A Collar of Submission

It was me who had won, yet I was dumbfounded by his gaze, as if he were looking at a naive child who didn’t know the ways of the world.

“I-it’s not that I’m soft!”

“If you’re going to fight to the death, then see it through to the end. Don’t try to show any mercy.”

‘…I-I had no intention of killing you.’
I was about to retort at the man’s words, but I swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of my tongue.

I was angry, I felt betrayed, and I wanted to fight and win and make him kneel.
But I had never once thought of killing him.

In fact, if Karvan died, everything would be solved.
When you think about it, he’s just a piece of data classified as a <Monster>, so there would be no guilt in killing him.

‘It’s a matter of course to kill a skill-plundering target.’
‘He did that to me, but why do I not hate him?’

“I didn’t wish for you to die.”

“……”

“Anyway, don’t talk and hurry up and surrender. It’ll only be more painful for you if you bleed a lot.”

‘Unlike his usual, flawlessly cold gaze, he looked strangely relaxed, so he must be in a lot of pain.’
He just looked at me without a word.
He must really hate surrendering.

“I’ll give you some simple first aid for now.”

‘I can’t let him die, no matter what.’
Thinking that, I let out a deep sigh and approached him first.

…Huh?

Karvan, who was clutching the handle of the Leviathan, flicked it and held it out to me.

I was at a loss for words, looking at the weapon, which was held lightly in the man’s hand and had not a single drop of blood on it.

“I don’t know what kind of magic is on it, but the inertia to return was considerable.”

‘Surely, that giant spear had pierced the man’s side.’
‘So I thought he was clutching the handle to ease the pain.’

“It was quite difficult to hold on to.”

As it turned out, he was just holding onto the Leviathan so it wouldn’t return to me.
He was ignoring the trait on the weapon with pure strength alone.

“What…”

Unable to believe it, I flipped open the man’s robe and checked his side.
His upper body, with its well-defined muscles, was surprisingly unharmed.
He had even been groaning and staggering with a pained expression!

“You…!”

Karvan had been teasing me from the beginning.
He had cleverly disguised it as if a spear were stuck in his side!

And I, not knowing that, was overjoyed, felt guilty, and apologized…
The back of my neck felt stiff, and I just plopped down.

Karvan, who was looking down at me indifferently, let go of the Leviathan he was playing with in one hand.
Freed from the man’s grasp, the SL weapon flew and stuck in the ground in front of me.

“The weight is considerable. Can you even swing that properly?”

I was so drained that I didn’t even want to explain that the lightweight option was applied to the weapon’s owner, making it as light as a toothpick.

“It seems you don’t have the strength to fight anymore.”

That was true.
I had exhausted all my mana, and I had no more crafted potions.
Now, even my will to fight had disappeared.
The man had subdued me without using a single skill.

“Is it my victory.”

I squeezed my eyes shut at the cold scabbard that touched my chin.

This time, I thought Karvan would really kill me.
Not only did I run away unilaterally, but I also threw away his one act of mercy and rashly attacked him.
With his patience, there would be no reason to let me off the hook anymore.

‘…To think that the end of my struggles to not die at the hands of the Observer would be like this.’

As I was cowering, sitting on the ground, at the presence approaching above my head.

Thud, something fell onto my lap.

Fortunately, it wasn’t my head.
It was a necklace made of black leather.
The pet item I had gifted him before, telling him to use it on a disobedient subordinate.

[Soft Pet Collar (※ The neck area doesn’t hurt!)]

‘…But, why, this, all of a sudden?’

I looked up at him with devastated eyes.
But, my ominous premonition was never wrong.

“Put it on yourself, and swear to obey.”

He commanded me with a condescending gaze I had never seen before.

The man seemed to be trying to establish his dominance.
He was trying to discipline a pet that was constantly trying to climb over him.
‘Know your place, and roll over and expose your belly on your own.’

“Say that you will not leave my side without my permission.”

“……”

“Then I’ll let you live.”

I just bit my lip silently.
‘If I accept this, I’ll be that guy’s dog for the rest of my life. A wolf’s dog. I, I can’t be like that.’

“You can’t do it?”

He must have found it funny that I was hesitating, clutching the dog collar that had been thrown at me as if it were a lifeline, as a voice full of ridicule flew at me.
His face, which had been staring at me intently, was twisted fiercely.

“You were once so desperate to live. Are you now at the point where you’d rather die than stay by my side?”

“……”

“You must have been properly filled with empty hopes.”

The man’s silent anger was reflected and refracted.
His ice-covered golden eyes landed on the Fox tribe, who were trembling in a corner.

“Who is the owner of this coat?”

Karvan snatched the fur coat draped over my shoulders and shook it without much care, and Ilai walked out with a face that looked like he wanted to die.

“‘Gifting a piece of clothing with your scent to a female’.”

“N-no, sir. That’s…”

“You seem to be of age, so there’s no way you don’t know what that means.”

“I didn’t know she was the mate of the Varg chief! There was, no, no scent, on her!”

Ilai excused himself, as if having a seizure.
His words had to be true.

