In the darkness, a woman stood clutching a small basket tightly to her chest.
Inside the basket, a baby fox with jet-black fur was curled up. The woman barely suppressed the sorrow surging deep in her throat as she left a final kiss on the small fox’s forehead.
It wasn’t just the woman and the baby fox. Beside her stood a man with a strange appearance. Long, pointed ears that glowed faintly with a silvery light, and nine tails unfurling like flowing streams behind him, emitted a mysterious radiance even in the moonless night.
“Survive.”
That was the last word the young fox heard from his parents.
His parents secretly loaded the basket containing the child onto a merchant ship departing for the western continent. The baby fox, who didn’t yet know the world properly, left alone for an unknown land beyond the endless sea.
Only the sound of waves soothed the child’s crying, and only starlight illuminated the child’s path ahead.
***
Summer came to the Empire.
That meant the hunting competition had returned. The nobles dressed themselves in expensive hunting attire, unable to hide their excitement as they wagered on who would catch the most game this year.
Except for one person—the Emperor.
Unlike the knights who were excited with the hunt right around the corner, he wore an expression filled with deep fatigue. It was because he hadn’t been able to sleep properly last night either.
“Are the preparations complete?”
Adrian Albrecht asked Kael, his chief aide standing beside him, concealing his fatigue.
“Yes. All preparations are finished. Thanks to releasing bait a few days ago, the beasts have come down to the foot of the mountain.”
Adrian nodded and rose from his seat.
If it had been his teenage years, he would have actually enjoyed this situation. He would have ridden through the hunting grounds and immersed himself in a blood-pumping chase that could swallow his fatigue. But now he couldn’t feel any interest in pursuing mere wild beasts, not even magical creatures.
Still, he had to go. Because he was the Emperor. If the Emperor didn’t show himself at the Empire’s greatest festival, all sorts of speculation would surely run rampant.
“We depart.”
Adrian deliberately straightened his shoulders more confidently as he walked. The Emperor had to be perfect at all times. The moment he showed weakness, it meant death.
He had learned that fact with his body. To survive in the bleak palace, he could never show weakness even once. Tears became weaknesses, and hesitation led directly to death. It was a lesson learned too early, too cruelly.
When he emerged from the tent, a massive black horse was waiting for him. Adrian mounted the horse with practiced ease.
The nobles had already gathered at the entrance to the hunting grounds. Under the hot summer sun, they wore expressions flushed with anticipation as they waited for the hunt to begin. But when Adrian appeared, they all simultaneously closed their mouths as if by agreement.
Adrian scanned the assembled crowd once and opened his mouth.
“Honorable competition is welcome, but refrain from foolish adventures.”
That was all. As the Emperor’s words ended, the horn trumpet announcing the start of the hunting competition rang out long. With the signal, the nobles scattered into the forest with shouts.
Adrian left the noisy crowd behind and rode alone toward the deepest part of the forest. It was the territory of beasts that ordinary nobles wouldn’t even dare to set foot in.
Strength entered Adrian’s hand gripping the reins. His golden eyes shone as sharp as a predator seeking prey, seeing through every movement in the forest.
Before long, his first quarry entered his field of vision.
Beyond the thick brush, a wild boar boasting a massive build was digging up the ground. The boar, sensing a presence, raised its head and bared its tusks. It looked ready to charge at any moment.
But Adrian’s movement was faster. He drew his bowstring, then released it without hesitation. Swoosh! The arrow flew like lightning and pierced precisely through the boar’s forehead. Squeeeal! The beast let out a death cry and toppled forward, and its body, which had been breathing heavily, soon trembled faintly before falling still.
Adrian, having released the bowstring, looked briefly at the arrowhead embedded in the boar.
‘Easy.’
The hunt was far too simple. Boringly so. It was the moment when he was about to catch just one beast of appropriate size and return.
Rustle.
A faint sound came from a nearby thicket. It wasn’t a person. It was made by an existence much smaller and more fragile than the boar he had just caught.
