ORCA 3

“Aack!”

Andrian, who was walking ahead, took several steps back and shrieked. It was because the teacup had fallen precisely in front of her shoes. Niah, who was also startled, covered his mouth tightly and stared at the teacup that had shattered into smithereens.

Although its form was gone, it had a luxurious design with gold leaf patterns on a white background. It was clear at a glance that it was not the kind used by the servants. Everyone just stared in bewilderment. Andrian, who was the most startled, clutched her chest and gasped for breath. She had nearly been seriously injured.

“Young master?”

Someone muttered while looking at the upper floors of the mansion. At that, all the servants who had been interested only in the broken teacup raised their heads to look up. Niah, who had been covering his mouth until now, also carefully rolled up his eyelids. His eyes widened, and his already large eyes became even larger.

The young master was at the window on the fourth floor of the mansion. He did not actually remember the face he had seen for a moment yesterday very well, but that person was unmistakably the young master. The only people who could sit leisurely by a window in the mansion at this hour were the Madam and the Master. Although in his remaining memories, they had never done so before, he, of all people, did not forget the faces of the Madam and the Master whom he saw every day, even from a distance.

So, that person was clearly the young master who had returned yesterday. It was impossible that the unfamiliar man with elegant lines, dressed in a well-ironed white shirt, was not the young master. His blue-black hair scattered in strands in the wind. His smooth skin glistened, receiving the sunlight. Unlike his beautiful appearance, the young master was looking down this way with a somewhat scary face.

Niah, who had been admiring the scene with Orca as the protagonist in a daze, quickly lowered his gaze. It might have been a delusion, but for a moment, he felt as if their eyes had met. The other servants who recognized Orca also hurriedly bowed their waists. Only Andrian, perhaps still unable to calm down, looked up and caught her breath. She had not even thought of greeting him.

“……”

She, who always raised her voice with great vigor, her tongue was now dry with fear. Her lungs felt like they were shriveling. It was a disaster. She resented her own foolishness for acting as usual when she clearly knew the young master had returned. It might be because she had grown accustomed to the mansion where only the Madam and the Master had been for three years, but such an excuse was utterly useless now.

It had been quite some time since Andrian was hired by the Weir family; she was a member of the mansion’s servants even when Orca first left for the border guard. So, she was by no means ignorant of the fact that the young master she served was sensitive to noise. And yet, to make such a mistake, Andrian felt that she herself was too stupid for words.

She took another step back from the teacup fragments at her feet. She could not tell if he had accidentally failed to hit her, or if he had deliberately not hit her. Given the young master’s hunting skills, it would naturally be the latter, but a teacup was not a crossbow or a shotgun, so there was also the possibility that he had aimed poorly.

Orca, who was tapping the windowsill with his fingertips and looking down, moved his arm slowly. The only one looking at him was Andrian. Andrian tightly gripped the apron tied around her waist. Her body became stiff, and she could not bow her head. Sweat beaded on her palms. The apron became creased and tattered.

Orca watched her and brought his loosely clenched fingers to his mouth. He felt not an iota of sympathy for the pitiful state of the servant who was frightened to death. He only found it ridiculous, recalling how she had been squawking just a moment ago.

It would be nice to cut off her tongue.

He slightly extended only his index finger and pressed it firmly on his lips. The act of moving his body just to cut off a servant’s tongue was quite troublesome. It was nothing more than a waste of time. Above all, if the mansion became noisy, it would only become needlessly bothersome. Therefore, choosing the easiest and most convenient method available right now was rational in many ways.

Andrian, without realizing it, took a large breath and shrank her neck as much as possible. As she belatedly bowed her waist following the other servants, the sharp teacup gleamed. She squeezed her eyes shut.

This commotion quickly spread as a rumor throughout the entire mansion. From the garden to the kitchen, to the laundry room, to the pantry, to the distillery, to the hall of the basement quarters, and even to the mountain where the gamekeeper lived, it was transmitted in an instant. It would not be a lie to say that everyone knew except for the Madam and the Master.

As the words were passed from mouth to mouth, they were exaggerated beyond the actual event, but the fundamental fact did not change. The servants wished for the young master to leave as soon as possible. There was nothing else they could do. If someone were to really get on his wrong side, they might end up having to clean up a corpse in the mansion. It seemed better to suffer from hard labor than to tremble in fear of a major incident.

