The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-401

Chapter 401: Black Tongue (3)

Without showing any discomfort at Vikir’s suggestion to leave first, Black Tongue gracefully smiled…

“…Then, that’s it.”

With the conclusion of the meeting, there was no reason to linger in an uncomfortable place.

Vikir bowed in farewell to Black Tongue and rose from his seat.

“Ah…”

Kirko tried to say something, but quickly gave up.

Black Tongue spoke first.

“You can leave first. Your subordinate’s debriefing shouldn’t take too long.”

“Yes Sir.”

After offering a salute, Vikir turned and left the chamber.

Kirko watched Vikir’s retreating figure with a complicated expression before turning her gaze forward again.

“…!”

In an instant, she was startled.

Black Tongue had approached her unexpectedly, his face now inches away from hers.

“Heh heh heh~ Ahh, it feels like it’s been ages since I last saw you.”

Black Tongue took Kirko’s hand, brushing his shoulder against hers affectionately.

“…?”

Kirko furrowed her brow in confusion.

This was the first time she had seen Black Tongue. But more than that, the cold and elastic texture of his touch against her skin was highly unpleasant.

So, Kirko subtly shifted her upper body back, avoiding further contact with Black Tongue.

“I am meeting Major Black Tongue for the first time today.”

“Heh heh heh~ I remember now. You always had that icy tone whenever we met. Despite my efforts to court you. You’re really cold~”

“What are you talking about? This is my first encounter with you.”

“Heh heh heh~ There you go again. Well, since I finally get to see your face after so long, I’ll endure it. I really missed you! Oh dear, why did I forget this pretty face for so long? I really missed you! Seems like you haven’t aged at all, huh, shawty…”

Black Tongue stretched his facial muscles into a wide grin.

“Baby girl Valentine~”

Kirko’s expression stiffened instantly.

She managed to pry her lips apart and speak, albeit with a shaky voice.

“My name is Kirko, Deputy Kirko Grimm.”

“Huh?”

Black Tongue momentarily wore a dazed expression.

Then he pretended to hit himself on the head with a fist.

“Oh my, get a grip on yourself. Right, you came as Garam’s lieutenant? I mistook you for your mom because you two look so much alike. Well, it’s been several years since then…”

Black Tongue began flipping through the documents he held.

“Yes, yes. You’ve been promoted to High Level Lieutenant today, surprising. Was it always such an easy rank to attain?”

“…”

“Being promoted so quickly is rare, not since D’Ordume and Souaré. Oh! Captain Garam, that guy is an exception though.”

Black Tongue alternated between Kirko and the documents, smiling continuously.

“Twenty-two years old, from… oh? Nouvellebag? You’re from here? Ahh~ You were born here! Then your parents must be *those* guards.”

He rolled his eyes, contemplating something, he suddenly slapped his knee.

“Ah! I see! That’s why! I thought your face looked familiar. You’re one of ‘those kids’!”

At his words, Kirko bit her lip.

Twenty-three years ago, during ‘that incident’, the child born when a prisoner attacked a guard was Kirko herself.

Black Tongue was referencing that very incident.

However, the situation seemed to be unfolding slightly differently from what Kirko had anticipated.

“Heh heh heh~ That’s right, that’s right. Back then, there was a well-received couple from Nouvellebag. It was even discussed at higher levels, to the point where special parental leave was considered.”

…?

Kirko tilted her head in confusion.

She knew she was born between a prisoner and a guard—a forbidden existence shrouded in unspeakable taboo. A pariah rooted in the lowest of the low, unwelcome anywhere.

But what Black Tongue recalled was entirely different from what she knew.

“Yes, yes. I remember them walking around holding hands, secret lovers. Both the man and the woman were exemplary low level guards. It was enough to make others jealous.”

Black Tongue’s voice carried a hot, sticky desire like melted asphalt.

“Just looking at them made me feel nauseous. So, I arrested them immediately on the pretext of damaging military discipline. It happened to coincide with the time when D’Ordume and Souaré were cracking down hard on prisoners, so we had to maintain strict discipline among the guards as well.”

Kirko’s pupils trembled mercilessly.

Before she could say anything, Black Tongue spoke with a broad smile.

“So, we hastily fabricated a shocking incident. Yes, yes~ It was your parents.”

The love between a male guard and a female guard, a secret affair among lowly junior guards, was fabricated into the tragic incident where a prisoner attacked a guard.

Such shocking stories were needed to make the guards despise and resent the prisoners.

Kirko murmured with a blank expression.

“My father… wasn’t a prisoner? My mother… wasn’t the victim?”

She had endlessly thought about her parents whose faces she didn’t know. She had resented her ‘father’ she didn’t know and pitied her ‘mother’ whose name was the only thing she knew.

And now, Kirko knew two things.

That her parents had a loving relationship, and that her mother’s face closely resembled her own.

“…Perhaps I could have been loved by both my mother and father.”

Kirko closed her eyes.

The emotion welling up inside her chest was undoubtedly relief.

“…Thank goodness. My father wasn’t a bad person, and my mother wasn’t a pitiful victim. It was just me who was bad.”

Now she didn’t have to resent her father anymore. She didn’t have to pity her mother anymore. Just that realization made her inherently burdened heart feel a little lighter.

…But there were still unanswered questions.

“So. What happened to my parents?”

Kirko stared at Black Tongue and asked.

Though her tone had turned sharp, Black Tongue didn’t seem to mind.

“Why are you asking me about your parents?”

“You took them away. They disappeared afterward.”

“Did I? Oh? Uh?”

Black Tongue started rolling his eyes.

He was making an effort to think.

Then.

“…Ah!”

As if suddenly remembering something forgotten, he slapped his knee.

