ALL NOVEL Chapter 98 - Yesterday's Enemy Is Today's Ally
Chapter 98: Yesterday’s Enemy Is Today’s Ally
The servants who served Rokyu suddenly found themselves out on the streets.
Without any warning, the young master had dismissed them all, and they wanted to follow him into the mansion to ask why.
However…
“The Kitsune Family’s mansion is only accessible to those of the family’s bloodline and the servants who follow them!”
“”””…!!””””
“You all are no longer part of this place, and if you try to enter without permission, you should be prepared to face criminal charges under Japanese law!”
The young master, who had been smiling and spending time with them just yesterday, suddenly referred to them as outsiders.
Shocked by this and fearful of the law he mentioned, none of the servants dared to follow Rokyu into the mansion.
“…Lady Sophia.”
“Young master, what do you mean we’re suddenly dismissed? What happened?”
In that moment, Sophia sneaked into the mansion.
Seeing her, Rokyu had many things he wanted to say.
“When you first tried to enter the Kitsune Family’s mansion…”
“…?”
“You said it was to cure your sick younger sister’s white disease, right?”
“That was just a lie…”
“Of course, I knew. But still, since you’ve come all this way, shouldn’t you leave with at least a memento?”
Instead of asking for help or asking her to fight alongside him—requests that would only burden her—he didn’t even bother to mention such things.
Instead, what he handed her was something he originally wanted to give in a more elegant setting as a severance gift.
“Lady Sophia, your hand.”
“…?! Th-This is?”
“This is my mother’s keepsake. It has the power to enhance a Beast Hunter’s abilities.”
Although it was a symbol of love, he couldn’t place it on her ring finger.
They had only known each other for three days.
Given that short time, Rokyu placed his mother’s keepsake ring on Sophia’s index finger, a symbol of friendship and trust.
“Do you like it?”
“I… more than just like it… Are you sure it’s okay to give me something like this?! It’s your parents’ keepsake!”
“Haha. To be honest, my mother was a woman blinded by wealth and power. I lived almost like an invisible person around my parents, so that keepsake ring was something I found unsettling and never used.”
“But! But, no matter what…”
As a rare profession among hunters, the equipment made specifically for Beast Hunters was incredibly expensive and valuable.
Even Sophia, a B-rank hunter from the United States, and Lee Seok-gyu, the Chief of Staff of the Korean Army, couldn’t obtain such equipment.
Yet he was offering it as a farewell gift.
“Think of it as severance pay and please accept it.”
“B-But young master! No matter how you look at it, this is…”
“Of course, it’s not free. Since it’s too much for just severance, I’d like to ask you to grant me one wish in return.”
“A wish?”
A wish so significant that he was willing to give her specialized equipment for a Beast Hunter.
What could it be?
Sophia worried if she could fulfill such a wish.
“Lady Sophia.”
“Y-Yes! Young master.”
“Please remember me always.”
“…What?”
Rokyu’s wish was very simple.
He only wanted to be remembered as a good person by Sophia.
Not as a mere passerby, but as Kitsune Rokyu—someone who would live in her memory.
“I just… want to remain in your memory as a good person.”
“……”
“So, it was just something I said! If it’s really impossible, I understand… Ah! But since I’ve already given you the ring, please just accept it…”
Perhaps he was asking for too much, given that they had only known each other for three days.
After all, he had never even held a woman’s hand, let alone dated someone.
As Rokyu began to sweat profusely, wondering what he was even doing, he was about to retract his wish.
However…
“I’ll remember you.”
“…Huh?”
“I’ll remember you, young master Rokyu. For the rest of my life.”
“…!”
Sophia answered without the slightest hesitation.
And hearing her response, Kitsune Rokyu…
“Thank you.”
“Young master…”
“Truly, thank you. I feel as though all the worries I’ve had until now have suddenly disappeared.”
As he thought to himself that it was good he had spoken up…
“Then farewell, Lady Sophia.”
With a refreshing smile, he finally let go of his last lingering attachment to this world.
***
Evening arrived.
As promised, the forces Kurumi sent to protect me…
“Weren’t there, after all.”
Naturally, there wasn’t even a shadow of a person in sight.
“I suppose that was to be expected…?”
For the first time in his life, he enjoyed the silence of the now quiet mansion.
As he walked through the well-maintained garden under the night sky, ‘problem solvers’ sent by the family surrounded Rokyu, kneeling on one knee.
“We greet Kitsune Rokyu, the second son of the Kitsune Family.”
“…Who are you?”
“We are ‘ninjas’ who perform tasks under the orders of the upper echelon of the Kitsune Family.”
“Ninjas…! The family’s problem solvers that I’ve only heard of in rumors?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
A group of skilled individuals from Japan’s traditional lineage, thought to have vanished after the war era.
Ninjas (忍び).
Also known as ‘Shinobi’, they were only spoken of in rumors within the family, so it was no wonder that Rokyu was quite startled.
But the important thing now was the reason they were here.
“Following Rokyu-sama’s defeat at the recent family head succession ceremony…”
“Y-You scoundrels…”
“We have come to carry out the ‘punishment’ as per the elders’ wishes. So, please don’t resist and remain still.”
“This is outrageous…!”