I had rolled around in the snow to hide my pink fur, and I had rubbed my whole body while climbing the rocky mountain, so there was no way any scent would be left.

“I-I really! I swear I didn’t know!”

“Ignorance is a sin too.”

“I couldn’t even imagine! Th-that person is an Awakener!”

The surroundings became quiet at Ilai’s scream-like cry.

“I never dreamed that the Varg chief would take an Awakener as his mate…!”

‘…I’m doomed.’
I quietly closed my eyes.

I had no intention of blaming Ilai.
He must have wanted to make an excuse for himself somehow.
That way, he could avoid being on the bad side of that frosty gaze.

I could feel the gazes of the Varg behind the expressionless man landing on me all at once.

The escorting Sura that Karvan had brought were about thirty in number.
They were familiar faces I had seen in the Nemea prison, so I knew how trustworthy they were.
Because they had been unconditionally loyal to me just for the reason that it was Valta’s order.
That’s why the sense of betrayal must have been even greater.
Especially Tegen.
I couldn’t bring myself to face him and just lowered my head.

“…Ignorant and clueless.”

The one who broke the silence was an indifferent voice.

Shing.
With a chilling sound, a honed silver blade was revealed.
The sword I had seen before was in the man’s hand.

The God-Slaying Sword.
The frosty cold sword.

Karvan held it up and walked expressionlessly.
Towards Ilai, who was cowering with his shoulders hunched, trembling pitifully.

“I-I’ll do it!”

I shot up and blocked the man’s path.

“I’ll swear. I won’t leave, without your permission.”

“……”

“I’ll do whatever you say!”

‘Don’t kill him. Please.’
As I just shook my head, unable to finish my words, he looked at me intently and then gestured with his empty hand.
As if it were a matter of course, just like when I call my exclusive weapon.

As I hesitantly approached the man, he pulled my waist and trapped me in his embrace.
Trying not to displease him, I pressed my cheek against his chest and was held quietly.

Shlick, shlick.
The hand that was stroking the back of my head was gentle.
Thinking he might have calmed down, I was a little relieved, when I felt the right arm holding the sword slowly move.

“But. An example…”

“Y-you, you put it on me!”

I cut off the man’s words like a scream.
Afraid that he might turn into mist and escape, I hugged the man’s waist tightly and begged, rubbing my cheek against his stiff collar.

“You put it on me. The collar.”

“……”

“Originally, a pet collar is put on by the owner. …Huh?”

As I looked up at him desperately, even mixing in a nasal sound that didn’t even sound like me, the eyes that had been staring straight ahead slowly lowered.
I was reflected in the dry golden eyes that held not a single ounce of emotion.

The pathetic sight of me clinging to his waist and acting cute.

Was that sight quite pitiful?
The man, who had been looking down at me like that for a moment, slowly sheathed his sword and then grabbed my hand with his empty one.

“…Your hand is cold.”

“Yeah! I’ll warm it up for you!”

Afraid that he might get upset again, I hurriedly clasped his hand and pretended to blow on it, and a strange gaze landed on me.

“Not my hand.”

“…Huh?”

“I was saying that your hand was cold.”

“Ah, I’m fine! But let’s go over there and do it, just the two of us? H-here, this way.”

Using the excuse that I was embarrassed to be seen by others, I dragged the man out of the Fox village.
In the dead silence, only the sound of Karvan’s and my footsteps crunching on the forest path was heard.

“…Here. Here.”

Afraid that he might change his mind and run back in, I held onto his collar with one hand and held out the pet collar with the other.

Karvan meekly accepted the collar and then bent his body as if to hug me.

Click, as the clasp locked, the area around my neck was moderately tightened.
He seemed to be slowly combing through the hair at the back of my neck that had gotten caught in the collar, and then he grabbed my cheek and lowered his head.

As his breath came closer quickly, I unconsciously pushed the man away.

“…Ah, that is.”

With his head still lowered, the slowly raised golden eyes stared at me.
Stung by the gaze of a starving beast whose meal had been interrupted, I awkwardly made an excuse.

“It was ticklish. Unconsciously…”

“……”

“L-let’s go back! To Bahalgras!”

As he immediately turned his head towards the village, I jumped like a dog whose tail had been stepped on.

“The Fox tribe did nothing wrong. I came here on my own. So, leave them alone. Okay?”

I begged desperately, holding onto the man’s hand.
I felt guilty that they might die because of me, but most of all, they were the first NPCs to recognize me as an ‘Awakener.’

Perhaps I could find a way back to reality through them, so they couldn’t die.

“I’ll go back to Bahalgras. I’ll do whatever you say, so don’t kill them. Please. I beg you.”

“…They.”

The man, who had been looking at me for a long time as I clasped my hands together and begged, opened his mouth.

“Are they, that precious to you?”

His usually clear golden eyes looked suffocatingly murky today.
They were as dark as a full moon covered in dark clouds.
It was a stormy gaze that looked like it would engulf the Fox tribe right away if I said no, so I could only nod my head until it fell off.

“Yes. They’re very, very precious.”

At my desperate answer, his ice-like eyes shattered.