“Right! I took your parents! They kept yelling that it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair! …But they disappeared afterward? They didn’t return? Strange? Did they escape?”

He scratched his chin, lost in thought for a while.

“Right! Right! I forgot to release them! I was so busy with the debriefing that I forgot! Where could they be now…?”

His eyes rolled around separately.

And then, Black Tongue raised his finger.

“I remember! They’re over there!”

Black Tongue extended his index finger, pointing to a spot.

It was right where Kirko was currently sitting.

Underneath her buttocks lay the black sphere.

“Heh heh heh~ You’re sitting right now. On top of your mother HAHAHA.”

Upon hearing Black Tongue’s words, Kirko’s expression momentarily went blank.

In that instant, a memory flashed through her mind.

It was a conversation they had when they first entered this chamber.

“Surely, there must be someone inside this cushion.”

“Probably. Let’s sit down for now. If it’s uncomfortable, we can sit on the floor.”

“…No, it’s not uncomfortable.”

The black sphere, determined not to yield to Black Tongue’s momentum, remained seated.

Kirko felt her legs giving out for a moment.

As her weight added to it,

*Squish—*

The cushion beneath her buttocks emitted another gush of viscous fluid.

And once again, Black Tongue grinned broadly, just like before.

“It feels like a fart~”

He got up from his seat with exaggerated movements and turned to Kirko’s back.

Then, while stroking the black leech, he said,

“Just kidding, just kidding. Seems like you’re tense, so I wanted to loosen you up~ If you stay so rigid, even your mom would be sad. Ah, this. I’m sorry about your parents. I meant to release them after a few days, but I think I forgot and left them in a corner. I completely forgot, I’m sorry, okay, please forgive me, okay?”

Black Tongue brushed off the dust accumulated on the black sphere.

Then, with a kick from his military boot, he spilled everything inside it onto the floor.

*Splatter—*

The viscous liquids spread across the ground, emitting a foul odor.

Black Tongue extended his hands and said,

“There… It’s time to meet your mom and dad. It’s a bit late due to my forgetfulness. But still, it’s fortunate that you met like this now. Does it feel good—?”

However, he couldn’t finish his sentence.

*Swoosh—*

A blade flew past his forehead area, barely missing him.

“Ouch! What’s this? A coup?”

Quickly jerking his head back to avoid it, Black Tongue looked at Kirko with a playful grin.

Kirko, holding a longsword at her waist, faced Black Tongue with a fearsome demeanor.

*Shiing—*

Black Tongue elongated his neck like rubber, grabbing it as if playfully.

“What a nice expression. Just like your mother’s? That’s why I like the ones I coup. They’re yummy, just like your mom.”

He didn’t seem to have any intention of provocation, but each of his actions was a huge provocation to Kirko.

Even just smiling, or breathing.

*Squeak—*

Once again, Kirko’s longsword emitted a dazzling light.

But.

Black Tongue’s palm, elongated like rubber, struck Kirko’s abdomen.

“Cough!?”

She flew like a broken puppet and crashed into the wall behind the chamber.

“Ugh…”

It felt like several ribs had broken.

Perhaps sharp bone fragments had pierced deep into her organs.

“Heh heh heh heh~ Your gaze still has some life in it. It must hurt a lot.”

“…”

Kirko gritted her teeth.

Even if she died, she must kill that bastard and die.

With death as her resolve, she exerted all her strength into her sword.

*Squelch…*

Soon, a gooey honey like aura, emanated from the tip of her blade.

Black Tongue clapped his hands in amazement upon seeing it.

“Wow! You became a graduator? At your age? Is that even possible? Truly amazing. Do you have talent? It’s too wasteful for you to die here. Do you perhaps want to get pregnant~? I could let you live for another year like your mother….”

“Shut up!”

Kirko’s eyes finally turned resolute.

Her sword tore through the air with lethal intent.

Though it fell short of wiping away the thick smile on Black Tongue’s lips.

…However.

A somewhat unexpected outcome occurred.

Kirko’s sword failed to kill Black Tongue. That was to be expected.

But there was one thing she succeeded in.

It was erasing the thick smile that had adorned Black Tongue’s lips.

…Of course, Kirko didn’t achieve this feat alone.

Thunk—

Vikir. No, Captain Garam Nord.

He had suddenly appeared, inserting himself between Kirko and Black Tongue.

Thunk-Thud-Thud—

Blood dripped from Vikir’s hand, firmly grasping Kirko’s blade.

“…I’m sorry. I forgot about my subordinate.”

Vikir said, half-turning his head towards Black Tongue behind him.

“My subordinate suffers from severe dependence. Without me, she exhibits such severe anxiety symptoms.”

But Black Tongue paid no attention to Vikir’s words at all.

He simply stared at the drops of blood falling to the ground from Vikir’s hand.

‘Yes. Get hooked.’

Vikir nodded as he saw Black Tongue’s eyes gradually fill with greed and madness.

“Then, I’ll take my leave. If her anxiety worsens, my subordinate might blindly swing her sword again. Please forgive her, it’s a mistake.”

“Uh, y-yeah. Go on.”

For some reason, Black Tongue seemed captivated by the blood dripping on the floor and just waved his hand.

Vikir, still holding Kirko, sighed.

“Come on, just a moment… Urgh!”

Kirko tried to push Vikir away from her chest, attempting to resist, but the pain surging from her abdomen prevented her from speaking.

Thump-thump-thump—

Vikir carried Kirko while still embracing her, and they exited Black Tongue’s chamber.

‘Black Tongue… We’ll meet again soon.’

The gaze of the hunting dog momentarily withdrawing from its prey after tossing a decoy.

He remained as calm as ever.