.
“…Pardon?”
“Just look! It’s a fox demon cub, but it has nine tails!”
The old woman, said to have served as a priestess of the Eastern Continent, pointed at the fox with wide eyes.
Celia looked down at the injured animal.
Nine silver-furred tails shimmered in the light.
Those tails were precisely why Celia, a holy knight, had gone to the trouble of tracking down a priestess from the Eastern Continent.
The creature was clearly a demon from the East, yet something in her had balked at putting it down on the spot. Celia had always trusted her instincts.
Sure enough, the old woman’s expression turned grave. This was no ordinary demon.
“Fox demons are born with one tail, then grow another every hundred years. The number of tails corresponds to the demonic power they possess.”
“A hundred years? Then nine tails would mean…”
“A nine-hundred-year-old fox demon. What people call a nine-tailed fox.”
Celia shook her head. “But this fox is a cub.”
“That is the problem! Exactly!”
Deep concern creased the old woman’s age-spotted face. “If a cub was born with nine tails, then what do you suppose its mother must be?”
Celia fell silent. How would she know?
She was already up to her neck in problems involving animals smuggled into the Western Continent from the East, and demons were the worst of them. This fox demon had been among the creatures being prepared for sale to eccentric nobles.
Because this particular piece of merchandise was a demon, only holy knights could deal with it. Ordinary knights could not withstand exposure to demonic energy of that magnitude.
“No nine-tailed fox cub could have been conceived unless its mother was a Celestial Fox. I’m certain of it.”
“What is a Celestial Fox?”
“When a thousand-year-old fox demon cultivates itself until it can commune with Heaven, it becomes a Celestial Fox.”
The old woman swallowed hard. “A sacred beast.”
As one unfamiliar term followed another, Celia’s expression clouded. The old woman clicked her tongue, then explained it in terms a Westerner would understand.
“Think of a unicorn.”
Celia’s eyes widened. “A unicorn? You mean a mystical creature?”
“Exactly. And what happens if you carelessly harm a creature sacred to the gods? You incur divine wrath!”
“Then what am I supposed to do? Let it go?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
The old woman recoiled in horror. “It may have been born from a sacred beast, but at its core, it’s still a demon! Let it loose, and it’ll devour people throughout the Western Continent!”
The longer they talked, the more Celia felt a splitting headache coming on.
“If I kill it, I incur divine wrath. If I let it go, people die. Then what am I supposed to do?”
“That is why I said earlier the situation is very bad.”
When Celia gave no answer, the old woman stared into her green eyes and inhaled deeply, as though testing the clear, pure scent of Celia’s soul to see whether it was genuine.
Then a flicker of amusement crossed her face.
“What’s your name?”
The old woman had once communed with divine spirits as a priestess, only to be exiled from the Eastern Continent for some crime. By all rights, her exile meant she was no longer a priestess, yet there was an undeniable force in her aged voice.
“Didn’t you hear? What is your name, child?”
Celia reluctantly answered, “Celia.”
“I see. Celia. Listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.” The old woman looked down at the nine-tailed fox, which was panting weakly. “Raise this one until it reaches adulthood. Then take it back to the Eastern Continent.”
“…Raise it?”
“Demons capable of taking human form are extraordinary beings. In the East, they hold much the same significance that dragons do here in the Western Continent.”
Celia said nothing.
“How one is raised determines whether it becomes an instrument of Heaven’s will or a demon-yokai from hell.”
A strange light flashed in the old woman’s eyes.
“Listen carefully. Once you take this one to the Eastern Continent, you must leave it there and return without it. If you want to keep living the ordinary life you have now, that is.”
An ordinary life? Like now?
Something about that sounded strange, but Celia was more concerned with something else.
“Wouldn’t that put the people of the Eastern Continent in danger?”
The old woman gave a rasping, metallic laugh, as though she had expected the question.
“No. It will find its own way to the traces left behind by the Celestial Fox who ascended to Heaven. Then its mother will come for it.”
Celia stared at her.
“Celia.”
As if entranced, Celia met the old woman’s clear gaze and saw herself reflected there as in a mirror.
“You must be the one to raise this fox demon. If you don’t want to see the child of a Celestial Fox become a demon-yokai from hell, do as I say. Do you understand?”
Celia wanted to ask why it had to be her, but the words wouldn’t come.
She couldn’t answer at all.
As though she had expected exactly that, the old woman picked up the iron cage holding the nine-tailed fox and pressed it firmly into Celia’s arms.
The gesture was a clear command: take it and go.
Careful not to aggravate the fox’s wounds, Celia covered the cage with a cotton cloth. The alley reeked and was so deserted that not even a rat passed through, but someone might still wander by at the worst possible moment.
“Thank you.”
After making certain the cage was completely covered, Celia turned around.
“I’ll make sure you’re compensated for—”
She broke off, eyes widening.
The alley was empty. Celia stood frozen, staring around her. The old woman was nowhere to be seen. Only Celia remained.
A sudden shiver ran through her. An eerie chill crept over her skin, as though the priestess’s uncanny spirit had swept through her body and vanished.
* * *
That night, Celia had a strange dream.
A man was holding her from behind.
No… could this even be called a hug?
One arm locked around her waist and the other around her shoulders, blue veins standing out along the thick forearms that held her fast.
It was closer to restraint than an embrace.
The man was so large that even Celia, who stood over five feet seven inches tall, was completely enclosed within his arms. He was built like a bear, and against his broad chest, she seemed almost impossibly slight.
Celia twisted, trying to escape, but couldn’t move an inch.
This isn’t human strength. Of that, she was certain.
“You were the one who taught me…”
His deep baritone, resonant from the depths of his chest, rumbled against the back of her head.
Celia shuddered before she could stop herself.
Hot breath spilled across the nape of her neck. She could feel him smiling behind her.
“…I have instincts.”
His red lips curved into an intoxicating smile. There was something almost indecently sensual about him.
“Even a well-trained dog still has instincts. Imagine how it must be for me.”
“You… You are mistaken.”
“What kind of beast mistakes its own instincts?”
The man spoke in a gentle whisper.
“And I’m something far worse than a beast. You know that, Celia.”
She couldn’t answer.
“Don’t worry. You trained me well. I won’t do anything dangerous.”
Breath caught in her throat.
“But you can’t run away.”
His thick arm around her tightened.
“Help me stay good, Celia. Stay by my side.”
Forever.
Celia woke from the dream drenched in sweat.