The Otherworld Was Way Too Brutal – After I Healed the Mutilated Girl, She Turned Into a Completely Obsessed Yandere Guard Dog - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Get on.”

The female knight led me, and I climbed into the cargo cart.

Black knights crammed in tight all around me.

Then the horse-drawn cart slowly started moving.

“We’re heading to one of the Guardian House residences—the Sumeragi family estate,” the female knight explained to me.

Sumeragi family.

I’ve heard of them.

Out of the five Guardian House families, they’re especially known as the hardcore combat faction.

They’re the ones who deploy the black knights under the guise of keeping the city safe.

The cart rattled and clacked over the cobblestone streets.

Even as it shook me around, I tried to sort out my current situation in my head.

That mother and daughter got saved.

Assuming the female knight actually keeps her word, anyway.

But even with that cold, ruthless vibe she gives off, I sensed something oddly straight and principled about her.

She probably isn’t lying.

The real problem is me.

Becoming the personal physician to the head of Guardian House.

Sounds nice on paper, but basically it just means I’m a kept pet.

If they ever decide they don’t like me, they can dispose of me whenever they feel like it—no question.

(…Tsugumi)

Her face flashed through my mind—the one waiting back home.

I promised I’d come back.

Now I’m gonna make her worry all over again.

No, still better than dying.

As long as I’m alive, that’s gotta count for something.

I told myself that and clenched my fist hard.

“We’re here.”

At the female knight’s voice, I looked up.

Right in front of me towered a massive iron gate.

Beyond it sat this enormous estate—so big my rundown little shack could probably fit inside it dozens of times.

But what drifted out from that place wasn’t anything bright like wealth or glory.

It was this thick, murky, pitch-black air.

The whole mansion felt like one giant gravestone pressing down on you.

“Get off.”

Prompted, I stepped down from the cart.

The gate guards saluted, and with a heavy groan the iron gates swung open.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to my lord.”

I walked behind the female knight and stepped onto the estate grounds.

It was a well-kept garden.

But somehow… it felt drained of color.

I passed a few servants too, but every single one kept their head down, moving like shadows, barely making their presence known.

You could feel how off this place was just standing there.

We walked down a long hallway until the female knight stopped in front of a room at the very back of the mansion.

“Here.”

She knocked on the door and raised her voice.

“My lord. It’s Cattleya.”

“What is it?”

A hoarse voice came from inside.

Deep, heavy with this bottomless pressure.

“I have someone I’d like you to meet.”

“…Cattleya. Come in alone first.”

The female knight—Cattleya—glanced over at me.

Then she said,

“Wait here. I’ll talk to my lord.”

And with that, Cattleya went into the room.

A faint smell drifted out—something like medicine mixed with rot. It was nasty.

After a little while, Cattleya came back out.

“My lord still doesn’t fully trust you. So first, you’re to duel me.”

“…Duel?”

“Yes. My lord says he can see right through a person’s true nature just by watching how they fight.”

…Got it.

So that’s how he plans to look inside me.

“Fine.”

“Then let’s head to the inner courtyard. My lord will watch directly from his room.”

And so we went to the mansion’s inner courtyard.

Me and the female knight—Cattleya—faced each other.

All around us, the black knights stood in a ring, completely expressionless.

Cattleya reached up and took off her helmet, letting it drop.

It hit the ground with a heavy thud.

What emerged was a woman’s face that had been horribly burned and left raw and melted-looking.

Then she started stripping off her armor piece by piece.

Each time, more of that scorched, ruined skin came into view.

“Does this bother you?”

Cattleya asked.

“…Kinda.”

“No need to hold back. These are scars I got when a magic beast—a Fire Dragon—attacked the city.”

“Fire Dragon, huh…”

“Yeah. Just a glancing hit from its breath did this. Anyone who took a direct hit? Gone. Not even ashes left.”

Fire Dragon.

That was the name of the powerful magic beast that supposedly attacked this city twenty years ago.

They barely managed to drive it off, but the cost in lives was insane.

Her wounds must’ve come from back then.

“Alright. Let’s do this. Been a while since I fought without armor.”

Cattleya stretched her arms, cracking her joints as she spoke.

“Why’d you take the armor off?”

“It’s just for show. I move better without it.”

“For show?”

“This black armor is only worn to display the Sumeragi family’s prestige.”

She said it with a hint of irritation in her voice.

…What does this female knight really think about her lord?

At the very least, she doesn’t seem thrilled about it.

“Enough pointless talk. Grab your knife.”

Cattleya jerked her chin toward the knife at my waist.

I silently picked it up.

In response, she drew the longsword from her own waist.

With a sharp shing, metal scraped against metal and echoed.

“Here I come.”

Right as she said it, a dull flash appeared right in front of my eyes.

I jerked my head back hard.

Wind rushed past my face.

“You dodged.”

Cattleya was already right there.

Her sword had finished its swing.

That was close.

Any slower and I’d have been split in half.

“Alright. Still got plenty more.”

After that came a relentless barrage.

From the right.

From the left.

The sword kept coming.

Thrusts.

—Tch.

I managed to dodge somehow, but I couldn’t find even a second to counter.

All I could do was evade.

I wanted to land at least one hit, but with my current strength…

There’s gotta be something.

Think.

Something only I can do.

A way of fighting that’s mine alone.

—This is it.

I used healing magic on Cattleya’s burn scars.

“Guh…!”

Her skin bubbled and foamed, gradually revealing pure white flesh underneath.

But right now, Cattleya had to be in absolute agony.

As the ruined, burned skin regenerated, the pain would flare up nonstop.

Her feet stopped.

Just for a split second.

But a split second was enough.

I gently pressed the tip of my knife against her throat.

“…I see. So that’s one way to use it.”

Cattleya said it like she was impressed.

The pure white skin on her face shone brightly under the high-rising sun.

Cattleya was stunningly beautiful.