Raising a Wolf in the Academy

A beastperson was banished from the pack.
The reason was their white hair.
Just being nearby made others nauseous.
Just looking at them boiled up murderous intent.
Why, for what reason they are born, is unknown.
But one thing is certain.
White-haired wolf beastpeople are called cursed children and are ostracized.

Therefore, this beastperson could not avoid discrimination and contempt either.
Perhaps fortunate in misfortune, the beastperson’s parents were the pack leaders.
Thanks to that, they were able to receive protection from the pack until they learned to find food on their own—
But that was it.
They didn’t pass down family affection to the white beastperson, only hunting methods.
And on the day the creature first succeeded in hunting, they banished it.
The white beastperson was helplessly dragged away by the pack leader.
While everyone in the village was sitting around the fire preparing for a festival for children who succeeded in their first hunt.
One young beastperson who had succeeded in hunting like them cried silently outside the village.
It was during childhood, not even ten years after being born.
All that was left to me then were the shabby clothes I was wearing and a single rabbit I had hunted.
No matter how much a young beastperson tried to conserve it, the small rabbit disappeared before long.
Thinking I would really die if I starved any longer.
I forced my legs, trembling from cold and fear, to move out of the cave.
For several weeks after being banished, these were the kind of days I had.
As a little more time passed, my legs no longer trembled.
—If I succeed in hunting, I won’t starve that day.
There was only this simple logic in my head, and my life was like that too.
-Whack!
“Ugh!”
“Haha! Finally caught you, you bitch!”
Until I was caught by hunters.
Until then, I had been thoroughly a predator.
I only hunted animals weaker than me, and if they were stronger, I waited until they weakened.
The hunters pulled me down to prey.
They laid traps under the snow and released poison in the river.
I knew how to hunt but had never been hunted.
A prey that doesn’t know how to escape can only helplessly wait to be eaten.
—
When I came to my senses, slave traders were taking me away.
They dragged me underground and threw me into an iron cage.
At some point, a chain with a strange pattern was fastened around my neck.
Maybe because of this, I couldn’t muster any strength in my body.
It didn’t take long to realize that the pattern was a slave imprint.
Because the same pattern was on the necks of others around me.
After that, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy.
They showed me to people coming to the shop.
People of various appearances and attire, regardless of gender or age, looked at me but.
Their answers were all the same.
———
‘Ah… this is a bit…’
‘You’re presenting this as merchandise?’
‘Do I look like a sucker who would buy a cursed bitch?’
———
Well, it’s natural.
Who would spend money to buy a cursed child expelled even from their pack?
As the period of not being sold grew longer day by day, the slave traders’ gazes towards me grew fiercer.
“Even keeping that thing alive costs money.”
“A customer is coming today, so let’s dispose of it in the evening.”
I heard talk of disposing of me this evening.
“…Ha”
I had no desire to live any longer.
Such feelings, I had long since abandoned them all on the day I was expelled from the pack.
I just… wanted to be at ease a little sooner.
The slave imprint wouldn’t even allow me to take my own life.
While I was trapped in the cage waiting for the time of death like this.
I heard someone’s voice from afar.
No matter how weakened I was, a beastperson’s keen hearing could pick up all their conversation if I focused.
“…..Is there no white-furred wolf?”
“Pardon? A white… wolf?”
Their conversation was enough to surprise me.
There was only one white-furred wolf.
So… that man said he would buy a cursed child.
I could almost feel the slave trader’s confusion from here.
‘Does he have a hobby of collecting rare slaves?’
Such a thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I quickly concluded it wasn’t so.
Collecting cursed children who are objects of avoidance, isn’t that something that can’t even be used as a joke?
I had seen humans with a hobby of collecting slaves several times, but none of them had tried to buy me.
‘Then is that man in charge of disposal… no, that can’t be.’
Having seen those being disposed of several times before, I know that the person in charge of disposal comes after the shop closes.
