The Stupid Devil’s Slave’s Travelogue

Chapter 6. Metamorphosis

The deer leg was unexpectedly heavy.

I wanted to keep my only set of clothes clean, so I tried to carry it without getting any blood on me as I headed home, but it was too heavy, so I ended up slinging it over my shoulder.

The sticky feeling of the blood soaking through my clothes wasn’t pleasant, but for now, comfort took priority.

As much as I wanted to lie down and rest, I couldn’t predict what kind of carnivorous animal might take an interest. My father used to clean meat by the river.

Swoosh───!

The loud, familiar sound of rushing water greeted me.

I had arrived at the stream where my father and I once cleaned rabbits.

Gulp-gulp!

I drank until the chill in my gut subsided.

Was it because I had reached a safe place?

My trembling knees, which had been rattling in fear, now screamed to give out.

As I relieved myself into the river, my limbs lost their tension and felt limp.

“Haah…! This is what sex must feel like…”

Just a little longer, let’s rest just a bit more.

The river steals all scents, so it should be fine.

‘Even carnivores lose their sense of smell at the river.’

For a while, I sprawled out on a rock by the stream, letting the cool air wash over me.

After that, I rinsed my blood-stained clothes and wiped myself clean.

The fresh bloodstains came off quickly, but most of the stains were beyond saving.

My father would understand, but my mother would surely be upset.

From now on, I’d try not to let my clothes soak in blood.

I was dressing up when I suddenly sensed movement.

It was on the rock by the river.

Ears were twitching.

The young Terup from yesterday was peeking at me from behind the rock, watching me intently!

Or rather, watching the deer leg I was holding.

My vision went dark.

─Look at this damn bastard!

“Hey, you filthy pig! You ate eight rabbits and two salmon, and you’re still hungry?! You damn hog!”

I drew my arrow and yelled.

Terup glanced at me, then crept closer on all fours, wagging her tail as she approached. A cat’s typical stealth, but why was she wagging its tail?

“Don’t hide like a dumbass! I know you can’t hide better than me! I can see you! Get lost!”

I sneered and kicked a rock toward him.

Terup picked up the rock that fell nearby, sniffed it, grimaced, and tossed it away.

Does this crazy idiot think rocks are food?

Watching Terup tilt her head made me think of the young Kobold that once scavenged for food. Those insatiable creatures.

Could I take her down with a single arrow?

Or would it be wiser to give up the meat and back away?

Would she chase me if I ran?

My head became so muddled I couldn’t make a move.

─She’s a beast, no matter how young and innocent.

Like a convict facing a judge, I unconsciously hoped for mercy.

I saw my sharp arrowhead, the dagger at my waist, and Terup’s claws, which had torn through leather gloves yesterday.

Fear paralyzed me more than the strength in my limbs; I couldn’t draw my weapons.

If I loosed the bowstring now, it would surely result in a terrifying scene like in those movies.

Terup, now just steps away, approached slowly, rubbing against me like a pet cat.

What was he doing? Why was she rubbing against me?

Her dilated pupils gazed up at me, glittering.

It looked like she was trying to be cute.

It was hard to feel hostility from that.

The way she rubbed against me felt more like a pet than a beast. Without realizing it, I reached out and petted her.

It seemed like that was what she wanted.

“Heuuung…”

Terup purred, rubbing against me like a cat.

Before I knew it, I had touched her, and she didn’t seem to mind.

In fact, she leaned in closer, pressing himself against me.

Terup eventually stood and clung to me, as if begging for affection.

This Terup knew she was cute.

Surely, she must have been loved by her parents.

Though her braids were nearly undone now, there were still traces of them.

His parents must have braided her hair.

Those braids reminded me that Terup wasn’t a beast but a person.

Yeah, this isn’t a monster; it’s a person.

An orphan who lost her parents. Realizing that drained away my anger.

“You pig. What happened to your parents?”

“Pig? What’s that supposed to mean?”

‘He can speak?!’

I started trembling.

…Thank God I cursed in Korean.

“You can talk?”

“Yeah.”

If she could speak, shouldn’t she have apologized for yesterday first? I wanted to ask but held back.

At the same time, my anxiety faded away.

Because he was a person.

Terup continued to rub against me, clinging closer.

Thinking of her as a cat, with his similar appearance and habits, it made sense. Her damp body clung to me, tickling slightly.

“Your parents?”

“…They’re badly hurt.”

So, they weren’t dead.

Her blue eyes looked up at me.

“They’re starving.”

Her huge owl-like pupils and small face were incredibly cute. This is why animal ears are dangerous—they’re too cute!

