novelraw Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Chapter 3
THUD!
The Feral Wolf came down.
Up close, its bulk looked even larger. The thick, bristling fur made it seem bigger still. The fur was not soft at all—rather, it was coarse and sharp, giving no impression of cuteness whatsoever. It felt as though getting too close would result in being sliced or pierced by it.
With blood-red eyes, the Feral Wolf slowly scanned me, Erisa, and the band of thieves. Its gaze eventually settled on the thieves, and then a low, menacing growl rumbled through the alley.
Only then did the thieves, who had been staring blankly in confusion, seem to grasp the situation. Their faces twisted in terror.
“T-the Feral Wolf?”
“Shit, run!”
Of course, the Feral Wolf did not let them escape.
“GAAAAH!”
The “judgment” began.
The Feral Wolf charged into the thieves and swung its arm. With a sickening RIP, a thief’s head was torn clean off. Next, a thief whose belly had been ripped open by the sweeping claws rolled across the ground. He died while trying to gather his spilled entrails.
One of the thieves, perhaps realizing there was no escape, or perhaps having gone mad, rushed at the Feral Wolf with a dagger.
Then—RIIIP…
A horrific sound rang out. It was unmistakably the sound of a human body being torn apart. Blood splattered down at my feet.
I watched the Feral Wolf’s judgment in silence. To say that I had no choice but to watch would have been more accurate.
Only after the Feral Wolf had brutally torn apart the remaining two thieves did it finally stop its rampage. As I looked at the corpses scattered in pieces, a thought crossed my mind.
Could this really be called “judgment,” such a lofty word? Could judgment be allowed to be this cruel?
“Doctor. Behind me.”
Erisa stepped in front of me as she said that.
The red gaze that had just slaughtered the thieves was now turned toward us. Erisa stood protectively in front of me, staring down the Feral Wolf. Their gazes crossed in a cold, heavy silence.
It looked as though Erisa was prepared to fight if necessary. In my view, that was not a good idea.
The Feral Wolf possessed monstrous strength, capable of tearing people apart with bare hands.
No matter how capable Erisa was, she would not be able to subdue it completely.
“Should I try talking? No, it does not look like a being that would listen.”
The Feral Wolf’s red eyes were unfocused, saliva dripping from its mouth. Its bulging muscles and razor-sharp claws looked ready to tear someone apart at any moment.
Its very name was Feral Wolf—the Mad Wolf.
There was no way reasoning would work on something like that.
“Can we run? If it decides to pursue us……”
In that case, I could become the bait. Then at least Erisa would be able to escape safely.
I reached for Erisa’s wrist, thinking that, THUD!
The Feral Wolf collapsed.
I glanced at Erisa. She looked just as surprised. She had not done anything. It seemed the Feral Wolf had simply exhausted itself and fallen.
The massive body lying on the ground gradually began to shrink, like a deflating balloon.
Come to think of it, the Feral Wolf was a werewolf. It would have a human form as well as a wolf form.
Curiosity stirred.
“What does the Feral Wolf look like as a human?”
I cautiously approached and examined the face of the human who had emerged. It was an extremely ordinary face—more than that, it looked gentle. For a split second, it even felt familiar.
“Huh……?”
No, it was not a mistake. It was a face I had seen before.
“……Ms. Nyxle?”
The youngest officer from the Public Security Bureau whom Director Justin had introduced.
The very same Ms. Nyxle who had pleaded with me for the stimulant Dawn’s Call.
***
I almost wished I had never realized it was Ms. Nyxle.
If I had not known, I would have left the Feral Wolf lying in the street without hesitation and walked away, leaving the rest to the Public Security Bureau.
But once I knew the Feral Wolf was Ms. Nyxle, I could not ignore her. Partly because my previous encounter with her still weighed on my mind, but more importantly.
“Anyone who has received counseling from me even once is my client.”
And a counselor must feel a proper sense of responsibility toward their client.
And so, I ended up carrying Ms. Nyxle on my back and bringing her to the consultation office. Even after arriving, she did not regain consciousness.
If she were to wake up and cause trouble, it would be a problem. I retrieved some rope from the office storage and tied her hands behind her back.
Erisa watched silently as I tied Ms. Nyxle’s hands, then commented,
“You are very skilled at tying people up. That is suspicious.”
“Do not say strange things. Help me instead.”
In truth, I did not know how much tying her up would help. Werewolves were a race with considerable physical strength even in human form. Thinking back, even the last time she had shaken off my grip, she had been unnaturally strong.
“Still, it is better than doing nothing.”
Ms. Nyxle woke up about five minutes later.
She rose with a deep frown, then noticed her hands were bound and widened her eyes. Soon after, her gaze turned to me.
The emotions reflected in her eyes were confusion and surprise—nothing more.
“Ms. Nyxle.”
She blinked at my call. I hesitated, wondering how much I should explain.
“I found you collapsed on the street and brought you here to my consultation office for the time being. Are you feeling all right?”
“What? Ah, yes…… b-but why are my hands tied……?”
“Ms. Nyxle, are you—”
I finally asked the question I had been putting off.
“Are you the Feral Wolf?”