In the first place, if he were in charge of disposal, he wouldn’t have had such a conversation.
‘What on earth is this? If he’s really a customer, why is he looking for me?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out the reason.
“The white wolf you’re looking for, professor, is in here.”
While I was speculating about his purpose, their voices were suddenly heard in front of the door…?
‘What did I just hear?’
Professor.
The slave trader called him a professor.
‘If he’s a professor, isn’t he affiliated with an academy?’
The academy doesn’t allow slaves. This is a fact anyone would know.
But the human called a professor came here to buy a slave.
‘Which means. Either that title is a lie for disguise…’
Or that man is someone who can ignore the academy’s rules.
Either way, I had a feeling my end wouldn’t be very pretty.
A moment later. The wall vibrated and started to split.
“Ugh…!”
Having been stuck in a dark place without a speck of light for days, I squinted for a moment.
The professor I saw with eyes adjusted to the brightness was exuding a suspicious atmosphere befitting an eccentric who wanted a cursed child.
I could tell he was a magician from the faint magical power I felt.
But his magical power felt a little different.
A sticky and ominous feeling of magical power I had felt somewhere before…
It was the magical power of dark magicians.
‘If he’s a magician who wants a cursed child… I guess there’s only that.’
If he was a dark magician, both his suspicious atmosphere and the reason for wanting me made sense.
The reason for believing in an impure god is usually to obtain stronger power by offering special sacrifices.
“…..”
“…..”
While I was internally concluding that he was a dark magician.
Our eyes met through the iron bars.
“”…..””
How long had we been like that? The slave trader belatedly spoke to the professor.
“Well, how is it, professor? This is the white wolf you were looking for.”
As if he had been waiting for those words, the professor also opened his mouth.
“Could you take it out for a moment?”
Like a child asking for permission to unwrap a birthday present.
With an excited voice.
Of course, to me who had noticed his identity, it didn’t feel like that at all.
‘Is he trying to check the condition of the sacrifice to be used in the ritual? So blatantly?’
“You can pet it as much as you want.”
Even though he should be able to judge that someone isn’t normal from the point of buying a cursed child.
The slave trader, with his head full of thoughts of selling off a disposable item, approached to open the cage willingly.
That dull fellow didn’t seem to have any idea what the identity of this so-called professor was.
‘Well. If he had that much sense, he wouldn’t be here doing this.’
Some of those who visit this place would rape or torture the slaves they bought or were trying to buy on the spot.
It seemed he thought the professor was one of those people.
‘Well, that simplicity might be why he’s survived in this business.’
-Creak
As the lock on the cage was released and it started to open slowly.
That’s enough idle thoughts.
I could sense that I now had to make a decision.
The opponent is a dark magician whose strength is unknown.
I am a beastperson weakened after being caged for years here.
It was a fight with an obvious outcome, but giving up entirely and just waiting to become a sacrifice didn’t suit my temperament.
-Creak!
I lunged at the professor as soon as the cage opened.
To raise my meager chances of winning even a little.
To leave an indelible scar on him at the very least, even if I couldn’t win.
…It was also because I thought dying while fighting him would be less painful than becoming a sacrifice.
The merchant belatedly manipulated the slave imprint, but it was after I had already reached the professor.
‘No matter how weakened I’ve become, I should be able to kill a single magician at this close range.’
Just in case, I tried to bite his nape to prevent him from chanting spells—
-Clang!
‘….!’
I failed.
I couldn’t bite.
No, before that, my teeth didn’t even sink in.
‘What, what is this. Is this a person?! I could bite through those iron bars—!’
Stunned by this unprecedented event, I froze while biting the professor’s neck.
The slave imprint that activated belatedly started to inflict pain on me.
“Kuh…! Kwaak!”
Starting from the neck, I couldn’t even scream from the pain that felt like my whole body was being seared.
