The Eminence in Shadow

“Oh-woof… Next time, then!”

“Yeah, for sure. Oh, and quit marking me with your scent.”

Delta’s rubbing herself all over me, so I’m forced to manually pry her off.

“But Cid, you stink of fox.”

“It’s fine.”

“No!” Delta keeps coming at me, and it takes a good deal of effort to keep her off.

I decide to change the subject.

“So, Delta, what are you doing in the capital?”

“Oh-woof… Cid, you’re too strong.”

“So, Delta, what are you doing in the capital?”

“Hmm? What?”

“So, Delta, what are you doing in the capital?”

“Uh, well, see, I woke up this morning, ate some meat, and came to the capital.”

“So, Delta, what are you doing in the capital?”

“Uh, well, see, I was hunting!”

“In the capital?”

“Outside the capital. It was fun! I hunted a bunch! Cid, wanna join?”

“Why were you hunting?”

“Come hunt with me!”

“Why were you hunting?”

“Alpha told me to! Cid, come hunt with me!”

“Oh, it was Alpha’s idea.”

“Yeah! Cid, come hunt with me!”

“What were you hunting?”

“Bandits! Cid, come hunt with me!”

“A bandit hunt, huh?”

“Cid, you love bandit hunting!”

“That’s true. I

do

love bandit hunting.”

“Come hunt with me!”

“All right, I’m sold. It’s not like I’m doing anything.”

“Hooray!!” Delta grabs me by the hand and starts trying to drag me off.

“Hey, hold up! I can’t leave right now. I gotta head back to the dorms first.”

“No!”

“Also, didn’t you have some business you had to deal with here in the capital?”

“Business?”

“I assume Alpha called for you or something.”

“A-Alpha?!”

“Did you forget?”

“She called me! Is she gonna get mad?!”

“I dunno. But you’d better go quick.”

“But the bandit hunt…” Delta looks at me dejectedly.

“I’ll be free for a while, so why don’t we just go tomorrow? Go take care of your business.”

“Got it! Cid, make sure you wait for me!!”

“I’ll be there at the dorm. Make sure you come inconspicuously, though.”

“I’ll come undercover!”

Delta drops back to all fours and dashes off through the capital at a breakneck pace.

If anyone saw her, she’d definitely turn heads, but normal people can’t make her out at those speeds, so maybe it’s fine.

For some reason, I’m reminded of the golden retriever I had back in my old world. I let out a quiet sigh.

We race through the forest in the dead of night.

I’m following close behind Delta.

I was worried about how well she’d be able to follow my instructions,

but she managed to show up at my dorm without causing a scene or anything.

Of course, her abilities are the one thing I never have to worry about. Hunting is Delta’s specialty. When I see the way she conceals her presence, I’m honestly impressed. She might well be the cream of the Seven Shadows’ crop.

What’s more, her ability to sense prey is off the charts. To be honest, her sense of smell and hearing are probably even better than mine. No matter how much I try out some extreme body mods and boost myself with magic, the difference between species is too wide to overcome.

With the notable exception of her brains, every aspect of Delta’s is top-of-the-line.

That’s the reason I’m having her run ahead of me and act as my Bandit Radar.

When it comes to hunting outlaws, finding the first one is always the hardest and most time-consuming bit. With Delta running in front of me, all I have to do is follow after her and let her lead me to the good part.

Her nose twitches and her tail wags as she races forward.

Looks like we’ve got a hit.

She speeds up, dropping from two legs to four. She rips through the forest at blistering speeds, eventually charging straight toward a light barely visible off in the distance.

Screams fill the air.

When I get there a second later, I find several of the bandits already dead, their limbs strewn around the campfire.

Yeah, I had a feeling this would happen.

Going on bandit hunts with Delta isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are downsides, too. Notably, she loses the ability to wait the moment she spots her prey.

With her, bandit hunts have a habit of ending up as one-sided massacres. And where’s the fun in that?

Man, everything was shaping up to be a such a blast, too…

Now, strictly speaking, it’s not that she

can’t

wait. If I told her to, she’d probably follow my instructions.

However, doing so causes her immense stress.

She’ll behave herself as long as I’m around, but the minute I’m gone, she’ll have no choice but to vent it. That invariably causes problems.

She might end up mounting Gamma to assert dominance, or chop down all the trees behind someone’s house and leave the lot barren, or find a vegetable field and eat everything in it…

Back when she was a kid, it stopped there. Now that she’s grown up, though, I have no idea how destructive her stress-relieving methods might be. And I have no desire to find out.

As I stand there thinking, the hunt more or less comes to an end.

I barely even got to do anything.

“P-please, wait!”

The final bandit begins begging for his life.

It happens a lot, but the pleading never works on Delta.

A carnivorous grin spreads across her face as she swings her ebony blade with all her might.

There isn’t a shred of technique behind the blow, but it makes up for it with raw power. However, it isn’t just fast, but flowing and clean as well.

I guess that’s talent for you, huh?

Her sword barrels at the bandit’s neck, slices through the top layer of skin, then comes to a halt.

“Huh?”

Has Delta stopped…?

Impossible.

She sniffs, taking in the bandit’s scent.

“I—I knew it was you, Sara. Look, it’s me! It’s me!” says the outlaw.