The ninjas, whose bodies were fully covered by hoods, each exuded an aura at least on par with professional hunters.
In other words, for Rokyu, who had only just reached the level of a professional C-rank hunter, each one of these ninjas was a formidable opponent, difficult to defeat.
However, Rokyu had no intention of going down without a fight.
“Fire!”
“…!”
He intended to counterattack with everything he had, even if it meant being torn limb from limb.
But just then…
“Hey, you bastards!”
“What do you think you’re doing to the young master?!”
“?! Y-You all…!”
At the very moment when the ninjas were about to sever all of Rokyu’s tendons, the mansion doors burst open, and a group of nearly a hundred former servants of the Rokyu household flooded in.
“You… I’m sure I dismissed you all?”
“Young master, that’s so hurtful!”
“Do you think we’d just accept being dismissed like that without a word after everything we’ve been through together?”
“Young master! I’ve taken care of you for so long! I could never leave your side, not until I die!”
They had all been hired by Rokyu and had spent years roaming the mansion with him, considering him not just as a master, but as family.
Unlike most nobles, the young master was always kind and concerned about them, more like a close companion than an employer.
There had to be a reason why he suddenly dismissed them.
With that in mind, the nearly hundred servants pretended to accept their dismissal and leave, but thanks to their years of experience in the estate, they had sneaked back in through various means—whether bribing other servants on guard duty or slipping in through side paths.
“This is an attempted murder, isn’t it?!”
“I’m recording this on video! Just try touching our young master!”
“If this goes on air, you’re all finished!”
They were determined to fight alongside the young master in their own way.
Each of them pulled out their phones and began filming the scene, capturing Rokyu and the surrounding ninjas, who had almost rendered him immobile.
Click! Click! Click!
But…
“Boss, should we retreat for now?”
“No, even so, the Kitsune estate is isolated from the internet. To upload that video, they would have to leave the estate.”
“…! So what you’re saying is…”
“Yes, we’ll kill everyone here before our identities are revealed. It might be more dramatic than planned, but we’ll proceed.”
“Understood.”
“W-What?!”
No, this was bad.
The servants’ return had backfired.
The ninjas, now intent on spilling blood, began to draw their specialized weapons, like kunai.
“Run! Everyone, run!!”
Rokyu shouted urgently, trying to protect the servants.
“First, one of them.”
“Nanny!!”
“Young master…?”
A ninja leaped towards the nanny at the forefront, intending to use the kunai to strike fear by targeting the elderly woman’s throat.
“Stop!”
Clang!
“Ugh?!”
But before he could do so, he was struck by a fist that appeared out of nowhere, driving his face into the ground.
“…Who are you?”
The ninja leader immediately took note of the skilled individual with flowing golden hair among the servants, who were supposed to be civilians.
“Lady Sophia…?”
“Young master, you were right!”
“Right about what…?”
“This ring! It’s too valuable for just fulfilling one wish!”
Sophia, showing the ring on her index finger, spoke to Rokyu, who was dumbfounded.
“After receiving something so precious, the least I can do is fight alongside you!”
“…!”
“Isn’t that right, everyone?”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
“We came to fight too!”
The servants, who Rokyu thought wouldn’t be able to fight, each grabbed cooking knives, brooms, and other household items, their determination to fight now burning brightly.
“Young master! Please let us fight with you!”
“We’d rather die fighting alongside you than commit seppuku! Isn’t that far more honorable, like during the Korean War?!”
“All of you…!”
Moreover…
“Boss.”
“Even so, nothing has changed. We just need to eliminate them all…”
“Is it alright if we join this fight too?!”
“Huh?”
“Who…?”
The trio, who had been waiting for the right moment to appear, now revealed themselves on the mansion’s rooftop, ready to join Rokyu’s side, which seemed to be lacking in strength.
“We’re just some passing ‘Monster Group’ members. We happened to be short on cash, so we thought we’d do some looting~.”
“Mon… Monster Group?!”
Hearing this, not only were Rokyu and the servants shocked, but even the ninjas, who had heard of their infamy in the underworld, were taken aback.
“That face… No doubt about it!”
“Why is the Monster Group leader here?!”
The Monster Group members had been enjoying a trip to Osaka for the past week, after being contacted by Shin-woo.
“Should we apologize to Lady Sophia for keeping our identities a secret?”
**Leader of the Monster Group, Katarina.**
“Uh, do I just watch from up here, Leader?”
**Mascot of the Monster Group, Dorothy.**
And…
“How does it feel to be back in your hometown, Ookami?”
A man with his entire body wrapped in bandages, wearing the Monster Group’s signature black coat.
**Field commander of the Monster Group, Ookami.**
“…Since we’re already in the estate, how about we burn everything down on our way out?”
“Cut it out. We’re not here for war today. Just keep it under control and retreat when it’s time. Got it?”
“…Understood.”
Under the night sky, just past the calm before the storm…
Boom!
“Mother, I’m sorry, but I can’t just sit and watch anymore.”
“Jae-won?”
“I’ll join the fight, just in case.”
The real storm was about to begin, as every ninja unit of the Kitsune Family, following the orders of their leader, swiftly made their way towards Rokyu’s mansion.
Their battle was finally about to begin.