The professor asked the slave trader about the price in a cheerful voice while listening to my groans of pain.
Even while making the calculation, his face was turned towards me.
He even smiled while looking at me grimacing in pain from the imprint.
The pain from the slave imprint only ended after the professor finished his calculation.
“By the way, I didn’t know that a renowned professor in the empire would be interested in something like this.”
“On the contrary, it’s because I’m a professor that I can’t help but be interested. As I mentioned earlier, the stress from the academy is not insignificant.”
The professor who finished the calculation put me back in the cage.
He seemed to be talking with the slave trader during this, but.
It didn’t reach my ears, which hadn’t recovered from the pain of the imprint.
Eventually, he took out a scroll from his bosom and tore it.
My vision flickered for a moment, and I felt a sensation of my body floating.
Finally, I had arrived.
At the slaughterhouse that would end my life.
At the disgusting ritual site they had meticulously prepared.
“…Damn it!”
He smiled while looking at me trapped in the cage.
He seemed to be delighting in imagining how strong he would become after offering a cursed child as a sacrifice.
It was a smile filled with such base desires.

4 In the Room

Perhaps thinking there was no need to act anymore.
The man did not take his base gaze off me.
A terrifying gaze that seemed to be assessing the value of my soul scanned my entire body.
I wanted to gouge out those eyes right away, but that’s impossible for me now.
I don’t dwell on things I can’t do immediately.
First, I needed to figure out where this place was.

I quickly surveyed the surroundings so the man wouldn’t notice.
And I couldn’t help but be surprised.
That’s because this place was too clean to perform a ritual.
I could understand the absence of other dark magicians.
If multiple people performed the ritual, the blessing each individual received would be reduced proportionally.
I could also understand the absence of altars or magic circles for the ritual.
Judging by how my attack didn’t work on him earlier, he seemed to be a quite high-level dark magician.
If he had reached that level, such outward trappings might actually be more of a hindrance.
‘But it’s not just clean… Certainly, there’s something strange about this place.’
A place that denies the very foundation of the god they worship – impurity.
Even a high-ranking official couldn’t perform a ritual in such a place.
God does not respond to those who have forgotten what they worship.
That’s why dark magicians’ dwellings are always covered in all kinds of filth.
Combined with the impure aura emanating from them, it gives off a stench so strong it can be distinguished even from far away.
But this place?
Isn’t it a clean space without any contamination, except for the man in front of me?
This place was too neat to be a ritual site.
Even the bed occupying one corner of the room.
It’s almost like…
‘A breeding pen.’
Breeding pen.
Is there a better way to describe this place?
A comfortable environment not polluted at all, as if considering someone who isn’t a dark magician.
Rather than a place to perform rituals, it was closer to a place to raise the sacrifice.
‘But, why?’
I couldn’t understand.
What reason could there be to raise me here?
‘Because the preparations for the ritual aren’t complete?’
It was a strange assumption even to myself.
What more could someone who could perform the ritual right away with just the right place, without any preparation, be preparing?
‘Because there’s information to extract from me?’
This seemed to make some sense.
If so. What could that information be?
‘The location of the beastperson village where I was born?’
Certainly, the people of the village where a cursed child was born would be good sacrifices, both in quality and quantity.
Among the speculations so far, this seemed the most plausible.
But why?
It didn’t seem like that man was keeping me alive just for something like that.
The beastperson’s ‘instinct’ honed from living in the wild was telling me so.
Not just a village-level ritual, but something bigger.
And that would be the reason for keeping me alive.
“…..”
Even while I was thinking this, he didn’t take his eyes off me.
I naturally had no intention of speaking to him first, and this seemed to be the same for him.
“…..”
“…..”
In the silence that seemed like it would continue endlessly, he was the one who moved first.
He left the room.
Whether he let his guard down because I was trapped in the cage, or thought my body was weakened from long confinement, I don’t know.
One thing for sure is that he didn’t give me any orders.