His gaze fixed on the direction of the sound.
“…A dog?”
There was a black dog caught in an old trap.
A stray dog? At first, he thought it was just a puppy that had gotten lost in the mountains. Its fur was disheveled, and it was small enough to fit snugly into an adult’s arms.
But as he approached closer, he realized something was strange.
It was somehow different from the dogs he knew.
It was different from the sturdy hunting dogs raised by hunters, and different from the fluffy companion dogs he’d seen in villages. Its ears were pointed and its snout was excessively elongated. The tail stretched long on the ground, its end fluffy and full like a brush.
Only then did he think.
Could this be, not a puppy but… a fox? A black fox?
As Adrian took a step closer to look more carefully, the fox, sensing a presence, raised its head. When its eyes met the massive being looking down at it, the creature’s blue eyes dilated widely with fear.
“Grrr… Kang, kyaang…!”
The fox barked frantically and struggled desperately to escape. However, the trap held its small front paw tightly and wouldn’t let go. After several violent thrashes, the fox’s movements gradually became sluggish, and finally, as if it had run out of strength to resist, it slumped down.
“Whiiine….”
As if realizing escape was impossible, the fox looked up at Adrian with sapphire-like eyes. Those eyes held neither resentment nor anger. Only the primal fear felt before a massive predator and a desperation to live filled them.
Adrian contemplated the creature for a moment.
The body trembling faintly with terror looked very insignificant. It was such a pathetic quarry that he didn’t even feel like hunting it, so he was about to leave.
However, strangely, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. The clear blue eyes stimulated a capricious curiosity that had been sleeping in Adrian’s depths.
Adrian slowly lowered his body. As his massive shadow covered it, the fox trembled and growled, but it was too fragile to frighten an adult man. He extended his gloved hand and examined the metal piece of the trap biting the fox’s paw. It was a crude, old trap.
‘It won’t be difficult to open.’
Without much effort, he pried open the trap’s jaws. With a dull thud, the metal piece released. After carefully extracting the front paw from the trap, he stepped back again to allow the fox to escape.
However, the fox didn’t move.
The fox just looked back and forth between the trap and its own paw, bewildered. It seemed to not understand the situation that had just unfolded at all.
Was it unable to move because it was injured, or was it just a bit dim?
After waiting for a long time and seeing that the fox had no intention of running away, Adrian spoke.
“Aren’t you going to run?”
Blink.
At Adrian’s question, the fox blinked its large eyes. A few seconds later, as if belatedly grasping the situation, it startled and hurriedly struggled to its feet.
‘It must be a slightly stupid fox.’
That’s why it got caught in such a shoddy trap. Adrian coldly assessed the fox’s intelligence and let it run away. However, the fox couldn’t even take a few steps before collapsing weakly to the ground.
“Ki, kiiing….”
A faint groan leaked from the small body. Even when it tried to stand, its body didn’t seem to obey. Its leg was clearly severely injured.
If left like this, it would soon become food for another beast or die from excessive blood loss. That fact should have stirred no emotion in him. To him, who had taken countless lives, this beast’s death should have meant nothing.
Yet once again, Adrian’s hand was reaching out toward the fox.
Adrian cradled the limp fox in his arms. The fox struggled a few times but soon, lacking energy, entrusted its body to his arms. Before long, like a newborn searching for its mother, it buried its dry nose tip in his chest seeking warm body heat.
No wariness, no hostility. It was just a powerless appearance, as if desperately waiting for someone’s touch to either save it or release it from pain. Something he had never seen in a wild animal.
Tsk. Adrian clicked his tongue. To be so lacking in suspicion.
“Don’t rely on me too much. Once I treat your paw, I’ll release you back into the forest.”
If you end up dying after that, that will be this fox’s fate. Because that’s how the world of survival of the fittest works. Thinking this, Adrian mounted the black horse while holding the fox.
Not knowing that in the future he would be so anxious because of this small fox, that he would search everywhere like a madman whenever it was just out of sight.