“…You should’ve said that from the start yesterday. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Hunting was really tough.

Honestly, getting this deer leg was pure luck, and even finding traces was difficult. If it weren’t for the Kobolds, could I have even caught it? There was no way someone smaller than me could have done it.

“I promise I’ll repay you. Can you give me that leg? You still have plenty of food left, right?”

‘She sure knows how to get under my skin.’

I got scolded this morning because of you.

It was a pathetic and cheeky request, but I let my anger fade.

After all, she didn’t even seem to understand what was wrong.

Now that we could talk, Terup finally felt like a person.

‘I’m glad I stopped Father.’
Beastfolk
In this world, everyone calls Beastfolks people, but for someone like me, who came from a world where only humans were considered people, it was hard to adapt.

The truth is, I didn’t curse out Terup yesterday because I couldn’t accept that she was a person.

‘I need to change this perception.’

Had Terup not approached me so gently, I might have drawn my sword. If she’d been hostile, there wouldn’t be any tradition of offering food to them.

“They’re hurt? Are they getting proper treatment?”

They’re all people, and humans are just another type of Beaskfolk.

So helping her was the right thing to do.

Terup shook her head shyly.

“I don’t know how.”

Her innocent look made me reach out to pet him again.

Even as she tried to grab the deer leg, she was like a cat in every way.

And those creepy claws, too.

Even if I knew, I was too afraid to stop her.

“…Let’s take a look. Maybe I can help.”

I lifted Terup as I stood up.

* * *

The place we arrived at was a small cave formed by interwoven tree roots.

Ridiculously, it was just a short walk from home, right behind the hilltop tree.

‘How did I never notice this before?’

I could understand why they had chosen to hide here.

It was probably a way to avoid predators that would be attracted by the scent of blood.

The repellent sprinkled around the house was supposedly unbearable for carnivorous animals. But for humans, with their poor sense of smell, it was nothing.

─But the scent didn’t come from inside the burrow.

The smell of blood.

It was troubling.

Inside, an adult female Terup lay collapsed against the wall, covered in blood, completely motionless.

I was reminded of scenes from novels and TV shows where a kitten, unaware of its parent’s death, stayed by the corpse.

“I’m sorry, but it seems like your parents─”

“Ri…tta?”

It seemed like I had watched too much TV or read too many novels.

Terup crawled out into the sunlight, looking wretched.

Her body bore no signs of battle.

Even a layman like me could tell—they were the marks of torture.

Her nails and claws were all ripped out, still oozing blood.

One leg was broken, and a deep cut across her chest had swollen to a sickly purple.

She seemed close to festering.

The internal wounds might already be infected.

She was naked, her genitals torn.

Seeing that sight filled me with disgust.

What kind of madmen could do something like this?

‘Only wolves.’

Why would Ogres or Draconians do something like this?

According to my father, the only Beastfolks capable of such acts were the wolves.

If my father’s guess was right, the wolves had entered the mountain just a few days ago. If these were recent wounds, she was fortunate to still be alive.

I had assumed this young Terup had eaten all the meat like a glutton, but that wasn’t the case.

Inside the roots, eight rabbit skeletons were neatly stacked.

Something welled up inside my chest.

It reminded me of my own mother.

“Mom, it’s dangerous if you come out. Stay inside.”

What a foolish thing to say!

“If she stays in there, her wounds will only get worse!”

I pulled some herbs out of my pouch.

The deep wound on her chest was the priority. Could treating it now even save her?

No. I had to stop thinking negatively. If she’s truly in pain, she wouldn’t even be able to eat.

“Aren’t you human…?”

The Mountain Lord’s condition was beyond words.

Her eyes, crusted with sleep, barely opened.

She was as large as my father, but with blood-soaked brown hair and mud caked all over her, she looked like a buried corpse.

“I’m the child of the hunter who lives just below. I heard you helped my parents several times before, so I came to return the favor. Please, lie down comfortably.”

Terup glanced at me, then at the young Terup, hesitated, and lay back down on the ground. There wasn’t much I could do.

I remembered a time I had badly hurt my leg from a fall, and my mother had chewed some unknown herbs and applied them to my wound.

I still didn’t know the name of the plant, but it was plentiful on the mountain, and I had gathered quite a bit in my pouch. I chewed on the herbs and pressed them into Terup’s wounds.

‘Will it hurt…?’

I was worried. In movies, characters usually react with great pain, but Terup scratched her chest as if it just tickled.

“Even if it’s itchy, please don’t scratch. Ah, ah! Dirt! Your hands are injured; don’t touch the dirt!”