Her eyes wavered.
“What? The Feral Wolf……? I do not understand what you are talking about…….”
I explained everything—how we had been attacked by thieves, how the Feral Wolf had appeared and torn them apart, and how the fallen Feral Wolf’s body had shrunk and transformed into Ms. Nyxle.
Her expression gradually darkened. Her eyes trembled in confusion.
It was as though she did not remember anything she had done in her Feral Wolf state.
“That is what happened.”
When I finished, Ms. Nyxle glared at me.
“So what are you going to do? Hand me over to the Public Security Bureau? Tell Director Justin that I am the Feral Wolf from the rumors, the one who tears people apart?”
“I do not particularly want to do that. After all, the Fer—no, Ms. Nyxle, you did save us.”
“Then why did you bring me here……?”
She seemed about to ask why I had dragged her all the way to the consultation office if I had no intention of turning her in.
I already had an answer prepared.
“Because there is something I would like to ask you.”
To put it simply, it was personal curiosity. I was interested in Ms. Nyxle.
Werewolves had two states.
“Human state, and wolf state.”
A person who was ordinary in human form would become violent and bestial in wolf form. That was the nature of werewolves. However, they did not become an entirely different person.
A timid person in human form would still tend to be timid in wolf form.
An aggressive person in human form would become even more aggressive in wolf form.
“In other words, the core personality remains the same even when the state changes.”
But Ms. Nyxle was different. In human form, she was extremely cautious—almost timid.
Yet as the Feral Wolf, she went around judging evildoers. She tore thieves apart without a shred of hesitation. Ms. Nyxle and the Feral Wolf did not feel like the same person at all.
“Most importantly, Ms. Nyxle does not remember what the Feral Wolf does.”
Ordinary werewolves do not lose their memories when they revert from wolf form to human form. Their state changes, but their identity does not.
Ms. Nyxle was not like that. She had no memory whatsoever of what she did in her wolf state.
“Ms. Nyxle, is what the Feral Wolf does not your own will?”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“H-how did you know that……?”
Judging by her reaction, my suspicion was correct.
“Ms. Nyxle is suffering from dissociative identity disorder.”
Simply put, a dual personality.
***
An ordinary werewolf has only one personality. That single personality controls both the human state and the wolf state.
Ms. Nyxle was different. She had two personalities within her body. The personality that controlled the human state was Ms. Nyxle herself, while the personality that controlled the wolf state was the Feral Wolf.
Therefore, Ms. Nyxle could not know or stop what the Feral Wolf did.
Likewise, the Feral Wolf could not know or stop Ms. Nyxle’s actions.
“The killings the Feral Wolf commits—what the media calls ‘judgment’—none of that is my doing. That bastard, the Feral Wolf, takes over my body and does it all. It probably sounds insane…….”
“No. I do not think it sounds insane. I believe you, Ms. Nyxle.”
I looked at her with trust. I had already untied the rope binding her hands.
Perhaps because I listened to her carefully, the wariness she felt toward me had eased significantly.
“……As time goes on, the periods when the Feral Wolf takes over my body keep getting longer. At first it was one or two days. Then it became three days. Now, sometimes it takes over for a full week, even two weeks.”
“That must interfere with your work.”
“Yes. I told Director Justin that I was absent due to ill health, but…….”
“You cannot keep that up forever.”
“Exactly. And I think the Feral Wolf intends to take over my body completely. Please help me, Doctor. Please……!”
Her eyes were red as she poured out her plea, on the verge of tears.
I fell silent for a moment, then asked,
“What is your transformation condition?”
“You mean the trigger?”
A transformation condition—commonly called a trigger—referred to the set of actions required for races like werewolves to change states.
Sometimes it was something simple, like biting one’s lip. Other times it involved more complex conditions, such as running one hundred meters or going to a specific location.
“Sleep.”
Ms. Nyxle answered anxiously. I nodded.
“So that is why you asked me for Dawn’s Call last time.”
“Yes. The moment I fall asleep, the Feral Wolf takes over my body. I wanted to reduce the time it controls me, even if only a little. Even if I had to rely on medicine…… That way, I could also avoid disrupting my duties…….”
Since falling asleep caused the Feral Wolf’s personality to awaken and take control, she had chosen not to sleep at all. That likely explained the signs of sleep deprivation I had noticed when we first met.
To me, it seemed like a rather crude method, but for her, it was probably the best she could do.
“Have you ever tried to talk to it? Your other personality, I mean—the Feral Wolf.”
“Talk to it? That cannot be possible…….”
She paused to think.
“……It must have language ability, so I suppose it is possible. But I have never tried. I do not even know how I would try…….”
Naturally, Ms. Nyxle would have had no way to converse with the Feral Wolf.
When her personality was awake, the Feral Wolf’s was asleep—and vice versa.
“But the Feral Wolf does have language ability.”
In other words, it was not an entity incapable of communication.
“Then I will talk to the Feral Wolf.”
“……What?”
Ms. Nyxle asked blankly.
“I will find out, through conversation, whether the Feral Wolf truly intends to take over your body, and why it carries out this so-called ‘judgment.’”