The slave imprint engraved on the collar prohibits slaves from acting against the master’s orders.
Conversely, this means there are no restrictions on actions that haven’t been ordered.
‘Of course, things like suicide can be prohibited even without an order, but what I’m trying to do now isn’t suicide.’
I grab the cage bars and apply force to my arms.
—Crunch!
The cage that was confining me bent easily, to the point where it was doubtful whether it really existed to confine anything.
Soon, a gap large enough for a beastperson to pass through with room to spare was created.
‘Even if I’ve weakened, I can still do this much.’
The reason I was quietly waiting for death in this cage wasn’t because I lacked strength, but because of the slave imprint.
It’s strange that someone whose teeth couldn’t even sink in when a beastperson attacked with full force.
‘Well, but… it seems he let his guard down because of that.’
Not giving any orders to a beastperson who could escape anytime if there were no restrictions?
It was like a guard opening the prison door for a prisoner.
‘By the way, there are a lot of magic books. What’s the point of keeping these things in a room for storing sacrificial objects?’
While examining the room in case of any traps, I noticed the bookshelf.
Magic books filling the bookshelf.
I could tell they were high-level magic books from the faint magical power emanating from them even though they were just shelved.
I thought about taking a few to secure funds for escape, but.
I gave up because they could be used to track my location.
It wasn’t worth risking pursuit for just a bit of money.
Besides magic books, I saw many other items that looked valuable at a glance, but I couldn’t take them for the same reason.
‘Enough useless thoughts. I need to get as far away as possible before he comes back.’
I won’t waste this opportunity that might never come again.
It was fortunate that I had recognized the difference in our abilities at the shop.
If I hadn’t, I would have been waiting to ambush him when he returned.
After confirming there was no magic hanging in the room, I stepped out of the cage.
I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve stepped on something other than the cold cage floor.
But there was no time to indulge in such sentiments.
I quickly approached the door and grabbed the doorknob.
‘If I can just get far away from here and cut off the collared imprint, they won’t be able to chase me—!’
At that moment, the imprint engraved on the collar lit up.
This meant one thing.
That the slave had not followed an order.
Naturally, punishment awaited a slave who didn’t follow orders.
“Kuk…! Kuhek….!”
In the extreme pain where I could barely breathe properly, only one question circled in my mind.
‘He definitely didn’t give any orders…’
I was sure.
He didn’t say anything until he left the room.
‘Then why… ho—’
—Crackle!
“Kugh… kurk…!”
I couldn’t even think properly due to the extreme pain that seemed endless.
But one thing.
I seemed to know how to get out of this situation.
‘I guess it’s just obediently going back into the cage… Can’t be helped…’
I don’t know how he did it.
But having received an order prohibiting escape, there was no way for me, a slave, to resist.
The pain only stopped after I obediently returned to the cage and restored the bars to their original state.
“Huff… hah… damn it!”
Anger welled up.
At the bastard who was completely toying with me.
At my powerless self who couldn’t do anything despite being treated like this.
“I’ll definitely… kill you…”
Strength enters my hands planted on the floor.
I suppress my anger, thinking there must be a weakness even in that body where teeth couldn’t sink in.
Judging by his actions, it didn’t seem like he would kill me right away.
As long as I was alive, I could aim for opportunities anytime.
How much time had passed?
Just as the pain was gradually subsiding and my excitement was calming down.
“….!”
I heard footsteps.
Along with the smell of grilled meat.
My body reacted to the smell of food I hadn’t smelled in a long time.
-Growl
“…Damn it.”
Although the decision to dispose of me was made today, there had been opinions to gradually dispose of me before that.
Even the garbage-like porridge that was being rationed wasn’t given for about three days.
In other words.
It means I’ve been starving for four days as of today.
-Growl
My stomach, which hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for four days, clamored to put something in it upon smelling food.