‘Sprinkling dirt on the wounds?! Lady, have you never heard of tetanus?!’

Her lack of awareness about hygiene was alarming.

I couldn’t even fathom how she was still alive with such injuries. I doubted my ability to perform basic first aid, gleaned only from brief encounters.

‘What if I fail?’

If my meager knowledge worsened her wounds and she died, what would I tell this young Terup? No, those thoughts could wait.

I needed a splint to brace the broken leg.

But there were no bandages, let alone splints.

No, I had my clothes. But tearing my clothes? New clothes were a luxury in this place, and I couldn’t bring myself to tear them for makeshift bandages.

Think positively.

This was about saving a life, and they were already stained with blood.

I was still growing and hardly wore them much anyway.

Yes, they were destined to become rags soon enough.

‘Using my sleeve as a splint would work.’

My father had given me a knife yesterday, so I chopped and broke a suitable branch. It was a sharp blade, like a scalpel used for cutting meat, and I could see the knife dulling with each chop.

‘Father will be angry.’

The blade was so sharp that it cut through the wood quickly, but ironically, the knife wore out faster.

I could only collect branches I could break with my hands, and there still weren’t enough straight branches for a proper splint.

In the end, I chose the deer leg.

I cut off the knee joint below the meatless thigh.

I gently sliced through, inserting the knife into the joint and severing the tendons at the ankle; it came apart easily.

I wanted to skin it and wrap it whole, but I didn’t know how to skin it properly.

Plus, the blade was already worn out.

“If we leave the leg like this, you’ll limp for the rest of your life. I’m not sure if this will work… but it might hurt a little.”

“…Do it.”

Terup looked at me with a determined expression.

I took hold of Terup’s leg, which was completely broken and twisted.

‘How do I do this…?’

I had no clue. It had been over five years since I last tried to set a splint.

Dragging it out would only worsen the frustration.

One sharp pain was better than prolonged agony.

I mustered all my strength, aligned the leg as straight as possible, and tied the splint with my clothes.

Kyaaaaaah─!!!

“─────────!!!!”

Terup’s tiger-like scream of agony shot fear through me. I was terrified she would lash out and knock my head off.

The fear weakened my grip.

Looking at Terup, she had gritted her teeth.

She was holding on somehow.

The splint was merely a temporary measure.

Setting the bone was a job for a specialist.

‘Is there a bone-setting clinic in the village…?’

I’d never been to the village, so I didn’t know.

I wasn’t confident I could bring Terup down the mountain either. Even if I did, Beastfolks had a different bone structure than humans.

Would any bone-setting doctor be able to treat Terup?

But leaving her like this would surely lead to death, so I couldn’t just walk away.

Thankfully, the break was in the shinbone, not the thigh. I wrapped a long, tough vine over the makeshift bandage and splint.

There was nothing more I could do.

All I learned in the military was how to set a splint. To get Terup proper treatment, I needed my parents’ help.

“Someone’s coming up!”

The young Terup’s voice startled me, and I got up to check.

“Who… what? Brother? Is it you?”

It was Damien and Stella.

Damien was climbing the ridge, holding Stella’s hand. They must have been drawn by Terup’s scream.

“Did you hear that?! We heard a huge scream!”

“Yeah. There’s a wounded Mountain Lord here.”

“What, what?!”

Damien rushed over and widened his eyes.

Terup’s hideout was only about 30 seconds from home, so if my father returned, he could help Terup.

“We need to ask my parents for help when they get back.”

“…They’ll come back, right?”

The young Terup looked up at me anxiously.

Her large, cat-like eyes glistened.

‘…So this is why people keep cats.’

Yesterday, her hissing had completely turned me off.

“We’re just below. You can come if you want. And make sure you properly apologize to my parents.”

Terup reluctantly nodded at my warning.

Going down the hill would lead straight to the house. I intended to grab additional supplies needed for first aid.

Just as the cabin came into view.

Creak─!

The sound of the front door’s hinges grated on my ears.

It seemed my parents had returned.

“Father─”

Something clamped over my mouth.

Terup had jumped onto my back.

Was she playing around in this situation?!

Annoyed, I swatted her hands away.

Having just witnessed such a grim scene, I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. I took a breath to call out to my father. But Terup clamped my mouth shut again.

I glared at Terup in frustration.

“That’s not the smell of your parents…!”

Her strange words clouded my judgment.

“We need to run…! If the wind shifts, we’ll all die…!”

Only then did Terup release my mouth.

“What kind of nonsense…?”

Terup’s wide-eyed face was filled with unmistakable fear.

“There’s a wolf inside!”