The room where the fox had disappeared.
Everywhere was silent. Even the wind seemed to tread carefully around Kessler, flowing quietly only near him.
Creeeak.
At that moment, the door opened. It was a newly hired, overly enthusiastic skeleton janitor.
Creak, creak, screeak.
The newcomer eagerly and busily flexed its joints. Perhaps because it was in front of the lord of the castle, it seemed desperate to show extra effort.
Screeak, screeak.
Kessler, who normally wouldn’t have cared what anyone else was doing, couldn’t tolerate the scraping sounds that reached his ears.
“……It’s too distracting. I can’t focus on anything. You, come here.”
Clack, clack, clack?
The skeleton, holding a broom, set it down and approached him.
Kessler pulled out a can of joint lubricant, shook it a few times, and sprayed it thoroughly over each of the skeleton’s bony joints.
“Hm?”
The skeleton, wanting the other leg done as well, stuck its bone out toward him. Kessler’s gaze lingered on the smooth, outstretched knee joint—because caught between the contact points was a tuft of fine, white fur.
Kessler carefully plucked it out. Then he looked at the skeleton, who was beaming at him.
“The owner of this fur.”
Clack, clack?
“Have you seen a small, white fox?”
Clack, clack.
“When?”
Clack, clack, clack, clack.
Kessler shoved the can of lubricant into the skeleton’s hand.
“Your hiring gift.”
Then, he rose from his seat at once. Immediately, he summoned all the day-ghosts nearby, who flinched and cowered just at the sight of him.
“I’m looking for a baby fox. Any ghosts who witnessed it?”
One of the witness ghosts pointed beyond the window with a trembling fingertip. Somewhere amidst the crowd of outsiders, there was indeed a tiny, white creature bounding around energetically.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kessler leapt through the window. Though it was a high floor from which one had to crane their neck to even look up from the ground, his landing was as soft as a ghost’s touch.
The baby fox was nestled snugly in someone else’s arms, rubbing its face affectionately against them. Watching that scene, Kessler’s face hardened into stone.
Bad fox. After all the hollow loneliness he had suffered through the night, it was now putting on a show of affection for someone else.
“Don’t you dare lay those filthy hands on my fox.”
All the nearby gazes turned to Kessler. With the baby fox between them, Jung Da-hoon and Kessler stood locked in a silent standoff.
***
Jung Da-hoon obediently handed me over to Kessler.
“Shouldn’t it be, ‘Don’t touch the dirty fox’ instead?”
Ah, had Kessler’s embrace always been this warm? Overwhelmed by the pleasant sense of security, I wagged my tail wildly.
“Are you insulting our baby fox by calling him dirty?”
Kessler demanded sharply, his face twisted in sensitivity. It made me tilt my head slightly. Wasn’t it Kessler himself who usually called me “Dirty”?
Besides, I’d been locked up in a storage room all night; my fur was practically covered in soot from head to tail. I was undeniably filthy, yet here he was, getting angry just because someone pointed it out.
That bastard Kessler… after letting him touch my butt a few times, he’d clearly gotten so obsessed with my fur that he couldn’t even see me objectively anymore.
“Alright, alright, no fighting. Kessler, have you had lunch yet?”
“None of your business. Where’s our fox’s collar? Did you guys steal it?”
“Collar? Oh, you mean the bell? Huh? Come to think of it, why is it missing?”
“Confess now. If I find it while searching you, I’ll tear your joints apart.”
The culprit was standing right before me. It was Jung Da-hoon.
Myaang!
As I struggled, accusing Jung Da-hoon as the thief, something caught my eye.
‘Huh?’
On the left side of Jung Da-hoon’s chest was the emblem of “Fox Forest,” the fan club for professional gamer Yeo Woo-rim.
‘What the—? He’s my fan?’
The suspicion I’d just had, thinking of him as a criminal, suddenly felt absurd. I saw him in a completely new light. As soon as our eyes met, I immediately stopped struggling and decided to behave.
Thinking further, there was no benefit in stirring up a conflict with Kessler.
Even from what little he’d done so far, Kessler already seemed entirely unsociable. There was no reason to make him more of a target among the users.
“Seriously. Kessler, why do you always talk like that?”
“Exactly. Just because you’re good-looking, you think you can get away with everything?”
“Handsome? Our Da-hoon is handsome too!”
Once one person argued, the others all ganged up on Kessler.
“Yeah! Wasn’t he the bastard who knocked over our grill last time? He didn’t even pay for the meat! Forget the fox’s bell—pay us for the grill first!”
“A bunch of worthless husks, barking above their station.”
But Kessler retorted without even blinking, speaking as coldly and sharply as a dark dragon.
‘Haa… I guess there’s only one way after all.’
I realized this wouldn’t end well otherwise. I relaxed my bladder… then tightened it all at once.
Ssssssssssshhh…… drip drip drip.
“AAAH!”
The arm that was holding me grew damp. Kessler’s forearm was soaked through, and the powerful spray of my pee splattered without hesitation, forcing the people surrounding Kessler to step back one or two paces.
“The fox peed!”
Nyaaang……
I looked up at Kessler with the most wide-eyed, innocent gaze I could muster as he stared down at me with an expression of clear disgust.
“First, handle the cleanup! It’s going to… it’s going to splatter all over the food!”
“How does something so tiny have such a powerful stream?!”
Phew. Had I successfully shifted the topic? As I sighed in relief, Kessler suddenly clamped both my ears shut with one hand.