As he repeats “It’s me, it’s me” over and over like a scammer, the bandit takes off his mask.

His features are rough and masculine, but they aren’t nearly as eye-catching as the fact that he has dog ears the same color and shape as Delta’s.

“That is

you

, right, Sara? It’s me, your older brother!”

Delta sniffs again, then tilts her head to the side and looks my way.

It’s a sign she’s asking for permission.

I nod, giving her the go-ahead to do whatever she wants.

“You smell like Dad…but I don’t remember you.”

Delta takes off her mask as well. Her face and tail come into view.

“Well, if it isn’t Sara. I’d heard you contracted the possession and the old man hunted you down, but…I guess you survived. Good going.”

“I’m the best at hide-and-seek, or my name isn’t Delta.”

“Delta? So that’s what you call yourself these days, huh? Hey, c’mon, let me live. I

am

your brother, after all.”

The man looks at Delta, clearly trying to butter her up.

Her tail puffs up menacingly. Oh, man. That’s a sign she’s unhappy.

“A weakling is no brother of mine.”

“Hey, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, you’ve always been strong, and I know I can’t beat you! Even Dad always said if you weren’t a woman, he would have appointed you as the next chief! Your possession is all better, right? Why don’t I go talk to Dad and get him to let you come home? Whaddaya say?”

“If I wanted to go back, I’d do it myself.”

“Yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah, of course! That’s just how you are! In that case, what if I introduce you to a master befitting your skills! Listen and be amazed—right now, I’m working for Gettan the legendary Great Wolf!”

Delta’s tail begins to swish. It’s a sign she’s outright pissed.

“Gettan… You heard of this guy?” I ask her.

“Don’t know him.” She shakes her head, her expression stern. Yup, figures.

“You’re kidding!! He’s the legendary Great Wolf, the one even Dad couldn’t beat! The strongest swordsman in all the wolf clans! I—I bet you could even get chosen as one of his lovers, and—”

“Don’t care; shut up. Weaklings should just be quiet.”

With that, Delta lops the man’s head off mid-sentence. His head flies in a clean arc through the air.

“Uh… Wasn’t that your brother?”

Her face looks downright livid as she glowers at the man’s severed head, but when she looks over at me, she wags her tail, all smiles.

“Weaklings are a stain on the family name. I’m glad I got to put him down.”

“I…see.”

There’s nothing else I can really say. I guess humans and therianthropes just see the matter in fundamentally different ways.

Therianthropes are a pretty diverse species, but something like 80 percent of them are of the opinion that “might makes right.” The strong are kings, and those who are good at hunting are respected, too, albeit not quite as much. In that regard, Delta’s an archetypical example of the stereotype, to the point where it’s like, “Oh man, settle down; we get it, you’re a therianthrope.”

However, even though they don’t all take it to extent Delta does, her way of thinking is pretty standard. To put it bluntly, therianthropes’ base stats are overpowered as hell. Their physical abilities are high, their senses are sharp, their reflexes are great, their magic is plentiful, they live long lives, and they reproduce like rabbits. If it weren’t for their intellectual shortcomings, they’d have easily taken over the world by now.

Because of their “might makes right” philosophy, every time their population goes up, they start infighting, and it goes right back down again. Occasionally, some grand therianthrope hero will show up and unite them, but they invariably end up picking a fight with the humans or the elves and get sent scurrying back. Wait…this is the therianthropes we’re talking about. They crush their opposition every time. What

actually

happens is that they extend their supply lines too far, their provisions can’t make it to the front lines, and they get hungry and head home. Every goddamn time. Still, that’s not to say there aren’t wise and clever ones, too. For better or for worse, they’re a diverse people. For example, the fox clans are famous for their intellect. Just look at Yukime.

Man, if only they’d just turn to the smarter clans and listen to them for a change. Actually, they do listen to them at first, but as soon as the supply lines get stretched out and the smart therianthropes tell them to play it safe, the meatheads call them cowards and push on anyway.

Apparently, they’re all “might makes right” when it comes to their instincts, too.

They do ostensibly have a constitutional government, and they’ve

made some forays into industry recently, but they haven’t had much success. I guess their brains are too full, thinking of raw power.

“Still, you should try to at least recognize your siblings. That can’t possibly be too much to ask.”

“Um, my dad has around twenty lovers. I have over a hundred brothers!”

“Oh. Well, in that case, you can definitely stand to lose one or two.”

That’s therianthropes for you. They operate on crazy scales. Still, I’m kind of interested in this country of “might makes right.”

“You know, I kinda want to check out the therianthrope lands at some point.”

Delta’s ears twitch. “Ooh, good idea! You can become chief, Boss man!!”

“Huh?”

“You can beat up the old one, then become chief of the new pack!”

“Uh…”

“Then you can make lots of babies and become the strongest family in the world!!”

“Yeah, that’s definitely not on the agenda.”

“It is! We’ll find you a thousand women!! You can make lots of babies, the strongest in the world!! Let’s go!! You can become a big hero, then take over the world!!”

“That’s not happening. C’mon, we’re heading back to the capital.”

“No!!”

“Yes.”

“Boooooo!!”

I drag Delta back to the capital. This is giving me a headache.