‘I used to be fine even after starving for over a week in the past…’
Reminding myself that my body had considerably weakened, I try to calm my stomach that was about to growl again.
There was nothing good about showing weakness to the enemy.
A moment later, the door opened and the professor entered.
Holding something in one hand.
Whether he had cast some magic, I couldn’t even see its outline properly, but.
The smell I had been smelling until just now was emanating from inside it.
‘If he intended to hide the contents, he would have erased the smell too… Why?’
“Now, look here. Guess what I brought?”
The professor said in a comically drawn-out tone, raising what he was holding as if to emphasize it.
While I was confused by his behavior, completely different from his appearance at the shop.
He slowly started to bend down to the floor.
Soon, the object he was holding was placed on the floor.
At the same time, as the magic was dispelled, the identity of the object was revealed.
“…!”
A plate full of meat.
Seeing those, I could finally understand his purpose.
Torture.
Inflicting physical and mental pain on the sacrifice multiplies the effect of the ritual.
Since physical pain requires preparation.
He’s probably trying to inflict mental pain, which can be done immediately without separate preparation.
“…..”
By stimulating hunger, one of the basic desires.
‘You think I’ll just go along with it?’
I turned my head as if I didn’t care whether you ate that or not.
My stomach tried to growl at the strong smell of meat wafting right in front of me, but I endured it.
But.
“….?”
His reaction was a bit strange.
Despite me blatantly ignoring him, he just kept looking at me without saying anything.
Then he picked up the plate on the floor and opened the cage door to come in.
Silently smiling as if to say someone like me couldn’t possibly hurt him.
Eventually…
‘Wait. Why is he putting this in front of me?’
He put the plate of meat down in front of me.
-Growl
With food this close, my body that had been starving for four days didn’t obey its owner’s control.
Although I had resolved not to play along with his plan, I tried to get as far away from the plate as possible in the narrow cage.
But as if even the sacrifice’s struggle was amusement to him, he only smiled more broadly.
Eventually, the professor opened his mouth.
“I made this for you. Don’t hold back, eat a lot.”
Don’t hold back, ‘eat’ a lot.
Detecting the master’s order, the slave imprint instantly made me bury my head in the plate and put food in my mouth.
It was an utterly humiliating situation, but.
My body, reacting to proper food I was eating after a long time, moved even more actively.
‘…Wait, he said he made this for me?’
Until I questioned his words.
‘The kind of meat a dark magician would feed to a sacrifice is…’
No way, human.
“Urp…!”
As I realized the identity of these, nausea welled up, but.
The slave imprint forced me to chew and swallow all the meat, regardless of its identity.
I chew and swallow the meat with my mouth while feeling like my insides were turning over.
At the same time, the anger I had barely suppressed starts to burn even more strongly.
Thinking about it, it was natural.
There was no way the meat brought by a dark magician would be normal.
I felt disgusted with myself for feeling happiness, even if just for a very brief moment, while putting this in my mouth.
I rolled my eyes to look at the professor.
As if he knew I had noticed the truth about the meat, the smile on his face deepened.
“…!?”
Eventually, he started to toy with my body as well.
He messed up my hair roughly.
He stroked my back.
He bit my nape.
Besides these, countless other shameful acts continued.
Until he wrapped his arm around my neck and made me faint.
The last thing that entered my eyes before fainting.
Was his face smiling creepily.
It seems… I won’t be dying anytime soon.
‘Someday… I’ll make you regret this moment… Your nape as you regret not killing me then—’

‘Huh?!’
After bonding enough to be satisfied, I came to my senses.
What I see is a wolf snuggling in my arms, looking dazed.
‘…This is strange.’
Surely the last image of the wolf I remember wasn’t like this.
In this situation that felt like a film had been cut off.
For a moment, I recalled what had happened until just now in my head.
The image of myself burying my face in its mane, rubbing and sniffing frantically…
‘Oh, my.’
What am I to do about this.