Andrian spent the entire day from morning to night like a person whose soul had left her. She went about her work half-heartedly with a dazed look in her eyes. Her hands could not grasp the work as she was engrossed in all sorts of bad imaginations. All she could think about was the broken teacup.

The young master’s face as he looked down at her became more and more gruesome the more she replayed it in her mind. He did not chase after her and harm her, yet she felt as if she had received a severe punishment.

Because of this, only the easy target Niah suffered by her side. He did the dishes all day, took a break to do garden work, then did the dishes again, and when that was all done, he went to the greenhouse, then returned to the kitchen in time to do the dishes again. There were only three masters to serve, yet the food was prepared at the level of a banquet for every meal.

Andrian did not shout as she usually did, but she would occasionally glare at him with her sharp eyes. In the end, just as he had worried earlier, he could not even eat properly. It was because she, who was being mean for no reason, kicked him out of the dining hall.

All he had eaten for the whole day was half a boiled potato, a strip of bacon that was so overcooked its edges were burnt black, and half a cup of black tea that had been steeped so many times it had almost no taste.

Niah lay on the bed in the dark room and rubbed his stomach. He could not fall asleep because he was hungry. He needed to sleep early to wake up early tomorrow, but it seemed impossible to fall asleep like this. He hugged the thin blanket and tossed and turned.

He tried to count sheep, but the ghostly face of Andrian came to mind, and he became even more awake. His body was tired and exhausted, but his mind was wide awake, which was tormenting. He craved the half a boiled potato he had eaten during the day. His stomach rumbled. The regret of not having saved it to eat now washed over him. Niah licked his lips and tried to think of something else.

“This won’t do…”

He stopped and muttered to himself. It would be a bigger problem if he wasted time like this and stayed up all night. Niah slowly got up and went outside. He did not want to go to the lake today of all days, but he had no choice. He walked down the hallway and went straight to the door leading to the servants-only staircase.

The moonlight came in through the window, making the hallway quite bright. Niah carefully opened the door, grabbed the railing of the spiral staircase, and moved his feet as slowly as possible. He could not let the sound echo and let the other servants know that he was awake.

When he finally reached the first floor, his heart pounded for some reason. Niah hesitated for a long time, then very slowly opened the door and peeked his face out. He looked left and right alternately as he squeezed his body out half a step at a time. It seemed there was no sign of anyone.

Niah, standing as close to the wall as if he were stuck to it, began to walk on his heels. Streaks of light continued sporadically along the long corridor. Knowing there was no one, he repeatedly turned back and checked several times. Being careful not to make any sound, he walked quickly and soon reached the vicinity of the side door that led to the back of the mansion.

All he had to do was go out through there. If he ran, the lake was not that far. As he felt a little relieved, a sudden wave of hunger washed over him. Niah clutched his stomach with one hand and quickly pushed the handle of the side door with the other. The night wind blowing from the forest rushed into the mansion. The wind carried a fresh scent.

Niah, having safely exited the mansion without being caught by anyone, ran wildly towards the forest. The sight of him going over the low hill, crossing the lawn, and entering the forest was not like a goldfish, but rather like a swift rabbit. When he saw the edge of the lake surrounded by trees, he quickened his pace. It was fortunate that the path was not dark thanks to the large moon hanging overhead.

Niah did not enter the water right away, but looked around cautiously, feeling unnecessarily self-conscious. Of course, he was the only one who would come to the lake at such a late hour. Still, he was worried, so he circled the lake and moved a little further away from the mansion.

The soft grass touched his feet under his hard shoes. In the forest, insects chattered ceaselessly. The moonlight shimmered along the gentle waves, dyeing the surface of the water yellow. As his tension eased, his mind gradually calmed down. His breathing, which had become ragged from running, also became calm. His pounding heart also returned to its place.

The lake was so vast that all the servants of the mansion could go in and swim together. In Niah’s opinion, it was wide enough for the Madam and the Master to be in their beastman forms and roam the water. He had never seen a killer whale in person, but since they must be huge, it meant the lake was also huge.

Therefore, he did not have to worry about being caught for occasionally having a meal like a tiny goldfish like himself. Even if he spent all night picking and eating torn waterweeds or snail flesh until his stomach burst, no one would know. It was fine as long as no one saw him coming here.