“Watch your mouth. Don’t embarrass the fox. You damn bastards.”
More insults aimed at Kessler followed, but the more they shouted, the more firmly Kessler pressed down over my ears.
“Filthy scum.”
……No, wait. I think those curses are directed at you, not me.
Mistaking the insults as being thrown at me, Kessler stormed off like he was deleting nasty comments aimed at his precious fox.
Yet, as he walked past, every day-ghost he encountered bowed their heads deeply to him.
‘…….Huh?’
Feeling baffled, I turned my gaze toward the ghosts. Could it be… had he already gotten the ‘Mark of Ownership’?
The ‘Mark of Ownership’ was a possession of the castle lord—the absolute ruler of this place—and just carrying it was enough for the residents of Shadow Castle to regard you as a supreme being and obey unconditionally.
‘No way.’
It was far too fast. He had only just completed the third Survival Quest.
Besides, holding that mark would mean he’d made contact with the Special Occupation ‘Thief’…
Ah, could it be?
From the beginning, my assumptions about Kessler were all wrong.
From how he deliberately avoided getting along with others, it was obvious he wasn’t a ‘Seeker.’
He had been carrying Jewel Ice early in the game, was decked out with rare items, and had plenty of money…
I looked up at Kessler.
This bastard wasn’t a ‘Seeker’—he was a ‘Thief.’
‘Still, for a thief to find the lord’s hidden chamber this early, he must be pretty damn good.’
During the alpha test period of the horror game [Last Shadow], I’d survived mostly by luck thanks to a middling job class, and not once had I managed to locate the hidden lord’s chamber.
“How the hell did you even pee this much?”
Kessler muttered as he shook his wet hand.
“Fascinating.”
I thought he was complaining, but he was just genuinely amazed?
He then picked me up with one hand, turned me upside down, and checked my tiny urethral opening.
“Got a little pecker. So you’re a male, huh?”
Nyaaang.
As if he were learning it for the first time, he lightly flicked my tiny bell before rinsing off my belly under running water.
As he scrubbed me with soap bubbles, my fur quickly regained a pure, porcelain-like whiteness.
“Stay still.”
Because he lathered soap all the way up to my face, I couldn’t see and fumbled around blindly—but he quickly rinsed it off as well.
“Sniff.”
He wiped away the gunk from my eyes and cleaned up my runny nose too.
“All done. You’re all fresh and fluffy now.”
His attitude and the look in his eyes as he handled me had softened noticeably.
Wrapping me up in a towel, he lifted me carefully and began drying my fur.
Feeling good, I snuggled up against him. Watching me quietly, his gaze suddenly turned cold.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Nyaaang.
“Did someone steal it?”
…
“Or… did you give it away? No way, right?”
…!!
“So it’s not that?”
I kept my mouth firmly shut. Even if I could speak like a human, I wouldn’t tell him about this.
Knowing his temper, if he went to confront someone about it, he’d seriously end up getting PKed by another user.
I wanted this guy to survive for a long time. Today, for the first time, I felt a sort of comradeship with him. In this world where even Haru noona was gone, he seemed like the only one left who genuinely cared for me with a pure heart.
“Let’s eat.”
That was the second reason why I liked this guy.
A buffet tailored for a baby Arctic Fox was spread out on the dining table. Having long since graduated from a diet of just formula and milk, I happily licked at a colorful assortment of foods.
[System]: You have consumed Sweet Banana Pudding. Stamina +1.
[System]: You have drunk Beef Bone Broth infused with care. Stamina +2.
[System]: The Baby Arctic Fox is now full. Satiety +20.
After licking a deliciously herb-scented ice cream, I flopped onto my back, completely satisfied.
Kessler began rubbing my belly.
Just as I was thinking that maybe this kind of pampered life wasn’t so bad—
Awooooo!!
[System]: Due to the predator, the wolf’s howl, stress-induced hair loss has occurred.
[System]: The mournful howl of the wolf renders you powerless.
I immediately leapt up onto the windowsill and peered outside. All the users flying their kites in the night sky had turned their heads toward the northern sky at once.
‘It’s finally starting.’
The next thing we had to do before the upcoming Survival Quest was to hunt down the wolves.
‘More precisely…’
It was mating season. The wild ghost animals, terrified by the frenzied howling of the wolves, were pouring over the castle gates.
The real problem was that this overwhelming flood would continue to surge in like waves every night.
[System]: A dense gathering of ghosts may cause restricted vision and hallucinations!
[<Quest: Wear a Wolf’s Hide> has been bestowed!
Wild ghost animals fear wolves. Try disguising yourself by wearing a wolf’s hide!
Reward: Vision restriction lifted, hallucinations alleviated.]
A new quest had begun. Seeing that it was “bestowed” meant it had been issued by the castle’s administrator.
‘That sly bastard of a lord.’
From the lord’s perspective, it was the perfect way to solve the problem without lifting a finger.
If the users hunted down the troublesome wolves, the number of wild ghost animals flooding into the castle would naturally decrease. At the same time, by having the users wear wolf hides for the quest, they could scare the timid ghost animals—who otherwise soiled the castle with spectral droppings—back outside.
But that wasn’t all. Most users were look-obsessed, so there was no way they’d just walk around draped in raw wolf pelts. They would definitely spend money using castle facilities for tanning and making fashionable coats, allowing the lord to profit even more.
“Don’t be scared, baby fox. Those wolves will soon be skinned down to just their hides.”
Kessler said, gently running his hand down my back. It seemed he had just received the quest too.