Knowing this, Niah only came to a complete stop when he was as far away from the lake’s entrance as possible. He could not go very far because he was too hungry. Still, at this distance, he would be able to notice in advance if anything happened. It was a sufficient distance to prepare countermeasures, whether it was hiding somewhere or running away.

Standing by the lake, Niah began to take off his clothes piece by piece. His hands fumbled with the buttons urgently. Without hesitation, he pulled his arms out of his shirt and flung off his trousers. He even pulled his underwear down to his ankles in one swift motion.

Niah was soon naked. There was no one to see, so he was not embarrassed. No matter how bright the moon was, it could not drive away all the deep darkness, but it shone even more brightly on the unclothed Niah. His pale body stood out noticeably in the dark night forest.

Niah, having folded and arranged his shed clothes neatly, knelt on the ground and put his hands into the water. A chill went deep into his body, but it was bearable. It was because satisfying his hunger was urgent. Soon, with a light splash sound, small water droplets jumped up from the surface of the water.

A goldfish with orange patterns on a white background was floating in the water. After a moment, it soon began to flap its fins and busily swim around the edge of the lake.

To a human who was not a beastman, beastmanization was a phenomenon like a mirage. It was natural, as a being who was human suddenly changed into an animal. It looked even more so because it left no trace.

Beastmanization goes through a process of making what exists disappear and creating something new that did not exist. Not only do hair and limbs disappear, but shaggy fur can also grow all over the body. The body size also changes at will, getting bigger and smaller.

Furthermore, even the clothes they are wearing are absorbed as part of the body. It happens in an instant, at a speed that the eyes cannot fully follow. To the eyes of an ordinary human, beastmanization only looks like suddenly disappearing and suddenly appearing. This is the same when humanizing again.

Therefore, there are no restrictions on beastmanization even without taking off clothes. However, there was a reason for Niah to become naked. Whether in human form or animal form, since what exists is ultimately ‘one,’ the situations of the two are bound to be connected. Despite the physical gap between human and animal, the physical situation one is in does not change.

This is why phenomena such as getting injured in beastman form and the wound remaining even after humanizing occur. By a similar principle, if one falls into water in beastman form and then returns to human form, their body is bound to be still wet. So, it was as clear as day what would happen if he went into the water with all his clothes on.

If he returned to the mansion dripping with water, he might get caught by the other servants for going to the lake. To avoid being caught, he would have to wipe up all the water spilled in the hallway and on the stairs, and if he could not sleep because of that, he would surely doze off the next day and be scolded by Andrian. He did not even want to imagine it.

He would also have to wash the cloth used to wipe the water, and someone might come out at the sound. The thought that that someone could be the young master gave him goosebumps. Just the thought made him scared, and his legs trembled. Moreover, dealing with the wet clothes was also a problem. There was no suitable space to hang them to dry in his small room.

Niah’s naked swim in the middle of the night stemmed from these worries. The word naked for a goldfish is a bit funny, but since he would be naked without a single piece of cloth on when he became human again, it was not wrong.

Niah swam only near his shed clothes so that he could get back on land right after filling his stomach. He was busy pecking at his mouth, diligently tearing and eating the waterweeds. It was hard to eat, but it seemed faster than swimming around looking for small pieces of torn waterweeds.

He held the waterweed tightly and pulled with all his might. His thumbnail-sized fins flapped continuously as if they were wings.

As the night deepened, the moon seemed to shine even more brightly. As it brightly illuminated the ceilingless lake, the places where the light did not reach became denser with darkness. Between the tree trunks whose boundaries with the darkness had become indistinct, two eyeballs flashed, glowing. They moved slowly while Niah was hastily satisfying his hunger. The footsteps that slowly approached Niah’s neatly arranged clothes were leisurely.

Sensitive hearing naturally encouraged insomnia. Orca opened his eyes neurotically at the noise that suddenly came from the mansion’s backyard. It was the sound of a frivolous body running quickly. It was too careless for a thief. It was also different from a beast running wild. Then, there was only one thing left.

A servant?

He narrowed his eyes. Lying straight on his back, he rolled his head without moving a muscle. A quiet wave rose in his chest, where anger had briefly flared. The deep, dark night was a good time. Everyone kept their noisy mouths shut and was completely silent.